ments which the course of events points out. No constitution since the foundation of society has been more in unison with this species of conservatism than that of England. Its principle is to repair the decayed places, rather than demolish and tear down the whole building-to render the nation more holy, and consequently more happy; and to make all things tend to the glory of the great Creator. Such principles are in direct opposition to those which would sever the State from the Churchthe Queen from the throne-and prosperity from the nation. But regarding the subject in its proper light-in a religious point of view-how great and instructive is the difference between the two parties, into which the nation is so nearly divided. The church of England has boldly and unequivocally signified its opinion, that the worship of the Roman Catholics is nothing else than idolatry, and their doctrines "blasphemous fables and idle tales." We believe the church of England to approach nearer to the primitive church-that church of which Jesus Christ declared himself the corner-stone-than any other in the world; we believe its doctrines, its discipline, and its order, to be those established and promulgated by the Apostles themselves, under the direct inspiration and command of the great Saviour of mankind; we believe that there is as vast a gulf between Popery and Protestantism, as that which exists between superstition and reason, light and darkness, moral truth and palpable falsehood. If it be not so, then all that Christ suffered, all that the Apostles endured, and all the persecutions that the martyrs of old underwent, only tended, in their issue, to enthusiasm and witchcraft. How, then, can we tacitly connive at men legislating for this country, whose principles and dogmata are not only irreconcilable with the permanency of our free and Protestant institutions, but opposed to Scripture, and consequently obnoxious in the sight of God, and calculated to excite his utmost indignation? By leaguing ourselves with them we become, however we may be desirous to blink the awful truth, partakers in their sin, and must expect, as a natural consequence, to share largely in their punishment. But the Roman Catholics are not a little annoyed that we should so soon have seen through their devices and intent. They would gladly, even now, lull us into the persuasion, that the oath which they take under the Catholic Relief Bill, is a sufficient guarantee that they have no intention "to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or Protestant government, in the United Kingdom." But it is plain that they have some mode (certainly past our comprehension) of reconciling their consciences to the terms of their abjuration; at the same time that they make no scruple of despoiling the Protestant church of her property, with ulterior views that are certainly by this time transparent enough. Having, however, according to the sense of ninety-nine out of every hundred gentlemen, who voted for their "emancipation," "with proviso and exception," forfeited their oaths, it is but just that they should be called upon and compelled to forfeit their seats also. The conditions not being fulfilled, the agreement is of course vitiated. The political privileges conferred are necessarily voided by their own violation of the Act of repeal. They can show no title which they have not, by their own gross perjury,* made invalid. We call upon them, if they be men of honour, to resign, otherwise we trust that at no long day the christian members of the legislature will enforce their expulsion. Their admission to political power in a christian State is a direct violation of the implied compact which subsists between it and the Moral Governor of the universe. It is nothing less than a national union with idolatry, and a virtual adoption of the infidel principle-that religion has nothing to do with personal qualification for civil government. There is no power to save us if we go on yielding, inch by inch, to the democratic papistical movement. Our constitution and our church are at the same time being openly assailed, and undermined by treachery. Our ministers may be compared to the Austrian commanders at the commencement of the present century. They are playing the part of General Mack at Ulm. When this man, long before, at a review in Naples, so directed the operations of a mock fight, that by a characteristic blunder, his own troops were surrounded instead of those of the enemy, Lord Nelson, who was present, exclaimed with bitterness, that "the fellow did not understand his business." We leave it to the Whig-Radical government to make the application. May God avert the omen. Our constitution, entrusted to their charge, must not be surrendered. "We have resisted the world," observes Dr. Croly, "but it was with the constitution on our side; but what could be our resistance, with the constitution against us, our valour branded as treason, and the scaffold before our eyes?" What can we say or do with men who unblushingly violate their oaths! Perjurors! worshippers of images! Can any thing be too strong, any measure too stringent, to effect our indispensable object? We may be considered hasty by the incredulous, and bold in the eyes of the shallow Utilitarian; nevertheless, that which we, in a former Number, only whispered, we now loudly proclaim, because we daily see and feel the necessity of such a step being taken. We are perfectly aware that it will require time and perseverance to accomplish our ends; but to doubt a successful issue, if we will but go heart and soul *For instance, they went out of their way with the view of depriving the Church of its nationality, and voted upon the question of Churchrates, which was one purely relating to South Britain, and with which they could have no concern whatever. to work, would be, in our estimation, a species of impiety to Heaven. Of late years we have been cold and indifferent to our spiritual enemies; we have disregarded the appearance of the foe rushing to the assault of our heretofore cherished and ever-hallowed institutions. We feel that it is difficult to awaken the profound slumbers of our countrymen, notwithstanding that the cankerworm is gnawing at the heart of the constitution. We repeat it, we have been sleeping, imagining ourselves secure in our prosperity, and while we slept, the enemy came and sowed tares. Corruption and disease is playing about the heart; the pure seeds of the Gospel, so faithfully sown at the Reformation, yield only, "few and far between," a blade, and the crop is well nigh choked by the tares of superstition and idolatry. And yet our countrymen will not be aroused to a sense of their danger, temporal and eternal. "How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep." To address our countrymen in the quaint poetry of Quarles "Is this a time to steep Thy brains in wasteful slumbers? Up! and rouse Hadst thou as many heads as thou hast wounded eyes. Thy flatt'ring slumbers!" Yes, if England, under such circumstances, will doze on, her days, as a Protestant and free country, are numbered. Let the Roman Catholics continue much longer to arbitrate the destinies of the empire, and not a vestige of our former grandeur among the nations will remain, and our eternal doom will be for ever sealed by the indignation of Heaven. ART. IX.-1. Die Hebraischen Mysterien, oder die älteste Religiose Freimaurerey, in zwey vorlesungen, Gehalten in der □ Zu ***. VON BR. DECIUS. Leipsig. Bey G. J. Göschen, 1788. The Hebrew Mysteries, or the most ancient Religious Freemasonry, in two Prelections delivered in the at *** By BR. DECIUS. Leipsic. Published by G. J. Goeschen, 1788. 2. Freie Darstellung der Theologie in der idee des Himmelreichs, oder neueste Katholische Dogmatik nach den Bedürfnissen un * We presume the final Hebrew M (O) to be the symbol of some masonic lodge. serer zeiten. VON DR. FRIEDRICH BRENNER. Bamberg und Würzburg in den Göbhardischen Buchhandlung. Ers. Bd., 1815. Zw. Bd., 1816. Dritter Bd., 1818. A free Representation of Theology in the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven, or the latest System of Catholic Dogmas accommodated to the necessities of our times. By DR. FREDERick Brenner. Bamberg and Wuerzburg. Published by Goebhard. 1 Vol., 1815. 2 Vol., 1816. 3 Vol., 1818. With which is combined an Examination of a Foreign Review on the Work by a Roman Catholic. IN extending our plan to a review of foreign works, we are influenced by the necessity of counteracting the strange notions of religion which prevail in some parts of the continent, and of correcting the mischief which their dissemination has begun to cause in our own country. Having entered on this arena, we boldly profess our intention of grappling with every wild and unscriptural system to the best of our ability; we profess our determination to vindicate, as much as possible, the christian truth from error; and we shall be as fearless of giving offence, as we shall be candid in our criticisms, and zealous in our orthodoxy. Whilst we have a high respect for the general literature of Germany, and duly appreciate the valuable labours of the sounder Germans in theological, classical, and oriental literature, in the arts and in the sciences, we have no respect for the extravagant theories and maniacal productions which continually issue from the German press; none for the metaphysical reveries and monstrous conjectures, with which the pages of speculative writers would overwhelm us. We view those with attentive regard, who by various researches and deep learning have elucidated the Scriptures, and removed difficulties in the way of their interpretation; but those who have indulged, and still indulge, Socinian notions, and would destroy the divinity of Christ, and the inspiration of his word, by their daring Rationalism, will be the objects of our most censuring reviews. We have selected the first of the works in our title for the purpose of showing that the German practice of taking unwarrantable liberties with the Scriptures is not of recent date; and the second, as affording a curious proof that a minor sort of neology has begun to infect even the Roman Catholics of that country. These articles we design to be merely preliminary to the development of our plan of defence; we have therefore contented ourselves with bringing before our readers those particulars which we consider to be of the most dangerous tendency. In our next Number we shall examine, at a considerable length, one of the most infidel works that has disgraced this or any other age-a work written by a talented man, therefore the more dangerous and in our refutation of it we shall engage in such criticisms, as will prove every one of its positions to be without a proper basis. We allude to the Life of Jesus by Dr. David Frederick Strauss. We understand that some of the continentalists pronounce it unanswerable: whether this be the case, our readers will have to decide. In the first of our present articles, Decius imagines that the Hebrew institutions contain certain parallels to the Egyptian mysteries, which fancied discovery he has dignified by the name of Freemasonry. The chief materials in his prælections may be detected in Witsii Ægyptiaca and Spencer de Legibus Hebræorum, particularly in the disquisition on the Urim and Thummim. Attributing to the Israelites both the greater and minor mysteries, he presumes that in these the unity of God and other exalted doctrines were taught in a philosophical manner, which widely differed from the mode and extent in which instruction was imparted to the people. Following his preconceived system he degrades the most sacred rites of religion to mere Gentile forms: in circumcision, in the immersion, sprinklings or washings of the law, in the white dress and other things enjoined by Moses, he merely sees the ceremonies which usually preceded initiation; in the Holy of Holies he detects a counterpart to the most sacred portion of the Egyptian temple; in the ark of the covenant he discerns a mere analogy to the κιβωτός οι κίστη, which was carried about at pagan festivals; and in the cherubim he fancies that the sphinx is certainly discoverable. In this wild way he criticises and explains almost every part of the Mosaic economy; and since, if he were correct, it would follow, that the Levitical system was but an accommodation to Egyptian customs, and did not originate in a Divine revelation, the tendency of his labours is most decidedly infidel. We cheerfully grant to him, that the long residence of the Israelites in Egypt gave them an inclination to Egyptian habits; but beyond this we deny all his positions. For the Mosaic laws were instituted in direct opposition to the Egyptian system: they were intended to embody the patriarchal regulations, and to wean the Israelites from the idolatry which they had so long witnessed: the animals selected for sacrifice were those which the Egyptians worshipped, and barriers were raised on every side, by which the Hebrew nation might be insulated from the rest of the world. Such having been the evident intention of the Mosaic economy, it is inconceivable that it could have been a mere accommodation of those Egyptian ceremonies, from which the whole law was designed to detach the descendants of Abraham. The apostasy of the golden calf, with its consequences, supplies us with a strong proof of the fact. Indeed nothing can be more trifling than the arguments with which this writer would obscure or subvert Divine revelation. They are so trifling, that nothing but a desire to show the various modes in which the word of God has been perverted, and made |