holds." It was, therefore, with pleasure I learned that the author of the present volume intended to give a compendious view of the "History of Popery." The truth is, the simple disclosure of FACTS is all that is necessary in this case. He who brings the corruptions of the Papacy to the test of God's unerring word, and presents a dispassionate and unvarnished HISTORY of their rise, progress, and practical influence, cannot fail of convincing candid and intelligent minds of their pestiferous character. All we want, under God, to effect the overthrow of this enormous mass of error and superstition is LIGHT. Let light pervade our land;-let the BIBLE and the SABBATH SCHOOL be placed within the reach of every adult and every child in the United States;-let compends of instruction in reference to the Papacy be every where circulated;-and let the watchmen on the walls of Zion, in the spirit of their Master, faithfully INSTRUCT and WARN;—and all will be well. It is only where gross ignorance, sensuality, and a willingness to be hoodwinked and deceived reign, that the Papacy can retain its power.

It is deeply to be deplored that the importance of suitable attention to this controversy is not more justly appreciated by the mass of our Protestant community. There are multitudes who think that there is not the least danger of the religion of the church of Rome gaining ground in our country; and, of course, that all efforts to prevent this mischief are unnecessary. Such persons forget that, although the system of Popery is directly opposed to enlightened reason, and to the word of God, it presents very strong attractions to all those who are more fond of a splendid and gaudy ritual, than of a self-denying and spiritual religion. They forget

that this system of miserable superstition has been, in all agus, the favorite resort of those who wish to bear the Christian name, and to cherish a hope of acceptance with God, without the sacrifice of a single lust. They forget that the plan of salvation revealed in the Gospel is of all proposals the most revolting to the proud heart of fallen man. They forget that the impenitent sinner is willing to undergo the heaviest drudgery of rites and ceremonies; to fast; to scourge and lacerate his body; to pay money; to submit to any prescribed penance or privation for a short time; if by these means he may be certain of gaining the heavenly paradise. These he may be, and often is willing to give for such an assurance. But to give his heart to God; to deny himself; to renounce his own righteousness in every form; to "crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts;" to follow the Saviour as his Prophet, Priest and King; as the Lord his righteousness, and the Lord his strength; as his justifier, his model, his life, his all;-this he is not prepared to do, and cannot yield.

"Now to relieve this proud and impenitent mindwhich is the mind of all men by nature-the Roman Catholic system comes with promises and allurements of the most fascinating kind. It meets him with a scheme of most ingenious contrivances for satisfying every doubt, and removing every difficulty,-without any real holiness either of heart or life. · It assures him, that if he live and die in communion with the Church of Rome, he is, of course, in real covenant and communion with Christ-that there is no need of any radical change of heart, provided he will submit to the dictation and discipline of the constituted authorities of that Church :-that by the sacrament of Baptism, a priest can regenerate

him, and that no other change than that which Baptism includes, need be sought or expected :—that by this baptism, when regularly administered, all his sins are taken away, and he reconciled to God :—that by a regular attendance on the sacrament of Penance, all his sins committed, from time to time, after baptism, may be certainly forgiven:—and that by a regular confession and absolution during life, and the reception of Extreme Unction when he comes to die, he may be assured of everlasting happiness :—or that, at the worst, he will only be detained for a time in Purgatory; which, however, will be made as short and light as possible, if he bequeath a handsome sum to the Church; or if his surviving friends shall pay liberally for the prayers that may be said, and the masses that may be performed for his soul."

"According to this delusive system, then, a man may live and die without any real holiness, and yet, in spite of all the scripture has so solemnly pronounced to the contrary, may be certain of seeing the Lord in peace. He need not trouble himself to read the Scriptures. The Church reads, judges, and engages for him. The Church has a stock of merit to dispose of, which, upon being properly paid for, she can set down to his account, and make available to his acceptance. So that, however multiplied and enormous his sins, and however obstinately and impenitently persisted in, to the last hour of his life; still if he submit to all the rites of the Church, and to all the penances imposed on him by the proper authority;he is certainly safe; certainly secure of salvation. Such is the openly published and miserable system of these soul-destroying deceivers. In support of all these statements, testimony of the most unequivocal kind might be

adduced from Romish authorities of the highest character. We are aware, indeed, that most of the allegations above stated, have been either denied, or attempted to be explained away by ingenious apologists for Romish claims-but we are very sure that, when the whole system, taken together, is compared with its highest official vouchers, our representation will be completely borne out in every particular."*

In adopting the above quotation, as descriptive of the system of Romanism, no injustice is done to that system or its adherents. It is true, indeed, as the writer intimates, that several of the articles specified, are either wholly disowned, or artfully glossed over by ingenious Popish advocates, who wish to conciliate. But for every part of the statement, it is certain that high Romish authorities. may be quoted; and when we go among the mass of the adherents to the Papacy, and examine the principles and confidence which they cherish, and which they are distinctly encouraged to cherish, facts are disclosed, on every side, which abundantly sustain the foregoing statement in all its extent. In fact, the whole system of the Church of Rome consists in putting a set of deified saints, and deified ceremonies in the place of Christ, as the ground of hope, while He is only nominally retained as the Saviour; and, at the same time, presenting their miserable idolatry in such language, and clothing it in such an attractive, and even bewitching dress, that it bears away the ignorant and the unsuspecting with scarcely a thought of resistance.

Is there no danger then, that this plausible, splendid, self-righteous system, so admirably adapted to dazzle and to captivate ;-is there no danger that it will deceive and

* Biblical Repertory, vol. v. p. 504, 505.

lead away unwary souls? So far is this from being the case, that we may say with confidence, the danger is imminent. It is precisely that form of religious observance which best agrees with the proud, selfish and sensual nature of man. It has charms for the voluptuous, the gay, the dissipated and the worldly which scarcely any thing earthly can resist. It has exactly that to offer which the "carnal mind, which is enmity against God," will ever be found, while it remains such, to prefer to the pure, humbling, self-renouncing, and self-sacrificing plan of salvation through a crucified Redeemer ;-in one word, to the simplicity that is in Christ." Truly instead of considering it as wonderful that, in a Protestant land, and in the nineteenth century, proselytes to the Papacy are made, we ought rather to regard it as wonderful that they are not tenfold more numerous than we find them.

46

Can any enlightened Protestant, then, suppose that there is no need of putting his children and the community at large, on their guard against this most profligate, and at the same time most insinuating and delusive of all the systems of error which bear the Christian name? When the Papists are flooding our country with their ecclesiastics, their books, and their periodical papers ;when they are sagaciously erecting seminaries of imposing and highly popular character, in many districts of the United States very imperfectly, if at all, furnished with sounder ones of equal reputation ;-when they are artfully opening these seminaries to students on cheaper terms than most others can afford, and in some cases insiduously offering to receive Protestant children into their literary institutions free of all charge ;-when it is notorious that one great object of the seminaries in ques