'accord with the church in the things of the Lord.' It would seem very clear that this last phrase must mean something more than being sound in the faith;' and many will be apt to suspect that it may bear the very meaning against which Dr. Mason is contending. It is rather strange that it should have escaped his quick and penetrating mind, that this passage may be fairly understood to imply a more perfect and minute agreement than one which should include merely the few and simple fundamentals of the Christian faith. This portion of the volume closes with the following expressive language..

Here then we take leave of the primitive church. Even in the fourth century many grievous abuses had sprung up, grown rank, and brought forth their poisonous fruit, especially in her worship and government. The policy of CONSTANTINE which secularized her form; his profusion, which corrupted her virtue; and the meretricious attire which banished her modesty, prepared her for rapid infidelities to her LORD, and for her final prostitution to the MAN OF SIN. From the fifth century may be dated that career of shame which, particularly in the Western empire, she ran, with wild incontinence, through the night of the "dark ages;" until she was branded from above as the "MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS THE EARTH."

OF

We cannot follow Dr. Mason through his Third Class of facts which are too interesting, as well as too voluminous for abridgement. He refers to the confessions of the various Reformed Churches, in proof of his positions, and mingles with this dry detail, many shrewd reasonings and eloquent appeals. He terms Knox, the Scottish Elijah, and Calvin,

The PAUL of the Reformation. Had any thing been wanting in his own writings, in the opinion of his contemporaries, in his influence with the political and ecclesiastical cabinets of Protestant Europe, and in the dread and terror of the Papists, to evince the greatness of this extraordinary man, it would have been supplied by the rancorous malignity which assailed him during his life; and which has been hardly, if at all, abated by his death. His very name seems at this day to blister the tribes of error in all its gradations, and to form a solitary exception to the reverence which the world entertains for departed genius. More than two hundred and fifty years have elapsed since he went to join the Apostle whom he so much resembled, in the kingdom of God; and there is hardly an enemy to the truth, of whatever size, who does not think it incumbent on him to derive importance from "a gird" at the memory of Calvin.'

A most interesting narrative is given of the proceedings connected with the Polish Consensus, and of the persevering efforts of the French Protestant churches, to effect a general harmony of Christians upon such broad grounds, as to include even

Arminians; at least the project expressly reckons among the 'points to be omitted,' the subtle opinions broached by VAN ARMIN about free will, the saints' perseverance and predestina<tion.' And our excellent Bishop Hall, in the very synod of Dort, exclaimed-What have we to do with the disgraceful titles of Remonstrants, Contra-remonstrants, Calvinists, Ar'minians? We are Christians, let us also be of one soul.' In a note upon this passage, Dr. M. very justly remarks, that these epithets then bore a very different sense from their present acceptation; they were then used as terms of rancour and rejection; they have now become technical terms, and convey very complex ideas with more brevity and precision than could easily be done by a periphrasis.' The history of the renunciation of the great Protestant principle of communion by the Established Churches of England and Scotland, and of its maintenance by the Westminster Assembly, is written with a masterly hand. Referring to the first of these, Dr. Mason gives way to the indignant feeling occasioned by the remembrance of her oppressions.

To those who are acquainted with the history of this disastrous period, it would be superfluous to detail the mercies of Laud, and the mysteries of the Star-Chamber. Suffice it to observe, that the contests in the Church of England between the high-handed conformists and their demurring brethren, furnished proof, and not refutation, of the doctrine here advanced in favour of Catholic communion. No whim, nor abuse, nor corruption, which they were not required to approve, severed the Puritans from the Established Church. They grieved, they mourned, they expostulated, about things which afflicted their consciences, but they thought not of separation. Had they been allowed to exonerate themselves from the charge of countenancing what, in all sincerity, they disallowed; or had they not been commanded to belie their conviction by an explicit approbation of what they abhorred, the name of dissenters from the Church of England had never been known. Un-episcopal in their judgment they certainly were, as were all the continental Protestants, and all the Fathers of the British Reformation. They disliked, they loathed, certain exterior observanees; but still, had they been permitted to dislike and to loathe without exhibiting public disturbance had they not been required to deny what they believed to be truth, and to profess what they believed to be falsehood—had not the price of their peace in the Establishment been rated so high as the perjury of their souls before God, they had never been separated from the Church of England. As it was, they did not retire, they were driven from her bosom; and they have thus left upon record their testimony of martyrdom to the sacredness of that communion which belongs to the church of God, and to the criminality of dividing it upon slight pre

tences.'

Into the dispute respecting the meaning of the phrase 'Com

'munion of Saints,' it would be impossible for us to enter, without mutilating the clear and distinct, yet brief and weighty statements of Dr. M. This we feel no disposition to do; and shall therefore satisfy ourselves with remarking, that here at least we generally agree with him, and that he has successfully opposed hard arguments to Aquinatic distinctions. We subjoin the Doctor's own summary of this important section.

The preceding pages are believed to have shewn, that the com munion for which they plead is enjoined in the word of God-was understood to be so enjoined by the Apostolic and primitive churchwas acted upon under that persuasion-was contended for in opposition to every sort of sectaries-was asserted, and the doctrine of it inserted, in the briefest summary of faith ever current in the churches, the Apostles' creed-was maintained at the revival of the cause of God and truth at the Reformation-was practised to the greatest extent in the best of churches in the best of times-was cordially received by that venerable representation of evangelical interests, the Assembly of Divines at Westminster-is in perfect unison with the known convictions and conduct of the most glorious champions of the cross whom England ever saw-was not only received, but is formally, explicitly, and fully maintained in their profession of faithhas been re-asserted and vindicated by the church of Scotland thirty years before the Secession-and stands, at this hour, a conspicuous part of the solemn, public profession of churches which, on both sides of the Atlantic, have originated from her.'

Part the Third- A review of objections'-does not fall short of the ability displayed in the former sections of the work; it is, however, even less susceptible of compression, and we must here content ourselves with a simple reference to the original, the republication of which we have been given to understand, since we began this article, may be shortly expected.

Part the Fourth-The consequences of sectarian, as op'posed to Catholic communion' is the concluding chapter. Dr. Mason points out these consequences, in relation to ourselves-to the Church of God at large-and to the surrounding world.' Whatever may be thought of his arguments, the force of eloquence with which he urges them will be denied by none. There is a powerful energy, an overwhelming vehemence in his reproofs and expostulations, that seem to bear down his antagonist. It might be easy, perhaps, to detect minor faults in the style and manner of this able work, but we have no disposition to apply this inferior sort of criticism to powers of such richness and magnitude. Dr. Mason's mind is of a bold, determined, and elevated cast; he possesses the eloquence both of words and argument, though not in equal perfection, yet in powerful combination; and with these rare excellences it is perhaps a natural defect that his strength is sometimes injurious to just refinement, and that his language

is sometimes forced. We shall conclude this article with the peroration of his work.

In very deed, sectarians are Christians in disguise. Sectarian distinctions are masks; sectarian champions, ecclesiastical knights covered with their armour, themselves unseen. The masks are of all hues and all features. They must be removed before you can per ceive that the combatants are of one species. Sectarianism stripped off, you see the Christians. You discover the identity of race-the family features-those beautiful features in which they resemble their Father who is in Heaven, and are "conformed to the image of the "first-born among many brethren."

'Blessed likeness! enchanting loveliness! Are the painted earthmade vizors which conceal the "human face divine," and substitute in its room their own deformed and forbidding visages, worth the price they cost us? worth the conflicts which have all the pains of military warfare without its recompence, and all the hardihood of chivalry without its generosity? worth the broken unity, the blighted peace, the tarnished beauty, the prostrate energy, the humbled honour, of the Church of God? Ah no! Our hearts feel that they are not. What then remains but to lay aside our petty contests? to strike our hands in a covenant of love C -a holy league,' offensive and defensive, for the common Christianity-to present our consolidated front to the legions of error and death, and march on, under the command and conduct of the Captain of our salvation, till the nations mingle their shouts in that thundering Alleluia-" The Lord "God Omnipotent reigneth."

We now take our leave of this able and impressive writer. Whatever may be thought of his general arguments, there can be no question concerning the skill with which he has conducted it; and whatever may be the fate of his main positions, all sincere Christians will join with him in deprecating that mutual jealousy and alienation of spirit, which have so long subsisted among men formed to admire and love one another. Secta rian fires,' says Dr. Mason, 'put out Christian light: it is however some consolation, that the day will come when Christian light shall for ever extinguish sectarian fires.

6

Art. III. Monastic and Baronial Remains; with other interesting Fragments of Antiquity, in England, Wales, and Scotland. Illustrated with upwards of one Hundred Plates. By G. J. Parkyns, Esq. Royal 8vo. 2 Vols. pp. 288. Price 41. Longman and Co.

1816.

IT T is a commodious circumstance attending the gratification of taste in contemplating the greater proportion of architectural ruins, that we cannot regret that they are ruins. We often indeed do regret to see them so much dilapidated, but we do not in the least envy the persons who had the advantage of seeing them entire. Thus, we have the solemnity of the images of past VOL. VI. N. S. 2 Y

ages and generations, combined with satisfaction that the state which existed in those times and among those people, is gone into the past with them, never to return.

The two classes of antiquities specified in the title above transcribed, please us by their irreparable decay, as monumental of the destruction of feudality and Popish superstition, of which these remains strongly illustrate the savage and the slavish character. How grim is that vision of a former age, which rises to the view of a reflective spirit, while contemplating one of these dilapidated castles, while looking up at the remains of towers and battlements, while passing through the deep and massive gate-ways, while observing the rocky solidity and thickness of the walls, while winding through the narrow gloomy passages, and while looking down into the dungeons, where, in a dismal twilight, and surrounded closely by an impenetrable construction of stone, so many wretches have pined in protracted despair, or awaited a speedy and violent death. However disparted by time, or worn by the elements, or mantled with ivy, or crowned with wall-flowers, or enlightened now by the wide access of sunshine, the ruins may be, they retain unalterably a frowning and as it were malevolent aspect. The structure has much the same effect on the imagination, as the sight of a skeleton of some gigantic murderer. The idea of merely defensive strength, is quite secondary in the beholder's reflections. The predominant impression is that of a hold of barbarous and turbulent beings, ready to rush out on enterprises of revenge, and slaughter, and devastation; or returned to riot in the spoils and the exultation of their destructive success. And when the thought is extended to the rural tracts between several of these fortresses, their condition in that age is presented in all the forms of a disturbed culture and a harrassed population.

The edifices raised by Popery, and abandoned to the operation of time since the fall of that hateful domination, suggest-by their gloom, by their superstitious uncouth imagery, by their arrangements for the purpose of vain rites, and for the privilege and accommodation of the performers and teachers of them, and by their enormous expense of labour-an impressive idea of the enslaved condition of the human mind; and we may rejoice, with gratitude to Heaven, that in these ruins we behold so many signs of its deliverance from what was so little better than Pagan idolatry. It is a mind of very little elevation, that in contemplating the cloisters, and arches, and broken walls, be more gratified in the way of taste than of philanthropy and religion; more pleased by picturesque appearance, than sympathetic with the exultation of prophets and confessors, that in thus far, "Babylon is fallen !"

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