Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Crown and the Church-fight, that is, with deeds, when called on; but not, alas! with milder, but apparently far less easily attainable weapons! Let us hope for the best. Surely all the prayers that have ascended from so many holy men-surely the flame of renovation which has sprung forth amongst us to purify and to brighten, surely the evidences of life visible far and wide within our Anglican community, surely all these will prevent our utter downfal, will fire us to combat against the spirit of lawless disobedience, will enable us to save law and order, even amidst the wreck of empires and of nations.

It is almost needless to say that the paper and print of Mr. Warburton's work, together with the fine engravings it contains, render it an ornament for any library. The portraits of Prince Rupert himself, the elegant and aristocratic Marquis of Worcester, and the famous Montrose will be found peculiarly interesting. We conclude our imperfect review with the confession of our gratitude to Mr. Warburton for his obviously long and careful labours, and with the assurance that we consider "Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers" a valuable contribution to the literature of our great civil war, and a production worthy of the author of "The Crescent and the Cross."

ART. II.-Mornings amongst the Jesuits at Rome. Being Notes of Conversations held with certain Jesuits on the subject of Religion in the City of Rome. By the Rev. M. HOBART SEYMOUR, M.A. London: Seeleys.

WE confess to opening this volume with some degree of prejudice against the author's name, we scarcely know why; and with some distrust as to the line of argument which he might adopt. In truth, such feelings must cross the mind in commencing the perusal of almost any new work on Romish controversy; for we generally find little of novelty in the argument, and when there is novelty, it is usually more or less erroneous. Exaggeration we too frequently see; and, above all, we observe confusion of ideas, and a disposition to concede positions which, though apparently unimportant, are, in fact, the turning points of the whole controversy. Men too frequently enter on discussions of this kind without sufficient previous study, and therefore fall into mistakes of various kinds. In one direction they adopt principles which tend to the subversion of all positive religion; or, in the other, they are entangled in the meshes of Jesuitism, and become slavish admirers of the very worst and most dangerous parts of the Romish system.

Mr. Seymour is no tyro in the Romish controversy: he has evidently bestowed on it years of thought and research; for though his work is quite of a popular character, and carries no apparatus of learning along with it, being free from quotations, references, &c., yet to argue in the way he has done, proves the possession of a complete mastery in his subject. In perusing the "Mornings amongst the Jesuits," we are reminded of the exclamation of King Henry VIII., when Cranmer's suggestion of applying to the universities in the cause of his marriage was mentioned to him-" He has got the sow by the right ear!" Mr. Seymour has the animal in his clutches; and a woeful tweaking has he administered, while he stands over his prostrate victim with an air of benevolence and politeness, which adds severely to the infliction. We confess that we have often laughed heartily over Mr. Seymour's pages; for the rout of his opponents by the ability of his tactics, when contrasted with their previous triumphant assurance, is so complete, and the quiet way in which he works up these cunning men to the point he wants, and

then pounces upon them with some argument that they cannot answer, is so singular, that it reminds us more of Mr. Waterton's feat of turning over the fore feet of the crocodile, and employing them as reins, while he bestrode the monster in a new kind of saltatory equestrian exercise, than of any thing else within our recollection. The notion of outwitting and puzzling the Jesuits is certainly what would not occur to ordinary minds; but Mr. Seymour has positively achieved the feat. We believe the whole of his narrative to be true: to us it carries internal evidence of its truth. The arguments employed on the Jesuits' side are precisely those which the most subtle and unscrupulous disputants of the Church of Rome invariably employ as their very best. The air of confidence, assurance, and triumph with which they were given, is also ably and characteristically described; and the judgment and ability of the way in which the discussion was conducted, together with the evident sincerity of the author of this work, forbid us to distrust in any way the substantial accuracy and fairness of the report.

Mr. Seymour, as we learn from the preface to his volume, visited Rome with a view to study the true genius of the Church of Rome, and to judge for himself as to her nature and character. In the pursuit of this object, he immediately became a diligent attendant on all the rites of the Church of Rome, was present at every procession, exposition of relics, unusual ceremonial, attended whenever the pope or cardinals were to be present; was at every remarkable funeral, reception into a nunnery, festival, &c. In short, he appears to have availed himself of every opportunity of seeing the whole of the Roman Catholic system with his own eyes. This punctuality and assiduity in attendance on the Romish worship had the not unnatural effect of leading some zealous members of the Romish Church to the notion that our author was in a hopeful state of progress towards conversion. Actuated by such pleasing anticipations, a Roman gentleman of station suggested to our author, whether some communication with the ecclesiastics of Rome might not be desirable; and having learned that such acquaintance would be acceptable, he proceeded at once to place this very hopeful case in the hands of the Jesuits; two of whom, by direction of the Padre-generale of the Jesuits, visited Mr. Seymour, and conversed with him on controversial subjects, evidently anticipating an easy conquest. The convert, however, proved rather more difficult to convince than could have been expected; and so he was handed on to the Professor of Theology and Canon Law, and other learned Jesuits, who do not seem to have made much of him; and have probably often wished from the bottom of their hearts, that they

may never again have to deal with a hopeful convert of this kind.

We must introduce the reader to the two ecclesiastics who waited on Mr. Seymour by desire of the Padre-generale.

"I had returned home after this spectacle [an ordination], and was looking over the Pontifical, examining a point which had much impressed me, when two visitors were announced. They were two Jesuits. They came in the peculiar costume of the order. One was a priest, and the other a lay-brother; but, according to the rule of the order, as observed at Rome, they were robed alike, the whole body, from the padre-generale himself to the lowliest lay-brother who is porter at the gate, being dressed in costume precisely the same. It consists of a black cassock, extending from the throat to the ankles, without any ornament beyond a little brass medal and chain suspended to the waist. The cravat is white, but so narrow as to be scarcely observable above the cassock, and over all is a black cloak, neat, plain, and without sleeves. The hat is remarkable for the great breadth of its leaf. It is not red like those of the cardinals, nor white like those of the camaldolines, nor decorated with rosettes and bands of orange, green, &c., like those of the prelates, all which seem so strange to our English tastes. It is black, and turned up slightly at the sides, without any bow or other ornament. The costume as a whole is neat and seemly, and as elegant and becoming as any ecclesiastical or academic costume can be. It certainly surpasses in this particular the style and appearance of the other monastic or religious orders; for it bears the stamp of studied neatness and propriety, while that of some of the other orders is exquisitely grotesque and ridiculous.

"In a few moments we all were as much at ease as the peculiar nature and object of the visit could permit. The interchange of mutual courtesies, and some words upon general subjects, soon led to the object of our meeting."-pp. 10, 11.

The conversation turned at first on the Oxford movement, and the divisions in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, and from thence passed on to the doctrine of absolution in the Church of Rome, in which our author placed the Jesuits in considerable difficulty; but we have not space to dwell on this branch of the subject, we pass on to discussions of a more general nature.

งา

In chapter III. we have an account of a visit paid to Mr. Seymour by "a reverend gentleman who had originally been a Protestant, and had entered the Church of Rome." This gentleman enlarged on the delight and happiness which he had experienced since becoming a Romanist.

"He entered into some details of his former history, in fact the story of his life, and concluded by saying that he had never known peace or happiness until he had taken the final step; and then, and from that

moment, he had experienced a tranquillity of mind and a satisfaction of feeling, a joy and delight which he had never known before. . ... He then added, that he believed that this happiness was experienced by all who, like him, embraced the Church of Rome,-that he knew it to be the experience of others as well as his own,—that he could not regard it otherwise than as the special gift and blessing of God,-the reward of heaven to those who entered his true Church, and that if I took the same step, I should assuredly be partaker of the same reward."pp. 63, 64.

Many persons would have been in some degree staggered by a statement of this kind, and would scarcely have known how to reply to it without danger of giving offence to the speaker. But Mr. Seymour replies, with great address and propriety, in the following way:

:

"I answered all this by stating that I could well understand it, as I had seen very much of the same nature in the case of persons who had acted in a manner the very opposite to that which he had adopted. I had known many persons who had been brought up from infancy in all the principles and practices of the Church of Rome,-who, by the reading of the Holy Scriptures, or by hearing the preaching of the Gospel, have been led to entertain doubts as to the verity of their former faith, and to receive and adopt the simple and scriptural principles of Protestantism; and so to go on to the final step of embracing the communion of Protestants; and such persons have often told me of the peace of mind and happiness of heart, the gush of joy and delight that they experienced in forsaking, by that act, what they regarded as the unscriptural and unstable errors of one Church, for the scriptural and stable truth of the other; speaking with rapturous ecstasy of peace and joy which they had never known before, and of the sweetness of which they had previously no conception. I added, that I supposed this feeling among those who embraced the Roman faith, and among those who embraced the Protestant faith-this feeling common to both alike-may arise from the casting aside the doubts and difficulties that had previously occupied and absorbed the mind; but that I could not regard it as a reward or recompense for the final step,-that I could not think that God would give this reward to both sides, to the Romanist for embracing Protestantism, and to the Protestant for embracing Romanism." -pp. 64, 65.

This was as complete an answer as could have been given. To judge of the rectitude of the course taken in a change of religion by the feelings by which it may be followed, is indeed a most fallacious test. We have heard of persons becoming Unitarians,—— Blanco White, for instance,—and then expressing to their friends the relief and peace of mind which they have experienced in consequence. Without doubt a mind which has long been tossed on a sea of doubts and difficulties generally experiences a feeling of VOL. XII.-NO. XXIII.-SEPT. 1849.

D

« AnteriorContinuar »