is capable of being converted into a weapon of offence. Good arguments, bad arguments, and, according to Mr. Hallam, even false arguments, backed by false citations. In speaking of Taylor's Dissuasives from Popery, the main tendency of which is, he says, “to excite a sceptical feeling as to all except the PRIMARY doctrines of religion,” a just tribute is paid to the extensive learning of this writer; but he at the same time acknowledges, that in its application he is neither scrupulous nor exact. In a note at the foot of page 137, we find Taylor himself maintaining the right of using arguments, and even authorities, in controversy, which we do not believe to be valid.

It is not therefore to be wondered at, that, with such principles, Protestant controversy should have made little progress, notwithstanding the talents of Barrow, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, and Wake. A circumstance no less remarkable is, that the writings of these authors are little employed in the controversy of the present day. They have, however, had no successors worthy of their fame: this period closes the list of great controversial writers, both in France and in this country; for now the controversial question again shifted its ground, with the progress of the Protestant principle; and the question was now no longer as to which of the particular dogmas of the various Christian communities should be received, but whether Christianity itself, as based upon a special revelation, was worthy of credit.

This important question was the principal object of contro versy during the ensuing century, to which Mr. Hallam's work does not extend, and more particularly so towards its close. The voluminous writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, D'Alembert, Diderot, and other writers of this school, gave the last blow to the existence of all authority, civil as well as religious, and prepared that political, social and religious cataclysm which will constitute the astonishment of future ages.

But as religious, as well as philosophical, opinions, like many other things, move in a circle, when a nation, or an epoch, have traversed the whole line, they are led back to the point from which they started. A modern author, * in treating of the history of philosophy, has particularly attached himself to the observation of the gradual progression of doubt, and its uniform consequences on public opinion, not only amongst the Hindoos and in ancient Greece, but in our own days; and,

* Cousin, “ Cours de l'Histoire de la Philosophie.", VOL. X.NO. XX.

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from this uniform result, he appears to conclude, that there exists a law of the mind, by which man, when once by his own act he separates himself from the dogmatism of authority, after having been tossed for a certain time upon the sea of doubt, forcibly seeks refuge in that port from which he started, or in the no less positive dogmatism of his own imagination. He thus takes upon himself the task of pointing out the constant succession of four distinct forms of philosophy; namely, the dogmatical philosophy, the critical philosophy, the sceptical philosophy, and the mystical philosophy.

We shall not attempt to do the same thing for the history of religious opinions, although we are intimately persuaded that such is the natural order of progress in the mind of individuals; and if that progress is not exactly realized in the history of any particular society, it is because, in religious matters, there are too many passions brought into play, and too many subsidiary causes, which modify the general laws. Moreover religious opinion exists in every possible variety as to its degree of separation from truth.

M. Cousin, of course, considers mysticism as the natural ally of superstition ; and it is to this species of mysticism that we exclusively refer at the present moment. We beg, however, to protest against the conclusion, that there exists any necessary connexion between superstition and mysticism, using that word (and we believe we have no other), as the equivalent of private or individual inspiration ;-a very delicate matter, upon which we are not called to enter. The mystics to whom we are about to refer were, perhaps, inspired, but it was certainly not by the spirit of light.

Our sole object in the foregoing observations is to establish the real state of the Protestant controversy at the present moment. We sincerely believe that doubt, carried to a certain unlawful extent, opens the door to scepticism, as a system, which then in its turn becomes dogmatic and exclusive; and that this scepticism, when men arlopt it as a rule of action, leads them into a labyrinth of perplexity and misery. That the mind, enervated by its own excesses, and still agitated by that invincible necessity of belief, which forms, as it were, its essential characteristic (belief being the condition sine quâ non of all moral and intellectual life), catches at the first empty probability which presents itself, as drowning men catch at straws. Then rises, upon a false foundation, a rapid superstructure of error, the perishable nature of which is only perceived when its unfortunate architect is buried in its ruins.

As far, then, as regards the question of submission to authority, in some form or other, such men, turning in a circle, finish by arriving at the very point from which they started; and thus the Protestant controversy itself may be regarded as a vast circle, the various points of which are occupied by different persons in different ages, or by different persons in the same age, accordingly as they may have advanced in the logical progression of doubt, or have thrown themselves headlong into one of the many forms of false mysticism.

Our own days, and the country in which we live, have offered two very remarkable instances of this false mysticism. The first, and the most extravagant, was that to which Joanna Southcote gave her name. This preposterous folly is far from being at an end, notwithstanding the death of the Prophetess. We are perfectly aware that well-educated Protestants affect to treat this grotesque episode in the history of religious opinions as a thing exclusively confined to the vulgar; but such is by no means the fact : many men of education, and occupying highly-respectable situations in society, having submitted to the operation of being sealed, and what is still more conclusive, having paid for it.

With regard to the other instance, which was the celebrated affair of the “unknown tongues," we can speak from personal observation. Mr. Irving, who was the great apostle of this novelty, was a man inferior to no one in intellectual powers. The person who could fix the attention of crowded assemblies, in which were to be found many of the principal ornaments of the bar and of the senate, and that for many months, could have been no common man: this was undoubtedly the case, and to a degree that the interference of the police became necessary to maintain order in the dense crowd of men, and of equipages, which besieged the doors of the Scotch Church. We have more than once attentively listened to the arguments by which Mr. Irving justified the inspiration of the persons who vomited forth this execrable gibberish; and we hasten to avow it as our sincere opinion, that few men, separated from that authority which is alone invested with the power of judging spirits ; few men, we say, of a noble and generous nature, and capable of following, with attention, a series of logical deductions, could have resisted his moving eloquence, and his close reasoning. Yet this fine intelligence fell a prey to the fatal illusion which took possession of it; and Irving, one of the most accomplished orators, and one of the profoundest thinkers of his time, is now, by those who never knew him, confounded

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with the vulgar herd of fanatics, who from time to time arise for the punishment, and for the amusement, of humanity.

The Protestant controversy has then, according to our views, passed through all its phases, and, henceforth, nothing remains but to say over again what has been already said, and to do over again what has been already done. All that remains for the conscientious Catholic, is, to determine at what particular point of the circumference his opponent has taken his stand, -whether he objects to the authority of the Catholic hierarchy, to the authority of him by whom it was founded, or whether, advancing a step further, he puts in question the interference in human affairs of Him by whom the founder of our holy religion was sent; or, finally, whether admitting His existence, and His active influence, he considers himself specially inspired by His spirit; for all these errors, and for all their intermediate shades, the arguments by which they have been a thousand times refuted are in our hands; but, in order to use them, one preliminary condition is required-a sincere desire of truth in those to whom they are addressed. Arguments we can give, and arguments in abundance; but this spirit of docility is the exclusive gift of Him who rules the heart, and is to be obtained by prayer alone.

The unusual length of the present article must be our excuse for passing over unnoticed several matters in the present chapter intimately connected with the progress of religious opinion ; as also in the two following, which are devoted to the proximate subjects of speculative and moral philosophy. Such as the gradual progress of Arminianism, out of which arose that spirit of Jansenism which so long agitated the Church of France; as also the writings and errors of Fenelon, who exercised so great an influence upon the age in which he lived. We must likewise pass by the long struggle of the Jesuits, with that outpouring of spiritual pride, the principal centre of which was Port-Royal, and one of the principal champions of which was Pascal, who, in his celebrated Lettres Provinciales, struck a heavy blow at that order, the spirit of which he did not understand. Time alone-Time, the destroyer and the avenger, has for ever put an end to this violent controversy ; the Jansenists are now an obsolete sect, whilst the Jesuits, reestablished by the competent authority, still exert their salutary influence throughout the universal Church.

We think it unnecessary to make any apology to our readers for the limited view which we have taken of the interesting work before us. Obliged, by the very character of the work itself, to adopt some special limit, we thought that no subject was more in harmony with the spirit that directs our labours, than a rapid sketch of the progress of that principle which establishes the right of unlimited discussion, and which, after many ineffectual efforts, ultimately triumphed in the religious troubles of the sixteenth century. In a former article we spoke at some length as to the author's appreciation of the men by whom this religious revolution was effected; in the present, we have attached ourselves more particularly to the consequences—moral, social, and literary-which have resulted from it: in the course of these two articles we have quoted many passages in which the author treats both the Reformers and the Reformation with considerable severity; we have principally confined ourselves to such, and, we think, very legitimately; for whatever a man once admits, becomes a fair weapon in the hands of bis adversary. It is, moreover, very rare that the author ever defends either the one or the other; bis historical impartiality, and his natural good sense, generally triumph over the early prejudices of his education. No one, therefore, can accuse us of partiality in our quotations, since we professedly defend a certain principle, which has been clearly laid down; how far we have succeeded we leave the impartial reader to decide.

Art. VIII.— First Report of the_Agricultural Improvement

Society of Ireland. Dublin : 1841. PR ROSPECTS of real practical improvements, are at last,

we feel most happy to say, opening upon the long-neglected territory and people of Ireland. Various societies holding in view especially the cultivation of her soil, and the importation of superior races of cattle, sheep, and swine, have been during several years past established, which undoubtedly accomplished, while they existed, a very considerable amount of good. The association of Ballinasloe, in the county of Galway, under the spirited guidance of Lord Clancarty, and with the liberal assistance of the gentlemen of his neighbourhood, has tended chiefly to render the great animal fair of that town, one of the most celebrated marts for the sale of sheep that are now known in Europe. Other institutions upon a similar plan have been from time to time established in other counties. They have all, more or less, been exceed