How different the feelings of the Catholic, who in the right spirit of humiliation and sorrow for past offences approaches the tribunal of reconciliation; and humbly hoping that GOD may have ratified the words of absolution, pronounced over him by the priest, presumes with all reverence and devotion to receive into a breast, purified from the defilements of sin, the real body and blood of Christ,-from those of the Protestant, who, laden with a burthen of unconfessed offences, ever increasing in number, presents himself at formally stated times to partake in a so-called sacrament, which the denial of the great doctrine of Transubstantiation reduces to a mere symbolical participation of the elements of bread and wine.

By her rejection of the four remaining sacraments of the Catholic Church-Confirmation, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction-the Established Church virtually repudiates the spiritual graces of which they are the outward and visible signs. Thus, by Confirmation we believe that the imposition of hands of a bishop, by regular and unbroken succession descending from the apostles, really confers upon the recipient those very graces of the Holy Spirit which, in a more resplendent manner and degree, were imparted to the assembled twelve on the great day of Pentecost. Protestantism, having reduced Confirmation from the dignity of a sacrament to a "rite," cannot of course claim for its participators any such lofty gifts; neither is the simply parliamentary tenure by which the Anglican bishops hold their sees, and are moreover acknowledged to hold them by sound Protestant authorities, however anxiously the Tractarians may lay claim for the Establishment to the figment of apostolical succession,-at all consistent with any inherent virtue in the occupants of those benefices to confer on others miraculous graces of the HOLY SPIRIT.

With regard to "Orders," the next of the expunged Sacraments, it would naturally occur to a reflecting mind, that if for any state of life it were desirable to bespeak that " inward spiritual grace," which is the very essence of a Sacramental ordinance, it would be for the condition of that man who is about to devote his life to the ministry of the Gospel. With the Catholics, accordingly, episcopal ordination is believed to confer great and peculiar graces; considered by the Protestants as a mere Rite," neither in fact nor theory does it confer any at all.

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The established Church glories in calling herself scriptural, and confidently appeals to the warranty of the Bible for all the doctrines she either inculcates or rejects. Trying her by such a self-chosen test,

VOL. II.-NO. XII.

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let us just select that positive injunction "Whom God hath joined, let not man put asunder," and ask of the Lords spiritual and temporal, by what process of ratiocination they reconcile the duty of obedience to such an unmistakeably-plain scriptural injunction, with the fact of their lordships' table groaning every session beneath the weight of divorce bills? But the sacrament of marriage has been levelled to a degree of a "civil contract" by the theologians of Protestantism; and stripped of the graces with which in the one capacity it might be presumed to abound, it is of course reducible in the other to a mere human tie, which it is as easy to unloose as it had been to fasten. We question, however, whether our Redeemer regarded that ceremony in the light of a mere civil contract, of which he chose to illustrate the celebration by the performance of his first miracle at Cana in Galilee.

The Catholic Sacrament of Extreme Unction, that last consoling rite, by which the Church recommends her departing children to the mercy of GOD, into whose presence they are about to enter, is in fact an exact and literal compliance with the precept of the Apostle St. James, contained in the fifth chapter of his general epistle.

"Is any man sick among you? let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him."

The doctrine of the Church, based upon the above passage, is, that independently of the spiritual graces it confers, Extreme Unction occasionally does "save the sick," restoring health, when all human means have failed. The mingled hope and resignation which such a belief is calculated to produce in the mind of a man who lingers in mortal extremity, must have been personally experienced, to be adequately imagined. We that write these lines, have known what it is to lie upon a so-considered bed of death, surrounded by weeping friends, and apparently beyond the aid of all medical succour. At that awful moment, when the portals of a future world seemed opening upon us, it was a source of unspeakable comfort to be, by a minister of religion, "anointed with oil in the name of the Lord ;" and a fond confidence in the efficacy of that last holy rite of the Church, inclines us to ascribe our unlooked-for rallying from a state of deadly languor more to the virtue of the Sacrament, than to any resources of nature. Why the established Church should have utterly expunged the practice of Extreme Unction from her discipline, in the very teeth of the express

scriptural precept which directs its observance, it is for wiser heads than ours to decide. That self-same epistle of St. James contains sundry other remarkable passages, militating very infelicitously against some of the favourite theories of Protestantism. So obstinate a stumbling-block indeed did it prove in the headlong course of the famous Wittenberg Doctor, that he denominates the epistle of St. James, "a weak and trashy epistle, unworthy of an Apostle."

C.

TO OUR BLESSED LADY.

OH! Blessed Lady! what a sweetness lies
In the mild beaming of those modest eyes,-
Which, downward cast, regard so tenderly
The slumbers of celestial infancy.

A shade of sadness on thy brow doth rest,
Presageful of the sword that pierced thy breast,
In after days, when He, who slumbereth
Upon thy bosom, gave himself to death.

Oh! holy Mother of that Blessed One,
Who took upon himself to be thy Son-
That he might ransom from captivity,
Whom Adam's disobedience doomed to die!
Look down with pity upon him, who now
Gazes upon thy meek and placid brow,–
By Raffael's immortal art portray'd,—
And grant, unto his prayer, thy powerful aid:

That from his soul all stain he may efface,
Of sin, and be restored to perfect grace,
Through Him, who, nestling in thy sacred breast,
Hath His humanity to sleep addres't.

Refuge of those whom weight of grief oppress!

Oh! succour me in this my deep distress!

Let me not cry to thee for help in vain,
But do thou my deliverance obtain.

J. P. S.

REVIEW.

A few Remarks on the Revival of Church Architecture, by the Rev. John Dalton, Catholic Priest, Lynn. 1843.

THE above brochure we recommend with all confidence to our readers, and that for two reasons,—first, because, it contains a masterly digest of the recent revival amongst us of that most noble of the fine arts, Christian architecture; and secondly, because it is practically aiding the good cause, by bringing before the public the fact, that the Rev. Mr. Dalton is now assiduously labouring to collect funds for erecting a Catholic Church in Lynn, Norfolk; the design for which our readers may well believe to be most beautiful and ecclesiastical, when we say it is from the fruitful brain of the gifted Pugin.

As a favourable specimen, we must let the reverend gentleman make his own appeal in the concluding passages of his pamphlet.

"And now especially, as we are about to erect a building (when sufficient funds can be collected, towards which any trifle would be most gratefully accepted,) which I am confident will be a great ornament to the town; the bigotry and intolerance of some may possibly be excited; but, let me ask, are not Catholics fully entitled to erect chapels and churches, as well as any one else? Is that wish Christian, charitable, generous, or noble, that would prevent us from being on an equal footing with other people? Who built Ely, Lincoln, Norwich Cathedrals, York Minster, St. Margaret's Church, &c.? Catholics. Who built all the finest ecclesiastical buildings in the kingdom? Catholics. Of what religion were many of our greatest kings, and princes, and statesmen? Catholics. Who founded most of the Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge? People called Catholics. Who left so much money for charity to all our cathedrals and parochial churches? Holy and devout men, bishops and prelates of the Roman Catholic Church. And what alas! is the return we have received? During many long years, we have been at the mercy of a bigoted parliament. For us there was no redress, no terms of peace, no laws but those of injustice. Every one was armed against us; every place resounded with invectives against us; the pulpit, the senate-house, the bar, the Bible meeting; whilst at the same time, tracts, pamphlets, and publications of every size and description, daily came forth, holding us up to the public as beings of a quite different nature from the rest of God's creatures, as men incapable of any moral excellence, and, therefore, fit only to be despised, persecuted, and trampled under foot. Then indeed we were but as a spark' shining in the midst of a dark pitchy night; we were but as a grain of mustard seed, which is the least of all seeds.' Hence Catholics were but in an ill condition for building churches, in any way to be compared with those magnificent piles erected by their fore

fathers; like the first Christians, we were doomed for a time to be content with poverty and obscurity. But still we knew well, that God would never forsake his Church; that however violently the winds might blow, and the rains fall, and the waves dash in wild fury against the vessel, yet that He would arise in his own good time, and command the winds and the waves, so that there should come a great calm. Thus, as the ark of Noah rose in triumph over the mighty waters of the deluge, and alone remained amidst the ruins of a world which had passed away, so it will be with the Church.

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"And now in these our days, when people have become more liberal and charitable towards their fellow-creatures; when they judge for themselves, and hear both sides of a question, what has been the result? The 'spark' has broken forth into a beautiful flame, and with its brightness and glory thousands are enraptured: the little grain of mustard seed has suddenly grown up into a majestic tree; the storms and tempests of the last century have passed away, and the bark of Peter now joyfully pursues her wonted course towards that port, where storms and tempests shall be no more. Her children are endeavouring to restore the places that have been desolate.' Churches, chapels, monasteries, colleges, and hospitals, are rising up in every direction; and though they are not all so noble or so beautiful, as those erected in ancient days, yet they resemble them in many respects, as far as our limited means will allow. Here in Lynn, too, amidst the venerable and hoary ruins of monasteries and other religious buildings, a small Catholic church is about to be erected, in this her ancient abode. I ask the question again: are we not entitled to have a church as well as any one else? Every noble-minded,—every liberal and generous man in the town will answer, without a moment's hesitation, Yes;' but on the other hand, every bigot, every illiberal and ungenerous, as well as uncharitable man will exclaim, 'No!' Of the latter, I trust there are few amongst us. But whatever may be the case, I hope we shall still endeavour to cultivate peace and harmony, remembering that we are all children of One and the same tender Father; that we have all been redeemed by the precious blood of His only Son, and that however much we may, alas! differ in some points, yet we are all striving to enter upon that narrow road which leadeth unto life everlasting. Until we endeavour to remember this truth, we may go on building churches and chapels till doomsday; it will be of no avail, for God cannot give His blessing to our exertions: but if on the other hand, all would cultivate peace and charity as far as possible, oh! how blessed, how glorious, would be the result."