not Catholicism. I can thank God that my forefathers threw off those corruptions, which are, as we contend, still to be found in the papal Church; but I should esteem it the greatest evil that could happen to me, if my Protestantism were to lead me away from the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church as professed in its first and purest age. What is evil in Romanism I reject; but what she holds of apostolic truth I hold likewise; and God forbid I should love it the less because she holds it. There can be no greater error than to suppose that whatever is opposite to Romanism is purity of faith. To act as if it were so, is to give the Romanists the greatest possible advantage over us. Of this the teachers of your Church are aware; and when they see ultra-Protestants plunging into all manner of excess and latitudinarianism in sheer horror of popery, they do not fail to strengthen their own cause, by shewing that such persons in their zeal have actually been betrayed into giving up Catholic principles, concerning which there never has been any doubt in the Church of Christ. Perhaps," I continued, " you will think that what I have said is a mere cavilling about unimportant expressions; but the greater part of the fallacies in argument arise from words being used in an equivocal sense: indeed, to the great mass of mankind words are things. I did not intend to have entered to-day into an argument with you, though I shall hope to have an opportunity, now that you are become my parishioner, of satisfying myself that you have given to views, which I conceive to be erroneous, the full and deliberate consideration they require: but whether in the end we agree or disagree, I trust you will always look on me as a friend who will conscientiously advise you to the best of my power."

So saying, and receiving the expression of her thanks, I returned home.

A friendly Discussion.

Thus, when the infatuate council, named of Trent,
Clogg'd up the catholic course of the true faith,
Troubling the stream of pure antiquity,

And the wide channel in its bosom took

Crude novelties, scarce known as that of old; .

...

Our Church, though straiten'd sore 'tween craggy walls,
Kept her true course, unchanging and the same;

Known by that ancient clearness, pure and free,

With which she sprung from 'neath the throne of God.

Thoughts in past Years.

CHAPTER V.

N further acquaintance with Magdalen Fernley, I was led to the belief, that although nominally brought up by her mother in the tenets of the Church of Rome, she had, in fact, received a very

indifferent religious education, and that what little knowledge she had was taken upon trust; that it was not till she came to England with the Cawardens, that she had been at all grounded in the doctrines of Romanism, but that during the time of her residence at Holme-Cawarden, she had received much kindness and instruction from Dr. Blundell, the family chaplain. It was not difficult, however, to perceive, that the same unfair system of teaching had been pursued with her which I have often had cause to lament in similar instances, namely, that of ascribing to the Church of England the opinions of many of the discordant sects who have separated themselves from her; thus making her, in the eyes of those who do not understand her system, answerable for extravagancies from which she is wholly free.

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You have told me, Mr. Warlingham," said Magdalen Fernley to me one day, after I had ended a chapter in the Bible which I had been reading to Mr. Lee, and during which she had sat at her work at the other end of the room; you told me, that the great fundamental difference between the Roman Catholic Church and your own is this: you maintain that all the doctrines which a Christian is required to believe are contained in the Bible; we, on the

other hand, believe that there are doctrines of essential importance not contained in the Bible. You make it your boast that the Bible is in every man's hands, and you give to every man the right of private judgment. The result of this has been, as I do not think you will deny, that while no schism has prevailed among us, divisions have so multiplied among Protestants, that there are almost as many different systems of faith among you, as there are different expounders of the Bible. Yet when I ask you the cause of this, you tell me that it is because they have not done what the Church of England has done, namely, taken Catholic tradition as a guide to truth. Now if the Church of England admits the value of tradition, she receives something more than is contained in the Bible; and does she not thereby make void the very principle on which she professes to act, and adopt that principle of the Roman Catholic Church which she asserts to have been the source of many of our supposed errors?"

"I see the difficulty," I answered, “which presents itself to your mind; but it is one which, if you will give me a little patient attention, I think I can soon remove. And, first," I continued, as I took up a Prayer-book which was lying on the table, "let me shew you what the language of the Church of England is with reference to the holy Scriptures and tradition. Here, in the sixth article, we read, that Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.' Now pray observe carefully, that although it is declared that holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation (which, however, you as a Romanist would deny), the article does not say that the Bible