546 
The following remark, at the commence- 
ment of the anonymous “ Inquiry,”’ at- 
tashes some moral interest to the subject : 
** A century has not elapsed since the natives of 
England were known to America only as bold and 
ruthless buccaneers; and blazing cities and affright- 
ed Viceroys testified, at the same time, our bru- 
‘tality and our daring. By one of those revolutions 
which the most prescient politician dare not contem- 
plate, we have now become legally interested in the 
very mines which formerly excited our cupidity and 
our courage. The capture of a Manilla galleon will 
no longer afford either a peerage or a pension, and 
future Gondomars will no longer scare the royal pre- 
sence with brief but bitter denunciations of Piratas 
Ingleses.” 
The author regrets 
«© That no attempt has been made to afford the 
public accurate data, from which they might be 
enabled to form an opinion as to the nature of these 
undertakings, as to the grounds on which they have 
been formed, the prospects which they hold out, the 
individuals by whom they are promoted, and the 
progress of their plans,” 
The plan of inquiry by which he professes 
to supply this desideratum, is— 
“ First, By ascertaining the average annual net 
produce of the American mines under their former 
management, and the means by which that produce 
was obtained. And, secondly, By examining the 
plans of the Companies at present established for 
working the American mines, and by ascertaining, 
as far as we are enabled, the progress of those plans.” 
The documents accompanying the for- 
mer pamphlet, are:—1. The report of the 
master of Assay, on the causes of the de- 
cline of the Guanaxuato mine—2. Table 
of the bullion, coined in the royal mints of 
Mexico, from 1690 to 1823—3. Existing 
force of armies of Mexico, veterans and 
provincials (amounting to a total of 30,000) 
—4. A general estimate of the annual 
military expences of the Mexican nation 
(amounting to an aggregate of 9,922,783 
dollars) —and 5. ‘The amount of-the Na- 
tional Debt, which is stated at 44,714,563 
dollars. 
An Essay on the Absolving Power of the 
Church; with especial Reference to the 
Offices of the Church of England for the 
Ordering of Priests and the Visitation of 
the Sick. ‘With copious Illustrations and 
Notes. By the Rev. T. H. Lowe, ™. a., 
Vicar of Grimley, &c.—The Catholics oc- 
casionally reproach us, that while we ridi- 
cule the pretensions of their Popes to be 
considered as the lineal spiritual descen- 
dants of St. Peter, and as inheriting, by a 
series of successive consecration, the power 
and attributes of the apostle, and the keys 
of remission and acceptance, &c. bestowed 
upon him by Jesus Christ; we still, in the 
ordination of our bishops, &ec. acknowledge 
the same principle of descent by succes- 
sive consecration: the imposition of hands 
by a bishop, deriving his consecration by 
Jike imposition, in uninterrupted _ series 
from the Pope, being still, in our Pro- 
testant Church, indispensable to consti- 
tuting the episcopal, or clerical cha- 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
(July 1, 
racter. They reproach us, also, with 
equal inconsistency on the subject of ab- 
solution: affirming, that whereas their 
general absolutions remit only the penal- 
ties of the church; and that even that 
of extreme unction, implied only a condi- 
tional pardon—that is, “ that if their repen- - 
tance be sincere, then the sins of the confes- 
sionalist are forgiven ;’’ our church, in the 
established formula of the Communion of the 
Stich, goes still further—assumes to itself 
the knowledge whether the repentance be 
sincere; and upon that assumption pro- 
ceeds to pronounce, without reservation, a 
positive absolution: the words being ex- 
pressly thus— 
«* And by his authority [the authority of our Lord 
Jesus Christ] committed to me,* I absolve thee from 
all thy sins, in the name of the Father, of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” ~ 
The present Essay, which, the Rey. Au- 
thor informs us, contains 
** The substance of a discourse preached June 
30th, 1824, in the cathedral church at Worcester, at 
the triennial visitation of the Lord Bishop of the 
diocese; and now published by his Lordship’s 
suggestion ;” : \ 
Though it does not professedly enter into 
any controversy with the Catholics, or 
even allude to any such source of objec- 
tion, goes immediately to the subject of 
these two difficult points of orthodox 
Church of England doctrine—the descent 
of consecration and spiritual authority from 
the Apostles, ‘‘ conferred,” through ordi- 
nation, to “the priests’’ of our church ; 
and the apparently unreserved absolution 
prescribed in our ritual. 
««Tf,” says the reverend and learned vicar, p. 2,— 
** if the power of remitting absolutely the future 
penalties of sin neither is, nor can be, given to igno- 
rant and sinful men, in what sense are we to under- 
stand these words of our Lord to his apostles: ‘ Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whosesoever sins ye remit, 
they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins 
ye retain, they are retained’? The inquiry is one 
of great importance; for as the same words are used 
in the ordination of our priests; and as it cannot be 
supposed, that those venerable and pious men, by_ 
whom our Liturgy was reformed, designed to mis- 
lead, by an equivocal sense, when they retained, in 
this form of ordination, without any restriction or 
qualification of their meaning, the identical words 
which our Lord employed in the consecration of his 
apostles ; the necessary inference is, that they meant 
them to be taken strictly in the same sense; and de- 
signed to claim, for the ministers of our church, the 
same gift of the Holy Spirit, the same divine au- 
thority to absolve and to bind.” 
It is by no means our intention to enter 
into the merits of this controversy. We 
have stated impartially the question and its 
bearings. To those who may feel them- 
selves interested in it, we recommend the 
perusal 
* Progressively be it remembered, through a line 
of Popes, from St. Peter to the English Bishops, 
consecrated by Popes, to the time of the Refor- 
mation; and through them, in like succession, to th 
Bishops of the present day. : 
