Roman Forgeries and Falsifications; or, an Examination of Counterfeit and Corrupted Records, with especial reference to Popery. By the Rev. RICHARD GIBBINGS, M.A., Rector of Raymunterdoney, Diocese of Raphoe. Part I. London: Rivingtons. 1842.

WE are at a loss to conceive how that which is universally exploded folly in worldly concerns, should be wisdom in those which are moral or spiritual; and that it should be the proof of intellectual superiority to believe, that opinions are either all fundamentally the same, or are followed by no consequences of importance. We believe cordially in the difference of truth and falsehood, and in the high importance which in many cases may be, and is, the result of that difference.

It follows that on subjects such as those which separate the two Churches of Rome and Christianity, particularly the Church of England, our notions are not vague but fixed, not weak but strong. To avoid important error-we consider it right to express the epithet emphatically-is, although a negative, yet the necessary preparative to truth, and in this sense the dimidium facti.

We accordingly consider Mr. Gibbings as having performed an essential service to the cause of Christian literature in a publication which undertakes to detect and expose the forgeries and falsifications, the counterfeit and corrupted records by which the Church of Rome has from the first, to the present period of her declension, sought to support and to defend the citadel of her apostasy.

To those who are acquainted with the accurate reprint by the same author of the only "Roman Index Expurgatorius" which the western Church has ventured to expose to inspection and criticism, and particularly the very able and pertinent preface by which the reader is made to understand its merits and importance, it will at once be felt that Mr. Gibbings was the very person best qualified for the task which he has now executed, and at least among the most worthy to follow the steps of James, Crashaw, Robert Cooke, Traherne, and Comber.

He who is at all conversant with the authors just named need not be informed that the title of the present work is for substance adopted from those of some of their works. Neither will it be necessary to justify to such a student the intrinsic propriety of the title; for although the corruptions of the earlier ages are not to be charged specifically upon the Roman Church, which, moreover, in her youth was Christian, yet that same Church, by adopting in her degenerate senility those corruptions, has

made them her own, and they deserve to be added to such as have originated with herself. Least of all will any critic of information and candour require, as necessary to the justice of the title of a book, that the charge which it may bring against any corporation must hold against every member composing that corporation. Although, of all corporations in the world, the Church of Rome is most responsible for the acts of her members, especially of the most eminent, and most especially of those whom, with all the means in her power, and with all her obligations by her published indexes, she has forborne to condemn. And, in fact, it is more both her interest and duty to expose and prohibit the poison emitted by those of her own communion, which is, therefore, most likely to be received without suspicion by the body of her faithful, than that which ceeds from the shops of convicted, proclaimed, and notorious heretics. At all events a real counter-poison is a thing of great value, and such, we are bold to say, is the production we have now to consider. It ought, likewise, to be recollected, that it is an incipient work-the first part,

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The Introduction extends to thirty pages; and in it we have some sound remarks respecting the supreme authority of Scripture and antiquity, as a strictly subordinate source and rule. Of private judgment in religion a great deal of nonsense has been said and written. In fact, every man, woman, and child, years of discretion, uses it, and cannot avoid using it. The most obsequious slave to the dictates of another has his motive for his submission, which is his private judgment. Of the thing there can be no doubt, the only question is about its place: and we are persuaded that the language of Convocation referred to in page xiv., respecting the deduction of the ancients from Scripture, is to be understood exclusively of fair and truly rational deduction. In the legitimate sense of the word, the Church of England fears nothing less than antiquity. At page xx. and onwards, Mr. Gibbings has pertinently and justly exposed the liberty which the Church of Rome takes with antiquity, when the necessity presses. Eusebius, the Libex Pontificalis, Jerom, Ruffin, Socrates, Sozomen, &c., are all made to know that they have a master and a judge at Rome, who does not give laws nor bear the sword in vain.

The subjects of the work itself are as follows:-D. N. JESUS CHRISTUS-B. VIRGO MARIA-CANONES APOSTOLORUMCONSTITUTIONES APOSTOLORUM-SYNODUS ANTIOCHena.

A simple and cursory inspection of the pages of this volume, though amounting in number to 141 alone, will convince the inspector at once, that nothing more can be expected in the

compass of a short review, than a few detached observations which may serve to discover the object and ability of the work. A great portion is in very small type; and although there is at times apparent confusion in their intermixture, quite sufficient to terrify a novice, or one not very cordially liking the moral of the book, we assure ourselves that those who are differently inclined will cheerfully encounter the difficulty to obtain the fruit.

If our author excels in any particular, it is in precision, which, to be satisfactory, must sometimes run the hazard of wearying by accumulation. Under the first head, which chiefly concerns the epistle to our Saviour, attributed to Abgarus, King of Edessa, in Syria, and the supposed reply of our Lord, as extant in the first book of Eusebius's History, every information is given which the materials afford; and we believe the reader will find cause to be well satisfied with the judgment of the present critic. We need not say more, and will only direct attention to the note, beginning page 7, respecting the well-known fable of the impressions (for there are two) of our Saviour's face on two different handkerchiefs- -of course, to be seen at Rome. In a sub-note, page 8, Mr. Gibbings writes—

"The following is the commencement of the antiphon, Ante faciem Christi Jesu, alias ante Veronicam :' 'Salve sancta facies nostri redemptoris, in qua nitet species divini splendoris: impressa panniculo nivei candoris, dataque Veronica signum ob amoris.' ("Hora B. V. Mariæ.”) Paris. 1549."

Mr. Gibbings adds, that with an impression of the subject on the side the same verses occur in an edition by Kerver, of 1503, he proceeds:

"Dr. Wiseman says that he has never met with the above address.' (Letter to John Poynder, Esq., page 6. London. 1836.) It is rather too bad that our adversaries should require to be taught by us the contents of their own books of offices; but none are so blind as those who do not wish to see."

We can add to these vouchers the "Hora" by the same Kerver, 1506; those of Poytiers, by Vostre, 1507; and those of Sarum, by Byrkman, in Paris, 1527: in all of which is the picture and the poetry. If Dr. Wiseman can find leisure to visit the British Museum, we believe that he may find the last "Hora" with the date of 1526 (but the same, minus in the beginning the fourteenth folio added in the edition of 1527), and by his own inspection relieve himself and his future readers of the benefit of a doubt on the subject.

The next subject-B. VIRGO MARIA, reaching from page 16 to 63, is, as might be expected, a most prolific one, and con

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taining instances without number of Roman forgeries, falsifications, corruptions, all in favour of her abominable idolatries. To abridge is impossible; and to select is not easy. Readers to whom variety is almost necessary in their studies, will find enough to that common taste here; and yet all intimately connected with the subject, and, what is more important, directed to the peculiar necessities and utilities of the times. The Marian epistles to Ignatius and the people of Messana, form, of course, a prominent feature of the text; but the notes contain a quantity of new and interesting statement and disquisition on ramified subjects. Witness the note, page 28, concerning Melchior Inchofer, and his book of the solar system, and what follows relative to the celebrated Galileo Galilei, and the swindling dexterity with which his name and his system have been discharged from the index of prohibited books by Gregory XVI.; so that Romanists may now safely believe and teach, that the sun does not move round the earth, but the earth, &c., round "the sun. The consultor of the congregation of the index in Birmingham (not in Crete), can tell how this was brought about. The note 31-36 is full of important and seasonable information respecting the Marian idolatry; and after due attention bestowed upon the "Official Memoirs," the "Glories of Mary," and Bossuet's "Exposition," in conclusion we hear it declared as the general belief, by no less a man than Gabriel Biel, that notwithstanding the superhuman honours of the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin, the Roman priest is greater and worthier than she; for he can consecrate twice or thrice in a day! The priest of the Italian Church, therefore, in order to put a just value upon himself, and no more, has nothing to do but to look into a few of the myriads of books upon the subject by angelic, seraphic, and irrefragable doctors, and see what honours are bestowed by them upon the goddess of their idolatry.

We must now suffer our readers to turn to the book under review themselves, and criticise the remainder of it as they may see fit. We will content ourselves with one or two concluding remarks.

We have observed upon the irrationality of supposing it required of the author, for the justification of his title, that the whole body of Rome-add, in all ages-should be individually chargeable with the offences there specified. Mr. Gibbings has fairly stated, wherever it is the case, that there were several single exceptions to the general traffic of literary delusion, both active and passive, in the fallen Church. And why should it not be so? We owe our Reformation to the existence of such characters. Why should it not be so? To answer more per

tinently, there have always been, though in so signally corrupt a Church, and when most so, certain individuals who could not surrender plain common understanding; and their "carnal wit and sense" would "at haflins times o'ercome them;" others could not stifle the voice of conscience; in many cases there would be no interest to offend, and in many, the high probabilities or demonstrations of an adversary, made potent by the goodness of his cause, would be irresistible, at least in a rational interval.

In conclusion, in these days of revived patristic zeal, it is superlatively important and imperative, that the distinction between genuine and spurious should be rigidly understood, and that fresh and juvenile students, in particular, should not be left to the hazard of confounding them, and thus embracing a cloud for a goddess. That there is danger, not only from the apostate Church, but from all who admire and imitate her, is painfully evident from the instance of an individual from whom double or deceitful dealing ought least to be expected. Who would imagine, before the fact, that the Rev. William Palmer could address the Bishop of Melipotamus in Crete, Dr. N. Wiseman, consultor of the sacred congregation of the index, in such terms as these "I was not prepared to find that a large proportion of the passages which you have quoted as from the fathers, including all those on which you lay the most stress, are derived from apocryphal and spurious writings; from works written centuries after the time of the fathers to whom you attribute them; from the writings of heretics falsely attributed to the fathers! Page after page of quotations, garnished with many an ingenious remark, and many a grave admonition, with your applause of the venerable authors, and your contrasts between their sentiments and mine, are derived from works, the genuineness of which is disputed or denied by the ablest critics, even of your own communion!" (Fifth Letter to N. Wiseman, D.D., pp. 16, 17). And if so ingenuous a mind as that of Dr. Wiseman was insufficient to resist the temptation of supporting his Church by means so little honourable, what is to be expected from other members of his communion, who may not be gifted with the same, or an equal share of the same virtue?

Crosby Place. Described in a Lecture on its Antiquities and Reminiscences. By the Rev. CHARLES MACKenzie, M.A. London Smith and Elder. 1843.

THIS is a lecture by an amiable and accomplished clergyman, the vicar of Great St. Helen's; and in very elegant language and considerable antiquarian research, it introduces the reader to an interesting relic of the olden time.