Lecture should be introductory, I shall not detain you with any further preliminary observations, but proceed at once to announce my plan. I intend, then, this evening, to take a cursory view—

I. OF THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF POPERY.

II. OF THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTESTANTISM.

III. OF THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM TOWARDS EACH OTHER-TOWARDS GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN THEIR PRESENT STATE IN PARTICULAR-AND TOWARDS THE

WORLD GENERALLY; and,

IV. THE CONSEQUENT DUTY OF EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS.

From the extent of this field, it will at once be seen that to enter minutely upon the consideration of every portion of it would, within the limits of one Lecture, be impossible. My object, then, will be to glance at the most prominent facts and principles. We shall then take a cursory view—

I.-Of the Origin and Characteristics of Popery. Were I addressing Roman Catholics, they would probably object to the use of the term Popery, as implying an imputation, the truth of which they deny; and as attempting by a name to affix an unmerited stigma to the system. In the same way we might object to the term Protestant, as used by Roman Catholics, because it also may be understood as implying a stigma. We cannot consent to the use of the term Catholic with exclusive reference to the

members of the church of Rome, because we hold ourselves to be included in that designation when employed in the legitimate sense. I use the term Popery without intending any special reference to the relation in which Roman Catholics stand to the Pope, just as I use the term Protestant without any special reference to the event in which the designation originated. I use both terms as convenient and well understood signs of two systems, to be judged of by their own inherent character, without any reference to the names they bear.

The advocates of Popery claim for it a high antiquity; this has been denied to it by many Protestants, as I think, most unjustly. It is true the system which we so designate was not organized till the seventh century, and even then not perfectly. The materials, however, out of which it was constructed, had existed ages before, and had been gradually accumulating. Hence ill-informed Protestants are frequently defeated in argument when they stake the questions at issue upon mere antiquity. The advocate for Popery can adduce the most satisfactory evidence of the existence of the leading principles and practices of his system long before Popes were heard of. When we look at Popery we should fix our eye not on its forms, but on its principles -its essence. These were clearly developed in part even during the apostolic age. Of this we have the most undoubted evidence in 2 Thess. ii. 1-13, where it is expressly declared that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work." Looking at Popery,

then, in its primary elements, its essence consists in substituting the self-righteousness of the sinner in room of the righteousness of Christ imputed by faith. It makes salvation to depend upon human merit—a principle natural to the human heart. This one radical element of the system solves all its mysteries, and explains all its complicated phenomena. Its penances, its absolutions, and its ceremonies, are all branches from this root. The accumulated devices springing from this principle became at length, through the natural tendency of the human mind to construct, formed into a system. Additional power was thus obtained. The temple reared from the rude materials furnished by the imaginations and devices of the victims of self-delusion was shaped into a form, not simply regular, but gorgeous and attractive. The sinner was no longer left to the impulse of his own feelings, or the dictates of his own imagination, in pursuit of peace of conscience. There was a measured adjustment of means to an end, in seeking salvation. So much guilt, so much penance, -so much meritorious devotion, so much spiritual reward—a regular system of barter between earth and heaven.

In looking at the most prominent and important distinguishing characteristics of Popery, we must never lose sight of the great leading principle which I have specified that of human merit. The holy scriptures give no countenance to that principle, and are consequently deprived by the church of Rome of exclusive authority as a standard of religious truth, and a system of tradition, embodying chiefly the sanc

tions of salvation by works, superadded to them. Based upon one natural and prominent tendency of the depraved human heart, the system with surprising skill adapts itself to all the natural tendencies of the human mind. Is man naturally subject to the influence of things visible? Then the system appeals to the senses by its pompous and gorgeous ceremonies. Is it natural to man to lose the life and spirit of religion in its forms? Then the system makes religion to consist mainly in rites and ceremonies. Is it natural for man, in the darkness of his fallen state, to tremble as he gropes his way to apprehend eternal realities? Then the system appeals to his superstitious fears, requiring belief without reason, devotion without faith, and religion without truth. Is it natural to man to seek relief from harassing doubts? Then the system meets every inquiry with the assertion of infallibility, and relieves all anxiety by a transfer of the individual's responsibility to his spiritual adviser. Appealing to the natural superstition of the human heart, the system gives a prominent place to mystery; it has therefore ever been the foe of knowledge in every form. Its success is in securing men under a spiritual thraldom. It addresses fear, rules by fear, and is exclusive, intolerant, and cruel. Based upon the propensities of human nature, it is adapted to universal diffusion; for man is man over the world. It is versatile and accommodating in its spirit and appliances. It has ever aimed at power, and wielded the power it has obtained to the advancement of its own exclusive interests. In an age professedly liberal, it

affects to be liberal. In an age of light, it professes to be the friend of knowledge; and though its records are written in innocent blood, it is the professed foe of oppression, and of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. It is remarkably distinguished by vitality and indomitable energy. It finds a congenial soil in every clime; and wherever human foot has trodden, its emissaries have found access, and have laboured to promote its interests with untiring assiduity, and with uniform success.

It is not meant in this brief and very imperfect delineation to charge the evils specified upon individual Roman Catholics. That there have been, and that there now are, individuals in the Church of Rome who trust not in their own righteousness, but in the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, I rejoice to believe; but that is in spite of the system, and not as the natural result of it. Some men may be better or worse than the principles they avow, but that does not alter the nature or tendency of these principles themselves. Let us now glance

II. At the origin and characteristics of Evangelical Protestantism. Roman Catholics deny the antiquity of Protestantism, just as many Protestants deny the antiquity of Popery, and fix the date of the thing with the date of the name. Both systems, we believe, may in their essential elements be traced up further than apostolic times; but having dated Popery from the times of the Apostles, we shall not go further back in tracing the origin of evangelical Protestantism. What, then, is the system called Protestant, and what are its