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THE

GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE,

AND

HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.

FROM JANUARY TO JUNE, 1828.

VOLUME XCVIII.

(BEING THE TWENTY-FIRST OF A NEW SERIES.)

PART THE FIRST.

PRODESSE & DELECTARE.

E PLURIBUS UNUM.

BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT.

London:

PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET;

WHERE LETTERS ARE PARTICULARLY REQUESTED TO BE SENT, POST-PAID ;

AND SOLD BY JOHN HARRIS,

AT THE CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, LUDGATE STREET;
AND BY PERTHES AND BESSER, HAMBURGH.

THE PRIEST AND THE BIBLE..

(A Protestant Apologue.)

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What all must admit to be true, [Greek, From th' original sources, the Hebrew and Our Protestant Bible we drew.

Less ancient than these is the Latin you boast:

"Tis, at best, but a dubious translation, And oft so obscure,that in darkness we're lost, Where most we need illumination.

Correct then your Latin; and ('spite of false shame)

Confess that our English is pure ; Since loudly the prototype volumes proclaim That the forgery lies at your door. Or, if infallibility will not permit

Any faults in your Latin to own, Or to needful amendment its pages submit, But cling to the Vulgate alone;

Translate, in fair English, that text, as it stands:

A

Let candor preside o'er the task: copy commit to each Catholic's hands: 'Tis all that we Protestants ask.

E'en through the dark mist of your Vulgate

they'll see

[high: The glad day-spring beam forth from on To their Maker alone they will then bend the knee,

Nor on Saints, for protection, rely.

Each image, disrob'd of its mystical veil,
Will an idol appear to their view:
For pardon of sins, to their God they'll
appeal,

And no more for indulgences sue. With consciences pure, of that bread they will eat,

And (freely invited by Paul) They will drink of that cup, which their Lord has thought meet To be equally tasted by all.

God's kingdom (they'll see) is not meat, is not drink : [pure;

To pure hearts, all God's creatures are To fast from their sins, the true fast they will think,

Which alone can salvation procure.

For relief after death, they'll no longer depend

On the Mass fondly purchas'd with gold; But, warn d by their Shepherd, their lives they'll amend :

And his flock will unite in one fold."

AMEN.

PREFACE.

Two most important national subjects, Catholic Emancipation and the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, have occupied the attention of the Legislature during the Parliamentary Session of 1828. The Catholic question was lost, as our Historical Chronicle will show, by a respectable majority in the House of Lords, though it had previously passed the Commons; but the Bill in favour of the Dissenters, being supported by the Administration, passed through both Houses, as every one anticipated, amidst partial but ineffectual opposition. This mea sure, which in 1789 was rejected by an overwhelming majority, owing probably, in a great degree, to the agitation arising out of the first steps of the French Revolution, and to the intemperate conduct of many of the Dissenters of that period, has now met with a very different reception. This, however, can excite little surprise, when it is considered that, owing to the Annual Indemnity Bill, the Test and Corporation Acts have, for a long series of years, become a mere nullity; while the frequent profanation of a divine ordinance, has long been a source of grief to the devout and conscientious ministers of the Establishment. These Acts were originally intended to point out who of the candidates for certain offices under Government were members of the Church, justly considering that those who were likely to cherish views of subverting that Establishment, ought to be excluded from the possession of offices which might furnish the power of executing their wishes. The extreme principles, however, upon which the Acts in question were founded, and which extended to every office or situation, even of the lowest description (as if the security of the connection between Church and State depended upon every petty officer of Customs or Excise, &c. being a member of the Established Church), no doubt operated considerably to counteract the very object which the framers of them had in view; and what might have been deemed justifiable, as regarded the higher officers of State, was rendered obnoxious by the very extent to which it was intended to be carried, but which the Annual Indemnity Acts had rendered wholly inoperative. Whatever might be the case formerly, we believe there are very few, among the intelligent Dissenters, who would not now deprecate any act or measure likely to work the overthrow of a Church, whose very existence is perhaps intimately connected with the preservation of their own liberties and privileges, and which, we will venture confidently to af firm, for intelligence, toleration, and Christian virtue, is not to be surpassed.

The claims of the Roman Catholics may be viewed in a very different light from those of the Dissenters. These are purely political, and on political grounds alone do we oppose them. If the Catholics could once be induced to renounce the supremacy of the Pope, they might quietly enjoy their seven sacraments, &c.-" but while they acknowledge a foreign power (says Blackstone) superior to the sovereignty of

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the kingdom, they cannot complain if the laws of that kingdom will not treat them on the footing of good subjects." Unfortunately we have daily proofs of the spiritual supremacy of Popery being directed to temporal objects, owing to the dangerous influence of the priesthood over the minds of their bigoted communicants; and whilst this spirit, so dangerous to the interests of a Protestant State, is known to exist, and to display itself, on every occasion, with the most rancorous malignity, full political power can never be conceded, without endangering the safety of the State. It is certainly true that many persons who are adverse to the corruptions of Popery are advocates for the claims, as they are called, of the Catholics; not considering that, as Romanists, they claim to be placed on the footing of good subjects without fulfilling the first law of civil obedience. They claim, on account of their religion, (says the learned Bp. of Salisbury, in a late Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese,) a dispensation from the laws. James II. forfeited his Crown for granting the dispensation which the Romanists now claim; and he granted it on account of their religion. They claim a dispensation from the Constitution of their country. Protestants, on the contrary, claim the inviolable integrity of that Constitution, as established by law, and guaranteed by the oath of their Sovereigns. And what is the religion for which this claim of the Romanists is set up? As far as the claim of dispensation and the plea of conscience are concerned, the religion is founded on false interpretations of Scripture, and falser inferences from it."-" Yet for the sake of this irreligious, this Foreign Church, is the claim made, for dispensing with that allegiance, which is required by the common and statute law of the land, and is the test of Popery, and the security of our Protestant Establishment."

According to the existing laws, every person, on accepting public office or employment, is expected to take the following oaths at the Quarter Sessions, or Courts of Record at Westminster:-1st, the Oath of Allegiance (25 Car. II. c. 2); 2d, the Oath of Supremacy (25 Car. II, c. 2); 3d, the Oath of Abjuration (6 Geo. III. c. 53); 4th, Declaration against Transubstantiation (25 Car. II. c. 2); and 5th, Declaration in lieu of taking the Sacrament (9 Geo. IV. c. 17). The penalty for not taking the first four is, that the office, &c. is to be void, and the party neglecting, to forfeit 500l. to any person who may sue for the same; and for not taking the fifth, the office is void, but no penalty imposed.

In p. 636, we have given an abstract of the judicious alterations in the Criminal Law, which were suggested by the able Secretary of State for the Home Department. They have recently received the sanction of Parliament, and were to come into operation on the 1st of July.

On the publication of this first Part of our Ninety-eighth Volume, we beg to offer our sincerest thanks to the numerous friends who have so long patronised our humble efforts; and for the variety of useful information contained in this half-yearly Volume, we refer, with satisfaction, to our ample Indexes.

June 30, 1828.

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