It appoints a dowry for the Wife and entails the right of the first born, and shows how the younger branches shall be left. It defends the rights of all, and reveals vengeance to every defrauder, over-reacher, and oppressor. It is the first book, the oldest book in all the world. It contains the choicest matters, and the best instruction. It affords the greatest pleasure and satisfaction that ever was revealed. It contains the best of Laws, and the profoundest Mysteries that ever were penned. It brings the best tidings, and affords the greatest comfort to the enquiring and disconsolate. It exibits Life and Immortality from Eternity, and shows the way to glory. It is a brief recital of all that is past, and a certain prediction of all that is to come. It settles all matters in Debate. It resolves all doubts, and eases the mind and conscience of all Scruples. EXTRACTS From "Townsend's Accusations of History against the Church of Rome." Monasteries."Nothing is required of Christians which they may not perform with more advantage to mankind and with equal devotion to God while living among their brethren of mankind, than when they are immured with the walls of the cloister." Spiritual Allegiance." The testimony of this part of our history especially proves that Spiritual allegiance cannot fail to be accompanied, or followed by temporal authority and power on the part of him to whom that allegiance may be considered due." Rome Intolerant.· "If the Church of Rome were fully possessed of its former power, Protestantism would not be permitted to exist." REVIEW. Popery in Madeira.-This is a valuable little tract, giving an account of the persecution of Dr. Kalley by the Portuguese authorities at Madeira. We recommend it to the attentive perusal of our readers, who will find it interesting for the nature and importance of the facts which it details as to the working of Popery. The arm of Protestant England however has kept back the hand of Popery from the accomplishment its will, otherwise it would have fallen with a crushing weight not only upon Dr. Kalley, but upon others also. CABINET. The Bible is the best book ever written against Popery. The best mode of defending the dogmas of Rome, is to weaken men's respect for the authority of the Holy Scriptures. The anger of a meek man is like fire tion, and which were delivered in the School Room of St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel (Rev. J. R. Barber's), Vauxhall, has just terminated. The Lectures have been exceedingly well attended throughout, and have given much satisfaction. A vast deal of valuable information has been brought before those who attended, and great good appears to have been effected. The result has been so gratifying, that the Committee contemplate preparing another course very shortly. Marylebone.-The Marylebone Tradesmen and Operative Protestant Association will (D. v.) hold a Meeting early in the present month, in the Fitzroy School Rooms, 12, Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square, to consider the best steps to be taken in reference to the taking of the Island of Tahiti by the French, in order to uproot the Protestant Faith as established in that island; and also to devise means to oppose the present ascendancy movements of the Papacy, by means of the Jesuits, &c. &c. Notice of which Meeting will be duly announced. Lectures.-A Course of Six Lectures, ex Tower Hamlets.-A numerous and highly respectably attended meeting of the members and friends of this Association, was held on posing the Unscriptural and Tyrannical Tuesday evening, Jan. 30th, in St. Thomas's Character of Popery, will be delivered (D. V.) School Room, Arbour Square, Commercial to the Members and Friends of the ShoreRoad, which was kindly lent by the Rev. W. ditch and Hackney Association, in the BriValentine, Incumbent of St. Thomas's. tish School Room, Weymouth Terrace, James J. Cummins, Esq. was in the chair. Hackney Road, in the following order: The speakers were, the Revs. C. Day, J. 1. Monday, March 11, by the Rev. Henry Coghlan, J. Evans, and T. Cuffe, James Fish, A.M.; subject, "Holy Scripture the Lord, Esq. and Messrs. Sibley and Rigley. Rule of Faith."-2. Monday, March 25, Mr. City of London.-On Thursday evening, Rigley; subject, "Popery disloyal and reFebruary 8th, the Third Annual Meeting of bellious in its principles and practice." this Association was held in the Hall of 3. Monday, April 8, Mr. Sibley; subject, Commerce, Threadneedle Street. In the "The Inquisition."-4. Monday, April 22. absence of The Chisholm, who was prevented the Rev. J. R. Barber, A.M.; subject," Comfrom attending through indisposition, James parison between the ancient and modern faith Lord, Esq. occupied the chair. The speakers of Rome."-5. Monday, May 6, the Rev. S. were, the Revs. J. R. Barber, E. Pizey, A. Dubourg; subject, "The Paganism of S. A. Dubourg, and W. Callan, and Messrs. Popery."-6. Monday, May 20, Mr. TheoSibley and Raphaelle Ciocci, late a Cistercian philus A. Smith; subject, "Popery the enemy monk at Rome, and who had providentially of civil and religious liberty, and dangerous to escaped the persecutions of the Inquisition the common weal." The chair will be taken there, into the fangs of which he had fallen, each Evening at Half-past Seven o'clock. because he dared to read and judge the Tickets of admission may be had at 11, scriptures for himself. Exeter Hall, of the Secretaries of all the Associations, and of Mr. Stephens, Grocer, Kingsland-road; Mr. Ashton, Boot and Shoe Maker, Hackney-road; and Mr. Poole (the Secretary), Swiss Cottage, Dalston. The Meeting of the Members of the Metropolitan Operative Associations for the purpose of special prayer for the Divine blessing on the operations of the Associations, and which it was determined to hold quarterly, will be held (D. v.) on Monday evening, April 1st, at half-past seven o'clock, in the Rooms of the Protestant Association, 11, Exeter Hall. All Members of the Associations are invited to attend. Published under THE PROTESTANT At F. BAISLER'S 124, Oxford-street; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & Co. W. DAVY & SON,] The Protestant Almanack for 1844 is published in sheets and in books, embellished with woodcuts. Among them there is a correct view of the where the brutal Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, interior of the Ladye Chapel, Southwark, the place sat in judgment upon many of the faithful servants of Jesus in Mary's reign. It contains much valuable and important information on the Romish question. The price has been reduced to ld. Fourteen Shillings per Hundred, for Distribution. [Gilbert-street. "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-Isaiah viii. 20. No. 49. APRIL, 1844. VOL. V. ESSAY II. the gradual growth of corruption; ripening Good Works-Justification by Faith-Works by centuries of time, but still corruption. of Supererogation-Indulgences -Penances. HAVING in the former sketch briefly adverted to the creation, the fall, and the redemption of man,-pointed out the hope set before him in the gospel, and the manner in which the great enemy of souls labours to counteract God's plan of mercy,-how the same spirit which wrought the fall of our first parents, yet worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience, deluding, corrupting, destroying the simple and unwary, nay, even the wise after this world's wisdom, by false doctrines, by forgetfulness of God, or rebellion against him, and directed attention especially to two systems of corruption, superstition and unchristian worship,-shown how in the East, Mahometanism, and in the West, Romanism, have prevailed for a long season against "the truth as it is in Jesus," '-we proceed now to enter distinctly upon those topics which peculiarly characterise the Church of Rome, whether affecting her theologically, morally, civilly, or politically. And let it not be thought that in teaching of the system of Romanism, we are dealing with that which arising like a bright exhalation, had its perfect and entire origin at any one given period. No, far from it. It is Not indeed that there is nothing of antiquity in the Church of Rome, nor that she is entirely destitute of truth; but that with these ancient truths, she has mixed up also many ancient and modern errors, and so interwoven alternate truth and error, (as though they could form a congruous whole), that like some fell sorceress, she throws a mist before the eyes of her deluded votaries, which intercepts their spiritual vision, disables them from examining, to distinguish truth from error, and thus, blindfolded, drags them down the broad road to ruin and destruction, at the very moment she professes to direct their upward flight to the New Jerusalem !!! But what after all is antiquity? It cannot be the criterion of truth. Error may be ancient; but errors are not improved by age. No time can run, or form a prescription against the truth of God; and if a system or doctrine were unscriptural or dangerous to immortal souls in the days of the Apostles, it is equally dangerous and unscriptural now. Human opinion may have changed; God's eternal truth remains the same. That then which was erroneous in the first century, because unscriptural, will for the like cause be so in the nineteenth century. Nor are the dangers to be apprehended from Popery in any way diminished by the fact, that she holds in her system some fundamental and essential truths. The leading doctrines of Christianity she may virtually admit, but practically deny; while she holds the truth, she may hold it in unrighteousness. And as in some costly banquet, where everything is most sumptuously and luxuriously prepared to do honor on some great occasion to some distinguished guest, though every delicacy and rarity may be there, and viands the most precious and costly may adorn the hospitable board, yet if by the neglect or craft of those to whom has been committed, either the preparation, the serving up, or the administration of these things, poison, a subtle and a deadly poison, may have been infused into every dish, and have pervaded every article of food, a feast of death, not of conviviality, would follow, and the drink of deadly wine would but destroy those whom it was meant to cheer. So it is with the Church of Rome; there may be some truth, but there is more and greater error. And as those drinking of the poisoned cup, though containing the best of wine, drink to their destruction; so those drinking of the cup which Rome (Rev. xvii. 2) hath mingled, risk their eternal safety. Some, as by special grace and favour, may escape the operation of the deadly draught, but oh! to most of those who drink, it is a fatal potion; it lulls them to a sleep from which they wake not, till the hand of death unseals their slumbering consciences, opens their eyes to a sense of their danger when it is too late to avoid it, and hurries them to the judgment-seat of the Eternal God, all unprepared to meet Him!!! Let us then here for a moment depart from chronological order, and enter upon the consideration of that, which Luther, rightly designated the point of a standing or a falling church, viz. justification by faith. Holy Scripture saith, "By the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified;" and while the Church of Rome teaches that a man cannot be justified without the grace of God in Jesus Christ, (Council of Trent, s. 6, c. 24,) she also in the same council (s. 6, c. 24) enacts and declares, "If any one shall say that the righteousness received, is not preserved, and even encreased before God by good works, but that the works themselves are only the fruits and signs of the justification that has been obtained, and not the cause of its encrease, let him be accursed."!! And again (s. 6, c. 32):-"If any one shall say that the good works of a man who is justified, are so far the gifts of God that they are not also the good merits of the justified person himself, or that the person himself does not truly deserve by the good works which are performed by him, through the grace of God and the merit of Christ, an encrease of grace, eternal life, and the enjoyments of eternal life itself, (provided he dies in a state of grace,) and an encrease of glory, let him be accursed." To pass over for the present the opinions of individual writers upon this subject, we have already before us the doctrine of the Church of Rome upon this important point, as defined in the last of her own infallible councils, that of Trent, convened by Paul III., a. D. 1545. It may be thought that we are here entering needlessly and improperly upon the theological point of the question. But in treating of Popery we cannot permit sentiments so dangerous, so unscriptural, so blasphemous, to pass without notice; we desire to be found faithful, to speak without respect of persons, to declare what alone we believe can save any soul, what alone can save the soul of every perishing fellow-sinner. Creature merit! with reference indeed to men, one may be said to deserve something; but how with reference to God? what benefit can we confer? what give, that is not already his? Survey the whole creation, fix upon that which is not already God's, and there may be merit in giving it to him. Range as widely, and search as deeply as you please, and when you have brought the united wealth of every age and country in the world, of what worth think you will it be to Him? Bring all the learning of the wisest sages of antiquity and of modern times,—summon statesmen, poets, orators, and philosophers before you,-call up earth's mightiest conquerors, her admirals, her captains, her commanders, and when all the store of united wisdom and wealth is poured out before the feet of the Almighty, what will you have brought Him that was not HIS before,-what, for which you can deserve or demand even the smallest recompense?!! Let the mightiest bestow their strength, call up the lion of the forest, the great leviathan of the deep, bind up the waves of the ocean, hold in your hand the four winds of heaven, and what of strength or might can you have given unto Him? (Job.) Ah no! were all created objects, sun, moon, and stars, and all angelic beings, yea, the mighty universe itself, brought as a tribute to Jehovah--and who could bring it ?-yet what would he deserve who brought it? Oh! if such an one thus could be, he would be exalted, not with pride, but with the wisdom of humility; sitting lowly at the feet of Jesus, he would present this mighty donation, and far, very far from thinking either himself or the gift meritorious, would exclaim, "All things come of thee, and of thine own have I given thee." What says the Apostle to exclude all boasting, "What hast thou that thou hast not received? but if thou hast received, why dost thou boast, as though thou hadst not received?" Here too is the great secret of man's redemption unfolded, too pure, too lofty, too spiritual, for proud philosophy, or carnalmindedness, to receive or understand. No created being had wherewith to make a meritorious offering for sin; and had not He, "the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of His person," (Heb. c. i. v. 3) given himself freely for us all, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God," no atonement could have been made for the transgression of the first Adam, nor had any of his posterity reached the gates of heaven. But God be praised for ever in the highest, man's forlorn state was pitied by the God of mercy; He "so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that all whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John c. iii. v. 16.) The Messiah, who alone could do it, travelling in the greatness of his strength, took upon him the fallen nature of the first Adam, that he might raise that fallen nature, and take it with Him back to heaven. By faith in Him it is that we are saved. By faith in Him, we are justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. To be continued. can be offered, from the temptations of this life as of that to come, not to keep faith with hereticks, but to break it when it may tend to the promoting of the Catholic cause? And if laws cannot bind other persons, much less will they bind princes that are of the Catholic religion. Did they ever keep any league or contract that was made with Protestants longer than was necessary to cut their throats? What use did the papists make in Ireland of the favours granted them by King Charles I? Did they not make use of it to the destruction of the Protestants, by rising up in rebellion, and massacreing 100,000 persons? Sir, I see that measures against Popery meet with great opposition, and are very hard to carry; I know not what to say to it; but I am afraid, that if we should be so infatuated as to let it creep on more and more upon us, and at last it ascend the Throne again, that we shall soon have the same miserable fortune our forefathers had in Queen Mary's days, and be burnt in Smithfield for our indiscretion. "Sir, we are upon a business of as great importance as ever was debated within these walls; for either we must suppress Popery, or be suppressed by it. For although that interest do not look so big as that of the Protestant, yet I plainly see that it hath wrought like a mole under ground for a long time, and that it hath eaten into our bowels, and will soon come to the vital parts of the Protestant religion, and destroy it too, if great care be not taken, and that speedily. I hear some say, that our cares are needless at this time because the King may outlive the Duke; which is as much as to say, there is no need of laws against Popery, until we see whether we shall have occasion to make use of them or no. But they do not ROMISH AGGRESSIONS MUST BE tell us how we should be sure to obtain GUARDED AGAINST. [From the speech of Colonel BIRCH in the House of Commons in the year 1680, in the Debate on the subject of drawing up a Bill to disable James Duke of York from inheriting the Imperial Crown of this realm.] "I should be very glad to hear any argument to make good what hath been offered about expedients; but I am afraid when then they come to be examined to the bottom, that they will be found to be very insufficient, and that we may as well think of catching a lion with a mousetrap, as to secure ourselves against Popery by any laws without the exclusion Bill. Have we not to do with a sort of people that cannot be bound by any law or contract whatsoever? Much less can their words or promises be depended on. Are they not under all the obligations that them. I must confess such arguments are so far from weighing with me, as that they increase my fears, because it discovers a strange, easy, careless, indifferent humour among us Protestants. Must our lives, liberties, and religion depend upon may be's? I hope it is not come to that yet; I am sure it will not consist with the prudence of this assembly to leave it so, but rather to endeavour to settle this matter upon such a foundation as may (with as much probability as human things are capable of) secure us. And, Sir, I cannot fear any of those things that are objected against this Bill that it is against law, and therefore will occasion a civil war. For my part, I will never fear a civil war in favor of idolatry, especially when we have gotten a law on our side to defend our religion. Therefore, I move you, that the bill be brought in." |