purpose, that we are to look for a living exhibition of its character, but we are to read the records of those times, wherein the Papacy possessed the power of accomplishing its own purposes, and unfolding its own characteristics. If we desire to know the fierceness of the lion, or the ferocity of the tiger, we must view them, not with their teeth drawn, and their claws extracted, and confined within cages of iron, but as in their native wildness they range the forest, or crouch in the jungle. We must form our judgment of the nature of Popery, not from her present chained and fettered state, but from the tendencies she displayed when she possessed power and influence in the nation, and could without restraint accomplish her purposes.

The peculiar characteristic of the effort made in this reign to restore the dominion of the Papacy was PERSECUTION. Mary commenced her career with a fearful abandonment of moral principle. She pledged herself to the men of Norfolk and Suffolk, who had embraced the principles of the Reformation, that if they would assist in placing her upon the throne, she would never interfere with the Protestant principles of the nation. On this pledge she induced them to take arms in her cause, and they placed her triumphantly on the throne. Her whole reign was one continued act of perfidy to that pledge.* The system of persecution which she put in force, was the most awful exhibition of cruelty, and cold and deliberate blood-guiltiness, that the records of our race present to us. There may have been at other times, and in other lands, persecution as terrible and as bloody; but this continued through the whole five years of her reign. The loftiest in the land were its martyrs, and a woman was the perpetrator.

No rank, or virtue, or learning, gave exemption to the possessor-Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Farrer,-all bishops of the church, were removed from their seesdegraded from their office-cast into prison, and finally martyred amidst the fires. Many hundreds of Christian souls were persecuted to the death. Two persons were publicly appointed in every parish, to discover and inform against every Protestant who refused to conform to Popery. They were then apprehended, examined, and, if they still refused, martyred. Many thousands were thus compelled to fly their homes, their properties, and their country, to seek in foreign lands a welcome that was denied them in their father-land. Among these fugitives was MASTER JOHN FOXE, the justly celebrated Author of this justly celebrated Work, "The Acts and Monuments of Martyrs," wherein we have the only full and faithful narration of the cruelty of this persecution, in which men, women, children, without regard to age or sex, were indiscriminately martyred. Sometimes five, and sometimes ten were consumed in one fire, and on one occasion three women were burned at one stake, and—the blood runs cold while we write it when one of them, under the pain of the flames, travailed with child, and one of the multitude, more humane than the rest, rescued the new-born babe, the authorities commanded it instantly to be burned with its mother! When such scenes were transacted under the authority of one who was herself a woman, we may well feel that there is an alchemy in Popery, that if it finds us angels can transform us into devils.

The death of this woman, whose only claim upon our respect is that, like one of old, she was "a king's daughter," stayed the work of persecution, and thus rendered ineffectual the first great effort of the Papacy to re-establish itself in this country. The accession of Elizabeth freed the Church of England from Italian influence, and settled it upon surer pillars, and more steadfast foundations than ever.

* One of the most interesting historical documents ever read, is the petition of these men of Norfolk, and Suffolk, to the Queen's Council, in the time of persecution. It will be found at page 913.

+ Grindal, who lived during this period, says the number was 800; others estimate it at half that number.

The noble spirit of this Queen was such as became the monarch of this gallant nation, over whose destinies she presided. When, by that act of Popish perfidy-the massacre of St. Bartholomew-the streets of Paris flowed with the blood of her Protestant sons, the French ambassador appeared at the court of Elizabeth. He looked around for the splendour and chivalry of England. His cheek paled. The court of Elizabeth was arrayed in the deepest mourning!

Under her reign this country stood forth the friend and protector of the reformed religion both at home and abroad, and the grand antagonist of the Papal system. It was therefore scarcely to be expected that with an enemy so powerful, persevering, and unscrupulous as Popery, this country could be left in tranquillity. The second great effort for the re-establishment of the Church of Rome, unfolded a system of internal REBELLION and foreign INVASION.

Pope Pius was pleased in A. D. 1570, for the accomplishment of this effort, to issue his bull anathematising the Queen of England, and absolving all her subjects of their oaths of allegiance. "The nobles, subjects, and inhabitants of England," says this audacious manifesto, "who have in any way sworn to her, we declare to be absolved for ever from any such oath, and from all manner of duty, allegiance, and obedience, as we do by the authority of these presents absolve them, and do deprive the said Elizabeth of her pretended right to the kingdom, and all other things aforesaid. We command and interdict all nobles, subjects, people, and others aforesaid, that they presume not to obey her mandates, monitions, or laws. Those who shall act otherwise we bind under a similar sentence of anathema," &c.

This Italian Priest, not contented with thus anathematising the Queen of England, and blasphemously assuming to absolve the people of England from their allegiance, proceeded to two other measures that strikingly illustrate the character of the Papacy. He first sent certain Jesuits into Ireland with bulls, authorising them to raise the inhabitants of that island in rebellion against England. They unhappily accomplished his purpose there. He then took upon him to make over the realm of England, its crown, its revenues, and its dependencies as a gift to Philip of Spain. There too he succeeded in inducing that prince to equip the celebrated Armada, and prepare for an invasion of England.

Such were the means by which it was proposed to re-establish Popery in this land. Rebellion in Ireland-treason in England-a foreign invasion in both!

But, by the Providence of God, the rebellion in Ireland was crushed, the treason in England baffled, and the armada of Spain destroyed. We could mourn over the fate of that gallant armament, were we not acquainted with its object. The pomp of the chivalry of Spain, the flower of all her gallant youth were there. All that high hope could expect from noble daring, and all that the enthusiasm of superstition could achieve, might have been expected there. The voice of Papal infallibility had proclaimed it invincible. It walked the mighty ocean in its pride. It spread its fluttering wings for the shores of England. But an Angel of Heaven was moving over it unseen. The winds rushed in their fury above it. The waves swept in their madness beneath it. There were fearless hearts before them, and mighty arms to meet them. The chivalry of England manned her fleets, and the yeomanry of England lined her shores; and this "invincible armada," scattered on the deep, or stranded on our cliffs, strewed our shores with the mouldering bones of the youth of Spain.

Thus ended the second great effort to restore the influence of Rome in this country. Its characteristics were rebellion and invasion-suitable precursors of the next attempt of these Italian Priests.

The vigour of Elizabeth's government was felt even after her death. James I. re

ceived a kingdom, from which the more daring and dangerous spirits had been exiled for their treasons, or had gone into banishment to escape the vengeance of the laws. Those were members of the Church of Rome, and devotedly attached to the interests of the Papacy. They had religiously believed that the Papal authority could absolve subjects of their allegiance, and depose sovereigns from their thrones. They had held that heresy-the designation given to the reformed faith-was sufficient to lead to a forfeiture of all rights and privileges, and they therefore entered eagerly into every conspiracy that was deemed likely to re-establish the Papacy in its ancient influence in England.

These men resided chiefly in Flanders and Spain, where the members of the Order of Jesuits were in considerable numbers and activity; Garnet, Creswell, Baldwin, Parsons, and other celebrated Jesuits, soon obtained an ascendancy over these emi grants, and, with the deep subtlety, and unwavering courage of their order, implicated them in endless conspiracies. It is to the intrigues of this remarkable class of ecclesiastics, that we owe the GUNPOWDER-TREASON, which was discovered on the eve of its consummation. They bound each of the agents of this horrible treason, under an oath of secrecy, administered on receiving the Sacrament! The form of the oath was, "You shall swear by the blessed Trinity, and by the Sacrament you now propose to receive, never to disclose, directly or indirectly, by word or circumstance, the matter which shall be proposed to you, to keep secret, nor desist from the execution thereof, until the rest shall give you leave." There must be a frightful amount of human depravity, when a number of ecclesiastics could administer the Sacrament, and swear by the Trinity to go forward in this terrible conspiracy. It appears, likewise, that another Priest, named Gerrhard, gave absolution of the sin to each of the agents, preparatory to the accomplishment of their treason. Well might that celebrated lawyer, Coke, say, "I never yet knew a treason without a Romish Priest."

The whole design of this conspiracy was developed on the trial of the conspirators. The written confessions of Guy Fawkes and Thomas Winter, give ample details of the mode of accomplishment.* It was proposed to blow up, by gunpowder, the houses of Parliament, when, at the opening of the Session, the King, with the Royal Family, the Peers, and Members of the House of Commons, would be assembled together. By such a stroke, it was expected that they would destroy the heads of all the principal Protestant families in the kingdom. And then it was arranged to seize the infant daughter of the King, who was then in Warwickshire, and proclaim her Queen, to educate her a Papist, and themselves to govern the realm during her long minority. Such were the objects of this conspiracy, and such the third great effort to reestablish the Papacy in England. The next was of a different character. It was made in the time of James II. Four of the sovereigns of England had successively been Protestants; and when it might have been expected that all hope, or at least all efforts to restore the system of Popery had been crushed for ever, an avowed Papist ascended the throne in the person of James II., and gave new life to the hopes and energies of the emissaries of Rome. He was a man bigoted to his sect, and resolved to re-establish Popery on the ruins of Protestantism. His efforts to accomplish this object were different from all that had gone before. He proposed to encourage the growth of Popery,—not by persecution, as in the days of Mary; for the nation would not bear it, but by all THE POWER OF THE CROWN, and the influence of the Court. He knew that in the then state of the nation it would not suit his purposes to make an

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These confessions, together with an account of the whole conspiracy, will be found in the Appendix to this Edition of the Acts and Monuments.

avowed assault upon its Protestantism, and he therefore adopted the more gradual and insinuating instrumentality of courtly favour and royal authority.

His reign, like that of Mary, was one continued act of perfidy to promises the most solemn. He had solemnly promised in Parliament, before he came to the throne, that he would cherish his religious principles between himself and his God, and never permit them to interfere with his government of the nation. He had solemnly promised, afterwards, on opening the first Parliament of his reign, in the speech delivered on that most public occasion, that he would never interfere with the religion of the Established Church. His whole reign was an illustration how pledges the most binding, and promises the most sacred, can all be violated, with a recklessness peculiar to the Church of Rome, whenever her interests are involved in the results. It is as easy to stay the planets in their course, as to find a moral tie, either of promises, or pledges, or oaths, that will bind the Church of Rome.

The extraordinary lengths to which this unhappy monarch was led by Father Petre, and those other Priests to whose guidance he so implicitly committed himself, awakened the dormant spirit of this nation. His measures respecting the Judges of the land, his proceedings among the Officers of the Army, his attempts against the Universities, his attack upon the Bishops, his claim of a dispensing power, his whole proceedings could not but compel the nation to look to its civil liberties, and its religious freedom; and to take measures for the preservation of the former against a Despot, and of the latter against a Papist.

The Revolution was the consequence, and thus, in the triumph of civil and religious liberty, ended the fourth great effort of the emissaries of Rome to re-establish Popery in England.

The principles involved in the Revolution were carried out during the reign of William III. The civil and religious institutions of the Country became inseparably blended, in our National Constitution. The Protestantism of the Church of England became amalgamated with the State, and it was designed that one should be as lasting as the other. Well nigh a century and a half has elapsed since that glorious event, and the experience of every added year only unfolds more manifestly the wisdom of those principles on which the Revolution was founded.

From that period the authority of the Church of Rome seemed annihilated in England. The perfect triumph of the principles of the Reformation at the time, and the steady attachment of the population of the Country to those principles, seem to have continued unabated until late years, in which a new method of procedure has been adopted by the emissaries of the Church of Rome, with the view of again extending the influence of the Papacy in this Country.

In the time of the unhappy James II. the emissaries of Rome sought to extend their influence through the despotic principles of the MONARCHY. But now they endeavour to promote the same result, through the growing strength of the DEMOCRACY. Such questions, as the principles of Monarchy on one hand, and Democracy on the other, are insignificant in their views, except so far as they can be made subservient to the interests of the Church of Rome; and, therefore, the emissaries of that Church are always prepared to ally themselves and their influence, with those principles that are most calculated at the time to subserve their purpose.

In this Country, they have allied themselves to the democratic party, upon the principle, that they will thereby render themselves, and their objects, more popular among the mass of the population, and at the same time secure to their cause that influence, which for some years past, has been on the ascendancy in this country. They have thereby obtained, already, not only a voice, but also a powerful influence

in the Legislature, and an entrance to the Councils. And despite of promises, and even oaths, are eagerly seizing upon every opportunity by which they hope to cripple the energies of Protestantism, and to enhance the influence of Romanism.

At the same time that this process is carrying on in the Legislature, and in the Councils, there are other means employed with an unwearied diligence, and an unexampled expenditure of exertion and wealth, to advance the interests of the Papacy among the population. More than Six hundred Missionary Priests, of the Church of Rome, have been sent into this country. These missionaries, either settle themselves in certain localities, or move in various directions through the land, every where endeavouring to disseminate their peculiar principles, through the instrumentality of Sermons, Lectures, Tracts, &c. Their efforts have so far succeeded, as that during the last forty years they have increased the number of their chapels from about thirty, to above five hundred. A large number of Seminaries, or Colleges, have been formed with the view of securing the education of our youth. And many Nunneries and Monasteries have been established, so as to become centres for the propagation of the whole system of Popery. The success with which their measures of proselytism have been crowned, has been beyond their most sanguine expectations; and the ignorance of the population on one hand, and the political party to whom the emissaries of Rome have allied themselves, on the other hand, seem to promise still more ample success to their unwearied exertions. They hesitate no longer to avow their expectation, that this nation will return to the bosom of the Church of Rome.

This state of things is pregnant with the most disastrous consequences to the Protestantism of England, and demands the mightiest efforts that Christians and Protestants can make for the defence of our faith. They have a mighty adversary, against which they have to contend, in the Church of Rome; but they have a still mightier treasure to preserve, in the true religion established among us. It may truly be said of England, as of Israel, in the day of her blessedness, that she is a great and understanding nation, and that there is no nation that hath God so nigh, or to which he hath given such statutes and ordinances, that we might walk in them, and live in them, and be a delightsome land. We have, by the REFORMATION, an English Service, and an open Bible. We have, by the REVOLUTION, all the religious liberty that Christians can wish, and all the civil liberty that good subjects can desire.

Shall it be, that such matchless treasures shall be lost by our apathy? Shall it be, that by our indifference, we shall again be doomed to come under Italian influence, blighting our morals-withering our privileges-destroying our liberties-our homes ceasing to be happy; and our altars ceasing to be free? Shall it be, that the souls of our children, and our children's children, shall become the merchandize of Friars, and their morals become contaminated by the Priests of the Confessional? Shall their birthright of an open Bible, and an English Service, and a freedom to think and judge for themselves, be taken from them by our apathy, or neglect? It were better that the blast of death should sweep through the land, and as of old, leave the firstborn dead in every house; and that the wail of the desolate, and the cry of the mourning should be heard on every wind, and echoed from every home, than that a calamity so disastrous as this, should befal our father land. Then, indeed, would the dark spirit of Popery be traced by the fall of our fanes and the ruin of our altars; and she would erect her throne amidst the fallen columns-the crumbling arches, and the mouldering aisles of the Temple of Protestantism. Then, indeed, would the glory of Britain-not the triumphs of her iron-hearted battalions on the battle-field, nor of her bannered masts upon the wave-not the treasure of her gold and silver and precious stones, nor the countless navies that waft to her shores the merchandize of the world-but her truest