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ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRUE CHURCH. PART III. ON RECTIFYING MISTAKES CONCERNING THE CATHOLIC OIIURCH. BY THE RT. REV. JOHN MILNER, O. D. T. A. r. a. JL, LONDON, AND CATIt. ACiD. BOMI. Addressed to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Burqess, Lord Bishop of St. David*!* i» Answer to his Lordship's Protestant's Catechism. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE AUTHOr's I'OSTSCRII'T. N E W - Y O H. K : PUBLISHED BY D. & J. SADLIER, . 164 WILLIAM STRKKT. BOSTON:— 128 FI:DKRAI. STREET. MONTIIKAL, C. E.: — COU. ST. FRANCIS *X A VIliU AND NOTRE DA Ml:) STS. 18JI). ** Let those treat you hanhly, who are not acquainted with the difficulty of attaining to truth and avoiding error. Let those treat you harshly, who know not how hard it is to get rid of old prejudices. Let those treat you harshly, who have not learned how very hard it is to purify the interior eye and render it capable of contemplating the sun of the soul, truth. But as to us: we are far from this disposition towards persons who are separated from us, not by errors of their own invention, but by being entangled in those of others. We are so far from this disposition that we pray to God, that, in refuting the false opinions of those, whom you follow, not from malice, but imprudence, he would bestow upon us that spirit of peace, which feels no other sentiment than charity, no other mteres't than that of Jesus Christ, no other wish but for your salvation." iSt. Ausliih Doctor of the Churchy A. D. 400, contra Ep. Fund, c i. c. ii. *• There are inany other things which keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. The agreement of different people and nations keeps me there. The authority established by Miracles, nourished by hope, increased by charity, and confirmed by antiquity, keeps me there. The succession of bishops in the See of St. Peter, the apostles, (to whom our Lord, after hig resurrection, committed his sheep, to be fed) down to the present bishop, keeps me there. Finally, the very name of CATHOLIC, which, among so many heresies, this church alone possesses, keeps me there." St. Au- gustin. Doctor of the Church, A. D. 400, contra Epis. Fundam. c. 4. •* It is a shame to charge men with what they are not guilty of, in order to make the breach wider, already too wide." Dr. Montague, bishop oj Norwich. Invoc. of Saints, p. GO. '* Let them not lead people by the nose to believe they can prove their supposition, that the Pope is Antichrist, and the Papists idolaters, when they cannot." Dr. Herbert Thorndike, prebendary of Westminister. Juxi Weights and Measures, p. 1 1. •* The object of their (the Catholics) adoration of the B. Sacrament ii the only true and eternal God, hypostatically joined with his holy humanity* which humanity they believe actually present under the veil of the sacra- mental signs : and if they thought him not present, they are so far from worshipping the bread in this case, that themselves profess it to be idolatry to do so." Dr. Jeremy Taylor, bishcv •/ Down. Liberty qf prophesying^ chap. xs. CONTENTS. PART I. LETTER I. Introduction. Pem Mr, Brown's Apol jgy to Dr. M. Account of the Friendly Society of New Cottage 29 ESSAY I. On the Existence of God and Natuial Religion, by the Kev. Samuel Carey, LL.D 32 ESSAY II. On the truth of the Christian Religion, by Do. . . • , 35 LETTER IL To James Brown, Esq. Dr. M ^a Conditions for entering on the Correspondence. Freedom of Speech. Sincerity and Candour. A Conclusive Method . 41 LETTER III. From James Brown, Esq. Agreement to the Conditions on the part of the Society . , 43 LETTER IV. To James Brown, Esq. Dispositions for success in Religious Inquiries. Renunciation of pre- judices, passions, and vicious inclinations. Fervent prayer . ib. LETTER V. To James Brown, Esq. Rule or Method of finding out the True Religion. Christ has left a Rule. This Rule must be sure and unerring. It must bo adapted to the capacity and situations of the bulk of mankind . . 4i LETTER VI. t To James Brown, Esq. First fallacious Rule; Private Inspiration. This has led numberless Christians into errors, impiety and vice, in ancient and in modern times. Account of Modern Fanatics, Anabaptists, Quakers, Mora- vians, Swedenborgians, Methodists, &c. 47 LETTER Vn. To James Brown, Esq. Objections of certain Members of the Society answered . . 56 LETTER VUr. ' To James Brown, Esq. Second fallacious Rule; the Scripture according to each person's par- ticular interpretation of it. Christ did not intend that mankind, in general, should learn his Religion from a Book. No Legislator ever made Laws without providing Judges and Magistrates to explain uid enforce them. Dissensions, divisions, immorality, and infidelity^ iT Contents- P»g» which have arisen from the private interpretation of Scripture. II lusions of Protestants in this matter. Their inconsistency in mak- ing Articles, Catechisms, &c. Acknowledgment of learned Pro- testants on this head .... * 6B LETTER IX. To James Brown, Esq. The suhject continued. Protestants have no evidence of the Inrpi- ration oi Scripture: nor of its authenticity: nor of \he fidelity oi their copies: nor of its scnst. Causes of the obscurity of Scripture: i nstances of this. The Protestant Rule affords no ground for Faith. Doubts in which those vvlio follow it live and also die . . 71 LETTER X. To James Broken, Esq. The Trite Rule, namely. The Whole Word of God, unwritten as well as written, subject to the interpretation of the Church. In this and in every o;her country, the written law is grounded upon the un- written law. Christ taught the Apostles by word of mouth, and^ent them to preach it by word of mouth. This method was followed by them and their disciples and successors. Testimonies of this from the Fathers of the five first centuries 79 LETTER XL To James Broicn, Esq. The subject continued. Protestants forced to have recourse to the Catholic Rule, in different instances. Different instances of this. Their vain attempts to adopt it in other instances. Qubbling eva- sions of the Articles, Canons, Oaths, and Laws respecting uniformi- ty. Acknowledged necessity of deceiving the people. Bishop Hoadley the patron of this hypocrisy. The Catholic Rule confessed by Bishop Marsh to be the Original Rule. Proofs that it has never been abrogated. Advantages of this Rule to the Church' at large, and to its individual memlters 69 LETTER XII. ^ To James Brown, Esq. Objections answered. Texts of Scripture. Other objections. Illu* sory declamation of Bishop Porteus. The advice of Tobias, wheo he sent his Son into a strange country, recommended to the Society of New Cottage .103 . ^ PART IL LETTER XITI. To James Brown, Esq. Congratulation with the Society of New Cottage on their acknowl- edgment of the right Rule of Faith. Proof that the Catholic Church alone is possessed of this Rule. Characters or Marks of the True Church !''» LETTER XIV. To James Brown, Esq. Unity, the First Mark of the True -Church. This proved from Rea- son — from Scripture — and froa the Holy Fathers . . . lli Contends. Pas* LETTER XV. To James Brown, Esq. Want of Unity among Protestants in general. This acknowledged by their eminent writers. Strilcing instances of it in the Established Church. Vain attempts to reconcile diversity of belief with uni- form Articles 117 LETTER XVL To James Broion, Esq. Unity of the Catholic Church — in Doctrine — in Liturgy — la Govern- ment, and Constitution 123 LETTER XVn. • To Dr. AT. Prom James Broion^ Esq. Objections against the exclusive claims of Catholics. E detract of a let- ter from the Rev. N. N. Prebendary of N. Bishop Watson's doc- trine on this head 126 LETTER XVIIL To James Brown, Esq. Objections answered. Bishop Watson, by attempting to prove too much, proves nothing. Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers on this head. Exclusive claim of the Catholic Church a proof of her truth 128 LETTER XIX. To James B/dion, Esq. Second Mark of the True Church, Sanctity. Sanctity of doctrine wanting to the different Protestant Communions — to Luther's sys- tem— to Calvin's— to that of the Established Church — to those of Dissenters and Methodists. Doctrine of the Catholic Church Holy 133 POSTSCRIPT. Variations and impiety of the late Rev. John Wesley's doctrine 140 LETTER XX. To James Brown, Esq. Means of Sanctity. The Seven Sacraments, possessed by Catholics. Protestants possess none of them, except Baptism. The whole Liturgy of the E.-itablished Church borrowed from the Catholic Mis- sal and Ritua Sacritice the most acceptable worship of God. The most perfecL Sdcrifice offered in the Catholic Church. Pro- testants destitute of Sacritice. Other means of Sanctity in the "Ca- tholic communion 142 LETTER XXL To James Brown, Esq. Fruits of Sanctity. All the saints were Catholics. Comparison of eminent Protestants with contemporary Catholics, Immorality caused by changing the Ancient Religion .... 150 LETTER XXIL To Mr. J. Toultnin. Objections answered. False accounts of the (Church before the Re- formation, so called. Ditto of .John Fox's Martyrs. The vices ot ft few Popes no impeachment of the Church's Sanctity. Scriptural 1' I Contents. ' fractices and exercises common among Catholics but despised by 'rotestants 153 \ I LETTER XXIII. To James Brown, Esq. Divine Attestation of Sanctity in the Catholic Church. Miracles the Criterion of Truth. Christ appeals to them, and promises a contin- uation of them. The Holy Fathers and Church writers attest their continuation, and appeal to them, in proof of the True Church. Evidence of the Truth of many Miracles. Irreligious scepticism ol Dr. Conyer's Middleton: this undermines the Credit of the Gospel. Continuation of miracles down to the present time: living witness- es of it 16(1 LETTER XXIV. To James Brown, Esq. Objections answered. False and uiKiuthenticated miracles no disproof of true and authenticated ones. Strictness of the examination of re^ ported miracles at Rome. Not necessary to know God's design in worlting each miracle. Examination of the arguments of celebra* ted Prolestants against Catholic miracles. Objection of Gibbon and the late bishop of Salisbury (Dr. John Douglass) against St. Ber- nard's miracles refuted. St. Xavier's miracles proved from the au- thors quoted against them. Dr. Middlcton's confident assertion clearly refuted. Bishop Douglass's Conclusive Evidence {rom Acos- '\ ta against St. Xavier's miracles clearly refuted, by the testimony of the uaid Acosta. Testimony of Ribadeneira concerning St. Igna- tius's miracles truly stated. True account of the miracle of Sara- gossa. Impostures at the tomb of Abbe Paris. Refutation of the Rev. Peter Robert's pamphlet, concerning the miraculous cure of Winefrid White 168 LETTER XXV. To James Brown, Esq. The True Church, Qdtholic. Always Catholic in name, by the testi- mony of the Fathers. Still distinguished by that name in spite of all opposition 176 LETTER XXVI. To James Brown Esq. Qualities of Catholicity. The Church Catholic as to its members: as to its extent; as to its duration. The original Church of this coun- try .... 179 LETTER XXVII. To James Br oxen, Esq. Objections of the Rev. Josuah Clark answered. Existence of an in- visible Church disproved. Vain attempt to trace the existence of Protestantism through the discordant heresies of former ages. Vain Prognustication of the failure of the True Church. Late attempts to undermine it 184 LETTER XXVIII. To Janes Brown, Esq. , The True Church, Apostolical : so described bj the ancient Fathers. APOSTOliCAL TREE of the Catholic Church explained, by m Contents. vu brief account of the Popes and of distinguished Pastors, also of na- tions converted by her, and of lieretics and schismatics cut off from the True Church 188 LETTER XXIX. ro James Brown, Esq. Apostolical succession of .NUnistry in tiie Catholic Church. Among Protestant Societies the Church of England alone claims such sue cession. Doctrine and conduct of Luther, and of different Dissen- ters on this point. Uncertainty of the Orders of the Established Church from the doctrine of its founders — from the history of the times — from the defectiveness of the form. Apostolic Mission, evi- dently wanting to all Protestants. They cannot show an ordinary mission; they cannot work miracles to prove an extraordinary one 199 LETTER XXX. To James Brown, Esq. Objection? of the Rev. Josuah Clark answered. Apostolical ministry not inteirupted by the personal vices of certain Popes. Fable of Pope Joun refuted. Comparison between the Protestant and the Catholic Missions for the conversion of Infidels. Vain prediction of conversions and of reformation by the Bible Societies. Increase of crimen commensurate with that of the Societies . . 308 POSTSCRIPT. Recapitulation of things proved in the foregoing Letters . 215 PART in. LETTER XXXI. To the Rev. J. M. D. D. Intboduction. Effects produced by the foregoing Letters on the minds of Mr. Brown, and others of his Society. This in part coun- teracted by the Bishop of London's (Dr. Porteus') Charges against the Catholic Religion 218 LETTER XXXIl. To James Brown, Esq. Observations on the Charges in question. Impossibility of the True Church being guilty of them. Just conditions to be required by a Catholic Divine in discussing them. Calumny and misrepresenta- tion necessary weapons for the assailants of the True Church. In- stances of gross calumny published by eminent Protestant writers, now living. Effects of these calumnies. No Catholic ever shaken in his faith by them. They occasion the conversion of many Pro- testants. They render their authors dreadfully guilty before God 219 LETTER XXXIII. To James Brown, Esq. Charge of Idolatry. Protestantism not originally founded on this. Invocation of the Prayers of Angels and Saints grossly misrepre- sented by Protestants: truly stated from thj Council of Trent, and Catholic Doctors. Vindication of the practice. Evasive attack of the Bishop of Durham: Retorted upon his Lordship The practice reommendi^ by Luther: vindicated by distinguished Protestant Bishops Not imposed upon the faithful: highly consoling and beneficial ... 226 ftii Contents. LETTER XXXIV. To James Brown, Esq. Religious Me/iiorials. Doctrine and practice of Catholics, moat of all, misrepresented on this head. Old Protestant versions of Scripture corrupted to favour such misrepresentation. Unbounded calumnies in the Homilies, and other Protestant publications. True doctrine of the Catholic Church defined by the Council of Trent, and taught jn her Iv)oks of instruction. Errors of Bishop Porteus, in fact and in reasoning. Inconsistency of his own practice. No obligation on Catholics of possessing pious images, picture.s, or relics . . 23? LETTER XXXV. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A Objections refuted. That the Saints cannot hear us. Extravagant ad- dresses to Saints. ^Want of candour in explaining them. No evi- dence of the Faith of the Church. Notorious falsehoods of the Bp. of London, concerning the ancient doctrine and practice . 238 LETTER XXXVL To James Brown, Esq. ., Transubstantiation. Important remark of Bishop Bossuet concerning it. Catholics not worshippers of bread and wine. Acknowledg- ment of some eminent Protestants. Disingenuity of others, in con- cealing the main question, and bringing forward another of second- ary importance. The Lutherans and the most respectable Prelates of the Establishment agree with Catholics on the main point . 241 LETTER XXXVIL To James Broton, Esq. The Real Presence. Variations of the Established Church on thia point. Inconsistencyof her present doctrine concerning it. Proofs of the Real Presence from Christ's promise of the Sacrament; from his institution of it. The same proved from the ancient Fathers. Absurd position of Bishop Porteus, as to the origin of the tenet. The reality strongly maintained by Luther. Acknowledged by the most learned English Bishops and Divines. Its superior excellence and sublimity . 34A LETTER XXXVIII. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Objections answered. Texts of Scripture examined. Testimony of the senses weighed. Alleged Contradictions disproved . . 253 LETTER XXXIX. To James Broton, Esq. Communion under one or both kinds a matter of discipline. Protest- ants forced to recur to Tradition and Church discipline. The bless- ed Eucharist a Sacrifice as well as a Sacrament. As a sacrifice, both kinds necessary: as a Sacrament, whole and entire under either kind. Protestants receive no Sacrament at all The apostles some- times administered the communion under one kind. The Text, I Cor. xi. 27, corrupted in the English Protestant Bible. Testimo- nies of the Fathers for communion in one kind. Occasion of the ordinances of St.' Leoand Pope Gelasius. Discipline of the Church different at different limes in this matter. Luther allowed of com- munion in one kind; also the French Calvinists; also the Church «f England 256 Contents, l« LETTER XL. To James Brown, Esq. Excellence of Sacrifice. Appointed by God. Practised by all people, except Protestants. Sacrifice of the New Law, promised ol old to the Christian Church. Instituted by Christ. The bloly Fathers bear testimony to it, and performed it. St. Paul's Epistle to the He- brews misinterpreted by the Bishops of London, Lincoln, &c. De- ception of talking of ihe Popish Mass. Inconsistency of Estab- lished Church in ordaining Priests without having a Sacrifice. Ir- religious invectives of Dr. Hey against the Holy Mass, without hii) understanding it! 261 LETTER XLI. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. , Absolution from sin. Horrid misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine. Real doctrine of the Church, defined by the Council of I'rent. This pure and holy. Violent distortion of Christ's words concern- ing the forgiveness of sins, by Bishop Poiteus. Opposite doctrine of Chillingworth: and of Luther and the Lutherans: and of the Es- tablished Liturgy Inconsistency of Bishop P. Refutation of his arguments about confession: and of his assertions concerning the an- cient doctrine. Impossibility of Imposing this practice on maniiind. Testimony of Chillingworth as to the comfort and benefit of a good confession ....... . . 267 LETTER XLII. ,To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M- A. ' Indulgences. Unsupported false definition of them by the Bishop of London. His further calumnies on the subject. Similar calumnies of other Protestant Prelates and Divines. The genuine doctrine of Catholics. No permission to commit sin. No pardon of any future sin. No pardon of sin at all. No exemption from contrition or do- ing penance. No transfer of superfluous holiness. Retortion of the charge on the Protestant tenet of imputed justice. A mere re- laxation of temporal punishment. No encouragement of vice; but rather of virtue. Indulgences aut4iorized in all Protestant Societies. Proofs of this in the Church of England. Among the Anabaptists. , Among the ancient and modern Calvinists. Scandalous Bulls, Dis- pensation, and Indulgences of Luther and his disciples . . 275 LETTER XLIII. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Purgatory and Prayers for the dead. Weak objection of Dr. Porteus against a middle state. Scriptural arguments for it. Dr. P's. Ap- peal to Antiquity defeated. 'I'estimonies of Lutherans and English Prelates in favour of Prayers for the Dead. Eminent modern Pro- testants, who proclaim a Universal Purgatory. Consolations attend- ing the Catholic belief and practice S83 LETTER XLIV. To the Rev. Robert Clayton, M. A. Extreme Unction. Clear proof of this Sacrament from Scripture. Impiety and inconsistency of the Bishop in slighting this. His Ap- peal to Antiquity refuted . . ... . 289 Contents. LETTER XLV. To the Rev. Robert daylong M. A. Pag* Antichrist : Impious assertions of Protestants concerning him. Their absurd and contradictory systems. Retortion of the charge of Apos- tasy. Other charges against the Popedom refuted . . . 291 LETTER XLVL To the Rev, Robert Clayton, M. A. The Pope's Supremacy truly stated. His spiritual authority proved of from Scripture. Exercised and acknowledged in the primitive ages St. Gregory's contest with the Patriarch of C. P. about the title o. CEcumenical. Concessions of eminent Protestants . . 297 LETTER XLVII. To James Brotoiit Jun. Esq. The language of the Liturgy and Reading the Scriptures. Language a matter of discipline. Reasons for the Latin Church retaining the Latin Language. Wise economy of the Church as to reading the Holy Scriptures. Inconsistencies of the Bible Societies . . 301 LETTER XL VIII. To James Brown, Jun. Esq. Various misrepresentations. Canonical and Apocryphal books of Scripture. Pretended invention of five new Sacraments. Inten- tion of Ministers of the Sacrament>». Continence of the Clergy- Recommended by Parliament. Advantages of fasting. Deposition of Sovereigns by Popes far less frequent than by Protestant Reformers. The bishop's egregious falsehoods respecting the primitive Church 314 LETTER XLIX. To James Brown, Jun. Esq. Religious Persecution. The Catholic Church claims no right to in- dict sanguinary punishments, but disclaims it. The right of tem- poral Princes and States in this matter. Meaning of Can. 3, Late- ran iv. truly stated. Queen Mary persecuted as a Sovereign, not as a Catholic. James II. deposed for refusing to persecute. Retortion of the charge upon Protestants the most effectual way of silencing them upon it. Instances of persecution by Protestants in every Protestant country: in Germany: in Switzerland: at Geneva, and in France: in Holland: in Sweden: in Scotland: in England. Vio- lence and long continuance of it here. Eminent loyalty of Catho- lics. Two circumstances which distinguish the persecution exer- cised by Catholics from that exercised by Protestants . . 319 LETTER L. To t/i€ Friendly Society of New Cottage. Conclusion. Recapitulation of points proved in these letters. The True Rule of Faith: The True Church of Christ. Falsity of the Charges alleged against her. An equal moral evidence for the Ca- tholic as for the Christian Religion. The former, by the confession of its adversaries, the safer side. No security too great where Eternity is at stake I A POSTSCRIPT To the second f'.dition of the Address to the Right Rev. the Lord Bp. ol tSt. David's, occasiioned by his Lordship'a • Otus Word to the Rev. Dr. Miliur.' ...... . . 336 341 ADDRESS. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S. My Lord, The following Letters, with some others belonging to the same series, were written in the latter part of the year 1801, and the first months of 1802, though they have since that time been revised, and, in some respects, altered. They grew out of the controversy, which the principal writer of them was obliged to sustain against an eminent author, a prebendary of the cathedral, and the chancellor of the diocese of Winchester, who had per- sonally challenged him to the field of argument, in a book, called Reflections on Popery. That controversy having made some noise in the public, and even in the house of parliament, par- ticularly in the upper house, where the lord chancellor,* and a predecessor of your lordship, then the light and glory of the established church,t expressed opposite opinions on the issue of it, certain powerful personages expressed an earnest wish for its termination. For this purpose, the usual method of silencing authors was at first resolved upon with respect to the writer, and a Catholic gentleman of name, still living, was commissioned to sound him on the business : but, in conclusion, it was thought rupet advisable to employ the influence which the prelate alluded to htd so justly acquired over him. This method succeeded ; and, accordingly, these Letters, which, otherwise, would have been published fifteen years ago, have slept in silence ever since. I trust your lordship will not be the person to ask me, why the Letters, after having been so long suppressed, now appear ? — You are witness, my lord, of the increased and increasing virulence of the press against Catholics ; and this, in many instances, directed by no ignoble or profane hands. Abundant proofs of this will be seen in the following work. For the present, it is sufficient to mention, that one of yoar most vene- rable colleagues publishes and re-publishei>, that we stand • The Right Hon. the Earl of Longhboroueh. t The Richt Rev. Dr. Ilorsely, successively bishop of St. David's, Ro» ohester, and St. Asaph'w. . Xll Address convicted of idolatry, blasphemy, and sacrilege. Another pro- claims to the clergy, assembled in Synod, that wo are enemies of all law, human and divine. More than one of them has r •••ged us with the guilt of that Anti-Christian conspiracy on lii onti- nent, of which we were exclusively the victims. This dignitary accuses us of Antinomianism ; that maintains our religion to be ^t only for persons weak in body and in mind. In short, we seldom find ourselves, or our religion, mentioned in modern sermons, or other theological works, unaccompanied with the epithets of superstitious, idolatrous, impious, disloyal, perfdious, and sanguinary. One of the theologues alluded to, who, like many others, has gained promotion by the fervour of his N O POPERY zeal, has exalted his tone to the pitch of proclaiming that our religion is calculated for the meridian of hell ! /— 'I'hus solemnly, and almost continually, charged before the tribunal oi the public, with crimes against society and our country, no less than against religion, and yet conscious, all the while, of our entire innocence, it is not only lawful, but also a duty, which we owe to our fellow-subjects and ourselves, to repel these charges, by proving that there was reason, and religion, and loyalty, and good faith among Christians, before Luther quarrelled with Leo X., and Henry VIII. fell in love with Ann Bulhsn , and that, if we ourselves have not yet been persuaded by the arguments, either of the monk or the monarch, to relinquish the faith originally preached in this island, above 1300 years before their time, we are, at least, possessed of common sense, virtuous principles^ and unatained loyalty. The writer might assign another reason for making the present publication ; namely, the number and acrimony of his own public opponents on subjects of religipn. T9 say nothing of the ground- less charges, by word of mouth, of certain privileged personages, the following writers are some of those who have published books, pamphlets, essays, or notes against him, on subjects of a religious nature; th« deans of Winchester and Peterborough; chancellor Sturges ; prebendary Poulter ; the doctors Iloadly, Ash, Ryan, Ledwich, Lo Mcsurier,* and Elringtou ; Sir Rich- • To one only objection of his adversaries, the writer wishes here to give an answer, that of having qnole.l fiitsdin which, however, has been ad- vanced l)y very few of them, and is coniiiiod, as far as he iuH)ws, to two in- stances. The first of these, is, liiat the writer, in his Ilhloiy of Winchis- ter, vol. i. p. Gl, " quotes Ciilda-;, for iho exph^its of Kin;; Arlhtir, who never once mentions his name." Tliis ot)jt'clii)n was lirst st utod hy Dr. O'Coiior, in his Co/Mff/6rt«w5,. was borrowed from him, by [\u' lU-v. Mr. I-c Mesuric r, in his Hampton Lccturcf, and wa> adopted from tlie latter l)y t^ie Kev. Mr. Orier, in his Answer to Wurd's Lrrula. After all, tiitrt pretended /<»/-^«/-f Address. nil ard'MiJsgrave, John Reeves, Esq. ; the Reverend Messrs Wil- liamson, Bazeiey, Churton, Grier, and Roberts; besides numerous anonymous riflemen in the Gentleman's Magazirie, the Monthly Magazine, the Anti-Jacobin Review, the Protestant Advocate, the Antibiblion, and other periodical works, inchiding newspa- pers. By some of these he has been challenged into the field of controversy, and when he did not appear there, he has been posted as a coward. A still more cogent reason, my lord, for the appearance of this work, which was heretofore suppressed, at the desire of a former bishop of St. David's, has been furnished by his present successor, in the work the latter has lately published, called THE PROTESTANT'S GATECIUSM. This is no ordinary effusion of NO POPERY zeal. It was not called for by the increase of the ancient religion in his lordship's diocese, which teems with Methodist jumpers, to the danger of his cathedral and parish churches being left quite empty ; while not one Catholic family, is, perhaps, to be found in it. It was not pro- voked by any late attempt on the established church, or on Protestanism in general ; as the bishop does not pretend that such thing has taken place. Nevertheless he comes forward in his Episcopal mitre, bearing in his hands a new Protestant Catechism, to be learnt by Protestants of every description, which teaches them to Iiate and persecute their elder brethren, the authors of their Christianity and civiliz;ition ! In fact, this Christian bishop, begins and ends his Protestant Catechism, with a quotation from a Puritan rogicidc, declaring, that " Popery is not to be tolerated, either in public or in private, and that it must be thought how to remove it, and hinder the growth thereof:" adding, " if they say, that, by removing their idols we violate their consciences, we have no warrant to regard conscience, which is not grounded on Scripture."* This, your lordship of the writer, will be fouud, on consulting the passage referred to above, to lie nothing else but a blunder of his critics ; since it will appear that he qiiotes Willia.n, of Malmsbiiry, for t/ic exploits of Arthur and (iildas, barely for tkc year in which one of them, the battle of Mons Badonicus, took place ! Tile second accusation of this nuture, was inserted by one itf the above n uned writers, in the Gent I cm an' a Alni;oziiir, namely, that the writer had advanced, without any hidoricnl o.ulhoiilif, tliat Jatiies I. used to call No- vember 5, " Cecil's holidoj/.^' In answer to this charge, he gave notice in the next number of the Magazine, that he had sent up u) the editor's otlice, as ho had d 'Ue, there to leniain, during a month, for pnljlic inspectien, lord CastU!in:\irt's CuthnliijUi; Apnloiiu, which C(ititains tlie fact, an(i tiie ailluiri- ties (in which it in advanced. — The writer is far Irom claiminLr inerrancy; hut he should vlespise hiinselt", if he, knowingly, published any falsehood, or nesilalfd to retrut any om^ that he \v;i^ pr iv«'(l lo have f;>lirii jnlo. • Mihun'ii proiie wotUs, v..>l. I. Tlif prus/ wiiUijjjsiof tiu» secrtlaiy u/ XiT Address. must know, is the genuine cant of a Mar-Preate Independent ; the same cant which brought Laud, and Charles I. to the block ; the same cant which overthrew the church and state in the grand rebellion. But what chiefly concerns my present purpose, in this, the bishop's twice repeated quotation from Milton, is to observe that it breathes the whole persecuting spirit of the sixteenth century, and calls for the fines and forfeitures, dungeons and halters, and knives, of Elizabeth's reign, against the devoted Catholics ; since, it is evident, that the idolatry of Popery^ as it is termed, exercised in private, cannot be removed without such persecuting and sanguinary measures.- The same thing is plaui ♦rom the nature of the diflTerent legal offences which the Right Rev. prelate lays to their charge. In one place, he accuses the Catholics of England and iTeland, that is to say, more than a quarter of his majesty's European subjects, of " acknowledging the jurisdiction of tlie Pope, in defiance of the laws, and of the allegiance due to their ri'^htful sovereign :" though he well knows, that they have abjured the Pope's jurisdiction in all civil and temporal cases, which is all that the king, lords and commons required of them, in their Acts of 1791 and 1793. Again, the prelate describes their opposition to the veto (though equally the Long parliament are execrable, for their regicide and anti-prelatic prin- ciples, as nis poetry ia super-excellent for its sublimity and sweetness. Four other b^nglish authors are brought forward, by the bishops of St. David's, to justify that persecution of Catholics, which he recommends. The first of these is the Socinian Locke, who will not allow of Catholics being tolera- ted, on the demonstrated fal^e pretext, that they cannot tolerate other Christians. The true cause was, that his hands being stained by the blood of twenty innocent Catholics, who were immolated by the sanguinary policy of his master Shaftsbury, in Gates' infamous plot, he was obliged to find a pretext fur excluding them from the legal toleration, which he stood in need of himself. — Bishop Hoadly, who had no religion at all of his own, would not allow the Catholics to enjoy theirs, because, he says : " no oaths and solemn assurances, no regard to truth, justice, or honor, can restrain them." This is the hypocritical plea for intolerance, of a man who was in the constant habit of violating all his oaths and engagements to a church which had raised him to rank and fortune, and who systematically pursued its degradation, into his own anti-Christian Socinianism, by professed deceit ind treachenj, as will be seen in the Letters. Glackstone, being a crown lawyer, and writing when the penal laws were in force, could not but de- fend them : but, judge as he was, and writing at the above mentioned time, he, in the passage following that quoted by Dr. Burgess, expressed a hope, that the time *• was not distant, when the fears of a Pretender having van- ished, and the influence of the Pope becomir.g feeble, the rigorous edicts aga.nst the Catholics would be revised," b. iv. c. 4. ; which event, accord- ingly, soon took place. As to Huike, the last author whom the bishop quotes agaln.st Catholic emancipation, it is evident, from his speech at Bristol, his lt>ttor to lord Kentnaro, and the whole tenor of liis conduct, that \ a wa-s not only a warm friend, bgt, in some degree, a martyr to it. Address. XV opposed in the appointment of their respective pastors by all Protestant dissenters, who constitute more than another fourth part of his majesty's subjects,) as " treasonable by statute" p. 35. Now, every one knows that the legal punishment of a subject, acting in defiance of his allegiance, and contracting the guilt of treason, is nothing less than death. Nay, so much bent on the persecution of Catholics is this modern bishop, as to arraign parliament itself as guilty of a breach of the Constitution^ by the latter of the above mentioned tolerating Acts ; where he says : " If the elective franchise be really inconsistent with the Constitutional Statutes of the revolution, it ought to be repealed, like all other concessions, that are injurious to loyalty , and reli- gion."— He adds, " But it does not follow that because parliament had been^M»7/y of one act of prodigality, th'dt it should, therefore, like a thoughtless and unprincipled spendthrift, plunge itself into inextricable ruin," pp. 53, 54. Thus, my lord, though the prelate alluded to, after advertising, in his table of contents, A CONCLUSION, showing "the means of co-operating with the laws for preventing the danger and increase of Popery," when he comes to the proper place for inserting it, apologizes for deferring its publication, as *' being connected with the credit of the ecclesiastical establishment," yet, we see as clearly, from the substance and drift of the Protestant's Catechism, what his Con- clusion is, as if he had actually published it ; namely, he would have the whole code of penal laws, with all their incapacities, fines, imprisonment, hanging, drawing, and quartering, re-enacted, to prevent even the private practice of idolatry ; and lie would have the bishops, clergy, churchwardens, and constables, em- ployed in enforcing them, according to the forms of Inquisition, prescribed by the Canons of 1597, 1603, and 1640. Before the writer passes from the present subject of loyalty and the laws, to others more congenial with his studies, and those of the prelate, he wishes to submit to your lordship's rellection two or three questions connected with it. First : Is it strictly legal, even for a lord of parliament, and is it ediiying for a bishop, to instruct the public, especially in these days of insubordination and commotion, that the reigning king, and the two houses of parliament, have acted against the Constitutional Statutes, by affording religious relief to a large and loyal portion of British subjects ; as king VVilliam, George I. and George II. had aflbrded it to other portions of them ? We all know what outcries are continually raised about violating the Constitution, and we know what riled those are intended to produce : now, if a turbulent populace are made to believe that the preseui XVI A ddrcss. legislature has acted illegally and unconstitutionally in some of its acts, is there no danger that they may form the same notion concerning some of its other acts, which are peculiarly obnoxious to them, and that they may rank these among the Fictitious Statutes, as this prelate terms the Acts of Parliament of three former reigns ? — Secondly ; The writer wishes to ask your lord- ship, whether or no you thmk it is for the peace and safety of the sister isle, to alarm the bulk of its inhabitants with the threat of their being dispossessed of the elective franchise, which they have now enjoyed for a quarter of a century ? In like manner, is it conducive to this important end, for a person of his lord- ship's character and consequence to assure this people, that the Pope's jurisdiction, and England's dominion over them, " were introduced into Ireland by the mercenary compact of the Pope and Henry II." p. 24, " founded on a fiction of the grossest kind, the pretended donation of Constantine," p. v. though, by the bye, this was never once mentioned or hinted at by either of the parties ? — Lastly : The writer would be glad to be informed by your lordship, whether it is for the advantage of the established church so highly to extol John Wickliffe, who maintained that clergymen ought to have no sort of temporal possessions ? And is it for the security of the state to hold up lord Cobham as " a great and good man, and the martyr of Protestantism," p. vii.*, who was convicted in the King's Bench, and in open parliament, of raising an insurrection of twenty thousand men, for the pur- pose of killing the king and his brother, and the lords spiritual and temporal, and who was executed for the same, merely because he was a Wickliffite ? How innocent was colonel Despard, compared with sir John Oldcastle, called lord Cobham ! The writer Jias spoken of the object of the publication which has lately appeared, under the name of a Rt. Kev. bishop of the established church : he now proceeds to say something of its contents. It professes to be THE PROTESTANT'S CATECHISM. From this title, most people will suppose it to bo an elementary book, for the instruction of Protestants of every thscription, in the doctrine and morality taught by Jesus Christ : but not a word can the writer find in it about Christ, or God, or any doctrinal matter whatever; except that, *' They, who do not hold the worship of the church of Rome to l)e idolatrous, are not Protes- tants, whatever thoy may profess to be," p. 40. ; which is a sentence of excomnnuiicaiion against many of the brightest • See Wiilsingliam's Ilistoiia Major. Knighton Lcicest. Collier's Ec« ties. Hist. Stow, &,c. A (hlress. xvii lights and chief ornaments of the bishop's own church. Noi does this novel Catechism contain any moral or practical lesson ; except that, " Every member of parliament's conscience is pledged against the Catholic claims ;" and, what has been men- tioned before, that as " Popery is idolatrous, it is not to be tolera- ted either in public or in />rii;a/£','.' and that "it must be now thought how to remove it," p. 3. Had the Catechism appeared without a name, it might be supposed to be a posthumous work of lord George Gordon ; but, had its origin been traced to the mountains of Wales, it would certainly be attributed to some itinerant Jumper, rather than to a siftcessor of St. Dubritius and St. David. What, however, chiefly distinguishes The Protestant Catechism from other No Popery publications, is, not so much the strength of its acrimony, as the boldness of its paradoxes. These, for the most part, stand in contradiction to all ancient records and modern authors, Protestant as well as Catholic, being supported by the bare word of the bishop of St. David's : and what is still more extraordinary, they sometimes stand in contradiction to the word of the bishop of St. David's himself ; resting in this case, on the word of Dr. Thomas Burgess, I purpose exhibiting a few of the paradoxes I refer to. The great and fundamental paradox of the Right Rer. Cate- r.hist is, that Protestantism subsisted many hundred years before Popery ; at the same time that he makes its essence consist in (I renunciation of, and opposition to, Popery ! for his lordship lectures his Protestant pupils in the foUowing manner: " Ques- tion. What is Protestantism ? Answer. The abjuration of Popery and the exclusion of Papists from all power, ecclesiastical and civil." p. 12. '* Question. What is Popery ? Answer. The religion of the church of Rome, so called because the church oi Rome is subject to the jurisdiction of the Pope." p. 1 1. " Ques- tion. When was this jurisdiction assumed over the whole church ? Answer. At the beginning of the seventh century." p. 15. The writer does not here refute the various errors of the Right Rev. bishop on these heads ; this refutation wdl ^h found in the following letters ; he barely, exhibits one of the bishop's leading paradoxes. It may be here stated as another very favourite paradox of the prelate, since he has maintained it in a former work, that, because VenantiuS Fotunatus, a poet of the sixth century, sings, that " the stylus, or writings of St. Paul, had nm east, west, north, and south, and passed into Britain and the remote Thule," and because Theodoret, and author of the fifth century, says, that " St. Paul brought salvation to tho islands in the sea," (namely, Malta and Sicily, Acts xxviii.) it XVlll Address, follows that the British church wsls founded ' ■■/ St. Paul ! p. 19.* This paradox might be stated and even gru:it>id, for any thing it makes in favour of the bishop's object, which is to invalidate the supremacy of saint Peter. For it matters not which apostle founded this church or that church, while it is evident from the words of Christ, in St. Matthew, c. xvi. v. 18, and in other texts, and from the concurring testimony of the fathers, and all antiquity, that Christ built the whole church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, he himself being the chief corner stone, so as still to ground ^it, next after himself, on the Roch^ Peter.f This will be found demonstrated in the following work, Letter xlvi. A third paradox of the prelatic Catcchist is this : Having undertaken to prove that " The church of Rome was founded by St. Paul," p. 13, no less than the church of Britain, he attempts to draw an argument yrom their different discipline in the observance of Easter ; that the latter was " inde- pendent" of the former, p. 23. Hence .'t would follow that St. Paul established one discipline, that which the prelate himself now follows, at Rome ; and another, " that of the church of Ephesus, and the eastern churches, in Britain," p. 17. The truth is, his lordship has quite bewildered himself in the ancient controversy about the right time of keeping Easter. He will learn, however, from the following letters, that the British church originally agreed with that of Rome, in this, no less than in the other points, as the emperor Constantine expressly declares in his letter on that subject,^ and as farther appears by the Acts of the Council of Aries, which the British bishops, there present, joined with the rest in subscribing. And when, after the Saxon invasion, the British churches got into a wrong computation, they did not follow that of the Asiatic Quarto-decimans, but always kept Easter-day on a Sunday, differing from the practice of the continent only once in seven years. A fourth paradox of the Catechism maker, is, that, admitting, as he does, the existence of our christian king, Lucius, in the second century, he, never- * The falsity of this inference* and the weakness and unfairness of the bishop's arguments on the whole subject, have been well exposed by an able and learned writer, the Rev. John Lingard, in his Exaviinalum of Certain Opinions advanced by the Rev, Dr. Burgess^ tf«c. 1813. Syer», Manchester ; Keating & Brown, London + The Right Rev. prelate seems to have been forced out of his former cavil concerning the difference of gender between ri'rni; and ricron in the text. Matt. xvi. by a learned colleague of his [Landaff from remote ages was a thorn in the side of Meneviaj who has shown him that Christ did not ^ speak Greek but Syriac, and on this occasion, made use of the word Ct' pha$. Rock, which admits of no variation of genders t Euseb. Vit Constant. L. iii. c. li). Address. XIX theless, rejects his conversion by the missionaries of Pope Eleutherius, Fugatius and Duvianus, as " a mere Romish fiction, and a monkish fable," p. 23 : notwiLhstanding both facts rest on exactly the same authority, namely, that of all the original writers. British, Saxon, English, Roman, and Gallic* A rifth paradox of the bishop's, is. that " The British churches were Protestant before they were Popish," p. 23 ; " six centuries elapsed before Popery had any footing in this island," p. 28 ; and that •' the British bishops showed their independence of the Pope's authority by rejecting the overtures of Austin, and by refusing to acknowledge any authority but that of their own metropolitan," p. 24. And yet it is demonstrated that the British bishops were present, not only at the Councils of Aries and Nice, which acknowledged the Pope's authority, but also at thai of Sardica in lUyrium, held in 347,t where the right of appeal to the Pope in all ecclesiastical causes, from every part of the world, was confirmed.^ It is equally certain, that in the former part of the following century. Pope Celestine sent St. Paladius to convert the Scots, St. Patrick to convert the Irish, and St. Germanus to reclaim such Britons as had fallen into the Pelagian heresy.^ Each of these facts is expressly affirmed by a con- temporary author of the highest character, St. Prosper ; and the last mentioned facts is comformable to the British records, which represent this foreign bishop, as exercising high acts of jurisdiction in Britain, which he never could have exercised but in virtue of the Papal supremacy, of which he and his companion, St. Lupus, bishop of Treves, were the delegates ; such as con- secrating bishops in different parts of the island, and constituting St. Dubritius archbishop of the Right Side of it, or of VVales.Tf But how many other proofs of the dependency of the ancient '$1 * Nennius' Hist. Briton, c. xviii. Girald. Cambr. De Jur. Menev. P. ii. •Angl. Sac. p. 541. Silvest. Girald. Camb. Descript. c. xviii. The Ancient Register of LandafF, quod Teilo vocatur. Angl. Sacra, vol. ii. Gildas Ilistoricus, quoted by Rudborn. Galfrid Monumet. Ven. Bede, L. i. c. 4. The Saxon Chronicle. Gul. Malm. Antiq. Glaston. Martyr. Rom. Radenis, &c. &c. t St. Athan. Apolog. 2. See also Usher. :t Can. iii. § St. Prosper. " Papa Celestinus Germanum Antisidorensem Episco- pum, VICE SUA mittit, et dcturbatis hcereticis, Britannos ad Catholicam (idem clirigit," Chrun. ad An. 429. See also Archbish. Usher. De Brit. Eccl Prim. M " Postquam prsEidicti Seniores (Germanus et Lupus) Pclagianam hscre- sim extirpaverant ; Episcopos in pluribus locis Britanniae Insulae consecra- verunt. Super omnes autem Britannos dextralis partis Britannise B l^u- britium, summum Doctorem. a Rege et ab omni parochiii electum, Archi- episcopum consecravc-runt." Ex Antiq. Eccl. Landav. Registro. Angl Sacr. P. ii. p. 6G7 XX Address. British church on the See of Rome, has not our episcopal anti' quary met with, in his own lavoiito autiior and predecessor, Giraldus Cambrensis,* especially where the latter gives an account of his ph;ading belbre the Pope for the Archiepiscopal dignity of St. David's, which the latter asserted was formerly decorated even with the Pallium, the mark of Papal legatine jurisdiction ; till one of his predecessors, Sampson as he asserted, dying into Britany, transferred it to Dol ? He maintained, however^ that, excepting the use of the Pallium, the church of St. David possessed the whole metropolitical dignity, and was " subject to no other church except that of Rome, and to that immediatdy.^^\ The modern prelate does but add to the wonder of his learned readers by appealing to the conference between St. Austin, Pope Gregory's missionary and legate in England, and the Welsh bishops, A. D. 502, and to the latters " rejecting the overtures" of the former, in proof of their " rejecting the Pope's authority," p. 24. For, what were these overtures ? 'J'hey were these three : that they, the Welsh bishops, would keep Easter at the right time ; that they would adopt the Roman ritual in the administration of baptism ; and that they would join with the Roman missionaries in preaching the word of God to the Pagan English.^ This last overture demonstrates, that neither on the two former points, nor on any other point, and least of all on that of the Pope's supremacy, was there, in the opinion of St. Austin, any ditlerence, of essential consequence, between his doctrine and that of the Welsh bishops. For, if there had been such a diflerence, and especially if they had denied the supremacy of his master, the Pope, would he have invited, and even pr'essed them, to join with him in preaching the gospel to his new and increasing flock in England ? As well may we believe that--j^ faithful shepherd would collect together, and turn into his fold, a number of hungry wolves ! It * The New Biographical Dictionary divides Silvester Giraldus Cam- brensis into two different persons, whereas, it is plain, from this author's Description of Wales, p. 882, Edit. Cambden, that these three names be- long to one and the same author. t '« Usque ad Anglorum Regem Henricum I. totam Metropoliticam dig- nitatem, practer usum Pallii, Ecclesia Menevensis obtinuit ; nulli Ecclesiae prorsus, ni&i Romanov lanlum, et ilii immcdink^sicnX nee Ecclesia Scotica, subjectionem debens." De Jur. Menev. Ecc. Angl. Sac P. ii. p. 541.- The rival See of Landaffbears equal testimony to the supremacy of Home " Sicut Romana Ecclesia excedit dignitatem omnium Ecciesiarum Catho- licae fidei, ita Ecclesia ilia Landavja excedit omnes Ecclcsias totius dex tralis Britanniae." Ex Antiq. Rcgist. Landav. Angl. Sac, P. ii. p. GlJ'J X " Ut genti Anglorum una nobiscum praedicetis verbum Domini." Bea. Eccl. Hist. L. ii. c. 2. .\ Aihlress. xxi have aching ? As collect ! It iS ?am dig- Scotica, 541.- llome Catho- ius dex m " Bea. is true they thou said they would not receive St. Aiignstin for their arc/ibishn/) :* but neither did he nor the Pope req\iire theai to do so ; nor is the vindication of the rights of an ancient church, at any time, a denial of the Pope's general supremacy. So fur from this, within two years from the holding of that ci>nfercnce, we find Oudoceus, bishop of LandalT, going to Canterbury to receive consecration from the same St. Austin, and we fnid him received, on his return into Wales, by the king, princess, clergy and people, with the highest honor.f We have, moreover, the testimony of the above quoted British register, that the bishops of Landaff, from this period, were always subject and obedient to the archbishop of Canterbury, who was at all times the Pope's legate. The Right Rev. bishop's argument to prove that the Irish cliurch was not, anciently, in communion with the church of Rome, namely, because it was in communion with the British bishops, p. 24, is as great a paradox as any of the above men- tioned ; since it has been proved that the British bishops them- selves were always in communion with the church of Rome. Of the same description are the assertions, that no legate was appointed by the Pope in Ireland " before Gillebert, in the twelfth century," and that " the I^ope's jurisdiction was first introduced into Ireland by the mercenary compact of the Pope and Henry U." p. 25. To expose the inconsistency of these assertions, nothing more is necessary than to consult the Antiquities of Usher himself, on v/hose authority they are said to be grounded. This Protestant archbishop then testifies from ancient records, wk^ch he cites, that, first St. Palladius, arid after him St. Patrick, was sent into Ireland by Pope Celestine, to convert its inhabi- tants from Pagan idolatry ; the former in 431, the latter in 433 ; that St. Patrick, " having established the church of Ireland, and ordained bishops and priests throughout the whole island, went to Rome, in 462, where he procured from Pope Hilary, the con- firmation of whatever he had done in Ireland, together with the Pallium, and the title of Pope's legate ;"| that in 540 the cele- brated St. Finan, of Clonard, having spent seven years at Rome, and being consecrated bishop, relumed into Ireland, where he instituted schools and convents, one of which contained three thousand monks. i^ It appears from the same annalist, that in 580, the renowned St. Columban passed from Ireland to the continent, where he was protected by different bishops and princes, for his orthodoxy and piety, and even by the Popes • Red. Ecrl. Hist. L. ii. c. 2. 1- Vita Oudocci, quoted by Godwin De Praesul, and Usher. » Usher's Antiq. Index Chronol. 6 Usher Primurd. XXtl Address. themselves, with whom he corresponded ; that in 630, a depu- tation was sent from Ireland, of learned and holy men, " to the fountain of their baptism, like children to their mother,"* namely, to the apostolic See of Rome, to consult with it on matters of religion ; that among these was St. Lasrean, who was consecrat- ed bishop by Pope Honorius, and appointed his legate in Ire- land ,t that in 640, Tomianus, and four other bishops, being still anxious about the right observance of Easter, and about the Pelagian heresy, wrote to consult Pope Severinus, and that they received an answer to their letter from his successors. Pope John — Numerous other testimonies, not only of the communion of the church of Ireland, with that of Rome, but also of its ac' knuwledging the Pope's supremacij, may be ooliocted from Usher, Ware, and other Protestant, no less fhvn fnm the original Catholic, writers, down to the very tine ut -L il obert, bishop ot Limerick, whom the Catechist admits to have been the Pope's legate in Ireland. This happenfttl, actoiuuig to Usher, in 1 130, twenty-five years before tlie riute of what the Catechist calls " the mercenary compact of the Pope and Henry II. by which," he says, " the Pope's jurisdiction was Jirst introduced into Ireland," and forty years before the latter invaded Ireland ; which island, after all, as every child knows, he invaded, not as the executor of Pope Adrian's legacy, but as the ally of the dethroned king, Dermot. In speaking of the beginning and progress of the religion of our own ancestors, the English, it might be expected the Right Rev. Catechist would have paid more attention to truth and con^s- tency than he has done with respect to the foregoing mor^ ob- scure histories. This, however, is not the case. But, previous- ly to the writer's entering on this particular subject, he wishes to observe what is more fully demonstrated in the following work, that the Catechist totally misrepresents our apostle, Pope Gregory the Great, as having " reprobated the spiritual supre- macy," and also " his successor Boniface as being the first Pope to assume it," p. 16. Jn short, the question, at issue, is not con- cerning the title, but the power of a head bishop ; which power, as it will appear below, no Pope exercised more frequently or extensively thar. iJv learned i>n<\ virtuous St. (jrrogor) ," to use the prelate's o v;* «j> il; ,s. Hi.> lordship does not deny that our * Usher. t Gillebert was succeeded in the legatine office by St. RtAJaurhy, who, by special authority, erected the See of Tuam into an archbishopric. After his death Cardinal Papario was sent by Pope Eugenius III. ii.t) Ireland, namely, in 1151, with four Palliums for I'le four archbishopr.es. So false b the prelate's account of the origin of tlie Pope's jurisdicL'i'n 'u\ 'nsland ! Address. XXIU ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, were converted to Christianity by •'the Pope's missionaries," p. 28, namely, by St. Austin and his companions, sent hither by the above-aientioned Pope Gregory, in 5'J7 ; nor dues he contradict the account ui' our venerable his- torian, Bede, who describes the whole jurisdiction and discipline oi awr church, as being regulated by that Pope and his succes sors. Still the prelate most [)araduxically denies that " the Pope c tr exercised jurisdiction in England or Ireland, except during the four centuries before the Reformation !" p. 1 1 ; and he main- tains, in particular, that " the Anglo-Saxon churches differed from the church of Rome in their objec mi to image worship- ping, the invocation of saints, transubstai ition, and other er- rors," p. 28. Here nre two paradoxes to • refuted ; one con- cerning the spiritual power^ the other eoncers ing the doctrine of the See of Rome. \Vith respect to the forme is i: not a fact, my lord, known to every ecclesiastical a^' Miai , 'hat each one of our primates, from St. Austin down t( Stiga 1, exclusively, who was deposed soon after the co uiuesi, ither went to Rome to fetch, or had transmitted to him horn Rouit'. l emblem and jurisdiction of legatine authority, by which he he ami exerci- sed the power of a metropolitan over his sul' > bishops ? An original author, R idulph Diceto, exhibits a ciulI but clear demonstration of this, in a series of all th* ibi^hops, and a list of the different Popes, from whom the foi >ev respectively received the Palliun; Did not St. Wilfrid, an )ishop of York, appeal to the Pope from the uncanonical se stration of his diocese by the primate Theodore ? Did not ( the powerful Mercian king, engage Pope Adrian to transi ix suffragan bishoprics from the See of Canterbury to that o ichfield, con- stituting it, at the same time, an archbishopric A hundred other 4nstances of the exercise of the Pope's ecclesiastical juris- diction in England, previously to the conquest, coulu produced, if they were wanted. — As to the pretended different between the doctrine of the Anglo-Saxons and the church ol Rome, the Catechist was bound to inform his readers when it took place ; and who were the author.- of it ; that is, who first persuaded the whole English nation to rrject the religion they had been taught by their apostles. Pope Gregory and his missionaries ; and whether this chaiige was effected by slow degrees, or all of a sudden.* If so absurd a paradox, as the above-mentioned, re- • To make some brief confutation of each of the Cttiichist's alleged dif- ferences between the Anglo-Saxon church and that of Rome : BeJe testi- fies, that when St. Austin and his fellow missionaries preached the gospel to king Ethelbert, they carried a cross for their ensign, with a painted pic* lah Address. quired a serious refutation, it might be stated that, in 6 10, bishop Alelitiis, wlio afterwards became primate, went to Rome to obtain the Pope's coufirmatioa of certain regulations which had been made in England, that he sul ^cribed to the Acts of an. Episcopal Synod, then held in that city, which Acts he brought back with iiim 1,0 England,* and that, in 680, St. Wilfrid, going to Rome, to prosecute his appeal, was present at a council of one hundred and twenty-five Bishops, where, " In the name of all the chur- ches in the north part of Britain, Ireland, and the nations of the Scots and Picts, he made open profession of the true Catholic faith, confirming it also by his subscription.f Other paradoxes of the Right Rev. prelate, relating to matters of a later date, are these, that Pope Adrian IV. grounded his right to give away Ireland on " the forged donation of Constan- tine," though he never once alluded to it, but .assigned quite other grounds for what he did ; and that " the Pope now owes the whole of his temporal and spiritual power on the continent, to this gross fiction, and the Decretal Epistles," p. v. Alas ! what must the learned Catholics of the continent, who were the first to detect these literary frauds of the eighth century, and to trace them to the place of their birth in Lower Germany, think of the literature of this country, when they hear a bishop, and a member of our learned societies, telling them that they would not acknowledge the Pope to be prince of Rome or head of the church, were it not for those spurious pieces ! A similar paradox is, that " The Popish bishops and Popish clergy were the real authors of the fictitious statutes (Acts of Parliament) of Richard 11. Henry, IV. and Henry V." against the Lollards; though they neither did, nor were permitted to interfere in those Acts ; and though it is notorious from all contemporary history, that these severe edicts were occasioned by what that anarchical faction had done, and threatened to do. They had, under the command of Wat Tyler, and John Ball, a Wickliffito priest ture of Clirist, L. i. c. 25. Will. Malmsb. mentions that, among othci pious images, preserved at Glastonbury, were those of Christ and his apos- tles, made of >ilvcr and given by king Ina. Do Antiq. Glaston. We learn from Arclibisliop Cuthred's letter to LuUus, successor of Si. Honifuce, bisbop and martyr of Mcntz, that a Synod of Anglo-Saxon bishops lias clioseii this saint, and St. Gregory, and St. Austin, to be their " patrons aufl intcrocHsors." Inter Kpist. Honif Tlk.it our ancestors believed in tran- Bulistantiatioii, is clear, from Osbern's relation ofarrbbishop Odo s rendtir- ing this visible. Ani:l. Sac. P. ii. p. HJ. One of bis successors, J.antVaidi, was ibe j)rincipal defender of tbis doctrine against Herengarius. It may ne added, tliat the original f ulb concerning j)urgalory, the mass, and perbaps every other controverted point, can be proved from Hedu's History alunai • Bede, L. ii. c. 4. t Ibid, L. v. c. iiO. u. Address. XXf tctually put to death, by public execution, the lord chancellor, f.he lord treasurer, and the lord chief justice, of England : and ',hey had threatened to kill the king, the lords spiritual and tem- poral, and all the pen and ink- horn- met) , as they called the law- yers ; hh also to put down all the clergy, except the begging friars, and to divide among themselves all their lands and pro- perty.* Such were the levellers of the fifteenth century, whom 1 modern bishop eulogizes. — The following are theological paradoxes, being such as will infallibly non-plus every reguhn .student in divinity. 1st. •• The apostles were not bishops," ^ 15. By the same rule bishops are not priests. — 2dly. " To retain the obsolete language of ancient Rome, in prayer, is an error" p. 39. — 3dly. The Irish were guilty of " a heresy of dis- cipline /" p. 60. But the political paradoxes, my lord, of this new Catechism are still more inexplicable than the theological ones. The first of them, which I shall mention, is contained in the following juestion and answer. " Q. What is it excludes Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans from our churches, and from parliament ? A. Religion," p. 44. — Your lordship will permit the writer to observe, in the first place, that it is impossible either for the simple cate- chumens of Wales, or even for the learned reviewers of England, to gather from this passage, whether the Rt. Rev. prelate means to say, that it is the religion of Pagans, Jews, and Turves, or that of Protestants, which excludes the former from parliament, for example : nevertheless, the passage, taken either way, is per- fectly paradoxical. For can that prelate, or any one else, cite a precept of the Vedam, or the Talmud, or the Koran, which prohibits its respective votaries from sitting and voting in the British parliament, if they can get entrance into it ? Or can ho show any thing in Protestantism (which he defines to be " The abjuration of Popery, and the exclusion of Papists from all power, ecclesiastical or civil") that prevents a man, who publicly pro- claims Mahomet, or who publicly denies Jesus Christ, or who publicly worships the obscene and blood-stained idol Juggernaut, from being a member of either house of the legislature ? No, my lord, there is no one article in any one of those religions, if they may be called so, which excludes them from our parliament ; the only condition for rendering them fit and worthy to enter into it, and becoming legislators, being their calling (Hod to trit- ness, that " there is no transubstantiation in the mass," and that Hist riist. Major T. Walaingham, Knighton De Evont. Angl. CoUier'a Ecol XXVI Address. " the worship of the Virgin Mary and the saints, as practised in the church of Rome, (upon both which points the worshippers o{ Juggernaut and L^nglish Protestants are, for the most) part, equally well instructed,) are Idolatrous I A second political para- dox in this Catechism is, that " the inviolable covenants of the two unions show the injustice and unconstitutional nature of the Roman Catholic claims," p. viii. This, my lord, is equally incomprehensible ; since the act of union with Scotland neither mentions these claims, nor alludes to them ; and since that of the union with Ireland expressly admits the principle of their being conceded, and prepares the minds of men fdr their actual concession ; as it is therein enacted, that " Members of the united parliament shall take and subscribe the usual oaths and declarations UNTIL THE SAID PARLIAMENT SHALL OTHERWISE PROVIDE." Art. IV. The last of these paradoxes, which the writer will extract from the incomprehen- sible Catechism, is the following. It teaches, at page 35, that " Not to c(msent to the veto, is not to acknowledge the king^s supremaci/, which it is treasonable, by statute, to oppose." And immediately after, at p. 36, it teaches that " the veto, or the king's nomination, is unprotestant and illegal : to which the bishop ad/ls, in the words of his friend, Mr. Sharp ; " it is highly isn- propcr and even illrgal for the crown of England to accept the piiwerof the proposed veto; ortohavewwy concern in the appoint- ment of unrtfortned bishops" p. 56. Can any one, my lord, reconcile these opposite doctrines ? To the plain sense of the writer it appears, that if it be illegal for his majesty to accept nj the ueto, it would be criminnl in the Catholics to offur it to him ; 80 far from its being treasonable to refuse giving it ! ;, My Lord Bishop, The wise man has said, in the Sacred Text, of making many hooks there is no end, Eccles. xii. 12. ; and we are certain, from reason and experience, that, least of all, will there be an end of making books, and disputing on subjects of relij^ion, with respect to those who have no fixed rule, or none but a false one, for deciding on religious contrbvcrsies, or who suflfcr worldly interest, pride, or the prejudices of education, to take place of the sin- cerity, himiility and piety, whicli oi.ght to guide them in a maitcr of such iulitiite moment. The writer trusts that, in the first part of the fullovving Letters, he has shown the rule appointed by Christ, for clearly discerning the truths ho has revealed, and wliich conducts to the same end ; that he has, in hia second part, clearly pointed out (/hrist's true church, which cannot but leach Address. xxvn his true doctrine. With ineu of irond will, who follcAV either of these ways in the uprightness and fervour of their souls, a satis- factory end to their religious discussions and doubts will quickly be found. IJut who can subdue or soiten the above mentioned passions and prejudices? No one, certainly, but God alone; and, as the greater part of mankind is notoriously under their influence, the writer is so far from expecting to make these persons proselytes to his demonstrations, that he has prepared his mind for the opposition and obloquy which he is sure to experience from them. He is aware, that most statesmen, and other great personages, regard religion merely as a political engine for managing the population, and therefore wish to keep one as well as jthe other as quiet as possible. On this principle, had they been counsellors to king Ethelbert, they would have persuaded him to banish St. Austin, and to continue the worship of Thor and Woden. The multitude, in this age of infidelity and dissipation, nauseate religious inquiries and instructions ; and, when they must hear them, like the Jews of old ; they say to the seer, see not ; and to the prophet, prophesy not to us right things : speak vnlo us smooth things ; prophesy deceits, Isai. xxx. 10. The critics and reviewers are, for the most part, as smooth, in this respect, as the prophets : if they lead the public opinion in matters of less consequence, they follow it in those of greater. — But whatever, excuse there may be for the inconsistency of other men, in religious matters, there would, evidently, be none for persons of your lordship's and the writer's profession and situation, should they, for their temporal advantage, or their prejudices, mislead others in a matter of eternal consequence. Such conduct would be hypocritical, and doubly perfidious and ruinous. It would be perfidious to the individuals so misguided, and to the church or sect which they profess to serve ; since nothing can injure that so much, as the appearance of insincerity and human passions in its ofiicial defenders. Accordingly it will be seen, in the following work, that the most fruitful source of conversions to the Catholic church, are the detected calumnies and misrepresentations of her bitterest enemies. Such conduct woidd also be utterly ruinous; first, to its immediate victinis ; Rnd secondly, to the persons of your lordship's and the writer's profession and cliaracter. In fact, my lord, if, as Christ assures us, at the great day of universal trial, some of the arraigned will rise np in judgmrnt against others, and condemn thrm for their pi.'Oiiliar iru'ih, Mutt. \\[. 41.; how heavy a couiK'uinalion will poor bewildered souls call down upon those faithless guides who Iiavo led thorn astray ! Or ruther, bow severe a vengeance will Kxviii A tf dress. the Good Shepherd himself (then also the Judge of the living and the dead) who hath laid down his life for his sheep, take of those hirelings, who have not only hft his sheep to he caught and scattered by the wolf but have themselves killed and destroyed them ! John x. For all these important motives, let us, my lord, dismiss every selfish interest, human respect, and prejudice from our minds, in the discussion of religious subjects, and follow truth, whither- soever she leads us, with the utmost sincerity and ardour of our souls. The writer of this, for his part, disgusted, as he is, at seeing the most serious and sacred of all subjects become a mere field of exercise for the talents, the learning, and the pas- sions of different writers, and averse as he is, from taking a part in such contests, nevertheless holds himself bound, not only to render an account of the hope that is in him, to every one who asketh it of him, in the since*rity of an upright heart, but also to yield the palm to your lordship thankfully and publicly, should you be able to prove (not, however, by extravagant and unsup- ported assertions, but by sound and convincing theological argu- ments) that the rule of faith, which he maintains, is not the one appointed by Christ and his apostles, for guiding Christians into all truth ; or that the church to which he adheres, has not exclusively those marks of the true church, which your lordship ascribes to it, in the creeds you repeat, equally -with the writer. Until one or other of these points is proved, he will hold himself bound to stick close both to the rule and the church, in spite of calumny, misrepresentation, ridicule, clamour, and persecution, and to maintain, in opposition to your lordship, that there is no just cause for either making or continuing any penal laws against the professors of the original faith. The writer has the honour to remain, my lord, Your lordship's obedient servant, '' ' J. M. D. D. W , Mov3, loiS. ■' •• * n THE END OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. LETTER I. From JAMES BROWN, Esq. to the Rev. J. M. D. D. F. S. A INTRODUCTION. New Cottage, near Cressage, Salop, Oct. 13, 1801. Reverend Sir, . ' I SHOULD need an ample apology for the liberty I take, in thus addressing you without having the honour of your acquaint- ance, and still more for the heavy task I am endeavouring to imposft upon you, if I did not consider your public character, as a pastor of your religion, and as a writer in defence of it, and likewise your personal character for benevolence, which has been described to me by a gentleman of your communion, Mr. J. C— ne, who is well acquainted with us both. Having mention- ed this, 1 need only add, that I write to you in the name of a society of serious and worthy Christians, in different persua- sions, to which I myself belong, who are as desirous as I am, to receive satisfaction from you, on certain doubts, which your late work, la answer to Dr. Sturges, has suggested to us* However, in making this request of our society to you, it seems proper, Reverend sir, that I should bring you acquainted with the nature of it, by way of convincing you, that it is not unworthy of the attention, which I am desirous you should pay to it. We consist then of above twenty persons, including the ladies, who, living at some distance from any considerable town, meet togeth- er once a week, generally at my habitation of New Cottage, not so much for our amusement and refection, as for the improve- ment of our minds, by reading the best publications of the day, which 1 can procure from my London bookseller, and sometimes an original essay written by ono of the company. * Letters to a Prebendary, in HT\BV,'cr to licjlections on Popery, by th« Rev. Or. Stiirges, Prehcndary and Chancellor of Winchester. 80 Letter I. I have signified that many of us are of different religious persuasions : this will be seen more distinctly from the fol- lowing account of our members. Among these I must men- tion, in the first place, our above named learned and worthy rec- tor, Dr. Carey. He is, of course, of the church of England ; but like most others of his learned and dignified brethren, in these times, he is of that free, and as it is called, liberal turn of mind, as to explain away the mysteries and a great many of its other articles, which, in my younger days, were considered es- sential to it. Mr. and Mrs. Tophara, are Methodists of the Pre- destinariau and Antinomian class, while Mr. and Mrs. Askew are niititjated Arminian Methodists, of Wesley's connection. Mr. and Mrs. Uankin are honest Quakers. Mr. Barker and his children term themselves Rational Dssenters, being of the old Presbyterian lineage, which is now almost universally gone into Socinianism. 1, for my part, glory in being a stanch member of our happy establishment, whicb has kept the golden mean among the contending sects, and which 1 am fully persuaded, approach- es nearer to the purity of the apostolic church, than any other which has existed since the age of it. Mrs. Brown professes an equal attachment to the church ; yet, being of an inquisitive and ardent mind, she caimot refrain from frequenting the meet- ings, and even supporting the missions of those self-created apos- tles, who are uudermining this church on every side, and who are no where more active than in our sequestered valley. With these differences among us, on the most interesting of all subjects, we cannot help having frequent religious controver- sies : but reason and charity enable us to manage these without any breach of either good manners or good will to each other. Indeed, I believe that we are, one and all, possessed of an un- feigned respect and cordial love for Christians of every descrip- tion, one only excepted. Must I name it on the present occa- sion ? — Yes, 1 must ; in order to fulfil my commission in a prop- er manner. It is then the church that you. Rev. sir, belong to ; which, if any credit is due to the eminent divines, whose works we are in the habit of reading, and more particularly to the illus- trious bishop Porteus. in his celebrated and standing work, call- ed A BRIKF CONFUTATION OFTHE EIIROKS OF THE CHURCH OF ROME, extracted from archbishop Seeker's V. SERMONS AGAINST POPERY,* is such u mass of absur- • The Norrisian professor of divinity, in the university of Cambridge, Bpealvinif of tliis work, says, "The refutation of the Popish errors i^ now reduced into a small compass by archbishop Seeker and bishop Porteus." — lectures in lJivinit>'_ Vol /»' •:.*■! Letter I. 81 dity, bigotry, superstition, idolatry, and immorality, tnat, to gay we respect and love those who obstinately adhere to it, as we do other Christians, would seem a compromise of reason, Scrip- lure, and virtuous feeling. And yet even of this church, we have formed a less revolting idea, in some particulars, than we did formerly. This has hap- pened, from our having just read over your controversial work a^iainst Dr. Sturges, called LETTERS TO A PKEBENDA- RY, to which our attention was directed by the notice taken of it in the houses of parliament, and particularly by the very un- expected complimeht paid to it, by that ornament of our church, bishop Horsley. We admit then (at least I, for my part, admit) thai yon have refuted the most odious of the charges brought against your religion, namely, that it is, necessarily, and, upon principl'e, intolerant and sanguinary, requiring its members to persecute, with fire and sword, all persons of a different creed from their own, when this is in their power. You have also proved that Papists may be good subjects to a Protestant sove- reign ; and you have shown, by an interesting historical detail, that the Roman Catholics of this kingdom have been conspicu- ous for their loyalty, from the time of Elizabeth, down to the present time. Still most of the absurd and anti-Scriptural doc- tiiiies;! and practices, alluded to above, relating to the worship of saints and images^ to transubstantiation and the half communion, to piir}^alory, and shutting up the Bible, with others of the same nature, you have not, to my recollection, so much as attempted to defend. In a word, 1 write to you. Rev. sir, on the present occasion, in the name oi our respectable society, to ask you whether you fairly give up these doctrines and practices of Po- pery, as untenable, or otherwise, whether you will condescend to interchange a few letters with me on the subject of them, for the satisfaction of me and my friends, and with the sole view of mutually discovering and communicating religious truths. We reuiark that you say, in your first letter to Dr. Sturges : *• Should 1 have occasion to make another reply to you, I will try if it be not possible to put the whole question at issue between us, into such a shape as shall remove the danger of irritation on both sides, and still enable us, if we are mutually so disposed, to iigree together in the acknowledgment of the same religious liuthy." If you still think that this is possible, for God's sake and your neighbours' sake, delay not to undertake it. The plan einbracos every advantage we wish for, and excludes every evil we deprecate. You y%h\\ manage the discussion in your own •vay, and we will give you as little interruption as possible. — 32 Essay I. Two of the essays above alluded to, with which our worthy rector lately furnished us, I, with your permission, enclose, to convince you that genius and sacred literature are cultivated round the Wrekir , and on the banks of the Severn. I remain, Kev. Sir, with great respect, Your faithful and obedient servant, JAMES BROWN. .'5*. ESSAY I. "^ ' * " :■'■ OIV THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, AND OF NATURAL RELIGION. ■'" ' ' ' I . * ■■■ y BY THE REV. SAMUEL CAREV, LL. D. FORESEEING that my health will not permit me, for a considerable time, to ipeet my respected friends at New Cot- tage, I comply with the request, which several of them have made me, in sending them in wriilng, my ideas on the two noblest subjects which can occupy the mir'l of man ; the exis- tence of God, and the truth of Christianity. In doing this, I profess not to make new discoveries, but barely to st5"e certain arguments, which I collected in my youth, from the learned Hugo Grotius, our judicious Clark, and other advocates of natural and revealed religion. I offer no apology for adopting the words of Scripture, in arguing with persons who are supposed not to admit its authority, when these express my meaning as fully as any others can do. The first argument for the existence of God, is thus express- ed by the royal prophet ; Know ye that the Lord he is God : it is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. Ps. c. 3. In fact, when 1 ask myself that question, which every reflecting man must sometimes ask himself : How came I into this state of ex- istence ? Who has bestowed upon me the being which I enjoy ? I am forced to answer : It is not I that made myself; and each of my forefathers, if asked the same question, must have returned the same answer. In like manner, if I interrogate the several beings with which I am surrounded, the earth, the air, the water, the stars, the moon, the sun, each of them, as an ancient father says, will answer me, in its turn : It was not I that made you ; 7, like you, am a creature (f yesterday, as incapable of giving ex- istence to you, as I am of giving it to myself In short, however often each of us repeats the question : How came I hither ? Who has made me what I am? we shall never find a rational answer , ' \ Essay I. 33 lo them, till we come to acknowledge that there is an eternal^ necessary self-existent Being, the author of all contingent beings, which is no other than GOD. It is this necessity of being, this self-existence, which institutes the nature of God, and from which all his other pt.^ections flow. Hence when he deigned to reveal himself, on the flaming mountain of Horeb, to the holy legislator of his chosen people, being asked by this prophet, what was his proper name? he answered: I AM THAT 1 AM. Exod. iii. 14. This is as much as 'to say : / alone exist of my- self: all others are created beings, which exist by my will. From this attribute of self existence, all the other perfections of the Diety, eternity, immensity, omnipotence, omniscience^ holiness, justice, mercy, und bounty, each in au infinite degree, necessarily flow, because there is nothing to limit his existence and attributes, and because whatever perfection is found in any created being, must, like its existence, have been derived from this universal source. This proof of the existence of God, though demonstrative and self-evident to reflecting beings, is, nevertheless, we have rea- son to fear, lost on a great proportion of our fellow creatures ; because they hardly reflect at all ; or at least, never consider, who madi them, or what they were made for ; but that other proof, which results from the magnificence, the beauty, and the harmony of the creation, as it falls under the senses, so it cannot be thought to escape the attention of the most stupid or savage of rational beings. The starry heavens, the fulminating clouds, the boundless ocean, the variegated earth, the organized human body, all these, and many other phenomena of nature, must strike the mind of the untutored savage, no less than that of the studious philosopher, with a conviction that there is an infinitely powerful, wise and bountiful Being, who is the author of these things ; though, doubtless, the latter, in proportion as he sees more clearly and extensively than the former, the properties and economy of different parts of the creation, possesses a stronger physical evidence, as it is called, of the existence of the great Creator. In fact, if the Pagan physician, Galen,* from the imperfect knowledge which he possessed of the structure of the human body, found himself compelled to acknowledge the exis- tence of an infinitelv wise and benificent Bfiing, to make it such as it is, what would he not have said, had he been acquainted with the circulation of the blood, and the uses and harmony ol the arteries, veins, and lacteals ! If the philosophical orator, Tully, discovered and enlarged on the same truth, from the little » • De Usu Partium. ''M 34 Essay I. knowledge of astronomy which he possessed,* what strains of eloquence would he not have poured forth nj)on it, had he been acquainted with the discoveries of Galileo and Newton, relative to the magnitude and distances of the stars, the motions of the planets and comets ! Yes, all nature proclaims that there is a Being, who is wise in heart and mighty in strength : who doth great things and past Jinding out ; yea, wonders without number : — who strelcheth out the north over the empty places, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. — The pillars of heaven tremble and are aston- isho/i at his reproof. — Lo ! these are a part of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him ! The thunder of his power who can understand ! Job. ix. — xxvi. The proofs, however, of God's existence, which can least be evaded, are those which come immediately home to a man's own heart ; convincing him, with the same evidence he has of his own existence, that there is an all-seeing, infinitely just, and infinitely bountiful Master above, who is witness of all his ac- tions and words, and of his very thoughts. For whence arises the heart-fell pleasure; which the good man feels on resisting a secret temptation to sin, or in performing an act of beneficence, though in the utmost secrecy ? Why does he raise hif counte- nance to heaven, with devotion, and why is he then prepared to meet death with cheerful hope, unless it be that his conscience tells him of a munificent re\varder of virtue, the spectator of what he does ? And why does the most hardened sinner, tremble and falter in his limbs, and at his heart, when he commits his mos< secret si».o of theft, vengeance, or impurity ? Why, especially does he sink into agonies or horror and despair at the approach of death, unless it be that he is deeply convinced of the constan' presence of an all-seeing witness, and of an infinitely holy, pow erfnl, and just Judge, into whose hands it is a terrible thing to fall ' — In vain does he say : Darkness encompasseth me and the wall cover me : no one seeth : ofwhomam I afraid ? — for his conscienc» tells liim that. The eyes of the Lord are far highter than the sun beholding round about all the tnays of men. Eccles. xxiii. 26, 28 This last argument, in particular, is so obvious and convinc ing, that I cannot bring myself to believ there ever was a hu man being, of sound sense, who was really an Atheist. Thos** persons who have tried to work themselves ' into a persuasion that there is no God, will generally be found, both in anciem and modern times, to be of the most profligate manners, who, dreading to meet him as their Judge, try to persuade themselvr:;^ that he does not exist. This has been observed by St. Austin, • D? Natun DcoVym, I. ii. ■A F ay II. e existrMce of Go'^. but >uch a one IP no '' -J " Yot even rtice a Supiu^'iiie F^e- f their jHigate compa- ilie nighi, and, still more, (U 111 to confess it ; as Se- wlio says : " No n ^ denies whose interest it is thattht.. shoii they who pretend to disbelieve the ing, in the broad day-light, and aim nions, in the darkness and solitude under the apprehension of death, fail ncca, I think, has somewhere observed.* A son hcareth his father^ and a servant his master, says the prophet Malachi. Jf then I be a father, where is mine honour ? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of Hcsfo, i. 6. in a word : it is impossible to believe in the existt nee of a Supreme Being, our Creator, our Lord, and our Judge, with- out being conscious, at the same time, of our obligation to wor- ship him exteriorly and interiorly, to fear him, to love him, and to obey him. This constitutes natural religion : by the observ- ance of which the ancient patriarchs, together with Melchise- dec, Job, and, we trust, very many other virtuous and religious persons of different ages and countries, have been acceptable to God, in this life, and have attained to everlasting bliss, in the other ; still we must confess, with deep sorrow, that the num- ber of such persons has been small, compared with those of eve- ry age and nation, who, as St. Paul says, When they knew God, glorified him not as God ; neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations ; and their foolish hearts were dark- ened ;~who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever more, Rom. i> 21, 25. SAMUEL CAREY. ■;,■ I ., ESSAY II. ^v^- ON THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. BY THE IlEV. SAMUEL CAKEV, LL. D. THOUGH the light of nature is abundantly sufficient, as I trust I have shown in my former essay, to prove the exis-ence of God, and the duty of worshipping and serving him, yet this was not the only light that was communicated to mankind in the • It is proper here to observe, that a large proportion of the boasting Atheists who siii;nalizecl their impiety during the late French revoluiion, when they caiae to die, acknuwiedged tha^ their irreligion had been ?.f- i"eeti.d, and that the never doubted, in their h -.arts, ot the existence ol Grod aii(' the truths of Christianity. Arnonp; these were Uoulanger, La Metrie, CoUot d'Herbbis, Egaljt6 duke of Orleans, &tr. 36 Essay 11. firat ages of the world concerning these matters, since many things relating to them were revealed by God to the patriarchs, and, through them, to their contemporaries and descendants. At length this knowledge was almost universally obliterated from the minds of men, and the light of reason itself was so clouded by the boundless indulgence of their passions, that they seemed, every where, sunk almost to a level with the brute cre- ation. Even the nK)st polished nations, the Greeks and the Romans, blushed not at unnatural lusts, and boasted of ihe most horrid cruelties. Plutarch describes the celebrated Grecian sages, Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Cebes, &c. as indulging free- ly in the former* and every one knows that the chief amusement of the Roman people, was to behold their fellow creatures mur- dering one another in the amphitheatres, sometimes by hundreds and thousands at a time. But the depravity and impiety of the ancient Pagans, and I may say the same of those of modern times, appears chiefly in their religions doctrines and worship. What an absurd and disgusting rabble of pretended deities, mark- ed with every crime that disgraces the worst of mortals, lust, envy, hatred and cruelty, did not the above named refined nations worship, and that, in several instances, by the imitation of their crimes ! Plato allows of drunkenness in honour of the gods : Aristotle admits of indecent representations of them. How many temples were every where erected, and prostitutes consecra- ted to the worship of Venus ? t And how generally were human sacrices oflfered up in honour of Moloch, Saturn, Thor, Diana, Woden, and other pretended gods, or rather real demons, by al- most every Pagan nation, Greek and barbarian, and among the rest by the ancient Britons, inhabitants of this island ! It is true, some few sages of antiquity, by listening to the dictates of nature and reason, saw into the absurdity of the popular religion, and discovered the existence and attributes of the true God ; but then how unsteady and imperfect was their belief, even in this point ! and when they knew God^ they did not glorify him as God^ nor give him thanks, hut became vain in their thoughts. Rom. i. 21. In short, they were so bewildered on the whole subject of religiqn, that Socrates, the wisest of them all, declared it " impossible for men to discover this, unless the Deity himselt deigned to reveal it to them."| Indeed it was an effort of mercy, • De Isid. et. Osirid. Even the reQned Cicero and Virgil did not blush at these infamies. + Strabo tells us, that there were a thousand prostitutes attached to the temple of Venus at Corinth. The Athenians attributed the preservation of tneir city to the prayers of its prostittati^s t Plato Dialog;. Alcibiad. A Essay II. 37 worthy the great and good God, to make such a revelation ol himself, and of his acceptable worship, to poor, benighted, and degraded man. This he did, first, in favour of a poor, afflicted captive tribe on the banks of the Nile, the Israelites, whom he led from thence into the country of their ancestors, and raised up to be a powerful nation, by a series of astonishing miracles, instructing and confirming them in the knowledge and worship of himself by his different prophets. He afterwards did the same thing in favour of all the people of the earth, and to a far greater extent, by the promised iMessiah, and his apostles. It is to this latter divine legation I shall here confine my arguments : though indeed, the one confirms the other ; since Christ and the apostles continually bear testimony to the mission of Moses. All history, then, and tradition prove that in the reign of Tibe- rius, the second Roman emperor after Julius Caesar, an extraor- dinary personage, Jesus Christ, appeared in Palest' e teaching a new system of religion and morality, far n .r . and perfect than any which the Pagan philosophers, oi even than the Hebrew prophets, had inculcated. He confirmed the truths of natural religion and of the Mosaic revelation ; but then he vastly extended their sphere, by the communication of many heavenly mysteries, concerning the nature of the one true Go(i, his economy in redeeming man by his own vicarious sufferings, the restoration and future immortality of our bodies, and the final decisive trial we are to undergo before him, our destined Judge. He enforced the obligation of loving our heavenly Father, above all things, of praying to him continually, and of referring all our thoughts, words, and actions to his divine honour. He insisted on the necessity of denying, not one or other of our passions, as the philosophers had done, who, as Tertullian says, drove out one nail with another ; but the whole collection of them, disor- derly and vitiated as they are, since the fall of our first parent. In opposition to our innate avarice, pride, and love of pleasure ; he opened his mission by teaching that, blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek ; blessed are they that mourn, ^c. With respect to our fellow creatures; teaching, as he did, every virtue, he singled out fraternal charity for his peculiar and char- acteristic precept ; requiring that his disciples should love one another as they love themselves, and even as he himself has loved them ; he who laid down his life for them ! and he ex- tended the obligation of this precept to our enemies, equally with our friends. Nor was the morality of Jesus a mere speculative system of precepts, like the systems of the philosophers : it was of a prac- 38 Essay II. tical nature, and he himself confirmed, by his example, every virtue which he inculcated, and more particularly the hardest of all others to reduce to practice, the love of our enemies. Christ had gone about, as the Sacred Text expresses it, doing good to all, Acts x. 38. and evil to no one. He had cured the sick of .kidea and the neighbouring countries, had given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and even life to the dead • but above all things, he had eliglitened the minds of his hearers with the knowledge of pure and sublime truths, capable of leading them to present and future hapiness ; yet was he every where ciiiumniated and persecuted, till at length, his inveterate enemies fulfilled their malice against him by nailing him to a cross, there* on to expire, by lengthened torments. Not content with this, they came before his gibbet, deriding him in his agony with in- sulting words and gestures. What, now, is the return which the iuithor of Christianity makes for such unexampled barbarity ? He excuses the authors of it ! He prays for them ! Father, forgive them : fur th-y know not what they do ! Luke xxiii. 34. No wonder thisproof of supernatural charity should have staggered the most hardened infidels; oneof whom confesses that, "if Socrates has died like a philosopher, Jesus alone has died like a God !"* The precepts and the example of the master have not been lost upon his disciples. — These have ever been distinguished by their practice of virtue, and, particularly, by their charity and forgive- n<5S8 of injuries. The first of them who laid down his life for Christ, St. Stephen, while the Jews were stoning him to death, prayed thus, with his last voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge ! Acts vii. 59. Having considered the several systems of paganism, which have prevailed, and that still prevail, in diflferent parts of the world, both as to belief and practice, together with the speculations oi the wisest infidel philosophers concerning them ; and having contemplated, on the other hand, the doctrine of the New Tes- tament on both of them, namely, theory and practice, J would ask any candid believer, where he thought Jesus Christ could have ac()uired the idea of so sublime, so pure, so efficacious a religion as Christianity is, especially when compared with the others above alluded to ? Could he have acquired it in tlie workshop of a poor artisan of Nazareth, or among the fishermen of the lake of Genezareth ? Then, how could he and his poor unlettered apostles succeed in propagating this religion, as they did through- out the world in opposition to all the talents and power of plii- ' • RouMoau Emll«. Essay 71. 39 losophers and princes, and all the passions of all mankind ? No other answers can be given to these questions, than that the re- ligion itself has been divinely revmilcd, and that it has been divinely assisted, in its progress throughout the world. In addition to this internal evidence of Christianity, as it is called, there are external proofs, which must not be passed over. Christ, on various occasions, appealed to the miracles which he wrought, in confirmation of his doctrine and mission ; miracles public and indisputable, which, from the testimony of Pilate himself, were placed on the records of the Roman empire,* and which were not denied by the most determined enemies of Christianity, such as Celsus, Porphyrins, and Julian, the apostate. Among these miracles, there is one of so extraordinary a nature, as to render it quite unnecessary to inention any others, and which, therefore, is always appealed to by the apostles, as the grand proof of the gospel they preached : I mean the resurrection of Christ from the dead ; to which must bo added its circumstan- ces, namely, that he raised himself to life by his oion power, without the intervention of any living person ; and that he did this in conformity with his prediction, at the time, which he had appointed for this event, and in defiance of the efforts of his ene- mics, to detain his body in the sepulchre. To elude the evidence resulting from this unexampled prodigy, one or other of the following assertions must be maintained, cither that the disciples were deceived in believing him to be risen from the dead, or that they combine to deceive the world into a belief of that imposition. —Now it cannot be credited, that they themselves were deceived in this matter, being many in number, and having the testimony of their eyes, in seeing their master repeatedly, during forty days ; of their ears, in hearing his voice ; and one, the most incredulous among them of his feeling in touching his person and probing his wounds ; nor can it be believed that they con spired to propagate an unavailing falsehood of this nature throughout the nations of the earth, namely, that a person, put to death in Judea, had risen again to life, without any prospect to themselves for this world, but that of persecution, toruients, and a cruel death, which they successively endured, as did their numerous disciples after them, in testimony of this fact ; or, far the other vmrld, bit*, the vengeance of the God (»f truth. Next to the miracles, wrought by Christ, is the fulfilment of ihe ancient prophecies concerning him, in proof of the religion aught by him. To mention a few of these ; he was born jusl ■flor the sceptre had departed from the tribe of Jiida, Gen. xlix. •Tertul in Apnlog. 40 Essay II. 10. ; at the end of seventy -two weeks of years from the restora' tion of Jerusalem. Dan. ix. 24 ; while the second temple of Je- rusalem was in bein^, Ha»jg. ii. 7. He was born in Bethhhem, Mic. V. 2. ; worked the identical miracles foretold of him, Isai *xxxv. 5. He was sold by his perfidious disciple for thirty pieces of silver, which were laid out in the purchase of a potter^s fdd, Zach. xi. 13. He was scourged, spit upon, Isai. 1. 6. ; placed among malefactors, Isai. xxxiii. 12. His hands and feet were transfixed with nails, Ps. xxii. IG. ; and his side was opened with a spear, Zach. xii. 10. Finally, he died, was buried with honoury Isai. liii. 9. ; and rose again to life without experiencing corrup- tion. Ps. xvi. 10. The sworn enemies of Christ, the Jews, were, during many hundred, years before his coming, and still are in possession of the Scriptures, containing these and many other predictions concerning him, which were strictly fulfilled. The very existence, and, other circumstances respecting this extraordinary people, the Jews, are ao many arguments in proof of Christianity. They have now subsisted, as a distinct people, for more than four thousand years, during which they have again and again been subdued, harassed, and almost extirpated. Their mighty conquerors, the Philistines, the Assyricns, the Persians, the Macedonians, the Syrians, and the Romans, have, in their turns, ceased to exist and can no where be found as dis- tinct nations : while the Jews exist in great numbers, and are known iri every part of» * he world. How can this be acccmnted for ? Why has God preserved them alone, amongst the ancient nations of the earth ? The truth is, they are still the subject o" prophecy, with respect to both the Old and New Testament. They exist as monuments of God's wrath against them ; as witnesses to the truth of the Scriptures which condenm them ; and as the destined subjects of his final mercy before the end of the* world. 'J'hey are to be found in every quarter of the globe ; but in the condition which their great legislator Moses threatened them with, if they forsook the Lord, namely, that he would remove them into all the kingdoms of the earth. Deut. xxviii. 25. That they should become an astonishment arid a by-word, among all nations, ibid. 37. That they should find no ea.se, nnther hould the sole of their foot have rest, ibid. 65. Finally, they are every where seen, but carrying, written on their forehead.s, the curse which they pronounced on themselvos in rejecting their Messiah : his hlojd be upon us and upon our children. Mat. xxvii. 25. Still is this extraordinary people preserved, to he, in the find, converted^ and to find mercy. Rom. xi. 25, ^c. .. SAMUEL CARR:Y 41 LETTER II. r :., . TO JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c. <; V ,; PRELIMINARIES. Winton, October 20, 1801. Dear Sir, <^ ■ - V YOU certainly want no apology for writinjj to me on the subject of your letter. For if, as St. Peter inculcates, each Christian ought to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him, 1 Pet. iii. 15. how inexcusable would a person of my ministry and com- mission be, who am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barba- rians, both to the wise and the unwise, Rom. i. 14. were I unwill- ing to give the utmost satisfaction in my power, respecting the Catholic religion, to any human being whose inquiries appear to proceed from a serious and candid mind, desirous of discovering and embracing religious truth, such as I must believe yours to be. And yet this dis[)osition is exceedingly rare among Chris- tians. Infinitely the greater part of them, in choosing a system of religion, or in adhering to one, are guided by motives of interest, worldly honour, or convenience. These inducements not only rouse their worst passions, but also blind their judge- ment ; so as to create hideous phantomr* to their intellectual, eyes, and to hinder them from seeing tl?e most conspicuous <)l)jecls which stand before them. To such inconsistent Chris- tians, nothing proves so irritating as the attempt to disabuse them of their errors, except the success of it, by putting it out of their power to defend them any longer. 'J'hese are they ; and O ! how infinite is their number ! of whom Christ, says, they love darkness rather than light, John iii. 16. ; and who say to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things : speak unto us smooth things. Isai. xxx. 10. They forni to them- selves a false conscience, as the Jews did, when they murdered their Messiah, i4<:/.¥ iii. 17.: and as he himself foretold many otliers would do, in murdering his disciples. John xvi. 2. I cannot help saying that 1 myself b ivo experienced something of this spirit, in my religious disciissions with persons who have boon loudest in professing thinr candour and cliarity. lltMicr, I make no doubt that, if th(; ehicidafion which you call for at my hands, for your ntunorous society, 8lu)uld happen, by any means to become pid)lic, that 1 shall have to 'at thr. brrad of oj/licfion, and drihk the wafer of tribulutton, I Kiii^s xxii. 17. for tills 43 Letter IL discharge of my duty, perhaps for the remainder of mv life. But, as the apostle writes, none of these things move me ; neither count I my life dear to mi:, so that I may finish my course ith j:>y, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus. r^cis XX. 24. It remains, sir, to settle the conditions of our correspondence. What 1 propose is, that, in the first place, we should mutually, and indeed all of us who are concerned in this friendly contro- versy, be at perfect liberty, to speak, without offence to any one, of doctrines, practices, and persons, as we judge best for the discovery of truth : secondly, that we should be disposed, in common, as far as poor human nature will permit, to investigate truth with impartiality ; to acknowledge it, when discovered, with candour ; and, of course, to renounce every error and un- founded prejudice that may be detected, on any side, whatever it may cost us in so doing. I, for my part, dear sir, here sol- emnly promise, that 1 will publicly renounce the religion, ol which I am a minister, and will intluce as many of my flock, as I may have influence over, to do the same, should it prove to be that •' mass of absurdity, bigotry, superstition, idolatry, and immorality," which you, sir, and most Protestants conceive it to be ; nay, even if I should not succeed in clearing it of these respective charges. To religious controversy, when originating in its proper* motives, a desire of serving God and securing our salvation, I cannot declare myself an enemy, without virtually condemning the conduct of Christ himself, who, on every occa- sion, arraigned and refuted the errors of the Pharisees : but I cannot conceive any hypocrisy so detestable as that of ascending the pulpit or employing the pen on sacred subjects to serve our temporal interest, our resentment, or our pride, under pretext of promoting or defending religious truth. — To inquirers, in the for- mer predicament, I hold myself a dfibtor, as 1 have already said ; but the circumstances must be extraordinary to induce me to hold a communication with persons in the latter. Ijastly, as you appear, sir, to approve of the plan I spoke of in my first letter to Dr. Sturges, I mean to pursue it on the present occasion. This, however, will necessarily throw back the examination of your charges to a considerable distance ; as several other important inquiries nuist precede. ^ I am, &LC, ' f ■■ 1 J. M *8 LETTER III. From JAMES BROWN, Esq. to the Rev. J. M. D. D. <■■, .;^ : PRELIMINARIES. Nexo Cottage, Oct. 30, 1801 Reverend Sir, 1 HAVE been favoured, in due course, with yours of the 20th instant, which I have communicated to those persons of our so- ciety, whom 1 have had an opportunity of seeinj?. No circum- stance could strike us with greater sorrow, than that you should suffer any inconvenience from your edifying promp:;ness to com- ply with our well meant request, and we confidently trust th;it nothing of the kind will take place through our fault. We agree with you, as to the necessity of perfect freedom of speech, where the discovery of important truths is the real object of inquiry. Hence, while we are at liberty to censure many of your popes, and other clergy, Mr. Topham will not be offended with any thing that you can prove against Calvin; nor w^ill Mr. Rankin quarrel with you for e.xposingthe faults of George Fox and James Naylor ; nor shall I complain of you for any thing that you can make out against our venerable Latimer or Cranmer ; I say the same of doctrines and practices, as of persons. If you are guilty of Idolatry, or we of heresy, we are respectively unfortunate, and the greatest charity we can do, is to point out to each other the danger of our respective situations, to their full extent. Not to renounce error and embrace truth of every kind, when we o'.early see it, would be folly ; and to neglect doing this, when the question is about religious truth, would be lolly and wicked- ness combined together. Finally, we cheerfully leave you to follow what course you please, and to whatever extent you please, provided you only give us such satisfaction as you can give, on the subjects I mentioned in my former letter, I am, Rev. Sir, &c. JAMES BROWN. LETTER IV. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. f^c, . " ' dispositions for religious inquiry. ' ^ De.vr Sir, THE dispositions which you profess, on the part of youi friends, as well as yourself, I own, please me, and anitnate m« 44 Letter IV. to undertake the task you impose upon me. Nevertheless, availing myself of the liberty of speech which, you and your friends allow me, I am forced to observe that there is nothing in whicli men are more apt to deceive themselves, than in think- ing themselves to be free from religious prejudices, and sincere in seeking after, and resolved to embrace and follow the truth of religion, in opposition to their preconceived opinions and worldly interests. How many imitate Pilate, who, when he had asked our Saviour the question. What is truth ? presently went out of his company, before he could receive an answer to it! John xviii. 38. How many others resemble the rich young man, who, having interrogated Christ, What good thing shall I do that T may have eternal life? when this divine master answered him, If thou wilt he perfect t go and sell what thou hast and give to the poor ; — went away sorrovftil ! Matt. xix. 22. Finally, how many more act like certain presumptuous disciples of our Lord, who, when he had propounded to them a mystery beyond their con- ception, that of the real presence, in these words. My fiesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed: — said, this is a hard saying; who can hear it ? — and went back and walked no more with him! John vi. 56 O! if all Christians, of the different sects and opinions, were but possessed of the sincerity, disin- terestedness, and earnestness, to serve their God, and save their souls, wh ch a Francis Walsingham, kinsman to the great states- man of that name, a Hugh Paulin Cressy, dean of Laughlin, and prebendary of Windsor, and an Anthony Ulric, duke of Bruns- wick and Lunenburgh, prove themselves to have been possessed of; the first, in his Search into Matters of Religion ; the second, in his Exomologesis, or Motives of Conversion, <^c. ; and the last, in his Fifty Reasons ; how soon would all and every one of our cojitroversies cease, and we be all united in one faith, hope, and charity ! I will here transcribe, from the preface to the Fifty Reasons, what the illustrious relative of his majesty says, concerning the dispositions, with which he set about inqui- ring into the grounds and difierences of the several systems of Christianity, when he began to entertain doubts con- cerning the truth of that in which he had been educated ; namely, Lutheranism. He says, " First, 1 ear lestly implored the aid and grace of the Holy Ghost, and with all my power begged the light of true faith, from God, the father of lights," &c " Secondly, I made a strong resolution, by the grace of God, to avoid sin, well knowing that Wisdom will not enter into n cor- rtipt mind, nor dwell in a body subject to sin,'^ Wisd. i. 4. •' anr^ I am convinced, and was so then, that the reason why so many Lttter IV. 45 are ignorant of the true faith, and do not embrace it, is because they are plunged into several vices, and particularly into carnal sins." Then, *' Thirdly, I renounced all sorts of prejudices, whatever they were, which incline men to one religon more than another, which unhappily I mi^ht have formerly espoused, and I brought myself to a perfect indifference, so as to be ready to em- brace whichsoever the grace of the Holy Ghost, and the lijLiht of reason, should point out to me, without any regard to the ad- vantages and inconveniences, that might attend it in this world." " Lastly, I entered upon this deliberation, and this choice, in the manner I should wish to have done it at the hour of my death, and in a full conviction, that, at the day of judgment, I must give an account to God, why I followed this religion in preference to all the rest." The princely inquirer finishes this account of himself with the following awful reflectiens : " Man has but one soul, which will be eternally either damned or saved. What doth it avail a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? Matt. xvi. 26. — Eternity knows no erid. The course of it is perpetual. It is a series of unlimited duration. — There is no comparison between things infinite and those which are not so. ! the happiness of the eternity of the saints ! O ! the wretch- edness of the eternity of the damned. One of these two eterni- ties awaits us !" I remain, Sir, yours, &;c. J. M. ;<) manv -•:/;'^'>:t''- ■■"-^ ■ LETTER V. " ' w - . To JAMES BROWN, Esq. method of finding out the true religion. Dear Sir, IT is obvious to commim sense, that, in order to find out any hidden thing, or to do any difficult thing, we must first discover, and then follow, the proper method for such purpose. If we do not take the right road to any distant place, it cannot be expect- ed that we should arrive Tit it. If we get hold of a wrong clue, we shall never extricate ourselves from a labyrinth. Some per- sons choose their religion as they do their clotJDes, by fancy. They are pleased, for example, Avith the talents of a preacher, when presently they adopt his creed. Many adhere to thtir religious system, merely because they were educated in it, and because it was that of their parents and family ; which, if it wore k reasonable motive for their resolution, would equally excu3« 46 Letter V. Jews, Turks, and Pagans, for persisting in their respective im- piety, and would impeach the preaching of Christ and his apos- tles ! Others glory in their religion, because it is the one estab- lished in this their country, so renowned for science, literature, and arms : not reflecting that the polished and conquering na- tions of antiquity, the Egyj. ians, iVssyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, were left, by the inscrutable judgments of God, in darkness and the shadow of death, while a poor oppressed and despised people on the banks of the Jordan, were the only depos- itary of divine truth, and the sole truly enlightened nation. But, far the greater part even of Christians, of every denomination, make the business of eternity subservient to that of time, and profess the religion which suits best their interest, their reputa- tion, and their convenience. I trust that none of your respecta- ble society fall under any of these descriptions. They all have, or fancy they have, a rational method of discovering religious truth, in other words an adequate mle of faith. Before I enter into any disquisition on this all-important controversy, concern- ing the right rule of faith, on which the determination of every other depends, I will lay down three fundamental maxims, the truth of which, 1 believe, no rational Christian will dispute. First, our divine master, Christ, in establishing a religion here on earth, to which all the nations of it were invited, Mat. xviii. 19, left some RULE or method, Z>y which those per sons, who sincerely seek for it, may certainly fnd it. Secondly, this rule or method, must be SECURE and never- failing ; so as not to be ever liable to lead a rational, sincere in- quircr, into error, impiety, or immorality, of any kind. Thirdly, This rule or method must be UNIVERSAL, that is to say, adapted to the abilities and other circumstances, of all those persons for whom the religion itself was intended; namely the great bulk of mankind. By adhering to these undeniable maxims, we shall quickly, dear sir, and clearly, discover the method appointed by Christ, for arriving at the knowledge of the truths which he has taught, in other words, at the right rule of faith. Being possessed of this rule, Ave shall have nothing else, of course, to do than to make use of it, for securely, and, 1 trust, amicably, settling all our controversies. This is the short and satisfactory method of composing religious iiflerences, which I alluded to in my above mentioned letter to Dr. Sturges. To discuss them all, separately is an endless task, whereas this method reduces them to a single question. I am. &c. ' J. M. 47 LETTER VI. TO JAMES BROWN, Esq. ' ., ',<-( the first fallacious rule of faith. Dear Sir, AMONG serious Christians, who profess to make the dis- covery and practice of religion their first and earnest care, three difierent methods or rules have been adopted for the purpose. The first consists in a supposed private inspiration, or an imme- diate light and motion of God's spirit, communicated to the individual. This was the rule of faith and conduct formerly professed by the Montanists, the Anabaptists, the Family of l.ove, and is now professed by the Quakers, the Moravians, and different classes of the Methodists. 'Ihe second of these rules is the written Word of God, or THE BIBLK, accordinir as it is understood by each particular reader or hearer of it. This is the professed rule of the mor«i regular sects of Protestants, such as the Lutherans the Calvinists, the Socinians, the Church of Eng- land men. 'J'he third rule is ITIE WORD OF GOD, at large, whether written in the Bible, or handed damn from the apostles in continued succession by the Catholic church, and as it is understood and explained by this church. To speak more accurately, besides their rule of faith, namely. Scripture and tradition, Catholics acknowledge an unerring judge of controversy, or sure guide in all matters relating to salvation, namely, THE CHUKCH. 1 shall now proceed to show that the first mentioned rule, nauiely, a supposed privat'i inspiration, is quite fallacious, in as much as it is liable to conduct, and has conducted many, into acknowledged errors and impiety. !' - About the middle of the second age of Christianity, Monta- nus, Maximilla and Priscilla, with their followers, by adopting this enthusiastical rule, rushed into the excess of folly and blas- phemy. They taught that the Holy Spirit, having failed to save mankind, by Moses, and afterwards by Christ, had enlightened and sanctified them to accomplish this great work. The strict- ness of their precepts, and apparent sanctity of their lives, deceived many, till at length the two former proved what spirit they were guided by, in hanging theuiselves.* Several other heretics became dupes ol' the same principles in the primitive and the middle ages ; but it was reserved for the time of reli- gious licentiousness, improperly called the lieformation, to display . • Euseb. Eccles Hist. I. v. c. 15. 48 Letter VI. the full extent of its absurdity and impiety. In less than five years after Luther had sounded the trumpet of evangelical liberty, the sect of Anabaptists arose in Germany and the Low Coun- tries. They professed lo hold immediate communication with God, and to be ordered by him to despoil and kill all the wicked, and to establish a kingdom of the just,* who, to become such, were all to be rebaptized. Carlostad, Luther's first disciple of note, euibraced this U lira- Rf. formation ; but its acknowledged head, during his reign, was John Bockh< Id, a taylor of Leyden, who proclaimed himself king of Sion, and who, during a certain time, was really sovereign of Munster, in Lower Germany, where he committed the greatest imaginable excesses, marrying eleven wives at a time, and putting them, and numberless other of his subjects to death, at the motion of his supposed interior spirit! He declared that God had made him a present of Amsterdam and other cities, which he sent parties of his disci- ples to take possession of. These ran naked through the streets, howling out, " Wo to Babylon ; wo to the wicked ;" and, when they were apprehended, and on the point of being executed fot their seditions and murders, they sung and danced on the scaffold, exulting in the imaginary light of their spirit,| Herman, another x\nabaptist, was moved by his spirit to declare himself the Mes- siah, and thus to evangelize the people, his hearers : '' Kill the priests, kill all the migistrates in the world : repent : your re- demption is at hand."^ One of their chief and most accredited preachers, David George, persuaded a numerous sect of them, that " the doctrine both of the Old and New Testament was imperfect, but that his own was perfect, and that he was the true Son of Gof/."! I do not notice these impieties and other crimes for their singularity or their atrociousness, but because they were committed upon the principle and under a full conviction of an individual and uncontrolable inspiration, on the part of their dupes and perpetrators. Nor has our own country been more free from this enthusi- astic principle than Germany and Holland. Nicholas, a disci- ple of the above mentioned David George, came over to Eng- land with a supposed commission from God to teach men that the essence of religion consists in the feelings of divine love, * " Cum Deo colloquium e.se et mandatum habere se dicebant, ut, im^ plis omnibus interlectis, novum constituerent mundum, in quo pii solum & inaocenles viverent et rerum, potirentur." — Sleidan. De Stat. Kel. et Reip. Commeut. 1. iii. p. 45. t Hi3t. Abreg. de la Reform, par Garard Brandt, tom. i. p. 46. Mo« dheim, £cclc« Hist, by Maclaine, vol iv. p. 452. t Brandt, p. 49> &c. % Brandt, p. 51. , II Mosheim, vol. iv. p. 484. Letter VI. 49 Lii five liberty, Coun- n with vicked, ; such, liple of irledged .jeydfcu, certain ermany, larrying ss other interior esent of lis disci- 3 streets, id, when cuted fot scaffold, I, another the Mes- ' Kill the your re- credited of them, lient was was the nd other because f.ouviction t of their enthusi- , a disci- to Eng- Imen that kne love, Int, tit, im. li solum & [\. et Reip. I 46. Mo ]p. 49, &c. and that all other things relating either to faith or \\orshlp, are of no moment.* He extended this maxim even to the funda- .nental precepts of morality, professing to continue in sin that ^race might abound. His followers, under the name of tho Familisls, or The Family of Love, were very numerous at the end of the sixteenth century, about which time, Hacket. a Cal- vinist giving way to the same spirit of delusion, became deeply persuaded that the spirit of the Messiah had descended upon him ; and, having made several proselytes, he sent two of them, Arthington and Coppinger, to proclaim through the streets of London, that Christ was come thither with his fan in his hand. This spirit, instead of being repressed, became still more un- governable at the sight of the scaffold and the gibbet, prepared in Cheapside for his execution. Accordingly he continued till the last, exclaiming, " Jehova, Jehova; don't you see the hea- vens open, and Jesus coming to deliver me, &c."t Who has not heard of Venner, and his FifTh Monarchy-men, who, guided by the same private spirit of inspiration, rushed from their meeting house in Coleman street, proclaiming that they would " acknowledge no sovereign but king Jesus, and that they would not sheathe their swords, till they had made Babylon (that is monarchy) a hissing and a curse, not only in England, but also throughout foreign countries ; having an assurance that one of them would pkit a thousand enemies to flight, and two of them ten thousand ?" Venner being " taken and led to execution, with several of his followers, protested it was not he, but Jesus, who had acted as their leader."| I pass over the unexampled follies and the horrors of tlie grand rebellion, having detailed many of them elsewhere.^ It is enough to remark that, while many of these were committed from the licentiousness of pri- vate interpretation of Scripture, many others originated in the enthusiastic opinion which I am now combating, that of an im- mediate individual inspiration, equal, if not superior, to that of the Scriptures themselves. || It was in the midst of these religious and civil commotions that the most extraordinary people of all those who have adopt- ed the fallacious rule of private inspiration, started up at the call of George Fox, a shoe-maker of Leicestershire. His funda- mental propositions, as laid down by the most able of his follow- • Ibid. Brandt. + Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 113 Stow's Annals, A. D. J 591. ■ t Kchaid's Hist, of Eng. &c. $ Letters to a Prebendary. Reign of Charles I. U See the reinarltable hi^torv of the military preachers at Kiogstoo. IbidL 5 oo Letter VI. ers,* are, that, " The Srciplures are not the adequate prtmarf rule of faith and manners, — but a secondary rule, subordinate tn the spirit, from which ihey have iheir excellency and certainty :"| that the testimony of the spirit is *hat alone by which the true knowledge of God hath jeen, is, and can be revealed :"t thai " all true and acceptable worship of God is offered in the inward and inunediate moving and drawing of his own spirit, which ia neither limited to places, times, nor persons."^ Such are tho avowed principles of the people called Quakers : let us now see some of the fruits of those principles, as recorded by themselves, in their founder and first apostles. George Fox tells of himself, that at the beginning of his mis- sion he was " moved to go to several courts and steeple-houses, (churches) at Mansfield, and other places, to warn them to leave off oppression and oaths, and to turn from deceit, and to turn to the Lord."l| On these occasions the language and behaviour of his spirit was very far from the meekness and respect for con- stituted authorities of the Gospel spirit, as appears from different passages in his Journal.1^ He tells us of one of his disciples, William Simpson, who was " moved of the Lord to go, at several times, for three years, naked and barefoot before them, as a sign unto them, in markets, courts, towns, cities, to priests houses, and to great men's houses, telling them, so should they he all stripped naked. Another Friend, one Robert Huntingdon was moved of the Lord to go into Carlisle steeple-house with a white sheet about hitn."** We are told of a female Friend who went " stark naked in the midst of public worship, into Whitehall chapel, when Cromwell was there ;" and another woman, who • Uiihort Barclay's Apology for the Quakers. t Propos. III. In defending this proposition, Barclay cites Bome of the Friend?, who, being unable to read the Scriptures, ev«n in the vulgar lain- guage, and being pressed by adversaries with passages from \tyboldh demtd, from the manifeslation of truth in their own hearts, that such pussuges were contaiwd in the Scriptures, p. 82. t Propos. II. § Propos. XI. II See the Journal of George Fox, written by himself, and published by his disciple Penn, son of admiral Penn, folio, p. 17. IT I shall satisfy myself with citing part of his letter, written in 1660, to Charles II. ' King Charles, thou camest not into this nation by sword nor by victory of war, but by the power of the Lord. And if thou dost bear the sword in vain, and let drunkenness, oaths, plays, May-games, with fiddlers, drums, and trumpets to play at them, with such like abominations and vanities, be encouraged, or go unpunished, as sotting up of May-poles, with the image of a crown a-top of them, the nation will quickly turn, like Sodora and Gomorrah, and be as bad as the old world, who giieved the Lord, till he overthrew them : and so he will you, if these things be not ■addenly prevented," &c. Q F.'s Journal, p. '2^5, *• Journal p. 239. Letter VL 91 eame into the parliament hous*^ with a trencher in her hand, which she broke in pieces, sannji^, thus shall he be broken in pieces." — One came to the door of the piirliament house with u drawn sword, and wounded several, saying, h" "os inspired ' '• the Holy Spirit to kill every man that sat in that house."* lint on no one occasion have the Friends, with George F'ox himself, been so embarrassed to save their rule of faith, as they have been to reconcile with it the conduct of James Naylor.f VVh vi certain low and disorderly people in Hampshire, disgraced their society and became obnoxious to the laws, G. Fox disowiiod them,| but, when a Friend of James Naylor's character aad services^ became the laughing-stock of the nation for his pre- sumption and blasphemy, there was no other way for the society to separate his cause from their own, but by abandoning their fundamental principles, which leaves every man to follow the spirit within him, as he himself feels it. The fact is, Jai,.^.> Naylor, like so many other dupes of a supposed private spiiitj fancied himseff to be the Messiah, and in this character rodo into Bristol, his disciples spreading their garments before him, .id crying, Holy, holy, holy, hosunnah in the highest : and when bo had been scourged by order of parliament, for his impiety, lie permuted the fascinated women, who followed him, to kiss h;.' feet and his wounds, and to hail him " the prince of peace, the rose of Sharon, the fairest of ten thousand,"! &c. I pass over many sects of less note, as the Muggletonians, the Labbadists, &c. who, by pursuing the meteor of a supposed inward light, were led into the most impious and immoral prac- tices. Allied to these are the Moravian brethren, or Hernhut- ters, so called from Hernhuth in Moravia, where their apostle, count Zinzendorf, made an establishment for them. They are now spread over England, with ministers and bishops appoint- ed by others resident at Hernhuth. Their rule of faith, as laid down by Zinzendorf, is an imaginary inward light, against which * Maclaine'a note on Mosheim, vol. v. p. 470. I See History of the Quakers, by William Sewel, folio, p. 138. Journal of G. Fox, p. 220. t Journal of G. Fox, p. 320. § Ibid. p. 2-20. Sewel's Hist, of Quakers, p. 140. II Eciiard's Hist. Maclaine's Mosheim. Neal's Hist, of Puritans. In closing this account of the Quakers, we may remark that there is no ap- pearance yet of the fulfilment of the confident propliecy with which Bar- clay concludes his Apology : " That little spark (Qviakerism) that hath appeared, shall grow to the consuming of whatsoever shall stand tip to op- pose it. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it ! Yea ; he that hath risen in a small remnant, shall arise and go on by the same arm of power in his spiritual manifestation until he hath conquered all his enemies ; until all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdom of Jesus Christ." - V:v,i-., //VT"; ■;"""■- -^ 52 Leftftr VI. the true believer cannot sin. This they are taught to wait fo in quiet, omitting prayer, reading the Scriptures, and other works* They deny that even the moral law contained in the Scriptures IS a tide of life for believers. Having considered this system in all its bearings, we are the less surprised at the disgusting obscenity, mingled with blasphemy, which is to be met with in the theological tracts of the Uerman count.f The next system of delusion which I shall -mention, as pro- ceeding from the fatal principle of an interior rule of faith! though framed in England, was also the work of a foreign no- bleman, baron Swedenborg. His first supposed revelation was at an eating-house in London, about the year 1745. " After I had dined," says he, " a man appeared to me sitting in the cor- ner of the room, who cried out to me, with a terrible voice. Don't eat so much. The following night the same man appeared to me, shining with light, and said to me, / am the Lord your Cre- ator and Redeemer, I have chosen you to explain to men the inte- rior and spiritual sense of the Scriptures: I will* dictate to you what you are to write"^ His imaginary communications with God and the angels were as frequent and familiar as those of Mahomed, and his conceptions of heavenly things were as gross and incoherent as those of the Arabian impostor. Suffice it to say that his God is a mere wan, his angels are male and f male, who marry together and follow various trades and professions. Fl nally, his Neun Jerusalem, which is to be spread, over the whole earth, is so little difTerent from this sublunary world that the entrance into it is imperceptible. i^ So far is true, that the New Jerusalemites are spread throughout England, and have chapels in most of its principal towns. || • Wesley, in a letter which he inscribes " To the church of God at Hernhuth," says, ♦• There are many whom your brethren have advise** though not in their public preaching, not to usp the Ordinances — reading the Scripture, praying, communicating ; as the doing these things is Fcvkutg salvation by works. Some of oiM* English brethren (Moravians) say, VVm will never ha^c fai/A till you leave off the church and the nacrumnita: as many go to hell by praying as by Ihieviuff" Journal, 1740. John Nelson, in his own Journal, tells us, that the Moravians call their religion lAn Lib- erty, and the Poor Sinnerskip, adding that " they sell their prayer books, and Ivave ofl'rc>ading and praying to follow (he Lamb." 1 See Muclaine's Hist vul vi. p. iJ3, and bishop Warburton's Doctrine of Grace, quoted by him. J i^arucl's Hist, du Jacobinidme, torn. iv. p. 1I8. • *' I Harufl's Hist. v ! ving in the greatest immoralities. — How few of our societi here cheat- ing, extorting, or some other evil hath not broke out, and given such shakes to the ark of the Gospel, that, had not the Lord in- terposed, it must have been overset I"^ — " 1 have seen them who pass for believers, follow the strain of corruj nature ; and when they should have exclaimed against Antinomianism, I have heard them cry ont against the legality of their wicked hearts, which they said, still suggested that they were to do something for their salvation "\\ — " How few of our celebrated pulpits, where more has not been said for sin than against it .'"^f — 'i'he same cnndid writer, layinf open the foulness of his former system, charges Sir Kichard Hill, who persisted in it, with maintaining that, " Even adultery and murder do not hurt the pleasant chil- ♦ Whitehead's Life of John anc\ Charles Wesley, vol. ii p. 68 t Journal, A. D. 1739. Elsewhfre, Wesley says, " what a work haa (lod begun since Peter Bohler came to England ! such a one as shall never come to an end, till heaven and earth pass away." t Vido Whitehead, vol. ii. page 71>. In a letter to his brother Samuel, John Wesley says, " By a Christian, I mean one who so believes in Christ mat death bath no dominion over him, and in this obvious sense of the word I WAS not a Christian till '24th of May, last year." Ibid. 105. t Checks to Antinom. vol. i.. p. "H. ' I. Ibid, page iiOO. , ' % ibid page 215. ^ '" Letter VL 55 dren, but rather work for their good."* — " God sees no sin in believers, whatever sin they commit. My sins might displease God ; my person is always acceptable to him. Though 1 shouUl outsin Manasses, 1 should not be less a pleasant child, because God always views me in Christ. Hence, in the midst of adul- teries, murders and incests, he can address me with. Thm ari all fair my love, my undejiled, there is no spot t/i /Aec."t— " It is a most pernicious error of the schoolmen to distinguish sins accor ding to the /ac^ and not according to the person.^* — "Though I blame those who say, Let us sin that grace may abound, yet adultery, incest, and murder, shall, upon the whole, make uie holier on earth, and merrier in heaven "X These doctrines and practices, casting great disgrace on Me- thodism, alarmed its founder. He therefore held a synod of liis chief preachers, under the title of a Conference, in which he and they unanimously abandoned their past fundamental principles, in the following confession which they made. — " Quest- 17. Have we not unawares, leaned too much to Galvanism ? Ans. We are afraid we have. Quest. 18. Have we not also leaned too much to Antinomianism ? Ans. We are afraid we have. Quest. 20. What are the main pillars of it ? Ans. 1. That Christ abolished the moral law : 2. That Christians therefore are not obliged to observe it : 3. That one branch of Christian liberty, is liberty from observing the commandments of God," &c.^ The publication of this retraction, in 1770, raised the indignation of the more rigid Methodists, namely, the Whitefieldites, Jumpers, (fee. all of whom were under the particular patronage of lady Huntingdon : accordingly her chaplain, the H'^i;. and Rev. VV al- ter Shirley, issued a circular letter by her direction, calling a general meeting of her connexion, as it is called, at Bristol, to censure this " dreadful heresy," which, as Shirley affirmed, " in- jured the very fundamentals of Christianity." || • ' Fletcher's Works, vol. iii. page 50. Agricola, one of Luther's first dia- ciples, is called the founder of the Antinomians. These hold that th« faithful are bound by no law, eifther of God or man, and that good works of every kind are useless to salvation ; while Amsdorf, Luther s pot-com- panion, taught that they are an impediment to salvation. Mosheim's Ec- cics. Hist, by Macliine, vol. iv. p H.'>. p .328. Eaton, a Puritan, in his Iloni'ifCiimb nf Jii:<(ijicaii on ^ says, "Believers ouj^t not to mourn for ^iu, because it was pardoned before it was committed." + i'letcher, vol. iv. p. 97. t 7 "ted by Fletcher. Seo also Daubony's Guide to the Church, p. 82. k .' f)U(l Wiiitehead, p 213. Benson's Apology, p. 'J()8. II h lotchor's Works, vol. ii. p. 5. Whitehead. Nightingale's Porlrtit of Methodism, p. 463. m 56 Letter YIL Having exhibited this imperfect sketch of t1»o errors, contra dictions, absurdities, impieties, and immorai, .es, into whicl numberless Christians, most of them, no doubt, sincere in theii belief, have fallen, by pursuing phantoms of their imagination for divine illuminations, and adopting a supposed immediate and personal revelation as the rule of their faith and conduct, I would request any one of your respectable society, ivho may, still ad- here to it, to reconsider the self-evident maxim laid dow^n in the beginning of this letter ; namely, that cannot be the rule of faith and conduct which is liable to lead us, and has led very many well meaning persons into error and impiety ; I would remind him of his frequent mistakes and illusions respecting things of a tem- porary nature) then, painting to his mind the all-importance of ETERNITY, that is of happiness or misery inconceivable and everlasting, I would address him in the wordnof St. Augustine, •• What is it you are trusting to, poor, weak soul, and blinded with the mists of the flesh : what is it you are trusting to ? J. M LETTER VII. To JAMES BROWN, Esq ,jc. objections answered. "^^ . Dear Sir. 1 HAVE just received a letter from Friend ivankin of Wen- lock, written much in the style of George Fox and another from Mr. Ebenezcr Topham, of Brozeley. Thej both consist of objections to my last letter to you, which the) ha^ perused at New Cottage ; and the .vriters of them both requ "ist that I would address whatever answer I might give them, to yrur villa! Friend Rankin is sententious, yet civil. He asks, f\rst, Whether " Friends at this day and in past times, and ever the faithful servant of Christ, George Fox, have not condemned the vain imaginations of James Naylor, Thomas Bushel, John. Perot, and the sinful doings of many others, through whom the w>rd of life was blasphemed in their day among the ungodly ?" Fie asks, secondly, " Whether numberless follies, blasphemies, an({ crimes, have not risen up in the Roman Catholic as well as in other churches ?" He asks, thirdly, Whether the " learned itobert Barclay in his glorious Apology, haih not shown forth, tha*. iht testimony of the spirit is that atone by which the true knowudcre of God, hath been, is, and can be revealed and confirmed ; and Uiis not only by the outward testimony of Scripture, but also bv Letter VII. ST that of TertuUian, Hierom, Augustin, Gregory the Great, FJer- nard, yea also by Thomas a Kempis, F. Pacificus Baker,* and many others of the Popish communion, who, says Robert Bar- clay, have known and tasted the love of God, and felt the power and virtue of God's spirit working within them for their salva« tion?"t. I will first consider the arguments of Friend Rankin. I grant him, then, that his founder, George Fox, does blame certain extravagancies of Naylor, Perot, and others, his followers, at the same time that he boasts of several committed by himself, by Simpvson, and others4 But how does he confute them, and guard others against them ? VVhy, he calls their authors ranters, and charges tl em with running out !^ Now what kind of argu- ment is this in the mouth of G. Fox against any fanatic, how- ever furious, when he himself has taught him, that he is to- listen to the spirit of God within himself ^ in pnference to the authority of any man and of all men, and even of the Gospel? G. F«)X was not more strongly moved to believe that he was the messen- ger of Christ, than J. Naylor was to believe that he himself was Christ: nor had he a firmer conviction that the Lord forbade hat-ivrrship, as it is called, out of prayer, than J. Perot|| and his company had that they were forbidden to use it in prayer.*^ Secondly, with respect to the excesses and crimes commited by many Catholics, of different ranks, as well as by other men, in all ages, I answer, that these have been commitled, not in virtue of their rvlc of faith and conduct, but in direct opposition to it, as will be more fully seen, when we come to treat of that rule ; whereas the extravagancies of the Quakers were the immedviie dictates of the imaginary spirit which they followed as their guide. Lastly, when the doctors of the Catholic church teach * An English Benedictine Monk, author of Sancta Sophia, which is quoted at length by Barclay. ' + Apology, p. 351. t See Journal of Q. Fox, passim. § Spyaking of James Naylor he says, " I spake with hi;n, for I saw he was nut and wrong ; he slighted what I said, and was dark and much out." Journ p- '2*20. II Journ. p. 310. This and another friend, John Love, went on a mission to Rome, to convert the Pope to Quakerism ; but his Holiness not under- standing English, when they addressed him with some coarse English epithets in iSt Poter's church, they had no better success than a fi-male friend, Mary f'sher, had, wlio wont into Greece to convert the Great Turk. See Se\/ors Hist. IT " Now he (Fox) found also that the Lord forbade him to put oft" his hat to any men either high or low ; and he required to 'I'/tou and Thee every man and woman, without distinction, and not to bid people Good vionoir, or Good evening: neither might ho bow, o"* scrapo with bitt leg " bowel't Hisi p. Id So'o there » DtstfertAtiOD en Hai^vfOr^Mp- 58 Letter VII. us, after the inspired writers, not to extinguish, but to walk in the spirit of God, they tell us, at the same time, that this holy spirit invariably and necessarily leads us to hear the church, and to practise that humility, obedience, and those other virtues, which she constantly inculcates : so that, if it were possible for an angel from heaven to preach another Gospel than what we have received, he ought lo be rejected, as a spirit of darkness. Even Luther, when the Anabaptists first broached many of the leading tenets of the Quakers, required them to demonstrate their pre- tended commission from God, by incontestable miracles,* or submit to be guided by his appointed ministers. I have now to notice the letter of Mr. Topham.f Some of his objections have already been answered, in my remarks on Mr. Rankin's letter. What I find particular, in the former, is the following passage : " Is it possible to go against conviction and facts ? namely, the experience that very many serious Chris- tians feel, in this day of God's power, that they are made par- takers of Christ and of the Holy Ghost ? Of very many that hear him saying to the melting heart, with his still, small, yet penetrating and renovating voice. Thy sins are forgiven thee : be thou clean: thy faith hath made thee whole? If an exterior proof were wanting, to show the certainty of this interior con- viction, I might refer to the conversion and holy life of those who have experienced it." — To this I answer, that the facts and the conviction which your friend talks of, amount to noth- ing more than a certain strength of imagination and warmth o* sentiment, which may be natural, or may be produced by that lying spirit, whom God permits sometimes to go forth, and to persuade the presumptuous to their destruction. 1 Kings xxii. 22. I presume Mr. Topham will allow, that no experience he has felt or witnessed exceeds that of Bockhold, or Hacket, or Naylor, mentioned above, who, nevertheless, were confessedly betrayed by it into most horrible blasphemies and atrocious crimes. The virtue most necessary for enthusiasts, because the most remote from them, is an humblo diffidence in themselves. When Oliver Cromwell was on his deuth-bed, Dr. Godwin be- ing present, among other ministers, prophesied that the Pro- tector would recover : death, however, almost immediately en- suing, the Puritan, instead of acknowledging his error, cast the , V . * Sleidan. t U was originally Intended to insert these and the other letters of the same description : but as this would have rendered the work too bulky, attd as the whole of the objections may be gathered from the aaswora tu them, that inteatlon hee been ebendonM. , ,., . . .^, y.i. Letter VIII. 59 61aine upon Almighty God, exclaiming, " Lord, thou hast de- ceived us and we have been deceived !"* With respect to the alleged purity of Antinomian saints, 1 would refer to the his- tory of the lives and deaths of many of our English regicides, and to the gross immoralities of numberless Justified Metho- distSf described by Fletcher, in his Cheeks to Antinomianism.i I am, &c. J. M. LETTER VIII. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. second fallacious rule. Dear Sir, I TAKE it for granted, that my answers to Messrs. Rankin and Topham have been communicated to you, and I hope that they, in conjunction with my preceding letters, have convinced those gentlemen, of what you, dear sir, have all along, been convinced, namely, of the inconsistency and fanaticism of every pretension on the part of individuals, now-a-days, to a new and particular inspiration, as a rule of faith. The question which remains for our inquiry is, whether the rule or method prescribed by the church of England and other more rational classes ol Protestants, or that prescribed by the Catholic church, is the one designed by our Saviour Christ for finding out his true religion. You say that the whole of this is comprised in the written word of God, or the Bible, and that every individual is a judge for himself of the sense of the Bible. Hence, in every religious controversy, more especially since the last change of the inconstant Chillingworth,| Catholics have been stunned with the cries of jarring Protestants sects and individuals, proclaiming that, the Bible, the Bible alone is their religion : and hence, more * See Bii'ch's Life of Archbishop Tillotson, p. 17. t I his candid and able writer says, " The Puritans and first Quakers soon got over the edge of internal activity into the smooth and easy path of Laodicean formality. Most of us, called Methodists, have already fol- lowed them. We fall asleep under the bewitching power ; we dream strange dreams ; our salvation is finished; we have got above legality ; we have attained (Christian liberty ; we have nothing to do ; our covenant is sure." Vol. ii. p. 233. He refers to several instances of the most flagitious conduct which human nature is capable of, in persons who had attained to what they cMjiuiahnd salvation. t ChiUinijworth was firs.: a Protestant, of the establishment : he next be- camu a Catholic, and studied in one of our seminaries. He then returned, /n part, to his former creed : and last of all, he gave tntoSocinianisin, which his writings greatly promoted. -' ' 60 Letter VIII. particularly at the present day, Bibles are distributed by hun- dreds of thousands, throughout the empire and the four quarters of the globe, as the adequate means appointed by Christ, of uni- ting and reforming Christians and of converting Infidels. On the other hand, we Catholics hold that the Word of God in general both written and unwritten, in other words, the Bible and tradition, taken together, constitute the rule of faith or method for finding out the true religion : and that, besides the rule itself, he has provided in his holy church, a living, speaking judge to watch over it and explain it in all matters of controversy. That the latter, and not the former, is the true rule, I trust I shall be able to prove as clearly as 1 have proved that private inspiration does not constitute it : and this I shall prove by means of the two maxims I have, on that occasion, made use of ; namely, the rule of faith, appointed by Christ must be CERTAIN and UN- ERRING, that is to say, it must be one which is not liable to lead any rational and sincere inquirer into inconsistency or error : secondly, this rule must be UNIVERSAL ; that is to say, it must be proportioned to the abilities and circumstances of the great bulk of mankind. I. If Christ had intended that all mankind should learn his religion from a book, namely. The New Testament, he himseh would have written that book, and would have laid it down, as the first and fundamental precept of his religion, the obligation of learning to read it ; whereas, he never wrote any thing at all, unless perhaps the sins of the Pharisees with his finger upon the dust, John viii. 6.* It does not even appear that he gave his apostles any command to write the Gospels ; though he re- peatedly and emphatically commanded them to preach it, {Matt. X.) and that to all the nations of the earth, Matt, xxviii. 19.— In this ministry they all of them spent their lives, preaching the religion of Christ in every country, from Jrdea to Spain, in one direction, and to India in another ; every where establishing churches, and commending their doctrine to faithful men who should be ft to teach others also. 2. Tim. ii. 2. Only a part of them wrote any thing, and what these did write was. for the most part, addressed to particular persons or congregations, and on particular occasions. The ancient fathers tell us that St. Matthew wrote his Gospel at the particular request of the Chris tians of Palestine,! ancl that St. Mark composed his at the desire • It is agreed upon amonfi;thelearned,that. the supposed letter of ChrUtto Abgarus, king ot Ede5sa, quoted by Eusebias, Hiat Eccl. 1. 1. is spurious t Eueeb. 1. 3. Hist. Eccl. Chryeca in Mat Horn .1 Iren. 1. 3. c. I. Hicrtn %h* Vir. niUBt Letter VIIl. rrcat gave he re- Matt. 9.— g the in one ishing who art ot r the s, and at St. Chris dfesire of thw ^ at RoiT»3,* St. Luke addressed his Gospel to an indi- vidual, Theophilus, having written it, says the holy evangelist, because it seemed good to him to do so. Luke i. 3. St. John wrote the last of the Gospels in compliance with the petition of the clergy and people of Lesser Asia,t to pro\''e, in particular, the divinity of Jesus Christ, which Cerinthus, Ebion, and other here- tics began then to deny. No doubt the evangelists were moved by the Holy Ghost to listen to the requests of the faithfid in writing their respective Gospels ; nevertheless, there is nothing in these occasions, nor in the Gospels themselves, which indicates that any one of them, or all of them together, contain an entire, detailed, and clear exposition of the whole religion of Jesus Christ. The canonical Epistles in the New Testament, show the par- ticular occasions on which they were written, and prove, as the bishop of l^incoln observes, that " they are not to be considered as regular treatises on the Christian Religion. "J IL In supposing our Saviour to have appointed his bare writ- ten word for the rule of our faith, without any authorized judge to decide on the unavoidable controversies growing out of it, you would suppose that he has acted differently from what com- mon sense has dictated to all other ligislators. For where do we read of a legislator, who, after dictating a code of laws, ne- glected to appoint judges and magistrates to decide their mean- ing, and to enforce obedience to such decisions ? You, dear sir, have the means of knowing what would be the consequence of leaving any act of parliament, concerning taxes, or inclosures, or any other temporal concerns, to the interpretation of the indi- viduals whom it re^^ards. Alluding to the Protestant rule, the illustrious Fenelon has said, " It is better to live without any law, than to have laws which all men are left to interpret accord- ing to their several opinions and interests."^ The bishop of London appears sensible of this truth, as far as regards temporal affairs, where he writes, " In matters of property indeed, some decision, right or wrong, must be made : society could not subsist without it :"|| just as if peace and unity were less necessary in the one sheepfuld of the one shepherd, the church of Christ, than they are in civil society ! HI. The fact is, this method of determining religious ques- tions by Scripture only, according to each individual's interpre- tation, whenever and wherever it has been adopted, has always produced endless and incurable disscntioiis, and of course er- • Euseb 1. 2. c. 15. Hist Eccl. Epiph. Hieron. do Vir. lUust. t Euseb. 1. 6 Hist. Eccl. Hieron. t Elom, of Chriat. Rel. vol. i. p. 277 8 Life of Aithbp. F6neloh, by Ramsey. ii Urief Confut. p. l8. 62 Letter VIII. rors ; because truth is one, while errors are numberless. Th« ancient fathers of the church reproached the sects of hereti«fc and schismatics witli tlieir endless internal divisions ; *• See, says St. Augustine, " into how many morsels those are divided, who have divided themselves from the unity of the church !"* Another father writes, " It is natural for error to be ever chang- ing.! The disciples have the same right in this matter that their masters had." To speak now of the Protestant reformers. No sooner had their progenitor, Martin Luther, set up the tribunal of his pri- vate judgment on the sense of Scripture, in opposition to the authority of the church, ancient and modern ,| than his disci- ples, proceeding on his principle, undertook to prove, from plain texts of the Bible, that his own doctrine was erroneous, and that the Reformation itself wanted reforming. Carlostau,^ Zuin- gliusjll OScolompadius, Muncer,l[ and a hundred more of his followers wrote and preached against him and against each other, with the utmost virulence, still each of them professing to ground his doctrine and conduct on the written word of God alone. In vain did Luther claim a superiority over them ; in vain did he denounce hell-fire against them ;** in vain did he threaten to return back to the Catholic religion :tt he had put the Bible into each man's hand to explain it for himself : this his followers continued to do in open defiance of him \X\ till their * St. Aug. 1 Tertul, de Praescrip. t This happened in June, 1520, on his doctrine being censured by the Pope. Till this time, he had submitted it to the judgment of the Holy See. § He was Luther's first disciple of distinction, being archdeacon of Wit- temberg. He declared against Luther in 152L II Zuinglius began the reformation in Switzerland, sometime after Luther began it in Germany ; but taught such doctrine, that the latter termed him a pagan, and said, he despaired of his salvation. If [ie was the disciple of Luther, and founder of the Anabaptists, who. in quality of the just, maintained that the property of the wicked belonged to them, quoting the second beatiiude : blessed are the meek for they shall possess the land. Muncer wrote to the several princes of Germany, to give up their possessions to him ; and, at the head of forty thousand of his fol lowers, marched to enforce this requisition. •• He says to them, " I can defend you against the Pope — but when the devil shall urge against you (the heads of these changes) at your death, these passages of Scripture, they ran and J did not send them, how shall you withstand him ! He will plunge you headlong into hell." — Oper. tom. vii. fol. 274. tt " If you continue in these measures of your common deliberations, I will recant whatever I have written nr said, and leave you. Mind what I say." — Oper. turn. vii. fol. 27G. edit. Wittemb. t* See the curious challenge of Luther to Carlostad to write a book against the real presence, when one wishes the other to break his neck, and the other letorti, mriy I see thee broken on the rchevl. — Vtritt. b. ii. n. 13. / Letter VIII. es m mutual contradictions and discords became so numerous and scandalous, as to overwhelm the thinking part of them with /^rie/ and confusion,* To point out some few of the particular variations alluded to \ for to enumerate them all, would require a work vastly more voluminous than that of I3os8uet on this subject : it is well known that Luther's fundamental principle was that of imputed justice, to the exclusion of all acts of virtue and good works whatsoever. His favourite disciple and bottle-companion, Ams- dorf, carried this principle so far as to maintain that good works are a hinderance to salvation.ji In vindication of his fundamen* tal tenet, Luther vaunts as follows : This article shall remain, in spite of all the world : it is I, Martain Luther, evangelist, who say it : let no one therefore attempt to infringe it, neither the emperor of the Romans, nor of the Turks, nor of the Tar-, tars ; neither the Pope, nor the monks, nor the nuns, nor the kings, nor the princes, nor all the devils in hell. If they attempt it, may the infernal flames be their recompense. What I say here is to be taken for an inspiration of the Holy Ghost."| — Notwithstanding, however, these terrible threats and impreca- tions of their master, Melancthon, with the rest of the Luther- ans, immediately after his death, abandoned this article, and went over to the opposite extreme of Semipelagianism ; name- ly, they not only admitted the necessity of good works, but they also taught that these are prior to God's grace. Still on this single subject, Osiander, a Lutheran, says, " there are twenty several opinions, all drawn from the Scripture, and held by dif- ferent members of the Augsburg, or Lutheran Confession,"^ Nor has the unbounded license of explaining Scripture, each one in his own way, which Protestants claim, been confined to • Capito, minister of Strasburg, writing to Farel, past' ■• of Geneva, thus complains to him : " God hag given me to understand the mischief we have done, by our precipitancy in breaking with the pope, &c. The people say to us, I know enough of the Gospel: I can read it for myself. I have no need of you." Inter Epist Calvini. In the same tone, Dudith writes to his friend Beza, " Our people are carried away with every wind of doctrine. If you know what their religion is to-day, you cannot tell what it will be to-morrow. In what single point are those churches which have declared war against the pope agreed among th.-mselves 1 There is not one point which is not held by some of them as an article of faith, and by others as an impiety." In the same sentiment, Calvin, writing to Mclanethon, says, •' It is of great importance that the divisions, which subsistamong us, should not be known to future ages : for nothing can be more ridiculous than that we, who have broken off from the whole world, should have agreed so ill among ourselves, from the very beginning of the Reformation." t Mosheim Hist, by Maclaine, vol. iv. p. 328. ed. 1790. t Visit. Saxon. f Archdeacon Blackburn's ConfeuionM, p. 16, ,.(? :^i 64 Lfttn VlJl nipro (MTorji nnil tlisaonaions ; it \\x\n j»Kso cniisetl mntnni porsoou* tioM mill bloodsluMl ;• it Imn pnuliuMMl iumuli«, robollions, and an- mvhy, bovonil ivoouniinff. Di-. Hoy ussorls, ih.»t •* 'riunnisin- tcrnrolntion of fSnipUiio hioiight, on tho iui8ori»>!!i of the civil war ;"f uiul lonl Clurontlon, Mmlox, niul othor writorH, show ihiU tHfiro wjivS not a crime commilliMl hy tlio Puritan robola, in tho course of it, wliicli they did not profesa to juntify by toxta and in- Btnncea drawn from the aacrod voUunea.J l.ebind Horgier, IJaruol, Hobison, and Kelt, abundantly prove that the poisonous pbml ol Inlidolity, which baa produced such dreadful ellecls of late years on tl»e continent, was transplanted thither from this Protestant island ; and tlmt it was produced, nourished, and iiu^reaaod to its enoimous growth by that principU> of private judfjmenl in mat- ters of reli^nion, which is the very lounilation of the llefornuuion. Let us hear the two last mentioned authors, both of them Pro- testant clergymen, on this important subject. " The spirit of free im]uiry," says Rett, (pjotins* Uobison, " was tlie great boast of the l*rotest;inl8, and their only support against the Catholics; securing them, both in tlieir civil and religious rights. It was, therefore, encouraged by their governments, and sometimes in- dulged to excess. In the progress of this contest, their own Confessions did not escape censure ; and it was asserted, that the Uel'ormation, which tlit'sc confessions express, was not com- plete. Further refornuition was proposed. 'J'hu Scripturt's, the foundation of their faith, were examined by Clergymen of very dirterent capacities, dispositions, and views, till, by ox|)lain- ing, correctiii", allosjoiizing, ami otherwise twisting the HiUle, men's minds had hardly any thing to rest on, as a doctrine of revealed religion. This encouraged others to go furllicr, and to say that revelation was a solecism, as plainly appears by the irroconcdabledittoronccs among the enlightenersof the pub* lie, as they were called ; and that man had nothing to trust to. but the dictates of natural reason. Another set of writers, pro* ceeding from this, as from a point settled, proscribed all religion whatever, and openly taught the doctrines of Materi.ilism and Atheism. Most nf these innovations were the work of Protestant divinf^s^from the causes that I have mentioned. But the progress of Inlidelity was much accelerated by the establishment of a • See Letters to a Prebendary, chapter, Persecution. Numhcrles<» other pnx>fs of Brotestmts persecutins;, not only Catholics, but also their fellow ProtesL-ints, to dea.h, on Recount of their religious opinions, can bb ad iuceil. . ,t , ,. t Dr. Hev's Theological Lectures, vol. i. p. 77. t HM. of Civ. W»r. BxamiD. of Nealii Hist, tf Puritan*. .: , Letter /Iff. 66 lOU" an- sin- Mvil ihtit tho I in- ruol, nl oi •onrs stunt (tl to mat* iition. l'ro« irii of boast oUc8 ; t was, ^ es in- f own (1, that l ci)»n- 8, the very )luin- Jible, Dctiine , and us by le pvib- ust to. pro- oligion sm and tcntanl rogress nl of a 51*. Philttnthrnpinr, or nondomy (w'« Aiumls. 08 Letter VIII. his creed by the rule of Scripture alone. For do you, sir, really believe thu tbose persons of your communion, whom you see the most dilitjent and devout in turning over their Bibles, have really found out in them the Thirty-nine Articles, or any other creed which they happen to profess? To judge more certainly of this matter, I wish those gentlemen who are the most zeal- ous and active in distributing Bibles among the Indians, and Af- ricans, in their different countries, would procure, from some half dozen of the most intelligent and serious of their proselytes, who have heard nothing of the Christian faith by any other means than their Bibles, a summary of what they respectively under- stand to be the doctrine and the morality taught in that sacred volume. What inconsistent and nonsensical symbols should we not witness ! The truth is, Protestants are tutored from their iu- fincy, by the help of catechisms and creeds, m the systems of ^heir respective sects; they are guided by their parents and masters, and are influenced by the opinions and example of those with whom they live and converse, some particular texts of scripture are strongly impressed upon their minds, and others of an apparent different meaning, are kept out of their view, or glos- sed over; and above all, it is constantly inculcated to them that their religion is built upon Scripture alone ; hence, when they actually read the Scriptures, they fancy they see there what they have been otherwise taught to believe; the Lutheran for example, that Christ is really present in the sacrament ; the Cal- vinist, that he is as far distant from '* it as heaven is I'rom earth ;" th« churcbtnan, that baptism is necessary for infants ; the Bap- tist, ihat it s impiety to confer it upon them ; and so of all the other forty sects of Protestants, enumerated by Evans, in his Shelcli of the different Dinumiuations of C/trislians, and of twice forty other sects, whom he omits to mention. When I remarked that our blessed Master Jesus Christ wrote no part of the New Testament himself, and gave no orders to his xpostles to write it, I ought to have added that, if he had intended it, together with the Old Tesfament.to be the sole rule of religion, he would have provided means for their bein<( able to follow it ; knowing, as ho certainly did, that ninety-nine in every hundred, or rather nine hundred and ninety-nine in every thousand, in different aires and countries, would not be able to Tv.i I at all, and much loss to comproht-nd a pago of \h^. s icrcd writings : yet no such me:ins were provided by him : nor has hi3 80 much as enjoined it to his followers in general to study letters. Another observation on this Rubject, and a very obvious one b, that among those Christians, who profess that the Bible alono Lftter vrri. 69 is tlie rule of their religion, there ought to be no articles, no catechisms, no sermons, nor other instructions. True it is, that the abolition of these, however incompatible they are witb the rule itself, would quickly umlermine the established church, as its clergy now' bej^in to understand, and, if universally carried into effect, would in the end, efface the whole doctrine and mo- rality of the Gospel :* but this consequence only shows more clearly the falsehood of that exclusive rule. In fact, the most enlightened Protestants lind themselves here in a dilemma, and are obliged to say and unsay, to the amusement of some persons, and the pity of others.! 'l'I'.?y cannot abandon the rule of the Bible alone, as explained by each one for himself, without pro- claiming their guilt in refusing to hear the Catholic church ; and they cannot adhere to it, without opening the llood-gates to all the impiety and immorality of the age upon their own com- munion.— 1 shall have occasion hereafter to notice the claims of the established church to authority, in determining the ser.^e of Scripture, as well as in their religious controversies : in the mean time, I cannot but observe tl«.at her most able defenders are frequently obliged to abandon their own, and adopt the Catholic rule of faith. The judicious Hooker, in his defence of the church of Knglatid, writes thus, " Of this we are right sure, that nature. Scripture, and experience itself, have taught the world to seek for the ending of contentions, by submitting to some judicial and definite sentence, whereunto neither party that coiitendeth may, under any pretence or colour, refuse to stand. This must needs be effectual and strong. As for other means, without this, they seldom prevail."^ Another most clear- headed writer, and renowned defender of the establishment, whom I had the happiness of being acquainted with, Dr. Balguy,^ • The Protestant writers, Rett and Robinsnn, have shown, in the pas.^nge above quoted, how the principle of private ju ?<;mont tends to undermine Chri:Jtianity at lar.re ; and archdeacon Hoolc, ,u his UUe Charge, showd, hy an exact statement of capital convictions in different years, that the in- crease of immorality has kept pace with that of the Hible societies. t One of the latest instances of the distress in question was exhibited by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Marsh. In his publirati(m. The Io(juiiy,\i A^V.'^ said, very truly, that "the poor (who constiluto Uie bulk of niankinn; annot without assistance, understand the Scriptin -s." Boinsc congratulated on this! important, yet unavoidable concession, by the Rev. Mr Gandolpby, he tacks about, in a public letter to that gentleman, and siys, that what h« wrote, in his Im/uni/, concerning the necf^^ity of a further rule than mere Scripture only, ri-gards the c.<:////>//.\/i;,'ic«/ ot religion, not the // Jt/A of it : ust as if that rule were bUlFicieni to conduct the people to the truth of re- Liffioa, while lie ixpressly says they cannot uniUiilanU»it. X Hooker's Ecclt-s Politic Pr«f. art. (I. I Diacgursvi on vtrioui Subjtcta, by T. Balguy, D. D. archdMcon tXkA 70 Letter VIII. thus expresses hiuiself, in a Charge to the clergy of his arch deaconry : '• The opinions of the people are and must be founded more on authority than reason. Tbcii paicr/«, their teachers, their governors, in a great mea'^ure, determine for them, what they are to believe and what tc practise. The same doctrines uniformly taught, the same rites constantly performed, make such an impression on their minds, that they hesitate as little in admitting the articles of their faith, as in receiving the most established maxims of common life."* With such testi- monies before your eyes, can you, dear sir, imagine that the bulk of Protestants have formed their religion by the standard of Scripture ? He goes on to say, speaking of controverted points : •' Would you have ihem (the people) think for themselves ? Would you have them hear and decide the controversies of the learned ? Would you have them enter into the depths of criti- cism, of logic, of scholastic divinity ? You might as well expect them to compute an eclipse, or decide between the Cartesiai) and Newtonian philosophy. Nay, I will go farther : for I take upon myself to say, there are more men capable, in some com- petent degree, of understanding Newton's philosophy, than ol forming any judgment at all concerning the abstruser questions in metaphysics and theology." Yet the persons, of whom the doctor particularly speaks, were all furnished with bibles ; and the abstruse questions, which he refers to, are : " Whether Christ did or did not come down from heaven ?" whether *' he died or did not die for the sins of the world ?" whether *' he sent his Holy Spirit to assist and comfort us, or whether he did not send him ?"t The learned doctor elsewhere expresses himsell still more explicitly on the subject of Scripture, without churcb authority. He is combating the dissenters, but his .veapons art evidently as ♦'atal to his own church as to theirs. " It has lon^ been held among them, that Scripture only is the rule and test of all religious ordinances ; and that human authority is to bo altogether excluded. Their ancestors, I believe, would have been not a little embarrassed with their own maxim, if they had not possessed a singular talent of seeing every thing in Scripture which they had a mind to see. Almost every sect could find there its own peculiar form of church government ; and while prebendary of Winchester. Some of those discourses were preached at the consecration ot bishops, and published l)y rji'erofthe archbishop; ■oine in Ch irg^s to the Clcnjy. The whole oi' tiieni are dedicated to trie king whom the writ'r thanks for nainini; him to a higii dignity (the biihop- ric o( Uloucester,) ami for permitting him to decline accepting of it. * L)iscouri>eii on variuut) Subject;*, bv T. Balguy, D. D. p. 257 t Ibid. Letter IX. 71 they enforced only their own imaginations, they believed themselves to be executing the decrees of heaven "* I conclude this long letter, with a passage to the present pur- pose from our admired .iheological poet : " As long as words a different sense will bear, Aud eacli may be his own interpreter, Our airy faith will no foundation find : , .,,' The words a weathercock for every wind."§ I am, Dear Sir, 6lc. J. M. LETTER IX. . To JAMES BROWN, Esq. second false rule. Dear Sir, AFTER all that I have written concerning the rule of faith, adopted by yourself and other more rational Protestants, 1 have only yet treated of the extrinsic arguments against it. 1 now, therefore proceed to investigate its intrinsic nature, in order to show more fully the inadequacy, or rather the falsehood of it. When an English Protestant gets possession of an English Bible, printed by Thomas Basket, or other " printer to the king's most excellent majesty," he takes it in hand with the same con- fidence, as if he had immediately received it from the Almighty himself, as Moses received the Tables of the Law on Mount Sina, amidst thunder and lightening. But how vain is this confidence, whilst he adheres to the foregoing rule of faith ! How many questionable points does he assume, as proved, which cannot be proved, without relinquishing his own principles and adopting ours ! 1. Supposing then you, dear sir, to be the Protestant I have been speaking of; 1 begin with asking yoUjby what means have you learnt the canon of Scripture, that is to say, which are the books which have been written by divine inspiration ; or indeed tTiat any books at all, have been so written ? You cannot dis- cover either of these things by your rule, because the Scripture, as your great authority Hooker shows, | and Chillingworth al- lows cannot uetii testimony to itsdf. You will say that tKe Old Fostamcni was written by Mosts and the prophets, oTuI the New Teslamei\t by th(^ apjsthis of Christ and the rvfogelists. But admitting ail this ; it does not of itself prove tho- ihey «/• ways wrote, or indeed that they ever wrote, under the influ* * Di»cuur»e VII. p. W6. t Dryden'a Hiud and Paatbor, Vut 1. t EcClcs. Polit b. iii. dec 8. n L'ttfr IX. ence of inspiration. 'J'hcy wore, by nature, faliiblo men : ho>» have vou learnt lliat thov wore inlalliblo writers ? In the nexf place, you receive books, as canonical pal•l^> of the Testanient wliicli were not wiilten by apostles at all ; namely, the Go.speU of St. Mark and 8f. Luke, whilst yon reject an authentic work of great excelleruM.i,"* vyviii,^.' by one who is termed in Scripture an aj}ostle,\ an 1 dodurod t<» be ,// of the Holy G host, I I speak of St. Harnaby Lionly, you huo no sufficient authority for assortinu that t' ; ^'^'.o)^^d vclurir > o the genuine composition Df the lh>iy peroi iiagi^s wltoso ; j, os they bear, except tlie tra- diiion and iiving oice of the Catholic church, since numerous apo'.hryphiu' j.ropUecies and spuriini^) gospels and epistles, under the same or eqiidly vetjerable i lines, were circulated in the church, (' aing Us early >'J;un. .md iccreditcd by dillerent learned writtib and holy fathers : while some of the really canonical books wrre u^'jected or . ;ib!ed of by them. In short, it was not until t!ie end of .he fourth century, that the genuine canon of Holy Scripture was fixed : and then it was fixed by the tra- diiion and authority of the church, declared in the Third Council of Carthage and a Decretal of P. Innocent I. Iivdeed, it is so clear that the canon of Scripture is built on the tradition of the church, that most learned Protestants,^ with Luther himself, havejl beea foi ."ed to acknowleilge it, in terms almost as strong as those in the well known declaration of St. Augustine.il II. Again, supposirii^ the divine authority of the Sacred Hooks themselves to h.^ estabhshod ; how do you known that the copies of tlieni translated and printed in your liiblo are authentic ? It is agreed upon amiMigst the learned, that the original text of Mo- ses and the ancient prophets was destroyed, with the temple and city of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under Nebuchadnezzar ;•• and, though they were replaced by authentic copies, at the end of the Bab\lonish captivity, through the pious care of the proph- et fc^sdras or Ezra, yvx that these also perished in the subsequent persecution of Antiochus ;ff from which time wc have no evi- dence of the authenticity of th'i Old Testament till this was sup- plied by Christ and his aposUes, who transmitted it to the church. • St. Barnaby. See Crabe'a Spicileg. and Cotlerus'u Collect. t Acts xiv. 'il. J Acts xi. vJ4 § Hooker, Eccl. Polit. C. ui. S. 8. Dr. Lardnvr, in Bishop Wataon'* Coi. vol. ii. p. i>(). II " We aro obliged to yield many things to the Pcpists— that with them is the word of God, which we received iVom tlieai ; otherwise we should have known nothing at ull about it." ('omuient. oa John, c ]G. X '* 1 should not believe the Gospel itself, il' the authority of the Catholic cLurch did not oblig;e me to do so." Contra Episl. Fundam. *" Bfi^ttM Diiidert. in bishop Watdon'i Collect, vol. iii. p. 6. It Ibid, hovi 1 nex« inent work ipUire speak ty for isition c tra- lerous under in the Mimed lonical X w:i8 CMiion lie tru- /OiiiicU t is so of the imsolf, strong Hooks copies tic I It of Mo- )h^ and aar ;•• le end proph- tequent no evi- ls sup- hurch. iV"at3on'H ith them should Catholic It Il»id. Lrtler IX. 73 In like manner, granting, for example, that St. Paul wrote an in- spired lOpistle to the Konians, and another to the Epliesians; yet as the former was intrusted to an individual, the deaconess J'hebe, to be conveyed by her to its destination,* and the latter to his discipio 'I'ycliicuSjf for the same purpose, it is impossible for you to entertain a rational conviction that these Epistles as they stand in your Testament, are exactly in the state in which they issued from the apostle's pen or that they are ins genuine Epistles at all, without recurring to the tradition and authority of the Catholic church concerning them. To make short of this matter, I will not lead you into the labyrinth of Biblical criti- cism, nor will I show you the endless varieties of readings with respect to words and whole passages, which occur in ditferent copies of the Sacred Text, but will here content myself with re- ferring you to your own Bible Book, as printed by authority Look then at psalm xiv, as it occurs in the Book of Common Prayer, to which your clergy swear thfir " consent and assent ;" then look at the same psalm in your Bible : you will find four whole verses in the former, which arc left out of the latter ! What will you here say, dear sir ? You must say that your church has added to, or else that she has taken away from, the words of this prophecy !^ III. But your pains and perplexities concerning your rule of faith must not stop even at this point : for though you had de- monstrative evidence, that the-several books in your Bible are canonical and authentiit, in the originals, it would still remain for you to inquire whether or no they zxg faithfully translated in your English copy. In fact, you are aware that they were writ- ten, some of them in Hebrew and some of them in Greek, out of which languages they were translated, for the last time, by about fifty different men, of various capacities, learning, judgment, opin- ions, and prejudices.^ In this inquiry, the Catholic church her- self can afford you no security to build your faith upon ; much less can any private individuals whosoever. The celebrated Protestant divine, Episcopius, was so convinced of the fallibility of modern translations, that he wanied all sorts of persons, la- bourers, sailors, women, &lc. to learn Hebrew and Greek. In- • Rom. xvi. See Calmet, &c, t Ephes. vi. 21. t Tl»e verses in question beinn quoted by St. Paul, Rom. iii. 13, &c. thoro is no doubt but the common Bible is defrdive in this passage. — On Iho other hand, the bisiiop ot" Lincoln has published his conviction that tl»o most important passage in the New Testament, 1 John v. 7, for establish- ing the divinity of Jesus Christ, " is spurious." Elem. of Theo vol. ii. I-. i>0, 6 Sec a list of them in Ant. Johnson's Hist. Account. Theo. Collect, p. 95 I 1 . ' t IS. , w 74 Letter IX. depd, it is obvious that the sense of the text may depend upon the choice of a single word in the tr.inshition : luiy, it sometimes depends npon the mere punctuation ol" a sentence, as may he 8('(!n below.* Can you then, consistetit'.y, reject the authority ol' the great universal church, and yet b\iild upon that of some obscure translator in the veiyn of James I. ? No, sir ; you must yourself have compared your English Bible with the originals, and havT proved it to be a faithful version, before you can build your faith upon it as !'pon the Word of God. To say one word now of the Bibles themselves, which have been published by authority, or generally used by Protestants, in this country. Those of Tindall, Coverdale, and queen Elizabeth's bishops, were so notoriously corrupt, as to cause a general outcry agninst them, among learned Protestants, as well as among Catholics, in which the king (James I.) joined himself,t who accordingly ordered a new version of it to be made, being the same that is now in use, with some few alterations made after the restora- tion.! Now, though these new translators have corrected many wilful errors of iheir predecessors, most of which were levelled at Catholic doctrines and discipline,^ yet they have left a suffi- cient number of these behind, for which I do not find that their advocates offer any excuse.il I v. 1 will make a further supposition, namely, that you had the certainty even of revelation, as the Calvinists used to pre- tend they had, that your Bil)le is not only cunnniral, authentic, ar.fl faithful, in its I'lnglish garb; yet what would all this avail you, towards establishing your rule of laith, unless you could lie equally certain of your nndur standing the whole of it riohtly ? i or, as the learned Protestant bishop Walton says,*lf " The Word of • One of the stronj,est passages for the divinity of Christ is the follow- ing, as it is pointed out in the Vulgate : Ex qtuhns est C'/iristus, sccuiukm caiiirm, qui est. sui/cr itniidfi. Deux bciu-diclin in. scecula Rom. ix. 5. But see liovv Grotius and Socinus deprive the text of all its strength, by merely su!)stituting a point for a comma ; Re quibuse.H Chrislus, .seciindcm carncm. Qui est siipar oniniu Dcus benedi.ctua in srccula. i Bishop Watsoii'.s Collect, vol. iii. p !W. t Ibid. § These may be found in the learned Greg. Ivfartln's treatise o i the sub- ject, and in Ward's lirrata o the Protest >nt Bible. II Two of the.se I liad occasion to notice, in the Inquiry into the Char act"!- if Ik:-: Irish Ca!k<>Ucs, namely, I Cor. xi. '27, where the conjunctive a/if/ is put for the disjunctive nr ; and MM. xix. M, where r'///'«/' is put for il> nit ; to the altering of the sense, in both inst3ni;es. Now, though these corruptions stati I in direct o|)positioti to the original, as tlie ReV. Mr. Qrier and l»r. Ryan themselves (]uote it, yet these writers iiave the confi- dence to deny ihey are corrujitions, because they pretead to prove, Irom other texts, thai Ik': ''up is necjssurij, and that coiUint/icif is not accessary 1 1 Answer to Ward's Errata, p. 13, page 'hrist committed thi^ siicred pledge." This is exactly what St. Jeroni and St. Au^ustin had said jnany ajjes before him, " Let us be persuaded," says the foriuetj " that the Gospel consists not in the words, but in the sense. A wrong explanation turns the Word of God into the word of m:m, and wliat is worse, into the word of the devil ; |br the devil himself could quote the text of Scripture."! Now that there are in Scripture things hard to he understood, which the nn- iarufd and unstable wrest unto their own destruction, is expressly adinned in it.|: The same thing is proved by the frequent mistakes of the apostles themselves, with respect to the words of their divine Master. These obscurities are so numberless throujihout the sacred volumes, that the last quoted father, who was as bright anrl learned a divine as ever took the Bible in hand, says of it, " There are more things in Scripture that I am ignorant of than those I know."'^ Should you prefer a hiodern Protestant author- ity to an ancient Catholic one, listen to the clear-headed Dr. Bilouy. His words are these : " But what, you will reply, is all this to Christians ? to those who see, by a clear and strong liyht, the dispensation of God to mankind ? We are not as those who have no hope. The day-spring from on high hath visited ns. The spirit of God shall lead us into all truth. — To this delusive dream of human folly, founded only on mistaken interpretations of Scripture ; I answer, in one word : Open your Bibles : take ♦ le first-page that occurs m either Testament, and 'ell me with- >ut disguise ; is there nothing in it too hard for your understand- Jig? If you find all before you char and east/, you may thank God for giving you a privilege which he has denied to many thousands of sincere believers."|| Maiii/old is the cause of the obscurity of Holy Writ ; 1st, the 'xblimity of a considerable part of it, which speaks either liter- aii;- or figuratively of the Deity and his attributes ; of the Word incarnate ; of angels, and other spiritual beings : — 2dly, the mys- terious nature of prophecy in general: — 3dly, 'lie peculiar idioms of the Hebrew and Greek languages : — lastly, the numer- ous and bold figures of speech, such as allegory, irony, hyper- bole, catachresis, and antiphrasis, which are so frequent with • This obvious truth shows the extreme ab.surdity of our Bible societies and rnodert» schools, which regard nothing but the mere reading of Ik--: IJibIc, leaving persons to embrace the most opposite iiiterprefations of the saint tjxtL. t In. Ep ad Galat contra Lucif. t 2 Pet iii. 10. f St Aug. Ep. ad Januar. il Dr. Balguy's Discourses, p. 133, r A I ■ ' 76 Letter IX. thft sacrod penmen, particularly the ancient prophets.* I should like to hoar any one of those, who pretend to find the Scripture so easy, attempting to give a clear explanation of tlie C7th, alias the 68th Psalm ; or the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. Is it any easy matter to reconcile certain well-known speeches of each of the holy patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with the in- commutable precept of truth ? 1 may here notice, among a thousand other such difficulties, that when our Saviour sent his twelve apostles to preach the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he told ihem, according to St. Matthew x. 10. Provide neither gold nor silver — neither shoes nor yet staves : whereas St. Mark vi. says. He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. You may in- deed answer, with Chillingworth and bishop Porteus, that what- ever obscurities there may be in certain parts of Scripture, it is clear in all that is necessary to be known. But on what author- ity do these writers ground this maxim ? They have none at all ; but they beg the question, as logicians express it, to extricate themselves from an absurdity, and in so doing they overturn their frndamental rule, 'i'hey profess to gather their iriicles of faith and morals from mere Scripture : nevertheless, confessing that they understand only a part of it ; they presume to make a distinction in it, and to say this part is necessary to be knov/n, the other part is not necessary. But to place this matter in a clearer light, it is obvious that if any articles are particularly necessary to be known and believed, they are those which point to the God whom we are to adore, and the moral precepts which we are to observe. Now, is it demonstratively evident, from mere Scrtp' tare, that Christ is God, and to be adored as such ? Most mod- ern Protestants of eminence answer NO; and, in defence of their assertion, quote the following among other texts : The Father is greater than /, John xiv. 28 ; to which the orthodox divines oppose those texts of the same evangelist, I and the Fath- er are one,x. 30. The Word was God, &c. i. 1. Again we find the following among the moral precepts of the Old Testament : Go thy way ; eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine trith a merry heart : for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy gar- ments be alwaye white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, &c. Eccis. ix. 7, 8, 9. In the New Testament, we meet with the following seemingly practical commands. Swear not at all. Matt. v. 34. Call no man father upon earth — neither be you called masters, for one is * See examples of these, in Bonfrerius's Praeloquia, and n the Appen- dixes tu them, at the end of Menocliius. ^mii'''M'- Letter IX. 77 your master i Christ, Malt, xxiii, 9. 10. If any man sue thee at httOf to take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also, v. 40. Give tu every man that asketh of thee ; and of him that taknth away thy goods ask him not again, Liiko vi. 30. When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, xiv. 12. 'I'hese are a iew among hundreds of other dilHcidties, regarding our moral duties, which, though confronted by other texts, soem- in;^ly of a contrary meaning, nevertheless show that the Scrip- ture is not, of itself, demonstratively clear in points of first rate importance, and that the divine law, like human laws, without an authorized interpreter, must ever be a source of doubt and con- tention. • V. 1 have said enough concerning the contentions among Pro* lestants ; 1 will now, by way of concluding this letter, say a word or two of their doubts. In the first place, it is certain, as a learn- ed Catholic controvertist argues,* that a person who follows your rule cannot make an act of fail/i, this being, according to your great authority, bishop Pearson, ua assent to the revealed articles, with a certain and full persuasion of their revealed truth ;t or, to use the words of your primate. Wake, '• When 1 give my assent to what God has revealed, I do it, not only with a certain assurance that what I believe i* true, but with an ab- solute security that it cannot be fulse.^l Now the Protestant, v^ho has nothing to trust to but his own talents, in interpreting of the books of ^>cripture, especially with ail the difliculties and uncertainties whigh he labours under, according to what 1 have shuvvn above, never can rise to this certain assurance and abso- lute security, as to what is revealed in Scripture : the utmost he can say is, Such and such appears to mc, at the present moment, to be the sense of the texts before me: and, if he is candid, he will add, but perhaps, upon further consideration, and upon com- paring these with other texts, I may alter my opinion. How far short, dear sir, is such mere opinion from the certainty of faith ! 1 may here refer you to your own experience. Are you accus- tomed, in realing your Bible, to conclude, in your own mind, with respect to those points which appear to you most clear, 1 believe in thtsc^ unth a certain assurance of their truth, and an ubsiilute security that they cannot be false ; especially when you reflect that other learned, intelligent, and sincere Christians have understood those passages in quite a diflferent sense from what you do? For my part, having sometimes lived and conversed , * Sheffuiacher Lellres d'un Docteur Cat. a un Geniilhomvie Prot. vol. I. p. 48. t On the Creed, p. 15. t Princip. of Christ Rel. p. 37- 7* t: a 78 Letter IX. familiarly with Protes' iRi"? of this description, and noticed their controversial discourse, i iiever found one of them absolutely fixed, for any long time together, in his mind, as to the whole of his belief. I invite you to make tlie experiment on the most intelligent and religious Protestant of your acquaintance. Ask him a considerable number of questions, on the most important points of his religion : note down his answers, w^hile they are iVesh in your memory. Ask him the same questions, but in a different order, a month afterwards, when I can almost venture to say, you will he surprised at the difference you will fmd between his former and his latter creed. After all, we need not use any other means to discover the state of doubl and uncertainty if* 'vhich many of your greatest divines and most profound Scrip- tu.-l students have passed their days, than to look into their publications. 1 shall satisfy myself with citing the pastoral Charge of one of them, a living bishop, to his clergy. Speaking of the Christian doctrines, he says, " 1 think it safer to tell you where they are contained^ than what they are. They are contained in the Bible ; and if, in reading that Book, your sentiments con- cerning the doctrines of Christianity should be different from those of your neighbour, or from those of the church., be persuaded, on your part, that infallibility appertains as little to you as it does to the church."* Can you read this, my dear sir, without shuddering ? If d most learned and intelligent bishop and pro- fessor of divinity, as Dr. Watson certainly is, after studying all the Scriptures, and all the counnentators upon them, is forced publicly to confess to his assembled clergy, that he cannot till them what the doctrines of Chrisliunity are, how unsettled must his mind have been ! and, of course, how far removed from the assurance of faith ! In the next place, how fallacious must that rule of thb mere Bible be, which, while he recommends it to them, he plainly signifies, will not lead them to a uniformity of senti- ments one with another, not even with their church ! There can be no doubt, sir, but those who entertain doubts ^ concerning the truth of their religion, in the course of their lives, must experience the same, with redoubled anxiety, at the ap- proach of death. Accordingly there are, I believe, few of our Catholic priests, in an extensive ministry, who have not been frequently called in to receive dying Protestants into the Ca- tholic churchjf while not a single instance of a Catholic wish- • Bishop Watson's Charge to his Clergy, in 1795. t A largu proportion of those grandees who were the most forward in promoting the Ki.^forination, so called, and, among the rest, Cromwell, earl of Essex, the king''? ecclesiastical vicar, when they came to die, returned Letter X. 19 ing to die in any other communion than his cvn can be produc- ed.* O death, thou great enlightener ! (■ 'riv.h-telling death, how powerful art thou in confuting the bl ; pi otaies, and dissi- pating the prejudices, of tlie enemies of God's church ! — Tak- ing it for granted, that you, dear sir, have not been williout your doubts and fears about the safety of the road in which you are walking to eternity, more particularly in the course of the pre- sent controversy, and being anxious, beyond expression, that you should be free from these when you arrive at the brink of that vast ocean, 1 cannot do better than address you in the words of the great St. Augustine, to one in your situation : " If you think you have been sufficiently tossed about, and wish to see an end to your anxieties, follow the rule of Catholic discipline, which came down to us through the apostles from Christ him- self, and which shall descend from us to the latest posterity ."f Yes, renounce the fatal and foolish presumption of fancying that you can interpret the Scripture better than the Catholic church, aided, as she is, by the tradition of all ages, and the spirit of all truth.X Hut I mean to treat this latter subject at due length in my next letter. I am, Dear Sir, h,c. J. M. ..:%:■:■■■■■- LETTER X. ■-W, • 1 • To JAMES BROWN, Esqy C . the true rule. : Dear Sir, 1 HAVE received your letter, and also two others from gen- tlemen of your society, on what I have written to you concern- to the Catholic church. This was the case also with Luther's chief p o- tector, the elector of Saxony, the persecuting queen of Navarre, and nr.any other foreign Protestant princes. Some bishops of the established chur«.h, for instance, Goodman and Cheyney, of Gloucester, and Gordon, of Glas- gow, probably also Halifax, of St. Asaph's, died Catholics. A long li^st of titled or otherwise distinguished personages, who have either returned to the Catholic faith, or for the first time, embraced it on their death-beds, in modern times, might be named here, if it were prudent to do so. • This is remarked by Sir Toby Matthews, son of the archbishop of York,, Hugh ( Jressy, Canon ol' Windsor and dean of Laughlin, F. Walsingham, and Ant Ulric, duke of Brunswick, all illustrious converts. Also by Beurier, in his Conferences^ p. 400. ■t iiuUtil Cred. c. 8, X Bossuet, in his celebrated Conference with C/a«rfe, which produced th» coiiVLT.sion of Mile. Duras, obliged him to confess, that, by the Protestant rulo, " every artisan and husbandman may and ought to believe that he can understand the scriptures better than all the fathers and doctors of tht church, ancient and modern, put together " i Ml 80 Letter X. ing the insufficiency of Scripture, interpreted by individuals, to constitute a secure rule of faith. • From these, it is plain that my arguments have produced a couisiderable sensation in the society; insomuch that 1 find myself obliged to remind them of the terms on which we mutually entered upon this correspon- dence, namely, that each one should be at perfect liberty to express his sentiments on the important subject under consider- ation, without comjdaint or offence of the other. T]^ strength of my arguments is admitted by you all • yet you all bring in- vincible objections, as you consider them, from Scripture and other sources, against them. I think it will render our contro- versy more simple and clear, if, with your permission, I defer answering these, till after I have said all that I have to say con- cerning the Catholic rule of faith. The Catholic rule of faith, as I stated before, is not merely the uirilten Word of God, but thf^ w/ioh Word of God, both written and unwritten ; in other words, Scripture and tradition, and these pro- pounded and explained by the Catholic church. This implies that we have a two-fold rulf, or law, and that we have an interpreter, or judge to explain it, and to decide upon it in all doubtfid points. 1. 1 enter upon this subject with observing that all written laws necessarily suppose the existence of unwritten laws, and indeed 'depend upon them for their force and authority. Not to run into the depths of ethics and metaphysics on this subject, you know, dear sir, that, in this kingdom, we have common or unwrUlcn law, and statute or written law, both of them binding; but that the former necessarily precedes the latter. The legis- lature, for example, makes a written statute ; but we must learn before-haud, from the common law, what constitutes the legisla- ture, and we must also have learnt from the natural and the di- vine laws, that the legislature is to be obeyed in all things which these do not render unlawful. " The municipal law of England," sayu judge Blackstone, " may be divided into Lex Non Scriptu. the unwritten or common law, and the Lex Scriuta, or statute law."* He afterwards calls the common law, "the first cround and chief corner-stone of the laws of England."! " If," conti nues he, " the question arises, how these customs or maxims an to be known, and by whom their validity is to be determined ? Tlui answer is, by the judges in the several courts of jus'ice. They are the depositaries of the htws, the living oracles, who must decide in all cases of doubt, and who are bound by oath to decide according to the law of the land. "J So absurd is the idea o' # Comment on the Laws, Introduct. sect, t Ibid. p. 73, 8th edit. t Ibid. p. 61). Letter X. tl binding mankind by written laws, without laying an adequate fmmdation for the authority of those laws, and without consti- tuting living judges to decide upon them ! Neither has the divine wisdom, in. founding the spiritual king- dom of his church, acted in that inconsistent manner. The Almighty did not send a Book, the New Testament, to Chris- tians, and, without so much as establishing the authority of that Book, leave them to interpret it, till the end of time, each one according to his own opinions or prejudices. But our blessed Master and legislator, Jesus Christ, having first demonstrated his own divine legation from his heavenly Father, by undenia- ble miracles, commissioned his chosen apostles, by word of mouthy to proclaim and explain, by word of mouthy his doctrines and precepts to all nations, promising to bo with them, in the execu- tion of this office of his heralds and judges, even to the end of the world. This implies the power he had p"iven them, of or- daining successors in this office, as they thc.iuelves were only to live the (»rdinary term of hitman life. True it is, that during the execution of their commission, he inspired some of them and their disciples to write certain parts of these doctrines and pre- cepts, namely, the canonical Gospels and Epistles, which they addressed, for the most part, to particular persons, and on par- ticular occasions ; but these inspired writings by no means ren- dered void Christ's commission to the apostles and their succes- sors, of preaching and explaining his word to the nations, or his promise of being with them till the end of time. On the contrary, the inspiration of these very writings, is not other\^iso known, than by the viva voce evidence of these depositaries and juili;cs of the revealed truths. This analysis of revealed religion, so conformable to reason and the civil constitution of our country, is proved to be true, by the mrittrn Word itself— by the trudittim and conduct of the apostles — kwA by the constant tt-stimoiiy and piActice of the fathers and doctors of the church, in nil ages. II. Nothing then, dear sir, is further from the doctrine and practice of the Catholic church than to slight the Holy Scrip- tures. So fc:r from this, she hud religiously prcsorved niid per- petuated them, from age to ago, during almost tir»oon hundred yejirs, before Protestants existed. She has consulted them, and confirmed her decrees from thiMn, in her several councils. She enjoins her pastors, whose business il is to instruct the faithful, t(» read am' study them without intermission, knowinii, that nil Scripture ts given by inspiration of God and is pnftubh- for doctrine, for reproif for correction, for instrucli(»n in rifihhous- ness. 2 Tim. iii. id. Finally, sho proves her porpeiual rijjht to >, . if. if .s 82 Letter X announce and explain the truths and precepts of her divine Founder, by several of the strongest and clearest passages con- tained in Holy Writ.* Such, for example, is the last commission of Christ, alluded to above : Go ye therefore and teach all nations^ baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things vihalsoever I have commanded you. And lo ! I am trifh you all days, even lo the end of the world. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. And Again, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Mark xvi. 15. It {% preaching nw^i teaching then, that is to say the vriwritten Word, which Christ has appointed to be the general niKthod of propagating his divine truths ; and, whereas he pro- mises to be with his apostles to the end of the world: this proves (heir authority in expounding, and that the same was to descend to their legitimate successors in the sacred ministry, since they themselves were only to live the ordinary term of human life. Ill like manner, the following clear texts prove the authority of the apostles and their successors yor^uer ; that is to say, of the ever living and speaking tribunal (f the church, in expounding our Saviour's doctrine : / will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. — The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Feather will send in my name ; he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John XIV. 16, 26. St. Paul, speaking of both the unwritten and^the written Word, puts them upon a level, v/hcre he says, There- fore, brethren, standfast and hold the tradition ye have been taught^ whither bi/ word or our Epistle. 2. Thess. v. 13. Finally, St. l*eit,r pronounces, that. No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. 2 Pet. i. 20. 111. That the apostles, and the apostolical men, whom they formed, followed this method prescribed by their Master, is unquestionable ; and wo have positive proofs from Scripture, , as well as from ecclesiastical history, that they did so. St. Mark, after recording the ?l)ove cited admonition of preaching the Gospel, which Christ left to his apostles, adds, And they went forth and preached every where ; the Lord working it'*. them, and conjirmmg the word with signs following. Mark xvi. 20. St. Peter preac ^ throughout Judea, and Syria, and last of ail in Italy nnd at i.ie ; St. Paul, throughout Lesser Asia, Greece, and as far as Spain ; St. Andrew penetrated i!ilo Scy- • St. Austin uses tliis ar^umen' ajjainst the Donatists, In •• ScriptM-is dia- citnus Christum in ScripturiD di^cimuB, Eccleuiain iSi Cliristuiii t( neatlsi, quare Kccluitium non tonutis." I !' Letter X. 83 Ihia ; St Thomas and St. Bartholomew into Parthia and India, and so of the others ; every where converting and instructing thousands, hy nwrd of month ; founding cLurches, and orJaining bisliops and priests to do the same.* If any of them wrote, it was un some particular occasion, and, for the most part, lo a particular person or congregation, without either (^./iug direc- tions, or providing means of communicating their Epistles or their Gospels to the rest of the Christians throughout the world. Hence, it happened, as I have before remarked, that it was not till the end of the fourth century, that the canon of Holy Scrip- tures was absolutely settled as it now stands. True it is, that the apoytles, before they separated to preach the Gospel to dif- ferent nations, agreed upon a short symbol or profession of faith, called 'L'lie Apostles'' Creed; but even this they did not commit to writing:! and whereas they made this, among other articles of it, / bfdieve in the Holy Church,\ they made no mention at all of the Uoly Scriptuif^s. This circumstance confirms what their example proves, that the Christian doctrine and discipline migiiit have been propagated and preserved by the unwritten Word, m traiiition, joined with the authority of the churcL. tl»iough the 8cri|)tures had not been composed ; liowever pmfUiMe ibeM most certainly are for doctnnp,for reproof for corrf.ctum, mnd far tnslrur.tion in righteousness. 2 I'im. ill. IH. 1 have already quo- ted one o the oirtaments of your church, who say*, thai "the canonical Epistles" {and he might have addefl the Cfospelw) " aro not regidar treatises upon the (Christian religion ;"^ and 1 shall iiave occasion to show, frouv an ancient father, that this religmn did prevail and llourish sooi\ after the age of the apostles. auiOi'^ nations • 'ich did not even know the use of letters. IV, However light Protestants o( ibis age may make of tho ancient fathers, as theological aiithoritifs,^ they cannot object lo * They ordained them priests in every church. Acts xiv. '2'2. }rthis came fl'^fi /Ai.r iU Crete, that thou fhi'iildM^cl in order tht. Ihin^is I it are icanl' inti, 'iii'l ^hinitiltl ordain prusts in every city, as I had uppoiiucd thee Tit, I. J, Ti! fhint^s that thoit hast h'ard of iw. among many v:itni.ssf$, the Siirne ciimmil ihuu to those Jaithf at vien, irho shall, bia'n'': to trach others afso. *2. Tim. ii. 2. t Ruflin inter Opera Hieren. I Tlio title Catknli': was afterwards aiide I, when heresies increased. •i Elements of Theolrgy, vol. ii. II Jewel, Andrew.s, Honker, Morton, I'earson, and other Protestan' di- vines oft e sixteenth and seventeenth ct-ntuneH lttbt)ured hard to prrss the lattuTs into their ser ic.3 ; bui with such bud siiccess, that the sutceedini; (Miitrovorsialists j^ave th.-m up in despair. The learned Protestant ' 'an>«a- hoo, confessed that the talhors were all on the < utiiolic side; tiie ecpMlly loiiined Ohrocht testifies lliat, in reading their works, " ho was frcrpiently provcked to tUrovv them on the ground, findin;^ theia so lull of Pojwiy ;" wliila Middliiton hcup^ every kind of obloquy upon thpin ■», 84 Letter X. them as faithful witnesses of the doctrine and discipline of the church in their respective times. It is chiefly in the latter character that I am going to bring a certain number of them forward, namely, to prove that during the five first ages of the church, no less than in tiie subsequent ages, the unwritten Word, or tradition, was held in equal estimation by her with the Scrip- ture itself, and that she claimed a divine right of propounding and explaining them both I begin with the disciple of the apostles, St. Ignatius, bishop of A ntioch : it is recorded of him that, in his passage to Rome, where he was sentenced to be devoured by wild beasts, he ex- horted the Christians, who got access to him, '* to guard them- selves against the rising heresies, and to adhere with the utmost firmness to the tradition of the apostles V* The same sentiments appear in this saint's Epistles, and also in those of his fellow martyr, St. Polycarp, the angel of the church of Smyrna.\ One of the disciples of the last mentioned holy bishop was St. Irenaeus, who, passing into (Jraul, became bishop of Lyons. He has left twelve books against the heresies of his time, which abound with testimonies to the present purpose ; some few of which I shall here insert. — He writes, " Nothing is easier to those who seek for the truth, than to remark, in every church, ths tradition, which the apostles have manifested to ail the vorld. We can name the bishops appointed by the apostles in the sev- eral churches, and the successors of those bishops down to our own time, none of whom ever taught or heard of such doctrines as these heretics dream of."| '('his holy father emphatically afiirms tliat, " In explaining the Scriptures, Christians are to at- tend to the pastors' of the church, who, by the ordinance of God, have received the inheritance of truth, with the succession of I heir Sees."^ He adds, " The tongues of n.itions vary, but the virtue of tradition ts one and the same everywhere ; nor do the churches in Germany believe or teach difle'-ently from those in Spain, Gaul, the Ea»t, Egypt, or Lybia.".' — " Since it would be tedious to enumerate the succession of all the churches, we appeal to the faith and tradition of the jjreatest, most ancient, and best known church, that of Rome, founded by the apostles, SS. Peter ar*d Paul , for with thi'i church all others agree, in as •nuch as in her is preserved the tradition which comes down from the apostJcs "If— " SL PPOSING THE APOSTLES HAD NOT LEFT US THE SCRIPTURES, OUGHT NOT WE STILL TO HAVE FOLLOWED THE ORDINANCE OF Hi«t f t, »* c. 43. ill. e. 30 t Revel, ii. 8. li L. i. o a. t Advers. Uoeres. l iji. c 5. IT L- iii. c. tJ. Letter X. 8ft TRADITION, which they consigned to those to whom they committed the churches ? It is this ordinance of tradition which many nations of barbarians, believing in Christ, follow, without the use of letters or ink."* Tertullian, v^'ho flourished two hundred years after the Chris- tian era, among his other works, has left us one of the same na- ture, and almost the same title with that last cited. In this, speaking of the contemporary heretics, he says, " They meddle with the Scriptures, and adduce arguments from them : for, in treating of faith, they pretend that they ought not to argue upon any other ground than the written documents of faith : thus they weary the firm, catch the weak, and fill the middle sort with doubt. We begin, therefore, with laying down as a maxim, that these men ought not to be allowed to argue at all from scripture. In fact, these disputes about the sense of Scripture have gener- ally no other effect than to disorder either the stomach or the brain. It is, therefore, the wrong method to appeal to the Scrip- tures, since these afford either no decision, or, at most, only a doubtful one. And even if this were not the case, still, in ap- pealing to Scripture, the natural order cf things requires that we should first inquire to whom the Scriptures belong ? From whom, and by whom, and on what occasion, and to whom, that tradi- tion was delivered by which we became Christians ? For where the truth of Christian discipline and faith is fonnd, there is the truth of Scripture, and of the interpretation of it, and of all Chris- tian traditions."! He elsewhere says, " that doctrine is evident- ly true which was first delivered : on the contrary, that is false which is of a later date. This maxim stands immoveable against the attempts of all late heresies. Let such then produce the origin of their churches : let them show the succession of their bishops from the apostles, or their disciples. — If you live near Italy, you see before your eyes the Roman church : happy church ! to which the apostles have left the inheritance of their doctrine with their blood ! Where Peter was crucilied, like his Master; where Paul was beheaded, like the Baptist! — If this be so, it is plain, as we have said, that heretics are not to bo allowed to appeal to Scripture, ainoo they have no claim to it. — Hence it is proper to address them as follows : — Who are you 1 Whence do you come ? What bu^innss have ynu strangers with my property ? By what rirrii>n,felU':g my trees? By what 'luthorUy are you, Valentine, turning the course of my strfoms / Under what pretence are yon, Apellcs^ removing my land-murks ? The estate is mine : I have the ancient, the prior possession of it • L. Iv. c. G\ t Pracscrip. Advcrs. Hxres. edit. Rhrnnn, pp. .%, 37 S6 Letter X. I have the title, deeds delivered to me by the original propria lor^ I am the, hf!ir of the apostles ; they have made their will in mjfa- iwar ; while they disinherited and cast you cff, as strangers and enf-mu'sV* In another of his works,f this eloquent father proves, at great length, the absolute necessity of admitting tradition, no le&s than Scripture as the rule of faiih, inasmuch as many im- poir.int points which he mentions, cannot be proved without it. \ pass Dy other shining lights of the third century, such as St. clemeni of Alexandria, St. Cyprian, Origen, &c. all of whom jiace L'postoiical tradition on a level with Scripture, and de- scribe the cnurch as the expounder of them both : I must, how- svcr, yive \uc Ibllowirig words, from the last named great Bibli- cal scholar. He says, " We are not to credit those, who, by .iting real canonical Scripture, seem to say, behold the Word is ».jr your fiouse.f : for we are not to desert our Jirst ecclesiastical tru'itiion, n^i to believe otherwise than as the churches of God have, in tneir perpetu "1 .succession, delivered to us." Among the numeror.iand illustrious witnesses of the fouitb aye. I shall be contt nt with citing St. Basil and St. Kpiphanius. The toMuer f ays, " There are many doctrines preserved anci preacfied i» ttie church, derived partly from written documents partly from apostolical tradition, which have equally the sarni force in reii^'»ion, and which no one contradicts who has the least knowledge of the Christian laws."| The latter of these fathers says, with equal brevity and force, " We must make use of tra- dition : for all things are not to be found in Scripture."^ St John Chrysostom flourished at the beginning of the fifth century, who, though he '• mgly recommends the reading of the holy Scriptures, yet, expounding the text, 2 Thess. ii. 14. says, " Hence it is plain that the apostles did not deliver to us every thing by their F^pistles, but many things without writing. Those are equally worthy of belief. Hence, let us regard the tradition of the church, as the subject of our belief. Such and such a thing i.y a tradition: seek no farther.^^ — \\. would fill a large volu:ne to transcribe all the passages which occur in the work' ol the great St. Austin, in proof of the Catholic rule, and the authority of the church in making use of it : let therefore two or three of them speak for the rest. — " 'l"o attain to the truih oj the lScripiurns" he says, " we must follow the sense of ihem en- terfainod by the universal church, to which the Scriptures them- selves bear testimony. True it is the Sciiptines thems('l\es can- not docoivo U8 ; nevertheless, to prevent our being diu-eived in the • Pnirsfrip. Advern I litres, edit. Ilhenan.pp r.(),'37 + Dc Coroi):^ Millt t In J.il>. (le gpir. Sane. § Dc lii:rc9 N. Cl- ho\ v \ Letter X. BT question we examine by them, it is necessary we should arlvise with that church, which these certainly and evidently point out to us."*— "This (the unlawfulness of rebaplizing heretics) is not evidently read either by you or by me ; nevertheless, if there were any wise man, to whom Christ had borne testimony, and whom he had appointed to be consulted on the question, we could not fail to do so : now Christ bears testimony to his church. Whoever, therefore, refuses to follow the practice of the church resists Christ himself, who by his testimony recommends this church."t Treating elsewhert, on the same subject, he says, " The apostles, indeed, have prescribed nothing.about this ; but the custom must be considered as derived frotn their tradition, since there are many things, observed by jhe universal church, which are justly held to have been appointed by the apostles, though they are not written.''^ It seems doing an injury to St. Vincent of Lerins, who lived at the end of the fifth century, to quote a part of his celebrated Commnnitorium, when the whole of it is so admirably calcidated to refute the false rule of here- tics, condenmed in the foregoing testimonies, and to prove the Catholic ride, here laid down : still I can only transcribe a very small portion of it. *' It is asked," says this father, " as the Scrip- ture is perfect, what need is there of the authority of church doc- trine ? The reason is because the Scripture, being so profound- ly deep, is not understood by all persons in the same sense, but difierent persons explain it^ different ways, so that there are almost as many meanings as there are readers of it. Novation interprets it in one sense, Photinas in another, Arius, &lc. in another. Therefore it is requisite that the true road of expound- ing the pfophels and apostles must be marked out, according to the ecclesiastical Catholic line, " It never was, is, or will be lawful for Catliolic Christians to teach any doctrine, except that which they once received ; and it ever was, is, and will be their duty to condemn those who do 80.~l)o the heretics then appeal to the Scriptures ? Certainly they do, and this with the utmost contidenre. Vou will see them running hastily through the difTercnt books of Holy Writ, those of Moses, Kings, the Psalms, the Gospels, &c. At home and abroad, in their discourses and in their writings, they hardly produce a sentence which is not larded with the words of Scrip- ture, &c. ; but tiiey are so much the more to be dreaded, as they conceal themselves under the veil of the divine laws Let us, however, remember, that Satan transformed himself into ao • L. i. contra Crescon. X De Hapt. contra Donat. 1. v. t De Util. Credend. -U' i i t'ti 199 Letter XL angel of li^ht. — If he could turn the Scriptures against the Lord of Majesty, what ii^e may he not make of them against us poor inortals ? — If then Satan and his disciples, the heretics, are cripable of thus perverting holy Scripture, how are Catholics the children of the church, to make use of them, so as to discern truth from falsehood ? They must carefully observe the rule laid down at the beginning of this treatise by the ^oly av I learned men I referred to: THCY ARE TO IN SRPRET THE DIVINE TEXT, ACCORDING TO TfJF TRADITION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH."* It would be as easy to prove this rule of faith iVom the fathers of the sixth as the former centuries, particdary from St. Gregory the great, that holy Pope, who at the clcc;s of this century, sent missionaries from Rome to convert our Pagan ancestors : but, I am sure, you will think that evidence enough has been brought to show that the ancient fathers of the church, from the very time of the apostles, held this whole rule of faith, namely, the word of God unwritten as well as written, together with the livings spsaking tribunal of the church to preserve and interpret both of them I am, (kc. J. M LETTER XI. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c, / » the true rule. ' / Dear Sir, THE all-importance of determining with ourselves which is the right rule ar method of discovering religious trutlfmust be admitted by all thinking Christians ; as it is evident that this rule alone can conduct them to if, and tliat a false rule is capa- ble of conducting them into all sorts of errors. It is equally clear why all those who are bent upon deserting the Catholic church, reject her rule, that of the lohole word of God ; together with har living authority in explaining it : for, while this rule and this authority arc acknowledged, there can be no heresy or schism among Christians, as whatever points of religion are, not clear from Scripture are supplied and illustrated by tradition ; and as the pastors of the church, who possess that authority, are always living and ready to declare what is the sense of Scripture, and what the tradition on each contested point which they have received in succession from the apostles. The only resource, •Vincent Lcrins Comraonit. Advers. Ilier. edit. Haluz. An English 'ranslation of this little work has lately hecn publi.sheJ. Lf;tter XI. 89 therefore, of t)ersons resolved to follow their own or their fore- fathers' particular opinions or practices, in matters of religion, with the exception of tlie enthusiast, has been in all times, both uncient and modern, to appeal to mere Scripture, which being a dead Idler, leaves them at liberty to explain it as they will. I. And yet, with all their repugnance to tradition and church authority, Protestants have found themselves absolutely obliged, in many instances, to admit of them both. — It has been demon- strated above, that they are obliged to admit of tradition, in or- der to admit of Scripture itself. Without this, they can neither know that there are any writings at all dictated by God's insspi- ration ; nor which these writings are in particular ;* nor what versions, or public ation of them are genuine. But, as this mat- ter has been sufficiently elucidated, I proceed to other points of religion, which Protestants receive, either without the authority of Scripture, or in opposition to the letter of it. The first precept in the Bible, is that of sanctifying the seventh day : God blessed the SEVENTH DAY, and sanctified it. Gen. ii. 3. This precept was confirmed by God, in the Ten Com- mandments : Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The SEVENTH DAY is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Exod. xx. On tiie other hand, Christ declares that he is not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it. Mat. v. 17. He himself observed the Sabbath : and, as his custom vas, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day .-.Luke iv. 16. His disciples likewise observed it, a.^ter his death : They rested on the Subhath day according to the commandment. Luke xxiii. 56. Yet, with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day ^-oly, Protestants, of all denominations, make this a profane day iiiid transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this 1 None at all, but the unwritten Word, or tradition of the Catholic church, which declares that the apostles made the change in honour of Christ's resurrecti(m, and the descent of the Holy vGfhost, on that day of the week. Then, with respect to the manner of keeping that day holy, their universal doctrine and practice are no less at variance with the Sacred Text. The Almighty says, " From even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath,^ Levit. xxiii. 32, which is the practice of the Jews ' Amongst allthe learned Proteatants of this age, Dr. Porteus is the only one who pretends to discern Scripture, " partly on account of its own rea- 8ona!)loness, and the characters of divine wisdom in it." Brief Confut. p, 9. I could have vvislied to ask his lordsliip, whether it is by thes'? charac- ti-rs that ho has discovered the Canticle or Song of Salomon to be inspired Scripture.' t: ?; 1 . ' 4. i ''■m ^/,-n If- mm li>lllM> 90 Letter XL down to the prpsent time ; but not o?' any Protestaius that ev'cr I heard of. Again, it is declared i>i Scripture to be unlawful to dress victuals on that day, Exod. rvi. 23, or even to make a fire, Exod. XXXV. 3. Again, where is there a precept in the whole Scripture more eAjress than that against eating blood ? Uod said ti) Noah, Ev Vy^ moving thing thut livelh shall be meat, to you — but Jinsh with the. Ufe thereof, which is the Hood there.nff, shall you nut eat. Gen. ix. 4. This prohibition we know was con firmed by Moses, Levit. xvii. 1 1, Dettt. xii. 23, and by the apos- tles, and was imposed upon the Gentiles, who were converted to the faith, Acts. xv. 20- Nevertheless, where is the religious Prcitesiant who scruples to eat gravy with his meat, or puddings made of blood ? At the same time if he be asked. Upon what anihority do you act in contradiction ^o !he express words of both the Old and the New Testament ? he can find no other answer than that he has learned from the tradition of the church, that the prohibition was only temporary —I will confine myself to one more instance of Profestnuts abandoning their own rule^ that of Scripture alone, to follow ours, of Scripture explained by tradition. If any intelligent Pagan, who had carefully perused the New Testament, were asked, which of the ordinances men- tioned in it, is most explicitly and strictly enjoined ^ 1 make no doubt but he would answer that it is. The washing of feet. To convince yourself of this, be pleased to read the first seventeen verses of St. John, c. xiii. Observe the motire assigned for , Christ's performing the ceretnony, there recorded ; namely, his " love for his disciples :" next the time of his performing it ; namely, when he was about to de[)art out of this world : then the stre.ss he lays upon it, in what he said to Peter, If I wash thee not thou hast no part, with me : finally, his injunction, at the coijclusioa of it, ff I your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye "also ought to wash one another's feet, I now ask, on what pretence can those who profess to make Scripture alone the rule of their religion, totally disregard this institution and precept \ Had this ceremony been observed in the church when Luther and the other first Protestants began to dogmatize, there is no doubt but they would have retained it : but, having learnt from her that it was only figurative, they acquiesced in this decision, contrary to what appears to be the plain sense of Scripture. 11. Hut 1 asserted that Protestants find themselves obliged not only to adopt .the rule of our church, on many the most im- portant subjects, but also to claim her authority. It is true, as a late dignitary of the establishment observes,* that, " When no • Archdeacon Blackburn in hi.s celebrated Confessional, p. 1. Letter XL 91 I Totestants first withdrew from the communion of the church of Rome, the principles they went upon were such as these : C^JJirist, by his guspel, hath CMlletl all men to lite lihrriy, the glorious liberty, of the aons of God, and restord them to the privilege of working out their own salvation by their own understanding and endeavours. For this work, sufficient means are allbrded in the Scriptures, without having recourse to the doctrines and com- mandments of n>en. Consequently, faiih and conscier»ce, having no dependence on man's laws, are not to be compelled by man's authority." — VVhat now was the consequence of this fiuj- datiienial rule of Protestantism ? Why, th?' t .'-'ess variety o 'lies, errors, and impieties, mentioned abuwc, ollowed by t dts, wars, rebellions, and anarc y, vjh which the 1, jv '^ .ery country is,fdled, which embraced the new reli- gi> j readily supposed that the princes, and otiior rulers of thoso )untries, ecclesiactical as well as civil, however hostil they might be to the ancient church, would wish to restrain these disorders, and make their subjects adopt the same sentiments with themselves. Hence, in every Protestant siaie, articles of religion, and confessions of faith, differing from one another, yet each one agreeing with the opinion, for the time being, of those princes and rulers, were enacted by law, and enforced by excom- munication, deprivation, exile, imprisonment, torture, and death. These latter punishments indeed, however frequently they were exercised by Protestants agairis". Protestants, as well as against Catholics, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,* have not been resorted to during the last hundred yeurs ; but the terri- ble sentence of excommunication, which includes outlawry, even now hangs over the head of every Protestant bishop, as well as other clergyman, in this country ,t who interpret those passages of the Gospel, concerning Jesus Christ, in the sense which it ap- pears from their writings a number of them entertain ; and ncme of them can take possession of a living, witho.ut subscribifr the Thirty-nine Articles, and publicly declaring his unfeigned assent and consent to them, and to every thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer.^ Thus, by adopting a false rule of religion, thinking Protestants are reduced to the cruel extremity of palpable contradiction! They cannot give up " the glorious libertv," as * See the letter on the Reformation and on Persecution, in LfHers to a Prebendary. See also Neal's History of the Puritans Delauno's Narrative, Sevvel's History of the Quakers, &c. + See many excommunicating canons, and particularly one, A D. 1G40, against " the damnable and cursed heresy of Sociniauism," as it is termed, in Bishop Sparrow's Collection. t 1st Eliz. cap. 2.— II Car. ii. c. 4. . Item Canon 3G et 38. m f I »■■ J ^ I A\ ,%. *>. t>^- xt# IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I If i^ 1^ 1^ 1^ nil 2.2 11.25 II H: 1^ 1.4 - 6" 2.0 1.6 c>> 0% &^ ^. A. '/ # Photographic Sdences Corporation ,\ «^ <^ :\ \ Ci^ 73 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTH.N Y MStO (716) 171-4503 r- « 92 Letter XL it is called above, of explaining the Bible each one for himself, without, at once, giving up their cause to the Catholics* j and they cannot adhere to it without many of the above mentioned fatal consequences, and without the speedy dissolution of their respective churches. Impatient of the constraint in being obliged to sign articles of faith which they do not believe, many able clergymen of the establishment have written strongly against them, and have even petitioned parliament to be relieved from the alleged grievance of subscribing the professed doctrine of their own church.* On the other hand, the legislature, foreseeing the consequences which would result from the removal of the obligation, have always rejected their prayer: and the judges have even refused to admit the following salvo in addition to the subscription : " I assent and conseig; to the Articles and the Book, as far as they are agreeable to the word of God.^^jf In these straits, many of the most able as well as the most respec- table of the established clergy, have been reduced to such so- phistry and casuistry, as to move the pity of their very opponents. One of these, the Norrisian professor of divinity at Cambridge,^ \ as one way of excusing his brethren for subscribing articles which they do not believe in, cites the example of the divines of Geneva, where, he says, " a complete tacit reformation seems to have taken place. The Genevese have now, in fact, quitted their Calrinistic doctrines, though, inform, they retain them.— When the minister is admitted, he takes an oath of assent to the Scriptures, and professes to teach them according to the Catechism of Calvin ; but this last clause about Calvin, he makes a separate business^ speaking lower, or altering his posture, or speaking after a considerable interval."^ Such a change of posture, or tone of voice, in the swearer, our learned professor considers as sufficient to excuse him from the guilt of prevari- cation, in swearing contrary to the plain meaning of his oath ! It is not, however, intimated that the professor himself has re- course to this expedient : his particular system is, that *' the church of England, like that of Geneva, has, of late, undergone a complete tacit reformation,^ and hence that the sense of its articles of faith is to be determined by circumstances ^"^ Thus he adds (referring, I presume, to the statutes of King's college, • There was siwh a petition, signed by a great number of cletgympn, and supported by many others, in \1T2. t See Confess/onal, p. JS3 t Lectures in Divinity, delivered in the university of Cambridge, by J. Hey, D. D. as Norrisian professor, 1797, *t)l. li. p 57. § ibid. li Ibid. p. 4H, (particularly in its approach to Socinianism, from whirh be si^uifi^L's it is divided only by a few •• unmeaning words.") IT Lectures in Divinity, jlc. p. 49. Litter XI. 93 Cambridge) the oath, " I will say so many masses for the soul of Henry VI., nuiy come to mean, I will perform the religious duties required of lue ! !"• The celebrated moralist, Dr. Paley, justifies a departure from the original sense of the articles of religion subscribed, by an INCONVENIENCE, which is mani- fest beyond all doubt ! l\ Archdeacon Powell, master of St. Jolm's college, defends the English clergy from the charge of subscribing what they do not believe, because, he says, " The crime is impossible : as that cannot be the sense of the declara- tion which no one imagines to be its sense ; nor can that inter- pretation be erroneous which all have received IJ And yet such prelates as Seeker, Horseley, Cleaver, Pretyman, with all the judges, strongly maintain that the literal meaning of the Articles must be strictly adhered *o ! 1 could cite many other dignitaries, or other leading clergy- • men, of the establishment, and nearly the whole host of dis- senters, who have recourse to such quibbles and evasions, in order to get rid of the plain sense of the articles and creeds, to which they have solemnly engaged themselves before the Crea- tor, as, 1 am convinced they would not make use of in any con • tract with a fellow creature ; but I hasten to take in hand the admired Discourses of my friend, Dr. Balguy. He was the champion, the very Achilles, of those who defended the sub- scriptiod in itself, but what is so with respect to the prejudices, tempers, and constitutions, we know and are sure to be among us. It is represented that the world was never less disposed to be serious and reasonable than at this period. H.eligious reflec- tion, we are informed, is not the humour of the times. W'e are easily gather, from his (general language concerning mysteries, the sacra* ments, and our redemption by Chrint On this last head, he seriously cau- tiuiis us against " censuring or persecuting our brethren because their ?ioft- Vt.vff and our's wears a different dress." Charge ii. p. iy*2. • Cliargo vi p. -jyO. + Charge v p. 257. t Dist vii p 120. Discourses by Thomas tialguy D. D archdeacon and •reboiidary of Win(:hi';iter, Slc- dedicated to the king. Lockyer Daviea, 17fcl6. I CuniewioQal, p. 375. p> liSb Letter XL 95 Dr. ey take ihop it acra- cau- and 1786. therefore advised to keep our prudence and our patience a little longer ; to wait till our people are in a better temper, ami in the mean time, to bear with their manners and dispositions ; gently arul gradually correcting their foolish notions and habits ; hut still taking care not to throw in more light upon them, at once, than the weak optics of tnen, so long used to sit in darkness, are able to bear" His lordship's words are guarded, but perfectly intelli- gible. Bishop Hoadley had undermined the church he professed to support, in her doctrine and discipline, as has been elsewhere demonstrated,'" and he wished all the clergy to co-operate in diffusing his Socinian system ; but he advised them to attempt this gently and gradually, bearing with the people's /oo/wA no- tions, and not throwing too much light upon them at once : in other words, continuing to subscribe the Articles and to preach them from the pulpit, being inwardly persuaded at the same time, that they are not only false, but also foolish ! — Thus, dear sir, you have seen the necessity to which the different Protestant societies have found themselves reduced, of occasionally ap- pealing to tradition, and of assuming authority to dictate con- fessions and articles of religion in direct violation of their boasted charter of private judgment ; and you have seen that this incon- sistency has rendered the remedy worse than the disease. These weapons, not being natural to them, have been turned ai^ainst them, and have mortally wounded them : and " the church of England in particular," as one of its principle defenders com- plains, " is like an oak, cleft to shivers with wedges made out of its own body."t You will now see with what ease and success t> '» Catholic church wields these weapons ; but, first, I think it to add something by way of confirming and elucidating this V i..iJolic rule". 111. What has been said above in proof, of the Catholic rule, namely, that Christ established it when he sent his apostles to preach the Gospel, and that the apostles followed it, when they established churclies throughout different nations, is so incon- tcstible as not to be denied by any of our learned opponents : still less will they deny, that the ancient fathers and the doctors of the church, in every age, maintained this rule. Accordingly, oneof the latest and most learned Protestant controvertists writes thus, " No one will deny that Jesus Christ laid the foundation of his church by preaching : nor can we deny that the unwritten Word was the first rule of Christianity. "J This being granted, • Letter, to a Prebendary, Art Iloadleyism. / t Daubeny's Guide to tlie Churcb, Append. t Compaiativs Viewofthe (.'hurcheii, p. 61, by Dr. (now bishop) Marsh. 96 Lettur XL it was incumbent on his lordship to demonstrate, and this by no less an authority than that which established the rule, at what precise period it was abrogated. Was it when this Gospel or that Gospel, when this Epistle or that Epistle, was written, though" known only to particular congregations or persons, that the pastors of the church lost their authority of proclaiming, So we have received from the apostles^ or the disciples of the apostles : so all the other pastors of the Catholic church believe and teach 1 Or was this abrogation of the first rule of Christianity deferred till the canon of Scripture was fixed, at the end of the fonrth cen> tury ? So far from there being divine authority, tliere is not even a hint in ecclesiastical history on which to ground this pre- tended alteration in the rule of faith. His Lordship's only foun- dation is his own conjectnre : " It is extremely improbable," he says, " that an all-wise Providence, in imparting a new revela- tion to mankind, would suffer any doctrine or article oi faith to be transmitted to posterity by so precarious a vehicle a« that of oral tradition."* The bishop of Londonf had before said nearly the same thing, as well with respect to tradition being the ori' ginal rule as to the improbability of its continuing to be so, " con- sidering," as he says, " how liable the easiest story, transmitted by the word of mouth, is to be essentially altered in the course of one or two hundred years." But, to the opinions of these learned prelates, 1 oppose, in the Hrst place, undeniable facts. It is, then, certain, that the whole doctrine and practice ol religion, including the rites of sacrifice, and, indeed, the whole Sacred History, was preserved by the patriarchs, in succession, from Adam down to Moses, during the space of twenty-four hundred years, by means of tradition : and, when the law was written, many most important truths, regarding a future life, the emblems and prophecies concerning the Messiah, and the inspiration and authenticity of the Sacred Books themselves, were preserved m the same way. — Secondly, it is unwarrantable in these prelates to compare the essential traditions of religion, with ordinary stories : in the truth of these no one has an interest, and no means have been provided to preserve them from corruption ; whereas, the faith once delivered to the saints, the church has ever guarded as the apple of her eye, and all ecclesiastical history witnesses the extreme care and pains which were taken in ancient times by the pastors to instruct the faithful in the tenets and practices of their religion, previously to their being baptized \\ the same * Com. View of the^Churches, p. 67. t Dr. Porteus, Brief Confut. t See Fleury's Mueura dea Chrot. Hartley, in bishop Wataun's Col. vol. r. p. 91. \ Letttr XL VI lonfut. I. vol. Are gcner3.i!y taken by their successors previously to the con- firmation and tirst communion of their neophytes at the present day. Thirdly, when any fresh controversy arises in the church, the fundamental maxim of the bishops and Popes, to whom it belongs to decide upon it, is, not to consult their own private opinion or interpretation of Scripture, but to inquire what is and ever has been the doctrine of the churchy concerning it. Hence, their cry is and ever has been, on such occasions, as well in council as out of it : So we have received : so the universal church believes : let there be no new doctrine : none but what has been delivered down to us by tradition.* — Fourthly, the tra- dition of which we now treat, is not a local but a universal tra- dition, as widely spread as the Catholic church itself is, and be- ing found every where the same. The, maxim of the senten- tious Tertullian must bo admitted : " Error," he says, " of course, varies, but that doctrine which is one and the same among many, is not an error but a tradition."! However liable men and par- ticularly illiterate men, are to believe in fables ; yet if, on the discovery of America, the inhabitants of it, from Hudson's Bay to Cape Horn, had been found to agree in the same account of their origin and general history, we should certainly give credit to them. But, fifthly, in the present case, they are not the Catholics of different ages and nations alone who vouch for the traditions in question, I mean those rejected by Protestants, but all the subsisting heretics and schismatics of former ages without exception. The Nestorians and Eutychians, for example, desert- ed the Catholic church, in defence of opposite errors, near four- teen hundred years ago, and still form regular churches under bishops and patriarchs throughout the East : in like manner the Greek schismatics, properly so called, broke off from the Latin church, for the last time, in the eleventh century. Theirs is well known to be the prevailing religion of Christians through- out the Turkish and Russian empires. Nevertheless, these and all the other Christian sectaries of ancient date', agree upon every article in dispute between Catholics and Protestant (except that of the Pope's supremacy) with the former and condemn the latter.;^ Let Dr. Porteus and the other controvertisis, who de- claim against the alleged ignorance and vi^es of the Catholic clergy and laity during the five or six ages preceding the Refor- mation, and pretend to show how the tenets which they object • •• Nil innovetur : nil nisi quod traditiyn est." Steph. Papa I. t '* Variasse deberet error, sud (]uod uiium apod multos invenitur, non eat «rratutn, sed tradifum," Prjjscrip, advers. Hterct. X See the pronfi^ of this in tlie Peipctuile de U Foi, copied from th« ori* |iaal documents, in the French king's library. 96 Letter XL to might have been introdeced into our church, explain hew pre- cisely the same could have been quietly received by the Neoto- xitiim at Bagdad, the Eutychians at Alexandria, and the Greeks atMoscoMr! All these, and particularly the last named, were ever ready to find fault with us upon subjects of comparatively smnli consequence, such as the use of unleavened bread in the sacrament, the days and manner of our fasting, and even the mode of shaving our beards ; and yet, so far from objecting to the pretended novelties of prayers for the dead, addresses to the saints, the mass, the real presence, &c. they have always pro- fessed, and continue to profess, these doctrines and practices as zealously as we do. Finally, by way of the farther answer to his lordship's shame- ful calumny, that the ancient •• clergy and laity were so univer- sally and monstrously ignorant and vicious, that nothing was too bad for them to do or too absurd for them to believe," thereby insinuating that tlu3 former invented and the latter were duped into the belief of the articles on which the Catholic church and the church of England are divided ; as also by way of fartlier confirming the certainty of tradition, I maintain that it would have been much easier for the ancient clergy to corrupt the Scriptures than the religious belief of the people. For, it is well known that the Scriptures were chiefly in the hands of the clergy, and that, before the use of printing, in the flfieetith century, the copies of it were renewed and multiplied in the monasteries by the labour of the monks, who, if they had been 80 wicked, might with some prospect of success, have attempted to alter the New Testament, in particular, as they pleased ; whereas, the doctrines and practices of the church were in the hands of the people of all civilized nations, and, therefore, could not be altered without their knowledge and consent. Hence, wherever religious novelties were introduced, a violent opposi- tion to them, and, of course, tumults and schisms, would have ensued. If they had been generally received in one country, as for example, in France, this would have been the occasion of their being rejected with redoubled antipathy in a neighbouring hostile nation, as, for instance, England. Yet none of these disturbances or schisms do we read of, respecting any of the doc- trines or practices of our reliuion, objected to by Protesta.Us, either in the same ki.-igdom, or among the diflerent states of Christianity, I said that the doctrines and pra,ctices of religion were in the hands of all *^the people," in fact they were all, in every part of the church, obliged to receive the holy sacrament h\ Easter ; now they could not do this without knowing whether i Letter XT. 99 they had been previously taught to consider this as bread and wine taken in memory of Christ, or as the rf.al body and blood of Christ himself. If they had originally held the former opin- ion, could they have been persuaded or dragooned into the lat- ter, without violent opposition on their part, and violent perse- cution on that of their clergy ? Again, they could not assist at the religious services performed at the funerals of their relations, or on the festivals of the saints, without recollecting whether they had previously been instructed jo pray for the former, and to in- voke the prayers of the latter. If they had not been so instruct- ed, would they, one and all, at the same time, and in every coun- try, have quietly yielded to the first imposters who preached up such supposed superstitions to them ; as, in this case, we are sure they must have done ? In a word, there is but one way ot accounting for the alleged alterations in the doctrine of the church, that mentioned by the learned Dr. Bailey ;* which is to suppose that, on some one night, all the Christians of the world went to sleep sound Protestants, and awoke the next morning rank Papists ! IV. I now come to consider the benefits derived from the Catholic rule or method of religion. The first part of this rule conducts us to the second part ; that is to say, tradition conducts us to Scripture. We have seen that Protestants, by their own confession, are obliged to build the latter up(»n the former ; in doing which they act most inconsistently : whereas Catholics, in doing the same thing, act with perfect consistency. Again, Protestants in building Scripture, as they do, upon tradition, as a mere human testimony, not as a rule offaith^ can only form an act of human faith, that is to say, an opinion of its being in spired ;t whereas Catholics, believing in the tradition " of the church, as a divine rule, are enahled to believe, and do believe in the Scriptures with a. firm faith, as the certain Word of God. Hence the Catholic church requires her pastors, who are. to preach and expound the Word of God, to study this second part of her rule no less than the first part, with unremitting diligence ; and she encourages those of her flock, who are properly qualifi- ed and disposed, to read it for their edification. In perusing the books of the Old Testament, some of the most passages are those which regard the prerogatives, of strikiu'T * He was son of the bishop of Bangor, and becoming n convert to the Catholic church, wrote several works in her defence ; and among the rest, one under the title of these Let'ers, and another called A Challenga. t Chill ingworth in his Religion of Protestants chap. ii. expressly teaches, that •' The books of Scripture ;tre not the objects of our faitn, ' and that "• man may be saved, who should not believe them to be the Word of God." TOO Litter XL the future kingdom of the Messiah, nslmely, the extent, the visi- hility, and icidefectibility of the church : in examining the New Testament, we find in several of its clearest passages, the strongest proofs of its being an infallible guide in the way of salvation. The texts alluded to have been already cited. Hence we look upon the church with increased veneration, and listen to her decisions with redoubled confidence.— But here I think it necessary to refute an objection which, I believe, was first started by Dr. Still ingfleet, and has since been adopted by many other controvertists. They say to us, you argue^ in what logi- cians call, a vicious circle : for you prove Scripture by your church, and then your church by Scripture. This is like John giving a character to Thomas^ and Thomas a character to John. True it is, that I prove the inspiration of Scripture by the tradition of the church, and that I prove the infallibility of the church by the testimony of Scripture ; but you must take notice, thut indepen- dently of, and prior to, the testimony of Scripture, 1 knew from tradition, and the general arguments of the credibility of Christi- anity, that the church is an illustrious society, instituted by Christ, and that its pastors have been appointed by him to guide me in the way of salvation. In a word, it is not every kind of mutual testimony which runs in a vicious circle : for the Baptist bore testimony to Christ, and Christ bore testimony to the Baptist. V. The advantage, and even necessity, of having a living, speaking authority for preserving peace and order in every so- ciety is too obvious to be called in question. The Catholic church has such an authority ; the different societies of Pro- testants, though they claim it, cannot effectually exercise it, as we have shown, on account of their opposite fundamental prin- ciple of private judgment, tlence when debates arise among Catholics concerning points of faith (for as to scholastic and other questions, each one is left to defend his own opinion,) the pastors of the church, like judges in regard of civil contentions, fail not to examine them by the received rule of faith, and to pronounce an authoritative sentence upon them. The dispute is thus quashed, and peace is restored : for if any party will not hear the church, he is, of course, regarded as a heathen i nd a publican. On the other hand, dissensions in any Protestant society, which adheres to its fundamental rule of religious liberty, mtlst be irremediable and endless. VI. The same method which God has appointed to keep peace in his church, ho has also appoint( ■ preserve it in the breasts of her several children. Hence wiiile other Christians, who have no rule of faith but their own fluctuating opinions, are Letter XL 101 and ) the ^ions, ltd to lite is \l not \n(l a Istant ►erty, [keep in the [iana, art carried about hy every wind of doctrine, and are agitated by dread* fill duubts and fears, as to the safety of the road they are in ; Catholics, being moored to the rock of Christ's church, never experience any apprehension whatsoever on this head. The truth of this may be ascertained by questioning pious Catholics, and particularly those who have been seriously converted from any specv^es of Protestantism : such persons are generally found to speak in raptures of the peace and security they enjoy in the communion of the Catholic church, compared with their doubtti and fears before they embraced it. Still the death-bed is evi- dently the best situation for making this inquiry. I have men- tioned, in my former letter, that great numbers of Protestants, at the approach of death, seek to be reconciled to the Catholic church ; many instances of this are notorious, though many more, for obvfous reasons, are concealed from public notice : on the other hand, a challenge has frequently been made by Catholics (among the rest by sir Toby Mathews, Dean Cressy, F. Wal- singham, Molines dit Flechiere, and Ulric, duke of Brunswick, all of them converts) to the whole world to name a single Catholic, who, at the hour of death, expressed a wish to die in any other communion than his own ! 1 have now, dear sir, fully proved what I undertook to prove, that the rule of faith professed by rational Protestants, that of Scriptura as interpreted by each person's private judgment, is no less fallacious than the rule of fanatics, who imagine themselves to he directed by an individual, private inspiration. I have shown that this rule is evidently unserviceable to infinitely the greater part of mankind ; that it is liable to lead men into error, and that it has actually led vast numbers of them into endless errors and shocking impieties. The proof of these points was sufficient, according to the principles 1 laid down at the beginning of our controversy, to disprove the rule itself : but I have, moreover, demonstrated that olir divine Master, Christ, did noi establish this rule, nor his apostles follow it : that the Protestant churches, and that of England, in particular, were not founded according to this rule : and that individual Protestants have not been guided by it in the choice of their religion : finally, that the adoption of it leads to uncertainty and uneasiness of mind in life, and more particularly at the hour of death. — On the other hand, 1 have shown that the Catholic rule, that of the entire word of God, unwritten as well as written, tojjether with the authority of the living pastors of the church in explaining it, was appointed by Chriwt: — was followed by the apostles : — was maintained by the holy fathers :— has been resorted to from necessity, in both 103 Letter XII. particulars, by the Protestant congregations, though with the worst success, from the impossibility of uniting private judgment with it:— that tradition lays a firm ground lor divine faith in Scripture : that these two united together as one rule, and each beuiing testimony to the living, speaking authority of the church in expounding that rule, the latter is preserved in peace and union through all ages and nations :*— and, in short, that Catholics, by adhering to this rule and authority, live and die in peace and security, as far as regards the truth of their religion. It remains for yon, dear sir, and your religious friends, who have culled me into this field of controversy, to determine which of the two methods you will follow, in settling your religious concerns fw time and FOR ETERNITY ! Were it possible forme to err in following the Catholic method, with such a mass of evidence in its favour, methinks I could answer at the jutiguient scat of Eternal Truth, with a pious writer of the middle ages : " Lord, if I have been deceived, thou art the author of my error."t Whereas should you be found to have mistaken the right way, by depending upon your own private opinion, contrary to the directions of your authorized guides, what would you be able to allege in excuse for such presumption ?— Think of this while you have time, and pray humbly and earnestly for God's holy grace to enlighten and strengthen you. I am, Dear Sir, &c. J. M. LETTER XII. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c. objections answered. Dear Sir, 1 AM not forgetful of the promise I made in my last letter but one, to answer the contents of those which I had then re- ceived from yourself, Mr. Topham, and Mr. Askew. Within these few days I have received other letters from yourself and Mr. Topham, which, equally with the former, call for my atten- tion to their substance. However, it would take up a great deal of time to write separate answers to each of these letters, and, as 1 know, that they are arguments, and not formalities, which you expect from mo, 1 shall make this letter a general rejily to ' the several objections contained in them all, with the exception of such as have been answered in my last to you. Conceiving, also, that it will contribute to the brevity and perspicuity of * " Domicillium pads et unitatis." — S. Cyp. Ep. 46. t Hugh of St. Victor. \ Letter XII. 103 my letter, if I arrange the several objections, from whomsoevei they came, under their proper heads ; and if, on this occasion. I make use of the scholastic instead of the epistolary style, I shall adopt both these methods. I must, however, remark, before 1 enter upon my task, that most of the objections appear to have been borrowed from the bishop of London's book called a Brief Confutation of the Errors of Pvpery. This was extracted from archbishop Seeker's Sermons on the same subject ; which, themselves, were culled out of his predecessor Tillotson's pulpit controversy. Hence you may justly consider your arguments as the strongest which can be brought against the Catholic rule and religion. Under this persuasion the work in question has been selected for gratuitous distribut'/^n, by your tract societies, wher- ever they particularly wish to restrain or suppress Catholicity, Agafnst the Catholic rule it is objected that Christ referred the Jews to the Scriptures : Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me. John v. 35. Again, the Jews of Berea are commended by the sacred penman, in that they search the Scriptures daily ^ whether these things were so. Acts xvii. 11. Before I enter on the discussion of any part of Scripture, with you or your friends, I am bound, dear sir, in conformity with my rule of faith, as explained by the fathers, and particu- larly by Tertullian, to protest against your or their right to ar- gue from Scripture, and, of course, to deny any need there is of my replying to any objection which you may draw from it. For 1 have reminded you that. No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation ; and 1 have proved to you that the whole business of the Scriptures belongs to the church ; she has pre- served them, she vouches for them, and, she alone, by confronting them, and by the help of tradition, authoritatively explains them. Hence it is impossible that the real sense of Scripture should ever be against her and her doctrine ; and hence, of course, I might quash every objection which you can draw from any pas- sage in it by this short reply, The church understands the passage difftrehtly from you ; therefore you mistake its meaning. Never- theless, as charily heareth all things and never faileth, I will, for the better satisfying of you and your friends, quite my vantage fjroiind for the present, and answer distinctly to every text not yet answered by me, which any of you, gentlemen, or which Dr. Por- tetis himself, has brought against the Catholic method of religion. By way of answering your first objection, let me ask your whether Christ, by telling the Jews to search the Scriptures in timated that they wore not to believe in his unwritten Word 104 Letter XIL which he was then preaching, nor to hear his apostles and their successors, with whom he promised to remain Jorever ? 1 ask, secondly, on what particular question Christ referred to the Scripture, namely, the Old Scripture? (for no part of the New was then written) was it on any question that has been or might be agitated among Christians ? No, certainly : the sole ques- tion between him and the infidel Jews, was, whether he was or was not the Messiah : in proof that he was the Messiah, he ad- duced the ordinary motives of credibility, as they have been do- tailed by your late worthy rector, Mr. Carey, the miracles he wrought, and the prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in him, as likewise the testimony of St. John the Bap- tist. The same is to be said of the commendations bestowed by St. Luke on the Bereans ; they searched the ancient prophe cies, to verify that the Messiah was to be born at such a time, and in such a place, and that his life cvnd his death were to be marked by such and such circmstances. We still refer Jews and other Infidels to the same proofs of Christianity, without i saying any thing yet to them about our rule or judge of contro- versies. Dr. Porteus objects what St. Luke says, at the beginning of his Gospel : It seemed- good tome also, having had perfect under' standing of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that ihou mightest know the cer- tainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. Again St. John says, c. xx. These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Answer. It is difllicult to conceive how his lordship can draw an argument from these texts against the Catholic rule. Surely he does not gather" from the words of St. Luke, that Theophilus did not believe the articles in which he had been instructed by word of mouth till he read this Gospel ! or that the evangelist gainsayed the authority given by Christ to his disciples : He that hrarethyou heareth me, which he himself records, Luke x. 16. In hke iiianner the prolate cannot suppose that this testimony of St. John sets aside other testimonies of Christ's divinity, or that our belief in this single article without other conditions, will ensure eternal life. Having quoted these texts, which appear to me inconclusive, the bishop adds, by way of proving that Scripture is sulKcionllv intelligible, •* Surely the apostles were not worse writers, with divine assistance, than others commonly are without it."* P. 4. Letter XII, 109 T will not here repeat the arguments and testimonies already brought* to show ihe great obscurity of a considerable portion of the Bible, particularly with respect to the bulk of mankind, be- cause it ia sufficieut to refer lo the clear words of St. Peter, declaring that there are in the Epistles of St, Paul, some things hard lo be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do all the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction, (2 Pe- ter iii. IG,) and to the instances, which occur in the Gospels, of the very apostles frgquently misunderstanding tbo meaning of their divine Master. The learned prelate says, elsewhere,! " The New Testamcm supposes ihem (the generality of the people) capable of judginj^ for themselves, and accordingly requires them not only to tr^ the spirits uhether they he of God, 1 John iv. 1 , but to prove ali things and holdfast that which is good, 1 Thess. v. 21." Answer. True : St. John tells the Christians, to whom he writes to try the spirits whether they are of God, because, he adds, many false prophets are gone out into the world.' Bit then he gives them two rules for making trial : Hereby ye know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesscth that Jesus Christ is come in the jiesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesscth not that Jesus is come in the flesh, (which was denied by the heretics of that time, the disciples of Simon and Cerinthus) is not of God. In this, the apostle tells the Christians to see whether the doc- trine of these spirits was or was not conformabU to that which they had learnt from the church. The second rule was. He that knowcth God, heareth us ; he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error : nauio- ly, he bid them observe whether these teachers did or did not listen to the divinely-constituted pastors of the church. Dr. P. is evidently hero quoting Scripture /«r our rule, not against it. The same is to be said of the other text. Prophesy was exceed- ingly common at the beginning of the church ; but, as we have just seen, there were false [jrophcts as well as true prophets : hence, while the apostle defends this supernatural gift in general, De- spise not prophcsyings, he admonishes the Thessaloniaus to prove them : not certainly by their private opinions, which would be ilio Gourco of endless discord ; but, by the estaldished rules of the church, and particularly by that which ho tells them to holdfast^ 2 Thess. ii. 15, namely, tradition. Dr. P. in another place,| urges the exhortation of St. Paid to Timothy, " Continue thou in tlie things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned • Letter ix. t P. 13. t P. O). * 106 Letter XII. them : and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scrips tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof," &c. 2 Tim. iii. Answer. Docs, then, the prelate mean to say, that Xheform of sound words which Timothy had heard from St. Paul, and which he was commanded to holdfast^ 2 Tim. i. 13, was all con- tained in the Old Testament, the on'iy Scripture which he could have read in his childhood ? Or that, in this he could have learned the mysteries of the Trinity and the incarnation, or the or- dinatices of baptism and the eucharist ? The first part of the ques tion is a general commendation of tradition, the latter of Scripture. Against tradition^ Dr. P. and yourself quote* Mark vii, where the Pharisees and Scribes asked Christ, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders^ but eat bread vnlh unwashed hands 1 He answered and said to them, In vain do thfy wor.shi/i. me, teaching FOR^ doctrines the commandments of men. For, laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the \ tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, <^c. Answer. Among the traditions which prevailed at the time of our Saviour, some were divine, such as the inspiration of the books of Moses and the other prophets, the resurrection of the body, and the last judgment, which assuredly Christ did not condemn, but confirm. There were others, merely human, and of a recent date, introduced, as St. .lerome informs us, by Sam- mai, Kiliel, Achiba, and other Pharisees, from which the Tal- mud is chiefly gathered. These, of course, were neveir obliga- tory. Ill like manner, there are among Catholics divine tradi- ' tions, such as the inspiration of the Gospels, the divine, obser- vation of the Lord's day, the lawfulness of invoking the prayers of the saints, and other things not clearly contained in Scripture ; and there are among many Catholics, historical and even fabu- lous traditions.^ Now, it is the former, as avowed to be divine by the church, that we appeal: of the others, every one may judge as he thinks best. You both, likewise, quote Coloss. ii. P Beware lest any man spoil (cheat) you through philosophy and t^ain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. •P 11. t Thi» particle FOR, which In «ome degree aflects the sense, II a corrupt interpolation as appear from the original Greek. N. B. The texts which Dr I*, relurs to I quote from the common Bible ; his citations, of it arc froquontly inaccurate. t Such are the acts of sevaral saints condemned by Pope Qelaslus ; such •Iso was the opinion of Christ's rpj^n upon earth for a tnouj»and years. '\ Letter XII. 107 Answer. The apostle himself infonns tT Collossians what kind of traditions he here speaks of, whe.» ; says, Let nn man theufore judge yon in tnnat or drink, or in inspect of any holiday , cr of the newmodn, or of the Sabbath days. 'Vhe ancient fathers and ecclesiastical historians inform us, that, in the age of the apostles, many Jews and Pagan philosophers professed Christi- anity, but endeavoured to allay with it their respective supersti- tions and vain speculations, absolutely inconsistent with the doctrine of the Gospel. It w^as against these St. Paul wrote, not ag.iinst those traditions which he commanded his converts to holdfast lOy whether they had been -augh^by word or by Epis- tle, 2 I'hess. ii. 15; nor those traditions which he commend- ed his other converts for keeping, 1 Cor. xi. 2.* Finally, the apostles, in that passage, did not abrogate this his awful sentence, now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. 2Thess. iii. 6. Against the infallibility of the church in deciding questions of faith, I am referred to various other arguments made use of by Dr. Porteus ; and, in the first place, the following : " Romanists themselves own that men must use their eyes, to find this guide ; why then must they put them out, to follow him ?"t I answer by the following comparisons. Every prudent maj^ makes use of his reason, to find out an able physician to take care of his ht^allh, and an able lawyer to secure his property : but having found these, to his full satisfaction, does he dispute with the for- mer about the quality of medicines, or with the latter about forms of law ? Thus the Catholic makes use of his reason, to observe which, among the rival communions, is the church that Christ established and promised to remain with : having ascertained that, by the plain acknowledged marks which this church bears, he trusts his soul to her uneiring judgment, in preference to his own fluctuating opinion. Dr. Portens adds, " Ninety-nine parts in every hundred of their (the Catholic) communion, have no other rule to follow, but what a few priests and private writers tell them."| Accord- ing to this mode of reasoning, a loyal subject does not make any act of the legislature the rule of his civil conduct, because, per- haps, he learns it only from a printed paper, or the proclamation of the bell-man. Most likely the Catholic peasant learns the •The Ens^lish Testament puts the word nrdinance here for (rntlitions, contrary to the sense of the ordinal Greek, and oven the authoritjr of BeiM. tP. It). _ t Ibid. 108 Letter XII. doctrine of the church from his parish priest ; but then he knows that the doctrine of this priest must bo conformable to that of his bishop, and that otherwise he will soon be called to an ac- count for it. He knows also that the doctrine of the bishop himself must be conformable to that of the other bishops and the Pope, and that it is a fundamental maxim with them all, never tu admit of any tenet but such as is believed by all the bishops, and was believed by their predecessors up to the apostles them- selves. The prelate gives a " rule for the unlearned and ignorant in religion, (that is to say of ninety-nine in every hundred of them,) which is this : Let each man improve his own judgment, and increase his own knowledge as much as he can ; and be fully assured that God will expect no more." — What ? If Christ has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting the saints, for the work of the ministry, Ephes. iv. 11, does he not expect that Christians should harken to them, and obey them ? The prelate goes on : " In matters, for which he must rely on authority,''* (mere Scripture then, and private judgment, according to the bishop himself, are not always a sufficient rule, even for Protes* tants, but they must in some matters rely on church authority,) " let him rely on the authority of that church which God's pro- vidence has placed him under," (that is to say, whether Catholic, Protestant, socinian, Antinomian, Jewish, &.c.) " rather than another which he hath nothing to do with," (every Christian has, or ought to have, something to do with Christ's true church,) and " trust to those, who, by encouraging free inquiry, appear to lovo truth ; rather than such as, by requiring all their doctrines to be implicitly obeyed, seem conscious that they will not bear to be fairly tried." What, my lord, would you have me trust those men, who have just now deceived me, by assuring me that I should not stand in need of guides at all, rather than those who told me, from the first, of the perplexities in which I iind myself entangled! Again, do you adrise me to prefer these conductors, who are forced to confess that they may mislead me, to those others who assure me, and this upon such strong grounds, that they will conduct me with perfect safely ! Our Episcopal controvortist finishes his admonition " to the ignorant and unlearned," with an address, calculated for the stupid and bigoted. He says, " Let others build on fathers and Popes, on traditions and councils, what they will : let us continue firm, as we are, on the foundatinn of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cjproer-stone." Ephe;/ ii- V Letter XI f. 109 What empty declamation! Do then the fathers, Popes, and councils, profess or attempt to build religion on any other foun- dation than the revelation made by God to the apostles and prophets ? His lordship knows full well that they do not^ and that the only questions at issue are these three : First, Whethei this I jvelation has not been made and conveyed by the unwritten as well as by the written Word of God ? Secondly, Whether Christ did not commit this Word to his apostles and their suc- cessors, till the end. of the world, for them to preserve and an- nounce it I Lastly, Whether, independently of this commission, it is consistent with common sense, for each Protestant plough- man and mechanic to persuade himself that he, individually, (for he cannot, according to his rule, build on the opinion of other Protestants, though he could find any whose faith exactly tallied with his own,) that he, i say, individually, understands the Scriptures better than^all the doctors and bishops of the church, who now are, or even have been since the time of the apostles !* One of your Salopian friends, in writing to me, ridicules the idea of infallibility being lodged in any mortal man, or number of men. Hence, it is fair to conclude, that he does not look upon himself to be infallible : now nothing short of a man's conviction of his own infallibility, one might think, would put him on preferring his own judgment, in mutters of religion, to that of the church of ull ages and all nations. Secondly, if this objection were valid, it would prove that the apostles themselves were not infallible. Finally, 1 could wish your friend to form a right idea of this matter. The infallibility, then, of our church, is not a power of telling all things past, present, and to come, such as the Pagans ascribed to their oracles ; but merely the aid of God*s holy spirit, to enable her truly to decide what her faith is, and ever has been, in such articles as have been made known to her by Scripture and tradition. This definition fur- nishes answers to diverse other objections and questions of Dr. P. Tho church does not decide the controversy concerning the conception of the Blessed Virgin, and several other disputed points, because she sees nothing absolutely clear and certain concerning them, cither in ihe written or the unwritten Word ; and therefore leaves her children to form their own opinions concerning them. She docs not dictate an expositioit of the whole Bible, because she has no tradition concerning a very * The great Bossuct obliged the mini.4tcr, Claude, in his conFerence witli him, openly to avow this principle ; which, in fact, every consistent Pro- testant must avow, who matntuns his private interpretation of thu Bible to be thb dnly rule ot his faith. 10 WA no Letter XI 1. great proportion of it, as for example, ronceming the prophecy of Enoch, quoted by Jiide, 14, and the baptism for the dead, of which St. Paul makes mention, 1 Cor. xv. 29, and the chroiiolo* gies and genealogies in Genesis. The prelate urges that the words of St. Paul, where he declares that, The church of God is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Tim. iii. 15, may be translated a different way from that received.— True : they may, but not without altering the original Greeiv, as also the common Protes- tant version. He says, it was ordained in the Old Law that e»'ery controversy should be decided by the priests and lieviies Dtut. xvii. 8, and yet that these avowedly erred in rejecting Christ. — True : but the I-.aw had then run its destined course, and the divine assistance failed the priests in the very act of their rejecting the promised Messiah, who was then before them. He adds, that St. Paul in his Epistle to the church of Rome bids her not be high minded, but fear ; for (he adds) if God spared not the Jews, take heed lest he also spare not thee, Rom. xi.— ', Supposing the quotation to be accurate, and that the threat is \ particularly addressed to the Christians of Rome ; what is that to the present purpose ? We never supposed the promises of Christ to belong to them or their successors more than to the inhabitants of any other city. Indend it is the opinion of some of our most learned commentators, tliat before the end of the world, Rome will relapse into its former Paganism.* In a < /ord,the promises of our Saviour, that heWs gates shall not prevail against his fA'/rcA— that his Holy Spirit shall lead it into all truth — and that he himself will remain with it for ever, were made to the church of all nations, and all times, in communion with St. Peter and his successors, the bishops of Rome : and as these promises have been fuKillcd, during a succession of eighteen centuries, contrary to the usual and natural course of events, and by the visible protection of the Almighty, so we re.st assured that he will continue to fulfil them, till the church militant shall be wholly transformed into the church trium()hant in the heavenly kingdom. . Finally, his lordship, with other controvertists, objects against the infallibility of the Catholic church, that its advocates are not agreed where to lodge this prerogative ; some ascribing it to the Pope, others to a general council, or to the bishops dispt^rsed thn)Ughout the church. True, schoolmen discuss some such points : but let me ask his lordship, whether he finds any Ca- tholic who denies or doubts that a general council, with the Pope at its head, or that the Pope himself, issuing a doctrinal • Sec Cornel a Lapiti. in Apocalyp. Letter XII. HI decision, which is received by the great body of Catholic bishops, is secure from error ? Most certainly not : and hence he may gather where all Catholics agree in lodging infallibility. In like manner, with respect to our national constitution : some lawyers hold that a royal proclamation, in such and such circumstances, has the force of a lavyr, others that a vote of the house of lord«, or of the commons, or of both houses together, has the sama strength : but all subjects acknowledge that an act of the king, lords, and commons, is binding upon them ; and this suffices for all practical purposes. But when, dear sir, will there bean end of the objections and cavils of men, whose pride, ambition, or interest, leads them to deny the plainest truths ! You have seen those which the inge- nuity and learning of the Porteus's, Seekers, and Tillotsons have raised against the unchangeable Catholic rule and inter- preter of faith : say, is there any thing sufficiently clear and certain in them to oppose to the luminous and sure principles, OH which the Catholic method is placed ? Do they affi)rd you a sure footing, to support you against all doubts and fears on the score of your religion, especially under the apprehension of approaching dissolution ? If you answer affirmatively, I have nothing more to say ; but if you cannot so answer, and, if you justly dread undertaking your voyage to eternity on the pre- sumption of your private judgment, a presumption which you have clearly seen has led so many other rash Christians to cer- tain shipwreck, follow the example of those who have happily arrived at the port which you are in quest of: in other words, listen to the advice of the holy patriarch to his son : Then Tobias answered his father— I know not the way, «^c. ; — then his father said — Seek thee a faithful guide. Tob. v. You will no sooner have sacrificed your own wavering judgment, and have submitted to follow the guide, whom your heavenly Father has provided for you, than you will feel a deep conviction that you are in the right and secure way ; and very soon you will be enabled to join with the happy converts of ancient and modern times,* in this hymn of praise : " I give thee thanks O God, my enlighteuer and deliverer ; for that thou hast opened the eyes of my soul to know thee. Alas ! too late have I known thee, O ancient and eternal truth ! too late have I known thee." I am. Dear Sir, yours, &c. J. M. * St. Austin's SoliloquioB, c. 33, quoted by Dean Cressy, Exomol. p. ()5&. * THE END of RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. PART II. LETTER XIII. To JAMES BROWNy Esq. <^e. on the true church. IjIear Sir, The Letters which I have received from you, and some c-.hers of your religious society, satisfy me that I have not altogether lost my labours in endeavouring to prove to you, that the private interpretation of holy Scripture is not a more certain rule of faith, than an imaginary private inspiration is ; and, in short, that the church of Christ is the only sure expounder of the doctrine of Christ. Thus much you, sir, in particular, candidly acknow- ledge : but you ask me, on the part of some of your friends as well as yourself, why, in case you " must rely on authority," as bishop Porteus confesses " the unlearned must," that is to say, the great bulk of mankind, you should not, as he advises you, " rely on the authority of that church, which God's providence hath placed you under, rather than that of another which you have nothing to do with."" and why you may not trust to the church of England, in particular, to guide you in your road to heaven, with equal security as to the church of Rome ? — Before I answer you, permit me to congratulate with you on your ad- vance towards the clear sight of the whole truth of revelation. As long as you professed to hunt out the several articles of this, one by one, through the several books of Scripture, and under all the difficulties and uncertainties which I have clearly shown to attend this study, your task was interminable, and your suc- cess hopeless : whereas, now, by taking the ch»u"ch of God for your guide, you have but one simple inquiry to make : Which is this church? a question that admits of being solved by men of * Co'nfufation of Errdrt of Popery, p. 20, 1 .\ Letter :JIL 113 grood will with equal certainty and facility. I say, there is but one inquiry to be made : iV/iich is the true church ? because if there is nny one religious truth more evident than the rest from reason, from the Scriptures, both Old* and Ne\v,t from the apostles' creed, ( and from constant tradition, it is this, that " the Catholic church preserves the true worship of the Deity ; she being the fountain of truth, the house of faith, and the temple of God," as an ancient father of the church expresses it.^ Hence it is as clear as the noon-day light, that by solving this one ques- tion : Which is the true church ? you will at once solve every question of religious controversy that ever has, or that ever can be agitated. You will not need to spend your life in studying the sacred Scriptures in their original languages, and their au- thentic copies, and in confronting passages with each other, from Genesis to Revelation, a task by no means calculated, as is evi- dent, for the bulk pf mankind : you will only have to hear what the church teaches upon the several articles of her faith, in order to know with certainty what God revealed concerning them. Neither need you hearken to contending sects, and doc- tors of the present, or of past times : you will need only to hear the church, which, indeed, Christ commands you to hear under pain of being treated as a heathen or a publican ^ Matt, xviii. 17. I now proceed, dear sir, to your question ; why^ admitting the necessity of being guided by the church, may not you and your friends submit to be guidtd by the church of England, or any other Protestant church to which you respectively belong I — My answer is ; because no such church professes, nor, consistently with the fundamental Protestant rule of private judgment, can profess to be a guide in mattters of religion. If you admit, but for an instant, church authority, then Luther, Calvin, and Cran- mer, with all the other founders of Protestantism, were evidently • Speaking of the future church of the Gentiles, the Almighty promises, by Isaiah : Sing, O barren, thou that didst net bear, Sec. : as J have sworn thiit the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I would, not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart and the hills b« removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, fcc. liv. See also lix. Ix. Ixiii. Jerem xxxiii. Eznch. xxxvii. Dan. ii. Psalm Ixxxix. t Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail asainst it. Matt. xvi. IS. I am with you all daifs even until THE END OF THE WORLD. Matt, xxviii. 20. I tpill pray the FalMr and he will give you annthnr cnviforlcr, that he may abide vi/h you FUU EVl'LR. evcnlhe Spirit of Trvth—heit'ill tetachynu ALL TR\JTH,'Jo\\n xiv. 16.&.C, The House of God, vhich t< Vie Church of the livini( God, THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF TRUTH 1 Tim iii. 14. t I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY C.\THOLIC CHURCH. Art. ix. i Lactan, De Divin. Inatit. 1. 1. 10* 114 Letter XIII. heretics, by rebelling against it. In short, no other church but the Catholic can claim to be a religious guide, because evidently she iiloue is the true church of Christ. This assertion leads me to the proof of what I asserted above, respecting the facility and ct.rtainty with which persons of good will may solve that most important question : Which is the true church ? i.uther,* Calvin,t the church of Knj^land,t assign as the char- acteristics, or marks of the true church of Christ, Truth of doc- trine^ and th* right administration of the sacraments. But to follow this method of finding out the true church, would be to • throw ourselves back into those endless controversies concern- ing the true doctrine, and the right discipline, which it is my present object to put an end to, by demonstrating, at once, which is the true church. To show the inconsistency of the Protestant method, let us suppose that some stranger were to inquire, at the levee of his neighbour, which of the persot^ges present is the Prince Regent 1 and that he was to receive for answer, it is the king's eldest son : would this answer, however true, be of any | use to the inquirer ? Evidently not. W hereas, if he were told th;it the prince wore such and such clothes and ornaments, and was seated in such and such a place, these exterior marks would, at once, put him in possession of the information he was in search of. Thus we Catholics, when we are asked, which are the marks of the true church 1 point out certain exterior, visible marks, such as plain, unlearned persons can discover, if they will take ordinary pains for thip purpose, no less than persons of the great- est abilities and literature, at the same time that they are the very marks of this church, which, as I said above, natural rea- son, the Scriptures, the creeds, and the fathers, assign and de- monstrate to be the true marks of it. Yes, my dear sir, these marks of the true church are so plain in themselves, and so evidently point it out, \\\z.\. fools cannot err, as the prophet fore- told, Isai. XXXV. 8, in their road to it. They are the flaming beacons, which for ever shine on the mountain at the top of the mountains of the Lord's house, Isai. ii. 2. In short, the particular motives for credibility, which point out the true church of Christ, dernonstriite this with no less certitude and evidence, than the general motives of credibility demonstrate the truth of the Chris- tian religion. The chief marks of the true church, which I shall here assign, are not only conformable to reason,. Scripture, and tradition, but, which is a most fortunate circumstance, tliey are such as the church of (England, and most other respectable denominations of • De Concil. Ecclc*. t Instit. 1. n. t Art 19 Letttr XIV. 115 Protestants, acknowledge and profess to believe in, no less than Catholics. Yes, dear sir, they are contained in those Creeds which you recite in your daily pray«rs, and proclaim in your solemn worship. In tact, what do you say of the church you believe in. when you repeat the Apostles' ('reed ? You suv, 1 HELIEVE IN TilE HOLY CATHOLIC CHUKCH. Again how is this church more particularly described in the Nicene Creed, which makes part of your public liturgy ? In this yoi. say, i BELIEVE IN ONE CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC •CHUWCH.* Hence it evidently follows that the church which you, no less than we, profess to believe in, is possessed of these four marks: UNITY, SANCTITY, CATHOLICIIT, and APOSTOLICITY. It is agreed upon, then, that all wo \u\e to do, by way of discovering tlie true church, is to find out which of the rival churchs, or communions, is peguliarly ONE — HOLY —CATHOLIC— and APOSTOLIC. Thrice happy, dear sir, 1 deem it, that we agree together, by the terms of our common creeds, in a matter of such infinite importance for the happy ter- mination of all our controversies, as are these qualities, or charac- ters of the true church, which ever that may be found to be ! Still, notwithstanding this agreement in our creeds, I shall not omit to illustrate these characters, or marks, as I treat of them, by argu- ments from reason, Scripture, and the ancient fathers. I am, dear sir, t&c. J. M. LETTER XIV. ' To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^e. unity of the church. Dear Sir, Nothing is more clear to natural reason, than that God can- not be the author of different religions ; for being the Eternal Truth, he cannot reveal contradictory doctrines, and, being at the came time, the Eternal Wisdom^ and the God of Peace, he cannot establish a kingdom divided against itself. Hence it fol- lows, that the church of Christ must be strictly ONE ; one-in doctrine, one in worship, and one in government. This mark of unity in the true church, which is so clear from reason, is still more clear from the following passages of Holy Writ. Our Sa- viour, then, speaking of hiniself, in the character of the good shepherd, says, / have other sheep (the Gentiles) which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear myvoice^ • Order of Administration of the Lord's Supper. 116 Lettar XIV. and there shall he ONE FOLD, and one shepherd^ JohA x. 1 6. To the same effect addressing his heavenly Father, pre- viously to his passion, he says. 1 pray for all that shall believe in rne, that THEY MAY BE ONE, as' thou Father, art in me and I in thee, John xvii. 20, 21. In like manner St. Paul em- phatically inculcates the unity of the church, where he writes, iVe, being many, are ONE BODY in Christ, and every one mem" bers one of another, Rom. xii. 5. Again he writes, There is ONE BODY and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, ONE FAITH, and one baptism. Ephes. iv. 4, 5. Conformably to this doctrine, respecting the neces- sary unity of the church, this apostle reckons HERESIES among the sins which exclude /rom the kingdom of Gody Gal. v. 20. and he requires that a man who is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, be rejected. Tit. iii. 1 0. The apostolical fathers, St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius, in their published Epistles, hold precisely the same language on this subject with St. Paul, a^does also their disciple St. Irenaeusi who writes thus, " No reformation can be so advantageous as the evil of schism is pernicious."* The great light of the third century, St. Cyprian, has left us a whole book on the unity of the church, in which, among other similar passages, he writes as follows : " There is but one God, and one Christ, and one faith, and a people joined in one solid body with the cement of concord This unity cannot suffer a division, nor this one body bear to r.a disjoined. — He cannot have God for his father, who has not the church for his mother. If any one could escape the deluge out of Noah's ark, he who is out of t^e church rnay also escape. To abandon the church is a crime, which blood cannot wash away. Such a one may be killed, but he cannot be crown- ed."f In the fourth century, the illustrious St. John Chrj'sostom, writes thus : " We know that salvation belongs to the church alone, and that no one can pari >'ie of Christ, nor be saved out of the Catholic church and faith^X The language of St. Augustin, in the fifth century, is equally strong on this subject, in numerous passages. Among others the Synodical epistle of the cotmcil of Zerta, in 412, drawn up by this saint, tells the Donaiist. schismatics, " Whoever is separated from this Catholic church, however innocently he may think he lives, for this crime alone, that he is separated from tho unity of Christ, will not have life, but the anger of God remahis upon hi?n.^'^ Not less emphaticai to the same effect, is the tPcn'T^oay of St. Fulgentius • De Hccr. 1. i. c. 3 t Horn. 1. in Pasc t Cypr. de Unr, Oxon, p. 109. § Co.jmI. Labbe, torn. ii. ^. 11)20. X.. Letter XV. 117 and St. Gregory the Great, in tho sixth century, in various pas- sages of their writings ; I shall content myself with citing one of tliem. " Out of this church," says the former father,*' uiither the name of Cliristian avails, nor does baptism save, nor is i clean saciiHce offered, noi- is there forgiveness of sins, nor is tl iiap- piness of eternal life to be found."* In short, such has been the language of the fathers and doctors of the church in uil ages, concerning her essential unity, and the indispensable obligation of being united to her. Such also have been the formal decla- rations of the church herself in those decrees, by which she has condemned and anathematized the several heretics and schisma- tics that have dogmatized m fuCirssion, whatever has been the quality of their errors, cr t'ac jj,!;it<.i.. for their disunion. I am, dear Sir, &c. J. M. LETTER XV. To JAMES BRO WN, Esq. <^e. PROTESTANT DISUNION. Dear S:r, In the inquiry I am about to make respecting the church or society of Christians, to which this mark of unity belongs, it will be sufficient for my purpose to consider, that of Protest- ants, on one hand, and that of Catholics on the other. To speak properly, however, it is an absurdity to talk of the church or society of Protestants ; for the term PROTESTANT expresses nothing positive, much less any union or association among them : it barely signifies one who protests or declares against some other person or persons, thing or things ; and in the present instance it signifies those who protest against the Catholic church. Hence there may be, and there are, numberless sects of Protes- tants, divided from each other in every thing, except in opposing their true mother, the Catholic church. St. Austin reckons up * '.ib de Remiss. Peccat. c. 23. — N. B. This doctrine concerning the urrjtj ■ t' the churc^ vnd the ijecessity of adhering to it, under pain ot'dam- nr/." IV Iiich ap^jLafS so rigid to modern Protestants, was almost univer- *aiiy taught by their predecessors : as, for example, by Calvin, 1. iv. Instit. I. and Beza, Confess. Fid. c, v. ; by the Huguenots, in their Catechism ; by the Scotch, in their Profession of 15()8 : by the church of England, Art 18 ; by the celebrated bishop Pearson, &c. The last named writes thus . " Christ never appointed two ways to heaven ; nor did he build a church, to save some, and make another institution lor other men's salvation. As nonu were saved from the deluge but such as w.^re within the ark of Noah — 80 none shall ever escape the eternal wrat^ uf Gjd, which belong not to th« church of God."-^Expo9it of Creed, p. 24i). J.fl ■ ptm I |.»i lib Letter X7. ninety heresies which had protested against the church before his time, that is, during the lirst four hundred years of her ex- istence ; and ecclesiastical writers have counted about the same number, who rose up since that period, down to the era of I>u- . ther's protestation, wliich took place early in the sixteenth cen- tury : whereas, from the last montioned era, to the end of the same century, Staphylus and cardinal Hosius enumerated two hundred and seventy different sects of Protestants : and, alas ! how have Protestant sects, beyond reckoning and description, multiplied, during the last two hundred years ! Thus has the observation of the above cited holy father been verified in modern, no less than it was in former ages, where he exclaims : *' Into how many morsels have those sects been broken who have divided themselves from the unity of the church !"* You are not ignorant that the illustrious Bossuet has written two con- siderable volumes on the Variations of the Protestants ; chiefly on those of the Lutheran and the Calvinistic pedigress. Nume- rous other variations, dissensions, iind mutual persecutions, even| to the extremity of death,t which have taken place among them, 1 have had occasion to mention in my former letters and other works.J I have also quoted the lamentations of Calvin, Dudith, and other htjads of the Protestants, on the subjects of these divi- sions. You will recollect, in particular, what the latter writes concerning those differences ; " Our people are carried away by every wind of doctrine. If youkr^ow what their belief is to- day, you cannot tell what it will be to-morrow. Is there one article of religion, in which these churches, who are at war with • St. Aug. contra Petolian. t Luther pronounced the Sacramentarlans, namely, the Calvinists, Zuing. lians, and those Protestants in general, who denied the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, kerelics, and damned .ii>iils,fflr whom it isnot lam- ftU to pray. Epist. ad Arginten Catech. Parv. Tomment in Gen. His fol- lowors persecuted Bucer, Melancthon's nephew, with imprisonment, and Crellius to death, for endeavouring to soften their master's doctrine in this point Mosheim by Maclaine, vol. iv. p. 311 — 3.')3. Zuinglius, winle he deified Hercules, Theseus. &,c. condemn<;d the Anabaptists to be drowned, pronouncing this sentence on Felix Mans : " Qui ilcrum rncrjfuiil mertran- tiir ;" which sentence was accordin«.^ly executed at Zurich, l.imbnrch. Introd. 71. Not content with anathcma'izing and imprisoning those reform- en who dissented from his system, John Calvin caused two of them, Sor- vetus and Gniet, to be put to death. The prosbyterians of HwUand and New-Kofjland were equally intolerant with ri'spoci to other denominiitionj of !*rotostaMts. The latter hanifod four Quakers, one of *hem a v.'otna:;, on account of tlieir lelit^ion. In Kni^land itriclf, fr(!(|uetit executions of Ana- b;»|)tists and otluM" l^rote.st.»nt.-» too'c place;, from flic n'ii^u of Klward VI till that of (;harlc:i I. ; atiJ otht;r lesi sangiiinary pcriecutions till the tima of James II t LETTERS TO A PllEBENDARY. kc. tetter XV. 119 the Pope, agree together ? If you run over all the articles, from the first to thr last, you will not find one which is not l»eld by some of them to be an article of faith, and rejected by others, as an impiety."* With thes(5 and numberless other historical ficts of the same nature before his eyes, would it not, dear sir, 1 appeal to your own good sense, be the extremity of folly for any one to lay the least claim t(» the mark of unity in favour of Protestants, or to pret« nd that they who are united in nothing but their hostility towards the Catholic church, can form the one church we pro- fess to believe, in the creed ! Perhaps, however, you will say, that the mark of unity, which is wanting among the endless divisions of Protestants in general, may be found in the church to which you belong, the established church of England. 1 grant, dear sir, thut your communion has better pretentions to this, and the other marks of the church, than any other Pro- testant society has. She is, as our controversial poet sings, " The least dfform^d because reformed the least."t You will recollect the account I have given, in a former letter,! of the material changes which this church has undergone, at diflerent times, since her first entire formation in the reign of the last Edward, and which place her at variance with herself. You will also remember the proofs I brought of lioadlt/sim, in other words, of Socinianism, that damnahln and cursed hnresy, as this church termed it in her last syno;l,§ against some of her most illustrious bishops, archdeacons, avid other dignitaries of modern times. These teach, in official charges to the clergy, in con- secration sermons, and in publications addressed to the throne, that the church herself is nothing more than a voluntary asso- ciation of certain people for the benefit of social worship ; that they themselves are in no other sense ministers of God than civil officers are ; that Christ has left us no exterior means of grace, faiid that, of course, baptism and the Lord's Supper (which are declared wcessary for salonlum in the Catechism) produce no Hpiritual effect at all ; in short, that all mysteries, and among the rest those of the trinity and incarnation, (for denying which, tile prelates of the church of Knjj|and have sent so many Arims to tho stake, in the reigns of Edward, Elizabeth, and James I.) are mere nonsense. U When I had occasion to expose this fatal • Epist. o'l ftapiton. infrr. Kpi«t. Bozte. t nry. WVD Sparrow's C.'ullert. p 3r)5. II Soo extrarfs rmin tin; Sltiuoms of Bishop Hoinllcy, Di- Hal^fiiy, and Dt. Sturgctf, ill Lett..'r4 lo a > rubendarv, Let. viii. Tim niuitt pvrsiptcuuus aad s t]» 120 Letter XV. system, (the professors of which Cranmer and Ridley would have sent, at once, to the stake,) I hoped it was of a local na- ture, and that defending, as I was in this point, the Articles and Liturgy of the established church as well as my own, I should, thus far, be supported by its dignitaries and other learned mem- bers : i found, however, the contrary to be generally the case,* and that the irreligious infection was infinitely more extensive than I apprehended. In fact, I found the most celebrated pro- fessors of divinity in the universities delivering Dr. Balguy'a doctrine to the young clergy in their public lectures, and the most enlightened bishops publishing it in their pastorals and other works. Among these, the Norrisian professor of theology at Cam- bridge carries his deference to the archdeacon of Winchester so far, as to tell his scholars : " As I distrust my own conclu- sions more than his, (Dr. Balguy's,) if you judge that they are not reconcileable, I must exhort you to confide in him rather than me."t In fact, his ideas concerning the mysteries of Chris- tianity, particularly the trinity and our redemption by Christ, and indeed concerning most other theological points, perfectly agree with those of Dr. Balguy. lie represents the diflerence be- tween the members of the established church and the Socinians to consist in nothing but *• a few unmeaning words ;" and asserts, that " they need never be upon their guard against each other.,'J "Speaking of the custom, as he calls it, "in the Scripture, of mentioning Father, Son, and Holy Ghost together, on the most solemn occasions, of which baptism is one," he says, " Did I pretend to understand what I say, 1 might be a Tritheist or an Infidel, but I could not worship the one true God, and acknow- ledge Jesus Christ to be Lord of all."^ Another learned profes- sor of divinity, who is also a bishop of the established church, teaches his clergy " Not to esteem any particular opinion con- cerning tha trinity, satisfaction, and original sin, necessary to salvation."! Accordingly, he equally absolves the Unitarian from impiety in refusing divine honour to our Blessed Saviour, and •' iho worshipper of Jesus," as ho expresses himself, from nervous of these preachers, unquestionably, was Dr. BalRuy. See his Dis- courses and Charges preached on public occasions, and dedicated to tlic king. Lockyer Davis, 17H.'>. • That u;reat ornament of the Episcopal bench, Dr. Horsley, bishop of St. Asaph's, docs not fall under this censure ; as he protected the present writer, both in and on' of parliament. t Lectures in Divinity, delivered in the university of Cambridge, by J. Hoy, D. D. as Norrisian prolcssor, in four volumes, 17'J7. Vol, ii. p. 104. tVol, ii. p. 4J t Vol. ii. pp. 850, 851. II Dr. Watson, bishop of Landafl'a Phargo, 1795. I' \ (. Lftter XV. 131 idolatry in paying it to him, on the score of their common good intention.* This siiflicieMly shows what the bishop's own be- lief was concerning the adorable trinity, and the divinity of the second person of it. 1 have given, in a former letter, a remark- able passage irom the above quoted charge, where bishop Wat- son, speaking of the doctrines of Christianity, says to his assem- bled clergy, " I think it safer to tell you where they are contain- ed than what they are- They are contained in the Bible ; and if, in reading that book, your sentiments should be different from those of your neighbour, or from those of the church, be persua- ded that infallibility appertains as little to you as it does to the church." I have elsewhere -exposed the complete Socinianism of bishop Hoadley and his scholars,f among whom we must reckon bishop Shipley in the first rank. Another celebrated writer, who was himself a dignitary of the establishment,! arguing, as he does most powerfully, against the consistency and efficacy of public confessions of faith, among Protestants of every denomination, says, that out of a hundred ministers of the establishment, who, every year, subscribe the Articles made " to prevent diversity of opinions," he has reason to believe *' that above one-fifih of this number do not subscribe or assent to these Articles in one uniform sense. "^ He ilso quotes a llight Rev. author who maintains that " No two thinking men ever agreed exactly in their opinion, even with regard to any one article of it."|| He also quotes the famous bishop Burnet, who says, that •' The requiring of subscription to the Thirty-nine Ar- ticles is a great imposition,!! and that the {greater part of the cler- gy subscribe the Articles, without ever examining them, and others do it because they must do it, though they can hardly satisfy their consciences about some things in thenj."** He shows that the advocates for subscription. Doctors Nichols, Ben- net, VVaterland, and Stebbing, all vindicated it on opposite grounds ; and he is forced to confess the same thinsr, with re- spect to the enemies of subscription, with whom ho iumself ranks. Dr. Clark pretends there is a salvo in the subscription, iiiimely, / assent to the articles in as much as theif arc agreeable to scripture,\\ though the judges of England have declared the con- trary .:{| Dr. Sykes alleges that the Articles were cither pur- posely or negligently made equivocul.i)^ Another writer, whom he • Collect of Thcol. Tract*, Pref. p. 17. t Letters to a F'rL'bondary. t Dr. Bluckburii, archdeacon of Cleaveland, aiillior (f the Confessional. i Confes-j. 3 Krl. p. 45. II Dr. Clayton, bisho|. ot Clogher. IT Confess, p. «3 •• p. JU. ft P. '2ii. « P 183. M P. iin. II n 123 Letter XV, praises, undertakes to explain how " these Articles may be sub* scribed, and consequently believed, by a Sabellian, an orthodox Trinitarian, a Tritheist, and an Arian, so called." After this citation. Dr. Blackburn shrewdlv adds : " One would wonder what idea this writer had of peace, when he supposed it might be kept by the act of subscription amonj; men of these different judgments."* If you will look into Overton's True Churchman Ascertained, you will meet with additional proofs of the repug- nance of many other dignitaries and distinguisjjed churchmen to the articles of their own church, as well as of their disagree- ment in faith among themselves. Hence you will not wondei that a numerous body of them should, some years ago, have petitioned the legislature to be relieved from the grievance, as they termed it, of subscribing these Articles ;t and that we should continually hear of the mutilation of the liturgy by so many of them, to avoid sanctioning those doctrines of their church, which they disbelieve and reject, particularly the Atha* nasian Creed and the absolution. J - I might disclose a siill wider departure from their original^ confessions of faith, and still more signal dissensions among the diff*erent dissenters, and particularly among the old stock of the Presbyterians and Independents, if this were necessary. Most of these, says Dr. Jortin, are now Socinians, though we ull know, they heretofore persecuted that sect with fire and sword. The renowned Dr. Priestly not only denied the divinity of Christ, but with horrid blasphemy, accused him of ninnerous errors, weaknesses, and faults :^ and when the authority of Calvin, in burning Servetus, was objected to him, ho answered, " Calvin was a great man, but, if a little man be |)laced on tho shoulders of a giant, he will he en ihled to see larthcr than the uiant him- siilf." The doctrine now preached in the fashonahle Uniiaiian chapuls of the metropolis, I understand, greatly rescnthh^s that of the late Theophilanthropists of France, instituted by an Inlidol, one of the five directors. The chief (juestion, however, at present is, whether the church of England can lay any claim to the first character or mark of the true church, pointed out in our common creed, that of UNITY ? On this suliject 1 have to observe, that in addition • P. 231 + Particularly in 177-2. t Thu oiiiiasion of tlie Athariu^ian Creeil, in particular, sj often took place in the public siuvice, that an act of parliament has just passed, auionsi other things, to enlbrce tlie repetition ol it. But if the clergyreu allud d to re- ally believe that Christ is not God, what ia the Legislature uoing in furciiig them to worship him as Qod 1 f TheolQ^. Reposit. vqI. 4. .\ Letter XV I. t38 to the dissensions among its members, already mentioned, there are. whole societies, not communicuting with the ostensible church of England, who nwke very strong and plausible pre- tensions to be, each of them, the real church of England. Such are the Non-jurors, who maintain the original doctrine of this church, contained in the Homilies concerning passive obedience and non-resistance, and who adhere to the- first ritual of Ed- ward VI.* Such are the evangelical preachers and their dis- ciples, who insist upon it that pure Calvinism is the creed of tht^ established church.f Finally, such are the i\I"ethodists, whom professor Hey describes as forming llif: old church of Englan(l.\ And, even now, it is notorious that many clergymen preach in the churches in the morning, and in the meeting liouses in the evening; while their opulent patrons* are purchasing as many church-livings as they can, in order to fill them with incumbents of the same description. Toil me now, dear sir, whetho*-, from this view of the slate of the church of England, or from any other fair view which can bo taken of it, you will venture to ascribe to it that first mark of the true church, which you profess to belong to her, when, in the fact of heaven and earth, you solemnly declare, / believe in ONE Catholic Church ? Say, is there any single mark or principle of real unity in it ? I anti- cipate the answers your candour will give to these questions. - ^-^ .. 1 am, &c. J. M LETTER XVI. r ^ ^ '' ; ' To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c. • catholic unity. Dear Sir, . ^ ' * We have now to see whether that first'mark of the true clmrch, which we confess in our creeds, but which we have found to be wanting to the Protestant societies, and even to the most osten- sible and orderly of them, the established church of England, • To tins church belonged Ken, and tlie other six bisiipps*, wlio were deposed at the revohition, Leslie, (Jollier, Hicks, Bret, and many other chief ornaujents of (he Church of England. t It is clear from the Articles and iriuinilies, and still more liotn the periiecution of the assertors of free-will in this country, that the climxh of Enjtland was Calvinistic till the end of the rei^n of Jaines I. in the course of wliich he sent Ej)isco|)al representatives from England -nd Scnlland to the jjreaf Protestant synod of IJort. Those, in the name ot their resp^'ctivc churches, uigned that *Mhc laithlul who full into atrocious crimed, do nut forfeit juvtification, or incur damnation." I Vol. u. p. 73. • i 'ii fnft 124 Utter XVL does or does not appear in that principal and primeval stock of Christianity, called the Catholic church. In case this church, spread, as it is, throughout the various nations of the earth, and subsisting, as it has done, through all ages, since that of Christ and his apostles, should have maintained that religious «ni/y, which the modern sects, confined to a single people, have been unable to preserve, you will allow that it must have been framed by a consummate Wisdom, and protected by an omnipo- tent Providence. Now, sir, I maintain it, as a notorious fact, that this original and great church is, and ever has been, strictly ONE in all the above-mentioned particulars, and first in her faith and terms of communion. The same creeds, namely, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Pope Pius IV. drawn up in conformity with the definitions of the Qouncil of Trent, are every where recited and professed, to the strict letter ; the same articles of faith and morality are taught in all our catechisms ; the same rule of faith, namely, the re- vealed Word of God, contained in Scripture and tradition, and! the same expositor and interpreter of this rule, the Catholic church speaking by the mouth of her pastors, are admitted and proclaimed by all Catholics throughout the four quarters of the globe, from Ireland to Chili, and from Canada to India. You may convince yourself of this any day, at the Royal fci.\change, by conversing with intelligent Catholic merchants, from the seve- ral countries in question. You may satisfy yourself respecting it, even by interrogating the poor illiterate Irish, and other Catholic foreigners, who traverse the country in various direc- tions. Ask them their belief as to the fundamental articles of Christianity, the unity and trinity of God, the incarnation and death of Christ, his divinity, and atonement for sin by his pas' sion and death, the necessity of baptism, the nature of the l>les- sed sacrament; questicm them on these and other such points, but with kindness, patience, and condescension, particularly with respect to their language and delivery, and, I will venture to say, you will not find any essential variation in the answers of most of tlicm ; and much less such as you will find by proposing the same questions to an equal number of Protestants, whether learn- ed or unlearned, of the self-same denomination. At all events, the Catholics, if properly intorrogated, will confess their belief in one comprehensive article ; namely, this, / believe whutcvir the holy Catholic c/iurch helieves and teaches. Protestant divines, at the present day, excuse their dissent from th« Articles which they subscribe and swear to, by reasou I ' Letter XVI. 12S of their alleged antiquity and obsoleteness,* though none of them are yet quite two centuries and a half old,t and they feel no diflTicuity in avowing that " a tacit reformation," since the first pretended reformation, has taken place among them.^ This alone is a confession that their church is jiot one and the same ; whereas aH Catholics believe as firmly in the doctrinal decisions of the council of Nice, passed fifteen hundred years ago, as they do in those of the council of Trent, confirmed in 1564, and other still more recent decisions ; because the Catholic church, like its divine Founder, is the same yesterday, tO'day, and fSr «ver. Heb. xiii, 8. Nor is it in her doctrine onlv, that the Catholic church is one and the same ; she is also uniform in whatever is 'jssentiail in her liturgy. In every part of the world, she oflers up the same unbloody sacrifice of the holy mass, which is her chief act of divine worship ; she administers the same seven sacraments, provided by infinite wisdom and mercy for the several wants of the faithful ; the great festivals of our redemption are kept holy on the same days, and the apostolical fast of Lent is every where proclaimed and observed. In short, such is the unity of the Catholic church, that when Catholic priests or laymen, landing at one of the neighbouring ports, from India, Canada, or Brazil, come to my chapel,^ 1 find them capable of joining with me in every essential part of the divine service. Lastly, as a regular, uniform, ecclesiastical constitution and gooenitnrnt, and a due subordination of its members, are requisite to constitute a uniform church, and to preserve unity of doctrine and liturgy in it, so these are undeniably evident in the Catholic church, and in her alone. She is, in the language of St, Cy- prian, " The habitation of peace and unity ,"|j and in that of the inspired text, like an army in battle array ^ Spread, as the Ca- tholics are, over the face of the earth, according to my former observation, and disunited, as they are in every other respect, they form one uniform body in the order of religion. Whether roaming in the plains of Paraguay, or confined in the palaces of Pekin, each simple Catholic, in point of ecclesiastical economy, is subject to his pastor ; each pastor submits to his bishop, and each bishop acknowledges the supremacy of the successor of Si. Peter, in niatlers of faith, morality, and spiritual jurisdiction. In case of error, or iitsubordination, which, from the frailty and • Dr. Hey's Lectures on Divinity, vol ii. pp. 49, .50, .'>1, &c. t The 39 Articles were drawn in I5t52, and contirmed by the queen and tlie bishops in 1571. ♦ Hey, p 4H. 9 At Winchester, where the writer resided when Ihis letter was writteo. t •' Domicilium paci» ot unitatis." St. Cvp. ^ Cant. vj. 4, !!• 186 Letter XV 11. malice of the human heart, must, from lime to time, disturb her, there are found canons and ecclesiastical tribunals, and judges, to correct and put an end to the evil, while similar evils in other religious societies are found to be interminable. 1 have said little or nothing of the varieties of Protestants in regard to their liturgies and ecclesiastical governments, becausa these matters being very inricate and obscure, as well as diver- sified, would lead me loo far a-field for my present plan. It is sufficient to remark, that the numerous Protestant sects expressly (Hsclaim any union with each other in these points. That a great proportion of them reject every species of liturgy and ecclesiastical government w hatever, and that, in the church of England herself, very many of her dignitaries, and other distin- guished meml)ers, express their pointed disapprobation of certain parts of her liturgy, no less than of her Articles,* and that none of them appear to stand in awe of any authority, except that which is enforced by the civil power. Upon a review of the whole matter of Protestant disunion and Catholic unity, I am forced to repeat with Tcrtullian, " It is the character of error to \ vary ; but when a tenet is found to be one and the same among a great variety of people, it is to be considered not as an error but as a divine tradition."! I am, dear sir, &c. J. M. , LETTER XVII. From JAMES BROWN, Esq. <^c. ; OlIJECTIONS TO THZ; CLAIM OF EXCLUSIVE SALVATION. r Reverknd Sri?, I AM too much taken up myself with the present subject of your letters, willingly to interrupt the continuation of them : but • Archdeacon Paley very naturally complains, that " the doctrine of the Articles of the church of England," which he so pointedly objects to, " are intprwoveu, with much industry, Into her forms of Public worship." I have not met with a Protestant bishop, or other eminent divine, from arch- bishop Tillotson down to the present bishop of Lincoln, who approves alto- gether ol the Athanasian Creed, which, however, is appointed to be said or sung on thirteen chief festivals in the year. t De Prjcscrip contra Ilajr. The famous bishop Jewel, in excuse for the acknowledged variations of his own church, objects to Catholics that there arp varieties in theirs ; namely, some of the Iriars are dressed in black, and some in white, and some in blue : that some of them live on meat, and some on fish, and some on herbs : they have also disputes in their schools, as Dr. F'orteus also remarks ; but they ooth omit to mention, that these disputes are not about articles of faith. Letter XVII. 187 some of the gentlemen, who freqUent New Cottage, having com- municated your three last to a learned dignitary who is upon a visit in our neighbourhood, and he having made certain remarks upon them, 1 have been solicited by those gentlemen to forward them to you. The terms of our correspondence render an apology from me unnecessary, and still more the conviction that I believe you entertain of my being, with sincere respect and regard, Rev. Sir, &c. JAMES BHOWN. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. N. N. Prehendary of N . to Mr. N, It is well known to many Roman Catholic gentlemen, with whom I have lived in habits of social intercourse, that I was al- ways a warm advocate for their emancipation, and that, so far from having any objections to their religion, I considered their hopes of future bliss as well founded as my own. In return, I thought 1 saw in them a corresponding liberality and charity. But these letters which you have sent me from the correspondent of your society at Winchester, have quite disgusted me with their bigotry and uncharitableness. In opposition to the Chryvsostomes and Augustines, whom he quotes so copiously, for his doctrine o( exclusive salvation, I will place a modern bishop of my church, no way inferior to them. Dr. Watson, who says, " Shall we never be freed from the narrow-minded contentions of bigots, and from the insidts of men who know not what spirit they are of when they stint the Omnipotent in the exercise of his mercy, ar»d bar the doors of heaven aijainst every sect but their own ? Shall we never learn to think more humbly of ourselves and less despicably of others ; to believe that the Father of the Uni- verse accommodates not his judgments to the wretched wrang- lings of pedantic theologues ; but that every one, who, with an honest intention, and to the best of his abilities, seeketh truth, whether he findeth it or not, and worketh righteousness, will be accepted of by him ?"* These, sir, are exactly my sentiments, as they were those of the illustrious Hoadley, in his celebrated sermon, which had the effect of stifling most of the remaining bigotry in the established church.t There is not any prayer which 1 more frequently or fervently repeat than that of the • Bishop Watson's Theolog. Tracts, Pref. p. 17. t Bisliop II()a;lloy'3 Sermon nn. the Kimi'lom of Christ. This made the choice of religions a tliin-j indilLrent, and sn!)iected the whole business of reli^idii to the civil power. Hence spruniij the lam lus Hangorian ('onfro- ver.sy, whicli, when on the point nl" ending in a censure upon lioadley iVoni the Convocation, the latter was interdicted by ministry, and has never 9ince, in the course of a hundred years, been allowed to meet again. ■im 1 ^ 4i if l\ 198 Letter X III. liberal minded poet, who himself passed for a Roman Catholic, particularly the foUowinfr stanza of it : " Let not this weak and erring hand Presume thy bolts to throw, And deal damnation round the land On each 1 judge thy foe.' * I hope your society will require its Popish correspondent, be- fore he writes any more letters to it on other subjects, to answer what our prelate and his own poet have advanced against the bigotry and uncharitableness of excluding Christians of any de- nomination from the mercies of God and everlasting happiness. He may assign whatever marks he pleases of the true church, but I, for my part, shall ever consider charity as the only sure mark of this, conformably with what Christ says : By this shall all know that ye arc my disciples, if ye have love one to another* John xiii. 35. , ■ ^ '( I'/t-i': V'l- -, '''■!■■ LETTER XVIII. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. <^o. .:.... .:,\ objections answered. Dear Sir, In answer to the objections of the Reverend prebendary to my letters on the mark oV unity in the true church, and the ne- cessity of being incorporated in this church, I must observe, in the first place, that nothing disgusts a reasoning divine more than vague charges of bigotry and intolerance, inasmuch as they have no distinct meaning, and are equally applied to all sects and individuals, by others, whose religious opinions are more lax than their own. These odious accusations which your churchmen bring against Catholics, the Dissenters bring against you, who are equally loaded with them by Deists, as these are, in their turn, by Atheists and Materialists. Let us then, dear sir, in the serious discussions of religion, confine ourselves to language of a defined meaning, leaving vague and tinsel terms to poets and novelists. it seems, then, that bishop Watson, with the Rev. N. N. and other fashionable latitudinarians of the day, are indignant at the idea of " stinting the Omnipotent in the exercise of his mercy, and barring the doors of heaven against any sect," however heterodox or impious. Nevertheless, in the very passage which I have quoted, they themselves stint this mercy to those who " work righteousness," which implies a restraint on men's pas- ♦ Pope's Universal Frayer. Letttr XVIII. 129 sions. Methinks I now hear some epicure Dives or elegant libertine retorting on these liberal, charitable, divines, in their own words, Pedantic theulogncs, narrow minded higots, who stint the Omnipotent in the exercise of his mercy^ and bar the doors of heaven against me, for following the impulse which he himself has planted in me ! The same language may, with equal justice, be put into the mouth of Nero, Judas Iscariot, and of the very demons themselves. Thus, in pretending to magnify God's mercy, these men would annihilate his justice, his sanctity, and his veracity ! Our business, then, is, not to form arbitrary theories concerning the divine attribute, but to attend to what he himself has revealed concerning them and the exercise of them VVhat words can be more express than those of Christ, on this point, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved , but he that believeth not shall be damned ! Mark xvi. 16, or than those of St. Paul : Without faith it is impossible to please Gud^ Heb. xi. 6. Conformably to this doctrine, the same apostle classt'S heresies v*ith murder and adultery ; concerning which he says, they tvho do such things shall not inherit the kingdom oj God, Gal. V. 20, 21. Accordingly, he orders that a man, who is a heretic, shall be rejected. Tit. iii. 10, and the apostle of charity, St. John, forbids the faithful to receive him into their houses ; or even to bid him God spced-^nho bringeth not this doctrine of Christ, 2 John i. 10. 'I'his apostte acted up to his rule, with respect to the treatment of persons out of the church, w'aen he hastily withdrew from a public building, in which ho met the heretic Cerinthus, " lest," as he said, " it should fall down upon him."**' I have given, in a former letter, some of the numberless pas- sages in which the holy fathers speak home to the present point, and, as these are far more expressive and emphatical than what I myself have said upon it, I presume they have chiefly contri- buted to excite the bile of the Kev. prebendary. However he may slight these venerable authorities, yet, as I am sure that yon, sir, reverence them, I will add two more such quotations, on account of their peculiar appositeness to the present point, from the great doctt>r of the lifth century, St. Augustine. He says : " All the assemblit s, or rather divisions, who call them- selves churches of Christ, but which, in fact, have separated themselves from the congregation of unity, do not belong to the true church. They might indeed belong to her, if the Holy Ghost could be divided against himself : but as this is impossible, they do not belong to her."t In like manner, u'Uressing himsell ■ .h% ^V'i i». '* 9. Irra. 1. iii. Euseb. Hist. 1. iii. f 0a Verb. do'm-. Serol. ii. 130 Letter XVIII. to certain sectaries of his time, he says : " If our communion is the church of Christ, yours is not so : for the church of Christ is one, whichsoever she is ; since it is said of her, Mt/ dove, mi/ undcfihd is one ; she is the only one of her mother" Cantic. vi. 9. Uut, setting aside Scripture and tradition, let us consider this matter, as bishop Watson and his associates effect to do, on the side of natural reason alone. These modern philosophers think it absurd to suppose that the Creator of the Universe concerns himself about what we poor mortals do or do not believe ; or, as the bishop expresses himself, that he " accommodates his judg- nvents to the wrangling of pedantic theologues." With equal plausibility certain ancient philosophers have represented it as unworthy the Supreme Being to busy himself about the actions of such reptiles as Ave are in his sight ; and thus have opened a door to an unrestrained violation of his eternal and immutable laws ! In opposition to both these schools, 1 maintain, as the clear dictate«i of reason, that as God is the author, so he is neces- sarily the supreme Lord and Master of all beings, with their several powers and attributes, and therefore of those noble an(^ distinguishing faculties of the human soul, reason and free will ; that he caitnot divest himself of this supreme dominion, or render any being or any faculty independent of himself or of his high laws, any more than he can cease to'be God ; that, of course, he does and must require our reason to believe iii his divine revelations, no. less than our will to submit to his supreme com- mands ; that he is just, no less than he is merciful, and there- fore that due - 132 Letter XIX. itable in the physician, to warn his patient of his danger in eat- ing unwholesome food ? Again, is it charitable or uncharitable in thie watchman who sees the sword coming to sound the trumpet of alarm? Ezech. xxxiii. G. But to conclude, the Rev. prebendary, with most modern Pro- tesfanls, may continue to assign his latitudinarianism, which ad- mits all religions to be right, thus dividing truthj that is essen- tially indivisible, as a mark of the truth of his sect ; in the mean- time, the Catholic church ever will maintain, as she ever has maintained, that there is only one faith and one true church, and that this her uncompromising firmness, in retaining and profes- sing this unity, is the first mark of her being this church. The subject admits of being illustrated by the well known judgment of the wisest of men. Two women dwelt together, each of whom had an infant son ; but, one of these dying, they both con- tended for possession of the living child, and carried their cause to the tribunal of Solomon. He, finding them equally conten- tious, ordered the infant they disputed about to be cut in two, and one-half of it to be given to each of them ; which order the pretended mother agreed to, exclaiming. Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then spake the woman, whose the living child was, unto the king ; for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she saia, O, my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it ; SHE IS THE MOTHER THERE- OF! 1 Kings iii. 26, 17. . . ,. ... ^rv, I am, Dear Sir, dec. J. M. to in test? thes mea The i^ETTER XIX. • ■'■ ' ' To JAMES BROWN, Esq. <^e. ON 8ANCTITV Or DOCTRINE. i Dear Sir, The second mark by which you, as well as I, describe the church in which you believe, when you repeat the Apostles' Creed, is that of SANCTITY : we, each of us, say, / believe in the HOLY Catholic Church. Reason itself tells us, that the God of purity and sanctity could not institute a religion destitute of this character ; and the inspired apostle asures us, that Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it ; that he might santfy and cleanse it, with the washing of uuter, by the Word ; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle. Ephot. v. 25. 27. The comparison which I am going 111 Letter XIX. 133 to institute between the Catholic church and the leading Pro- testant societies in the article of sanctity, will be made on these four heads : 1st. The doctrine of holiness ; 2dly. The /wcan^ of holiness ; 3dly. The /rui7* of holiness; and, lastly, The divine testimony of holiness. To consider, first, the doctrine of the chief Protestant com- munions : this is well known to have been originally grounded in the pernicious and impious principles, thr t God is the author and necessitating cause, as well as the everlasting punisher, of sin ; that man has no free will to avoid sin ; and that justifica- tion and salvation are the eflects of an enthusiastic persuasion^ under the name o{ faith, that the person is ^.ciM^Wy justified and .vauerf, without any real belief m the revealed truths, without hope, charity, repentance for sin, benevolence to our fellow- creatures, loyalty to our king and country, or any other virtues, all which were censured by the first reformers, as they are by the strict Mothodists still, under the name o{ works, and by many of ihem declared to be even hurtful to salvation. It is asserted, in the Harmony of Confessions, a celebrated work, published in the early times of the Reformation, that " all the confessions of the Protestant churches teach this primary article (of justifica- tion) with a holy consent ;" which seems to imply, says arch- deacon Blackburn, " that this was the single article in which they all did agree."* Bishop Warburton expressly declares, that " Protestantism was built upon it:"t and yet, " what im- piety can be more execrable," we may justly exclaim with Dr. Balguy " than to make God a tyrant !"{ And what lessons can be taught more immoral, than that men are not required to re- pent of their sins to obtain their forgiveness, nor to love either God or man to be sure of their salvation! To begin with the father of the Reformation, Luther teaches that " God works the evil in us as well as the good," and th'it " the great perfection of faith consists in believing God to he just, although, hy his own will, he necessarily renders us uwrlhy of damnation, so as to seem to take pleasure in the torments of the miserable. ^'(^ Again he says, and repeats if, in his work De Ser- vo Arbitrio, and his other works, that *' free will is an empty name ;" adding, •' If God foresaw that Judas would be a traitor, Judas necessarily became a traitor : nor was it in his power to be otherwise."|| " Man's will is like a horse : if God sit upon it, • Archdoacon Blackburn's Confessional, p. 16. t Doctrine of Grace, citotl bv Overton, p. .'U. I Luth. Opera, ed. Wittcinb.'tom. ii fol 437. U 0e Serv. Arbit fol. \m. 12 S Discoune*, p. 59 134 Lns about the Pope's supremacy, purgatory, and indulgencies, to be trifles, rather than subjects of controver- sy -IT In a former letter I quoted a remarkable passage from this patriarch of Protei«iantisni, in which he pretends to prophesy that this article of his, shall subsist for ever, in spite of all the emperors. Popes, kings, and devils ; concluding thus: " If they attempt to weaken this article, may hell-lire be their reward ; lei this b»i taken f«T an inspiration of the Holy Ghost, made to me, Martin Luther." However, in spite of these prophecies and curses of their father, the Lutherans in getierul, as 1 have before noticed, shock- ed at the impiety of this his primary principle, soon abandoned it, and even went over to the opposite impiety of Seuji-pqlagiarn ism, whicli attributes to man i\\e first motion, or cause of con- version and sanctification. Still it will always be true to say, that Lutheranism itself originated in the impious doctrine describ- ed above. •• As to the second branch of the Reformation, Cal- vinism, where it has not sunk into Latitudinarianistn or Socmian- ism.it it is still distinguished by this impious system. To give • Ibid torn. ii. + Ibid. torn. ili. fol. 17I. t Ibid. torn. i. fol. 361. $ De C iptiv. Babyl. torn, ii fol. 71. II See Brierley'a Protest. Apol. 3i)3. See also Mosheim and IMaclaino, Ecclo9 ! ist. vol. pp 3-Jl, 3-2H. H See tile ( nsnage, ext ac;ed from the work De Servo Arhtlrin, in Letter* to a Prehendai y, Loiter V. •• Bo3:juot'3 Variat. J. viii. pp. 03, D4, kc. Moshcini and Maclainc, vol. T. p. 44(}< flbO. tt Ibid, o 45K Letter XIX. 135 a few passages from the works of this second pa iarch of Pro- testants, Ciilvin says : *• God requires nothing of its but faith ; he asks nothing of us, but that we believe."* *' I do not hesitate to assert that the will of God makes all things necessary. "f "It is plainly wrong to seek for any other cause of damnaiion than the hidden counsels of God.'t " Men, by th^ free will of God, without any demerit of their own, are predestinated to eternal death."^ It is useless to cite the disciples of Calvin, Beza, Zanchius, &;c. as they all slick close to the doctrine of their master, still I will give the following remarkable passage from the works of the renowned Beza : "Faith is peculiar to the elect, and consists in an absolute dependence each one has on the certainty of his election, wliich implies an assurance of his perseverance. Hence we have it in our power to know whether we be predestinated to salvation, not by fancy, but by conclusions as certain as if we had ascemled into heaven to hear it from the mouth of God himself."|| And is there a man that, having being worked up by such dogmatizing, or by his own fancy, to this full assurance of indefeasible predestination and in>])eccability, who, under any violent temptation to break the laws of God or man, can be expected to resist it ! After all the pains which have been taken by modern divines of the church of England to clear her from this stain of Calvin- ism, nothing is more certain than that she was, at first, deeply infected with it. The 42 Articles of Edward VI. and the 39 Articles of Elizabeth are evidently grounded in that doctrine.Tl which, however, is more expressly inculcated in the Lambeth Articles,** approved of by the two archbishops, the bishop of Lon- don, &LC. in 1595, " whose testimony," says the renowned Ful- ler, " is an infallible evidence, what was the general and receiv- ed doctrine of the church of England in that age about the fore- named controversies."tt In the History of the University of Cambridge, by this author, a strict churchman, we have evident proof that no other doctrine but that of Calvin was so much as tolerated by the established church, at the time 1 have been speaking of. " One W. Darret, fellow of Gonvile and Caius • Cftlv. in Joari. vi. Rom. i- Galat. ii. 1 1 .stit 1. iii. c. 23. t Ibid. i Ibid. II Exposit. cited by Bossuet, Variat 1. xiv. pp. C. 7. IT Particularly tho Uth, l-2th, 13th, and 17th of the 39 Article.i. By ths tenor of tho I'Mh, amonjt; the 31), it would appear, that the patience of So- crates, the iniegrity of Aristidrs, the continence of Scipio, and tlie patriot- ism of Cato •• had tho nature of sin,"' because they wore «• worics done before the grace of Christ." •* Fullers Church History, u. '230. •tt Fuller, p. '23J. — N. B. Cn the point in question, Dr. Iley, vi. . jv. p. (>• quotes tho well-known tipfcch of tno great lord Chatham in parliament t •' Wc ha\''o a Calvlnlstic crc^d, and an Arminian tbrgy " 136 Letter XIX. college, preached ad Clerum for hi? degree of bachelor of divin- ity, wherein he vented such doctrines, for which he was snrn- rmmed, six days afier, before the consistory of doctors, and there enjoined the following retraction : —1st, / said that, no man is so strongly und/irproppcd by the certainty of faith, as to be assured of his salvation : but, now, I protest, before God, that they which are justified by faith, are assured of their salvation with the ccr- tainty of faith. 3dly, I said that, certainty concerning the time to come is proud : but now I protest that justified faith can never be rooted out of the minds of the faithful. 6th ly. These words escaped me in my sermon : / believe against Calvin, Peter Mar' tyr, isho|)S and bishops in 1 506, for government to act upon, namely, that " All incorrigible free will men, &c. should be sent into some castle into North Wales, or at VValingford, there to live of theii own labour, and no one to be suffered to resort to them, but theii keepers, until they be found to repent their errors "t A still stronger, as well as more authentic evide.icp of the former Cal- vinism of the English church is furnished by the history and acts of the general Calvinistic Synod of Dort, held against Vor- stius, the successor of Arminius, who had endeavoured to mod- ify that impious system. Our James I. who had the principal share in assembling this Synod, was so indignant at the aitenipt, that in a letter to the States of Holland, he termed Vorsliu.s, "the enemy of God," and insisted on his beiny expelled, declar- ing, at the same time, that " it vvas his own duty, in quality of dffendcr of the faith, with which title," he said, •' God had hon- oured him, to extirpate those cursed heresies, and to drive them • Fuller's Hist, of Uni". of Camh p 150 — N. B. It will be evident to the •Dadcr< that I httve urcatlv abridged thi<« curious r(>cantafi^n» which w.o too tfldntfth. t Sftype** Atjnili of Reform vol. i j» 214. \ong to be quoted 511 ill Letter XIX. 137 to hell !"* To be brief, he sent Carlton and Davenport, the former being bishop of liaiidalT, tlie latter of Salisbury, with two otiier dignitaries of the cliurch of h^iigland, and IJancanqual, on the part of the church (»f Scotland, to thi; Synod, where they appeared among the foremost in condemning the Arminians, and in defining that " God gives true and lively faith to those whom he resolves to withdraw from the common damnation, and to them alone ; and that the true faithful, by atrocious crimes, do not forfeit the grace of adoption and the state of justification /"t It might have been expected that the decrees of this Synod woidd have greatly strengthened the system of Calvinism ; where- as it is from the termination of it, which corresponds with the concluding part of the reign of James I. that we are to date the decline of it, especially in England J Still greater numbers of its adherents, under the name of Calvinists, and professing, not without reason, to maintain the original tenets of the church of England, subsist in this country, and their ministers arrogate to themselves the title of Evanirelical Preachers. In like manner the numerous and diversified societies of Methodists, whether Wesleyans or Whitfieldites, Moravians or Revivalists, New Itinerants or Jumpers,^ are all partisans of the impious and im- moral system of Calvin. The founder of the first mentioned branch of these sectaries witnessed the follies and crimes which flowed from it, and tried to reform them by means of a laboured hut groundless distinction.! After all, the first and most sacred branch of holy doctrine consists in those articles which God has been pleased to reveal concerning his own divine nature and operations, namely, the articles of the unity and trinity of the. Deity^ and of the inrarnu' tioiif death, and atonement of the consubstantial Soti of God. It is admitted, that these mysteries have been abandoned by the Protestants of Geneva, Holland, and Germany. With respect to Sctftland, a well informed writer says : " It is certain that Scotland, like Geneva, has run from high Calvinism to h I most as high Arianism or Socinianism : the exceptions, especially in the cities, are few." It will be gathered from many passages, which I have cited in my former letters, how widely extended throughout the established church is that •* tacit rffurm" which a learned professor of its theolooy signifies to bo the same thing with Socinianism. A judgment may also be formed of the pro- Ilist. Alirci;. do Ocrard .niamlt, torn. i. p. 417. torn ii. p. 2. Hoisuft's Variiit vol. ii. pp. '2\)'-, 'J'.»l, 3(ll. MosliieiM and Maclalno, vol. v. pp. V>6[), 381). 'y^ « See Evan's Sketch of 1»* t Hi H Postcript, p. 56. iSa I i 1'^ 138 Letter XIX. valence of this system, by the act of July 21, 1813, exempting the professors of it from the penalties io which they were before subject. And yet this .system, as I have before observed, is pronounced by the church of Enijland, in her last made canons, '* damnable and cursed heresy, bein'J a complication of many former heresies and contrariant to the articles of religion now established in the church <)f England.'"* I say nothing of the numerous Protestant victims, who have been burnt at the stake in this country, during the reigns of Edward VI. Elizabeth, and James I. for the errors in question, except to censure the incon- sistency and cruelty of the proceeding : all that I had occasion to show was, that most Protestants, and, among the rest, those of the Rnglish church, instead of uniformly maintaininsr at all times the same ln'hj doctrinf, heretofore abetted an impious and immoral system, namely, Calvinism, which they have since been constrained to reject, and that they have now compromised with impieties, which formerly they condemned as " damnable here- sies," and punished with fire and faguot. IJiit it is time to speak of the doctrine of the Catholic church. If this was once h"li/, namely, in the apostolic age, it is hohj still ; because the church never changes her doctrine, nor suf- fers any persons in her communion to change it, or to questi(m any part of it. Hence, the adorable mysteries of the trinity, the incarnation, &c. taught by Clirist and his apostles, and de- fnied by the four first seneral councils, are now as firmly be- lieved by every real Catholic, throughout her whole communion, as they were when those councils were held. Concerning the article of man's justification, so far from holding the impious and absurd doctrines imputed to her by her unnatural children, (who sought for a pretext to desert her,) she rejects, she con- demns, she anathematizes them ! It is then false, and notorio\is- ly false, that (vaiholics believe, or in any age did believe, that they could justify themselves by their own proper merits ; or that they can do the least good, in the order of salvation, with- out the grace of God, merited for them by .lesua Christ ; or that we can deserve this grace, by any thing we have the power of doing ; or that leave to commit sin, or even the pardon of any sin, which has been committed, can he purchased of any person whomsoever ; or that the essence of religion and our hopes of salvation consist in forms and ceremonies, or in other exterior things. These, and such other c.ilumnies, or rather blasphemies, however fre(]uently or connilently repeated in popular sermons and contruver;;iial tracts, there is reason tu think are nut re^ly • Conslit. and Can. A. D. 1640. Letter XIX. 139 b«»(ievfed by any ProlttStant of learning.* In fact, what ground is there for inainlaiiiing them? Have they been defined liy (nir councils ? No : they have been condemned by them, and par- ticularly by that of 'J'rent. Are they tinyht in our c.ilecliibms, such as ihe Catechiamus ad Parochos, the Gcufial Cdtcchism of Ireland, the Duuaij CaU-c/iism ; or in our books of devotion, for example, those written by an a Kempis, a JSales, a Granada, and a Chailoner ? No : the contrary doctrine is, in these, and in our other books, uniformly maintained. In a word, the Ca- tholic church teaches, and ever has taught, her children tcJ trust for mercy, grace atid salvation, to the merits of Jesus Christ ; nevertheless she asserts that we have free will, and that this being prevented by divine grace, can and must co-operate Jo our justification by faith, sorrow for our sins, and other corres- ponding acts of virtue, which God will not fail fo bestow upon us, il we do not throw obstacles in the way of them. Thus is all honour and merit ascribed to the Creator, and every defect and sin attributed to the creature. The Cath2. True, most of the reformers, after building their religion on faith alone, have now gone into the opposite here- sy of Pelairiainsiii, or at least S' mi-Pcla00 towns or villages, and murdered 378 priests or religious, in the course of one rebellion The number of churches destroyed by them throughout France, is computed at 20,0()0. The history of England's rsformatioii (though this was certainly more orderly than that of other countries) has caused the conversion of many English Protestants : it pro- duced this eftect on James II. and his first consort, the mother of queen Mary, and queen Ann. 'I he lollowing is the account which the latter has l«^Ht of this change, and which is to be found in Dodd's last volume, and in the Fifty Reasons of the duke of Brunswick. " Seeing much 01" ihe devo- tion of the Catholics, I made it my constant prayer that if I were not, 1 might, before I died, be in the true religion. I did not doubt but that I was so till November last, when rearling a book called 7'Ac Hidory of the Iie/nrmation,by Dr. Haflin, which I had heard very much commended, and had been told, if ever J had any doubts in my religion that would settle me : instead of which I found it the description of the horridest sacrileges in the world ; and could find no cause why we 'eft the church, but for three, the most abominable ones: 1st, Henry VIII. renounced the Pope, because he would not give him leave to part with his wife and marry another ; 2dly, Edward VI. was a child and governed by his uncle, who made his estate out of the church lands ; 3dly, Elizabeth not being lawful heiress to the crown, had no way to keep it but by renouncing a church which would not 8uflei HO unlawful a thing. I confess I cannot think the Holy Ghost could ever be in such counriU." Letter XXTI. 153 writers boast of the orderly manner in which the change of religion was carried on, it, nevertheless, most unjustly and sac- rilegiously seized upon, and destroyed, in the reigii of Henry VI II. six hundred and forty-five monasteries, ninety colleges, and one hundred and ten hospitals, besides the bishopric of Dur- ham ; and, under Edward VI. or rather his profligate uncle, it dissolved two thousand three hundred and seventy-four colleges, chapels, or hospitals, in order to make princely fortunes of their property for that uncle and his unprincipled comrades, who, like banditti, quarreling over their spoils, soon brought each other to the block. Such were the fruits of sanctity, every where produced by this Heforniatiou ! I am, 6lc. J. M. LETTER XXII. To Mr. J. TOULMIN. objections answered. Dear Sir, 1 HAVF received your letter, animadverting upon mine to cm common friend, Mr. Brown, respecting the frnitg of sanctity, as they appear in our respective communions. I observe, you do not contest my general facts or argument out resort to objec- tions which have been already answered in these, or in my other letters now before the public. You assert, as a notorious fact, that for several ages, prior to the Reformation, the Catho- lic religion was sunk into ceremonies and pageantry, and that it sanctioned the most atrocious crimes. In refutation of these calumnies, 1 have referred to our councils, to our most accre- dited authors of religion and morality, and to the lives and deaths of our most renowned saints, during the ages in question. I grant, sir, that you hold the same language on this subject that other Protestant writers do ; but I maintain that none of them make good their charges, and that their motive for advancing them is to find a preie.vt for excusing the irreligion of the pre- tended Reformation. You next extol the alleged sanctity of the Protestant sufferers, called martyrs, in the unhappy persecution of queen Mary's reign. 1 have discussed this nmtter at some length in The Letters to a Prebendary, and have shown, in op- position to John Fox and !iis c(»pyists, that some of thejje pretend- ed martyrs were alive when he wrote the history of their death ;• that others of them, and the five bishops in pariiculur, so far from • See Letter IV on Persecution M (54 Letter XXII. being saints, were notoriously deficient in the ordinary duties of good subjects and hoiiejjt men ;* that others again were notori- ous assassins, as Gardener, Flower, and Rough ; or robbers, as l^ebeiihara, King, Marsh, Cauches, Gilbert, Massey, &c.t while not a few of them retracted their errors, as Bilney, Taylor, VVassalia and died, to all appearance, Catholics. To the whole ponderous folio of Fox's falsehoods I have opposed the genuine and edifying Memoirs of Missionary Priests and other Catholics, who suffered death for their Religion during the reigns of Eliza- beth and the Stuarte. Finally, you reproach me with the scan- dalous lives of some of our Popes, during the middle Jiges, and of very many Catholics of different descriptions, throughout the church at the present day ; and you refer me to the edifying lives of a great number of Protestants, now living, in this coulitry. My answer, dear sir, in brief, to your concluding objections, is that I, as well as Baronius, Belldrmin, and other Catholic writers, have unequivocally admitted that some few of our pon- tiffs have disgraced themselves by their crimes, and given just \ cause of scandal to Christendom 4 but I have remarked that the credit of our cause is not affected by the personal conduct of particular pastors, who succeed one another in a regular way, in the manner that the credit of. yours is by the behaviour of your founders, who professed to have received extraordinary commission from God to reform religion.^ I acknowledge, with the same unreseivedness, that the lives of a great proportion of Catholics in this and other parts of the church, is a disgrace to that holy Catholic church which they profess to believe in. Unhappy members of the true religion, by whom the name of God (and his holy church) is blasphemed among the nations ! Rom. ii. 24. Unhappy Catholics, who ' e enemies of the cross of Christ, v)hose end is destruction, who mind only earthly things ! Philip, iii. 18. But, it must needs be that scandals should come : nevertheless, wo to that man by whom the scandal cometh ! Matt, xviii. 7. In short, 1 bear a willing testimony to the public and private worth of very many of my Protestant countrymen, of dif- ferent religions, as citizens, as subjects, us friends, as children, as parents, as moral men, and as Christians, in the general sense of the word ; still 1 must say that I find the best of them far short of the holinc 7, which is prescribed in the Gospel and is ex- emplified in the lives of those saints, whom I have mentioned. On this subject I will quote an authority which I think you will not object to. Dr. Hey says : "In England I could almost say, wo * See Letter V. on the Rolbnnation. t See Letter II. on Supremacy. t Letter IV. % Ibid. A Letter XXII. 155 are too little acquainted with contemplative religion. The monk painted by Sterne, may give us a more favourable idea of it, than our prejudices generally suggest. I once travelled with a reco- let, and conversed with a minim at his convent : and they both had that kind of character which Sterne gives to his monk : that refinement of body and mind ; that pure glow of meliorated pas- sion, that polished piety and humanity.* In a former letter to your society, I have stated that sincere humility, by which, from a thorough knowledge of our sins and misery, we became little in our own eyes, and try to avoid, rather than to gain the praise and notice of others, is the very groundwork of all other Chris- tian virtues. It has been objected to Protestants, ever since the defection of their arrogant patriarch, Luther, that they have said little, and have appeared to understand less, of this essential vir- tue. I might say the same with respect to the necessity of an entire subjugation of our other congenial passions, avarice, lust, anger, intemperance, envy, and sloth, as I have said of pride and vain glory ; but I pass over these, to say a few words of certain maxims expressly contained in Scripture. It cannot then be denied that our Saviour said to the rich young man. If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shah have treasures in heaven ; or that he declared, on an- other occasion, There are eunuchs who have made themselves eu- nuchs (continent) yor the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Mat. xix. 12. Now it is no- torious that this life of voluntary poverty and perpetual chastity, continues to be vowed and observed by great numbers of both sexes in the Catholic church ; while it is nothing more than a subject of ridicule to the best of Protestants. Again : " that we ought to fast, is a truth more manifest than it should here need be proved." I here u'?e the words of the church of England, in her Homily iv. p. 11 ; conformably with which doctrine, your church enjoins, in her Common Prayer Book, the same days of last- ing and abstinence as the Catholic church does, namely, the forty days of Lent, the ember days, all the Fridays in the year, untain, are recorded by the learned fathers, who, soon after, wrote his life.§ St. Cyprian, the great ornament of the third century, recounts several miracles which took place in it, some of which prove the blessed eucharist to be a sacrifice, and the lawfulness of receiving it under one kind. In the middle of the fourth century happened that wonderful miracle, when the emperor Julian the Apostate, attempting to rebuild the temple of Jerusa- lem, in order to disprove the prophecy of Daniel, concerning it, Dan, ix. 27, tempests, whirlwinds, earthquakes, and fiery eruptions convulsed the scene of the undertaking, maiming or blasting the thousands of Jews and other labourers employed in the work, and, in short, rendering the completion of it utterly impossible. In the mean time a luminous cross, surrounded with a circle of rays, appeared in the heavens, and numerous crosses were imprjpssed on the bodies and garments of the per- sons present. These prodigies are so strongly attested by al- most all the authors of the age, Arians and Pagans, no less than CatholicSjII that no one but a downright sceptic can call them in question. They have accordingly been acknowledged by the most learned Protestants. T[ Another miracle, which may vie * Ep. ad Roman + Contra Haer. 1. ii. c. 31. t Contra Cels. 1. i § Greg. Nyss. Euseb. 1. vi St. Basil, St. Jerom, II Besides the testimony of the Fathers, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and of the historians Socrates, Sozomen Theodo- ret, &c. these events are also acknowledged by Philostorgius the Arian^ Ammianus Marcellinus the Pagan, &c. IT Bishop Warburton publislied a book, called Julian, in proof of thesi^ miracles. They are also acknowledged by Bishop Halifax, Disc. p. 23. 160 Litter XXIIL with thi above mentioned, for the number and quality of its wit- nesses, took place in the following century at Typassus in Af- rica ; where a whole congregation of Catholics being assembled to perform their devotions, contrary to the orders of the Arian tyrant, Hunnerick, their right hands were chopped off, and their tongues cut out to the roots, by his command : nevertheless they continued to speak as perfectly as tliey did before this barba rous act * 1 pass over numberless miracles recorded by SS. Basil, Athanasius, Jerom, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustin, and the other illustrious fathers and church historians, who adorned the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of Christianity ; and shall barely mention one miracle, which both thn last mentioned holy bishops relate, as having been themselves actual witnesses of it, that of restoring sight to a blind man, by the application to his eyes of a cloth which had touched the relics of SS. Gervasius, and Protasius.t The latter saint, one of the most enlightened men who ever handled a pen, gives an account, in the work to which I have iust referred,j of a great number of miracles, wrought in Africa, during his episcopacy, by the relics of St. Stephen, and among the rest, of seventy wrought in his own dio- cese of Hippo, and some of them in his own presence, in the course of two years ; among these was the restoration of three dead bodies to life. From this notice of the great St. Augustin of Hippo, in the fifth century, 1 proceed to observe, concerning St. Augustin of Canterbury, at the end of the sixth, that the miracles wrought by him, were not only recorded on his tomb, and in the history of the venerable Bede and other writers, but that an account of them was transmitted, at the time they look place, by St. Greg- ory to Eulogius, patriarch of St. Mexandria, in an Epistle, still extant, in which this Pope compares them with those performed by the apostles ^ The latter saint wrote likewise an Epistle to St. Augustin himself, which is still extant in his works, and in Bede's history, cautioning him against being elated with vain glory, on the occasion of these miracles, and reminding him that • The vouchers f""*" this miracle are Victor Vitensis, Hist. Persec. Van- dal I. ii. the emperor Justinian, who declares that he had seen some of the sufferers, Codex Just, Tit. *27, the Greek historian Procopius, who says he nad conversed with them, L. i. de Bell. Vand. c. 8 yt^neas of Oe/n, a Platonic plulosophtT, who having examined their mouths, protested that he was not so much surprised at their being able to talk as at their being al)l« to live, De Iinmort. Anim. Victor. Turon. Isid. llispal. Greg Magn. &.C. The miracle is admitted by Abbadie, DodwcU, Mosheim, and other learnad Protestants. t Aug. Uc Civit. Dei, I. xxii. p. 8. t Ibid, 1. xxii. I EpisI S. Greg. I. vii. Lett ft XXI IT, 16) God had bestowed the power of working them, not on his own account, but for tlio coiiversioti of tho Kr\iilish nation.* On the supposition that our apostle liad w louglit no niirut.lcs, what farces must these Kpistles liave oxiiiluip.d.uniop.fj the Hrst characters ol the Christian world. Among the numberless and well atlCMttuJ miracles wliich the histories of the middle ages prti.sent lo our view, I stop at those of the illustriouB abbfd St. Bernard, in the twelfth century, to whose sanctity the most eminent Protestant writers have homo high testimony .f This saint, in the life of his friend, St. Ma- lachy of Armagh, among other miracles, mentions tlie cure of the withered hand of a youth, by the application of his friend's dead hand to ir4 But this, and all the miracles wiiich St. Bernard mentions of other saints, (juite disappear, when compared with those wrought by himself ; which for their splendour and pub- licity, never were exceeded. All France, Germany, Switzer- land, and Italy bore testimony to them ; and prelates, princes, and the emperor himself were oIkmi the spectators of them. In a journey which the saint made into Germany, he was followed by Philip, archdeacon of i-iegc, who was sent by Sampson, archbishop of Rheims, to observe his actions.'^ This writer ac- cordingly, gives an account of a vast number of instantaneous cures, which the holy abbot performed on tlie lame, the blind, the paralytic, and otlier diseased persons, with all the circum- stances of them. Speaking of iln)se wrought at Cologne, he says: "They were not performed in a corner ; but the whole city was witness to-lliem. If any one doubts or is curious, he may easily satisfy himself (»n the spot, especially as some of them were wrought on persons of no inconsiderable rank and reputation."!! A groat number of these miracles were perl'ormed in express confirmation of the Catholic doctrine which he de- fended. Thus ])reaching at Sarlat aganist the impious and im- pure Henricians, a w'^pecies of Albigonses, he took some loaves of bread and blessed them : after which he said : " By this you shall know that 1 preacli to you the true doctrine, and the here- tics a false doctrine : all your sick, who shall cat of this hrr.ad, shall recover their health ;" which prediction, was confirmed by * Ibid, et Hist Dot!. 1 i. o. 31. t Ltither, Calvin, nucor.tErolompadius, Jewel, Whifakcr.Mosheim.&c. t Vita Malach. inter Ojht. P.erri. § St. Bernard's Lil'e was written by his three contompdruries, Willinm, abhot of St Tliierry, Arnold, abbot oi' Itonevaux, and GeoflTery, the suint'n secretary, and by otber early writei'H : hin own eloquent Epixtleii, Hndothei works, InrniMh many particulars. II Published by Alabillon. J4» ,Jili 162 Ittter XXm. the event.* St. Bernard himself, in the n^iost celebrated of his works,! addressed to Pope Eugeiiiws III. refers to the miracles, which God enabled him to work, by way of justifying himself for having preached up the second crusade ;t and, in his letter to the people of Thoulouse, he mnntions his having detected the heretics among iheiQ, not only by words, but also by miracles.^ The miracles of St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of India, who was contemporary with Luther, in number, splendour, and pub- licity, may vie with St. Bernard's. They consisted in foretell- ing future events, speaking unknown languages, calming tem- pests at sea, curing various maladies, and raising the dead to life ; and though they took place in remote countries, yet they were verifi'id in the same, soon after the saintV death, by vir- tue of a commission from John III. king of Portugal, and they were generally acknowledged, not only by Europeans of difler- ent religions i>i thtt Indies, |1 but also by the native Mahometans and Pagans.Tf At the same time with this saint lived the holy contemplative St. Philip Neri, in proof of whose miracles three hundred witnesses, some of them persons of high rank, were juridically exa-inined,** The following century was illustrated by the shining virtues and attested miracles, even to the resur- rection of the dead, of St. Francis of Sales,tf as it was also by those of St. John Francis Hegis, concerning which, twenty-two bishops of Lanjiurdoc wrote thus to Pope Clement XI : '* We are witnesses that, before the tomb of F. J. F. Regis, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb speak."|J You will understand, dear sir, that I mtMition but a few of the saints, and with r<>spe«t l^Diest;int writers who have handled the subject, .since '.he publication of his Free Inquiry. This system, lu)\vever, vhicli is a libid an human miturf, does not only k^ad to general sccipticisni in other respects, but also undennines the; cn^iit of \ui Gospel itself. For if all the ancient fathers and other writers are to be disbelieved, respecting the miracles of their times, and even those which they themselves witnessed, upon whatgrouruls are we to believe them, in their report of the miracles which they had heard of Christ and his apostles, those main props of the Gospel and our common Christianity ? VVho knows but tljey may have' forged all the contents of the former, and the whole history of the latter ? It was impossible these conse- quences should escape the penetration of Middleton : hut a wt)rse consequence, in his opinion, which would follow from admitting the veracity of the holy fathers, namely, a divine atfcslation '/J the .sunclUy of the Catholic church, banished his dread of the former. Let hirn now speak to this point for himself, in his own llowing periods. He begins with establishing an important fact, which 1 also have been labouring to prove, where he says : " It must be confessed that the claim to a miraculous power was universally asserted and believed in all Chri8ti;'."sses which are constantly going on, at the apostolical See, (of the canonization of new sairjts,* fresh miracles of a recent date continue to be proved witli the highest degree of evidence, as- 1 can testify from having perused, on tJie spot, the official printed account of some of them.t For the furtlier satisfaction of your friends, I will inform them that I have had satisfactory proof that the astonishing catastro- phe of Louis XVI. and his <|ueen, in being beheaded on a scaffold, was foretold by a nun of Fougeres, Soeur Nativite, twenty years before it happened, and that the banishment ol the French clergy from their country, V)ii^ before it happened, was predicted by the holy French pilgrim, Benedict Labre, whose miracles caused the conversion of the late Kev. Mr. Thayer, an American cler- tjyman, who being at Rome, witnessed several of them. With respect to miraculous cures of a late date, I have the tnosi ro- sjwjclable attestation of several of them, and 1 am well acquainted with four or five persons who have experienced them. The following facts are respectfully attested, but at much greater length, by the Rev. Thomas Sadler, of Trafford, near Manches- ter, and the Rev. J. Crathorne, of Garswood, near VVigan :— Joseph J iamb, of Eccles, near Manchester, now twenty-eight years old, on the 12th of August, 1814, fell from a hay-rick, four yards and a half high, by which accident it was conceived the spine of his back was broken. Certain it is, that he could neither walk nor stand without crutches, down to the second of October, and that he described himself as feeling the most exquisite pain in his back. On that day, having prevailed with much difficulty upon his father, who was then a Protestant, to take him in a cart with his wife and two friends, Thos. Culler and Eliz. Dooley, to Garswood, near VVigan, where the hand of F. Arrowsinith, one of the Catholic priests who suHered death at Lancaster, for the exercise of his religion, in the reign of Charles L is preserved, and has often caused wonderful cures, he got himself conveyed (0 the altar rails of the chapel, and there to be signed, on his back, with the sign of the cross, by that hand ; when, feeling a * Among the late canonizations aretliose, in 1807 and l^Ub, of S. F. Car- icciolo, founder of the Reg'ilar Clerks ; of St. Angela de Mi"-cis, foun- irc'ds ol' the Ursulinc Nuns, of St. Mary of the Incarniilion, Mile. Aoarie, kc. One of the latest beatifications is that of 13. Alfonso Liguori, bishop • f St. Agata de Goti. t One of these, proved in the process of tiie last mentioned saint, coo- *'.?*4 at the point of death Ironi a cancer. m '41 166 Letter XXIIL particular sensation and total chnngc in htmseij, as he expressed it, he exclaimed to his wife, Mary, I can walk ; this he did with- out any help whatever, walking Hrat into an adjoining room and thence to the cart which conveyed him home. With his debilitv, his pains also left him, and his back has continuf^d well ever since.* These particuljfrs, .as they 'vere respectively witnesses ol' them, the above named persons, all now 1* nng, are ready to declare upon oath. 1 have attestations of incu able«cancers and other disorders being suddenly remedied 'y the same instrument of God's bounty ; but it would be a tedious work to transcribe them, or the other attestations in my possession ot a similar nauire. Among those of my personal acquaintance \»'iio have cperi- enced supernatural rures, 1 will mention Mary VVs od, now liv- ing at Taunton Lod--«, whefe several other witnesses of tlie facts 1 am going to ;>tatc live with her. ♦' On Marol: 15, 18i.l?, Mary Wood, in al>eni| 'ir.g to open a sash window, pushed her left haiid through a ^iano of gl-^F . which caused a very large and deep transverse wound in th ; i^iS'Jtj of the left arm, and d'- vided the muscles and nearly the wJuih.- of the \ciidons that lead to the hand; from which accideu. '^h nut only suflered, at limes, the most acute pain, biu wa'^ liom th\ period 1 first saw her (March 15) till some lini(^ in July, totally deprived of the use of her hand and arm."! What passed between the latter end of Ju. ', when, as th»' surgeon elsewhere says, " he left his patieiii," having no hopes cf restoring her, till the 6th of Au- gust, tni the 1 *,'ht of which sho was perfectly and miraculously cured, I shall copy from a letter to me, dated Nov. 19, 1809, by her amanuensis, Miss Maria Hornyold. " The surgeon gave little or no ho: < s of her ever aga,in having the use of her hand, which, togethci with the arm, seemed withered and some- what contracted ; only saying, in some yiars, nature might give her some little use of it, which was cortsidered by her superiors as u mere delu -ive i omfort. Despairing of further human assistance towards her cure, she determined, with the approbation of her said superiors, to have recourse to God, through the intercession of St. Winefrid, by a Novena,:f Accordingly on the Gth of August she put a piece of ntoss, from the saint's well, on her arm, continuing recollected and praying, &c. ; when, to her great surprise, the next morning she found she could dress her- self, put her arm behind her and to her head, having regained • The Rev. Mr. Saillui's lottnto me is dated Aug. fi, 1817. •t Tliis uccount is :opied t'roin a letter to Miss F. T. Bird, dated Sept. 30, 180!>, by Mr, Wooutord, an eminent surgeon -.4 Taunton, who attended Mary Wood t Certain prayerii continued durii^j nme djiyii. S Letter XXIII. 167 the free use and full strength of it. In short, she was perfectly cured !'' In this state I myself saw her and examined her hand, a lew years afterwards, and in the same state she still continues, it the above named place, Avith many other highly credible vouchers who are ready respectively to attest these particulars. W'i iiiB IGth of the month, the surgeon was sent for; and, being i::.':ef! ids opinion concerning Mary Wood's arm, he gave V" hope of a prrfect cure, and very little of her ever having eiwn Ihe hast u^r '.J' it ; when she being introduced to him and show- ii:^ h!i.: th- ; m, which he thoiougldy examined and tried, he was so affected at the sight and the recital of the manner of the cure, as to shed tears, and exclaim, it was a special interposition of Divine Providence." 1 :"ball May i.tile of the miraculous cure of Winefrid White, a young v'oman of Wolverhampton, on the 28th of June, 1805 tit ! lywcl), having published a detailed account of it, soon Iter u happ'ined, which work has been republished in England and in Ireland.* Let it suffice to say ; 1st, that the disei'se was one of the most alarming topical ones which are known, namely, a curvature nf the spine, as her physician and surgeon ascertain- ed, who treated it accordingly, by making two great issues, one on each side of the spine, of which the patient's back still bears the marks ; 2dly, that, besides the most acute pains, throughout the whole nervous system, and particularly in the brain, this disease of the spine produced a hemiplegia or palsy on one side of the patient, so that when she could feebly crawl, with the help of a crutch under her right arm, she was forced to dtdg her left leg and arm after her, just as if they made no part of her ; 3dly, that her disorder was of long continuance, nauiely, of three years standirjg ; though not in the same de- gree, till the latter part of that time, and that it was publicly known to all her ueighbours and a great many others ; 4thly,' that having performed the acts of devotion which she felt her- self called to undertake, and having bathed in the fountain, she, m one inslcnt of linie, on the 28th of June, 1805, foimd herself freed i.jm all her pains and disabilities, so as to be able to walk, run and jump, like any other young person, and to carry a 4r(!ater weight with the left arm than she could with the right ; oildy, that she has continued in Uns state these twelve years djwn to the present time ; lastly, that all the above-mentioned circumstances have been ascertained by me in the regular ex- iiminatiou of the sevejal witnesses of them ; being persons of * By Ceating and Brown, Duke-strcet, Gru.svcnor-square, London ; I'oyne, Dublin. S'itl 108 Letter XXIV. different religions, situations in life and countries, in the places of their respective residence, namely, in Staffordshire, Lanca- shire, and Wales, the authentic documents of which are contain- ed in the work referred to above. Several of the witnesses are still living, as is Winefrid White herself. I am, &c. J. M. LETTER XXIV. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c. objections answered. Dear Sir, I SUBSCRIBE to the objection, which you say has been sug- gested to you by your learned friend, on the subject of miracles. Namely, I admit that a vast "number of incredible and false miracles, as well as other fables, have been forged by some, and believed by other Catholics in every age of the church, in- cluding that of the dpostles.* I agree with him and you in 're- jecting the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, the Specu- lum of Vincentius Belluacensis, the Saints^ Lives of the Patri- cian, Metaphrastes, and scores of similar legends, stuffed as they are, with relations of miracles of every description. But, sir, are we to deny the truth of all history, becaiise there are num- ber(es8 false histories ? Are we to question the four evangelists, because there have been several fabricated Gospels ? Most cer- tainly not : but we must nmke the best use we can of the dis- cernment and judgment which God has given us, to distinguish false accounts of every kind from those which are true ; and we ought, I allow, to make use of double diligence and caution, in examining alleged revelations and events contrary to the gene- ♦ral laws of nature. Your friend's second objection, which impeaches the dili- gence, integrity and discernment of the cardinals, prelates, and Other ecclesiastics at Rome, appointed to examine into tho proofs of the miracles there published, shows that he is little acquainted with the subject he talks of In the first place, then, a juridical examination of each reported miracle must be made in the place where it is said to have happened, and the deposi- tions of the several witnesses must be given upon oath ; this ex- • St. Jerom, in rejecting certain current fables concerning St. Paul and St. Thecla, nientions a priest who was deposed by St. John the Evangelist, for inventing similar utories. De Script. Apoat. — Pope Gelasius, in the 5th century, condemned several Apochryphal Gospels unci Epistles, and legenda of saintM, and among the latter the couunou unea of St. (Jeurga. Letter XXIV. 169 amination is generally repealed t-wo or throe different times at intervals. In the Ticxt place, the examiners at "lome are un- questionably men of character, talents and learning, who, never- theless, are not permitted to pronounce upon any cure or other effect in nature, till they have received a regular report of phy- sicians and naturalists ujxm it. So far from being precipitate, it employs them whole years to come to a decision, on a few cases, respecting each saint ; this is printed and handed about among indifferent persons, previously to its being laid before ihe Pope. In short, so strict is the examination, that, according to an Italian proverb : Jt is next to a miracle to get a miracle proved at Rome. It is reported by F. Daubenton that an En- glish Protestant gentleman, meeting, in that city, with a printed process of forty miracles, which had been laid before the Con- gregation of Rites, to which the examination of them belonged, was so well satisfied with the respective proofs of them, as to express a wish that Rome would never allow of any miracles, but such as were as strongly proved, as these appeared to be ; when to his great surprise,- ha was informed that every one of these had been rejected by Rome as not sufficiently proved ! Nor can I admit of the third objection of your friend, bv which he rejects our miracles, on the alleged ground, that there was no sufficient cause for the performance of them ; for not to mention that many of them were performed for the conversion of infidels, I am bound to cry out with the apostle : VV^ho hath known the mind nf the Lord, or who hath been his coum-llor ! Rom. xi. J4. Thus much is certain from Scripture, ih it the same Deity who preserved Jonas in the whale's belly, to preach repentance to the Ninivites, created a gourd to shelter h s head from tlie heat of the sun, Jonas iv. 6, and that as he aent fire from heaven to save his prophet Elias, so he causci iron to swim, in order to enable the son of a prophet to restore the ayo which he had borrowed, 2 Kings vi, 6. In like manner, we are not to reject miracles, sufficiently proved, under pretext that they are mean, and unworthy the hand of Omnipotence ; for wo are assured, that God equally tumid the dust of Egypt into lice, as he turned the waters of it into blood, Exod. viii. Having lately perused the works of several of the most cele- brated Protestant writers, who, in defending the Scripture mira- cles, endeavour to inval:da»f> the credit of those they are pleased to call Popish miracles, I think it just, both to your cause and my own, to state the cWn'A' arguments they mak-s use of, and the answers which occur to uie, in refutation of them. On this head, i cannot help exprest^ing nsy surprise and concern that 13 Ai !.' 170 Letter XXIV. writers of character, and some of them of high dignity, should have published severaj gross falsehoods ; not, I trust, intention- ally, but from the blind precipitancy and infatuation which a panic fear of Popery generally produces. The late learned bi- shop of Salisbury, Dr. J. Douglas, has borrowed from the infi- del Gibbon what he calls '* A mo t satisfying proof that the mi- racles ascribed to the Romish saints aro forgeries of an age posterior to that they lay claim to.'" The latter says : " It may seem remarkable, that Bernard of Clairvaux, who records 80 many miracles of his friend St. Malachy, never takes notice jf his own, which in their turn, however, are carefully related ty his companions and disciples, "a the long series of ecclesiasti- cal history, does there occur a single instance of a saint assert- ing that he himself possessed the gift of niiracies ?"f Adopting this objection, the bishop of Salisbury says : "I think 1 may safely challenge the admirers of the Romish saints to produce any writing of any of them, ia which a power of working mira- cles is claimed."! Elsewhere he says : " From Xavier himself (namely, from his published letters) we are furnished, not oh\y with a negative evidence against his having any miraculous power, but also with a positive fact, which is the strongest possi- ble presumption against it."^ Nevertheless, in spite of the con- fident assertions of these celebrated authors, it is certain (though the last thing which true saints choose to speak of ars their own supernatural favours) that several of them, when the occasion required it, have spoken of the n)iracles, of which they were the instruments ;|| and among the rest, those two identical saints, St. Bernard and St. T'rancis Xavier, whom Gibbon and Dr. Douglas instance, to prove their assertion. I have already re- ferred to the passaoes in the works of St. Bernard, where he speaks of his miracles as of notorious facts ; and 1 here again insert them inanole.*if With respect to St. Xavier, he not only • The Criterion, or Rules by which the true Miracles of the New Tes- tament are distinguished from the spurious Miracles of Pagans and Papists, by John Douglas, D. D. lord bishop of Salisbury, p. 71, note. + Hist, of Decline and Fall, chap. xv. :.v t Criterion, p. 309. § Ibid. p. 70. II The great St. Martin acknowledged his own miracles, since, according to his friend and biographer, Sulpicins, Dialogue 2, he used to say, that he waa not endowed with So great a powc>r of working them, ul'ter he was a bi.^hop, as he had been before. II Addres.'iiti.; niinsellMo P. Eiigenius III. in answer to his iiuMuics, who reproached hiui with tho ill success of the second crusade he says, " Sed dicunt forsitan isti : Uiide scinnts qicnd a Domhi" xerm.t fiirntsns »it? QiiiB signa tu fucis ul credavius libi 1 non est quod ad ista ipse respondoam : parcenduQ) verecundis uie« : responds tu pro me et pio te ipso, secundum Letter XXIV. 171 mentions, in those very letters which Dr. Douglas appeals to, a miraculous cure, which he wrought upon a dying u laii in the kingdom of Travancor ; but he expressly calls it A Miracle, and affirms that it caused the conversion ol" the whole village in which she resided,* A second palpable falsehood is thus confidently advanced by the capital enemy of miracles. Dr. Middleton ; " I might risk tlift merit of my argument upon this single poirt. that, after the apostolic limes, there is not, in all history, one instance, either well attested, or fiven so much as mentioned^ of any particular pe "son who had ever exercised that gift (of tongues) or pre- tended to exercise it, in any age or country whatsoever."! In case your learned friend is disposed to take up the cause of Middleton, 1 beg to refer him to the history of St. Pacornius, the Egyptian abbot, and founder of the Cenobites, who, " though he never learned the Greek or Latin languages, yet sometimes miraculously spoke them," as his disciple and biographer re- ports,| and to that of the renowned prejacher, St. Vincent Fer- rer, who, having the gift of tongues, preached indifferently to Jews, Moors, ai.d Christians, in '.heir respective languages, and converted incredible numbers of each of these descriptions ^ In like manner, the bull of the canonization of St. Lewis lier- trand, A. D. 167i,declarec that he possessed the gift of tongues, by means of which he converted as many as ten thousand In- dians of didereni tribes in South America, in the space of three years. II Lastly, let your fnend peruse the history of the great apostle of the East Indies, St. Xavier, who, though he ordina- rily studied the languages of the several nations he announced the word of God to, yet, on particular occasions, ho was empow- ered to speak those he had not learned. T^ This was the case in Travattcor, as his companion Vaz testified, so as to be enabled to convert and instruct there ten thousand infidels, all of whom he baptized with his own hand. This was the case again at Amanguchi, where he me' with a number of Chinese merchants. Finally, the bull of St. Xavierius's canonization by Urban VIIL proclaims to th» world, that this saint was illustrated with the ea quae vidisti et audisti." De Consid 1 ii c. 1. In like manner, writin* to the people of Thoulouse, of his miracles wrought there, he .says : " Mora quidem brevis apud vos sed non inlructuoso : veritate nimirum per nos rcanife.stati, non solum in sernione .sed etiam in virlute" Ep. 2'IJ. • Epist. S. F. Xav. L. 1. Ep. iv. + Inquiry into Mirac. Poweir p. 100, &c. • '-■'--■ t 'I'illiimont, McMn P^cc. torn. vii. § See his life by Lanzano, Bishop of Lucca, alao Spondanus ad Au. 1403. II See Alban Butler's Saints' Lives, Oet. 9. IT See Bouhour's Lift; uf St. Xavier. translated by Dryden, Itc. . 178 Utter XXIV. gift of tongues : so false is the bold assertion of Middleton, adopted in part by bishop Douglas and other Protestants, that " there is not, in all history, one instance, either well attested, or so much as mentioned, of any person who had ever exercised the gift of tongues, or pretended to exercise it." Nor is there more truth in what the bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Paley, &c. maintain, namely, that " the Popish miracles," as they insultingly call them, were not wrought to confirm any ♦.ruth, and that no converts were made by them !* In refutation of this, 1 may again refer to the epitaph of our apostle, St. Au- gustin, and to the miracles of St. Bernard at Sarlat, mentioned above. To these instances, I may add the prodigy of St. Do- minic, who, to prove the truth of the Catholic doctrine, threw a book containing it into the flames, in which it remained un- consumed, at the same time challenging the heretics, whom he was addressing, to make the same experiment on their creed.f In like manner, St. Xavier, qn a certain occasion, finding his words to have no effect on his Indian auditory, requested them to open the grave of a corpse that had been buried the day be- fore, when falling on his knees, he besought God to restore it to life for the conversion of the infidels present ; upon which, the dead man was instantly restored to life and perfect health, and the country round about received the faith \ It is chiefly through the sides of the apostle of India, that the author of The Criterion endeavours to wound the credit of the other saints and the Catholic church, on the point of miracles. Hence in the application of his three laboured rules of criticism, he objects, that the alleged miracles of St. Xavier were per- formed in the extremities of the East ; that the accounts of them were published, not on the spot, but in Europe, at an immense distance ; and this not till thirty-five years after the saint's death.^ A single document, of the most public nature, at once overturns all the three rules in regard of this saint. He died at the end of 1552, and on the 28th of March, 1556, a letter was sent from Lisbon by John UI. king of Portugal, to his viceroy in India, Don Francisco Barretto, " enjoining him to take depositions • Criterion, p. 369. View of Evidences, by Dr. Paley, vol. i. p. 346. t Petrus Vallis Cern. Hist. Alb. Butler's Saint's Lives, Aug^. 4. t This was one of the miracles referred to by the Paravas of Gape Com- orin, when the Dutch sent a mlii.ster from Batavia, to proselyte theni to Protestantism. On this occasion, they answered the minister's discourse thus : Tkc great father (St. Xavier) raised to life five or six dead persons : do you roisf. twice as many ; do you cure all our sick, and make the sea twice as productive of fish as it now is, and then we will listen to you- Du Halde'd Kecueil, vol. v. Berault Bercastel'a Hiat Ecc. torn, xxiii. p. 354. f Criter p 78, Sl.atc. UjyOn ( of f ra him, the mi shall and ] ring, But and V (thirtj heard A cost siona rum \ Letter XXIV. 173 upi»n oath, in all parts of the Indies, where there is aprobabilitj < f fu-Jirig witnesses, not only conceriiing the life and manners of Francis Xavier, and of all the things commendably done by him, for the salvation and example of men, but also concerning the miracles, which he has wrought, both living and dead. You shall send these authentic instruments, with all the evidences and proofs, signed with your handwriting, and sealed with your ring, by three different conveyances."* But the author of The Criterion, it seems, has more positive, and what he calls " conclusive evidence, that during this timo, (thirty-five years from his death,) Xavier's miracles had not been heard of. The evidence," he says, " I shall allege, is that of Acosta, (namely, Joseph Acosta,) v»uo himself had been a mis- sionary among the Indians. His work, De Procuranda Indo- rum Salute, was printed in 1589, that is, above thirty-seven years after the death of Xavier, and in it we find an express ac- knowledgment, that no miracles iiad ever been performed by missionaries among the Indians. Acosta was hinlself a Jesuit, and therefore, from his silence, we may infer unexceptionably, that between thirty and forty years had elapsed before Xavier's miracles were thought of."t The argument has beeo thought so conclusive, that Mr. Le Mesurier,J Hugh Farmer,^ the Rev. Peter Roberts,|| and other Protestant writers on miracles, have adopted it with exultation, and it has probably contributed ati much to the author's title of Detector Douglas, as his exposure of the two impostors, Lauder and Archibald Bower. But what will the admirers of this Detector say, if it should appear that Acosta barely says, that " there was not the same faculty or fa- • cility of working miracles among the missionaries, which there was among the apostles ?""![ Or rather, what will they say, if this same Acosta, in the very work which Doctor Douglas quotes, expressly asserts, that signs cfnd miracles too numerous to be related, accompanied the preaching of the Gospel both in the East and the West Indies, in his own time .'** And yet fur- • This letter is extant in Tursellinus, but had been published several years before by Emanuel Acosta, in hi9 Rerum in Oriente Geslarum.' Dilin- gen, 1571. Paris, 1573. t Criterion, p. 73. t Bampton Lectures, p. 388. § Dissertation on Miracles, p. 205. I! Observations on a Pamphlet. IT "Altera causa in nobis est cur apostolic? praedicatio institui omnino non possit apostolice, quod miraculorum nulla facuUas sit, quae apostoli plurima perpetrarunt." — Acosta, De ProC 1. ii. c. 8. ** " Et quidein dona Spiritus sigii-a et miracula, quae fidei praedicatione innotuerunt, his eliam teniporibus, quando charitas usque adeo refrixit, en- aumerare iongum esset, turn in Orientali ilia India, turn in iiac Occideutali " — De Pcocur. 1. i. c. 6, p. 141. 15- ■ " - •;■ 174 Letter XXIV, ther, with respect to tliis same " Blessed Master Francis " as he calls him, " being a man of an apostolical life, that so many and such great signs have been reported of him by numerous and credible witnesses, that hardly more in number or greater in magnitude are read of any one, except the apostles ?* Now all this I affirm Acosta does say, in the very work quoted by bishop Douglas, a copy of which I beg leave to inform your leuriied friend, (and through him, other learned men,) is to be found in the Bodleian library at Oxford, under the title which I insert below.f The author of The Criterion is hardly enti- tled to more mercy for his cavils on what Ribadeneira says of the miracles of St. Ignatius, than for those on what Acos- *i says of the miracles of St. Xavier. The fact is, the Coun- -i of Trent, having recently prohibited the publication of any new miracles, until they had been examined and approved of by the proper ecclesiastical authority, Ribadeneira, in the first edi- tion of his life of St. Ignatius, observed due caution in speaking of this saint's miracles : however, in that very editiong^he de- clared that many such had been wrought by him : but these having subsequently beeij juridically proved in the process of the saint's canonization, his biographer published them without scruj)le, as he candidly and satisfactorily informs his readers iu that third edition ; which edition now stands in his folio work of Y7te Saints* Lives* • Convertamus oculos in nostri sacculi hominem, B. Magistnim Fian- cisciim, viruin Apostolicae vita*, cujus tot et tarn magna signa reforuntur p(ir phirimtis, cosque ifloncos, testes' ut vix de alio exceptis Apostolis, plura legantui. Quid Magister Gaspar aliiquc socii, &,c."— De Procur. Ind. Salut. 1. ii. c. 10, p iivil) t The book is to be inquired for at the Bodloian library by the following quaint description: Johanna Pnpissa tuli Orhi manifcslata. 8°.c.'29. ari. SolU. t " Miiii tantuin abest ut ad vitam Ignatii illustrandam miracula decssc videanlur, ut multa eacjue procsfantissima judicem in iredia luce versari." Tho writer proceeds to mention several cures, &c. edit. 1572. 1 cannot close this article without protesting against the disingenuity of several Pro- testant writers in reproaching Catholicj with the impositions practised by tiip Janseiii>ts nt the toinb of Abbs Paris. In fact, who detected those impositions, and furnished Dr. Campbel, Dr. Douglas, &c. with arg\)tnents against thetn, except our Catliolic prelates and theologians .' In like man- ner Catholics have reason to complain of »lieseand other Protestant writers, for the manner in "vhicli they discuss the stupendous miracle that took place et Saragossain Kilo, on oua Michael Pellicer, whose leg, having been ampu- tated, lio, by his prayers, obtained a new, natural le .just as if this miracle lasted oil no better I'oundation than the sliglif mani.on which cardinal Itet?, tiiitk.'S of it in his Mimoirx. hi fact, we iniubt have expe<'ted that lt?arned divines would have known that this miracle had been amply discusied.soon after it happened, between Dr. 8lillingnr'.'t and the Jesuit Edward Worslcy, in which discussion, the latlnr pr(Miuce(l -iuch attestations of the fact as il ■eems impossible not to credit. — See Reason and Religion, p. 328. Utter XXIV. 175 be ich iti- lys I shall close this very long letter, with a very few words res- pecting a work which has lately appeared, animadverting on my account of Thn Miraculous Cure of Wincfrid While* The writer sets out with the system of Dr. Middleton, by admiiiing none except Scripture miracles ; but very soon he undermines these miracles also, where he says : *• An independent and ex- press divine testimony is that alone, which can assure us whe- ther ed'ects are miraculous or notj except in a few cases." Ho thus reverses the proofs of Christianity, as its advocates and its divine Founder himself have laid them down. He adds : ** No mortal ought to have the presumption to say, a thing is or is not contrary to the established laws of nature." Again he says : *'• To prove a miracle, there mist be a proof of the particular divine agency." According to this system we may say. No one knows but the motion of the funeral procession, or some occult quality of nature, raised to life the widow of Nairn's son ! I r. Roberts will have no difficulty in saying sc», as he denies thiit the resurrection of the murdered man from the touch of the prophet Elisha's bones, 2 Kings xiii, was a miracle ! Possessed of this opinion, the author can readily persuade himself, tliat a curvated spine and hemiplegia, or any other disease whatever, may be cured, in an instant, by immersion in cold water, or by any thing else ; but as it is not likely that any one else will adopt if, I will say no more of his physical arguments on this subject, He next proceeds to charge VV. White and her friends with a studied imposition ; in support of which char<;e, he as- serts, that *' the church of Rome had not announced a miracle for many years." This only proves that his ignorance of what is continually going on in the church, is eq«ial to his l)ig(»try against it. The same ignorance an 1 bigotry are manifested in the ridiculous story concerning Sixtus V. which he copies from the unprincipled Leti,as also in his account of the exploded and condenmcd book, the Taxa CMiceUari follow not as the he church •'We, Chris as f')l by th« the n? tics.^ who Letter XXV, 177 title of the true church continued to be pointed out by the suc- ceedins( fathers in their writings and the acts of their coiincils.* St Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, in the fourth century, ^ives the following directions to his pupils : '• If you go into any ciiy, do not ask merely, Where is the churchy or house of God ? because the heretics pretend to have this ; but ask, Which is the C'jt/iulic church 1 because this title belongs alone to our holy moihcr."t *• We,'* says a father of the fifth century, " are called Catholic Christians."^ His contemporary, St. Pacian, describes himself as f )ll(jws : " Christian is my name, Catholic is my sirnaine : by the former I a-n called, by the latter I am distinguished. By the name of Catholic, our society is distinguished from all here- tics.""^ Out there is not oiie of the fathers or doctors of antiquity, who enlarges so copiously or so pointedly on this title of the true church, aa the great St. Augustin, who died at the end of the fifth century. •• Many things," he says, •* detain me in the bosom of the Catholic church — the very name of CA'l'HOLIC detains me in it, which she has so happily preserved amidst the different heretics ; that whereas they are all desirous of being called Catholics, yet, if any stranger were to ask them, Which is the assembly of the Catholics ? none of them would dare to ^oint out his own place of worship."! To the same purpose, he says elsewhere : '* We must hold fast the communion of that church which is called Catholic, not only by her own children, but also by all her enemies. For heretics and schismatics, wl'.ether they will or not, when they are speaking of the Catholic church with strangers, or with their own people, call her by the name of Catholic ; inasmuch as they woidd not be understood, if they did not call her by the name by which all the world calls her."T[ In proportion to their affection for the glorious nan??; of Catholic, is the aversion of these primitive doctors, to every ecclesiastical name or title derived from particular pL'rsons, countries, or opinions. " What new heresy," says St. Vincent of Lerins, in the si.xth century, *• ever sprouted up, without bearing the name of its founder, the date of its origin ?" ct8 began ; and I can describe the limits within which they are respectively confined; but I am * meml)er of that great Ca- '!»tates of Germany and England. Even in Sweden and Denmark several Catholic congregations, with their respective pastors, are to be found. The whole vast continent of South America, inhabited by many millions of converted In- dians, as well as by Spaniards and Portuguese, may be said to be Catholic. The same may he said of the empire of M«3xico, and the surrounding kingdo ns i.i North America, including Califor- nia, Cuba, Hispaniola, &c. Canada and Louisiana are chiojfly Catholic ; and throughout the United Provinces, the Catholic religion, with its several fsstablishments, is completely prott-cted, and unboundedly propagated. To say nothing of the islands o( Africa inhabited bi Catholics, such as Malta, M*tleira, Cape Verd, the Canaries, the Azores, Mauritius, Goree, &c. there are numerous churches of Catholics, established, art' organized un- der their pastors, in Egyptj Ethiopi?^, Algiers, Tunis, and the othev Barbary states on the northern coast ; and thence, \\\ all the Portuguese sett^gm^nt8 along the wastcrn coast, parlii slarly at Angola and Congo. Even on the eastern coast, especially in the kingdom of Zanqnebar and Monomotapa, are numerous Catholic churches. There are also numerous Catholic j)ri<^st8 and many bishops, with numerous flocks, throughout, tlie grcatrr part of Asia. All the Maronites about Mount Libanus, with iheir bishops, priests and monks, are Catholics, so are many of the Armenians, Persians, and other Christians, of thn rurround- Letter XXVI. 181 ing kingdoms and provinces.* In whatever islands or states the Portuguese or Spanish powe does prevail, or has prevailed, most of the inhabitants, and in some all of them have been con- verted. The whole population of the Philippine islands, con- sisting of two millions of souls, is all Catholic. The diocese of Goa contains four hundred thousand Catholics. In short, tho number of Catholics is so great throughout all the peninsula of India within the Ganges, notwithstanding the power and influ- ence of Britian, as to excite the jealousy and complaints of the celebrated Protestant missionary. Dr. Buchanan.f In a late parliamentary record, it is stated that in Travancor and Cochin is a Catholic archbishopric and two bishoprics, one of which contains thirty-five thousand communicants. \ There are nume- rous Catholic flocks, with their priests and even bishops, in all the kingdoms and states beyond the Ganges, particularly in Siam, Cochinchina, Tonquin, and ihe difierent provinces of the Chinese empire. I must add, on this subject, that, whereas, none of the great Protestant sects was ever much more numerous or widely spread than it is at present, the Catholic church, hereto- fore, prevailed in all tho countries which they now collectively inhabit. The same may be said with respect to the Greek schis- matics, and in a great measure to the Mahometans. It is in this point of view that the Right Rev. Dr. Marsh ought to in- stitute his comparison between the church of England and the church of Rome ;^ or rather the Catholic church, in communion with the See of Rome. In the mean time, we are assured by his fellow prelate, the bishop of Lincoln, that " The articles and I'furgy of the church of England do not correspond with the sentiments of the eminent reformers on the continent, or with the creeds of any Protestant churches there established."]! And with respect to this very church, nothing would be more incon- sistent thi)§ to ascribe the greater part of the population of our two islands to it. For if the Irish Catholics, the Scotch Pres- byterians, the English Methodists and other Dissenters, together with the vast population who neither are nor profess to be of any religion at all, are subtracted, to what a comparatively small number would the church of England be reduced ! And, how fltlerly absurd would it be for her to pretend to be the Caiholic ehuich ! Nor are these the only subtractions to be made from • See SirR, Steel's account of the Catholic Religion throughout the world, t See Christian Uescarchcs in .Asia, p. \3l. Mem Eccl. i Dr. Kerr's Letter, quoted in the late narliamentarv Report on th« Catholic Question, p. 487 I See his Coinparativo View of the Churches of England and Room I II Charjfs, in iSdX 182 Letter XXVI her numbers, and indeed fronm those of all oth9r Christian aocl eties, divided from the true church ; sincf , there being but on« bap/ism, all the young children who have been baptized in them, and ">'' "nvincibly ignorant Christians, who exteriorly adhere to the , really belong to the Catholic church, as I have shown above. In finishing this subject, I shall quote a passage from St. Au- gustin, which is as applicable to the sectaries of this age as it was to those of the age in which he lived. " There are here- tics every where, but not the same heretics every wheie. For there is one sort in Africa, another sort in the E.. *, a third soit in Egypt, and the fourth sort in Mesopotamia, being different in different couutries, though all produced by the same mother, namely, pride. Thus also the faithful are all born of one com- mon mother, the Catholic church ; and though they are every where dispersed, they are every where the same "• But it is still more necessary that the true church should be Catholic or Unix>ersal as to limn than as to numbers or to placd. If there ever was a period since her foundation, in which she has failed, by teaching or promoting error or vice, then the pro- mises of the Almighty in favour of the seed of David and tuo kingdom of the Messiah, in the Book of Psalms,t and in tho*e of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, have failed ;| then the m'lre explicit promises of Christ, concerning this church and her pastors have failed ;^ then the Creed itself, which is the subject of our present discussion, has been false || On this point, learn- ed Protestants have been wonderfully embarrassed, and have in- volved themselves in the most palpable contradictions. A great proportion of them have maintained that the church, in past ages, totally failed, and became the synagogue of satan, and that its head pastor, the bishop of Rome, was and is the num nj sin, the identical Antichrist : but they have never {•en able lo settle among themselves, when this most remarkable of all revo- lutions since the world began, actually took place ; or who were the authors, and who the opposers of it ; or by what strange means the former prevailed on so many millions of people of different nations, languages, and interests, throughout Christen- dom, to give up the supposed pure religion, which they had learned from their fathers, and to embrace a pretended new and false system, which its adversaries now call Poppvy ! In a word, there is no way of accounting for the pretended change • Lili. de Pact. c. H t Ps Ixxxviii alias Ixxxix. &c. i Is c liv. Ux. Jerem. xxxi, 31. Dan. ii. 44- 1 Miit x^'i. 18 — xxviii !'.». 20. II I believe in tho liralv Catholic church Utter XXVL 183 3f religion, at whateve • period this may be fixed, but by snp- posing, C.3 i have said, ihot the whole collection of Christians, on some one night, went to bed Protestants, and av/oke the next morning Papists ! That the church in communion with the See of Rome is the original, as well as the most numerous church, is evident in several points of view. The stone cries ^ut of the wall, as the prophet expr:?sef it,' in i.ei.uimony of ihib I mean that our venerable cathedr . and other stone churches, buiU by Catho- lic hands and h.'i tha Catholic worship, so as to resist, in some sort, that which is a )vv performed in them, proclaim that ours is the ancient and original church. This is still more clear from the ecci .siaslicai historians of our own as well is other nations. Veuera.vie Bede, in particular, bears witncss,t that the Roman missionary, St. Augustin of Canlovbury, and his companions, corivevted our Saxon ancestors, at t] '^ end of the sixth century, to the beMef of the Pope's supremacy, transub- stantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, purgatory, the invocation of saints, and the other Catholic doctrines and practices, as learned Protestants in general agree \ Now, as theae mission- aries were found to be oi the same faith imi' religion, not only with the Irish, Picts, and Scots, who wore converted almost two centrries before them, hut also with the Britons or Welsh, who became Christians in the second century, so as only to differ from them about the time of keeping Easter and a iew other un- e»-sential points, this circumstance alone proves the Catholic re- I'gion to have been that of the church in the aforesaid early Rge. Still the most demonstrative proofs of the antiquity and originality of our religion are gathered frotn coi,iparir. Cole. F i 184 Lttter XXVIL thereby " Gave a scope to the Papists, and spoiled himself and the Protestant church."* In fact, this hypocrisy, joined with his shameful falsification of the fathers, in quoting them, occa- sioned the conversion of a beneficed cle yman, and one of the ablest writers of his age. Dr. \V. Reyno .-iA Most Protestant writers of later timesi follow the late Dr. Middleton, and Lu- ther himself, in giving up the ancient fathers to the Catholics without reserve, and thereby the faith of the Christian church during the six first centuries, of which faith these fathers were the witnesses and the teachers. Among other passages to this purpose, the above named doctor writes as follows : '* Every one must see what a resemblance the principles and practice of the fourth century bear to the present rites of the Popish church."^ Thus, bv the confession of her most learned adversaries our church is not less CATHOLIC or Universal, as to time, than she is with respect to name, locality, and numbers. I am, d(c. J. M* \^ LETTER XXVIL To JAMES BROWN, Esq. objections answered. Dear Sir, I HAVE received the letter written by your visiter, the Rev. •Joshua Clark, B. D. at the veque; % r.a be states, of certain mem> bers of your society, animadveruog on my last to you ; an an- swer to which letter I am requesU d to address to you. The Reverncd gentleman's arguments are by no means consistent with another ; for like other determined controvertists, he attacks his adversary with every kind of weapon that comes to his hand, in the hopes /)cr /a* et mfas of demolishing him. He maintains, in the first place, that, though Protestantisrr was not visible before it was unveiled by Luiher, it subsisted in the hearts of the true faithful, ever since the days of thi? apostles, and that the believers in it constituted the real primitive Catho- lic church. To this groundless assumption I answer, that an invisible church is no church at all ; that the idea of such a church is at variance with the predictions of the prophets re- * Life of Jewel, quoted by Walsingham, in his invaluable Search into Mailers of Religion, p. 17"«I. t Dodd's Church Hist. vol. ii. % See the acUnowledgment, on this head, of the learned Protestantir Obretcht, Dumoulin, and Cauxabon. 8 lnquiriiinli>r)iifacl-es,\x\.Kr6A.t.\b. Litter XXVII. 185 apecting Je.^us Chrisi's future church, where they describe it as a mountain on the top of mountains, Is. ii. 2. Mic. iv. 2. and as a city, wl-.se watchmen shall never hold their peace. Is. Ixii. G. and, indeed, with the injunction of our Lord himself, to tell the church, Mat. xviii. 17, in a certain -ase, which he mentions. It is no less repugnant to the declaration of Luther, who says of himself, " At first I stood alone :"* and to that of Calvin, who says, " The first Protestants were obliged to break off from the whole world ;"f as also to that of the church of England in her Homilies, where she says, " Laity arid clergy, learned and un- learned, all agca, sects and degrees, have been drowne^^ in abominable, idolatry, most detested by God and dam'«ab1f' to man, for eight hundred years and more."| As to the nt in favour of an invisible church, drawn from 1 King where the Almighty tells Elijah, / have left me seven in Israel, whoso knees have nut been bowed to Baal ; oui fail not to observe, that however invisible the church of the Old Law was in the schismatical kingdom of Israel, at the time here spoken of, it was most conspicuous and flourishing in its proper seat, the kingdom of Judah, under the pious king Josuphat- Mr. Clark's second argument is borrowed from Dr. Porteus, and consists in a mere quibble. In answer to the question ; " Where was the Protestant religion before Luther ?" this prelate replies, " It was just where it is now : only that then it was corrupted with many sinful errors, from which it is now reformed."^ But this is to fall back into the refuted system of an invisible church ; it is also to contradict the Homilies, or else it is to confess the real truth, that Protestancy had no existence at all before the sixteenth century. The Keverend gentleman next maintains, on quite opposite grounds, that there have been large and visible societies of Protest- ants, as he calls them, who have stood in opposition to the church of Rome, in all past ages. True, there have been heretics and schismatics of one kind or other during all that time, from Si- mon Magus, down to Martin Luther ; many sects of whom, such as the Arians, the Nestorians, the Eutychians, the Monotholites, the Albigenses, the VVicklitfites, and the Hussites, have been exceedingly numerous and powerful in their turns, though most of them now have dwindled away to nothing : but observe, that none of the ancient heretics held the doctrines of any descrip- tion of modern Protestants, and all of them maintained doctrines and practices which modern Protestants reprobate, as much as • Opera. Pref. » Confut. p. "id. i Epist. 171. t Perils of Idolatr}', p. iii. 7] oS n /,. 7 /A IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I y^|2.8 ■so '"^^ 1- u I 2.5 11.25 IIIIII.4 2.2 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIISTIII.NY MSIO (7)6) 173-4503 '^^^^^ fence of bers ? In fact ; for what tenets should their members suffer exile and death, since, without persecution, they have all, in a manner, abandoned their original creeds, from the uncer- tainty of their rule of faith, and their own natural mutability ? Human laws and premiums may preserve the exterior appear- ance, or mere carcass of a churchy as one of your divines expres- 8&S it ; but, if the pastors and doctors of it should demonstrate by their publications that they no longer maintain her original fundamental articles, can we avoid subscribing to the opinion, expressed by a late dignitary, that " the church in question, pro- perly so called, is not in existence ?"* I am, &c. J. M. LETTER XXVIII. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^t. \ \)n the apostolicity of thij catholic church. Dear Sir, The last of the four marks of the church, mentioned in our common Creed, is Apostolicity. Wo each of us declare, in our solemn worship, / believe in one^ holy^ Catholic and APOS- TOLICAL church. Christ's last commission to his apostles was this : Go teach all nations^ baptizing th. t the name of the Fa- ther, and of the Son^ and of the Holy C : and^ lo ! I am with you always, even unto THE END OF THE WORLD. Mat. xxviii. 20. Now the event has proved, as I have already ob- served, that the apostles, themselves, were only to live the ordi- nary term of man's life ; therefore, the commission of preaching and ministering, together with the promise of the Divine assist- ance, regards the successors of the apostles, no less than the apostles themselves. This proves that there must have been an uninterrupted series of such successors of the apostles in every age since their time, that is to say, successors to their doctrine, to their ^'umv/ic^ion, to their orders, and to their mission. Hence it follows that no religious society whatever, which cannot trace its succession, in these four points, up to the apostles, has any claim to the characteristic title, APOSTOLICAL. * ConfeMional, p. 244> Letter XXV II r. 189 . Conformably with what is here laid down, we find the fathers and ecclesiastical doctors of every age referring to this mark of apostolical .succession, as demonstrative of iheir belonging to the true church of Christ. St. Ireiiaeus of Lyons, the disciple of St. Polycarp, who himself appears lo have been consecrated by St. John the evangelist, repeatedly urges this argument against his ccintemporary heretics. " We can count up," he says, " those who were appointed bishops in the churches by the apostles and. their successors down to us, none of whom taught this doctrine. But as it would be tedious to enumerate the succession of Bishops in the different churches, we refer you to the tradition of that greatest, most ancient, and universally known church, founded at Home by St. Peter and St. Paul, and which'has been preser- ved there through the succession of its bishops down to the pre- sent time.** He then recites the names of the several Popes down to Eleutherius, who was then living.* Tertullian, who also flourished in the same century, argues in the same manner, and challenges certain heretics, in these terms ; " Ltt them pro- duce the origin of their church ; let them display the succession of their bishops, so that the first of them may appear to have been ordained by an apostolic man, who persevered in their com- munion." He then gives a list of the pontiffs in the Roman See, and concludes as follows : '* Let the Heretics feign any thing like thi8."t 'i'h6 great St. Augustin, who wrote in I he fifth cen- tury, among other motives of credibility in favour of the Catho- lic religio!., mentions the one in question : " 1 am kept in this church," he says, " by the succession of prelates from St. Peter, to whom the Lord committed the care of his sheep, down to the present bishop,"^ In like manner St. Optatus, writing against the Donatists, enumerates all the Popes from St. Peter down to the then living Pope, Siricius, •' with whom," he says, ♦' we and all the world are united in communion. Do you, Donatists, now give the history of your episcopal ministry."^ In fact, this mode of proving the Catholic church to be apostolical is conform- able to common sense and constant usage. If a prince is de- sirous of showing his title to a throne, or a nobleman or gentle- man his claim to an estate, he fails not to exhibit his genealogi- cal table, and to trace his pedigree up to some personage whose right to it was unquestionable. 1 shall adopt the same precise method on the present occasion, by sending your society a slight sketch of our apostolical tree, by which they will see, at a glance, * Lib. iii. advers. Hser. c. Hi. i ** Fingant talo aliquid bteretici.' I CoDtra. £piit Fuadam. Prescript. f Centra Parmco. lib. U. 190 Letter XXVIII. an abridgment of the succession of our chief bishops in the apos- tolical See of Rome, from. St. Peter up to the present edifying noritiff, Pius Vil, as likewise that of other illustrious doctors, prelates and saints, who have defended the. apostolical doctrine by their preaching and writings, or who have illustrated it by their lives. They will also see the fulfilment of Christ's in- junction to the apostles and their successors in the conver- sion of nations and people to his faith and church. Lastly, they will behold the unhappy series of heretics and schismatics, who, in different ages, have fallen oft' from the doctrine or communion of the apostolic church. But as it is impossible, in so narrow a compass as the present sheet, to give the names of all the Popes, or to exhibit the other particulars here mentioned in the distinct and detailed manner which the subject seems to require, 1 will try to supply the deficiency by the subjoined copious note.* • Within the first century from the birth of Christ, this long expected Messiah founded the kingdom of his holy church in Judaea, and chose his apostles to propagate the same throughout the earth, over whom he appointed Simon, as the centre nf union and Acrtrf ;?a5<«r; charging him to feed his whole flock, sheep as well as lambs, giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and changing his name into that of PETER, or ROCK; add- ing, on this ruck 1 will build my church. Thus dignified, St. Peter first es- tablished his See at Antioch, the head city of Asia, whence ne sent his dis- ciple St. Mark to establish and govern the See of Alexandria, the head city of Africa. He afterwards removed his own See to Rome, the capital of Europe and the world. Here, having, with St. Paul, sealed the Gospel with his blood, he transmitted his prciogative to St. Linus, from whom it descended in succession to St. Cietus and St, Clement. Among the other illustrious doctors of this age are to be reckoned, first, the other apostles, then SS. Mark, Luke, Barnaby, Timothy, Titus, Hermas, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. From the few remaining writings of these may be gathered the necessity of unity and submission to bishops, ^judition, the real presence, the sacrifice of the mass, veneration for relics, jkc. In this age, churches were founded, besides the above-mentioned tlaces, in Samaria, throughout lesser Asia, in Armenia, India, Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, Spain, and Gaul; in this apostolical age, also, and is it were under the eyes of tnl apostles, different proud innovators pretended to reform the doctrine which they taught. Among these were Simon the Magician, Hymeneus and Philetus, the incontinent Nicolaitei, Cerinthus, Ebion, ami Meander. CENT. II. The succession of chief oastors in the chair of Peter was kept up through this century by the following Popes, who were also, for the most part, mar- tyrs : Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander I, Xystus I, Telesphorus, Hygiiuis, PiUH I, Anicetus, Soter, Eleuthcrius, who sent Fugatius and iJaminnus to convert the Uritons, and Victor I, who exerted his authority against cer- tain Asiatic bishops lor i\eeping Easter at an undue time. The truth of Chriiitiaiiity was deleuded, in this a^e, by the apologists Quadratus, Aris- tides, Mclito, and Ju»tin, tho philosopher and martyr; and the rising here- nifls of Valentinian, Marcion, and Cai-*^'^i»te«, were confuunded by tba Utt«r XXVIII. 191 I do not, dear sir, pretend to exhibit a history of the church, nor even a regular epitome of it, in the present note, any more bishops Dionysius of Corinth, and Theophylus of Antioch, in the east, and by St. Irenaeus and Tertullian, in the west. In the mean time, the Cathu- lie church was more widely spread, through Gaul, Germany, Scythia, Af- rica, and India, besides Britain. CENT. III. The Popes who presided over the church, in the third ajte, were all eminent for their sanctity, and almost all of them martyrs. Their names are Zcphyrinu^;, Calixtus I, 'Urban I, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabian, Corne- lius, Lucius, Stephen i, Xystus II, Dionysius, Felix I, Etuychian, Caius, and Marcellinus The most celebrated doctors of this age were St. Cle- ment of Alexandria, Origen, Minutius Felix, St. Cyprian, St. Hypolitus, both martyrs, and St. Gregory, bishop, surnamed for his miracles Thauma- turgus. At this time Arabia, the Belgic Provinces, and many districts of Gaul, were almost wholly converted : while Paul of Samosata, for deny- ing the divinity of Christ, Sahellus, for denying the distinction of persons in the B. Trinity, and Novatus, for denying the power of the church to remit sins, with Manes, who believed in two deities, were cut off as rotten branches from the Apostolic tree. CENT. IV. St. Marcelfus, the first Pope in this century, died through the hardships of imprisonment for the faith. After him came Eusebius, Melchiades, Silvester, unde^ whom the Councils of Aries, against the Dunatists, andol Nice, against the Arians, were held, Marcus Julius, in whose time the right of appeal to the Roman See was confirmed, Liberius, and Damasus. The church, which hitherto had been generally persecuted by the Roman emperors, was, in this age, alternately protected and oppressed by them. In. the mean time, her numbers were prodigiously increa.sed by conversions throughout the Roman empire, and also in Armenia, Iberia, and Abyssinia, and her faith was invincibly maintained by St. Athanasius, St. Hilary, St, Gregory Nazianzen, St. Basil, St. Ambrose of Milan, &c. against the Arians who opposed the divinity of Christ, the Macedonians, who oppusixl that of the Holy Ghost, the Aerians, who impugned epi.scopacy, faulting and prayers for the dead, and other new heretics and schismatics. CENT. V. During this age, the perils and sufferings of the church were grcai; but so also were the resources and victories by which her Divine Founder sup. ported her. On one hand the Roman empire, that fourth great Dynasty, compared by Daniel to iron, was broken to pieces by numberless hordes ol Goths, Vandals, Huns, Burgundians, Franks and Saxons, who" came pour- ing in upon the civilized vvorld, and seemed to be on the point of over- whclininsr arts, sciences, laws, and religion, in one undistinguished ruin. On the other h^^nd, various classes of powerful and subtil heretics strained every nerve to corrupt the apostolical doctrine, and to interrupt the course of the apostles' successors. Among those, the Nestorians denied the union of Christ's divine and human mtures; the Eutychians confoundod them together; the Pelagians denie 1 the necessity of divine grace, and the fnl- lowfirs of Vi^ilantius scoft'ed at celibacy, i)rayers to tlio saints, and venera- tion fur their relics. Against these innovators a train of illustrious pon.- tiffi and holy fathers opposed theui^olvo'i, with invinciblo ibrtitudu and do> oiUed tucc«M. Tha Popos wero innocent I, Zosiraus, Bonifac« I, Cei«i* 193 Letter XXVIIL than in the apostolical tren ; nevertheless, either of these will give you and your respectable society, a sudicient idea of the tin I, who presided by his legates in the Council of llphesus, Xystus III, Leo the Great, who presided in that ot' Chalcedon, Ililarius, Simplicius, Felix III, Gelasius I, Anastacius II, and Symachus. Their zeal was \veil seconded by some of the brightest ornaments of orthodoxy and literatuie who ever illustrated the church, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerom, St. Au- gustin, St. Gregory of Nyssa, &c. By their means, and those of other apostolic CaJtholics, not only were the enemies of the church refuted, but also her bounds greatly enlarged by the con\(ersion of the Franks, with their king, Clovis, of the Scotch and the Irish. The apostle of the former was St. Palladius, and of the latter St. Patrick, both commissioned by the See of Rome. CENT. VI. The church had to combat with infidels, hereties, and worldly politicians, in this as in oiher ages; but failed not to receive the accustomed proofs ot the divine protection, amidst her dangers. The chief bishops succeeded each other in the following order: Hormisdas, St. John I, who died a pris. oner for the faith, Felix IV, Boniface 11, John II, Agapetus I, St. Silverius, who died in exile for the unity of the church, Vigilius, Pelagius I, John III, Benedict I, Pelagius II, and St. Gregory the Great, a name i'hich ought to be engraved on the heart of every Englishman who knows how to value the benefits of Christianity, since it was he who first >indertook to preach the Gospel to our Saxon ancestors, and, when he was prevented by force from doing this, sent his deputies, St. Augustin and his companions, on this apostolical errand. Other beneficial lights of this age were St. Fulgentius of Ruspa, Cesarius of Aries, Lupus, Gcrmanus, Severuti, Gregory of Tours, our venerable Gildas, and the great patriarch of the monks, St. Benedict. The chief heretics who disturbed the peace of the church were the Acephali and Jacobites, both branches of Eutychianism, the Tritheists, the powerful supporters of the Three Chapters, Severusi Eleurus, Mongus, Athimius, and Acacius, A more terrible scourge, how- ever, than these, or than any other which the church had yet felt, God per- mitted in this age to fall upon her, in the rapid progress of the impustcr Mahomet; what however she lost in some quarters, was made up to her in others, by the suppression of Arianism among the Visigoths of Spain and among ihe Ostrogoths of Italy, and by the conversion of the Lazes, Axu- mites, and Southern English. CENT. VII. The Popes in this century are most of them honoured for their sanctity, namely, Sabinianus, Boniface III, Boniface IV, Deusdedit, Boniface V, Honotrius I, Severinus, John IV, Theodorus, Martin I, who died in exile, in defence of the faith, Eugenius I, Vitalianus, Domnus I, Agatho, who presided, by his legates, in the sixtli General Council, held against the Monotholites, Leo II, Benedict II, John V, Conon, and Sergius I. Other contemporary doctors and saints were St. Sophronius and St. John ihe al- moner, bishops, and St. Maximus, martyr, in the East. SS. Isidore, Ilde- fonsus and Eugenius, in Spain, SS. Amand, Bligius, Omer and Owen, in France, and SS. Paulinus, Wilfrid, Hirinus, Felix, Chad, Aidan and Cuth- bert, in England. The East, at this time, was distracted by the Monotholite heretics, and in some parts, ijy the Paulicians, who revived the detestable heresy of the .Vlatiicheans, but most of all by the sanguinary course of the Mahometans, who overran the moit fertile and civilized countries of Asia \ Letler XXVIII. 193 uninterrupted succession of supreme pastors, which has subsisted m the St'tj of Rome from St. Peter, whom Christ made head of and Africa, and put a stop to the apostolical succession in the primitive Sees of the Kitst. To compensate for these losses, the church spread her roots wide in the northern regions. The whole Heptarchy of Lngland be- came Christian, and dittused the sweet odour of Christ throughout the West. Hence issued SS. Willibord and Swibert to convert Holland and Frize- land, and the two brothers, of the name of Kwald, who confirmed their doctrine with their blood. The martyr St. Killian, who converted Franco- nia, was an Irishnian; but all these apostolical men received their com- mission from the chair of St. Peter. CENT. vnr. The apostolic succession of the See of Rome was kept up in this age by John VI, John VII, Sisinnius, Constantine, Gregory II, Gregory III, Za- charias, Stephen II, Stephen III, Paul I, Adrian I, who presided by his le- gates in the seventh gencml council against the Iconoclasts, and Leo III. The Saracens now crossed the straits of Gibraltar and nearly overran Spain, making numerous martyrs; while Felix and Elipand broached er- rors in the West, nearly resembling those of Ncstorius. The most signal detenders of the orthodox doctrine were St. -Germanus Patriarch, St. Jcihn Damascene, Paul the deacon, Ven. Bede, St. Aldhelm, St. Willibald, Al- cuin, St. Boniface, bishop and martyr, and St. Lullus. Most of these were Finglishmen, and, by their means, Hessia, Thuringia, Saxony, and other provinces, were added to the Catholic church. CENT. IX. The apostolic tree, in this age, was agitated by storms more violent than usual; but, being refreshed with the dew of grace from above, held fast by its roots. Claudius of Turin, united in one system the heresies of Nesto- rius, Vigilantius, and the Iconoclasts, while Gotescale laboured to infect the church with predestinarianism. A more severe blow, to her, however, was the Greek schism, occasioned by the resentment and ambition of the hypocrite, Photius. But the greatest danger of all arose from the over- bearing pawer of the Anti-christian musselmcn, who now carried theii arms into Sicily, France, and Italy, and beci^me musters, for a time, of the holy See itself. The succession of its bishops, however, continued unin- terrupted, in the fol'owing order: Stephen \, F "il ], Eugenius II, Va- lentin, Gregory IV, Sergius II, Leo. IV, Benedict !U, Nicholas I, Adrian II, who presided by his legates in the eighth general council, John VIII, Marinus, Adrian III, Stephen VI, Formo.sus, Stephen VII, and Romanus Other props of the church, in this age, were Theodore the Studite, St. Ig- natius, the legitimate patriarch of C. P. Rabanus, Hincmar, and Agobard, French bishops, together with our countrymen. St. Swithun, Neot, Grim- bald, Alfred, and Edmund. In this age St. Ansgarius converted the peo- ple of Holstein, and SS. Cyril and Methodius the Sclavonians, Moravians, and Bohemians, by virtue of a commission from Pope Adrian i|. CENT. X. The several Popes during this century were Theodore II, John IX, Beu* edict IV. Leo V, Christopher, Sergius III, Anastasius, Lando, John X, Leo VI, Stephen VIII, John XI, Leo VII, Stephen IX, MarMn II, Agapetu* II, John XII, Benedict V, John XIII, Domnus II, Benedict VI', John XIV, John XV, and Gregory V. This age is generally considered as the least u'ightened by piety and literature of the whole number Its greatest dis- ruce, however, arose from the misconduct of several of tlie above-men^ 194 Letter XXVIJI. his church, up to the present Pope, Pius VII. bute of perpetual succession, you arc, dear sir, to 1^. And this attri- observe, is lioned pontiffs, owing to the prevalence of civil factions at Rome, which obstructed the freedom of canonical election: yet, in this list of names, there are ten or twelve, which do honour to the papal calendar, and even those who disgraced it by their lives, performed their public duty, in pre- serving the faith and unity of the church, irreproachably. In the mean time a crowd of holy bishops and other saints, worthy the age of the apos- ties, adorned most parts of the church, which continued to be augmented by numerous conversions. In Italy SS. Peter Damian, Komuald, Nilus, and Rathier, bishop of Verona, adorned the church with their sanctity and talents, as did the noly prelates, Ulric, Wolfgang, and Bruno, in Germany, and Odo, Dunstan, Oswald, and Ethelwold, in England. At this time St. Adelbert, bishop of Prague, conveiled the Poles by his preaching and his blood; the Danes were converted by St. Poppo, the Swedes, by St. Sigi- frid, an Englishman, the people of lesser Russia by SS. Bruno and Boni< face, and the Muscovites by missionaries sent from Greece, but at a time when that country was in communion with the See of Rome. CENT. XI. During this age the vessel of Peter was steered by several able and Vir- tuous pontiff. Silvester II was esteemed a prodigy of learning and talents. After him came John XVIII, John XIX, Sergius IV, Benedict VIII, John XX, Benedict IX, Gregory VI, Clement II, Damascus II, Leo IX, who has deservedly been reckoned among the saints, Victor II, Stephen X, Nicholas II, Alexander II, Gregory VII, who is also canonized, Victor III, and Urban II. Other defenders of virtue and religion, in this age, were St. Elphege and Lanfranc, archbishops of Canterbury, the prelates Burcardof of Worms, Fulbert and Ivo of Chartros, Odilo an abbot, Alger a monlf, Guitmund and Theophylactus. The crown, also, was now adorned with saints equally signal for their virtue and orthodoxy. In England shone St. Edward the confessor; in Scotland, St. Margaret; in Germany, St. Henry, Emperor; in Hungary, St. Stephen. The cloister also was now enriched with the Cisterchiiin order, by St. Robert; the Carthusian order was found- ed by St. Bruno; and the order of Valombroso, by St. John Gaulbert. While, on one hand, a great branch of the apostolic tree was lopped off, by the second defection of the Greek Church, and some rotten boughs were cut off from it, in the new Manicheans, who had found their way from Bul- garia into France, as likewise in the followers of the innovator Berenga- rius; it received fresh strength and increase from the conversion of the Hungarians, and of the Normans and Danes, who before had desolated England, France, and the two Sicilies. CENT. XII. In this century heresy revived with fresh vigour, and in a variety of forms, though mostly of the Manichean family. Mahometanism also again threatened lo overwhelm Christianity. To oppose these, the Almighty was pleased to raise up a succession of as able and virtuous Popes as ever graced the Tinra, with a proportionable number of other Catholic chatn- pions to defend his cause. 1 hese were Paschal II, Gelaslus 11, : alixtus II, Hoi. II, Innocent II, who held the second general council of Lateran, Celestin II, Lucius I, Eugenius III, Anastasius IV, Adrian IV, an English- man* Alexander I II, who held the third Lateran council, Lucius HI, Urban III, Qregory VIII, Clement III, and Celcstin III. The doctors of note were, Letter XXVIII. 195 peculiar to the See of Rome : for in all the other churches, founded by the apostles, as those of Jeriisalem, Antioch, Alex- in the first place, the mellifluous Bernard, a saint, however, who was not more powerful in word than in work; lilccwise tlie venerable Peter, abbot of Clugni, St. Anselm and St. Thomas, archbishops of Canterbury, Peter Lombard, master of the sentences, St. Otto, bishop of Bamberg, St. Nor- bert of Magdeburg, St. Henry of Upsal, St. Malachy of Armagh, St. Hugh of Lincoln, and St. William of York. The chief heresies, alluded to, were those propagated by Marsilius of Padua, Arnold of Brescia, Henry of Thoulouse, Tanchelm, Peter Bruis, the Waldenses, or disciples of Pe- ter Waldo, and the Bogomilians, Patarins, Cathari, Puritans, and Albigen- sea, all the latter being different sects of Manicheans. To make up for the loss of these, the church was increased by the conversion of the Norwe- fians and Livonians, chiefly through the labours of the above named Adrian V, then an apostolic missionary, called Nicholas Breakspeare. Courland Was converted by St. Meinard, and even Iceland was engrafted in the apos- tolfc tree by the labours of Catholic missionaries. CENT. XIIL The successors of St. Peter in this age were Innocent III, who held the fourth Lateran council, at which four hundred and twelve bishops, eight hundred abbots, and ambassadors from most of the Christian sovereigns were present, for the extinction of the impious and infamous Albigensian or Manichean heresy. Honorius III, Gregory IX, Celestin IV, who held the first general council of Lyons, Alexander IV, Urban IV, Gregory X, who held the second council of Lyons, in which the Greeks renounced their schism, though they soon fell back into it. Innocent V, Adrian V, John XXI, Nicholas III, Martin IV, Honorius IV, Nicholas IV, Celestin V, who abdicated the pontificate and was afterwards canonized, »nd Boni- face VIII. The most celebrated doctors of the church were St. Thomas of Aquin, St. Bonaventure, St. Anthony of Padua, and St. Raymond of Pennafort. Other illustrious .supporters and ornaments of the church, were St. Lewip, king of France, St. Elizabeth, queen of Hungary, St. Hedwidge of Poland, St. Francis of Assisium, St. Dominic, St. Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury, St. Thomas of Hereford, and St. Richard of Chichester. The chief heretics were the Beguardi and Fratricelli, who.se gross immoralities Mosheim himself confesses. In the mean time Spain was, in a great measure, recovered to the Catholic church from the Maho- metan impiety; Courlnnd, Gothland, and Estonia, were converted by Bald- win, a zealous misiii.'nary: the Cumani, near the mouths of the Danube, were received into the church, and several tribes of Tartars, with one of their emperors, were converted by the Franciscan missionaries, whom the Pope sent among them, not, however, without the martyrdom of many of them. CENT. XIV. Still did the promise of Christ, in the preservation of his church, con- trary to all opposition, and beyond the term of all human institutions, con- tinue to be verified. The follovvins; were the head pastors, who succes- sively presided over it; Benedict XI, Clement V, who held the general council of Vienna, John XXII, Clement VI, Innocent VI, Urban V, Gregory XI, Urban VI, and Boniface IX. Among the chief ornaments of the church, in this age, may be reckoned St. Elizabeth, queen of Portugal, St. Bridget of Sweden, Count Elzear and his spouse Delphina, St. Nicho- las of Tolentino, St. Catherine of Sieima, John Rusbrock, Peter, bishop of 196 Letter XXV lU andria, Corinth, Ephesus, Smyrna, ^c. owing ^o internal dis- Bensions and external violence, the succession of their bishops Autun, &c. The Manichcan abotninatiuns jnaintained and practiced by the Turlnpins, Dulcinians and other sects, continued to exercise the vigi- lance and zeal of the Catholic pastors, and the Lollarda of Germany, together with the Wicklitiites of England, whose errors and conduct were levelled at the foundations of society, as well as of religion, were opposed by all true Catholics in their respective stations. The chief conquests of the church in this century were in Lithunia, the prince and people of >vhich received her faith, and in Great Tartary, where the archbishopric of Cam- balu and six suffragan bishoprics were established by the Pope. Odoric, the missionary, who furnished the account of these events, is known him- self to have baptized twenty thousand converts. CENT. XV. The succession of Popes continued through this century, though among numerous difficulties and dissensions, in the following order: Innocent yHf Gregory XII, Alexander V, John XXIII, Martin V, Eugenius, IV, who held the general council of Florence, and received the Greeks, once more, into the Catholic communion, Nicholas V, Calixtus III, Pius II, Paul II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, and Alexander VI. In this age flourished St. Vincent Ferrer, the Wonder-worker, both in the order of grace and in that of nature, St. Francis of Paula, whose miracles were not less numerous oi extraordinary, St. Laurence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice, St. Antonius aichbishop of Florence, St. Casimir, Prince of Poland, the Venerabl# Thomas a Kempis, Dr. John Gerson, Thomas Waldensis, the learne« English Carmelite, Alphonsus Tostatus, Cardinal Ximenes, &c. At thi> period the Canary Islands were added to the church, as were, in a great measure, the kingdoms of Congo and Angola, with other large districts in Africa and Asia, wherever the Portuguese established themselves. The Greek schismatics also, as I have said, together with the Armenians and Montholities of Egypt, were, for a time, engrafted on the apostolic tree, These conquests, however, were dampt by the errors and violence of the various sects of Hussites, and the immoral tenets and practices of the Ad* amltes, and other remnants of the Albigenses. CENT. XVI. This century was distinguished by that furious storm from the north, which stripped the apostolic tree of so many leaves and branches in this quarter. That arrogant monk, Martin Luther, vowed destruction to the tree itself, and engaged to plant one of those separated branches instead of it; but the attempt was fruitless; for the main stock was sustained by the arm of Omnipotence, and the dissevered boughs splitting into number* less fragments, withered, as all such boughs had heretofore done. It would be impossible to number up all these discordant sects; the chief of them were, the Lutherans, the Zuinglians, the Anabaptists, the Calvinists, the Anglicans, the Puritans, the Family of Love, and the Socinians. In the mean time, on the trunk of the apostolic tree grew the following Pontiffs: Pius III, Julius II, who held the fifth Lateran Council, Leo X, Adrian VI, Clement Vlf, Paul 111, Julius III, Marcellus 11, Paul IV, Pius IV, who concluded the Council of Trent, where 281 prelates con- demned the novelties of Luther, Calvin, &c., St. Pius V, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Urban VII, Gregory XlV, Innocent IX, and Clement VIII. Other suppjrteii of the Catholic and apostolic church against the attacks Letter XXViri 197 has, at diflferent times, been broken and confounded. Hence the See of Rome is emphatically and for a double reason call- made upon her, were, Fisher, bishop of Rochester, sir Thomas More, Chancellor, Cuthbert Maine, and some hundreds more of priests and reli- gious who were martyred under Henry VIII and Elizabeth, in this cause; also the Cardinals Pole, liosius, Cajetan and Allen, with the writers Bc- kius. Cochlea, Erasmus, Campion, Parsons, Stapleton, &c. together with that constellation of great saints which then appeared, SS. Charles Borro- meo, Cajetan, Philip Neri, Ignatius, F. Xavier, F. Borgia, Teresa, &c. Id short, the dam^^ges sus.ained from the northern storm were amply repaid to the church, by innumerable conversions in the new eastern and western worlds. It is computed that St. Xavier alone preached the faith in 52 king- doms or independent states, and baptized a millionof converts with his owa hand, in India and Japan. St. Lewis Bertrand, Martin of Valentia, and Bartholomew Las Casais, with their fellow missionaries, converted most of the Mexicans, and great proijress was made in the conversion of the Bra- zilians, though not without the blood of many martyred preachers in these and the other Catholic missions. David, emperor of Abyssinia, with many of his family and other subjects, were now reclaimed to the church, and Pulika, patriarch of the Nestorians in Assyria, came to Rome, in order to join the numerous churches under him to the centre of unity and truth. CENT. XVII. The sects, of which I have been speaking, were, at the beginning of this century, in their full vigour; and though they differed in must other respects, yet they combined their forces, under the general name of Pro- testants, to overthrow Christ's everlasting church. These attempts, how- ever, like the waves of the troubled ocean, were dashed to pieces against the rock on which he had built it. On the contrary, they weakened them- selves by civil wars and fresh divisions. The Lutherans split into Diapho- rists and Adiaphorisis, tho Calvinists into Gomarists and Arminians, and the Anglicans into Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, and Quakers. A vain effort was now set on foot, through Cyril Lucaris, to gain over the Greek churches to Calvinism, which ended in demonstrating their invio- lable attachment to all the controverted doctrines of Catholicity. Another more fatal attempt, was made to infect several members of the church •tself with the distinguishing error of Calvinism, under the name of Jan- senism. But the successors of St. Peter continued, through the whole of the' century, equally to make head against Protestant innovations, Jansen- istical vigour, and casuistical laxity. Their names, in order, were these, Leo XI, Paul V, Gregory XV, Urban VIII. Innocent X, Alexander VII, Clement IX, Clement X, Innocent XI, Alexander VIII and Innocent XII. Their orthodoxy was powerfully supported by the Cardinals Bellar- mln, Baronius and Perron, with the bishops Huetius, Bossuet, Fenclon, Richard Smith, and the divines Petavius, Tillemont, Pagi, Thomassin, Kellison, Cressy, &c. Nor were the canonized saints of this age fewer in ..nambor or less illustrious than those of the former, namely, St. Francis of Salfts, St Frances Chantal, St. Camillus, St. Fidelis Martyr, St. Vincentof ■^P Paul, &c. Finally, the church continued to be crowded with fresh converts, in Peru, Chili, Terra Firma, Canada, Louisiana, Mingrelia. Tartary, India, and many island.^ both of Africa and Asia. She had also the consolation of receiving into her communion the several Patriarchs of Damascus, Aleppo, and Alexandria, and also the Nestorian archbishops of Chaldaea and Meliapore, with their respective clergy. 17* ♦ 198 Letter XXV III ed THE APOSTOLICAL SEE, and being the head See and centre o( union of the whole Catholic church, furnishes the first claim to its title of THE APOSTOLICAL CHURCH. But you also see, in the sketch of this mystical tree, an uninterrupt- ed aeries of other bishops, doctors, pastors, saints, and pious personages, of different times and countries, through these eigh- teen centuries, who have, in their several stations, kept up the perpetual succession, those of one century having been the in- structors of those who succeeded them in the next, all of them following the same two-fold rule. Scripture and tradition ; all of them acknowledging the same expositor of this rule, the Catholic church, and all of them adhering to the main trunk or centre of union, the apostolic See. Some of the general councils or synods likewise appear, in which the bishops from different parts of the church, under the authority of the Pope, assembled, from time to time, to define its doctrine and regulate its discipline. The size of the sheet did not admit of all the councils being CENT. XVIII. \ At length we have mounted tip the apostolic tree to our own age. In this heresy having sunk, for the most part, into Socinian indiiTurence, and Jansenism into philosophical infidelity, this last waged as cruel a war against the Catholic church [and O glorious mark of truth I against her alonel as Dccius and Dioclesian did heretofore: but this has only proved her internal strength of constitution, and the protection of the God of heaven. The Pontiffs, who have stood the storms of this century, were Clement XI, Innocent XIII, Benedict XIV, Clement XIII, Clement XIV, Pius VI, as at the beginning of the present century Pius Vil has done. Among other modem supporters and ornaments of the church, may b« .mentioned the Cardinals Thomasi and Quirina, the bishops Languet, La Motte, Beaumont, (/halloner, Hornyold, Walmesley, Hay and Moylan. Among the writers are Calmei, Muratori, Bergier, Feller, Gother, Manning, Hawarden, and Alban Butler; and among the personages distinguished by their piety, the Good Dauphin, his sister Louisa the Carmelite nun, his he- roical daughter Elizabeth, his other daughter Clotilda, whose beatification is now in progress, as those of bishop Liguori, and Paul of the cross, foun- der of the I'assionists ; as also FF. Surenne, Nolhac and L. Enfant, with their fellow- martyrs and the venerable Labre, &c. Nor has the apostolical work of Converting Infidels been neglected by the Catholic church, in tho midst of such persecutions. In the early part of the century, numberless souls were gained by Catholic preachers in the kingdoms of Madura, Co- chinchina, Tonquin, and in the empire of China, including the peninsula of Corea. At the same time numerous savages were civilir.ed and bap- tized among the Hurons, Miamis, Illinois, and other tribes of North Amer- ica. But the most glorious conquest, because the most difficult and most complete, was that gained by tiie Jesuits in the interior of South America over the wild savages of Paraguay, Uraguay and Parona, together with the wild Canisians, Moxos, and (Mii(iuitcs, who, after shedding the blood of some hundreds of their first preachorH, at length opened their hearts to lh« mild and sweet truths of the Gospel, and became models of piety and mo- rality, nor less so of industry, civil order, and polity. Letter XXIX. 199 exhibited. Again you behold, in this tree, the continuation of the apostolical work, the conversion of nations, which, as it was committed by Christ to the Catholic church, so it has never been blessed by him with success in any hands but in hers. This exclusive miracle, in the order of grace, like those in the order cf nature, which I treated of in a former letter, is itself a divine attestation on her behalf. Speaking of the conversion of nations, 1 must not fail, dear sir, to remind your society, that this our country has twice been reclaimed from Paganism, and each time by the apostolic labours of missionaries, sent hither by the See of Rome. The first conversion took place in the second century, when Pope Eleutherius sent Fugatius and Duvi- anus for this purpose, to the ancient Britons, or Welsh, under their king or governor, Lucius, as Bede and other historians relate. The second conversion was that of our immediate an- cestors, the English Saxons and Angles, by St. Augustin and his companions, at the end of the sixth century, who were sent from Rome, on this apostolical errand, by Pope Gregory the Great. Lastly, you see in the present sketch, a series of un- happy children of the church, who, instead of hearing her doc- trines, as it was their duty to do, have pretended to reform them ; and thus, losing the vital influx of their parent stock, have withered and fallen off from it as mere dead branches. I am, &LC. J. M LETTER XXIX. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. ^c. on the apostolicity of the catholic ministrvt. Dear Sir, In viewing the apostolical tree, you are to consider it as re- presenting an uninterrupted succession of pontiffs and prelates, who derive not barely their doctrine, but also, in a special man- ner, their ministry, namely their holy orders and the right or jurisdiction to exercise those orders in a right line, from the apostles of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Catholic church, in all past ages, has not been more jealous of the sacred doposite of orr/iiHlox doctrine, than of the equally sacred dcpositcs of legiti- mate ordination, by bishops who iheniselves had been rightly ordained and consecrated, and ol valid jurisdiction, or divine mission, by which she authorizes her ministers to exercise their respective functions in such and such places, with respect to tucli and such persons, and under such and such condition -j, ai ?i' ■■ 200 Letter XXIX. she, by the depositaries of this jurisdiction, is pleased to ordain. Thus, my dear sir, every Catholic pastor is authorized and en- abled to address his flock as follows : The tvotd of God which. 1 announce to you, and the holy sacraments which L dispense to you, I am QUALIFIED to announce and dispense by such a Catholic bishop, who was consecrated by such another Catholic bishop, and so on, in a series, which reaches to the apostles them- selves : and I am AUTHORIZED topreach and minister to you, by such a prelate, who received authority, for this purpose, from the succe;,sor of St. Peter, in the apostolic See of Rome. Here- tofore, during a considerable time, the learned and conscientious divines of the church of England held the same principles, on both these points, thut Catholics have ever held, and were no less Hrm in maintaining the divine right of episcopacy and the ministry than we are. 'I'his appears from the works of one who was, perhaps, the most profound and accurate amongst them, the celebrated Hooker. He proves, at great length, that the ecclesiastical ministry is a divine function, instituted by God, and deriving its authority from God, "in a very diflerent man- ner iVom that of princes and magistrates :" that it is " a wretch- ed blindness not to admire so great a power as that, which the cler»«y are endowed with, or to suppose that any but God can bestow ii :" that '♦ it consists in a power over the mystical body of Christ by the remission of sins, and over his natural bndy iu the sacrament, which antiquity doth call the making of ChrisCs bodyy* He distinguishes between the power of orders and the authority of mission or jurisdiction, on both which points he is supported by the canons and laws of the establishment. Not to speak of prior laws ; the act of uniformity,! provides that no minister shall hold any living, or officiate in any church, who has not received episcopal ordination. It also requires ihut ho shall be approved and licensed for his particular place iiud function. This is also clear from the form of induction of a clerk into any cure.| In virtue of this system, when Episco- pacy was re-established in Scotland, in the year 1662, four Presbyterian ministers having been appointed by the king to tuat oifice, the English bishops refused to consecrate them, un- less they consented to be previously ordained deacons and priests, thus renouncing their former ministerial character, and acknowledging that they had liitherto been mere laymen^ In • Ecclesiast. Politic B. v. Art. 77. t Stai. 13 and Ii Car. 0, c. 4, t •• Cjirain ot rogitnoii aniii»arum parocliianoruin tlbi com mittimus. i Cdlliur's Eccl. Hist. Vol. ii. p. H87. It appears (Vom the same history that four )lhrr Scotd) mini:«tcr.>, who haci fornnMly permitted themselves to \ Letter XXIX. JOl like manner, on the accession of king William, who ^t^As a Diiv Calvinist, to the throne, when a commission of i«n bi- sho; ind twenty divines w^as appointed to modify the articles ariii iitiirgy of the established church, for the purpose of form- ing a coalition with the dissenters, it appeard that the most lax among them, such as Tillotson and Burnet, together with chief baron Hales and other lay lords, required that the dissenting ministers should, at least be conditionally ordained* as being thus far mere laymen. In a word, it is well known to be the practice of the established church, at the present day, to ordain all dissenting Protestant ministers of every description, who go over to her, whereas, she never attempts to re-ordain an apos- tate Catholic priest, who offers himself to her scrvive, but is satisfied with his taking the oaths prescribed by law.f This doctrine of the establishment, evidently vnchurches, as Dr. Hey- lin expresses it, all other Protestant communions ; as it is an established principle that. No ministry no church,^ and with equal evidence, it unchristians them also ; since this church una- nimously resolved, in 1575, that baptism cannot be performed by any person but a lawful minister.^ But dismissing these uncertain and wavering opinions, we know, what little account all other Protestants, except those of England, have made of apostolical succession and episcopal ordination. Luther's principles on these points are clear from his famous Bull against the FALSELY CALLED order ofbi- shops,\\ where he says, " Give ear now, you bishops, or rather you visors of the devil : Dr. Luther will read you a Bull nnd a Reform, which will not sound sweet in your ears. Dr. Luther's Bull and Reform is this, whoever spend their labour, persons and fortunes, to lay waste you episcopacies, and to extinguish the government of bishops, they are the beloved of God, true be consecrated bishops, were, on that account, excommunicated and de- graded by the kirlt. Records, N. cxiii. • Life of Tillotson by Dr. Birch, pp. 42. llii. t Notwithstanding these proot's of the doctrine and practice of tlic es> tablished church, a great proportion of her modern divines consent, at the present day, to sacrifice all hor pretensions to divine autliority and uninter* rupted succession It has been shown in The lyllcrs to a Piebcndanj. that in the principles of the celebrated Dr. Balguy, a priest or a bishop can as well be made by the town crier, if commissioned by the civil power, as by the metropolitan. To this system, Dr. Sturges, Dr. Hey, Dr. Paley, and a crowd of other learned the>)logian9 subscribe their names. Even the bishop of Lincoln, in maintaining Episcopacy to be an apostolical institu- tion, denies it to be binding on Christians to adopt it; which, in fact, is to reduce it to a mere civil and optional practice. Elcm. Vol. ii. Art. '23. t •' Ubi nullus est Sacerdos nulla est Ecclesia." St. Jerom, 4bO. • Elem. of Thcol. Vol ii. p. 47J. li Advcn»u« falso Pfonun Tom. ii. Jisn. A. D. 15*j? . » S02 Letter XXIX. i\\. Christians, and opposers of the devil's ordinances. On the other hand, whoever support the government of bishops, and willingly obey them, they are the devil's ministers," «fec. True it is, that afterwards, namely, in 1542, this arch-reformer, to gratify his chief patron, the Elector of Saxony, took upon him- self to consecrate his bottle companion, Amsdorf, bishop of Naumburgh :* but, then, it is notorious, from the whole of liis conduct, that Luther set himself above all law, and derided con- sistency and decency. Nearly the same may be said of an- other later reformer, John Wesley, who, professing himself to be a Presbyter of the church of England^ pretended to ordain Messrs. Whatcoat, Vesey, &c. priests, and to consecrate Dr. Coke a bishop /f With equal inconsistency, the elders of Hern- hut h in Moravia, profess to consecrate bishops for England and other kingdoms. On the other hand, how averse the Calvin- ists, and other dissenters, are to the very name as well as the office of bishops, all modern histories, especially those of En- gland and Scotland, demonstrate. But, in short, by whatever name, whether of bishops, priests, deacons, or pastors, these ministers respectively call themselves, it is undeniable, that they are all self appointed^ or, at most, they derive their claim from other men, who themselves were self-appointed, fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen hundred years subsequent to the time of the apostles. The chief question which remains to be discussed concerns the ministry of the church of England : namely, whether the first Protestant bishops, appointed by queen Elizabeth, when the Ca- tholic bishops were turned out of their Sees, did or did not re- ceive valid consecration from some other bishop, who, himself, was validly consecrated ? The discussion of this question has filled many volumes, the result of which is, that the orders are, ' to say the least, exceedingly doubtful. For, first, it is certain that the doctrine of the fathers of this church was very loose, as to the necessity of consecration and ordination.. * Its chief founder, Cranmer, solemnly subscribed his name to the pgsition, that princes and governors, no less than bishops, can make priests, and that no consecration is appointed by Scripture to make a bishop or priest.^ In like manner. Barlow, on the validity of * SleUlan, Comment. L. 14. y t Dr. Whitehead's Life of Charles and John "Wesley. It appears that Charles was horribly scandalized at this step of his brother John, and that a lasiin)5 schism amona; the Wesleyan Methodists was the consequence of if. t Burnet's Hist, of Reform. Records, B. iii. N. 21. See also his Rec. Part ii. N. 2, by vrhich it appears that Cranmer and the other tomplyir* pre- lates took out i'resh commissions on the death of Henry VIII, from Edward VI, to govfirii their dioceses, durante binfplacilet Uko mere civil officers. \ Letter XXIX. 203 whose consecration that of Matthew Parker and of all succeed* ing Anglican bishops chiefly, rests, preached openly that the king's apointmcnt, without any orders whatsoever, suffices to make a bishop.* This doct isie seems to have been broached by him to meet the objection that' he himself had never been con- secrated : in fact, the record of such a transaction has been hunted for in vain, during these two hundred years. Secondly, it is evident, from the books of controversy, still extant, that the Catholic doctors, Harding, Bristow, Stapleton, and Cardinal Allen, who had been fellow-students and intimately acquainted with the first Protestant bishops, under Elizabeth, and particu- larly with Jewel, bishop of Sarum, and Home, bishop of Win- ton, constantly reproached them, in the most pointed terms, that they never had been consecrated at all, and that the latter, in their voluminous replies, never accepted of the challenge or refu- ted the charge, otherwise than by ridiculing the Catholic conse- cration. Thirdly, it appears that after an interval of fifty years from the beginning of the controversy, namely in the year 1613, when Mason, chaplain to archbishop Abbot, published a work, referring to an alleged Register at Lambeth, of archbishop Par- ker's consecration by Barlow, assisted by Coverdale and others, the learned Catholics universally exclaimed that the Register was a forgery, unheard of till that date, and asserted, among other arguments, that, admitting it to bo true, it was of no avail, as the pretended consecrator of Parker, though he had sat in several Sees, had not Himself been consecrated for any of them.f These, however, are not the only exceptions which Catholic divines have taken to the ministerial orders of the church of England. They have argued, in particular, against ihe form of them, as theologians term it ; in fact, according to the ordinal of Edward VI, restored by Elizabeth, priests were ordained by the power o[ fur giving sins,\. without any power of offering up sacri- fice, in which the essence of the sacerdotium^ ov priesthood con- sists ; pnd, according to the same ordinal, bishops were conse- crated without the communication of any fresh power whatso- ever, or ev^n the mention of episcopacy, by &form which might bo used to a child, when confirmed or baptized.^ This was • Collier's Eccl. Hist. Vol. ii. p. 135. 1 Richardson, in his notes on Godwin's Commentary, is forced to cont'c9g as follows: " Dies consecrationis ejus (Barlow) nondum apparent." p. M2. t " Receive the Holy Ghost: whose si"^s tiiou dost forgive, they arc for- given; and whose sins thou dost retain, mey are retained: and be thou a faithful dispenser of tho word of God, and of his Holy Sacrament* " Bishop Sparrow's Collection, p. 158. i *• Take the Holy CJhost, and remember that thou stir up tho grace of C»od, which is in thee by the imposition of hands.'' — Ibid. p. 161. I il 204 Letter XXIX. agreeable lo the maxims of the principal author of thatwdinal, Cranmer, who solemnly decided that " bishops and priests were no two things, but one and the same office."* On this subject our controvertists urge, not only the authority of all the Latin and Greek ordinals, but also the confession of the above-men- tioned Protestant divine, Mason, who says, with evident truth, " Not every form of words will serve for this institution (con- veying orders) but such as are significant of the power con- voyed by the order."! In short, these objections were so pow- erfully urged by our divines, Dr. Champney, J. Lewgar, S. T. B-t and others, that almost immediately after the last named had published his work containing them, called Erastus Senior, namely, in 1662, the convocation, being assembled, it altered the form of ordaining priests and consecrating bishops, in order to obviate these objections. § But admitting that these alterations are sufficient to obviate all the objections of our divines to the ordinal, which they are not, they came above a hundred years too late for their intended purpose ; so that if the priests and bishops of Edward's and Elizabeth's reigns were invalidly \)v- dained and consecrated, so must those of Charles ll.'s reign, and their succsssors, have been also. However long I have dwelt on this subject, it is not yet ex- hausted : the case is, there is the same necessity of an apostol- ical succession of mission or authority, to execute the fimctions of holy orders, as there is of the holy orders themselves. This mission, or authority, was imparted by Christ to his apostles, when he said to them. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you, Mat. XX. 21, and of this St. Paul also speaks, where he says of the apostles, How can they preach unless they are sent 1 Rom. X. 15. I believe, sir, that no regular Protestant church, or so- ciety, admits its minister, to have, by their ordination or ap- pointment, unlimited authority in every place and congregation : certain it is, from the ordinal and articles of the established • Burnet's Hist, of Reform, vol. i. RcRord, b. iii. n. 21, quest. 10. t Ibid. B. ii. c. 16. t Lewgar was the friend of Chillingi\'orth, and by him converted to the Catholic faith, which, however, he refused to abandon, wlien the latter re- lapsed into Latitudinarianism. § The form of ordaining a priest was thus altered: " Receive tlic Holy Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the church of God, now com- mitted to thee by tlie imposition of our hands: Whoso sins thou shalt for- give, thoy are forgiven," &c. — The form of consecrating a bishop was thus enlarged: " Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and worlt of a bishop in the church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : tnd remember, that thou stir up the giace of God, which is in thoo." Letter XXIX. 205 church, tljat she confines the jurisdiction of her ministers to "the congregation to which they shall be appointed."* Con- formably to this, Dr. Berkley teaches, that " a defect in the mis- sion of the ministry, invalidates the sacraments, affects the puri- ty of public worship, and therefore deserves to be investigated by e^'ery sincere Christian."+ To this archdeacon Daubeny adds, that " Regular mission only subsists in the churches which have preserved apostolical succession." I moreover believe that in all Protestant societies the ministers are persuaded that the authority by which they preach and perform their functions is, some how or another, divine. But, on this head, I must ob- serve to you, dear sir, and your society, that there are only two ways by which divine mission or authority can be proved or communicated ; the one ordinary, the other extraordinary. The former takes place when this authority is transmitted in reg- ular succession from those who originally received it from God : the other, when the Almighty interposes, in an extraordinary manner, and immediately commissions certain individuals to make known his will to men. The latter mode evidently re- quires indisputable miracles to attest it ; and accordingly Moses and our Saviour Christ, who were sent in this manner, constant- ly appealed to the prodigies they wrought in proof of their di- vine mission. Hence, even I^uther, when Muncer, Storck, and their followers, the Anabaptists, spread their errors and devasta- tions through Lower Germany, counselled the magistrates to put these questions to them, (not reflecting that the questions were as applicable to himself as to Muncer,) " Who conferred upon you the ojlce of preaching ? And who commissioned you to preach ? If they answer, God, then let the magistrates say, prove this to us by some evident miracle : for so God makes known his will, when he changes the institutions, which he had before establish- ed."J Should this advice of the first reformer to the magistrates be followed in this age and country, what swarms of sermoni- zers and expounders of the Bible would be reduced to silence ! For, on one hand, it is notorious, that they are self-appointed prophets, who run without being sent ; or, if they pretend to a commission, they derive it from other men, who themselves had received none, and who did not so much as claim any, by regu- lar succession from the apostles. Such was Luther himself such also were Zuinglius, Calvin, Muncer, Menno, John Knox George Fox, Zinzendorf, Wesley, VVhitfield, and Swedenborg None of these preachers, a^ I have signitiej, so much as pre« • Article 23. Form of order! nt: priosts airl deacons t Scrm. at Conuecr. of bitihbp Home. t Slcii An. Da Stat. Relig. !.▼. .18 206 Letter XXIX, tended to have received their mission from Christ in the ordi nary way^ by uninterrupted succession from the apostles. On the other hand, they were so far from undertaking to work real miracles, by way of proving they have received an extraordinary mission from God, that, as Erasmus reproached them, they could not so much as cure a lame horse, in proof of their divine legation. Should your friend, the Rev. Mr. Clark, see this letter, he will doubtless exclaim, that, whatever may be the case with dis- senters, the church of England, at least, has received her mis- sion and authority, together with her orders, by regular succes- sion from the apostles, through the Catholic bishops, in the or- uinary way. In fact, this is plainly asserted by the bishop of Lincoln * But take notice, dear sir, that though we were to ad- mit of an apostolical succession of orders in the established church, we never could admit of an apostolical succession of mis- sion, jurisdiction, or right to exercise those orders in that church : nor can its clergy, with any consistency, lay the least claim to it. For, first, if the Catholic church, that is to day, its " Laity and elegy, all sects and degrees, were drowned in abominable idolatry, most detested of God and damnable to man, for the space of eight hundred years," as the Homilies affirm,t how could she retain this divine mission and jurisdiction, all this time, and employ them in commissioning her clergy all this time to preach up this " detestable idolatry ?" Again, was it possible for the Catholic church to give jurisdiction and authority, for example, to archbishop Parker, and the bishops Jewel and Home, to preach against herself? Did ever any insurgents against an established government, except the regicides in the grand rebel- lion, claim authority from that very government to fight against it, and destroy it ? In a word, we perfectly well know, from his- tory, that the first English Protestants did not profess, any more than foreign Protestants, to derive amy mission or authority what- soever from the apostles, through the existing Catholic church. Those of Henry's reign preached and ministered in defiance of all authority, ecclesiastical and civil. | Their successors in the reign of Edward and EUzabeth claimed their whole right and mis- sion to preach and to minister from the civfl power only.§ This • Elem of Theol. vol. ii. p. 400. t Collier's Hist. vol. "j. p. 81. t Against the Perib of Idolatry, P. ii. S Archbishop Abbot having incurred suspension by the canon law, for accidentally shooting a man, a royal commission was issued to restore him. On another occasion he was suspended by the king himself, for refusing to license a boolc. In Elizabeth's reign, the bish jps approved oi propticsying^ as it was called, the queeu disapproved of it, '^nd she obliged them to ^on* deinn it. /■ i ' Letter XXIX. 207 latter point is demostratively evident from the act and the oath of supremacy, and from the homage of the archbishops and bishops to the said Elizabeth, in which the prelate elect " acknowledges and confesses, that he holds his bishopric, as well in spirituals as in temporals, from her alono and the crown royal." The same thing is clear from a series of royal ordinances respecting the clergy in matters purely spiritual, such as the pronouncing on doctrine, the prohibition of prophesying, the inhibition of all preaching, the giving and suspending of spiritual faculties, &c. Now, though I sincerely and cheerfully ascribe to my sovereign all the temporal and civil /7ower, jurisdiction, rights, and authority, which the constitution and laws ascribe to him, I cannot believe that Christ appointed any temporal prince to feed his mysticalfiock, or any part of it, or to exercise the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven at his discretion. It was foretold by bishop Fisher in Parliament, that the royal ecclesiastical supremacy, if once ac- knowledged, might pass to a child or to a woman,* as, in fact, it soon did to each of them. It was afterwards transferred, with the crown itself, to a foreign Calvinist, and might have been settled, by a lay assembly, on a Mahometan. All, however, that is ne- cessary for me here to remark is, that the acknowledgment of a royal ecclesiastical supremacy " in all spiritual and ecclesias- tical things or causes,"f (as when the question is, who shall preach, baptize, &c. and who shall not ; what is sound doctrine, and what is not,) is^ decidedly a renunciation of Christ's comis- sion given to his apostles, and preserved by their successors in the Catholic apostolic church. Hence it clearly appears that there is and can be no apostolical succession of ministry in the established church more than in the other congregations or socie- ties of Protestants. All their preaching and ministering, in their several degrees, is performed by mere human authority % On the other hand, not a sermon is preached, nor a child baptized, nor a penitent absolved, nor a priest ordained, nor a bishop con- secrated, throughout the whole extent of the Catholic church, without the minister of such function being able to show his au- thority from Christ for what he does, in the commission of Christ to his apostles : All power m heaven and on earth is given to me :• Go therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them, ginning of our correspondence, by tlie tenor of which I was left at full liberty to follow up my arguments to whatever lengths they might conduct nie, without and person of tho soci- ety being otfended with mo on that account. I shall pass over tho passages in the letter which seem to have been dictated by to-j warm a feeling, and shall confine my answer to those which contain something like argument against what I have advanced. *I'he Reverend gentleman, then, objects against the claim of our pontiffs to the apostuiic succession ; that in different ages this succession bar. been interrupted, by tho contention of rival Popes ; and that the lives of many of them have been so crimi- nal, that according to my own arguments, as he says, it is in- credible that such pontiffs should have been able to preserve and convey the commission and authority given by Christ to his apostles. I grant, sir, that, from the vafious commotions and accidents to which all sublunary things are subject, there have been se\eral vacancies, or interregnums in the Papacy; but none of them have been of such a lengthened duration as to prevent a moral continuation of tho Popedom, or to hinder the Letter XXX. 309 execution of the important office annexed to it. I {frant also, lliat there have been rival Popes and unhappy schisms in tho church, particularly one great schism, at the end of tho four- teenth and the l)e"! he Barilet Building Society, which, though strictly of the .Esiobiish- ment, employs missionaries in India to the number of si.K, all Germans, and it should seem, all Lutherans. 2dly, There is the Society for propagating Christianity in the English colonies ; but 1 hear nothing of its doings. 3dly, There is another for the conversion of negro slaves, of which I can only say, ditto. 4thly, There is another for sending missionaries to A frica and the East, concerning which we are equally left in the dark. 5thly, There is the London Missif>nary Society, which sent out the ship Duff, with certain preachers and their wives, to Otaheite, Tongabatoo, and the Marquesas, ami published a journal of the voyage, by which it appears that they are strict Calvinists, and Indepen- dejits. 6thly, The Edinburgh Missionary Society franternizes with the last mentioned. 7t.hly, There is an Arminian Mission- ary Society under Dr. Coke, the head of the Wesleyan Metho- dists. Sthly, There is a Moravian Missionary Society, which appears more active than any others, particularly at the Cape, and in Greenland and Surinam. To these, your visiter says, must be added, the Hibernian Sjcietv ''or diffusing. Christian knowledge in Ireland : as also, atid st»H ;;>:: oarticulHv the Bible Society, with all its numerous r '"v-*;.^ .<. Of uiis last named, he speaks glorious things, foretelling that it will, in its progress, purify the world from infidelity and wickedness. In answer to what has been stated, I have to mention several marked differences between the Protestant and the Catholic mis- v>t»iarie3. The former preached various discordant religions; ior -,v;iat relifjions can be more opposite than the Calvinistic and Urc Arminiar. '. And how indignant would a churchman feel, if \ Letter XXX, 211 I were to charge him with the impiety and ohscenity of Zinzen- dorrand his Moravian: ' The very preachers of the same sect, on board of the Duff, had not agreed upon the creed ihey were to teach, when they u r^ within a few days sail of Otaheite.* Whereas the Catholic missionaries, whether Italians, Frc/ich, Portuguese, or Spam rds, taiigii? and planted precisely the .sum* religion in the opposite extremities of ih^ globe. Secondly, the envoys of those societies hnd no commission or authority to preach, but what they derived from the men and women, who contributed money to pay for their voyages and accommodations. / have not sent these prophets, says the Lord, yet they ran ; I hnvenot spoken to them, yet they prophesied, Jer. xxiii. 21. On the other hand, the apostolical men, who, in ancient and in mod- ern times, have converted the nations of the earth, all derived their mission and authority from the centre of the apostolic tree, the See of Peter, 'i'hirdly, I cannot but remark the striking difference between the Protestant and the Catholic missionaries, with respect to their qualifications and method of proceeding. The former were, for the most part, mechanics and laymen, of the lowest order, without any learning infused t r acquired, be- yond what they could pick up from the English translation of the Bible ; they were frequently incumbered wi^h wives and children, and armed with muskets and bayonets, to kill. those whom they could not convert.t Whereas the Catholic mission- aries have always been priests, or ascetics, trained to literature and religious exercises, men of continency and self-denial, who have had no other defence than their breviary and crucifix, no other weapon than the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, Ephes. vi. 17. Fourthly, I do not find any por ion of that lively faith and heroical constancy, in braving poverty, torments, and death, for the Gospel, among the few Protestant converts, or even among their preachers, which have so frequently illus- trated the different Catholic missions. Indeed, I have Tiot heard of a single martyr of any kind, in Asia, Africa, or America, who can be considered as the fruit of the above-named soc eties, or of any other Protestant mission whatsoever. On the other hand, • " By the middle of January, the Committee of eight (among the 30 missionaries) had nearly finished the articles of faith. Two of the number dissented, but gave in." — Journal of the DufT. t The eighteen preachers who remained at Otaheite ♦' took up arms by way of p^reeoution." — Ibid. It appears, from subsequent accounts, that the preachers made use of their arms, to protect their wives from the men w^oni they came to convert. Of the nine preachers destined for Tonga- 'w, six were for carrying fire arms on shore, and three against it.— •' arnai. '«fl u h I !^^ 212 Letter XXX. few are the countries in which the Christian religion has been planted by Catholic priests, without being watered with ome of their own blood and of that of their converts. To say nothing of the martyrs of a late date in the Catholic missions of Turkey, Abyssinia, Siam, Tonquin, Cochinchina, &c., there has been an almost continual persecution of the Catholics in the empire of China, for about a hundred years past, which, besides con- fessors of the faith, who have endured various tortures, has pro- duced a very great number of martyrs, native Chinese as well as Europeans; laity as well as priests and bishops.* Within these two years,! the wonderful apostle of the great Peninsula of Corea, to the east of China, James Ly, with as many as one hundred of his converts, has suffered death for the faith, in the islands of Japan, the canti-christian persecution, excited by the envy and avarice of the Dutch, raged with a fury unexampled in the records of Pagan Rome. It began with the crucilixion of twenty-six martyrs, most of them missionaries. It then pro- ceeded to other more horrible martydoms, and it concludeii with putting to death as many as eleven hundred thousand Chris tians.J Nor were those numerous and splendid victories of tho Gospel in the provinces of South America achieved without tor- rents of Catholic blood. Many of the first preachers were slaiigh lered by the savages to whom they announced the Gospel, and not unfrequently devoured by them, as was the case wiih the first bishop of Brazil, in the last place, the Protestant missions have never been attended with any great success. Those heretofore car- ried on by the Dutch, French, and American Calvinists, seemed to have been more levelled at the destruction of the Catholic missions, than at the conversion of the Pagans.^ In later times, • Hist, do I'Eglise par Bcrault Bercastel, torn. 22, 23. Butler's Lives of the Saints, Feb. 6. Mem. Eccles. pour lo 18 Side. t Namely, in 1801. While this woik is in the press, we receive an ac- count of the martyrdom of Mgr. Dufresse, bishop of Tabraca, and Vicar apostolic of Sutchuen, in China, who was beheaaed there Sept. H, 1815, and of F. J. do Frior, missionary in Chiensi, who, after various torments, was strangled, Feb. 13, 1810. t Bcrault Bercastel says two millions, torn. 20. S It is generally known, and not denied by Mosheim himself, that the extermination of the flourishing missions in Japan is to be ascribed to Itio Dutch. When thfy became masters of tho Portuguese settlements in In- dia, they endeavoured, by persecution as well as by other means, to \w\Vc the t'lristian natives abandon the Catholic religion towhicl) St. Xavicriuid his companions iiad converted them The Calvinisl preaclu-r.s h;iviiig ftiiled in tilt r attempt to proselyte tho Brazilians, it happened that one ol their party, James Sourie, took a merchant vessel at sea with forty Jesuit missionaries, under F. A/.evi'do, on board of it, bound to I'razil, when, in batred to thum and their destmation, ho put them all to death. The year f% Letter XXX. 213 the zealous Wesley went on a mission to convert the savages of Georgia, but returned without making one proselyte. His com- panion Whitfield afterwards went to the same country on the same errand, but returned without any greater success. Of the missionaries who went out in the Duff, those who were left at the Friendly Islands and the Marquesas abandoned their posts in despair, as did eleven of the eighteen left at Otaheite. 'I'he remaining seven had not, in the course of six years, baptized a single Islander. In the mean time, the depravity of the natives in killing their infants and other abominations increased so fiist, as to threaten their total extinction. In the Bengal government, extending over from thirty to forty millions of people, with all its influence and encouragement, not more than eighty converts have been made by the Protestant missionaries in seven year«, and those were ahnost all Chandalas or outcasts from the Hin- doo religion, who were glad to get a pittance for their support,* " for the perseverance of several of whom," their instructors say, "they thremble."t How different a scene do the Catholic missions present ! To say nothing of ancient Christendom, all the kingdoms and states of which were reclaimed from Pagan- ism and converted to Christianity by Catholic preachers, and not one of them by preachers of any other description : what extensive and populous islands, provinces and states, were wholly, or in a great part reclaimed from idolatry, in the East and in the West, soon after Luther's revolt, by Catholic missionaries ! But to come still nearer to our own time : F. Douchet, alone, m the course of liis twelve years labours in Madura, instructed and baptized twenty thousand Indians, while F. Britto, within fifteen motnhs only, converted and regenerated eight thousand, when he sealed his mission with his blood. By the latest rtiiurns which I have seen from the Eastern missionaries to the direct- ors of the French Missions Elrauircrts, it appears that in the western district of 'J'omiuin, during the live years preceding the beginning of this century, four thousand one hundred and one adults, and twenty-six thousand nine hundred and fifteen chil- dren, were received into the church by baptism, and that in the follnwinp, F. Diaz, with cloven rotnpanions, hounrl on the same mission, and failing into the hands nf tlie Calvinists, mot with tlic same late. In- credible pains were falicti hy llie ininistoru of New England to indtiro tho lIuroMS, Iniquiiis, and otl\<;r corivortcd savatjos, toahaiiddn tin; ('alliolif re- lit!;ion, when the latter answered them: " V'ua never preached tho word to us while wo wore Pagans ; aiul now that we aro Chiistians, you try to de- prive ns uf if." * Extract of a Speech oC C Marsh, Em(|. in a commiflee of the H. of C. July I, 1S15. See also Major Waring's lemavks on Oxford Sermona. t Transact of Prot Miss, quoted in Edinb. Review, April, IHUg. il il 914 Letter XXX. lower part of Cochinchina, nine hundvod grown persons had been baptized in the course of two years, besides vast numbers of children. The empire of China contains six bishops and some hundreds of Catholic priests. In a single province of it, Sutchuen, during the year 1796, fifteen hundred adults were baptized, and two thousand five hundred and twenty-seven Cate- chumens were received for instruction. By letters o'' a later date from the above mentioned martyr Dufresse, bishop of Ta- braca and Vic. Ap. of Sutchuen, it appnars, that during the year 1810, in spite of a severe persecution, nine hundred and sixty- five adults \^ ere baptized, and during 1814, though the persecu- tion increased, eight hundred and twenty-nine, without reckon- wg infants, received baptism. Bishop Lamote, Vic. Ap. of I'okien, testifies that, in his district, during the year 1810, ten ihnusand three hutidred and eighty-four infants, and one thou- sand six hundred and seventy-seven grown persons, were bap- tized, and two thousand six hundred and seventy-four Catechu- mens admitted. From this short specimen, I trust, dear sir, it will appear manifest to you, on wliich Christian society God bestows his grace to execute the work of the apostles, as well tis to preserve their doctrine, their orders and their mission. As to the wonderful effects which your visiter expects from the Bible Society, and the tliree score and three translations into foreign tongues of the English translation of the Bible, in the conversion of the Pagan world, I beg leave to ask him, who is to vouch to the Tartars, Turks, and idolaters, that the Testa- ments and Bibles, which the society is pouring in upon them, were inspired by the Creator ? Who is to answer for these translations, tnade by oflicers, merchants, and merchants' clerks, being accurate and faithful I Who is to teach these barbarians to read, and, after that, to make any thing like a connected sense of the mysterious volmnes? Does Mr. C. really think that an inhabitant of Otaheite, when he is enabled to read tho Bible, will extract the sense of the 39 Articles or of any other Christian system whatever from it? In short, has the Bible Society, or any of the other Protestant societies, converted a single Pagan or Mahometan by the bare text of Scripture ? When such a convert can be produced, it will be time enough for me to pro- pose to him those further gravelling (puistions wliich result from my observations on the Sacred Te.\l in a former letter to you. In the mean tiuje hit vour visiter rest as.sured, that the ('atholic church will j)rocec(l in the old and successful manner, by which she has converted all the Christian people on the face of the earth ; the same, which Christ delivered to his apostles and their Letter XXX. 31A successors : Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to evert/ creature. Mark. xvi. 15. On the other hand, how illii.sory the gentleman's hopes are, that the depravity of this age and country will be reformed by the efforts of the Bible Society, has been victoriously proved by the Rev. Dr. Hook, who, with other clear sighted churchmen, evidently sees that the grand principle of Protestantism, strictly reduced to practice, would undermine their establishment. One of his brethren, the Uev. Mr. Gis- borne, had publicly boasted, that in proportion to the opposition, which the Bible Society had met with, its annual income had increased, till it reached near a hundred thousand pounds in a year : Dr. liook, in return, showed, by lists of the convictions of criminals during the first seven years of the society's existence, that the wickedness of the country, instead of being diminished, had almost been doubled !* Since that period up to the present year, it has increased three-fold and four-fold, compared with its state before the society began. POSTCRIPT. I HAVE now, dear sir, completed the second task which I un- dertook, and therefore proceed to sum up my evidence. Hav- ing then proved in my twelve former letters, the rough copies of which I have preserved, that the two alleged rules of faith, that of private inspiration and that of private interpretation of Scripture, are equally fallacious, and that there is no certain way of coming to the truth of divine revelation but by hiaring that church which Christ built on a ruck and promised to ahidf^ with for ever ; I engaged, in this my second series of letters, to demon- strate, which, amonj^ the different societies of (christians, is tho church that Christ founded and still protects. For this purpose I have had recourse to the principal characters or marks of • List of capital convictions, in London and Middlesex, in the following years, from Dr. Hooks Charge, and the I>ondon Chronicle In the year "180H 7'2H iwiiT IHIO IHll 1812 884 87-2 998 1813 1012 1814 10-27 1815 18l(; 1817 Convictions •J.'>9-2ol77 Capital convictions in Mtii?Iand and Wales, during the former seven years, from Dr. Hook's Charge:— N, n. To the convictions, during the three last years, in London and Middlesex, aro added those of Surry, in tho London Chronicle, March 9, I81d I ^1 il 21G Letter XXX. ChrisCs churchy as they are pointed out in Scripture and formaliy acknowledged by Protestants of nearly all descriptions, no less than by Catholics, in their articles and in those creeds, Avhich form part of their private prayers and public liturgy, iiainely, unity, sanctity, Catholicity and apostolicity. In fact, this is what every one acknowledges who says in the apostles' Creed, [ be- lieve in the holy Catholic church ; and, in the Nicene Creed,* / believe one Catholic and apostolic church. Treating of the first mark of the true church, I proved from natural reason, Scrip- ture, and tradition, that unity is essential to her ; I then showed that there is no union or principle of union among the diU'erotu sects of Protestants, except their common protestation against their mother church, and that the church of England, in particu- lar, is divided against itself in such manner, that one of its most learned prelates has declared himself afraid to say, what is its doctrine. On the other hand, I have shown that the Catholic church, spread as she is over the w^holo earth, is one and the same in her doctrine, in her liturgy, and in her government \ and, though 1 detest religious persecution, I have, iw deliance of ridi- cule and clamour, viniiicated her uncliarigeable doctrine, and the plain dictate of reason, as to tin* indispensable obligation of be- lieving what God teaches ; in other words, of a right faith : I have even proved that her adherence to this tenet is a proof both of the truth and the charily of the Catholic church. On the sub- ject of holiness, I have made it clear thai the pretended Uefor- matiqn every where originated in the pernicious doctrine nf sid- vation by faith alone, without good works ; and that the C iilholic church has ever taught the ntccssiiy of theuj b«ith : likewise that she possesses many peculiar means of sanctity, to which modern sects do not make a pretension, likewise that sUo.has. in every ajre, produced the genuine fruits of sanctity ; while iho fruits of Protestantism have been of quite an opposite nutura : finally, that God himself has bore witness to the sanctity . \,-; ( , Letter XXX II. 23fl shrouding those beauteous features of the church, but by placing before them the hideous mask of misrepresentation ! licCoro I close this letter, I carniot help (jxpressing an earnest wish ihat it were in my power to suggest three most inipoitnnt considerations to all and every one of the theolt»gical ciihnnnia- tors in question. 1 pass over their injustice and cruelty towards us ; though this bears some resemblance with the barbarity of Nero towards our predecessors, the first Christians of Home, who disguised them in the skins of wild beasts, and then hunted them to death with dogs. But Christ has warneil us as follows : Jt is enough fur the disciple to be as his master ; if they have call- ed the master of the house Beelzebub : how much more them of his household. In fact, we know that those our above-mentioned predecessors were charged with worshipping th«^ head of an ass, and of killing and eating children, &c. The first observation which I am desirous of making to these controverlists, is, that their charges and invectives against Ca- tholics never unsettle the faith of a single individual amongst us ; much less do they cause any Catholic to quit our commu- nion. This we are sure of, because, after all the pains and ex- penses of the Protestant societies to distribute Dr. Porfeus's Confutation of Popery, and other tracts, in the Iwuses and cot- tages of Catholics, not one of the latter ever comes to us, their pastors, to be furnished with an answer to the accusations con- tained in them ; the truth is, they previously know from their catechisms, the falsehood of them. Soujetimes no doubt, a dissolute youth, from " libertinism of principles and practice," as one of the above-mentioned lords loudly proclaimed of himself, on his death bed ; and sometimes an ambitious or avaricious nobleman or gentleman, to get honour or wealth ; Hnally, some- times a profligate priest, to get a wife, or a living, forsakes our communion; but, 1 may challenge Dr. Porteus to produce a sin- gle proselyte from Popery throughout the dioceses of Chester and London, who has been gained by his book against it : and I may say the same with respect to the bishop of Durham's No Popery Charges, throughout the dioceses of Sarum and Durham. A second point of still greater importance for the considera- tion of these distinguished preachers and writers is, that their flagrant misrepresentation of the Catholic religion, is constant- ly an occasion of the conversion of several of their own most upright members to it. Such Christians, when they fall into company with Catholics, or get hold of their books, cannot I'uil of inquiring whetli^r they are really those monsters of idoUitry, irreligion and immorality, which those divines have represeni- 226 Utter XXXIII. cd them to be ; ^vlien, discovering how much they have been deceived in these respects, by misrepresentation ; and, in short, viewing now the fait' face of tlm Catholic church, instead of the hideous mask which had been placed before it, they seldom fail to become enamoured of it, and, in casa religion is, their chiel concern, to become our very best Catholics. The most important point, however, of all others for the con- sideration of these learned theologues, is the following : We must all appear before the judgment scat of Christ, to he ex- amined on our observance of that commandment, among the rest, thou shalt not hear false witness against thy neighbour ; supposing then these their clamorous charges against their Ca- tholic neighbours, of idolatry, blasphemy, perfidy, and thirst of Wood, shoukl then appear, as they most certainly will appear, to be calumnies of the worst sort, what will it avail their authors that these have answered the temporary purpose of preventing the emancipation of Catholics, and of rousing the popular hatred and fury against them ! Alas ! what will it avail them ! I am. Dear, Sir, yours, &c. J. M. LETTER XXXIII. ' " To JAMES BROWN, Esq. on the invocation of s/vints. *, Dear Sir, * , ' The first and most heavy charge which Protestants bring against Catholics, is that of idolatry. They say, that the Ca- tholic church has been guilty of this crime and apostasy, by sanctioning the invocation of saints, and the worship of images and pictures : and that on this account they have been obliged to abandon her communion, in obedience to the voice from hea- ven, saying. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers tfhrr sins, and that ye receive not of htr plagues. Rev. xviii. 4. Nevertheless, it is certain, dear sir, that Protestantism was not founded on this ground either in Germany or in England : for Luther warmly defended the Catholic doctrine in both the afore- said particidars, and our English reformers, piirticularly king Edward's uncle, the duke of Somerset, only took up this pretext of idolatry, ns th(! most popular, in order tc* revolutionizt! the ancient religion, which they werc! carrying on from motives of aviuice und uinbiiion. The same reasons, namely, that this chargi- of idohitiy is l>est caleulated to inllamo the igfU)rant against the Catholic church, and to furnish a pretext for deserting her / Letter XXXIIf 227 have caused Protestant controvertists to keep up the outcry against her ever since, and to vie with each other in the fouhiess ol' their misre'presentation of her doctrine in this parlicuhir. To speak lirst oi' the invocation of ssiints : archbishop Wake, [who alierward, us we have seen, acknowledged to Dr. Dupiii, that there was no fundamental difference between his doctrine and that cf Catholics] in his popular Commentary on the Church Catechism, maintains, that " 'I'he church of Home has other Gods besides the Lord."* Another prelate, whose work has been lately republished by the bishop of Landaff, pronounces of Catholics, that, •• Instead of worshipping Christ, they have sub- Btituted the doctrine of demons.^^\ In the same blasphemous terms, Mede, and a hundred other Protestant controvertists, speak of our communion of saints. The bishop of London, among other such calumnies, charges us with " Bringing back the hea- then multitude of deities into Christianity ;" that we " Recom- mend ourselves to some favourite saint, not by a religious life, but by Haltering addresses and costly presents, and often depend niucli more on his intercession, than on our blessed Saviour's ;" and that, " being secure of the favour of these courtiers of hea- ven, we pay little regard to the King of it,"^ Such is the mis- representutpon of the doctrine and practice of Catholics on this point, which the first ecclesiastical characters in the naticm pub- lish ; because, in fact, their cause has not a leg to stand on, if you take away misrepresentation ! Let us now hear what is the genuine doctrine of the Catholic church in this article, as solemnly defmed by the Pope, and near three hundred prelates of dilfereiit nations, at the council of Trent, in the face of tiie whole world ; it is simply this, that " The saints reigning with Christ offer up their prayers to God for men ; that it is f^ood and tiseful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their praytrs, help, and assistance, to obtain favours from God, through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alone our lledeemer and Sa- viour.^'ij Hence the Catechism of the council of Trent, pni)lish- ed in virtue of Us decree. || by order of Pope Pius V, teaches, that " God and the saints are not to bo prayed to in tln^ sumo manner ; for we pray to God that he himself would give us good things, and deliver us from evil things ; but we beg of the saints, because they are pleasing to God, that they vwuld he our advo' cutrs, and obtain from God what we stand in need of."^ Our lirst English Catechism for the inslructicm of children, says • Sect 2—3. t Ikiif Con Alt. pp <| Sen. 'H, de Ket. c. 7 t Bishop Watson's Tlicol Tracia, vol. v. p. 27"2. i>:), i?a. § Concil Tri«i Sees '2:^. do Ii 1? Pam IV, Uuiii oidiiUua. IIVOO 228 Letter XXXIII. *'VVe are to honour saints and angels as God's special friends and servants, but not with the honour which belongs to God." Finally, The Papist Misrepresented and Represented, a work of groat authority among Catholics, first published by our eminent divine Gother, and republished by our venerable bishop, Chal- hmer, pronounces the following anathema against that idolatrous phantom of Catholicity, which Protestant controvertists have held up for the indentical Catholic church. *' Cursed is he that believes the saints in heaven to be his redeemers, that prays to them as such, or that gives God's honour to them, or to any creature whatsoever. Amen." " Cursed is every goddess wor- shipper, that believes the B. Virgin Mary to be any more than a creature ; that worships her, or puts his trust in her more than in God, that believes her above her Son, or that she can in any- thing command him. Amen."* You see, dear sir, how widely different the doctrine of Catho- lics, as defined by our church, and really held by us, is from the caricature of it, held up by interested preachers and controver- tists, to scare and inflame an ignorant multitude. So far from making gods and goddesses of the saints, we firmly hold it to be an article of faith, that, as they have no virtue or excellence but what has been gratuitously bestowed upon them by God, for the sake of his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, so they can procure no benefit for us, but by means of their prayers to the Giver of all good gifts, through their and our common Saviour, Jesus Christ. In short, they do nothing for us mortals in heaven, but what they did while they were here on earth, and what all good Christians are bound to do for each other, namely, they help us by their pray- ers. The only difference is, that as the saints in heaven are free from every stain of sin and imperfection, and are confirmed in grace and glojy, so their prayers are far more eflicacious for ob' tuining what they ask for, than are the prayers of us imperfect and sinful mortals. In short, our Protestant brethern will not deny that St. Paul was in the practice of begging for the pray- ers of the churches to which he addressed his epistles, Rom. y.v. 30, &c. and that the Almighty himself commanded the friends of Job to obtain his prayers for the pardon of their sins, Job xlii. 8 : and moreover, that they themselves are accustomed to pray publicly for one another. Now these concessions, together wiih the authorized exposition of our doctrine, laid down above, are abundantly sullicient to refute most of the rHinniriing objcriioiia of Protestants against it. In \.Lin, for cxampli", docs Dr. i'or- • Pap. ]\Iiarep. AbrJdg. p. 78. Letter XXXIII. 220 teus quote the text of St Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 5, There is one Media* tor hetwcee.n God and rnm, the man Christ Jesus ; for we grant that Christ alone is the Mediator of salvation ; but if he argues, from thence, that there is no other mediator of intercessi'm, he would condemn the conduct of St. Paul, of Job's friends, and of his own church, in vain does he take advantage of the ambigu- ous meaning of the word worship, in Mat. iv. 10 ; because, if the question be about a divine adoration, we restrain this as strict- ly to God, as he can do ; but if it be about merely honouring the saints, we cannot censure that, without censuring other passages of Scripture,* and condemning the bishop himself, who express- ly says, "The saints in heaven we love and honour "f In vain does he quote RevcL xix. 10, where the angel refused to let St. John prostrate himself, and adore him ; because, if the mere act itself, independently of the evangelist's mistaking him for the Deity, was forbidden, then the thr< n angels, who permitted Abra- ham to bow himself to the ground lj(fore them^ were guilty of a crime. Gen. xviii. 2, as was that other angel, before whom Josuah fell on his face and worshipped. Jos. v. 14. The charge of j Bishop Sparrow's CoUuction, p. 99. Arti- *>" ''' ' \ • * ' » . ' ' Letter XXX TIL 231 ihe whole Catholic church, hold that the saints are to be honour- ed aYid invocated by us."* In the same spirit he recommends this devotion to dying persons, " Let no one omit to call upon ihe B. Virgin and the angels and saints, that they may inter- cede with God for them at that instant.''! I n>av add that se- veral of the brightest lights of the established church, such as archbishop Sheldon and the 'bishops Blandford,| Guiuiing,^ Montague, &c. have altogether abandoned the charge of idola- try against Catholics on this head. The last mentioned of them says," I own that Christ is not wronged in his mediation. It is no impiety to say, as they (the Catholics) do, Httly Mary, pray for me ; Holy Peter, pray for me ;"\\ whilst the candid preben- dary of Westminster warns his brethren " not to lead people by the nose, to believe they can prove Papists to be idolaters when they caniiot."^ In conclusion, dear sir, you will observe that the council of Trent, barely teaches that it is good and prcfuable to invoke the prayers of the saints ; hence our divines infer that there is no positive law of the church, incumbent on all her children to pray to the yaints :** nevertheless, what member of the Catholic church militant will fail to commimicate witii his brethren of the church triumphant ? What Catholic, believing in the com- munion of sainis, and that " the saints, reigrjing with Christ pray for us, and that it is good and profitable for us to invoke their prayers," will forego this advantage ! How sublime and consoling ! how animating is the doctrine and practice of true Catholics, compared with the opinions of Protestants ! Wo hold daily and hourly converse, to our unspeakid)le comfort and advantage, with the angelic choirs, with the venerable patriarchs and prophets of ancient times, 'with the heroes of Christianity, the blessed apostles and martyrs, with the bright ornaments of it in later ages, the Bernards, the Xaviers, the Teresas, and the Sales's : they are all members of the Carh«dic church. Why should not you partake of this advantage ? Your soul, you com- plain, dear sir, is in trouble ; you lament that your prayers to God are not heard : continue to pray to him wi'h all the fervour of your soul : but why not engaijo his friends and courtiers to add the weight of their prayers to your own ? Perhaps his * In Purg. quorand. Artie Tom. i. Germet. Ep. ad Georg. Spalat. t Luth. Prep, ad Moit. t See Duchess of York's Tcsthnony in Brunswick's !iO Reasons. f Burnet'd Hist, of his own Tines, Vol. i. p. •I'M. II Treat, of Invoc of Siiint-<, p. 118. H IhorniUke, Just Wo'glus, p. 10. •• Petavius, Suaic/, Wallenburg, Mtuatori, Nat. Alex. M 232 Lciur XXXIV. Divine Majesty may hoar the prayers of the Jobs, when ho will not listoii 10 those of an Kliphaz, a liilihid, or a '/ophar. JolfsMx. Yoii heliovo, tto (loiii>t, that you have an aiijL^el ^uaniiaii, appointed by God to protect you, confornjaltly to what Christ saul of tlio chihlren pri'senlod to him : 'Vketr animals do always hn/iuld the fucn of 7ny Fathir who is in /«?«««/*, Mat. xviii. 10: address yourself to this blessed spirit with gratitude, veneration, and conlidence. You beliovo also, that, among the saints of God, there is ono of supereminent purity and sanctity, pronounced by an archangel to bo, not only gracious, but •' full of grace ;" the chosert instrument of God in the incarnation of his 8on, ami the intercessor with this her !Son, in obtaining his llrst miracle, that of turning water into wine, at a time, when his " time" for appear- ing to the world by miracles, was *' not yet come " John ii. 4. " It is impossible," as one of the fathers says, *' to love the son, without loving the mother :" beg of her, then, with alFoction and confidence, to intercede with Jesus, as the poor Canaanites did, to change the tears of your distress into the wino of gladnesis, by ajl'ording you the light and grace you so much want. Y^)u caunot refuse to join with me in the angelic salutation : Hail full oftrracff qur Lord is with thee* nor in the subsecpjcnt ad- drtiss of the inspired Elizabeth : Bless'id art thou among uomen^ and blessed is the fruit of thy womh, Luk 9 i. 42 : cast aside, then, I beseech you, dear sir, prejudices, which are not only ground- less but also hurtful, and devoutly conclude with me, in the woids of the whole Catholic Church, upon earth : Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. I am, &c. J. M. LETTER XXXIV. ^ To JAMES BROWN, E^n. <^c. on rklioious memorials. ,' • Dear Sir, If the Catholic church has been so grievously injured by the misrepresentation of her doctrine respecting prayers to the saints, she has been still more grievously injured by the prevailing ca- lumnies against the respect which she pays to the memorials of Christ aiul his saints, namely to crucifi.ves, relics, pious pieturtant, which readers the p.iaBUge; Hail Ihuu who ml /ug/ili/ J'uiouixd. Letter XXXIV. 233 fiVst eruption of Protestantism,* as rank idolatry, and as justifying tho nocossity of a llerunnution. To cofintcnance such inisrep- rcseutaUori in our own country, in particular, avaricious courtiors and grandocs seized on the costly shrines, statu^js and other or- naments of all the churches and chapels, and authorized the demolition or defacing of all other religious memorials of what- ever nature or materials, not only in places of worship, but also in market places and even in private houses. In support of the same pious fraud, tho Holy Scriptures were corrupted in their dilferent versions and editions,! till religious Protestants, them- selves, became disgusted with them,| and loudly called for a new translation, 'i'his was accordingly made, at the beginning of the first .lames's reign. In short, every passage in the Bible, and every argument which common sense suggests against idol- atry, was applied to the decent respect which Catholics show to the memorials of Christianity. The misrepresentation, in question, still continues to be the chosen topic of Protestant controvertists, for inflaming the minds of the ignorant against their Catholic brethren. Accordingly, there is hardly a lisping infant, who has not been taught that the Romanists pray to images, nor is there a secluded peasant * Martin Luther, with all his hatred of the Catholic church, found no idolatry in her doctrine respecting crosses and images: on the contrary, he wanniy defended it against Cailostadius and his associates, who had de- stroyed those in the ciiurches of tVittonberg. Epist. ad Gasp. Guttal. In the titlepas^es of his volumes, publislied by Melancthon, Luther is exhibi- ted on his linees before a crucifix. Queen Elizabeth persisted for many years in retaining a crucifix on the altar of her chapel, till some of her l*u- ritan courtiers engaged Patch, the fool, to break it; " no wiser man," saya Dr. Heylin, (Hist, of flcform. p, l-2t,) "daring to undertake such a ser- vice." James I. tlius reproached the Scotcli bishops, when they objected to his pi icing pictures and .statues in his chapel at Edinburgh: "You can endure Lions and Dragons {tke supporters of the royal arvis) and Devils, (Q. Eiizabetli's Grilhns) to be figured in your churches, but will not allow the like place to patriarchs and apostles." Spotswood's Ilislory, p. WSO. •f See in the present English IJible, Colos. iii. 5. Cavdon.nuss which is idolatry : this, in the Hibles of l')&Z, IbTl, and 1579, stood thus: Covclims- 7i(!ss which IX Ike worsMpfjiriii of images. In like manner where we road, a covetous man, mho is ii.ii iddalcr, in the former editions we read, a cove- tous man which is a worshipper of idols. Instead of, What //.f^rtcoieiit hiih the tr.m.pk of God with idols, 2 Cor. vi. IC: it used to stand, Ifow ai^reeth the temple of God with ioiai;>:s. Instead of. Little chililrea ki.ep yo'irsrlres from idols, 1 John v. 21: it stood, during tho reigns of Edward and Eliza- beth, /i'lhcs keep yourselves from /;/i7,i,'f'.s. There were several other mani- fest corruptioiw in tliis as well as in other points in the ancient i rotestant Bibles; some of whieh remain ui tlie present version. t See the account of wiiat passed on this subject, at the Conference ol Hampton Court, in Fuller's and Collier's Church liistories, and in Neal"** History of tho Puritans. \ :J VI If! 234 Letter XXXIV. who has not been made to believe, that the Papists worship wooden gods. The Book of Homilies repeatedly affirms that our inin^es of Christ and his s;iiiits are idols; that we "pray and ask of t/iew what it b(3longs to God alone to give ;" ail sweetness of temper, except when Popery is men- tioned ni his hearing, and indeed a crowd of other Protestant writers, has employed himself in making such collections, but from what sources, for the greater part I am ignorant. If I were to charge his faith, or the faith of his church with all the conclusions that could logically be drawn from different forms of prayer to be met with in the books of her most distinguished prelates and divines, or from the Scriptures themselves, I fancy the bishop would strongly protest against that mode of reason- * The true church of Christ, by i::d\vard Hawarden, DD. S. T. P. The author was engaged in successful contests with Dr. Clark, bishop Bull, Mr. Leslie, and other eminent Protestant divines. The work has been lately republished in Duhlin by Coyne, ,. ., .;. t See De 'mag L. ii. c. '21. i The l)ishop of Hereford, Dr. Huntingford, who has sijueezed a large quantity of this irrelevant matter into his examination of the Catholic Petitioa. 340 Letter XXXV. ing. If, for example, an anthroprnnorphite were to address him: you say, my lord, in VDtir cr(Hul, iliat Christ " ascer\(led into heaven, and sitteth ;it the riglit hand of God," therefore it i«j plain you believe with mo, that Ood h:is a human shape ; or if a Calvinist wore to say to him, Y(»u pray to God that he " would not lead you into temptation," thercfure you acknowledge that it is God who tempts yo\i to commit sin : in either of these cases the bishop would insist upon explaininjj the texts here quoted ; he would argue on the nature of figures of speech, especially iu the language of poetry and devotion ; and would maintain, that the belief of his church is not to be collected from these, but from her defined articles. Make but the same allowance to Catholics, and all this phantom of verbal idolatry will dissolve into air. Lastly, you remind me of the bishop's assertion, that " neither images nor pictures were allowed in churches for the first hun- dred years." To this assertion you add your own opinion, that during that same period no prayers were addressed by Christians to the saints. A fit of oblivion must have overtaken Dr. Pdrteus when he wrote what you quoted from him, as he cannot be if^no- rant that it was not till the conversion of Constantino, in the fourth century, that the Christians were generally allowed to build churches for their worship, having been obliged, during the ages of persecution, to practice it in subterraneous catacombs, or other obscure recesses. We learrj, however, from TertuUian, that it was usual, iu his time, to represent our Saviour in the character of the. good sht'pherd, on the chalices used at the assemblies of the Christians :* and we are informed by Eusobius, the father of church history, and the friend of Coustantine, that he hiniscif had seen a miraculous image of our Saviour in brass, which had been erected by the woman, who was ciu'ed l)y touching the hem of his garment, and also different pictures of him, and ol St. Peter and St. Paul, which had been preserved since their lime.f The historian Zozomen adds, concerning that statue, that it was mutilated in the reign of Julian the apostate, and that the (Chris- tians, nevertheless, collected the pieces ol" it, aiul placed it iu their church. | St. Gregory ol' Nyssa, who flourished in the fourth century, preaching on the matyrdom of St. Theodore, :]"- scribes his reUcs as being present in the church, and his sull'cr- ings as being painted on the walls, together with an image of Christ, as if surveying them ^ It is needless to carry the history of pious figures and paintings down to the end of the sixth cen- > Lib. do Pudlcitia, c. 10. t Ui«t. Ecultid. i. V. c. 21. i Hist. 1. vii. c. la f Orut. in Theod. Letter XXXV L 241 tury, at whicli time St. Aiigiistiri and his companions, coming to preacli the ( Jospel to our I'ugun ancestors, " carried a silver cross before tliem as a banner, and a ptiinted picture of our Saviour Christ."* 'I'he above-mentioneJ TertuUian testifies, that at every movement and in every employment, the primitive Christians used to sign their foreheads with the sign of the cross,t and Eusebius and St. Chrysostom fdl whole pages of their works with testimonies of the veneration in which the figure of the cross was anciently held ; the latter of whom expressly says, that the cross was placed on the aUars|: of the churches. The whole history of the martyrs, from St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, the disciples of the apostles, whose relics, after their execution, were carried away by the Christians, as " more valuable thaa gold and precious stones,"^ down to the latest martyr, incontes- tibly proves the veneration which the church has ever maintain- ed for these sacred objects. With respect to your own opinion. Rev. sir, as to the earliest date of prayers to the saints, i may refer you to the writings of St. Irenaeus, the disciple of St. Poly- carp, who introduces the blessed Virgin praying for biVe,|i to the apology of his c«)ntemporary St. Justin the martyr, who says, "We venerate and worship the angelic host, and the spirits of the prophets, teaching others as we ourselves have been taught,"if and to the light of the fourth century, St. Basil, who expressly refers these practices to the apostles, where he says, '* I invoke the apostles, prophets, and martyrs to pray for me, that God may be merciful to me, and forgive me my sins. 1 honour and rev- erence their images, since these things have been ordained by tradition from the apostles, and are practised in all our churches."** You will agree with me, that 1 need not descend lower than the fourth age of the church. I am, 6ic. J. M. " LETTER XXXVI. To JAMES BROWN, Esq, on tuansubstantiation. Dear Sir, It is the remark of the prince of modern controverlists, bishop Bossuet, that, whereas in most other subjects of dispute • Bede's Eccles. Hist. 1. i c. 25. t De Coron. Milit. c. 3. t In Orat. Quod Christus sit I)ou9. § Euscl). Hidt. I. iv. c. 15. Acta Siricer. Apuil Ruinait. II Contra H«res 1. v. c. l!». V Apol. 2 prope Inlt. ** LpUt. 205. I. tit. iiUit. Paru. f 242 Letter XXXVI. between Catholics and Protestants, the difierenco is less than i> seems to be, in this of the holy eiicharist or FiOrd's Supper, it is greater than it appears.* The cause of this is, that tuir oppo- nents misrepresent our doctrine concerning the veneration of saints, pious images, indulgences, purgatory, and other articles, in order to strengthen their arguments against us ; whereas their language approaches nearer to our doctrine than their sentiments do on the subject of the eucharist, because our doctrine is so strictly conformable to the words of Holy Scripture. This is a di.singenuous artifice ; but I have to describe two others of a still n»ore fatal tendency ; first, with respect to the present welfare of the Catholics, who are the subjects of them, and secondly, with respect to the future welfare of the Protestants, who deliberately make use of them. Tlie first of these disingenuous practices consists in misrepre- senting Catholics as worshippers of bread and wine in the sacra- ment, and therefore as idolaters, at the same time that our ad- versaries are perfectly aware that wo firmly believe, as an arti- cle of faith, that there is no bread nor wine, but Christ alone, true God, as well as man, present in it. Supposing, for a mo- ment, that we are mistaken in this belief, the worst we could be charged with, is an error, in supposing Christ to be where he is not ; and nothing but uncharitable calumny, or gross inattention, could accuse us of the h(unou8 crime of idohitry. To illustrate this argument, let me suppose, that being charged with a loyal address to the sovereign, you presented if, by mistake, to one of his courtiers, or even to an inanimate figure of iiini, whicli, for some reason or otlicr, had been dressed up in royal robos, and placed on the throne, would your heart reproach you, ;; r would any sensible person reproach you with the guilt of treason in this case ? VVcro the people wlut tiiought in their hearts that John the Baptist was the Christ, Luke iii. 15, and who probably worshipped iiim as such, idolaters, in consequence f)f their (trror ; Tin; falsehood, as well as the uncharitableness of this calumny is too gross to escape the observation of any informed atul ro- llecting mail ; yet is it upheld and vociferated to the ignorant crowd, in order to keep alive their prejudices against us, by bishop Porteu3,t and the Protestant preachers and writers in ge- neral, and it is perpetuated by the legislature to defeat oin* civil claims \\ It is m>t, however, true, that all Protestant divines • Kxposition of the doctrine of the ('nfholic church. Sect. xvi. t lit' charfjcs Cutholics with •* sciisi'lcs?* idolatry," and witli worshipping the creature instoad of the Croatur." Confut P. ii. c. 1. % The Dcclarulion fii'ainst /■'.iptry, by which Catholics were excluded sr' \ Letter XXXV I. 243 have laid this heavy charge at the door of Catholics for worship- ping Christ ill the sacrament, as all those ciiiinent prelites in the reigns of Charles I. and Chirhis II. must I)e excej)ted, wlio generally acquitted lis (tf the charge of idolatry, and more especially the learned Gunning, bishop of Ely, wlio reprobated the above signified declamtion, when it was brought into the house of lords, protesting that his conscience would not permit him to make it.* The candid Thorndyke, prebendary of VVest- n»inster, argues thus on the present subject : " Will any Papist acknowledge that he honours the elements of the eucharist of (iod ? Will common sense charge him with honouring that in the sacrament, which he does not believe to be there ?"t The celebrated bishop of Down, Dr. Jeremy Taylor, reasons with e(}ual fairness, where he says, " The object of their (the Catho- lics') adoration in the sacrament is the only true and eternal Cod, hypostalically united with his holy humanity, which humanity they believe actually present under the veil of the sacrament. And if they thought him not present, they are so far from wor- shipping the bread, that they profess it idolatry to do so. This t^ is demonstration that the soul has nothini> in it that is idolatrical ; the will has nothing in it but what is a great enemy to idolatry."^ The other instance of disingonnity and injustice on the jiart of Protestant divined and statesmen, consists in their overlooking the main subject in debate, namely, w/iethir Christ is or is not rr.dllij and personally present in the sacrament ; and in the mean time employing all the force of their declamation and ridicule, and all the severity of the law to a point of inferior, or at least secondary consideration ; namely, to the mode in which he is considered by one particular party as being present. It is well known that Catholics believe, that, when Christ took the bread and gave it to his apostles, saying, THIS IS MY BODY, he changed the bread into his body, which change is called tran- suhslanliatiun. On the other hand, the Lutherans, alter their niHster, hold that the bread and the real hudy of Christ are uni- ted, and both truly present in the sacrament, as iron and fire are united in a red-hot barj^ This sort of presence, which woidd from the Houses of Parliament, was voted by them during that time of na- fioiial tVeiizy and disgrace, when they c(]ually voted tlie reality of the pre- tended l*()])i; a, for the life of the world. John vi. 51. The sacred text goes on to inform us of the perplexity of the Jews, from their und<;rstandirig Christ's words in their plain and natural sense, which he, so far from removing by a different explanr.tion, confirms by expressing that sense in other terms still more emphatical. The Jews there- fore strove amongst themselves, saying. How can this man give us his flesh to eat 1 Then Jesus said unto them : Verily, verili/, I say unto you : except ye eat thejiesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in yon. — For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Ver. 52, 53, 55. Nor was it the multitude alone who took offence at this mystery of a real arid corporal reception of Christ's person, so energetically and re- peatedly expressed by him, but also several of his own beloved dis- ciples, whom certainly he would not have permitted to desert him to their own destruction, if he could have removed their difficulty by barely telling iht in that they were only to receive him by faith, and to take bread and wine in remembrance of him. Yet this merciful Saviour permitted them to go their ways, and he contented himself with asking the apostles, if they would also leave him. They were as incapable of comprehending the mystery as the others were, but they were assured that Christ ia poral presoncc of Christ's natural flesh and blood." Bnrrret, P. li. p. 39ii So the liturgy stood for just 100 years, when, in 1(>62, during the reign of Charles I i.^unona; otiicr alterations of the liturgy, which then took place, the old rubric at^ainst the real presence and the adoration of the sacramen* was again restored as ii stands at present! Letter XXXVII. 247 ever to be credited upon his word, and accordingly they made that generous act of faith, which every true Christian will also make, who seriously and devoutly considers the sacred text before us. Many iherefure of his duciples^ when ihey had heard this, said : This is a hard saying : who can hear it ? From that time many of his disciples went hack anxl walked no more with him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve : will ye also go away ? Then Simon Peter answered him : Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, Ver. 60, 66, 67, 68. The apostles thus instructed by Christ's express and repeated declaration, as to the nature of this sacrament, when he pro- mised it to them, were prepared for the sublime simplicity of his words in instituting it. For, whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said: fake ye and eat: THIS IS MY B0DY. And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying : drink ye all of this; FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, WHICH SHALL BE SHED FOR MANY UNTO THE REMISSION OF SINS. Mat. xxvi. 26, 27, 28. This account of St. Matthew is repeated by St. Mark, xiv. 22, 23, 24, andj nearly word for word, by St. Luke, xxii. 19, 20, and St. Paul. 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25 ; who adds : Therefore whoever ill eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord un- worthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord — and eateth and drinketh judgment (the Protestant Bible says aamnation) to himself. 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29. To the native evidence of these texts I shall add but two words. First, supposing it possible that Jesus Christ had de- ceived the Jews of Capharnaum, and even his disciples and his very apostles, in the solemn asseverations which he, six times over, repeated of his real and corporal presence in the sacra- ment, when he promised to institute it ; can any one believe that he would continue the deception on his dear apostles in the verj'^ ret of instituting it ? and when he was on the point of leaving them ? in short, when he was bequeathing them the legacy of his love ? In the next place, what propriety is there in St. Paul's heavy denunciations of proAiining Christ's person, and of damna- tion, on the part of unworthy communicants, if they partook of it only by faith and in figure ? for, after all, the Paschal Lamb, which the people of God had, by his command, every year eat pince their deliverance out of Egypt, and which the apostles them- selves eat, before they received the blessed eucharist, was, as a mere figure, and an incitement to faith, far more striking, than eating and drinking broad and wine are : hence the guilt of pro- :< i ' n 248 Letter XXXVII. failing the Paschal Lamb, and the numerous other figures of Christ, would not be less heinous than profaning the sacrament, if he were not really there. 1 should write a huge folio volume, were I to transcribe all the authorities in proof of the real presence and transubstantiation which may be collected from the ancient fathers, councils and historians, anterior to the origin of these doctrines assigned by the bshops of London* and Lincoln. The latter, who speaks more precisely on the subject, says, " The idea of Christ's bodily presence in the eucharist was (irst started in the beginning of the eighth century. In the twelfth century, the actual change <»f the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, by the consecration of the priest, was pronounced to be a Gospel truth. The first writer why maintained it was Pascasius Radbert. It is said to have been brouglit into England by i-.anfranc."t What will the learned men of Europe, who are versed in ecclesi- astical literature, think of the state of this science in England, should they hear that such positions as these, have been pub- lished by one of its most clebrated prelates ? I have assigned the cause why I must content myself with a few of the number- less documents which present themselves to me in refutation of such bold assertions. St. Ignatius, then, an apostolical bishop of the first century, describing certain contemporary heretics, says, " They do not admit of eucharists and oblation*, because they do not believe the eucharist to be the flesU of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins."| I pass over the testimonies, to the same effect, of St. Justin martyr,^ St. Ire- najus.ll St. Cyprian,^! and other fathers of the second and third ceil '"lies ; but will quote the following words from'Origen, be- cause the prelate appeals to his authority, in another passage, which is nothing at all to the purpose. He says, then, " Manna was formerly given, as a figure ; but now, the flesh and blood of ihe Son of God is specifically given, and is real food."** I must omit the clear and beautiful testimonies for the Catholic doctrine, which St. Hilary, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerom, St. Austin, and a number of other illustrious doctors of the fourth and fifth ages furnish ; but I cannot pass over those of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Ambrose of Milan, because these occurring in catechetical discourses or expositions of the Christiun doc- trine to their young neophytes, must evidently be understood in the most plain and literal sense they can bear. The former says t Ep. ad Smyrn. ^ F4>. 61 ad Cornel. t Elein of Theol. vol. ii. p. 380. § Apolog. to Emp. Antoriin. 11 L. v. c. 11. ** Uom. 7. in Levit. \ Letter XXXVII. 249 * Since Christ himself affirms thus of the bread, This is my body ; who is so daring as to doubt of it ? And since he ailirms, This is my blond ; who will deny that it is his blood ? At Cana of Galilee, he, by an act of his will, turned water into wine, which resembles blood ; and is he not then to be credited when he changes wine into blood ? Therefore, full of certainty, let us receive the body and blood of Christ : for, under the form of bread, is given to thee his body, and, under the from of wine, his blood."* i. St. Ambrose thus argues with his spiritual chil- dren, " Perhaps you will say, VVhy do you tell me that I receive the body of Christ, when 1 see quite another thing ? We have this point therefore to prove. How many examples do we pro- duce to show you, that this is not what nature made it, but what the benediction has consecrated it ; and that the benediction is of greater force than nature, because, by the benediction, nature itself is changed ' Moses cast his rod on the ground, and it be- came a serpent ; he caught hold of the serpent's tail, and it re- covered the nature of a rod. The rivers of Egypt, &c. Thou hast read of the creation of the world : If Christ, by his word, was able to make something out of nothing, shall he not be thought able to change one thing into another ?"t But I have quoted enough from the ancient fathers to refute the rash asser- tions of the two modern bishops. True it is that Pascasius Radbert, an abbot of the ninth cen- tury, writing a treatise on the eucharist, for the instruction of his novices, maintains the real corporal presence of Christ in it ; but so far from teaching a novelty, he professes to say n(»thing but what all the world believes and professes. J: The truth of this appeared, when Berengarius, in the eleventh century, among other errors, denied the real presence ; for then the whole church rose up against him : he was attacked by a whole host of emi- nent writers, and among others by our archbishop Lanfranc ; all of whom, in their respective works, appeal to the belief of all nations ; and Berengarius was condemned in no less than eleven councils. I have elsewhere shown the absolute impossibility of the Christians of all the nations in the world being persuaded into a belief, of that sacrament which they were in tlie habit of receiving, being the living Christ, if they had before held it to be nothing but an inanimate memorial of him ; though, even by another impossibility, all the clergy of the nations were to com- bine together for efiectinj"- this. On the other hand it is inron- testible, and has been carried to the highest degree of moral evi- % it • Catech. Mystagotj. 4. t De his qui Myst. Init. c. '.) t " Quod totus orbia credit et confitetur." See Perpetuit' de la Foj ^ - 250 Letter XXXV 11. dence,* that all the Christians of all the nations of the world, Greeks as well as Latins, Africans as well as Europeans, except Protestants and a handful of Vaudois peasants have, in all ages, believed and still believe in the real presence and transubstanti- ation. 1 am now, dear sir, about to produce evidence of a different nature, I mean Protestant evidence, for the main point under consideration, the real presence. My first witness is no other than the fatlier of the pretended Reformation, Martin Luther himself. He tells us how very desirous he was, and how much he laboured in his mind to overthrow this doctrine, because, says he, (observe his motive,) " 1 clearly saw how much 1 should thereby injure Popery ; but I found myself caught, without any way of escaping : for the text of the Gospel was too plain for this purpose."! Hence he continued, till his death, to condemn those Protestants who denied the corporal presence, employing for this purpose sometimes the shafts of his coarse ridicule,t and sometimes the thunder of his vehement declamation and anathe- mas.^ To speak now of former eminent bishops and divines of the establishment in this country ; it is evident from their works that many of them believe firmly in the real presence, such as the bishops Andrews, Bilson, Morton, Laud, Montague, Sheldon, Gurmiug, Forbes, Bramhall and Cosin, to whom 1 shall add the justly esteemed divine, Hooker, the testimonies of whom, for the real presence, are as explicit as Catholics themselves can wish them to be. I will transcribe in the margin a {ew words from each of the three last named authors. || The near, or rather * Sec in particular the last named victorious work, which has proved the conversion of many Protestants, and among the rest of a distinguished churchman now livinof. t Epist. ad Argenten. torn. 4. fol. 503. Ed. Witten. t In one place he says, that " The Devil seems to have mocked those, to whom he has suggested a heresy so ridiculous and contrary to Scripture, as that of the Zuinglians," who explained away the words of the institution in a figurative way. He elsewhere compares these glosses with the Ibllow- ing translation of the first words of Scripture: In principio Dcus creavil cceLum et icrram:—Iii the beginning ike cuckoo eat the sparrow and his feathers. Def. Verh. Dom. § On one occasion he calls those who deny the real and corporal pre- sence; " A damned sect, lying heretics, bread-breakers, wine-drinkers, and soul-destroyers." In Parv. Catech. On other occasions he savs: " They are indevilized and supeidevilized." Finally he devotes them to everlasting flames, and builds liis own hopes of finding mercy at the tribu- nal of Clirist on his having, with all his soul, condemned Carlostad, Zuin- glius, and other believers in the symbolical presence. ,, Kishop Bramhall writes thus: " No genuine son of the chm'ch (of Eng- land) did ever deny a true, real presence. Christ said: This is my body, \ Letter XXXVII. 251 close approach of these and other eminent Protestant divines to the constant doctrine of the Catholic church, on this principal subject of modern controversy, is evidently to be ascribed to the perspicuity and force of the dechiration of Holy Scripture con- cerning it. As to the holy fathers, they received this, with her other doctrines, from the apostles, independently of Scripture : for, before even St. Matthew's Gospel was promulgated, the sac- rifice of the mass was celebrated, and the body and blood of Christ distributed to the faithful throughout a great part of the known world. • In finishing this letter I must make an important remark on the object or end of the institution of the blessed sacrament : this our divine master tells us was to communicate a new and special grace, or life, as he calls it, to us his disciples of the new law. The bread that I will give is my ficsh,for the life of the world. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth me, the same shall also live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven : not as your fa- thers did eat manna, and are dead : he that eateth this bread shall U"e fur ever. John vi. 52, 58, 59. He explains, in the same passage, the particular nature of this spiritual life, and shows in what it consists, namely, in an intimate union with him, whefe he says, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me and I in him. Ver. 57. Now the servants of God, from the beginning of the worlJ, had striking figures and memorials of the promised Messiah, the participation of which, by faith and devotion, was, in a limited degree, beneficial to their souls ; such were the tree of life, the various sacrifices of the patriarchs and those of the Mosaic Law, but more particularly the Paschal I.ainb, the loaves of propositiy part of the New Testament was published, and whole centuries before the entire New 'I'estament was collected and pronounced by her to be authentic and inspired. Indeed, Protestants are forced to have recourse to the tradition of the church, for determining a great number of points which are left doubtful by the Sacred I'exf, particularly with respect to the two sacraments, which they acknowledge. From the doctrine and practice of the church alone, they learn, that though Christ, our pattern, was baptized in a river, Mark i. 9, and the Ethiopian eunuch was led by St. Philip into the water. Acts viii. 38, for the same pur- pose, the application of it by infusion or aspersion is valid, and that, though Christ says, //c ihat BELIEVETH and is bap- tized shall be saved, Mark xvi. 16, infants are susceptible of the benefits of baptism, who are incapable of making an act of faith. In like manner respecting the eucharist, it is from the doctrine and practice of the church alone, Protestants learn, that though Christ communicated the apostles, Uv an evening supper, alter they had feasted on a lamb, and their feet had been washed, a ceremony which he appears to enjoin on that occasion wiih ihe utmost *rictness, John xiii. 8, 15, none of these rites are essen- tial to that ordinance, or necessary to be practised at present. With what pretension to c(msistency can they reject her doctrine and practice in the remaining particulars of this mysterious in- stitution 1 A clear exposition of the institution itself, and of the do'irine and discipline of the church, concerning the con- troversy in question, will aflbrd the best answer to the objections raised against the latter. It is true that our li. Saviour instituted the holy eucharist un- dor two kinds ; but it must ho observed that he then made it a sacrifice as'well as a socramrut, and that he ordained pri' '•is, nanu'ly, his twelve apostles, (for none else but the) were prcsijq^ on th(! occasion) fo constJcrate this sacrament and oll'or this sacrifice. Now, for the hitter piirpos*', namely, a sacrilico, it was requsite that a victim should be really present, and, at least, I Letter XXXIX, 257 mystically immolated, which was then, and js &'ill, performed in the mass, by the symbolical disunion, or separate consecration of the body and the blood. It was requisite, also, for the com- pletion of the sacrifice, that the priests who had immolated iho victim, by mystically separating its body and its blood, should consummate it in both these kinds. "Hence it is seen, that the command of Christ, on which our opponents lay so much stress, drink ye all of this, regards the apostles, as priests, and not the laity, as communicants.* True it is, that when Christ promised this sacrament to the faithful in general, he promised, in express terms, both his body and his blood, John vi. : but this does not imply that they must, therefore, receive them under the different appearances of bread and wine. For as the council of Trent teaches, " He who said. Unless you shall eat the Jlesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you, has likewise, said, If any ore shall eat (f this bread, he shall live for ever. And he who iias said, Whoso eateth my ftsh, and drink' eth my blood, hath life everlasting, has also said, The brrad which I will give, is mif Jlesh, fur the life if the irorld. And lastly, he who has said, He. who eateth my Jlesh, and drinketh my bloody abideth in me and I in him : has nevertheless said, He who eat- eth this bread shall liur; J)>r erer."f The truth is, dear sir, after all the reproaches of the bishop of Durham concHrninif our allej rnisrepresont.itiun of the Catholic doctrine coneerniiv^ tlie Kuclwrist, of which two living dignilnrics are guilty in their p\il)licatii>ns. The hishop of Lincoln says: " Papists contend that the /ri'Tt! rrcririna of the Lord's Supper merits the remission of .sin, c.r, op'.rc ofi';rat.i>, as it wore mechanically , whatever may be the ch;ii actor or disposition of the communica^its.' llleui. of Theol. vol. ii. p. ItJl. Dr. Hey repeals the charge in nearly tlio same words. Lectures, vol iv. p. 35'). What Catholic will not lift up l\is hands in ama/.ement at the gross- ness of this ciluinny, knowing, us he docs, from his catechism und all his books, what purity of soul, and how much greater a preparation is r"r the reception of our sacrament than Protestants rccpiire for rtrciving tlioird. Sec Concil. Trid. Sosa. xiii. c. 7. Cat. Hoin. Douay Cutecli., &c. Letter XXXIX. 259 tholic church, from the time of the apostles down to the present, ever firmly believing that the whole body, blood, soul and divin- ity of Jesus Christ, equally subsist under each of the species or appearances of bread and wine, regarded it as a mere matter of discipline, which of them was to be received in the holy s;icra- ment. It appears from Tertuliian, in the second century,* from St, Dennis of Alexandria,! and St. Cyprian,^ in the third ; from St. Basil^ and St. Chrysostoin, in the fourth, &c,|| that the blessed sacrament, under the form of bread, was preserved in the oratories and houses of the primitive Christians, for private communion, and for the viaticum in danger of death. There are instances also of its being carried on the breast, at sea, in the orarium or neckcloth.^ On the other hand, as it was the custom to give the B. Sacrament to baptized children, it was administered to those who were quite infants, by a drop out of the chalice.** On the same principle, it being discovered, in the fifth century, that certain Manichsean heretics, who had come to Rome from Africa, objected to the sacramental cup, from an erroneous and wicked opinion. Pope Leo ordered them to be ex- cluded from the corimiunion entirely,!! and Pope Gelasius re- quired all his flock to receive under both kinds || It appears, that in the twelfth century, only the officiating priest and infants received under the form of wine, which discipline was confirmed at the beginning of the fifteenth by the Council of C()nstance,i^i^ on account of the profanations, and other evils resulting from the general reception of it in that form. Soon after this, the more or- derly sect of the Hussites, namely, the Calixtins, professing their obedience to the church in other respects, and pctiiionijig (he council of Basil to be indulged in ihe use of the chalice, this was granted them.|||| In like manner Pope Pius IV, at the re- quest of the emperor Ferdinand, authorized several bishops of • Ad Uxdf. 1. il. t Apud. Euseb. 1. iv. c. 44. t De Lapsis. 9 Epist. ad Cesar. II Apud. Soz. 1. vlii. c. 5. f St. Ambros. In obit. Frat. — It appears also that St. Birinus, the apos- tle of the West Saxons, brought the blessed sacrament with him into fills Island in an Orariiun. Gul. Malm. Vit. Pontlf. Florcnt. Wigorn, Higdon, &c. •♦ St. Cypr. do Laps. tt Scrma. iv. de Quadracf. tt Decret. Comporimus Dist. Hi. §§ Dr. Porfeus, Dr. Croombcr, KcmriiliuH, &c. accuse this council ofde- crocin^c that •« nrz/wZ/A.^/d/fr/i/t;: (for so they express it) our Saviour minis- tered in both kinds, one only sluiil, in future, be admini.ecered to the laity;" as if tliw council opposed its authority to that of Christ; whereas it barely dednes that fomc rircinii^^lancra ( for real mine. Tlu) missionaries, who were sen. to Otaheite, used ihe hread fruit lor real bread on the like occa* sion. See Voyage of the ship Dufl'. f Letter XL. 261 7. III. pretend to celebrate the eucharist without bread as without wine, or to confer the sacrament of bapiism without water. 'I'he dilemma is inevitable. Either the ministration of the sa- crament under one or under both kinds is a matter of change- able discipline, or each of the three principal denominations of Protestants has contradicted itself. I should be glad tc know what part of the alternative his lordship may choose. 1 am, ^c. J. M LETTER XL. To JAMES BROWN, Esq. on the sacrifce of the new law. Dear Sir, The bishop of London leads me next to the consideration ot the sacrifice of the new law, commonly called THE MASS, on which, however, he is brief, and evidently embarrassed. As I have already touched upon this subject, in treating of the means of sanctification in the Catholic church, I shall be as brief upon It as 1 well can. A sacrifice is an ofioring up and immolation of a living ani- mal, or other sensible thing, to God, in toslimony that ho is the master of life and death, the Lord of us and all things. It is evidently a ntore expressive act of the creature's homage to his Creator, as well as one more impressive on the miiul of the creature itself than mere prayer is, and therefore it was reveal- ed by God to the patriarchs, at the beginning of the world, and aiterwards more strictly enjoined by him to his choseri people, in the revelation of his written law to Moses, as the most ac- ceptable and efficacious worship that could be offered up to his Divine Majesty. The tradition of this primitive ordinance, and the notion of its advantageousness, have been so universal, that It has been practiced, in one lorm or other, in every age from our first parents down to the present, and by every people whether civilized or barbarous, except modern Protestants. For when the nations of the earth changed the glory of the in- corruptible God into the likeness of the image of corriiptihlc inan^ and of birds and fourfooled beasts, Horn. i. 23, they continued the rite of sacrifice, and transferred it to these unworthy objects of their idolatry. From the whole of this 1 infer, that it would have been truly surpriaing, if, under the most perfect dispensa- tion of God's benefits to men, the new law, he had left them destitute of sacrilico. But he has not so left them ; on the con- ■J 262 Letter XL. trary, that prophecy of Malachy is evidently verified in the Ca- tliolic church, spread as it is over the surface of the earth : From the rising of the snn evrn to the going down thereof, mij name is great among the Gentiles ; and, in every jdar.e, there is sacrifice ; and there is offered tu my name a clean oblatioii. Malac. i. 11. If Protestants say, we have the sacrifice of Christ's death ; 1 answer, so had the servants of God under the law of nature and the written law : for it is impossille that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away : nevertheless, they had perpetual sacrifices of animals to represent the death of Christ, and to apply the fruits of it to their souls ; in the same manner, Catholics have Christ himself really present, and mystically oflTered on their altars daily, for the same ends, but in a far more eflicacious manner, and, of course, a true propitia- tory sacrifice. That Christ is truly present in the blessed eu- charist, 1 have proved by many arguments ; that a mystical innnolation of him takes place in the holy mass, by the separate consecration of the bread and of the wine, which strikingly re- presents the separation of his blood from his body, I have like- wise shown: finally, I have shown you that the officiating priest performs these mysteries by command of Christ, and \\\ memory of what he did at the last supper, and what he endured on Mount Calvary : DO THIS IN iMEMOIiY OF Mfl Noth- ino; then is wanting in the lioly mass, to constitute it tins true and propitiatory sacrifice of the new law, a sacrifice which as much surpasses, in dignity and efficacy, the sacrifices of the old law, as the chief priest and victim of it, the incarnate Deity, surpasses, in these respects, the sons of Aaron, and the animals which they sacrificed. No woruler then, thnt, as the fathers of the church, 'rom the earliest times, have borne testimony to the reality of this sacrifice,* so they should speak, in such lofty terms, of its awfulness and efficacv : no wonder that the church of God should retain and revere it as the most sacred, and the • St. Justin, who appears to have been, in his youth, contemporary with St. John the Evangelist;, says, that" Christ instituted a sacrifice in hread and wine, vliich Christians oiU;r up in every place," quoting Malachy i. 1!). Dialog, cuiii Tryphon. St. Iren;RUs, whose master, Polycarp, was a disci- f)le ot that Ev.ingolist, says, thai " (^Ihrist, in consecrating bread and wine, las instituted the sacrifice of the Now Law, whicli the church received from tile apoj-iios, according to the prophecy of Malachy," L- iv. Wl St. Cyprian calls the Eucharist '• \ true and full sacrifice;" and says, tliat" as ML'lchiscdoch ollL^red bread and wine, so ("hrist offered the same, namely, his body and blood," Epist (i.S. St Chrysostom, St. Austin, St. Ambrose, Stc. ari' ecpially clear and expressive on this point. The last mentioned calls this sacrifice by the name oi Masa or mass", so lo St. Leo, St GrekC- ry, our Ven. Bede, &c. le 3ad St. as )SC, led Letter XL. 203 very essential part of her sacred limrsfy : ana I will add, no . wonder that Satan should have persuaded Martin Luther !'• at- tempt to abrogate this worship, as that wliich, most of all, is oflbnsive to him.* The main arguments of the bishops of Loiulon and Lincohi, and of Dr. Hey, with otlier Protestant controvertists, against the sacridce of the new law, are drawn from St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, where, comparing the sacrilice of oi r Saviour with the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law, the apostle says, that Christ being come a high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation : neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtain- ed eternal redemption. Heb. ix. 11, 12. Nor yet that he should offer himsf'lf often, as the high priest entercth into the holies every year. Ver. 25. Again, St. Paul says, Every priest standeth in- deed daily ministering and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take aivay sins : but this man offering one sacrifice for sins, sitteth at the right hand of God. Chap. x. 11, 12. Such are the texts, at full length, which modern Protestants urge so confidently against the sacrilice of the new law ; but in which neither the angient fathers, nor any other description of Christiiins, but themselves, can see any argument against it. In fati, if these passages be read in their context, it will appear that the apostle is barely proving to the Htbrcvs (v/hose lofty ideas and strong tenaciousiiess o'" their ancient rites appear from diftere-.t parts of the Acts of the Apostles) how infinitely supe- rior the sacrifice of Chr'e; is, to those of the Mosaic Law ; par- ticularly from the circurnstance, which he repeats, in different forms, namely, that therj was a necessity of their sacrifices be- ing often repeated, which, after ail, could not of themselves, and indej)endently of the one they prefigured, take away sin ; where- as the latter, namely, Christ's death on the cross, obliterated at oncf! tiie fins of those who availed themselves of it. Such is the argument of St. P'aul to the Jevvs,respectii;g their sacrifices, which in no sort militates against the sacrifice of the mass ; this being the same sacrifice with that of the cross, as to the victim that is offered, and as to the priest who oiTers it, differing in noth- • Luther, in bis Book De Unct. ct Miss. Priv. torn. vii. fol. 228, tjives an account of the motive which induced hiin to suppress the sucrKice of the mass amon^ his udhnvors. Lie says tliat the Devtl appi'ired to him at iuidnis{ht, and in a U '.1^ conference vvitli liiin, the whole of which he re- lates, convinced iiim that the worship of the mass ia idolatry. See Letters to d i^rebendarv. Let. v. 264 jMter XL. iiig but the manner of offering ;* in the one there being a real and in the other a mystical, efl'usion of the victim's blood. t S« far from invalidating the Catholic doctrine on this point, the apos- tle 2onfirm;5 it, in this very Epistle ; where quoting and repfvit- ing the sublime P'^alm of the royal prophet concerning the Mes- siah ; Thou art a priest for ever ACCORDING/rO THE OR- DER OF MELCHISEDECR, Ps. \09, alia^ 110, he enlarijes on the dignity of this sacerdotal patriarch, to whom Aaron himself, the hijih priest of the old law, paid tribute, as to his superior, thr .ugh his ancestor Abraham, Heb. v. vii. Now in what did tVis order of Melchisedech consist? In what, I ask, did his sac- rifice differ from those which Abraham himself and the other patriarchs, as well as Aaron and his sons offered ? Let us con- sult the sacred text, as to what it says concerning this royal priest, when he came to meet Abraham, on his return from vic- tory : Melchisedech, the king of Salem, bringing forth BREAD AND WINE, for he was the priest of the most High God; I'lcss- ed him. Gen. xiv. 18. It was then in offering up a sacrifice oj bread and wine,X instead of slaughtered animals, that Melchise- dech's sacrifice differed from the ^.enerality of those in the Old Law, and that he prefigured the sacrifice, which Christ was to institute in the New Law, from the same elements, ho other sense but this can be elicited from the Soiipimu as to tliis mat- ter, and accordingly, the holy fathers unanimously adhere to this meaning^ In finishing this letter, I cannot help, dear sir, making two or three short, but important observations. The first regards the deception practiced on the unlearned by the above-named bishops, Dr. Hey, and most other Protestant controvertists, in talking, on every occasion, of the Popish mass, and representing the tenets of the real presence, transubstantiation, and a subsist- ing true propitiatory sacrifice, as peculiar to Catholics ; whereas, if they are persons of any learning, they must know that these are and have always been held by all the Christians in the world, except the comparatively few who inhabit the northern parts of Europe. 1 speak of the Melchite or common Greek.s of Turkey, the Armenians, the Muscovites, the Nestorians, tho Eutychians or Jacobites, the Christians of St. Thomas in India, * Concil. Trid, Sess xxii. rap. '2. t Cat. ad Paroc. P. ii. p. 81. X The sacrifice of Cain, Gen. iv. 3. and that ordered in Levit. ii. 1, of flour, oil, and incense, prove that inanimate things were sometimes of old offered in sacrifice. § St. Cypr. Ep. G3. St. Aug. in Ps. xxxiii. St. Chrys. Horn, 35. St. Jerorn, Ep. 126. &.^ . ,, .. . Letter XL, 26ft llifi Co{)hl8 and Lmiopians in Africa; all of whom maintain each of those articles, and .ilinost every other on which Pro- testants differ from Catholics, with as much firmness as we our- selves do. Now as those sects have been totally separated fronr the Catholic church, some of them eight hundred and some four- teen hundred yeuis, it is impossible they should have derived any recent doctiines or practices from her; and, divided, as they ever have been among themselves, they cannot have combined to adopt them. On the other hand, since the rise of Protestant- ism, attempts have been repeatedly made to draw some or other of them to the novel creed ; but all in vain. Melancthon trans- lated the Ausburg Confession of Faith into Greek, and sent it to Joseph, patriarch of C. P., hoping he would adopt it ; whereas the patriarch did not so much as acknowledge the receipt of the present.* Fourteen years later, Crusius, professor of Tubigen, made a similar attempt on Jeremy, the successor of Joseph, who wrote back, requesting him to write no more on the subject, at the same time making the most explicit declaration of his belief in the seven sacraments, the sacrifice of the mass, transubstan- tiation, &c.t In the middle of the seventeenth century, IVf sh overtures being made to the Greeks by the Calvinists of Holland, the most convincing evidence of the orthodox belief of all the above-mentioned communions, on the articles in question, wore furnished by them, the originals of which were deposited in the French king's library at Paris.;}: I have to remark, in the seccmd place, on the inconsistencies of the church of England, respect- ing this point ; she has pripsts,(} but, no sacrifice I She has altars,^ but, no victim ! She has an essential consecration of the sacramental elementSj'lf without any the least effect upon them ! Not to dive deeper into this chaos, I would gladly ask bishop Porteus, what hinders a deacon, or even a layman, from conse- crating the sacramental bread and wine as validly as a priest or a bishop can do, agreeably to his system tif consecration ? 'I'here is evidently no obstacle at all, excep? such as the muta- ble law of the land interposes. In the last place, I think it right to quote some of the absurd and iireligious invectives of * Sheffrnac. torn. ii. p. 7. t Ibid. t Perpetuit;^ de la Foi. - , § See the Rubrics of-the communion service. II See ditto in Sparrow's Colleo. p. 20. IT " If the consecrated bread or wine be all spent, before all have com- municated, the priest is to consecrate more." Ruhr. N. B- Bishop Warburton and bishop Cle.iver earnestly contend that the Kucharist is a feast vpnri, a sacrifice: but as, in their dread of Popery, they admit no change, nor ev«in the reality of a victim, their fea^t is proved to be an imaginary banquet on an ideal viand. \ i ! I 2G(i Letter XL. the renowned Dr. Hey against the holy avt , becuuso they show the extreme ignorance of our religion, which generally prevails among the most learned Protestants, who wriie against it. The doctor first describes the mass as " blasphemous, in dragging down Christ from heaven," according to his expression ; 2dly, as " pernicious, in giving men au easy way." as he pre- tends, " of evading all their naoral and religious duties ;" 3rdly, as " promoting infidelity :" in conformity with which latter as- sertion, he maintains that " most Romanists of letters and sci- ence are infidels. He next proceeds seriously to advise Catho- lics to abandon this part of their sacred liturgy, namely, the adorable sacrifice of the Now Law ; and he then concludes his theological farce with the following ridiculous threats against this sacrifice : " If the Romanists will not listen to our brotherly exhortations ; let them y^ar our threats. The rage of paying for masses will not last for ever : as men improve, [by the French Revolution,) it will continue to grow weaker : as philosophy {that of Atheism) x'l^es, mSi.%seB wiW sink in price and supersti- tion pine away."* I wish I had an opportunity of telling the learned professor, that I should have expected, from the failure of patriarch Luther, counselled and assisted as he was by Satan himself, in his attempts to abolish the holy mass, he would have been more cautious in dealing prophetic threats against it ! [In fact he has lived to see this divine worship publicfy restored in every part of Christendom, where it was proscribed, when he vented his menaces : for as to the private celebration of mass, this was never intermitted, not even in the depth of the gloomi- est dungeons, and where no pay could be had by the Catholic priesthood. What other religious worship, I ask, could have triumphed over such a persecution ! The same will be the case in the latter days ; when the man of sin shall have indignation against the convenant of the sanctuary, — and shall take away the continual sacrifice, Dan. xi. 30, 34 ; for even then, the mystical woman who is clothed with the sun, and has the moon under her feet, — shall fly into the wilderness. Rev. xii. 1, 6, and perform the divine mysteries of an incarnate Deity in caverns and cata- combs, as she did in early times, till that happy day, when her heavenly spouse, casting aside those sacramental veils, under which his love now shrouds him, shall shine forth in the glory oj God the Father, the Judge of the living and the dead.] I am, &c. J. M. • Dr. Heys Theol. Lectures, vol. iv. p. 385. The professor tells us in a note, that this lecture \vas delivered ir the year 1792 ; the hey-day of that antichristian and antisocial philosophy, which attempted, through an oceau of blood, to subvert every altar and every throne. 967 LETTER XLI. To the Rev. ROBERT CLAYTON, M. A. on absolution from sin. Dear Sir, I PERCEIVE that you chiefly follow B. Porteus, who mixes in the same chapter the heterogeneous subject of the mass and ihe forgiveness of sins, in the selection of your objections against the church, though you adopt some others from the Tracts of bishop Watson, and even from writers of such little repute as the ilev. C. De Coetlogon- This preacher, in venting the horrid calumnies, which a great proportion of other Protestant preach- ers and controvertisls of ditlerent sects, equally with himself, instil into the minds of their ignorant hearers and readers, ex- presses himself as follows : '* In the church of Rome you may purchase not only pardons for sins already commiiled, but for those that shall be committed ; so that any one may promise himself impunity, upon paying the rate that is set upon any sin he huth a mind to commit. And so truly is Popery the mother of abominations, that if any one hath wherewithal to pay, he may not only be indulged in his present transgressions, but may even h^pcrmittedto Irausvress in J'uture."* And are these shame- less calumniators real Christians, who believe in a judgment to come ! And do they expect to make us Catholics renounce our religion, by representing it to us as the very reverse of what we know it to be ! It is true, bishop Porteus does not go the • Abominations of the church of Rome, p. J 3. The preacher goes on to state the sums of money for which, he says, Catholics believe they may commit the most atrocious crimes; ♦• For incest, &c. five sixpences; for debauching a virgin, six sixpences; for perjury, ditto; for him who Itills his father, mother, &c. one crown and five groats!" This curious account is borrowed from the Taxa Cancellarioi Romance, a book whiciA has been frequently published, though with great variations both as totho critnos and the prices, by the Protestants of Germany and France, anil as frequently condemned by the See of Rome. Tt is proper that Mr. Clayton and his friends should know, that the Pope's Court of Chancery has no more to do, noi pretends to have any more to do, with lhe/flr^M;e/(e5 of sins, than liis Ma- jesty's court of chancery does In case there ever was the least real groundwork of this vile book, which I cannot find there was, the money paid into the papal chancery could be nothing else bu' the/'.'f.s of office, on restoring certain culprits to the civil privileges which they had forfeited by their crimes. When the proceedings m doctors commons, in case of incest, are suspended (as I have known them suspended during the whole life of one of the accused parties) fees of ofiice are always required: but would it not be a vile calumny to say, that leave to c:ramit incest may be purchased m hlngland for certain sums of money 1 ., ! Ml 268 Letter XLI lengths of iho pulpit-declaiiner above quoted, and of the other comrovertists alluded to, in his attack npon the Catholic doctrine of absolution and justification : still lie is guilty of much gross misrepresentation of it. As his language is confused, if not contradictory on the subject, I will brielly state what the Catholio church has ever believed, and has solemnly defined in her last general council concerning it. I'he council of Trent, then, teaches, that " All men lost their innocence and become defiled and c/iildr<'n of wrath, in the pre- varication of Adam ; that, not only the Gentiles were unable, by the force of nature, but tliat even the Jews were unable, by the Law of Moses, to rise, notwithstanding free-will was not extinct in them, however weakened and depraved :"* that " The hea- venly Father of mercy and God of all consolation sent his Sou, Jesus Christ, to men, in order to redeem both Jews and Gen- tiles ;'"f that " Though he died for all, yet all do not receive the benelit of his death ; but ordy those to whom 'he merit of his passion is connnunicated ;"| that, for this purpose, " Since the preaching of the Goipel, baptism, or the desire of it, is ne- cessary ;"^ tliat " The beginning of justification, in adult per- sons (those who are come to the use of reason) is to be derived from God's preventing grace, through Jesus (^hrist, by which, without any merits of their own, they are called ; so tliat they who, by their sins, were averse from God, by his exciting and assisting grace, are prepared to convert themselves to their justification, by freely consenting to and co-operating with his grace :"|| that, " lieing excited and assisted by divine grace, and receiving faith from hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing the inings which have been divinely revealed and promised — they are excited to hope that God will be merci- ful to them for Christ's sake, and they begin to love him, as the fountain of all justice ; and therefore are moved to a certain ha- tred und detestation of sins." Lastly, " They resolve on receiv- ing baptism, to begin a new life and keep God's c«)nn:iaud- nients."1[ Such is the doctrine of the church concerning the jasiification of the adult in baptism ; with respect to the pardon of sins commiltted after baptism, the church teaches, that '• Ihe penance of a Christian, after his fall, is very difleront Iron) that of baptism, and that it consists, not only in refraining from ^iiis and a dete ation of them, namely, a contrite and humhlc hearty but also in a sacramental confession of them, at least in desire, aiid, at a proper time, and the priestly absolution ; and likewise " SeM. vi. cap. i. I Cap. ir. , t Ctp. II. « Cap. V. % Cap. til. ir Cap. vl. Letter XLI. 269 in satisfaction, by fasting, alms, prayers, and other pious exor- cises of a spiritual lifo ^ not indeed for the eternal jmnishment, which, together with the crime, is reiniited in the sacrament, or the desire of the sacrament, i)ut for the temporal punishmnut, which the Scripture teaches is not always and wholly remitted, as in baptism."* Such is and always was the doctrine of the Catholic church, which thus ascribes the whole glory of man's justification, both in hs beginning and its progress, to God, through Jesus Christ ; in opposition to Pelagians and modern Lutherans, who attribute the beginning of conversion to the hu- man creature. On the other hand, thit* doctrine leaves man in possession of his free will, for co-operating in this great work ; and thereby rejects the pernicious tenet of the Calvinists, who deny free will, and ascril)e even our sins to God. In short, the Catholic church etiually eondcnnis tiie enthusiasm of the Metho- dist, who fancies himself justified, in some nnexpected instant, without faith, hope, charity, or contrition ; and the presumption of the unconverted sinner, who supposes that exterior good works arul the reception of the sacrament will avail him, without any degree of the above-mentioned divine virtues. Such, 1 say, is the Catholic doctrine, in spite of De Coetlogon and bishop Porteus's calumnies. This prelate is chiefly bent on disproving the necessity of sacramental ccuilession, and (m deprivirtg the sacerdotal absolution of all ellicacy whatsoever. Accordingly, h•.'. 2?. t P. 46. w 270 Letter XLI. to them an authority of binding and loosing sins upon earth, (Sec; can any one think, I say, so unworthily of our Saviour as to es- tfiem tliese words of his for no better than compliment? There- fore, in obedience to his gracious will, and as I am warranted and enjoined by my holy mother, the church of England, I be- seech you, that, by your practice and use, you will not suffer that commission, which Christ hath given to his ministers, to be a vain form of words, without any sense under them. When you find yourselves charged and oppressed, of L^ud, P. li.j). 4if:. Itappeurs fiorn this writ , that Laud was Confessor to the duke of^ Buckingham, and from liurnet, that l)isiiop Morley was Confessor to the Dutcbesa of York when • ProteitttUt. Uiat of his own Times. 272 Letter XL I. Porteus and modern Protestants distort the plain meaning of Scripture, and say, that no oilier power is t^xpressed by these wonis, thfin those of inflicting nnraculous puuishinenl.s, and of pnaching the word of God ! Admitting, however, it were pos- sible to affix so foreign a meaning to these texts, I would gladly ask the bishop, why, after ordaining the priests of his church by tliis very form of words, he afterwards, by a separate form, commissions them to preach the word, and to minister ?* " No one," exclaims the bishop, " but God, can forgive sins." True ; but as he has annexed the forgiveness of sins committed before b.iptism, to the reception of this sacrament with the recpiisite dispositions : Do penance, said St. Peter to the Jews, and be baptized every one of yon, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, Acts ii. 38 ; so he is pleased to forgive sins committed after baptism, by means of contrition, confession, satisfaction, and the priest's absolution. Against the obligation of confessing sins, which is so evident- ly sanctioned in Scripture : Many that believed, came and con- fessed, and declared their deeds, Acts xix. 18^ and so expressly connnanded therein, confess your sins one to another, James v. J 6, the bishop contends that " It is not knowing a person't^ sins that can qualify the priest to give him absolution, but knowing he hath repented of them.'f In refutation of this objection, I do not ask, why, then, does the English church move the dying man to confess his sins ? but I say, that the priest, being vested by Christ with a judicial power to bind or to loose, to forgive or to retain uns, cannot exercise that power, without taking cogni zauco of the cause on which he is to pronounce, and without judging in particular of the dispositions of tlie sinner, especially as to his »orr(fw for his sins, and resolution to refrain from, them in future ; now this knowledge can only be gained from the |)*enitenl'.s own confession. From this may b«^ gathered, whether hiH oflences are those of frailly or of malice, whether they are acitdrntal or habitual ; in which latter case tht'y are ordinarily to be retained, till his amendment ^iven proof of lii» real repen- tance. Confession is also necessary, to enable the minister of the sacrament to decide whether a pid)lic reparation for the crimes committed be or b^ not reqmsjt*? ; and whet'tnnT there is (►r i» not re»iiiution to bt made lo.the i^^ghbour who has been injured in person, properly, or reputaaon. Accordingly, it is well knovv.i that such restitutions are frequenllr mnde by those who make use of sucn.mental coufefeSiou, and vcn'v seldom ''y those who do not U!»e it. i ^ay noihing of tiie incalculable ad* * Scf the Form of Ordering J^fi*«»j. I P. 46. Letter XLI. 378 vantage it is to the sinner in the business of his conversion, to nave a confidential and -experienced pastor, to withdraw the veils behind which self-love is apt to conceal his favourite passions and worst crimes, and to expose to him the enormity of his guilt, of which before he had perhaps but an iniporfect notion ; and to prescribe to him the proper remedies for his entire spiritual cure. After all, it is for the holy Catholic church, with whom the Word of God and the sacraments were deposited by her diviiift spouse. Jesus Christ, to explain the sense of the former, and the constituents of the latter. In short,, this church has uniformly taught, that confession and the priest's absolution, where thej can be hud, are required of the penitent sinner, as well as con- trition and a firm purpose of amendment. But, to believe th« bishop, our church does not require contrition at all, though she has declared it to be one of the necessary parts of sacranientai penance, nor " any dislike to sin or love to God,"* for the justifi- cation of the sinner. I will make no farther answer to this shameful calumny, than by referring you and your friends to my above citations from the council of Trent. In these, you have seen that she requires " a hatred and detestation of .sin ;" in short, " a contrite ami humble heart, which God never despises ;" and moreover, " an incipient love of God, as the fountain of all justice." • ■ ' Finally, his lordship has the confidence to maintain, that " The primitive church did not hold confession and absolution of this kind to be ncccss try," and that " Private confession was never tlunight of as a command of God, for nine hundred years after Christ, nor determined to be such till after 1200,"t 'i'lie few following quotations from ancient fathers and councils, will convince our Salopian friends what sort of trust they :ue to place it) this prelate's assertions on theological subjects, Tertullian, who lived m the age next to that of the apostles, and is the ear- liest Latin writer, whoso works we possess, writes thus : "If you withdraw from confession, think of hell-fire, which C(mfessi«m extinguisl»es."'| Origen, who wrou- soon after him, iucidcates the necessity of coMfcssing our most private sins, even those of thought,^ and advises the sinner •* to look carefully about him in choosing the person to whom he is to confess his sins."|| iSt, Uasil, in the fourth century, wrot'3 thus: " It is nect sary to disclose our sins to those ta whom the dispensatio)i of tin; divine mysteries is coinu(it!ed."^[ 8t I'auiinus, the disciple of St. Ambrose, relates, that this holy doctor used to " weep over the sr § ^a ♦ W 47 ;i Horn. 3 in I.evit. t ibid. li tluci. ii la Fa. xxxvii. t Lib. dp PcBnit H Rule 2'i'J. 274 Letter XLL penitents whoso confessions he heard, biu never disclosed their sinp to atiy but to God alone.''* The great St. Austin writes, " Our merciful God wills us to confess in this world, that we may not be confounded in the other ;t and elsewhere he says, " Let no orje say to himself, I do penance to God in private. Is it then in vain that Christ has said, Wfiatsoever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven ? Is it in vain that i?he keys have been given to the church ?"J I could produce a long list of other passages to the same eflect, from fathers and doctors, and also from councils of the church, anterior to the periods he has assigned to the commencement and confirmation of the doctrine in question : but I will have recourse to a shorter, and perhaps more convincirfg proof, that this doctrine could not have been introduced into the church at any period whatsoever subsequent to that of Christ and his apostles. iMy rrgument is this : it is im- possible it should have been at any tir.ju introduced, if it was not from the first necessary. The pnde of the human heart would at all times have revolted at the imposition o inch, a humiliation, as that of confessing all its most secret sins, if Christians had not previously believed that this rite is of divine institution, and even necessary for the pardon of ihem. Supposing, however, that the clergy, at s-ome period, had fascinated the laity, kings and emperors, as well as peasants, to sirbmit to this yoke ; it will still remain to be accounted for, how they took it up them- selves ; for monks, priests and bishops, and the Pope himself, must equally confess their sins with the meanest of the people. And if even this could be explained, it would still be necessary to show how the nuraeroMS organized churches of tho Nestorians and Eutychians, spread over Asia and Africa, froni Bagdad to Axum, all of whom broke from the communion of the Catholic church in the fifth century, took up the notion of penance being a sacrament, and that confession and absohuion are essential parts of it, as they all believe at the present day. With respect to the main body of the Greek Christians, they separated fiom flie Ijatins much about the period which our prelate has set down for the rise of this doctrine ; but though they reproached the Latin Chiistians with shaving their beards, singing Alle- lujah at wrong seasons, and other such like i;ninutiae, they never accused them of any error respecting private toniession or sacor- dutal ahs«)lution. To support the bishop's assertions on tliis and many other points, it would be necewsury to suppose^ us I have said belore, th;it a hundred millions of Greek ai\d Latin Chris- tians lost their senses on some one and the same day or night! • In Vit (Vmluot, t ll-m 30. \ Horn. 41>. Letter XLII. 275 In finishing this letter, I take leave, Rev. sir, to advert to the case of some of your respectable society, who, to my know- ledge, are convinced of the truth of the Catholic religion, bul are deterred froin embracing it, by ihe dread of that sacrament of which 1 have been treatir)g. Their pitiable case is by no means singular : who continually find persons, who are not only desirous of reconciling themselves to their true mother, the Ca- tholic church, but also of laying the sins of their youth and their ignorances, Ps. xxiv. alias xxv. 7, at the feet of some one or other of her faithful ministers, convinced that thereby they would procure ease to their afflicted souls, yet have not the courage to do this. Let the persons alluded to humbly and fervently pray to the Giver of all good gifts for his strengthen- ing grace, and let them be persuaded of the truth of what an unexceptionable witness says, who had experienced, while he was a Catholic, the interior joy he describes, where, persuading the penitent to go to his confessor " not as to one that can speak comfortable and quieting words to him, but as to one that hath authority delegated to him from God himself, to absolve and acquit him of his sins," he goes on, " If you shall do this, assure your souls, that the understanding of man is not able to conceive that transport, and excess of joy and comfort, which shall accrue to that man's heart, who. is persuaded he hath been made partaker of this blessing."* On the other hand, if such persons are con- vinced, as I am satisfied they are, that Christ's words to his apostles, Receixw the Holy Ghost : whose sins you shall remit, they are remitted, mean what they express, they must know, that confession is necessary to buy off o''erwhelming confusion, as the fathers I have quoted signify, at the great day of manifes- tation, and with this never-ending punishment. I am, &c. J. M. r* LETTER XLII. To the Rev. ROBERT CLAYTON, M. A. on indulgences. • Rev. Sir, I TRUST you will pard.jn mc, if I do not ser.d a special an- swer to the oLieciions you have stated against my last letter to you, because yo.i will find the substance of them answered u\ this and my next letter concerning imluljiences and purgatory. bishop Porteus reverses the proper order of these subjects, by * ChilUngworth Seimon vii. p. 409. m 37# Letter XLII. treating first of the latter: indeed his ideas are much confused, and his knowledge very imperfect concerning the.r- both. This prelate describes an indulgence to be, in the belief of Catholics, (without, however, giving any authority whatever for his de^ sciiption) " a transfer of the overplus of the saints' goodness, joined with the merits of Christ, &c. by the Pope, as head o^ the church, towards the remission of their sins, who fulfil, in their lifetime, certain conditions appointed by him, or whose friends will fulfil them, after their death."* He spoaks o*" it as " a method of making porr wretches believe that wickedness here may become consistent with Iiippiness hereafter — that re- pentance is explained away or overlooked among other things joined with it, as saying so many prayers and paying so much money ."t Some of the bishop's friends have published much the same description of indulgences, but in more perspicuous language. One of them, in his attempt to show that each Pope, in succession, has been the man of sin, or Antichrist, says, " Besides their own personiil vices, by their indulgences, par- dons, and dispensations, which they claim a power from Christ of granting, and which they h^^ve sold in so infamous a manner, they have encouraged all manner of vile and wicked practices. They have contrived numberless methods of making a holy life useless, and to assure the most abandoned of salvation, provided they will sufficiently pay the priests for absolution.''^ With the same disregard of charity and truth, another eminent divine speaks of the matter thus, " the Papists have taken a notable course to secure men from the fear of hell, that of penances and indulgences. To those, who will pay the price, absolutions are to be had for the most abominable and not to b: named villanies, and license also for not a few wickednesses."^ In treating of a subject, the most intricate of itself among the common topics of controversy, and which has been so much confused and perplex- ed by the misrepresentations of our opponents, it will be neces- sary, for giving you. Rev. sir, and my other Salopian friends, a clear and just idea of the matter, that I should advance, step by step, in my explanation of it. In this manner I propose showing you, first, what an indulgence is not, and, next, what it really is. 1. An indulgence, then, never was conceived by any Catholic lo be a leave to cothmit a sin of any kind, as De Coetlogon, • P. 53. t P. 54. Benson on the Man of Sin, republished by bishop Watsuot Tracts, vol. v. p. 273. t Bishop Fowler's Design of Christianity, Tracts, vol. vi. p. 382. § Benson on the Man of Sin, Collect. I Letter XL 1 1. VT*> 1 i bishop Fowler, and others charge them with believing. The first principles of natural religion must convince every rational being that God himself cannot give leave to commit sin. The idea of such a license takes away that of his sanctity, and, of course, that of his very being. 11. No Catholic ever believed it to he a pardon for future sins, as Mrs. Hannah More, and a great ,->art of other Protestant writers represent the matter. 'J'his Ir.uiy describes the Catholics as " procuring indemnity for future gratifications by temporary abstractions and indulgences, purchased at the court of Rome."* Some of her fraternity, indeed, have blasphemously written, " Believers ought not to mourn for sin, because it was pardoned before it was commit- ted ;"t but every Caihlic knows that Christ himself could not pardon sin before it was committed, because this would imply that he forgave the sinner without repentance. III. An indul- gence, according '> the doctrine of the Catholic church, is not, and does not include the pardon of any sin at all, little or great, past, present, or to come, or the eternal punishment due to it, as all Protestants suppose. Hence, if the pardon of sin is men- tioned in any indulgence, this means nothing more than the re- mis.sion of the temporary punishments annexed to such sin. IV. We do not believe an indulgence to imply any exemption from repentance, as 13. Porteus slanders us ; for this is always enjoined or implied in the grant of it, and is indispensably ne- cessary for the effect of every grace ;| nor from the works of penance, or other good works ; because our church teaches that the " life of a C^^rislian ought to be a perpetual penance,^ and that to enter into life, we must keep OoWs commandments,^ and must abound ii evemj ^ood uwrk^'^ Whether an obligation of all this can be reconciled with the articles of being "justified by faith only,"** and that " works done before grace partake of the nature of sin,''tt I do nol here inquire. V. It is incon- sistent with our doctrine oi inherent justtJication,X\ to believe, • Strictures on Female Education, vol. ii. p. 239. t Eaton's Honevcomb ot Salvation. See also Sir Richard Hill's Letters, t Concil. Trid. Sess. vi. c. 4, ;. i;{, &.c. S Sess. xiv. De Extr. Ut>c. II Sess. vi. can. 19. IT Ibid, cap IC. — N B. There are eight Indulgences grunted to Catholics at the chief festivals, &c, in every year; the conditions of which are, con- fession with sincere repertlancc, the U. Communion, alms to the poor, (without distinction of thor religion) prayers for the church and strayed souls, the peace of christeiiiJom, and tlie blessing of God on this nation; finally, a disposition to hear the word cf God, and to assist the sick. See Laity's Directory, Keating and Brown. •• Art. XI. of 3'J Ari. tt Art. XIII. tt Trid. Sess. vi. tan. xi- ' ' • . M 278 Letter XL 11. as the same prelate charges us, that the effect of an indul^encn is to transfer " the overplus of the goodness," or justification o! the saints, by the ministry of the Pope, to us Catholics on ears'i. Such an absurdity may be more easily reconciled with the sys- tem of Lutl. and other Protestants concerning imputed justifi" cation; whin, being like a " clean, neat cu/ak, thrown over a filthy leper,"* may be conceived transferable irom one person to another. Lastly, whereas the council of Trent calls indul- gences heavenly treasures,^ we hold that it would be a sacrile- gious crime in any person whomsoever to be concerned in buy- ing or selling them. I am far, however, Rev. -sir, from denying that indulgences have ever been sold| — alas ! what is so sacred that the avarice of men has not put up to sale! Christ himself was sold, and that by an apostle, for thirty pieces of silver. 1 do not retort upon you the advertisement 1 frequently see in the newspapers about buying and selling benefices, with the cure of souls annexed to them, in your church; but this I contend for, that the Catholic church, so far from sanctioning this detestable simony, has used her utmost pains, particularly in the geneiail councils of Lateran, Lyons, Vienne, and Trent, to prevent it. To explain, now, in a clear and regular manner, what an in- dulgence is ; 1 suppose, first, that no one will deny that a sove- reign prince, in showing mercy to a capital convict, may either grant him a remission of all punishment, or may leave him sub- ject to >u!n« lighter punishment : of course he will allow that the .^i'xi'gtwy may act in either of these ways with respect to sinn- ] . !■. I equally suppose that no person, who is versed in the iiibie, will deny that many instances occur there of God's remitting ihe essential guilt of sin and the eternal punishment due to it, and yet leaving a temporary punishment to be endured by the penitent sinner. 'I'hus, for example, the sentence of spiritual death and everlasting torments was remitted to our first father, upon his repentance, but not that cf corporal death. Thus, also when God reversed his severe ser^ence against the idolatrous Israelites, he added. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their ,"?/i upon them. Exod. xxxii. 34. Thus, again, when the inspired Nathan said to the model of penitents, David, The Lord hath put away thy sin, he ; dded, nevertheless the child that is born unto thee shall die. 2 Kings, alias Sam. xii. * Becanus de Justifs. t Sess. xxi. c. 9. t The bishop tells us that he is in possession of an indulgence, lately granted at Rom , lor a small sum of money; but he does not say who granted it. In like manner he may buy lorged Banlt notes and counterfeit coin in London very cheap, if he pleases. Letter XLIL 279 14. Finally, when David's heart smote him, after he had num* hered the people, the Lord, in pardoning him, offered him by his prophet. Gad, the choice of three temporal punishments, war, famine, and pestilence, Ihid. xxiv. 111. The Catholic church teaches that tlie same is still the common course of God's mercy and wisdom, in the forgiveness of sins committed after baptism ; since she has formally condemned the proposition, that " every penitent sinner, who, after the grace of Justification, obtains the remission of his guilt and eternal punishment, obtains also the remission of all temporal punishment."* The essential guilt and eternal punishment (»f sin, she declares, can only be expia- ted by the precious ner ts of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ ; bi--. a certain temporal 'ent God reserves for the penit n - himself to endure, siness of his pardon should make him careless aboui, a into sin."f Hence satisfaction for this temporal pu. has been instituted by Christ as a part of the sacrament of penance ; and hence " a Chilstian life," as the council has said above, " ought to be a penitential life." This council at the same time, declares, that this very satisfac- tion for temporal punishment is only efficacious through Jesus Christ.'l Nevertheless, as the promise of Christ to the apostles, and St. Peter in particular, and to their successors, is unlimited : WHATSOEVER you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven, Mvit. xviii. 18 — xvi.l9; hence the church believes and teaches that her jurisdiction extends to this very satisfaction, so as to be able to remit it wholly or partially, in certain circum- stances, by what is called an INDULGENCE.^ St. Paul ex- ercised this power in behalf of the incestuous Corinthian, at his conversion and the prayers of the faithful. 2 Cor. ii. 10 ; and the church has claimed and exercised the same power ever since tl»e time of the apostles down to the present. || V. Still this power, like that of absolution, is not arbitrary ; there must be a just cause for the exercise of it, namely, the greater good of the penitent, or of the faithful, or of Christendom in general ; and there must be a certain proportion between the punishment re- mitted and the good workperibrmed.T^ Hence no one can ever be sure that he has gained the entire benefit of an indulgence, though he has performed all the conditions appointed for this end :*• and hence, of course, the pastors of the church will have * Cone. Trid. Sess. vi. can. 30. t Se33, it. cap. 7, cap. 14. Sess. xiv. cap. 8. t Se. ?>■ / Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.NY MSSO (7»») •73-4103 tation- money, namely, of such sums as were paid for indulgen- ces from ecclesiastical penances, not only in charitable, but al^io in public uses. II At this period the established clergy were de- • Art. 19- inter Art. Damn. Lutheri. t Const. Auclor. Fid. t L. i. c. 7, prop. 4. % " Ne quae fiat posthac Bolemnis penitentiac cominutatio nisi rationib»!!<, gravioribus que de causis, &c. Deinde quod mulcta ilia pecuniaria vel in relevam pauperum, vel in alios pios usus erogctur." Articuli pi-o Clero, A. D. 15S4, Sparrow, p. 11)1. 'I'he next article is, " De modcrandis qui- busdam indulgentiis pro celcbratione matrimonii," &c. p. l!)5. I'heso in- dulgences were renewed, under the same titles, in the Synod held in London in 151)7. Sparrow, pp. 248. '262. . II •• That no Chancellor, Commissary or Official, shall have power to commute any penance, in whole or in part; but either, together with the bishop, Uc. that he shall give a full and just account of such commutation.s, to tlie bishop, who shall see that all such moneys shall be disposc'd of for charitable and public uses, according to law — saving always to eccUMJiisi- cal officers their due and acciistotnafjlr fees." Canon 1-', Sparrow, p. 'MH~ In the remonstrance of grievances presented by a coniiiittce of the Irish parliament to CharU'S /, one of them was, that •' Scveial l)i>liops recoivt'd grcMt sums of tnoi'ny fur cnmmulnlion nf prnancc {thai is lor indulgonccn) which tliov convi'rlod to their own use." Juinmons Juurn. quott^d by Curry, Vol. i, p. WJ. a Letter XLII 281 oting all the money they could any way procure to the war which Charles 1. was preparing id defence of the church und state against the Presbyterians of Scotland and England : so that, in fact, the money then raised by indulgences was employ- ed in a real crusade. It has been before stated that the second offspring of Protestantism, the Anabaptists, claimed an indul- gence from God hinself, in quality of his chosen ones, to despoil the impious, namely, all the rest of mankind, of their properly : while the genuine Calvinists, of all times, have ever maintained that Christ has set them free from the observance of every law of God as well as of man. Agreeably to this tenet, sir Richard Hill says, " It is a most pernicious error of the schoolmen to , distinguish sins according to the facty and not according to the person."* With respect to patriarch Luther, it is notorious that he was in the habit of granting indulgences, of various kinds, to himself and his disciples. Thus, for example, he dis- pensed with himself and Catharine Boren from their vows of a religious life, and particularly that of celibacy : and even preach- ed up adultery in his public serinons.f In like manner he pub- lished Bulls, authorizing the robbery of bishops and bishopritts, and the murder of Popes and cardinals. But the most celebrated of his indulgences is that which, in conjunction with Bucer and Melancthon, he granted to Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, in con- sideration of the laiter's protection of Protestantism, for so it is stated, to marry a second wife, his former being living^ But if any credit is duo to this same Bucer, who, for his learning, was invited by Cranmer and the duke of Somerset into England, and made the divinity professor of Cambridge, the whole busi- ness of the pretended Ileformation was an indulgence of liber- tinism. His words are these : " ITie greater part of the people seem only to have embraced the Gospel, in order to shake off the yoke of discipline and the obligation of fasting, penance «Stc. which lay upon them in Popery, and to live at 'iioir plea- sure, enjoying their lusts and lawless appetites, without controul. Hence they lent a willing ear to the doctrine that we are saved by faith alone, and not by good works, having no relish for thom."^ ?^,,,^ . J - I am, &c. J. M. • Fletcher's Checks, vol. iii. t •• Si nolit Domini, veniat aneilla, &c " Scrm. De Matrlm. t. v. t Tliis inlamous iiidul;^once, witli llie deeils bolonafing to it, was pul>« li.shcd iVoin tha original hy |H>rtiiissiun of a descendant ot the Landgravo^ and repuUlisljoil by Hossuet. Variat. book vl. f Uucer, D« Regn. Chiin I. i. c, 4. . oi» i24 r »' " 282 LETTER XLIII. To the Rev. ROBERT CLAYTON, M. A. on piroatory and prayers for the dead. Rev. Sir, In the natural order of our controversies, this is the proper place to treat of purgatory and prayers for the dead On this subject, bishop Porteus begins with saying, " There is no Scrip- ture proof of the existence of purgatory : heaven and hell we read of perpetually in the Bible ; but purgatory we never meet with : though surely, if there be such a place, Christ and his apostles would not have concealed it from us."* I might expose the inconclusiveness of this argument by the following parallel one ; the Scripture nowhere commands us to keep the Jirst day of the week holy : we perpetually read of sanctifying the Sabbath, or Saturday ; but never meet with the Sunday, as a day of obli- i gation ; though, if there be such an obligation, Christ and his \ apostles would not have concealed it from us ! I might like- wise answer, with the bishop of Lincoln, that the inspired Kpis- tles (and I may add the Gospels also) " are not to be considered as regular treatises upon the Christian religion"! But I meet the objection in front, by saying, first, that the apostles did teach their converts the doctrine of purgatory, among their other doc- trines, as St. Chrysostom testifies, and the traditon of the church proves : secondly, that the same is demonstratively evinced from both the Old and the New Testament. To begin with the Old Testament ; I claim a right of i- dering the two first Books of Machab^es as an integral \ jf them ; because the Catholic church so considers them.l from whose tradition, and not from that of the Jews, as St. Austin signifies,^ our sacred canon is to be formed. Now in the second of these books, it is related that the pious general, Judas Mac- habeus, sent twelve thousand drachmas to Jerusalem for sacrifi- ces, to be oflfered for his soldiers, slain in battle, after which nar- ration, the inspired writer concludes thus : It is therefore a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed J, om their sins. 2 Mac. xii. 40. I need not point out the inseparable connexion there is between the practice of praying for the dead and the belief of an intermediate stale of souls, since it is evidently needless to pray for the saints in heaven. Confut. p. 48. t Elem. of Theol. vol. 1. p. 277. t Concil. Carfag. lil. gt. Cyp. St. Aug Innoc I Geltw, &c. , I Lib. 18. De Civ. Dei. Letter XLL 283 and useless to pray for the reprobate in hell. Bui, evon Pro- lestants, who do not receive the Books of Machabees, as canon- ical Scripture, venerate them as authentic and holy records : as such, then, they bear conclusive testimony of the belief of God's people, on this head, one hundred and lifty years before Christ. That the Jews were in the habit of practising some religious rites for the relief of the departed, at the beginning of Christi- anity, is clear from St. Paul s first Epistle to the Corinthians, who mentions them, without any censure of them ;* and that this people continue to pray for their deceased brethern, at tho present time, may be learned from any living Jew. To come now to the New Testament : what place, I ask, must that be, which our Saviour calls Abraham's bosom, where the soul of Lazarus reposed, Luke xvi. 22, among the other just souls, till he by his sacred passion paid their ransom ? Not heaven, otherwise Dives wotdd have addressed himself to God instead of Abraham ; but evidently a middle state, as St. Austin teaches.t Again, of what place is it that St. Peter speaks, where he says, Christ died for our sins ; being put to death in thejiesh,but enlivened in the spirit; in which also comings ho preached to those spirits that were in prison. 1 Pet. iii. 19. It is evidently the same which is mentioned in the apostles' creed : He descended into hell : not the hell of the damned, to suffer their torments, as the blasphemer, Calvin, asserts,! but the prison above-mentioned, or Ahroham^s bosom, in short, a middle state. It is of this prison, according to the holy fathers,^ our blessed Master speaks, where he says, / tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite. Luke xii. 59. Lastly, what other sense can that passage of St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians bear, than that which the holy fa- thers affix to it,|( where thei apostle says. The day of the Lord shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, he shall receit^e a reward. If any .man's work be burnt, he shall suffer loss ; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. 1 Cor. iii. 13, 15. The prelate's diversified attempts to explain away th^^e Scrip- tural proofs of purgatory, are really too feeble and inconsistent * Else what shall theij dn who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rist not nt all ? Why are Ihet/ then baptized for thevi ? 1 Cor. xv. 29. + De Civit. Oei, I. xv 'c. 20. t Instit 1 il. c. 16. S Tertiil. St. Cypr. ()rif»cn, St. Ambroge, St. Jcrom, &c. II Origen, Horn 14 in Levit. &c. St. Ambrose in Ps. 118. St. Jerom, 1. 8. contra Jovin St Aug. in Ps. 37, where he prays thus: «• Purify me, O Lord, in thi$i life, that I may not need the chastising fire of those who will f^ saved, yet so as by fire." >84 Letter XLIIL to merit being even mentioned. I might here add, a& a further proof, the denunciation of Christ, concerninr^ blasphemy against the Holy Ghost : naujely, that this sin shall not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come, Mat. xii. 32 : which words clearly imply, that some sins are forgiven in the world to come, as the ancient fathers show ;* but 1 hasten to the proofs of this ■ doctrine from tradition, on which head the prelat^ is so ill advised as to challenge Catholics. li. Bp. Porteus, then, advances, that " Purgatory, in the present Popish sense, was not heard of for four hundred years after Christ ; nor universally received for one thousand years, nor almost in anv other church than that of Rome to this dav."t Here are no less than three egregious falsities, which I proceed to show, after stating what his lordship seems not to know, namely, that all which is necessary to be believed, on this sub- ject, is contained in the following brief declaration of the coun- cil of Trent : " There is a purgatory, and the souls, detained there, are helped by the prayers of the faithful, and particularly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar."| St. Chrysostom, the light of the eastern church, flourished within three hundred years of the age of the apostles, and must be admitted as an unexceptionable witness of their doctrine and practice. Now he writes as follows : '* It was not without good reason OR- DAIN ED BY THE APOSTLES, that mention should be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because they knew well that these would receive great benefit from it."^ TertiiUian, who lived in the age next to that of the apostles, fpeaking of a pious widow, says, " She prays for the soul of her husband, and begs refreshment|| for him." Similar testi- monies of St. Cyprian, in the following age are numerous : 1 shall satisfy myself with quoting one' of them, where, describing the difference between some souls, which are immediately ad- mitted into heaven, and others, which are detained in purga- tory, he says, " It is one thing to be waiting for pardon ; an- other to attain to glory : one thing to be sent to prison, not to go from thence till the last farthing is paid ; another to receive immediately the reward of faith and virtue : one thing to sulfur lengthened torments for sin, and to be chastised and purified for a long time in thut fire ; another to have cleansed away "all sin by sullering,"1f namely, by martyrdom. It would take up loo • St. Aug. De Civit. Dei. 1 21, c 21. St. Greg. 1. 4. Dialog. Bed. in caj>, 8, Marc. i P. 50. , t Sess. xxv. Do Purg. § In cap. i. Philip, tlom. 3. 11 L. Da Monogam. c. 10. : V b. Cypr. 1 4. ep. 2. • • II \ ) Letter XLIII. 285 much time to quote authorities on tJiis subject from St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Eusehiiis. St. Kpiphanius, St. Ambrose, St Jerom, St Augustin, arid several other ancient fathers and writers, who demonstrate, that tlie doctrine of the church was the same that it is now, not only within a thousand, but also within Amr Itun- dred years from the time of Christ, with respect both to pray- ers for the deed, and an intermediate state, which we call pur- gatory. How express is the authority of the last named farther, in particular, where he says and repeats, " Through the pray- ers and sacrifices of the church and alms-deeds, God deals more mercifully with the departed than their sins deserve !"• How affecting is this saint's account of the death of his mother, St. Monica, when she entreated him to remember her soul at the altar, and when, after her decease, he performed this duty, in order, as he declares, " to obtain the pardon of her sins !"t As to the doctrine of the oriential churches, which the bishop signi- ties is conformable to that of his own, I affirm, as a fact, which has been demonstrated,! that there is not one of them which agrees with it, nor one of them which does not agree with the Catholic church, in the only two points defined by her, namely, as to there being a middle state, which we call purgatory, and as to the souls, detained in it, being helped by the psayers of the living faithful. True it is, they do not generally believe, that these souls are punished by a material fire ; but neither does our church require a belief of this opinion ; and accord- ingly, she made a union with the Greeks in the council of Florence, on their barely confessing and subscribing the afore- said two articles. 111. I should do an injury. Rev. sir, to my cause, were 1 to pass over the concessions of eminent Protestant prelates and other writers on the matter in debate. On some occasions Iai- ther admits of purgatory, as an article founded on Scripture.^ Melancthon confesses that the ancients prayed for the dead, and says that the Lutherans do not fmd fault with it.| Calvin inti- mates, that the souls of all the just are detained in Abraham's bosom till the day of judgment.*!! In the first liturgy of the church of England, which was drawn up by Cranmer and Ilid- ley, and declared by act of parliament to have been framed by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, there is an express prayer for the • Serm. 172. Enchirid. cap. 100. 110. t Confess. 1. ix. c. 13. t Soe the Confessions of the ditro/ent Oriental churches in the Perpfr tuite, Jtc. — - 4 Aaaertiones, Art. 27. Disput. Leipsic. U Apolog. Conf Aug. IT Instit. 1. iii. e. 5. ■■'■., 286 Lmer XLIIl departed, that " God would grant them mercy and everlasting peace."* It can be shown that the foUowino bishops of your chinch believed that the dead ought to be prayed for, Andrews, Usher, Montague, Taylor, Fcirbes, Shehlon, Barrow of St. AsHph's and Blandford.f To these I may add the religious Dr. Johnson, whose published Meditations prove, that he consliintly prayed for his deceased wife. But what need is there of more words on the subject, when it is clear that modern Protestants, in shutting up the Catholic purgatory for imperfect just souls, have opened another general one fi>r them, and all the wicked of every sort whatsoever ! It is well known that the disciples of Calvin, at Geneva, and, perhaps, every where else, instead of adhering to his doctrine, in condemning mortals to eternal torments, without any fault on their part, now hold that the most confirmed in guilt and the finally impenitent shall, in the cud, be saved :J thus establishing, as Fletcher of Madeley ob- serves, " a general purgatory."^ A late celebrated theological, as well as philosophical writer of our own country. Dr. Priestly, being on his deathbed, called for Simpson's work On the Dura- tion of Future Punishment, which he recommended in these terms : " It contains my sentiments : we shall all meet finally : we only require different degrees of discipline, suited to our dif- ferent tempers, to prepare us for final happiness."! Here again is a general Protestant purgatory : and why should Satan and his crew be denied the benefit of it ? But to confine mvself to eminent divines of the established church. One of its celebra- ted preachers, who, of course, " never mentions hell to ears po- lite," expresses his wish, " to banish the subject of everlasting punishment from all pulpits, as containing a doctrine, at once improper and uncertain."^ which sentiment is applauded by an- other eminent divine, who reviews that sermon in the British Critic.** Another modern divine censures '* the threat of eter- nal perdition as a cause of infidelity ."fi The renowned Dr. Pa- ley, (but here we are getting into quite novel systems of theolo- gy, which will force a smile from its old students, notwiihstand- ing the awfulness of the subject) Dr. Paley, I say, so far softens * See the form in Collier's Ecc. Hist, vol ii. p. '257. + Collier's Hist. — N. B. The present bishop of Kxeter, in a sermon just published, prays for the soul of our poor princess Charlotte, *« as far as this IS lawful and profitable." i Encyclo. Art Geneva. § Checks to Antinom. vol. i II See'Edinb. Review, Oct. 17%. IT Sermons by Rev. W Gilpin, Preb. of Sarum. •• British Critic, Jan. 1H02. ^ v H Rev. Mr. Polwhele's Let. to Dr. Hawker. •■ • a \ ■^-^\ Letter XLIIL 267 ihe punishment of the infernal regions, as to suppose that, " There may be very little to chyose between the condiiion of some who are in hell, and others \^io are in heaven !"* In the same liberal spirit the Cambridge professor of divinity teaches, that " God's wrath and damnation are more terrible in the sound than the sensef and that being damned does not imply any fixed degree of evil."J In another part of his Lectures, he expresses iiis hope, and quotes Dr. Hartley, as expressing the same, that '' all men will be ultimately happy, when punishment had done its work in reforming principles and conduct."<^ If this senti- ment be not sufficiently explicit in favour of purgatory, take the following, from a passage in which he is directly lecturing on the subject. " With regard to the doctrine of purgatory, though it may not be founded either in reason or in Scripture, it is not unnatural. Who can bear the thought of dwelling in everlasting torments ? Yet who can say that a God everlastingly just, will not inflict them 1 The mind of man seeks for some resource : it finds one only ; in conceiving that some temporary punishment, after death, may purify the soul from its moral pollutions, and make it, at last, acceptable, even to a deity, infinitely pure."|| IV. Bishop Porteus intimates that the doctrine of a middle state of souls was borrowed from Pagan fable and philosophyr — In answer to this, I say, that, if Plato,T[ Virgil, and other heathens, ancient and modern, as likewise Mohomet and his disciples, together with the Protestant writers quoted above, have embraced this doctrine, it only shows how confornrable it is to the dictates of natural religion. 1 have proved, by va- rious arguments, that a temporary punishment generally re- mains due, to sin, after the guilt and eternal punishment due to it, have been remitted. Again, we know from Scriptur that even the just man falls seven times, Prov. xxiv. 17, and that i len must give an account of every idle word that they speak, Mat. xii. 36. On the other hand, we are conscious that there is not an instant of our life, in which this may not suddenly terminate, without the possibility of our calling upon God for mercy. What then, I ask, will become of souls which are surprised in either of these predicaments ? We are sure from Scripture and friason that nothing defiled shall enter heaven. Rev. xxi. 27 : will then our just and merciful Judge make no distinction in ♦ Moral and Polit. Philos. t Lect. vol. iii. p. 154. t Ibid. § Vol. ii. \h 3'JO. It is to be observed that the doctrine of the final sal- vation of tlie wicUcd is expressly condemned in the 4'Jd Article of the chuivh of England, A. I) 155-2. " ii Vol. iv. p. 112. H Plato in Uoru[ia, Virgil's iEueid, 1, 6, the Koran. 288 Letter XLITL guiltiness, as. bishop Fowler ami oilier rigid Protestants main- tain ?• Will he condemn to the same eternal punishment the poor child who has died under the guilt of a lie of excuse, and the abandoned wretch who has died in the act of murdering his father ? To say that he will, is so monstrous a doctrine in it- self, and so contrary to Scripture, which declares that God mill render to every man according to his deeds, Kom. ii. 6, that it seems to be universally exploded.t The evident consequence of this is, that there are some venial or pardonable sins, for the ex- piation of which, as well as of the temporary punishment due to other sins, a place of temporary punishment is provided in the next life, where, however, the souls detained may be relieved, by the prayers, alms, and sacrifices of the faithful here on earth. O ! how consoling is the belief and practice of Catholics in this matter, compared with those of Protestants ! The latter show their regard for their departed friends in costly pomp and fea- thered pageantry ; while their burial service is a cold, disconso- late ceremony ; and as to any further communication with the , deceased, when the grave closes on their .remains, they do not so much as imagine any. On the other hand, we Catholics know, that death itself cannot dissolve the communion of saints, which subsists in our church, nor prevent an intercouse of kind and often beneficial offices between us and our departed friends. Oftentimes we can help them more effectually, in the other world, by our prayers, our sacrifices, and our alms-deeds, than we could in this by any temporary benefits we coidd bestow upon them. Hence we are instructed to celebrate the obsequies of the dead by all such good works ; and, accordingly, our fune- ral service consists of psalms and prayers, offered up for their repose and eternal felicity. 'I'hese acts of devotion, pious Ca- tholics perform for the deceased, who were near and dear to them, and indeed for the dead in general, every day, but partic- ularly on the respective anniversaries of the deceased. Such benefits, we are assured, will be paid with rich interest, |)y those souls to whose bliss we have contributed, when they attain to it ; and if they should not be in a contiition to help us, the God of mercy at least will abundantly reward our charity. On the other hand, what a comfort and support must it be to our minds, when our turn comes to descend into the grave, to reflect that we shall continue to live in the constant thoughts and daily devo- tions of our Catholic relatives and friends ! I am, &c. J. M. • Calvin, 1. iii. c. 12. Fowler in Watson'i Tracts, vol. vi. p. 382. f See Dr. Hey, vol Iii. pp. 3d4, 451, 453. 289 LETTER XLIV. To the Rev. ROBERT CLAYTON, M. A, extreme unction. Rev. Sir, The Council of Trent terms the sacrament of extreme unc- tion, the Consummation of Penance, and therefore, as bishop Por- teus makes this the subject of a charge against our church, here is the proper place for me to answer it. His lordship writes a long chapter upon it, because his business is to gloss over the clear testimony which the apostle St. James bears to the reality of this sacrament : in return, I shall write a short letter in refu- tation^of his chapter, because I have little more to do than to cite that testimony, as it stands in the New Testament : it is this : Is any man sick among you, let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save thti sick man ; and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he he in sins, they shall be forgiven him, James v. 14, 15. Here we see all that is requsite, according to the English Protestant Cate- chism, to constitute a sacrament,* for there *' is an outward visible sign," namely, the anointing with oil: there " is anjn- ward spiritual grace, given unto us," namely, the saving of the sick and the forgiveness of his sins. Lastly, there is the Ordina- tion of Christ, as the means by which the same is received ;'* un- less the bishop chooses to allege, that the holy apostle fabricated a Sacrament, or means of grace, without any authority for this purpose from his heavenly Master. What then does his lord- ship say, in opposition to this divine warrant for our Sacra- ment ? He says, that the anointinj^ of the sick by elders or old men, was the appointed method of miraculously curing them in primitive times, which would i. iply, that no Christian died in those times, except when either oil or old men were not to be met with? He adds, that the forgiveness of the sick man\s sins, means nshop Warburiun, to prove the aposfkcy uf Papal Rome, p. 27. -" 292 Letter XLV. religious controversies to the decision of the Pope, protesting to him thus : " Whether you give life or (huith, approve or reprove, as you may judgo hest, I will hearken to your voice, as to that of Christ himself :"* but no sooner did Pope Leo condemn his doc- trine, than he pubhshed his book " Against the execrable Bull of Antichrist,"! as ho qualilied il. In like manner, Melancthon, Bullinger, and many others of Luther's followers, publicly main- tained, that the Pope is Antichrist, as did afterwards Calvin, Beza, and the writers of thai party in general. This party con- sidered this doctrine so essential, ; s to vote it an article of faith, in their synod of Gap, held in 1603. J The writers in defence of this impious tenet in our island, are as numerous as those of the whole continent put together, John Fox, Whitaker, Fidke, Willet, sir Isaac Newton, Mede, Lowman, Towsou, Bichcno, Kett, &c. with the bishops. Fowler, VYarburton, Newton, Halli- fax, Hurd, Watson, and others, too numerous to be here men- tioned. One of these writers, whose work has but just appear- ed, has collected a new and quite whimsical system from the Scriptures concerning Antichrist. Hitherto, Protestant exposi- tors have been content to apply the character and attributes of Antichrist to a succession of Roman pontilTs ; but the Rev. H. Kett professes to have discovered, that the said Antichrist is, at the same time, every Pope who has fdled the See of Rome since the year 750, to the number of one hundred and si.xty, to- gether with the whole of what he calls " the Mahometan power," from a period more remote by a century and a half, and the whole of infidelity, which he traces to a still more ancient ori- gin than even MahomotiAiism.^ That the first Pope, St. Peter, on whom Christ declared, that he built his church, Mat. xvi. 18, was not Antichrist, I trust I need not prove, nor, indeed, his third successor in the Pope- dom, St. Clement, since St, Paul testifies of him, that his name %s written in the book of life, Phil, iv, 3. In like maimer, there is no need of my demonstrating, that the See of Rome was not the harlot of Revelations, when St, Paul certified of its mem- bers, that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole wot Id, Horn i, 8. At what particular period, then, I now ask, as 1 asked Mr. Brown, in one of my former letters, did the [;rand • Rpist. ad Leon X. A. D. 1518. ' t Tom. ii. t no.'^suct's Vnriat P. ii. B. 1.1. f History of the Iiiterpretor of Prophecy, hy H. Kett, B. D. Tliis wri- tttr'.s tttteinpt to tniiisrorin the great .supporters of the Pope, St .leroiii, Pope Gregory I, St. Hernarcl, itc. into witni'sse;* that the Popi; in Antichrist because they conJeina certain act! a» Antichristian, is truly ridiculoua. Letter XLV. 293 apostasy take place, by which the head pastor of the church of Christ, became his declared enemy, in short, the Antichrst, ajid by which tlie church, whose (ailh had been divinely authenti- cated, became the great harlot, full of the names of blusphtrnt/ ? This revolution, had it really taken place, would have been the greatest and the most remarkable that ever happened since the deluge : hence, we might expect, that the witnesses, who profess 1.0 bear testimony to its reality, would agree, as to the time of its taking place. Let us now observe how far this is the fact. The Lutheran IJraunbom, who writes the most copiously, and the most coniidently of this event, tells us, that the Popish An- tichrist was borne in the year of Christ 80, that he grew to his full size in 376, that he was at his greatest strength in 036, that he began to decline in 1080, that he would die in 1040, a:id that the world would end in 1711.* Sebastian Francus af- firms, that Antichrist appeared immediately after the apostles, and caused the external church, with its faith and sacraments, to disappear.! The Protest- rst church of Transylvania pub- lished that Antichrist first appeared A. D. 2004 Napper de- clared that his coming .was about 313, and that Pope Silvester was the man.^ Melancthon says, that Pope Zozimus, in 420, was the first Antichrist,|| while Ueza transfers this character to the great and good St. Leo, A. I). 440.1f Fleming fixes on the year 606 as the year of this great event, lip. Newton on the yeai' 727 ; but all agree, says the Rev. lleniy Kett, " that the Anlichristian power was fully established in 757, or 758."** Notwithstanding this confident assertion, Crarmier's brother-in- law, Ijulliuger, had, long before, assigned the year 763 as the era of this grand revolution,!! and Junius had put it olT to 1073. Musculus could nut discover Antichrist in the church till about 1200, Fox not till 1300,|j: and Martin Luther, as we have seen, not till his doctrine was condemned by Pope Leo in 1520. Such are the inconsistencies and contradictions of those learned Protestants, who profess to see so clearly the verifica- tion of the prophecies concerning Antichrist in the Roman pon- tirt's. 1 say contradictions , because those among them who pro- nounce Popo Gregory, or Leo the Great, or Pope Silvester, to have been Antichrist, must contradict those others, who admit them to have been respectively (Christian pastors and siiints. Now what credit do men of sense give to an account of any • Baylo's Diet, nraunboin. t I)e AbolcMid. Christ per Antichris II In luciH postrotno edit. •• Vol. ji. p. 58. tt In Apoc. 23* t Do Alvosaiul. Stat, Eccloi. h Upon the Itovul. IT III CyiifesH General. t% In Eaudem. 294 Letter XLV. Bort, the vouchers for which contradict each other ? Certainly none at all. Nor are the predictions of these egregious interpreters, con- cerning the death of Antichrist, and the destruction of Popery, more consistent with one another, than their accounts of the birth and progress of them both. We have seen above, that Braunbom prognosticated that the death of the papal Antichrist would take place in the year 1640. John Fox foretold it would happen in 1666. The incomparable Joseph Mede, as bishop Hallifax calls him,* by a particular calculation of his own in- vention, undertook to demonstrate that the Papacy would be finally destroyed in 1653.t The Calvinist minister Jurieau, who had adopted this system, fearing that the event would not verify it, found a pretext to lengthen the term, first to 1 690, and afterwards to 1710. But he lived to witness a disappoint- ment at each of these periods.^ Alix, another Huguenot preacher, predicted that the fatal catastrophe would certainly u*ke place in 1716.^ VVhiston, who pretended to find" out the longitude, pretended also to discover that the Popedom would terminate in 1714 : finding himself mistaken, he guessed a sec- ond lime, and fixed on the year 1735.|| At length, Mr. Kett, from the success of his Antichrist of Infidelity against his Anti- chnst of Popery^ about twenty years ago, (for he feels no diffi- culty in dividing Satan against himself Mat. xii. 6,) foretold that the long wished for event was at the eve of being accom- plished,T[ and Mr. Daubeny having, with several other preach- ers, witnessed Pope Pius VI. in chains, and Kome possessed by French Atheists, sounds the tnunpet of victory, and exclaims, all is acconiplished.'* Empty triumph of the enemies of the church ! They ought to have learned, from her lengthened history, that she never proves the truth of Christ's promises so evidently as when she seems sinking under the waves of perse- cution ; and that the chair of Peter never shines so gloriously, as when it is filled by a dying martyr, like Pius VI, or a cap- live c(mfessor, like Pius VU ; however triumphant for a time, their persecutors mav appear ! But these dealers in prophecy undertake to demonstrate from the characters of Antichrist, us pointed out by St. Paul and St. John, that this succession of Popes is the very man in question : 9 Ibid. • I'. -280. t Kaylo's Diet. t Ibid. i: Essay on Rovel. IT Vol. ii. chap. 1. •• Tlu! Ill . ot Papal Rome. In lil»e manner O. S. Faber, in his two Sermons boloie thfi University of Oxford, in H!)'.), boasts that '♦ tlio iin- mnnijti (jiothic Httuctuni of I'upory, built on superstitiou and buttressed witJl torture!), has crumbled to dust." S Letter XLV. 295 accordingly the bir^top of Landaff says ; " I have known the infidelity of nic" aan one young man happily removed, by shoiiving him the \- saracters of Popery delineated by St. Paul, in his prophecy concerning The Man of Sin, 2 Thess. ii. and in that concerning the apostasy of the latter times, 1 Tun. iv. 1."* In proof of this point, he republishes the Dissenter, Ben- son's Dissertation on The man of Sin ;t I purpose, therefore, making a few remarks on the leading points of this adoptive child of his lordship, as also upon some of the Rev. Mr. Rett's illustrations of them. First, then, we all know that the Revela- tion of the Man of Sin will be accompanied with a revolt or falling off*, in other words, with a great apostasy ; but it is a question to be discussed between me and bishop Watson, wheth- er this character of apostasy is more applicable to the Catho> lie church, or to that class of Religionists who adopt his opin^ ions ? To decide this point, let me ask, what are the first and principal articles of the three creeds professed by his church as well as by ours, that of the apostles, that of Nice, and that of St. Athanasius, as likewise of his articles, his liturgy, and his canons ? Incontestably those which profess a belief in the blessed Trinity, and the incarnation of the consubstantial Son of the eternal Father. Now it is notorious, that every Catholic throughout the world, holds those the fundamental articles of Christianity as firmly now as St. Athanasius himself did fifteen hundred years ago: but what says his lordship, with number- less other Protestant Christians of this country, on these heads ? Let the preface to his Collection be consulted,^ in which, if he does not openly deny the Trinity, he excuses the Unitarians, whoi deny it, on the ground that they are afraid of becoming idolaters by worshipping Jesus Christ.^} Let his charges be ex- amined : in one of which he says to his clergy, that " he does not think it safe to tell them what the Christian doctrines are ;"|| no, not so much as the unity and trinity of God. In another charge, however, the bishop assumes more courage, and in- forn\s his clergy, that •♦ Protestantism consists in believing what each one pleases, and in professing what he believes." How much should I rejoice to have this question of apostasy, bt'tween the bishop of Landalf and me, decided by Luther, Calvin, Buza, Crainner, Ridley, and James 1, only for the proofs which history allbrds mo, that, not contoKt with cxclud infi him from the class of Christians, they would assuredly • Bp. Watson'8 Collect, p. 7. t Vol. i. I'lei". p. 15, &c. II Bishop Watson's Charge, 1795. t Ibid. p. I P. 17. 2G8. w^ 296 Letter XLV, burn him at the stake as an apostate. The second character of. Antichrist, set down by St. Paul, is, that he vpposelh and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped^ so that he sittelh in the Temple of God, showing himself as if he were God, 2 Thess. ii. 4. This character Mr. Benson and bishop Watson think applicable to the Pope, who, they say, claims the attributes and homage due to the Deity. 1 leave you, Uev. sir, and your friends, to judge of the truth of this character, when I inform you, that the Pope has his confessor, like other Catholics, to whom he confesses his sins in private : and that every day, in saying mass, he bows before the altar, and in the presence of the people confesses, that he has *' sinned in thought, word, and deed," begging them to pray to God for him, and that afterwards, in the more solemn part of it, he pro- fesses '' his hopes of forgiveness, not through his own merits, but through the bounty and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord."* The third mark of Antichrist is, that his coming is according to the vorking of Satan, in all power, and signs, and laying .mn' ders, 2 Thess. ii. 9. From this passage of Holy Writ, it ap- pears that Antichrist, whenever he does come, will work false, illusive prodigies, as the magicians of Pharoah did ; but, from the divine promises, it is evident that the disciples of Christ would continue to work true miracles, such as he himself wrought ; and from the testimony of the holy fathers and all ecclesiastical writers, it is incontestible, that certain servants oi God have been enabled to work them, from time to time, ever since this his promise. This I have elsewbero demonstrated, as likewise, that the fact is denied by Protestants, not for want of evidence, as to its truth, but because this is necessary for the defence of their system.f Still it is false that the Catholic church ever claimed a power of working miracles in the order of nature, as her opponents pretend : all that we say is, that God is pleased, from »ime to time, to illustrate the true church with real miracles, and thereby to show, that she belongs to him. The latest dealer in prophecies, who boasts that his books have been revised by the bishop of Lincoln,! by way of showing the con- formity between Antichristian Popery and the beast, that did great signs, so that he made fire to come down from heaven tinto the earth, in the sight of men, Rev. xiii. 13, says of the former, " even fire is pretended to come down from heaven, as in tne caae of St. Anthonys fire^^ 1 am almost ashamed to refu*« • Canon of the Mass. t Part ii. Letter, xxiii, ^ t Interpret, of Prophecy, by H. ^wtt, LL. H. Prcf. v ' f Kett, vol. ii. 22. 1/ \ Letter XL VL 297 so illiterate a cavil. True it is, that the hospital monks of St. Anthony were lieretofore famous for curing the Erysipelas with a peculiar ointment, on which account that disease acquired the name of St. Ant Iwuifs fire ;* but neither these monks, nor any other Catholics, were used to invoke that inflammation, or any .other burning whatsoever, from heaven or elsewhere. 1 beg that you and your friends will suspend your opinion of the fourth alleged resemblance between Antichrist and the Pope, that of persecuting the saints, till I have leisure to treat that subject in greater detail than I can at present. 1 shall take no notice at all of this writer's chronological calculations, nor of the anagrams and chronograms by which many Protestant expoun- ders have endeavoured to extract the mysterious number six hundred and sixty-six from the name or title of certain Popes, farther than to observe, that ingenious Catholics have extracted the same number from the name Marlinus Lutherus, and even from that of David Chrytheus, who was the most celebrated inventor of those riddles. Such are the grounds on which certain refractory children, in modern ages, have ventured to call their true mother a pros- tUutCy and the common father of Christians, the author of their own conversion from Paganism, The Man of Sin, and the very Antichrist. But they do not really believe what they declare ; their object being only to inflame the ignorant multitude. I have sufficient reason to think this, when I hear a Luther threat- ening to uusay all that he had said against the Pope, a Melanc- thon lamenting, that Protestants had renounced him, a Deza negotiating, to return to him, and a late Warbm'ton-lecturer la- menting, on his deathbed, that he could not do the same. 1 am, &c. J. M. LETTER XLVl. . To the Rev. ROBERT CLAYTON, M. A. , ON THK pope's SUPREMACY. Rev. Sir, This acknowledges the honour of three difTerent letters from yon, which I have not, till now, been able to notice. The ob- jections, contained in the two former, are either answered, or will, with the help of God, be answered by me. The chief purport of your last, is to assure me, that the absurd and impious tenet, of the Pope being Antichrist, i«3ver was a part of your faith nor * Patjtiotius, In MoUoum De Sacr. Imiig. 298 Letter XLVl. even your opinion ; but that having read over Dr. Barrow*8 Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, as well as what bishop Por- lens has published upon it, you cannot but be of archbishop Tiliotson's mind, who published the above named treatise, namely, that " The Pope's Supremacy is not only an indefensi- ble, but also an impudent cause ; that there is not one tolerable* argument for it, and that there are a thousand invincible rea- sons against it."* Your liberality, Rev. sir, on the former point, justifies the idea I had formed of you : with respect to the second, whether the Pope's claim of Supremacy, or Tiliot- son's assertion concerning it, is impudent^ I shall leave you to determine, when you shall have perused the present letter. But, as this, like other subjects of our controversy, has been envel- oped in a cloud of misrepresentation, I must begin with dissi- pating this cloud, and with clearly stating what the faith of the Catholic church is concerning the matter in question. It is not, then, the faith of this church, that the Pope has any civil or temporal supremacy, by virtue of which he can depose princes, or give or take away the property of other persons, out of his own domain : for even the incarnate Son of God, from whom he derives the supremacy, which he possesses, did not claim, here upon earth, any right of the above-mentioned kind : on the contrary, he positively declared, that his kingdom is not of this world ! Hence, the Catholics of both our Islands, have, without impeachment even from Rome, denied, upon oath, that •' the Pope has any civil jurisdiction, power, superi- ority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm.t" But, as it is undeniable, that diflferent Popes, in former ag.^s, have pronounced sentence of deposition against certain contemporary princes, and, as great numbers of theolo- gians have held (though not as a matter of faith) that they had a right to do so, it seems proper, by way of mitigating the odi- um which Dr. Porteus and other Protestants raise against them, on this head, to state the grounds, on which the pontiffs acted and the divines reasoned in this business. Heretofore, the kingdoms, principalities, and states, composing the Latin church, when they were all of the same religion, formed, as it were, one Christi.in republic, of which the Pope was the accredited head. Now, as mankind have been sensible at all times, that the duty of civil allegiance and submission cannot extend beyond a cor-' tain point, and that they ought not to surrender their property, lives and morality, to be sported with by a Nero or a llelioga- balus ; instead of deciding the nice point for themselves, when * Tillotsou'tf Prefaco tc Barrow's Tieatite. t 31. aeo. III. c. 38 Letter XLVL »99 resistance becomes lawful, they thought it right to be guided by their chief pastor. The kings and princes themselves acknow- ledged this right in the Pope, and frequently applied to him to make use of his indirect, temporal power, as appears in number- less instances.* In latter ages, however, since Christendom has been disturbed by a variety of religions, this power of the pontiff has been generally withdrawn : princes make war upon each other, at their pleasure, and subjects rebel against their princes, as their passions dictate,! to the great detriment oi both parties, as may be gathered from what sir Edward Sandys, an early and zealous Protestant writes. " The Pope was the com- mon Father, adviser, and conductor of Christians, to reconcile their enmities, and decide their differences."! 1 have to observe, • See in Mat. Paris, A. D. 1195, the appeal of our king Richard I, to Pope Celestin III, against the duke of Austria for having detained him prisoner at Trivallis, and the Pope's sentence of excommunication against that duke for refusing to do him justice. t In every country, in which Protestantism was preached, sedition and rebellion, with the total or partial deposition of the lawful sovereign, en- sued, not without the active concurrence of the preachers themselves. Luther formed a league of princes and states in Germany against the em- peror, which desolated the empire for more than a century. His disciples, Muncer and Stork, taking advantage of the pretended evangelical liberty, which he taught, at the head of 40,000 Anabaptists, claimed the empire and possession of the world, in quality of Ike meek ones, and enforced their demand with fire and sword, dispossessing princes and lawful owners, &c. Zuinglius lighted up a similar flame throughout Switzerland, at Geneva, &c. and died fighting, sword in hand, for the Reformation, which he preached. The United States embraced Protestantism and renounced their sovereign, Philip, at the same time. The Calvinists of France, in con- formity with the doctrine of their master, namely, that " princes deprive themselves of their power, when they resist God, and that it is better to spit in their faces than obey them," />an. vi. 22, as soon as they found themselves strong enough, rose in arms against their sovereigns, and dis- possessed them of half their dominions. Knox, Goodman, Buchanan, and the other preachers of Presbyterianism in Scotland, having taught the peo- ple, that " princes may be deposed by their subjects, if they be tyrants against God and his truth:" and that •• It is blasphemy to say that kings are to be obeyed, good or bad," disposed them for the perpetration of those riots and violences, including the murder of Cardinal Beaton, and the deposition and captivity of their lawful sovereign, by which Protestantism was estab- lished in that country. With respect to England, no sooner was the son of Henry dead, than a Protestant usurper, lady Jane, was set up, in prejudice of hii daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and supported by Canmer, Ridley, Latimer, Sandys, Poynet, and every Reformer of any note, because she was a Protestant. Finally, it was upon the principles of the Reformation, es- pecially that of each man's explaining the Scripture for himself, and a ha- tred of Popery, that the Grand Rebellion was begun and carried on, till the king wa.«( beheaded and the constitution destroyed. Has then the cause ol humanity, or that of peace nnd order, been benefitted by the change in question? t Survey of Europe, p. iao*i3% I 300 Letter XLVI. secondly, that the question here is not about the personal quali- ties, or conduct of any particular Pope, or of the Popes in gene- ral ; at the same time, it is proper to state, that in a list of two hundred and lifty-three Popes, who have successively filled the chair of St, Peter, only a small comparative number of them, have disgraced it, while a great proportion of them have done honour to it, by their virtues and conduct. On this head, I must again quote Addison, who says ; " the Pope is generally a man of learning and virtue, mature in years and experience, who has seldom any .vanity or pleasure to gratify at his people's ex- pense, and is neither encumbered with wife and children, or mistresses."* In the third place, I must remind you and my other friends, that I have nothing here to do with the doctrine of the Pope's individual infallibility, (when pronouncing Ex Cathedra, as the term is, he addresses the whole church, and delivers the faith of it upon some contested article,)! nor would you, in case you were to become a Catholic, be required to believe in any doc- trines, except such as are held by the whole Catholic church, with the Pope at its head. But, without entering into this or any other scholastic question, I shall content myself with ob- serving, that it is impossible for any man of candour and learn- ing, not to concur with a celebrated Protestant author, namely, C^sabon, who writes thus : " No one, who is the least versed in ecclesiastical history, can dDubt, that God made use of the holy See, during many ages, to preserve the doctrines of faith !" J At length wo arrive at the question itself, which is, whether the bishop of Rome, who, by pre-eminence, is called Pupa {Pope, ox father of the faithful) is or is not entitled to a superior rank and jurisdiction, above other bishops of the Christian church, so as to be its spiritual head here upon earth, and so that his See is the centre of Catholic unity ? All Catholics ne- cessarily hold the affirmative, of this question, while the above- • Remarks on Italy, p. 112. t The following is a specimen of Barrow's and Tillotson's chicanery in their Treatise of the Supremacy, Bellarmin, in working up an argument on the Pope's infallibility, says, hypothcticallij by way of proving the false- hood of his opponent's doctrine, that " this doctrine would oblige the church to believe vices to be pood, and virtues to tie bad, in case the Pope were to err in teaching this." Bell. De Rom. Pont. 1. iv. c. 5. Hence these writers take occasion to affirm, that Bellarmin posiiively teaches, that *• if the Pope should err, by enj« ining vices, or forbidding virtues, the church should be bound to believe vices to be good and virtues evil!" p. 203. This shameful misrepresentation has been taken up by most subse- quent Prote.%tant controvertists. X Exercit. xv. ad Annal. Baron Letter XLVL 301 \ mentioiied tergiversating primate denies, that there is a tolera- ble argument in its faviour.* Let us begin with consulting the New Testament, in order to see, whether or no the first Pope or bishop of Rome. St. Peter, was any way superior to the other apostles. St. Matthew, in numbering up the apostles, expressly says of him, THE FIRST, Simon, who is called Peter, Mat. x.*2. In like manner, the other Evangelists, while they class the other apostles differently, still give the first place to Peter t In fact, as Bossuet observes,:!: " St. Peter was the first to con- fess his faith in Christ ;^ the first to whom Christ appeared, after his resurrection ;|| the first to preach the belief of thiis to the people ;^ the first to convert the Jews ;** and the first to receive the Gentiles."tt Again I would ask, is there no dis- tinction implied, in St. Peter's being called upon by Christ to declare three several times, that he loved him, and even that he loved him more than his fellow apostles, and in his being each time charged to feed Christs^s lambs, and, at length, to feed his sheip also, whom the lambs are used to follow ?|J What else is here signified, but that this apostle was to act the part of a shepherd, not only with respect to the flock in general, but also with respect to the pastors .themselves? The same is plainly signified by our Lord's prayer for the faith of this apostle, in particidar, and the charge that he subsequently gave him : Simon, Simon, behold Salan has desired to have you, that he may sift you, as wheat : but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not ; and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. Luke xxii. 32. Is there no mysterious meaning in the circumstance, marked by the Evangelist, of Christ's entering into Simon^s ship, in preference to that of .fames and John, in order to teach the people out of it, and in the subsequent miraculous draught of fishes, together with our Lord's prophetic declaration to Simon : Fear not, from henceforth thou shall catch men, Luke v. 3. 10. But the strongest proof of St. Peter's superior dignity and juris- diction consists in that explicit and energetical declaration, of • Tillotsoa's father was an Anabaptist, and he himself was professedly t Puritan preacher, till the Restoration, so that there is reason to doubt whether ho ever received either Episcopal Ordination or Baptism. His successor, Secltcr, was also a Dissenter, and his baptism has been called in question. The former, vith bishop EJurnet, was called upon to attend lord Kussel at his execution, when they absolutely insisted, as a point necessary for salvation, on his disclaiming the lawfulness of resistance in any case whatever. Presently after, the revolution happening, they themselves de« clared for Lord Russel's principles. t Mark iii. U\. Luke vi. 14. Acts i, 13 t Orat. ad Cler. § Mat. xvi. 16. II Luke XXV i. .34. IT Actsii. 14. •* Ver. 37. +t Ibid. x. 47. U John xxi. 15- 1 u 302 Letter XLVl our Saviour to him, in the quarters of Cesarea Philippi, upon his makini; that glorious confession of our Lord's divinity : Thou art Christy the Son of the living God. Our Lord had mysteri- ously changed his name, at his first intervievir with him, when Jesus looking upon him, said, Thou art Simon, the Son ofJona; thou shalt he called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter, John i. 42 : and, on the present occasion, he explains the mystery, where he says. Blessed art thou Simon, Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father, who is in hea^ And I say to thee : that thou art Peter (a rock,) and UPON' vrn THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it : and I unll give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. Mat. xvi. 17, 18, 19. Where now, I ask, is the sincere Christian, and especially the Christian who professes to make Scripture the sole rule of his faith, who, with these passages of the inspired text before his eyes, will venture, at the risk of his soul, to deny that any special dignity or charge was conferred upon St. Peter, in pre- ference to the other apostles ? I trust no such Christian is to be found in your society. Now, as it is a point agreed upon, at least in your church and mine, that bishops, in general, succeed to the rank and functions of the apostles, so, by the same rule, the successor of St. Peter, in the See of Rome, succeeds to his primacy and jurisdiction. This cannot be questioned by any serious Christian, who reflects, that, when our Saviour gave his orders about feeding his fuck, and made his declaration about building his church, he was not establishing an order of things to last during the few years that St. Peter had to live, but one that was to last as long as he should have a flock and a church on earth, that is to the end of time ; conformably with his pro- mise to the apostles, and their successors, in the concluding words of St. Matthew : Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Mat. xxviii. 20. That St. Peter (after governing for a time, the patriarchate uf Antioch, the capital of the East, and thence sending his disciple, Mark, to establish that of Africa at Alexandria) final- ly fixed his own See at Rome, the capital of the world, that his successors there have each of them exercised the power of su- preme pastor, and have been' acknowledged as such by all Christians, except by notorious heretics and schismatics, from the apostolic age down to the present, the writings of the fa- thers, doctors, and historians of the church unanimously testify Letter XLVL 303 St. Paul, having been converted, and raised to the apostleship in a miraculous manner, thought it necessary to go up to Jeru- salem to see Peter, where he abode with him Jif teen days. Gal at. i. 18. St. Ignatius, who was a disciple of the apostles, and next successor, after Evodius, of St. Peter in the See of Anti- och, addresses his most celebrated epistle to the church, which ho says, "PRESIDES in the country of the Romans."* About the same time, dissensions taking place in the church of Corinth, the case was referred to the church of Ronie, to which the Holy Pope Clement, v)hose name is written in the book of hfe, Philip, iv. 3, returned an apostolical answer of exhortation and instruction.t In the second century, St. Irenaeus who had been instructed by St. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the Evangelist, referring to the tradition of the apostles, preserved in the church of Rome calls it " the greatest, most ancient, and most universally known, as having been founded by St. Peter and St. Paul ; to which (he says) every church is bound to conform, by reason of its superior authority."^ Tertullian, a priest of the Roman church, who flourished near the same time, calls St. Peter, " the rock of the church," and says, that " the church was built upon him."^ Speaking of the bishop of Rome, he terms him in dift'erent places, " the blessed Pope, the high priest, the apostolic pre- late, &c." 1 must add, that, at this early period, Pope Victor exerted his superior authority, by threatening the bishops of Asia with excommunication for their irregularity in celebrating Easter, and the other moveable feasts, from which rigorous measure he was deterred, chiefly by St. Irenajus.|| In the third century, we hear Origen^I and St. Cyprian repeatedly affirm- ing, tha;t the church was " founded on Peter," that he " fixed his chair at Rome," that this is " the mother church," and " the root of Catholicity."** The latter expresses great indig- nation that certain African schismatics should dare to approach " the See of Peter, the head church and source of ecclesiastical unity ."ft It is true, this father afterwards had a dispute with Pope Stephen, about rebaptizing converts from heresy ; but this proves nothing more than that he did not think the Pope's au- thority superior to general tradition, which, through mistake, he supposed to be on his side. To what degree, however, he Con- * UpiKaBnrai, Epist. Ignat. Cotelero. + Coteler. t " A(l banc ecclesiatn convenire necesse est omnem ecclesiam," ra Hseres. 1. iii. c. 3. § Prescrip- I. i- c 22. De \lonos:am. II Kuseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. v. c. 24. ir Horn. 5 in Exod Horn. 17 mi Luc. ** Ep. ad Cornel. Ep. ad Anton. De Unit. &.c tt Ep. ad Cornel, 55< 804 Letter XL VI. rlid admit this authority, appears by his advising this same Pope, to depose Marcian, a schismatical bishop of Gaul, and to appoint another bishop in his place.* At the beginning of the fourth century we have the learned Greek historian, Eusebius, explaining in clear terms, the ground of the Roman pontiff's claim to superior authority, which he derives from St. Peter ;f we have also the great champion of orthodoxy and the patriarch of the second See in the world, St. Athanasius, ap- pealing to the bishop of Rome, which See he terms •' the mo- ther and the head of all other churches."| In fact, the Pope reversed the sentence of deposition, pronounced by the saint's enemies, and restored him to his patriarchal chair.^ Soon after this, the council of Sardica confirmed the bishop of Rome, in his right of receiving appeals from all the churches in the worId.|| Even the Pagan historian, Ammiani^s, about the same time, bears testimony to the superior authority of the Ro- man Pontiff.^ In the same century, St. Basil, St. Hilary, St. Epiphanius, St. Ambrose, and other fathers and doctors, teach the same thing. Let it suffice to say, that the first named of these scruples not to advise, that the Pope should send visit- ers to the eastern churches, to correct the disorders, which the Arians had caused in them,** and that the last mentioned re- presents communion with the bishop of Rome, as communion with the Catholic church.ft 1 most add, that the great St. "Chrysostom, having been, soon after, unjustly deposed from his seat in the Eastern Metropolis, was restore J to it by the au- thority of Pope Innocent ; that Pope Leo termed his church *' the head of the world, because its spiritual power, as he al- leged, extended farther than the temporal power of Rome had ever extended."|J: Finally, the learned St. .Jerom, being dis- tracted with the disputes among three parties, which divided the church of Antioch, to which church he was then subject, wrote for directions, (m this head, to Pope Damasus, as follows : " I, who am but " sheep, apply to my shepherd for succour. I ani united with your holiness, that rs to say, with the chair of Peter, in communion. I know that the church is built upon that 7 He who eats the Paschal Lamb out of th ti house, is profai,'^, Whoever is not in Noah's Ark will perish by the delugt i • * Ep. 29. t Euseb. Chron. An. 44. t Epist. ad Marc.^ § Socrat. Hist. 1. 11. c. 2. Zozom. II Can. 3. IT Rerum Gest i. xv. •♦ Epist, 52. ii Orat. in Obit. Satyr. tt Serm. de Nat Apu^ Thi-^ sentiment, another lather of the church, in the following century ,. .-t. '.losper, expressed in these lines: " Sedcs Roma f'etri, quae pastoral:, .^-..oiii: ' .eta cai at mundo, quidquid non possidel armis; Religione teru;! ' Letter XLVL 305 1 I 1 \ know nothing of Vitalis, I rejf^'t Melitius, I am ignorant of Paii- linus : he who does not gathei with thee, scatters," &c.* It were useless, after this, to cite the numerous testimonies to the Pope's supremacy, which St. Aiffustin, and all the fathers, doc tors, and church historians, and all the general councils bear, down to the present time. However, a, the authority of our apostle. Pope Gregory the Great, is claimed by most Protestant divines on their side, and is alluded to by Bp.f Porteus, merely for having censured the pride of John, patriarch of C. P. in as- suming to himself the title of CEchumenical or universal bishop ; it is proper to show, that this Pope, like all the others who went heh^ .' Liro, and came after him, did claim and exercise the povi. ;v of Kupreme pastor, throughput the church. Speaking of this very attempt of John, he says, " The care of the whole chi^u h was committed to Peter, and yet he is not called the uni- versal apostle. "t With respect to the See of C. P. he suys, " Who doubts but it is subject to the apostolic See ;" and again, " V\' hen bishops commit a fault, I know not what bishop is not subject to it," {the See of Romti.)^ As no Pope was ever lore vigilant, in discharging the duties of his exalted station, than St. Gregory, so none of them, perhaps, exercised more numerouiior widely extended acts of the supremacy, than he did. It is suf- ficient to cite here his directions to St. Austin of Canterbury, whom he had sent into this island, for the conversion of our Saxon ancestors, and who had consulted him, by letter, how he was to act with respect to the French bishops, and the bishops of this island, namely, the British prelates in Wales, and the Pictish and Scotch in the northern parts. To this question Pope Gregory retHrns an answer in the following words : " We give you no jurisdiction over the bishops of Gaul, because, from ancient times, my predecessors have conferred the Pallium (the ensign of legatine authority) on the bishop of Aries, whom we ought not to deprive of the authority he has received. But we commit all the bishops of Britain to .your care, that the ignorant among them may be instructed, the weak strengthened, and the perverse corrected by your authority."! After this i^ it possible to believe that Bp. Porteus and his fellow writers ever read Venerable Bede's History of the English nation ? But if they could even succeed in proving that Christ had not built his church upon St. Peter and his successors, and had not i;iven them the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; it would still remain * Ep. ad Dam»s. t II Hist. Bed. I. i. c. 27. ■2fl* P. 78. t Ep. Greg. 1. v. 20. f L. ix. 59. Itesp. 9. vSpelin. Concil. p. 98. 306 Letter XLVI. for them to prove, that he had founded any part of it on Henry VIII, Edward VI, and their successors, orlhat he had given the mystical keys to Elizabeth and her successors. I have shown, ill a former letter, that these sovereigns exercised a more des- potic power over all the ecclesiastical and spiritual aflairs of this realm, than any Pope ever did, even in the city of Rome, and that the changes in religion, which took place in their reigns, were effected by them and their agents, not by the bishops or any clerfjy whatever ; and yet no one will pretend to show from Scripture, tradition, or reason, that these princes had received any greater power from Christ over the doctrine and discipline of his church, than he conferred upon Tiberius, Pilate, or Herod, or than he has given at the present day, to the great Turk or the Lama of Thibet, in their respective dominions. Before I close this letter I think it right to state the senti- ments of a few eminent Protestants respecting the- Pope's su- premacy. I have already menticmed, that Luther acknowledged it, and submissively bowed to it, during the three first years of his dogmatizing about justification ; and till his doctrine was condemned at Home. In like manner, our Henry VIII. assert- ed, it, and wrote a book in defence of it, in reward of which the Pope conferred upon him and his successors the new title of Dfjeuder of the Faith. Such was his doctrine ; till, becoming amorous of his queen's maid of honour, Ann Ijullen, and finding the Pope conscientiously inflexible in refusing to grant him a divorce from the former, and to sanction an adulterous con- nexion with the latter, he set hinjself up, as supreme head of the church of England, and maintained his claim by the arguments of halters, knives, and axes. James I, in his first speech in par- liament, termed Rome ♦• the mother church," and in his writ- ings allowed the Pope to be " The patriarch of the West." The late archbishop Wake, after all his bitter writings against the Pope and the Catholic church, coming to discuss the terms of a proposed union between this church and that of England, expressed himself willing to allow a certain superiority to the Roman poivfiff.* Bishop Bramhall had expressed the same aentimcm,-! sensible as he was, that no peace or order could subsist in the Christian church, any more than in a political RtHte, without a supreme authority. Of th(^ truth of this maxim, two others, among the groatest men whom Protestantism has to bt)a8t of, the Lutheran Mtilancilion, and the ("alvinint Hugo R( • «• Suo Gaudcat qualioiuiquo Piimatu." to Mosheiin'.s Eccl. I list. vol. v t Annwer to Militiere • See Madain's Third Appendly Letter XL VIL 307 Grotius, were deeply persuaded. The former had written to prove the Pope to be Antichrist ; but seeing the animosities, the divisions, the errors, and the impieties of the pretended re- formers, with whom he was connected, and the utter impossi- bility of putting a stop to these evils, without returning to the ancient system, he wrote thus to Francis I, of France : " We acknowledge, in the first place, that ecclesiastical government is a thing holy and salutary : namely, that there should be cer- tain bishops to govern the pastors of several churches, and that THE ROMAN PONTIFF should be above all the bishops For the church stands in need of governors, to examine and ordain those who are called to the ministry, and to watch over their doctrine ; so that, if there were no bishops, they ought to be created."* The latter great man, Grotius, was learned, wise, and always consistent. In proof of this he wrote as follows, to the minister. Rivet : " All who are acquainted with Grotius, know how earnestly ho has wished to se% Christians united to- gether in one body. This he once thought might have been ac- complished by a union among Protestants, but afterwards, he saw that this is impossible. Because, not to mention tlie aversion of Oalvinists to every sort of union, Protestants are not bound by any ecclesiastical government, so that they can neither be united at present, nor prevented from splitting into fresh divi- sions. Therefore Grotius now is fully convinced, as many others are also, that Protestants never can be united among themselves, unless they join those who adhere to the Roman See ; without which there never can bo any general church government. Hence he wishes that the revolt and the causes of it may be removed, among which causes, the primacy of the bishop of Rome was not one, as Melancthon confessed who also thought that primacy necessary to restore union. "f 1 am, &c. J. M. LETTER XLVII. - To JAMES DROWN, Jun. Esq. ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE LITUROV AND ON READING THE HOLY SCRIPTUKES. Dear Sm,* I AoiiLi; with your worthy futlu-r, that the doparlurc of the Rev. Mr. Clayton, to a foreign country, is a loss to your Salopian * D'Arxenlre, Collect, Jutl. t. i. p. '2. — HcrcaHiel and F»>llcr rolatu, that MelitnctlKiirt) iiiothor, vvlu) was a Catliollc, having cuitauUed him about her rcligiun, he puriuadcU her to cuiitiiiuu ia it. t Apoi. aU Uivct. II 308 Letter XLVIl. Society in more respects than one ; and as it is his wish that I should address the few remaining letters I have to write, in answer to bishop Forteus's book, to you, sir, who, it seems, agree with him in the main, but not aliogether, on religious sub- jects, 1 shall do so, for your own satisfaction and that of your friends, who are still pleased to hear me upon them. Indeed tiie remaining controversies between that prelate and myself are of light moment, compared with those I have been treating of, {18 they consist chiefly of disciplinary matters, subject to the control of the church, or of particular facts misrepresented by his lordship. The first of these points of cl.angeable discipline, which the bishop mentions, or rather declaims upon throughout a whole chapter, is the use of the Latin timgue in the public liturgy of the Latin church. It is natural enough that the church of England, which is of modern date, and confined to its own do- main, should adopt its own language, in its public worship : and, for a similar reason, it is proper that the great Wes'.ern or Latin church, which was established by the apostles, when the Latin tongue was the vulgar tongue of Europe, and which still is the common language of educated persons in every part ol it, should retain this language in her public service. When the bishop complains of "our worship being performed in an un- known tungue"* and of our '* wicked and cruel cunning in keeping people in ilarkness,^^f by this means, under pretext that " they reverence what they do not understand,"^ he nmst be conscious of the irreligious calumnies he is uttering : knowing, as he does, that Latin is, perhaps, still the most general lan- guage of Christianity,'^ and that, where it is not commonly understood, it is not the church which has introduced a foreign language among the people, but it is the people who have for- gotten their ancient language. So far removed is the Ciitholic church from " the wicked and cruel cunning of keeping people in ignorance," by retaining her original apostolical languages, the Latin and the Greek ; that she strictly commands her pas- tors every where, "to inculcate the word of God, and the les- sons of salvation, to the people, in their vulgar tongue, every Sunday and festival throughout the year,"ll and " to explain to them the nature and meaning of her divine worship as fre- • p. 7r.. i P. OX t P. r.-'i. i The Latin lanirnairo is ver. arular in Hungary and the neijjlibourlng countries: it is taui,'iit in all (he Catholic scttieincnts of the universe, and it appro, iches so near to the Italian, Spanish, and French, as to he undeivtuod* in a general kind of way, by those who uso these language!. U Uoncil. Trid. Seas xxiv. c. 7. t Letter XLVII. 309 quently as possible,"* In like manner, we are so far fron) iinaginino that the less our peciple undorstand of our liturj>y the more they reverence it, that we are quite sure of precisely the contrary ; particularly with respect to oui; principal liturgy, thi! adorable sacrifice of the mass. True it is, that a part of tiiis is performed by the priest in silence, because, being a sa- cred action, as well as a form of words, some of the prayers which the priest says, would not be proper or rational in the mouths of the people. Thus, the high priest of old went alone into the tabernacle, to make the atonement ;f and thus Za- chary olfered incense in the temple by himself ; while the mul- titude prayed without | But this is no detriment to the faith- ful, as they have translations of the liturgy, and other books in their hands, by me.'uis of which, or of their own devotion, they ran join with the priest in every part of the solemn worship ; as the Jewish people united with their priests, in the sacrifices above-mentioned. But we are referred by his lordship to I Cor. xiv. in order " to see what St. Paul would have judged of the Romanists practice" in retaining the Jjatin liturgy, (which, after all, he himself and St. Peter established where it now prevails ;) I an- swer, that there is not a word in that chapter which mentions or alludes to the public liturgy, which at Corinth was, as it is still performed in the old Greek ; the whole of it regarding an imprudent and ostentatious use of the gilt of tongues, in speak- ing all kinds of languages, which gift many of the faithful pos- sessed, at that time, in common with the apostles. The very reason, alleged by St. Paul, for prohibiting extemporary pray- ers and exhortations, which no one understood, namely, that all things should be. done decentli/ and according to ordcr^ is the principal motive of the Catholic church, for retaining, in her worship, the original languages employed by the apostles. She is, as 1 before remarked, a universal church, spread over the face of the globe, and composed of ail nations^ and trihes, and tongues, Rev. vii. 9, and these tongues constantly changing ; 80 that instead of the uniformity of worship, as well as of fuith, which is so necessary for that decency and ort/cr, there would bo nothing but confusion, disputes, and changes in every part of her liturgy, if it were performed in so many different languages, and dialects; with the constant danger of some alteration or other in the essential forms, which would vitiate the very sacra- ment and satrilice. The advantage of an ancient language, ibr r being, whether Cathidic or heretic, Jew oi Pagaji, even in a just wur, or by exercivsing the art of surgery or by judicial proceedings, irrtgulnr, that is io say, such per *^ I • P. 71. % Epist. ad Turib. t De Coetlogon's SeaHonahlo (;!antion, p. 15. § Ad Scapul u Ued. Ecc. Hint. 1. i. c. "26, Letter XLIX. 331 In \ Bons cannot be promoted to holy orders, or exercise those orders, if lliey liavo aciiially received them. Nay, when an eccle»iuMtical judge or tribunal hain, after duo examination, pro- nounced that uny person, accui«ed of obstinate heresy, is actually guilty of it, he is required by the church, expressly, to declare in her name, that her power extends no furtber thaii such d«* cision ; and, in case he obstinate heretic is liable, by the laws of the state, to suiter death or mutilation, ho is required to pray fgr his pardon. Even the council of Constance, in condemn- . iiig John Muss of heresy, declared that its power extended no further.* , » II. But, whereas many heresies are subversive of the esta- blished governments, the public peace, and natural morality, it does not belong to the church to prevent princes and states from exercising their just authority in repressing and punishing them, when this is judged to be the case ; nor would any cler- gyman incur irregularity by exhorting princes and magistrates to provide for those important objects, and the safety of the church itself, by repressing its disturbers, provided he did not concur to the death or mutilation of uny particidar disturber. Thus it appears, that though there have been j)er.secuting laws in many Catholic states, the church itself, so fjir from claiming, actually disclaims the power of pf:rseculin, dtc. proofs of •Jie infidelity of the fiinioiis martyrolo^ist, John Fox, and of the ^Jreat uhafo. maota which are to be made in his acr'>unt of the i rutektant sutferers. 324 Letter XL IX. I the people of this country, as well as their own, to put their Jezahel to tkath. Still, I grant, persecution was not the way to diminish the number or the violence of the enthusiastic insur- gents. With toleration and prudence, on the part ol" the go- vernors, the paroxysm of the governed would quickly have sub- sided. V. Finally ; whatever may be said of the intolerance of Mary, I trust that this charge will not be brought against the next Catholic sovereign, James 11. I have elsewhere* shown, that, when duke of York, ho used his best endeavours to get the act, De Heretico Comburendo, repealed, and to afford an asy- lum to the Protestant exiles, who flocked to England, from France, on the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and, in short, that, when king, he lost his crown in the cause of toleration : his Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, having been the deter- mining cause of his deposition. But what need of words to dis- prove the odious calumny, that Catholics " breathe the spirit of cruelty and murder," and are obliged, by their religion, to bo persecutors, when every one of our gentry, who has made the tour of France, Italy, and Germany, has experienced the contrary ; and has been as cordially received by the Pope him- self, in his metropolis of Rome, where he is both prince and bishop, in the character of an English Protestant, as if he were known to be the most zealous Catholic ! — Still, I fear, there are some individuals in your society, as there are many other Pro- testants of my acquaintance elsewhere, who cling fast to this charge against Catholics, of persecution, as the last resource for their own intolerance ; and, it being true, that Catholics have, in some times and places, unsheathed the sword against the heterodox, these peracns insist upon it, that it is an essential part of the Catholic religion to persecute. On the other hand, many Protestants, either from ignorance or policy, nowadays, claim for themselves, exclusively, the credit of toleration. As an instance of this, the bishop of Lincoln writes : " I consider toleration as a mark of the true church, and as a piinciple, re- commended by the most eminent of our reformers and divines. "t In these circumstances, I know but of (me argument to stop the mouths of such disputants, which is to prove to them, that per- secution has not only been more generally practised by Pro- testants than by Catholics, but also, that it has been mure warmly defended and supported by the most eminent " Reform- ers and divines" of their party, than by their opponents. * History of Winchcater, vol. i. p. 437, Letters to a Prebendary, p. 37& t rbargo in IBI'^. t I I Letter XL IX. 325 I. The learned Bergier defies Protestan»» to mention so much as a town, in which their predecessors, on becoming masters of it, tolerated a single Catholic in it * Rousseau, who was edu- cated a Protestant, says, that " the Reformation was intolerant from its cradle, and its authors universally persecutors."! Bayle, who was a Calvinist, has published much the same thing. Fi- nally, the Huguenot minister, Jurieu, acknowledges, that " Ge- neva, Switzerland, the Republics, electors and princes of the empire, England, Scotland, Sweden, and Denmark, had all employed the power of the stale to abolish Popery, and esta- blish the Reformation."! But to proceed to other more posi- tive proofs of what has been said ; the first father of Protest- antism, finding his new religion, which ho had submitted to the Pope, condemned by him, immediately sounded the trumpet of persecution and murder against the pontiflT, and cfll his support- ers, in the following terms : " If we send thieves to the gallows, and robbers to the block, why do we not fall on those masters of perdition, the Popes, cardinals, and bishops, with all our force, and not give over till we have bathed our hands in their blood ?"^ He elsewhere- calls the Pope, " a mad wolf, against whom every one ought to take arms, without waiting for an order from the magistrate." He adds, " if you fall before the beast has received its mortal wound, you will have but one thing -to be sorry for, that you did not bury your dagger in its breast. All that defend him must be treated like a band of robbers, be they kings or be they CpRsars."! By these and simi- •ar incentives, with which the works of Luther abound, he not only excited the Lutherans themselves to propagate their reli- gion by fire and sword against the emperor and other Catholic princes, but also gave occasion to all the sanguinary and frantic scenes, which the Anabaptists played, at the same time, through the lower part of Germany. Coeval with these was the civil war, which another arch-reformer, Zuiiiglius, lighted up in Switzerland, by way of propagating his peculiar system, and the persecution which he raised equally against the Catholics and the Anabaptists. Even the moderate Melanctlion wrote a book in defence of religions persecution,^! and the conciliatory Bucer, who became professor ol" divinity at Cambridge, not satisfied with the burning of the heretic, Servetus, preached that • Trait. Hist, et Dogmat. + Letters de la Mont. t 'lab. Lett, quoted by Bossuct, Avertiss, p. t)25. I Ad Silvest. l^ereir. II Theses apud Sleid. A. D. 15i!>. Opera Luth. torn. i. X Beza, De Hicret. puniend. 88 326 Letter XLIX. " his bowels ought to have been torn out, and his body chop- ped to pieces."* 11. But the great champion o\ persecution, every one knows was the founder of the second great branch of Protestantism, John Calvin. Not content with burning Servetus, beheading Gruet, and persecuting other distinguished Protestants, Castallo Bolsec, and GectiJis, (who being apprehended in the neigh- bouring Protestant canton of Berne, was put to death there) he set up a consistorial inqusition at Geneva, for forcing every one to conform to his opinions, and required, that the magis- trates should punish whomever this consistory condemned. He was succeeded in his spirit, as well as in his office, by Beza who wrote a folio work in defence of persecution.t In this he shows, that Luther, Melancthon, Bullinger, Capito, no less than Calvin, had written works, expressly in defence of this prin- ciple, which, accordingly, was firmly maintained by Calvin's followers, particularly in France. Bossuet refers to the public records, of Nismes, Montpelier and other places, in proof of the directions, issued by the Calvinist consistories to their generals, for " forcing the Papists to embrace the Reformation by taxes, quartering soldiers upon them, demolishing thc?r houses, «Stc." and he says, " the wells into which the Catholics were ^ung, and the instruments of torture which were used at the first nen- tioned city, to force them to attend the Protestant sermons, are things of public notoriety ."| In fact, who has not read of the infamous baron D'Adrets, whose savage sport it was, to torture and murder Catholics, in a Catholic kingdom, and who forced his son literally to wash his hands in their blood ? Who has not heard of the inhuman .lane, queen of Navarre, who massa- cred priests and religious persons, by hundreds, merely on ac- count of their sacred character ? In short. Catholic France throughout its extent, and during a great number of years, was a scene of desolation and slaughter, from the unrelenting p«r- secution of its Huguenot subjects. Nor was the spectacle dis- similar, in the Low Countries, when Calvinism got a footing in them. Their first synod, held in 1574, equally proscribed the Catholics and the Anabaptists, calling upon the magistrates to support their decrees,^ which decrees were renewed in several subsequent synods. I have elsewhere quoted a late Protestant writer, who, on the authority of existing public records, do- .scribes the horrible torments with which Vaudermerk and Sonoi, • Oer. Brandt. Hist. Abrejj. Rcfor. Pais Bas, vol. 1. p. 454. x ' t De Haereticif* puniendisttCivili Magislratu, &,c. a Theofl Beza. t Vtriat. L x un. 52. § Biandt. vol. i. p. '^27. Letter XLIX. 327 I two generals of the prince of Orange, put to death incredible numbers of Dutch Catholics.* Other writers furnish more ample materials of the same kind.f But M'hile the Calvinist ministers continued to stimulate their magistrates to reboubled severities ac^ainst the Catholics, for which purpose, among other means, they translated into Dutch and published the above-men- tioned work of Beza, a new object of their persecution arose in the bosom of their own society ; Arminius, Vossius, Episcopius, and some other divines, supported by the illustrious statesmen, Barnevelt and Grotius, declared against the more rigorous of Calvin's maxims. They would not admit, that God decrees men to be wicked, and then punishes them everlastingly for what they cannot help ; nor that many persons are in his actual grace and favour, while they are immersed in the most enor- mous crimes. For denying this, Barnevelt was beheaded,^ Gro- tius was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and all the remon- strant clergy, as they were called, were banished, at the requsition of the synod of Dort, from their families and their country, with circumstances of the greatest cruelty. In speaking of Luthcr- anism, I have passed by'many persecuting decrees and practices of its adherents against Calvinists and Zuinglians, and many more of Calvinists against Lutherans ; while both parties agreed in showing no mercy to the Anabaptists. Before I quit the continent, I must mention the Lutheran kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden, in both which, as Jurieau has signified above, the Catholic religion was extirpated, and Protestantism established by means of rigorous, persecuting laws, which denounced the punishment of death against the former. Professor Messenius, who wrote about the year 1 600, mentions four Catholics who had recently been put to death, in Sweden, on account of their religion, and eight others who had been imprisoned and lortu^'ed on that account, of whom he himself was one.^ II L To pass over now, to the northern part of our ow^i island : the first reformers of Scotland, having deliberately murdered Cardinal Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrcw'8,|| and riotously destroyed the churches, monasteries, and every thing else, which they termed monuments of Popery, assembled in a tumultuous and illegal manner, and before even their own re- Letters to a Prebend, p. 103. learned E.-'tius's History of the Martyrs of Gorcum; Da * P. 283. t See the Brandt, &c. t Diodati, quoted by Brandt, says that the can)n9 of Dort carried off th« head of Barnevelt. S Scandia Illustrat quottd by Lc Bruu. Muss. Explio. t. iv. p. '40. I] Gilb. 8tuart'» Hi»t .>f Ref in Scot. vol. i. p. 47, &c. til 328 Letter XL IX. ligion was established by law, they condemned the Catholics to capital punishment for the exercise of theirs : " such stran- gers," says Robertson, " were men, at that time, to the spirit of toleration and the laws of humanity !"* Their chief apostle was John Knox, an apostate friar, who, in all his publications and sermons, maintained, that " it is not birth, but God's elec- tion, which confers a right to the throne and to magistracy ;' that " no promise or oath, made to an enemy of the truth, that is to a Catholic, is binding ;" and that " every such enemy, in a high station, is to be deposed."! Not content with threaten- ing to depose her, he told his queen, to her face, that the Pro- testants had a right to take the sword of justice into their hands and to punish her, as Samuel slew Agag, and as Elias slew Jezabel's prophets | Conformably with this doctrine, he wrote into England, that " the nobility and people were bound in conscience, not only to withstand the proceedings of that Jeza- bel, Mary, whom they call queen, but also to put her to death, and all her priests with her."^ His fellow apostles, Goodman, Willox, Buchanan, Rough, Black, &c. constantly inculcated to the people the same seditious and persecuting doctrine ; and the Presbyterian ministers, in general, earnestly pressed for the execution of their innocent queen, who was accused of a mur- der, perpetrated by their own Protestant leaders || The same unrelenting intolerance was seen among " the most moderate" of their clergy, " when they were assembled by order of king James and his council, to inquire whether the Catholic earls of Huntly, Errol, and their followers, on makins^ a proper con- cession, might not be admitted into the church, and be exempt from further punishment V These ministers then answered, that " Though the gates of mercy are always open for those who repent, yet, as these noblemen had been guilty of idolatry, (the Catholic religion) a crime deserving death by the laws both of God and man, the civil magistrate could not legally pardon them, and that, though the church should absolve them, it v/as his duty to inflict punishment upom them."1[ But wo need not be surprised at any severity of the Presbyterians against Catholics, when, among other penances, ordained by public authority, against their own members who should break the fast of Lent, whipping in the church was one.** • Hist, of Scotland, An. 1560 t See Collier's Ecc. Hist. vol. ii. p. 442, t Stuart's Hist. vol. i. p. 5'J. f Cited by Dr. Pateraon, in his Jerus. and Babel. II Stuart's' Hist. vol. i. p. 255. IT Robertson's Hist. An. 1696 •• Stuart, vol. ii. p. 94. „. , V. Letter XLIX. 329 IV. The father of the Church of England, under the authori- ty of the protector Seymour, duke of Somerset, was confessedly 'riiomas Cranmer, whom Hnnry VIII. raised to the archbishop- ric of Canterbury ; of whom it is difficult to say, whether his obsequiousness to the passionr .. his successive masters, Henry, Seymour, and Dudley, or his barbarity to the sectaries who Were in his power, was the more odious. There is this circum- stance, which distinguishes him from almost every other perse- cutor, that he actively promoted the capital punishment, not only of those who differed from him in religion, but also of those who agrees with him in it. It is admitted by his advo- cates,* that he was instrumental, during the reigit of Henry, in bringing to the stake the Protestants, Lambert, Askew, Frith, and Allen, besides condemning a great many others to it, for denying the corporal piesence of Christ in the sacrament, which he disbelieved himself;! audit is equally certain, that during the reign of the child Edward, he continued to convict Arians and Anabaptists capitally, and to press for their execution. Two of these, Joan Knell and George Van Par, he got actually burnt : preventing the young king, Edward, from pardoning them, by telling him, that " princes being God's deputies, ought to punish impieties against him."t The two next most eminent fathers of the English church were, unquestionably, bishop Ridley, and bishop Latimer, both of them noted persecutors, and persecutors of Protestants to the extremity of death, no less than of Anabaptists and other sectaries.^ Upon the second establishment of the Protestant religion in England, when Elizabeth ascended the throne, it was again buttressed up here, as in every other country, where it prevail- ed, by the most severe, persecuting laws. I have elsewhere shown, from authentic sources, that above two hundred Ca- tholics were hanged, drawn and quartered during her reign, for the mere profession or exercise of the religion of their ancestors for almost one thousand years. Of this number fifteen were condemned for denying the queen's spiritual supremacy, one hundred and twenty-six for the exercise of their priestly func- tions, and the rest for being reconciled to the Catholic church, for hearing mass, or aiding and abetting Catholic priests. || :|l Fox, Acts and Monum. Fuller's Church Hist. b. v. t See Letters to a 1 reb. p. iJOG. X Burnet's Ch. Hist. p. ii. b. i. 8 See the proofs ot these facts collected iroin Fox, Burnet, Heylin, and Collier, i'n Letters to a Preb. l.,et. V. II Certain opponents of mine have pul.licly objectec' to me, that these Catholics suffered for kigh treason : true; the laws of persecution declared 830 Letter XLIX. When to these sanguinary scenes are added those of many hnn dreds of other Catholics, who perished in dungeons, who were driven into exile, or who were stripped of their property, it will appear, that the persecution of Elizabeth's reign, was far more grievous than that of her sister Mary ; especially when the proper deductions are made from the sufferers under the latter.* Nor was persecution confined to the Catholics ; for, when great numbers of foreign Anabaptists, and other sectaries, had fled into England, from the fires and gibbets of their Protestant brethren in Holland, they found their situation much worse here, as they complained, that it had been in their own coun- try. To silence these complaints, the bishop of London, Ed- win Sandys, published a book in vindication of religious perse* cutioni In short, the Protestant church and state concurred to their extirpation. An assembly of them, to the number of twenty-seven, having being seized upon in 1 575, some of them were so intimidated as to recant their opinions, some were scourged, two of them, Peterson and Terwort, were burnt to death in Smithfield, and the rest banished % Besides these foreigners, the English Dissenters were also grievously perse- cuted. Several of them, such as Thacker, CopninT n |en- wood, Barrow, Penry, e8 not consist so much ill iheir being deprived of those oonnnon |)rivilogt*s und'ndvuntu- gi»H, as in liieir being ludd out by thn Icgi^taturef as unwurt/nj oj /Arm, and thus being reduced to the condition oi an inferior cast, in their own country, the country «)!' IVeedoni ; this they deeply feel, and cannot help teeiing. V. Hut to return to my subject : I presume, that if the lucta and reflections, which I have stuted in this letter, had occurred to the U. Kev. prelates, mentioned at tlie beginning of it, they would have lowered, if not (]uite altered, tlieir tone on the pre* sent subject: the bishop of London would not have charged Catholics with claiming a right to punish those whom they call heretics, *' with penalties, imprisonment, tortures, and death :" nor would the bishop of Lincoln have laid down '* toleration as a nmrk of the true church, and as a principle, recommended by the most eminent reforniers and (i*rotestant) divines." At ttii events, I promise myself, that a due consideration of the points here suggested, will efface the remaining prejudices of certain persons of your society against the Catholic church, on the score of her alleged " spirit of persecution, and of her sup- posed claim to punish the errors of the mind with fire and sword." They must have seen, that she does not claim, but thut, in her very general councils, she has disclaimed all power of this naturo ; and that, in pronouncing those to be obstinate heretics, whom she finds to be such, she always pleads for mercy, in iheir behalf, when they are liable to severe punish- ment from the secular power : a conduct which many eminent Protestant Churchmen, were far from imitating, in similar cir- cumstances They .nust have seen, moreover, that, wf perse- cuting laws have been nuide and acted upcm by the princes and magistrates in many Catholic countries, the same conduct has been uniformly practised in every country, from the Alps to the Arctic Circle, in which Protestants, of any description, have acquired the power of so doing. Uut, if, after all, the frieiuls alluded to, sliould not admit of atiy material difTerence, on one side or the other, in this matter, I will here point out to them two discriminating circumstances of such weight, as must, at once, decide the question about persecution in disfa- vour of Protestants. In the first place, when Catholic states and princes have per- seciUed Protestants, it was dime in favour of an ancient reUgum, which had been established in their country, perhaps, a thuu- ■and ur fifteen hundred years, and which had long preserved W ' ," liftter XUX 335 ihe poacp, order, and rnornlify of ilmir ruHpoclivo HnhjfictB ; and wluMi, at tho nnino timo, tlu;y cliuirly huw, that any attninpt to ailer tliis roligion would, iinavoidahly, |>i-oil(ic(!d nioalcidable did* orders, and siingninary contrMtn ainon^ llinin. On the other hand, ProtoHlanlH,