we sacrifice an impious man to God, and yet we sacrifice a servant of God to the devil.' This proposition is condemned, along with the others, as false, impious,' &c., &c.; and the Bull concludes with A COMMAND to the Patriarchs, bishops, and other ordinaries, also the inquisitors of heretical pravity, that they should in every way COERCE and COMPEL its CONTRADICTORS, and rebels of every kind whatsoever, by censures, and punishments, and other remedies of law and fact; calling in, if necessary, the aid of the secular arm.'

There can be no doubt, that had the Church of Rome still the power, she has still the will to carry out measures, to the full as monstrous and extreme as those which have already made her infamous. For it is not true, as some ignorant or false Protestants would say, that "Popery is changed." Popery is not changed. In her principles she cannot change; and in her policy, if she can help it, she will not.

(1.) In her principles she cannot change. She declares herself to be infallible; and admitted change would to her be destruction, as it would involve fallibility. No Papist ever asserted that the principles of his Church had, on any point, changed. Every priest is bound to declare that he believes every decree of every general council infallibly right, and the above, revolting as they are, among the rest. And that Papist who, while he professes to believe in the infallibility of his Church, yet declares he does not believe that Protestants ought to be exterminated, is chargeable with either ignorance or dishonesty.

(2.) In her policy she will not change, if she can help it. Witness Madeira-Maria Joaquina condemned to death, and twenty-four others shut up in prison-for what? Because they lean to heresy; and, according to the directions of the council, "heretics must be extirpated." But Rome has not such power everywhere. In our own country she has not yet the prison and the gallows in her power. If she had, she would use them. Indeed, the only reason which any well-informed honest Papist could or would give, why the Protestants of this country are not exterminated, is just this: "We would, if we could, but we cannot; " or rather, perhaps, in the words of Bellarmine, "were we attempting it,' more of us would be killed than of you;"" therefore, instead of "handing you over to the executioner," we commit you to God. "Intolerance is a dormant right which slumbers with the weakness, and awakens with the power, of Rome.” *

II. VIOLATION OF OATHS.

That the Church of Rome deliberately authorizes, and even encourages, the violation of promises and oaths on the part of her adherents, whenever these stand in the way of her own interests, is a position which admits of abundant and overwhelming proof. We are aware that the charge is a strong and a serious one, and not to be made lightly; but we are willing to leave the decision of its truth to any of our readers who will peruse the subjoined proofs-all from authorities and text-books recognised at Maynooth.

1. It is expressly laid down in the sacred canons,

Townsend's Accusations of History against the Church of Rome, p. 176. New edition.

to which every priest is sworn, that "All promises are not to be kept;" that "sometimes it is not expedient to keep a solemn engagement;" that "the Pope's power absolves from an oath of fidelity;" and, that " 'they are not to be called oaths, but perjuries, which are attempted in opposition to the interests of the Church."

2. The third Lateran Council, universally received as infallible, solemnly decreed that any oath might be broken which was "contrary to ecclesiastical utility;" that is, contrary to the interests of the Church.

3. The Council of Constance decreed that faith was not to be kept with heretics; and, carrying out that principle, persuaded Sigismund, the emperor, to authorize the burning of John Huss, who had come to answer to the charge of heresy, on Sigismund's express and solemn promise that no injury should be done him. The following was the decree in reference to his case:

"The holy Synod of Constance declares, concerning every safe-conduct granted by the emperor, kings, and other temporal princes, to heretics, or persons accused of heresy, in hopes of reclaiming them, that it ought not to be of any prejudice to the Catholic faith, or ecclesiastical jurisdiction, nor to hinder but that such persons may and ought to be examined, judged, and punished, according as justice shall require, if those heretics shall refuse to revoke their errors; although they shall have come to the place of judgment relying on their safe-conduct, and without which they would not have come thither; and the person who has promised them security shall not, in this case, be obliged to keep his promise, by whatso ever tie he may have been engaged, when he has done all that is in his power to do."

4. The Council of Trent directly sanctioned the same principle, when, in the safe-conduct offered to Protestants, they suspended, "for that occasion," 'pro hac vice," the decree of the Council of Constance in favour of the lawfulness of breaking faith with heretics; thereby, of course, implying that the decree was in itself a perfectly righteous one, and that, "after this occasion," "post hanc vicem," it was to resume its sway.

5. Dens, in his "Theology," lays down that the obligation of a promise must be held as ceasing, when "such a change of state or of matters takes place as that the promiser may not be thought to have wished to bind himself in such an event;" adding"This is also true, though the promise may have been confirmed by an oath." And Bailly, another of the chosen authorities of Maynooth, states expressly, that there is "a power vested in the Church of granting dispensations in vows and oaths."

6. In reference even to the marriage vow, Dens

says:

"Take note, that if a Roman Catholic knowingly contract marriage with a heretic, he cannot, on that head, separate himself from her, because he has renounced the right of divorce; except, however, unless the heretic promised her conversion, and would not stand to her promise: in like manner, if the Catholic knows that he is in imminent danger of losing the faith by cohabiting with a heretic."

So that if any unprincipled man is anxious to get quit of his wife, he needs only affirm that, by re

tion; whereas, strong in the brotherhood of licentiousness, the "smoking flax" of an awakened conscience might soon be quenched" in an assembly of young

men.

The last place in which we find young men is in the hired lodging-house. A good deal has been said about the class of people who keep these houses; but from experience we think we are justified in saying, that the number of bad lodging-keepers does not exceed the number of bad lodgers. We are not, therefore, disposed to make any tirade against a class of the community quite as much sinned against as sinning; but as it is possible that the system may be bad apart from the individuals who support it, we shall speak freely as to its real character. The great defect of the lodging-house system consists in its tendency to diminish that sense of reponsibility which operates so powerfully as a safe-guard of society. A young man arrives from the country, and receives an appointment in some given establishment. The duties, the hours of attendance, the length of engagement, and the salary, are all the matters which his future employer condescends to discuss with him; and having settled as to all these, the youth sallies forth in quest of his town home. He sees ticket after ticket, and ascends stair after stair, without finding a place whereon he may rest his weary foot. The good are too high, and the cheap are too cheerless. The approach of night, however, accelerates decision, and a domicile is fixed on. The employer cares not where his clerk lives, and the landlady cares not where her lodger has his place of business-the one looks for work, the other for pay. Dr Johnson long ago expatiated on the loneliness of city life, and none are doomed to know it more fully than young men who, unknown and unbefriended, come from the country to struggle for bread in large towns. They are at no age for misanthropy, and if good company cannot be had, we greatly fear that bad will not be unsought for, especially as in towns vice throws out its allurements in all forms, in all seasons, and at all hours. Bating his own conscience, what check exists on the young man? Granting that he is anxious to rise in the world, what an amount of secret depravity may be carried on in perfect compatibility with the cultivation of the mercantile virtues! Home check there is none. If the youth "pay his way," lodging-keepers have nothing to say; or if they have, it is their interest to say nothing. This is a sad amount of license at a time when

Pleasure is at the prow and Youth at the helm. There is great probability that the sense of selfrespect will be blunted or destroyed, and hence the importance of preserving the delicacy of this important element of character. Living under a friendly roof, a youth could not commit those extravagances which he might run into were he living in a house which he could leave at a week's notice with the most perfect impunity. But apart from the direct control of such a roof, collateral connections are established, which gradually draw the young man into salutary society, and so increase upon him the influence of public opinion and of local neighbourhood. At such a juncture the Church should lay hold upon

him. There is not a vein in all our population which could be more largely or more effectively drawn on for the purpose of recruiting our forces of teachers, collectors, and deacons, than those young men. This want of time which is pleaded by people with families, cannot be urged by them-their time is their own-it often hangs heavy on their hands, and many is the sigh which they set up for want of suitable occupation. No doubt, long hours of business shorten the available space on week-days, and no effort should be spared to increase that; but the Sabbath is wholly theirs, and might be richly improved. Hitherto young men have forced themselves on the attention of ministers and other public men; let the process be now reversed, and let those who toil for the world's advancement, by the spread of the Gospel, act aggressively in employing an agency so eligible in numbers and activity. Let not country ministers be content with giving, nor town ministers with receiving, a communicant's printed certificate; but let the one brother write, and the other watch. regarding the walk and conversation of these local immigrants. They are the ranks from whence the next generation of the middle classes will be drawn; and thus, as the nursery of the men who constitute our nation's strength, they are worthy of attention.

We have now only one word to say to parents, in conclusion. Unless you pray with and for your child, for the bestowal on him of that grace which maketh wise unto salvation, all the human devices which you can fall upon may not protect from that city degradation which you dread with so much dismay; whilst, if instinct with a new nature, you may safely trust him "even in Sardis."

It is too much to be feared that the vast majority of parents do not sufficiently realize the solemn responsibility incurred in training children. Long after reason has dawned, they regard them very much as playthings, and too seldom speak to them as rational and immortal beings; but when the time for separation does come, the parent may then see, although often too late, that the sprinkling of religious instruction which has been communicated, is miserably inadequate to qualify them for embarking on the stormy ocean of life alone. Let parents, then, seriously ponder as to the variety of ways in which the opportunities of instruction may arise, and let this incite them to vigorous, sustained, and prayerful efforts towards inducing their children to betake themselves to the strait gate and narrow way that lead to everlasting life.

CALM, PEACE, AND LIGHT. THERE is a Calm the poor in spirit know, That softens sorrow and that sweetens woe; There is a Peace that dwells within the breast When all without is stormy and distress'd; There is a Light that gilds the darkest hour, When dangers thicken and when tempests lour. That Calm to faith, and hope, and love is given— That Peace remains when all beside is rivenThat Light shines down to man direct from heaven!

ANON.

NARRATIVES OF POPISH PERSECUTION. In the year 1560, the Protestants who were still left at Venice, notwithstanding the persecution, sent for a minister to form them into a Church, and had the Lord's supper administered to them in a private house. But soon after this, information having been given of their meetings by one of those spies whom the court of Rome kept in its pay, all who failed in making their escape were committed to prison. Numbers fled to the province of Istria; and after concealing themselves there for some time, a party of them, amounting to twentythree, purchased a vessel to carry them to a foreign country. When they were about to set sail, an avaricious foreigner, who had obtained a knowledge of their design, preferred a claim before the magistrates of the place against three of them for a debt which he alleged they owed him, and failing in his object of extorting the money, accused them as heretics who fled from justice; in consequence of which they were arrested, conveyed to Venice, and lodged in the same prisons with their brethren. Hitherto the senate had not visited the Protestants with capital punishment; though it would appear that, before this period, the inquisitors had, in some instances, prevailed on the local magistrates of the remoter provinces to gratify them to that extent. But now the senators yielded to those counsels which they had so long resisted; and acts of cruelty commenced, which continued for years to disgrace the criminal jurisdiction of the republic. Drowning was the mode of death to which they doomed the Protestants, either because it was less cruel and odious than committing them to the flames, or because it accorded with the customs of Venice. But if the autos de fe of the Queen of the Adriatic were less barbarous than those of Spain, the solitude and silence with which they were accompanied were calculated to excite the deepest horror. At the dead hour of midnight, the prisoner was taken from his cell, and put into a gondola or Venetian boat, attended only, beside the sailors, by a single priest, to act as confessor. He was rowed out into the sea, beyond the Two Castles, where another boat was in waiting. A plank was then laid across the two gondolas, upon which the prisoner, having his body chained, and a heavy stone affixed to his feet, was placed; and, on a signal given, the gondolas retiring from one another, he was precipitated into the deep.

Dr M'Crie gives the following account of a few who suffered by this mode of execution :

The first person who appears to have suffered martyrdom at Venice, was Julio Guirlauda, a native of the Trevisano. When set on the plank, he cheerfully bade the captain farewell, and sank into the deep calling on the Lord Jesus. Antonio Ricetto, of Vicenza, was held in such respect, that, subsequently to his conviction, the senators offered to restore him not only to his liberty, but also to the whole of his property, part of which had been sold, and the rest promised away, provided he would conform to the Church of Rome. The firmness of Ricetto was put to a still severer test: his son, a boy of twelve years of age, having been admitted into the prison, fell at his feet, and supplicated him, in the most melting strains, to accept of the offers made him, and not leave his child an orphan. The keeper of the prison having told him one day, with the view of inducing him to recant, that one of his companions had yielded, he merely replied: "What is that to me?" the gondola, and on the plank, he retained his firmness; praying for those who ignorantly put him to death, and commending his soul to his Saviour. Francesco Sega, a native of Rovigo, composed several pious works during his confinement, for the comfort

And in

119

of his fellow-prisoners, part of which was preserved after his death. Francesco Spinula, a native of the Milanese, being a priest, was more severely questioned than his brethren. He was thrice brought before the judges, and on one of these occasions the Papal legate and a number of the chief clergy attended. In their presence, and when threatened with a fiery death, he professed openly the articles of the Protestant faith, and bore an explicit testimony against the usurpations of the Pope, the doctrine of purgatory, and the invocation of saints. During a fit of sickness, brought on by the length and rigour of his confinement, some concessions were extorted from him; but on his recovery he instantly retracted them, and being formally degraded from the priesthood, obtained the same watery grave with his brethren. But the most distinguished of those who suffered death at Venice, was the venerable Fra Baldo Lupetino. The following account of him by his nephew, in a book now become very rare, deserves to be preserved entire :-"The reverend Baldus Lupetinus, sprung from a noble and ancient family, was a learned monk, and provincial of the order to which he belonged. After having long preached the Word of God in both the vulgar languages (the Italian and Sclavonian) in many cities, and defended by public disputation in several places of celebrity with great applause, he was at last thrown into a close prison at Venice, by the inquisitor and Papal legate. In this condition he continued, during nearly twenty years, to bear an undaunted testimony to the Gospel of Christ; so that his bonds and doctrine were made known, not only to that city, but to the whole of Italy, and even to Europe at large; by which means evangelical truth was more widely spread. things, among many others, may be mentioned as marks of the singular providence of God towards this person during his imprisonment. In the first place, The princes of Germany often interceded for his liberation, but without success; and, secondly, On the other hand, the Papal legate, the inquisitor, and even the Pope himself, laboured with all their might, and by repeated applications, to have him, from the very first, committed to the flames, as a noted heresiarch. This was refused by the doge and senate, who, when he was at last condemned, freed him from the punishment of the fire by an express decree. It was the will of God that he should bear his testimony to the truth for so long a time; and that, like a person affixed to a cross, he should, as from an eminence, proclaim to all the world the restoration of Christianity and the revelation of Antichrist. At last, this pious and excellent man, whom neither threatenings nor promises could move, sealed his doctrine by an undaunted martyrdom, and exchanged the filth and protracted tortures of a prison for a watery grave.-M'Crie's Reformation in Italy.

Miscellaneous.

Two

THE PROPER END OF RELIGION.-Let us never

hope to make anything more than heaven by our religion, nor ever be content to take anything less.Matthew Henry.

who lie soft and warm in a rich estate, seldom come PROSPERITY UNFAVOURABLE TO RELIGION.-They to heat themselves at the altar.-South.

ILL-CONSIDERED OPINIONS.-When men first take up an opinion, and then afterwards seek for reasons for it, they must be contented with such as the absurdity of it will afford.-1b.

PROVIDENCE. He that will watch Providence shall never want a Providence to watch.-Flavel.

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts."-RoM. v. 5.
Thee will I love, my joy, my crown;
Thee will I love, my Lord, my God;
Thee will I love, though all may frown,
And troubles great perplex my road;
Yea, when my flesh and heart decay,
Thee will I love in endless day.

The first and greatest duty that God demands of us, is supreme love to him; for where he is not loved above all, he is not loved at all; and nothing must be loved beside, but what is loved for him. Love is the sum of the Law and the Gospel; it is therefore the summary of all real religion; and to love God as ours, is to love him because he is ours. Where there is not this supreme affection, nothing good is done, or not done long.-Matthew Henry.

SABBATH.

"Hear the Word of the Lord."-2 CHRON. Xviii. 18.
Hence, ye vain cares and trifles, fly!

Where God resides appear no more;
Omniscient Lord, thy piercing eye
Doth every secret thought explore;
O may thy grace our thoughts refine,
And fix our hearts on things divine!

Give close attention to the Word. God looses you this day from the world, that you may "attend on the Lord without distraction"-1 Cor. vii. 35. Attend this day to what your Lord saith to you, as men who believe that every Sabbath and every sermon, that every prayer and exhortation, every call and offer of grace, bring you a step nearer heaven or nearer hellnearer to the mansions with Christ, or to a dwelling with devils; and that endless eternity depends upon your attention to God's Word.-Willison.

MONDAY.

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted."-Ps. cxix. 71. 'Tis my happiness below

Not to live without the cross,
But the Saviour's power to know,
Sanctifying ev'ry loss.

Trials must and will befall;
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all,
This is happiness to me.

Afflictions are God's most effectual means to keep us from losing our way to our heavenly rest. With out this hedge of thorns on the right and left, we should hardly keep the way to heaven. If there be but one gap open, how ready are we to find it, and turn out at it! When we grow wanton, or worldly, or proud, how doth sickness or other affliction reduce us? Every Christian, as well as Luther, may call afiliction one of his best schoolmasters, and with David may say: "Before I was afflicted I went astray;

but now have kept thy word." Many thousand recovered sinners may cry, O healthful sickness! O comfortable sorrows! O gainful hope! O enriching poverty! O blessed day that ever I was afflicted!Baxter.

TUESDAY.

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, be put away from you."-EPH. iv. 31.

Free from anger and from pride,
Let us thus in God abide;
All the depths of love express-
All the heights of holiness!

He that keeps anger long in his bosom, giveth place to the devil. And why should we make room for him who will crowd in too fast of himself? Heat of passion makes our souls to chap, and the devil creeps in | at the crannies. Yea, a furious man in his fits may seem possessed with a devil, foams, tears himself, is deaf and dumb, in effect, to hear or speak reason; sometimes wallows, stares, stamps with fiery eyes and flaming cheeks. Were the greatest beauty to see his own face when he is angry, he could never fall in love with himself.-Fuller.

WEDNESDAY.

"Let evil-speaking be put away from you."-Ern, iv. 31.
Free us from envy, scorn, and pride-
Our wishes fix above;

May each his brother's failing hide,
And show a brother's love.

It is not good to speak evil of all whom we know bad; it is worse to judge evil of any who may prove good. To speak ill upon knowledge, shows a want of charity; to speak ill upon suspicion, shows a want of honesty. I will not speak so bad as I know of many; I will not speak worse than I know of any. To know | evil by others, and not speak it, is sometimes discretion; to speak evil by others, and not know it, is always dishonesty. He may be evil himself who speaks good of others upon knowledge, but he can never be good himself who speaks evil of others upon | suspicion.-Warwick.

THURSDAY.

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."-PHIL. iv. 11.

Since at his feet my soul has sat
His gracious words to hear,
Contented with my present state,
I cast on him my care.

'Tis he appoints my daily lot,
And he does all things well;

I soon shall leave this wretched spot,
And rise with him to dwell.

Affect competency rather than eminency, and in all thy will ever have an eye to God's will, lest thy self-action turn to thine own destruction. Happy is the man who, in this life, is least known of the world, so that he doth truly know God and himself! Whatsoever cross, therefore, thou hast to discontent thee, remember that it is less than thy sins have deserved. Count, therefore, Christ thy chiefest joy, and sin thy greatest grief; esteem no want to the want of grace, nor any loss to the loss of God's favour; and then the discontentment for outward means shall the less perplex thine inward mind; and as often as Satan shall offer any motion of discontentment to thy mind, remember St Paul's admonition: "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."-Bayly.

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