ately sent on such a mission. As to the idea of
Christian union no one can find fault with that. It is lamentable that
the Christian Church should be divided into sections that turn against
each other the energies that should be devoted to the destruction of a
common foe. That all should be brethren in Christ who believe in Him and
lead a Christian life, is manifest, the common reader will say, in his
desire after Christian unity. Mr. Malet comes then, of course, to all
Christians, of whatever sect or denomination, and holds out to them the
hand of fellowship? Alas! no; he does nothing of the kind. First of all
he tells us he will not call himself a Protestant, then he dresses
himself like a monk, and has his friends to call him "Brother Michael."
He then gets letters from the Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. Manning,
and goes to Rome humbly to ask the Pope to recognise the Church of
England. Of course, at Rome, he is favourably received, and is delighted
with all he saw, and seems to have swallowed all he heard, not even
excepting the most monstrous fable or the absurdest legend. From Rome
Brother Michael finds his way to Jerusalem--that Jerusalem that crucified
the Lord of life, that stoned the prophets, that persecuted and slew the
teachers and apostles and converts of early times--that Jerusalem where
there is more downright lying in the name of God, and under the plea of
religion, if it be possible, than in Rome itself--that Jerusalem where
the rival monks to-morrow would cut each others' throats if the Turkish
soldiers did not keep them quiet;--and then to the Greeks and Roman monks
he offers a similar request; and "the aged pilgrim," as he terms himself,
returns delighted, believing that the Church of England will be permitted
to join with the Pope in asserting all the frauds of the Papacy, and with
the Greeks in celebrating that pious fiction of the holy fire once a year
in Jerusalem. "The aged pilgrim" sees many favourable signs in this
country. One is the reprint of Edward VI.'s Prayer-book for twopence;
and another the fact that incense may be bought in many shops at the West
End, and that half a pound lasts a long time. Now what must the
cultivated, intellectual, and sceptical spirits of the age think of a man
holding such opinions? What must be the effect of his teaching on such
men, but to estrange them more and more from the Church and its
institutions? Brother Michael falsifies history as much