Unigenitus which condemned Quesnel have not yet subsided; and with the condemnation of the Jansenists, much of the real piety of the Church of Rome was expelled from her communion. Let it be remembered, too, that the system which is so spiritualized by the piety of Fenelon, and the deep convictions of Pascal, at that very moment was extending the sword to the ruthless dragoons of Louis XIV., breaking every tie which can bind society together in the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and fostering the pernicious practice and precepts of the morality of the Jesuits. It should be remembered that it is not the effect which such minds as these have on the system, that should be regarded as the criterion, but the effect which the system has upon such minds, and upon the general mass of mankind; the slavish superstition of one man, and the slavish submission of the other, only prove the imposing weight of opinion and respect which could enthral such minds; while in the degraded state of the peasantry of our own country-in the patrons, stations, and holy wells, we may see the natural result of the tendencies, when uncounteracted by education or refinement. It may be said, that Protestantism presents different aspects in different ranks; and it is partially true: but the effect of it on the lower classes is to raise, not to degrade them - to disenthral their minds, and not to rivet their chains. The very exertion of intellect and employment of mind, which are the characteristics of Protestantism, have a tendency to produce this effect: the Gospel preached to the poor, raises their intellectual as well as moral character; and the mere Bibletaught peasant will frequently astonish the enquirer, not more by the correctness of his deportment, than the justness of his views and the sobriety of his opinions. It is thus Protestantism is distinguished from Popery as a system. It is indeed fitted for all classes and all situations; but it is so because, with scriptural power, it reduces all classes to one awful level, and brings in all flesh guilty before God-borrowing nothing from the world, it recognizes no difference in its ranks; it has no compromise of morality for the rich, and no commutation of penance with repentance for the poor; it has no absolution which may smooth the pillow of the terrified sinner, and no purgatory interposing its temporary punishments, to prevent guilt looking into hell. The same lesson which is read to the rich is read to the poor; the same effect, if any be produced, must be produced on both; and the only lesson which she presents to both is repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence Protestantism is adapted to all classes and circumstances, by the transmuting efficacy of its spirit, by the energy with which it overcomes the world Popery adapts itself to the shifting positions of human nature, finds its strength in the weakness of its subjects, and instead of levelling the distinctions of life, provides a religion and a system for each. This diversity of character it is easy to trace to first principles; the system of the Roman Catholic Church is the result of the gradual accumulation of faith and ceremony, under the influence of time and circumstance; it is not the transcript of the divine mind, exhibited in one harmonious code, but a mass which has been formed by circumstance and fashioned by accident, according as necessity or fortune might seem to direct. Hence, governed by men keenly alive to their own interests, the Church took advantage of every Occurrence which would seem to add to its fortune or its power: the claimed infallibility, while it permitted the Church to be stationary, denied the possibility of its retrograding, and every fresh assumption, adding to the former, took its station beside them with all the dignity of time. The policy which accommodated itself to situation and circumstance, converted political concessions into general precedents, and the course which was pursued in order to gain the support of the worldly-minded, or to terrify the weakness of the timid, became the incrustation of a Church whose boast is to be "6 semper eadem." Like the British Constitution, it is the effect of the gradual operation of time, but that operation which has secured stability to human laws by a perpetual reference to first principles, has indeed given stability, but it is the stability of error, to the additions which man has made to the Scriptural code. Protestantism, being the mere recurrence to Scriptural principles, partakes of their uncompromising character: uninfluenced by circumstances, unaltered by situation, it upholds the one standard of the divine decrees, nor permits any thing connected with this world to add or diminish thereto :-the one resembles (to use Bacon's beautiful image) the gradual work of man, proving its mortality by its progressive formation, the other bearing on its uniform front the stamp of the Divine mind. From the same circumstance may we derive another marked peculiarity of Romanism. It is the most political of all sects. Connected and identified as it is with the things of earth, it would be difficult to conceive that it could be otherwise; and the facilities of access to the upper ranks, the awful power which confession confers, and the unapproachable majesty of the priestly character, concur in establishing it. The confessor of the king or the minister, must be himself king or minister, if indeed his feelings and habits are not less terrestrial than those which have been usually found in persons chosen to so dignified a station. Hence the Roman Catholic Church has ever been busily engaged in the contests and disputes of politics, and the arts of diplomacy have been more advanced by the See of Rome than by all the exertions of all lay negotiates. Hence have sprung the religious wars which devastated France, and the persecutions which exiled her most useful children— hence the fires of the Inquisition in Spain, and her present degradation; hence the condition of the Roman Catholics in England, prevented by this very spirit from amalgamating with the Constitution; hence the state of civil discord in which Ireland has been involved since the Reformation ;-and hence the menaced activity of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and clergy preparatory to the approaching election. In this, too, Protestantism differs from its rival faith: Protestants may be demagogues, nay, partisans; but they do not derive their conduct from their religious principle. Protestantism has too little infusion of earth to make active politicians; and the turbulence which has too frequently accompanied the progress of Protestantism, may generally be traced to the secular situation of the parties. The insecurity of the lives and properties of the French Protestants during the wars of the League may be fairly adduced in excuse for their agitations. The excesses of the Anabaptists were condemned by all Protestants, and repressed by some; and the peaceful and resigned demeanour of the Waldenses under the most atrocious persecutions, exhibits a beautiful picture of that Christian patience which "hopeth all things, and endureth all things." We cannot conclude these hasty observations on the peculiarities of Popery as a system, without professing our perfect conviction, that very many of those, who have lived and died under its influence, have yet experienced and manifested the deepest piety and the warmest devotion.-We are convinced that there are many who yield themselves to the dictates of an infallible church, through the impulse of genuine humility, and who refuse to examine for themselves, not because the truth would be distasteful or abhorrent, but because they conceive their only duty to be implicit submission. No one acquainted with human nature but must know how difficult it is to shake off the impressions of early life, to unlearn the opinions with which we have been once principled, and to break through the mazes of error in which years have involved us :-and when to this difficulty is added the still keener blow, which is felt by the affections rather than the intellect; the rending asunder of the ties which nature and society have produced; and the sad hostility which a conscientious following out of scriptural examination is calculated to produce; we confess, when we consider all this, that we are not surprised at the pertinacity with which talented, intellectual, and pious individuals, cling to the often-refuted errors of popery, prefer the tranquillity of assent to the agitations of controversy, and seek exercise for their devotional feelings in that Church, which has not yet, by the blessing of providence, been altogether deprived of the cheering consolation of faith and hope. We would not then be understood in our remarks to have applied them to individuals. We speak of the system, which, we conceive, blunts or misdirects the beneficial tendencies of the human heart-associates with itself the worst and most terrestrial substitutes-form for substance, and penance for repentance. HORE HIBERNICE. No. 7. Dr. Heylin will have it, that the passing of the Irish Articles was an absolute plot of the Sabbatarians and Calvinians in England, to make themselves so strong a party in Ireland, as to obtain what they pleased in the English Convocations.* It is quite evident, from the peaceable demeanour of the Irish Clergy, and from the zeal with which they discharged their duties, that they were not tools in the hands of any faction, but served God in sincerity, labouring for the conversion and salvation of their ignorant countrymen. Many causes contributed to incline the early Reformers to favor the doctrines which are called Calvinistic. Of all the writings of the Christian Fathers, those of Augustine were most studied, and his piety perhaps recommended his readers to adopt his sentiments on the mysterious doctrines of predestination, without considering how far his system was consistent with the Scriptures. Besides this, it gave them a great advantage in overthrowing the awful doctrine of human merit, which was then taught by the Roman Catholic Church in all its deformity. The desire of being wise above what is written, tempted even many celebrated men who adhered to the Romish faith, to pry into the hidden mysteries of Him, whose ways are past finding out; witness the Jansenists, with Pascal, Arnauld, Nicoll, and Racine at their head and Michael Baius excited a violent controversy in the University of Louvain, by explaining Austin's works according to their literal meaning, instead of joining with the Pope's party, who would not allow their saint to be in error, while they issued bulls of excommunication against his doctrine. But we have reason to believe that Heylin was not so much offended with the openness with which these Calvinistic opinions were put forth, as with two other points on which the aricles are very explicit, the doctrines of abstinence, and the morality of the Sabbath. On the first of these he probably mistook the meaning of the 50th article on fasting, and on the second, we may pronounce from the general sense of the Christian world at present, that he was in error. The article in question rightly explains “ fasting to be a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food, with other outward delights from the body, for the determined time of fasting." And this is in perfect agreement with the Church of England, which knows no difference between fasting and abstinence, as is evident from the Preface to the Prayer Book. The 50th article goes on to say, "as for those abstinences which are appointed by public order of our state for eating of fish and forbearing of flesh at certain times and days appointed, they are 66 * Respondet Petrus. no ways meant to be religious fasts, nor intended for the mainte C In |