middle ages? Is it not then the self-same as the ancient religion of Christendom? Is it not, therefore, the first manifestation of that celestial religious fire which was to be enkindled and to illuminate the whole earth-the first emanation of those pure waters which were to flow from the very fountain of the Divinity, and to cover the globe? Was not this mediæval, or rather primal religion, born in Heaven— the fair daughter of the great King—and was it not to have followers as numerous as the stars in the firmament, or as the leaves upon the trees? Did it not then descend from the throne of the Most High-was it not borne on angels' wings when the gladdening tidings of the Saviour's birth were announced to the Shepherds, who in the mountains of Judea kept the night-watches over their flocks? Was it not signalized at the same time by the apparition of the extraordinary star to the Kings of the East? Was it not afterwards preached by Christ and propagated by his Apostles? Was it not proclaimed by St. Peter in the Roman Forum, and by St. Paul in the Athenian Areopagus? Did it lead captive the most illustrious sages the poets, the orators, the academicians, the philosophers of Rome, of Egypt, and of Greece? Did it not urge on myriads of martyrs to expose themselves in the amphitheatres, to be devoured by wild beasts, and thus to give their very hearts' blood for the boundless love of their crucified Redeemer? Did it not stimulate the young virgin and the young man of high and low degree, to long for the sword of the executioner, that professing the Christian faith they might rush to the enjoyment of that endless bliss which awaited them beyond the grave? Did it not convert the Emperor Constantine, when he left, it may be said, Old Rome as an inalienable legacy to the Roman Pontiff-which is now enchained by the Revolution-and went forth to found a new Rome at Constantinople? Did it not bring to a knowledge of Christianity every king, and prince, and tribe, and people? Did it not diffuse the light of Catholic truth among the nations sitting "in darkness and in the shadows of death?" Did it not send the Roman monk Augustine to

England, as well as the Roman monk Palladius to Scotland, to Christianize the warlike natives of North and South Britain? Has it not alone, therefore, Christianized the four quarters of the globe, and Australasia besides? Has it not founded its charitable institutions for every disease which can afflict mankind? and has it not inspired men and women in every walk of life, to sacrifice themselves as victims on the altar of holocausts for the sake of suffering humanity? It would be tedious to enter into details with respect to the religious orders; but in contradistinction to the efforts of modern religionists, by way of comparison with the abortive evangelizing of Bible societies, which send forth missionaries armed with wives and nurses and such unevangelical accompaniments, does not this mediæval -this primal religion-send forth her anointed celibate ministers-like the Roman monks that landed in Kent with crucifix in hand, and the benison of heaven on their heads—single-hearted priests, who can address themselves to every class of the community; to the poor and to the rich, to the ignorant and to the learned, to the mechanic in his workshop and to the gentleman in his club, to the husbandman in his cottage and to the courtier in his castle; who can speak the same truths to the high and to the low, to the peasant and to the prince, to the House of Commons as to the House of Lords, and who can proclaim in language not to be misunderstood, that as there is but one God in Heaven, there is only one religion of God upon earth! Yes, this old religion, which was all but banished from the land for three hundred years, is being welcomed back again in North and South Britain, and is already knocking at the doors of the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, and is all but admitted within the Gates of its own gorgeous temple of Westminster !

Surely it is time to be just, if not generous-it is time for the minister of the Indian Office, even in his literary lucubrations, to be more diplomatic in writing respecting the religion of so many millions of her Majesty's Catholic subjects. It is more than time for the MacCallum More of Argyll to emancipate himself from the thraldom of early pre

possessions, to cast to the winds all narrow-minded prejudices, to give more scope to his large heart and noble intellect, to view religion and morality through the supernatural rather than the mere natural medium-to range in a field enamelled with Christian flowers, instead of one which is literally bristling with Calvinistic thistles; to enter upon an earnest investigation of that grand old faith which, for a thousand years and more, was the faith of the kings and princes and people of Scotland-that faith in which they lived and died and were saved, that faith which, despite every unsavoury appellative, is, and shall for ever continue to be, the imperishable faith of Catholic Christendom! Were this only done, were the Duke of Argyll to examine dispassionately the doctrines and the discipline of the ancient Church, it is very possible-for miracles have not ceasedthat the pen which he can wield so well would be employed to defend what he now unwittingly condemns. Then would he be led to embrace what he now so indignantly repudiates. Then would he also be induced to write, like the great oratorian of Edgbaston, his " Apologia, pro vita sua." would he reply, as did the French savant to the taunts of his foolish friends, "I believe, because I have examinedexamine in your turn, and you will believe with me!" For he would then see that truth, being one and indivisible, must not be torn in shreds-that truth must be preserved intact and entire, that it cannot become fractional or fragmentary, that it cannot submit to division or lacerationthat Christian truth, in the judgment of reason and religion, must stand or fall together—that it must be accepted or rejected as a whole-that Christian revelation being essentially true, must be essentially one, and that therefore it must be committed to the guardianship of one true, living, unerring, teaching Church of Christ. This Christian revelation must therefore be received or discarded by men in its entirety, it cannot be taken in parts, it refuses to be divided. It must stand or fall together. "He that is not for me is against me.” There is no via media in religion. One must pass to the right or to the left. There is no medium be

Then

tween divine faith and human opinion; there is no union between light and darkness; there is no alternative between accepting or rejecting the entire system of Christian revelation. Consequently, there is no logical mid-way between Roman Catholicity, on the one hand, and universal scepticism on the other.

"Prove to me," said Rousseau, "that Christianity is true, and that moment I declare myself a Catholic." Bossuet said, “The same motives which I have to be a Christian I have to be a Catholic;" and Fenelon declares, "No Catholic, no Christian." All are right and unanswerable in their argumentation. There is no escaping the horns of the dilemma, either a Catholic or an Infidel! If Christianity be true, it must be true under every phase; it cannot admit the admixture of error; it is the gold which is pure and without alloy; it must therefore be one, for truth is one, and not multiform. Consequently it must be accepted or rejected in its entirety. Hence all modern religious creeds cannot stand the test of an inexorable logic. They positively decline to be weighed in the scales of the sanctuary. They tremble, and therefore shut their eyes to the inevitable ultimatum. They feel that they are in a false position; their policy is not to be disturbed; they want to enjoy life, as it is said, to make the most of this world, and to face the other when it comes!

These so-called religious creeds, we contend, are an illogical compromise between truth and falsehood; they try to halt between the two extremes of right and wrong; they attempt to blend elements which are mutually repelling, and to unite personages-Christ and Belial-who are eternally conflicting. The unhappy religious systems of the sixteenth century are fast hastening to their end. In Germany, where they were hatched, a wide-spread school of rationalism, as opposed to revelation, has diffused its poison, which seems to say, "Either the old religion or none- either the total acceptance or rejection of Christianity—for that there is no steppingstone between being a Catholic and a Latitudinarian!" Protestantism as a system no longer exists. The idea is simply historical. Its body is dead-it never had a soul!

ANCIENT CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGY, AND

MODERN ANGLICAN RITUALISM.

CHRISTIAN antiquities, at the present moment, are monopolizing a large amount of public attention. Without tarrying to write a dissertation upon æsthetics, which may be regarded as the beautiful material manifestation of pure Catholic art, or to expatiate upon antiquities in general, which are all, without exception, Catholic, we may state in particular, that the monastic ruins of the far-famed isle of Iona are at length claiming their legitimate share of consideration, and are now all but enforcing the necessity of Government interference to save them from further decay. The London and provincial press, while speaking in indignant terms of the "Vandalism" in Iona, and of the sad consequences of lamentable neglect, have directed special notice to a well-digested paper which was read, Dec. 12, 1870, in Edinburgh, before the Society of Antiquaries, upon "Early Monumental Art in the West Highlands," by Mr. James Drummond, R.S.A., and which was reported in the "Scotsman" on the following day.

This very circumstance of the daily-increasing interest in Christian archæology is abundantly significant, and full of happy augury. It reveals an improved state of the public mind, and leads to the hope of the dawn of better days. It is not only by word, but by fact, that our fellowmen in England, and in Scotland too, have begun to study something more than mere Christian antiquities, that they have begun to test the character of Christian æsthetics, that they are no longer content to view the outside of religion, but that they must penetrate within-that they are no longer satisfied with contemplating the old walls of our venerable cathedrals and ivy-covered abbeys, but that they are push