serpent. Thus in Ireland, where the theology of Dens is the recognised text-book of the Roman Catholic clergy, they will tell you, when any end is to be gained, that Popery is an improved, and modified, and humanised thing; whereas, all the while, there is not a monstrous doctrine, broached in the most barbarous of past times, which this very text-book does not uphold as necessary to be believed, and not a foul practice, devised in the midnight of the world, which it does not enjoin as necessary to be done. Make peace, if you will, with Popery, receive it into your senate, shrine it in your churches, plant it in your hearts; but be ye certain, certain as that there is a heaven above you and a God over you, that the Popery thus honoured and embraced is the very Popery that was degraded and loathed by the holiest of your fathers, the very Popery-the same in haughtiness, the same in intolerance-which lorded it over kings, assumed the prerogatives of deity, crushed human liberty, and slew the saints of God. Oh, that England may be convinced of this, before taught it by fatal experience. It may not yet be too late. She has tampered with Popery; in many respects she has patronised Popery, giving it by her compromises and concessions a vantage-ground which its best wishers could hardly have dared to expect; but nevertheless it may not yet be too late. Let Protestants only awaken to a sense of the worth of their privileges, privileges so long enjoyed that they are practically forgotten, and this land may remain what for three centuries it hath been-the great witness for scriptural truth, the great centre of scriptural light.—Melvill's Sermons, vol. ii. (London, 1838.)

“IF

ROME AND IRELAND.

F we endow Popery in Ireland, we raise it to that eminence from which in Belgium it hurled defiance at the King of Holland; we place it on a position whence, as in the case of Belgium, it will fulminate its anathemas against the toleration of the Protestantism of Ireland. Never let the principle avowed by the Belgian prelates be forgotten, that wherever Government will not consent to put down Protestantism, the law of the land is at issue with the laws of the Romish Church. Apply this principle to the case under review, and it is clear as sunlight that a mere endowment will not change the evil spirit, but that the next demand will be to put down liberty of religious worship. Are we prepared to conciliate Popery at the expense of exterminating Protestantism? Yet this must be the demand of the Irish priesthood if you once set them on the eminence of a State support. In the words of Mr Colquhoun

"It is the demand of their religion, the demand of the Popes, the demand of their councils, the demand without which their faith cannot prevail. Give them what you will, if you do not concede this, you give nothing; and they will answer you as the Bishops of Belgium answered-"Rather rebellion than toleration, rather civil war than freedom of conscience." How will you receive this demand? How will Scotland endure it, which has shed torrents of her blood for liberty of conscience? How will a British parliament receive it? How will a British public bear it?" "

-Review in Church of Scotland Magazine, April 1836, of Mr Colquhoun's "Ireland: the Policy of Reducing the Established Church, and Paying the Roman Catholic Priests.'"

DISCOVERY OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT.

FROM the time that the glorious Reformation was established in these

continually addressing itself to the task of restoring its lost influence; and by plots at home, and by intrigues abroad, was using its restless endeavours for the accomplishment of this purpose. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, these plots assumed from time to time a darker character; until at length her own life being jeoparded, and the lives and liberties of her subjects perilled, laws were enacted which compelled the traitors to fly the country, and seek refuge in some foreign clime. In the meantime, the Queen died, and was succeeded by James I., who pursued the same line of policy which his predecessor had adopted, and favoured and maintained, to the utmost of his power, the pure principles of the Protestant faith. The result of this, his close adherence to the reformed religion, and his consequent opposition to the religion of Rome in any form, stirred up the embers of hostility in the breasts of the Roman Catholic population, many of whom formed this project of sweeping away at one fell stroke the three estates of the realm-King, Lords, and Commons-when they were assembled in Parliament. The exact number of those that were privy to the plot, has not been clearly ascertained. Foulis, in his "History of Popish Treasons," says, "What number of them were engaged in it in England, I know not; nor did there appear above a hundred in a body; but that others had some hints or notice of it is more than probable.' The chief agency of it, however, was entrusted to the hands of eleven-four priests, Garnett, Cresswell, Baldwin, and Gerard; and seven laymen, Catesby (who is universally admitted to have been the originator), Percy, the two Wrights, the two Winters, Bates, who was Catesby's servant, and Guy Fawkes. There were many others to whom their intentions were made known, such as Sir Everard Digby, Rookwood, and others; but I do not think that they took any active part in the conspiracy, further than supplying the requisite money for carrying out their purposes. When they enlisted any new conspirator, in order to bind him, as they had bound themselves, to secrecy, they always, together with an oath, administered the sacrament! The oath was as follows:-" You shall swear by the blessed Trinity, and by the Sacrament you now purpose to receive, never to disclose, directly or indirectly, by word or circumstance, the matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret, nor desist from the execution thereof, until the rest shall give you leave." And as Hume in his "History of England" strikingly observes, "It is remarkable that no one of these pious devotees ever entertained the least compunction with regard to the cruel massacre, which they projected, of whatever was great and eminent in the nation. Some of them only were startled by the reflection, that of necessity many Catholics must be present, as spectators or attendants on the King, or as having seats in the House of Peers; but Garnett removed these scruples, and showed them how the interests of religion required, that the innocent should here be sacrificed with the guilty." This is Hume's statement.

The plot, however, proceeded. On May 24, 1604, the conspirators hired a house in Percy's name, adjoining the one in which the Parliament was to assemble; their object being to penetrate the wall, and

thus gain access to the rooms below. Whilst, however, they were pursuing their work, they learnt that a large vault beneath the House of Lords was to be disposed of to the highest bidder; and therefore, without hesitation, they seized the opportunity, so favourably presenting itself, hired the place, and had soon deposited thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, over which they laid 1000 billets, 500 faggots, with stones and iron bars. Parliament was convened at a particular season, and the conspirators were prepared for their work of destruction at that season; but unexpectedly the opening of Parliament was postponed by the king for some months, and therefore the explosion was of necessity postponed. In the meantime the conspirators consulted how they might seize upon Henry, Prince of Wales, should he not be at the House, and his brother, Duke of York, afterwards Charles I., upon whose deaths also they had determined. They also planned the capture of the Princess Elizabeth, who was then at Coombe Abbey, the residence of Lord Hartington, in Warwickshire; with a view of bringing her up and marrying her according to their interests; thinking thereby, as Foulis puts it, to win over many of the nobility to their cause, in the hope of having her to wife, and with her the crown.

Hitherto they had proceeded without interruption, having already been engaged more than one year in their treasonable and murderous preparations; for these preparations were not completed till the beginning of May 1605. At length, after another prorogation, the meeting of Parliament was definitely fixed for the Fifth of November. The hopes of the conspirators again rose, and their expectations became more sanguine; and, as nothing more in the way of preparation remained to be done, they all withdrew from the immediate neighbourhood, with the exception of Guy Fawkes, who was left to manage the firing of the train. But ten days previous to the time fixed for the reopening of Parliament—that is, on the evening of October 26-the following letter, written in a strange hand, and bearing no signature, was put into the hands of Lord Monteagle, a Roman Catholic nobleman :— "My Lord, out of the love I have to some of your friends I have a care of your preservation; therefore, I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse, to shift off your attendance at this Parliament, for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time; and think not lightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into the country, where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them; this counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm, for the danger is passed as soon as you have burned the letter. And I hope God will give you grace to make good use of it; to whose holy protection I commend you."

Now, when Lord Monteagle received this letter, being unable himself to attach any definite meaning to it, although he could not fail to regard it as an intimation of some impending danger, he carried it at once to the Privy Council. They in their turn examined it, but were equally at a loss to make anything of it; and at last gave it as their opinion, that it was sent to create some unnecessary alarm. They determined, however, upon laying it before the King, who, with all his faults, was a man of remarkable shrewdness; and having seriously considered it, he

conjectured the right interpretation-viz., that some sudden and fearful calamity was threatened, and that the scene of execution was to be the House of Lords. This gave rise to a lengthened discussion; but ultimately orders were issued, that the strictest search should be made in and about the premises. The orders were carried out on the night before the Sessions, and the whole matter was then discovered. In the cellar before mentioned, under the House of Lords, were found the barrels of powder, with all the apparatus: and at the door there stood Guy Fawkes, booted and spurred, with a large dark lantern (now to be seen at the Bodleian Library, at Oxford), with matches, tinder box, and all other materials necessary for his design. Of course he was at once apprehended, and as quickly brought before the Council; where he displayed the same intrepid firmness, mingled even with scorn and disdain, that had marked him throughout; and manifesting no concern but for the failure of the enterprize. This obstinacy lasted for two or three days; but being confined to the Tower, and left to reflect upon his guilt and danger, and fatigued with so long an effort, and unsupported by hope of escape, or by friendly intercourse, his courage at last gave way, and he made a full discovery of all the conspirators. This ended in the discomfiture of the entire body. For though many fled into the country, and endeavoured to raise the standard of revolt, yet they were entirely overthrown. Some were killed on the field; and the rest of the leaders were taken prisoners, tried, confessed their guilt, and died by the hands of the public executioner.

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Thus terminated the famous, or rather infamous, Gunpowder Plotfamous for its infamy. Men may speak of it as an accident, or as an extravagance of zeal, or as a ministerial contrivance; but the history of that conspiracy is authenticated beyond all future controversy-the mine was made ready, and the train was laid. It is, as Hume so tersely expresses it, a fact as certain as it appears incredible." And what was it preserved us? We had an able and vigilant administration— England perhaps has never produced greater statesmen than those who directed her counsels at that period of her history-and yet when the intended victims were preserved, it was by THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, for the vigilance of man had been effectually eluded. I need scarcely to state this. I need not to state, that there was in all this a wondrous providence of God-that the construction of the letter was very far from its natural construction-and that it does seem as though Providence urged the King, I will say, unnaturally, to put a construction upon the words of the letter, which they did not naturally convey. And is not this an historic exposition of the truth, "By ME kings reign, and princes decree justice ?" Does it not show, that He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprize? Yea, does it not prove a providential interference for the preservation of the Protestantism of this realm? And ought we not to reflect well and prayerfully upon this fact, which by so many years' repetition has been impressed upon our minds; and if, as Protestants, we have any sense of the worth of the Reformation, ought we not to observe, with hearty thanks to God, each recurring Fifth of November, which tells us of the discovery and discomfiture of the GUNPOWDER PLOT?

[The above is extracted from a lecture delivered by the Rev. I. C. Barrett, M.A., Birmingham.]