ject in the pantomime touched by the wand of harlequin, undergoes a complete and sudden transformation, to the surprise of all beholders, and thus, mirabile dictu, affirmations deny, censures commend, and prohibitions the most absolute give unbounded license. This wonderful art, almost sunk into desuetude, was, after the lapse of ages, revived by the far-famed monk of Littlemore, and by him taught to his disciples, and to none with more success than to the author of the Ideal of a Church. And thus adroitly does the fellow of Balliol apply it; the articles breathe an uniform intelligible spirit;' yet, unhappily this spirit is not different merely' from an orthodox,' that is a Roman catholic spirit, but is absolutely contradictory' to it. By the admirable dexterity of the operator, however, the offensive spirit is evaporated, the 'prima facie meaning is evaded, and all the protestantism having been extracted out of the dry words, such a spirit is infused into them that the pope himself need not hesitate to sign them.

2. By a process very similar, the difficulty connected with 'the natural meaning' of an article may be easily removed. Instead of the natural,' that is the true and proper sense,' a 'nonnatural,' that is, a forced and false 'sense' may be put on it. The article is still signed in a sense,' it matters not however contrary to nature and reason. For instance, 'the twelfth article,' as Mr. Ward acknowledges, is 'as plain as words can make it, on the evangelical side,' but, by his dexterity, away goes all its natural meaning,' 'explained away,' and it is signed in a 'non-natural' sense; that is, in a sense exactly opposite to its meaning; Mr. Ward's conscience is satisfied, and ‘Brutus is an honourable man.'

3. The reformers, and the compilers of the Articles, it is said, were willing to include within the pale of the reformed church as many as could conscientiously sign these documents, though differing with themselves in some minor points. This is a piece of logical apparatus of great potency and convenience. It is no sooner applied, than forth comes this inference; these sagacious framers and compilers of articles, so anxious for uniformity, meant the very opposite of what their articles affirmed, or at least with a cunning, worthy of the Delphic responses, so contrived the wording of them that they might equally mean either of two things which are 'absolutely contradictory.' But alas, for the ingratitude of human nature; Mr. Ward cannot forget his 'burning hatred' to the Reformation, and all which pertains to it; instead, therefore, of being thankful, he turns on these men, some of whom, with all this supposed laxity of principle, were unaccountably willing to die for their opinions, and with a sardonic grin tells them how completely their own duplicity has ' recoiled on themselves.'

4. Another expedient to which these gentlemen have recourse, is the difference between holding' doctrines and 'teaching' them. The Articles may be subscribed, while Roman doctrines are held in all their extent, providing the liberty of 'teaching' them is not assumed. Then of course such publications as those with which the kingdom has been deluged, from the pens of Dr. Pusey, Messrs. Newman, Keble, Oakeley, Ward, and Palmer of Magdalen, pregnant as they are with Romanism of every kind, inculcated in the most zealous and plausible manner, must not be called 'teaching;' the active diffusion of antiprotestant opinions, by professors, by college tutors, by oral communication in daily intercourse, and by extensive epistolary correspondence, will not come under the charge of 'teaching.' It is taken for granted also that a minister's faith, has no necescary connection with his public labours, that it will not influence his preaching, that his head and heart may be completely saturated with Roman doctrines, without any of them ever oozing out, that a man of zeal and warmth shall constantly keep in abeyance those very doctrines which he deems the life of his spirit, and longs above all things to see prevalent in the church. It is assumed, moreover, that it is perfectly consistent with ministerial responsibility, to withhold part of what is believed to be the whole counsel of God,' to keep back that which is profitable,' and from considerations of expediency, to allow the people, so far as public teaching is concerned, to remain in. ignorance of saving truth, and to 'perish for lack of knowledge !'

We confess that to read such statements, to repeat such enormous fallacies, puts our patience to no ordinary test, that we feel towards these various apologies for dishonesty, an indignation which it is difficult to repress. A man of common integrity must we conceive be strangely destitute of feeling, who can see unmoved the majesty of truth thus insulted, the interests of morality thus betrayed, and deceit and guile so openly, and so unblushingly avowed. Amidst so much wordy discussion about the latitude of interpretation which the Thirtynine Articles admit, and the constant repetition of their compatibility with 'the whole cycle of Roman doctrine,' the mind is in danger of being misled, and of losing sight in some measure of the utter repugnance of these two opposites; it may be of advantage, therefore, to see them in juxta-position. We hope that such an exhibition of them in a few particulars may not be considered misplaced.

'We find, Oh most joyful, most wonderful, most unexpected sight;
we find the whole cycle of Roman doctrine gradually possessing
numbers of English churchmen.'-The Ideal, &c., p. 565.

'Three years have passed since I said plainly, that in subscribing
the Articles, I renounced no one Roman doctrine.'—Ibid, p. 567.

*Accordingly, Mr. Ward calls the doctrine of justification by faith only, 'a hateful heresy, p. 44, note; 'a hateful and fearful type of antichrist of prodigious demerits, p. 305.

commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, &c., are not to be counted for Sacraments of the gospel. The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them.'

ART. XXXIII. Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions. The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance received, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.'

ART. XXXI. Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross.-' The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect 'redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain and guilt, were blasphemous fables and dangerous conceits.'

or fewer than seven, viz., &c.; or that any of these is not truly and properly a sacrament: let him be accursed.' SESSION XIII. CAN. 6. Whoever shall affirm that the Eucharist is not to be honoured with extraordinary festive celebration, nor solemnly carried about in processions: let him be accursed.

SESS. XIII. CAN. 2. Whoever shall deny the wonderful and peculiar conversion of the whole substance of the bread into his body, and of the whole substance of the wine into his blood; which conversion the catholic church most fitly terms Transubstantiation: let him be accursed.'

CAN. VIII. Whoever shall affirm that Christ, as exhibited in the Eucharist, is eaten in a spiritual manner only: let him be accursed.'

CAN. VI. Whoever shall affirm that the Eucharist is not to be publicly presented to the people for their adoration: let him be accursed.'

SESS. XXI. CAN. 1. Whoever shall affirm that a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God in the Mass: let him be accursed.'

CAN. III. Whoever shall affirm that the sacrifice of the Mass ought not to be offered for the living and the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfaction, and other necessities: let him be accursed.'

Now with such an exposition before us, does it require intellectual acuteness, or literary training to determine whether an honest subscription to the one is compatible with a conscientious belief of the other? We confidently ask, whether it is possible for any man of common sense and ordinary integrity to compare the two theological systems, as thus embodied in their accredited forms, and not to perceive that they are most decidedly and irreconcileably antagonistic. Apart from all enquiry as to the amount of truth or error which each contains, every unsophisticated mind, whether protestant or catholic, christian or heathen, must at once see that each condemns the other, that if one be true the other must be false; that in fact the Articles are a strong, plain, unequivocal protest against the decrees and canons, and that no man can possibly hold them both, any more than he can serve God and mammon; or believe that to be truth,

which he knows to be falsehood. To evade the meaning,' to 'explain it away,' and to place an unnatural sense upon the words, is to seek shelter from difficulty in a 'refuge of lies,' and to secure certain advantages by the sacrifice of truth and honesty. To what purpose is it that Dr. Moberly assures us that he knows Mr. Ward to be a man of the most thorough and upright integrity, that he is distinguished by the most noble elevation of moral conscientiousness,' while we have the fact before us, that by practising evasion he signs articles which he does not believe, and that he proclaims it, and glories in it. Is not this a mode of proceeding which, in the concerns of ordinary life, would be branded with infamy, and would destroy a man's commercial credit for ever? Mr. Keble solemnly warns the members of convocation against daring to affirm the bad faith' of his Romanizing friend, if any think it but possible' that the passage cited from his book, 'may be attributed to obliquity of judgment,' or 'incautious reasoning.' But if by some mental obliquity, men can persuade themselves that it is right to practice deceit, are they therefore exonerated from the charge of bad faith? Was Saul of Tarsus the less a persecutor, because, when he 'breathed out threatenings and slaughter' against the followers of Christ, he 'verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth?' When men do wrong against their convictions, there is some hope that they may pause in their career, or be checked in their course; but when by some unhappy process both reason and conscience are made parties to delinquency, there are none of whose return to virtue so little hope is to be entertained, and against whom it is so necessary to be on our guard.

Let it not, however, be supposed that we are doing injustice to Mr. Ward, or that we take too depreciating a view of his character. We are perfectly willing to believe that, up to a certain point, he is an upright and honourable man. But the more we admire his general excellencies, the more deeply are we grieved for this lamentable exception. This is the point on his mental retina where there is no power of distinct vision, this is the monomania of his morality; and how pernicious must be that school of theology which produces such an aberration of reason, such a paralysis of the moral sense in the case of subscription, is obvious to every one who is not under the Romanizing delusion. Who can calculate the amount of mischief to the interests of morality already occasioned in and out of the university by the dissemination of the principles of Tract No. 90; and what would be the condition of society, if these were allowed to imbue the minds of one generation of students after another, and so to spread their poison through all ranks of the commu