period stated, nor any particular dates, whereby we can trace the áccuracy of the assertions here made. When did Popery commence? This question never has been correctly answered. Some have fixed it at one period, some at another, but none agree on the same point. Now Catholics can tell the exact time when every heresy of note was broached, from the days of Simon Magus to those of Martin Luther and downwards. The theories put forth by the heresiarchs are always distinguished by the names of the inventors; as Arianism, from Arius the heretic; Donatism, from Donatus the broacher of that error; Pelagianism, from Pelagius who taught it; Lutberanism, from Luther, the apostle of the Reformation, so called; Calvinism, from Calvin, a branch spreader of the Reformation; and so on of the three or four hundred different sects into which this land of bibles is now divided. But the same cannot be said of that system which Protestant writers term Popery.' The word is derived from the title of Pope given to the bishop of Rome, who is by divine right supreme head of the Catholic or universal church. Of these bishops there were more than one hundred in the first nine centuries of the Christian church, but not one of them can be selected by name as the institutor of Popery, or the inventor of heresy, though Fox is pleased to stile them in the gross "arch and unchristian heretics." It must not be forgotten that in the seventh century Fox allows the Catholic church to have been ORTHODOX, for he ranks the holy pope Martin amongst his martyrs, and says he was an opposer of the heresy of Monothelism. That he called a council of 105 bishops, who unanimously condemned the errors of that sect. This pope was martyred in 655; in the next century we find Fox admitting another martyr into his calendar, who received his commission from Rome to preach the gospel to the Pagans and extirpate heresy. This martyr is St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, who suffered in 755. This was the middle of the eighth century, so that we have brought the time into a ́small compass, and yet not a date nor a name can be given for the origin of Popery unless, indeed, we go back to the apostles themselves, from whom the church is stiled Apostolic as well as Catholic.

It is stated by Fox, that "from this period (the tenth century) till "the reformation was attempted by Wickliffe, the abominations of these "arch and unchristian heretics (the popes) increased with rapid strides, "till at length all the sovereigns of Europe were compelled to do them "the most servile homage." These popes were strange fellows, truly! and how did they go to work to compel all the sovereigns of Europe, every one of them, to render their holinesses the most servile homage? There must have been something supernatural in "these arch and unchristian heretics," which no other heretics possessed, to perform such feats as these. To compel kings and emperors, whether tyrants or fathers of their people, to render them the most servile homage, is no less than a miracle, and heretics were never able to claim one of these gifts of the Divine Being. That the sovereigns of Europe rendered homage to the popes at this time cannot be denied; but it was not a servile homage; it was only that spiritual obedience which is now given to the head of the Catholic church by sovereigns in her communion, and it was in consequence of their receiving the light of faith from missionaries sent by their authority. The "abominations" which increased

with such rapid strides," were the blessings imparted by the conversion of the nations of Europe to the Catholic faith, an account of which advantages, both spiritual and temporal, we have given in our relation of the conversion of this island to Catholicism...

Fox goes on to say, that monks were first made spiritual ministers in the reign of our Edgar, contrary to the decrees and customs of the church; and that in this monarch's time they were allowed to marry, there being no law forbidding it till the papacy of Gregory VII. We thank the martyrologist for this statement, because we have something that is tangible, and can prove it false by the test of authentic history. In Rapin's History of England, there is a long speech of Edgar's to the council he had assembled for the reformation of abuses and the correction of manners. In this speech the monarch inveighs in strong terms against the incontinent lives of the clergy, which he said was a scandal to the people, end a public complaint. This author, commenting on the dissolute lives of the clergy in this age, says, "it must be observed, "the popes had FOR SOME TIME prohibited the clergy from marrying, "and were very severe to all who refused to comply with their de" crees."-This is the testimony of a Calvinist writer, who cannot be charged with any partiality towards Catholics.-The assertion then made by Fox, that there was no law forbidding the marriage of the clergy before the popedom of Gregory VII, is proved to be FALSE by Protestant evidence. We will now introduce a witness of another character, whose work has received the approbation of the most learned and eminent personages of the present day. Speaking of Edgar's days, Dr. Lingard says, in his History, "The tranquillity of Edgar's reign, "his undisputed superiority over the neighbouring princes, and his at"tention to the welfare of his people, have contributed to throw a lustré " around his memory: the reformation of the church, undertaken by the prelates, and effected with the aid of his authority, though it was re"ceived with gratitude by his contemporaries, has been marked with ❝ unmerited censure by modern writers. The Danish invasion had both "relaxed the sinews of ecclesiastical discipline, and dissolved the greater "number of the monastic and clerical establishments. The most opu"lent monasteries had been laid in ruins by the rapacity of the barba"rians and their lands, without an owner, had been seized by the crown, or had been divided among the nearest and most powerful "thanes. Under former kings, efforts had been made to restore the mo"nastic order, but they had proved ineffectual. The prejudices against "it were nourished by the great proprietors now in possession of its an"cient revenues; even the monastery of Ethelingey, which Alfred had "peopled with foreign monks, had been gradually deserted: and the "two abbeys of Glastonbury and Abingdon, the fruits of the zeal of "Dunstan, had been dissolved by the resentment of Edwy. The cle"rical order was more fortunate. Though shattered and disfigured, it "had survived the tempest. But the friends of religious severity, "when they compared the clergy of their day with the clergy of an❝cient times, saw much in their conduct to lament and correct. Formerly they had lived in communities under particular regulations: "and their seclusion from temporal pursuits insured the faithful discharge of their spiritual functions. But during the Danish wars they

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"had been dispersed amidst their relatives, had divided among them"selves the revenues of their respective churches, and, substituting "others for the performance of the service, indulged in the pleasures and dissipation of the laity. But that which gave particular offence "to the more devout was their marriages. It is most certain, that during the two first centuries of the Saxon church the profession of "celibacy was required from every clergyman advanced to the orders " of priest, or deacon, or sub-deacon: but amid the horrors of succes"sive invasions the injunctions of the canons had been overlooked or " contemned: and, on many occasions, necessity compelled the prelates "to ordain, for the clerical functions, persons who had already engaged "in the state of matrimony. Similar causes had produced similar ef*fects in the maritime provinces of Gaul; and Dunstan had witnessed, during his exile, the successful efforts of the abbot Gerard to restore "the ancient discipline in the churches of Flanders. Animated by his example, the metropolitan made a first essay to raise the monastic establishments from their ruins: and his labours were zealously seconded by two active co-operators, the bishops Oswald and. Ethel"wold. The former governed the church of Worcester: the latter, "his favourite disciple, had been placed at his request in the see of "Winchester. To them Edgar was induced to sell, or grant, the lands "of the monasteries, which had fallen to the crown: and of those " which remained in the hands of individuals, a portion was recovered "by purchase, and still more by the voluntary resignation of the pos66 sessors. Persons were soon found ready to embrace an institute re"commended by the prelates and sanctioned by the king: as fast as buildings could be erected, they were filled with colonies of monks "and their novices: and within a few years the great abbeys of Ely, "Peterborough, Thorney, and Malmsbury, rose from their ashes, and "recovered the opulence and the splendour which they had formerly "enjoyed. The next object of the metropolitan was the reformation " of the more dissolute among the clergy, principally in the two dioceses of Winchester and Worcester. For this purpose a commission was obtained from Rome, and a law was enacted, that every priest, deacon, and subdeacon should live chastely, or be ejected from his "benefice."

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From this passage it will be seen that the monks did exercise spiritual functions before Edgar's reign, and that the celibacy of the clergy was a díscipline of the church in the first period of the Saxon church. In fact the rule was coeval with Christianity, though in the early ages marriage was permitted in some cases. On this subject we will give another authority, who has treated the matter very elaborately, and who stands unimpeached as a controversialist and historian. The Right Rev. Dr. Milner, in his excellent History of Winchester, says, "It would be too tedious a task to cite all the canons, made in the pri"mitive church, against the marriage of bishops, priest and deacons. "Let it suffice to refer to Concil. Elib. can. xxxiii. 2 Concil. Cathag " can. ii. 1 Concil. Ecum. Nicen. can. iii. 2 Concil, Arelat. can. ii."St. Jerom, in the fourth age, testifies that, in the three great patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, no persons were received amongst the clergy, but such as were either single men, or entirely

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"separated from their wives. Liber adversus Vigilant. The testimony of the learned bishop St. Epiphanius, is to the same effect. Hæres. 59. -Not to multiply quotations, the centuriators of Magdeburg allow, that, about the time of the conversion of our ancestors, a synod was "held by St. Gregory the Great, in which an anathema was pro"nounced against bishops, priests, or deacons, who should presume to marry. Cent. x. f. 642.-The discipline of the Greek church, in subsequent times, became less strict, in this point, than that of the "Latin church. Its bishops did not refuse to ordain married persons, to serve amongst the inferior clergy, (for no prelate, even amongst them, was ever allowed to have a wife); hence even their schisma"tical council, called Quinisext, or In Trullo, after their separation "from the Latin church, utterly condemned the contracting of marriage, when a person was once initiated into holy orders, and such “their discipline has remained down to the present day. With respect "to our ancient English church, if the truth must be told, we are "bound to say, that its discipline was strictly conformable to that of "the Latin church in general, of which it formed a part, and of course, “that it was never lawful for any clergyman in holy orders, whether secular or regular, to enter into the married state; nor could any married man, unless he was first separated from his wife by "mutual consent, ever be ordained to the higher orders. This we may "gather, in the first place, from the above quoted passage of Venerable Bede, according to which, only those who were not in holy orders were allowed, in any case whatever, to marry or live in the married "state. The same is still more clear from another passage of that primitive author, whom Camden calls the friend of truth. In his "exposition of the first chapter of St. Luke, having observed that the

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priests of the old law were obliged to be continent only during the "stated times of their ministry; he goes on: 'but now an injunction is "laid upon priests to observe chastity continually, and ever to abstain "from the use of marriage, to the end they may always assist at the "altar.' It does not appear that any of the clergy ever attempted to infringe this law, until after the confusion, which followed the Danish "devastations, in 860. Soon after this we find Pulco, archbishop of Rheims, congratulating king Alfred on the firm and zealous conduct " of his primate Plegmund, in extirpating what he calls the error of "those who held it lawful for the clergy to marry. Flodoard. Hist. "Rhemens. 1. iii.—In the reign of king Edmund, viz. in 944, we meet "with the particulars of a great synod, as it was called, held at London, "by the two archbishops and a great number of prelates, and other 66 considerable personages; in the very first ordinance of which it is enjoined "that all, initiated in sacred offices, shall be careful, as their "state requires, to lead their lives chastely, whether they be men or women, which, if they fail to do, let them be punished as the canon enjoins. Spelman, De Concil.-The same learned writer proves, "from the Penitential, which he publishes, that bishops, priests, and "deacons, no less than monks, were conceived, in those times, to be guilty of a great crime, if they ever returned to the state of marriage, "which they had renounced at their ordination. This brief disser"tation may serve to rectify the mistaken notions which modern readers

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may have hastily taken up on this point of ecclesiastical history, "from Parker, Godwin, Tanner, H. Wharton, Carte, Hume, the late "historian of Winchester, and other ignorant or interested writers. έσ Amongst others comes forward, at the present day, a writer, who has "miserably waded beyond his depth, wherever he has ventured to "treat of ecclesiastical antiquities. Speaking of the revolution in the "church of Worcester, which took place at the same time with that " mentioned above in our cathedral, he says, 'the popes had found it their "interest to exact celibacy from the clergy, they incited the monks to દ raise an outcry against those who, instead of devoting their whole "time to spiritual employments, gave a part of it to the company of "their wives, &c. Priests that were members of the cathedral col66 leges had not as yet been restrained from marrying.' Valentine "Green's History of Worcester, p. 26.-From this passage it appears "that the writer had never met with a single canon, or ecclesiastical authority, enforcing clerical celibacy, anterior to the tenth century, and that he ascribes the measures then taken by king Edgar and St. "Dunstan, St. Oswald, and St. Ethelwold, to certain negociations "between them and the popes, and to some new laws which the latter "had just then enacted on this subject for their own interest. It was "incumbent on him to have pointed out the negociations and laws in ."" question. Unfortunately, however, too many of the popes in that age were abandoned to licentiousness themselves, instead of watching 66 over the morals of the other clergy. The true policy of this original "law of clerical celibacy, after all the sagacity of modern writers, will "be found in 1 Cor. chap. vii. v. 32, 33.

Such clear documentary evidence as we have here produced must, we imagine, put the question to rest; at least it is sufficient to satisfy every reasonable mind, and we know not what can be adduced to convince those who are determined to remain in their error. On the subject of celibacy in the clergy much might be offered in a political point of view, and we cannot help considering those who advocate the married life of men, whose sole duties should be, to labour in the Lord's vineyard, very ill-advised as far as regards their own interest and the country's welfare. In the time of Catholicism, the provision made for the clergy did not go solely to fill their own coffers, nor to maintain their own families. They voluntarily embraced a single life, and they engaged to perform duties which it would be unjustifiable to call upon a married man to execute. For instance, in the time of pestilence, or of an individual infected with a contagious disease, the consolations of religion are not to be denied to the afflicted. But who is to convey these consolations to the dying under such circumstances? It cannot be expected that a married clergyman would rush into danger which might affect his own life, and thus leave his wife and family destitute; or, by carrying home the infectious effluvia, might cause the pestilence to spread in his family, and though he might escape, yet he might sip the cup of affliction in the loss of his wife and children. We have learned at the time we are writing of a young Catholic priest, eminent for his talents and abilities, falling a sacrifice to this act of godlike charity, in Dublin; and the same disregard of life to impart the cheering and soothing comforts of religion to the infected poor of his flock,