“lieve as much as any of you." "What do you "believe," said I. "I believe," said he, "that "there are three Gods in one person. I believe "all that God believes."

INDULGENCIES.

Dr. Milner, in his history of Winchester, charges the church of England with granting and even selling indulgences. His words are:

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Strange as it will appear to many members of "the established church, it is nevertheless de"monstratively true, that this church formally "sanctions the use of indulgences, properly so "called; and that she does sometimes actually "" grant them, and that for money, which (he says) the catholic church forbids. (See Ar"ticuli proclero, in bishop Sparrow's collection. "p. 194,-Also, Constit. Eccl. p. 253.) all of "which regard the commutation and remission " of public penance, and the uses to which the "money is to be applied, when it is remitted "for money." Hist. of Winchester, vol. 2, p. 32. Dr. Milner might have quoted what follows: "Aylmer bishop of London, in the reign of “Queen Elizabeth, discovered in 1583, during "his triennial visitation, a frequent and scan"dalous practice of commutation of penance, which he endeavoured to reform. This was

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"practised by Chancellors, commissioners, offi"cials, registers, and even apparitors. These "commutations were so numerous, and at the same time so strange, that the bishop appre"hended it would open a passage to a general "inundation of vice, especially with regard to "the rich, who might be as criminal as they "pleased, when they might save themselves from "punishment by money. The bishop made them “ refund all sums received for six or seven years "back, and applied it to the repairs of St. Paul's "Cathedral."

RELIGIOUS WILL.

Humility in conversion may be evinced in the will of Sir Lewis Clifford, an old warrior of the fourteenth century, (who, after having been a zealous Lollard, had been reconverted to the Roman Catholic faith, partly by the archbishop Arundel's eloquence, and partly by dread of punishment. Lollards being so called, not from Walter Lollard, a German reformer A. D. 1315, but from lolium, tares, (which, according to Matthew 13, 30, ought to be burned), will prove that the over acted humility of certain sectarians of the nineteenth century, is not without precedent, "I Loys Clifford, fals and traytour to my "Lorde God, and to all the blessed companye

VOL. III.

"of Hevene, and unworthi to be clepyd a Crys"ten man, make and ordeyn, &c. At the be"ginning I, most unworthi and Goddys traytour "recommend mi wretchyd and synful sowl, &c. "and mi wretchyd caryne (carrion) to be beryed "in the ferthest corner of the cherche-zarde, in "whiche parish mi wretchyd sowle daparteth "fro mi bodye. And I pray and cherge, &e. "&c. that on mi stinkinge careyne be neither "leyde clothe of gold, ne of silk, but a black "clothe, and a taper att mi hede, and another "at mi fete, ne stone, ne other thynge, where"by eny may witte where mi stinkinge careyne "lyyeth." So that this worthy knight walked humbly in his conversion.

EXPENSIVE MONUMENT.

Dugdale informs us that the monument of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and the chapel in which is was erected in St. Mary's church, at Warwick, cost a sum nearly equivalent to £24,800 of modern money.

SAINT BERNARD.

St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, in the twelfth century, verified the interpretation of his mother's dream. She dreamt, when she was pregnant of him, that she should bring forth a white dog, whose barking should be very loud. Being

astonished at this dream, she consulted an honest monk, who said to her, "Be of good

courage, you shall have a son, who shall "guard the house of God, and bark loudly

against the enemies of the faith." St. Bernard

went even beyond the prediction, for he barked. sometimes against chimerical enemies, against errors which were but mere trifles, or an unjust interpretation of the words and thoughts of others; and, right or wrong, he knew admirably how to give the alarm, and how to make the thunder of his triumphs resound.

PURGATORY.

Purgatory is defined by Stillingfleet, to be a place in which souls are supposed, by the papists to be purged by fire from carnal impurities, before they are received into heaven. It may not be improper to add, that this is the most profitable fiction that ever was invented by priestcraft; for, by this profusion of post obit piety, the church not only gained, like a widow, her thirds, but had nearly gone far to sack the entire fee simple of all the faithful. The doctrine of purgatory was partly introduced towards the end of the fifth century, and revived by Gregory, the Great in the sixth century; but it was never positively affirmed till the year 1140, nor made

an article of faith till the council of Trent. But it is said, Odilon, abbot of Cluny, in the ninth century had the honour of this innovation. He it was, who first enjoined the ceremony of pray ing for the dead. Should this particular and important day happen on a Sunday, it is not postponed until Monday, but kept on the Satur day, "in order that the church might the sooner "aid the suffering souls." This saint actually "heard the voyces and the howlyngs of devyls "whiche complayned strongly, bycause that the "sowles of them that were dead were taken

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aweye, fro their hands, by almesses and by "prayers." Hear Mercier on the value of this saint to the Romish Church: "When St. Odilon, "abbot of Cluny, discovered purgatory, he fan"cied that, to secure a decent subsistence for "his monks, it was requisite to engage the peo"K ple to embrace this discovery." The Roman court which foresaw the advantages that would accrue from this Benedictine dream, declared positively, that St. Odilon was a man gifted with a strong discernment, and had found out a place unknown for more than five thousand years. This court afterwards persuaded the people that it would be neither prudent nor decent in them to allow their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends, &c, to be burned