In a recent number of this Magazine we gave some facts respecting the increase of Roman Catholicism in England. The writer asks, "What are we to think of the religious training of those who are ready so easily to adjure Protestantism, and to lapse into Popery?" The answer is simple. The religious training of multitudes in the Anglican communion is not merely Romish in principle, but in practice too; and in no place in England is Anglicanism more Popish than in Oxford, under the eye and within the jurisdiction of that pre-eminent churchman, the Bishop of Oxford. Here is a slight sketch of what took place in no less than four of the parish churches of that University city last Easter Sunday.

In the Church of St. Thomas' parish there were four officiating priests. Three were garbed in ordinary vestments, acting as acolyths; but the fourth wore a black, rather tight-fitting robe, reaching to his ancles, a white surplice, or albe, over that, coming below his knees; a stole, a hood, and a chasuble; the vestments suitable for a priest performing mass in the Church of Rome. At the altar-for so we must call the table ordered by the Prayer Book to be provided, and to stand in the body of the Church or in the chancel-there were two banners of blue silk. One of these was adorned with the figure of a pelican drawing from its breast blood, as the old legends have it, for the food of her young. The sermon was poor, and contained nothing re

markable.

At Merton College Chapel the three priests, with their band of choristers, entered the Church from the vestry, chanting "Christ the Lord is risen to-day." They were

headed by a banner of yellow silk; on it a blood-red cross, and a photograph of Christ. The entire service was intoned, and the Church decorated with beautiful flowers. Two huge wax candles burnt on the altar. During the Communion, two priests, one on each side the altar, remained kneeling, with hands clasped, and apparently never moved a muscle, while the third sang or intoned the service; in all this imitating, as near as may be, the function of High Mass in the Church of Rome.

We need not weary our readers with a repetition of similar ceremonials in the other two parishes; but it will further illustrate the tendency of Oxford teaching, if we extract a few sentences from the "Oxford Illustrated Almanack and Churchman's Companion for 1864."

In the private devotions for the evening is the following prayer :"O everlasting God, who has ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order; mercifully look upon us this night, and grant that as Thy Holy Angels alway do Thee service in heaven, so by Thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Among the prayers to be said daily during the week before Holy Communion we read as follows:"Blessed Jesus, who art about to come to us Thy unworthy servants in the Blessed Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, prepare our hearts we beseech Thee for Thyself." Here the real presence is taught, and the physical reception of a physical Christ.

Of Good Friday the Almanack says, "This is the most solemn day of the Christian year."

Of Ascension day, "Holy Thursday ought, therefore, to be as devoutly

kept, with as entire a cessation from business, as any other High Day; and every real Christian will not only pray that it may be so, but also will do his best to bring about so desirable a result."

Our readers will be at no loss to discover the Popish tendency of these Oxford teachings. Surprise at the rapid strides of Romanism must cease in the presence of such facts. Anglican clergymen are industriously sowing the seeds of Popery, and preparing the way for its triumphs. At the same time stealthy steps are made again to subject our necks to the yoke, by reviving wherever practicable the obsolete powers of the Church. In his recent celebrated charge, the Bishop of Oxford recommended the revival of the office of Sidesmen. Their duties are described as "seeing that all parish ioners duly resort to their Church upon all Sundays and Holy days, earnestly calling upon and monishing those who are slack and negligent; and finally presenting the obdurate." In the restoration of this office the bishop sees the revival of that safe

amount of discipline within the Church which "all good and thoughtful men long for; " a first step in the renewal of parochial life. Accordingly, in two parishes in Oxford— All Saints and St. Peter le Baileythe vestries have taken the bishop's counsel, and appointed persons to this office. The next step will of course be to cite the Dissenter into the bishop's court. And there is some danger of this; for at the vestry meeting of Cowley parish, called to make a church-rate, the Dissenting minister was actually threatened by the rector that the names of the opponents of the rate would be sent to the bishop, that that they that they might be might be cited and punished!

What with this apparition of the old persecuting spirit of the Church of England, and the spread of Popery both within and without her pale, the advocates of a scriptural piety and a pure Gospel, have need to watch, and to be ready by every lawful means to withstand the progress of adversaries so crafty and so powerful.

THE next point of inquiry respecting demons that claims attention, is, whether they are possessed of miraculous power, and whether they can impart this power to man. It has been seen that demoniacs generally have manifested extraordinary strength. This fact exites no astonishment. If our spirit be the source of our strength it may easily be supposed that an increase of spiritual influence would be accompanied by a proportionate increase of physical power. But the

question is whether demons apart from the human body possess miraculous power, and if so, whether they can communicate this power. The strength of demoniacs can scarcely be called miraculous. A miracle is a suspension of the ordinary laws of nature, or an act above those laws, or independent of them. To raise a tempest by a word-to allay a storm

-to fill the air with thunder and lightning-to change a man into a horse, or a rod into a serpent-to in

flict or cure diseases by a word or look, would be without the usual course of nature;-would be to exert a power not naturally possessed by man, and therefore a miraculous power. Is this power possessed by demons? In the investigation of this point Scripture is our only safe guide.

In the Book of Job we read that Satan exercised some such power as this. God gave his servant Job into the hand of Satan to torment him, and thus prove him. "The Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house and there came a messenger unto Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.' While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, 'The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.' While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.' While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, 'Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother's house: and, behold there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and

I only am escaped alone to tell thee."" Job. i. 12-19. On a subsequent occasion, Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Job ii. 7. In these instances Satan evidently exercised miraculous power. The elements are under his control; the lightning of heaven is at his command; he summons the mighty wind at his pleasure; and he afflicts at his will the body of Job. If this power be possessed by Satan the prince of demons, may it not also be possessed by his angels?

It is stated in the Book of Exodus, that miracles were performed by the magicians of Egypt. Their power must have been imparted to them by Satan or demons. In resisting Moses and Aaron, the servants of the true God, who wrought miracles to substantiate the claims of Him whose servants they were, the magicians would be assisted by the deities they served, the enemies of the true God. It must be borne in mind that the whole conflict between Moses and Pharaoh, seems to resolve itself into a contest between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of the Egyptians. Hence God declares to Moses, "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; AND AGAINST ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT I WILL EXECUTE JUDGMENT: I am the Lord." Ex. xii. 12. In accordance with this declaration is the record (Num. xxiii. 4), "For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgment." Hence the plagues. Some, if not all of them, had especial reference to the religion of the Egyptians, and were calculated to bring their gods into contempt. serpent was a typical representation

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of the presiding divinity of Egypt. The river Nile, whose waters were turned into blood, and were rendered offensive and noisome, so that the fish died, was held in high estimation, and regarded as a god. The frog was the emblem of man in embryo. There was a frog-head god and goddess: the former was supposed to represent the creative power. The beetle was held in peculiar veneration by the Egyptians, and yet it became their tormentor, and they were compelled to trample under foot creatures that they were wont to adore. Their gods then would render the Egyptians all possible help, and the result is stated (Ex. vii. 11, 12): "Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." After Moses turned the water into blood, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt, it is written that the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments. Ex. vii. 22, viii. 7. To say that the magicians imposed upon Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron, is simply absurd-Moses would have detected and exposed the imposture in a trice. Besides, how could the magicians tell what miracles Moses would work? Moreover the statements of the Bible are simple and definite, plain and positive, and it is difficult to reconcile a disbelief of the miracles of the magicians with becoming reverence for the Sacred Scriptures.

Similar power was probably possessed by Simon the magician, a sorcerer mentioned Acts viii. 9-11. "But there was a certain man called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. To

whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, 'This man is the great power of God.' And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries." It is hard to believe that all the people would have said, "This man is the great power of God," if he had not performed miracles. The expression, "beforetime," in the 9th verse, would support this opinion. It would seem that his power was stopped when Philip came. To Christ and his disciples the demons were subject. Philip had cast out some demons in Samaria. In the presence of Philip, armed with the Spirit, Simon might have found himself deserted by his patron demon, and bereft of his power. This circumstance might account for his ready belief in Philip.

The close connection between idolatry, or the worship of false gods, and devil worship, helps us to understand the power both of the magicians of Egypt and of Simon. Idolatry was not merely the worship of idols: it was the worship of spirits associated with the idols. The golden calf was not worshipped by the Israelites; it was the medium through which they would present worship to Jehovah. The worship of the world was devil-worship. In support of this statement the following passages may be cited :-"They sacrificed unto devils, not to God." "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring." "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto DEVILS, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the IDOLS of Canaan." Deut. xxxi. 17; Lev. xvii. 7; Ps. cvi. 37, 38. "What say I then that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say that

the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils." 1 Cor. x. 19-21. The struggle of Satan from the beginning has been to obtain the worship of men. He offered Christ the kingdoms of this world, and all the glory of them, if He would fall down and worship him. Elymas the sorcerer, called by Paul, "the child of the devil," sought to turn away Sergius Paulus from the faith. In order to strengthen their votaries in their delusion, Satan and his angels may work miracles on their behalf, and thus accomplish their wishes and answer their prayers; and God in retributive justice may permit men who hate the truth, and will not retain the knowledge of God, to be thus strengthened in a lie by demons. The power of the magicians of Egypt is then no matter of surprise, and none can tell to what extent magic obtained among the heathen, who being idolators were worshippers of the devil. Even in the present day God may permit demons to exert similar power. If men will deal in the occult arts, and profess a league with Satan, Satan may come and ratify that league by occasional aid. As success emboldens, he may thus secure his prey, although his aid cannot be relied upon. The pretensions of magicians should be closely investigated; but if all attempts to discover imposture fail, it would not be very absurd to suppose them helped by evil spirits.

May not some of the miracles of the Church of Rome be thus explained? The worship of saints and the Virgin Mary is as much idolatry as the worship of the heathen. The demons lurk about such altars, as

much as the altars of Pagan gods. Such worship is devil worship; and it is not a just occasion of astonishment that the devil should help his priests and worshippers. Satan, the New Testament informs us, is to work with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.

In the present day, however, Satan seems more anxious to be forgotten, that his existence not being suspected, he may work more effectively. This is a rationalistic age;-and rationalism, as much as, if not more than, superstition, secures the triumphs of Satan. It must not, however, be forgotten that gold, honour, and pleasure are as much Satan's representatives as idols, and that to many it may be said, "These are your gods."

Of course it must be understood that the power of demons is not unlimited. Satan had permission from God to afflict Job, and the elements were laid at his command for this purpose. The power of the magicians of Egypt was limited; and at the fourth miracle of Aaron they employed their enchantments without success. They then found that they were contending with a power superior to their deities, and said, "This is the finger of God." This confession when their enchantments failed, indicates that on the former occasions they had indeed wrought miracles. But whilst this power of Satan was limited, it is manifest from the narrative that its exercise was a very common thing. Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and commenced his malignant proceedings against Job, with a despatch which showed him to be well trained in such proceedings. The magicians of Egypt set to work with their enchantments without any hesitation, manifested no doubt as to the result, and were disappointed when they could go no further. Whilst then