Our Roman Catholic contemporary the Tablet, in answering are- mark
of ours made a fortn ight ago, to the effect that if ever the Roman Catholic religion should again gain the upper hand in England, we might properly expect a little wholesome persecution for the sake of our souls, denies that this is ever the method pursued by the Roman Church towards a race which has inherited heresy from its ancestors. In other words, we conclude, it regards per- secution as admissible only where, on its own theory, heresy must be the result of sin, and where "invincible ignorance" is an impossible hypothesis. We understand the distinction. But how, then, does our contemporary explain the frequent and fierce perse- cutions of the Jews by Rome ? Surely they, of all men, had most clearly inherited an heretical creed from a long line of ancestors, and might be supposed to be under 'invincible ignorance' if ever men were ? The limits to Roman Catholic persecution laid down by our contemporary's theory are, we fear, rather fictitious boundaries suggested by modern moderation, than landmarks universally acknowledged by the practice of the Church.
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