to their own civil and religious liberty; these blessed bonds will speedily be transmuted into iron chains. To suppose, however, that such a spread of Roman Catholicism would follow emancipation, is to admit neither more nor less than that the reformed faith is compelled to seek shelter under the superior numbers by whom it is professed; in other words, that neither reason nor revelation are, in the present day, sufficient to resist those errors over which, in times past, a minority so completely triumphed! Be these notions just or false, it is very evident to a common observer, that the tide of public opinion moves on with vast rapidity to the accomplishment of this event. As I have before observed, these few leaves may neither stem nor accelerate the mighty current; the sentiments impressed upon them may, however, prove sufficient to allay the fears excited by the following extracts, and possibly suggest some grounds of consolation and security. The arguments which favour emancipation

will doubtless be neutralized by those extracts; but the chief object of their publication cannot partake of this negative character, they must advance the sacred cause of truth, if they expose the antichristian spirit of the church of Rome. Never was a time, perhaps, when men were so called upon as now, to discriminate between "temporal” and "eternal" things; between the indulgence with which civil claims should be received, and the jealousy that should mark the religious principles by which, in this case, they are accompanied.

The eagerness of many advocates for emancipation is, unhappily, attended by a lukewarmness in religion that deems this highly-essential distinction unnecessary. To force this pernicious error upon. the notice of the public, should, therefore, be the endeavour of every Protestant who recognizes the sacred duty he owes to himself, his country, and his God! Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," is at once an unequivocal command and a most un

erring rule. The church of Rome labours hard to recover the civil rights of her lay members; if she succeed, her own interests will not be neglected. Partyspirit and religious indifference ably second her admirable skill and unwearied industry. In various parts of England she is quietly, but actively, engaged in

* This assertion will readily be admitted by all who are acquainted with the principles of those secret and subtle agents of popery, who have insinuated themselves into the British dominions, notwithstanding the inveterate dislike manifested towards them, even by despotic governments, and the final suppression of their dangerous community by the Pope himself. The following sketch of the Jesuits may not prove unacceptable to the reader: "The Jesuits, with their numerous tribe of followers "and dependants, maintain that the Pope is in"fallible; that he is the only visible source of that "universal and unlimited power which Christ has granted to the church; that all bishops and sub"ordinate rulers derive from him alone the authority "and jurisdiction with which they are invested; "that he is not bound by any laws of the church,

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nor by any decrees of the councils that compose "it; that he alone is the Supreme Legislator of "that sacred community; and that it is in the

making proselytes. Many individuals, and some, alas! of high rank and au

highest degree criminal to oppose or disobey his "edicts and commands. The Jesuits moreover assert, "that the church can never pronounce an erroneous "or unjust decision, either relating to matters of "fact or points of doctrine."-(Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. xvi. Century. Sect. iii. Part 1.)

"As the prosperity of the Order was intimately "connected with the preservation of the papal au"thority, the Jesuits, influenced by the same spirit "of attachment to the interests of their society, "have been the most zealous patrons of those doc"trines which tend to exalt ecclesiastical power on "the ruins of civil government. They have attri"buted to the court of Rome a jurisdiction as exten"sive and absolute as was claimed by the most "presumptuous pontiffs in the dark ages. They "have contended for the entire independence of "ecclesiastics on the civil magistrate. They have "published such tenets concerning the duty of

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opposing princes who were enemies to the Catholic "faith, as countenanced the most atrocious crimes, "and tended to dissolve all ties which connect sub"jects with their rulers. Before the expiration of "the sixteenth century, the Jesuits had obtained "the chief direction of the education of youth in "every Catholic country in Europe. They had "become the confessors of almost all its monarchs,

thority, view the great points formerly and still at issue between the Pope and

"a function of no small importance in any reign, "but under a weak prince superior even to that of "minister. They were the spiritual guides of almost

every person eminent for rank or power. They "possessed the highest degree of confidence and "interest with the papal court, as the most able "and zealous champions for its authority. They "formed the minds of men in their youth. They "retained an ascendant over them in advanced "years. They possessed, at different periods, the "direction of the most considerable courts in Europe. "They mingled in all affairs. They took part in every intrigue and revolution. The general, by

means of the extensive intelligence which he re"ceived, could regulate the operations of the Order "with the most perfect discernment, and by means "of his absolute power could carry them on with "the utmost vigour and effect;" for "to his com"mands they were required not only to yield out"ward obedience, but to resign up to him the in"clinations of their own wills, and the sentiments "of their own understandings. They were to listen "to his injunctions as if they had been uttered by "Christ himself. Under his direction they were to "be mere passive instruments, like clay in the hands "of the potter, or like dead carcases incapable of "resistance!"-(See Robertson's Hist. of Emp.