of "St. Joseph," by Gillis. Above the door in the north transept is an "Assumption," by Thyssens; a " Dead Christ," by Schut, is attached to a pillar on the left; and behind the same pillar, a "St. John," by Gillis. An "Ecce Homo," by Van Beveren, closes the catalogue.

At the eastern extremity of the Church, immediately behind the High Altar, is the grand object of attraction to the stranger, and, indeed, to all who revere the memory of departed genius. The remains of Rubens and his family there repose in a vault beneath the chapel, which the great painter himself designed for his last resting-place, and which is enriched with one of the noblest efforts of his pencil. This splendid picture is a Holy Family," into which he has introduced a portrait of himself under the figure of St. George, and those of his father, and his two wives, in the persons of St. Jerome, Martha, and the Magdalene. His grandfather represents Time, his son an angel; and the two other females are his daughter and his mistress. The face of the former is exquisitely beautiful; and the entire picture has evidently elicited the great powers of the artist with the most effective result. Sir Joshua Reynolds is warm in his eulogium upon it. "To a painter," says he, "who wishes to become a colourist, or learn the art of producing a brilliant effect, this picture is as well worth studying as any in Antwerp."-Above the altar is a Virgin, in marble, by Du Quesnoy, which Rubens brought with him from Rome: and, on the north side, a small marble bas-relief of the "Crucifixion," which is a masterpiece of the art. The figure of Mary is the ne plus ultra of perfection.

Without the rails of the chapel, on a marble slab, bearing the arms of Rubens, and covering the entrance to the tomb, is the following inscription:

FANATICISM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

MR. EDITOR, A short time since, it was reported in the public journals that two gentlemen, calling themselves "Angels," waited upon the Archbishop of Canterbury, as a deputation from the followers of the late Mr Irving, and had the modesty to request his Grace to place his mitre before them, when they would place it again upon his head, and acknowledge him as Primate of all England, including no doubt themselves, and the persons who cooperate with them. The report went on to say, that his Grace pleaded particular occupation at the time, and with great politeness bowed them out of his presence. Now, as no Protestant prelate ever wears a mitre, or has any other than that in the armorial bearings of his see, there is probably some misrepresentation in this matter; unless we impute not only a want of modesty, but also a considerable share of ignorance, to the deputed "Angels." But, notwithstanding these drawbacks on our powers of belief, I am inclined to think that the report, however exaggerated or misrepresented, had at least a foundation in a real visit; for shortly after I heard that two gentlemen, under similar circumstances, were actually calling on the clergy of the Metropolis; and, at length, the writer of this was in his turn also visited by them.

The cards of the gentlemen announced them as "Mr. William Henry Place, 32, Connaught Square," and "The Rev. H. J. Owen, Chelsea." The latter gentleman, I believe, is the same whom the Bishop of London lately ejected from his cure in the Church, on account of his openly professing and acting upon the opinions of Mr. Irving and his followers. They professed the object of their calling to be the submission to the writer's notice of a pamphlet, which would disabuse the public of many prejudicial notions which had gone abroad respecting this new opinion, which they designated as "the work of God." The pamphlet, of 84 pages, bears no title, but merely has this statement"Delivered January 1836." It is dedicated to the Archbishops and Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland. It speaks with great respect of that Church, and is rather hard upon the Dissenters. As far as a cursory perusal allows the writer to state its purport, it simply amounts to this:-That the Almighty did not intend that the apostles and other inspired officers of the Church should be of temporary, but of permanent duration. That the cessation of these inspired men was occasioned simply by the want of faith in the Church itself; that at length a number of persons have arrived at the exercise of this great faith, and the consequence is the reappearance of these inspired men, who have received their mission immediately from heaven. The inference which they draw is this; that the ordinary ministers of the Church should immediately acknowledge the work of inspiration, and submit themselves to the guidance of these, the extraordinary and heaven-appointed messengers of God. A proceeding so very unusual is, I think, worth being mentioned in your valuable periodical; and I have submitted it chiefly as an introduction to a few remarks on what I cannot but think the origin of Irvingism. These remarks will, I

think, show, that Mr. Irving was but a plagiarist, a second-hand sort of propagator of notions which had their rise in America, although from some cause or other he has been passed off as the inventor.

There has appeared in America a book, entitled "Matthias and his Impostures: or, the Progress of Fanaticism illustrated in the extraordinary Case of Robert Matthews, and some of his Forerunners and Disciples. By William L. Stone. New York, 1835." This details, perhaps, the most extraordinary series of delusions, and the most singular progress of error and fanaticism, ever recorded. The mind actually turns with disgust from the recital, mingled with astonishment at the utter prostration of reason to which fanaticism can degrade mankind. To pass over the rest of this shocking narrative, we will merely detail one instance. A lady named Pierson, who with her husband were deluded by these opinions, died; and the husband was fully persuaded she would again be raised to life on a particular day, at twelve o'clock at noon. In his prayer of faith over the coffin, the husband impiously challenged the Almighty to fulfil his promise of immediate resuscitation, using these expressions:-" God is not a man that he should lie, and if this dear woman is not raised up this day, thy word will fall to the ground; thy promise is null and void; thou canst not deny thyself. Thou knowest we have performed the conditions to the very letter. O Lord, now fulfil thy promise." - When the miracle did not take place, they upbraided some of the persons present as being the cause of the failure. The funeral took place, and the deluded husband was then certain she would be raised at twelve o'clock at night, and had her chamber prepared as for a bride, and procured such delicacies for her reception at supper as he thought would be gratifying to her taste. When again disappointed, he asserted that God had not specified the time, but was still certain of her resuscitation. He then fixed the following Sunday morning at sun-rise for the miracle, and actually repaired to her grave to receive her. And what is most astonishing, all this time, on every other point, he was perfectly rational.

The writer of this has heard, on several occasions, of the followers of Mr. Irving having exhibited marks of delusion on the subject of miracles; but he was inclined to think such excess of credulity (if indeed that is the right term for such conduct) impossible; probably such reports are exaggerations. The above narrative, however, shows how little we can trust to the imbecility of the human intellect, when it has to contend with fanaticism; and one case at least has occurred within the writer's own knowledge. A poor woman, whom he visited professionally, was asserted by a follower of Irvingism to be perfectly restored to health by the prayers of his minister, although the poor woman was daily seen by him, the person who made the assertion, lying before his eyes apparently sinking under the effects of disease. The parties here alluded to, it must be admitted, were in humble life, and by no means people of education; yet such an assertion, which was contradicted by ocular demonstration, seemed to him so contrary to all the motives of human action, and to involve not merely reason, but common sense and honesty and veracity, that he was fully prepared to admit that there is no bounds to self-delusion, but that the wretched victims of fanaticism are irreclaimable by any means within the ordinary

methods of conviction! It was under this firm persuasion that he declined all controversy with the two gentlemen who visited him, and simply received their pamphlet, with a polite intimation that he would look into it.

Can any of your readers inform the writer, whether the unknown tongues have entirely ceased? He believes such to be the case; and that "the manifestations," as they are called, are now in the vulgar tongue, generally consisting of short, and somewhat incoherent sentences; as for instance-" Repent; repent; the Lord has a great work; he is raising up-raising up-a pure church-a chaste spousea virgin church,' &c. &c. &c. At any rate, this change from the unknown, which were found not to succeed, to the known tongues, seems to savour of worldly wisdom. We must ever bear in mind the fact, that the first utterers of the unknown tongues, in London, were for some time in a state of private training, before they openly exhibited their gifts to the public notice. Does not this mixture of caution and prudence render the whole affair still more shocking?

OMEGA.

ROMANISM.

ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND WORSHIP OF THE

VIRGIN MARY.

(Concluded from page 490.)

PETER DENS (tom. i. p. 339,) Tract. de Peccatis, No. 137, De Contrahentibus Peccatum originale, allows that it is not a matter of faith whether the Virgin did or did not contract sin; but says that it is the pious, general, and in some degree innate persuasion of the faithful. He allows that St. Thomas did not hold it, nor St. Bernard; but he adds, "it may be said, that if St. Thomas could see the Feast of the Conception of the Divine Virgin celebrated by the whole Church, as it is now-a-days celebrated,* he would have undoubtedly stood fast for the Immaculate Conception."

By such a process as this we might prove, that though the Reformers of the Church denied the supremacy of the Pope, if they could see the government of England leaguing with O'Connell, as now-a-days it may be seen, they would not have died in the Church's cause, but have stood fast for the supremacy of the Pope: in fact, we may prove what we please this way. Dens adds to the list of Popes who prohibited the denial of the Immaculate Conception, the names of Alexander VII. and Paul V., and says it was forbidden to any to assume in argument the contrary, "except the Dominicans, to whom it was allowed privately, and only amongst themselves, to consider the affirmative." Dens does not tell us why this exemption was allowed. The inquiry, whether the Virgin sinned in Adam, Dens answers, by saying that some conceive that the prohibition respecting the forbidden fruit attached to all except the

Many persons are not aware, that in the Church of Rome there is yet such a festival as that here alluded to, but such is the fact, and it is one of the most imposing of its mummeries. What must be our opinion of a religion which teaches the youths and virgins of a whole land to celebrate such mysteries as these! This fact must speak volumes for its care of morals and purity.

blessed Virgin. He says the more common opinion is, that the Virgin ought to have contracted original sin, but in the moment of her conception or animation, by the merits of Christ she was preserved. The difficulties occasioned to the scheme of Romanism by some of its doctrines are very striking; this, for instance, trenches on the consistency of the Sacrament of Penitence." To get over this stumbling-block, Dens tells us, "In the blessed Virgin Mary the habit of the virtue of penitence was found, but the principal act of contrition did not arise in her, since she could not sin. Sylvius teaches, that the habit of the virtue of penitence perseveres in the Blessed to adorning and secondary acts." (Tom. vi. p. 31,) We shall take but one more example of the way in which the doctrines about the Virgin Mary intrude themselves every where in the Romish Church. We quote Dens (Tractatus de Sacr. in genere. No. 12. De intentione Ministri circa mutationem formæ.) "What is said in this form, I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of the blessed Virgin Mary? Answer. By distinguishing with St. Thomas (art. 8,. in Corp.) The change will be substantial, if a person be so understood to be baptized in the name of the Blessed Virgin, as in the name of the Trinity, for such a sense will take away the verity of the Sacrament. But if it be so understood, that it is added (and in the name of the Blessed Virgin) not as if the name of the Blessed Virgin could operate any thing in the Sacrament, but that her intercession may profit the baptized person towards keeping his baptismal grace, the perfection of the Sacrament is not destroyed." Tournelly rejects this distinction, saying, such baptism is altogether invalid. (Tom, v. 81.) And Tournelly is right, whatever St. Thomas or any other saint may say to the contrary, else may we baptize in the name of any other saint of Rome, even Saint Napoleon himself. Dens' logic would fail to disprove the consequence, if he admit the doctrine.

Having now illustrated the notions of the Romish Church respecting the Blessed Virgin, especially her claims to worship, and the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and having proved by examples that this doctrine has led to abominable blasphemies in Romish countries; having also demonstrated, that the only authority for these doctrines is not in or from the Scriptures; we shall close our inquiry with an extract from an Indulgence of Pope Benedict XIII. dated 14th September, 1724, which shows how the practice of Sixtus V. is followed by his successors, and how far the title of Queen of Heaven, assigned to the Virgin Mary, is tolerated at Rome.

"The cause of the apostolic duty divinely enjoined upon us demands that we should faithfully lay out the treasures of the celestial rewards† (numerum for munerum in Dens) trusted to our dispensation by the Lord, when we can hope that that may lead to increase on earth the

These treasures are the "immense and inestimable treasure accruing from the infinite satisfactions of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and especially fsom the merits and satisfactions of the glorious Virgin Mary Mother of God, and of all the saints and elect, the dispensation of which treasure our Saviour delivered to the blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles, and to his successors for ever." (Vid. Constitution of Benedict XIV., A.D. 1747.-Dens, tom. viii. p. 432.

Munus means-gift-reward-bribe.