"With respect to the question of temporal advantage, it is difficult, (remarks the Bishop,) to reply to objections, which assume no fixed or tangible form: we hear

it, indeed, sometimes hinted, that these people are already in a condition, which perhaps may be deteriorated, but cannot easily be improved. If, however, the prevalence of liberal knowledge, habits of industry, mutual confidence in the transactions of life, a respect for the basis of all moral integrity, I mean truth, the absence of those social distinctions, which serve only to depress the great mass of the species, the elevation of the female part of society to their proper dignity and influence, and the possession of that liberty, wherewith Christ hath made men free, (Gal. v. 1.) and which is really the principle, however overlooked, of all national greatness and prosperity in modern times,--if these seve ral particulars enter largely into the theory of the well-being of any people, it were surely too much to abandon all established maxims and the dictates of our common feelings, in mere courtesy to supposed interests or secret predilections." P. 20.

From this the Bishop passes on to the great spiritual advantages attendant on, and confined to an actual belief in Christ; he enforces, as an additional motive to exertion, the universality professedly intended and promised to the faith of Christ; a principle moreover, which is justly characterised as a distinguishing mark of a Divine Revelation.

"It is a triumphant consideration, that Christianity not only professes to be designed for universal acceptance, but moreover is fitted, without any accommodation or sacrifice of its purity, to be the Religion of the civilized world: that it humanizes, where it does not find humanity; and that allowing for and retaining a difference of usages in things indifferent, it is adapted to combine in one scheme of faith and hope the whole family of man. As St. Paul expresses it, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all.' (Col. iii. 11.)"

P. 24.

Under the last head the Bishop treats of the appointed means by which the glory of God is to be advanced upon earth, and indeed, as has been shewn, in heaven. This is stated on the authority of the Apostle

to be the Church, the one Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, designated by St. Paul in another place

as

"the pillar and ground of the truth," and here as the appointed channel for diffusing through the earth the blessings of light and the tidings of salvation.

"To this Church, then, of which there are many branches, ' abiding in Christ, the true Vine,' as we trust, and bearing fruit,' (John xv. 5.) it cannot be questioned by any, who hold to the Apostolic model, that the Church of England pre-eminently belongs: her government is primitive, being of the form, which alone was recognized during the early ages; her doctrines are Scriptural, her Liturgy breathing throughout the purest spirit of the Gospel; and her Worship is at once reasonable, decent, orderly, and edifying, removed alike from childish and superstitions pageantry, and from irreverence and rude familiarity to wards the Creator: she has, indeed, been admitted even by those, whom local circumstances have fixed in other Communions, to be the Queen of Protestant Churches and the bulwark of the Protestant Cause I would add, that no Church can be better adapted to receive and to retain Converts in the Eastern world, when once their minds shall have been brought to be satisfied with the simple decencies, which are the proper garb of Truth. Nor ought it to be overlooked, in a view of the question, which may hereafter be found important, that her principles are those of order and attachment to our National Establishments. Strange indeed would be an indifference as to the political prepossessions of those, who undertake to be the Teachers of the People; especially in an Empire so circumstanced as the British Empire in

India.

"It cannot, then, be imagined, that in the work prescribed to the Church of Christ, that Branch of it, to which we belong, has no part, nor even a subordinate part to fill. It should seem, indeed, if her duties are to be measured by her means and opportunites, that no Church since the days of the Apostles has been called to such high destinies. To what fortuitous coincidence shall we impute it, that at this moment her Clergy are exercising their ministry in every quarter of the Globe? In America flourishing Churches have grown up entirely under her patronage. In Africa a Colony has been planted, by which her doctrines and discipline are brought into contact with the superstitions of ignorant

and barbarous tribes. In New South Wales she has a field before her nearly equal in extent to the whole of Europe. And what shall we say of Asia? A vast Empire has been given us, or rather imposed upon us : and wherefore? He who can reconcile such a consummation even to philosophical views of the ways of God, without reference to the purposes of His manifold wisdom as revealed in Scripture, and can believe it to have been brought about merely for the gratification of our avarice or vanity, cannot have advanced very far in the knowledge, which sound Philosophy might teach him it is not merely unchristian; it is unphilosophical, it is unreasonable to believe that God ever works in vain, or even brings about mighty revolutions with a view to results comparatively mean and trivial." P. 26.

In conclusion the Bishop makes an appeal in favour of an institution now happily commenced, and in a state of forwardness,-the Bishop's College, at Calcutta. Of this, (though already known, and duly appreciated, by most of our readers) we cannot decline the insertion of the following description, with which the Bishop concludes.

"It is designed to be strictly Collegiate in constitution, in discipline, and in character: its object will be the Education of Christian youth in sacred knowledge, in sound learning, in the principal languages used in this country, and in habits of piety and devotion to their calling, that they may be qualified to preach among the Heathen: the attention of the learned persons conDected with it will be directed to making accurate Versions of the Scriptures, of the Liturgy, and other holy books; it will en deavour to disseminate useful knowledge by means of Schools, under Teachers well educated for the purpose: and it will aim at combining and consolidating, so far as may be, into one system, and directing into the same course of sentiment and action, the endeavours which are here made to ad

vance the Christian Cause. The favour and

patronage of the Public in England have been eminently displayed towards the projected Institution: the King's Letter, granted to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, has been productive beyond all former example: and other Religious Societies and Public Bodies have munificently aided the work. It will be evident, however, when the objects are considered, that more abundant

means will still be requisite to give to such a Plan all the effect, of which it is naturally capable; nothing perhaps equally comprehensive has yet been attempted by any Protestant Church: yet I doubt not that the members of our own, wherever dispersed, will be ready to afford it their assistance, and more especially in India. With a degree of impatience, for which the motive is an ample excuse, some have wished that the Established Church would shew herself more prominently in the great work of diffusing the light of the Gospel. through the Eastern World. This duty, though not hitherto so fully discharged, as may have been desired, has never been forgotten. In the present endeavour she avails herself of means and opportunities, which until now had been withholden. For their efficacy we trust in the Almighty: at the same time beseeching Him to put it into the hearts of all, to whom the appeal shall be

made, to further and support an Institution

having no object but His Glory, in making known by the Church His manifold wisdom to those who have the understanding darkened, and are alienated from the life of God.' (Eph. vi. 18.)" P. 28.

Plain Reasons why Political Power should not be granted to Papists. By Samuel Wix, A. M. F. R. & A. S., Vicar of St. Bartholomew the Less, London. 8vo. pp. 16. Rivingtons. 1822.

THE Socratic mode of reasoning, in which an artful disputant by drawing small concessions from an incautious adversary, at length reduces him to the alternative of retracting what he had previously allowed, or of assenting to a proposition, which in its full force and extent he would have no hesitation in denying, affords no unsuitable illustration of the popular argument in favour of Catholic emancipation as it is preposterously called. There were times in which many penal statutes were in force against the Catholics, and when they laboured under many rigorous and severe restrictions. These statutes have been repealed, and these restrictions have beente

moved; and if either were still in force, the warmest advocates of the Protestant ascendancy would feel no repugnance in seeing them mitigated and rescinded. But in the present day, the Catholic enjoys as full toleration in his faith and worship, and is as secure in the possession of his property, as the most favoured of his Protestant brethren. The Catholic freeholder has obtained the elective franchise; the Catholic peer is permitted to approach his Sovereign; the highest offices in the Army and the Navy are given as the rewards of Catholic valour and enterprize; and in the debate of the last year upon the Catholic question, it was intimated, with very little reserge, that the only offices which it is wished to retain exclusively in Protestant hands, are the seats in Parliament, and in the Privy Council, the office of the Judge, and the Colonial Governments: nor is it improbable that a measure, conceding to the Catholic every privilege and immunity, which is enjoyed by the Protestant, with these few exceptions, would be suffered to pass in silence, or would be opposed without effect.

But what has been the effect of these liberal concessions? The same as is wont to follow the concessions of the unwary adversary with the Socratic reasoner. His past concessions are made the ground of future demand, and the chief argument which is urged in favour of the proposed admission of Catholic Peers to the Upper House, and which has made but too much impression on the minds of some men, is, that it is necessary for the preservation of consistency, to grant this inconsiderable favour; and that it is the height of inconsistency, after more important concessions have been made, to refuse it. There is little difficulty in repelling this argument, and in shewing, that at least upon the present occasion, the adversaries of the measure are not justly chargeable with incon

sistency, and that its advocates alone are inconsistent.

The Catholic peer has been ad. mitted to the audience of his Sovereign, and thence it is inferred that he should be restored to his hereditary seat in Parliament. It would be as just to conclude, from these premises, that he should be eligible to sit in the Privy Council, to which the present measure does not however propose to introduce him. But with what consistency shall the Catholic peer be admitted into Parliament, while the commoner remains in his state of exclusion; for if the Catholic peer has been admitted to the ear of his Sovereign, the Catho lic freeholder has been invested with the right of electing his represen tative, though that representative may not be of the Catholic persuasion, nor is it in contemplation to remove the disqualification. It

Would be useless to deny that there are anomalies in these concessions and exclusions, but they are such anomalies as will continue until an emancipation, more complete than any which the Protestant advocate has hitherto been called to disclaim, shall be effected. Let the proscriptions of a caste, as they are called, be removed; let the doors of the Parliament and the Council be thrown open to the Catholic; let him govern the Colonies, and ad. minister the laws of England: the anomaly will still exist. It will then be asked, is it consistent to permit the Catholic to make and to administer the law, and as a responsible Minister to advise the Sovereign, and at the same time to be afraid of the intrigues of a Catholic Con sort, to be alarmed by the visionary dangers of a Catholic succession, or to give to every other person in the state free permission to choose and to change his religion, and to bind the Sovereign alone in the bonds of Protestantism. If it be inconsistent to exclude any one person from exercising the offices of the State, and if such exclusion con

veys an imputation on the character of the Roman Catholic religion, the -inconsistency will not be abated without an unqualified admission of the Catholics to the highest as well as the lowest offices of the State, or in their strict exclusion from all offices, which involve the possession of political power.

In the English Constitution the civil and military powers are entirely distinct and separate the soldier is the servant, not the ruler of the State. No argument can therefore be drawn from the unrestricted promotion of Catholic officers, in the concession of which all parties acquiesced in favour of the admission of Catholics to political offices.

This measure does not therefore implicate the consistency of the adversaries of Catholic emancipation, or pledge them to complete the work which has been begun. It is not necessary to allege, that some of the measures which have been carried, have been carried by majorities in Parliament, after vigorous opposition and debate. With the exception, perhaps, of the elective franchise, the adversaries of the Catholic claims do not object to what has been done, or entertain the most distant wish that any part should be superseded or repealed. They rejoice that their Catholic brethren are protected in the public profession of their religion, and in the enjoyment of their private rights; but in the recollection of the antient abuses of political power, in the hands of Catholics, and in the full conviction of the peculiar advantages of a Constitution exclusively Protestant, they are and ever have been consistent in the reservation of political power; nor can they contemplate without alarm, the idea of a Protestant King advised by Catholic counsellors, or of the government of a Protestant Church and nation by Catholic ministers and legislators. They are ready to concede, and they have conceded many minor REMEMBRANCER, No. 43.

points to their Catholic brethren; but while all history reminds them of the intrusive and busy zeal of the Papacy, there is no subtilty or address which can bring them to consent to the main proposition, that the Protestant ascendancy is not necessary as well as worthy to be held fast; and that there is no danger in conveying political power to Catholic administration.

But

If the adversaries of Catholic emancipation are consistent in what they withhold, they are also liberal in what they grant. They have conceded and are willing to concede all in which the great body of the Catholics are concerned;-the rights of conscience, full security of person and property, and unlimited preferment in the army and navy, in which the merit of the humblest soldier of fortune ought not to be unrewarded. They wish to reserve nothing but some few offices of political power, some few seats in the Parliament and in the Council, to which but very few can aspire, and which none can compass without the advantages of education and a corresponding rank in life. what has been the conduct of the advocates of the Catholics? On one occasion they petulantly renounced every thing which might have been obtained, because the whole, in which the few only were interested, was not conceded: and on the present occasion, the ostensible object of pursuit is not to benefit the lower or the middle classes of the Catholic population, not to elevate the Catholic peasant, the Catholic trader, or the Catholic gentleman, but to throw open the House of Lords to seven individuals, who alone have an hereditary claim, and whose claims as they may seem to involve personal objections, than which nothing can be more unjust, it is most indelicate to discuss. It is for such consistency and liberality as this, that the adversaries of this innovation on the Protestant Constitution of England are to be 3 K

branded with the ignominious epi thets of illiberal and inconsistent.

The strong ground on which consistent Protestants argue, that political power cannot be conceded to Papists is, that they do not hold with their Protestant brethren, the sole supremacy of the Sovereign; but admit, under various modifications, the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, to whom they bear a conscientious allegiance. The independent and complete sovereignty of the King was maintained, and the intrusive authority of the Pope was proscribed, in various statutes of provisors and præmunire passed before the Reformation, and have been subsequently confirmed in the oaths of abjuration and supremacy, which as a barrier to political power, it is Dow sought to remove. opposition to this and to every similar attempt, it is concisely and conclusively argued by Mr. Wix:

In

"Because papal supremacy has ever been exerted when opportunity has offered to accomplish its own spiritual and temporal concerns, without regard to the wishes of the ruling powers-so creating schism in religioa and disaffection in politics.

"Because such is the zeal of Papists to extend their opinions and acquire prominency, that no concession can satisfy them short of surrendering to them a Papal king on the throne.

"Because in the mutability of human affairs, the powers of the Pope may again become of commanding influence over the different states of the world.

"Because the grant of political power to persons maintaining the unscriptural tenets and usages of the Church of Rome, is acting contrary to the admonition of being zealously affected in a good thing, and striving to hold fast the purity of faith."

P. 11.

In these reasons, and in the brief observations by which they are introduced we cordially concur, Our endeavour has been to expose a popular delusion, by which the Socratic advocates of a pretended emancipation impose upon the unwary, and through assumed and arbitrary charges of inconsistency, lead them to form a partial judg. ment of the anomalies inseparable from the partial admission of Catholics to political power, and of the true wisdom and consistency with which their entire exclusion is maintained. We are persuaded that nothing has hitherto been done, and we trust that nothing will be done which shall involve the consistency of withholding any part of political power from Catholic administration.

Knowledge.