Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

are necessarily happier under one form of government than another. The happiest peasantry in Europe are the inhabitants of the hereditary dominions of the house of Austria; and the next happiest the French. In England, it matters nothing to the agricultural population whether a Tudor, a Stuart, or a Guelph sits on the throne; all of government that they know is the overseer and the neighbouring justice. That there is such a thing as political perfection in the idea, is readily granted; but it is most strenuously to be denied that it shall ever exist on earth, until "the PRINCE of the kings of the earth," who is alone worthy to be a ruler, comes to set up His dominion upon the ruins of theirs.

But to return to the Duke of Orleans-If he had assumed the reins of government only pro re natâ (and it was absolutely necessary that he should do so, in order to stop the anarchy which was prevailing), and held them for the rightful heir, he might have gradually produced a much more unobjectionable constitution than he will ever be able now to obtain. Should Mr. Brougham's anticipation be realized, and too little power be conceded to him, he could with less suspicion have asked for an increase when he should have had to do so only as the locum tenens of another. Now, every demand of the kind will be construed into an attempt to assume despotic sway; and the struggle will go on between the people and him, which has been long carried on, and just terminated so fatally to his cousin. It is not possible for the monarchy to exist long as it is now (August 1830); if it is to remain, various alterations in the constitution must be made. At this moment there is a large body of armed citizens, called the National Guards, which, instead of being the soldiers of the king, and holding their authority from him, elect their own officers, and are under the exclusive command of General La Fayette. Many other particulars might be mentioned; but this alone, and especially in addition to the state of the peerage above described, is sufficient to shew that the country is by no means settled; for it is absolutely impossible for the government of the country to be carried on. Perhaps these are the elements out of which its final destruction is to arise, after it shall have served the purpose for which it may be for a while left in repose.

The most striking act which has as yet occurred, is the effectual blow which has been given to Popery: indeed, "the man of sin" may be said to be for ever ejected from the territory of France. It has been already observed, that the priests were at the bottom of the pernicious advice which had been given to the king. The opinion current in France upon the subject is seen in the following extract from a Paris journal: "We know what fatal influence the Pontifical government exercised upon

the fallen dynasty. It is even believed that the camarilla of St. Cloud asked the Pope's advice for the Eldest Son of the Church, in order to sanctify the coup-d'état, which had been meditated for fifteen years, and which exclusively governed the political ideas of Charles X. Cardinal Albani hastened to give the holy advice which was solicited from Pius VIII., and then it was resolved to raise the mask and to proclaim perjury. If these facts be true, it appears to us difficult, unless there be a modification of the cabinet of the sovereign pontiff, that the new French government can become, like the old government, the sincere ally of the Roman government. Delivered from the emigrants, notwithstanding the impotent efforts which they still make, can we place any confidence in the promises, the protestations, of men subject to the influence of mental reservations?"

Almost one of the last acts of the reign of Charles X. was to go to a mass said to the Virgin Mary, at which the Archbishop of Paris declared "that the king had come to present himself at the footstool of the throne of the Virgin Mary, whose faithful servant it was his glory to be." Within a few weeks has this infatuated idolater himself put his hand to a train which has already blown himself to atoms, and will involve many of his fraternity in one common ruin.

Since Popery had not well recovered the shock it received from the Revolution of 1792, its annihilation now in France has not produced much disturbance. But in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, its struggles will be far more convulsive. Nothing has prevented the people of those states from rising against their respective kings, but the apprehension that "the Eldest Son of the Church" would be ready to pour in his troops for the support of Papal abominations, as he ever has done in former times. That apprehension being now for ever removed, the fate of Popery is sealed. The certain prospect of this event has filled with delight the minds of many well-meaning but ill-judging persons in this country, who think that thereby a more ready access will be made for the spread of vital religion. We confess, that were it not for the Bible we should be of this opinion likewise. It marks, indeed, the extent to which infidel principles have pervaded the church, that the religious world seems quite as much delighted with the proceedings in France as the infidels and radicals, although no mention of God has been made. throughout the whole revolution; although nothing but arrogance and vain boasting have burst from the lips of the people; and although contempt for all institutions and power that are derived from God, and deference only for authority created by the mob, is the avowed foundation of all their operations. Judging from outward appearance, we should be led to conclude that halcyon days were indeed approaching: but, taking our views

of the present and of the future from the Word of God, we see little cause to expect permanent good to arise out of a system which discards religious truth as an affair with which temporal sovereigns ought not to intermeddle; and which professes that power is derived from the people, and not from God.

So long as men in authority acknowledge that their power is derived from God, so long does He put His fear into the hearts of subjects, and kings rule in safety. But as soon as they deny that their power is derived from Him, and declare that it is derived from the people, they cease to be the representatives of God upon the earth; they renounce their allegiance to Him who declares that it is He" by whom kings reign and princes administer justice;" and they transfer that allegiance to those to whom they confess it to be due, to the people. Allegiance, therefore, in that case, on the part of the subjects, cannot be due to the king as unto God; they cannot see in their king the vicegerent of God; submission to the king cannot be "as unto the Lord:" the relationship is no longer one of superior and inferior, but of two equals: it is not as parent and child, as master and servant, but as landlord and tenant,—a mutual compact inter pares; a mere leasehold concern, to which bonds and covenants and penalties and forfeitures may bind the parties, but from which every idea of religious obligation is necessarily and for ever excluded. God's fear is not in the hearts of the subjects, and they are abandoned to follow their own devices. On the other hand, instead of regarding power as a gift entrusted by God for promoting the well-being of mankind, rulers have employed it for the purpose of selfish gratification, unmindful of the happiness or misery of others. Whenever the advocates of mercy and justice have contended for these principles, and pleaded the cause of the poor, the rulers have considered it as an attack upon their lawful privileges, and branded such advocates as enemies of social order and disturbers of the public tranquillity thereby tacitly confessing that their rule was conducted by injustice.

Another striking feature of the present proceedings must not be passed over in silence. The persons in authority, peers and others, who swore to be faithful to Charles X. and his heirs, are now called upon to swear fidelity to Philip I. and his heirs. Some, however, have most properly objected to this, that the latter oath is incompatible with the former. Moreover, the mode of swearing is such as to take from the pretended oath all that which is the essential property of an oath, and convert it into a mere affirmation. The difference between an oath, and a simple assertion consists in the former invoking the presence of a third party, and usually of a superior, to guarantee its observance, under pain of his displea

sure. Пpos Aia, Per Deos, or, So help me God, have been the requisite expressions to constitute an oath from the earliest records of heathenism down to the present hour. Even during the maddest part of the Revolution, in 1794, when the existence of a God was denied, one swore, in solemn mockery, Sur mon epée, and another, Par mes moustaches, acknowledging still the fact that a third party was necessary to be invoked. But now the various persons simply say, I swear, without calling upon God; without kissing cross, bell, book, or candle; without calling for the attestation of any other person, or thing, but themselves. It would be too much to charge them with the blasphemy of imitating Jehovah, who "swears by Himself, because He can swear by no greater;" but, nevertheless, this is the only instance of a similar act, in the annals of Paganism, Christianity, or Atheism.

But it is time to bring these remarks to a close, which we shall do by briefly indicating the point in prophetic chronology to which we apprehend they refer. Ecclesiastically, we observe that it is the commencement of the period when the kings of the Roman earth give their power and strength to the beast of infidelity (Rev. xvii. 13), who now "hate the Whore, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire: for God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and to give their kingdom unto the beast," until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Secularly; it is the commencement of the earthquake of the seventh vial, which never again ceases until every island and mountain shall flee away, and not be found, and the mountain of the Lord be alone established on the top of all other mountains (Rev. xvi. 17-20; Isai. ii. 2). It is the commencement also of the fulfilment of Isai. xxiv. to xxxv. inclusive, when God throws the whole of the earth (that is, the Roman earth, or Christendom) into that moral chaos out of which shall come the new heavens and the new earth. "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste" (, the words translated without form and void in Gen. i. 2, and confusion and emptiness in Isai. xxxiv. 11)," and turneth it upside down.. the land shall be utterly emptied.. the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard..and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it..the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth," &c. &c. This is the want of real amalgamation, becoming visible, between the iron of despotism and the clay of popular institutions; "partly strong, and partly brittle;" which has ever been the case with the toes, or ten kingdoms of the Roman empire. We are neither prophets nor sons of prophets-(would to God that we were! according to the pious wish of the Apostle,

[blocks in formation]

1 Cor. xiv. 1-5)-but we confess we have some apprehensions for the children of God. One of the most alarming symptoms is the prodigious display of humanity and toleration, because it is exactly similar to what took place in Pagan Rome at the very moment that the persecutions of the Christians raged the hottest. That love which is tolerant of all forms of falsehood is bitter hate against the truth of God. We have a specimen not far from home. The party which was foremost in Scotland in bringing in the Papists into our Protestant legislature, is also the most violent against the meek and lowly followers of the Lamb, whom it is menacing to drive out from the church, and, as far as in it lies, to reduce them to starvation. Should the presence of God in the distinct Personality of the Holy Ghost go on to be displayed in His people, a persecution as hot as ever was that set on foot by Nero will be fomented by the doctors of Evangelicalism. If this be so, the meaning of the expression "make war with the Lamb" (Rev. xvii. 14) will be very obvious, and will be the final denouement of the whole mystery of iniquity.

ON SCRIPTURE CHRONOLOGY.

To the Editor of the Morning Watch.

SIR,-In my last communication to you I referred to a paperor rather, I should have said, a series of papers-which had been read before the Royal Society of Literature, proving, by astronomical calculations and by historical facts, the authenticity of the computation of time contained in the authorized Hebrew Bibles. The learned author has subsequently forwarded these papers to me, and I have arranged the first five sections for your Journal, with no other alteration than was necessary to bring them within proper limits.

September 1830.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

H. D.

Criteria for determining in which Version of the Holy Scriptures the original Hebrew Computation of Time is contained; with the Eras of Corruption: by J. CULLIMORE.

Sir Isaac Newton (Chron. p. 94) computed, that at about the middle year of the observations of Hipparchus, anno Nabonas. 602, or B. c. 147, "the equinox must have gone back eleven degrees since the Argonautic expedition; that is," he observes, "in 1090 years, according to the chronology of the ancient Greeks then in use; and this is after the rate of about 99 years,

« EdellinenJatka »