Butler, to persuade us that the doctrine of transubstantiation differs little from our own: and it is not the dogmatism of Dr. Johnson, in his reply to Boswell's question about the mass, that will rescue the Church of Rome, as a church, from the charge of idolatry. Wickliffe's answer to those who contended, "We worship not the image, but the being represented by the image," well deserves to be remembered: "Idolatrous heathens did the same." It was not the golden calf, or the stock of a tree, to which idolaters exclusively offered their worship; it was, in the view of Dr. Johnson, to the Deity thus represented: and, on the principle here asserted by Mr. But ler, idolatry can scarcely be said to

exist.

On thesame dogmatical authority of Dr. Johnson, we are to believe that Roman Catholics do not worship the saints: "they invoke them; they only ask their prayers." Of course, the saints possess ubiquity, or the invocation is useless: but is not the worship of such a nature as to take away from the intercession of the Son of God? And is any thing more common in Roman-Catholic countries, than to solicit the Virgin Mary to command her Son to grant the favour requested.

And as to indulgences, which perhaps we ought to have noticed in another place, can any man read that granted to Nathan Hickmanwe believe this to be the nameand to some twenty, or twenty five, other persons to be appointed at his pleasure, as it is exhibited in one of the college libraries Cambridge, and not feel how dreadful are the perversions of Christianity, thus encouraged and sanctioned by that church?

at

We mentioned in our last Number the compendious confession of faith drawn up by Pius IV.: to this and to the decrees of the Council of Trent, Mr. Butler would principally refer us for the doctrines of the Church of Rome; and to these

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 278.

as authorised expositions of the popish creed, we should chiefly direct the attention of our readers But we would subjoin the following observations from Mosheim.

"Those who expect to derive from these sources, a clear, complete, and perfect knowledge of the Romish faith, will be greatly disappointed. To evince the truth of this assertion, it might he observed, as has been already hinted, that both in the decrees of Trent, and in this papal confession, many things are expressed in a vague and ambiguous manner; and that designedly, on account of the intestine divisions and warm debates that then reigned in the church. This other singular circumstance might also be added, that several tenets are omitted in both, which no Roman Catholic is allowed to deny, or even to call in question. But, waving both these considerations, let it only be observed, that in these decrees, and in this confession, several doctrines and rules of worship are inculcated in a much more rational and decent manner, than that in which they appear in the daily service of the church, and in the public practice of its members +. Hence we may conclude, that the justest notions of the doctrine of Rome is not to be

* For Protestant authorities, as to the principles of Popery, the following works are recommended by the Bishop of St. David's: viz. Bishop Jewell's Apology, and Defence of the Apology; Barrow on of Bishop Moreton, Bramhall, and Stilthe Pope's Supremacy; and the works lingfleet.

t' "This is true in a more especial manner, with respect to the canons of the Council of Trent, relating to the doctrine the worship of images and relicks. The of purgatory, the invocation of saints, terms employed in these canons are artfully chosen, so as to avoid the imputation of idolatry, in the philosophical sense of that word; for in the scripture sense, they cannot avoid it, as all use of images in religious worship is expressly forbidden in the sacred writings in many places. in the worship of the Roman Catholics, But this circumspection does not appear which is notoriously idolatrous in both the senses of that word."

R

derived so much from the Council of Trent, as from the real signification of those terms which must be drawn from the customs, institutions, and observances, that are every where in use in the Romish Church. Add to all this another consider ation; which is, that in the bulls issued out from the papal throne in these latter times, certain doctrines, which are obscurely proposed in the Council of Trent, have been explained with sufficient perspicuity, and avowed without hesitation or reserve. Of this Clement XI. gave a notorious example, in the famous bull called Unigenitus, which was an enterprize as audacious as it proved unsuccessful."-Mosheim, cent. xvi. sect. iii. Part i. c. i. xxiv.

We are well convinced that Mr. Butler would not lend his respectable sanction to any assertions, which he believed to be unfair; but his attachment to the Romish Church is too strong to allow us to repose in him that implicit confidence which we should do in relalation to any subject in which his principles and feelings did not bias his judgment; and his incorrectness, in some particulars of fact, serves to make us doubtful of most of the statements which we do not pursue to their source. Some instances of this inaccuracy we have already noticed; others might easily be adduced. For example: it is assumed, on more than one occasion, apparently as an admitted fact, that we have been twice indebted to the Church of Rome for the Christian religion. We are to suppose, of course, that the first preachers of the Gospel in this country were Roman Catholics; not, however, unless the Apostles were such or their immediate followers, and that the religion of Gregory I. and Augustine was that of modern Rome: but this it was not; the mere fact of Gregory

being a bishop of Rome, does not bear upon the point for which Mr. Butler seems to refer to him.

We are told (p. 221) that the Irish Roman Catholics are the only sect that ever resumed power without exercising, vengeance. Yet the popish governor of King James at Dublin issued an order, that “not more than FIVE PROTESTANTS should meet together, even in churches, on PAIN OF DEATH*."

It is asserted (p. 335), that the number of Roman Catholics who suffered death in England for their religion, since the Reformation, is at least 319; namely,

In the reign of Henry VIII.
Queen Elizabeth
King James I.

www

Charles I. and during the Commonwealth

Charles II.

59

204 25

8

We must freely admit, that, if one of these unhappy persons suffered death for his religion, it was a deed to be utterly abhorred: but we have seen something of what is meant by the Elizabethan martyrs; and therefore, without very close examination, we are not disposed to pledge ourselves for the correctness of this report in relation to the rest.

Differing as we do on so many points from Mr. Butler, we concur with him most heartily in his remark about persecutions, that these are unpleasing topics; and in the wish which he so earnestly expresses, in the words of Fenelon, that great ornament of the Roman-Catholic Church, " May the kingdom of truth, where there is no error, no scandal, no division, where God will communicate to it universal peace, soon arrive !"

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication:-A Manual of Family Devotion; containing a Form of Prayer for every Morning and Evening; The Life and Works of Raphael translated;-The Astronomy of the Egyptians; -The fundamental Words of the Greek Language; by F. Valpy.

In the press-Paley's Works, with many unpublished Sermons, and a Life, by his Son ;-Sermons at the Holy Communion, by the late Rev. Alexander Waugh; -The Opinion of the Catholic Church for the first three Centuries, on the Divinity of Christ; by the Rev. T. Rankin.

Cambridge.-Members' Prizes.-The subjects for the present year are, Senior Bachelors-De statu futuro quænam fuere Veterum inter Græcos et Romanos Philosophorum dogmata? Middle Bachelors Quantopere sibi invicem prosint populi libere mutandis inter se mercibus.

Captain Franklin, accompanied by Lieutenant Back and Mr. Kendall, with Dr. Richardson and the other individuals composing the expedition, are embarking for New York, whence they proceed to Upper Canada, and then to Fort Chepewyan, on their way to the Polar Sea, by the Mackenzie River. On reaching its northern extremity, Captain Franklin and Lieutenant Back, with part of the expedition, are to proceed to the westward, in the hope of reaching Behring's Straits; while Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendall, with the other party, proceed to the eastward, tracing the coast of America, if possible, to the Coppermine River. Captain Franklin has received a message from Akaitcho, the Indian chief, who accompanied him on his former journey, stating that he and his tribe are perfectly satisfied with the stores and additional presents which had been sent to them, and are willing to accompany him on another expedition.

A collection of autograph letters of dis. tinguished persons, from the reign of Elizabeth to that of James II., was recently sold by auction in London. A consider. able number of these letters relate to Scottish history. One letter of Claverhouse, describing the battle with the Covenanters at Drumclog, was purchased, by the Duke of Buckingham, for twelve guineas; a letter of Mary Queen of Scots, by Lord Grey, for 11. A large portion of the letters connected with Scotland were purchased for the Advocates' library. There

were in the whole 120 letters, and they produced upwards of 2701.

In recently taking down the Corinthian altar-piece, with which Rochester cathedral was deformed at the time of the Reformation, a discovery has been made of three beautiful Gothic arched recesses and windows. The decorations of the high altar appear in nearly all their pristine beauty, consisting of birds and beasts, fleurs-de-lis, &c. There has also been discovered a monument, with a finely executed effigy of one of the early bishops of Rochester, in his pontifical robes, judged to be of the reign of Edward III. A part of the architectural decorations of the tomb have also been found.

It appears, from an official statement just published, that there are throughout England 256 Roman-Catholic chapels, 71 charity and other schools, and 348 officiating priests. The largest number in any one county is in Lancashire; namely, eighty-one chapels, six schools, and seventy-nine priests.

The chemical substance called Strychnia has been lately proved to be the active principle of the Upas poison. Its proportion in upas is very small, notwithstanding its powerful action on the animal economy, when used for poisoning arrows. Silicum, the metal of flint, has also been obtained in a separate state.

FRANCE.

At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a memoir was lately read, by Dr. Villerme, " on the mortality in France among persons in easy circumstances, compared with what takes place among the indigent." In two arrondissementsof Paris, he makes it appear, that the former, which is inhabited by rich persons, has a mortality of one in fifty,—and the latter, which is inhabited by the poor, has a mortality of one in twenty-four; there being no other assignable cause for this enormous difference than wealth and poverty. He found the deaths in Rue de la Mortellerie, where the poor are crowded together in anhealthy lodgings, four times and a half as numerous as in the quays of the Isle St. Louis, where rich persons live in large and well ventilated apartments. He also shews that the mortality rises or falls with the rate of wages.

The royal Academy of Paris, having been called upon by the government to report on the proper means to prevent accidents from explosions of steam-engine boile

have proposed, that the boiler should be proved by the hydraulic press with a force five times greater than it is designed to overcome; that a safety valve should be attached to the boiler, and locked up; and that the boiler should be surrounded by a thick wall of masonry, an interval being left between the boiler and the wall, and between the wall and the neighbouring buildings. M. Dupin proposes also a metallic plug in the boilers, formed of such an alloy as should melt at a temperature a few degrees above that at which the engine is intended to work.

SPAIN.

Parliament, the first parliament ever held in the South Seas, met in February last. It consisted of all the families related to the kings of Tahiti and Eimeo, the governors of districts and provinces, and two persons chosen as representatives by the people at large of every district. The session lasted nine days. Every thing submitted to consideration was fully discussed, with calm deliberation and good breeding. The members often differed much in their views, but they never interrupted one another; and when any found that the general sentiment was in favour of a decision contrary to their own, they always yielded to the majority; and their votes were thus, without exception, una

PENANG.

The Penang Gazette gives the following description of an entertainment given by a Chinese merchant to the European residents. "The bird-nest soup was admirable, as well as the six other soups of mutton, frogs, and duck liver. We did ample justice to an excellent hasher made of stewed elephants' tails, served up with the sauce of lizards' eggs. We also noticed particularly that some French gentlemen present seemed to eat with particular gout a stewed porcupine, served up in the green fat of a turtle. The beech de mar was excellent, as well as the fish maws served up with seaweed. There was also a dish quite new to the party, the expense of which was estimated at 200 dollars: it consisted of a platter full of snipes' eyes, garnished round the border with peacocks' combs, and was the most delicious and delicate viand we ever tasted. The dessert corresponded with the dinner. We cannot pass over without remark the exquisite gout of the jellies made from the rhinoceros's hide."

PUBLICATIONS.

An earnest Appeal, on behalf of Hindoo Widows, by Rev. T. S. Grimshawe, M. A. Illustrations of Lying; by Mrs. Opie. 2 vols. 10s. 6d.

The Science of Agriculture; by J. Hayward, &c. 8vo. 7s.

Fosbroke's Encyclopedia of Antiquities complete. 2 vols. 4to. 61.

Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece. 8vo. 12s.

The History of England during the Reign of George III. By William Jones. 3 vols. 8vo. 24s.

A Vocabulary of the Greek Roots; by the Rev. R. Povah, LL.D. 12mo. 4s. 6d.

Universal Historical Dictionary; by George Crabbe, A. M. Part I. 4to. 9s.