SIR—I see in your paper of last Monday a statement that a Testament
was burnt by a Priest of the Church of Rome in a house in London
’Prentice-street, in this town.
I had written you a letter on the subject immediately on its
occurrence; but upon consulting with the Hon. and Rev. Grantham M.
Yorke, Rector of Saint Philip’s, in whose Free Industrial Schools the
Testament in question had been given to a little girl, I determined
first, if possible, to obtain the admission of the Priest to what
passed between us in conversation. As, however, publicity has been
given to the occurrence before I have had time to carry out my plans,
I think it best, as the Minister of the district in which London
’Prentice-street is situated, to write to you at once, and say that
the statement is strictly true. The Priest acknowledged to me that
he burnt the Testament, and also declared that he would burn every
Bible or Tract which he found in the houses of any of his people. He
also charged me never again to enter the house of a Romanist in my
district; and upon my assuring him that I should pay no attention to
his command, and that the law of the land would protect my person, he
said he would order his people to use “scurrilous” language towards
me, and to offer me insult, if I ventured to pass their doors. Upon
my appealing to him, and asking “how he dared to burn the Word of
God?” he told me “to go and preach in my pulpit, and not to preach to
him.” I merely state facts, and leave your readers to draw their own
inferences from them.