CAUTIONS FOR THE TIME S. ADDRESSED TO THE PARISHIONERS OF A PARISH IN ENGLAND, BY THEIR FORMER RECTOR. EDITED BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. WATCH, AND REMEMBER THAT BY THE SPACE OF THREE YEARS I CEASED LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND. MDCCC LIII. 141.b.117. PREFACE. THE favourable reception of these papers, in the British Islands and in the Colonies,* has induced me to collect and reprint them in a volume. When I speak, however, of a favourable reception, I mean favourable considering the character and design of the Work, and the principles on which it has been conducted. Hardly any one will doubt that,-when other things are equal,-a publication which is made the organ of some considerable Party, which supports it and whose views it advocates and circulates, will be likely to obtain much greater immediate popularity, than one which stands wholly aloof from all Parties. And a Writer who even only so far identifies himself with a party as to censure errors on one side alone, passing by in silence the opposite errors, will be likely to obtain a greater amount of present favour than one who deals impartially with both. But, to have sought increased popularity at the expense of diminished usefulness, would, evidently, have been to sacrifice the end to the means. The reasons why I did think the course pursued the most useful for those it was designed to benefit, have been set forth, perhaps sufficiently, in Nos. XX. and XXI. My case, in many respects, resembled that of the author of the Spectator, who found each member of his club willing enough that the prejudices of the rest should be exposed, but each alleging some peculiar reason why himself and his own party should be omitted. *They are also about to be reprinted in the United States of America. That the views which have been advocated in these Papers are on the whole sound, I am encouraged to hope, partly by the approbation of several competent judges, and, even still more, by the undesigned testimony, as it may be considered, of opponents. Many persons have, as might have been expected, felt displeasure and alarm at different parts of what has been advanced; and several of them have assailed the publication with vehement declamation; but no disproof has been advanced,— scarcely any even attempted-of any of the statements or the conclusions. And one can hardly doubt that, if this had been possible, it would have been done long since by those who were manifestly so much indisposed to admit those conclusions. In the case of these Papers, as in my other publications, the more disapprobation I met with, and the more intelligent and the more worthy the objectors, the more earnestly have I urged my views, when no disproof was produced. For, the more wide-spread and deep-rooted any error, and the more it prevails in the minds of the wise and good, the more important it is to refute it. If I am right, it will be found out sooner or later; and, so as my work be done, it is of comparatively small consequence how the labourer is treated. The preparers of mummies were, Herodotus says, driven out of the house of the family who had engaged their services, with stones and execrations: but their work remains sound after 3000 years! Several writers as was announced in the opening Numberwere engaged in the Papers which form the present volume; and the share I have myself had in the several parts of it has been very various. To some Numbers I have contributed the half, or more than half; to others, much less. But as every one of them was most carefully revised by me before publication, I am of course myself altogether responsible for the whole. I have only to add my hearty acknowledgments for the assistance received from several friends, by their writing, their suggestions, and their remarks. RICHARD DUBLIN. CONTENTS. II. Popular Romish Arguments. The title "Catholic," 13, 14. The old Religion, 14. Unity of the Church, 15. Danger of Private Judgment, 18. "Hear the Church," 19. Tradition, 20. Unchangeableness, 22. Divisions, 23-25. III. Popular arguments against Romanism. No one Church Su- 41-49. IV. Review of Romish Tracts circulated in England, 50—60. Arian Tract, 61. Persecution, 62-66. V. Part I. Roman Errors have their origin in Human Nature, pp. 67-69. Superstition, 69-83. Part II. Class Religion, 84-100. Pious Frauds, 100-102. field Fires," 133-137. "Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament," 137, 138. Rosary," 138. "Protestantism weighed in its own Balance," 138-143. VIII. Argument from Numbers, 146-152. Monastic System, 152 -154. Unity, 155. The Safe Course, 156-158. IX. Recapitulation. Danger from Within, 159-162. Origin and Progress of the Tract-party, 163-166. Church-prin- ciples tried by the Formularies of the Church, 166–176. X. Panic fear of Tractism, 179. Means of Concord, 181-184. Mistakes about Saints'-Days, 184-186. Fasting, 187- XI. Fruits of Tractism. Discouragement of the Study of Evidences, |