THE POPE'S INAUGURATION.

S. PAUL informed the Thessalonian church that a personage whom he denominates that man of sin" or that lawless man, title remarkably applicable to the Pope who defies [and tramples on all laws human and divine; and the son of perdition; and he also informed them that there should be a a falling away or an apostacy from the christian faith, when the above named personage should oppose and exalt himself above all that is called god, or sovereign prince; and that as usurping the place and attributes of God he should sit in the earthly temple or church of God and shew himself that he is God. The Greek word which the apostle uses for the temple signifies the most holy place or the altar of God.

THAT S. Paul's prophecy has long since been, and still continues to be fulfilled, we shall now shew from the authorized "Book of the Sacred Ceremonies," used at the inauguration of every new pope as cited by Dr. Wordsworth in his Lectures on the Apocalypse.

THE PONTIFF elect is conducted to the sacrarium, divested of his ordinary attire, and clad in the papal robes; all of which are scarlet,, and one of them is a vest covered with pearls ; and the mitre is adorned with gold and precious stones. In the Revelations, the person whom S. John describes as riding on the kings and people of the earth, whom he calls an harlot, and who, he says, is drunken with the blood of the faithful servants of Christ, is three times described as wearing scarlet, pearls, gold, and precious stones.

THUS arrayed in the robes of the mystical harlot, the pontiffelect is conducted to the altar of the church of S. Peter; before which he prostrates and prays; thus declaring its sanctity by his bodily worship. The Pope, or the lawless man, then rises wearing his mitre ; he is lifted up by the Cardinals and placed by them upon the altar to sit there; one of the bishops kneels before him and begins to chant the Te Deum; whilst the Cardinals kiss the Pope's feet, his hands and his face. This ceremony

is called the ADORATION; and it is represented on a pontifical coin with the legend in latin-" whom they create they ADORE."

HERE THEN the pope shews himself in the most holy place that he is God; he is worshipped by kneeling before him and kissing his feet; and by singing the Te Deum, which is one of the most solemn acts of the worship of Jehovah; he sits in the most holy place, and makes the sacred altar his footstool, which he tramples under foot. Thus he becomes as much the "abomination of desolation as Antiochus Ephiphanes who sacrificed swine upon the altar at Jerusalem. In thus usurping the place of God he is not afraid of divine vengeance when he is saluted VICE-GOD; our LORD GOD the pope; KING of KINGS; and LORD of LORDS; besides other blasphemous titles. Sir Richard Musgrave mentions that in a confession of faith found in the pocket of a popish priest who was engaged in the Irish rebellion, the pope was termed "THE LORD GOD."! Bellarmine asserts that if the pope were to command men to practice vice and to shun virtue, they are bound to obey under pain of eter nal damnation; this he affirms is the very foundation of the christian religion; and to deny, it is a damnable heresy.

THE Rev. W. A. C. Maclaurin who was originally a congregationalist, afterwards an episcopalian and Dean of the Diocese of Moray, has apostatized to the Roman Schism; and we wish them much good of their convert. About ten years

but was at that

ago he was caught in the fact of apostatising; time prevented by the expostulation of one of his brethren. He was a self conceited vain-glorious man ; and much offended that he was not thought worthy of being elected to the episcopate. He had the bad taste to sit and vote in the election of a coadjutor to Bishop Low, on the day before he was formally enrolled under the banner of the man of sin, A lay member of the church in Elgin informs us that he is now in London as a laynan. "He made confession of his sins for forty-five years, and received absolution; having as penance to repeat the 51st psalm fifteen times in Latin!" In less than ten years he will change again.

NOTICES.

The Two Rocks, Christ or Peter. Second Ed., Wertheim and

McIntosh.

THE REV. Dr. Mc Caul, Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Professor of Hebrew in King's College, London, delivered this sermon in his parish church of S. Magnus the Martyr; and its object is to combat the assertion that S. Peter personally was the Rock on which Christ promised to build his Church. "This text then, he says, explained by comparing Scripture with Scripture, and interpreting our Lord's language here by His language elsewhere, does not lead us to acknowledge Peter as the Rock, the fountain of authority, and the centre of unity." Dr. Mc Caul has cited all the places which shew that S. Peter possessed no supremacy over the other apostles, who our Lord expressly declared were all equal; but he has left one important occurrence for us to supply. After S. Peter had opened the gates of the kingdom of heaven for the admission of the gentiles, the Apostles and Brethren contended with him for having done what was considered an unlawful act. So far were they from having the fear of his supremacy and infallibility before their eyes, that they rebuked and contended with him; and he as a supposed infringer of the law entered into a long apologetical report of the whole transaction, and concluded with pleading the irresistible command of God as his warrant. When they heard his defence, they held their peace, and glorified God; but they never acknowledged any supremacy in him; indeed their present attitude shewed that corporately they assumed a sapremacy over Peter. This very excellent sermon has been published as a Tract; and it well deserves the great circulation which it has already obtained.

The Greek Church. A sketch, 8vo Darling. 1850.

A COMPLETE history of the Greek church is too large a subject to be comprehended within one volume; and that now before

us professes only to be "a sketch." It is by the talented author of the "Eastern Churches" of which we gave a short notice in a former number; but he has only selected a few of the more remarkable periods, the salient point as it were, of the Greek Church's history. He gives a brief account of the city and church of Constantinople; of the claim to the universal epis copacy; of the different councils and Synods held there; and of the gradual alienation and final separation of the Eastern and Western churches. He devotes two chapters to the Arian Controversy; and gives an account of the miserable attempt at re-union between the Greek and Latin churches at the council of Florence which could only be purchased by an acknowledgement of the supremacy of Old Rome; but which the Eastern church indignantly disclaimed and excommunicated the parties who had betrayed it. The Greek Church is so little known to the generality of Englishmen, that this very cheap and very good work will be very useful; and we beg to recommend it to the attention of our readers. We conclude with the following short extract::—“ It is remarkable, that of all religious societies there is scarcely one with which we have so few points of contact as with the Greek Church. There are no old associations, no popular traditions, no hidden fountains of love and sympathy, that at a touch will gush out. The Greek Church is a great phenomenon full of interest to the English statesman, scholar, theologian, and the educated classes, but not possessing the least hold on the mass of the English people, to whom its very existence is unknown."

THE CHURCH WARDER AND DOMESTIC

MAGAZINE.

The Fourth Volume of this magazine is now ready, and may be had of the Publishers. Fcp. 8vo. Cloth Boards, 2s 6d.

THE

HENRY died in the year 1189, and was succeeded by Richard Coeur de Lion. In this reign the Pope's authority assumed a very formidable appearance; for that Pontiff proceeded so far as to threaten Richard with excommunication unless he prevented Hubert the Archbishop from erecting a rival See to Canterbury at Lambeth. In this reign the Albigensian Church sprung up in France; and a tax of one fortieth was imposed by Pope Innocent III., on all revenues ecclesiastical, to provide means for the fourth Crusade. Richard was succeeded by John. In the early part of this reign, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, died, and a fearful contest arose between John and the Pope as to whom the vacant See should be given. The Monks appointed the Sub-Prior-Reginald, and hastened te Rome, to receive the sanction of Innocent. But the matter came to the King's ears, and he immediately appointed John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich, to the office. Mouks had in the meanwhile rejected Reginald, and appealed to the Pope to sanction the election of another. But the Pope chose none of them; declared all three appointments null and void; and desired that Cardinal Stephen de Langton should be raised to the Primacy. But the King refused to permit it; expelled the Monks, and took possession of their revenues. This enraged the Pope, and he put the whole land under an interdict-the churches

The