"Its successors came in on the express title of resistance to Popery; they were emphatically 'The Protestant Administration.' They had scarcely entered on office, when the whole scene of disaster brightened; and the deliverance of Europe was begun, with a vigour that never relaxed, a combination of unexpected means and circumstances, and effective and rapid renown; which if a man had ventured to suppose but a month before, he would have been laughed at as a visionary.

"Of all countries, Spain, sluggish, accustomed to the yoke of France, and with all its old energies melted away in the vices of its government, was the last to which Europe could have looked for defiance of the universal conqueror. But, if ever the battle was fought by the shepherd's staff and sling against the armed giant, it was then. England was summoned to begin a new career of triumph. Irresistible on one element, she was now to be led step by step to the first place of glory on another; and that Protestant, ministry saw, what no human foresight could have hoped to see, Europe restored; the monarch of her monarchs a prisoner in its hands; and the mighty fabric of the French atheistic empire, after darkening and distending like an endless dungeon over the earth, scattered, with all its malignant pomps and ministers of evil, into air.

"It is impossible to conceive that this regular interchange of punishment and preservation has been without a cause, and without a purpose. Through almost three hundred years, through all varieties of public circumstance, all changes of men, all shades of general polity, we see one thing alone unchangedthe regular connexion of national misfortune with the introduction of Popish influence, and of national triumph with its exclusion." We e may now bring down the train of our argument to the present juncture: the Roman Catholic hath been admitted, through the culpable lukewarmness of the legislature, into the British Parliament. Expediency, that "foul, dishonourable word," suggested and brought about concession; and what hath been the natural and inevitable consequence? Though the voice of the orator who pleaded so earnestly for the relief and succour of the exiled Dagon, was hushed when he gained his point, and the idol was placed side by side with the ark of the covenant, the stability of the Anglican church and of the British throne was thereby weakened; the spark incautiously flung beneath them is now bursting out into a furious flame, which to all human seeming only a Divine hand can extinguish. Our governments pass away like shadows, which in their transit prevent the vivifying sun from shedding his beauty upon us. We are bound hand and foot, and cannot get free. Dissatisfaction has taken the place of reverence to the Deity, and Popery is rising triumphant. We are looked upon by the nations around as a declining empire. The Romanist and the Sectarian are leagued

against us," and thus our Church, like its divine Founder, is, as it were, crucified between two thieves, the one robbing it of its spirituality, and the other of its Apostolical character."* Nothing but a Divine rescue can preserve us. A fearful calamity would seem to have blasted the high hope of England, and a moral blight hath fallen upon the blossom which promised so gloriously to burst into the perfect fruit. And why is this? A corrupt government hath produced it: a government that holds out the patronizing hand to every wily flatterer, and appoints to ecclesiastical offices the creatures of its own party, however deficient in principle and honour. These fill the places of our venerable dignitaries as one by one they drop off; men who have thrown themselves into the notice of the actual patrons of our preferments, either by some trashy harangue, or flimsy pamphlet, bearing on the politics of this world. However we may despise such proceedings, we cannot but lament over their issue. Our spiritual translations are degraded to mere political appointments. The sound theologian, and the defender of his Church, stand but a sorry chance of meeting any recognised reward from these men in office, unless, like a coward, they throw off their armour, or devote their energies to the destruction of their country, by taking up and applauding to the echo the crafty pretence of "Justice to Ireland," or some other such ministerial device. We may talk of our Protestant sovereign, but what is she when in the hands of an arbitrary and corrupt ministry? What, when she feels herself compelled tacitly to acquiesce in the proceedings treacherously forced upon her-proceedings which bring with them lamentable issues for the nation? We speak advisedly when we affirm that, pro tempore, England is but a monarchy in name. Its glory and preeminence have departed from the throne, and a carte blanche is placed in the hands of a

* Charge delivered to the Clergy by Archdeacon Wilkins.

"An eminent individual, the Rev. Edward Stanley, whom he had the pleasure of knowing and esteeming in private life, though he differed from him in political views, had not disdained to mix himself up with the tumult of an election on the hustings of Anglesea. There he delivered himself of a political speech, and the only rebuke the Ministry gave him for thus connecting politics with religion-the politician with the priest was to translate him from the Rectory of Alderley to the Bishopric of Norwich-they translated him from the extreme west to the east of the empire; perhaps, because they thought that as the wise men came from the east, it would be something of a set off to bring one at least from the west. So they had made him a Bishop, and had since promoted him to the Royal closet, there to act as father confessor to the Queen, and infuse into her mind the political impartiality which his own example had manifested."-Campbell's Speech at the Meeting of the South Lancashire Association.

government that holds out, with the like welcome, the hand of fellowship to the Papist and the Sectarian. The power of Majesty hath merged in a faction which trenches on the authority of the crown, and contributes to the corruption of the Church. What then has followed? Distress and the wrath of Heaven is upon us, as upon the Israelites, when they forsook the worship of the Lord. In our manufacturing towns employment has almost ceased. In our agricultural districts the farmers are depressed, and trade generally has received a check which no human power can again set in motion. Our regularly ordained clergy in Ireland, together with their families, are literally starving; our clergy at home are insulted by the evil spirit which is going about seeking whatever is venerable and holy, that it may destroy and extirpate it.

The nearest and dearest ties are grossly violated. In conformity with a most tyrannical piece of legislation, our "bold peasantry, their country's pride," are subjected to rules infamous and unchristian; children are separated from their parents, and those whom God has joined together are put asunder at the bidding of human Commissioners. The rude hand has attempted to remove the blessing which hitherto hath attended the making of one flesh, and done its best to reduce that holy ceremony to the rant of the conventicle; an attempt to set aside and render nugatory the form and precept of our valuable Prayer-Book, drawn up by the wisdom and piety of our ancestors. Enough, and more than enough, has been adduced to show the righteous indignation of the Almighty hovering over a people regardless of his gifts. If it be "righteousness that exalteth a nation," it is "sin" that "is* a reproach to any people." France and America afford melancholy instances of the truth of our observations: and what, save a Divine rescue, which can only be hoped for and obtained by our conversion, shall restore us to the favour of Heaven? The forfeiture is great-a continuance in our present oblivion and thoughtlessness an irremediable offence. A veil may for a moment be thrown over the aspect of affairs, but Popish agitation will soon cast it aside in triumph and disdain. The Romish yoke-let the people of England believe it or not-is about their necks; it is even now in the act of being riveted, and only a giant's strength can cast off the thraldom. The distress of many nations seems centered in our destiny, and the awful foreboding of the inspired prophet, which only the Divine mercy in answer to our prayers can avert, hangs over us. It behoves us as Englishmen to oppose the corruptions of the Whig government, and to resist in its insidious progress the Popish domination. In this endeavour there is no opposing the will of the throne, for in her retention of ministers her Majesty has acted ad necessitatem; she had no option whatever.

Be it borne in mind that England, the once loyal and patriotic

kingdom of the world, is governed by means of unconstitutional agitation. Anarchy is law; and she is habituating her constitution to the poison of interminable revolution. Only the pious exertions of a people, who it is to be hoped will continue as they ever have been, free, and ready to confide in the mercy of heaven, can emancipate her from the disgraceful position to which theorising and experiments have reduced her.

We would press upon Englishmen the necessity of performing their duty to Jehovah, their country, and themselves, and so only shall they draw down the blessing, like that which the wrestling of good old Jacob obtained, when he took heaven by storm and prevailed. A fatal move has been made in the direction of the precipice, and it would seem to demand scarcely any thing short of a miracle to oblige us to draw back. A few righteous, however, are left in the land, who have it in their power to prevent the sceptre departing from the nation. All that is required is, that they be true to their colours; that their prayers to Jehovah be followed up by those exertions which in every age have characterised our countrymen ;-so shall that "righteousness that exalteth a nation" restore England to the keeping of Heaven.

ART. V.-The Refutation of Nonconformity on its own professed Principles. By the Rev. E. C. KEMP, M.A. Parts I. and II. Whittaker and Co., London. (Second Notice.)

WE laid before our readers, in our last Number, a full and, as far as we are conscious ourselves or have heard from others, an impartial review of the earlier chapters of the work of Mr. Kemp. Feeling, in common with every true friend of his country and religion, the unspeakable advantages of diffusing such truths as are contained therein among all classes, our anxiety was to use the most efficient means to further that object.

In the article referred to, we expatiated on the duty incumbent on Christians to be united in the knowledge of the truth, in charity and in society. We drew from the admirable little tract of our author some unanswerable arguments in favour of our position; the force of which, indeed, pressed so strongly on our own mind, that we ventured to intimate an opinion that the opposition of the majority of Dissenters to the church of England did not altogether proceed from the heart, and that it was far from being based on that degree of conviction, by which, in the ordinary affairs of life, individuals are governed. In support of what we then advanced, pursuing the track so ably cleared for us by the argumentative treatise we were happy to review, we propose, in the present article, to cite the authority and the

language of the Fathers who flourished in the early ages of Christianity, and who have left upon record their opinions in favour of that unity which forms a distinctive mark of the true church of Christ. This reference seems to have lain out of the direct path of Mr. Kemp; but if, by our labours amidst dusty tomes, emancipated awhile e situ pulvere et squalore, we can, so to speak, follow up the sacred injunction of the evangelists, by the recommendation of the Fathers and Martyrs who immediately succeeded them, we trust that our readers will look upon our exertions, "in this regard," as good service to that holy cause we have all at heart. We may be permitted, however, to remark that unity, abstractedly considered, is any thing but a distinctive feature of the church of Christ. There may be unity in error as well as unity in truth. The unity which should alone characterise and distinguish professing Christians, and which the Scriptures contemplate, consists in holding the essentials of sound doctrine. There may be unity, undoubtedly there may be unity, founded upon error; as for instance, on reference to the 2d Psalm, verse 2, we read: "The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his church." If mere unity were the essential characteristic of the true church, the Jewish church might assuredly boast that it possessed this mark. "True unity," as Tertullian observes, "is the consanguinity of faith and doctrine." (De Præscript. adv. Hær. cap. 33.) We think it right to premise thus much, because the advocates of the Romish church are but too inclined to cast in the teeth of Protestants, the want of that union of affection and doctrine, in every essential point, which is indispensable to all true believers, and to arrogate to their church this distinctive attribute as its distinguishing badge and feature. But the Protestant theologian throws back upon papistry this heinous charge: he knows that it is because the church of Rome has not unity in reference to the standard of faith, and in reference to doctrines and other points, that therefore, amongst many not less weighty causes, she cannot be the true catholic church. We read of more than twenty schisms arising from the popedom, of popes abrogating the decrees of their predecessors. Moreover, the church of Rome is split upon the subject of the temporal power of the popes, as well as on infallibility.

We find there have been heads of the church, who in the judgment of their successors were heretics; and Pope Honorius was deposed on that very account by a general council. Genebrand, a Roman-catholic writer, informs us, that for nearly 150

The Roman church has so plainly acknowledged that Pope Honorius did advance the errors of the Monothelites, that in the ancient breviary she declares that he was condemned, with the other Monothelites, for maintaining the doctrine of one will. It is more just