human liberty, and of truth and heroism, against the cause and kingdom of darkness and bondage, of intellectual and spiritual slavery and death. Such a theme was worthy of Hare's powers, and, which is more to say, his powers are equal to his theme. There is a life and energy about his writing on this theme scarcely to be equalled elsewhere. The pulse and currents of Luther's life seem to beat within his heart, and now warm him to an eloquence of the highest strain, and then jet forth in outbreaks of wit, sometimes of classic beauty and vividness, at others of the homeliest and raciest style, but always apt and forcible. His mastery of logic is no less remarkable than his other gifts, though he does not affect logical forms and phrases. Sir W. Hamilton is one of the most celebrated logicians of Britain, as Hare takes care his readers shall not forget; but he found himself foiled at his proper weapon by one of a very different school and training from his own. He was supposed, also, to be a master of all erudition; but this imagination Hare effectually dispelled. As a critic Hare may remind us of the accomplished anatomist; but as a controversialist he seems rather like the brilliant swordsman. And Sir W. Hamilton must often have been confounded at the swift and sudden scimitar-play by which all his fences and guards were foiled, and his weapon so often struck from his hand. Or, again, we may admire the taste, the subtilty, the truth, the profundity of Hare's critical analysis and judgments; but, in addition to the same qualities displayed in his controversial writings, we admire the conversational rapidity of retort, the frequent flash of wit arising from the encounter of wits, and the colloquial but appropriate and effective raciness and homeliness of style. We are reminded by these qualities not only of Luther, but of quaint Latimer. Only Hare is always, however severe or even personal, the gentleman and the scholar; his homeliness is never gross, his quaintness is never violent or eccentric. Almost every kind of sparkling and of eloquent writing may be found in his wonderful "Vindication," except that appropriate to the pulpit, in which, indeed, Hare never seems to have excelled.* And what is quite as remarkable as any other characteristic of this performance is, that, whatever may be the subject and whatever the variety of style which Hare employs, he generally makes very plain English-the most simple words and the most idiomatic phrases, do his work. Indeed, till we read him, we had no conception what a man of pith and heart, and of real genius and scholarly accomplishment, could achieve with Anglo-Saxon

The King of Prussia sent Hare his portrait in a gold medallion, as an acknowledgment for this "Vindication," which, our readers are no doubt aware, has acquired a European reputation.

English. We recommend his writings, and especially this "Vindication," to all those among our readers who wish to study the genuine character and proper capabilities of the English tongue. Our space will only allow of our giving a very few samples of what we have been attempting to describe. And yet why do we talk of samples? As well talk of giving a sample of spring's glories, or of the treasures which the "dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear." What we have to offer are but a very few trifling specimens out of hundreds scattered thickly over the pages of Hare's controversial writings. And, of course, these, brief as they must of necessity be, can convey no idea of the various and exact learning, and the argumentative power, which distinguish these writings. Before we present the specimens we have selected from the "Vindication,” we are tempted to quote one-but one-paragraph from the "Contest with Rome," a work the merit of which is only inferior to that of the "Vindication," in so far as the argument is less continuous, and as the personal and living interest possesses less grandeur and unity.

From the "Contest with Rome," then, we merely quote the following:

"Dr. Newman, in his Lectures on Anglicanism, p. 8, asserts that our Church 'is a thing without a soul, does not contemplate itself, define its intrinsic constitution, or ascertain its position;' that, 'it has no traditions; it cannot be said to think; it does not know what it holds, and what it does not; it is not even conscious of its own existence.' As though it were essential to the existence of a soul, that it should be busied in defining its intrinsic constitution, and ascertaining and circumscribing its position. As though it were not the constant characteristic of an energetic genial soul, that it pours itself out in action upon the world without, without wasting its time in defining its intrinsic constitution, or ascertaining its position. As though this itself were not indicative of a checkt, represt action. Is it not the grand and blessed peculiarity of our political constitution, that all our institutions, all our liberties, have grown out of particular emergencies that we have never set ourselves down, like our neighbors on the other side of the Channel, to define our intrinsic constitution, and ascertain our position? Yet for this very reason do we understand our position better, because we know it practically, from acting in it-not speculatively, from theorizing about it. Nay, was not this the spirit and principle of the whole Catholic Church in its best ages? as it continued more or less until the anti-Catholic Council of Trent set about defining its intrinsic constitution, and ascertaining its position, and building circumvallations about it, wall beyond wall, and bastion beside bastion, with batteries of anathemas mounted upon them desolating the country round."-Contest, &c., pp. 144, 145.

The following sentences from the "Vindication" refer to Sir W. Hamilton:

"Still in one sense the reviewer is not so guilty as he appears. For strange though it may be deemed, it unquestionably is the fact, as I have already hinted more than once, that he had never set eyes on the original Latin of any of these four sentences. The garbling, the misrepresentation, the mistranslation, are not the reviewer's sin, but Bossuet's, in the second book of whose Histoire

des Variations the four sentences stand, almost consecutively, though not in the same order, in one page. § XVII. As a thief is sometimes detected through some flaw in his shoe or boot, which happens to coincide with the footprints about the spot where the robbery was committed, so here we may feel confident that the reviewer, who verily needs an expert policeman to track him, took his quotations from Bossuet, because, after the Chinese fashion, they copy Bossuet's faults."-Mission, &c., second edition, p. 811.

The two next passages refer to the frequent vehemence of Luther's language:

"Moreover, I would contend that common justice requires we should make the amplest allowance for occasional over-vehemence or hastiness of expression, when we consider, not merely the peculiarly energetical tone of his mind, but all the circumstances of his condition-the darkness out of which he had to work his way, with scarcely any help save that of God's word and Spirit-the might of the errour he had to fight against, its deadening influence, the abominations it had given birth to, the number of enemies he had to encounter, and the almost superhuman rapidity and vigour with which he carried on his singlehanded warfare. When we remember, too, that during this whole time his mind was continually expanding, and that many of these writings were epochal acts in the history of the world, utterances of truths which history has signed, and sealed, and attested with the witness of ten generations-what can we think of the spirit that would carp, and cavil, and sneer at a few inconsiderate expressions? When the world's doom-bell tolls, it must shake the belfry. When the waters burst forth from their frost-bound prison, the ice will crack, not without a noise; and they will probably splash over the banks."-Ibid., pp. 688, 689.

"These instances are notorious; a multitude of similar ones might be cited from Luther's writings, especially from those belonging to this critical period of his life, when all his powers were stretched beyond themselves by the stress of the conflict. To our nicer ears such expressions may seem in bad taste. Be it so. When a Titan is walking about among the pigmies, the earth seems to rock beneath his tread. Mont Blanc would be out of keeping in the Regent's Park; and what would be the outcry if it were to toss its head and shake off an avalanche or two!"—Ibid., p. 797.

How finely drawn is the following picture of Dr. Newman:

"When we look back on the author's career, when we reflect how he has gone on year after year sharpening the edge of his already over-keen understanding, casting one truth after another into his logical crucible, and persuading himself that he has dissolved it to atoms, and then exhibiting a like ingenuity in compounding the semblance of truths out of fictions-when we reflect how in this way he appeared to be gradually losing the faculty of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, and the very belief in the existence of any power for discerning truth, nay, as it seemed at times, in the existence of any positive truth to be discerned, and how, taking refuge, as it were, from the encroachments of a universal scepticism, he has at length bowed his neck under a yoke which a man, gifted with such fine qualities of mind and character, could hardly assume till he had put out the eyes of his heart and conscience, as well as his understanding-it is not in scorn and triumph, but in deep sadness and awe, that we repeat, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ?”*—Ibid., p. 725.

This is the motto to Newman's first "Lecture on Justification."

We must find space for the following noble passage, with which we bring our quotations to a close. It will be seen that the contrast is between the Fathers and the Reformers:

"Although Christianity, being in her essence above the relations of time and space, renders her devout votaries in a certain sense independent of them with regard to their own personal spiritual life, yet, when they set themselves to teach or to act upon others, the variable elements of their nature, those which are necessarily moulded and modified by the moral and intellectual powers and agencies they are brought into contact with, come into play. Hence it is next to a moral impossibility, that men living in the decrepitude of the ancient world-under the relaxing and palsying influences of the Roman and Byzantine empires, when all intellectual and moral life was fast waning away, and the grand and stirring ideas and aims which had drawn forth the ener gies of the classical nations in their prime, had been superseded by rhetorical tumour and allegorical and grammatical trifling-should have mounted to such a pitch of intellectual power as to be beyond the reach of the noblest minds in the age when all the faculties of the new world were bursting into life, and when one region of power after another was laid open to man, and called him to start up and take possession of it--the whole circuit of the earth he lived in, the infinitude and the sublimities of the universe in which it is comprised, the world of night surpassing that of day, and swallowing it up in its unfathomable depths; the classical nations rising out of their millennial sleep, with the beauty of their art and of their poetry, and their heroic glory; while the incipient knowledge of the newly discovered races tended along therewith to bring out self-consciousness, and to make self-knowledge more distinct,—and the Book of God, speaking in each man's native tongue, became indeed a living book, the Book of Man, revealing the inmost thoughts and purposes of his heart."-Ibid., p. 706.

Here we must stay our hand. It yet remains for us to do what we may be able toward ascertaining the position which Hare held as a religious teacher, and the peculiar characteristics of his theology. To this task we shall devote a second paper, for which the present has cleared the way. We wish it were likely that in Hare as a theologian we might find as much to admire and as little to regret as in Hare the philosopher, critic, and controversialist. But we fear this is not likely to be the case. Yet we rejoice to believe that, with all genuine and Scriptural Christians, he did, notwithstanding his theological defects, "hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life."

ART. II.-ROMANISM FALSE AND PERSECUTING.

The Complete Notes of the Douay Bible and Rhemish Testament. Extracted from the Quarto Editions of 1816 and 1818, published under the Patronage of the Roman Catholic Bishops and Priests of Ireland, as the authorized Interpretation of the Church, and the infallible Guide to Everlasting Life. With a Preface, embodying the Facts and Documents connected with the Publication of both Editions; Dr. Troy's and Dr. Murray's Denial of them; the List of the Subscribers throughout Ireland; the List of certain Notes suppressed in some Copies of the Second Edition. With a copious Index, referring to all the Principles of the Church of Rome worthy of remark in the Notes, which appear utterly subversive of the Gospel of Christ and of all Christian Charity among Men. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GĦEE, A. B. Dublin: Richard Moore Tims. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1837. ROMAN CATHOLICISM, at the present time, is undergoing a severe scrutiny. What it is, and what its tendencies, are questions which are discussed with as much, interest as if it had but just obtruded itself upon the notice of the world. It would seem that many have either not read history, or have read it to little purpose. They seem just now to have waked up to the real importance of a system which winds itself through all the various ramifications of society. A certain class of persons not Romanists, nor yet Protestants, but, on questions of religion, free and easy souls, often ask, Why is not Romanism as good as any other religion? and why are not Roman Catholics as good as any other Christians? These Simon Pure patriots talk much and earnestly of religious freedom and equal rights; they reprobate intolerance, bigotry, and narrow sectarianism. The constitution, say they, guarantees to every citizen the liberty of worship, and if you refuse to favour the elevation of a Roman Catholic to any position of honour or of profit, on account of his religious faith, you make war upon the constitution of the country, and, besides, you make yourself an intolerable bigot. This reasoning has had a run for twenty or thirty years. The vast influx of Roman Catholics into this country within the last few years, and the evident catering of politicians for Roman Catholic favour, have inspired leading spirits in the Romish communion with confidence, and they have thought it expedient to busy themselves with the politics of the country. The rapidity with which they have acquired power to mould legislation, by managing political leaders, and balancing parties, has at length startled some who had long been disposed to regard them as an oppressed class, subjected to proscription and persecution even in this land of freedom. They now see that Romanism is not a mere abstraction, nor a mere negation in the social