est of new lights who have
appeared in the kingdom in this favoured reign. There are many such;
and of great advantage will they prove to the spiritual welfare of the
people. They have an especial work, it seems to me, to show that all
the old forms of worship are wrong, and invent as many new ones as their
imaginations can devise. Wherever they spring from, they're serving the
Pope of Rome well, for the more the Protestants are divided, the better
will it be for his faithful children in this realm of England."

Jack wished to stop and hear more of the remarks made by the preacher,
but to this Pearson objected, observing that he did not wish to delay,
and that they would bait their steeds a few miles beyond the town, at a
roadside inn.

Pearson expressed a more important truth than he himself was aware of at
the time. From the time of Elizabeth up to that period, a number of
Popish priests, chiefly Jesuits, had been introduced into the country
under various disguises, having received dispensations from the Pope to
act any part they might consider most advisable for the establishment of
new and strange doctrines; thus dividing Protestant interests. There is
undoubted evidence of this. Most of these men, well trained in foreign
universities, accustomed to the ways of the world, were admirably fitted
for the part they were destined to perform. Some pretended to be
Episcopalians, others Presbyterians, and others Nonconformists of all
denominations. Many exerted their talents in the invention of new
sects, and they were certain to gain proselytes, being well versed in
the study of human nature. They knew thoroughly how to adapt the
principles they advocated, and the tenets they taught, to the tastes of
their hearers, and there can be no doubt that the rise of the many
strange sects which appeared at different times, from the accession of
Elizabeth, was owing to the efforts of these Popish emissaries. A
considerable number were from time to time apprehended, and found
possessed of treasonable documents, proving that they were Papists in
disguise. Some indeed were executed in consequence of having been found
guilty of treasonable practices, while others narrowly escaped the same
fate. It seemed but probable, from his connexion with the Jacobites,
that the Reverend Simon Stirthesoul was one of these disguised plotters.

"I gave you a packet of letters from Mr Harwood," observed Pearson, as
they were standing in th