taught in the College of Maynooth, I wish distinctly to declare, that we did not adopt what are generally called the opinions of the Gallican Church, contained in the four propositions of 1682, which are connected with the Gallican liberties. "I may further state as a fact, that in the full sense of the term, they never were taught in the College of Maynooth; nay, Dr. Delahogue himself, a native of France, showed one of those minds that are superior to prejudices of country, or of education, and content to follow the defined line of Catholic doctrine, he did not obtrude particular opinions on the College. Having no motive to be attached either to one or the other opinion, we have neither taught the ultra-montane doctrine, nor the liberties of the Gallican Church. I should also say, that the introduction of all the propositions of the Gallican Church would seem to me to lessen the salutary influence of the Roman pontiff, which we consider necessary for the interests of religion. In those countries where his power has been extinguished, the spiritual has become in some measure the footstool of the civil authority; when I say so, I wish to be distinctly understood, that I do not mean the honors, or titles, or emoluments, of the ecclesiastical authority-these may be preserved with a considerable diminution of that spiritual influence, which is connected with the salvation of mankind, and which is never vigorous in promoting that lofty end, but when united with the holy See."-p. 317.

Thus, we have at last arrived at something like the truth; and Dr. Crotty's hesitating tone, and the suppositions and tergiversations of the other witnesses are explained, and the manliness of Dr. M'Hale confirms the veracity of Dr. Milner, confutes the assertions of the friends of the Papal system in this country, and though it sacrifices poor Delahogue, who, as a Doctor and Professor of the Sorbonne, must have signed, and as an honest man, must have believed and taught these propositions, it yet preserves the spiritual influence unbroken, and proves that, however circumstances may have bent the spirit of Popery elsewhere, in Ireland at least, among her bishops and clergy she remains immutable. We shall not trouble our readers with any further view of the bishop's sentiments; his equivocal loyalty in p. 289, his affected doubts or real ignorance about the bulls that had been received in Ireland, and their mode of publication, p. 291, and his conviction frequently expressed that the immorality of England is connected with the circulation of the Scriptures, p. 297, 298. We must give him the praise of fair, and manly, and open statement of his opinions, which, when contrasted with the jesuitical evasions of the other witnesses raises, we confess, the Bishop of Maronia, in our estimation as an honest man,* though we must the more condemn him for his principles, and pity him for his errors.

* Of the weak and virulent, but bitter attack upon the Established Church, contained in Dr. M'Hale's pamphlet, which the diligence of the Commissioners has rescued from oblivion, we shall say nothing. It carries its own refutation to the judgment of every one acquainted with Popery, but we were certainly amused at his charging our Church with " the approbation of every error," by which it appears, that he means that certain dignitaries of the Church have approved of such. This from a member of that Church, which disclaims private opinion, and demands to be tried by her formularies; a Church which has

We had intended to have made some observations upon the ethics taught at Maynooth, the dispensing power, and the opinions regarding faith being kept with heretics—but we are weary of pursuing this system of evasion, and distinction, and sophistry; talents misapplied, and ingenuity perverted to the worst of purposes. Our readers will judge of their success in delivering the Church from some of its obnoxious tenets; they will observe, that they have asserted that the Popes never claimed power divino jure, though Boniface, and Innocent, and Paul III. and Pius V. all have done so; though Paul V. in 1606, forbade the Roman Catholics of England to take the oath of allegiance to James I. "since it contained many things contrary to faith and salvation," which things were a denial of the deposing and absolving power of the Pope; though Innocent X. in the same century declared void the treaties of Munster and Osnaburg, because the Protestants "had a free exercise of their heresy, and no treaty on ecclesiastical matters is binding without the authority of the Pope;" though in 1712, Clement XI. " by the authority committed to him by Almighty God," declared the treaty of Alt Ranstadt null and void, because "certain places by its provisions were to be surrendered to an execrable sect;" though in 1729, Benedict XIII. recanonized Hildebrand; though Clement XIII. in 1768, annulled the edicts of the Prince of Parma, issued for the government of his own state; though in protesting against the Diet of Ratisbon, the Pope distinctly asserted his power of absolving the subjects of heretical princes from their allegiance, and deposing heretics from their principalities, and abjures the notion of the Church having become tolerant," and although in 1809, in excommunicating Bonaparte, Pius VII. declares, that "his persecutors are subject to his authority by the law of God," and that "any act against the temporal rights of the Church, subject them to the severity of the sword which the Church has handed down." If such facts as these do not speak an intelligible language, we know no mode of expressing human sentiment.

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But we have done with our remarks. The theology of the Roman Catholic is essentially one of polemics, and equally so of evasion. So contradictory to the dictates of common sense, and the experience of history, and the plainest language of Scripture are her dogmas found, that the ingenuity and learning of her votaries have ever been employed to evade their force, and by the help of equivocation, and distinction, and sophistry, to save unscathed the infallibility of the Church. What an effect upon the mind of the student such a system must have, it is needless to.. say; the ingenuous character of true philosophy withers under

advocated from the most exalted stations every heresy, from the Monothelism of Honorius, and the Montanism of Eleutherius, to the Arianism of Petau, the mysticism of Fenelon, and the persecuting principles of Bossuet ! But Dr. M'Hale's character does not want confidence- he knew to whom he was writing, and would have said of detection from his Roman Catholic readers, as he did of expulsion on account of a violation of the statutes of Maynooth, "I had not the least apprehension of it," p. 299.

its influence, the mind becomes habituated to the quirks and quibbles of a shuffling and equivocating system, acquires a callous indifference to truth, except she appears in the garb in which her prejudices would dress her, and per fas et nefas, seeks to justify error, however gross, if it be sanctioned by authority-superstition, however degraded, if it have the rust of antiquity, and subserves individual interest or power. Such is modern Popery.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

ON THE CIIRISTIAN CHARACTER.

TO THE Editor of THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

SIR, It is a fact as undeniable as it is melancholy, that we frequently see professing Christians guilty of actions, from which the mere moralist, guided only by a sense of duty, would shrink. The world, who watch for our halting, rejoice at these things which they choose to regard as proofs that our religion is but a name; while the Christian mourns over them, not merely as instances of the ever rising depravity of our nature, but as cases of gross and deliberate hypocrisy. If, by tracing these things to their source, we can find reason in any degree to form a more charitable opinion of our offending brother, it will be well; and if we can thus be led to see where it is needful to take heed to our own ways that our footsteps slip not-that we ourselves do not add another to the list of professing transgressors, it will be infinitely better. In either view the subject is certainly worthy of consideration.

We know, from the very lips of truth itself, that the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. The world loves its own; and the world has not failed to devise for its own, maxims wise, solid, and good, as far as the world only is concerned. Its condemnation is—not that it wanted wisdom-but that the world by its wisdom knew not God; and thus, God and eternity being brought into view, its best wisdom is folly. But God and eternity being kept out of view, it is wise indeed: it contrives to hold the balance between conflicting passions, and urges to virtue by flattering our vices; checks revenge by selfishness, and modifies avarice by pride and sensuality; stimulates to generous exertion by emulation, and points to disinterestedness as the stepping-stone to fame; and thus multitudes of heathen moralists were enabled to hold a steady, decent, and even brilliant course. But the morality of the world is not, in these days, solely drawn from its own resources: whatever precepts of the Gospel do not, at first glance, militate against the spirit of the world are modified and adopted to complete her moral code; and the temple of Mammon is decorated with the ensignia of the

cross. In short, the morality of the world, though defective in its views and false in its principles, is full and specious; and is capable of guiding those who closely adhere to it in a decent, orderly, and creditable course, from the cradle to the grave. In ten thousand cases, it must necessarily fail; because it can never be said of it, as was said of our divine Redeemer, "his word was with power;" but, in numberless instances, it is preeminently successful in producing a kind of morality, which the world admires the more as it deems it all its own.

Let us suppose a person thus trained, and successfully trained, in the world's best morality; at once to be brought to the knowledge of the truth. A new and glorious field is opened before him-God, without whom he had hitherto lived and rejoiced to live, hath shined in his heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; those judgments which were once far above out of his sight, are now brought near to him, and are his delight; the world's opinion, which was once his only guide, is now to him what the grave clothes were to Lazarus; he is now alive to God, the trappings of the dead are no longer fit for him, and he will in future be guided simply and solely by the Word of God. So far all is well: and multitudesblessed be God for it!—having thus received the truth, go like the Ethiopian eunuch on their way rejoicing; guided simply by the written word, which now their hearts are opened to hear and understand. But it is not always thus-the young convert is perhaps assailed by a host of opposers; he finds perhaps the truth of what is written, "a man's foes shall be those of his own household ;" he is well pleased with persecution, and perhaps a little exaggerates it; as yet but imperfectly acquainted with Scripture, and unskilful in the use of spiritual weapons, he is foiled in argument while he knows himself to be right, and is unable to give a satisfactory reason for avoiding what he knows to be wronghe is, perhaps, kept from the society of Christians whose counsel might be of use to him at this trying period, or himself avoids them, fearing to be guided by man; all that he has learned, up to the moment of his conversion, is of no avail to him; the veil has been torn from his eyes, the filthiness of the white sepulchre has been made bare, and he will not seek for the living among the dead. The man then a hundred years old is, in point of experience, of practical and doctrinal knowledge, as but a child; or rather he is much worse off-for, in the code of the world-the code he has renounced-right and wrong, truth and falsehood, have been so curiously twisted together, while right actions have been inculcated on erroneous principles, that he must possess a knowledge superior to that communicated by the fruit of the forbidden tree-a spiritual discernment not to be acquired by man's boasted reason-who can know how to chuse the good and to refuse the evil; and can we wonder, if, in unwinding this tangled web, the evil should sometimes be retained with the good, or the good discarded with the evil-if a man conscious that he had for years, from worldly motives,

shined,

The humble servant of all human kind,

should, in endeavouring to fulfil the command, "lie not one to another," forget that it is also written, "be pitiful, be courteous"- -or if he, who was conscious that he had "wasted his substance in riotous living," should, remembering that it is written, "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel,” forget that it is written again, "use hospitality one to another without grudging". —or should he even wander more widely from the path marked by the footsteps of the Redeemer's flock, ought we therefore to pronounce him a hypocrite? or ought we not to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted ?

I have written thus far, not to excuse sin in those in whom it is least excusable-those who profess themselves the servants of him whose name was called Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins-but to try to point out how sin may be suffered, even in them, without their knowledge or wilful acquiescence; in order to shew the danger of these too readily made conclusions-"Such a one's conduct is inconsistent, therefore he is a hypocrite"- "I am not a hypocrite, therefore my conduct is not inconsistent."-With respect to the first, I have I think shewn that it is possible, nay that (the deep depravity of our nature considered,) it is highly probable, that a man may, in many instances, act as a Christian ought not to act, and yet not be a hypocrite. But I have wofully failed in my purpose, if I have said any thing that could tend to make sin appear a light matter in any; but, above all, in a professing Christian. My object in shewing how these things may be is not to palliate them, but to suggest a remedy.

The newly awakened Christian has discovered that the world, the chosen guide of his youth, is a treacherous deceiver; and therefore her counsels must be abandoned as leading to certain ruin but he has found another guide, sure as the covenant of night and day, even the word of him whose name is faithful and true; and that commandment is not only " perfect converting the soul," but "pure enlightening the eyes." Now, it necessarily follows that, if the law of God be perfect, it must afford a rule for every instance, whether minute or large; and that it must be, at least, fitted to supply the place of the code of the world as affording a guide, not only for our general course, but for every particular of our action and bearing throughout the way. If then the Christian is not as << thoroughly furnished" according to his views, as the man of the world is according to his, the want must arise, not from the Christian being without a rule, but from his not having applied that rule to himself. The fact is, it is easier to most minds to pull down than to build up; and nature likes what is easy, and what is flattering to the flesh. Thus to confess, that there is no salvation to be found from works of righteousness that we have done is much less offensive to the natural taste of many, than to rejoice in the salvation purchased by the righteousness of Christ; it is easier to them to "cast off" particularly what is external and striking of "the works of darkness,' than to "put on them the armour of light;" to "6 come out"