"Constanter teneo purgatorium esse, animasque ibi detentas fidelium suffragiis juvari.

"Similiter et sanctos una cum Christo regnantes, venerandos atque invocandos esse, eosque orationes Deo pro nobis offerre, atque eorum reliquias esse venerandas.

"Firmissime assero, imagines Christi, ac Deiparæ semper virginis, necnon aliorum sanctorum, habendas et retinendas esse, atque eis debitum honorem ac venerationem impertiendam.

"Indulgentiarum etiam potestatem a Christo in ecclesia relictam fuisse ; illarumque usum Christiano populo maxime salutarem esse affirmo.

"Sanctam Catholicam et apostolicam Romanam ecclesiam, omnium ecclesiarum matrem et magistram agnosco; Romanoque Pontifici, beati Petri, Apostolorum Principis, successori, ac Jesu Christi vicario veram obedientiam spondeo, ac juro.

"Cætera item omnia a sacris canonibus, et œcumenicis conciliis, ac præcipue a sacro-sancta Tridentina Synodo tradita, definita, et declarata, indubitanter recipio atque profiteor; simulque contraria omnia, atque hæreses quascumque ab ecclesia damnatas, rejectas, et anathematizatas, ego pariter damno, rejicio, et anathematizo.

"Hanc veram Catholicam fidem, extra quam nemo salvus esse potest, quam in præsenti sponte profiteor, et veraciter teneo, eandem integram et inviolatam, usque ad extremum vitæ spiritum constantissime (Deo adjuvante) retinere et confiteri, atque a meis subditis, vel illis quorum cura ad me in munere meo spectabit, teneri, doceri, et prædicari, quantum in me erit, curaturum, ego idem N. spondeo, voveo, ac juro. Sic me Deus adjuvet, et hæc sancta Dei evangelia."-Canones et Decreta Concilii Tridentini, (Le Plat,) Appendix, p. xxii.

No. X.

PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF POPERY.

The following statements are chiefly extracted (with some few alterations and additions) from an article in Blackwood's Magazine, for October, 1838, which is characterized by a Roman-catholic writer as wonderfully accurate."*

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Popery, both at home and abroad, is in the possession of immense strength, and has been, and is now, marching forward with giant strides.

In the peerage, the Roman Catholics number the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Fingall, and Newburgh; Lords Petre, Stourton, Stafford, Vaux, Arundel, Clifford, Dormer, and Lovat; besides, among the Scotch and Irish peers who have votes in the election of representatives in the

* Catholic Magazine, January 1839, p. 14.

H H

imperial parliament, the Earls of Traquair and Kenmore; Viscounts Gormanston, Southwell, and Frankfort; Lords Trimlestown, Louth, Dunboyne, and French. These, especially the peers of parliament, include some of the most wealthy, ancient, and influential noblemen in the kingdom.

Among the baronets we find the following Roman Catholics, nearly all of whom may be ranked with the richest of the class to which they belong; Sir C. Throckmorton, Sir J. Gerard, Sir T. Stanley, Sir T. Haggerston, Sir E. Blount, Sir H. Hunloke, Sir C. Wolseley, Sir H. Tichborne, Sir Clifford Constable, Sir E. Mostyn, Sir F. Vincent, Sir T. Gage, Sir H. Bedingfield, Sir B. Wrey, Sir J. Lawson, Sir J. Smythe, Sir J. Swinburne, Sir E. Vavasour, &c.; and besides these, there are many baronets of Ireland and Scotland we might mention who profess the same religion.

Again, in the list of the wealthy landed gentry of England, many, very many, are Roman Catholics; and some of them are among the most powerful proprietors in their respective counties.

In the House of Commons the Roman Catholics are in number forty, of whom six are English members.

and

The private progress made by the Roman Catholics among the leading liberal families is notorious. The Duke of Leeds, the Marquis of Wellesley, Lord Albemarle, Lord Kinnaird, Lord De Mauley, Mr. Ward, M.P., many more professing Protestants, married Roman Catholics. Such, too, is the case with many of the female Protestant nobility; for instance, the Duke of Sutherland's sister married Lord Surrey; Lord Sefton's daughter married Mr. Towneley, the wealthy Lancashire Roman Catholic, &c.

Members of several liberal families have recently been converted, or rather perverted, to popery. We may name among others, a brother of Earl Spencer, Sir Charles Wolseley, Mr. Philips, son of the late M.P. for Leicestershire, Mr. Roche, the member for Cork county, Mr. Kenelm Digby, Sir Bourchier Wrey, and Mr. Benett, son of the M.P. for Wiltshire.

At court, the treasurer of the household is a Roman Catholic, the Marchioness of Wellesley, Lady Bedingfield, and the Earl of Fingall, all of whom have been about the court for some time, are Roman Catholics; and several others of the same kind have been placed in minor situations.

While Protestants have been quarrelling, or while they have been sleeping, popery, with stealthy steps, or by bold manœuvres, has been gaining ground, disarming some, deluding others, conquering more, and marching onward.

In 1792, there were not, in the whole of Great Britain, thirty Romancatholic chapels; there are now five hundred and thirteen, of which four hundred and forty are in England, six in Wales, and sixty-seven in Scotland; and there are six hundred and ten priests, of whom five hundred and thirty-one are in England, five in Wales, and seventy-four in Scotland. They are governed by seventeen vicars apostolic, nine of whom are bishops. In the year above mentioned, there was not one Roman-catholic college; there are now ten, besides seventeen convents, sixty seminaries of education, and many chapel schools.

The Roman-catholic population of Great Britain is now very little short of two millions.

It is supposed that there are in Ireland nearly seven millions of Roman Catholics. In Ireland there is also a college, supported by public money, for the free education of priests; and of these there are now scarcely less than 2500, with four archbishops, twenty-three bishops, eight colleges. Besides Maynooth, there are several monasteries, and many convents, nunneries, societies, clubs, and private seminaries.

In Scotland, also, popery has been of late rapidly advancing, particularly in the west. In Glasgow alone there are now 30,000 Roman Catholics, and even in Stirling they have recently erected a handsome chapel.

In the colonies, the Roman Catholics have, under various names, (as, for instance, the Bishop of Trinidad is called Bishop of Olympus,) bishops at the following places :-Quebec, (with a coadjutor ;) Montreal, (with a coadjutor ;) Hudson's Bay; Kingston, Upper Canada, (with a coadjutor;) Newfoundland; St. John's, New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Trinidad; Ceylon; Jamaica; Mauritius; Madras ; Calcutta; Australasia; Cape of Good Hope. In all these places they have extensive establishments. In Ceylon they boast of having 100,000 persons attached to their church in that island. In India they pretend to 600,000; and though that number is questionable, still it is not denied that their converts constitute no inconsiderable portion of the southern population. In Trinidad nearly the whole people are Roman Catholics, and sixteen new missionaries have lately sailed to complete the popish victory. From New South Wales, Bishop Broughton, the excellent Protestant diocesan, wrote to the Christian Knowledge Society in January, 1836, to the following effect :-" Protestantism is much endangered in this colony; the efforts of Rome in this country are almost incredible. It is traversed by the agents of Rome. I earnestly desire means of counteracting these machinations." In Canada, popery is the established religion of one province, and is liberally assisted in the other. In the Cape of Good Hope much has already been done in Graham's Town, and elsewhere; particularly in the new parts of the colony. In Newfoundland the Roman Catholics form a majority of the House of Assembly, and have gained otherwise a complete ascendancy.

In the South Seas equal activity is displayed. Dr. Lang, the principal of the Church of Scotland College in New South Wales, writing home on the 6th October, 1836, thus expresses himself :-"The moral influence of the Christian church of New South Wales will extend eventually to the neighbouring islands of New Zealand, containing a native population of half a million of souls, and comprising an extent of territory almost equal to that of the British Islands; to the western islands of the Pacific, numberless and teeming with inhabitants; to the Indian Archipelago, that great nursery of nations; to China itself. That the Romish propaganda has already directed her vulture eye to this vast field of moral influence, and strewn it, in imagination, with the carcases of the slain, is unquestionable. Spanish monks and friars have within the last few years been sent from the recently formed republics of the South-American continent to the eastern islands of the Pacific. Other groups, still more distant from the American continent, have recently been surveyed and taken possession of by Romish missionaries direct from France; and the Roman-catholic Bishop of New South Wales is already taking his measures

for co-operating with these missionaries from the westward, by transforming the sons of Irish convicts in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land into missionary priests, and dispersing them over the length and breadth of the vast Pacific."

In the United States, although it is not forty years since the first Romancatholic see was created, there is now a Catholic population of 600,000 souls under the government of the Pope, an Archbishop of Baltimore, fourteen bishops, and four hundred and twenty-two priests. The number of churches or stations is five hundred and forty-seven; colleges, fifteen; ecclesiastical seminaries, eleven; clerical students, one hundred and forty-eight; female religious institutions, twenty-seven; female academies, thirty-eight; charitable institutions, thirty-nine; and seven Catholic newspapers.

In the West Indies unexampled efforts are now made among all classes, principally from the missionaries of Cuba, where Popery reigns in undisturbed supremacy and unrivalled splendour.

In China, beyond the borders of which Protestants have failed to penetrate, the Jesuits have been working with a marvellous courage worthy of a better cause, and with a success which may well justify their boasting. By the Catholic Directory of 1838, it appears that the Papists actually have two bishoprics in China.

There is no corner of the globe which their restless feet have not invaded; there is no danger they have not braved; there is no artifice they have scorned; and of course, no scruple has been allowed to deter men who proclaim that "the end can sanctify the means.” The difficulties they encounter are not equal to those with which Protestants contend. It is not very difficult to make a papist of a pagan.

We find in Europe symptoms that popery is once more at war with the Bible, and struggling for ancient ascendancy. The following extract is from a fulmination of the Bishop of Bruges, dated Lent, 1838:-" We are desirous that all our diocesans should be apprised anew, that it is severely prohibited to every one, who is not provided with special permission to read and hold forbidden books, to purchase a Bible, or a commentary on the Bible, or any other books whatever, of the emissaries of the Bible Society, or to receive them gratis, or to retain such copies as they have in their possession. In any case, we deem it our duty to state, that while holding error in detestation, individuals are nevertheless bound to abstain from all acts of violence towards the emissaries of the society in question: the constituted authorities alone being empowered by the laws, both human and divine, to employ force of arms and the exercise of justice."

In Holland, superstition is again making way; in Leyden, three Romancatholic chapels have been erected, and we understand, on unquestionable authority, progress has been made to an alarming extent.

In France, the Archbishop of Paris has addressed the monarch, and has commenced to agitate for a renewal of the pomp and power of Romanism; and, with his party, he has already rendered the educational system as closely popish as possible. On a recent visit to Paris by the Hon. and Rev. G. Spencer, brother of Earl Spencer, arrangements were made, which it is understood are now carried into effect throughout France, to devote Thursday in

every week to solemn prayer for the re-conversion of England to the Romish faith. The rev. gentleman has since stated that “ere long all the nations of Europe will be joined in one great society of prayer for the conversion of this kingdom."*

In the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, the Archbishop of Cologne has preferred the authority of the Pope to that of the king, and in direct contravention of the law, has forbidden Roman Catholics to marry Protestants. In the Rhenish provinces, the Roman-catholic population amounts to 1,678,745 souls. In the whole Prussian dominions, inclusive of those provinces, the number is not less than 6,000,000. In Nassau, they form nearly three-fifths of the population, and in both Baden and Bavaria, they are more than double the number of all the various Protestant sects. In Hanover, there are upwards of 20,000 Roman Catholics, and in Austria they constitute the mass of the community. Such, also, is the case in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Sicily, Sardinia, South America, Madeira, parts of Greece, Ireland, the Azores, the Cape de Verd Islands, the Philippine Islands, Lower Canada, Martinique, Isle of France, &c. In Tyrol, hundreds have been banished from their native land, and expelled even beyond the extreme borders of the whole Austrian empire, for daring to worship the God of their fathers as those champions of truth dared to do in ancient times.

Thus in every part of the world popery is pursuing its triumphant course, is trampling on the consciences of mankind; rendering whole districts desolate of the word of life; and thwarting, with systematic zeal, the genuine. ministers of the gospel.

An association has been recently formed, entitled, "The Catholic Institute of Great Britain," under the presidency of the Earl of Shrewsbury. The design of the association will be sufficiently explained by the following extracts from its rules :

"That the objects of the Institute shall be confined to the exposure of the falsehood of the calumnious charges made against the Catholic religion, to the defence of the real tenets of Catholicity, to the circulation of all useful knowledge upon the above-mentioned subjects, and to the protection of the poorer classes of Catholics in the enjoyment of their religious principles and practices.

"That the funds of the institute shall be applied by the committee in providing a suitable place of meeting, and in recompensing the secretary, and such officers as they may consider necessary for the purpose of conducting the affairs and keeping the accounts of the institute; and that a further portion of the funds shall be applied in printing and circulating such publications as, having the previous sanction of a clergyman, duly authorized by the vicar apostolic of the London district, may be deemed useful to obviate calumny, to explain Catholic tenets, defend the purity and truth of Catholic doctrines, and circulate useful information on these subjects. That the committee shall also undertake the examination of all cases of religious oppression, or

* Catholic Magazine, February, 1839, p. 122.