The True Author of Popery. 517 "The peculiar character of Romanism (and also of the religion of the Greek Church) in this respect, will be best perceived by contrasting it with Mahometism. This latter system was framed, and introduced, and established, within a very short space of time, by a deliberately-designing impostor; who did indeed most artfully accommodate that system to man's nature, but did not wait for the gradual and spontaneous operations of human nature to produce it. He reared at once the standard of proselytism, and imposed on his followers a code of doctrines and laws ready-framed for their reception. The tree which he planted did indeed find a congenial soil; but he planted it at once, with its trunk full-formed and its branches displayed. The Romish system, on the contrary, rose insensibly like a young plant from the seed, making a progress scarcely perceptible from year to year, till at length it had fixed its root deeply in the soil, and spread its baneful shade far around. In fecunda quidem, sed læta et fortia surgunt; it was the natural offspring of man's frail and corrupt character, and it needed no sedulous culture. No one, accordingly, can point out any precise period at which this mystery of iniquity'-the system of Romish and Grecian corruptions-first began, or specify any person who introduced it. No one, in fact, ever did introduce any such system. The corruptions crept in one by one; originating for the most part with an ignorant and depraved people, but connived at, cherished, consecrated, and successively established, by a debased and worldly-minded ministry; and modified by them just so far as might best favour the views of their secular ambition. But the system thus gradually compacted, was not the deliberate contrivance of any one man or set of men, adepts in priestcraft, and foreseeing and designing the entire result. The corruptions of the unreformed Church were the natural offspring of human passions, not checked and regulated by those who ought to have been ministers of the Gospel, but who, on the contrary, were ever ready to indulge and encourage men's weakness and wickedness, provided they could turn it to their own advantage. The good seed fell among thorns,' which, being fostered by those who should have been occupied in rooting them out, not only sprang up with it,' but finally choked and overpowered it."-Pp. 7-9. There is, no doubt, a great deal of truth in this passage, and in others to the same effect which occur in different parts of the work. But we are disposed to think that the statement as a whole is somewhat exaggerated, and to assign a larger share of influence to the priesthood in devising and fabricating the Popish system. Not only did the priests share equally in the same natural tendencies which led the people to desire and to welcome the system of tenets and practices which constitutes Popery, but they were, for many reasons, much more likely to give to the appropriate results of these tendencies the fullest expression and the most ample encouragement. It is a view of Popery that ought never to be overlooked, that its tenets and practices, individually and collectively, though they have their origin in human nature, are also admirably adapted to increase the influence and promote the selfish interests of the priesthood, a fact which indicates pretty plainly the source to which their growth and development are to he mainly ascribed. And there is another view of Popery that ought never to be forgotten, viz., that all its peculiar tenets and practices, while having their origin in human nature, and while fitted and designed to increase the influence of the priesthood, are also adapted to lead men to form erroneous views of the doctrines inculcated and the duties enjoined in the Sacred Scriptures. They thus tend to prevent men from making a right use and improvement of the Revelation which God has given them, and in this way to endanger their spiritual and eternal welfare. There are thus three leading general views of Popery, all of which must be taken into account in order that we may thoroughly understand and appreciate that most marvellous system. Its tenets and practices have their origin in certain tendencies of human nature, and this view is fitted to impress those useful practical lessons which Dr. Whately has so well illustrated. They are all fitted, equally and at once, to promote the two great objects of advancing the influence of the priesthood and endangering men's spiritual welfare. The most remarkable thing in the history of Popery is, that, gradually, during a long series of years, and through the labours of many individuals, not acting on a preconcerted plan, a system should have grown up, which is admirably compacted and thoroughly consistent in all its parts, and which, in all its provisions and arrangements, the most minute as well as the most important, is fitted to secure the two great objects to which we have referred. We are persuaded, as we have already intimated, that this can be explained only by means of the principle, which appears to us to be clearly taught in Scripture, viz., that Popery, in its complex character and as a system, is Satan's great scheme for frustrating the leading objects of the Christian revelation. Such efforts are made in the present day to diffuse defective and unduly favourable views of the Popish system, and so many influences combine to promote the success of these efforts, that we have considered it our duty to dwell chiefly on those parts of Dr. Whately's Essays and Cautions which may possibly be employed to aid in advancing this object. We have animadverted on them freely and plainly, but we trust that in doing so we have said nothing inconsistent with the high admiration we entertain and have expressed of his great talents, or with the profound sense we cherish of the value and importance of the services he has rendered to the world by his writings. Prince Albert's Industrial College of Arts and Manufactures. 519 ART. VIII.-1. First Report of the Commissioners for the Exposition of 1851. London, 1852. 8vo, pp. 267; with Plates. 2. Education and Educational Institutions considered with reference to the Industrial Professions, and the Present Aspect of Society. By the Rev. J. BOOTH, LL.D., F.R.S., Chaplain to the Marquis of Lansdowne. London, 1846. 8vo, pp. 108. 3. Papers relating to Proposals for Establishing Colleges of Arts and Manufactures for the Better Instruction of the Industrious Classes. By T. A. LLOYD, F.R.S., F.G.S. London, 1851. 8vo, pp. 40. Printed for Private Circulation. 4. On the Importance of studying Abstract Science with a View to its Future Practical Application: Being an Introductory Lecture at Putney College. By LYON PLAYFAIR, F.R.S., F.C.S. London, 1848. 8vo. Printed for Private Circulation. 5. Notes on the Organization of an Industrial College for Artisans. By T. TWINING, Jun. In a Letter to Lord Shaftesbury. London, 1851. Printed for Private Circulation. 6. Suggestions for a Crystal College or New Palace of Glass for combining the Intellectual Talent of all Nations; or a Sketch of a Practical Philosophy of Education. By W. CAVE THOMAS. London, 1851, pp. 64. 7. How much longer are we to continue teaching nothing more than what was taught two or three Centuries ago? or ought not our highest Education to embrace the whole Range of our Present Knowledge? and ought not the Education of all Classes to have a direct Reference to the Wants of our Free, Busy, and Enlightened Age? By the Rev. FOSTER BARHAM ZINCKE, Vicar of Wherstead. London, 1850, pp. 42. 8. Why must we educate the Whole People? and what prevents our doing it? By the Rev. FOSTER BARHAM ŽINCKE. London, 1850, pp. 54. 9. Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, fondée en 1829. Paris, pp. 42. 10. Report of the Head Master of the Government School of Design at Sheffield on the National Exposition of Manufac tures at Paris. (In the Annual Report of the School.) Sheffield, 1849. 11. Records of the School of Mines, and of Science applied to the Arts. Vol. i., Part i. Inaugural and Introductory Lectures to the Courses for the Session 1851-52. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. London, 1852. 8vo, pp. 148. 12. Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, delivered before the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Com merce, at the suggestion of H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT, President of the Society. London, 1852. Pp. 634. THE Exhibition of 1851 is now an event of the past. Its gems of Nature and of Art have disappeared, and the crystal casket which inclosed them is about to return to its elements, and to assume, under another sky, a more permanent character and a nobler form. Like the hero who dies in his glory, or the sage whose name is embalmed amid the great truths which he has bequeathed to his race, the Exhibition of the World's Industry rises on the page of history when its material elements have fallen; and long after its crystal roof has ceased to dazzle, its cherished memories will put forth more hallowed and more enduring radiations. The transparent chrysalis has burst, and we must now study the future being to which it has given birth. Had the Exhibition of 1851 been a mere pageant to please the eye of its visitors, and to gratify the vanity of the nation;or had it been simply a palace of the arts to amuse and to instruct the public, it would, under either aspect, have exercised a salutary influence over our social condition, and its founder would have well deserved both individual and national gratitude. The motives, however, by which Prince Albert was influenced, and the ends which he had in view, were of a higher and nobler kind. Educated as British princes and British statesmen had never been educated-uniting with the elegant acquirements of literature and the fine arts a sound knowledge of the physical and natural sciences, and of the mechanical arts with which, in foreign lands, the sciences have been long associated, he perceived the defects in our intellectual institutions; and occupying that high position from which truth can speak without giving offence, and reform emanate without inspiring fear, he conceived the idea of turning the attention of the nation to the state of its manufacturing arts, and giving a new direction to its science, and a fresh impulse to its industry. During the early half of the present century, after war had ceased to usurp the talent and exhaust the resources of the State, a few individuals of ardent patriotism and enlarged views called the attention of the nation to the humble condition of its industrial and scientific arts, and to the feeble and ill-directed efforts of our scientific and educational institutions. In the pages of the two great Reviews which shed their light quarterly over the land, these truths were often pressed upon the public notice; and this Journal has not been behind its rivals in appreciating the importance of practical science, and in advocating its claims to national recognition and support. But facts and arguments, reproof and expostulation, made no impression on the advisers of the Crown; and the members of the Legislature Neglect of Industrial Education in England. 521 were equally callous to the demands of science and of art. The seeds of truth, however, even when sparingly sown, never fail to germinate. Though buried for centuries and unproductive, they yet spring into life under the inspiration of the elements, and often cast into the social granary a rich and abundant produce. The Metropolitan Society of Arts, which had long been the only, though the feeble patron of inventions and useful discoveries, had been stimulated into activity by the accession of a few patriotic and zealous members. The Royal Scottish Society of Arts, established in Edinburgh, became a powerful auxiliary in the cause of practical science. The mechanical institutes, too, throughout the kingdom-the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge— the British Association for the Advancement of Science, including Mechanics and Civil Engineering-the Amendment of the Patent Laws, which we owe to Lord Brougham-the splendid Exhibition of the Manufactures of Birmingham in a large temporary building-the Government Schools of Design-the Agricultural College at Cirencester-the College of Practical Science at Putney, under the patronage of the Duke of Buccleuch-and the Museum of Practical Geology, with its School of Mines and of Science applied to the Arts-were all important steps in the onward march of British industry. But valuable and progressive as these steps were, they were nevertheless but insulated steps in divergent directions, proceeding from no centre, and pointing to no goal. Private interests, professional prejudices, and local necessities, combined to keep the scientific institutions of the country beyond their sphere of mutual attraction; and the voluntary character of almost all of them, and the general absence of pecuniary aid, and consequently of control, on the part of the State, prevented the establishment of some central institution round which they might cluster, and from which they might derive new life and energy. But while these institutions were developing their powers and displaying their results, the English Government, neglecting the very interests of which it was the guardian, made no attempts even to improve and extend the national colleges and institutions over which it had control. The Scottish and even the English Universities, with a staff of able professors, whose talents might have received a fresh impulse and a better direction, were allowed to stand unchanged amid advancing civilisation, while the academical institutions of other lands were embracing, with extended arms, those various courses of study which administer to the wants of social and domestic life, and promote the glory and prosperity of nations. When practical science was wanted by the British Government, it was collected by the most expensive process in committees of Parliament, often from ill-informed and interested witnesses, and consigned |