itself I was bordering on Atheism. If my case were singular, if my knowledge of the most enlightened classes of Spain did not furnish me with a multitude of sudden transitions from sincere faith and piety to the most outrageous infidelity, I would submit to the humbling conviction, that either weakness of judgment or fickleness of character had been the only source of my errors. But, though I am not at liberty to mention individual cases, I do attest, from the most certain knowledge, that the history of my own mind is, with little variation, that of the great portion of the Spanish clergy. Every one who comes within this general description may still wear the mask, which no Spaniard can throw off, without bidding an eternal farewell to his country."* The author of this passage proceeds to give the history of all the various movements and conflicts and changes in his own mind, but the account is too long for quotation. The rationale of a change such as this, may be given in a few words. The Papist believes in the authority of Scripture, and therefore of every doctrine of Scripture, simply and altogether at the mandate of the Church. Let any circumstances lead him to doubt for a moment the authority of the Church, and the whole fabric of his faith falls to the ground. There is no place for such a slave to authority, between Popery and Atheism. And how can the thinking and honest mind, unless under the dominion of the grossest superstition, long continue to respect Popery? By what does she come recommended to him? By the bloody sacrifices of past ages? by the murder of Huss, and Jerome, and the Waldenses? by the dungeons and horrors of the Inquisition? But perhaps she has other recommendations: the private and public purity and moderation and simplicity of her popes and cardinals and priests; the detected impostures upon the credulity of the mob, the impious denial to the laity of the only Book by which her pretensions can be tried; by a Breviary full of follies and falsehoods. Thus commended to his regard,-or, rather, thus branded to his eye and heart-will not the

* Evidences against Catholicism, by the Rev. Blanco White.

conscientious, or, indeed, the merely intelligent mind, if it allow itself to examine, soon be tempted to distrust the pretensions and authority of Popery, and therefore of all that he has received on her authority? Hence the multitude of unbelievers in Popish countries; hence the division of her territories between the superstitious and the sceptical; hence the renewal of the Inquisition in Spain on the one hand, and the Atheism of Republican France on the other; hence the absence, in Roman Catholic countries, of the simple, quiet, pure and affectionate spirit of devotion, with which especially the poor of our country approach their Redeemer, lay hold of the hem of his garment, and find virtue go out of him to heal their diseases and to cheer their hearts.

But, my brethren, it is more than time that I should bring these observations to a close. All, therefore, on which I must now venture, is to call your attention to a few practical inferences from the foregoing statements.

1. In the first place, if such are the practical consequences of Popery; if these effects are produced whereever that system in its purity prevails; if they abound in exact proportion to the authority which it possesses; then; the tree is known by its fruit," and the plant from which such fruits are gathered cannot belong to "the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Judging by the rule of the text, what must be the place and character assigned to Popery ? Let me, then, entreat any conscientious Catholic whom I may have the happiness of addressing this evening; let me earnestly and affectionately beseech him to consider the bearing of this subject upon his own case. I know many of you to be sincere, to be devout, to be prepared for every duty and sacrifice which religion demands. But my heart yearns over you. I see you shut out from joys to which your God invites. you: I see you manacled and hoodwinked by a system of the grossest delusions: I see you shut out from the common birthright of a citizen of the world-from the privilege of seeing with your own eyes, and hearing with your own ears: I see you robbed of

the only volume which can guide you: and I call upon you, to bring Popery to the standard of our text-judge it by its fruits: is this tree, or is it not, the planting of the Lord?

2. But, in the next place, it may be said, that if the religion of any community is to be judged by the conduct of a large proportion of its professors, an equally strong argument may be raised against Protestantism.-I answer, No. There is this grand distinction: if the Protestant sins, he sins, not in conformity with his principles, but in opposition to them: the one sins in spite of his religion, and the other in obedience to it. Selfjustification, superstition, unbelief, the depreciation of the sacrifice of the cross, the substitution of outward for inward religion, are the legitimate offspring of the principles and ritual we have had to describe. On the contrary, though they may be grafted upon Protestantism, they are no part of its natural produce.

3. But finally, brethren, if such, in addition to the doctrinal errors of Popery, be its practical evils, then let us guard against its obtaining, under any form or modification, the smallest lodgment in our own souls.There is much danger, as it seems to me, of mistake upon this point. Popery is often regarded as a system so pregnant with follies and extravagancies as to be likely at once to startle the reasonable mind, and to release us from all risk of entanglement in its errors. But, brethren, it is to be remembered, that, as to the great mass of the extravagancies attached to that system of religion, they are the very counterpart of an older system of delusion-of the Paganism of ancient Rome;-that a competent examiner in fact, has traced a large portion of these mummeries to a Heathen source; and has shown, that, could the high priest of antiquity be raised from the dead, he would find himself at home at the altar of Popery. So that even these absurdities appear to possess something of congeniality to the heart in its fallen state. But, in addition to this, I am free to proclaim that Popery appears to me, in its main principles, to be so far from uncongenial to the mind, that it is rather to be considered as nothing more or less than the religion of human

nature the religion natural, congenial, and delightful to fallen man. One of the most profligate sovereigns that ever disgraced a throne where so much virtue has been seated, is said to have called Popery "the only religion fit for a gentleman ;" and for such gentlemen it certainly is. Let this consideration weigh with ourselves. Popery, instead of having to contend in the heart with any natural unsuitableness, finds there its appropriate soil. There, if left to itself, it will not fail spontaneously to vegetate; to strike root downwards and bear fruit upwards. We, also, may soon learn to prefer the decisions of men to the oracles of God; the purchased virtues of the saints, to those of self-denial and holiness; justification by our own supposed merits, to justification by the merits of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; the absolution of the church, to the acquittal of our consciences; confession to the Priest, to confession to God; the sprinkling of holy water, to the sprinkling of the Blood of Atonement; outward to. inward purification; anointing with oil, to the anointing, transforming, sanctifying influence of the Spirit of the living God. Brethren, I call upon you, as you value the interests of religion, the honour of your church, the glory of God, the welfare of your souls, to resist, by prayer, by watchfulness, by living close to the cross of Christ, by an uncompromising adherence to all the great principles of the Reformation, the progress of this natural Popery in your own soul, in the church, in your country, in the heart and practice of every human being. After all, brethren, Popery is not dead, but sleepeth, even in our own land; and although it is next to impossible that a country like our own should ever return to all the absurdities of a Popish ritual, there is a perpetual tendency in every country and every heart to acquiesce in its fundamental corruptions,-to undervalue the word of God, the sacrifice of Christ, the influences of the Spirit, the power of faith, the demands of holiness; to worship God with the lips, while the heart is far from him.

THE CHARACTER OF THE PAPACY.

BY THE

REV. R. WALDO SIBTHORP, B.D.

2 THESSALONIANS ii. 4.-He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

THE passage of St. Paul's writings, from which these words are selected, is understood by the best commentators and divines to refer to the Papacy. That this interpretation is correct, it will be the object of this discourse to show, though the remarks will chiefly be limited to the elucidation of the text.

It is of no material consequence whether by the term Papacy we understand the succession of Popes (or Bishops of Rome), or the government of the Romish. Church, either as vested in the Popes alone, or in these at the head of the college of Cardinals, or supported by General Councils. It is the Papal supremacy and dignity that peculiar power claimed and exercised by the Bishops of Rome in the Christian church, with its characteristie results-which, wherever it may be precisely defined 'to reside, we have here to do with, and to prove to be described in the spirit of prophecy, by the Apostle, in the words before us. The Church of Rome, strictly speaking, may exist separate from the Papacy, as it did for a considerable period after its first establishment; and, as such, is no more than the Greek, or the Oriental churches, or any other portion of the universal visible church of Christ. It is its connexion with the Papacy, its being the chief seat of the power of the Beast, which stamps its peculiar character in prophecy, as it is the cause of its singular corruptions; and it is the downfall of this power which is the subject of prophetic denunciation. Yet it may be observed, that as the serpent