Characteristics of Popery.

THE following characteristics of Popery were contained in a letter from the late Henry Drummond, M.P. for Surrey, to the High Sheriff of the county, and published in December 1850:—

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Albury Park, Dec. 17, 1850. My dear Sir, I regret that inability to assist at a meeting to be held in the open air, at this season of the year, will prevent my constituents having that opportunity, which it is my duty to give them, of inquiring what are my opinions upon the subject which they are convened to discuss. I always opposed the placing of Papists upon the same footing as Protestant Dissenters,

Because temporal supremacy over all Christendom has ever been claimed by the Pope;

Because it is as essential a part of the Papacy as ecclesiastical supremacy is of the prerogative of the British Crown;

Because the priests are forbidden to marry, expressly upon the ground that they may not be induced to transfer their allegiance from the Popedom to their lawful prince;

Because, therefore, Papists can give at best only a divided allegiance;

and

Because this claim of the Pope has in all ages been the occasion of deluging Christendom with blood. Now that this usurpation is again attempted by sending a Cardinal, who, as such, has no spiritual jurisdiction, but is the paid Privy Councillor of a foreign sovereign, we must meet the attack, and drive it back by the mildest measures, provided only they shall be sufficient to uphold unimpaired the rights of the Queen. In addition to this attack on the independence of the monarchy by the Pope, Dr Wiseman commands or invites all the people of this nation to return "within the orbit of the ecclesiastical firmament," by submitting themselves to his dominion, and to that of the army of priests placed at his disposal. This command or invitation must equally be resisted,

Because the Popish priests teach men to deny the evidence of their senses, and declare that the bread which they taste in their mouths at the communion is not bread; and this lie they teach as an act of worship, and inculcate as a way of pleasing the God of Truth-thus teaching lying as a religious system-a sin committed by no other priests, Greek, Druidical, Buddhist, or Chinese;

Because they have enslaved the greater part of the laity, and forced them to have a priest as a director, without whose direction no layman dare read any book, nor govern his family, nor give any vote in Parliament except as the director permits him ;

Because they rob the laity of the right to read God's Word, which He has addressed to all men, and no part of which is exclusively addressed to priests, but all to the people; or quibble, by saying they will give laymen leave to read it, while they deny their right to understand it; Because they teach the laity to pray to dead men and women, instead of to God alone, through the only Mediator, Jesus Christ;

Because the pretended authority of the Church is nothing more than that the priests have decided that the priests alone have the right to decide;

Because they refuse the right of religion to all females, unless they have previously submitted to a filthy and obscene conversation with an unmarried priest in secret; and

Because they have reduced the husbands and fathers to such an abject condition, that they are afraid to protect the honour and purity of their wives and daughters;

Because the priests have not fulfilled the conditions of the Word of God, which requires that no one shall be ordained a priest until he has given proof of his competency for that office, by showing that he can rule well his own wife, children, and servants; and

Because the Word of God warns us against a great apostasy into which the Church should fall, the sign of which should be, that men were "forbidden to marry, and commanded to abstain from meats ;" Because the dominion of Popish priests had been found, after ages of trial, so intolerable to the laity, that it has been cast off in Italy and France, men hating the very name of religion, and renouncing, rather than live under it, all allegiance to the Church;

Because the Scriptures teach us to judge of men and of their systems by their fruits; and history informs us that the crimes of the Popes and the vices of the clergy have disgraced the name of Christianity;

Because the immoral doctrines of the Jesuits, exposed by Pascal, and condemned by the Pope, who suppressed that Order, are now taught by Dr Wiseman and his priests;

Because the priests have caused more human blood to be shed by persecution of Jews, Albigenses, Protestants, &c., &c., than the priests of Moloch or Juggernaut ;

Because the priests assert that the Pope is infallible, and that he has a right to depose princes and to punish the magistrates, subject to such princes, who do not execute his decrees;

Because the priests deny at one time the things that they maintain at another, pretending either that their principles are unchangeable, or that they have changed, just as suits their purposes of deception';

Because the priests teach men to defraud their relations on their death-beds, and persuade them that they will deliver their souls from punishment, by bequeathing their property to the priests;

Because the priests, and the laity under their control, demand to be governed by the canon law, which is a different law from that by which other subjects of the Queen are governed, proving incontrovertibly that, though outwardly English, they are in heart attached to a foreign prince, and to a foreign law. These are a few of the many reasons why we ought to reject the claims of Dr Wiseman and his priests, who talk of bringing us back to allegiance to the Pope.

It is hoped that many of the Popish laity in England are as bold now to reject the arrogant claims of this Italian priest (who is so execrated by those who know best the merits of his rule, that, unless for the presence of ten thousand French bayonets, he dare not remain twenty-four hours in his own capital), as our Roman Catholic ancestors were, in the reigns of our Edwards, Henrys, and Elizabeth; but they who are not, have no right to demand to be treated upon an equality with Protestants of all creeds, who give an undivided allegiance to the British Crown. They who have submitted to become the slaves of priests have no right to claim the privileges of free men; they, who dare take no oath without secretly saying "salvo jure superioris "—that is, saving the interests of the priests are not fit to be trusted with the government of Protestants.-I am, &c., HENRY DRUMMOND.

J. W. Freshfield, Esq., High Sheriff

of the County of Surrey,

Popish Superstition-A New Ecstatic.

THE Impartial de Soignies devotes five columns to a description of a new ecstatic, named Louise Lateau. It appears from the statement of the Belgian journal that for some months past this young girl presents every Friday the phenomena which are called the stigmata of the Passion. She has on her hands, feet, and over the heart sanguineous blisters, which exude abundantly. The ordinary functions of life are suspended. The eyes open, and turned obliquely towards heaven, appear to be attentively fixed on some object. The pupils are dilated, the face is pale, the mouth partially opened, and the features express a sentiment of admiration, mingled with a sweet sorrow. At times the object she seems to contemplate produces a painful starting. When not in ecstasy, she is in catalepsy. At three o'clock she starts up all at once, and suddenly flings herself on the flags, without the least attempt to protect her face with her hands. Yet she receives no injury. She remains for an hour in this horizontal position, her arms and feet 'crossed. About 4.30 she raises herself quickly without any assistance, her arms still in the form of a cross, as if some invisible power had placed her in this vertical position. She then falls on her knees, next sits down, and in about ten minutes the body is subjected to a kind of torsion, and the ecstatic of Bois d'Haine-for so she is called-throws herself supine on the ground. Then it is that she is waked up; but to accomplish this the around about her must belong to the Order of Passion.

The Turkish Empire.

PEOPLE go on talking of the inevitable and progressive decay of the Turkish empire, which they say is crumbling to pieces. In the first place, no empire is likely to fall to pieces if left to itself, and if no kind neighbours forcibly tear it to pieces. In the next place, I much question that there is any process of decay going on in the Turkish empire; and I am inclined to suspect that those who say that the Turkish empire is rapidly going from bad to worse ought rather to say that the other countries of Europe are year by year becoming better acquainted with the manifest and manifold defects of the organisation of Turkey. But I should be disposed to think that, for some years past, the foundations at least of improvement have been laid; and it is certain that the daily increasing intercourse between Turkey and the other countries of Europe must in a few years, if peace can be preserved, throw much light upon the defects and weakness of the Turkish system, and lead to various improvements therein.-Lord Palmerston.

Poetry.

OTHER GODS.

UNSTABLE age!

Hither and thither tossed;
Still chasing what is new,
In mists and mazes lost.

Bow down to self,

Take nature to thy heart;
Say earth is God, and God
Is of this earth a part!

Yet God is God!

And man a wrinkled leaf,
Tossed o'er these hills and vales
By winds of joy and grief.

God will be God!

The day is coming fast,
When He shall claim His due,-
Jehovah, First and Last.

He speaks, and earth

Shrinks from His voice of dread;

He summons man, but man

Is dumb, and hides his head !

He speaks again!

But from His face they flee;

The cry of agony

Is, Mountains, cover me!

He speaks again!

They gather round the throne;

Their boasts are at an end,

Their mockery is done.

He calls aloud!

He lifts the iron rod,-
His foes are crushed; and earth
Now owns the living God.

The idols fall!

The idol-shrines are gone;

Ye gods of lust and hate,

Your reign on earth is done!

The fool no more

Utters the atheist lie;

The scorner's voice is dumb,

And mute his blasphemy.

NOTICE.

All readers of this Journal are most earnestly requested to give it room in their prayers; that by means of it God may be honoured and His truth advanced; also, that it may be conducted in faith and love, with sobriety of judgment and discernment of the truth, in nothing carried away into error, or hasty speech, or sharp unbrotherly disputation."

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