PROPHECY AND POPERY.• TO THE Editor of THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR. Sir, Considering that an entire devotion to the interests of Protestantism is the character of your journal, and it has fallen by the wiles of the Papacy is professedly that to restore Protestantism to the height from which your object, it has appeared to me, that short observations on the subject of Prophecy as connected with Protestantism would not be unacceptable to you or your readers, nor inconsistent with the design of your publication. If I do, I am a Protestant dividing the forces; weakening the common cause; for it was emphatically a doctrine of the Reformers that it was a doctrine of God's word that Justification by Faith only should be insisted on. Again, Sir, if my brother Protestant insists that the Church of Rome is Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the Divine, shall I argue the cause of the Church of Rome Harlot, spoken of in the Revelation of St. John the by refusing my testimony to his statement, and by insisting the system of resistance is to be carried on on the ground of some more certain charge than this? If so, again I am not as the Protestant Reformers were, but tend to pull down rather than build up, and shall be found, on the whole, harmful to the cause. denying the blessed doctrine of Justification by Faith Divine. It is not surprising that the Popes should treat crowned heads with contempt and haughtiness, obliging some to remain days and nights in their bare feet at the gate of the Pope's palace, and crowning others with their feet, and kicking off the crown again, &c., when we consider with what indignity and barbarity they treated each other. Pope Stephen VI. ordered that the body of his predecessor, Formosus, should be exhumed, stripped of his pontificals, and buried among the laity, after cutting off the fingers with which he used to consecrate. His successor surpassed him For proof of this we might appeal to the writings of in barbarity, for he ordered the same body to be our early Reformers in general, especially to the ap taken up again, the head to be cut off, and the body peals of the martyrs in their dying moments. Now for want of understanding, or at least duly apthrown into the Tiber. We might extend the list of preciating, these three grounds, Protestants, so called, barbarism to a great length. It was not an uncom-bave, I apprehend, greatly injured their cause. mon thing for the living to fulminate Bulls of excommunication against the dead, and each other, denouncing and stigmatizing one the other with the titles of heretic, schismatic, Antichrist, &c., and filling all Europe with bloodshed, confusion, and desolation. This was more or less the case in the several schisms that happened between the Popes, one of which lasted about fifty years, when there were THREE Popes contending for the pretended chair of St. Peter. It is a lamentable fact that history is considered by many in the present day as an "old almanack," and that the fearful evils which followed in the train of Popery when in the ascendancy are either forgotten or unheeded. Hence that abominable system, which has never yet disavowed its assumed claim to extensive temporal, as well as spiritual power, is cherished in the bosom of the nation, and is supported by large grants of money, emanating from the British treasury. "Like the man and the viper, England, in the present helpless condition of Romanism, forgets the envenomed sting which still remains." Should the gates of the Constitution be opened yet wider than they have been for the admission of a power, whose motto is virtually Aut Cæsar, aut nullus, who knows but another Hildebrand may be raised up, styling himself THE REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD, and hurling, as he did, kings and emperors from their thrones! We are living at a critical moment, and were it not that 66 THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH," we would be tempted to lie down in despair, anticipating nothing but destruction and ruin to everything that is "lovely and of good report." Blessed be God, our land can boast of a goodly band of faithful men, regardless of powers or favours, and ready to stand as one man in defence of THE TRUTH! To such we make our appeal, warning them of the danger which impends, and calling on them to be alive to the passing scene, and to devise and act, as if the safety of the Palladium depended on their exertions. Some have been found, who can undervalue this Some have rejected the view that Popery was Anti- Whether we, while we see we are losing ground daily, loss? Without then, Sir, being supposed at all to derogate from the importance of their labours, who enter mainly into the proofs of the other two grounds, ie., Justification by Faith only, and the unecclesiastical character of the Church of Rome, will you allow me at times to offer to you and your readers a few remarks on the point of Antichrist! And at the present moment I would ask, and perhaps some of your correspondents may favour me through you with a reply, Why are not these the times of the death of the witnesses under Antichrist? I am far from saying they are, but I ask any one to show why they are not? Why it may be thought they are; 1st. Because Mr. Mede (the greatest human authority), gave reason to think the times had not arrived in his day, and further gave signs by which they might be known when arrived. thought they had not arrived in his day, but were 2d. Because Bishop Newton (another great authority) to be looked to as future. 3d. Because Mr. Thos. Scott in his commentary, about 1819, considering and weighing all the arguments, looked on them as still to be expected. 4th. Because, though no event has as yet taken place since 1819, like that supposed by Mede to be signified by this death of the witnesses, yet events are taking place which are very similar to them, and which may therefore possibly prove to be those signified. These observations may guide your Correspondent not to answer me by names or authorities. Because, though he might quote the authority of many highly here produce, so far as authority is concerned; I valued writers to the contrary, whose names I will not prefer the authority of them who think the death has Need I then repeat that the doctrine of Justification not taken place to the authority of them who think by Faith only, the doctrine that the Pope was Anti-it has taken place, christ, the doctrine that Popery was wanting He will therefore be pleased to guide himself by in Catholicity, was schismatical and novel, were some internal evilence connected with synchronism grounds strongly of that time; that they, emphatically called Reformers, by Protestants to prove that these are not the times. would never attempt to disprove any of these charges when urged by their brethren against the Church of Rome, but rather to confirm them, while perhaps each laid some more particular emphasis on the proofs he especially insisted on, as condemnatory of that vile system. insisted on Then, Sir, should not the like be our wisdom? When my brother Protestant insists most emphatically on the doctrine of justification by faith only, shall I, as a wise Protestant, demur; and apologizing for that fallen Church on this point, insist rather on one of the others? *The above was written some time since, and intended for another publication. Circumstances which it is needless here to enter on, prevented its appearance; and we have complied with the request of the writer to insert it here. He wishes it to retain its original date, that his ideas may appear to have been unswayed by the political and ccclesiastical movements of the few last eventful months. And that they are, the following reasons make it seem probable. 1st. Let it be granted that the second woe is the Turco-Moslem woe, and that, till this power is past, the second woe, though fast spending itself, and nearly spent, is not spent. About the time, then, of its being nearly, but not quite spent, is to happen that amazing political and ecclesiastical convulsion spoken of (Rev. xi. 13), by reason of which men are to be so affrighted as to give glory to God and to repent. And this vast event is to happen the same hour the witnesses ascend, and, therefore, about three and a-half years from the time they were slain (whatever is meant by their being slain according to the interpretation of Mr. Mede). But we have seen (taken for granted), the present times are the times when the woe is fast spending itself, but is not quite spent. Therefore, about the present times we are to expect the death, the resurrection, of the witnesses, and the accompanying and consequent convulsions. Again, the same thing being granted, that the third woe is the Turco-Moslem woe, let it be further granted that the angel with the sixth vial (Rcv. xvi. ver. 12) has poured out his vial, and that the effects are now continuing, i. e., that the waters of the river Euphrates are now being dried up, but are not yet dried up, from this it will follow (and let it be granted) that we are in the times of the agency of the unclean spirits who are going forth to the kings of the earth, &c., and are gathering them together to Armageddon. If these things be granted (and they are granted by the parties from whom I seek advice), we may see, we live under some great agency for evil gathering together for a battle against God's cause, which battle will end in the fearful Armageddontic war (whether political, whether ecclesiastical, whether with bloodshed, or whether consisting of them all, matters not to this inquiry). We are also under the times when the witnesses are to be newly attacked, being killed and to lie down slain (whether politically, whether ecclesiastically, &c., matters not to this inquiry); when, too, the forces in their favour are to be marshalled and to put forth all their energies, and to be divinely assisted to restore the witnesses and confound their foes. Why may not these, as in the order of the holy book, they synchronize and agree,-why may they not throw light on each other, and the times in which we are, and the times in which we live throw light on them? About the time of the ending of the second woe there was to be a loss of power on the part of the witnesses for a time by means of the terrible attack of Antichrist. About the time of the ending of the second woe there was to be a fearful attack by every means, (fair or foul, on the part of Antichrist,) which was to be an overthrow of the parties gathered together by the unclean spirits, and therefore to be the victory to the parties they fought against. Thus, Christendom? The witnesses, then, ic ead by their agency, and because they lie dead, there is general joy through Christendom; and it may be well supposed that the rulers and people (seduced already by their agency) are pledged more deeply than ever, by reason of victory and absence of all fear, to perpetual war against the cause of the witnesses. But after three years and a half the witnesses return to life again. For we read, Chap. xi. v. 11,-" And after three days and a half the Spirit of Life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them which saw them. (Why not?) Therefore during these three years and a half two things may be supposed to be taking place: (1) a rising energy on the part of the friends of the slain witnesses, which at the end gives them the victory; and, (2) a growing, boasting confidence and security on the part of their enemies, which confidence, when they see the renewed signs of life on the part of the witnesses, will be greatly dashed, as is expressed in the words,-"great fear fell upon them." Let us return, then, to the revered text. xi. 7.-"After the death xvi. 13.-"For some of the witnesses and their time the spirits are gatherexposure, and their having ing together the kings of Why, again, do not these c. xi. 7 v.-Shew what are God's dealings with and love towards his faithful witnesses and their friends. I beg to throw out the above hint, in the hope that some of our philanthropists may act on it. A COUNTRY RESIDENT. the earth (Christendom) | human nature, is surely infinitely more so to us as and the people against the Christians, in the capital, I may say, of Christendom. saints of God, or rather, I allude to the public show of our fellow creatures, the leaders ecclesiastical, solely for the sake of filthy lucre; and, more particuof the saints, i.e., the wit-larly at present, to the exhibition of the Bosjesman nesses. And during all family and others in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. this time we may suppose There does not seem to be the smallest attempt to ena warfare (and, as it should lighten their understandings; but if due means were seem), a successful war- used, their children, at all events, might be instructed, fare, to be being carried and, by God's blessing, become valuable missionaries to on. But at the last, bear the truths of Holy Scripture to their countryhaving been all gathered men. together and being firmly united, they enter on a general war against the cause of the Almighty, i.e., (let us suppose) the cause of the witnesses, and the battle being the Sir, I purpose to take. The Protestant StatesLord's, He enters into the man, should you proceed to publish such a paper. I fight, and in the end much hope you will succeed in the attempt. By brings them into some one the circulation of the Protestant Elector in every availgeneral battle-field (whe-able quarter where I could send my numbers of that ther political, ecclesiasti- paper, I have endeavoured to further your intention. cal, or both, with or with- All our efforts are surely more than ever needful; and, out bloodshed, matters not although we may not succeed to the full extent of our to this inquiry), to them wishes, it will be no small thing to have cleared to be a field of slaughter, ourselves from the contaminations of the great apos-Armageddon, so that tacy. What with Popery in the Church and Popery then and there, receiving in the State, we are likely as a nation to be brought a final overthrow, they into fearful case, and England will too surely (I am are henceforth considered afraid) be bound at the feet of Rome again. Still, we vanquished, and that the must labour and not faint. I cordially wish you full cause in which they are and good success. Yours truly, engaged is for ever undone." agree? Why may not And c. xvi. 13, &c.Shew what are God's dealings with and wrath towards his enemies, the enemies of his faithful witnesses and their cause? The especial or extraordinary Providence which overthrows the foes of the witnesses and their friends in Armageddon? times of the ending of the TO THE EDITOR OF THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR. TO THE EDITOR OF THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR. Sir,-Having seen in several of the London and other public journals, an intimation that Her Most Gracious Majesty was likely, on her return from Scotland, to issue an order for a day of general thanksgiving, I venture to suggest its being a fitting opportunity for some great benefit to be derived to the community at large by either Her Majesty in Council issuing letters, or our venerable and beloved Archbishops transmitting such through the hands of our respective diocesans to the clergy of the Church of England, to preach sermons in aid of Church Extension, which is every day becoming more requisite, and which is an object surely that all the members of the Church of England could and would mutually unite and rejoice in such an opportunity of heartily To events which must be occurring in the same forwarding. If so much could be given for those who times. Why may not the especial voice, or extraordinary providence, which calls the witnesses and their friends to victory be They both relate to the second woe : Therefore, to the same times. But these times, it has been shewn, are our times. Therefore, these two portions of holy writ must relate to events, which are occurring in our times. Why, then, was it not to be that in these times of ours, Popery was fiercely to attack: Protestantism weakly to yield: the friends of Protestantism to rally again the enemies to be gathered together on every side, from every quarter? : Why do we not see the attack has commenced: has succeeded: 18 leading to the victory? Why do we not also see, a rally is beginning to be made, while every fierce element, whether political, ecclesiastical, or fleshly, is being introduced for a final war-the Armageddontic war-whether Popery or Protestantism, i. e., whether Christ or Antichrist shall be in the ascendant. Sir, I venture not to affirm anything. I wish for information: in my study, on my bed, in my walks, those things occupy me. They occupy me as important to my country, my Church, my times, important, too, in the councils of my God. May some man of God, well skilled in these deep things, throw light on my mind, and on the minds of your readers, and bring to bear the truth on these interesting and very important matters! and valuable labours, your brother Protestant, I am, Sir, with great respect for your constant May, 1847. A COUNTRY RECTOR. OMNIA VENALIA SUNT ROMÆ. TO THE EDITOR OF THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR. Sir, Such were the words of the historian before the fall of Rome, and surely, without a tittle of an exception, the same observation may now be applied to the capital of the British empire. I would beg through your columns to point out one of many instances of a late and similar kind, which, if allowed by the heathen historian to be a disgrace to were starving when we were on the point of it-and moreover if, as we believe, in answer to the devout.. prayers of the Church, God in his mercy has turned our scarcity into plenty-we are able,-it would be, I am convinced, not only our bounden duty, but our greatest pleasure, to give fully and even more liberally towards her support who has, humanly speaking, saved us from famine of the body in order that we may so much the more lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes, so as to enable her to receive many more under the protecting shadow of her wings and feed them with food convenient for them. Thanking you for allowing me a place in your valuable journal, I am, Sir, yours obliged, Sept. 24, 1847. CLERICUS STAFFORDIENSIS. DISSENT AND THE CHURCH.-The man has read history to very little advantage if he imagines that the abolition of the Church was originally part and parcel of Dissent. Certainly that was not the doctrine of the old Nonconformist divines-of the Baxters and others. Wesley too-and amongst his followers, we believe, the recusants from Roebuckism have been most numerous-declared that "he who leaves the Church leaves me;" and his dying words were spent in invoking a blessing on the Church of England. The old Nonconformists, in truth, regarded the Established Church as their shield against Popery, and hence it was that they resisted the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in the reign of Charles II., preferring to bear the inconvenience of those Acts, rather than that the Roman Catholics, to curb whom they were passed, should be set free from their trammels. Such was Dissent originally the modern Dissenters know best whether they have slipped away from the foundations of their faith.-Bath Chronicle. : AURICULAR CONFESSION. TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHELTENHAM JOURNAL. Sir, We have now to deal with one of the most powerful engines which Rome has invented for the furtherance of her ambitious designs. The Council of Trent asserts that Sacramental Confession to a priest was instituted by Christ, and is necessary to salvation, and that the priests of the Church of Rome have an absolving power, not ministerially, but judicially; but it gives no proof stronger than mere assertion. Passing by for the present, the times of our Lord and of his Apostles, let us see whether the primitive Church receives it as an article of faith, and when it was instituted. In the fourth century Chrysostom wrote in direct opposition to it. "I entreat and beseech and pray you to confess continually to God. For I do not bring thee into the theatre of thy fellowservants, nor do I compel thee to discover thy sins to men. Uncover your conscience to God, and shew him thy wounds, and seek a cure from him."-Homil. 5, de nat. Dei. St. Augustine, that great light of the fourth century, thus expresses himself:-"To what purpose should I confess my sins to men, who cannot heal my wounds; for how should they, who knowing nothing of my heart but my own confession, know whether I say true or no? For no one knows what is in a man, but the spirit of man that is in him."-Aug. Confes. lib. 10, cap. 3. Hilary, who also lived in the fourth century, teaches "that we ought not to confess to any person but to God."-Hil. Ps. 51. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, who lived in the seventh century, says :—“Confession to God properly obtains the pardon of sins; but by confession to men we are only put into the right way to obtain pardon.”—Theod. apud Beat. Rhen. in Præf. ad Tertul. de Pænit. In the ninth century Auricular Confession was not yet passed into a law of the Church, for the Council held at Chalons sur Saone, in the year 813, says in the 33d chapter of its Acts"Some persons assert that it is necessary to confess our sins to God; others say that it is necessary to confess them also to priests." In the twelfth century the doctrine was far from being established, for Gratian, after describing the diversity of opinions, which then prevailed, on Auricular Confession, concludes in these words:"I have in a few words explained upon what foundation the two opinions are based. It is left to the judgment of each reader to decide to which of these opinions he will subscribe, for both are maintained by wise and religious persons."-1 Dist. de Pænit. cap. 89. It was not imposed as a general practice until the Third Council of Lateran, in 1224; and even after this Council it was disputed as a point of doctrine, until at length it was made a matter of faith by the Council of Trent. The Church of Rome, then, cannot trace the doctrine to the Primitive Church, and it equally fails in proving it from the word of God. This article of the Romish faith was of too great importance not to occupy a conspicuous place among the decrees and canons of the last General Council, inasmuch as it arms the priesthood with an easy dominion over the consciences of men; and the Roman Satirist, entering fully into the spirit of this remark, has well observed : "Scire volunt sancta domus, atque inde timeri." It was necessary, therefore, that, in constituting it an article of faith, there should be scriptural authority for assigning to it this high position. The Council of Trent soon found a text to answer their purpose, and it has decreed that the institution of the sacrament of penance is clearly laid down in the following words:"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained."-John xx. 23. And Confession is laid down in one division of which this sacrament is composed. The words just quoted were addressed to the Apostles, but even a hint is not given about conferring this power on their " successors." He first breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and then he uttered those memorable words. Having received the Holy Ghost, they were gifted with an extraordinary spirit of discerning. This was a special commission to the Apostles, who could distinguish who were in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity and who were not. By virtue of this power Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead, and Paul struck Elymas blind. In support of the doctrine of confession to a priest, Matthew iii. 5, 6, is not unfrequently adduced :"There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan, and were baptized by him (John the Baptist), confessing their sins." This was evidently a public meeting, and that confession was not made secretly in John's ear. Besides the persons confessing had not yet received baptism, and confession to a priest must not be made until after baptism; for the Council of Trent says, that " a full confession of sins was instituted by the Lord, and that it is necessary by Divine appointment for all who sin after baptism," &c. The Greek word for confess in this passage signifies confession of known faults, an open and clear declaration of sins, and overthrows the recital of secret sins, which ear-confession requires. (See Leigh's Critica Sacra, in loco.) Maldonatus, an author of high repute in the Church of Rome, says,-"Quis adeo unquam Catholicus tam fuit indoctus, ut ex hoc loco confessionis probaret Sacramentum ?" "What Catholic was ever so ignorant as to prove the sacrament of confession from this place?" Acts xix. 18 is also quoted :-" And many of them that believed came confessing and declaring their deeds." The same remarks with regard to the word confess apply to this text,-James v. 16, "Confess your sins one to another," is considered conclusive. But the plain meaning of the text is,-if the people must confess to the priest, the priest must confess to the people, a course of discipline which the Church of Rome would reject with the utmost indignation. The act must be reciprocal. The apostle evidently intended that when persons have injured one another the injury should be conferred to him, against whom it was committed. It may also mean that, when persons have tempted one another to sin, or have consented in the same evil action, they ought mutually to condemn themselves and to excite each other to repentance. Cardinal Cajetan asserts that this text of Scripture has nothing whatever to do with auricular confession. His words are:-" Nec hic est sermo de Sacramentali Confessione." (Com. in Ep. in loco, page 419.) 66 the penitent was ashamed to avow, remained unacknowledged. The tender conscience is racked and torn with agony; no peace can be enjoyed till all obstacles are surmounted, and the tongue is made willing to betray the most retired privacies of the soul. Thus the priest becomes entire master. Confession may not reach the ear of Deity but by his intervention; and pardon is supposed to be bestowed, not when the gracious promises of the Gospel are believed, but at the will of a sinful fellow-mortal! Auricular confession is, How can Roman Catholics reconcile the following The amount as yet received, by Subscriptions, Sales,& texts of Scripture with auricular confession?-"I and Donations, does not equal one half of the expendi have acknowledged my sins to thee, of my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myture incurred. Many staunch and influential friends of self my injustice to the Lord, and thou (the Lord) the Protestant cause in various localities throughout hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin." (Psalm the country have spent, or are prepared to spend xxxi. 5, 6.) "Who forgiveth all thy iniquity." (Psalm cii. 3.) "I am he that blotteth out thine iniqui- large sums in contested elections, for themselves o ties for my own sake, and I will not remember thy friends. sins." (Isaiah xliii. 25.) Why doth this man speak thus ? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark ii. 7.) Such were the thoughts of the unbelieving Jews, when Jesus said to the sick of the palsy, whom he afterwards cured, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." As Christ claimed the power to remove any judgment which was the effect of sin, he also claimed the power to forgive sin. "What man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him?" (1 Cor. ii. 11.) "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity." (1 John i. 9.) The apostle says not a word of confessing to a priest, but he tells us that "He is faithful to forgive us our sins," meaning thereby, that He, who can alone forgive sins, the God whom we have offended, is the person to whom our confession is to be made. The publican in the Gospel," standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven, but struck his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner;" and it is aded that "he went down into his house justified rather than the other" (the Pharisee). Had the publican lived in the present day it would have been considered quite irregular, according to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, to say that he was justified, when he confessed only to God. (Luke xviii. 10, 14.) According to Romish legislation, it is not enough to confess actions and words; thoughts, purposes, wishes, must be equally disclosed. The laws of delicacy are rudely violated, and the timid female does not refuse to answer questions, which other lips than those of her spiritual instructor would not have presumed to utter in her presence. "Nature," says an intelligent observer, "has placed two barriers for the protection of female virtue-modesty and remorse. By confession and absolution the priest removes them both." And Dr. Delahogue, a Professor of Maynooth College, says, "that modesty, if brought to confession, is a crime that renders a woman unworthy of absolution."-Tractatus de Panit., p. 164. It is thus industriously inculcated that concealment is mortal sin. Hence absolution often fails to produce comfort. Some trivial matter, some thought which Hundreds and thousands of pounds have thust been freely given. This journal has been devoted to the cause they have laboured to advance, and its efficiency will be increased by receiving a portion of their bounty. Subscribers who have not already paid their subscriptions are requested to remit the same forthwith, by Post-office Order, made payable to "William Adolphus Macknight." The amount is ten shillings and sixpence. It has been resolved, on the. suggestion of various friends, to continue our journal on an enlarged scale, as a Weekly Paper, to be published each Friday, price Sixpence, as soon as arrangements can be completed. It will then assume the name of “THE PROTESTANT STATESMAN, AND CHRISTIAN PHILAN THROPIST." If each one who now takes our journal will become a subscriber of 11. 6s. for one year, and inform us of his willingness to do so, and will get one other friend to do the same, we shall see our way clear to proceed in the work. Subscribers will not be called on to make any remittance till receipt of the first number. Printed by ALEXANDER MACINTOSH, Printer, of No. 20, Great New-street, London, at his Printing-office at the same place, and published by WILLIAM ADOLPHUS MACKNIGHT, of No. 6, Dorisstreet East, Lambeth, Surrey, at THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR Office, No. 3, Shoe-lane, London, where all communications (pre-paid) and advertisements are received.-London, September 27, 1847. SUPPLEMENT.] SUPPLEMENT TO THE PROTESTANT ELECTOR. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH ROME ;- TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P., It is not so much in the hope of gaining your Lordship's attention, as of influencing the minds of others that the present letter is addressed to you. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1847. through the instrumentality of their respective mi- [GRATIS. Pope's Bulls and Romish influence as trifling, even whilst they are disturbing the peace of Europe, and dislocating the framework of society. The late Lord-Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, gifted The judge passes sentence of death-it may be with as he is with vast powers of mind, and justly cele a tearful eyc, and a bleeding heart. But the stern brated for his high judicial attainments, treated with a necessity of a public duty imposes it upon him. Even jocoseness alike unworthy of himself, the subject, and the executioner may sympathize, while he inflicts the the place, the introduction of Romish Bulls, and is reextreme penalty of the law, and the inquisitor of ported to have said facetiously that they should have heretical pravity, tremble, while, from a mistaken been put in the new tariff. sense of duty, he tortures his victim. Now the crime of what Rome calls heresy, is held by writers of the Romish Church, to entail guilt and punishment as The Seals of office are in your hands, but the reins severe, as those with which the crimes of theft, and of Government seem to be elsewhere. In this free country opinion goes a great way, and each man, whether he will or no, contributes something positively or negatively to the formation of such opinion.. To seek for a renewal of diplomatic relations with Rome, is to confess yourself incompetent to administer the affairs of the empire without the intervention of the Pope, or the Court or Church of Rome. Popery has never been the friend of England, and never can be. Nor will those statesmen provide most wisely for her welfare, or the peace of Europe, who augment the influence of that system. From what source the policy may have been sug2gested that would seek to unite Rome and England, is beyond me to determine; but this may be safely ales affirmed, that such policy will be in defiance of history, end at variance with principle, and in opposition to Scripture. But it is contended that the power of Popery is no longer to be dreaded. Much too is said as to the present Roman Pontiff, Pope Pius IX. He is spoken of as the Liberal Pope, the benevolent Pope, and in terms of a similar nature, expressing, on the part of those who use them, their conviction that he has bought, or should have done so, golden opinions from all sorts of people. Admitting such to be the case, we still cannot assume that "His Holiness the Pope" is more benevolent, humane, and Christian than "Her Majesty Queen Victoria." They play with these Bulls, as little children beneath the walls of a fortress, sport themselves with the cannon balls which destroyed their ancestors; ignorant or forgetful of the havoc they have occasioned, and not even murder itself, are visited; and the decrees, aware that the forge of the Vatican in which they whether of the authorities at Rome, or of the legisla- were cast, can revive, as with a magic touch, their ture at St. Stephen's, which affix punishments-and slumbering powers, and send forth others which may the sentence of judges which inflict them, are alike again shake the thrones of monarchs; march conthe results of judicial authority and unimpassioned tending armies to the battle field; convulse our whole judgment. empire, and deluge the plains of Europe with blood shed in religious war. Our Most Gracious Sovereign, surrounded by her Privy Council, most potent, grave, and reverend senators, may issue orders or a decree that shall cause a fleet to go out to China, the effect of which may be to seize a few forts, sink a few junks, and destroy many hundreds of men. The theology of Popery is not changed. Her aim is what it ever was. Her emissaries are bent upon attaining it; and would rejoice to see a highway prepared by renewed diplomatic relations with Rome, and endowment of the Romish priesthood. Will you, then, consent to this? Will you, my Lord, assist in this policy? Will you not bear in mind that God is still the Governor of the world? His written word still the guide to be followed in the administration of its affairs? If we dare take of that wealth which not the might of our arm or the wisdom of our understanding has procured, but his bounty has bestowed; if we dishonour him with it, and make his favours the means of more openly teaching and supporting what he has denounced, how can we expect a continuance of his blessing? But the national joy, the festivities of the palace, are not interrupted by this. Nor is the serenity of the Pope disturbed, or the joyousness of the Eternal City lessened when Bulls or edicts go forth from Rome to excite rebellion or revolt in the dominions of heretical princes, or a Nuncio is dispatched, with secret instructions to organise among the faithful, a system which shall uproot heretical pravity, and transfer the reins of Government power from St. James's, to the Vatican. I ask you, my Lord, if we should have stopped in the Chinese war short of the seizure of Canton, or the capture of the Emperor himself, unless fair terms had been arranged? Respect for the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire would have been vainly pleaded, all would have been alike forgotten before the paramount importance of maintaining British ascendancy. My Matters relating to mere fiscal regulations you may Lord, the Pope will no more regard Great Britain as alter, the eternal principles of truth you cannot sacred than we should have considered China in the change. like case. The interests of the Church of Rome are to the What with famine and fever-political and mercantile convulsions we cannot be said to have much whereon to felicitate the statesmen of the present day. Acts of Parliament cannot alter them-public opinion cannot affect them. Time cannot change or destroy them. Fixed and immutable as the throne of the Eternal, from whence they emanate, they stand The intrigues of the Vatican, are to promote sublimely removed from all the efforts of their petty throughout the universal world, Papal supremacy. assailants,-frowning indignantly into wretchedness The deliberations of our Parliament, the consulta- and ruin, those who, whether as nations or The virtues, power, or weakness of the individual cannot change the essential properties and nature of tions of our Privy Councils are to advance the the system, though they may greatly affect the vigour interests of British commerce, to maintain British of its administration. Need I add, that the system power. of Popery is diametrically opposed to the interests of this Protestant nation. The two august personages above-named may be regarded as the heads of two distinct systems-with the separate and distinct details of which, and their numerous ramifications and consequences, they are not supposed to be too minutely acquainted. Evils at a distance have but little weight. Proximity seems in some degree needful to sympathy. The moaning of a sick child or a dying relative would occasion a more intense and longer pain to an affectionate parent than to hear of thousands of men lost in the Caucasus, or sacrificed by a fresh irruption of Abd el Kader. Pope Pius, and Queen Victoria, each of them Those who deliberate in each of these two systems, in the exercise of their respective functions, may have to decide upon measures in which the happiness and prosperity of multitudes may be concerned. The wretched man who would make Royalty itself the object of his murderous attack is justly punished by the laws of his country. Treason against the life of the Sovereign is almost universally regarded as one of the highest crimes a subject can commit. It endangers the peace of the whole community. individuals, withstand their influence; and blessing incalculably those who yield homage to their power. Human legislation cannot alter the nature of Divine Truth, nor destroy the inseparable connexion which exists between national religion and national prosperity,-individual religion, and individual happiness. But, it may be said, this is nothing more than a repetition of the objections which, for the last half century, have been urged against any concessions to Roman Catholics,-objections which have been urged repeatedly, and have been met and overruled a hundred times. That such objections have been repeatedly raised, and that on principles of sound policy and pure reliThey, my Lord, who would renew diplomatic region,-whether by that constitutional lawyer, Lord lations with Rome strike a not less fatal blow at the Eldon, and others like-minded, or by pious and honour and independence of the British Crown, and tian divines,—is true beyond a doubt. the happiness of the people. That such objections, too, have been as repeatedly Statesmen in the present day treat the subject of overruled, is also true. Chris UPPLEM PROTEST. ELECTOR THE TRIAL OF ANTICHRIST. (Continued from our last.) The Lord Chief Justice summed up the case to the jury in the following terms :-Gentlemen of the jury, this important case being now closed, both on the part of the prosecution and on the part of the prisoner, our duty is to endeavour to explain the law of the case, and to recapitulate the evidence, in order that your minds may be refreshed after so long an investigation, and to offer such comments as may appear to us reasonable and just. Gentlemen, the charge against the prisoner is, that, having broken his faith and the true allegiance which he bore to our Sovereign Lord the King, he assumed regal authority, and, under an usurped title, levied war against his Majesty, to whom all power is given, in his realm. Now the ancient statutes, in such cases made and provided, which, like "the law of the Medes and Persians, alter not," and which are so clear and explicit, that "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein," distinctly state what constitutes high treason, and make certain overt acts, with which the prisoner at the bar is charged in the indictment, specific grounds of accusation and impeachment. Gentlemen, I consider my time well employed in quoting a few extracts from the statute book, directly bearing on the important question, which has given rise to this special commission; and I submit them to your attentive consideration, well assured that they will assist you materially in coming to a right and just conclusion as to the nature of the verdict, which, after mature deliberation, you will feel yourselves bound to pronounce. I shall now read for your information, a few clauses from the several acts, which were framed for the express purpose of giving a salutary check to the crime of high treason, one of the highest offences with which a human being can be charged: -"Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." (Psalm ii. 6) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet." (Psalm viii. 5. 6.) "The government shall be upon his shoulder." (Isaiah ix. 6.) "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut and none shall open." (Isaiah xxii. 22.) "I am the Lord; that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." (Isaiah xlii. 9.) "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' (Matt. iv. 10.) "Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me." (Luke xix. 27.) "That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii. 11.) "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) "Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords." (1 Tim. vi. 15.) These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." (Rev. iii. 7.) "He is the Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." (Rev. xvii. 14.) "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." (Rev. xix. 6.) "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." (Rev. xix. 16.) You will observe that the power and authority of our Sovereign Lord the King, according to the words of the statutes already quoted, are not only permanent, but unlimited and inalienable, and that he is supreme;-therefore every insurrection or proclamation, having a tendency to injure the person of the King, or to lead his subjects to despise or oppose his measures and Government, every usurped assumption of power, all such acts and proclamations amount to a levying of war within the statute. The question, therefore, for your determination will be, whether, when the facts are brought fresh to your recollection, which in the course of this long investigation have been stated in evidence, you can say that the acts, said to have been done by the prisoner at the bar, amount to the levying of war in the sense and to the extent stated by the law officers of the Crown. The defence set up is an alibi, and you must have observed how, on the cross-examination, the evidence adduced to establish this point completely failed. In fact, the arguments advanced are based on a mere sophism; they are a mere quibble, as was well observed by the learned Solicitor-General; nor could a more injudicious, or a more dangerous line of defence have been adopted. For except an alibi be sup ported by the clearest and most unequivocal proofs, it becomes fatal to the prisoner's hopes, and tends rather to give a death-blow to his expectations. Your own good sense and penetration have, doubtless, led you to anticipate these remarks, and to arrive at the same conclusion. Several witnesses were also examined with regard to character; and giving the prisoner at the bar the full benefit of the favourable opinions they have expressed, what does their testimony avail, if he has failed to shake or overthrow, either in the cross-examination or in his defence, the evidence brought forward on the part of the prosecution? [The Venerable Judge then commenced reading the evidence of the various witnesses who had been examined, giving suitable comments as he proceeded, and he summed up every particular with legal precision and consider able ability.] This, paid the Learned Judge, is the whole of the evidence on which you, gentlemen, have to decide; and it is for you to say whether it is sufficiently clear and convincing to warrant a conviction. It is a case for your consideration alone;―the Court cannot interfere with it, and therefore I leave it in your hands, fully assured that you will return a verdict, perfectly consistent with the evidence you have heard, and with a due regard to the solemn oath you have taken, and the awful responsibility of the position in which you are placed. The jury retired to consider their verdict, and remained absent only for a few minutes. When they returned into court, their names were called over, and the foreman, on the part of the jury, delivered a verdict of GUILTY. The Clerk of the Crown then called upon the prisoner at the bar, in the usual form, to know what he had to say, why judgment of death should not be awarded against him, when the prisoner gave him a most expressive, sullen, and dejected look, and remained silent. After a short pause the Lord Chief Justice addressed the prisoner in the most affecting and im. pressive terms. He told him that he had been charged with the awful crime of high treason against the King of kings and Lord of lords; that he had a most patient trial, and that there was not a shadow of a doubt on the mind of either the Court or the jury as to his guilt. And after a few more preliminary remarks, his Lordship concluded thus:-"I call upon you now to attend to the sentence of the court. You, Antichrist, shall be taken from the place where you now stand, to the place from whence you came; your irons are to be struck off, and you are to be stripped of all your Pontifical vestments, splendour, pomp, and dignity. From thence you shall be drawn to the place of execution, where you shall be hung with the chain of restraint, but not until you are dead; and while you are yet alive, your Church, which is your body, shall be taken down, and you shall be deprived of the vitals of your religion. Then a mighty angel shall proclaim from heaven, with a voice louder than a tremendous peal of thunder, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen!' and that the hour of your judgment is come. Your head or dominion shall then be struck off with the sword of God's inflexible justice, when the Lord of Hosts himself will consume it with the spirit of his coming. Then another mighty angel shall take up a stone, like great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, that with violence shall that great city Babylon (or Rome) be thrown own, and shall be found no more at all; and you shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord who judgeth you.' And may the Lord have mercy on the souls of all who have been living under your government, looking to you as their sovereign head, for salvation, rejecting King Jesus, to whom alone all power in heaven and earth is given, and crying out, with a blind infatuation, 'We will not have this man to reign over us!' " to his own will and pleasure, reserved to himself the day when it shall be carried into execution. Some writers, presuming to be wise above that which is written, have ventured to point out, with minute precision, the exact period when the prisoner's time shall come to an end. The attempt is vain; "for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?" "It is not for us to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." One thing, however, is quite certain, that awful denunciations are pronounced in the book of prophecy, against the mighty power, that has its seat at Rome, and from thence exercises dominion over the whole earth. The day of vengeance will come, and will not tarry ;-mystical Babylon will fall at the appointed time; the "old man on the seven hills," the man of sin, will lose his head; the members of his body, which, under his guidance and authority, have long been, and still are, "instruments of unrighteousness unfo sin," will be destroyed, and the place thereof shall know it no more," for ever! "Antichrist shall be confounded and beaten down by the force and power of God's mighty word. IIis word is omnipotent. It shall disclose the works of darkness; it shall hew down idolatry, superstition, and the whole kingdom of Antichrist, as our eyes do see this day. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; his mighty hand hath wrought these things. He hath glorified the name of his Christ. He will bless the things he hath begun. He will overthrow the whole power of Antichrist, by his presence, and by the glory of his coming. Then shall it appear who is the successor of Peter, who is the true vicar of Christ, and who is Antichrist!" The sentence of "the man of sin" is pronounced, Every thing is preparing the way for the event. The Church of Rome trembles at the revolution of Papal states, the march of knowledge and science, and the irresistable progress of her great antagon ists-Bible Societies. She quails at that Gospel sound, which is "gone through all the earth." A few more rolling suns and her glory will be seen to set in eternal darkness. Then shall the united myriads of the pure Church of Christ break forth in one universal shout of triumph-" Rejoice over her, thou Heaven, and ye holy Apostles and Prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." "Fallen, fallen, Is BABYLON THE GREAT!-to rise no more." THE END OF POPERY.-BABYLON IS FALLEN. "And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying. Babylon the great is fallen-is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."- Revelations xxiii. 2. She is fallen! she is fallen from the height of her One moment beheld her in orightness and beauty, 'Tis past-and the storm in the zeal of its duty Has blasted the bloom of her pride. In the red flames of vengeance her temples are The smoke of her torment ascends, And the scythe of destruction her glory is razing, [blazing, And widely her ruin extends. Bewailing and wonder, distraction and weeping, Such is the warlike enthusiasm now exhibiting at Rome, that many ladies of the highest rank employ themselves in embroidering scarfs, which are given as prizes to the best marksmen in the National Sentence of death having been passed on the prisoner, our Sovereign Lord the King, according | Guard. |