J. S. And what a dangerous power, too. Then, again, the principles contained and referred to in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Menochius, Maldonatus, Bailly, Reiffenstuel and others, are of a frightful nature.

Reiffenstuel says, Tit. 7, de Hæreticis, "That he who owes anything to a heretic, by means of purchase, promise, exchange, pledge, deposits, loan, or any other contract, is ipso jure freed from the obligation, and is not bound to keep his promise, bargain, or contract, or his plighted faith, even though sworn to a heretic !!"

And again-Tit. De jure jurando, No. 81, he 66 that says, a general oath of obserying the statutes, capitulations or customs of any church or community obliges only to observe things lawful, possible, and not prejudicial to the liberties of the Church!!”

P. S.-Yes, the case of those unhappy people is very deplorable. But what can we do for them?

J. S.-If we can do nothing for them may we not protect ourselves? England is the bulwark of Protestantism. Beneath her banner, civil and religious liberty-the twin glories of our land-have grown up together. Let us protect ourselves from the invasion of Romish theology, and Romish policy, which will otherwise, I fear, be a more successful invasion than that of the Spanish armada.

P.S.-But what is said about persecution? J. S.-Reiffenstuel says, "Impenitent heretics, who are unwilling to be converted, but obstinately persevering in their heresy, are to be put to death-ultimo supplicio afficiendi sunt—whether they be clergy or laity, but so that the heretical clergy first be degraded, and afterwards delivered to the secular power to be punished with death!"

St. Thomas, Maldonatus and others, are not more lenient. In the commentary of the

John Search is quite right in this: and the language of Dominus Dens in his Theologia Moralis is of a nature not less appalling. In Vol. i. p. 218-9, No. 159, he thus writes:

Q. What is the seal of sacramental confession? A. It is the obligation of concealing those things which are learned from sacramental confession.

Q. Can a case be given in which it is lawful to break the sacramental seal?

A. No, it cannot; though the safety or life of a man, or the ruin of the state, might depend thereon. Q. What answer then ought a confessor to make, when asked about a truth which he knows only from sacramental confession.

A. He ought to say, he does not know it, and if it be necessary confirm it with an oath!! Objection: It is in no case lawful to tell a lie, but a confessor so speaking would lie, because he knows the truth: therefore, &c.

A. I deny the minor, (that is, that the priest would be guilty of a lie.) For such a confessor is asked as a man, and he answers as man, but he does not know that truth as man, though he knows it as God!!"

says St. Thomas Aquinas; and that meaning is in

cluded in the answer, "for when he is questioned, or answers, out of confession, he is regarded as man!!" (For some frightful results of this monstrous dogma, See Publication of Protestant Association, No. 16.)

of St. Matthew, speaking of heretics, it is said, "When therefore they can be distinguished, and separated, undoubtedly they are to be separated; undoubtedly they are to be burned !!" These principles of intolerance are taken from their own writers: and for disseminating principles which teach men to regard you as a heretic and persecute you, you are paying every year.

P. S. But do you think they teach that to the priests?

J. S.-Yes, certainly; and the practice of the Romish priesthood affords a painful comment upon the text. Does not the conduct of the priests, and the Roman Catholic population in Ireland, put it beyond a doubt? I might bring forward many more quotations, and show you the operation of these principles both upon the priesthood and the people, not only in Ireland but in other countries of Europe; and I must ask you,

apart even from all religious considerations, whether you think that we, as honest men and as freemen, can contribute to the dissemination of such dishonest and libertycrushing principles ?

All this is true, as I can show you any day when you will come and look into the books with me.

(To be continued.)

Agreeably to such principles, one of the prayers in her Liturgy is constructed. Though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us.

And the very same doctrine is taught in the second part of her Homily on the misery

of man.

Thus we have heard, how evil we be of ourselves; how of ourselves and by ourselves we have no goodness, help, or salvation, but contrariwise, sin, damnation, and death everlasting: which if we duly weigh and

BY THE REV. G. S. FABER, b.d.

(Continued from page 134.)

II. Let the will next be brought to the test and we shall find it no less deficient than the understanding.

Our inclinations, resolutely bent upon earthly and sensual enjoyments, revolt from every thing divine and spiritual; insomuch that even a heathen moralist could feel and acknowledge their depravation. Hence, though we are commanded to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, yet we are informed, at the same time, that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God must first give us the will, and afterward the power; otherwise, we shall for ever remain in a state of spiritual insufficiency. Our Lord himself, in perfect harmony with his inspired apostle, declares expressly: No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him. He speaks of us also as being naturally in a state of bondage, instead of enjoying the high prerogative of freedom: Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This plain declaration gave high offence to the Jews: but Christ, so far from retracting it, asserted, that all those, who commit sin, (and what man is impeccable?) are the servants of sin. To that blessed person alone we must look for our emancipation. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Upon these solid scriptural grounds, the Church of England rightly decides, that the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God: wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.

great mercy of God, and how our salvation cometh only by Christ: for, in ourselves, as of ourselves, we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity, into the which we are cast through the envy of the devil, by breaking of God's commandment in our first parent Adam. We are all become unclean : but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves, nor make one other of us clean. We are by nature the children of God's wrath: but are not able to make ourselves the children and inheritors of God's glory. We are sheep that run astray: but we cannot of our own power come again to the sheep-fold; so great is our imperfection and weakness.

III. We have hitherto considered the depravation of the understanding, and the distortion of the will, in consequence of the fall of Adam: let us next take a view of the heart and the affections.

1. The passions of love and hatred do not appear to have been so much destroyed, as perverted, at the time of the fall. When man came pure and perfect from the hands of his Maker, the passions were directed to their proper objects. God and holiness, were loved: sin and impurity, were hated. But, after our first parents had yielded to the temptations of Satan, an almost total inversion of the former affections of the heart took place. Man then began to hate what he ought to love, and to love what he ought to hate. The pure and holy law of God, which thwarts his vicious inclinations, became the object of his fiercest aversion: while, on the contrary,wickedness became his pleasure and delight. The second of these propensities is ever active: the first not unfrequently appears, for a season, to lie dormant. This lurking enmity toward God slumbered in the hearts of the Jews for some ages previous to the advent of the Messiah: but, when the spirituality of his preaching roused their consciences and showed them their inward abominations, their enmity awoke, strong as death and cruel as the grave.

(1.) This doctrine, however, is not unfrequently denied even on the ground of personal experience: and those, who urge it,

are thought to paint human nature in much blacker colours than she really deserves. It may perhaps be allowed, that we have frailties, venial frailties: but our nature is asserted to be, in the main, ever favourable to virtue, and averse from vice.

The degree of truth which such notions possess, is best ascertained by simple matter of fact.

In the person of our blessed Saviour, virtue itself was embodied. Perfectly just, and absolutely free from even the slightest suspicion of criminality, Christ was the bright exemplar of the doctrines which he preached. If the love of virtue, then, be inherent in the human mind; the Lord of life, condescending to visit the haunts of men, must surely have been the object of their warmest devotion and their most affectionate adoration. Yet was he hated, reviled, and persecuted, even to death, notwithstanding our supposed natural propensity to virtue.

In a similar manner, his disciples, the labour of whose life consisted in imitating their divine Master, were hated of all nations, as their Lord had expressly foretold, for his name's sake. In other words, the more they approximated to perfect virtue, the greater degree of odium they incurred. An awful instance of the bitter enmity of the natural man against God and all his faithful servants is afforded us in the account of the death of St. Stephen. The judges who presided in the mock trial of the protomartyr, even gnashed on him with their teeth; the violent workings of rage in their hearts causing them to resemble wild beasts rather than men: nor could their animosity be quenched, except in the blood of their devoted victim.

Should it be said, that these particular instances are selected only from the history of a single nation; let us cast our eyes around and contemplate the labours of the great apostle of the Gentiles. Whence was it that bonds and afflictions awaited him in every city? Whence, but because the holiness of his life, and the vehemence of his eloquence, held up, before the eyes of men, a mirror, which too faithfully reflected their manifold iniquities?

To approach nearer to our own times: what was it, that called down the fury of Popery upon the martyrs of the Protestant Church? The same principle, which crucified the Lord of life and persecuted his apostles, consigned to the flames a Cranmer, a Latimer, and a Ridley.

Now, this repeated opposition to the truth can only be accounted for upon the scriptural doctrine, that the carnal mind is enmity with God. He, who searcheth the very heart and the reins, hath declared, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness

rather than light, because their deeds are evil. For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

(2.) The fact is, men are apt to deceive themselves into a belief, that their minds are not at enmity with God, by the common delusion of performing their duty only by halves.

Different persons are so differently constituted, that duties are more or less irksome to them, exactly in the proportion that they more or less coincide with their natural dispositions. Hence, each individual selects the duty which best suits his inclination, and seems almost to forget that any others are in existence. The Pharisees preserved a very decent exterior, and were strict observers of the literal part of the Law. Perfectly satisfied with their imaginary progress in holiness, they placidly reclined on the pillow of self-righteousness, and felt not the hidden malignity of their nature. What they performed were, undoubtedly, duties: but they were duties, which, in their situation, required no great degree of selfdenial. The moment an awakened conscience forced them to acknowledge that exertions of a much higher nature were necessary to gain the favour of Heaven, the mask of sanctified hypocrisy was dropped, their hatred to God blazed out in its full fury, and a deliberate judicial murder of the discloser of such disagreeable truths was the result.

(3.) We are sometimes apt complacently to thank God, that we are not like the Pharisees: but, would we candidly examine our own hearts, we might possibly find, that they contain the very same evil disposition in embryo.

To a man of an active temper, a life full of employment is the highest source of gratification. Hence, if he have received some religious impressions, he feels but little repugnance to diverting his activity into a different channel from what it flowed in before. The same disposition remains, though the object which engages his attention and rouses the vigour of his mind, be now no longer the same. In the discharge of active religious duties, he perceives not the enmity of a corrupt heart against God; because, from mere physical reasons, he feels no repugnance against them. But, if he be called upon to analyse the hidden cause of his actions, and to give up part of his time to serious meditation; if he be required daily to deny himself, and no longer to participate in those vanities which are usually peculiarly gratifying to ardent and sanguine tempers: if such requisitions as these be made, then commences the struggle; and we too frequently behold those, who are foremost in every active duty, shrink with disgust from the resignation of worldly pleasure.

On the other hand, men of indolent and phlegmatic dispositions would never perceive their enmity towards God, were Christianity a mere negative system of quietism. Persons of this description, who begin to feel the importance of religion, will hear with equal complacency, a warm exhortation to the duties of the closet, and a vehement remonstrance against dissipation. They forthwith give themselves up to prayer and devout meditation; they read the Scriptures daily: and they steadily resolve never more to frequent the haunts of vanity and folly. All this they perform without any difficulty: and therefore they conclude, that their inclinations are perfectly in unison with the will of God, and that they have arrived at a considerable degree of eminence in the school of Christianity. But what are their pretensions to superior piety, if they be closely scrutinised? They diligently perform those duties, to which simply from their natural constitution they have no repugnance: and they resolutely deny themselves all those fashionable follies, for which they previously entertained the most profound indifference. In such a state of mind, let a course of active duty be urged upon them; and they will be effectually convinced of their natural hatred to the Law of God.

Men are very ready to obey, so far as obedience is not entirely inconsistent with their inclinations: hence the opulent will never take offence at the clergyman, who happens to preach a concio ad populum against theft: nor the populace at him who censures the vices of their superiors. But if he faithfully tell both parties their faults; if he force his reluctant congregation to take a survey of their inward corruptions; and if he declare, that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven unless a complete and radical change take place in his heart: he will find none satisfied with him but those who are resolved to make the service of God the main business of their lives. In a similar manner, if he assure such of his flock as make a great outward profession of religion, that a vehement zeal for certain particular doctrines, a staunch adherence to party, a never-ceasing eagerness to discuss theological topics, an intemperate thirst of hearing sermons, and a too exclusive partiality for favourite preachers, are no certain marks of grace; if he solemnly warn them, that the doers, not hearers, of God's Word, are treading the path which leads to heaven; and if he remind them, that the shibboleth of a sect is by no means an evidence of real Christianity it is far from improbable, that his plain-dealing will be very ill received. So long as he prophesies smooth things, and accommodates himself to the humour of his congregation, whatever that

humour may be, just so long they will speak well of him: but let him put forth his hand, and touch their bone and their flesh, and they will curse him to his face.

(4.) What has been said is amply sufficient to prove, that the carnal mind is enmity with God. If any person still doubt it, let him but vigorously apply himself to those allowed duties which are most irksome to him; and he will quickly find an argument in his own breast, infinitely stronger than any that have been here adduced.

2. Closely connected with the bitter animosity which the heart entertains against God (connected, indeed, with it, in the way of cause and effect), is its extreme depravity.

Theological writers have not unfrequently been accused of exaggeration in treating of the depravity in question; but the conscience of every one, whose understanding has been enlightened with self-knowledge, will readily acquit them of the charge.

Since the fall, the nature of man has been blind and corrupt; his understanding darkened, and his affections polluted. Upon the face of the whole earth, there is no man, Jew or Gentile, that understandeth and seeketh after God. The natural man, or man remaining in that state wherein the fall left him, is so far from being able to discover or know any religious truth, that he hates and flies from it when it is proposed to him: he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Man is natural and earthly; the things of God are spiritual and heavenly; and these are contrary one to the other: therefore, as the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, so the wisdom of God is foolishness with the world. word, the sense man is now possessed of, where God does not restrain it, is used for evil and not for good: his wisdom is earthly, sensual, devilish: it is the sagacity of a brute, animated by the malignity of an evil spirit.

In a

3. In addition to its enmity against God and its utter depravity, the human heart is likewise in a state of insensibility and stupidity.

The conscience, as the apostle expresses it, is past feeling, seared as with a hot iron. Hence, reproofs and judgments may irritate; but can never, merely by their own influence, convert.

This insensibility, though it may be increased by a habit of sinning, is yet itself originally inherent in conscience: at the first, it is not so much superinduced upon it, as it springs out of it.

IV. Man being thus depraved in the understanding, the will, and the affections, it is almost superfluous to observe, that he must in consequence have lost all power of serving God.

Unable to discover his will, hating it when it is discovered to him, and so polluted by sin that he is utterly unable to cleanse himself; how can he perform in his own strength any acceptable service? He may, indeed, in the pride of his high speculations, imagine himself to be rich: and to have need of nothing: but the Word of God will inform him, that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Even those actions of the natural man, which bear the semblance of good; the patriotism of a Regulus, and the morality of a Socrates; even they are but splendid sins: for, as we are rightly taught by the Church, Works, done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ:-yea rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin. The reason of this is obvious. A polluted heart can no more bring forth a good action, than a polluted fountain can emit pure water. But all our hearts are by nature impure. Consequently, all our actions, before the reception of divine grace, must be impure also; and, as such, they cannot be pleasing unto God.

In this miserable condition is every man born. Fallen from his high estate, and sunk in the deep sleep of presumptuous wickedness, he refuses to listen to the voice of any human charmer, charm he ever so wisely. God alone is able to create a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within him for creation is an attribute belonging solely to the Deity. Man must be brought back to the image of his Maker, that image which was lost by the fall of Adam: or he must for ever remain excluded from the kingdom of heaven.

MURDEROUS EFFECTS OF THE

CONFESSIONAL.

Extracted from a pamphet, by the Rev. L. J. Nolan, once a Roman priest, now a clergyman of the Established Church. In the chapter on auricular confession, he

says,

During the last three years I discharged the duty of a Romish clergyman, my heart often shuddered at the idea of entering the confessional, the thoughts of the many crimes I had to hear, the growing doubt upon my mind, that confession was an erroneous doctrine, that it tended more to harden than reclaim the heart, and

that through it I should be rendered instrumental in ministering destruction to souls, were awful considerations to me in the hours of my reflection. The recitals of the murderous acts I had often heard through this iniquitous tribunal, had cost me many a restless night, and are still fixed with horror upon my memory. But the most awful of all considerations is this, that through the confessional I had been frequently apprized of intended assassinations and most diabolical conspiracies, and still from the ungoldly injunctions of secrecy in the Romish creed, lest, as Peter Den says, 'the confessional should become odious,' I dared not give the slightest intimation to the marked out victims of slaughter. But though my heart now trembles at my recollection of the murderous acts, still duty obliges me to proceed and enumerate one or two instances of the cases alluded to.

"The first is the case of a person who was barbarously murdered, and with whose intended assassination I became acquainted at confession. One of the five conspirators (all of whom were sworn to commit the horrid deed,) broached to me the bloody conspiracy in the confessional. I implored him to desist from his intention of becoming an accomplice to so diabolical a design; but, alas! all advice was useless, no dissuasion could prevail, his determination was fixed,-and his only reason for having disclosed the awful machination to his confessor seemed to have originated from a hope that his wicked design would be hallowed by his previous acknowledgment of it to his priest.

"Finding all my remonstrances unavailing, I then recurred to stratagem; I earnestly besought of him to mention the circumstance to me out of the confessional, in order that I might apprize the intended victim of his danger, or caution the conspirators against the committal of so inhuman a deed. But here ingenuity itself failed in arresting the career of his satanic obstinacy. The conspirator's illegal oath, and his apprehension of himself becoming the victim of brutal assassination, should he be known as the revealer of the con

spiracy, rendered him inflexible to my entreaties; and, awful to relate—yes, awful, and the hand that now pens it shudders at the record it makes,-a poor inoffensive man, the victim of slaughter, died a most cruel death by the hands of ruthless assassins."

"The second case is that of a female administering poison to her parent. Her first attempt at parricide proved ineffectual, owing to an immediate retching