Innocent III., that 'persons are absolved from the oath of allegiance to heretics; according to Pope Gregory IX. In the Magnum Bullarium Romanum,' we find a Bull of Pope Honorius III., in the thirteenth century, 'confirming the Emperor Frederick II.'s laws for the extirpation of heretics' -in the following century, a Bull of Pope Boniface IX. exactly to the same effect-in the fifteenth century, a Bull of Pope Martin V. for 'the punishment of heretics'—and in the sixteenth, a Bull of Pope Paul IV. calling into exercise all the persecuting decrees, acts of councils, and Bulls against heretics and schismatics, which had ever been enacted or promulgated.' In the History of the Sacred Councils,' by Labbæus and Cossartius, we learn that the fourth Council of Lateran, A D. 1215, decreed the extermination of heretics' that the Council of Constance, A.D. 1418, decreed that 'heretics were to be burnt alive,' which decree had been previously enforced in the burning of the two Protestants, John Huss and Jerome of Prague, by the same Council-and that the Council of Sienna or Paris, A.D. 1527, exhorted Christian princes to exterminate heretics.' We learn from writings of her approved doctors, the definition which the Church of Rome gives to the title of 'heretics,' viz., Christians such as Lutherans, Calvinists, who are unfaithful to the doctrines of the Church' of Rome. And in Devote's Jus Canonicorum' (we believe this is the latest Roman Catholic writer on the Canon Law, whose work is now in use in England,) it is laid down, that everything contained in the decretals of Gregory IX. is law,' which teaching is endorsed by the canonised saints, Thomas Aquinas, Alphonsus Liguori, and Alphonsus à Castro, the latter of whom says, 'The last punishment of the body of heretics is death, with which we will prove, by God's assistance, heretics ought to be punished. It is abundantly plain that it is not a modern invention, but that it is the ancient opinion of wise Christians, that heretics ought to be burnt.' Hence we understand the meaning of the excommunication contained in the celebrated Bulla in cœnâ Deis' issued by Pope Pius III., A.D. 1536, and which is read every Maunday Thursday in the presence of the reigning Pontiff: We excommunicate and curse, on the part of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by the authority also of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, all heretics, under whatever name they may be classed—also schismatics, and those who pertinaciously withdraw themselves or secede from obedience to us, and to the Roman Pontiff for the time being.' Are we wrong in considering that the Church of England is more in accordance than the Church of Rome with the teaching of our Divine Master, who hath said, 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and calumniate you'-(the Douay version omits the clause, bless them that curse you,'—which the textus receptus gives, as the weight of evidence is in favour of its retention) --when, on the day following Maunday Thursday, she instructs her members to pray, 'O merciful God! have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics; and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of Thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to Thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold, under one shepherd, Jesus Christ?' That the Church of Rome has too faithfully acted up to her terrible teaching on the subject of exterminating heretics,' the pages of those distinguished Roman Catholic historians, Bzovius, who continued the Annals of Cardinal Bellarmine, Sismondi, Fleuri, Llorente, Dr Lingard, &c. &c., most mournfully testify. On this head, humanity would fain plead for silence, as the facts are too numerous to be detailed, too well known to be doubted, and too horrible to be repeated. It appears almost incredible, that the massacre of so many thousand human beings as took place in France on St Bartholomew's Day should have elicited such cruel exultation as escaped the lips of him who claimed to be the Vicar on

earth' of the meek and lowly Jesus. Yet history too clearly testifies, that on the news of that most horrible event reaching Rome, Pope Gregory XIII. went in public procession to church to praise God for that deed of bloodthat he congratulated the King of France on an exploit which he described as being so long meditated and so happily executed for the good of religion' -that he caused a medal to be struck, in perpetual remembrance of the action, bearing on one side his own image and superscription, and on the reverse an angel bearing a cross engaged in slaughtering the Protestants, with the inscriptionUgonottorum Strages, 1572,' which is to be purchased in Rome at the present day-that he further ordered an artist to execute three paintings, representing the deed, as ornaments for his own palace of the Vatican, where they still remain, to excite the wonder' of the beholder, and to testify to the truth of the prophecy concerning' the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." *

The Song of Songs: An Exposition of the Song of Solomon. By the Rev. A. MOODY STUART. Second Edition. London: James Nisbet

THIS Volume is likely to last. Respecting some of its interpretations there may be doubts; but there will be no doubt at all as to the general excellence of the book. Christians will read it with refreshThis second edition contains marks

ment, nor will critics turn away. of careful revision, and is greatly improved in all respects. The conclusion of the Exposition is very suitable to our pages. The title of the section is "The Last of the Four Mountains," referring to the closing verse:

* We append as a note the following paragraph in reference to the " sevenhilled city":"Because the great harlot,' as we have before seen, is represented sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns,' which heads are said to signify ‘seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth.' In St John's age there was but one great city in the world, built upon seven mountains,' viz., ROME. The name of each of the seven hills is well known; and by the great Roman poets of antiquity, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Martial, and many others, it was invariably called the seven-hilled city.' In the present day, a Roman poet of less note has adopted similar phraseology, when speaking of the Eternal City : '

'The golden roof, the marble walls,

The Vatican's majestic halls,

The note redouble, till it fills

With echoes sweet the seven hills.

God bless our Pope, the great, the good.'

Plutarch mentions the national festival of the 'Septimontium,' which Varro explains was named after the seven mountains on which Rome was built;' and the ancient coins represent Rome in a similar manner. While, therefore, it is evident that the city of Rome is here referred to, Protestants believe that it cannot refer to heathen Rome, as some writers in defence of the Church of Rome would have us understand; because, as we shall presently see, the prophecy represents the city after the fall of heathen Rome; and not before it, and therefore it must necessarily refer to Rome in a different condition from that which existed when St John wrote the Apocalypse."

"Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices. In a book in which there is introduced so great a variety of aromatic plants, is there also in this mountain-roe amongst the spices a reference to precious perfumes found on earth? The allusion may be that which is supposed by some of the older writers, of the roe being perfumed by the aromatic shrubs amongst which it feeds; but may not the literal roe on the spicy mountains be found in the musk-deer? Musk is one of the most powerful of all pertumes, is highly valued in the East, and both the perfume and the deer from which it is taken were probably well known to one so conversant with natural history as Solomon. The muskdeer is similar in size, and in other respects not unlike the roe; it is specially the roe of the mountains, for its habitation is in the Asiatic Alps; and fragrant with its precious perfume while leaping on the summits of the lofty hills, may it not form the outward emblem in this roe or young hart on the mountains of spices?

"As there are four gardens, so there are four mountains in the Song; the mountains of Bether, the mountains of the leopards, the mountain of myrrh, and the mountain of spices. Other mountains, such as Gilead and Carmel, are introduced as images, but there are only these four that form part of the narrative or structure of the Song; for the undefined mountains at the commencement of the second Canticle are the same as the mountains of Bether towards its close; while Lebanon, Shenir, and Amana, from which the Bride is invited to come, are the hills of the lions' dens, and the mountains of the leopards. The mountain of spices, in this last verse of the Song, must be distinguished from the mountain of myrrh from which the Bridegroom has already returned, and must of necessity constitute a fourth mountain in some respect; although we are disposed to identify it with the hill of frankincense, taken in distinction from the mountain of myrrh.

"There is no reference to spice mountains of any kind, till the Bridegroom announces on the approach of evening, that He is about to rest on the mountain of myrrh till the morning. The previous mountains, over which He is to leap like a roe, are only mountains of Bether, or hills of division; of division between us and God, or division between us and Christ. They are mountains of holiness and righteousness in Jehovah; His justice like the great mountains, His truth rising to the clouds, and all dividing us from God and from peace. Jesus surmounts all those mountains in His meritorious life and death, and the mountains of Bether are converted into mountains of spices; most fragrant to the Father in heaven, and full of sweetest perfume for men on earth. Next come the hills of the lions' dens, and the mountains of the leopards; mountains of sin, of the world, strongholds of Satan. Jesus assaults these strongholds and takes them, binds the strong one that kept his prisoners in his dreadful den, breaks our chains, opens our dungeon doors and invites us, 'Come with me, my sister, my spouse, from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of the leopards.' These mountains, also, are turned for Christ and His people into mountains of fragrant spices; for through death He hath destroyed him that had the power of death, and out of the strong one hath come forth sweetness;' bruised foes have been made a fragrant footstool for Christ and His redeemed. The third mountain is the mountain of myrrh, which is certainly the sepulchre on Mount Calvary where Jesus lay embalmed as in a vast heap of myrrh and aloes, brought by Nicodemus and his friends. The Bride expressly calls that mountain a garden;' and speaks of it not at all as she now does of the mountain of spices, but as implying depth as well as height, when she says that He has gone down to His garden to the beds of spices.' But from the time when the Bridegroom says, that He will get Him to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense,' He has given no intimation whatever in the Song where He is to abide till He returns for the marriage; yet just as the Bride knew before, that He had gone down to the

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'garden of spices,' she knows now that He is tarrying on the mountains of spices,' and entreats Him to descend from their lofty summits. We therefore conclude, that the Bridegroom makes a double intimation in the mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense.' In His brief returning interview He had come from the mountain of myrrh;' but He has gone again, and whither?— 'to the hill of frankincense;' and therefore she now entreats Him to come down from this mountain of spices.' A double mountain He spoke of, and a rest on each; a double night of absence from the Bride on earth, first in His death and now in His ascension; a double rest, first in the grave and now in heaven; and a double morning, first of His own resurrection, and then of His appearing again in glory, in the morning of the resurrection of all that are in their graves.

"Jesus is now on the hill of frankincense, standing on the fragrant mountain of His own finished work, an High Priest consecrated for evermore; and from that mountain continually much incense' is given to Him, and 'it ascends out of His hands with the prayers of all saints. Saints on earth rejoice, because He is on the mountains of spices; because the fragrance of His merits and death is like the 'great mountains;' because there are sweet odours enough to burn perpetually night and day before Jehovah, much incense offered, and a vast cloud of fragrance ascending without ceasing. These mountains of spices are more fragrant than our sins are offensive, as the high and holy Servant and Sufferer is greater than the merely human transgressor; these mountains of spices are greater than the mountains of our sins, as the heavens are above the earth, and as the hill of God is higher than ' mountains of leopards and dens of lions.'

"But although it is profitable for us that Jesus has departed; and although by the Spirit we now enjoy more of His true presence, than when He was seen by His disciples on earth with less enlightening power of the Holy Ghost; yet the Bride desires not that the Beloved should tarry for ever on these fragrant mountains, but that He would descend from them to her like a roe or a young hart, Make haste, my Beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of spices.' Jesus is beautiful like the mountain roe in her eyes, not feared, not shunned, but loved and desired; swift like the young hart are His feet, yet not too swift for her longings, but beautiful in their speed. The Bridegroom seems to tarry long, but when He that cometh shall come, He comes and does not tarry. Behold, I come quickly; surely I come quickly : Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

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Is Christ Divided? or, What is Schism. Stewart's Appeal to the Brethren. London: Pewtress and Co.

OUR statements on Darby ism, in a former number, were thought by some too sharp. We are sorry if we exceeded the limits of truth and love; but the only thing in the article, to which, on re-perusal and reconsideration, we think exception can be taken is this, that there was some want of proper discrimination in the charges. The body ought not to have been accused of what was true only of a part, even though that part might be a considerable one.

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Mr Stewart, who is one of the brethren, has published an Appeal " in reference to certain proceedings among them, and we think it only due to ourselves to give one or two extracts, from which it will be seen how very moderate were our statements in comparison with those made by one of themselves. It is sad to see brethren thus falling out by the

way, and speaking hard things against each other, however true they may be.

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"First slander entered on her secret and epistolary mission, and poured her tales of defamation into thirsty ears, and between the ear and tongue there is a natural canal. The tongue is full of deadly poison,' and drugs, like the snake, the victim with its slime it destines to devour. And this is man. 'Who taketh not up an evil report against his neighbour,' seems to have been forgotten in our creed,' for at length you must know the Brethren have 'produced a creed-their code of principles!' Whither are we bound? Up to this time we used to be contented with the Bible. Now we are gravely schooled, by not the highest authority amongst us either, that we have been all in this quite wrong, and henceforth your ways are to be governed by what these erudite theologians call our principles,'-substituted for the Scriptures, unintentionally it is to be hoped. But so it is. Now, beloved, let me ask you how long are we to tolerate such assumption, such invasion of the authority of Christ? If we do not take heed we shall soon have to surrender either our consciences to the dogmas and decretals of the Priory, or bite our chains. Take heed!

"But what is it all about-these doings in Jersey? Well, I do solemnly believe that it is a barefaced piece of hypocrisy. The people are deceived. In general, the dear Brethren in London seem in their warmest moments to have been quite sincere. They have been fighting for the truth, and hewing down this formidable man of straw, whom imagination had modelled as a monster. But, unfortunately, they knew not for whom or against what they fought. It reminds me of the Irish peasant who, having seized a pike, in 1798, was breathlessly rushing to the fray, when a friend quietly asked him,

What are you fighting for, my fine fellow?' For gineral emancipation,' was Pat's reply. And what is that?' again was demanded. 'Some great Gineral or other, your honor.' I speak not in lightness. There is almost as much reason in the one case as in the other. It is not the dear brethren that I blame, but their misleaders, who had their cue, and understood their cards. But are there no proofs against the one assailed? No, my dear brother or sister, none. Not even an accuser. What! no accuser-nor trial, judge, jury, proof, or conviction-no judicial inquiry. Then how comes there to be condemnation and a penalty? That is the mystery. A public act of defamation is published--issued-in your name against an aged and honoured servant of Christ-a man much used of the Lord-convicted of no sin or crime, and mark it well-uttered in your name. Are you prepared to sanction such an outrage? This it is for you to decide before God. But if there was no proof, no trial, no scriptural meeting, how was this brought about? Through the 'cunning craftiness of men whereby they lie in wait to deceive,' aided by the counsels and appeals of plausible sanctimoniousness. It was a nefarious deed! Had I the genius of Machiavelli, I might worm out the sinuousity, or the guile of Tallyrand, describe it, but as I am not endowed with either the one or the other, I shall only consign the conspirators to 'the charity of silence.' The 'deeds of darkness' cannot bear the 'light.' .

....

"The two letters issued in the name of the meeting of 4th January, claim our brother Mr Darby for their fabricator. Six other brethren are said to have drawn them up, or had some hand in doing so; but these unsuspecting men were really the tools and dupes of craftier design. Is this true? Call upon the six brothers who signed these letters to point out the passages which they composed. And, if it was the wish of the meeting that the letters should be sent signed by those who had drawn them up,' how comes it that Mr Darby's name is not attached? Had he nothing to do with the drawing up? Ask him why. No. He finds convenient shelter behind