has brought many older persons, persons of the highest talents and deepest religious feelings, into a mlserable state of doubt and disquietude. They see on all sides a spirit at work which nothing human can quell; there is a desire for unity and Catholic privileges which interests them; and they observe the persecuting, unchristian spirit, in which many act or write who oppose themselves to the present movement. With the generosity which is natural to their time of life, they are disposed to take part with those whom they think hardly treated; and then, perhaps, in place of giving themselves up to the Church system, and so becoming practically better than they were before-humble, diffident, self-disciplined, thankful for the blessings they possess, they become mere talkers, perhaps even irreverent declaimers, on subjects which are too hard for them, or which at any rate they are too ignorant, if not to shallow, to view in all their bearings. Meanwhile Rome has her eye upon them, and adapting herself to their tone of mind, represents her creed, not as it is, but as they wish it to be; she keeps what is essentially Popish as much as possible in the back-ground, brings what is Catholic prominently forward, and so in the end wins them over to her side, because they are too impatient to learn that the 'middle way' of truth, the way of the English Church, is as far removed from Popery on the one side, as from Puritanism on the other." Next follows an exhortation by Dr. Bagot to his Rev. brethren; "That as on all other accounts, so especially on this" they "extend at the present time a double measure of care and watchfulness towards the younger members of their flock." And, to shew his orthodoxy, he makes the following profession of faith, viz.: "That there is an almost incalculable amount of error and superstition in the Church of Rome. That she was not altered one jot, or tittle, of her ancient character;" that she is as "subtle, as dangerous, and as false, as she has ever been; as shameless a perverter of the truth, and as cruel a persecutor:" that any attempt to unite with her, while she is what she is, is to be deprecated utterly, and that all concession must come from her and not from us;" that he has "a deep and increasing dread of her workings and artifices;" that he looks upon her as schismatical and antiChristian;" that his "own Church is pure in doctrine, apostolical in ministry, and that if a man will live as our prayer-book would have him, he will not miss his salvation." We have no feeling but that of pity for the man who could thus deliberately insult and misrepresent the religion of the great men who erst adorned the university of Oxford by their virtue and learning, and to whom England owes a lasting debt of gratitude, which she can only repay by repudiating, in word and in deed, those "strange doctrines" held by the establishment, and rejecting that pseudo apostolical ministry of which Dr. Bagot is one of the heads. VOL. VI. 24 That none of those persons whom the establishment still holds in the captivity of error, and who are struggling to break the bonds which hold them, may seek "Rome because their own mother withheld from them the spiritual sustenance which they needed," the bishop makes the following suggestions to his clergy: "Let the slovenly method, in which divine offices have perhaps in some places been performed heretofore, cease at once and for ever in all. Let our churches be no longer left to damp or delapidation, but meet, as far as we can make them so, for the presence of Him who hath promised to come among us there, and bless us. Above all, let the ministration of the blessed sacraments be duly and reverently performed; the one no longer solemnized out of its proper place in the service, the other more frequently administered. I well know, that we have been so long neglectful, that our people have ceased to value much that we could restore to them; and it will only be when we have taught them to look on attendance upon the ordinances of religion as a blessing and a privilege, as well as a duty, that we can bring them back to the habits and feelings of a better day; and this can only be done gradually—most gradually, and in the exercise of that sound descretion, which prefers slow, but sure advance, to that more rapid and excited movement, which is sure ere long to halt and linger, and is not rarely forced to retrace its steps. Two services on the Sanday, where hitherto there has been but one, the observance of the festivals of Lent and Passion week, and, as opportunity may offer, of Ember and Rogation days, may, in due time, bring us back to the restoration of the daily service. The Church fasts kept will accustom men to habits of selfdenial; and we may hope that luxury will diminish, and alms-giving increase. The Offertory will not then, as now, be almost a mockery of offering; not, as now, rarely read, but regularly and largely contributed to. In a word, let the teaching of the Church, and her holy practices as a Church, be systematically brought forward, taking care, of course, all the while, that an exaggerated and undue importance is not given to externals, that, to use the language of a popular writer, the Church be not set in place of the Saviour; such a near approximation, in short, year by year, to the system prescribed by our Prayer book will, I am confident, produce a vast increase of piety, devotion, and charity among us, and those Catholie aspirations and longings, which we hear of as now seeking relief irregularly and inadequately, and are looking towards other communions, will find safe and sufficient vent in our own." We venture to predict that these suggestions will be but little attended to, and Dr. Bagot seems to have his misgivings, for he assures his clergy that "there is at this time an expansive principle within us," (etu establishment)" which can no longer be pent up with safety. "If you attempt to repress it, an explosion, the limits of whose destructive force none can tell, will inevitably fellow. But we have a safety-valve ready pro vided in the Church system, which, if only properly used, will yet bear us harmless. As for those, the success of whose system would be to drive their brethren into secession, it seems to me that they little know of what spirit, they are.' The opinions they dislike may or may not be true; that is a point on which men may differ to the end of time; but it cannot be well to condemn rashly and rancorously what has been held in whole, or in part, by such men as Bull, and Beveridge, and Andrews, and Hooker, and Taylor, and Jackson, and a host besides of those, who in their days were, and are still, the soundest divines of the Church of England. It cannot be wise to seek to expel from the bosom of that Church men who love her with no common love, and seek to serve her wtth no ordinary devotion." After recommending his clergy to direct their studies to the subjects which now agitate the public mind, especially to arm themselves "with sound weapons of defence against the assaults of Rome," the Bishop, most ungraciously and unbecomingly we think, thus attacks his coadjutors, the Stowells, M'Neils, M'Ghees, O'Sullivans, Noels, et id genus omne. "If ever there was a case in which weak arguments, illogical conclusions, incorrect statements, and a little knowledge' were dangerous, it is in that contest, (the contest with Rome). Our opponents are no unskilful controversialists; and they desire nothing better than an antagonist whose notions of Popery are gathered from the declamation of public orators at the public meetings of thn day." We now take leave of Dr. Bagot, with no unfriendly feeling; and while we hope that he may live to perform many quadrennial visitations, we trust that, on every such occasion, his worst fears will be realized. APPEAL TO THE CATHOLICS OF ENGLAND IN BEHALF OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. BERNARD, CHARNWOOD FOREST, LEICESTERSHIRE. It is already known to every member of the Catholic Church in England, that a community of English Cistercian monks has been established in a lonely spot amnngst the Charnwood hills, in the county of Leicester. These mouks possess around the infant abbey a small tract of land, consisting of about two hundred and thirty acres, beautifully diversified with rocks of primitive granite. Of this land, by unwearied industry and by their own manual labour, they have already brought more than seventy acres into a state of excellent cultivation : so that where hitherto nothing but heath, gorse, and fern were to be seen, fine crops of corn and other valuable produce now attest the skill and patience of the holy brotherhood. By the charitable exertions of their friends they have been enabled already to erect a dwelling for the lay brothers, who have the more immediate charge of the farm, but in which the whole community is at present most inconveniently lodged, using as a church what is ultimately intended for the barn. All this was evidently insufficient for a permanent monastic house, of which it presented not the slightest character, either in the style of its architecture, or in the arrangement and plan of its construction; hence a second appeal to their friends became necessary. This appeal has not been made in vain: by the charitable donations which they have received they have been enbled to build a most picturesque and solemn monastery, under the directions of that great restorer of Christian art, Augustus Welby Pugin, Esq., who has most charitably contributed his gratuitous services for the pious undertaking, and of which the reader will find an interesting and correct drawing, from his own hand, as the frontispiece of a little tract. Nothing now remains to complete the sacred edifice but the church; that done, one English valley at least will resound both night and day with the continual singing of the divine praises. This Church, as the reader will perceive from the view already mentioned, is to be of large dimensions; but as the site affords plenty of stone close at hand for the work, it is ascertained that the whole may be erected for fifteen hundred pounds, the extensive monastery adjoining it having been already completed for the sum of two thousand. It was absolutely necessary that the church should not be smaller than that proposed in the plan, as the Cistercian rule requires a very considerable space for the due performance of the divine office, consisting as it does not only of the celebration of the holy Eucharist, but of the regular chanting of the psalmody appointed for the canonical hours: besides which, the space allotted for the laity is necessarily separated from that appropriated to the monks, and it was extremely desirable that this should be as large as possible. To collect this sum— which is certainly a very moderate one, when we reflect on the glorious object for which it is designed,-it is intended that a bazaar shall be held in one of the northern counties, under the immediate patronage of the most illustrious Catholic ladies of this kingdom, who now eagerly come forward to manifest their zeal for the glory of God,-promising the labour of their hands for the ser vice of these poor servants of Christ, the Cistercian Monks of mount Saint Bernard. These holy men cannot sufficiently express their gratitude for the benefactions they have already received from the English Catholic body, which have already enabled them to achieve so much towards this great work, and it is with extreme reluctance that they are induced to make any further appeal to the generous charity of their brethren. But, when it is remembered that these English Cistercians were unjustly and tyrannically expelled from their peaceful monastery at La Meilleraye in France, where they had been invited to settle by Louis XVIII, it is certainly not unnatural for these good men to expect some sympathy from their own countrymen, the more so as their rule obliges them continually to pray for the welfare and prosperity of those states in which they find protection and support. That the value of their claims may be more duly appreciated, a few remarks are here added on the nature of the monastic orders, and particularly on that of the Cistercians. There is perhaps no institution connected with the Christian religion which has been so much misunderstood and misrepresented as the monastic state, especially during the last three hundred years. The writer of this tract thinks that he cannot set before the reader a better refutation of these absurd and wicked calumnies, than by presenting him with a brief abstract of an old English manuscript, which exists in the British Museum, written probably more than six hundred years ago, by a monk of one of our old English abbeys. He informs us (see Dugdale's "Monasticon de prima Institutione Monachorum"), that some individuals ignorantly supposed that the religious state was comparatively a novelty in the Church, and that until the time of the great St. Benedict it existed not. That this should be asserted by those, who in various ages have protested against the authority of the Catholic Church of Christ, is perhaps not so surprising; with equal assurance and equal ignorance they declare that every other institution and practice of the Church, of which their own shallow and foolish judgment disapproves, is a novelty, a corruption, an addition to the original revelation and institution made by Christ: but that such ideas should prevail even amongst Catholics is not only astonishing, but a frightful evil. So far from St. Benedict having been the first founder and originator of religious orders in the Church, he was only a reviver and reformer of them. He found them already established all over the world, and in one shape or other they were coeval with Christianity itself: they were |