enting and condemning the outrages committed by the
Roman Catholics against the Protestants at Nismes, as violations of the
law of God and man, but doubting of the nature and extent, which some
have attributed to them, the writer of these pages begs leave to refer
to the sermon preached on them by the Reverend James Archer, a Roman
Catholic priest, and printed for Booker, in Bond-street, by the desire
of two Roman Catholic congregations, as expressing the doctrine of the
Roman Catholic church, and of all real christians on heretics and the
persecution of heretics.

III.

_The Correspondence of Bossuet and Leibniz, under the auspices of Lewis
the XIVth, for the Reunion of the Lutheran Protestants to the Roman
Catholic Church._

This correspondence forms one of the most interesting events in the life
of Bossuet; the letters, of which it consists, and the other written
documents, which relate to it, are highly interesting. We shall attempt
to present our readers with a short account--

1st. Of the circumstances which led to this correspondence;

2ndly. Of the Project of Reunion, delivered by Molanus, a Lutheran
Divine, and Bossuet's sentiments on that Project;

3dly. Of the intervention of Leibniz in the negotiation; and

4thly. Of the Project suggested by Bossuet, and the principal
reasons, by which he contended for its reception.

III. 1.

It appears that, towards the 17th century, the Emperor Leopold, and
several sovereign princes in Germany, conceived a project of re-uniting
the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches. The Duke of Brunswick, who had
recently embraced the Roman Catholic religion, and published his _Fifty
Reasons for his conversion_, (once a popular work of controversy), and
the Duke of Hanover, the father of the first prince of the illustrious
house, which now fills the throne of England, were the original
promoters of the attempt. It was generally approved; and the mention of
it at the Diet of the Empire was favourably received. Some
communications upon it took place between the Emperor and the ducal
Princes: and with all their knowledge, several conferences were held
upon the subject, between certain distinguished Roman Catholic and
Protestant Divines. In these, the Bishop of Neustadt, and Molanus, the
Abbot of Lokkum, took the lead. The first had been consecrated Bishop of
Tina in Bosnia, then under the dominion of the Turks, with Ordinary
J