living and the dead, but a sacrilegious violation of the sacrifice once offered through Christ; but the very act of attendance in a popish temple, and of association with those who adore the mass, is, to all public appearance, a declaration, that he hopes for expiation of sins by that mass, and that he approves of it as a lawful act of sacred worship. Besides, the mind of the protestant declares, that the wafer, which is elevated by the officiating priest, is not Christ the incarnate (lit. the God-man, 0ɛáv0рwTov,) Son of the living God; but the act of prostration and adoration proclaims to all there present, that under the illusive * appearance of the bread, God himself is worshipped and acknowledged. I call this discordance of outward actions with the internal sentiments of the mind most rank hypocrisy, and a lie, just as intolerable as if such a man were to testify his approbation of the popish mass in express words; for truth essentially requires that a man should appear, as far as his outward demeanour is concerned, to be what he really is; and it is a violation of this truth, when a man, by outward signs, signifies the contrary to that which he holds in the secret recesses of his mind; and this simulation may be called " an acted lie," (mendacium in factis,) as Thomas Aquinas has justly observed. He, therefore, who in his mind abominates the masses of the papists, and yet retains this external participation in these rites, is so much the more to be condemned, because what he does insincerely he yet does in such a manner, that the people may believe him to be acting with sincerity, as Augustine writes about the philosopher Seneca.

Secondly, if any one of our people attends the masses of the papists, he sins against the brethren, especially the weaker ones; for he puts a stumbling-block in their way, by inviting and alluring them, through his example, to indulge in this practice, by which their consciences must necessarily be defiled. And how great a sin this is, these words of Christ will shew:-" Woe unto that man by whom the offence cometh." (Matt. xviii. 7.) Nor can it be denied, that a scandal is created by such an act, especially to the weaker brethren; for a scandal means only any impropriety of conduct, or of language, which gives an occasion of falling to another. Now this conduct gives a colour to the weaker brother to suppose that the mass is not an impious and idolatrous act, and thus prefaces the way for his apostatizing to the papists. Those, therefore, who assume the liberty of joining themselves to the papists, in the external celebration of the mass, although they may be mentally averse from the superstition of papists, violate that precept of the apostle" Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1 Thess. v. 22.) Nor will it avail to excuse them if they aver that they have no intention of testifying, by this act, their approbation of what is done, in celebrating the mass, and, far less, of inducing their weaker brethren to think that the sacrifice of the mass is lawful and agreeable to God;

Sub vacua panis specie, under the empty show of bread. The Roman-catholic doctrine is, that the accidents of the bread remain without its substance.

+ Aquin. ii.; 2 Quæst.iii.; Art. i.

Aug. de Civ. vi. 10.

because, in the case of scandal, we must judge, not from the secret intention of the agent, but from the plain quality of the action. It is the quality and the nature of that act to lead the weak into this error, and to allure them to sin; wherefore, whatever was the intention of the agent, the action itself is chargeable with scandal. As, therefore, every one is bound to abstain from any action which he is not compelled to perform, whereby scandal may be justly feared to be given to the weak,* how much more is a man bound to abstain from being present at the mass, to which there is nothing to constrain him to go, and by which the minds, both of the weak and of the strong, are justly scandalized?

Thirdly, those lukewarm protestants who frequent masses sin against the papists themselves, whom this hypocrisy confirms in their errors and idolatry. Indeed, when they see our people attending their masses, they immediately imagine, in themselves, that not only these masses, but all the other dregs of papistry, are approved of— more especially since the mass is held to be a kind of symbol, or token, by which Romanists and protestants are distinguished. Let them, therefore, answer me, and shew how they can conscientiously confirm those in their superstitious rites, whom they are bound with all diligence to recal from these dark and ignorant doings. For that apostolical command is urgently incumbent upon us :- "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (Ephes. v. 11.) Now, judge how admirably such persons act up to this precept. The apostle forbids us to have communication with unlawful works; these people gratuitously thrust themselves into them, and join those whom we judge guilty of idolatrous practices, actually while occupied on their offensive deeds. The apostle commands us to reprove such works; these persons not only seem, by their silence, to consent to them, but, by conforming to these superstitious rites, to approve and to praise (if not in words, yet in deeds,) the very act of idolatry. By this hypocrisy, they render the papists more obdurate in their pernicious errors. They sin, therefore, against the charity which we owe to our very enemies; and this it is impossible to do, without injury to the conscience.

Lastly, they sin directly against God. For religion, which binds us to God, binds us to the profession of our religion; and as it prohibits any concealment of the true religion, so it forbids, more imperatively, any pretended assumption of a false one; and thence it is, that God himself acknowledges those only as his true servants who have no fellowship with idolaters, even in the mere external act of worship. "I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Kings, xix. 18., Engl. Trans.) If they had bowed their knees before an idol, with the worshippers of Baal, although in their hearts they had despised that idol, doubtless God would not have reckoned them among his people; for every man is bound perpetually to this

Gerson, part ii. Reg. Moral.

profession of religion-namely, to associate with the pious and the orthodox, and to separate from idolaters and heretics. (1 Cor. x. 21.) For since God is the creator of the body, as well as of the soul, and Christ is equally the redeemer of both, it is meet that we should yield to God the homage of the body as well as of the mind, and adhere to Christ, in body as well as in mind. (1 Cor. vi. 20.) Wherefore, it is vain for those who join themselves in idolatrous worship to the servants of the devil, and of Antichrist, to allege that they are still in allegiance to God and Christ. Tertullian says, with elegance, as well as with piety, "It is profaneness in any man to lie about his religion; for by the very fact of pretending that he worships one thing when he worships another, he denies the real object of his worship; and inasmuch as he has denied him, he does not worship him.' All these points might be illustrated by the examples of holy men, drawn alike from scripture and from ecclesiastical history. But time will not allow us to engage in this part of the argument.

Since, therefore, protestants, who are present at the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass, defile their own souls by an act of hypocrisy ; injure the weak brethren, by putting a stumbling-block in their way; ruin the papists, by confirming them in their impious practices; and, lastly, dishonour God, by halting between the true and the idolatrous worship of him, we must conclude, that protestants cannot conscientiously be present at the mass.

ANTIQUITIES, ETC.

HYMNS OF RICHARD ROLLE.

THE following old English hymns are, I think, worthy of a place in the "Antiquities" of the British Magazine. They are not Wycliffe's, but they are probably from the pen of one of his disciples; or perhaps from that of Richard Rolle, the celebrated hermit of Hampole. I have transcribed them from a very curious volume, preserved among Abp. Ussher's MSS. in the library of the university of Dublin. (C. 5, 7.) It is a small quarto, written early in the fifteenth century, and contains some pieces of Richard Rolle, particularly his Treatise of Love, his Prayers or Meditations on the Passion of our Lord,+ and his poem called "The Pricke of Conscience," which, in the present

Apolog.

These prayers are a different series from those published some time ago in the British Magazine, with the notes, which render them so highly interesting to all lovers of old English. By a curious slip of the pen or of the printer, they are attributed, through several successive numbers of the Brit. Mag., to Robert Rolle, although the true Christian name appears in the title prefixed to the first of these prayers, Brit. Mag. Vol. iv. Sept. 1833, p. 261. Richard Rolle was an Eremite of the order of St. Augustine, and lived near Doncaster, in Yorkshire, A.D. 1340. Some of his works have been published in the Bibliotheca Patrum. Lugd. 1677. tom. xxvi. p. 609. His tract De emendatione peccatoris was published separately, Paris, 1510, 4to; and his Opuscula, Colon. 1536, fol. He is sometimes corruptly called Pampolitanus.