NOVEMBER XXX Days.

1 SUNDAY twenty-fourth after Pentecoft. ALL SAINTS doub of first class with an Octavo, white. Vesp of the Feast, com of the Sunday, (from the 4th after Epiphany) after which Vesp of the Dead, black.

2 Mond. All Souls, black.

3 Tues. S Winefride V M, doub, red.

4 Wedn. S Charles B C, doub, white. [6.14 N.]

5 Thurs. Of the Octave, semid, white.

6 Frid. Of the Octave, semid, while. Abstinence.

7 Sat. Of the Octave, semid white, Abstinence.

8 SUNDAY twenty fifth after Pentecost, (from the fifth after Epiphany.) Octave-day of All Saints, doub, white. Vesp the first of the Dedication, com of All Saints, Sunday, & S Theodore M. THE INDULGENCE ENDS.

9 Mond. The Dedication of S Jobn Lateran, doub, white.

10 Tues. S Andrew Avelline C, semid, white.

11 Wedn. S Martin BC, doub, white.

12 Thurs. S Martin P M, semid, red. [3. 15 1st]

13 Frid. S Didacus C, semid, white Abstinence.

14 Sat, S Erconwald B of London C, doub, white. Abst.

15 SUNDAY twenty-sixth after Pentecost (from the 6th after Epiphany.) S Gertrude V, doub, white. Vesp of her to the little chap, then of S Edmund, com of S Gertrude, and the Sunday.

16 Mond. S Edmund A B of Canterbury C, Doub, white.

17 Tues. S Hugh B of Lincoln C, doub. white.

18 Wedn. The Dedication of SS Peter and Paul, doub, white, [F.6,30]

19 Thurs. S Elizabeth. Wild, semid, white.

20 Frid. S Edmund K M, great doub, red. Abstinence.

21 Sat. The Presentation of the B Virgin Mary, great doub. white, Abstinence.

22 SUNDAY twenty-seventh and last after Pentecost. S Cicily V M. doub, red. Vesp of her, com of the Sunday, S Clement and S Felicitas MM.

23 Mond. S Clement P M, semid red.

24 Tues. S John of the Cross C, doub, white.

25 Wedn. S Catherine V M, doub, red. [L. 7,20.]

26 Thurs. S Felix C, doub. white.

27 Frid. S Gregory Thaumaturgus B C, semid, white Abstinence. 28 Sat. Vigil, purple. Abstinence.

29 SUNDAY first of advent, semid, purple. Vesp of S Andrew. com of the Sunday. red.

30 Moud. S Andrew Ap, doub of second class, red. Feast of Devotion.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE Account remitted us by T. P. of several Sectarian Eccentricities and Judicrous Observations, will form a sequel to the letter of Vigilans, and shall bave an early insertion.

Works of entertainment, of a Catholic and pious tendency, will be attended to. Hence Z. Z.'s translation of the French abridgment of Mad. Cottin's elegant Mathilde must prove entertaining. The portrait of William, the amiable Archbishop of Tyre, is drawn with a masterly hand.

A question having been sent to us, "Whether a person may conscientiously pass the base money he unsuspectingly receives?" we shall be obliged to any of our correspondents for an answer.

We acknowledge the favour of our Norwich correspondent, but beg to remind him, that country-letters should be pos paid.

THE

CATHOLIC MAGAZINE,

For December, 1812.

"By their fruits ye shall know them."-MATTH. vii. 16.

CATHOLIC COUNCILS AND PROTESTANT SYNODS. AS nothing is more common among the enemies of the true Church, than the contempt cast upon its Councils, particularly that of Trent, let us for a moment enquire into the dignity and consistency of the famous Synod of Dort, held there in the winter of 1618. This Protestant Synod the States General of Holland agreed should be composed of twenty-six divines of the united provinces, twenty-eight from foreign countries, five professors, and sixteen laymen. On the part of England, Dr. Carleton, Bishop of Landaff, Dr. Joseph Hall, and others, attended, while Gautier Balcanqual, a Scots divine, represented the churches of his country. It was soon perceived, that, though almost all the deputies differed from each other, they would all agree demning the doctrine of free-will held by the Remonstrants and the Arminians in general.

in con

During the ninth session, on the 21st of November, the assembly examined whether they ought to translate the Apocryphal books, and add them to those declared canonical, when Somarus asserted that these books should not be joined together, lest in a course of time they should pass for divine, as had happened among the Catholics! This caused one of the Remonstrants of Utrecht to ask what would become of the Catechism; and whether in the course of time that would not pass for canonical, because it was bound up with the New Testament? Some deputies. also having censured the practice of taking texts from the Apocrypha, the same objector asked if it were not equally as censurable to preach from the Catechism.-Gomarus, a furious Calvinist, said it was a kind of idolatry to pay the Apocryphal books the honour of joining them with those that were canonical;

NO. VI.

Cc

to which the moderator replied, that if this were idolatrous, it was equally so to insert those explications in the text of the Bible, which the Church had sometimes approved.

In the twelfth sitting, Mr. John Hales observed, that the members of the Synod were very clamorous about trifles. A great dispute arose upon the propriety of substituting the word you for thou in addressing the Deity; and so ridiculous was the discussion, that many of the auditors could scarcely refrain from laughing! Thou for a time seemed to have most voices, but at length You carried it by a large majority.

In the seventeenth sitting, on Nov. 30, the Synod ordered three different catechisms, the first for families, the second for schools, and the third for the churches!

In this Synod it soon appeared that the Armenians were not called upon to confer, but to receive the judgment of the Calvinistic majority. These Calvinists were extremely sore upon any mention of the doctrine of reprobation.-Gomarus said expressly, that God, having predestinated men to death, had also predestinated them to sin. Mr. Hales on this occasion observed, that "Gomarus was not unlike the travelling tinkers, who, in mending one hole, generally make two."

In the sitting of Jan. 4, 1619, a Remonstrant Minister com plained that the Calvinists had compared his party to Ham, who exposed his father's nakedness; but the Calvinists, he said, resembled Shem and Japhet, who endeavoured to cover this nakedness, but did it by going backwards, and with extreme awkwardness.

It was objected against Dr. Peter Cupius, that dining one day with the governor of Worden, he said, that Calvin was a party in the death of Servetus.-The deputies of the Synod of Delft deprived this doctor of his clerical functions; he was also accused of appealing to women on the subject of predestination, and asking them how they could reconcile the idea of having two children, one of which should be born to salvation, and the other to perdition.

Another Remonstrant observed to one of these magisterial judges, that they took a pleasure in bringing frivolous charges against his party, magnifying a fly into an elephant; while they treated the vices of their own with the greatest indulgence."You know," said he, "Jonas Timmerman, Minister of Benskoop: he is drunk every day, and games and plays at the ale

house. When he goes there, as it often happens, the drunken peasants cry, Ah, Master Parson, are you there? Of what party are you?-Are you an Arminian ?"-"I an Arminian! God forbid!" Then these topers say, "If you are not an Arminian, you shall dance and have some sport with us." At first he appeared a little reserved, but having drunk two or three glasses with them, he soon convinced them by gestures, that he was no Arminian; for he danced like an ape, with a glass in each hand. Dancing another time in this manner, he had nearly given great offence in spilling a glass of beer over the new breeches of one of the company. The judge having heard this accusation, acknowledged it was true, but added, that himself and his colleagues had no authority for inquiring into the conduct of any of the ministers.

Two ministers, John and Peter Geesteran, being condemned by this Synod to lose their offices for heterodoxy, were ordered by the States General to repair to Gravesande, a village near the sea, when a strange conceit induced them to believe that their enemies were going to send them to England, and have them burnt alive, as some of their persuasion had been but a few years before. These ministers, however, sent a memorial to the States General: in the meanwhile, John Geesterand concealed himself at Leyden, where he learned the business of a weaver; and his brother retired to Norden, in East Friesland.

The foreign deputies complained much of the Dutch Calvinists in the Synod, for condemning the Remonstrants, as they said, in their absence; yet, while they were adopting partial measures, that indicated a return to moderation, some wag again put them out of humour, by sending, addressed to the Synod, a box, containing playing cards, upon which were designated all the instruments of our Lord's passion. By this it was understood, the party that sent the box meant to say, that the Synod, in crucifying the truth, wished to crucify Christ a second time. The Synod, upon this, immediately sent to the landlady of an inn where some of the Remonstrant Ministers lodged, to make inquiry if they knew any thing of the box of cards; however, they all disclaimed any knowledge of the fact, and highly disapproved of the circumstance altogether. In one of the sittings some time after this, Diodati, of Geneva, speaking of final perseverance, said, "the members ought to beware of philosophy, because their opponents had borrowed all their arguments from Aristotle !"

On the 18th of April, 1619, the English Divines produced a long list of harsh expressions, and wished the Synod to express its disapprobation of them, because, it was observed, the Re monstrants and the Catholics would take occasion from thence to decry the Reformation. Several members of the assembly said, that if they should condemn the expressions complained of, they would scandalize some of the most eminent divines of their party. A few days after this, a theologian of Bremen meeting a Remonstrant, observed, that the Synod was a farce, or a comedy, in which the politicians acted the principal parts.

On the 9th of May, this being the 104th sitting, the Synod being assembled at eight in the morning, prayers being ended, the Moderator delivered a discourse, in which he spoke of the goodness of God to his Church. He compared the Church to the moon, and said, the proceedings of the Synod being miraculous, made Hell tremble! Then returning again to his comparison with the moon, he said, "Our moon of the United Provinces breaking forth from the darkness in which it was involved, and having received, as one may say, new light from the sun, shines forth to day in spite of h-ll." After the breaking up of the Synod on the same day, the members dined together, where, being provided with music, vocal and instrumental, the women sang behind a curtain. On this occasion, it is said, some of the theologians drank too much Rhenish wine; but, says the relator, De la Roche, this is without doubt a calumny, In finishing this outline of a Protestant Synod, another remark of the relator ought not to be omitted, as it shows the striking difference between a Catholic Council and a Protestant Synod, which is, that to this at Dort or Dordrecht, several Protestant Theologians at Anhalt, and else where, were not invited, because they were supposed to think differently from the Dutch Calvinists.-In fine, it is incontrovertible, that this Synod, instead of sitting to consult or receive advice, had but one leading object, and that was to condemn their opponents, and this as far as in them lay, without hearing what could be urged in their defence,

AMICUS.