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to persuade the representatives of the Greek church to adopt the Roman innovations, and, amongst others, this of purgatory, which was so vague and undefined that the Greeks found it necessary to ask the Romans what it was that they meant by it. This inquiry produced the following synodical definition of it :

"Since you have demanded to have the faith of the Roman church expressed concerning the truth of purgatory, we briefly reply in these writings, 'that if any who truly repent depart from life before that by worthy fruits of repentance they have made satisfaction for their sins of commission and omission, their souls are purified after death, and to the relieving these pains the suffrages of the faithful who are alive, to wit, the sacrifices of masses, prayers, alms, and other pious works, are profitable," "But whether purgatory is a fire, or a mist and a whirlwind, or any thing else, we do not dispute."t

When first this error was broached by individuals it is not easy to determine, but in St. Augustine's time it appears to have been new, as he speaks of it as a thing which "possibly may be found so, and possibly never;" and so our English Bede, "not altogether incredible."

Indulgences.-A.d. 1563.

The use of indulgences, as far as they relate to the release of souls out of purgatory by the pope's authority, of course do not date higher than the doctrine of purgatory, on which they are built. This is admitted by Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and other Roman writers. The first of the (so called) general councils which decreed in favour of indulgences was that of Trent.

Roman Canon of Scripture.-.D. 1563.

The council of Trent was the first which, not content with admitting those apocryphal writings which the general voice of the church had rejected, made the receiving them as canonical necessary to salvation, by pronouncing anathema upon all who did not; thus,-" if any one do not receive all these books, with all their parts, as sacred and canonical, let him be anathema."‡

Which decree is the more monstrous because many of the most eminent fathers of the church, in all ages, have agreed to reject them. Thus (to name no others) Jerome, after enumerating the books of the Old Testament, according as they are received in the English canon, uses these words,—“ that we may know that whatever is beside these is to be reckoned among the Apocrypha."§ And Gregory the great distinctly calls the books of the Maccabees uncanonical, in his exposition of the book of Job.

Seven Sacraments.—A.D. 1563.

The council of Trent was likewise the first which enjoined, by anathema, the acknowledgment of seven sacraments, thus:-" If any one shall say that the sacraments of the new law were not all instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, or are more or fewer than seven, to wit, baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony; or that any of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament, let him be anathema."

This decree is without warrant from the ancient church, and its want of warrant from the holy Scriptures the Roman teachers are forced to admit in an extraordinary manner, for they define a sacrament truly to be "a visible sign of an invisible grace, divinely instituted by Christ for our sanctification." But in their authorized catechisms, when asked concerning "confirmation" and "extreme unction," "When did Christ institute them?" They are forced to answer, "The time is uncertain, (!) but divines most probably (!) hold at Christ's supper, or between his resurrection and ascension." Thus a matter of so great uncertainty as to require an alias is put forth by Rome as a term of communion, to be received unhesitatingly as part of that faith without which no man can be saved! So again, when asked for the visible sign of "matrimony," they answer, "The mutual consent of the parties ;" and for the visible sign of "penance," they answer, "The contrition and confession of the penitent."||

Necessity of the Priest's Intention for the Validity of the Sacraments.—a.d. 1563. The council of Trent was also the first to decree concerning the necessity of the

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§ Preface to Book of Kings.

|| An Abridgment of Christian Doctrine, by Bishop Doyle, of Kildare.

priest's intention, in order to the validity of the sacraments, a doctrine which puts it in the power of every priest to deprive the sincerest and purest of God's worshippers of the grace which they look to receive by partaking in the ordinances of salvation. It had been put forth by Pope Eugenius, in his letter to the Arminians, at the council of Florence, but was not confirmed by the authority of that council. The Tridentine decree is as follows:-

"If any man shall say, that in the ministers, when they perform the sacraments, the intention of at least doing what the church does is not requisite, let him be anathema."

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It is thus that the providence of God, by preserving the records of the church in different ages, has enabled us to lay our finger upon the date of the errors which "the earthen vessels" to which he has entrusted the administration of His heavenly treasure," vainly puffed up with their fleshly mind, have presumed, from time to time, to add to the scriptural and catholic faith. And thus are we of the church of England enabled to shew, that, as the churches of these islands were originally free from the authority of the Roman see, so were they, in common with all Christendom, originally free from all the corrupt additions to the catholic faith which from time to time have emanated from that see. And that the difference between us and it arises from this circumstance, that while we have been careful " stare super vias antiquas,' to ask for the old paths, and to adhere to those doctrines which have been professed semper, ubique, et ab omnibus ;" our opponents, desirous of novelty, have departed from them, and by their uncharitable excommunication of all who reject their novel doctrines, have made it open to grave question whether they have not thereby "cut themselves off from the communion of the faithful," and forfeited all just claim to the appellation of " catholic."

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Let Rome return to the ancient purity of that faith which she professed before the second Nicene council, and the wounds of the church may yet be healed-we may yet take counsel together, and walk in the house of God as friends or let her no longer insist upon an assent to the creed of Pope Pius as a term of communion. But if she will do neither of these, there is nothing left for us but to pray for her, that in God's good time she may be brought to a sense of her errors, and repent, and do her first works.

SACRED POETRY.

THE COUNTRY PASTOR.

CONSUMPTION.

HER ways were ways of innocence and joy,

But pain is all her dower, and stern disease,

While darkness shrouds the shore where sorrows cease;
At Death's dim portal, wed with agony,

She sits mid sights of fever'd phantasy;

While ever and anon Ocean's wild roar,

And that dark shadowy boat is at the door,
And earth-born vapors veil that star on high
That lights Eternity. But yet to Heaven,
At each calm interval to anguish given,
She lifted her full eye and thankful smile;
Meek soul, to sorrow reconciled, awhile;

And each dark hour, with thorns of sorrow strewn,
Shall add a gem to thine eternal crown.

* 2 Cor. iv. 7.

MORTALITY.

THE good-they drop around us, one by one,

Like stars when morning breaks; though lost to sight,
Yet they around us dwell in Heaven's own light,
Building their mansions in the purer zone

Of the Invisible. When round are thrown
Shadows of sorrow, still serenely bright

To faith they gleam; and blest be sorrow's night,
That brings the o'er-arching heavens in silence down,
A mantle set with orbs unearthly fair!

Alas! to us they are not, though they dwell,
Divinely dwell in memory; while life's sun

Declining bids us for the night prepare,

That we, with urns of light, and our task done,
May stand with them in lot unchangeable.

THE ADVENT.*

"In my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another."-JOB, XIX.

MORTAL eye shall see Thee soon,

Ear shall hear Thee! it may light

In the calm of summer noon,

Or in silence of the night,

When thy glory from afar shall be known,

As beneath Thy feet the sky,
Bends her crystal canopy,
Seen in terror's panoply,
Coming down.

As on the stricken lyre,

When th' unnumber'd trembling goes,
Or the flood of morning fires
Breaks upon the night's repose,
The universe shall rise at Thy coming!
When the sun shall make his bed,

Moon and stars shall shake with dread.
And th' archangel, at whose tread
Earth shall ring,

Shall descend with a shout!
I, in flesh, shall stand and see
Countless multitudes throughout,
Thy full countenance on me!

'Mid innumerable hosts on each one,
As in grains on glittering beach,
As in waves in ocean's reach,
With his full-orb'd eye in each,
Shines the Sun!

Again, as man below,

Though for justice armed, yet
O'er Thee love's celestial bow,

Like a radiant glory set,

Encompassing the terrors of Thy throne,

As beside Thy tomb of yore

Or by Galilean shore,

With the form that dies no more,

Seen and known.

As caught from Bethany,
In a cloud of glowing sheen;
As on the right hand on high,
By the dying Stephen seen,
Binding in Infinity to a span!
As when girt with golden zone,
As when on the cloudy throne,
By thy loved disciple known,
Son of Man!

O thought, to spirit frail
Soothing sweet, when tremblingly
Death withdraws the eternal veil,
And th' Accuser standeth by,

In pitying flesh to see Thee, form benign!
Form the failing hand may hold,
And the sinking eye behold,
Seen again, as then of old,
Power divine!

Not as on Sinai's height,

Nor with Glory's withering glance,
But to our weak mortal sight
Tempering thy full radiance,

That we may to our weakness welcome Thee;

To Thy searching, healing eye,
Lo, beneath Thy feet I lie;
Lord, a sinful man am I,
Stay with me!

Hope's lamp that lit the way,

Faith the pilgrim's staff shall fail,

With her mantle on that day

Love shall stand, Love shall prevail.

Let that Love familiar grow with Thee now.

Where the lowest place is found,

Mercy's hand, or Sorrow's wound,

Where chaste thoughts with prayer abound,
There art Thou!

This Hymn is intended to allude to the consolation to be derived from the personal appearance of the Son of Man, so often alluded to in Scripture.

Lyra Apostolica.

Γνοῖεν δ', ὡς δὴ δηρὸν ἐγὼ πολέμοιο πέπαυμαι.

NO. XXXI.

THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH.

1.

WHY is our glorious Angel seen to mourn,
With earth-bent brow forlorn ?

Why hangs the cold tear on his cheeks?
Ah me! his silence speaks,

It is the Spoiler's parricidal hand,

And the apostate land,

Which would herself God's candlestick displace,

And put aside her cup of grace :

Hence darkly gleaming through the nightly grove,

Bow'd down in pitying love,

Thou hearest all alone,

The short precursive moan,

When in their mountain lair th' awakening thunders move.

II.

"Not for the Spoiler's parricidal hand,

Nor this apostate land,

That I am darkly seen to mourn,

With earth-bent brow forlorn ;

But that the widowed church, in hour of pride,
Her sackcloth laid aside,

Slumbering in Canaan's camp, and wakes to mourn

Her ancient strength and glory shorn.

Where are thy weekly fasts? Thy vigils where?
Therefore each wandering air,

Comes o'er the desolate,

And ere it reach Heav'n-gate,

Blows frustrate o'er the earth thy feeble-hearted prayer."

III.

The flood-gates on me open wide,

And headlong rushes in the turbulent tide

Of lusts and heresies; a motley troop they come;

And old imperial Rome

Looks up, and lifts again half-dead

Her seven-horned head,

And Schism and Superstition, near and far,

Blend in one pestilent star,

And shake their horrid locks against the Saints to war.

IV.

"Not for the flood-gates opening wide,

I fear, nor for the turbulent rushing tide;

But for the Church, so loth at her mysterious board,

To see her present Lord.

Therefore, around thine altars deep,

The Angels bow and weep;

Or oh, in strength of Heaven's ennobling might,

How should we see the Light!

And one a thousand chase, ten thousand turn to flight!"

V.

Again I hear thy plaintive tale
In the autumnal gale,

But, since thou passed'st through the fires,
With our old martyr Sires,

Thou seem'st as one escaped the flame,
But looking back for something left behind;
The unshackled high resolve, the holier aim,
Single-eyed faith in loyalty resign'd,

And heart-deep prayers of earlier years.
And, since that popular billow o'er thee past,
Which thine own ken from out the vineyard cast,
Now e'en far more

Than then of yore,

An altered mien thy holy aspect wears.
And oft thy half-averted brow
Doth seem in act to go,

With half-outspreading wings,

And foot that heaven-ward springs;

Therefore to thee I draw, by fear made bold,
And strive with suppliant hand thy mantle skirts to hold.

VI.

"Can they who flock to Freedom's shrine,
Themselves to me resign?

There lift the Heav'n-defying brow,
And here in meekness bow?

There to put on the soul aggrieved,

And attitude their high deserts to claim;

Here kneel from their deserts to be relieved,

Claim nothing but the cross, and their own shame?

And now, behold and see

In holy place the ABOMINATION stands,

Whose breath hath desolated Christian lands,

In semblance fair,

And saint-like air,

The Antichrist of heathen liberty!

E'en on Religion's hallowed ground,

He hath his altar found;

And now ere Winter's net

Is o'er thy pathway set,

Haste and arise, to Judah's mountain's flee,

And drink the untainted Fount of pure Antiquity."

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Editor begs to remind his readers that he is not responsible for the opinions
of his Correspondents.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TERMS MATERIAL AND FORMAL IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CONTROVERSY.

SIR,-The importance of the terms material and formal in the present state of the controversy existing, and likely to proceed, between the Protestant-catholic and Roman-catholic churches, cannot be too strongly

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