stoutly as any one has done since his time, which will no more prove that consecrated bread is the actual body of Christ, and wine his actual blood, than Cyril's belief in the efficacy of Prayers for the dead, will prove the dead to be any the better for prayer.

So much for certain of the Fathers, but if our space would serve, far greater blasphemy and nonsense might be adduced from their works, to shew what the world is to expect from extinguishing the Bible Society in favour of the Fathers, and delivering itself up bound hand and foot to a clergy (whether Protestant or Popish) which has no better rule than that of Vincentius Liriensis or Mr. Wix, to guide its own steps, or enlighten the darkness of others. We must now apologize for the length of the present article, and trust that the importance of the subject will induce the Public to bear with a" few more last words" in our next Number.

Art. IV. Reformation of the Catholic Church in Germany, and the Downfall of Papal Authority; detailed in a Correspondence with the Court of Rome, on the Subject of the Nomination of the Vicar-General, Baron von Wessenberg, as Successor in the Diocese of Constance, and Diocesan Administrator, accompanied by the various Documents referred to in the Correspondence; a Prefatory Memorial giving a brief Account of the extraordinary Proceedings of the Court of Rome, on this Occasion, and the Measures adopted. in Consequence, by his Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden; and an Introduction written expressly for this Translation, by the Attorney-General of the King of Bavaria. Translated from the original German, 8vo. pp. xxx. 215. London, 1819.

IT

T is a rather singular circumstance, that whenever the advocates for Popery have attempted to persuade us that it is a quite different thing from what it was formerly, some occurrence has almost immediately taken place, tending most plainly to contradict their assertions. When Bonaparte was driven from France, persons of this description anticipated the most beneficial results from the effects of the French Revolution; and when they adverted to the intercourse which had taken place between the British army, and the hitherto bigoted inhabitants of the Peninsula, especially as it had been carried on under circumstances so favourable to our character, and so well adapted to remove prejudice, there was no bound to their expectations.. But in the midst of all these prognostications, the Spanish monarchy was restored, accompanied with the Grand Inquisitor, and with friars black, white, and gray, and all their trumpery ;' and the speedy consignment of some of its most patriotic and steadiest friends, to the rack and to the dungeon, shewed what was to be expected from the restoration of the beloved Ferdinand. The return of the Pope to Rome, was in like manner signalized by the restoration of the Jesuits, an Order that had in

curred universal detestation, and the suppression of which excited the greatest joy in all the Popish states of Europe. Hearing, on all sides, of the political regeneration of the great European family, and of the universal toleration which was to reign throughout it, we own we were surprised at the comment upon all these fine speculations, which appeared in the Protest of the Catholic Prelates of the Netherlands, against a measure which had for its object the legal recognition of the Protestant religion. This was pronounced to be injurious to the interests, and detrimental to the existence, of the Catholic Church; and for this conduct they received the Pope's approbation. The advocates for this monstrous system of error and intolerance, not warned by all these facts, have had the hardihood to deny that any such principles were received among the Roman Catholic inhabitants of this empire, and lo! the famous Dublin edition of the Douay Testament appeared, under the sanction of Dr. Troy, accompanied with all the intolerant notes that formerly disgraced the days of Elizabeth. The publication before us presents the last and newest contradiction to those speculations which would lead us to suppose that the spirit of the Church of Rome has been meliorated, and that the clergy of her communion are at present more enlightened and less bigoted, more humble and less intriguing, than their predecessors were; and as the transactions to which it alludes are not yet brought to a close, we are much mistaken if events will not occur tending still more to confirm our opinions.

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The circumstances of the case will require but a brief detail, in order to evince that the real point in question, was the attempt on the part of the Papal Court, to interfere with the Grand Duke's right of nomination to the Bishopric of Constance; a right which his Royal Highness asserts that he enjoys in common with all rulers of independent states, as a part of the sovereign authority possessed by them.' The Prince Primate, as Bishop of Constance, had before his death officially expressed his wish that his successor should be Baron Wessenberg, and the Grand Duke, as coadjutor, gave his assent to his appointment. But as the Bishop of Constance died before Wessenberg had received the confirmation prescribed by the German Concordats, the provisional administration of the Bishopric was committed to him, with the unanimous testimony of his co-capitulars in his favour. As soon as this was known at Rome, a brief was issued to the Chapter of Constance, without being communicated to the Grand Ducal government, rejecting in a most contumelious manner the person on whom their choice had fallen, commanding the Chapter to proceed to a new election, and ordering the spiritual tribunals to pay no attention to the acts of the individual in question.

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The grounds and reasons for this rejection, are derived only from certain accusations said to have been brought against Wessenberg, in consequence of which the Pope had ordered the deceased Bishop to dismiss him instantly from his situation, as Vicar General. The brief containing this order, was never published by the Prelate to whom it was addressed: all parties concerned, were unacquainted with it, and it came to light only upon the examination of the Bishop's papers after his death. In this stage of the business, Wessenberg, with the approbation of the Grand Duke, repaired to Rome, partly to evince his per'sonal respect toward his Holiness, and partly to learn the na"ture of the accusations against him, and to afford explanations ' respecting them.' The greater part of the work before us is composed of the correspondence between him and Cardinal Consalvi, together with an Appendix of the documents referred to. A prominent part of the charges against him, is made to relate to his disobedience of the unpublished brief above-mentioned; and to his continuing to assume the title of capitular vicar, after the Pope had disannulled his election.

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'These facts (the Cardinal remarks,) would of themselves alone suffice to attach guilt to your, &c.; and according to the established rules, you have rendered yourself incapable of being heard, as these rules prescribe that a party, even in a case where he considers himself aggrieved, shall previously yield obedience to the higher, and still more to the highest authority of the Church, and shall not be admitted to obtain reparation, till it afterwards pleases such authority to state the grounds on which it acted.' p. 11.

In his administration' of the diocese, he is charged with several acts tending to impair the purity of the Faith, and to set aside its ancient and acknowledged customs. His regulations respecting marriage contracts, administering private baptism, the education of the children of mixed marriages, and the retrenchment of holydays, with alleged dispensations to eat meat on fast days, are conjoined to his supposed defence of a heterodox preacher, the character of certain works sanctioned by his Curia, for whose orthodoxy he is held responsible, and the recommendation of reading certain parts of the liturgy in the mother tongue; and all these are marshalled together as forming the ground of the Pope's rejection; and we may add that his Eminence has adduced, besides these facts, a kind of appendix to the charges, consisting of suspicions, surmises, reports, and unfavourable opinions entertained against him by the most ' modest and reasonable Protestants in Germany.'

Wessenberg's defence consists chiefly in explanations tending to shew that the acts complained of, were not his, or that they were sanctioned by him only in his official capacity, as the Bishop's officer. He denies some of the charges altogether, but

admits and defends two points of accusation interesting to the Protestant community.

The Cardinal Secretary, in his first Note, charges Wessenberg with having pronounced a sentence in favour of the sermon of Alois Hekelsmüller, an ex-monk, in which (he says) you 'declare that he taught the people the pure and sound doctrine of the holy Gospel; although he taught and preached, to the great scandal and indignation of the believers in that quarter, that the adoration of Saints is erroneous, that pilgrimages · ought to be abolished, that devotional exercises with the beads of the rosary are erroneous, that a distinction ought to be 'made between the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiff." p. 18.

With respect to the affair of A. Hekelsmüller, (says Wessenberg in reply,) his Holiness must have been misinformed....... This most pious and zealous priest preached a sermon on the abuses of pilgrimages, on prayer as taught by our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the opposite custom of praying in a mechanical manner. On a festival immediately ensuing, a Capuchin Father took upon him to preach in an opposite sense; this opposition caused a sort of division in the parish; a few individuals carried their complaints to the foundation of Schonenworth, on which the Vicar was dependent. The Foundation, instead of transferring the affair to the Vicarate alone, and awaiting its decision, applied immediately to the temporal government of Soleure, and induced that government to decree the instant deposition of the Vicar. On this, the latter brought his just complaint to the Vicarate, which defended its authority against the encroachments of the temporal government, and the irregular proceedings of the Foundation; and after a close investigation, saw itself under the necessity of declaring, that the accused Vicar delivered no such doctrines as those alluded to in the note of your Eminency. Still, however, the Vicarate did not fail to give this clergyman a fatherly exhortation, and salutary admonition to moderate and regulate his zeal according to the maxims of pastoral prudence.' pp. 35, 36. Another charge was brought against him in the following

terms:

Your introduction of the mother tongue and other very scandalous abuses into the holy Liturgy, under a pretence of a zeal for the old discipline of the Church, might also be called to remembrance. The dispensations from the Breviary granted by you to many clergymen, may be urged in confirmation of your objectionable conduct,' &c. p. 23. To this he replies:

With respect to the Liturgy, the ritual universally received in the Latin Church has not been altered. It was only recommended to persons having the care of souls, that in the administration of the holy Sacraments, they should, in order to render them more instructive and edifying, contrive to address a few words of exhortation to the persons present, or add a few suitable prayers in the Mother tongue, and that

they should also introduce the common popular melodies into the worship of God, after rendering them as perfect as possible....... Dispensations with respect to the Breviary were never granted without substituting other devotional exercises, or meditations on the holy Scriptures, in their place.' pp. 40, 41.

The following passage from the Cardinal's Letter, alludes to a publication, which may be deemed in some measure indicative of the state of public opinion in Germany, although Wessenberg says that the Article is too evidently conceived in the 'spirit of Protestantism, to produce any effect on the Catholics of that country, who know that such a change in their Church is altogether out of the question.' (p. 44.)

It cannot be unknown to you, that the very offensive journal, which bears the title of opposition, and is printed at Weimar, after delineating the qualities which the newly imagined Patriarch for Germany ought to possess, and declaring that from hence forward, the Holy Scriptures, and not the Roman Pontiff, shall determine religious disputes, and that the Scriptures shall no longer be expounded by the Pope, but by reason alone, designates, by marks which it is impossible to mistake, your person, as the most capable of filling such a place,' &c. p. 27.

The Cardinal's reply is much more worthy of attention, than Wessenberg's explanations; for in it, as the Grand Duke has not failed to remark, ali personal objections are waived, and while it is silent as to the alleged erroneous opinions, it diverts exclusively on those points in which the zealous eye of the Papal Court perceived any thing like an infringement upon its authority; and it exhibits the same spirit of encroachment upon the rights and privileges of foreign states, that marked the conduct of the Roman See in the days of its highest pretensions. The demand of unqualified submission, which is repeated, and the high tone in which Wessenberg's guilt is insisted on, because he did not, on receiving an intimation of the Pope's pleasure, relinquish his situation, form a subject worthy the attention of the Friends of the Veto. By an election conducted according to all the prescribed forms, and with the approbation of the sovereign, an individual is called to fill a high office. The Pope, whose confirmation is sought for, takes upon himself to annul this election, grounding bis refusal upon the judgement which he had formed from the unfavourable reports and accusations of individuals unnamed; and he requires all parties to yield unqualified submission to his mandate, and to surrender their rights and privileges to the authority of his veto. We may ask, How would the British Government correspond with the Papal See, on such a subject, and are the advocates for Popery prepared to say that such a case could never occur, if we were to acknowledge in any wise the Pope's authority in