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baptism; that by Him we have been made children of God, and consequently, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven: and on the other, never to forget the solemn promise and profession we then made, and without performing which we despise our birthright and lose the blessing; that we are vowed soul and body to God; that we are His sworn soldiers, bound to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil, pledged to believe His promises, and obediently to keep His commandments unto our life's end."

If it be that all those who have been baptized, have necessarily been in that ordinance spiritually regenerated, and that they who now manifest no proofs of such regeneration in their lives and conduct, have fallen away from a state of grace, we cannot but dissent from such conclusions; but we trust the author, with ourselves, repudiates a sentiment like this. We should deeply regret the presence of such error, combined with so much that is truly excellent and scriptural. Congregations are made up but of two classes, believers with the heart unto righteousness, and those who are such in name only, whatever their outward privileges may have been; and we must consider that language at least unguarded, which fails to recognize the broad line of demarcation which really exists between them.

LETTER TO CARDINAL WISEMAN; in answer to his "Remarks on Lady Morgan's Statements regarding St. Peter's Chair." By SYDNEY LADY MORGAN. Charles Westerton, 1851. The following passage in Lady Morgan's "Italy," vol. 2, gave great offence to Romanists, and especially, it should seem, to Dr. Wiseman :

"The sacrilegious curiosity of the French broke through all obstacles to their seeing the chair of St. Peter. They actually removed its superb casket, and discovered the relic. Upon its moulder.. ing and dusty surface were traced carvings, which bore the appearance of let

ters.

The chair was quickly brought into a better light, the dust and cobwebs removed, and the inscription (for an inscription it was) faithfully copied, The writing is in Arabic characters, and is the well-known confession of the Ma

hometan faith: There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet.' It is supposed that this chair had been, among the spoils of the Crusaders, offered to the Church at a time when a taste for antiquarian lore and the deciphering of inscriptions was not yet in fashion. This story has been since hushed up, the chair replaced; and none but the unhallowed remember the fact, and none but the audacious repeat it. Yet such there are even at Rome."

We do not wonder that this statement should occasion great annoyance to the superstitious and credulous votaries of the Romish apostacy; much less that it should provoke the wrath of those whose object is to maintain and uphold that awful system of imposture and delusion. Dr. Wiseman, at an early period of his life, it would seem, was provoked thereby to venture into print, both in English and Italian; and the controversy has recently been revived, of which, one consequence has been the publication of the pamphlet before us; in which, we must say, that the lady deals as unceremoniously with the Cardinal as she had done with the pretended chair of St. Peter.

Lady Morgan is a spirited writer, and well able to plead her own cause. She is deeply imbued with the liberal, if not with the infidel, spirit of the age; and there is much in her style of writing, and in different parts of this pamphlet, which we can by no means approve but there is much in her letter to the newly-appointed 'Cardinal," which is likely to tell with that public to which she fearlessly appeals. We are tempted to transcribe the following passage, which follows a long quotation from Dr. Wiseman's Remarks:

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"Such, my Lord Cardinal, are your proofs of the Augustan age of the relic; and the details, picturesque and minute, gorgeous and elaborate, would do honour to the inventories of a Mabillon, or a Montfaucon, a Walpole, or a George Robins, all great writers in their several ways on similar subjects. Your description, however, though eloquent, is not original; for it is taken textually, literally, from a work which now lies before me upon my library table. It is an oldfashioned Latin work, by one who, like yourself, was a Prince of the Church,

TO CARDINAL WISEMAN.

Cardinal GREGORIO CORTESE, and it bears the quaint title, 'Of the Journey of the Prince of the Apostles, to Rome, and of his doings there! Perhaps I shall better bring it to your recollection by giving the title as it stands :

"GREGORII CORTESII,

S. R. E. CARDINALIS
DE ROMANO ITINERE
GESTISQUE

PRINCIPIS APOSTOLORUM,
LIBRI DUO.'

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"But is it probable, my Lord, that St. Peter, the humble fisherman of Galilee, permitted himself to be seated or carried in this gorgeous chair, on the shoulders of slaves, as his successor Pio Nino does at this day?-he who had so recently heard his Divine Master declare that foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head,'-he, to whose Eastern habits such a chair must have been repugnant! who had taught, not ex cathedra, but, like the Master he served, walking, or reclining on the lap of the earth. The day was then far off, some three centuries, when the servants of the servant of God' should repose in chairs of state, or mount thrones of ivory and gold. They had not as yet turned the judicial Basilicas of Pagan Rome into the gorgeous temples of public worship. If they sat upon a raised seat, it was a stone concealed in the catacombs or in caverns, as their perilous position dictated. The early Christians, the humble reformers of cultes' Pagan or Jewish, which no longer served the purposes to which they had been destined, though still supported by the Church' of Jupiter, and the 'State' of the Cæsars, were the secret societies of those times of transition. Their Divine Philosophy was treasonable and sacrilegious; and if Pudens, the Christian Senator, gave St. Peter a chair to teach from, it was more likely to be one of stone (like that in the Church of St. Peter at Venice), than a chair of ivory and gold carried on the shoulders of his fellow creatures.

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"Before I proceed, I must quote a few

words from the book which has served the purposes of both your Eminence and myself. And because,' says Francesco Maria Turrigio, (quoted in the Cardinal Cortese's note, at page 317,) 'because from great age St. Peter's chair was going to pieces, and had got somewhat ricketty, it was encompassed round with iron hoops and with bars of wood.' 'It is, however, to be observed,' continues Cardinal

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Cortese, that Turrigio, accurate as he was, and always determined to inspect with his own eyes [a privilege denied both to your Eminence and to the Cardinal Cortese, as you assert the cover of the chair has not been raised for three centuries,] what he describes, was mistaken, when he said that those ornaments are made of metal or pinchbeck (aurichalco); for in real truth they are of fine gold: and this was proved by Alexander VII., who had it duly probed by men skilled in such matters, as is testified by Phoebeus, in page lxx. of his dissertation.'"

And again:

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"Your Eminence then proceeds to give the moral grounds of the probable identity of the chair, by the testimonies of Eusebius, in the fourth century; Nicephorus, Vallerius, and other great and grave names, qui finissent en us,' (as Boileau has it ;)-testimonies which,' you observe, are, I trust, more than sufficient to overthrow the foolish story with which Lady Morgan has treated her readers.' But there is one old saint whom you have omitted to refer to, who has always come forward in my defence, whenever I have been 'had up' by the Sbirri of Holy Offices, before that great and infallible judge-the Public; I mean, my Lord, Saint VERITAS,-one, perhaps, who is better known among the army of martyrs, than in the Church's accredited Calendar of Saints!"

These extracts will, we think, amuse our readers, and serve to show in what manner her Ladyship deals with the "Cardinal" and his relic.

We need not go further into this question. It has already been well observed, indeed it naturally occurs to us plain Englishmen, — that the only way of settling the dispute would be, to submit the so-called chair of St. Peter to public examination. Let it be uncovered, and carefully examined by any, and by all, Protestants as well as Romanists, who may happen to visit Rome. Lady Morgan's statement would thus be brought to the test.

But that might be very dangerous! What if it were found to be true? If it be much more tedious and difficult to argue out the matter at great length, as the learned Doctor has done, is it not much more safe to envelope the question of fact in a cloud of argu

ment, than to bring it to its sure and proper test?

The more important question, however, could not thus be settled. The antiquity of the chair having been traced, we will suppose, to the time of Claudius, and fully established, the question would still remain, Was St. Peter ever at Rome at all? The Scripture is silent; and tradition is dubious and uncertain. And, even when those difficulties have been all overcome, and that point settled, the questions of supremacy and infallibility would still remain. For if it were proved, in spite of Scripture, that this most frequently erring and tripping of all the apostles was indeed supreme and infallible, how is it proved that he did not leave his infallibility and supremacy at Antioch, where we know from Scripture that he once was, rather than at Rome, which we do not know that he ever visited?

THE SECRET INSTRUCTIONS OF THE JESUITS; with Extracts from some of their Principal Writers, exhibiting the principles upon which they act. pp. 47. Seeleys.

There can be no doubt that the Jesuits are amongst us, and doing their best, under the well-nigh impenetrable cover of Satanic darkness with which their system is identified,

to

pour confusion upon the Protestant faith, and to destroy, wherever they can find entrance, the peace and happiness of the families of England. Men of the world laugh when you tell them that Jesuits are in their midst; they believe in the security of their wealth, their education, and their political liberty; and, if they admit the fact, they deny or despise its consequences. They forget that the same God who poured the light of the Gospel upon the darkness of Rome's deeds and doctrines, can withdraw those glorious beams from a country which, in forgetfulness of a past deliverance, has not simply tolerated, but fostered and helped to propagate Popery. We ought not to satisfy ourselves with the bare knowledge that there is such a thing as Romanism, and that there are such people as Jesuits;

but we ought to have our young men at the Universities thoroughly taught the errors of the one, and the subtleties of those who are the most persevering agents in its communion. We must have our families guarded against the dangerous intrusion of Jesuits, male or female, who are perfectly unscrupulous in the means which they employ to gain their ends, and whose principles are utterly opposed to Scripture and morality. The little tract which we have placed at the head of this notice, is one which may be perfectly depended upon for authenticity and accuracy of statement, and is well calculated to open the eyes of those who are slow to apprehend any dangers from the machinations of the Jesuits.

THE NIGHT LAMP: a Narrative of the Means by which Spiritual Darkness was Dispelled from the Death-bed of AGNES MAXWELL MACFARLANE. By the REV. JOHN MACFARLANE, LL.D. Glasgow. pp. 328. London, Nisbet, 1851.

The present is an age of bookmaking. Volumes and pamphlets, one after another, issue from the press, on every subject, and to suit every class. If an old author could complain that his age "groaned under such a surcharge of new books, that though the many good ones lately published did much balance the great swarms of ill, or at least needless ones, yet all men complain of the unnecessary charge and trouble many new books put them to," what would be his astonishment now on looking down the advertising columns of our newspapers, or glancing over the covers of our periodicals! It is true, there is an evil here, as in everything else; a vast amount of what is in a high degree injurious is constantly poured forth, to inundate the land with sentiments and principles the most appalling; but, if we have the bitter waters of much that is evil, we have also the sweet waters of much that is sound and scriptural, to assuage the thirst for excitement, knowledge, and happiness, everywhere apparent. Never

REVIEWS-THE NIGHT LAMP.

were religious publications of a decidedly beneficial tendency so numerous as at present. We cannot but rejoice at the circumstance, and heartily do we concur in the sentiment, "Thank God, our press is free." Still it may be questioned, whether, amongst the numerous volumes of a theological nature there are not many which are mere repetitions of what has been better expressed before, or records of the lives of some who, however their memory may be deservedly cherished by their immediate surviving relatives, are scarcely entitled to general notice, and whose lives, exhibiting nothing of a very unusual character, it is perhaps scarcely wise to bring under public

notice.

We have been led into these remarks, by perusing the volume before us. It is the biography of one, who in early life was blessed with religious privileges of no common kind, but who, although in some measure influenced by the truth, was yet drawn away by the fascination of worldly things to forgetfulness of her spiritual interests, until laid upon the bed of sickness and death, when she was led by the hand of a gracious God to a deeper knowledge of her own sinfulness, earnestly sought the Lord, and departed triumphing in her Redeemer. In all this, it is true, there is both interest and instruction; but taken as a whole, we scarcely think the narrative of importance sufficient to justify its publication.

The main object of the writer appears to be, to communicate his belief that dying Christians have frequently some foretaste of the joys unspeakable into which they are about to enter, while the spirit yet lingers on the threshold of eternity, and ere it wings its happy flight to those glories which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive" them. He illustrates this by several narratives, one of which seems very remarkable. It occurs at page 9.

"Recently conversing with a truly excellent clergyman of the Church of Scotland, whose parish lies on the shores of one of these romantic Highland lochs for which the Scottish west coast is remark

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able, he told the writer that some time ago an interesting daughter of his had closed her life in a most remarkable manner. Though delicate, she was not understood to be dying, and, being only about twelve years of age, it was hoped that debility would have given way to strength, fulfilled in the maturity of age. One afterand that early promises of good would be noon she suddenly awoke, as was thought, from a refreshing sleep,- surprise was pictured on every feature of her sweet countenance, and she gazed around as if she had unexpectedly found herself in a new world. Mother,' she exclaimed, 'do you see no change on my face? nothing peculiar about my looks?' 'No,' replied the astonished parent: Why do you ask?' 'Because,' said the child, I have just been in one of the most beautiful places I ever beheld, and have seen some of the most glorious and beautiful beings! O, I cannot describe where I have been, and what I have looked upon! Tell me, mother, is there no change on my face? Surely there must be.' Being told that there was none, she became calm and silent for a time, and then she burst forth with an exclamation: There, there it is again-I see it again, dear mother-I see these beautiful beings again-they are coming!'-and so she died."

Without wishing to cast the shadow of a doubt on the Christianity of the individuals whose cases are brought under our notice, we could yet have wished to see less of what might possibly have been excitement, as is especially the case with regard to one who had so recently been brought to the experimental knowledge of the "truth as it is in Jesus." At all events, we feel more deeply impressed with the necessity of connecting every such case with previous christian experience, and corroborating it by previous holiness of life. And we rejoice to believe, that in Miss Macfarlane's case there existed satisfactory evidence of her safety in Christ, in addition to the manifestation of joy and triumph we have transcribed.

We close our notice of the work with recommending to our readers, the account of the last hours of an eminent minister of Christ, the Rev. John Brown, which the author has inserted in the earlier part of his work, and which exhibits all the " ber certainty of waking bliss."

So

Entelligence.

THE UNITED CHURCH OF ENGLAND

AND IRELAND,

We have this month to notice the attitude which the bishops in Ireland have assumed, with reference to the

is, to be formally handed over to a hierarchy imposed by a foreign Sovereign Pontiff.

OF MAMMON.

Papal agression in England. We MR. COBDEN AND THE WORSHIPPERS cannot wonder at the feeling which was manifested by the Irish bench, at the omission of the usual united appellative when the English bishops approached the throne, to deprecate the Romish movement. This omission was, as has been satisfactorily stated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, purely unintentional; but we cannot avoid the conviction that the English branch of the national Church has for a long season been too unmindful of the anomalous and awkward position of its sister branch, by the recognition, favour, and actual grant of place and precedence, bestowed by the Government upon the dignitaries of our great opponent, the communion of Rome. We have seen with far too much of listless indifference, the assumption by Romish bishops of the territorial titles, belonging only to the prelates of the Protestant Church; and we have not protested as we ought to have done, with all the might and earnestness which it becomes us to exercise, against the positive infraction of those stipulations, and the absolute disregard of those prohibitory provisions, under cover of which the Catholic Emancipation Act was obtained.

The

Bishop of Cashel's reply, although somewhat sneered at by the Irish correspondent of the Times, as differing in tone and temper from those of his brethren, is positively refreshing to the spirit of the true Christian, in the spiritual tone with which it meets the whole question of the Romish movement, and is to be honoured for the bold and christian faithfulness with which it traces the causes which have led step by step to every fresh insult to the Protestant Crown and faith of England. If the people of England are righteously indignant at their own cause of quarrel with Rome, surely they will not, they dare not, commit so suicidal an act, as to allow Ireland, priest-ridden and priest-blinded as it

In a speech delivered within these last few days at Manchester, Mr. Cobden, who has lately forgotten the somewhat wholesome proverb, "Ne sutor ultra crepidam," has been taking it upon himself to state his views of what ought to be done in the cause of Wiseman and others against the Crown, people, and religion of England. Whilst Mr. Cobden bent the energies of his mind to the attainment of his grand commercial free-trade scheme, we of course had no claim or wish to interfere with his efforts, but now that he is enlarging the field of his operations, and pronouncing with a fancied oracular authority upon the national duty, in a question of deep national moment, so perfectly beyond a grasp of mind which is purely worldly, we must remind him that he is altogether incapable of judging what ought to be the policy of a christian realm in resisting the onward movement of the enemy of God and man. Mr. Cobden's mission-whether good or bad, it is not for us to argue-is to burst every fetter, which in the plenitude of his wisdom and charity, he imagines curbs the rights and liberties of trade; he is the high priest of a system which exalts and magnifies free and unrestrict commerce, but here his own judgment should tell him to stop. He may be qualified from long and patient investigation, for the task of completely changing the commercial system of the country, but let the country beware of listening to the ultra-latitudinarian doctrines of this apostle of free-trade, who would, in conformity with his liberal crced, allow, as it is termed, every religion to have a fair field and fair play.

The blindness of these men is inconceivable, and Rome laughs them to scorn, while she uses their mischievous policy.

The truth is, that Mr. Cobden and his party are too much mammon wor

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