6

the prophecies in circumstances which had not occurred to former travellers, nor of course to Dr. Keith. The prophet had, as a contrast to the predicted desolation, recorded the antecedent civil organization of Edom: They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.' Now M. Laborde, not dreaming of this text, proves from profane history that in this capital there existed a king and ministers, princes and nobles, and a government so regular as even to have raised and paid a kind of subsidiary force; in short, the kingdom presented a long-established civil and military organization. Intr. p. 8. The vague text, I shall make thee despised among men,' does not seem to have occurred to M. Laborde, when he makes the following involuntary commentary upon it: The Arabs give to one of these ruins a ridiculous and indecent name—an insult which is of a piece with the general destruction to prove the fragility of human works, there was only wanted, in addition to the injuries of time, the derision of men.'— p. 55. Dr. Keith, with an overabundant anxiety that every, even the smallest detail of the fulfilment of all the prophecies should be visible even to this day, was a little disconcerted that the travellers did not see 'nettles and brambles in the palaces; but he consoled himself, in lieu of a direct and literal fulfilment,' with the observation that the thorny branches of the talh-tree are very abundant in Idumæa. We think Dr. Keith need not have been' so anxious on this point, which might have been safely taken for granted; but we are glad to be able to afford him direct and literal evidence from M. Laborde's late livraisons, that these ruined palaces are overgrown with nettles and brambles.'-pp. 55-58. These are trivial matters compared with the great features of the case, but they are still curious and interesting.

But there is one much more important circumstance which has occurred to us, and which seems to carry the evidence to the highest possible point of satisfaction-the works, as Dr. Keith hints, and as appears in the plates, are evidently the works of many ages, from the primitive dwellers in the rock down to the days of Adrian; and perhaps some sceptic may say that works of the days of Adrian would rather impugn the prophecy, whose completion might have been expected at an earlier period. The objection would not be worth much-for it is clear that whatever intermediate vicissitudes the city and nation may have suffered-and the prophecies point to many-the final fulfilment could only be appropriated to the period when Edom was finally abandoned to a 'perpetual desolation from which her cities should not return,—(Ezek. ib.) When they should call their nobles and there should be none, and all her princes be nothing.-(Is. ib.) When there should be no civil government

government—and when there should not be even left a straggling inhabitant of the waste; when no man should abide therein, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.'—(Jer. ib.) And when the whole site should exhibit nothing but the lines of confusion and the stones of emptiness.'(Is. ib.)

But there is another striking prophecy, which clears away every vestige of difficulty by distinctly predicting those vicissitudes, and the obstinate endeavour of the Edomites to defeat the prediction by continuing to restore and adorn their city :

'Whereas Edom saith "We are impoverished—but we will return and build the desolate places;" thus said the Lord of Hosts: THEY SHALL BUILD, BUT I WILL THROW DOWN! and YOUR EYES SHALL SEE, and you shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the borders of Israel!'— Malachi i. 3, 4.

Is not this almost more wonderful than all that has preceded? The later architecture is thus not merely accounted for, but absolutely predicted, and we are told that the day should come when our eyes should see this, and that the Lord should be magnified— not from Israel, but-from the borders of Israel-the borders of Israel! where exactly this wonderful city stood. What human ingenuity, what human sagacity-even if we had been aware of the general state of Edom-could, prior to the discovery of these comparatively modern architectural remains, have affixed any definite or even rational meaning to these predictions of Malachi? Is not this, according to Mr. Hume's own principle, a miracle?— have we not here that unexpected kind of physical demonstration, the falsehood of which appears to human reason to be absolutely impossible? Surely the Lord is magnified from the borders of Israel!

Here we are obliged to close our too loose and imperfect remarks on this amazing discovery. We had intended to have given a more detailed account of the splendid work of M. Léon Laborde, and to have taken notice of several other recent Illustrations' of biblical scenery and events. This article has, however, already gone to a length that warns us to desist, and we therefore reserve the continuation of the subject to another, but we hope early, opportunity.

ART. VII.—1. An Essay, Religious and Political, on Ecclesiastical Finance, as regards the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. By the Rev. David O. Croly, Parish Priest of Ovens and Aglis. Third Edition. Cork. 1834.

2. Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister. London. 1834. 3. Letters to a Dissenting Minister of the Congregational Inde

pendent

pendent Denomination, containing Remarks on the Principles of that Sect, and the Author's Reasons for leaving it and conforming to the Church of England. By L. S. E. Third Edition. London. 1833.

4. Ecclesiastical Establishments not inconsistent with Christianity, with a particular view to some of the leading objections of the modern Dissenters. By William Hull. London. 1834. 5. Letter to the Right Hon. Earl Grey, containing a Vindication of the Established Church. By a Dissenting Minister. Lon

don. 1834.

6. The Uses of a Standing Ministry and an Established Church. Two Sermons. By Charles James Blomfield, D.D., Bishop of London.

1834.

7. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of London at the Visitation in July, 1834. By Charles James Blomfield, D.D., Lord Bishop of London.

8. A Charge delivered in the Autumn of 1834, at the Visitation in Hampshire. By W. Dealtry, D.D., Chancellor of the Diocese.

THE

HE two works at the head of our list have forced themselves upon our notice by their common bearing on a momentous question, the practical operation of the voluntary system for the maintenance of a Christian ministry. The first is written by a man whose fearlessness is the surest pledge for his honesty; his style is the image of his character-rude, wild, at times coarse, but bold, strenuous, and straightforward, he utters the sentiments of strong and conscientious indignation with the native energy and homely illustration of a mind which owes more to its inborn vigour than to education. Not that the author is deficient in acquired knowledge; his views, particularly of ecclesiastical history, are extensive and just; if he does not stand alone and superior among his brethren, the parochial Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland are far better instructed than we had been accustomed to suppose. In his courage Mr. Croly does unquestionably stand alone he is no common man who, at the risk of his professional prospects, his peace-we must, we fear, add his life-exposes the unhallowed connexion which now subsists between the Roman Catholic priest and the political demagogue, unfolds the secret mysteries of agitation, and gives such sober advice to those 'who, insulting the simplicity of the poor and their state of dependence, invest them with the robes of pretended majesty, clothe them with imaginary purple and fine linen; and raising them, by the labour of sophistry, from their humble sphere above thrones, dominations, and powers, kneel down in mock homage and hail them "the sovereign people."

If,' says Mr. C. the plebeian body are to be the governors of the world, let them first of all be duly prepared for the execution of so great a task. For the art of governing is not the play of children: ars artium est regimen nationum. Let them be divested of their childishness, for they are yet in their infancy; rid them of bigotry, prejudices, and sectarian hatred; inculcate on their minds a hatred of vice and a love of virtue. Divest them of their weakness and their credulity; and strengthen their minds to withstand the baneful arts of superstition and imposture. Banish from them lawlessness, savageness, cruelty, and bloodthirstiness, and make them civil, orderly, peaceable, and humane. In a word, fashion them, form them, renew them, make them rational beings, not only in appearance but in reality: do this and let your theory be put in practice, give them control over the government, and let them be denominated "the sovereign people.”' -Croly, pp. 67, 68.

To his own order he says

Have ye ruled the people committed to your charge according to the maxims of the Gospel and the canons of the church? Have ye ruled the people, or have ye suffered yourselves to be ruled by them? Have ye, in the discharge of your duties, exhibited, as ye were bound to do, firmness, inflexibility, determination, and perseverance? Or have ye not, on the contrary, been "tossed about to and fro by every wind of popular doctrine?" Your career has been marked by unsteadiness, time-serving, and tergiversation. Popular clamour has scared you from the paths of duty, and influenced even your synodical decisions. Ye have made religion turn upon popular feeling or rather upon the feeling of faction, instead of endeavouring to make popular feeling square with religion. . . . Ye have suffered factious harangues to be made from your altars at the celebration of Divine worship, and surrendered your churches to be used as political clubhouses. Has not religion in your hands become a mere party word? Ye have identified yourselves as Ministers of the Gospel with a political sect, entered into their views, partaken of their animosities, countenanced their violences, and made war, in conjunction with them, on the rest of the community.'-pp. 79-82.

But our immediate concern is not with the political or religious views of Mr. Croly, farther than as his character and situation guarantee the veracity of his statements touching the effects of the voluntary system for the payment of the priesthood. Nor, at present, do we propose grappling with the conclusion which he draws from these fearful statements-the expediency of a state-provision for the Roman Catholic clergy. The voluntary system is here in actual operation, where the power of the priesthood is still at its height, where the ceremonial of the religion and the administration of the sacraments by duly ordained ministers is esteemed essential to salvation; where, in short, the priest still holds, in the opinion of the trembling votary, the keys of heaven and of hell. The con

sequences,

sequences, if we believe Mr. Croly, are the most grinding exaction, which falls, almost exclusively, upon the poor; the most violent and disgraceful altercations, previous to and even during the most solemn religious ceremonies; bartering and chaffering, to which the traffic of the buyers and sellers in the temple was decent and reverential-on one side, the systematic endeavour to drive as hard a bargain as possible for the commodity in their hands-on the other, the degradation of the most sacred rites-of the mass itself -into a privilege, the value of which depends not in the least on the moral or religious state of the purchaser, but on the price that is paid. The Lord himself (for such is the conscientious belief of the Roman Catholic) is thus actually bought and sold.

These are appalling statements. Are they borne out by the 'Parish Priest' who cannot be ignorant on the subject—and who, if he is guilty of mendacity, or even of exaggeration, has ventured all his earthly prospects in wanton hostility to that Church of which he remains, though an outcast and persecuted, yet still a faithful member? First, then, as to the general system of pay

ment :

The mode of exacting clerical dues is quite arbitrary and capricious; fixedness and uniformity are out of the question. Almost everything depends upon the temper and disposition of the clergyman. There are salutary regulations in every diocese, respecting church dues as well as other points of church discipline, put forth by episcopal and synodical authority. Specific sums are laid down as the remuneration to be demanded and paid for the performance of such and such religious rites-for the celebration of marriage, or the oblation of the mass, or the half-yearly administration of the eucharist. These authorized exactions, as may be supposed, are moderate enough, and would not be at all adequate to supply the wants of an aspiring priesthood. Every priest, therefore, looking to his peculiar necessities, or to self-interest, makes the most he can of his ministry, and multiplies his exactions, without any reference to statute law or episcopal authority. Owing to this departure from fixed rules, the strangest discrepancy prevails even in the same diocese as to the church demands made upon the people.'-pp. 25, 26.

We must add the following sentences to this preliminary state

ment :

It may be right to observe that in the present defective state of things, the rich Catholics contribute in general but little to the support of their clergy. They pay nothing in proportion to their rank and means. They are extremely deficient in this respect, so that the whole burden of the priesthood, as to their support, rests, it may be said, on the shoulders of the poor, industrious, labouring classes.

The revenue of the parish priest is derived from a variety of

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.

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sources.