accomplishes objects entirely opposite to those which the great apostle enunciated and enjoined.

This section must be considered as suggestive only, and it refers to that system of organised imposture, as old as priestcraft in the world, under which money has been collected, and treasure accumulated, in the name of some god, or divine person, or saint, and applied to the selfish gratification of the priests and their friends, or used to extend and perpetuate spiritual and hierarchical despotism over mankind. The papal power has studied this system in all its parts, has reared on it an amount of wealth, and has acquired by it a selfish influence beyond anything ever known in the world. Saints of every degree, and of every people, and of both sexes, have, by the use of their names on earth, been made the extorters of money from pious and credulous men, women, and children of every clime, in every age. Had the bishops of Rome, and their priests and monks spread over the world, contented themselves with making "merchandise" of the names and reputations of such saints as the Georges, and the numerous tribes of local and popular males and females, that fill the calendar as saints in heaven, their cupidity would have been sufficiently satisfied, without the dishonour to such names as Paul and Peter, placed as beggars at church doors, or extortioners of pence from the humble cottagers of a country.*

* Among the impostors of this class, the priests of Bel were the most voracious, the most cunning, but the most unlucky. They represented to the king of Babylon that their idol consumed every day in the temple twelve great measures of fine flour, forty sheep, and sixty vessels of wine. But Daniel knew better, and by strewing the floor of the temple with fine ashes he showed to the King that, notwithstanding the gates had been shut and sealed by the King, certain persons had

In another place we have considered the original words of the Saviour, on which the Roman bishops rest their claim to the keys of heaven and earth, and upon which they found their title to be his vicars on earth. It is certain that the apostles themselves did not consider that Peter was invested with the supremacy over them, else it was an act of rebellion in them to dispute among themselves, "who should be the greatest; " when their Great Master interposed, by teaching a lesson of humility, that the greatest among them should be the servant of all.*

Although Christianity, by the conversion of a man, makes him a new creature, and implants new motives of action, still the original constitution remains, and the idiosyncracies preserve their bias in the individual. The apostles, for example, exhibited the peculiar temperaments of their nature, after they were regenerated by the grace of Christ. We know very little of some of the persons who were chosen to be apostles, and it is only from some trifling circumstances that we are able to judge of their characters and capacities.

However, of Peter and Paul, we have full-length portraits of character; and from the narrative of the transactions, the accounts of the various situations in which they were placed, and especially from their own writings, we get so complete an insight into their characters, that we may describe them as faithfully as those of any public men within the range of sacred or pro

passed over the ground, and had devoured the food. A secret door admitted the priests with their wives and children to the great feast prepared for their god; but they were discovered and put to death.

* Mark ix. 34-37.

fane history. Independently of the remarkable circumstances of the call of Peter and Paul to be the ministers of the Divine Author of Christianity, those two men were extraordinary characters, but of striking contrast in several points of their psychology. But it is not our design to draw them in contrast or comparison, and we will only lay down what is written of Peter, in illustration of the remarkable difference between his principles of action, and those of the bishops of Rome, who put forth the high pretensions to be his successors and representatives.

Peter was of that impulsive temperament, which led him to be rash in speech and impetuous in conduct, and was deficient of the native intrepidity, and of the strong faith, which were requisite to sustain him with firmness in the situation of danger into which his impetuosity brought him. His love and attachment to his Master were strong, but his rashness led him into action only to exhibit his weakness and want of courage in the time of need; and as his Master said of him on one occasion," the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak."* But men of the disposition of Peter, of hasty speech and vehement actions, are honest in their intentions, and the very openness of their nature precludes plans of deliberate fraud from being harboured in their breasts. They are generally as vehement in denouncing acts of fraud or dishonesty, as they are rash in running into situations of difficulty and danger. Peter was stern, even to death, in his reproof of Ananias and his wife, in their foolish attempt to keep back part of the price of the land which they had sold for the common account; † and his indignation broke out against Simon in the words, "Thy money perish with thee," on Simon

Mark xiv. 38.

† Acts v. 1, 2.

Acts viii. 20.

offering the bribe to purchase spiritual gifts.

His two epistles are written in the style and language of an earnest and candid man, whose original vehemence of temper had been subdued by the trials of life, by age, and by the near approach of that great change which was to introduce him into a new state of existence. How widely different are the sentiments and style of those two letters, from the language and matter of papal apostolic epistles, or rescripts, to priests and their flocks! Let any intelligent English Catholic layman first read Peter's letters, as translated in the English Douay version, and then Bishop Pius IXth's bull to Nicholas Wiseman, as archbishop of Westminster, and he will be convinced, if he only exercise his honest judgment, that John Maria Mastai Ferretti is no more the representative of Simon Peter than he is of ONE mightier than him. Wherever the Babylon was where he wrote his two epistles, it is really of little importance to ascertain; but this we know, that they were addressed to the strangers* dispersed through the countries of Asia Minor, and they contain a compendium of the doctrines of the Christian religion, and precepts for the whole duty of man. No superiority is claimed by Peter for himself, but, on the contrary, he writes in an affectionate tone, "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us." But the parts of his subject that we have to deal with here, are those expressive of his condemnation of avaricious practices, and his advice to avoid the performance of duties merely by constraint, and for filthy lucre's sake. His prophetic eye, guided by his observations of the degrading effects

* It was not in Rome, but in Antioch, where the disciples and followers of Christ were first named Christians.

† 2 Peter i. 1.

of the excessive love of gold on the mind, sees, in the future degeneration of the church, the working of the avaricious principle to the disgrace of the Christian character. The very idiom of his language is formed as a warning against the indulgence of the passions of cupidity and avarice.