and are entirely under the control of the Priests. Various religious houses, seminaries, and institutions appear in every quarter. By the superior bearing, education, talents, and numbers of the priesthood; by the constant employment of the confessional; by the withdrawal of the pure word of God from the people; by the exciting effects of its peculiar dogmas; by keeping up the eternal war cry of hatred against Protestants-by these united means, seven millions of people are held in a state of entire, absolute, unmitigated bondage to this awful despotism.

This is not all: The aggressive principle, in its most fearful form, has been universally instilled into this people. They hold themselves bound by considerations, more than human, to vindicate, promote, and extend their religion to the utter confusion and discomfiture of all who oppose their claims.

What are the aspects of Popery? This is one of them; a grand hierarchy exists in the bosom of the British empire, including some forty or fifty Bishops; a vast concourse of Priests of all grades and orders; numerous establishments of Jesuits, Missionaries, Monks, Nans, Sisters of Charity, and Seminaries of Learning; institutions for the purpose of defending themselves, assaulting others, and filling the country with the poison of their literature; and the whole backed and supported by nine millions of willing, zealous, devoted, and undivided people. His Holiness of Rome stands on this eminence, regulates and directs this mighty moving mass, waves the wand of his authority and is cheerfully obeyed, sends forth his voice and is regarded as an oracle, nay, as the viceregent of God; asserts his absolute sway over the conscience, the judgment, and the final destinies of the soul, and is meekly submitted to as only exercising a Divine right. Will his Holiness, now that circumstances have given him such authority and power in this Kingdom, exercise it for the advantage of the nation? Will he direct these nine millions of willing hearts to pay an unfaultering allegiance to the throne, the constitution, the religion, and the laws of this country? To the throne, while he sits upon one himself; to the constitution, when he professes to be the head of a system infinitely transcending all human platforms of government; to the religion of the country, when his predecessors have uttered ten thousand curses against all its principles; to its laws, when he professes to be the fountain of law ? This is more than can be expected from the most exalted virtue and benevolence. No: the millions which constitute the subjects of the Papal dominion in this nation, must, from a necessity of moral causation, yield their allegiance to the Holy See. The Pope again must maintain the principles and rights of the Papacy; and these principles and rights cannot but be in eternal opposition and hostility to the national and religious independence of the country; so that to calculate on the neutrality, or the friendly disposition of Popery to our institutions, is the perfection of absurdity. SHE has unquestionably taken her stand, we have to take ours. Her purpose to subvert Great Britain, or in other words to bring her over to the true faith, is fully made known. The shout of victory is heard already in every kind of note.

Mr. O'Connell exultingly proclaims it as certain. Dr. Mc Hale announces it, in his pastoral communications to his Clergy, as near. Mr. Spencer, and his countless multitude of praying men and women, who meet every Thursday, in England, France, Italy, and other places, believingly anticipate it in answer to their own supplications. The Pope puts on his tiara, and the Cardinals their scarlet and purple, in the joyful certainty that England is about again to become a gem in the crown of the one, and add its vermillion and lustre to the other. From the seven hills the shout of exultation reverberates through all the regions of this great apostacy on earth, till reaching the spirits of the lost and the regions of the damned, the fall of England is caught up as a theme of boundless exultation. The joy of Rome is echoed back by hell, and the two "powers of darkness," most like each other, join in one grand chorus to celebrate the downfall and doom of the fairest, the freest, the holiest, and the most happy spot ever found on this earth, since God drove man from his first fair paradise.

IV. THE THEOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF POPERY, NOT ONLY REMAINS UNCHANGED, BUT IS NOW RE-ASSERTED AND ZEALOUSLY PROMULGATED BY THE SERVICES OF THE CHURCH.

It is quite impossible to go largely into this question at present. The most suitable mode of bringing the matter home, is, to keep in mind the recent erection of some Popish Chapel, and to ask ourselves, as to the nature of the doctrine and service therein administered. The exterior of the building is seen to be most beautiful; its architecture chaste and classic; its sculpture and paintings in the finest style of those pleasing arts; its music and singing enchanting; the vestments of its officers splendid and imposing; and the entire arrangements such as to strike the senses and impress the imagination.

On the cushion of the pulpit reposes the holy Bible, the inspired Word of God; the covenant of our salvation: Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." How is this Divine, this all-sufficient, and perfect revelation treated? The Council of Trent says-" and perceiving that this truth and discipline (viz. the truth and discipline of the Gospel) are contained, both in written books and unwritten traditions, which have come down to us, either received by the Apostles from the lips of Christ himself, or transmitted by the hands of the same Apostles, under the dictation of the Holy Spirit; following the example of the orthodox fathers, doth receive and reverence, with EQUAL PIETY AND VENERATION, all the books of the Old, as of the New Testament, the same God being the author of both, and also of the aforesaid traditions, pertaining both to faith and manners, whether received from Christ himself, or dictated by the Holy Spirit, and preserved in the Catholic Church by continual succession."

Here we see that tradition and the Bible are placed in a state of perfect equality, and these traditions, whatever they may be-for as yet this is a secret-are only to be found in the Catholic Church. But lest this should be considered an old and worn out charge, let us hear a modern expositor of this doctrine. Dr. Wiseman says, "You often

hear of Catholics admitting tradition-sometimes of their receiving what they call the unwritten word of God." He then says in reference to this, "By the unwritten word of God, then, we mean a body of doctrines, which, in consequence of express declaration of the written word, we believe not to have been committed to writing, but delivered by Christ to his Apostles, and by the Apostles to their successors." Again-" Traditions, therefore, my brethren, or the doctrines delivered down, and the unwritten word of God, are one and the same thing." Again-" Thus then, we allow of no authority but the word of God, written or unwritten." Tradition, we see, is not only considered equal to the Scriptures in the writings of this popular teacher, but they are considered a part of the word of God itself. There, then, lies the Bible in the pulpit: Is it supreme; is it the standard of the doctrines taught; is it the basis of the faith of the preacher; is it the rule of privilege and duty; is it the only authoritative voice heard? No: it is merely a decoy ; tradition, or the unwritten word, kept and preserved by the successors of the Apostles, is on an equality with it professedly, whilst practically, the word of God, as amongst the Jews of old, is "made of none effect by these traditions." Let Protestants know that the traditions of Popery, so fully identified with the Divine law, consist of any thing which the Church has chosen to propound as her authoritative dicta to the people.

The same Reverend Divine observes respecting the Priesthood -“First, above all, he, (the disciple,) reveres and values the Sacred Volume revealed by God, which he places as the foundation stone of his faith in the holiest of his temple. But, beside it is also the rod of the children of Aaron, the sceptre of power and authority, the badge of dignity and command, which God hath given to the rulers and pastors of the Church; and in this also he recognizes the honourable right to claim a place beside the other in the Sanctuary, although with such distinctions as I shall just now explain." Again he says→ "He, (that is the Lord) invests them, (the Priests) not only with great authority, but with power equal with his own; and, "whatever these men teach, is invested with that Divine authority, which he, the disciple, had found in Christ by the evidence of his miracles." Thus, by the sacrament of orders, the Priest who appears before the people to inculcate the dogmas of the Church, and to administer the ordinances, is supposed to possess the same power, authority, and rights, as were possessed by the Son of God, and that his teaching is just as binding on the conscience as the word of God itself, being equally Divine. Thus are the Sacred Scriptures mutilated in every Popish Chapel.

Suppose, again, in one of these newly-erected places of worship, any one should urge the enquiry of the jailor, "What must I do to be saved;" the Council of Trent answers, and all the books of prayer and devotion which I have seen respond to the sentiment— "Whoever shall affirm that men are justified solely by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, or the remission of sin, to the exclusion of grace and charity, (meaning infused grace and good works) which is shed abroad in their hearts and inheres in them; or that the

grace by which we are justified, is only the favour of God, let him be accursed."

"Whosoever affirm that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the Divine mercy, by which sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, or that it is confidence only by which we are justified, let him be accursed."

Thus is the enquiry answered. The scriptural doctrine is denied ; the blessed merit of the Saviour repudiated; the simplicity of faith and its sufficiency, in order to salvation rejected; and the enquirer is sent to the merits of the saints, put upon the obligation of rendering himself worthy before God by good works, and is thus kept in a state of bondage and guilt.

Again, in every place of Popish worship, the Mass is considered the most sacred, the most necessary, and is the most diligently attended. Indeed, like the sacrifices of the Jewish temple, it is regarded as the substance of religion; so much so, that in many Roman Catholic countries it alone is observed with any stated regularity, to the exclusion of instruction of any kind. The Council of Trent teaches on this subject

"And since the same Christ who once offered himself by his blood on the altar of the cross, is contained in this Divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, and offered without blood, the Holy Council teaches that this sacrifice is really propitiatory, and made by Christ himself; so that if we approach God contrite and penitent, with a true heart and sincere faith, with fear and reverence, we obtain mercy and find grace to reasonable aid. For surely God is appeased by this oblation, bestows grace and the gift of repentance, and the forgiveness of ALL CRIMES AND SINS, HOW GREAT SOEVER; for the sacrifice which is now administered by the Priests IS ONE AND THE SAME AS THAT WHICH CHRIST THEN OFFERED ON THE CROSS, only the mode of offering is different. And the fruits of that bloody oblation are plentifully enjoyed by means of this unbloody one: so untrue is it that the latter derogates from the glory of the former. Wherefore it is properly offered, according to apostolical tradition, not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities of living believers; but also for the dead in Christ, who are not yet thoroughly justified.”

Hence in the consecration of the Host, the Priest uses the following prayer:

Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, this unspotted Host, which I thy unworthy servant offer unto thee, my living and true God, for my innumerable sins, offences, and negligences, and for all here present; as also for all faithful Christians, both living and dead; that it may avail both me and them unto life everlasting. Amen."-Roman Missal.

Thus the people are taught that the Mass is a true sacrifice, that the wafer they receive is the real Saviour in his body, soul, and Divinity, and that they obtain by its reception the certain remission of all sins and crimes, though of the most heinous description.

In like manner in the presentation of prayer and supplication, whether in one of these temples of idolatry, or in private, we find the people are directed to offer their devotions in the name of an innumerable host of intercessors, but only in a very indirect manner by Christ.

A few specimens taken from the Missal, which answers to the book of Common Prayer, and is in constant use by the people, will shew

the pernicious nature of this branch of their service. We give the following:

"O God, whose right hand saved blessed Peter from being drowned, whilst he walked upon the sea, and delivered his fellow Apostle Paul from the bottom thereof, when he had been a third time shipwrecked: mercifully hear us, and grant that, by The merits of BOTH, we may obtain a happy eternity."

Again

"O God, who grantest us to celebrate the translation of the ashes of blessed Thomas (a Beckett), thy martyr and bishop, we humbly beseech thee, that, by his MERITS AND PRAYERS, we may pass from vice to virtue, and from the prison of the flesh to an eternal kingdom."

Again

"Almighty and Eternal God, who hast made this day by the celebration of the festival of blessed Swithin, thy confessor and bishop, grant to thy Church that we may obtain heaven, THROUGH HIS INTERCESSION, whose memory we celebrate on earth."

Another

"O God, who hast honoured the order of the Carmelites with the singular title of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God: mercifully grant that we who solemnize this her commemoration, may, by the aid of her prayers, arrive at eternal happiness."

One more

"O Almighty and Merciful God, who hast granted blessed Jane Frances, inflamed with the love of thee, a wonderful degree of fortitude through all the paths of life, and wast pleased, through her, to adorn thy Church with A NEW OFFSPRING: grant by HER MERITS and PRAYERS, that we also, sensible of our weakness, confide in thy strength, may overcome all adversities with the help of thy heavenly grace."

Now in all these acts of supplication we have an express recógnition of various Saints as intercessors, of human works, many of them imaginary or profane, as meritorious-every kind of blessing sought, even up to the point of eternal life, through these means, to the entire neglect of the one sacrifice of Christ, the merits of his blood, and the glory of his intercession.

Many persons ask in the triumph of an ignorant charity-Why, what harm is there in the erection of a Popish Chapel? What evil can arise out of our contributing to so good a work? The answer is -It is the focus of all these monstrous falsehoods. It is the theatre of a conclave of men who arrogate to themselves the power and the prerogatives of the Messiah; of a system which places tradition on a level with the written Word of God; of a mode of teaching which gives a false answer to the most momentous enquiry; of a service which is not simply superstitious, but which blasphemously assumes to repeat the sacrifice of the Saviour of the world, and in a mere wafer to give the whole God-man to every communicant; whilst in the devotions of the sanctuary and the closet, the poor sinner is directed to an endless number of fictitious Saints for salvation.

These places of worship are multiplying in every direction; let them go on, and the land must be covered with midnight darkness. This is the most frightful view of the whole case. To extinguish the light of Divine truth; to propagate a mighty mass of