the Romish Church, and the no less unscrupulous modes of defence adopted to keep possession of such property when obtained. But instead of lengthened comments, we will proceed to give a short extract or two, from the evidence of the Bishop of London : His Lordship is asked, (Q. 570,) " Does your experience as a parish clergyman lead you to apprehend undue influence with persons, particularly in sickness, from clergymen or others, for the purpose of obtaining grants or bequests for the Church?" "Certainly not. There is nothing in the principles of our Church which need lead any person to entertain such an apprehension, even in theory, and I believe in practice, it is equally groundless. ... I think in respect to the Roman Catholic clergy there would be great reason to apprehend this influence, because the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is this:-It is confessedly taught in the writings of both Testaments that there are three most convenient modes of washing out the stains of sin-alms, prayers, fastings; and that it is altogether reasonable that one of these fountains should flow abundantly when the others fail and are dried up." (571) "And, therefore, if dying persons are persuaded that by leaving large bequests for charitable purposes, or for the purpose of having so many masses said for the repose of their souls, they can wash out the stains of sin, or escape a certain period of the pains of purgatory, there would be great danger of unjust disherison. The danger of this is of course much less in our own Church, which teaches no such doctrine, but merely instructs the clergyman, when visiting a dying man, to exhort him to settle his worldly affairs, and to be liberal to the poor. I may add that I have been informed on authority, which I believe to be credible, that an eminent Roman Catholic of the present day in England said, that if the Mortmain Act was repealed, he would require no other measure in favour of the Roman Catholic Church." Mr. BROTHERTON.-Is your Lordship of that opinion?— No; I have too much confidence in the intrinsic truth and vigour of the Reformed Church to be much afraid of it myself. Sir G. GREY.-Do you think that he meant that endowments in landed property would be so rapidly created?— Yes. Mr. MILNES.-Does not your Lordship think that public opinion would act very strongly at the present time against any such abuse of the liberty? Might I be allowed to ask how public opinion would affect that?-I think that a religious principle, a principle of truth on the part of those who had property to dispose of, might operate; a Roman Catholic might be anxious to provide for the dissemination of what he considered the truth, and other members of the Church might be equally anxious to provide for the dissemination of what they considered the truth. The one is more accessible in his dying moments to the arguments which I have described than the other, to whom such an argument could not with consistency be used. . . . . . The difference between their Church and our own is of so essential and vital a kind, that I am not at present prepared to consent to any measure which shall increase the facility they now possess of advancing the boundaries of their Church in this country. Mr. SHAW.-Does any possible way to prevent it occur to your Lordship's mind?-The Committee will be so good as to understand that I am looking at the question throughout, in its bearings on the Church. It is only in the last few years that we have begun to think about such matters. THE WAY TO ENCOUNTER POPERY. To the Editor of the Protestant Magazine. One MY DEAR FRIEND,-To every one who desires to understand the policy and the political principles of the Church of Rome,—especially as bearing upon the state of Ireland, I would earnestly recommend an attentive perusal of "A Digest of the Evidence taken before Select Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, appointed to Inquire into the State of Ireland, 1824-1825 with Notes, Historical and Explanatory, and a Copious Index." By the Rev. William Phelan, B.D., and the Rev. Mortimer O'Sullivan, A.M., and more especially the second part, which is full of important documents and valuable information. It ought to be thoroughly studied by every Protestant statesman, and every Member of Parliament. passage from the remarks of the learned editors, I would particularly commend to consideration under present circumstances. I find in Part ii. p. 101 :-"The Papal scheme was a magnificent design, worthy to be recorded in prophecy; it has endured for more than a thousand years, and is still the same awful and energetic organization. During that time its policy has been matured by greater vicissitudes, disciplined by a more ample experience of good and evil, and carried down in a more perfect continuity of design than any other Government that ever existed; and the statesman who now undertakes to cope with it is matched against the worldly wisdom of every age, and every country in Christendom." It would be well if British statesmen at the present day could be induced to consider duly the last clause of this remarkable passage. Let him be who and what he may, if he seeks by carnal policy and worldly wisdom to contend with Rome, he will find himself fearfully overmatched. What human intellect is there which can pretend to cope with "the worldly wisdom of every age and every country in Christendom?" What, then, is to be done? There is but one way in which it can be safe for a British and Protestant statesman to encounter this "awful and energetic organization." Let him take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Eph. vi. 17, 18.) Let him take the Bible as the rule of his policy--the standard at once of his public and private conduct. "The three-crowned tyrant who reigns in the seven-hilled city fears neither fleets nor armies; he laughs at the power of nations and the craft and policy of the wisest princes and statesmen of this world: but he trembles at that little book;" said one of the learned editors of the above-mentioned work, in a sermon which I heard him preach; and it was well said. O for a Protestant statesman who has faith and courage to take the Bible as his rule-and (while he does this himself) to say that every subject of Great Britain, to the farthest ends of the earth, shall have full liberty to read the Bible for himself, to attend a place of worship, without fear, in which the truths of the Bible are preached; and to send his children, without fear, to a school in which the Bible is taught. And, wherever the influence of Great Britain extends, that influence shall be used to secure to every individual true religious liberty;—that is to say, liberty to read the Bible for himself—to hear the Gospel preached, and to profess the Gospel, without fear of persecution. Would not the statesman, who would take and maintain this ground, prove the greatest benefactor to mankind, and earn for himself the noblest and the most enduring fame, that ever statesman could desire? Yours, &c. January 17, 1845. A. S. THELWALL. THE IRISH POLICY OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT. SIR, I mentioned in my last how Lord Heytesbury, from his skill in diplomacy, was well adapted for executing that system of compromise or concession, which Ministers seem to have adopted in their Government of Ireland. The policy they intended to pursue might also be inferred from their appoint ment of Lord Eliot to the office of Secretary for Ireland. He is well known as a waverer in a division, in one of the great struggles with the last Administration on a Protestant question affecting Ireland, if I am not much mistaken. This policy is further marked by the reply of Lord Heytesbury to the Synod of Ulster, in which the education promised for Ireland is to be merely of a general and moral character. Religion, Alas! is never thought of in the midst of all this worldly policy, nor allowed to have a place in the polished periods of a diplomatic answer. The National System of Education is now brought openly before the public by the noble declaration of a majority of the Irish bishops, fourteen against nine in opposition to the Government measure. In the minority of five it is lamentable to observe the name of Dr. Stopford, Bishop of Meath, the last that has been appointed. And is there not reason to fear that in this appointment the same wretched policy of worldly wisdom and expediency has been consulted. But this policy is shewing itself more clearly every day. Instead of suppressing the Repeal conspiracy, or rather insurrection, by the strong arm of the law, an attempt appears to be making to sow dissensions in the camp of the insurgents. A Rescript has been issued, as I believe the mandate of the Vatican is called, prohibiting the Romish priesthood from taking part in political movements or combinations. And whence has this originated? Can it be that the Prime Minister of England, or the far-famed conqueror of Napoleon, have crouched in abject submission at the feet of the Pope of Rome, and supplicated him to draw off the Irish clergy from giving their support to the seditious and rebellious projects of O'Connell? Was all the gigantic power of this mighty kingdom unavailing, and was there no other way of putting down the Popish rebel than by such a degrading expedient as this? We shall soon know to our sorrow the cost at which their intervention of the See of Rome has been purchased. And as soon as Parliament opens we shall most probably have notice to prepare for the surrender of more of our Protestant rights and privileges. Be this as it may; I hope that the Protestant Association, and every Christian, from one end of the kingdom to the other, will feel the duty of supporting the bishops of our Protestant Church in Ireland in their opposition to the Antichristian system of National Education in Ireland. Ought we, as a Christian people, to be taxed for the encouragement of Popery and Infidelity, and to the injury and depression of our own beloved Church? That is the simple question. A PROTESTANT. THE CONCORDAT. THE rumours which prevailed touching a meditated concordat with the Pope appear to have been without foundation. The following documents sufficiently explain themselves : : "Mountjoy-square, Jan. 15, 1845. "My dear Sir, I have just had the honour of receiving from his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant, an important communication, of which I beg to enclose a copy, in the hope that you will have the goodness to give it a place in your next publication. I have the honour to remain, my dear Sir, very faithfully yours, "D. MURRAY. "F. W. Conway, Esq." "Viceregal Lodge, Jan. 15, 1845. "Lord Heytesbury presents his compliments to Archbishop Murray, and begs to inform him that he has been instructed to give to him and to Archbishop Crolly the strongest assurances on the part of the Government, that there has never existed the slightest intention of entering into any negotiation with the Papal See upon the subject of a Concordat." We are not, however, without our apprehensions, that in the course of the approaching session of Parliament, efforts will be made to procure a repeal of those laws which at present prohibit the opening and establishment of official communications and relationships between the see of Rome and the Sovereign or Government of this country. We admonish our friends and readers, and trust that the moment such intention is manifested, they will exercise the power, vested in them by the happy and constitutional form of Government under which they live, of recording their protest, by Petitions to Parliament, and Addresses to the Crown, against measures fraught with such great danger to the best and dearest interests of the country. THE CABINET. FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is a secret, cordial, holy exercise of the understanding and affections in receiving God's testimony concerning Christ, and in reposing all the trust_and confidence of the soul on the merits of that Saviour for everlasting life. It is not merely a general, cold, historical assent to certain truths, but a particular, affectionate, living, practical belief of them, on the authority of God, and an acting fully on them as infinitely good and important. It is not simply a notion, a creed, an established hereditary sentiment, but a holy principle, springing from a personal sense of our lost condition, and apprehending for ourselves the blessings of Christ, and relying upon them for everlasting salvation. Faith is the eye which looks to Christ, as the brazen serpent which Moses raised; it is the foot which flies to him, as the manslayer fled to the city of refuge that he might escape the avenger of blood; it is the hand which receives, as a needy beggar, the inestimable gift of God freely offered to him; it is the ear which |