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gladly extend to her the right hand of fellowship, so soon as she cleanses herself from her corruptions.' But what are those points which you designate as corruptions, and which prevent such a reunion of the Churches?" said my companion.

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I see a volume there," I replied, "which shall answer the question." So crossing the room, I took from its shelf a folio volume of Bishop Hall's works (for poor Mr. Lee, in spite of his blindness, had retained the bulk of his library, and brought it to Willowford). Here," said I, as I opened that prelate's tract entitled No Peace with Rome, is a work which undertakes to prove (and in my judgment does prove) I that as terms now stand, there can be no reconciliation of the reformed religion with the Romish; and that the Romanists are all in the fault.' It is a work which it may pain you to read; for the good bishop's words are often bitter words. He had a burning zeal and love of truth, which must give his straightforward opinions an appearance of harshness, and something must be allowed for the circumstances and manners of the age in which he lived: but in spite of his severity, there is not a sentence but you may read with profit. Here, however," said I, turning to a work which I had lately been reading to Mr. Lee,

you will find an abstract of the same bishop's reasons for his irreconcilable differences with Rome as she is. The abstract is made from his treatise on The Old Religion; and although his order has been followed, his words have, I think, been occasionally softened down: they will therefore be less offensive to you, and will answer my immediate purpose as well; only you must remember as I read (which I will now do) the points which render union impossible, that I am making the statement in the mildest form of expression which can be adopted, without compromising the truth :—

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I consider it unscriptural to say, with the Church of Rome, that we are justified by inherent righte

ousness.

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That it is unscriptural to say that the good works of a man do truly merit eternal life.

That the doctrine of transubstantiation, as not being revealed, but a theory of man's devising, is profane and impious.

'That the denial of the cup to the laity is a bold and unwarranted encroachment on their privileges as Christ's people.

That the sacrifice of masses, as it has been practised in the Roman Church, is without foundation in Scripture or antiquity, and therefore blasphemous and dangerous.

That the honour paid to images is very full of peril in the case of the uneducated, that is, of the great part of Christians.

That indulgences, as in use, are a gross and monstrous invention of later times.

That the received doctrine of purgatory is at variance with Scripture, cruel to the better sort of Christians, and administering deceitful comfort to the irreligious.

That the practice of celebrating divine service in an unknown tongue is a great corruption.

That forced confession is an unauthorised and dangerous practice.

That the direct invocation of saints is a dangerous practice, as tending to give, often actually giving, to creatures the honour and reliance due to the Creator alone.

That there are not seven sacraments.

That the Roman doctrine of tradition is un

scriptural.

That the claim of the pope to be universal bishop is against Scripture and antiquity.'

I you see, are many

'Here then," I continued, points, and divers others might be added, on which the Church of England entirely differs from that of Rome, and on which we can make no surrender whatever for the sake of peace. Concession, as I have already remarked, must come from you, not from us. And by the unhappy decrees of the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church has so bound herself hand and foot, that, humanly speaking, concession from her is not to be looked for. Up to that period, however deep and fearful her errors may have been, she had not, as a Church, identified herself with them. They were in her, it is true, but not of her, that is, she might have roused herself, and cast them off from her, might have deplored them, and disowned them, as the Church of England did: instead of which, she cherished them, and made them thenceforth an integral part of her system."

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You have indeed, sir," observed Magdalen, "brought a long list of heavy charges against the Church of which I am a member; and yet," she continued, after a brief pause, if these things be so, if the Church of Rome be so full of superstition and flagrant corruption, how comes it that in these enlightened days she has so many advocates; that she retains her hold, not only on those whom early associations, education, and family connexions have united to her, but that her proselytes are counted by hundreds, perhaps thousands yearly; that her places of worship, instead of being poor and few, are extending over the face of the country, and are erected at a cost which the Established Church would grudge for a house of God? Look at our monasteries, our colleges, nay, our cathedrals, and explain why, if popery (as its opponents term it) be so noxious, it has not been by general consent rooted from the face of the earth?

Certainly the will and persecuting spirit have not been wanting in England at least."

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'You speak," I replied, "with the natural fervour and affection of one who loves the creed in which she has been brought up, and I honour you for doing so. Still I cannot admit the mere extension of a religion to be of itself a presumption in its favour; and I am disposed to question the fact of the increase of Romanism among us to the extent you describe. But, supposing your statements to be correct, let me ask you whence those multitudes of converts come? Certainly not from the Church of England. It is a notorious fact that very few, comparatively speaking, leave her pale for that of Rome. No, your proselytes are chiefly drawn from the ranks of unbelievers, or of ultra-Protestant Dissenters: and who can wonder at this? Dissent has no fixed creed, no fixed principles, no fixed discipline, to prevent fluctuation : change and uncertainty are bound up in every part of its system : it contains within itself, and from the first, the seeds of its own destruction. No doubt it has its excitements and attractions; but excitement is always followed by exhaustion: and to exhaustion succeeds the desire of fresh excitement. Hence the mind is continually agitated by the extremes of hope and fear. But men will not bear to be kept for ever in a state of religious suspense; and when they have been tossed about and distracted with every blast of vain doctrine, and can find no certain resting-place amid the strifes of rival systems, they grow weary and fainthearted, and either become altogether disgusted with religion, and so sink into practical unbelief, or else they fly to the teaching of that Church, whose language to them is, Believe what I tell you, and I will guarantee your salvation.' I am not one of those who deride the idea of the Roman Church rising once more to a state

of great power and dominion. Many things seem tending that way, and there is a prospect ere long of a stern and stubborn struggle. I place no reliance upon the resistance which, under such circumstances, ultra-Protestants could make, for they have undermined the ground beneath their own feet: but, depend upon it, the Church of Rome will, in that day, find herself effectually foiled by the calm, collected, uncompromising resistance of the Church of England, strong in the aid of antiquity, tradition, and apostolicity, and armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."