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period, ✅ That the discipline of the primitive ages enjoined continency to the clergy is proved to demonstration by the numerous canons, in those ages of pure Christianity, against the marriage of bishops, priests, and deacons. St. Jerom, an unimpeachable witness in the fourth age, testifies that in the three great patriarchates of Rome, Alexandría, and Antioch, no individuals were admitted into the ecclesiastical state but such as voluntarily embraced a life of celibacy, or were mutually and freely separated from their wives. So when this country received the faith of the gospel in the time of pope Gregory the great, the same discipline was introduced by St. Augustin, by whose apostolical exertions the light of truth was enkindled in this island. The constant înroads made by the Danes upon our ancestors occasioned great disorders, and the excesses of the lower orders of the clergy were a source of scandal to the nation. The bishops exhorted and reproved in vain, and strong measures were absolutely necessary to reduce men to a

sense of their duty, were grown callous through the force of bad

habits. Accordingly, in the year 944, a synod of bishops, abbots, and nobles was convened, in which, by the joint concurrence of the civil powers, it was decreed, "That all clergymen in higher orders "shall lead a chaste life, conformable to the character they bear, un*der the penalty of forfeiting their temporalities, and being deprived " of Christian burial, if they die impenitent." By many writers this decree has been looked upon as an act of tyranny, and there are many persons now, though they exclaim against the burden of paying tithes, that think it hard the clergy should not be allowed to marry. The experience of eighteen hundred years on the part of the Catholic church, and that of three centuries on the side of the reformists, will suffice, we think, to convince any reasonable mind of the vast advantages obtained by the former over the latter. And what degree of harshness or oppression can be substantiated in the above decree? No person is compelled to enter into ecclesiastical orders, and on doing so they do it with a full knowledge of the engagements they enter into; the act therefore being voluntary on their part, there can be neither injustice nor tyranny on the part of the church for maintaining that state of discipline which is necessary to make her ministers respected and their morals unblemished. The Saxon king Edgar, on occasion of these disorders, thus addressed an assembly of prelates convened to remedy the scandal. "These sacred foundations," says he,

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we now

see sacrilegiously wasted by dissolute churchmen upon their dogs, their birds, and their concubines. In vain have you expostulated, "exhorted, rebuked. The houses of the clergy are become the seats " of riot and intemperance, the resort of libertines, of singers, and buf"foons. The people murmur, all good men are scandalized. The " evil increases, efficacious remedies must be applied. The sword of "St. Peter is in your hands, I wield that of Constantine. The spiri

tual power is yours, the civil mine. The joint exertions of both is necessary to suppress the present insults offered to religion, to ba“nish vice, and to purify the polluted altar of God. Unclean intru"ders have taken possession of the sanctuary; it is time they should "be compelled to quit their concubines or their livings. Too long “have they bid defiance to the laws and all lawful authority. But

"still let justice be tempered with humanity; let us give encourage "ment to repentance; we offer them the choice either to submit to the "chaste and ancient discipline of the church, or to relinquish their "ecclesiastical possessions." These sentiments, worthy a Christian king, were delivered about the year 969, and we find the effect produced by them in the statement of John Fox, who says, that through the exertions and behaviour of Elphege, "pisty flourished in his diocess, unity was established among his clergy and people, and the " conduct of the church of Winchester made the bishop the admira❝tion of the whole kingdom." Such reforms as these, governed by the spirit of true religion and justice, are sure to lead to the same results, namely, the happiness and improvement of the people of every rank and condition; but the measures pursued by those who called themselves reformers in the sixteenth century, originated in the worst passions of human nature, and have consequently been attended with the greatest evils that can possibly afflict mankind, as we shall have occasion to shew in the progress of our labours.

Fox next proceeds to detail the events which led to the martyrdom of Elphege by the Danes, in which the holy prelate shewed the greatest devotion to the interests of his people, and the utmost disregard for his own fate. After being translated to the see of Canterbury, having filled the episcopal chair of Winchester twenty-two years, the Danes laid siege to the former city, and took possession of it. Fox, in his narrative, says, these barbarians took the place by storm, and destroyed all that came in their way; that the monks endeavoured to detain the bishop in the church, but he broke from them, and ran into the midst of the danger; that the Danes seized him, and obliged him tỏ remain till the church was burned and the monks massacred; and then, he continues, they "decimated all the inhabitants, both ecclesiastics " and laymen, leaving only every tenth person alive: so that they put "7236 persons to death, and left only four monks and 800 laymen alive.” We notice this statement to shew what little reliance can be placed upon the details of this martyrologist, and the contempt he has for the understandings of his readers. How could he come with such exactness at the population of this city in the eleventh century, as to know the precise number to a single individual that suffered in this decimation, especially as it took place, according to his own account, after an indiscriminate slaughter of the people, and a total massacre of the monks? Will any man of common sense believe it possible for Fox to become acquainted with such particulars at such a distant period? Does it not carry every appearance of fiction, and prove how careful the reader ought to be in crediting the statements made by him, when given with such pretended minuteness? Were any man to attempt at this day to enumerate to a single life, the loss of killed and wounded in storming a besieged town, would he be believed? Would he not be taken for an impudent asserter, and laughed at or kicked for his impudence? We think such would be his fate with every rational man, and such should be the treatment towards the author and editors of the Book of Martyrs.

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To afford our readers the opportunity of contrasting the account of this martyr's death, as given by Catholic writers, with that related by

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Fox, we here extract a passage from Butler's Saints' Lives, relative to this event. During the siege," Mr. B. writes, “he often sent out to the enemies to desire them to spare his innocent sheep, whom he en"deavoured to animate against the worst that could happen. And "having prepared them, by his zealous exhortations, rather to suffer "the utmost than renounce their faith, he gave them the blessed eu“charist, and recommended them to the divine protection. Whilst he "was thus employed in assisting and encouraging his people, Canterbury was taken by storm. The infidels, on entering the city, made a dreadful slaughter of all that came in their way, without distinc "tion of sex or age. The holy prelate was no sooner apprized of the barbarity of the enemy, but breaking from the monks, who would "have detained him in the church, where they thought he might be "safe, he pressed through the Danish troops, and made his way to "the place of slaughter." Dr. Milner, in his History of Winchester, says, He was seen to rush between the murderers and their helpless victims, crying out to the former: If you are men, spare at least "the innocent and the unresisting, or, if you want a vietim, turn your "swords upon me; it is I who have so often reproached you with your crimes, who have supported and redeemed the prisoners whom you have made, and have deprived you of many of your soldiers, by "converting them to Christianity.' The person and the merit of St. Elphege were well known to the Danes; having been sent upon dif"ferent embassies to them, and rendered them many charitable offices. "Hence they did not dare to strike him, but satisfied themselves with seizing upon him, and committing him to close custody, intending "to extort an enormous sum for his ransom. During his confinement "of seven months,, these Pagans, being alarmed at an epidemical distemper which afflicted them, were upon the point of releasing him, "without any ransom. At length, however, their avarice prevailing, they sent for him to Greenwich, where their fleet then lay, and put "the question finally to him, whether he was prepared to pay the 3000 "marks of gold, which they had imposed as his fine. His answer was, that all the money which he could command, had been spent upon the poor, and that if he had more, it would be their property; "in a word, that he had no gold to bestow upon those, in whose presence he stood, except that of true wisdom, which consisted in the "knowledge of the living God. Being provoked at this answer, they "beat him to the ground, and began to overwhelm him with stones, " and the horns of slaughtered oxen; whilst he, raising up his eyes to heaven, thus addressed himself to his divine Master: O good Shepherd, do thou watch over the children of thy church, whom, with my lust "breath, I recommend to thee. Our saint having pronounced this prayer, " and continuing to suffer, a Dane, by name Thrun, whom he had the "day before baptized, moved by a cruel kind of pity, struck him on "the head, with his battle axe, and completed his martyrdom.". Here we see these two Catholic writers confining themselves to general facts, which do not admit of dispute, and such should be the rule of every author who is desirous to narrate the truth and nothing but the truth.

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The last martyr recorded by Fox, in this book, to whom Catholicism

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can lay claim, is Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow. The character given of this holy prelate by the martyrologist is of the most glowing de of scription. He was a prodigy in learning, amiable in his disposition, austere in his devotions, and fixed in embracing the ecclesiastical state. On being admitted to holy orders, the then bishop of Cracow made him a canon of his cathedral. "In this capacity," says Fox, "he lived “in a most exemplary manner, and performed his duties with unre"mitting assiduity." His virtues charmed the bishop, and he would fain have resigned his bishopric in favour of Stanislaus, on account of his great age, but the latter refused to accept of it on account of his want of years. The bishop however died ed in 1 1071, and all concerned selected Stanislaus for his successor, but he still refused, for the reason before stated. At length," continues Fox, "the king, clergy, and nobility "unanimously joined in writing to pope Alexander II. who, at their entreaty, sent an express order that Stanislaus should accept the bishopric. He then obeyed, and exerted himself to the utmost in improving his flock. He was equally careful with respect both to clergy and laity, kept a list of all the poor in his diocese, and by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and administering remedies to the sick, he proved himself not only the godly pastor, but the physician and benefactor of the people." Here then it is clear that this godly pastor," this "physician and benefactor of the people," was "a Papist, as the modern editors of Fox would call him, that is, a Catholic, according to the right sense of his creed. He is explicitly stated as yielding to the commands of the pope, therefore he must have allowed the authority and supremacy of the pope, and so must the king and clergy and nobility of Poland, by making their application to Alexander II. to enforce their election. Thus it is manifest the supremacy of the pope was received with the light of Christianity, which would not have been the case had there not been divine authority for it. Fox next proceeds to detail the martyrdom of the saint, which arose from his courageous opposition to the unbridled lust and brutish extravagancies of the then king of Poland, Boleslas II. This monarch, it appears was an archetype of our Henry VIII. who murdered the pious bishop Fisher, for adhering to the same spiritual supremacy that Stanislaus acknowledged, and who refused to sanction Henry's enormities as Stanislaus reprobated the cruelties of Boleslas. Why Fox should make a distinction between such characters, either in the case of the monarchs or the prelates is irreconcileable to common sense; yet so it is, and the modern editors of his book are busily employed in circulating this mass of delusion and inconsistency, in order, they say, to diffuse among their fellow-believers a knowledge and love of the genuine "principles of Christianity!!" Precious principles of Christianity must they be that require falsehood and deceit for their support, But to return to Stanislaus. After several unsuccessful attempts to bring the king to a sense of his duty to himself and to his people, Stanislaus excommunicated the monarch, and forbad him to be received into the church during divine service. Boleslas in his rage dispatched some of his servants to get rid of the bishop, but they were awed by his venerable aspect, on which the king plunged his dagger into the saint's heart at the foot of the altar, where the martyr was at his devotions.

This happened in 1079. We cannot quit this account without calling the attention of the reader to the amiable self-devotion and charity exhibited in the conduct of thes two Catholic bishops, and the general course of life of the reformed (as they are called) bishops and ministers under "Protestant-ascendency.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE WALDENSES IN FRANCE.

We are now arrived at a very important period of our review, and we e beg the reader's most earnest attention to the subjects that may come before him. Hitherto the martyrs recorded by Fox have been Catholics, renowned for their exemplary devotion and sincere piety; practising every act of charity, and believing in one system of faith, derived from the apostles, and carried by their successors into all nations. The whole of Europe had at this time received the Catholic faith, and in every country a regular hierarchy had been established, over each of which the pope held the spiritual supremacy, as head of the whole, by divine appointment. In the preceding pages, we have seen how heresy rose up in the churches of Asia and Africa, and as every error became known, was condemned by the pastors of the church, in which condemnation Fox has joined most cordially; we have seen that the broachers and adherents of the erroneous doctrines invariably had recourse to the civil sword, when foiled in argument, and now it was that the eastern countries were nearly subdued by the sword of Mahometanism for their impiety and presumption. With the exception of the note introduced by the modern editors of Fox to the life of St. Boniface, we have no intimation whatever of any error having crept înto the church of Christ, nor could such be the case, since Christ had promised that HIS church should NEVER ERR, but that the Spirit of Truth should abide with her even to the end of the world. Now, unless we could rely upon this promise of Christ, and who shall we believe before God himself? would it not be more consistent to renounce Christianity at once, than to be so beset with folly as to give credit to the notions of this pretender to inspiration, then to that railer against what is called Popery, without examining what claim they have to be believed in preference to the whole church of Christ? Without some for our guide, it is impossible we can go right, and we have be-us the rule which was followed by the successors of the apostles, and by every church after the seal of truth was imparted to the people. But, in contradiction of this rule, in the very face of history, and without a single tittle of evidence, we are now assured by Fox, that the system of faith which had civilized the Pagan world, was become infected with error and superstition. Here are his words, sensible reader, and we beg your particular attention to them. Before

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this time (he writes) the church of Christ was tainted with many of "the errors of popery, and superstition began to predominate; but a few, who perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors, deterfew who mined to shew the light of the gospel in its real purity, and to disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised about it, in order to delude "the people. The principal of these worthies was Berengarius, who, "about the year 1000, boldly preached gospel truths according to their "primitive purity. Many, from conviction, went over to his doctrine,