by which we are all admitted into the same state of duties and of privileges, undertaking the conditions of the new covenant, and gaining a right to the promises thereof. Thus saith St. Paul: by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body:' 1 Cor. xii. 13. And the like unity is inferred from the other sacraments: we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread: 1 Cor. x. 17. And again, We are all made to drink into one Spirit.'

"4. There is also an unity of obedience to all the institutions and laws of Christ, which is an instance of unity that ought by no means to be forgotten; this being no less a common duty thau the profession of the faith, the performance whereof uniteth us effectually to him as our head, and maketh us living members of his body.

“5. There is the unity of Christian affection and brotherly kindness, of which our Lord spake when he said, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.' Thus St. Paul. 'the members should have the same care one of another:' 1 Cor. xii.

"6. There is an unity of discipline and government, which is maintained chiefly by retaining in substance the same form that was left in the Church by the apostles, by the bishops and pastors confederating together, as much as may be, for the edification of their flocks; by regarding every regular act of authority in one Church as the act of the whole, and giving no occasion to breach of Christian communion by abusing a lawful or by claiming an undue authority.

"7. There is likewise an unity of communion in the service and worship of God, in glorifying God with one mouth,' in joining in the same religious assemblies for prayer and sacraments, for acts of common piety and devotion, according to the rules of the Gospel. I need not mention any more instances of Christian unity since those that are more particular may be easily deduced from these."

But, in truth, the Romish Church is the most miserably divided communion in Christendom, as her whole history shows, when popes and councils have mutually deposed, cursed, and excommunicated each other, and their religious orders keep up a continual jealousy of each other, and a perpetual fund of division within her. Whereas those who would create divison in the Anglican Church, ipso facto, place themselves without her pale, and cause no division within her, for no church can be responsible for those sects who break off from her, but the Romish Church is responsible for those sects and divisions which, by the pressure of pontifical power, she keeps within herself yet allows to divide and agitate her. So the Church of England possesses the cardinal's seventh mark more potentially than the church to whom he specially applies it.

The cardinal's eighth note is "Sanctitas Doctrine." Well, sanctity of doctrine is a distinguishing note, not only of the church, but of every individual member of it. Our Saviour pronounced a special blessing on purity of heart, with a distinct promise that the pure in heart shall see God; and the apostle has specially signified to the Church, that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

That is, both our Saviour and his apostle have recommended us, under the assurance of a special blessing, diligently to practise chastity and purity of life, and carefully to preserve the heart from couceiving, or the eye from looking with, lust on the opposite sex.

"In a

But is this sort of sanctity a special and characteristic note of the Church of Rome? We trow not. That doctine of devils forbidding to marry has smitten that church with the grossest leprosy of impurity and unchastity. A reformed priest says the "intercourse of young girls and young unmarried priests is the fulness of immorality; an occasion of glaring disorders, or of the most cruel struggles." The Maynooth class books declare that modesty in a female at confession, who is shocked at the immoral and licentious questions of a profligate priest, is a sin against the Holy Ghost! And the Rev. John Clark, an American clergyman, travelling in Europe for the benefit of his health, states on the authority of a gentleman in Malta, of "unimpeachable integrity, who has resided on the island for many years, to wit-that the morals of the (Romish) priests generally are so bad that it is impossible for any one of their number, upon becoming a Protestant, to get testimonials of a good moral character."1 In Malaga, where he sojourned a short time, the shops and theatre were open as usual on other days. magnificent cathedral at Malaga, where I attended divine service on Sunday, and which could easily contain four thousand people, there were not twenty worshippers present besides the priests. The streets, the markets, the Alameda, all public places, seemed to be thronged. The stores and shops were all open, merchants were in their countinghouses, ships were unlading their goods, all kinds of business were going forward on the Lord's day. At night the theatre was open." Again, in the same place: "I never before witnessed such an entire desecration of the day of sacred rest. It seemed to me that, among the vast crowds that peopled this place, there were none that feared God, or regarded his institutions. Bills were posted, announcing that the theatre would be open at seven o'clock. The idle and dissipated were lounging around the streets, crowding the wharfs, or sitting at the door of some cafè playing cards. All places seemed to be full of activity and life, but the lonely and desolate temples of the Lord." "I have been informed from an intelligent source that one reason of this desertion of the churches in Spain is, that the more cultivated classes of people have become disgusted with the empty forms of popery, and the licentious and immoral lives of many of those who minister at the altar, and that the general tendency among this class now is to scepticism and infidelity—a contempt and rejection of all religion."

On Mr. Clarks arrival in the Sicilian dominions, he found the same immorality reigning, and the same impurity luxuriant among the priests and people. "Nowhere in Italy are the morals of the ecclesiastical orders so loose and abandoned as in Sicily. Shameless licentiousness stalks with unblushing brow through every street; wickedness everywhere abounds, the sabbath is trodden in the dust. The corruption seated in high places, so far from being indignantly and fearlessly rebuked by the priesthood, seems to be regarded by them as a sort of warrant and licence for sensual indulgence. I was informed by an English gentleman residing here, that no set of men were so frequently brought into the criminal court as the Roman Catholic priests. A trial has been going on for several days here, in reference to a priest and a monk, both

1

Glympses of the Old World: vol. I. p. 134. Ibid. I. 65–80.

of whom were convicted of robbery and murder. The person who fell a victim to their bloody conspiracy was a lone widow possessing considerable property, and who had been particularly kind to the priest. But she had money, and he could not lay his grasp upon it without taking her life. Another case has recently occurred in Calabria, where a priest was convicted of rape and robbery. Where the land thus groans under such a load of wickedness, what can we expect? Where they who are appointed to be an example to the flock, and to lead men in the way of life, thus degrade and brutalize themselves, how rapidly must a nation descend the down-hill course of destruction! With such facts before me, I could not wonder at the state of morals I witnessed UTTER WANT OF honesty, chastity, and the fear of God."1

at the

In the preface to his sermon before the lord mayor last year, Mr. Cator says, that not one in a hundred ever saw or even heard of the Bible in Italy, and some disputed its existence till he gave them ocular demonstration, and then the police attempted to seize it as a prohibited book. This fact is corroborated by Mr. Clark: "The Bible in Rome is a strange and rare book. The only edition of it authorized to be sold here is in fifteen large volumes, which were filled with popish commentaries. Of course none but the rich can purchase a copy of the sacred Scriptures. Indeed, very few of the common people here know what we mean by the Bible. The question was proposed by one of my fellow lodgers, to the lady from whom our lodgings are obtained, and who may be considered as a fair representative in point of intelligence and religious information of the middle class of society at Rome: 'if the people here generally had a copy of the Bible in their houses?' The reply was, 'O yes, all the religious people have.' She also added, that she had a very fine copy of the Bible, and went to fetch it. When produced, it proved to be a mass-book, with here and there a passage of scripture, accompanied with Romish glosses. When it was more fully explained to her what we meant by the Bible, she replied, 'O yes, I know what you mean; that book is in several of the libraries in Rome, and some persons who are very religious also have a copy of it!'"

Monasteries and nunneries have ever been the scenes of every species of crime and abomination, and the first institution and subsequent support of nunneries have been intended for the gratification of the licentious passions of the unmarried clergy. They are iniquity unto iniquity, dens of pollution and impurity that call down the vengeance of offended heaven, on every country where such stews of licensed concubinage are suffered.

There is little sanctity in the doctrines and still less in the practices of the Romish Church; blood and plunder being its three chief characteristics. As little may the ninth note be accounted a true sign of the true church-" the efficacy of the doctrine." None could preach more pure or heavenly doctrines than our Saviour, and yet he made few converts. All the great heresiarchs, such as Arius, Mahomet, and others of more modern date, induced vast multitudes to embrace their several heresies. Within our own island Presbyterianism, and various other species of dissent, Wesleyanism, Independency, and Socialism, have all had large followings. Yet the cardinal will scarcely admit that the

1 Glympses: vol. I. pp. 198, 199,

success accompanying these several heresies is a note of their being true churches.

The ninth note was confuted by Dr. Linford, who says, towards the conclusion, "As for what Bellarmine saith in the second place, concerning the prevalency of the Christian doctrine in the beginning of the Church, we allow it all to be true; but we do not think the Church of Rome to be more concerned in it than any other Christian Church whatsoever. What then happened does very much confirm the Christian doctrine in the general, but does not at all prove any particular party of Christians to be better than another, much less the Church of Rome; for although its doctrine was once the same with the doctrine of the Primitive Church; yet, what it was in the cardinal's days, and is now, is quite another thing from what it was then. The primitive Christians converted the heathen from their idolatry to worship the true God; but the great design of the Romish missionaries is to render their proselytes entirely submissive to the Pope of Rome in all things.

"I might here conclude, did not the cardinal insist much upon the particular conversions wrought by those of the Church of Rome. Now as to the conversion of the English by Augustine the monk, may be replied,

it

"That the Centurists (out of whom he quotes this and the other instances) do expressly say that Augustin DISFIGURED rather than rightly established these churches.'

"That this was not such a general conversion as seems to be pretended; for the faith was here planted during the apostle's times, and in all probability, by St. Paul, rather than by St. Peter, or any one else. Besides Bede gives us an account of Germanus, Lupus, and Sevérus, coming over hither to reclaim the Britons from the heresy of Pelagius, several years before the arrival of Augustin; and that at his coming over several British bishops met him at Augustinsac, and stoutly refused all submission, either to the Church of Rome, or to him. Lastly, although he might be very instrumental towards the conversion of the Saxons in Kent, yet was he even in that affair mightily assisted by the authority of a Christian queen named Bertha, and a Christian bishop named Luidhardus."

That the doctrine which Augustin taught being the doctrine of Gregory the Great is vastly different from what has been since taught in the Church of Rome.

66

That Augustin's proud carriage towards the British bishops, and the death of one thousand two hundred monks of Bangor, occasioned by their denial of subjection to him, sufficiently show of what temper he was; and that he thought it lawful to make use of other means besides the efficacy of his doctrine, to promote what he was sent hither by the Pope about."

After commenting on the means used, besides the efficacy of the doctrine in the conversion of many nations in the northern parts of Europe, Dr. Linford proceeds :

"But amongst all his instances, the cardinal had least reason to have mentioned the conversion of the Indians and Jews. For, as for the Indians, the unheard-of cruelties which even the Popish historians relate to have been used towards them, and their gross ignorance after their conversion, are a sufficient evidence how little indebted they were for this conversion to the doctrine which was taught them. One would

wonder how it were possible for mankind to be guilty of such inhuman barbarities as Bartolomæus Casas, who was bishop and lived in India, relates the Spaniards to have committed. In abhorrence of which Acosta has a discourse on purpose to show the unreasonableness of making war against the barbarians on account of religion. He afterwards discourses of the capacities of the Indians, asserting that they ought to have better instructors sent them. That those which they then had were of such little use to them that, after the space of forty years, there were scarce any found amongst so great a number of converts, who understood two articles of the creed, or had any apprehension what Christ, eternal life, or the eucharist meant.

"As for the manner of converting the Jews, I shall only mention one instance which happened in the time of Heraclius the Emperor, who wrote to Dagobert, the King of France, that he would command all the Jews in his dominions to turn Christians, and either to banish or slay those who would not; who accordingly did so, banishing as many as would not be baptized.' Since Erasmus, who knew these matters well enough, has so freely declared that, although their conversion be a thing much to be wished for, yet that such courses were taken by some to effect it, that of a wicked Jew it often happened there was made a Christian much more wicked than he was before his conversion.'

66

All I shall add upon this subject shall be only this, that, since the chief patrons of the Romish cause do at this time endeavour to disguise their religion with so much artifice, and to represent it as much like ours as they can; they do really think their doctrine, by its own worth and excellency, the most likely to prevail, when it is made to appear to be most akin to that of the reformed churches."

But Popery, with all her notes, has yet one more Note fixed on her by the hand of the great apostle, -a "voluntary humility and worshipping of angels:" and she bears on her brazen forehead the ineffaceable mark of blood: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

OF

NOTES AND REFLECTIONS.

THUS our blessed Saviour suffered for my sins, and for thy sins, O Christian! Our hypocrisy was the kiss that betrayed him; our idolatry, superstition, and lukewarmness in religion, the knee that mocked him; our pride and covetousness the thorns that wounded him; our obscene speeches and blasphemous oaths the spear that gored him; our intemperance the spittle that defiled him; our inordinate passions the vinegar that distasted him; and our wallowing in uncleanness made him to wallow in his blood. So that our sins were the cause (however the Jews and others were the instruments) that crucified the Lord of glory.

LUNAN.1

The Rev. Alex. Lunan was the last established episcopal clergyman of the parish. of Daviott, in the diocess of Aberdeen, and who was ousted at the Revolution. The above is from a volume of excellent sermons published in 1712, and republished by Lewis Smith, Aberdeen, 1835; price only 1s. 6d.