ESSAYS ON ROMANISM.

I.

ON THE RULE OF FAITH.

THE NECESSITY OF AN INFALLIBLE GUIDE, IN OUR SEARCH AFTER DIVINE TRUTH.

THERE is one remark which seems to Dr. Milner, the Romish controversialist, to be of such weight, that in his work entitled, The End of Religious Controversy,' he introduces it again and again, even to the extent of three or four repetitions. It is this:—

'There are, I believe, few of our Catholic priests in an extensive ministry, who have not frequently been called in to receive dying Protestants into the Catholic church, while not a single instance can be produced, of a Catholic wishing to die in any other communion than his own. O death, thou great enlightener! O truth-telling death, how powerful art thou in confuting the blasphemies, and dissipating the prejudices of the enemies of God's church!'

Now though in this statement there is a degree

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of exaggeration, since individual cases have assuredly occurred, of persons forsaking the Romish faith on their dying beds, still, in the main, it is probably correct. In fact, at first sight, one hardly understands why the Papists should make it a matter of boasting, that while those who have left their communion for the Protestant faith, generally did it in the full possession of their health and faculties, deliberately, and in no haste or alarm; those, on the other hand, who have abandoned Protestantism for their more convenient creed, have for the most part taken that step in the confusion, alarm, and perhaps delirium of a dying hour. But the closing exclamation shews us the ground of the Papist's exultation. Death, he says, is the great enlightener, the great truth-teller, and his verdict shews that the Protestant faith is often felt to be one on which it is unsafe to venture into the presence of the Eternal Judge. The conclusion which it is intended every Protestant should apply to his own case, would evidently suggest a doubt, whether he himself will find it, in his last hour, a sound and satisfactory support?

Yet is there not something in this Romish exultation, which may remind us of the opening chapters of the book of Job? Might not Satan, were he now allowed" to present himself" at intervals before the Lord, often venture on a similar attempt at selfgratulation?

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Were the Prince of Darkness thus permitted to address the Lord of life and glory, he might proceed in just such a line of observation, How much more natural, how much more voluntarily paid, is the homage and obedience rendered me by my subjects, than that accorded to you by yours. Not only does

the far larger portion of the earth still acknowledge my supremacy, but the service of the myriads of my worshippers, is a willing and ready service. On the other hand, among those who profess to yield you obedience, at least four-fifths, in their hearts, would prefer my rule. What multitudes are there, who spend their lives in feigned adherence to your power, but who, on their death-beds, are clearly seen to have been, in fact, my subjects rather than yours, and to belong, as such, to my countless muster-roll below.'

Such might be Satan's boast; and a boast, too, quite as well-founded as that just quoted from the Romish divine. But although the fact alluded to by Dr. Milner is of too fearful a cast to seem well adapted for a controversial tract, still, as it is adduced, and adduced with more than usual emphasis, it may be as well not to rest content with shewing how it might be paralleled, but rather to give also what appears to be the only true explanation.

It will doubtless not unseldom occur, in a country like this, with twelve or fourteen millions of people, brought up in a nominal profession of Protestantism, myriads of whom, however, never hear even the slightest attempt at an explanation of the name,that individuals drawing near to death, without any previous expectation of, or preparation for it, and overwhelmed with an alarm which makes them fly in turn to every conceivable refuge or resource,-shall sometimes, among other expedients, fall upon that of a sudden conversion to Popery. These persons may, for the most part, be classed under two heads, as to their previous circumstances and cases; but their motive for embracing Romanism is one and

the same; to wit, a direful certainty to which they have just awakened, that the sort of religion they have heretofore followed will not yield them peace in a dying hour; and an eager flying to Popery, as a creed which holds out strong and positive assurances, that a certainty of safety belongs to all who truly profess it.

The two classes alluded to, are, 1. The Careless, and, 2. the Pharisaical. The first have been following, all their days," the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life;" and now death seizes upon them unawares, and they are filled with terror. The second have been aiming to live a religious life, and have been expecting that that religious life, consisting of sundry prayers, and fastings, and church-goings, and alms-givings, would bring them peace at the last, although He who is the only Peace-maker between God and man, has scarcely filled even a secondary place in their devotions. But now eternity opens to their view; their religious life begins to weigh lighter and lighter in their estimation, when balanced against the demands of God's pure and holy law; and they too, as well as the careless, are filled with alarm.

To either class the message of the Protestant minister is the same. He has no passport to heaven to give or to sell them. He stands by their bed-side a poor helpless sinner like themselves, and he has but one word suited to their case. That word is, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!"

But constant experience proves that there is no refuge which human nature, even in its greatest alarm, will not prefer to this.

And if, in this mo