Reformation, protested against the errors of the Church of Rome.' We are anxious to establish this point, because we thereby ex clude all infidels from participation in the title. The great principle on which Protestantism was founded was, the assertion of the sufficiency and paramount authority of the Bible, interpreted by man (when competent) for himself, with all the help and light of which his judgment can avail itself. This strikes at Socinianism on one hand, as much as Romanism on the other. The Socinian sets reason above Scripture; the Romanist, tradition. Each equally differs from the Protestant, who uses his reason only to satisfy himself of the sense of the language of Scripture, but not to prejudge the nature of its communications, and who uses tradition to prove the fact of the genuineness of Scripture, and to corroborate the sense which reason affixes, but never authoritatively to interpret it, much less to add to it, in matters of faith. The Protestant makes handmaids of what the Socinian and the Romanist make masters. It is by pro

testing against Romanism that we acknowledge true catholicism; by protesting against exclusive tyranny, we admit the universal love of the brethren;' by protesting against superstition, we restore scriptural purity and simplicity; by protesting against the worship of the Virgin Mary-against the use of relics—against prayers to saints against bowing down to images—against the adoration of the host-against the doctrine of purgatory-against the sale of indulgences-against the possible impurities of the confessional, and therefore against the confessional itself-against enforced priestly celibacy-against the doctrine that priests are mediators and sacrificers-against tradition as a rule of faithagainst the Pope's supremacy, and against the creed of Pope Pius IV.-and whatever else there be to protest against; by doing all this, we do but make a solemn profession of the truth. Talk of Protestantism as a negation! Why it is a negation; but what a negation! A negation may, under certain circumstances, be of such a kind as to imply much that is positive. A cloudless sky,' how much brightness does it import! A spotless character,' how much excellence is summed up in the term! St. Paul prayed for his followers that they might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.' What glorious negations were these! In such a world as this, certain negations will always be of the greatest value and the highest honour, and Protestantism is amongst the number. It embalms the recollection of our deliverance from Romanism into the liberty wherewith Christ maketh us free.'

But it is objected to Protestantism,' that it admits of the right of private judgment, exercised upon the Scriptures; and, in admitting this, admits dissent. True, and we must

submit to this evil, which may possibly keep out much greater ones. Even a Protestant church, adhering to the principles of the Reformation, may lose its purity; nothing but the Spirit of God can preserve that in it; it may want a stimulant, and dissent supplies the medicine. Medicine is good for restoration to health, but it is not good to live upon; when it has done its work, it is out of place. Let but the church walk abroad with her garments of pure white, and the bloom of health upon her cheek, and dissent will retire into the shade. To say that dissent must exist as long as Protestantism exists, is but to say (what may be a melancholy truth) that the time will never come when the visible church will need nothing external to keep her faithful to the work of her heavenly Master. If it be so, the fault is in the corruption of human nature, (for the church must work by human instrumentality,) and not in Protestantism, which admits the needful check; and to fly from this necessary evil to the far worse evil of having a church without any check, would be folly indeed. We must shut up the volume of history; we must forget the fact that this experiment has been tried; we must blot out the record of the fearful result, and the memory of the dark ages, before we can commit the insane act of flying from dissent into the arms of hierarchical despotism. Were the evils arising from the abuse of the principle of private judgment as great as the Tractarians would represent them, they would be as nothing compared with those which must necessarily flow from the principle of implicit submission to human authority. . . . . . Let us, then, never yield the right of private judgment; let us guard whatever reminds us of it; let us not be fooled out of the word 'Protestantism.'. . . . . In the name of all that has come down to us most dear and precious-if we have but common sense and common feeling if we would but keep our blessings, and transmit them to our children-if we love our country, our fellow-Christrians, and mankind at large, and are amongst those who would do or suffer something in behalf of rights that affect the welfare, especially the eternal welfare, of our species,-let us, without passion or fury, still less with anything like a wish to persecute our erring brethren, but with inflexible resolution, ward off the assaults of Tractarianism, and pluck all whom we can out of the dangerous circle of its enchantments; let us resist its violence, and reject its tempting promises: it has been tried! we know what it is. History is our faithful counsellor. We desire not to live over again the days of Hildebrand. . . . . . We must rally round the Scriptures; they are to our church the sole rule of faith, whilst the Romish church, by adding tradition, has two rules. . . . . . Yes! we hesitate not to say, our present contest is, above all things, in behalf of the Bible; in behalf of its sufficiency, and man's liberty to judge of its contents. This is the ark of

VOL. V.-Dec. 1843.

C C

God, that must go with us to the battle...... We will not endure the thought of reserve' in the communication of its truths; a reserve which must necessarily, in the end, lead to restriction on its use. We leave that to the Tractarians. We love our church because she knows nothing of such reserve; she teaches the doctrine of the atonement even in her Catechism. We love our Reformers, because, under God, they infused this spirit into her; it is the spirit of Protestantism, and it appears to us little short of blasphemy to speak of such a spirit as if it were an evil one, that must be cast out. This being our view of Protestantism, nothing shall induce us to part with the word. The Reformers called themselves Protestants; they are so called whenever they are mentioned in history. Bring the word, therefore, into disrepute, and you bring them with it; keep up its credit and esteem, and you keep up theirs. Which of these will be the course pursued by this nation? If it be a wise and reflecting nation, if it be a generous and grateful nation, who can doubt? It will adhere to its old name of a Protestant people, and glory in it, as it did of old; it will continue to honour and revere its Reformers, and to chisel out, bright and clear, every syllable and letter of the immortal Protest against Romish error that history inscribes upon their tomb."-From the Rev. C. S. Bird's "Plea for the Reformed Church."

ROMISH RELICS.

(To the Editor of the Protestant Magazine.)

THE following is a translation of a printed list of relics; which is hung up in the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, at Rome. It was furnished to a member of the committee by a correspondent who was lately travelling in Italy, and who was informed by a priest at Rome that they were the best authenticated of any of the relics there: the priest, however, added, that though he, for one, believed in their authenticity, it was not required that all persons should do so.

"The Popish writers themselves," as Dr. Conyers Middleton* observes," are forced to allow that many, both of their relics and their miracles, have been forged by the craft of priests, for the sake of money and lucre." And surely such are some of the relics enumerated below. It is surprising, until the dark and corrupt state of Italy, and of the system which broods over it and perpetuates that darkness and corruption, is considered, that such evidence of the "frauds of Romish monks and priests"†

* "Letter from Rome, shewing an exact conformity between Popery and Paganism."-p. 213, 8vo, 1741.

Many examples, probably now no longer existing, are detailed in letters published with the above title.-Lond. 1704, 4th ed.

should be allowed to exist. The perusal of it must produce in the mind of every Protestant a painful feeling of disgust: it should also excite in us pity for the deluded followers of the Roman church, and a hearty and thankful desire to walk worthy of our calling, having "turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven."

G. I. P. S.

1. Piece of wood from the most Holy Cross, brought by Constantine. 2. The inscription over the cross of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

3. One of the most sacred nails.

4. Two thorns from the crown of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

5. The finger of St. Thomas, which touched the most holy side of the risen Lord.

The above are exposed on Good Friday, on the feast of the finding of the most Holy Cross, and on the fourth Sunday in Lent.

6. The transverse piece of the cross of the penitent thief.

7. One of the pieces of money for which, it is believed, Judas betrayed Christ. 8. The cord with which our Saviour Jesus Christ was bound on the cross. 9. The sponge.

10. A great part of the garment of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

11. A great part of the holy veil, and of the hair of the most blessed Virgin, and coat of St. John the Baptist.

12. The upper part of the arms of St. Peter and St. Paul.

13. A heap of cinders and ashes, united in the form of bread with the fat of St. Lorenzo.

14. The head of St. Vincenzo.

The above are under the altar of the chapel of St. Elena.

15. Under the pavement of the Chapel of St. Elena, a considerable quantity of earth of Mount Calvary, sprinkled with the precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

16. Furthermore, a phial of the precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 17. Another, containing the milk of the most blessed Virgin.

18. A fragment of the sepulchre of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

19. A fragment of Mount Calvary.

20. A stone from the birthplace of Christ.

21. The stone on which the angel stood who announced the great mystery of the Incarnation to the most blessed Virgin.

22. A stone from the house of the most blessed Virgin.

23. A small piece of the stone on which our Saviour Jesus Christ sat when he pardoned the sins of Mary Magdalene.

24. Do. of the stone where Christ sat after his temptation.

25. A piece of the rock on which the Lord wrote the tables of the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.

26. Do. from the place whence Christ ascended into Heaven.

27. Do. from the place where the cross of our Saviour Jesus Christ was found.

28. Do. from the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul.

29. Do. of the vessel which received the precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

30. Do. of the manna with which God fed the Israelites in the Wilderness. 31. Do. of Aaron's rod, which budded in the Wilderness.

32. Relics of the eleven prophets.

33. Do. of the head of St. John Baptist.

34. Do. of the head of St. Clement, Pope. 35. Do. of the head of St. Presede.

36. Part of the skin and hair of St. Catherine of Sienna.

37. A tooth of St. Peter, the Apostle.

38. A tooth of St. Gordian.

39. Bones of St. John the Baptist.

40. Do. of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle.

41. Do. of the Holy Innocents.

42. Relics of St. Peter, and St. Paul, and of St. James the Apostle, and brother of our Lord.

43. A part of a rib of St. Lorenzo.

44. Bones of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, martyrs.

45. Bones of St. Hippolitus and several other martyrs, (naming them.)

46. Bones of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury.

47. Relics of twelve saints, popes, and bishops, martyrs, (there enumerated.) 48. A piece of stone from the house of St. Peter.

49. A piece of the stone under which was laid St. Catherine, virgin and martyr.

50. The bones of St. Mary Magdalene, and five other virgins and martyrs. 51. Relics of Elizabeth, queen and widow.

52. Relics of St. Bridget, and four other virgins and martyrs.

53.* Relics of eleven thousand holy virgins and martyrs.

All the above relics are preserved in a large shrine.

A hundred and thirty-six cases of relics of other saints and martyrs, male and female, of whom the proper names are not known through their antiquity.

And this shrine was that of St. Gregory, Pope.

I

"OLD PATHS."

Cambridge, Nov. 6, 1843. DEAR SIR,-It may be interesting to many of your readers to hear of a stanch Protestant sermon which it was the privilege of the members of Professor Scholefield's church to hear yesterday morning, from that distinguished man whose "praise is in all the churches." There is always a large number of University men present, and perhaps more than usual yesterday; and can almost venture to assert, that not one among them would be found to object to those glorious principles, on whose rich and evangelic fulness the professor feeds his flock. It is a matter of no slight moment to the Christian world that we have such a man, whose deep erudition is only surpassed by his ardent piety, standing forth in the breach, (which error's pioneers have made so wide, and which schism's underminers have made so perilous,) and there lifting up the argent banner of the Reformed Truth, that foes may be cowed and friends encouraged. It is a great privilege for Cambridge, where are flocked together those men whose future career must so remarkably affect the welfare, perhaps the very existence, of our beloved established church, and

* It may be as well to observe, that the figures are not in the original, and have been introduced merely for the purpose of distinguishing more clearly the several

articles.