5

PAUL'S CROSS.

To the Editor of the Protestant Magazine.

SIR,- Periods of time are aptly likened to mile-stones on the path of life; every finished month and every completed year, must remind the wayfaring man (who, while around him he sees grey hairs springing up, and white ones swept away, cannot, though a fool, err therein) that so much more of his earthly pilgrimage is past, and so much less of future space to be trod : with the strange velocity which pertains alone to the current of time, he is carried onwards to the "bourne, from which no traveller returns." But these milestones of experience are dumb orators in their way. The man must be culpably negligent if he fail to trace on their surface mottoes from which he can cull instruction, and epitaphs whence he can learn lasting profit. The private Christian will be always ready to consult the Ebenezers that deck his wayside life; he will gather volumes of intelligence from the memorials of each year of his pilgrimage; it will not be in vain that he prays for grace to read the mind of the Spirit, in the fruit of his hallowed operations; that past affliction-it will bring forth the rich blossoms of immortal hope; that mournful bereavement-it will preach him a faithful sermon of the Lord's loving-kindness; and thus, garnering up his precepts and promises, and comparing notes as he proceeds, he will "watch in all things, endure afflictions," will "fight a good fight," and having to the close of his course "kept the faith," he will die in full assurance of belief that for him is laid up "a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him at that day." And fully does this study of past experience allure the public patriot, as well as the private believer. He that prays for the peace of Jerusalem, loves to scan her old chronicles, and to read of the pillar and the cloud. History is a precious boon to mankind-a very storehouse of warning, breathed forth in the true eloquence of facts, and deeds, and actual events; and the memorials it plants from century to century along the track of the world's existence, are the milestones and finger-posts, which the traveller would be right grieved to miss. "Ask now of the past, and it shall teach thee." The days that are gone have not left themselves without witness; and if there be indeed nothing new under the sun, we do well to shape our present career by the advice which past actions significantly bestow; and a little thought and trial will make us grateful for the lessons of these true-hearted friends. Places renowned in the annals of history, cannot but be full of interest to every inquirer; and according as the bent of his mind leads him, he will give the preference in his affections to this, or that locality. The philosopher will pause, to give way for once to the rising swell of poetical sensation and pleasure,

which he cannot but enjoy, as he reads minute descriptions of the scenes where hoary wisdom scattered her flowers of knowledge;-the soldier will warm to ecstacy as he accompanies the campaigners, in the chronicles of war, across the platform of military celebrity;-the poet will experience indefinable delight in wending his melancholy way along the Avon, or treading the green meads of the "Leasowes," or pacing the Abbey corner where lie a "rare Ben Jonson," a polished Gifford, and a warmhearted Campbell;—and the Christian will not be the only one to view with indifference, scenes, which are consecrated by the records of other days, and which constitute a lovely vision when reposing in the silence, and lit by the twilight of the past. The poor peasant would trudge many a long mile to look at John Bunyan's prison cell; and the Sunday-school girl would hie her with true rapture, to sit and weep by the quiet grave of Legh Richmond's "Young Cottager." And let it not be said, that either of them would not equally delight to realize the descriptions of scenes connected with their British birthright and its historical associations, scenes woven in the career, now prosperous-now adverse, of their beloved Protestantism. Allusions to Smithfield and its martyrs, "who out of weakness were made strong;" to Lollard's Tower and its leal-hearted "prisoners of hope;" and to Paul's Cross, whither thousands have hasted, "many a time and oft," to hear the preached word set forth by men of piety and faithfulness and zeal-allusions to such places will awaken a train of noble feelings in the breast of the reader, and gladly will he close the book for a few instants, that he may follow fancy as she peoples the spectacle with living actors, and completes the dream which would realize the exciting events which immortalized the names of the above localities. It is the last of the three, however, which we are most likely to forget, from the loss of the original monument which gave the place its title. The writer has more than once been asked whereabouts Paul's Cross was situated: and the many scores of pedestrians who traverse the north side of St. Paul's Church-yard, too seldom, one fears, call to mind, that the illustrious Cross had its site where a stunted tree now stands.

But do some, still less imbued with the patriotism of affectionate Protestantism, inquire, What was Paul's Cross ? They will get their best answer by turning to some of the glorious sermons preached at its foot in the days of "good Queen Bess" and her Royal successor. The founder of the "Cross" is not known; but its antiquity is indisputable. In the reigns of Henry III., Edward I., Richard II., and upwards, we find mention of it. The old Cross which was, by age and exposure to weather, crumbling to dust, was, A.D. 1489, or thereabouts, replaced by a new one, far more famous from the associations of the reformed truth. Stowe says, that it was "a pulpit cross

of timber, mounted upon steps of stone, and covered with lead; in which (he adds) are sermons preached by learned divines every Sunday, in the forenoon." The space of ground encompassing this spot, must have been much larger and more open than now; for five, and even six, thousand people would be congregated together there, to listen with deep attention to the glad sounds of Evangelic promises; and some thousand hearts would beat high with ardour, as voices, which another week might stifle in the martyr's fires, exhorted them to "quit themselves like men," and to "STAND FAST in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage!" And Bishop Burnet tells us, that of all things of the kind which were felt by the Romanists to be deep and sore grievances, nothing gave them greater annoyance than the custom of singing psalms at this public resort.

(To be continued.)

ON THE OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE POPE WHICH ARE TAKEN BY ROMISH ECCLESIASTICS.

THE Protestants of Great Britain were led to suppose in the year 1829, that the Act then passed for the relief of Roman Catholics would prove a final settlement of the Roman Catholic question. The question, however, seems just as far from settlement as ever; and, even in the last session of Parliament, more than one Act was passed for the "relief" or advantage of the same restless and encroaching party. The disposition of a Government, which has been called Conservative, evidently is, to concede more and more: and the Romanists, emboldened and strengthened by past concessions, and by the results of successful agitation, demand, as a matter of justice, that they should be admitted to the full enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the British Constitution, and placed in all respects upon an equal footing with the Protestant subjects of a Protestant Sovereign.

Is it not, then, highly important to inquire, How far Romanists, in consistency with their own principles, can be prepared to render to a Protestant Sovereign that undivided allegiance which is readily and unequivocally rendered by Protestants? And, in order to understand this important question, it is necessary to consider, Whether some of them do not take oaths of allegiance to a foreign and hostile potentate, which are incompatible with the fidelity which they owe to their natural sovereign.

The following oath was taken by the Romish bishops in Ireland, as appears from the evidence laid before a Committee of the House of Lords in the year 1824-1825 :

*

*

"I, N., Elect of the Church of N., from henceforward will be faithful and obedient to Saint Peter the Apostle, and to the Holy Roman Church, and to our Lord, the Lord N., Pope N., and to his successors canonically coming in. I will neither advise, consent, or do anything that they may lose life or member, or that their persons may be seized, or hands anywise laid upon them, or any injuries offered to them under any pretence whatsoever. The counsel which they shall intrust me withal, by themselves, their messengers, or letters, I will not knowingly reveal to any, to their prejudice. I will help them to defend and keep the Roman Papacy, AND THE ROYALTIES OF ST. PETER, saving my order, against all men. The Legate of the Apostolic See, going and coming, I will honourably treat and help in his necessities. The rights, honours, privileges, and authority of the Holy Roman Church, of our Lord the Pope, and his aforesaid successors, I will endeavour to preserve, defend, increase, and advance. I will not be in any council, action, or treaty, in which shall be plotted against our said Lord, and the said Roman Church, anything to the hurt or prejudice of their person, right, honour, state, or power; and if I shall know any such thing to be treated or agitated by any whatsoever, I will hinder it to my power; and as soon as I can, will signify it to our said Lord, or to some other by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rules of the Holy Father, the apostolic decrees, ordinances, or disposals, reservations, provisions, and mandates, I will observe with all my might, and cause to be observed by others. * I will come to a council when I am called, unless I am hindered by a canonical impediment. I will, by myself in person, visit the threshold of the Apostle every ten years; and give an account to our Lord and his foresaid successors of all my pastoral office, and of all things anywise belonging to the state of my Church, to the discipline of my clergy and people, and, lastly, to the salvation of souls committed to my trust; and will, in like manner, humbly receive and diligently execute the apostolic commands. And if I be detained by a lawful impediment, I will perform all the things aforesaid by a certain messenger hereto specially empowered, a member of my chapter, or some other in ecclesiastical dignity, or else having a parsonage; or, in default of these, by a priest of the diocese; or, in default of one of the clergy (of the diocese), by some other secular or regular priest of approved integrity and religion, fully instructed in all things above-mentioned. And such impediments I will make out by lawful proofs, to be transmitted by the foresaid messenger, to the Cardinal Proponent of the Holy Roman Church in the congregation of the Sacred Council. The possessions belonging to my table I will neither sell, nor give away, nor mortgage, nor grant anew in fee, nor anywise alienate, no, not even with the consent of the chapter of my church, without consulting the Roman Pontiff. [All and every of these things I will observe the more inviolably, as being certain that nothing is contained in them which can interfere with the fidelity I owe to the Most Serene King of Great Britain and Ireland, and his successors to the throne.] So help me God, and these holy Gospels of God."

This oath formerly contained, in the place marked with three asterisks, the following clause:

"Heretics, schismatics, and rebels against the same our Lord, to the utmost of my power I will prosecute and impugn."

And this clause is still retained in the oath of the Continental bishops; but, in consequence of some communications with. the Roman Catholic Archbishops of the kingdom of Ireland, on the subject of the difficulties and perplexities to which this clause exposed them, the Pope, on the 9th of June, 1791, graciously gave indulgence that the Irish archbishops and bishops might use the above-cited form.

Any Englishman who has common sense is able to judge of the true nature of this oath. It is perfectly needless-it is utterly absurd-to ask a Romish prelate to interpret it. It speaks for itself. It is evidently and unequivocally an oath of feudal fealty and allegiance of the very strictest character. When a copy of an oath, substantially the same as the above, was shown to Henry the Eighth, he, very properly, laid it before the Speaker, and twelve members of the House of Commons and eight of the Lords, saying, "Well-beloved subjects, We had thought the clergy of our realm had been our subjects wholly; but now we have well perceived that they be but half our subjects,-yea, and scarce our subjects. For all the prelates at their consecration make an oath to the Pope, clean contrary to the oath that they make unto us, so that they seem to be his subjects, and not ours."

So plain is this, and so strongly has it been felt, even in times and countries the most devoted to the Roman Catholic religion, that the civil power has interfered to compel the Bishops to make a distinct reservation of the rights of the Crown. So early as the year 1246, the English Bishops swore to the Pope, "Salvo jure Domini Regis." (Saving the right of my Lord the King.) And at a recent period (if not to this day), the following clause was used in Spain :-"Salvis regalibus et usitatis consuetudinibus, et totâ subjectione Domini Ferdinandi." (Saving the royalties and usual customs, and my entire subjection to the Lord Ferdinand.) Instead of this, the very ambiguous clause contained in the brackets is appended to the Irish oath, from which it appears "that, in the opinion of his Holiness, very little fidelity is due to the King!!!" Instead of limiting the previous clauses of the oath, this last clause, in fact, recapitulates, enforces, and makes them more inviolably binding on the conscience!

(To be continued.)

THE PILGRIMS, THE RELIC, AND THE CHURCH OF ROME. (Translated from the French for the Protestant Magazine.)

ONE of the prettiest rivers of France, and one of the least known, perhaps, is the Moselle. Its banks are studded with chateaux, villages, and interesting towns, presenting a most pleasant panorama; from Metz there appear gentle and gradually swelling undulations, covered with meadows, woods, and orchards, which increase in height as you follow its course. On approaching Trèves, the hills curve in the most picturesque manner to the north of that city, in a line with the Moselle, as it approaches the Rhine. From Metz, to Trèves, the road lies through a most charming country; from Trèves to Coblentz, the traveller would imagine himself already on the Rhine; here