sects which arose in opposition to the corrupted Church of Rome, and which still afford an answer to those who would inquire of us, Where was the Protestant Church before the time of Luther? It is a scriptural truth that Christ should always have a visible and yet a spiritual church on earth, and from history we ascertain the fact that such a church has always existed, even among those despised or unknown persons who have been reviled as fanatics, or persecuted as heretics, by those who have not "kept the faith once delivered to the Saints."

CENTURY IX.

PROGRESS OF MAHOMETANISM-DANES IN ENGLANDSTATE OF THE GENERAL CHURCH-DOCTRINE

OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

IN tracing the History of the Church, I have thought one feels in the situation of a person who has left a brilliantly-lighted room, to pass through passages less and less illuminated, until he reaches a chamber of the deepest gloom. This is our situation at present: for, of the age I am describing, too truly must it be said, "Darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Ignorance and superstition had spread their deep and heavy shade where the light of science and of Christianity once shone; and the internal state of Christendom was as melancholy as the external. The religion of Mahomet spread with the arms of his successors; and the Saracens, so long the terror and the scourge of mankind, being attacked by the Turks, Christians became the prey of both parties, and in general the vanquished adopted the faith of the victors. Egypt, Africa, Syria, Arabia, and the

greater part of Asia, owned the sway and the religion of Mahomet's successors. And while the

East had thus fallen under the dark influence of Mahometanism, the West presented a picture as gloomy. The Danes, a swarm of rapacious plunderers, ravaged the coasts of Germany, Britain, Gaul, Spain, and Italy; extinguishing with barbaric hand the little knowledge or learning that remained in these countries, and carrying desolation wherever they went. Britain most deeply felt the effects of their ravages and for a time, fell under their sway. Both learning and religion had lamentably declined; but they found a reviver in Alfred the Great, with whom you are all so well acquainted, that it would be but a loss of time to say much of him. He recovered the kingdom from Danish usurpation, established order, promoted religion, and founded the celebrated University of Oxford, for the cultivation of literature.

The Western Empire founded by Charlemagne, the renowned son and successor of Pepin, King of France, declined again under his successors; and the Popes, taking advantage of these Princes' weakness, advanced their claims and their authority higher and higher, until at length they assumed the right of bestowing the crown on those of the competitors who most increased their power, and paid the highest sums for their favour. The supreme power of the Pope was thus established, and his character too fully displayed as

He, who as God should sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

The decrees of councils were not allowed to be of any weight without the papal approbation; and thus the entire body of the clergy were reduced to a state of dependance on the will and word of one man: the loftiest titles were assigned him; and a mere mortal, sinful man was not ashamed of being called God's Vicegerent upon Earth,' and 'our Lord God the Pope.' The grossest superstition, mixed with the most dreadful corruptions, prevailed among the monastic orders: monks and clergy became the patrons of ignorance; for in ignorance their sway over men's minds was established, and by ignorance it was perpetuated. A host of new saints, whose very names were unknown in the enlightened ages, were in this raised up for the admiration and the adoration of mankind and the lives of these saints, consisting of the most absurd and extravagant fictions that ignorant superstition could invent, or credulity believe, formed almost all the literature of the age.

In the year 879, a new controversy arose, which has not yet ceased to be agitated, though the Church of Rome quickly decided on the unscriptural side of the question. This was concerning the real presence of our Lord in the Sacrament. A monk introduced the idea, that the body of our Lord was actually present; and that, though the form of bread and wine remained, they were really

1

He was

transformed into His flesh and blood. opposed by others, who declared, in accordance with the belief of primitive Christians, the present belief of the reformed churches, and the dictates of common sense, that the bread and wine were symbols and signs of the absent body of the Lord,' commanded to be received "in remembrance" of Him.

The worship of the Virgin Mary, as the Mother of God,' was in this century carried to its height: more honoured and exalted than the Saviour, she was prayed to as the Intercessor,' and exalted as the Queen of Heaven,' by the folly and superstition of men who had refused the Scriptures as the rule of their faith and conduct, and had turned to the doctrines and commandments of men. The Scriptures, indeed, were now exchanged for the writings of the Fathers, and an awful ignorance of the Word of Life began to prevail, as it has yet too sadly continued to do, in the Church of Rome.

Even, however, in this age of worse than Egyptian darkness, there were not wanting some who arose to bear witness to the truth, and to prove that the Church of Christ, small and hidden as it was, still existed. Among the most eminent of these was Gotteschalcus, a monk, who witnessing the prevalent debasement of the doctrines of Christianity, and zealous for evangelical truth, left his monastery, and preached the doctrines