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Les cartes, pienches, tableaux, etc., pauvent «tre film4s A des taux da reduction diffArents. Lorsqua la document est trop grand pour itra reproduit en un seul clich*. il est film« A partir de I'angia supArieur gauche, de geueha A droite. at de haut en bes, en prenant le nombra - d'imagas nAcessaira. Las diegrammas suivants illustrant la mAthode. D 22 X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 '..->: SAIjtA^tlO^ in Balmnd, Setdu^^ Bi>«u( HSRMAUEStry^TH »»■•»■■' RKV. JO^N GUICWIN' Ml» THt DECLINE QF POFit¥, AN AOOJUBW, PXI.miBn> IN MSV TOUC. 8T TBt KEV. N. MtJERAY, D. D, TBI At) nMOB OF <* UBWOr's XnFTSlUl " TO tBK TORONTO: aX-P»Iir»)D AT TBI EXAHnnul OFnCE, kimostbixt, 1851.' • s Paris HI HI UINISTEB ( OABDI RE-PRINl f' SALVATION. A SERMON, PREACHED IN ■ Parish Church of Crathie, Balmoral, BEFORE HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN, Sunday, Septemlior 33, 1850f BT TBK REV. JOHN GUMMING, D. D., GABMN; HON. CHAPLAIN TO THE SCOTTISH HOSPITAL InT TO THK HIOHLAND SOCIKTT, LONDON. ' TORONTO: RE-PRINTED AT THE EXAMmER OFFICE, KING STREET, 1851. r ) •'* l:-i 0^ w PREFACE. The following Sermon was taken down by a reporter, and ifl now printed as corrected by the preacher. i^^ He cannot easily forget the impressive spectacle which he witnessed in the parish Church of Crathie, when the greatest Sovereign of the greatest nation upon earth, surrounded by the highest and the very humblest of her subjects, joined together in the worship of Him, by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice, and with whom there is no respect of persons. Amid the mag« nificent scenery of Dee-side, not the least signiiicent was that assembly of worshippers. Such a spectacle is in itself a joyous prophecy. It cannot increase, but it must consecrate, the deep and enthusiastic loyalty and love of Her Majesty's subjects. The forms of the English and Scottish Churches differ — their doctrines are the same. The greatest divines of each admit that they are sisters. Their forms vary and change like the clouds in the sky ; their doC' «-t|| ■^^ V^**— I -r 1"^ ' ^->frYTnTiHl?rifTM"-"ii1firfan7jT • IV. r 'orever. Let ChratiaiM think lew rf ,he |i„|e .hi of En ^Z ^ " ™*- ^='*" 'he Church ne w. They may paas away-He remains '■'"•^•■: ed and shining le little things bout the great r the Church 8 our Saviour, -He remains, ler to lead to for itself, but inen shall see ve, to Christ Christianity ; ave salvation Jrathie or at A SERMON. " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of Oie earth for I am God, and there is none ci«c."— Isa. xlv. 22. " All have sinned," is the verdict of God on mankind. To our original sinfulness we have added many actual transgressions. There is no exception. From the loftiest to the lowliest of men we are sinners — miserable sin- ners. The wasting and destroying curse which evermore follows flin, has entered the royal palace, and the noble hall, and the humblest cot. It is felt in cabinet, in congress, in senate, in divan. Jesus tells us we are by nature "lost,'* "dead," "perishing." The Holy Spirit tells us we are by birth " ungodly," " children of wrath." In this, our inherited condition, we are not only without holiness, but we are also "without strength," utterly helpless, unable by our wisdom or wealth, or geniup, or power, to recover ourselves. To those, then, who are victims of so wide and terrible a disaster, whose case is thus delienated throughout the whole Scripture in the strong, but not overcharged language of which I have gi ^n the merest summaiy, these words, " Look unto me' L^d be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," must sound like music coming from the skies — like ange I accents to weary and way-worn humanity, awakening the long hushe^feelings of hope, of gratitude, of joy. These words are conclusive evidence that salvation is possible, nay more, that salvation is accessible — yea more, that salvation is offered — and more than all, that it is offered without money, without price, to all that will, without distinction of caste, or kindred, or lan- guage, or nation, or tongue. To all the dwellers in the *•** i%i J^^t^ 1 f i ^ 6 2 ZTdS ir^^ ?^^h' and of the ^n and through the l?""'^ ''^"^'' for^Vonn^'^"* «««• ^^^ere feel it savin^Jv i ' ^° ^^ hanpy__„j,Vf ^ al men want them thTnlei''" "'''' ^^^^^ S is loSl^'^^'^^^ thoy direct and not ?P«^««on for a iud^*'"Sr wiong ij J^hepos^llnC^^^ appeal ^'^ ^''^ vet^^Th ^^^- ^^o Christ, or oneifh^r "^°^''?F below Aw^."' '"S'^««t« ««^ation, the tran«t ''"^^ °^ ^hrist.Tnd «" ''• ""f ^^ove from one Source t^ ^^ "^^^^^red to fW? ?'^. ^««- f ere is but ZkJt 'v "^^^ ^° «an/^on^'^"''^^^>^ summed un ,'« J/^ ^' ^et all the x»^ "'^ ^ong ways— «erts of ,eh-Ji ^°' ^" a word f^!"^ "^^^^^ "'ay be «nti]noVa1?eL''^ *^ ^^^W F^^m'.r.^"^ ^^ree r«t cateS^r."'^'^ ^^ classiSin o ^"^'""^"^ *^an, whose ?nnl chapters. FirsfcZ'^u °"'' ^^ 'hre? Secondi;^Tte^? i«. "^ook to'^?!, T^^en of the rehgion of r^5^ ^^ ^^ved ;" St^. °'- ^^"?"age "I-ooktoM,. i*"^ °«r Saviour ^j.^''^^' 'hirdfy. "««he?of JJe'fi?i ^^ «^vedJ' £'et^^!«\^ords arj ^'Fete With happiness; ,;''?'9ft >^. — iJEjhBBL'^ "?''" 'Rename •g covenant. Tho ,",2^--«^ bread to *''^? to the 8ick ^""ff'mgoofthe J^ookuntome." ;j ^ ^en want . whether thoy thing wrong d .thus suggests ^"st, or above 80 missing the "^e plainly res. w exclusiveiy i^ong ways-J. ways may be re but three '6 beginning one of three ' reh'gion of ^ be saved." «e language 'M, thirdly, words are' ;9W that in '"y of life, ut only in oxpressea «« we are ^r. Man, nnot save Jaid with 'Ppiness; but now all is changed — the altar fire is quenched ; and in the place where the cherubim and the glory were, there are reptiles and serpent passions holding their ceaseless carnival. The once holy heart has made itself deceitful above all things and desperately wicked ; so much so, that the exposure in the light of God's coun-. tenunco of a naked human soul — just as it is, a fallen apostate soul — would be a spectacle that man could not bear! Yet fallen as man is, even amidst conscious ruins, such are the remains of his aboriginal intellectual greatness, that he expects that he can save himself He resolves to arise, and rouse his soul to re-assert its ancienc claims, and seat itself where he thinks he has still unfor- feited rights. Ho looks to himself for the restoration of self. Ho forgets, like one of old, that he is shorn of ;i^l the elements of his strength, and that the experiment has been often but never successfully made. If Adam in his innocence could not keep himself from falling, how will Adam in his ruin restore himself* Unfallen Adam, our great forefather, in his purity and meridian strength, thought that he could ascend to th(5 height of God, and be as God, knowing good and evil. He failed, and plunged at once into a ruin ; terrible as tho height he aimed at. If, then, the unfallen Adam could put forth no wings that could carry him to God's dwelling place, and set him on a level with God, — surely the fallen Adam, with less strength, with less holiness, must try in vain to reach God's throne, or i ecover his lost place. It is to attempt to be himself a God, — to reach the throne he hopes to secure by his merits, and to retain the glory, of the achievement, wholly and for ever to himself. This is futile. When man by any conbination of his muscles, can lift himself from the earth, or when he can walk upon the untrodden sea, or soar to distant stars, and biing home the secrets of here- tofore unexplored worlds, — when man can raise himself from the dead, and from his own grave by some inherent spring of life within him — then, and only then, will we listen to and weigh man's bidding t " Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth." — — sSrta;-;; 8 •^■-'-hoS; 0° ttf'"^;' orXl,;:" P'^p'^-.v. y;"-". -ny rege" eran-^~*r '"« i^kZ^ *5 Palace, 'la descent, its ev^^ ^ ^^^ record £ '"^ ^^fi^^nerate '» «a™ his 8„„l,r"<"'. ■■ It is no, in^''^,"* 'o direct 1 nn * ian'l^'^"«' and melancholy record ' '0 regenerate ^ jvery chapter ors o? "^""^"^^^ 'and despairing ^ poor helplesf ^'""S out of an '« hopelessness *«th to direct "mat vvaJketh I', hittisej/; it ^'ography of 'ntor ivasted '•norahty, of Ke he Would alcohol; he "ght elixh-. "ank of it e perished '. Such is '8' to live ave served as Jeai-ned oken, but I" whose hem, be ours. It is of the earth, earthy ; and no splendotit of language or brilliancy of thought can conceal its essential worthlessness and wickedness. Let us now examine the religion of the Priest, whose language is, " Look to me / to me, in some of my formulas, to me in some of my developments," if I may use a favourite expression, " and be ye saved. In one of these he bids you look to the Churc7i ; she, he alleges, is the directress to heaven, the sure way to eternal joy. " Hear tlie Church," he cries, and be happy. Such rehg' is ChurcUanity ; it is not Christianity. Christianity u. ^ans the religion where Christ is all ; Churchianity, the religion where the Church is all But what is this Church? let me ask. It is the company of believers, if it be the true Church ; the company of the baptized, if it be the visible Church, made up of good and bad, of tares and wheat. But the whole Bible tells us that a church without Christ is a body without a head ; a robe, without the Divine wearer j the richly-chased cup, but without the wine. I cannot see that there is any more charce of being eaved by a Church, than there is of being saved by a College, or by a Royal Exchange. There is no more connexion in the way of merit between the one and salvation, than there is between the other and salvation. Another formula in which the Priest's religion develops itself is, " Look to the sacraments — they will save you ; be baptized, and you need not doubt that you are regenerated ; take the Lord's Supper, and you are sure there is communion with Christ." There is no regenerative virtue inherent in, or inseparable frorn, baptism ; for baptism is not the Holy Spirit.^ There is no saving and expiatory virtue in the Lord's Supper ; for the Lord's Supper is not the Lord Jesus Christ. We may not place baptism in the room of the Holy Spirit, nor the eucharist in the place of the Lord Jesus. m /.^ 10 ."y to hide SLl''?' Ma„er. A trfi''"?"'"'"'^ « ;"'.o«ept one ray of LS ""' ''"^^^ L?T"" '"'« P'-^h no, n>an";'„To„'''aotsuc:eC'*'°;r''''"ff -^«-,vo. yo„r.^C»trc£^ f C "ietrT - -f ^lave shown fh»f ^"^^tssake. ooeiievenost; but vve ;hemboth. Were J degrade us by '^,^- AiTayedlJ t« be of service J^' ^ooJt to the esays: "Who f nijnisters by rionous only ij |« minister will ,fnli?^ should 'l"fi: from " the "8 grand effort "««^f to Jesus, f. "nay be seen '^'?n from on nticated, and proofs. His Sf ever is^ ;^'- He only "e words of so teaching • Thus We the Lord, ^ himself. 'Ipless. ' f=k. nor in »yal robe, ^stthat I 'entance. pentance 'eel, not We are but we 11 ,r« tn believe at once on the Saviour just as we nre, for He then is exld to give repentance and remxsa.on of sins. There remains then, lastly, the religion of G^^^^^^ me, and be ye saveu, an m mL^aP, are the words am'God, and there as ^'tve th^t they SehL words. nf il mouriTriglJousness and shall not return ThSLrme every knee shall bow. every tongue shall That "n^ojr^^J;^ therefore evidence in the passage E He to^'whom we t: to look is our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ our Saviour i. G^j Jf ;n^-.roi:™»». unworthy of him i nay, I wril^y™ ^^^ Imng and ""'y ™^,<^,^^„I°a ctacTerUtic of true ''fir w keep mnS,S God. and detain hto »i.h IheSt^eTcrTmen,., the ceremony, is the grand effort oMl false religions. But no angel, no «nn^^ no cheated being, however pure or '^fj^'^ji^^J'^ 5rcarryd"e:ifriSZve=;:iSlSe\"r| mysetf. .IV«'™g^°JJ',„''„„re„,„re. Armofflesh too precious to oe irusieu .1 « ff 1/ 12 m*« . ""^n GTan/l 1- f'**'© With ^- °"ni« Dinna^J- 4V .tinging, „f*»„««^-pf<;?'^;^^^^ perfect J ^ ^'""e is "rf "* 8^und «,i, so that I , j^ "ature in ^''"nce for „; ,^ «3ade a «'»ivatio7thZ".^^;he /^.^ra„/,^^««c;„&^ to G^osneJ i ' °"t8ide ChrV?"^^ alone -^ ru^ ^^ould be "^Jrtiie tiiat n j. ^^d vvil? r? • /" other vv^„j ^^J' '"•fcl. tie a'i:l"''«,--e.vSP"ff' ""d ,» T'''' "" ''^ »o solution nr,- , ®se are n» • ^^ast ^"«"/ where but In^^'^'^f^ons ft. ^o«W say, b??^' ' at the bo/t^^^ ^ God ^dT^' »« of the pj^ " ^•^,^^e should 'fo^y victim, V^S him that ' Y^'«g to ;^ We it is -should be ""enlie-ht. r. '^^^- ^^out this, ''d/osave f^^' will ception ? rodoTvn fss will '*'' ^iiat ^® jfeast ons for 13 of God our Saviour. But how does it solve themi Here are the joyful new^s, here is the sound that ought to thrill each heart, and make glad each dejected spirit, and satisfy every anxious and enquiring mind. Jesus has endured all that I deserve as a sinner, and obeyed for me all that I owe as a creature. By what He has Buffered, I am delivered from sin's curse ; by what He has done, I am entitled to the fruits of a law perfectly obeyed. In him I see antagonisms perfectly reconciled : sin punished, and yet the sinner pardoned ; the satisfac- tion of the law that is broken, and the salvation of the very sinner that broke it. Now, tell me where in philosophy, where in history, where in science, where in the height or in the depth, there is any intimation like this great announcement, which is just the good news itself, that there is satisfaction for God's law that I had broken, and God remains, therefore, true and just and holy ; and yet salvation for me, the sinner that broke it and so God is merciful, and gracious, and loving. Thus, then, justice, mercy, and truth, which were armed against sin, meet in Christ, and girdle with their ever- lasting arms the chiefest of sinners that believe in him, presenting a provision for the forgiveness of the greatest sin, for the acceptance of the greatest sinner, and yet accompanied by no connivance at sin in principle or practice, in the very least degree. Thus, my dear friends, is that great truth made manifest, justification by faith in Jesus Christ, — the truth that Paul preached, that Martin Luther resuscitated from the tomb in which it was lost and buried — that pervades the theology ol every tnie Churchj and is the article of a standing or of a falling Church. But in looking to Christ, I not only see that it is possible for God, the Legislator, to forgive me, consistently with the demands of his law, his justice, and his truth ; but that he waits as a Father to receive and welcome me, because Christ is the expression as truly as he is the channel of his love. In other words, it has always appeared to me that what Christ is, as the exponent of God's love, is just as precious as what Christ does, as B 7 U< I (i "le atonement fh IV ' '"\i admitted into Lo «' '° save me ^ f^yoicmir, a criminal lej^allvfJ. •''''"' ^ am nor« J ^° ^^'^^ ^hen fa son accepted bf^^ ^^^''^^^ed /butT"^^ '°^«r«fe a ted, but vvelcomedT "^^^ father in hH ^ Presented anas unto Him »f ' "^^ tolerated K .T" ' "ot admir^ legijW of J, .'^^^'^^ °f all ;XlC^'' l» providence, «}' Faliier so lovC »^"'' '" "hom I i Jt'^f God the «^?™. as the exn^^®""' """erwise a„ i' ^ »«» Go-o*cou„ti:y T^ of Go5^ ""ir™- i-un verse wifh r> • ^^ ^Ofi"ether ar, i -^ie vvir<:» 17 y you ever 'Js cumbrous- [recently has ' approxiiua. -The wire Wes London io I^ondon. f"^^ grand. f\^ footsteps /Jghtnings. '^e noblest * creation, "materials. 0^ a Jittio 3f oxygen I ^r^ChrStS'n'a^ f'-aced; "}^^^y affain • h„* ,*^^08o "P^^toeverCng . ^7 happiness of J^e frozen by the 'hadowed by tif ?r rated bj t ^^^WestreaUt "at drinketh of ^inere cistern ever springing !^ '« »he proof ind carbon, he forms all fruit, and flower, and leaf, and {blossom ; by a single power called gravitation he binds 'worlds together, and makes each march m its orbit as it it were evermore listening and evermore responding to the bidding of the gieat controller of all. And so, when God calls on sinners to be saved, he does not bid them do some gieat thing, but this simple thing— " Look, and be saved." Is it not, my dear friends, strange, and yet you know it is true, that it is easy to prevail on man to do some great thing in order to be saved, but very, very difficult— so difficult that it needs the Spmt of God to enable him— to prevail on him to do nothing at all. Bid a man do a painful and laborious penance, and he will do it. Bid man " look, and live," and he will say: "I thought, he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better tlian all the waters of Israel V But God cleaves to his prescription, which is— not do, not *«#er— mark the words— but simply, " Look, and be saved." Let us analyze this word " Look for one moment. What a look is to the outward eye, faith is to the inward man. Hence the Apostle, when he defines faith, says, " Faith is the substance ot things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Just as clearly as my outward eye sees things that are seen, so clearly my inner eye, that is, faith, sees things that are unseen. " Look, and be saved," is then just equivalent to " Believe, and be saved." " Whom having not seen, says the Apostle, that is, with the outward eye, " we love, and whom, though now we see him not," that is, with the outward eye, " yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory," This emblem, " looking," or seeing with the eye, is a most appropriate symbol of faith. When I look at the sun, the moon, the stars, the beautiful flowers, the gi-een earth, the glorious panorama around this sanctury, or at the human countenancn, with all its chromatic phases, aspects, and transitions, my eye is purely receptive ; it does not • fl 18 ■ / Hi* 9dt1 ' I ll# a^dw^ >«- before"' a^' « ^'^ShtoZne^ '?.r««eive ^^eeve;» ""''f^erejy "^^ ^«ct that •tl'^.^^y «PProprfatp ^^quieiteri ^^«« their ev? • t^°«*^ness orn'^^^'^S"' ^"^' »^^ touch alon« "^ hearing f r?," «» enable ^^ to 'y that object, ""^""^^y . of faith i p„., . '««? vvJiich war «^'«^r who i« ,/^ ^'ad no f/««aw the V" object, pecessarijy '"parsing., '^«od, that ^ a«ain an ,JfJ had ^^e me to 19 (ascertain many of the qualities of an object ; but the I eye-sight is more perfect still ; it enables me to see the roughness, smoothness, form, &c., when the object is a hundred yards from me, more acurately than I could ascertain these qualities by touch if the object were within a few inches of my position. Thus the eye brings distant things near ; so does faith ; it brings God near, it brings Christ near, it biings his righteousness near ; to ase the language of the old divines, it appropriates Christ and all his righteousness. By faith Abraham saw along the vista of a thousand years Christ's day, and rejoiced ; by the same faith we look along the vista of eighteen hundred years, and aie saved. Abraham had the same Saviour that we have. His was prospective, or a looking foi-ward, ours is retrospective, or a looking backward ; but his religion and ours were and are one. His and our Saviour is equally Christ. The sense of sight is the most assuring sense we have; so much so, that the Apostle say?, •' That which we have seen, declare we unto you ;" and so faith, which is the inner or true sight, is "the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence oftJiings not seen" True, there are degrees of faith j but it is not true that the weak faith only receives a partial salvation, and that the strong faith receives a great salvation. In the case of the poor wounded Israelites in the wilderness looking at the serpent, he whose eye was almost closed in death was healed entirely if one ray shot into that eye ; and to him wlio looked with his unimpared sight, there waf» no greater salvation. God sees weakness in the very strongest faith, and strength in the very weakest ; and to the one or to the other he is a complete Saviour, a perfect righteousness, and a glorious salvation. I notice next the catholicity of this invitation. "Look unto Christ, all the ends of the earth, and be ye saved." Blessed truth ! The Gospel is not for Jerusalem only, but for every country in the four quarters of the globe. This Christianity is not the monopoly of a sect, but the n 20 I privilege and possession of all that believe. Whatever be the relative value of ecclesiastical differences, ours IS not a gospel for the Churchman, or a gospel for the Dissenter, but it is for all that " look :" whef h«'r they look through the oriel windows of a cathedra: or the humble casement of a chapel, it is still, " look, and bo ye saved." It is that blessed gospel that diFc'osea to every one a cross without a screen ; that gives a Bible without a clasp; that offers solvation without price, and assigns the limits of the globe as the circumference of its free and its joyous action. That baviour still speaks from the throne, and says: "Look unto me, all the ends of the earth— dwellers on the Missouri and the Mississippi, in the prairies and back-woods of America ; upon the Andes and in the isles of the Pacific ; from the mountains of Thibet, and the plains of China; from every jungle in India ; from every pagoda in Hindostan ; from the snows of Lapland ; Arab, in thy tent, and Cossack, on thy steppes; ye ancient Druse from Mount Lebanon ; weary-footed wanderer of Salem, speaking all tongues, drinking of oil streams--civilii!ed and savage ;--all the ends of the earth, look unto me, and be saved." In all the phases of human sorrow and joy, toil and travail, " look." In the wildest beating of thf despairing heart ; in the hour of sorrow— that sorrow that is two great for tears ; in the tidal sweep of ages ; in the surges of a nation's suftoring, and in the ripples of individual grief— to tjuote from a giand litany, "in all time of our tribulation, in all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,"—" look unto me and be ve saved." "^ But let us not -nisr^rprc^; nd. Wt aie to look, noc to a doctrine, but .o u porson. " Look unto me and be ye saved." Here is the distinctive feature of Christian- ity : it is not the acceptance of a dogma, however precious, but it is the acceptance of a living Saviour ; and m this, it is worth remarking, this Gospel is distin- guished from everything else. To be a follower of feocrates was to accept his tenets ; to be a follower of 21 Plato was to accent his, if there was a difteronce ; to be a follower of Zeno was to accept \m ; but to be a Christian, is not to believe justification by faith, most precious as that is, but to believe in the Lord Jesus. Therefore, my dear friends, you must look, not at the testimony, but at the Testifier ; you are to look not at Christianity, but at Christ. •' Look unto mo all the ends of the earth, and be saved." Look unto him in the manger, reading, as you look, " Though rich, for our sakes ho became poor." Look unto him in Geth- semane, and read as you look, " On Him were laid the iniquities of us all." Look unto him 'ipon the Cross, and read as you look, "God hath n.ade Him who knew no sin, to be sin for me, that I mighi be made the righteousness of God in him." Look unto Him laid in the grave, and read, — nay, not read, mt sing and shout, as you look — Oh death ! where is th stingl Oh grave ! where is thy victory ? Thanks be i < God, who gave us the victory through Jesus Chri^t our Lord." Look then, my dear friends now ; th re is MO moment too late, if it he now. Look unto Christ, and be saved. We learn in this provision of the mercy of God. the vast value of the soul. It was surely for the reco\ ery of no ordinary thing, that the Son of God stoope ' low and suffered so much. The soul is, in truth, man, and only realizes its freedom when it emer from the outer temple in which it has ministered earth. From all considerations of its nature and acts, we gather a conception of its gi-eatness. Multip y a^es into ages — carry century to century, to their highest cube, and all is but an infinitesimal preface ti • its inexhaustible being. The Pyramids of Egypt, just opening their stony lips to speak for God's word ; tht/ tlieatres of Ionia ; the colossal remains of Nineveh, experiencing a resurrection from the grave in which God buried it ; the iron rail, that strings the bright villages like pearls on its black thread ; the padcDe- wheel, that disturbs the stillness of the remotest seas ; the electric telegraph, that unites minds a thousand so he m ts J I mi m 22 "^e f rSedtou^f ^vl^^^^^^ ^'» % bitter agony • tell angels; but tell ^e /^PP^T^^er praisin/ ten' ^^^^^ so for us ? W^ P 1 ^ *"e anffels thaf f«7i i " ' lanS? ''"' '■ " "^^ the GoTpel tW r ""^t *« GfospJ ^an^ so great. F^om theTery ^e^^ %"^" "^ ^"'^ «"' "eart, from everyr section nf2 A?^^ *^^our country's [\ng near that heart sho"M J ^^"^"'^ universal nSt ^•gh heaven : "£s th" ? '^"? '^^^ "«« till it reach tht - wu^in us bless Si; ^amt'-" %-^-^ a^ «^^ V^ ""speakable siL ''a "J^^nks be to God should run through aH onr " "«^«r-tone of praise babe ,n its mother? bosom,],^^^^''- ^^ere isCra Jesus died. There is no^a ,'n '" T ^^"^^ because because a rav r»p i,- , ^ "ome that is nnt J,ar. • amJcfun" "' "'"^ '°™ lights OB i./May"Tbo ^ ''^'"'"■■'SfflfyhinBelfiBsMj ■■"*"'■'* v- or beauty, e the Gospel e us and our ,»r country's iyersal, nest- it reach the and all that 8 be to God ^ of praise ere is not a Br because ot happier, lay we be ffice of a elf instead 23 of Christ — if he preach a party, not the gospel — if he dwell on endless genealogies, instead of Christ and him crucified, he inflicts eternal evil, and incurs awful guilt. A bad sculptor merely spoils a block of maible. A blundering physician only injures health or destroys the life that now is ; but an unfaithful preacher, who bids the hearer look to Man, or to the Priest, or to the Church, and not to Christ alone, destroys souls. If his gospel be precious to us, and in our experience, we are all of us under the strongest obligations to spread it. God has made us Christians, that, as instruments in his hand, we may make others see and receive the truth. We are made saints in order to become servants. We have freely received, that we may freely give ; one is richer or greater than another, not that he may exact more, but do and give more. The Missionary Societies of our country are not its least illustrious orna- ments. Many too and ever-multiplying are our encourage- ments. The gospel grows in influence every day. Nothing successfully arrests it. Mankind approach Christianity — they do not recede from it. The last days of Christianity are proving its biightest. Genius has made so many, and so great discoveries, that the earth has been converted into a higher ore. But much as men have improved themselves and their world, they have not gone above or beyond the gospel. Far as we have travelled, we are not yet far from the cradle of Bethlehem and the cross of Calvary. We have distanced Jerusalem — not Jesus.. We approach him as to a distant star, that grows more beautiful and lustrous as we near It. Ethiopia, America, and England, the choicest intellects, the greatest scholars, the noblest hearts, still stretch out their hands to the Son of Man ; more and more clearly the wisest see how perishable is all that man thinks great — how lasting is the least that God pronounces true. TUE END. PI t f fill TB tt RE-Pl THE DECLINE OF POPERY, AND ITS CAUSES. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, ON iDiiJttfslras d^xJ^mnig, lanttarg 15, 1851, BY REV. N. MURRAY, D. D. TORONTO: RE-PRINTED AT THE EXAMINER OFFICE, KING STREET, 1851. n '!>! THE DECLINE OF POPERY, ETC. ViEvvKD in whatever light, the setting np of the Church of Christ 18 the most important event in the world's history. It was the intioduction of a new element into the afTairs of men of vastly greater power than any previoiisuly known, and to whose influence there could be no bounds but those of the race and of eternity. At the point of time where the lines of history and prophecy met and blended, Jesus Christ came into the world. He showed his estimate of humon conditions by the selection of one of poverty. His doctrines were the most pure, simple and subli.Tie. To show that he came not on any political errand, or to establish a temporal power, he declared that his kingdom was not of this world ; and he warned his apostles not to confound the mission on which he sent t hem with the powers or preroga- tivep. of eorthly princes. Their mission was not to govern but to teach; aii I theiV authority was not to interfere in the political contests ot i.hc nations, but to preach salvation to all men through faith in a crucified Christ, who came to seek and to save the lost. The end for which the Church of Christ was established was, by the difusion of truth, occompanied by the agency of the Holy Spirit, to bind oil men in love to one another, and to subdue all hearts into obedience to God. This was the sublime mission of the Church, and, to accomplish it, it was forbidden the exercise of any authority save that of its virtues end graces, and of any weapons save its pure and simple faith. It is a simple institution of God, with one simple end in view, and adapted to all times, nations, and circums'ar.ces. As it came from the hand of its founder, it might bo personified as a cherubic lorm descending from heaven amid the children of men, shedding around her a healing influence on all the moral diseases of society, hushing the spirit of discord, like a new sun dispelling the moral darkness of our world, drawing men closer to one another by drawing them all closer to Christ, and in the course of her progress converting earth into the likeness of heaven. And had the spirit of its founder remaiaed in the Church, and had there been no great apoatacy I Cissars t?"'^ "« devoled^ "P^^'Jes of Ch,;!, "'""" empire. ...-^»tno«rach„„„._. """d among «Ji entire 8vfr"'« '^'f pervS ^"^""^ deity of "j"'' ''"nverted the f 'i'eh. in a I a J:-i«'« of rellg^u/j^^ / .' i- heJe^weT/"'"* ">« 'O'Sffafinenujj '•i*i(»i» "BO (he •boot WftHij L I "•'•«d would JjilSH t''" earth, «h.iT ,''?«'»[ meth." * """elujah,! of the B«^^ onward. d th?" „'''r'"'j' of •;;jg from the con^ «na converted the I und" ^^''« 'mo undermining ehe -r-SafchS J'''V dereioped. "r-'*"* point rdinate venera. S' '•« defenc!, »« Wonster ab. . f» «'eat rage *"» memory . S '" ?'«='» o'Sffai-nieiito^ isvereQce for which aoon grew into idolatrona worahip, to ezeuM I which the docirine of relative wnrabip waa invented, or rather borrowed from the heathen. Aa supersitition advanced in atrength, it passed over from Christ to his friends and followers ; and hence the multiplication of saints and saint's days ; and soon reverence for the saints grew into adoration. And thua tha apotheosis of heathenism was introduced. And to excuse this, tho doctrine of saintly intercession was invented, on the plea that sinners themselves were unfitted to make any requeat of God. With these corrupt doctrines came in corrupt practices, such as forbidding to marry, forbidding of meats, and the commanding of corporeal austerities. And, to recommend all this, the doctrine was invented that these practices made satisfaction for sin, and were meriiorious of heaven. And lest this might seem to dero- gate from the satisfaction of Christ, sins were divided into mortal and venial. As venial sins deserve not eternal death, and as men might die before performing the necessary penance to remove them, purgatory waa invented, where penance for venial sins might be completed. And as punishment in purgatory is not eternal, and aa souls sent there might be redeemed by the good works ol others, the doctrine of works of supererogation was in- vented. The good deeds of men, over and above those necessary for their own salvation, were laid up in the treasury of tha Church, and were sold out to such as were willing to purchaso them. This was by far the most profitable doctrme of popery. These tenets, artfully linked together into a great chain, forged for tho purpose of binding the soul at the feet of the priest, were quieily received in those days of darkness; and the darkriess was cherished by the locking up of the Scriptures from the people, and by tho inculcation of an implicit failh. And in case that terrible book should be unlocked and brought out from under the double peal of a dead language and a bad translation, the fictions were invented of an unwritten tradition, without whose interpre- tations the Bible was imperfect ; and an infallible judge, without which both tradition and scripture were unsafe guides. Thus cfid the devil, starting on the high wave of aeal end enthusiasm for the glory of Christ, build up ihe doctrinal Babel of popery, the foundation of which is laid in hell, whose top reaches unto heaven, end whose dark shadow has stretched from shore to shore. In the most favorable light in which it can be viewed as a doc^ trinal system, popery is th« merest caricature of Christianity. It ritaal is addressed to the eye, and its whole worship is a ludicrous pantomime, in which the priests are the actors, and the altar tho etoge, and the ignorant attendants, not knowing wh> t they wor- ship, the spectators. Popery and Christianity are just as oppoaite as is the truth and its caricature. That you may see thie, take, for instance, the doctrine of Christ e rucified for the sins of men, and aa making atonement to the law • nd justice of God for all that believe oa bioi. It is one that Uc« 6 mediator wiTn "'^ '^"ctr/ne or .^ • ' ^""d, nnd manvor^^,' ""^ con/is ''°'"''j' "'«"fcs and hj ' ^.^«">oi7 a fit?" ." &r s,^- f ?&ms •"*" remains. '° ^"''e, and naui/u ,""**' »' |5*!5ll?3S!?'? fee..,: •'»!«• " effec.fd bS.!'""^"'"entaSv >,"'«' Power JrV""''"^' '"!»• « effected br.!'""'"'"enta ,^v „7 , ""' Povver „f .. °"«'''"' •J«J' are the bes?tbl"t '^"''""ons of .f,, ^ fnd the work o7 Ch'- '^°'«''/p of S'>: annulled .h' SL^'"''«'« before it« u; , '"'"ded ««'' «"5 »S ""A* ;;''V"i^i ;.''°> &,?'"'"''■''— «; and tj,e„ J 'Regenerated f '^•""f popery/ T"'- And ;'i''« Church ° Sabbath by 'Jewo,^ of 'ne Word of "•V 'he peo. c'ouded br npeTstid«n, where it etn only mftiatua i ■iekly eziatenee. Such is the doctrinal element of popery. And equally tmacripturai is its polity, by whictr we mean its external orgonizotion. While the Saviour teaches that his king- dom is not of Ibis world, the object of popery in every nge has been to moke it ao. As to the external organization of the Chiiicb» every thing in the New Testament is perfectly simple. Not a word is said about prelates, pntriarchs, cardinals, or popesi or about thfi duty of implicit obedience lo them. There is a govern- ment enjoined, but it is as free and as simple as one can well conceive, while popery is as despotic and pompous as one can well imagine. And as it has no foundation in the Scriptures, the question arises, whence came it ? This question is easily answered. As the Church advanced in ag^e, numbers, and wealth, it gradually lost the martyr spirit of its founders. After Constantine put on llie purple, and for reasons of state embraced Christianity, jis corruptions rapidly increased. The Church was brought into an alliancn with the state, an alliance which has alwoys worked mischief to butU. Its government was modeled after the imperial, into great prefectures, of which Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople were the chief, while a sort of feudality was estob- lisheJ, descending from patriarchs to metropolitans, archbishops, bishop!?, and priests, some with greater, and some with less power and dominion. As each grasped for more than belonged tu him, the world became convulsed with their feuds and their wars. In these feuds, Rome, as the ancient metropolis of the world, and as the city where the mnrljrs shed their blood like water, had greatly the advantoge. Its bishop, by fraud and duplicity, obtained the preeminence over bis brethren. The elate courted the Influence of the Church to assist in mointaining its authority, and the Church sought the influence of the state in extending its ghostly dominion. Each yielded to the request of the other. Tbe Church rapidly extefided, and the. ambition of priests con- ceived the idea of governing it nfier the model of the state. Rome must be the centre of ecclesinsttcal as of civil power. The state had its CtBsar, the Church musi have its pope. Ceeaar had his senate, the pope must have his cardinals. Ceesor had his governors of pcoyinceB, the pope must have his patriarchs and archbishops. The governors had their subordinates, ond these again theirs, down to the lowest office in (he state ; the patriarchs and arch- bishops had their subordinates, and these again theirs, down to the very lowest office in the Church. As in the state all civil power emanated from Cses^ar, and all disputes were finally refer- able to him, so in the Church the pope was the source of all authority, and the final judge in all disputes. Thus the Bishop of Rome became the Cssar in tfao Church— ipetropolitans and patriarchs were transmuted into proconsnls— bishops into rnagis. li:aieB"-lhe uuuiiiutliy Cliristtaa Ciiarcli into a kingdom of thia / 8 <'«PendiJi fo?. I" •"••'•'• into •» l^-hioned S "' "^'viiude r?' "'^ ">« wor/d J"'' "'«■>' were 'efi-enerniion h„ /^'^"''d /or /.t i, ,'"« Weed L i ,- ° 'i"* not Perpemni «° ^>''«'eeter andT ° ^'s/iop o/T '^P'-^sy and 7- IcJ-'^Vhe polity .^>'. 'b's vile . ,/'"8 base ," ^"W and ''""^ which ./'•» edifice '^'<^e open ^''s of the ''.« "npoj. '^on., ti,. world was goTerned by weak and contending princes, who fell an eaay prey to the wiles orcunniiig ecciealaBtica. Western Europe was parceled out among archhjshopa and biahopa, who, in palacea^ •quipage, and power, were the rivals of princes. Theae had their parishes, and pariabea their priests, whose influence was every where felt among the people. Thus the power of the pope waa every where felt, and became, forobvioua reasons, the con- trolling power. The old Jewish custom of anointing kinss was revived, and, validity to rule, they must be instituted oy the pope, flildebrand aroae and ainedthe vacant chair of Saint Peter. The opposition hither made sgainat pnpal usurpation yielded before his amazing energy and iron will. Powers hitherto only desired and sought he openly declared to be his by divine right. He asserted bis power to be supreme in the Church and in the state. And thenceforward, according to the canons, as says Southey, " the pope was as far above oil kings as thu sun ia_ greater than the moon. He was king of kings and lord of lords, though be subscribed himself the servant of seivants. The immsdlale and sole rule of the world belonged to him by natural, moral, and divine right, all authority depending upon him. As supreme king, he might impose taxes on all Christians, and it was declared, as a point necessary to salvation, that every humon being should be subject to him. That be might depose kings was averred to be so certain a- doctrine, that it could only be de- nied by a madman, or through the instigation of the devil. The head of the Church woe vice-God, and men were commanded to bow at his name, as at the name of Christ. The proudest sovereigns waited on him like menials, lud his horse by the bridle, and held his stirrup when he alighted ; and there were ombassadors who prostrated themselves before him, saying, " O thou that takest away the sir.s of the world, have mercy on us." And here we reach the very culminating point of popery, when kings were its vassals— when crowns were its playthings — when kingdoms were its gifts — when its enemies were all subdued — when its word was law in the State and in the Church, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the North Cape, and from the interior of Hungary to the weatern shores of Ireland. And has this power, ofsuch monstrous usurpation and pretension, had no decline ? This question we can best answer by a brief comparison of the present with the former stote of some of those nations over which its authority was once supreme. We begin with good uld England. We select the beginning of the thirteenth century, when John was king in England, and when Innocent III. was pope. Ihe question of investiture was not yet fully settled, and the see of Canterbury becoming vacant, the king and the pope had ea«h his candidate. The election devolved on a few weak monks, and Innocent ordered them, on the pains and penalties of excommuni- catiss, to elect his man. They tcmonBiratcd, but finaiiy obeyed. 'I A 10 ?«' "ioJenco 'n??'"'« oppo.ed i ''° .'""""ed rnon.l? ""^ ">« "•e Church "' I T''" i^'oPfl exWr, /°. "'"""n of / r"''' '^""'J Was Je„!;„ , '"Verdict wal J , "^'^« ground '"^' "'"^ ^-ero <^"ciies nr k" •'^^'« ^'o«ed „'"?"'« nnd ,1,e"ir'''' "'es were «"l'er.,t,„ou3 ''° \^'' senses aJT,?'.*" ordered aa ;,,,'' V"''^'- '"'erdictSdr„^'°-. «"'h wns °K °P^^a'e wi/a ;o,°. '^ '«''*=« s:™i^r'Ssis|:sjs^-, popery ?'"51P«'""ent,„,e;re^„"°'"e Pnn,e n,S'?''''^i? «"'^ ««^"ed from h,""'"'° '^^SjoL''' ^'^' '« 'here ',o ^f '"^'y "v and pioug/y 11 '0 oppose God and «'««{ '••-irun.e.u of '"'''''latueaofihB j'f_;;ng, ond wef: « thrown into f marriage were er 111 tlje sircet 'M '^"'•ce on a " .*^'"';'i this " '''iheirJigLt, 'ed upon 1/,- "e monarc;, "«^y officer "e Was ](./> "no tile bull '"""i'(.-oiin.» ■ •^'■pri vote" [o passed ,, 'OJ. Saint i.en, for a IS hurned itiWe and ecJine in las been noblest '" her »h wjiii pious/y We now turn to France, beaatiTuI, ehivolrie, and versatile, and ■elect the period when Raynnond was Earl of Toulouse. A dispute arose between him and the pope, out ul the persecutions instituted by Rome against the Albigenses. lie wae refrsctor^, •nd was excommunicated. The legate of the pope succeeded in raising an army against him, through the fear of which, and the desertion of his ^wn people, he waa led to purchase ab«olution on the most humiliating conditions. lie delivered up his castles, divested himself of his sovereignty, and sutfered himself lo be taken to the church of St. Gilles with bare back, and a rope about bia neck, and submitted to be scourged around the altar I And what must be our conclusion, comparing France then and now, as to the power of popery 1 Between that time and this, other thunders of excommunication have rolled over the Alps, and have fallen upon this kingdom. Within our own day one waa fulminated against Napoleon, but its sounds died away in the air, and the Corsican sent his holiness to prison for his impertin- ence. And now, while nominally papal, it is really infidel, and Voltaire and Sue more than divide the empire with Pio Nono. And it is not love for the pope, nor veneration for popery, bnt a dread of Austrian encroachments, that has induced republican soldiers to unsheathe their swords for the protection of the tyrant of the Vatican. And again we ask, is there no decline in PoperyT Shall we next advert to Germany, the cradle of so much that is glorious in the history of man 7 We select the period when Henry was emperor and Gregory VII. was pope. Henry refused to surrender the ancient right of investiture, and he was insolently ordered to Rome to an< "way as well f ^*""'' '<> show ,&'',«'«■ «he crown T*"" of ""dignity ,-^0' "« o' conferrini^L''^ '»»d "^e JS^^'""!' *"• Austria to fi^nwJ^'J' would indlL "^P^"ol di«n,?„ ^'^T '»*'«« "^••ewer to beard h^' ''""geanee %v *^''''« '<> hong un T. "'f '"*<* , r^er peop/e ku 8.„„ "'^ <''^ "^e pope I ''"^ugh Ihe ««awuijoutacl,ijj «er'» ao !""""'J' of ^e power of S/„* ' '* '«ere no ''° of "le oeenn ;„*^t°"*h often t?" should ;'7'^'« woes '^ and as his '^ '«'d her o{ ;n Bntii this '"rough the ? of Home, 'op' a faiih «« o'' ibeir foduce his /ne clergy belonged notLejnas liould faij »s Well as ' and hi» 'socre of tative of >t a diiij 13' And what is the state even of Ireland now 7 To be anre itt masaea are the adherents of popery ; and that the pope and bit priests should permit those masses fur nearly ten ceniur:es to remain in "bestial" ignorance, the victims of the most gross deceptions, forms an argument against the system which all can see and feel. But the nimd of Irelond is Protestant. Its industry, itscommercia! enterprise, its literature, is Protestant. The people ore refusiug any longer to be driven as sheep before the priests. Protestantism, long neglectful of its mission to that people, has entered upon its work. Its benign influence has already reached even the wilds of Concnaaro. The pope is alarmed, nnd he has sent his rescript ogrninst the Queen's College. The bishops are alarmed, and hence their recent synod at Tburles, Feeling that Ireland needs, ot this crisis, a stronger guardian saint tiian is he under whose patronage it has reposed for ages, the sages of Thurleshave obsoluteiy deposed good old Saint Patrick, nnd have elected the Virgin Mary in his place. And again we ask, is there no decline in popery 7 But we will pass over the other nations of Europe, as to which statements similar to these could be made, briefly to consider the state of Italy itself. There, for twelveceniiiries, popery has been in power. There is the fabled clwir of Saint Peter; there is the centre of unity ; there is the person and court of the pope ; there the people hove been cloyed nod stupefied for oges with priestly processions and splendid masses — with feasts and fasts— with holy days and carnivals ; there the iVluses hove been bribed to lend their aid to priestly devices; and sculpture and painting have lavished their magic power to give such life, and beauty, and brilliancy to the creations of superstition, as to rovish and carry captive the senses. And while the Italian neck has often felt the galling of the papal yoke, and the Italian people often manifested that it was difficult to bear it, yet, of oil the countries upon the earth, there popery has been the most securely intrenched. It has had the moulding of the mind and the conscience of ihe people, and of every institutjon of the country, nnd without let or hinderance. Surely here, if any where, we should find the evidences of strong lite, and the pulsations of a strong and living heart. But what are the facts in the case 7 Take away the priests nnd their dependents, and there is not a city in Europe where the pope and his minions are more sincerely contemned. But a few brief months ago, under the pretence of retiring for devotion, he withdrew from his friends, changed his garments for those of a servant, tnd after putting a ludy into the carriage, ascended to the box of the coachman, nnd thus fled from Rome to Gaeta. And why 7 Hie papal euhjecis would have reformation in the State and in the Church. And did they invite back the father of the foithful 7 Far otherwise. Feeling like singing a To Deum for their blessed deliverance, they organized a free govern- ment ; and that government was only yielded, and the pope was only permitted to return, at the mouth of French Gannon and at u 14 In* point oftha h h«»o wickedly rS/d o eom «?'". P"''"'''" ^J^''^ ^p^onged ,f «ne government or the tri^i^P*^' ">e o/d Rom«„ . '^en'neuJa, Peop/e could freelv .t P'® "°wd- If ni .h?^ l"' '" »ubfnit to what can popery o?.,-'*"* "*« States „r ^hA'' ^"o^s for a If additional nroof • ^ ^ degraded ? power, we wonlH • '" "«eded of th« ^ i- P'otureofal K^V ir>'*'^««''uded n"Jr'^ '"'" which 7hJ 'ower classes^no LS" k"'.» "'■ '«« gS P'^-no ins.ruction -''i/^^w^hotr "0^^^^^^ pursuit of justS ?n5"\''«''' ''ke Joab ?« ''u''"''^ ""d friare ^'o.foldmore the'ch.^J *''"• ""der « cow, "if »''«' from "he these are the oSrv i^ ''"' *"■«'" than th.^ ""'' " cassock? are 5r^:B^": -"rix^K Sii5v9^' M ^ on, and perhaps from /e"'ng the inVeJS ■I 01 t/jo PeninauJa "» hour, jhe Jt»/,.„ '» jB«'; as:ej "te ^'hemseJvea again" 1"°"^ Wherfhe 'e'ed c/osaic by thi ;dtoge.her J,r a Church J And ep'y degraded 7 of »hi8 spiritual Pnpol countries. les, but to what «'0"to the claims a savage than a ^hrifitjan. The •a, and of every wm which the re ol one is the —no instruction schools for the / he mumbling \ convent bellst ks and friars, o'lar from the > cassock, are before— these, ""gs of God "f ihe entire iional or to « '"'d "Litany "''0 failhfuj '0 priesthood B sanguinary bishops and K his missal, of ihe earth 'itality as in of religion. •St through » Solitary figure, ia 15 those countries it is like unto a bladder once blown to its full extension, but now dry, beyond (he power of holy oil or water to soften, and rent beyond the power of priests to patch up, and utterly incapable of a new inflation. Ignorance and superstition are its only supports, and it will as certninly fall before the advances of light and truth as did Dagon before the ark of God. But is there no life at all in the eyslem ? There is. Where, then, is it to be found ? Not within the ancient metropolis of the world, whose fallen columns, decayingarches, and tottering walls, are but the types of popery throughout the earth— not in stupid Austria, nor in mocking France, nor in debauched Spain, nor in the feeble, confliciing, and senii-savage states of our southern hemisphere, but amid Protestant institutiuns, where nn open Bible, a free press, iVeedom of discussion, an intelligent Christian ministry, and the general prevalence of knowledge, compel its priests To cultivate external decency, to preach to the people, and to defend it as best they can. Hence, while in juirely papal countries the superstition has reached tbe years of its dotage, and is labouring under the multiplied in6rmit:es that attend the close of a dissolute life, there is a reviving of its ancient spirit of Bdventure and bold imposture in Britain and the United Slates. The starving pnpal Irish are pouring into Englnnd, and, to keep them together, a cardinal ami a new batch of bishops was deemed necessary. The popal nations of Europe ore pouring in their surplus population on us in torrents, and, to prevent their uniting with our peoi'lu, as do the rivers with tbe ocean, bishops and archbishops ars muliiplicd But nil will not do. True, a few dreamy Pnseyiics, who sigh after the return of a theocracy and of a visible unity, and wiio judge of religion as many silly people do of men, by the clothes which they wear and their pretensions, have gone to Home. Some ot'thern, like Father Ignatius, should have gone to an asylum. And tiiiH is mode tbe occasion of feeble and fallacious hiirangues on the decline of Protestiintism. But all this is simply the wliiailing ol timid boys when passing a grave yard of a diirk night. '1 ho object is to cheer up their drooping spirits, and to prevent, by raising false issues, the enlightening, eleviiling, converting, and assjmiliiting influence of Protestantism on the mosses o( the faithful. Where one returns to Rome, there are one hundred that desert it. Such being Ihe evidence of the decline of popery in all the earth, we have but a few words to say as to its causes. One ol|"the8e onuses is the circulation of the Bible. Some how or other it ha-- become an article oC.lhe popular (aith, that the will of God, as revealed in the Bible, is the foundation of all true religion. Whnt the Bible teaches is true ; what it does not teoch is a doctrine of m^n, and obedience to it is will worship. And to teach contrary to the Bible is to rob God of his authority as legislator, and usually ends in robbing man of the privileges secured io hlni by iho true religion. Hence the iutpurtauce of the 10 eirculation of tb«i n-n . Again he aska n„. u « *^''*' *="" he say 7 declining („ oiJ 'l'"'*"'''""- And do »oii J^-f'"".*^ """^ e'evat- the works of Vo mS ' „.f^ ^'"'« '^ey ami e at thp -^ '"/"«' ""at ow the Bibleco „ ' , ' '"^ '^""Meau, and Tom d '"'«="'a''on of P?Pular movemen fl R "'""' "'' «» 'hia Je fi^„i''« ''""ks which B'ble entered ?^ra„d\v„r-- ,^''«n'he Pope Se"d ll! '»>? 'ecent returned the Bible ha7t^ ejrculated by tho„fa„da iu ''"J' ^^e ^on were punished with" J""' "'"' 'hose who out iM? •*'^'' P°P« n^nned the irnll- J" * deeper aeveritv lui ^ " ""<» circula- efforta to arres it. ' ;/"'/".'" ""e m.irder of hia it'?!' "oliecfed by •'tempt to n?reVt fh- ''"'*."°'' «« i„ Ja"' . 'L'^'"''''*"' But all Mflurely as I,Vh •^®..""" '" 'he career o? J^J ? '?'*" might thev •he Bibli; bo a:.^„/«'»'h of da?k'„el '^r!l "r ^""f ^n^ "eaeathofpopery. ''*'" 'he circulation of J % glance ai --^.r 'Whether they are » Jmpoaed upon by '^*»/e! Ashe 'oulti hove been so ichingaofpoperv est with questions teach the celibacy ceive it as a true *P y- Tell me, nother laid, and "ges mean: «' A I bis children in » of one wife ?" "1°^ If bishops 'hy would it bo « con he say | trine of con/es- ^ 18 the reply, •Confess your 'o you ; come, ! soy 7 'hich the read, t'on of all that •od and elevot- thnt popery is t the Bjble is ages and dio- you wonder ej know that circulation of ne. Uiey fo|. books which " I be recent ™« c'y. the ben the pope into circula. I those who collected by "> But all might they waj- And rculutioo of snce of the pery obtain t jflanoe Hi 17 the moral msp of the world. The more intense the ignoranec, the more intense the popery ; and intense popery will soon pro. duce intense ignorance. For illustration, we point you to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, and to poor, unhappy Ireland. And before the increasing intelligence of the masses, popery retires as do the mists of the morning before the rising sun. We are willine to make great allowance for the influence of early training ; but no man must ask us to believe thiit any intelligent mind can be- lieve in the absurdities of popery. Hence, when relieved, in this country, from the external pressure of priestly intolerance, the better informed even of the Irish peasantry smile when told that the pope cannot err : that his power is supreme in the church ; that the efficacy of a sacrament depends upon the intention of the administrator ; that the priest can grant an absolute and judicial absolution from sin; that he can convert a Utile flour wafer into God, and then eat him j and that all but papists are excluded from heaven. They are aware that their Church teaches something upon these subjects that ihey do not fully understand, and which Protestants reject ; but the more correct your version of them, the more convinced are they that you are making fun of their re- ligion ; and when convinced that such, Jn truth, ore the doctrines of their church, they desert it. And it is in this way that thous- ands m this and other lands are now deserting it. When the primer, and the spelling-book, and the Bible have found their way into all the earth, the days of popery will be at an end. And hence the opposition of the Vatican to all schemes for educoting the masses. Another of these causes we find in the fooleries of popery. Let It not be for a moment believed that the ridiculous and absurd legends of the Middle Ages, forged by monks for the edification of the foithful, ore repudioted by the papists of our day. They ore reproduced and circulated in papal couniries for the benefit of de- vout minds. Have we not in our own day legends as absurd as the miracles wrought at the tomb of Becket— os the fountains opened by Augustin— as St. Patrick turning old Rius into a blooming youth, and setting ice on fire— as Samt Mocha restoring to life some stags after the flesh wos picked from their bones, and •ending them into the woods— as St. Goor hanging his cape on a sunbeam— as St. Fechin causing the sun to stand <»till.-08 the crows inoking an apology to St. Culhbert for carrying away soma of the thatch of his bouse, and "^"nging him some pork as a peace offering—as St. Berach caub..ig willow trees to bear apples -—as St. Cuona passing over a lake on a flag stane ? Do any of these lying wonders surpass in absurdity the yearly liquefaction of the blood of St. Jonuarius at Naples ; or the holy robe of Treves : or the winking Madonna of Rimini ? When men commence thinking, they can not and will not stand these absurdities.— Their indignation will he as high as tbe impositions to which th«y were subjected were base ; and they will coit off with scorn their prsost.y deceivers, and they wlH ti-cad beneath their feet the dog- mas tod 4be emblems of asu^ersitiiioii u gross as any that God 18 de«ert poper,. And such nlso'^mu^tt fh""S- ^' 'bousand. tl R"n.«.. Burning i.idigna ion U vTrv n„» , ' "'^""J "''"'« *>««» «t of gross deceplio.1. Hence we wo„^er'o?''\'"'' "'•' '^'«<"«'y oflhepope, the populace went into ,hrn "'''^"' "" 'he flight brought out iJieirconfessionT „ I ^^ ^'""''" '•'"irchea, and P'led them up in the s S'''ro!"ir^«;^' ""^ crucfi.es and - t'-ey „.e to tnonhood. they wS'pu^X'Sj.S; Z^^'"' statesmen of his day He^of t '""" P''""''-P'''c and LrLe". hand in hand. SometlmesTlfe o^,/ "'"7' '"'« '^o sistersT "f other; b-'-t whenpuperventea slavf'' V,' ""'^ ^'«^"«""« g^.p ng ence which crushes everrthi.7--on^"\ °' P."^*'^'"^ P»pal inS- whnt has extini^iiiai.o^ i ' *? °" **''"ch t falls ~ Aalr «!! • paralyzed her ^p"„:' "^ '^ Tj' °'"/'r«''y. de.radedl^t m?^i" eminence to a state s^Io^VaftlT^'* ''" '■'"'"''" onceS and the Ebro will cry trth« P f '.' ""''^ '" ^° her reverence G.braltar to the liav of R,? ^"'""''«l"'vir, and the Strahs oJ- what has converted i(s nobT«y* "."f^'J'- Ask bleeding Ki and fertile fields w^^l e,""j*j^ Pf j'« '"'o beggars, and^sown ,"2 Egypuan darkness, a'dU Si '«?„'„,;'« r^*"'"* '"'"'■«"'- ^ Why ore Mexico and South aJ!!-"" "'f.-^^^e answer, poperv. „.ioa, wila ine glorious ewnipl* i?>vv ' of the hoJy robe by thousands to ecioftheboaxnt ■ed the discovery >n, on the flight n cbiircliea, and crucifijjes, and nd popal prieata e /brcsliadowing tionain inteJIec- )les, nr.d cause out so certainly ish tJiing8. ^ry. The Earl : and ^ir-seeing liie following wo sisters, gu someiiiTiea the Aillovv." And tory of (he na- ")d ihs king a ^'ilh the people le rulers to its ist the people, be poesession 'itb princes or the putting of r\8, popery ia PPeol to the earth has it around civil nts from the ever resisted 91 of Apollo T liter. Ask and of De 'ill point to eir grasping papal influ- Ask Spain d her mind, once proud ■ reverence, : S trails of ng Ireland d sown its nillions in r, popery, IS example • 19 of dur Republic before them what they are ? Every time the Gonitis of Liberty seized his trumpet to call up the people to the assertion of their rights, popery has wrung it from his grasp. The malign influence of popery upon civil institutions is its direct and necessary intiuence. When it acts out its heart, it hos but ono way of acting, and that is in the direct line of despotism. That this is so, is plain from events but of yesterday, ond from others that are now transpiring. When the Romans asked a constitutional government from the Pope, ho refused it. When he fled, they established a republic. And the old tyrant invited the allied armies of France, Austria, and Spain to abolish thn republic, to quell the spirit of ireedom, and to restore him to his throne and his triple crown. And (or conduct far less base than that of Pio Nono, the Congress of 1776 declared the King of Englaiid to be a "prince whose character was marked by every act which may define a tyrant." And while the papists of our owii land were singing their hosonnas to democracy, and were raising money to assist the Irish in their resistance to British rule, yet, from the archbishop down to the moat ignoiant thumber of beads before the pictures of the saints, they denoun- ced the citizens of Rome for declaring themselves fier, for de- throning the most arbitrary despot in Europe ; and, as if ashamed to go to God, they overwhelmed the Virgin with entreaties that she would restore him to his despotic chair. And not only eo, but by reviving the "Peter pence," they sent from free America tens of thousands of dollars to put bullets into French and Austrian cannon for the purpose of battering down the newly- erected citadel of Roman liberty ! And when the sympathy of all free hearts was flowing toward Himgary in its recent but fruitless struggle for independence, and when the free earth rang with aspirations lor the success of Kossuth and his noble compatriots, that free risinc and its noble leader were denounced at Rome as bitterly as at Vienna, end by papists in New York, in language as atrocious as the most hope- less legitimist could utter. The freedOiH of Hungary would not subserve the purposes of popery, and it must abide in its chains. Where this system cannot rule, it will ruin. Power ia its religion —despotism is its creed. And when you attempt to remonstrate with it, it will answer you as did the confessor of the Queen of Spain a nobleman who set himself in opposition to him. '*Sir." said the haughty and blasphemous prelate to the old Castilian, "sir, you should fear and respect the man who every day has your God in his hand and your Queen at his feet." This characteristic of popery is rapidly rising to the view of all men ; and as it rises into light, all free hearts are rejecting the Bystom. On this ground alone, within a few years it has been rejected by ths city of Rome — by multitudes in Italy and Gcr- maDy— by miiiiona in France. And just in the proportion that I 20 have kept alive since amonr ho ^ipin^ """" P'^.i^dicee they treatment of Protestants ha "geit^^tT V^r^-e ofT„r '" "' Nnh h.o D "J'uunyme ot inhumanity. ithas^e\^';'„tret\t^st:frei'„"''^^'- '" — ntrie, S;S^|;an.^a and eiviii. i^ZH Buf ^S? ^IS ii^; nultf Tha7'XTy'd'r "a" '> '"'i'''^^^ ""''^ ^e ba.f tb. numerically one'^hainess in all ,'{.' °'"'«'-«"l«- And al.houfih •nd progress it is v« t y it's snnir ^ ^V "''^'"«"'« of ch«rac?er Hirationallibertyjn S^^^^^^^ '" "'^alih, in enterprise of political and mo al Se" P ". '7"'"^''="' '" «" 'he efemem; the sun and moon in the he'nvV ''""'^ "'^ '" PaP"' nations a- you may see thi"/ bio from ,!"' "''' '° '^^ ^^^B the rapidlf m. It is trus done for the I'd have done. le murders of 'ch succeeded has not con- sformation in hy I Let thft onveried the 1 massacre of 'judices they "Pery, in its inhumanity. mo countries xhers it has 9 first love— which is to ay has risen »ne half the d although •f chsracier enterprise, be elements nations as Ts. That hat it owes to desire 7 id it Would "ward, and f this does •at Protes- ?arlh, and ta circum> he world, sr? Stop ends, and lost pleiad Slates to eans that of papal ' to shake uonce of What ineau that ubiquitous influence of the prefs, which discusees all questions, whether pertaining to Church or state, before the people, and which brings out the verdict of the people as freely upon prince, pope, or prelate, as upon the most obscare of the people 7 It shows the advancing influence of Pruleataniism. What mean these railways, and telegraphs, and ocean steamers, that are converting seas into alraits, and that are bringing Can- ton and London, Liverpool and New York, within speaking distance, and that are bringing nations the ' most distant into acquaintance and brotherhood 7 They show the advancing influ- ence of Protestantism. What means the vast enterprise, skill, and industry of Britain —her extended commerce — her empire, upon which the sun never sets — her laws, extended over millions of India— ^her pro- tection of the right wherever her flag floats? What mean the opening of Chma— the granting nf liberty of conscience by Turkey — the payment of a Protestant ministry from the treasury of France 7 They show the advancing influence of Proieatanlism. What mean those white spots on the moral map of the world, scattered along the western coast of Africa, and all over British India and Burmah, and rapidly multiplying on the sea-coast of China, and almost as numerous on the Pacific as are its islands 1 They mark the advances of Protestantism. What mean that expulsion of archbishops from Sardinia — that noble address of the Roman people to the pope, in which they tell him that bis claim of sovereignty for the choir of St. Peter reminded them "of the fable where Jove gives a log to be king of the frogs" — the rapid reformation progressing in western Ireland the yet growing influence of the Ronge movement in Germany — the collecting of large churches in some of our own cities of abjuring popists — the growing inquiry among papists in all lands as to religious things and truths 7 All and each show tbt advancing influence ofProteslaatlsm. What mean the rising cities of these free states— those national grants of land for the education of the people — those rapidly- multiplying churches for the worship of God in every direction those missionaries that track the Indian through the wilderness, and that follow the tide of emigration in every direction— the bringing under our influence in a few mouths the papal states of Texas, New Mexico, and California— the building of cities and churches by the waves of the Pacific, and where until recently, nothing in the way of religion dare be lisped save popish mumme- ries 7 They mark (he advances of Protestantism. And, now that the power to make thunder is gone, what mean those grumblings and mutterings of the Vatican, coming in the wayofrdsoripts and pastoral letters against Irish colleges, and 22 putnng up of papal 8cbool«-the preachingTpr'iet.Tand bi^hi^ vilf,.h«GZ.i '''"J''' '" """"'" lectures whose objects a *?' vilify the Gospel, and to prop up a declininir BUDerstition ? -tj... distinctly mark the advancing iilfluence 0/ i^roES ^^'^ n^a ,1!^°* ".""" '^° suppression of Protestant vrorshio in nr^Vi I- VVorld 7 If Protestantism s of/eeble influpnpp and dechnmg at that, why so anxious to head it ofTeveri where 7 cirtrn'trpre-a?h%rhret^^^ nor can ,t do that little long. Give it free ^cces , ?he„! to Rome'' leU Spam, and Portugal, and Italy, and Austria, and the South to try its tJen 'ih"° '^f l" M '" '"'"/ "'J'^ ^'"^°"' '«' «' '""^ «nce as7r^[:;,r!ls Sti^^oWr; '^^^,^vi'ii i^^^'^frriT then we nail to the connj^r n. „ ^.u,.?. r., 'T.^. "^9 V.. ^^ ""'. • then wo nail to .he counier V;r;'pries;i;n.a Ja'l^^hnlXl; eclme of ProtPstantism ;" and the man who a |s only equalled by i.s falsehood, and who a sTnce'^'^ralS .n London on t!,o hberalily of Protestantism, i. probab y at^his very hour counselbn- the cnr.iinnls, instead of opeS heso nations to put new locks on all thtir doors. "Pining theso xv\?n!l 'l!'^,?""" I^"? gone for his pallium. Do you wWa to know Tow h •« ''"T *°, "^^ '"g"'" ecclesiastics as a badge of dignity ; heaves men'Is I, ^i"."''' "T ''/''"' ^"^"' broadfworn o^u.side A„n»! J r , '^ '"'"''' '^y '•'« """9 of the convent of St Agnes end from the wool of consecrated sheep. For SawSe" the bestowal of which by the pope is necessary to the right eSse of the functions of an archbishop, the receiver must oavhi! ho hness a very large sum. Nor is it bestovved save^n 1. e'g^vin^ See K 'n^'T ^^?^^'' of canonical obedience to theTCf wool J\''^" «7 '^f'endj-eturns, wearing this fillet made from the m^einfi ^^ ''"'•'' 'j'^'^"*''^"' «*P"' ""•' Protestantism wm A^nel . /hi?'"','! °^' '> f "y ^Tg"^ ''■°'" 'he convent of S •ftgiies! Ihio IS the ridiculous side of the aflaif But it h„^ 1 senous ot|e This thing of bishops going to Rome fo^ ve m tn andi„.es^ ure convulsed kingdoms in^he {Middle A glsAnd wb> 7 _ Because of their swearing allegiance to Rome and renouncmg their own sovereigns. This is the view of thTmatter SwSen Brhar:nHV®''''''''^"Sland. Let serious rapture Dei ween iJntain and Rome now take place, and Wissmas? will •i"^»= 23 education of nong US, tha 9 ond bishops ind no biaias ilijecta are to tion 7 They ism. norship in -the perfect tales oC both )Ie influence, i^ery where? n resources, reared. We er to act as do but little, n, to Rome, id the South irt-cullis, to >r hindrance otesinntism it? If not, ill that they man who a e feebleness harangued labiy at this ining theso ?a to know sent by the if dignity ; orn outside ent of St. bis bawble, :ht exercise 3t pay his the giving the Holy 3 from the ntism will ent of St, tit it has a vestmei.ts es. And ome, and :he matter IS rupture SS58R will treat Vietoria as Becket treated Henry II.; the cardinal would be the commander in-chief of the pope in the British isles. Should a serious rupture occur between us and Rome, the man with (he fillet made from the wool of holy sheep would be here the feudal baron and liege lord of the pope, to maintain the claims of the most contemptible despotism, that earth knows, in the very heart of free America, and under the ehadow of the flag which secures to him that liberty of conscience which popery in power nowhere reciprocates. But we mnst close. Popery has rapidly and is rapidly declining. There was a time when, if it was not respected, it was feared. But it is not su now. The force of its fanaticism is spent and unfelt. While all other institutions are rising with the progress of society, this continues. petrified. It is like a vessel bound by a heavy anchor and a short iron cable to the bottom of the stream, while the tide of knowledge and freedom are rising around it. Its spiritual tariflf— its restrictions on the commerce of thought — its taxes on the bread of life— its efforts to bring seats in heaven into the priestly market — its mimic immolations of the Son of God- its sacrifice of the people for the sake of the priest- its nameless exactions and endless tyrannies, are not much longer to be borne. The Lord will consume it with the breath of his mouth, and will destroy it with the brightness of his rising. "Though well perfumed and elegantly dressed, Like an uiiburied carcass tricked with flowers, 'Til but a garnished nuisance." From every tower of Zion tha watchmen should lift up their Toices together, and cry to the people that they have nothing Jo fear. The world is not te be educated back again to the intelli- gence of the Dark Ages. While popery may be compared to a deorepid, nervous, and wrinkled old man, whose hearing is obtuse, and whose memory is short, and who, heedless and forgetful of the events passing around him if always prattling about the past, Protestantism is strong, and active, and zealous, and enterpris- ing, and attractive, and looking to the future. The mind of the world is with it. Reason is with it. The literature of the world is with it. The Bible is with it. God is with it. The entire current of civilization is with it. And all these are against popery. The combat may be protracted, but the victory is certain. Nor, in the conflict, will the cause of popery be much aided by the support, nor will the cause of Protestantism be any weakened by the assaults, of those whose chief aim and grand ambition is to wear a fillet made from the wool of holy sheep. THS END. (fS:;-^-— — I