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present time, we find that all departures from God have originated in what are called minor matters. Popery was not the production of one generation; it took many successive ones to perfect that mystery of iniquity, and many corrupt minds to devise its various complications of falsehood.

The earliest innovations upon the simplicity of the gospel were, no doubt, full of good intentions; and our reformers were actuated by pure motives, when, instead of cutting up the Papal errors root and branch, they left some few of what were considered the least important; but both parties left behind them the seeds of a plentiful crop of weeds.

Let me urge upon the people of God of every denomination, to maintain and practically exhibit the pure principles of the gospel, unleavened by the spirit of the world.

We have need of unanimity, and have so much to contend for and to maintain on points of the most vital interest, that we should be more than ever careful of raising up matter for further division. "Let no one put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Above all, let it be remembered, that a perishing world waits for us. Foreign missions, schools, institutions for the special instruction and improvement of the degraded condition of females in the East; assistance to the Continental churches, which are struggling to maintain their position against the Papal and secular power united to oppress and crush them,-these call loudly, and with urgent supplications, for the utmost aid we can give them, — by our exertions, our influence, and our property. Every year we are told of

stations languishing, and ready to give up for want of the necessary means to carry them on. Home missions and home institutions equally demand our earnest and increasing co-operation, and the bestowal of our means to sustain them. The preaching of the gospel is everywhere crippled and curtailed for want of the requisite support.

High Churchism and Tractarianism are all around us training the rising generation for Popery; and that souldestroying system, emboldened by the shameful treachery of those who profess to be its opponents, is putting forward schemes to occupy the length and breadth of our land with its machinery. Never was there a period of greater danger to the souls of men, from the united efforts of High Churchism, Popery, and Rationalistic cavilling at the word of God, issuing in denial of its inspiration and disbelief of its contents..

Our duty, then, is clear. To "abstain from all appearance of evil;" to cultivate personal holiness; to sit loose to the world, and its vain amusements and pursuits; to glorify our Heavenly Father, and to finish the work He has given His people to do; viz. to spread abroad the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the salvation of a sinful, dying world; to sow everywhere the good seed of the word; and to wield against the common enemy, not his own weapons, which are carnal, and of earthly temper, but those which are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

May the Spirit of God strengthen the hands and influence the hearts of His people to fulfil faithfully the duty which lies before them, "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God!"

C.

THE URGENT DUTIES OF PROTESTANTS IN REFERENCE TO THE TRACTARIANISM OF THE ESTABLISHMENT, WITH THOUGHTS ON THE POPE'S BULL.

PART I.

FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN! - Romanism, | cation, re-establish all of Popery but

in one of its most insidious and deceitful forms, is now sadly prevalent, as admitted on all hands, in the Church as by law established. Some twenty years ago, certain members of the University of Oxford, on pretence of checking Dissent and Popery, concocted a system, under the absurd title of Anglo-Catholicism, with the hope of realising their favourite objects.

Now, there can be no doubt that the said gentlemen have done their utmost, in the "TRACTS FOR THE TIMES," and in their pulpit and parochial labours, to defame and counterwork Nonconformists, whose teachers they never fail to stigmatise as prototypes of "Korah, Dathan, and Abiram," and deserving, with their deluded and unsacramented flocks, of the same awful visitation from Heaven. Such nonsensical effusions of bigotry and intolerance can do little harm to Dissenters who are influenced by a pure conscience. Some of the poor, we happen to know, have been converted by the gifts which Tractarians draw so abundantly from the offertory-that cunning device for securing golden opinions from many a needy or worthless disciple.

But the idea of Tractarianism proving a breakwater against the incursions of Rome, is too ridiculous to admit of credence for a moment. Perhaps the original secret purpose of the Tractarians, with the aid of the Jesuits, was first to make the Church of England Popish, and then to arrange with the Pope on what terms he would receive such a prize as the English Episcopate into his wolfish fold. Or, it may be that they were inclined to forego the headship of the Pope, if they could but restore the ghostly powers of the Convo

the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, and get quite rid of the Royal supremacy. Or, it may be that some of them did not well know where they were going, though every looker-on saw very plainly that they were on their way to Rome.

Time has fully developed this" mystery of iniquity;" and every one not judicially blind, sees that the Tractarians are the ostensible allies of the "Man of Sin." A large body of them, with some remnant of conscience still pertaining to them, have joined the great antiChristian incorporation; while many more, less scrupulous, retain their position in the Establishment, and teach rank Popery in the pulpits and collegehalls of the Reformation.

The great and urgent question which presses itself upon Englishmen at the present moment, is, " SHALI. ROMANISTS,

IN DISGUISE, BE SUFFERED TO ROB OUR
COUNTRY OF THE PRECIOUS BENEFITS OF

THE REFORMATION, AND TO THROW US

BACK ON THE DARKNESS, THE SUPERSTI

TION, THE PRIESTCRAFT, THE FOLLY, AND
THE CRIME OF THE MIDDLE AGES?"

This is a question which deeply concerns our beloved Sovereign, our princes and our nobles, our landowners, our gentry, our merchants, our shopkeepers, our mechanics, and our open-hearted, manly peasantry. All have shared the blessings of the Reformation, and all are interested in preserving them unimpaired, and in preventing the re-entrance of the anti-Christian foe. This is the most momentous question that can agitate the bosoms of Englishmen at the present crisis. The man who does not feel its thrilling importance, is either himself a Romanist at heart, or deserves to have the chain of Popery rivetted upon him and his children, as

the punishment of his criminal indifference to the inestimable blessings conferred on this land by the conflicts, the tears, the sufferings, and the martyrgroans of our pious ancestors, who achieved for us the triumph of the Protestant Reformation.

If the Establishment, with all its widely ramified influence, is not purged from the corrupt doctrines and practices of Tractarianism, the Popish leaven will be insinuated into the minds of many of the people, and a fatal sympathy will be created on the side of anti-Christ. But this work of undoing the labours of Tractarians of the last twenty years, must not be left in the hands of the clergy alone. Like most other corruptions, Tractarianism is the child of the clergy; and many of them look on it with such parental affection, that the sound-hearted portion of the English Episcopate are unequal to the task of exorcising the evil spirit that has crept into the Establishment, without the aid of the laity, who have a valid national right to see to it, that the teachers in Protestant pay shall not be Papists in disguise. Hitherto their voice has been but too little heard in the English Church; and Tractarians, by reason of their priestly notions, have done all they could to stifle it, and to make priesthood the idol of their worship. As every year, of late, has shown an increase of the pestilent heresy called Anglo-Catholicism, and as the clergy have done next to nothing to drive it from the land, it is surely high time for the laity to step into the arena, and to do noble battle against the common foe, which threatens, by stratagem, to entrap Old England into league with anti-Christian powers.

These remarks are not intended to repress, or even modify, the indignation of the British people, in reference to the recent insulting Bull of Pio Nono. No thanks to his Holiness, or his Cardinal; but they have, without meaning to do so, waked us from our slumbers; and

they may rest assured that they will not soon find us nodding again. Our first business as Englishmen is, to see that the Government and the Parliament do their duty to our noble-hearted Queen-that the insult of a foreign prince be repelled with a calmness and diguity becoming the nation, and that the Pope's Bull be reduced to an absolute nullity. This must and will be done; and no time should be lost in the doing of it. The artifice of Romish explanations, the threats of Popish priests, who obliquely remind us of the probable remonstrances of foreign courts-the sophistry of the Liberals, who care not a rush for the Reformation—the mistaken scruples of some few Dissenters, who identify Popish insolence, and polilitical dictation, with the legitimate rights of Papists, should not be regarded as of the weight of a feather in the scale of calm reason, in deciding upon the rash and unjustifiable course pursued by the See of Rome. No doubt the Pope has been told by his English counsellors, "The Papacy wants status in England; give us a Cardinal Archbishop, and we shall then occupy a new position. This is due to that section of the English clergy who have come over to us; and many more, ill at ease in the bosom of the Established Church, will join our ranks whenever your Holiness shall see fit to appoint a territorial archiepiscopal See, with Bishops under him, bearing the names of their respective dioceses." The Wisemans, and Newmans, and Wilberforces of the Papal community, have been doubtlessly calling on the poor bewildered Pope to give them status; and many not yet formally united with Rome have been waiting and longing for the event. But, Englishmen ! shall they not wait in vain? Have they not unwittingly opened our eyes to the fact, that Rome is as presumptuous as ever? And may they not see, with a less scrutinising observation than that exercised by eyes accustomed to the use of Jesuit eye

salve, that all England is at this mo- | purpose that he might think fit. The ment determined to rally round the throne, to prevent the infringement of its unquestionable rights, and to say to his Holiness, with an unmistakeable emphasis-" YoU SHALL NOT, AS A FOREIGN POTENTATE, DARE TO MAKE A SINGLE TERRITORIAL APPOINTMENT IN

THIS COUNTRY;" because such appointment would be prejudicial to the rights and prerogatives of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, and to the national liberties of this free and independent realm?" Yes! this must be the language of Protestant England to Pio Nono, and all the dignitaries of the Vatican; until the deed has been done which shall make the late Bull a piece of useless | parchment, or valuable only to prove that even the Pope, who issued it, is not infallible. There will be many attempts, from various quarters, to arrest the tide of Protestant feeling, which now flows in a healthy and refreshing current; but they will all prove fruitless to allay that intense burst of loyal, patriotic, and Protestant zeal which animates the bosoms of millions, as by one common and inextinguishable impulse. Let the Government, let the Parliament, let Her Majesty Queen Victoria, know, that the mass of Englishmen are ready, as with one heart, to second and sustain any wise measure which shall prove to the Pope, that this great nation will neither permit nor recognise the territorial appointments of the Roman Pontiff, under whatever pretence, spiritual or political, they may be made. Of the Pope we can know nothing, but as a temporal prince; and if he steps out of his place, and attempts to mystify Englishmen, by tell ing them, through his agents, that he only acts as the spiritual Sovereign of the Universal Church, we must just remind him, that we know nothing of his mystical character, and can only deal with him as we should do with any other earthly potentate who should pretend to parcel out England for any

Pope may communicate as freely as he pleases, in his mystical character, with his Cardinals, Bishops, and Priests who may be located in England; and he may instruct them how to manage their flocks as he thinks fit; but he must not insult our Queen in the exercise of his spiritual functions, he must not formally map out our country for his spiritual onslaught, nor must he presume upon our British love of liberty so far as to send us Bulls, which remind us of days long gone by, and cause the most stout-hearted defenders of the recently acquired liberties of Romanists, to doubt whether the generous policy pursued towards them by the British Parliament has not been altogether a mistake. Strange it is that, as Popery has been losing its hold in Central Europe, it has been becoming doubly insolent and aggressive at the circumference. But, thank God! the Bible is in the hands of the English people; and, with their free spirit and institutions, they will never suffer themselves to be bullied or cajoled into a tame submission to the Pope, whether in his political or spiritual character.

But how sad and fatal will be our mistake, if Britons are contented, under present circumstances, with merely repelling the aggressions of Rome! This they assuredly will do, as they value their most precious liberties, and as they would transmit to posterity the sacred rights and immunities secured to them by our glorious Reformation. But there is, alas! a formidable foe in our own camp; and it will be treason to our Protestantism to suffer that foe to occupy his present anomalous position. There may be mighty difficulties to contend with; but the removal of Tractarianism from the Establishment and the Universities, will be an achievement worthy to be regarded in the light of a second Reformation. If it be true that Tractarians have been labouring for twenty years, with

intense zeal, to traduce Protestantism | longer lift up their heel against the Re

as a heresy; if they have spoken and written reproachfully of all our Reform ers who were worthy of the name; if they have been indoctrinating the people of this country far more diligently in the figments of a post-apostolic antiquity, than in the veritable truths of Holy Scripture; if they have been restoring many customs and ceremonies which had no existence until a wretched and debasing superstition had created them; if they have been struggling to regain that priestly dominion over the laity of this country which Protestantism had well nigh destroyed; if they have been modelling their theology, their rites, their clerical habits, their churches, their pretensions, upon the Roman platform,—it is surely high time for Englishmen to look about them, and to inquire what can and what ought to be done, to stay this horrible plague which has broken out in the midst of us, and to resolve that there shall be no pause in such exertions as are consistent with law and civil order, to dislodge this new form of Popery from the high places which it now occupies.

We should have never heard of the Pope's recent Bull, but for the encouragement afforded him and his advisers, by the anomalous position of our own ecclesiastical affairs. Our work, then, will be but half performed when the Pope's Bull has been rendered null and void. Nay, it will only have just commenced. Our Protestant sympathies must be roused for our self-preservation. We must determine that there shall be no Popish teachers in the receipt of Protestant pay; that those who are looking Rome-ward, shall quicken their pace, and fall into their own proper ranks; that those who are eating the bread of a Reformed Church, shall no

formation; and that such associations of calm, enlightened, and godly men shall be formed, in all parts of the kingdom, as may be more than able, by their consecrated zeal, to achieve the grand object at which they aim.

Let every parish-population, in the length and breadth of the land, become a stronghold for the maintenance and propagation of Protestant principles and influences, and ultimately the victory will be as complete and glorious, as the means of achieving it will be honourable and Christian.

The Tractarians have had full twenty years for attempting their work of desolation, in struggling to pull down the goodly fabric of the Reformation; but an earnest, quickened, indomitable Protestantism,-full of light, and life, and power,-will not require half that time, if its plans are well matured, and well worked, to look the Popery of the Establishment out of countenance, and to render it impossible for a Tractarian Bishop to sit on the bench, or a Tractarian curate to minister in the remotest village. But let all who engage in this arduous conflict, understand well what they have to encounter, and how they are to address themselves to their difficult task.

For the detection of Anglo-Catholic teachers, we shall sketch their system, in their own language, that plain people may be able to distinguish them from honest-hearted Protestant pastors. And, having done this, we shall suggest plans whereby all earnest Protestants, who value the Reformation, may aid in abating the Romanising spirit, which now fattens and flourishes upon funds applicable only to Protestant purposes.

Brompton.

J. M.

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