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as in England, to discourage the growth of paupers on their estates; whether, as others imagine, it may be attained by banishing the middlemen, and interfering by summary process with the almost interminable, leases and exorbitant rents which so generally prevail; or whether it will be secured by the introduction of manufactures, and the general extension of moral and religious education; may admit of much discussion, and requires most serious deliberation. But, instead of any such proposals, we hear of nothing but the absolute necessity of "Catholic Emancipation, and that deduced from the state of the Irish poor; as if the admission of Lord. Fingal to the House of Peers, and Messrs. O'Connel and Shiel to the lower House, would effect any alteration in the condition of the starving cotters of the south. The illogical nature of such a conclusion is perfectly obvious; and yet it has proved the most effective argument yet brought forward.

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We offer no objection to the admission of Papists to their fair share of political power, provided any certainty can be obtained of their resting satisfied with a fair share. But it would be folly to forget, that this just and equal participation was once in their possession, and was forfeited by their attempt to abuse the confidence placed in them. It was found that they could not rest satisfied with any thing short of a Popish Establishment; and that, to gain this, there was no law which they were not prepared to evade, no restraint which they were not eager to break down. Experience, therefore, and nothing else, produced at last the restrictions under which they are now so impatient, and placed them, after a fair trial, in the situation of a sect whose existence might be allowed, but whose machinations must be guarded against.

It can never be possible to accede to their present demands in part. The principle, if acknowledged at all, must be carried into uniform effect. The highest, as well as the lowest, office in the state must be thrown open to them. What prevents, in that case, our seeing a Roman Catholic Monarch, with a cabinet of Papists, before twenty years have elapsed? And could we expect that such a government would be unmindful of "the old religion," or careless about its restoration? Or that the people would quietly part with Protestantism? A struggle, in such a case, must arise, of which the event could be none other than a deplorable one.

Since the above was written, a new feature has been given to the subject, by the decided part taken by the Duke of York against the proposed measure. His Royal Highness has stated most distinctly, in his place in the House of Peers, that, should he ever be placed in a situation to be called on for his decision, he shall feel himself bound to give it in the negative. This declaration places the question in a new position. No one pretends to expect the passing of the Bill in the House of Lords during the present session. A dissolution of Parliament, which may be expected shortly, would probably strengthen the opponents of Emancipation in the lower House: and, before all these obstacles could be removed, and the measure finally agreed on by both Houses of Parliament, years must elapse, and changes must be expected. His Majesty has, perhaps with great propriety, retained his sentiments within his own breast; but we are sufficiently assured, that, whenever Providence may see fit to remove him, Protestantism will be steadily supported by either of the two Princes next in succession. And when all these circumstances are considered, we are inclined to retort upon our opponents their usual language, and desire them to say whether they really can entertain any hope that the question will ever be carried?

WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY..

May 2, Monday. The Annual Meeting will be held in the City Road Chapel. The Chair will be taken at Eleven o'clock.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY,

May 2, Monday. The Anniversary Sermon will be preached in St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, by the Rev. J. B. Sumner, M. A. Prebendary of Durham. Diviné Service to begin at Half past Six in the Evening. May 3, Tuesday.

The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall. The Chair will be taken at Eleven o'clock.

May 3, Tuesday. A Rev. F. Elwin, M. A.

IRISH SOCIETY OF LONDON.

Sermon will be preached at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, by the
Service to begin at Sevén o'clock in the Evening.
BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

May 4, Wednesday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall. The Chair will be taken at Eleven o'clock.

PRAYER-BOOK AND HOMILY SOCIETY.

May 4, Wednesday. The Anniversary Sermon will be preached at Christ Church, Newgate Street, by the Rev. J. Kempthorne, B. D. &c. Service to begin at Half past Six in the Evening.

May 5, Thursday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Stationers' Hall, Ludgate Street. The Chair will be taken at Twelve o'clock.

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LONDON SOCIETY FOR CONVERSION OF THE JEWS.

May 5, Thursday. The Anniversary Sermon will be preached at the Church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, by the Rev. Geo. Hamilton, M. A. Service to begin at Half past Six in the Evening.

May 6, Friday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall. The Chair to be taken at Twelve precisely.

LONDON ASSOCIATION IN AID OF THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS. May 6, Friday. The Annual Sermon in behalf of this Association will be preached at the Church of St. Clement Danes, by the Rev. W. Borrows, M. A. Divine Service to begin at Half past Six o'clock in the Evening.

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LONDON HIBERNIAN SOCIETY.

May 7, Saturday. The Annual Meeting will be held in Freemasons' Hall.
Chair to be taken by H. R. H. the Duke of Gloucester, at Twelve o'clock.
BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.
May 9, Monday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall.
Chair to be taken by H. R. H. the Duke of Sussex, at Twelve o'clock.

NAVAL AND MILITARY BIBLE SOCIETY.

The

The

May 10, Tuesday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall. The Chair to be taken at Twelve o'clock.

CONTINENTAL SOCIETY.

May 10, Tuesday. A Sermon at the Church of St. Ann, Blackfriars, by the Rev. Dr. Thorpe. Service at Half past Six o'clock in the Evening.

May 16, Monday. A Sermon at Great Queen Street Chapel, at Half past Six in the evening, by the Rev. E. Irving.

May 18, Wednesday. The Annual Meeing will be held at Freemasons' Hall, at Twelve o'clock.

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

May 11, Wednesday. Sermon at Surrey Chapel, at Half past Ten o'clock, by the Rev. Dr. Morrison. Another in the Evening, at the Tabernacle, Moorfields, by the Rev. Dr. Belfrage.

May 12, Thursday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Great Queen Street Chapel, at Half past Ten. A Sermon will be preached in the Evening at Tottenham Court Chapel, by the Rev. Mr. Hamilton.

May 13, Friday. A Sermon will be preached at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, by the Rev. Mr. Williams.

RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

May 13, Friday. The Annual Meeting will be held at the City of London Tavern, at Six o'clock in the Morning.

AFRICAN INSTITUTION.

May 13, Friday. The Annual Meeting will be held at Freemasons' Hall. The Chair to be taken by H. R. H. the Duke of Gloucester, at One o'clock.

THE

AND

Church of England Magazine.

JUNE 1825.

MEMOIRS OF THE REFORMERS.

OLAUS PETRI.

WHILE the deeds of those sovereigns of the house of Vasa, who patronized the Reformation in Sweden, have been faithfully detailed by the muse of civil history, the labours of those excellent men, raised up by Providence to purify their national church, have occu- . pied too limited a space in the annals of Christian exertion. Amongst these, Olaus Petri holds as distinguished a station as John Taussan in the neighbouring kingdom of Denmark.

In the earlier part of the sixteenth century the seeds of Evangelic doctrine had been conveyed by German merchants to Stockholm, Sudkoping, and Calmar, principal cities of the Swedes on the coasts of the Baltic. Nor was this benefit confined to commercial intercourse. In the army which assisted Gustavus I. to liberate his country from the tyrannic yoke of Christiern II. of Denmark, were some German auxilia ries, who industriously propagated the Lutheran tenets. But if traffic and war were made to subserve the cause of religious truth, much more might the same result be expected from extended science. Many of the Swedish students, who had attended the lectures in the university of Wittenberg, had imbibed a purer system of faith, and on returning to their native land had diligently JUNE 1825.

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exposed the absurdities of Papal superstition.

To the latter class belonged the subject of this memoir, who was born of parents of moderate condition in the Nerician district of Sweden, and sent with his brother Laurence to study under Luther and Melancthon. On his return he became protonotary to Matthias, bishop of Stregnass, a diocese in the neighbourhood of Upsal and Stockholm; and, during a vacancy in the see occasioned by the death of that prelate, made use of his influence in inculcating the principles of the Reformers, and persuading the clergy to read some writings of Luther, which he had brought back with him from Saxony. This was about the year 1521; and his perseverance is thus recorded by a Roman Catholic historian. "He neglected no means of spreading abroad the doctrine of his master, during the disorder and troubles of civil commotion-a season always favourable to change, or the establishment of new religions. The young, ever greedy of novelties, eagerly embraced these opinions. He gained the majority of professors and scholars of the university, who considered it in their turn meritorious to become the heralds of this doctrine. Every one wished to be instructed in these new opinions. The doctrine of Luther passed insensibly from the schools to private

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houses. Different sides were taken by members of families; some defending the Catholic religion as the profession of their fathers, and mostly attached to it on the sole ground of its antiquity; and others complaining of the abuses introduced into the administration of the sacraments by the avarice of the clergy, and attacking such abuses with ardour proportioned to their interest in decrying them. Even females entered into these disputes, either from vanity, or in sincerity, and apprehension of missing the right way. Every body set up for a judge of controversy; while the bishops who survived the massacre of Stockholm, more attentive to the conquests of Gustavus than their diocesan duties, disregarded the progress of Lutheranism*." In the concluding sentence the author alludes to the detestable perfidy of the Danish monarch, who, promising amnesty to the Swedes on their submission, was no sooner crowned in Stockholm than he caused the chief nobility, prelates, and citizens to be hanged or beheaded, among whom was the father of Gustavus.

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One of those who were first enlightened by the instrumentality of Olaus Petri was Laurence Anderson, archdeacon of Stregnass man of talent, judgment, and authority, who raised no obstacle to those bold discourses which he addressed to the people on the errors of the time, or to the theses which he maintained in the schools. The disputes which followed reached the ears of the king, whose favour was conciliated by the engaging manners and wise conversation of Anderson. This dignitary was raised to the office of Chancellor, and in that capacity aided the cause of Reformation, to which Gustavus himself was secretly attached, partly through information received from Germany,

* Vertot, Hist. des Revol, de Suede, P. i. p. 175.

and partly from the instruction of the brothers Petri. The monarch gradually discovered his religious sentiments, and proceeded with that caution which was necessary in the circumstances of a new dynasty. Nor was he led to this course by an unworthy desire of seizing on the temporalities of the church, as Maimburg would insinuate, but from conviction and a sense of duty; making himself acquainted with the reasons and arguments of the Reformers before he took measures for any alteration of ancient rites, or shocked the prejudices of the higher ecclesiastics.

Called to the supreme dignity in 1523, he refused to undergo the ceremony of coronation, from an unwillingness, among other considerations, to take an oath by which he would stand engaged to maintain the privileges of the Romish communion. He lost no time in cultivating the friendship of Frederick, who had been raised to the Danish sovereignty on the deposition of Christiern, and for that purpose repaired to Malmoe, anticipating from such alliance the best religious as well as political results. But while he pursued these prudent measures, Rinck and Knipperdoling, with some fanatical Anabaptists from Holland, came to Sweden, and, perceiving in the new sovereign a pious zeal for the work of reformation, obtruded themselves into the sanctuary of St. John at Stockholm, pulling down the images and musical instruments in the most violent and tumultuous manner. On the return of Gustavus to the capital he inquired into these commotions, and, having ascertained their heretical origin, commanded the ringleaders to quit the kingdom forthwith; and rebuked some persons who were attached to the Protestant faith for their lukewarmness in suffering such proceedings, and affording a handle to the Romanists, who were ready to involve all the

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professors of evangelical truth in one common censure *.

To prevent, however, the further progress of this mischief, he resolved to visit the different provinces, allaying the tumults, and calming the minds of the populace; associating with himself Olaus Petri, whose authority and influence as a divine might be useful in recommending the principles of Protestantism. He was now pastor of the great church at Stockholm, and had fully committed himself against the Popish party by entering the bonds of wedlock, which appeared to them such a profanation of the sacred order that the King found it expedient to take him under his special protection, to secure him from the effects of their resentment. Gustavus, after the publication of various decrees, tending to abridge the pomp and luxury of the principal clergy, finding his treasury much exhausted, proceeded still further to summon a meeting of the bishops, and demanded a tenth of the revenues of the church. This proposal excited considerable murmuring in the hierarchy; and John Braske, bishop of Linkoping, ventured to address his sovereign in a letter filled with bitter complaints. The King replied, that "he knew very well how rich the clergy and monastic foundations had become from accumulating the public property of the kingdom; and therefore they ought not to take it ill, if, in a season of urgent necessity, they were called upon to supply the exigencies of the state, and to avert the imminent ruin of their country, if, in fact, they were required to refund a portion of those very treasures, which in so many different ways they had drawn from the throne and the national treasury.". Referring, moreover, to the observations of the prelate on the marriage of Olaus, he

• Baaz. in Inventario Suco-Gothico. 1. ii. c. ii. p. 158; Puffendorf Hist. Suec. p. 281.

added, "that he could not but be greatly astonished at the clamour which had been raised against wedlock, thus honourably contracted, when such indulgence had been shewn to the multifarious lewdness of the priests."

The Reformer, in concert as it should seem with his friend Anderson and his brother Laurence, undertook a version of the New Testament into the Swedish language. from that recently published by Luther in Germany. When the bishops took offence at this proceeding, Gustavus exhorted them to form a version of their own, though he was conscious that the real ground of their displeasure was jealousy of the increasing intelligence of the people; observing, that such a measure appeared to him the more necessary as new disputes were daily arising about the doctrine of faith, which could be settled by no better means than an appeal to Scripture itself; and that this was a reason for its translation into the vernacular tongue, especially as many of the clergy had so little knowledge of Latin that they filled the ears and understanding of the faithful with false interpretations. The bishops, who perceived the daily diminution of their authority, concealed their alarm; and, with the approbation of John Magnus, lately made archbishop of Upsal, prepared to obey the royal injunction, giving different portions of the work to the several colleges of canons. To that of Upsal were committed the Gospel of Matthew, and the Epistle to the Romans; of Lincoping, the Gospel of Mark, and the Epistles to the Corinthians; of Scara, the Gospel of Luke, and the Epistle to the Galatians; of Stregnass, the Gospel of John, and the Epistle to the Ephesians; of Aros, the Acts of the Apostles; of Abo, the Epistles to the Thessalonians and Timothy; to the Dominicans, the Epistles to Titus and the Hebrews; to the

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