the great business of his life. It was the constant presentation of the contrast between the things seen and the things unseen, the continual pressing home the thought-" how wrong, how outrageously wrong, was the common estimate of the littleness of time and the magnitude of eternity." Here, in one sense, all are on a par. These thoughts may associate themselves with the highest order of human intellect; they have an equally solemn interest for, and their greatness may therefore be equally appreciated by, the humblest and the most untaught.

A very high evidence of the truly Christian character of Chalmers is furnished by his feeling appreciation, or spiritual discernment, of the very essence of Christianity and the Christian life, as seen in those the furthest removed from his own high intellectual grade, and having nothing in common with himself but a "like precious faith." In all this there is no trace of that spurious sentimentalism which would seek a luxury of emotion in the thought of its own condescension, or which would delight in drawing a picture of lowly piety, that the world might see with what dignity, and through what an immense distance, so intellectual a disciple can stoop to appreciate the piety of his humble brother. No man ever presented with more feeling and power than Chalmers, the moral sublimity of that character-the Christian poor man. As we read some of his inimitable sketches, the feeling cannot be avoided, that he does indeed recognise in his subject a brother," a brother beloved"-a very near kinsman, bound to him by spiritual ties, the thought of which banishes every consideration of intellectual difference. It is one like himself, living for eternity, whom he thus sets forth:

"We know not if any who is now present, has ever felt the charm of an act of intercourse with a Christian among the poor-with one whose chief attainment is, that he knows the Bible to be true, and that his heart, touched and visited by a consenting movement to its doctrine, feels it to be precious. We shall be disappointed if the very exterior of such a man do not bear the impress of that worth and dignity which have been stamped upon his character-if in the very aspect and economy of his household, the traces of his superiority are not to be found-if, the promise even of the life that now is, be not conspicuously realised in the decent sufficiency of his means, and the order of his well-conditioned family-if the eye of tasteful benevolence be not regaled by the symptoms of cheerfulness which are to be seen in his lowly habitation. **** But these are the mere tokens and visible accompaniments of Christian excellence-the passing efflorescence of a growth that is opening and maturing for eternity. To behold this excellence in all its depth, you must examine his mind, and then see the vastly higher elements with which it is conversant, than those among which the children of this world are grovelling; then see how in the hidden walk of the inner man he treads a more elevated path; then see how the whole greatness of heaven is present to his thoughts, and what a reach and nobleness of conception have gathered upon his soul by his daily approaches to Heaven's sanctuary. He lives in a cottage, and yet he is a king and priest unto God. He is fixed for life to the ignoble drudgery of a workman; and yet he is on the full march to a blissful immortality. He is a child in the mysteries of science, but familiar with greater mysteries. **** These are the elements of the moral wealth by which he is far exalted above the monarch who stalks his little hour of magnificence on earth, and then descends, a ghost of departed greatness, into the land of

condemnation. He is rich, just because the word of Christ dwells in him richly in all wisdom. He is great, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon him." How serene, and pure, and heavenly, the spiritual atmosphere of such a passage, when compared with that which pervades the writings of the philosophers of the phalanx! It is this appreciation of the true worth and dignity of man, as an heir of eternal life, redeemed by so inestimable a ransom, which makes the immense difference between Chalmers, as a reformer, and such philanthropists as Owen, O'Connell, Ronge, La Mennais, or Fourier. Of the latter it may be said, that his whole philosophy is of the earth, earthy. The highest degree of enjoyment on earth is the highest aim which it ever proposes. Even this end, however, as might easily be shown, it must ultimately defeat, by leaving out that which gives all its dignity, and all its value, and even all its true happiness, to the present state. If Christ's words be true, then those who seek their life in this world will certainly lose, not only the life to come, but that which now is. Any scheme which rejects, or overlooks, the higher, must inevitably sacrifice the lower. The philanthropy which will not look beyond time, or which refuses to receive among its motive influences, any considerations drawn from eternity, must, in the end, generate an earthly selfishness, which will inevitably destroy and render vain all its temporal artificial stimulants and schemes of passional attraction.

Chalmers loved the poor with a far higher, and truer, and more effectual love than the Irish patriot or the French philanthropist, because he found among them, to use his own words, the materials of a new moral and spiritual creation, connected with an eternal existence. It is from the high position of the central truth of his theology, that he views this and all other human relations. It is in this, he finds the grounds of a a truly practical philanthropy, embracing both the present life and the life to come; and instead of a vain babble about rights, and social wrongs, and attractive destinies, and enlightened self-interest, he thus sets forth the doctrine of a philanthropy grounded on motives producing the most blessed results in time, because possessing a power and a light drawn from eternity.

"Let the testimony of God be simply taken, that on His own Son he hath laid the iniquity of us all,-and from this point does the humblest scholar of Christianity pass into light, and enlargement, and progressive holiness. If the poorest

be capable of being thus transformed, how should it move the heart of a city philanthropist, when he thinks of the amazing extent of the raw material for this moral and spiritual manufacture that is on every side of him-when he thinks that he is in truth walking amid the rudiments of a state that is to be everlasting-that out of the most loathsome and unseemly bodies, a glory may be extracted, which shall outlast all the storms and vicissitudes of this world's history-that in the filth and raggedness of a hovel that is to be found on which all the worth of Heaven can be imprinted that he is, in a word, dealing with the elements of a future empire, which is to rise indestructible and eternal on the ruins of all that is earthly, and every member of which shall be a king and a priest for evermore."

'Sermon on the advantages of Christian Knowledge to the lower orders of Society.

Great as is the service which Chalmers has rendered to the Church by his writings, it may well be doubted whether she has not received a still higher gift in the inestimable value of his Christian character. Our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men; and yet, there may be seasons of faintness when, perhaps, we may be forgiven, if amid the naturalism which is so rife in the world, the false churchism which is found in some quarters, and the infidel no-churchism which prevails in others, we turn to so high an example, and get some strength to our own faith from contemplating the faith of Chalmers. To some minds, however, there is, in his very position, a peculiarity which tends greatly to weaken the force of this testimony to the truth and power of the Gospel. Had he remained a geologist, or astronomer merely, and in this character risen to eminence, as he doubtless would have done,-in that case, some cold opinion from him, intimating his respect for Christianity, and certifying to the value of our "our holy religion," might have been trumpeted forth, as similar worthless testimonies have been often paraded as coming from some of the savans of the day. But Chalmers the theologian,— Chalmers who gave up science that he might give his life to the study and proclamation of Christianity,-Chalmers who proved his faith by his works,-he is a theologian, and therefore an impaired and interested witness.

Every reader of his masterly treatise on the evidences of Christianity, must remember how often, and in what varied lights, according to his peculiar manner, he exposes a similar prejudice in respect to the higher authority generally attached to a secular, than to an evangelical testimony in favor of Christianity. With what convincing logic, and with what consummate knowledge of the weakness of human nature, does he exhibit the miserable fal lacy which leads many to get more comfort to their poor faith from a few lines of Tacitus or Pliny, than from all the writings of evangelists, and apostles, and fathers. And so with us, in respect to the example before us. How much value is attached by many to the opinion of a Davy, of a Herschell, or of others, who, whatever may have been their excellences, certainly never made Christianity their peculiar study, and whose certificates, therefore, in favor, are of no more real value than those of Jefferson or Buffon against it. In our own country this foolish prejudice of a weak faith often manifests itself in a peculiar way. There are good people who take great delight in hunting out the cold and worthless religious testimony of some ex-President, or ex-Governor, or of some distinguished military commander. Sometimes, to show in a striking manner how exalted station can lend its powerful aid to Christianity, some member of Congress is cited, as having "even from his proud position among the great men of the nation," given important evidence in favor of " our holy religion ;"

and this remarkable "homage of high intellect" is held forth for the edification of our young men, and the strengthening their faith in the gospel. As though one should say—who can doubt when such men believe? Now what is the chaff to the wheat? What are all these, and ten thousand more like them, to one life like that of Paul, or Augustine, or Luther, or Chalmers? The testimony of such a theologian is actually worth more than that of all the mere chemists, and geologists, and mathematicians, and astronomers in Christendom. The evidence of one such man who shows that he is indeed living for eternity, has more intrinsic value than that of any number of speculative or philosophical friends of Christianity, who yet are manifestly living for time-xar τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου.

ARTICLE IX.

THE TAX-BOOK OF THE ROMAN CHANCERY.

By ALFRED H. GUERNSEY, New York.

Taxa Cancellaria Apostolicæ et Taxa S. Pœnitentiaria Apostolicæ, juxta Exemplar Leonis X. Pont. Max. Roma, 1514, impressum, etc.. Sylvæ Ducis, Apud Stephanum Du Mont. 1706. Letters concerning the Roman Chancery. By the Rev. RICHARD FULLER, of Beaufort, S. C., and the Right Rev. JOHN ENGLAND, Bishop of Charleston. Baltimore. 1840.

ONE of the gravest charges brought against the Church of Rome is that of having made crimes of every degree of enormity subjects of express license; so that, as is affirmed, upon the payment of a sum definitely fixed and publicly announced, permission might be obtained to commit fraud, violence, robbery, murder, adultery, incest, and even those abominations for which the modesty of modern languages refuses to furnish a name. If the charge be true, it stamps an ineffaceable brand of infamy upon that Church, which claiming to be immutable, one and the same everywhere and throughout all time, assumes a present responsibility for all her past acts. Where there is no change there can be no amendment. If Rome is guilty of the offence charged, her boasted immutability becomes her bane and her disgrace; the rock upon which she claims to be built becomes the stone to grind her to powder. If, on the other hand, the charge cannot be fully

sustained, it should be frankly abandoned. To bring falsehood to the support of any cause is so far to destroy all that makes a cause worthy of support. It is folly as great as that of the High Priest who should have burned the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat for fuel upon the altar of burnt offering.

The charge is brought by the gravest divines and the most authoritative historians, with a distinctness and emphasis which render it worthy of the most searching investigation. Robertson says: "The Court of Rome granted its pardons to such transgressors as gave a sum of money in order to purchase them.... The officers of the Roman Chancery published a book containing the precise sum to be exacted for the pardon of every particular sin. A deacon guilty of murder was absolved for 20 crowns; a bishop or abbot might assassinate for 300 livres; any ecclesiastic might violate his vows of chastity, even with aggravated circumstances, for the third part of that sum."" Schlegel affirms, that "according to this book, a man may be absolved for a murder for 20 crowns; a bishop or an abbot may commit a murder whenever he pleases for 300 livres; and for one-third of that sum any clergyman may be guilty of unchastity under the most abominable circumstances." Saurin says of the Catholic clergy: "I think I see them calculating to themselves the profits of their doctrines; consulting that scandalous book in which the price of every sin is stated so much for murder, so much for assassination, so much for incest." Planck says: "A formal tariff was drawn up for sins of every kind, those even which owed their names to the imagination of some idle casuist. In this the price of each indulgence was estimated upon the most singular principles. This almost incredible monument of the most daring oppression, and of the blindest superstition, is still extant." Bayle, in his Dictionary, quotes from the Tax-Book, and brings similar charges, which he supports by various additional authorities. Merle D'Aubigné says: "They invented the celebrated and scandalous Tariff of Indulgences, which has gone through more than forty editions. The least delicate ears would be offended by an enu

1 Charles V., b. II.

2 Note to Mosheim, in Murdock's Translation. Cent. XVI.

* Sermon on the Sufficiency of Redemption. To this his translator, Mr. Robertson, adds, in a note; " Mr. Saurin means the Tax-Book of the Roman Chancery. This scandalous book was first printed at Rome in 1514. . . . . . There we meet with such articles as these: Absolution for killing a father or mother, 1 ducat, 5 carlins; absolution for all acts of lewdness committed by a priest, with a dispensation to be capable of taking orders, 21 tourn., 5 duc., 5 carlins.' And as if this was not scandalous enough, it is added, Et nota diligenter-Take notice particularly that these graces and dispensations are not granted to the poor, for not having wherewith to pay, they cannot be comforted.'" The same translator, in his preface, says, "The Pope's Penitentiary has published the price of every crime, as it was noted on the Tax-Book of the Roman Chancery."

6

Geschichte der Entstehung der Protestantischen Lehrbegriffs, vol. I., p. 34. * See especially articles BANCK, PINET, TUPPIUS.