proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." (Art. vi.) "It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy writ, yet as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of salvation." (Art. xx.) These two Articles contain the basis of every thing that has, or can be written, in support of liberty of conscience. They secure to every man the exercise of private judgment in the study of the sacred writings. They do not appeal, in confirmation of religious doctrines, to the decrees of Councils, or the authority of the Church, but to the holy Scriptures. To Luther and his coadjutors their posterity is indebted for the assertion of this principle. To the Reformation we are indebted for its peaceable exercise.

The Reformation had a powerful and beneficial influence upon the progress of knowledge. No maxim can be uttered which more perfectly harmonizes with the principles of Popery, than that "ignorance is the mother of devotion." Nothing can be found in more perfect hostility to the spirit of Protestantism than the principles which this dogma involves. The ages which intervened between the rise of Popery and the Reformation, have been justly characterized as "the dark ages." Dark and dreary was that protracted night. Religious knowledge was not merely interdicted, but the complete extinction of intellectual freedom and scientific investigation,was attempted, and too generally accomplished. The treatment which that illustrious philosopher, Roger Bacon, who was born in Somersetshire, in 1214, received from the Papal power, affords indisputa ble evidence of the rancorous hostility of the Church of Rome to the

acquisition and increase of knowledge. Bacon was one of the greatest ornaments of the British nation. The discoveries he made in astronomy, chemistry, optics, and mathematics, made him pass for a magician. To him has been ascribed the discovery of gunpowder. This illustrious man, on account of his discoveries, not his religious opinions, was confined to a loathsome dungeon for a period of ten years!

Another striking illustration of the subject is found in the case of Galileo, who flourished about one hundred and fifty years after the Reformation. This illustrious philosopher, by a succession of noble discoveries, demonstrated the truth of modern astronomy,-the motion of the earth round the sun. For this crime, this great man, of whom the Papal Church was not worthy, was accused as a heretic, was cast into a dungeon of the Inquisition, heard his philosophical discoveries condemned by ignorant priestly bigots; and had his choice, either to recant his opinions, or be burnt! At the age of seventy, on his bended knees, he did recant; and, with his eyes and hands on the holy Gospels, he says, "I do, with a sincere heart, and a true faith, abjure, curse, and detest the foresaid errors and heresies, namely, that the sun is the centre of the world, and that the earth is not the centre, but moves."

Such," exclaims a modern philosopher, "was the triumph of his enemies, on whom ample vengeance would long ago have been executed, if the indignation and contempt of posterity could reach the mansions of the dead."

This hostility to scientific knowledge on the part of the Papal Church, was manifested in Spain, in 1742, when Le Seur and Jacquier, two celebrated mathematicians, prefixed a declaration to the Principia of Newton, in which, by a solemn falsehood, they avoid the fate of Galileo. Newton," say his commentators, "assumes, in his third book, the hypothesis of the earth's motion. The propositions of that author could not be explained, except through the same

hypothesis. We have, therefore, been forced to act a character not our own. But we declare our submission to the decrees of the Roman Pontiffs against the motion of the earth." These facts, which cannot be controverted, demonstrate the unchangeable hostility of the Church of Rome to the progress of philosophical knowledge, and the avowed patronage which she gives to ignorance.

It would be a work of supererogation to enter into any examination of facts, for the purpose of proving that Protestantism is avowedly favourable to the diffusion of knowledge. No philosopher, in a Protestant state, is prevented giving utterance to his speculations, however novel, by the fear of imprisonment, or death. The Reformers themselves were distinguished by their love and promotion of learning. The various controversies to which the Reformation gave birth, tended necessarily to foster and promote the love of literature and the extension of knowledge. And though it must be admitted with regret that scriptural and scientific knowledge does not pervade the Protestant community to the degree which is desirable and attainable, yet the fault is not in the system of Protestantism; but in the apathy and inconsistency of some of its professors. But, in the Papal Church, the case is the very reverse. Popery, as a system, is hostile to the diffusion of knowledge. General literature has been greatly promoted by the Reformation.

The results of the Reformation are not exclusively of a religious and literary character; but it will be found, that the principles to which it gave birth have produced a very powerful and beneficial effect upon the civil liberties of mankind.

Though nothing would be more foreign to our purpose than the introduction of topics which may be supposed to have a political tendency; yet the view which, in justice to the memory of the Reformers, we are bound to take of their principles, would be very imperfect, were we entirely to omit noticing the influence

which the Reformation has had upon civil liberty.

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Blackstone, in his constitutional Commentary on the Laws of England, defines liberty to be "the power of doing whatever the laws permit, which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action, by which the meanest individual is protected from the insults and oppression of the greatest." Political, therefore, or civil liberty, which is that of a member of society, is no other than natural liberty so far restrained by human laws, and no farther, as is necessary and expedient for the general advantage of the public. Hence, we may collect that the law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow-citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil, liberty of mankind; but that every wanton and causeless restraint of the will of the subject, whether practised by a Monarch, a nobility, or a popular assembly, is a degree of tyranny; nay, that even laws themselves, whether made with or with out our consent, if they regulate and constrain our conduct in matters of mere indifference, without any good end in view, are regulations destructive of liberty." Subscribing, as we do, to this definition of liberty, we venture to affirm, that, in the sense stated by Blackstone, civil liberty was scarcely known in Europe under the domination of the Papal Pontiffs, until the time of the Reformation; and, subsequent to that event, it has been fully appreciated and enjoyed only in those countries which profess the Protestant religion.

The possession of ecclesiastical and temporal power by the Roman Pontiff, was not an abstract princi ple, exercised for the good of the Church; but was necessarily associated with the patronage which was thus afforded to all other modes of tyranny which existed among the nations subject to the jurisdiction of the Pope. At the commencement of the sixteenth century, both Princes and people were devoted to the interests of the Church; and for

the support which the former yielded to its arrogant claims, they were invested with absolute authority over the lives, the liberties, and the property of their subjects; while the latter, implicitly believing, as they were authoritatively taught, that the power of the Monarch was divinely communicated, and was therefore absolutely independent of the will of their vassals, esteemed their persons as sacred, and tamely acquiesced in all their measures. The controversies to which the Reformation gave birth, elicited some of the first principles of civil liberty, and threw considerable light on the subject of civil government. The Reformers advocated the civil rights of the people, and they supported the legitimate authority of the Sovereign; and, we venture to affirm, that it is only in Protestant states that the principles of civil liberty are clearly understood, and practically enjoyed. Look at Spain, where Popery sways an uncontrolled sceptre; but will any man venture to affirm, that the inhabitants of that unhappy and deeply-afflicted country have any just conception, or any individual enjoyment, of civil liberty? How striking the contrast between the condition of Spaniards and that of Englishmen ! We in this country enjoy civil liberty in the highest degree of perfection: not liberty without law, which would be licentiousness. True liberty is always found in connexion with the administration of righteous law. Were there no law, there could be no civil liberty. It is the duty of every patriotic Protestant practically to acknowledge, and personally to submit to, the authority of the law. The liberties of England, by which our country has been raised to a high pre-eminence in the scale of nations, are to be ascribed to the influence of those principles which began to germinate at the glorious Reformation. Should Popery ever regain the ascendancy in this country, a death-blow would be struck at the liberties of Britons. Apart from all political considerations, (as I regard the controversy which at present prevails between Protestants

and Papists only encumbered by its political associations,) I venture to affirm, that it is the duty of every enlightened lover of liberty to give the most determined resistance to the encroachments of Popery; and, by so doing, he will labour to secure the Protestant ascendancy, and perpetuate the principles of civil and religious liberty, which were first clearly defined, and subsequently nurtured and brought to maturity, by the Reformation.

The last result of the Reformation which shall be noticed, is the happy influence which it had upon social life and national morals. There 18 an inseparable connexion between the habits of individual intercourse, and the moral character of the nation to which the individuals belong. It cannot be denied that, prior to the Reformation, and subsequent to that period, there existed, in all Papal countries, institutions which, though professedly religious, too often decidedly administered to the prevalence of licentiousness and vice. Such were the monasteries, religious houses, and sanctuaries, so amply endowed, and so amazingly multiplied in the Papal dominions. Such also are, in many cases, the rules and the results of that perfection of Popish craft, the Confessional. The detestable principle which is predominant in the Papal dominions, that every interest must be abandoned when it comes into competition with the Church of Rome, is at variance with every thing like_unsuspecting social intercourse. Facts in abundance might be adduced to prove, that the bloody Inquisition has, in innumerable instances, operated so as to destroy every feeling of friendship, though grounded on actual relationship, and to poison the intercourse of social life. immorality necessarily connected with the granting of indulgences, and the power of absolving from the obligations of the most solemn oaths, is too palpable to require any argumentative proof, and too notorious to require being substantiated by the production of evidence. But from all such principles and practices, Protestantism, as taught by

The

into which the righteous shall immediately enter, upon the dissolution of the body. That this point of doctrine merits consideration, is evident, from its being a revelation from God; as well as from the hopes which are necessarily connected with a state of existence that may be of long duration, in comparison with the brief period allotted to mortal life, though short when compared with the endless ages of eternity. We shall, therefore, briefly investigate both the Old and New-Testament statements upon this interesting subject.

I. Whilst we were endeavouring to investigate those passages of Scripture which express the sentiments of Patriarchs and Prophets concerning a future state of being, there at first appeared to be a certain discrepancy of opinion amongst themselves, and an incongruity with the views entertained by New-Testament writers. Now, we expect to find a unison of sentiment amongst inspired writers of the same dispensation, and, also, a certain concordance between earlier and later revelations, if it be only such a harmony as subsists between the light of dawn, and that of mid-day. We, therefore, collated all the principal texts referring to this subject; and, after arranging them in distinct

ment which is appointed for the wicked in a future state, according to the Scriptures, will not be inflicted in all its severity, until after the general judg. ment. It is a pity that our translators did not always render the same Hebrew or Greek word by the same English term, since a great deal of confusion, in our version, would thus have been avoided. Sheol is rendered by hell, the grave, the pit; and a similar liberty has been taken with hades in the New Testa ment, a liberty that is quite unjustifiable. For instance, if we take hell to mean only a place of torment, what a strange contradiction is apparent, when we read that "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire;" (Rev. xx. 14;) that is, that "hell was cast into hell!" But if we view it as hades, then we have a clear meaning; namely, that the dead bodies and departed souls of sinners, being re-united, were cast into a lake of fire. See Parkhurst, Campbell, &c.

classes, we resolved to draw our inference from the Bible alone. In doing so, our own former opinions were in some measure changed; for a scheme of such harmony and beauty now presented itself to view, and cast so much light upon many texts of Scripture, that we could not withhold our approval from what appeared to be the revelation_of God, according to his word. For we implicitly bow to revealed truth, and desire to obtain all our knowledge upon more abstruse doctrines, by comparing the scriptures with one another. A summary of the conclusions, to which we thus arrived, is as follows:-That holy men of old entertained very desponding ideas concerning death,-supposing that there was a common receptacle of departed spirits, where they should exist in a state of consciousness, or even of conscious tranquillity, but not of active enjoyment,

and that they looked forward to the manifestation of a Redeemer, as the appointed season for the ushering of their souls into a state of glorious blessedness, in which they should continue until a general resurrection of the dead; at which period, their bodies also should arise and be united with their beatified spirits. We also infer, from numerous passages of the Old and New Testaments, that these opinions were not mere sentiments entertained

by such men, but that they were and are blessed realities; and thus the earlier Scriptures harmonize with the more recent revelations of the Gospel.

We shall now proceed to discuss these sentiments in a separate form, and to adduce various texts which appear to bear upon the respective parts of the subject.*

• The passage which savours most strongly of an opposite opinion is that contained in Psalm xvi. 10: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;" (sheol ;) which, when applied to Jesus Christ in Acts ii. 25, &c., undoubtedly corresponds with the declaration of our Lord to the dying thief, "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise." But, without St. Peter's interpretation of the Psalmist's inspired lays, we should have found