their crimes." Let us again expose Montalembert's want of candour "The and truth in dealing with the past history of Roman Catholicism. The scene is France, the actors are Papists, and Leclerc—the victim. cruelty of his persecutors had been contriving all that could render his punishment more horrible. Near the scaffold men were heating pincers that were to serve as the instruments of their rage. Leclerc, firm and calm, heard unmoved the wild yells of the monks and people. They began by cutting off his right hand; then taking up the burning pincers, they tore off his nose; after this, they lacerated his arms, and when they had thus mangled them in several places, they concluded by burning his breasts. While his enemies were in this manner wreaking their vengeance on his body, Leclerc's mind was at rest. He recited solemnly, and with a loud voice, these words of David: Their idols are silver and gold, the work of mens' hands, They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord; he is their help and their shield. (Psalm cxv. 4, 9.) The sight of such fortitude daunted his enemies, and strengthened the faithful; the people, who had before shewn so much anger, were astonished and touched with compassion. After these tortures Leclerc was burnt by a slow fire, in conformity with his sentence. Such was the death of the first martyr of the Gospel in France."D'Aubigné. Hist. Ref. p. 464. Beza Icones; M.S. de Meaux Crespin, etc. Act. Mart. Lat. p. 189. France is true to her traditions by still having a defender of that system which inaugurated its "benign" treatment of heretics with "red hot pincers," bloody lacerations," and "priestly yells." Montalembert endorses all this atrocious cruelty under the plea of infallible virtue. Shameless trick. Bigotry governs his heart, and Falsehood dwells upon his lips. To quote The Times, "ENOUGH OF MONTALEMBERT." When we reflect that all the enormities previously adverted to were committed in the name of Religion, and by the contriving of the Sacerdotal Orders, our feelings instinctively recoil from a system encompassed with such blasphemy. Nature herself, though prone to cruelty and deceit, shuns that Hydra-Romanism. The Priesthood have glossed it over with all conceivable knavery, and after ignoring man's freedom, they endeavoured to people eternity vi et armis. The last most holy Ecumenical Council of Catholics terminated their "But who would force the soul, tilts with a straw Truly, our persecuted ancestors were a valiant race. WORDSWORTH. Without the aid of carnal weapons, they struggled to uphold the Truth, and died in conflict under its banner. Observe yon death-roll. The Great Captain's heroes are in eternity. THE LOGIC OF ROMANISM.-We have transposed Montalembert's opinion concerning the "illogical" character of the Anglican Church, in order to test the doctrinal soundness of Papistry. The tenets of Roman Catholicism are so numerous that it would exceed these limits to Review them in detail; therefore, we shall confine our observations to the essentials of Popery as set forth in the Articles of Faith, ordinarily termed Pius the Fourth's Creed. Arts. 1 to 12 being the same as the Episcopalian Nicene Creed, we commence with "I most firmly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions and observances of the same Church [Rome]. I also admit the Sacred Scriptures, according to the sense which the holy mother Church has held, and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures; nor will I ever take or interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." The Count de Montalembert's challenge ought to be accepted on his own ground, that is, divested of all scholastic theology. Let us make an attempt. Logic governs the operations of the understanding, and ethics guide those of the will. These are well known axioms in moral philosophy. Such truth therefore as is wholly subservient to logical deduction must be palpable to the faculties of reason. What are the bases of the ecclesiastical traditions of Rome that they should be "most firmly admitted and embraced" without any scruples whatsoever? Firstly, this knowledge has been imparted to us through an uninterrupted succession of hearsays! Secondly, by the Priesthood; and thirdly, mixed up with peculation, contrarieties, and falsehood. During the very century that this Creed was framed at Nice, many other antagonistic decrees were passed on the same subject, and without an iota of spirituality appertaining to them; indeed, "just as either party obtained the majority." Such is Montalembert's logical starting point. Oral communications transmitted from one age to another, have a natural tendency to become corrupted. It is scarcely possible to retain even the correct sounds of words, as our modern Latinity verifies. Why? Because the ear is a deceptive vehicle, especially when acting in concert with the tongue e-an organ so fickle that to rule it requires greater skill than to conquer a city; whereas the human eye, aided by the other senses, scans written evidence according to an arbitrary and universal standard of recognition, that all may see and decide for themselves. But we need not linger over the niceties of physical organization. There is ample scope to demolish the bulwarks of tradition upon general principles. "The true question is, whether the evidence of report will bear to be set up in competition with the evidence furnished by documents. We all know how little dependence is to be placed on report, even when it relates to events of the current month. A story soon becomes inaccurate if verbally transmitted. Hearsay evidence is on this account wisely rejected in our Courts of Justice; a man is only allowed to depose to what he himself has seen or heard; the tale that passes through the lips of different narrators receives a tinge from the prejudices of each. The love of the marvellous causes one to heighten an occurrence that is somewhat extraordinary. The love of scandal causes a second to aggravate that part of the case which wears the most censurable aspect. The love of hypothesis induces a third to suppress a particular which accords not with his favorite system. This suppression produces a want of connexion, which the next narrator supplies from his own imagination, to make the account complete. The newly invented part is made by another person the principal feature of the story; and thus, in the end the history received bears not the slightest resemblance to that from which it sprang. And these traditions were especially liable to be affected by the partialities or interests of those through whom they have been transmitted."-Popery Unveiled, pp. 59, 60. "If two or three intimate friends of some distinguished individual (e.g. Dr. Johnson) set about to write his life, all the records will be different, and in some instances contradictory; and though, perhaps, all might be harmonized, it is much more likely that a disputatious spirit would be engendered. Each writer will claim infallibility for himself, and almost charge the rival Author with falsehood. A spirit very like this may be traced to some of the traditionary quotations even of the early Christian Writers. The Apostles are often brought in as parties in a cause, not as simple witnesses to the Truth."-Papal Errors; their Rise and Progress, pp. 97, 98. "Tradition is one of the most essential subjects of dispute between Protestants and Romanists. The latter declare that the Scriptures alone are not sufficient for salvation; but there is the word of Godly hearsay, which is superior to the word of God in writing. So that if the Scripture says white and tradition says black, a Roman Catholic is bound to declare that white means black in God's written word. They also pretend to a kind of perpetual inspiration" (which by the way Milner styles private) "a miraculous knowledge that distinguishes the true from the false traditions. The existence, however, of such a miracle, people must take upon Papal assertion. By placing the Scripture under the control of these hearsays, the Pope and his Church have been able to build up the monstrous system of their power and ascendancy."-Blanco White, an ex-Priest of Rome. "Many doctrines of the Popish Creed have no authority but tradition. And what is its instruction but falsehood!"-Antichrist Unmasked. Fike, pp. 91, 92. "These [Romish] traditions being so numerous and scattered in many books, it is doubtful whether the Pope could tell where or what they all are.". -A Thunderbolt for Rome. Vines, p. 33. The "equivocal" language of tradition is ably exposed in Mc. Gavin's Strictures on Milner's End of Controversy. Vide Secs. viii. and ix. "It is the height of blasphemy to say that God commanded His servants with their mouths to contradict the teaching of their pens." Further, those who pretended to define the absolute belief of immemorial word of mouth evidence, differed among themselves whether or not any license of credence was admissible. At the Council of Trent "there were as many opinions as tongues."-His. Co. Tr. Champ. p. 28. Bertani objected to the clause "Scripture and tradition should be regarded with equal piety and veneration," and contended "though he acknowledged God as the Author of both, and that every truth must proceed from the Source of all truth, yet it by no means followed that whatever was true must be Divinely inspired. Likewise, the fact of many traditions having fallen into disuse, seemed to indicate that God Himself did not intend they should be venerated equally with Scripture." The Bishop of Chiozza made the next declaration, and which, says Cardinal Pallavicini, "surprised" the Council, namely, "That it was impious to equalise the authority of Scripture and tradition." These Trent magnates overlooked the fact that the word tradition means something more than memorials orally transmitted. Anything delivered formally by one to another is a Tradition. The Greek root also signifies precept, instruction and ordinance, either by word of mouth or written. Yet Cardinal Baronius could pounce with hawk-like criticism upon certain heretical translators. Dr. Milner is still more voracious: he asserts "that the |