repenting sincerely their sins, and doing penance for the same; but this salutary condition is immediately annulled by the saving clause, that it is enough for an individual to have formed a steadfast resolution to do so (i. e., to repent, &c.). But they are-and for that the mere intention is not enough-to contribute liberally towards the endow. ment of the cathedral ! No wonder if the revival of the old trade, the sale of indulgences, has also revived the old opposition.

It is true that large numbers availed themselves of this broad way for going to heaven (some say that there went as many as 900,000, including 10 or 11 bishops,) and thereby showed that Rome had not altogether miscalculated. She might also observe with joy, that the number of those who were content with these outward shows of religion, and were ready to become willing dupes of the priests, had considerably increased since the year 1810. At that period the holy coat had also been exhibited after a long interval, and for the first time since the French revolution. The writer of the present article happened to be then on the banks of the Moselle. He remembers very well how the whole affair was considered by all educated Romanists, including the priests themselves, as a farce, got up between Napoleon and the bishop, in order to gratify the peasantry. The pilgrims, too, about 200,000, were also entirely confined to that class, and some of the lower orders of the towns. They were generally the same kind of persons who would walk many weary miles to St. Hubert's, in the Ardennes, for the purpose of having some eatables or rags blessed by the servants of this god (vulgo patron) of the chase, as preservatives of their cattle from canine madness. We remember perfectly the numerous scandalous tales that were related of the conduct of the pilgrims on their long and weary march, the poverty and wretchedness that ensued among them after their return, and many other circumstances which it would be unbecoming to record. No wonder, therefore, that the announcement of the renewal of these scenes filled many a honest Catholic with sorrow and indignation. "You may smile at these blasphemous follies," some have been heard to say to Protestants; "but to us these are matters for deep grief; they are the means by which we are to be brought back under the priestly yoke, and all religion is to be reduced to an outward for"malism." Nor were these complaints heard only in private. The newspapers, wherever the censorship would allow it, were teeming with remonstrances and warnings. But they all remained unheeded; and the hierarchy, seeing the hundred thousands thronging to their spurious relic, and hearing the chink of the money, which was showered into their treasury, were probably planning some new scheme which might foster the credulity and superstition of the masses, when one of their own

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cloth, a priest, rose up as the champion of outraged reason, and violently tore the veil from their hypocrisy and deception. This person was the already celebrated Ronge.

John Ronge is the son of a poor Silesian peasant. From his "Justification," recently published, we learn that even while at the clerical seminary his heart inwardly rebelled against the soul-killing despotism the Church of Rome exercises over those she is training for her priesthood. Yet he overcame his reluctance to be one of her servants, received his ordination, and was appointed to a curacy. But he was not long in this situation before he rendered himself obnoxious to his superiors, by writing a letter in a newspaper against the intrigues of the chapter of Breslau. This document was traced to him; and as he would not confess the authorship and recant, as he was desired to do, he was dismissed from his office, and retired to a remote village, where he supported himself as a tutor. It was here the news of the proceedings at Treves reached him; and, full of indignation at what he heard and read, he published the following letter:

"Laurahütte, 1st October, 1844.

"Christian friends, of the 19th century, you have heard-you know it, ye men of Germany and you, ye German teachers of religion and learning, that what would once have sounded in our ears as mere fable and delusion, is neither fable nor delusion, but truth and certainty! Bishop Arnoldi, of Treves, has exhibited, as an object of religious contemplation and adoration, a garment, designated the Coat of Christ!

"According to the last reports, no less than 500,000 persons have already made a pilgrimage to this relic; and thousands more are daily flocking thither, especially since the said vestment is pretended to have healed the sick, and performed other miracles. The fame of this is spreading throughout all lands, while, at the same time, French priests assert, 'that they possess the genuine coat of Christ, and that 'the one at Treves is spurious.' Verily we may here apply the saying, 'He who does 'not lose his reason upon certain points, has none to lose.' Five hundred thousand individuals, five hundred thousand enlightened Germans, have already hastened to Treves, to behold and worship a garment! The greater number of these hosts of pilgrims are of the very lowest classes of the people, living in the most abject poverty, oppressed, ignorant, obtuse, superstitious, and, to a certain extent, greatly demoralised; they have abandoned the cultivation of their fields, quitted their several employments, the care of their households, and the education of their children, to journey to an idol festival at Treves, to an unholy spectacle, which the Roman hierarchy displays before them. Yes; it is an idol festival, to which thousands of the credulous multitude are being enticed; "and the feelings, the devotions, which are due to God alone, are consecrated to a piece of cloth, the work of men's hands.

"And look at the pernicious results of these pilgrimages. Thousands deprive themselves of the necessaries of life to raise the money for their journey, and for the offerings which they have to present to the holy coat (offerings which the priests consume). This money is collected either by great personal deprivation, or by almsbegging; and on their return they must either starve and suffer need, or become

enfeebled by sickness, in consequence of the fatigues and privations of the journey. If these outward results are so injurious, the moral influences are still more so. Will not many, who have been reduced to poverty by the expenses of the pilgrimage, indemnify themselves by unjust means? Many women and maidens sacrifice their purity of heart, their modesty, and their good name, and thus destroy their peace and happiness, and the well-being of their families.

"Lastly, this most Unchristian spectacle opens a wide door to superstition, merit of works, and fanaticism, with all their attendant vices. Such is the so-called blessing which is diffused by the exposition of the holy coat, it signifies not whether that coat be genuine or not.

"And the man who exhibits this garment, the work of human hands, to public view and adoration-who leads astray the religious feelings of the credulous, the ignorant, or the suffering-who thus gives an impetus to superstition and vice-who artfully extorts their money and their substance from a poor and starving population—who holds up the German people to the derision of other nations—and who attracts the dark and lowering thunder-clouds which hang suspended over our heads into a yet denser mass-this man is a Bishop-a German Bishop. It is Arnoldi, Bishop of Treves!

"Bishop Arnoldi, of Treves, I turn to you, and in virtue of my vocation and office as a priest, as a teacher of the German people, and in the name of Christianity, in the name of the German nation, and in the name of all public instructors, I call, upon you to put a stop to the Unchristian exposition of the holy vestment, and withdraw it from public view, that the scandal which it has already occasioned be not further increased!

"For do you not know-as Bishop you ought to know-that the founder of the Christian religion bequeathed to his disciples and his followers, not his coat, but his Spirit? His coat, Bishop Arnoldi, of Treves, fell to the lot of his executioners! Do you not know-as Bishop you ought to know-that Christ taught, 'God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth?" And He may be worshipped everywhere, not only in the Temple at Jerusalem, on Mount Gerizim, or at Treves, before the holy coat. Do you not know-as Bishop you ought to know—that the Gospel expressly forbids the worship of every image and of every relic? And that the Christians in the Apostolic age, and during the first three centuries, tolerated neither image nor relics in their churches, though they might have obtained them in abundance; that the adoration of images and relics is a heathen custom, and that the Fathers of the first three centuries reproached the heathen on this very account. For example, it is stated, (Div. Inst. ii., c. 2,) that if images possessed life and motion, they would rather worship men by whom they were made, than the reverse. (Nec intelligunt homines ineptissimi, quod si sentire simulacra et moveri possent, adoratura hominem fuissent, a quo sunt expolita.)

Lastly, do you not know-as Bishop you ought to know this also-that the vigorous and powerful energy of the German nation was first degraded to the worship of relics, in the 13th and 14th centuries, by the Crusades, when the lofty conception of the Godhead, inculcated by Christianity, was debased and darkened by the lying tales and marvels imported from the East? Hark ye! Bishop Arnoldi, of Treves; you know all this, and far better, doubtless, than I can tell you; you also know the consequences which superstition and the idolatrous worship of relics have wrought among us the political and spiritual thraldom of Germany; and yet you set up your relic for public adoration! And were it even possible that you did not know

all this, that your only aim in exhibiting this relic were the weal of Christendom, you have nevertheless burdened your conscience with a twofold sin, from which you cannot clear yourself. In the first place, it is unpardonable, if the said vestment really possess healing virtue, that you have withheld the boon from suffering humanity till the year 1844; and in the second place, it is unpardonable that you have taken offerings of money from these hundred thousands of pilgrims. Is it not unpardonable, that you, as Bishop, should take money from the starving poor of our nation? And the more so, since only a few weeks ago you yourself beheld hundreds, impelled by famine and distress, driven into rebellion, despair, and death. Do not suffer yourself to be deceived by the throng of thousands upon thousands; but believe me, that while hundreds of thousands of Germans repair full of fervour (?) to Treves, millions are, like myself, filled with profound abhorrence and holy indignation at your scandalous exhibition.

"This indignation prevails not only among individual ranks or parties, but among all classes; nay, even among the Roman Catholic priesthood. Judgment will over. take you sooner than you are aware, Arnoldi! History already seizes the pen, and consigns your name to the contempt and derision of your contemporaries and of posterity, and brands you as the Tetzel of the 19th century!

"And you, fellow-countrymen, whether you dwell near or at a distance from Treves, unite your efforts to prevent this stigma from resting any longer upon the German name. You have magistrates, wardens, and provincial diets and assemblies; work through their medium. It is high time that each and all resolve to make a bold stand, and with their utmost energy to oppose and restrain the tyrannical power of the Roman hierarchy. For it is not at Treves alone that this modern absurdity of traffic in indulgences is carried on; you well know that in the east and the west, the north and the south, rosary, mass, absolution, burial-monees, and the like, are every day collected; and that the night of spiritual gloom grows darker and darker. Onward, then! Catholics and Protestants; go together to the work; our honour, our liberty, our happiness, all are at stake. Do not incense the manes of your Fathers, who destroyed the capitol, by suffering the Castle of St. Angelo to domineer over you in Germany. Dishonour not the laurels of a Huss, a Hutten, and a Luther; give utterance to your thoughts, and convert your will into deeds.

"Finally; you, my dear brethren in the ministry, whose sole aims and wishes centre in the welfare of your flocks, the honour, liberty, and happiness of your country, keep no longer silence! You sin against religion, against your native land, against your holy calling, if you longer hesitate to give effect to your better convictions. I have already addressed you elsewhere, and, therefore, confine myself to these few brief lines. Prove yourselves to be the true disciples of Him who sacrificed all for Truth, Light, and Liberty; prove that you have inherited, not his coat, but his Spirit!

"JOHANNES RONGE,

"Catholic Priest."

This letter, which we give entire, as it characterises both the man and the movement which it has originated, fell like a spark into a powdermagazine. It was instantly re-printed in all the newspapers, hundreds of thousands of copies were struck off separately and disseminated far and wide. The obscure destitute priest instantly became a hero, a second

Luther. Addresses and presents from large bodies of Protestants and Catholics poured in upon him from all sides; and it must be stated to his credit that he uniformly answered modestly to the former, and always declined the latter; declaring that he sought neither fame nor wealth; that he had been impelled in what he had done by a sense of duty, and that he should be content to continne to seek his support by his labour. But his church with the suicidal rashness which she has displayed on many such occasions, would not allow him to remain in obscurity. He was excommunicated by the Bishop of Breslau, and thus thrust forward on a career which probably he did not at first contemplate.

He now issued letter upon letter, calling on the people, the schoolmasters, and the inferior clergy, to shake off the tyranny of Rome, and form themselves into an independent German Catholic Church. Another priest, John Czerski, of Schneidemühl, a village in the grand duchy of Posen, had already begun this reform. A Pole by birth, and also the son of poor parents, he had likewise at an early period felt the irksomeness of Romish doctrines and practices. But he is evidently a man of more religious earnestness and erudition than Ronge.

In his "Justification," which begins with the words of Gen. i. 3, he says

"There is no prison for the mind! This great truth, which has "stood the test of ages, is, if we may be allowed the expression, the "glass through which the uprejudiced judge must view the event which "has given rise to this pamphlet.

"As the principle actor in this event, which, no one can deny, must “have an influence on the religious character of the present and future "generations, I consider it an imperative moral obligation, not only to "justify a step which has placed me and our little community in a hostile position to the dominant Romish Church, but likewise to en"courage my Catholic fellow-christians to take the same step,

"Hear me, therefore, all ye who can still hear, ye who are not wholly "rivetted with the chains of an egotistical priestly despotism, hear me ; prove my words, and hold fast that which is good!

"There is no prison for the mind, however human weakness, human "selfishness and error, may endeavour to enchain its freedom! Above "all, there is no prison for the Christian mind, for Christ by his divine "doctrine has secured its complete freedom; that freedom which strives "after truth, and by this very truth makes us free. To the Jews who "believed in Him, He said expressly, "If ye continue in My word, "then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the "truth shall make you free.' John viii. 31, 32.

"Any attempt to fetter this divine liberty is a crime against God; and