the Church, and which have given rise to much pain and alarm amongst the people, the course I have been forced to take, as one of the Churchwardens, to whom thousands of pounds have been entrusted for the use of that Church, has naturally become one of politico-religious antagonism towards him and his innovations. The thoughts which I have from time to time submitted to my fellowparishioners for their consideration have therefore, of necessity, been mixed up with matters of a local and sometimes personal character, in which strangers cannot be expected to take the same lively interest as the parishioners. It has, however, been strenuously urged that much of what I have written would not only be acceptable to the public generally, but that, as the result of much reflection, investigation, and experience, it would not be without its use in the present crisis.

Such assurances are doubtless flattering, but I am not insensible to the fact that much of the value of my observations, in the estimation of those to whom they were addressed, is attributable to the deep interest they naturally take in the local circumstances which have called them forth. In a matter, however, of such paramount importance as the maintenance of the pure and spiritual simplicity of Divine Worship in our Protestant Church, I feel that I ought not to shrink from any trouble or personal

inconvenience so long as anything I can say or do may tend in the slightest degree to promote the interests of religion. Under these circumstances I have been induced to recast much of what I had already written, but, in accordance with the suggestions of several friends, for whose judgment I entertain a great respect, I have not hesitated to reproduce such of the facts as may give interest and freshness to the work, divesting it of everything which, being of a personal nature, is not essential to the support and illustration of the arguments I venture to adduce. Much therefore that is advanced in the following pages, though not in the same dress, has already appeared in the shape of pamphlets, letters, &c., addressed to my fellow-parishioners, two of the principal ones having gone through several editions, and been circulated and read, as I am told, with much interest far beyond the limits of the locality for which they were written. Perhaps I might have done better had I entirely discarded my previous Essays, of which scarcely three pages have been interwoven with these, except as to the reiteration, in other words, of the facts which it was indispensable to retain. Having little time to devote to labours of this description, I have written under great disadvantages, chiefly at uncertain and short intervals of leisure, and hours frequently stolen from the proper seasons of repose. As a natural conse

quence, I find upon a review of what I have done occasional repetitions of the same ideas and arguments, and some departure from the ordinary rules. of order and consecutiveness, but, expedition having been urged, because the present period appears to be peculiarly fitted for bringing the subject on which I have ventured to dilate under public notice, I have not had time to bestow upon it that amount of critical revision which I could have wished; but it is obvious that I could only have one object in taking upon myself such a task, and I feel that I need not offer any apology to those who give me credit for the sincere desire, by which alone I am actuated, of promoting the best interests of the Protestant Church and the Christian Religion of our beloved country.

Stoke Newington,
April, 1865.

F. J. H.

A COMMENTARY,

&c., &c.

CHAPTER I.

ANTI-PROTESTANT TENDENCIES IN THE CHURCH.

THE Ecclesiastical horizon is overspread by gloom, which the energy of the true sons of the Reformed Church can alone dispel. The impending danger is not the less portentous because its advance is stealthy and insidious. All social evils have their origin in small beginnings, and all great reformations take their rise from apparently insignificant causes, the importance of which is developed by time. So it was with the flagrant abuses in the Christian Church, for the reformation of which our forefathers suffered all the horrors of persecution and the agonies of martyrdom. In our time-thanks to an overruling Providence-the cruelties of merciless incarceration, the terrors of the Inquisition, and the torments of the stake no longer appal the faithful; and, surely, in the absence of these deterrents, it requires little moral courage on the part of those who are true in that faith to contend for the maintenance of the liberty and purity of divine worship for which their predecessors struggled even to the death.

Notwithstanding the deep current of pure Protestant feeling which characterises the people of this country, a moral lethargy paralyses their action at a moment when their energies should be called into vigorous exertion. It is of the highest importance to shake off this inertness ere the evils with which their religion is beset take deeper

B

root.

Suffer them to grow a while longer, and herculean will be the labour of eradication. It is a fashionable folly to argue that "things are coming to such a pass that they will right themselves;" that the people will rise en masse when the monstrosity of the evil becomes too palpable to be borne; but, alas! the disease is of too insidious and too dangerous a character to be readily cured, if the infection be allowed to spread too far. Mental maladies are more subtle than material, and when the seeds of error are sown in the human mind, their extirpation becomes a labour of greater difficulty than the sanguine are willing to admit. Sooner or later the struggle must come. Dire will be the strife and intense the sacrifices entailed by apathetic procrastination. These are not light sentiments. A little observation and reflection will shew that they are well-founded.

Day by day we hear or read of men in the Church of England, who, whilst receiving the wages of Protestantism and openly professing hostility to Popery, are lending themselves to papal practices and doctrine opposed to the Church of which they are unworthy ministers. Nor is this extraordinary, when we reflect that our universities are open, and properly open, to all men, and that holy orders may be conferred on any person, whether properly or not, under certain conditions, to which the astute Jesuit, the Atheist, or the Infidel may subscribe, with less hesitation than the timid, devout, and earnest candidate for the service of God.

Without speaking disparagingly of any individuals of the Roman Catholic faith, respect being due to the honest convictions, if not even the prejudices, of sincere Christians, it may be unquestionably asserted, that the policy of the Church of Rome is ambitious, proselytising, and aggressive. Her teaching is, that to belong to any other Church is to be a heretic; that conversion, by any means, to her creed is meritorious; that he who brings over a proselyte does God service; and that salvation beyond the pale of the