Colportage of Bibles, 246; Protestant Proselytism, whether wisely and charitably conducted, 247; Example of the Apostle St. Paul, ib.; What are the true principles of Reformation, and How is it to be set on foot and carried on? 249; Questions now to be pro- posed, 250; Claims of the Papacy to give investiture to Bishops, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, 253; View of Florence, 254; S. Miniato al Monte, 256; Anniversary of Cavour's death, 257; Vaudois, 258; Signor Geymonat, ib.; Sketch of their rise, history, and persecutions, 258-260; Milton's Sonnet "on the Massacre in Piedmont," 261; House of Savoy used by the Papacy as its instru- ment for destroying the Vaudois, 260-262; Dr. Gilly, General Beckwith, and the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," 262; Remarkable retribution on the Papacy from Piedmont and the House of Savoy, 263, 264; Vaudois "Articles" and " Liturgy," 265-267; Activity of some Religious Societies,―The principles of Visit to Pistoia, 276; Sketch of Scipio de Ricci's attempts at Reformation in the last century, 278, 279; Causes of their failure, 279-286; What is to be learnt from the experiment? 286-288; Favourable circumstances at the present time for Reformation, 288; Ecclesiastical Seminary, 289; Visit to a celebrated Pistoian Ecclesiastic, 290; His Lent Sermons, 290, 291; Reflections, 291; His opinion on Ricci's Reformation, 292; Another opinion, 292, Sermon of an eminent Dominican at S. Gaetano, 294; His views of Protestantism, 295-297; Interview with the Preacher, 297-301; FLORENCE (continuea). CHAPTER I. LONDON TO BÂLE. Tuesday, May 13th, 1862.-Left Londonbridge at seven A.M. for Dover: among the passengers were some Irish Roman Catholic Priests going to Rome for the great gathering there at Whitsuntide. From Calais by Lille to Mouscron, the Belgian frontier: beautiful cultivation, fine crops, gardens in excellent order. At Mouscron a respectable-looking man, about fifty-six years of age, got into the carriage, a second-class one, he asked me whether there were not many new churches being built in England. "Yes." "Were they for Catholiques?" "Yes; they are built for the worship of God according to the ritual of the Church of England, which is Catholique." "But you do not believe in the présence VOL. I. B réelle ?" "We do not believe in a carnal presence; but we believe that the body and blood of Christ are received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." "But you do not believe in Purgatory?" "No." "Nor practise Con fession ?" "Yes-to God: and when the conscience cannot otherwise be quieted, the penitent is exhorted to go to the priest and open his grief, that by the ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice; but as for the Roman doctrine of Purgatory, we do not find it in Scripture, and it was not believed by the Ancient Church: it is no part of the Faith delivered to the Saints,' and we therefore cannot receive it, and we call ourselves Catholiques, because we belong to the Catholic Church and hold the Catholic faith; and we think that the Church of Rome has exposed herself to the charge of heresy and schism, because she adds new dogmas to the Ancient Faith; (such as the recently-published dogma of the Immaculate Conception;) and because she enforces them on all as necessary to salvation, and therefore we are sure that she is not the Catholic Church; and thus also we know, that the Pope, who has put forth this new doctrine, is in error, and therefore cannot be infallible: and we feel also much alarm for those who build their religion on the foundation of the Pope's supposed infallibility. What will become of those who rest their faith on that foundation ? What will become of many among them when that foundation is taken away? Will they not become infidels ?” "But," replied he, "if you had the proper dispositions of heart you would receive all that Rome teaches, and would not pretend to be a judge of her doctrines;" and he instanced the case of an unbeliever, who, he said, had been brought under the influence of a saintly Confessor, lately dead, whose name he mentioned, and had embraced the true faith, unhesitatingly and devoutly, and was immediately transported into a holy ecstasy of joy and rapture"bonheur inconcevable." "There," said he, "was a practical proof of the truth of the doctrines of the Church of Rome." How often does Romanism come into close contact with Methodism, by making faith to be purely subjective! |