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Le& diagrammos suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 im^iP^^r^^_.f^iii-i«ii|i,iiii. 1 ■m REV. FATHER MOLPHY, Jiomr/r CathoUc Priest, AND REV. ROBERT SCOBIE, Presbyterian Minister, H -A3 PUBLISHED IN THK- COLUMNS OF THE STRATHROY "WESTERN DISPATCH." STRATHROY, CANADA : PKiNTKD AT THE " WF>"rr:rvN dispatch" printing ITOrSK. 1877. TT LECTURE BY REV. FATHER LENNON, (of HAMILTON), Delivered in the RoinaH Catholic Church, Stratbroy, on Sandav erenin^r. Oct, 29th, 1876, as re- ported in the Strathroy WKaxKRN Uisi'atoh or Nov. Ist, 1876. Father Lennon, oa coming forward, announced as his text — " One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism." — St. Paul, Eph. iv., 5, Beloved brethren, before our blessed Lord left the world to return to the bosom of his heavenly Father, He chose twelve poor, illiterate men, whom he formed into a society which he called His Church. This Church He commis- sioned to continue the work He began, which was to convert all men. He commanded all men to hear and enter this Churcli under pain of eternal damnation. " He that will not hear this Church, let him be as the heathen and the publican." This Church He built on an impregnable rock, against which the powers of hell would rage iii vain, and, finally. He promised that He would remain with her, guiding and protecting her till the end of time. This Church must be visible, it must have certain infallible characteristics, or distinguishing marks, to show that it is really the work of God and not the fabrication of mnn. 7'hese distinguishing marks of the Divinity of the Church are : Unity, Sanctity, Catholicity and Apostolicity. This evening, we will con- fine ourselves to prove the unity of the Church, viz., that the Church of Christ must be one — that the Catholic Church possesses this Divine mark of the Christian Church — and, finally, that she alone can lay any claim to unity, and consequently, she alone is the Church established by Christ on earth, out of which there is no Iiope of salvation. ' Whatever proceeds from God must reflect one or more of his attributes and perfections, and as the Church is the work of God, it must necessarily possess in the supremest degree some of the Divine attributes; and as God is essenti- ally one and indivisible, the Church, which is the noblest work of the Divinity, must show forth this essential attribute of the Godhead. The Church should be one, which, according to theologians, means she should be one in faith, one in worship, one in ministry. Unity of faith consists in the profession of the same doctrine and teachings, so that whoever rejects a single article forming a part of this doctrine is a here- tic and out of the wav of salvation. Lecture, Re7\ Futlur J.ciinon. V Unity of worship consists in all the mjmhjrs participating of the same sacri- fices and the same sacraments, '. Unity of ministry consists in unity of government, in all the members being subject to one and the same h \id, so that whosoever refuses to bow his head to this suprjm;,* head, becomes a schismatic, and thereby cuts the thread that leads to salvation. This statement nay seem hard tonon-' 'atholics, but is not the less true, as we shall see from convincing proof, drawn from the (lospel, from tradition, and from reason. The 'vhurch of Christ must be ons — must have unity of faith, as is seen from the prayer of our beloved Sa^'iour to His Father, St. John, xvii., ii, ** Holy Father, keep them in Thy na;Tie, whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We also are one." Now, without unity of faith, how «;an you conceive between the members of the Church that union that exists between Ood the Father and ( jod the Son ? St. Paul recommends the Christian^ fo preserve among them unity of spirit —i.e., unity of faith — for he adds, "there is but one l.-ord, one faith, one bap- tism."— Ep. iv., 5. ' ^ And again, preaching to the Galatians, he says, "If my one preach a gos- pel to you, besides that which you have received (frojn me) let h m be anath- ama." — Gal. i., 9. The fathers of the Church, in speaking of the unity of faith, are in keeping with Christ and His i\posiles. *• The Church is one," says St. Clement of Alexandria, " because she has the same faith." " Heretics," says Origan, "will not posses'^ the kindgom of God." ' Believe firmly," says St. Fulgentius, " that a heretic, i.e., one who has broken the unity of taith, cannot be saved." Heretics, according to i.hese Doctors, are those who possess not the same faith as the Church. Hence, according to them, to be saved, you must have the same faith as the Church. Therefore, the Church of Christ should have unity of faith. Unity of worship. Jesus Christ instituted but one sacrifice, viz., the sacri- fice of His body and blood, offered up on the bloody heights of Calvary, and destined to be repeated until the second coming of Christ. According to those words to his Apostles, " l>o this in commemoration of me. As often as you do this, you shall show forth tny death until I come." Now, this sacrifice should be found in thi. Church, established by Christ, otherwise she is not the work of (iod. ; Unitv of government should be another characteristic of the Ohunh of Christ. ' How many times in the New Testament, do we not find the Church com- pared to a fold, a kingdom, a city, a family, to the human body ? Now, all those figures, necessarily imply unity of government, the fold governed by one shepherd, kingdom by one king, city by one magistrate, family by one head, etc. There must be unity of government in order to have order and har- mony, where there is not unity there is division and anarchy, which could not be in the Church established by Christ. This has been the teaching of nil the Fathers and Doctors ot the Church, that being a society she must be govern- ed by one head, let you call that head what you will, as may be clearly seen in the writings of St. Cyprian, St. Augustine and othe^- " You are under the weight of an enormous sac;ilege," says St. Augu.->. • to the Donatists, "as long as you enter not into the uhity of the Church." Lecture, Rev. Father Lcnvou. as And does not the light of reason clearly demonstrate the necessity of unity in the Church of Christ? Jesus Christ cannot deny himself, nor can he be di- vided, nor can he teach opposite doctrines. He cannot say to you that you must form your own religion and be saved, that you niust confess your sins to him alone ; that, it matters little what religion we belong to, provided we be- lieve in him, and at the same time tell me that, unless I hear the Church and be governed by her, I cannot be saved, and that unless 1 do penance and con- fess my sins to His ministers and be subject to them, I can have no part with him. C'hrist taught but one doctrine, not two. He founded but one Church, not two. He likewise established but one ministry and one government, for what constitutes a society is government, from which it would follow that if there were more than one faith and one government, that there would be more than one Church, and more than one way to gain heaven. We will now show by the most convincing proof that the Catholic Ohurch is one in faith, in worship and government, and has, consequently, this first mark of the Church founded by Christ. She is, in the first place, one in faith. 1 defy all the sectaries, from Simon the Magician, down to Joe Smith or Bishop Cummings, to show the slightest division in Catholic doctrine. The symbol ot the Catholic Church, which is a summary of the three revelations, primitive. Mosaic, and Divine, is one. What the Church believes to-day, she believed yesterday, and will believe al- ways. Ui>believers and heretics may do their utmost, may .search her annals for 1, 800 years, and will fail to find a single day, in which the sun of Catholic truth was eclipsed. Read over the decrees of all the Councils from ihat assembled by St. Peter in Jerusalem, to that convoked by the venerable and immortal Pius IX, now a prisoner of the Vatican, and you cannot find one iota of difference in the be- lief of Catholics. All agree on the truths they are to believe. The enquirer after truth may search through the world ; he may travel north, south, east and west ; visit Europe, Asia, Africa and America ; go through every country ; go everywhere, and ask every Catholic he meets, clt rical or layman, religious or sec- ular, young or old, learned or ignorant, all who have been taught the rudi- ments of their rc'igion, he may ask them respecting their faith, respecting their j)ractices, respecting the sacraments, and all that concerns religion, and from one and all the same answer will be given. Everywhere, on the face of the globe, amongst good and pious Catholics, though strangers in the flesh, and of different customs and language, will be found the self-same faith, the self-same sacraments ; there will be found one heart and one mind and one voice with regard to all the doctrines and com- mandments of the Church. This is unity, and it is liivine. It is no human coincidence or contrivance. The finger of Cod is there I I'he Catholic Church is one in government, l.ook at the Church from the cradle of her existen(^e, at the foot of the Cross, down to the preseni day, and you cannot find the least change or variation in her form of government. Vou will ever find .at the head of this immense empire, that taker in the whole world, one head — one pontilT. ]• le, at one time, there was some doubt among the faithful as to the right Pope, but they never even thought that there should be two at the same time, li thus appears the wonderful form of the Church, existing from age to ^ge, Lecture, Rev. Father Lemion. ever immutable, ever the same, inaccessible to the vicissitudes of human things. It is the only chain of monarths that comes down unbroken through the centuries, and whose connection can be traced back, link by link, from the present Pope, the immortal Pius IX, the venerable prisoner of the Vati- can, up to him, to whom Christ said : " I'hou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." All things change here below, governments with iheir forms, but the diNine constitution of the Church ; her monarchical form of government always re- mains one and the same, unchanged and unchangeable. Time and again the sacrilegiouc hand of the stranger usurped the patrimony of the Roman Pon- tiffs, their capital was invaded, their see overuirned, and they themselves im- prisoned, exiled, or put to death ; but never has human ambition, prompted by the Prince of Darkness, been able to change the government of the Roman Church. Is not this a unity truly Divine ? Yes, it is a phenomenon that is the work of God. While everything is crumbling around us ; while dynasties disappear to give place to others ; and thrones totter and fall to de- cay, and when we see the Catholic Church, the Church of Rome, firm and unshaken on her imperishable foundation, when ve see human ideas and sys- tems of philosophy melt into nought, and the Church remain ever the same in the midst of this universal ruin, seeing all this, we must conclude, that she is not the work ot man, but supernatural and divine ! Therefore, the Church of Rome possesses de facto the two-fold unity of faith and ministry. To the unbiassed and unprejudiced mind, we have proved from the inten- tion and prayer of Jesus Christ that the Church which he lounded here on earth, should be one in faith, in worship, and government, and that the Cath- olic Church really possesses this distinctive and essential mark of the true Church. Now, to complete our plan, and leave no room for cavil or sophis- try, and open the way of truth more lully, to honest minds, we will show that no other Church or sect clainiing to be Christian, possesses this mark of the true Church, viz., unity, and consequently is not the true Church. Where, I .isk, outside of the Catholic Church will you find this unique standing prodigy of a symbol dating back for eighteen centuries, and always uncorrupted and unchanged ? Where find an example of a government ever lasting in its existence, and ever the same in form ? You may search in the present age or in bygone ages ; you may search in all the annals of the sects of all nations and all countries, at all times, but you will search in vain. All other religions or sects bear the impress of man. All partake more or less of the weakness and corrup.ion of man. All change and vary with the caprice of man. Yes, I defy you to find me, outside of the Catholic Church, any one religious society. Pagan or Christian, that presents this two-fold unity of faith and government. Where, I ask, will you go to find this religious unity? Will it be among the Pagans ? But you might as well look for light in the midst of darkness, for order amid anarchy, for virtue in the haunts of crime. Among the Pagans each country has its own religion, and each family its own god. Will you find unity of belief or government in the Jewish religion ? YtS, up to the time of Christ; before it was the only true religion, but when the Great Sun of light and truth burst forth on the world, in the person of Jesus Chyst, the Jewish synagogue crumbled and Jerusalem was destroyed, and the T Scrinoii. A't-r. A'. Sroh'e. ^ • Jewish priesthood aboHshetl. and the Deiride nation cursed by Tiod, with their condemnation on their brow, scattered to the winds, a living testimony uf the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Messiah whom ihey rejected, of His holy spouse the Church which he founded on the top of Calvary's hill, when the centurion of the Romans pierced his side with the spear, and thence oozed the blood of redemption and water of regeneration. No, beloved brethren, there is no uniiy in the Jewish religion. N(»r is it to be found in the (ireek Church. This (!hurch once so glorious by the immor- tal geniuses it gave birth to; which could l)oast of a (Ihrysostom, a liizil, and a Cyprian, flourishing, while in union with the See of Rome, is no longer, but a vast ruin. What has divested her of all her glory? It was schism. In- stead of a fearless pilot at the head of the Church, I fi.id weak-mindtd jiatri- archs, the slaves and bondsmen of the Sultan and the Czar. Ah, beloved brethreri, we have here a striking example of the justice of Cod, whoever pun- ishes in the way the sin is committed. The Creek schism was born in pride and ambition, with resistance to lawful authority, and that Church not wish- ing to submit to the mildest authority in the world, rivetted the chains on its own hands, and now groans under the yoke of the most revolting fyrarny the world ever saw ' Let us now come down the steps of history to modern times, and see if the thousand and one sects claiming to be Christian, possess this essential charac- teristic of the True Church, viz., uni«^v. Is there unity of faith and govern- iatnt m the Protestant religion ? In the Anglican Church there is a semblance of hierarchy, but where is the head of that episcopacy ? From whom do the Anglican bishops hold their power and appointment ? Froni the Crown, you will answer. Yes, from the Queen of England. What an absurdity ! It was then to a woman whom St. Paul commanded to be silent in ecclesiastical matters ; it was to her that Christ addressed those solemn words, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church." There is iK> unity in the Church of England. There is the High Church and the Lew Church, the Broad Church, the Established and the Reformed Episcopalian ; and then you have the Puseyites or Ritualists, who are aping at Catholicity, but are as far from the Church of Rome as the heavens from the earth, for there is ever an immeasurable distance between truth and error, be- tween light and darkness. Neither is there unity in the Lutheran or Calvin- istic sects. Protestantism is split up into innumerable sects, all at variance one with the other. I could not here attempt to name all the sects that spring from the schism of Henry VHI. In Great Britain, they number over 8,000. 'J'hey have as many creeds as Churches or congregations, yea, as many as families or individuals. They convoke synods, and unions, and conferences in order to form some outward show of unity, but the result is always a new sect, the natural offspring of their convention. Protestantism divided and split up into thousands of sects, all at variance one with t'le other, each denying what the others assert ; failing to unite in doctrine and ministry they are united and bound together in hatred of the Catholic Church. Nor is this to be wondered at, it is another mark of her divinity. Listen to our Lord Jesus Christ to his Apostles, St. John xv., 18, 19. " If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated Me before you. If Sermon, Rei>. R. Scohie. you had been of the world, the world would love its own, hut because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of ihe world, therefore the world hateth you." Let us then feel proud as Catholics to belong to that Churcn, whose prototype in suffering is the Victim of Calvary, and as we see the daik clouds of adversity gather, and hear the rallying cry of the enemy let us cling more steadfastly to her, in her hour of distress, and exv:laim with the great Apostle, " Far be it from me to glory, in anything save the Cros:^ ot ("hrist." Let us then glory, if called upon, to suffer for that time-honored Church, that has passed through so many ordeals, and has kejjt the one faith pure and undefiled from any schism ; let us cling to that dear old faiih, for which suf- fered so many of our ancestors in every age and country ; for which our ven- erable Father, the immortal Pius IX, now remains a prisoner ; for which the Bishops and Priests of Germany are exiled, fined and imprisoned. Let us feel proud to belon;^ to that body which eighteen centuries have tried in vain to divide, that numbers 200,000,000 of members, who bow their rea- son and intellect to a single word uttered by the venerable prisoner of the Vatican. Seeing this wonderful harmony of belief and sentiment, coming down unimpared through 18 centuries, must we not exclaim, if not bereft of the light of reason, that such is not human, but Divine, that the finger of (J-od is there ! and find the solution of this mystery in that solemif prayer of Jesus Christ, on the eve of His agony, to keep thenj united, " that they may be one as You and I are one." That prayer has not been fruitless, it is the prayer of a God, so that we have nothing to tear for unity of the Catholic C'huich. So that happen what will, despite the vain efforts of the men of the world, in en- deavoring to raise again the cry of bigotry ; despite the hellish artifices of a Bismark, a Victor Emmanuel, or a Gladstone, the Church will stand, and X\\t visible unity of the one Church, on the one Rock, of the one Light, on the one Candlestick, of the one City on God's own hill, of the one body of the faithful united in the chair of Peter, shall never fail, until tiine gives place to eternity ; upheld as she is, by Christ's Prayer and by his promise, '' Beliold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world," f SERMON BY REV. R. SCOBIE, (of strathrov), Delivered in the Presbyterian Cliurch, Stratliroy, on Sunday evening. Nov. 12tli, 1870, as report- ed in the Strathroy VVkhtkk.n Disi'atch of Nov. 15th, I«7t}. Text — Eph. iv., 5 — " One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism." Ho .ever wide ly rr.en may differ in their opinions regarding doctrines and forms >f worshij), they are nearly all agreed in tlie belief tliat God has a Church c^ His own planting somewhere in the world — a Church composed of those who .ire heirs •>f eternal life in the world to come. But while they agree as to the existence jf this Church, they differ greatly as to where it is to be tound. Some think that the Church of Rome is the true Church ; others think tliat the Church of England is the true Church ; others that it is the Church of Sco'l-nd, and so on, without number. Amid the many and conflicting opinions, liuw are we to Senmw, Rex\ K. Scobie. know, and vhcrt' are wo to find the trut: Cliurdi ? If it be an acknowledged fact that (iod has a Church" on the earth, it must have some Divine marks by Avhich it is known to be of God. It has, and the Apostle sets before us in the text the distinguishing marks, " One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism." Now, who is this " one Lord?" .\bout Him Scripture is clear. Me is none other than the Lord Jesus, " wlto loved the Church, and gave himself for it." He alone is the King and Head of the true Church. As the .Son of God reveal- ed in the llesh to atone for tue sins of the world, " He purchased His Church with His own blood," and pleilged His wo'd to be with it till the end of time. Ciirist, and not Peter, is ti e Rock on which the true Cl'urcli is built, and against w.iich the gates of Well shall not prevail. Let us look at this passage : Matt, xvi., 15, Christ has just asked I'eter, " liut whom say )e that I am?" Peter answers, " Thou art the Ci^rist, tlie Son of the living (jod." " JJlessed art thou, Simon Barjona," says Christ, " for flesh and blood hat't Jiot revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And 1 say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock 1 will build my ("burch ; anU the gates of hjll shall not prevail against it." What rock ? Upon wliat rock does (llirist say He will build his Church ? Upon Peter, no; but upon the rock in Peter's confessior. — "Tuou art the Christ, the Son of the living Ciod." This truth is further evident tVom the circumstances mentioned in verses 22 and 23, where Peter is found to bj altogetner mistaken as to tlie great object of Christ's mis- sion, and wuere, instead of being ackowledged by Christ as the newly appoint ed Head and Foundation of the Church, lie is declared to be an adversary : " Get thee behind Me, Satan, thou art an offence unto mc ; for thou savourest not t le things th i^ be of God, but those that be of men." Verse 19 — "• And i will give unto thee tlie keys of tie kingdom of heaven." 'i'he kingdom of heaven is used generally in the New 'l'e--tament to express the Gospel dispen- sation. Matt, xxiii., 13 — " But woe uiuo you, scribes and IMiarisees, hypo- crites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men ; for ye nei ijr go in yourselves, nor suffer ye ti^em that are enteiing to go in." Luke xi., 52 — " VV'oe unto you, lawyers 1 for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and them that are entering in ye i.indered." The keys of the kingdom of heaven which Christ said He would give unto Peter, meant no more than that Peter should throw open the Gospel dispensation to the Jews and others, just as Paul was tc ^jen the kingdom to the Cientile or heati.en world. The remaining part of ti "■'. verse about binding and loosing, is repeated to all the disciples in the xviii. chap, and i8th verse, meaning, tiiat whatever rules or regulations they made in connection with the Church, would have the approval, .sanction, and confirmation of God. Long after this, and shortly before the crucifixion, there was a strife among the disciples, as to who should be the greatest, and the rebuke Christ gave t' em shows that there was to be no such tiling as superiority among His followers : '" He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 1 am among you as he that servetii." " One is your Master, even Clirist, and all ye are bretliren." Hear wi at Peter lamself says, long after our Saviour's death, alxnit tlie rock of tiie Claucii's foundation : '"This,'' meaning Christ, " This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, w ich is be- come the head of the corner, neither is there salvation in any other." 1 need not go farther to ])rove to you that the discijjle who. through want of faith, be- 'S Sermon, Rev. R. Scobie. gan to sink in the waters of the sea of Galilee, and who had the frailty to deny his Lord three times in one night is not the rock upon wliich the Church of God is built. It is upon Christ, whom God has exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. Christ then is the "one Lord," and, therefore, a distinguishing mark of the trup Church. Fui'ther, we have " one Faith." It Christ be the " one Lord," and only Saviour oi the Churdi, and it is but n.ntural to think that faith in Him is the " one Faith." Whether our reasoning faculties guide us to this conclusion or not, the Scriptures affirm that faiih in Jesus is the one saving loiir. " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that wliosoevcr be- lieveth on Him should not peush, but have everlasting life." Again, "He that believe 'li in liim, is no' condemned ; but lie tl^at believeth no' is con- demned alrei.Jy, because he iul can be saved. " One Lor'^, one Faith, and one Bapfism." Tliis does nut affirm tha' tiere is only one mode of bap'ism ; it refers to the ordinance itself. Baptism re- ceived in the name of the Father, Sen, and H'-ly Gh« st, wlietlier ir be by sprinkling, pf Jesus. In the terms, "one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism," we have the essential elements jf Christian uni'y. This unity is both internal and external. But what is meant by internal unity ? It is not that all sne members of the true Church should think exacly alike on every point. That is impossible, and were it possiblf^, ii is not desirable. It is not that all should fi:kl exacly alike on every point, that too is impossible, and :>ot desiri''le. It is not that all connected with the true Church should be sincere and humble f<«lltiwers of Christ. For that, in the present state of the world, is impossible, since there mil be both good and bad, righteous and unrighteous in the Church till the end. And though all were true Chris'ians within the Ciiurch, it does not fol- low that there will be unity, since Christians, alas ! have already done much to .end and divide the Church. By internal uni'y is meant such an exercise "f humility, meekness, long-suffering, and forbearance of one another in love^ as will, despite all difference of opinion and taste, enable the members of Christ's Cliurcii to dwell together in brotherly affection and in tlie bonds of Uive. Now, wheiein does external consist? It consiss first, in the acknowledgment and intelligent worship of Christ as the Supr^m» King and Htad of the Church. "One Lord." When Christ is not thus ack(.wh dged and wi'rshipp»d there is lacking one essential mark of visible unity. It consists secondly, in the right profession of the faith. " One Lord, one FaiMi." Tht-rt; must be a ] inst s U)ve. ;meni ;f the ippKi y, in be a Sermon, Hei. R. Scolu'e. right profossioji of fliith in Jesus, or another essenti'-l mark of visible unity is wanting. Again, it consists in the right use of the orders, sacraments and forms of the Church as laid down by Christ and His Apostles. Where these are departed from, the door is thrown open to all kinds of innovations and heresies. When all Christians have learned to keep both the interr.al and the external unity of God's Church, then the transcendent result, the blessed and glt^rious uniiy of the whole company of the faithful, for which our Saviour prayed, will attain its brilliant consummation. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one ; as thou Father, ar ; in Me, and I in Thee, that they all may be one in us ; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." Wherever then, on eanh, genuine i)iety is found, as shown by repentance, faifli, and love to Chrisf, 'here exist the members of the true Church. Divided they may be by many barriers. Lofty mountains, broad rivers, stormy seas, imaginary boundaries, human ignorance, passion, prejudice, un- belief, and sin. may keep ihem apart. TIjey may be found in every sec' ion of the professing Cl'urch on earth. They iipay be distinguished by different names, opinions and practices.. Marvellous as it may appear, some may be found within the shadow o'l false Cliurches, for tlie Most High God is sove- reign and delights 'o manifest His thorougli independence of human thoughts and condi'ioiis. Saved ones, men redeemed by the blocd ot Jesus, may be be ga'her^d out of heathen lands. Yes, ihey are to be found on lonely is- lands of the deep, far in the Ausiralian bush, amid tlie fens and marches, and i^imong the unlettered tribes of Central Africa, in India, China, by frozen seas, on ships of ocean, and in sandy deserts. No matter where tliey are found, if united to Christ, the " One Lord " by ilie " One living Faitli," these are the s'leep for wliidi the Good Slepberd died, these are menibers of 'he true Churcli. Notwithstanding peculiarities in color, climate, and creed, these are brethren, all one in Christ, kept by the mighty power of God, ihrougli faith unto eternal salvation in the kingdom of heaven. Let us see now in what relation the Church of Rome stands to the true Church. That Church afifirms that she is the Motlier Church outside of whose pale tliere is no salvation. If her claim be just she must have been the first Ciiurch. But the first Church of which we read in the New Testament, see Acts of ;he Apostles, is the Church of Jerusalem over which c! j Apostle John presided as its pastor. " Begin first at Jerusalem," said Christ to His followers : there they began, and there the first Church was established. From this place as a centre the Aposdes, and the seventy disciples chosen by Christ for tfie work of the ministry, went forth and founded other branches of the Church, in Galatia, Samaria, Laodicea, Thessalonica, Philadelphia, Smyr- na, Thyatira, Corinth, Sardis, Colosse, Rome, Antioch, and so on. These branch-Churches grew out of the Church at Jerusalem, and had only " One Lord, owe Faith, one Baptism." There were no distinctions of supremacy among the Apostles, none exercised by tliem over the seventy disciples. All CImrch ma'ters were arranged by generul meetings held at Jerusalem. One was tlieir Mas'er, in humbleness of heart th^y obeyed His will by proclaim- ing the glad tidings of salvation to their perishing fellow-creatures. Amid direst persecutions the several Churches maiiuained the pure, simple doc- trines of tlie Gospel for 150 years. After this corruptions in doctrines, and w I lO Sennon ^ Rev. R. Scobie. I"i forms of worship began to appear. A stn rig desire prevailed aiiKng many of tl>e ministers for rank and power, by and by the title of Bisli< p was given to moderate is of assemblies. These bishops did w Nono, and his dogma of the Immaculate Concep- tion of Mary, a dogma oppos'-d alike by Scripiure, tradition, and common sense. Is the Church of Rome the true Church ? I see not a single feature in her constituti -n to prove that she is ; Nay, everything within her walls pro- claims I ha' she is not. The true Church has Christ, and Christ alone for its Lord and Head. The Churcli of Rome has the pope as a Subsitute for the ever-present Saviour. Tlie members of tlie true Church worship " One Lord." 'I hey offer their prayers and praises to Jesus, the hearer and answerer of pray- er, who alone is possessed of the gifts and blessings tl ey require to make them happy in this life, and that which is to come, and who alone can clothe them with the righteousness they need to appear just in the sight of a holy (]od. The member" of tiic Cliurch of Rome worsl.ip, what ? Shall I not say, many g< ds? They pray to departed Saints. They imagine that their sainted dead possess a superabundance of merit which they have no use for in heaven, nnd which they can impart to poor erring mortals on earth in answer to their pray- ers. They pray also to the Virgin Mary, and pl;ice supreme faith in her en- treaties with the Lord on theii belialf. Is such nor unscriptural ? 'I'he Apos- tle John when wrapt in heavenlv vision, was so overpowered with the glory of the things that were being sliown to him that he fell down to worship at the fe.:t ot the angel who acted as his guide. But the angt-l called out inj- mediately, " See thou do it not, worship God." When the pe< pie gathered to- gether and would iiave worshipped Paul and Barnabas, these faitliful men " rent their clothes, ran into ti^e crowd, calling aloud, ' turn to the living God who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that are therein.' " And when Christ was being tempted of the devil in tiie wilderness, he said, ''Get thee hence, Satan, for it is writ'en, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shplt thou serve " The members of the true Church in obedience to Divine command de- 12 Sermon, J,'e. noiince the \vorshipi)ing of idols. Tlie members of the Church of Rome bow the knee to images and pictures of their saints ; they kneel before the Virgin giving her the homage due to Qv(\ ; and also before the image of Chris' on tlie cross. What do they mean by this? They tell us that througli these images they worship Cod. Be it so. We tell them in return tliat it is gi^ss- est idolaory. 'The ls;aeli'es made a golden calf at the foot of Sinai in liie ab- sence of their leader, and set ir, yj) as an image througli whidi they might worship Cod. How was their worslip received by Him who is very jealous of His honor? L-et the secjuel tell. Wiien Moses came down from the Mount and saw the shame of his people, he stood in the gate of the c;;m]) and cried, " Wiio is on tlie I,ord's side, let him come U'to nn." Tiie sons of Levi came and hi commanded them to take iiieir swords, and lo go through tlie camp, and slay «'very man, his brothf-r, his companion, his neighbor. Yt'S, for the same kind of idol-worsiiip as observed by die Ciiurch of Rome at this hour, three thousand were slain by Heaven's command at the foot of Sinai. The members of the true Church confess their sins to God alone, and believe that he al^necan forgive tliem. The Church of Rome ci nnnands hf-r members to confess tlieir sins ti> her jjriests, and 'o look to them for pardon. The Council of Trent declared as follows : — " Whosoever shall affirm the priests living in monal sin, have not the p'»wer of forgiving sin and granting ab^slution. Let him be accursed." The members of the irue Church believe that the Sacrifice of Christ, for sin can never be rejieated. When He offered His body, He did it, as the Bible says, " once for all.'' " After he had «'ff^r- ed one Sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on tlie riglit hand of God." But the Church of Rome binds her members to believe that, in every Mass there is true and proper Sacrifice offered up to (iod as a propitiation for the sins of the living and the dead and that Sacrifice is the offering up of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of ihe Lord Jisus. Evi ry priard anything like this ; H^. wliO civated me, if 1 may so speak, hath granted me power to cnate him ; and he who cnat' d me vitiout me, is created by my means." The Cliurch of Rome teaches also that Christ's death is not sufficient to atone for sin, and therefore, salv.itii n must, to a cer- tain fxtent, be purchased. I'hn poor penant burdened and bowed down und'-r the right of sin is commanded to do penance for lis sins. He must go on pilgrimage, or repeat a certain number of prayers, or count his beads, or per- form some other religious austerity W) atone for his guilt. How different tiiis from what is taught in the word of God. Hel-e Christ is represented as suf- fici^-nt to atone for the sins of the world ; there the sinntr is without power to atone for a single transgression ; tiiere salvation is full and offer« d to all as the free gift of God "without money and without price." But time would fail me to speak of the un.'-cripturai pacramentp, of a p< r- verted Bible, of superstitious rites, of prt/fane practices, of the fire.s of Purga- tory, of the doom of those who make bad confessions, and of the C'hri^tian 1> Letter, Rev. Father Molphy\ n fr blood the Church of Rome has caused to be shed. Infamous as she is for her idolatry, she is no less detestable for h»'r cruelty. For not to mention other outrageous slaughters and barbarities, the crusades against the Walden- ses, and Albigenses, the murders committed by the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, «he massacres in France and Ireland, and the invention of the Inqusition were enough in themselves to blot her out forever from an enlight- ened and civilized world. She has broken upon the wheel, stretched upon the rack, burned in the flames, and consigned »o horrible dungeons of death thou- sands of Christ's liumble followers, and all because they would not renounce the faith in their Lord, and become subject to her sway. And I tell you, that the same spirit, burns in Iter bosom to-day against all who are opposed to her creed. And yet this is the Church that vaunts herself as being the Churc!) of Him whose name is love, and " who would not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax," and this is th« character of her that proclaims to the world that tliere is no other Salvation outside her walls. Mother of abominations ! The word of Him who cannot lie has gone forth against her. Her overthrow may be slow, but it is sure. Tlie forces are now at work in the world that will crush her. Her foundation stone has already been moved. Her infallible S'ead has already fallen. His divinity has deserted him in his time of need. His power over the consciences of man is becoming less every day. Weaker and weaker shall his government become, till that mighty voice heard by John in prophetic vision be heard again, rolling like loudest thunder through the heaven of the redeemed, " Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and shall be found no more at all." Meanv/liile another voice is calling, " Come out of her my people, that yc be not partakers of her sins, .and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." — Rev. xviii., 4. [From the Western Dispatch ol Nov. 29, 187B.J THE UNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — In your columns on tn** 15th inst., there appeared the r^-port of a sermon delivered in the Presbyterian Church t»f this town, on the t-vening of Sunday the 12th November, by the Rhv. R. Scobie. Now, titough I do not consider mys- If at all bound to reply when v>r an attack is made upon the Ca'hi'lic Church, yet as I find thai many people of our town expect some Catholic to " answer the arguments " of the Rev. Preaciier, 1 request yoa to aUov me, in your next issue, sufficient space to make some remarks on the sermon referred to. To " answer th aiguments " of tiie Rev. Mr. Scobie will be, 1 must acknowledge, rather a difticult txsk ; for 1 find in his sermon, very little which can be, by any stretch of th^- imagination, s'vled "arguments." though thtre is much " assertion " without, a' tempt at proof, and much abusive appeal to the pa.ssions and pr^judices of all non-Catholirs, founded upon th« absurd doctrines wliich have so frequently been falsely attributed to Catholics by dishonest controversialists. The Rev. Mi-. Scobie has made these false- hoods his own, stj, whether he has done so through malice, or ignorance, I i 14 Letter, Rev. Father Molphy. .. must hold him respcnsib'e for them, until he may acknowledge that he was mistaken. In the meantime I propose to review, Jirst, Rev. Mr. Scobit's gen- eral thesis, ■' the marks of tlie Church of Christ." Secondly, the arguments, or rather the pretenses at arguments, which aro found in his sermon and thirdly, tho assertions which he makes without any prouf at all ; and the last part of my answer will be found to effect by far the greater portion of his oration. The thesis which the Rev. gentleman sets out to prove, is that there are c r- tain marks of the true Church, which do not belong to the Catholic Church. The thesis is in itself a very unsatisfactory one, for he should have sh. Father Molphy. blotte«1 out. Th«* Chris"ian writings of this period must naturally be very limited in number and extent ; but such as tliey are tliey testify conclusively that all the doctrines and practices which to-day ore or less purely in them. The purest Church< s under heaven are subject both to mixture and error," &c. That the Church cannot err, is taught by Origen, St. Ba^il, St. Augustine, St. Irenaedt, St, Clement, St, Ambrose, &c, Sts. Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Chrypostom, Augustine, Basil, Epiphanius, Leo, «kc., as well as TertulUan and Origen attest that the Rock on which Christ built His Church is Peter. They all attest tliat Peter harJ lawful succe-sors, and they all attest that Peter's successor is the Bishop of Rome. This is suf- ficient to show that the early and pure Church of Christ agreed on this point with the Catholic Church of to-day. In the seconJ part of my letter I will show more fully that the Rev. Mr. Scobie states what is untrue when he pre- tends that the authority of the Pope was unknown until the 5th century. I might show that the other doctrines which Mr. Scobie attacks were also taught by these same writers, but I must cut short my proofs, as I would require to trespass too much on your kindness, Mr. Editor, if I were to cite all of these m* Letter, Rev, Father Molphy, I? testimonies. Besides, I must confine myself to one subject at a time, other- wise, my letter would be as rambling as Rt\'. Mr. Scobie's discourse. It is clear, then, from the Scri|)ture, reason, and the testimony of the early Christian writers, that the authority of I'eter excludes not the authority of Christ, but is founded on it, and that whosoever denies the authority of Peter and his successors, denies th*» authority of Christ, so that, the recognition of " One Lord," while complete in the Catholic Cliurch, is not a mark of Mr. Scobie's sect. '* One Faith " also is no' found in Rev. Mr. Scobie's sect, since, as we have already seen, it is the doctrine bo'h of liimself and ol his standard rule of faith that we may deny some doctrines which Christ has revealed, and as tbe Rev. gen lenian also maintains th'^t the neglect of Baptism will not exclude from heavt-n, and probably a majo.av of his co-religionists are unbaptized, liis CIturcli d^'nies the efficacy of the " One Baptism," so that she dots not possess truly even one of the true marks which Rev. Mr. Scobie declares to be essen- tial to tlie 'rue Church. In fact hf^ does n<'t attempt to prove that Presby- lerianism do' s p' sses-» them, so that 1 am ([uitf^ justified in sayitjg that lie has egregiously failed in proving liis principal thesis. Second : — I must next con- sider the attempts at argument which are scattered through the course of his sermon. Some of these arguments have been already treated, I will therefore enumerate those which remain. First, he maintains thivt not Peter, but Christ is the Rock on which tlie Church is built. 1 answer that I have shown already that Peter's headship does not exclude the leadership of Christ ; but Christ Himself signifies as plainly as words can express a meaning, that the Rock (Ceplia) on which the Church is built is Peter, to whom Christ gives the name purposely to show that Peter represents the Rock Christ, and is Ilis Vicar. Hence the exact rendering of what our Lord says is " Thou art a Rock, and upon this Rock I will build my Church." The Church was, therefore, built upon Peter, and so have all the Fathers of the first four centuries taught and believed. This j)Ositive prerega'ive given to Peter, is not le.ssened or taken away from him by the reproof which our Lord finds it necessary to administer to Peter when the latter protests against the sufferings which our I^ord is about to endure. " (iet behind me Satan, or adversary." As the Rev. Mr. Scobie states that Pope Leo I was the first who claimed to be the successor of St. Petei, 1 will call his attention tr the teaching of history on this subject. Leo became Pope in 439. The Historian, Socrates, wrote in A. 1). 419. He narrates the events which occurred under the Pontificate of Julius who be- came Pope, A. D. 337. Julius was present at the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, so that the occurrences of his Pontificate connect us with the primitive ])eriod of the history of the Church. Socrates relates in Hist. Church, Book 2, cer- tain troubles caused by the Arians in the east, by the introduction of an Arian formulary of faith. 'Fhe historian continues, "Julius, the Bishop of most noble Rome, was not present, nor did he send any one to fill his place, al- though the ecclesiastical law forbids that anything he decreed in the Church without the consent of the Roman Bishop." C. 8. Again in C. 15. " An- astasius was scarcely able to reach Italy .... at the same time also Paul of Constantinople, and Asclepasof (Jazaand Marcellus of Ancyra, a city of Galatia Minor, and Lucius of Adrianople, who had each for different causes, T i8 Litter, ReiK Father Molphy. been accused and driven from their Churches, arrived at Imperial Rome. When, therefore, these had explained their cases to Juhus, liishop of Rome, he exercising the prerogative of the Roman Church, strengthened them with authoritative letters, and blaming severely those who had rashly deposed them, sent them back to the cast, having restored each one to his own See." Afterwards when the Arians refused to recognize the Pope's authority, the historian says: "Julius complained strongly of the bitterness of their letters and of the fart, that, against the laws of the Church, they had not called him to their council, for the law of the Churcli forbids the Churches to decree any- thing without the consent of the Bishop of Rome." Sozomen, who wrote his Church history A. I). 445, narrates the same events in nearly the same way. He states that Julius received the deposed Bishops into communion with him, because their faith was the same as his, and as on account < f tl e dignity of his See, the care of all pertained to him ; he restored each one to his owi Church. He further tells that he summoned several of the persecutors to appear before him to justify thei conduct, and that when the Arians made light of his authority, he blamed them for their innovations in the doctrine of the Church, and for " not calling him to their synod, for i' is a hierarchical law that wh.Ttsoever is done without the consent of the Bishop of the Romans must be considered as null." The appeal of the Catholic Bishops to Rome, the Popes' acting upon that appi-al, his restoring them to their Sees, and the testimony both of the Pope and of the two historians that this was the law of the Church, all combine to show that the Pope's authority was, immediately after the Council of Nice, recognized by the whole Church, both east and west ; and even the Ltter of the Arians acknowledged, while disputing his authority, that the claims of the Roman See " to high honor from all, arose from its being the domicile of the Apostles, the origin and metropolis of religion." Still earlier, Irenaeus who wrote in 178 and afterwards, said : " By this greatest and most ancient and known to all the Church founded and constituted at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, we confound all those who assemble otherwise tl>an as they ought. For with this Church on account of a more powerful principality (or authority), it is necessary ihat every Church agree, for in it, is preserved the tradition which is from the Apostles " Book j, against heresy. He then again enumerates the successors of "Sts. Peter and Paul" in Rome down to the "12th, Eleuthenius," then Bish- pof Rome. St. Irenaeus was the disciple of St. John's own disciple Polycarp, and he is within the 150 years ot the first existence of the Church, when Rev. Mr. Scobie says the " Church was pure." It seems that this pure Church did not agree with Rev. Mr. Scobie that " Peter had no successor." Tertullian, who also lived in the 2nd century, when he became a Montanist reviled ihe* Pope for claiming the prerogatives of Peter; and when Tertullian was a member of Christ's Church, he styled the " Church of Rome a blessed Church from which authority emanates." The Rev. Mr. Scobie next asserts that at the Council of Lateran, Leo X was in 15 16 addressed thus: "Your divine Majesty" {Dwina Majeatas). "All the Kings of the earth shall fall down before thee." I have examined the authentic acts of the Council, but I have not been able to discover this expres- sion. Mr. Scobie adds a great many other titles given to the Pope : but he does not state by what authority they were applied to him. Now, of course in T Letter, Ret'. Father Mvlphy. »9 1800 years the millions who have recognized the Pope as Christ's vicegerent on earth, have apfjlied to him very many various titles, but before he can reasonably call upon Catholics for an explanation of them, he is bound to de- fine accurately on what authority he has quoted them, when they were used, and whether ihey were the canonical decrees of the Church. If they were not, it does not concern us to explain them. As regards what he says about the Council of Lateran, as 1 find that the name Superiia Majestas, " Heaven- ly Majes y," is applied to God, in the acts of A. D. 15 16, and as I find that an act of the Council of the same year forbids " l.^y virtue of obedience, and under annexed penalties and censures, all the faithful of every state, condi- tion, and dignity, to adhere to the Pragmatic sanction," and as this is declared to be decreed, " in the plentitude of Apostolic power," it is probable that Rev. Mr. Scobie has taken his quotation second-hand from some one who has mix- ed up what is said of (iod, with what is said of the Pope, and has succeeded in producing a grievance. At all events as the acts of the (Council (V Lat- eran) are cjuite voluminous, i cannot be expected to take Rev. Mr. Scobie's word for it without knowing whether he has quoted from the authentic acts of the Council, in which case he should name the passage, or if he has merely quoted second-hand from some unreliable controversialist. Rev. Mr. Scobie next rebukes us for our asking the Saints to pray tor us. Well, we may ask our fellow-creatures on earth to pray for us, why should their prayers not be just as powerful when they are in heaven ? We read in Zacharius i., 12, 13, that the Angel of the Lord prayed for mercy to Jeru- salem ; "O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem," &c., and that the prayer was heard ; for " the Lord answered the Angel that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words." And our Lord assures us that the Saints in heaven shall be like the Angels, and equal to them. Matt, xxii., 30, Mark xii., 25, Luke xx., 36. If therefore the Angels pray for us ; so may the Saints. Mr. Scobie's next statement is that we worship idols. The assertion is simply slander, and I am convinced that the Rev. Mr. Scobie knows that it is untrue. We use pictures and images of the Saints for the ]>urpose of remind- ing us of their virtues, and of encouraging us to imitate them : and we retain them with due respect, just as the photographs of dear Iriends are retained in the albums of respectable families ; with this difference that the honor paid to the Saints has a religious object, and is therefore of a higher order. 3. I now come to the assertions of Rev. Mr. Scobie which are unproved, and these comprise the remainder of his sermon. It is a maxim of logic that " what is asserted gratuitously may be denied without proof." Mr. Scobie's assertions that we have perverted the Bible, that our rites are superstitious, and practices profane, the cruelty of the Catholic Church outrageous, I therefore totally deny. If space permitted, I might very readily retort upon Presby- terians, nnd prove my retort too, but 1 have already trespassed too much on the space at your disposal. However, before I conclude I must say a word on the doctrine of vransubstantiation. This doctrine is sustained by words of Holy Scripture, ho clear, it is so demonstrably shown to be the teaching ot the early Church, when Mr. Scobie says her doctrine was pure, that certainly we cannot help acknowledging, if we are honest, that the Lord had the unll to change bread and wine into His body r\ 20 Aef/er, Kcv. /'. .9, and blood. This heinj^ so, unless Hi^ power to do so W- denied, it is hard to reject the doctrine. He could and did « liange water into wine. 1 < annot conceive that it is any more dilticult for Him to change bread and wine into His own flesh and Mood. In fact whatever diffii ulties stand in the way of believing that He has done so can be brought, and are brought with etiual force by infidels against the Incarnation of a (lod, and therefore against Christ's divinity. My answer to these ditificulties would be the same. (Ireat as the humiliatjon is for a (lod. His love is so intense for us that the great gof)d to be effected tor man by His " dwelhng amongst us" induced Him to condescend both to live in poverty and die under human form, and also to live in poverty under the form of our corporal food ; and fully convinced as we are that (iod dwells in the blessed Kuiharist, it is no more idolatry to adore Him therein, than it would have been idolatry for us to adore Him in the crib of bethlehem. Mr. ICditor, I have shown that Mr. Scobie's general thesis is not at all proved; that his reasonings are feeble, and his assertions erroneous and slanderous. His other assertions on Confession and the Mass I need not refute, as no at- tern])t has been made to prove them, I shall therelore conclude by thanking you for your kindi\ess and courtesy to me. Vour obedient servant, jOS. P. MO I, PHY, Pastor of the Catholic Church. Strathroy, Xov. 27th, 1.S76. LKrom tho VVkstkkn Dist'ATcu of IKicoinboi- Glh, 187(1.1 THE CHURCH Of ROME. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. JJKAR Sir, — 1 was a little surprised on reading your last issue to find the thesis of my sermon grossly perverted, and the truths set forth in it v ilfully misrepresented by Rev. Father Molphy, pastor of the R. C. Church. I'hough it seems to be constitutional for the Church of Rome to misrepresent and per- vert far more weighty and important matt;;rs than contained in my sermon, still, I was not prepared to see a thing of yesterday so much distorted and dis- figured. 1 trust you will allow me space in your next issue to correct a few errors the Rev. gentleman has, perhaps, unwittingly published, i. He says that the thesis 1 set out to prove " is that there are certain marks of the true Church, which do not belong to the Catholic Church." Now, my thesis is, as a reference to my sermon will show him, One Lord, one Faith, one Baj^tism, distinguishing marks of tlie true Church. 11. He says, that I maintain that these marks are not to be found in the Catholic Church. Again, 1 point him to my sermon, where he will find it stated, that wherever these marks are found, whether under the shadow of false Churches, or anywhere on earth, there exist members of the true Church, iii. He says, "Rev. Mr. Scobie's doctrine is the new invention that the members of the Church of Christ are not bound to believe all the doctrines which have been taught by Christ." This sentence is not mine, nor is there a single word of it in my sermon, iv. He says, "Rev. T l.ettt>\ Rri'. R. Scobit, 31 Mr, Scohif stntcs that Pope Leo I. was the first who claimed to be the suc- cessor of Si. Peter." I ;iin not aware ot having stated anytliing of tlic kind, nor will ho find it so in my sermon. 'Jhese nre a few of the errors, and I hope the Rev. gentleman will take a little time to correct them for his own sake. Passing over the uncourteous language Rev. Father Molphy uses so pro- fusely throughout his letter, 1 shall endeavor to follow him in his line of argu- ment. My thesis is not so unsatistac tory as the Rev. gentleman thinks. " One Lord, one I'aith, one liapti^m": these are the disti.iguishing marks ot Ciod's Church. " One Lord ;" " Look unto me and he ye saved all ye ends of the earth." "One Faith ;' "Heli-jve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt l;e saved" "One Maptism ; ' "Repent and he baptized." 'I'he four marks ot the true Church mentioned by the P.ev. gentleman, grow out of the former three as sjjiriiual results. When men are led by the Sjjirit to believe in the " One Lijrd," and arc baptized, they are then One in Christ, holy in their lives, loving the brethren, and serving (iod witli the simplicity, and after the manner of Apostolical times. Are the members of the Church of Rome One in Christ? From the testimony of the many I have conversed with in different parts of the world, 1 say unhesitatingly that the uneducated among them look to the oriest, and the priest alone, for pardon and salvation. Others, better informed, look for these from Cod, but not without slavish obedience to all the rules, traditions and ceremonies of the Church. It is no exaggeration when I say that there are thousands at this moment who believe that salvation can only come from Christ to them through the Pope, the Church and the priest. Remove these three and the millions are left to despair of ever entering the kingdom of heaven. L; the Church of Rome Holy ? Let us see. (Iod says, "Thou shalt i-ot steal." And no man, without incurring the guilt of pre- sumptuous impiety, could attempt to change, or modify, or extenuate the force of this direct, positive, and uncompromising commandment, any more than the commandment, "'I'hou shalt do no murder.' But what is the teaching of the Churcii of Rome, in the very class-books in which she educates her priest- hood ? (Baiiy's iMoral 7/ico/cgy, vol. ii., p. 232, Treatise on the Precepts of the Decalogue) :- " How gnat must be the cjuantity of the thing stolen, in order to constitute the theft a mortal ^^in ? Answer— This (juantity cannot easily be determined, since nothing has been decided on the point, cither in na- tural, Divine or human law. It is generally laid down, and it may be laid down as determined, that in order to a theft's being a mortal sin when comit- ted on p.rsons of first rank, fifty or sixty pence are sufficient. With respect to persons of second rank, forty jience are enough ; with respect to persons of third rank, if thei'- trade be a lucrative one, tiventy pence ; if less lucrative, ten pence. With respect to persons of fourth rank (/>., paupers), four pence, or even one penny, if they have nothing else to li\e on. We do not give the aforesaid rule as a thing on which you can rely with certainty ; but it is good, as being something to j^uidc confessors, tahim; all circumstances prudently into consideration.'' Here then we have the Church giving license to steal, in op- position to the command, " Thou ^halt not steal," and irrespective of the fear- ful doom denounced on thieves. Equally inconsistent with, ar.d fatal to the pretensions of the Church of Rome to that " Holiness," which becomes that " bodv " of which " Christ is the head," are the intolerant and tyrannical en- T 23 Letter, Rev. R. Scobie. a ■y ~ - actments of her Canon Law, of which time and space will onl}' allow me to give one specimen. (Cranmer's Collection of Tenets extracted from the Canon Law) :■ — " The Bishop ot Rome may be judged of none but of God only ; for although he neither regard his own salvation, nor no man's ehie, but draw down with hir^seh" innumerable people by heaps unto hell, yet may no mortal man in this v, Id presume to reprehend him. Forasmi-ch as he is called God, he may be judged of no man, for God may be judged of no man." 'J ke in connection with the above the immoral and impious lives of mr.ny of the Popes, such as Pope Alexander VI. and Caesar Borgia, his illegitimate son; Pope Clement the Fifth; Pope Alexander the Third; Pope Pascal the Second, and others whose characters 1 may have cccasioij to review ; take also the fact that John Tetzel was engaged by Leo X., during the years 15 14, 15 16, and 15 17, to publish and to dispose of throughout Europe, plenary, absolution and indulgences, for any crime whatever, for ten shillings ; take these with the multitude of her other imperfections, and say, if the Church of Rome has any claim to the "holiness" of which she boasts. Is she Catholic ? If Cath- olic means universal — she is Catholic, but not forthj elevation of men in moral and spiritual things. Is she Apostolical ? Let her Popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, doctrines, ceremonies, angels, saints, ima^^es, relics and cruci- fixes tell wheth-^r she is or not. That the Church of Rome has ever been or is now " One Hoiy, Catholic Church," I challenge any man to prove. In trying to prove that the Church of Rome recognizes the doctrine of "One Lord," the Rev. gentleman quotes a portion of the Nicene Creed, w hich was received by the members of the 'rue Church in the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, ratified by the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, confirmed by the Council of Ephesus, A. Tj. 431, adopted by the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, and which remains to-daj as the Creed of various professing Christian Churches. But cliis Creed, which is in harmony with the Word of God, did not suit the requirements of the Church of Rome, and to it she added her own peculiar Creed, published to the world by a Bull of Pope Pius IV.. on the 9th December, A. D. 1564. In quoting, the Rev. gendeman shows us the gold, but he conceals the dross attached. Why he does not quote the Creed of his Church. 1 leave the unprejudiced to judge. I could quote the whole of it, but a few quotations will hew its merits. " I. I most steadfostly admit and embrace apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other obss-^rvances and consti- tutions of the same Church. 11. I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our Holy Mother, the Church, has held and does hold, to which it belongs to judge of the trr.e sense and interpretation of the Scrip- ture ; nor will I ever take and interprc- them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. III. I also profess, that there are truly and properly seven Sacraments of the new law, 1 istituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one ; to wit, Baptism and so on. V. I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead ; and that in the tnost holy Sacraments of the Euchr.rist here a e truly, really, and substantially the body and the blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood ; which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstan- T Letter, Rev. R. Srohie. n tiation. VI. I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are nelped by the suffrages of the faithful. VII. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to Ij« honored and invocat- ed ; and thai they ofier prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be held in veneration. VI II. I most firmly assert that the nnages of Christ, of the Mother of (lod, ever Virgin, and also of other saints, may be had and re- tained ; and that due honor and veneration art to be given them. IX. I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people." Tc all this and more, all beneficed priests, professors and bishops must vow and swear. In an edition ot the Roman Pontifical, printed by autliority, in iSi8, p. 62, the oath prescribed to every Roman Catholic bishop at his consecration requires him to swear " to be faithful and obedient to his Lord the Pope, and to his succesj-ors ; to assist them in maintaining the Roman papacy and the royalties of St. Peter against all men ; to persecute and impugn, with all his might, heretics, schismatics, and rebels against his ?aid Lord," &c., &c. — Words- worth's Letters, p. 307. Who is tlie "One Lord" of the Catholic Church? Is it Christ ? Nay, it is the Pope. It is said that Christ is Head ot the re- deemed or invisible Church in heaven, and that the Pope is the head of the visible Church on earth. I ask Scripture proof to establish these points and wait till it is given. Rev. Father Molphy, in further defence of the Pope's position, gives us an illustration : — " The Queen of Rngland, living in England, has her represen- tative in Canada, the Governor General, who rules Canada in her name. By acknowledging his authority, we do not destroy the authority of the Queen ; on the contrary, as he rules in the Queen's name, we would slight her au- thority by rejecting her representative. So St. Peter first, and the Pope to-day, St. Peter's successor, is the representative and Vicar of Christ on earth, and by acknowledging his authority, we recognize the authority of Christ from whom his appointment comes." Curious logic this ; he takes for granted the fact he ought to prove, viz. : that the Pope received his appointment from Christ. I don't think his illustration meets the case at issue. Here is one : — Supposing some noted individual should appear amongst us, and proclaim himself the Queen's representative, — equal to her in bestowing favors on the faithful, and in inflicting punishment on the rebellious ; invested with power to open her palace door, and let in or shut out from her presence any or every one he nleased ; and who, for his own ends, amused himself in tortur- ing, burning, and putting to death hundreds of her most loyal subjects, and yet had no written authority to show that he was the Queen's representative. What then ? Why, the man is an usurper in the sight of Her Majesty, and one who could not escape her righteous vengeance. This, I think is more to the point with reference to the Pope's assumed authority. By whose authority Joes he claim to be above Kings, and to be inf^dlible, and to have the power of forgiving sin, and of granting this po\\er to his priests? By whose au- thc.ity does he hold the keys of heaven and hell, and say to this one be thou saved, and to that one be thou damned ? If he has God's authority, I hope the Rev. gentleman will kindly direct me to where I may find it in the Bible. Our (^ueen, as he head of the English Church, and the Moderator as the head o^ the Presbyterian Church, are called upon to justify the Pope as head : 24 Letter, Rro. R. Scobie. % I oi the visible Church. But surely, Rev. Father Molphy knows that our Queen with all her virtues and excellencies, is only a woman, advancing no claim to infallibility, or to any special supernatural power to rule over the Church. When she attends the house of God, she worships in common with others. And, if any poor sinner were to fall upon his knees to do her homage as a spiritual head, I am convinced she would speak to him after the manner of the angel to John, "'See thou do it not,' I am a v.ouian, 'worship God.'" And our Moderator, is only a humble- servant ot Christ, with no claims or pre- tentions above his brethren. It is a weak cause that has to revert either to Her Majesty or to our Moderator for support. The next point the Rev. gentleman takes up is, that Peter was the rock upon which Christ said lie would build His Church. He does not seem to be guided by the opinion of the Fathers in this matter. Lannoy, Doctor of the SorbonnCj says that •' out of seventy-seven sayings of the most f:\mous Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, he found only seventeen who explain Peter himself as ♦he rock : forty-four, on the contrary, understand the Faith, and sixteen Christ Himself." Saint Hilaiy, in the sixth book of the Holy Trinity, says, " The building of the Church is on Peter's confession ; this is tho foundation of the Church." Saint Ambrose, says, " I'he foundation of the Church is the faith of Peter, for it was said, not to the flesh of Peter, but to the faith of Peter — the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and therefore the rock ia not Peter, and therefore the Church of Christ is built, not on Peter, but or the faith of Peter." So say (Jregorius, Myssenus, Cyrillus, Chrysoslom, Augus- tine, and Origen. Peter was a man, and if the Church of Rome is built on him, she is not a Divine Church, but a human one. 1 find that Peter W'ac a perjurer ; and if the Church of Rome is built on him. j-he is a perjured Church. I find also that Christ calls Peter Satan ; and if the Church of Rome is built on him, she is a catanic Church. But I am quite willing to grant that Peter was the rock on which Christ said He would build His (Church, and to com- mend this as a good ii^*^erpretation of the passage. The Rev. gentlemen says, " St. Peter first, and the ^^ope to-day." But I say, Christ first, Christ to-day, and Christ to the end. But to proceed ; Peter was the first to confess that Christ was the Son of God ; and the first preacher, aiid chief Apostle of Israel, (Acts i., 15; ii., 14; Mark xvi., 7), and even of the heathen, (Acts x.) In this respect he was the rock on which the true Church was built — just as a section of the Church may rest upon a preacher or missionary, whose new nature and energy in his Master's work fit him for the gathering together, and the building up of the Church. Observe—it was not upon Peter's commands as Vicar of Christ th-^.t the Church was to be built, but upon his earnest and faithful min- istry. U was not upon him as Simon Barjona the sinner, (Luke v., 8), but upon tiiis Peter such as grace would make him after our Lord's death. When- ever Simon the sinner will again speak rashly, he shall again be repelled as Satan. Peter was the rock, ar.d James also, and John were pillars with him, (Gal. ii., 9) ; and the other Apostles were foundation stents in the ?nme build- ing, (Eph. ii., 20). On twelve fouiidations (Rev. xxi., 14), stand the names of the iwelve ApostWs without distinction : and in Matt, xix., 28 ; twelve seats upon thrones are promised ♦o them without distinction. I have no objections that Peter should be the head, or rule'-, or prince among the Twelve, but I find no trace of s'.;ch supremacy in the entire New Testament. I find much, how- , Letter^ Rev. R. Scobie. n ever, to the contrary. In Acts vi., not Peter, but the Twelve called together the multitude of disciples; in Acts x., 47, instead of performing his work as head, he asks permission from the inferior attendants who were present ; in Acts XV., he has the first word, but James gives the judgment which the Apos- tles and elders, together with the whole Church, sanction by the Holy Ghost, in II. Peter i., 16 ; iii., 2, he speaks by we with the other Apostles; in I Pet. v., T, he is only a fellow-elder; in Gal. ii., he receives a rebuke from the re- former Paul. What does the Rev. gentleman think of this ? He knows that no man dares rebuke the Pope though wicked as a fiend, nor say to him, " What doest thou." Must 1 go still further to show how the Papists with their Peter are completely overthrown, if they would only read the Bible, and let it be read. Our Lord, looking forward to the homage that would be paid to His Mother, uttered a sharp prophetical rebuke against it, and also against the false father on earth over the equal h hren (Matt, xxiii., 8, 9) ; and after- wards Peter hin»self is called to testify in the Scriptures against almost all the principal pa ts of the Papacy. He lifts up his voice against lordship over the Church, I. Pet. v., 3, 4; against a separate priesthood, chap, ii., 5, 9 ; against assumption over the civil magistrate, vers. 13, 17 ; against silver and gold and shameful gain, — Acts iii., 6, I. Pet. v., 2 ; against unbecoming marks of honor and slipper-kissing, — Acts x., 25, 26 ; against infallibility, ver. 34; against celi- bacy, — I. Cor. ix., 5 ; against all righteousness by works, in harmony with Paul, — Acts XV., 10, II ; I. Pet. i., 13, &c. From the above it will be seen that if Peter were alive at thi? hour, the Church of Rome could not find a more de- termined enemy than she would find in her favorite Apostle. The Rev. gen- tleman goes on to say that, '* Christ Himself prayed that Satan might not have Peter, Christ Himself prayed and the prayer must have been efficacious, that Peter's faith fail not," &c. How does it come, that after this efficacious pray- er had been offered, Peter's faith failed him so far that he denied his Lord three times ? Was Peter infallible ? His shortcomings show that he was not, nay, they show that all the rest of the Apostles were nearer, if I may so speak, to infallibility than he was. If Peter was fallibe, how can the Pope, his as- siuned successor, claim to be infallible ? Further, I find no mention of the doctrine ot infallibility till the XI. century, when it was claimed by Pope Hildeb:and. Is the Pope the successor of Peter? If so, it is necessary to suppose that Peter was Bishop of Rome, but that he never was. But granting that he was Bishop of Rome, does not the Rev. gentleman kno.v that whenever Peter entered upon the office of diocesan Bishop, he ceased to be an Apostle ? As an Apostle he dared not remain permanently in one place. As a Bishop, he must. He could not be both an Apostle and a Bishop. The two officers were incompatible. \Vhich then was he ? Viewing him as the Bishop of the Church at Rome, what was the nature of his office ? Pid he claim universal authority over his fellows? Did he sit u[»on his chair, and like Pio Nono, welcome princes and pilgrims to bow before him and kiss his sandals ? How absurd ! His duties were to feed and oversee th(/ flock ; to preach the gospel, and to direct men to Christ for salvation. How does a lifel'ne of preaching, and teaching, amid persecutions and trials contrast itself with the princely life of the Pope ! My Rev. opponent ought to know that there is a difference, wide as the poles, between the simple and laborious duties of the Bishops of the 1., II., III., and IV^ centuries, and the power and the state of the Popes T wmm 26 Letter^ ^ev. R. Scobie. it ,!;J: since Boniface III., assumed the title of Universal Bishop, or Popein the VII. century : — between the Church of Rome in those days, and the Church of Rome in these days. Further ; he says that I evidently know that " All the earliest Christian wri- ters who have spoken of the doctrines of the Church in their own day, have expressed the doctrines of the Catholic Church of to-day," &c. No, I did not know this fact. I always believed, and do so at this moment, that, with a few exceptions, almosi all the doctrines of the Catholic Church came into existence after what are generally known as the Fathers, had returned to the dust. I shall be glad to see proof to the contrary. The Rev. gentleman knows what place traditions have in the creed ot his Church, and how the Bible is regarded as interior to them in many respects. Allow me to quote from two of the Romish writers on this subject, "Tradition is ihe foundation of the Scriptures, and surpasses them in so far, that whereas the Scriptures could not subsist were they not fortified by tradition, tradition has weight enough without the Scripture." Baronius, Anna/, an. 58, No. 11. "I'he Scripture is a rose of wax, a dead letter which kills, truly a shell without the nut, a leaden weight, a forest to serve as a refuge for brigands, a school for heretics." Lindanus, Banoplia book 1, chap. 22; book 5, chaj\ 4; book i, chap. 6, Bellarmine, Coster, and Canus agree with the above. Now, attend to what some oi the true Fathers say, " We have received no order from Christ to believe in human doctrines, but only in those which the blessed prophets promulgated, and which Christ Himself taught." Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap. 48. " Let the school of Hermogenes show thai what it teaches is written, if such be not written, let it fear the anathema awarded to those who take from, or add to the Scriptures." Teitullian, Against Homo- genes, chap. 22. " It is a mirk of infidelity, and true act of presumption, to regret anything that is written in the Scripture, or to receive things which are not written there." St. Basil, Book on Faith, Moral Rules, Rule 80. And thus speak Irenseus, St. Cyprian, Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Chrysostom. 1 trust such evidence from the Fathers will prevent the Rsv. gentleman from expressing himself in above manner again. I pass over the feeble logic that is employed to show that I failed in proving that the true Church has One Lord, One Faith, and notice in a word the effi- cacy he attributes to Baptism. Would the Rev. gentleman tell us, when, and where the dying malefactor was baptized, and if the want of baptism excluded him from Paradise into which Christ said he would enter that day ? " God is no respecter of persons," and if baptism was not essential to the thiefs salva- tion, neither is it to mine. If the want of it did not exclude him from heaven, neither will the want of it exclude me. Remember, I maintain that this or- dinance is enjoined upon every believer ; and further, that every sincere be- liever will not neglect it, if opportunity be given him to receive it. No, sir, I am lot so presumptuous as to say that the Presbyterian Church is the true Church. There are believers and unbelievers in my Church, and be- lievers and unbelievers in other Churches — and the believers of all Churches constitute the true Chv^rh of Christ. I am sorry the Rev. gentleman found it convenient to throw discredit upon the titles which I said had been given to Popes at different times. T quote the following for his satisfaction. Innocent III., Lib. i,, Ep. 335 : " Rom. pontefex non puri hommis sed veri Dei vicera Letter, ReiK R. Scobit, 27 gerit in terris." Gieseler II., p. 226, from Gerson : " Qui aestimant Papam esse unum deum qui habet potestatem omnem in cseloct in terra;" p. 206, "Rex regum dominus dominantium (I. Tim. vi., 15). This for the people." Leo was called, "The lion of the tribe of Judah, King David, the Saviour, who was to come, King of Kings, and monarch ot the world, holding two swords, the spiritual and the temporal, in whom should be fulfilled the pro- phecy, all Kings shall fall down before him ; to whom alone all power was given in heaven and earth !" (Act Council, Lat. V.) The Re^. gentleman acknowledges that the members of the Church of Rome pray to saints and angels, on the following grounds : " We ask others to pray for us here, and why not ask them when they have departed this life, since they are then equal to the angels, one of whom prayed for mercy to Jerusalem." But I would call his attention to the fact, that the Bible represents Christ as the only 7vay of access to God, and the only channel by which blessings come from God to men. " I am the way, and the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father hut by me." St. John xiv., 6 ; it^, 14 — "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father, tn My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask me anything in my name, that will I do." Heb. vii., 25 — " He (Jesus) is able also to save forever them that come to God by Him" I always thought that God was the hearer and answerer of prayer, but from what the Rev. gentleman says, He has equals in saints and angels. Now, suppose that my father is dead, and that his soul is in heaven ; I am in Canada, my brother is in Scotland, my sister is in India, and mother is in Australia ; and suppose we all pray to his spirit at the same moment, will he hear each and all our prayers ? If so, he is omniscient, omni-present, in short, equal to God. This is certainly a higher state of being than we are taught to believe the re- deemed enter upon at death. My previous statement, that the membe s of the Church of Rome worship idols, is characterized as a slander by the Rev. gen- tleman, and said to be untrue. I call his attention to No. viii. in the Creed of Pope Pius, already quoted, and to the decrees of the Council of Trent, (ses- sion 25) : — "We adore Christ and venerate the saints, vhose likenesses these images bear, when \.'e kiss them, and uncovei our heads in their presence, and prostrate ourselves." Is not this a declaration that images shall be worship- ped in the Church of Rome, and is it not opposed to, and expressly forbidden by the Word of God ? " Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, &c. Thou shalt not adore them nor serve them." — Ex. xx., 4, 5. " Neither shalt thou make nor set up to thyself a statue ; which things the Lord thy God hateth." — Deut. xvi., 22. " God is a Spirit ; and they that adore or worship Him must worship him m spirit an'i in truth." — St. John iv., 24. I cannot but believe in the worship which I have so often seen in the Church of Rome. I have seen hundreds going to their knees in front of a statue of the Virp'n, the image of Christ on the Cross, and the pictures of holy men and women, and heard them uttering, what I understood to be prayers. The Rev. gentle- man knows full well that such images are to be found in every Roman Catho- lic's house, and that they receive due homage and adoration. He says that he believes in the doctrine of transubstantiation, that is, that he has the power to create out of a wafer the real body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. He believes also, I suppose, that in God are centred all power, wisdom, truth, jus- 28 Letter, Rev. Father Molphy. tice, knowledge, holiness, »fcc., and that without these attributes, or even a part of one, He would .lot be God. Well then, when he creates Christ in the Mass, either all these attributes are present in that Christ, or they are all ab- sent. If all are present, then there is no God left in heaven, neither is there another Christ amongthe thousands created everywhere in the Catholic Church, save the one he creates. If, on the other hand, all these attributes are absent, his creation is a pretence, an awful decption, practised upon the ignorant. For the above reasons, I deny that He who created wine out of water, and multi- pled the loaves and fishes, could create an jther God equal to Himself. And yet, the priests of the Church of Rome, profess to do it ! He denies also the superstitious practices, the persecuting spirit, Src. of the Church of Rome. I am sorry that the space you allowed me, Mr. Editor, will not permit me to enter upon these subjects. I shall close by asking the Rev. gentleman a few questions. Why do priests, and people wear something around their arms, or necks, or on their breasts ? What led to the shedding of so much blood among the Waldenses and Albigenses ? By whose au- thority, and for what jmrpose was the Inquisition established ? What led to the massacre of the Huguenots in France, which commenced on St. Bartholo- mew's Day, and which bathed the land with the blood of fifty thousand ? Who caused a medal to be made, bearing on one side the head of the Pope, (Gregory XIII., and on the other, the angel of destruction striking the Protes- tants, with the inscription, Htigjtcnotorum sitages, 1572 'i Should the Rev. gentleman fail to answer, I may take occasion to enlighten the general public on these points, by a course of lectures. I hope Rev. Father Molphy will remember in future communications, that I neither use trickery nor falsehood in argumentation ; and that I request " Thus saith the Lord " for all doctrines advanced. ROBT. SCOBIE, Presbyterian Minister. Strathroy, Dec. 4th, 1876. )Vi (From the Wkstkrn Dispatch of December 2()th, 1876.) THE UNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. To the Editor of ihe Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — I find that the Rev. Mr. Scobie considers it very " uncourteous" for me to expose his bad teasoning. As 1 cannot see the point in such an as- sertion, I take the liberty of requesting you to allow me to expose the ^vorse reasoning of his letter which appeared in youi last issile, and which is about ten times weaker and more nonsensical than the absurd reasoning of his care- fully prepared sermon. In fact so palpable is the difference between the two, that while I suppose that the letter is Mr. Scobie's own, I cannot but think that the sermon, feeble as it was, was composed by some person more able than he has proved himself to be. In his sermon there was a thesis, though from his letter he seems not to be aware of the fact; but in his letter certainly there is none. A three-column epistle, treating oi about fifty different subjects, yet pretending to be logical, Letter, Rev. Father Molphy. 29 Irteous an as- ii f •. men, and from Matt, xxii., Mark xii., Luke XX., that the saints are like to the angels and equal to them, and that, there- fore, the saints as well as the angels pray for us, I shall not enter further inf the proof of this at present, for Rev. Mr. Scobie, by omitting to refute luc argument, has tacitly acknowledged its force. My short argument on transubstantiation he has also left unanswered. It is true he raises a new difficulty, but he is quite mistaken if he thinks I must fol- low him through all his rambling. He himself brought up this subject. If, then, he wishes to hear more about it he should have shown a fallacy in my reasoning. As he has not done so, I am not by any means bound to follow him into new fields. He again asserts that we worship idols. He knows that the assertion is a slander. He accuses the Catholic Church of persecution. Why of all the persecuting bodies that the, world has ever seen, the Presby- I.ettei\ Rev. K. Siohu. 35 terians, in proportion fo their powt-r, have, both in Seotland and elsewhere, taken the first rank, perhaps l)Oth -n deeds and dot trines, l)re'athing the thirst for l)loo(l. It, therefore, ill becomes a Presbyterian minister to hold up his hands in holy horror at the blood \vhi< h others shed in the name of religion. It is known by what name our Lord styled those who saw so j)Iainly the mote in their brother's eye, but saw not the beam which was in their own eye. Mr. ICditor, 1 have finished. 1 have not either the time or the inclination to continue a controversy with one whose deceit is so paljjable as I have shown his to be, and whose blunders are so numerous that to lefute him will scarcely redound to the credit ot his opponent. Rev. Mr. Scobie may perhaps reply to this. While I hold myself free to take such course as I may see fit in the future, it is proV)able that I shall take no more notice of his attacks upon C^atholics. However, I must not conclude without thanking you sincerely for your very great courtesy in putting my letters before the jHiblic. Your obedient servant, jOS. r. MOLPHV. Pastor of Catholic Church. Strathroy, Dec. 12th, 1876. (From the Wichtrkn Disi'ATrii of Di'cenibcr l!7th, ISTiS.I THE CHURCH OF ROME. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dkar Sik, — I hope ycu will kindly favor me with space to reply to Rev. Father Molphy's letter. I vas glad to see from the last effort of the Rev. gentleman, that both my sermon and letter have gone right to the mark. 1 had a notion that my letter, especially, would do its work well, and prove it- self an impregnable fortress against all his boasted logic. He goes round and round, views it from all sides, an:l finding that he cannot overturn a single argument, he frets, and fumes, and tries to retreat amid a shower of mud which he throws with priestly indignation at its composer. Well, 1 suppose it is fallen nature to writhe and groan when overpowered, and hurt, and forced into a corner ; and that even a priest, though he claims the power of forgiving sin, and creating Christs without number, sometimes feels himself brought down to the level of an ordinary mortal. 1 do sympathize with the Rev. gen- tleman in the anguish of discomfiture. Had I known that my letter would drive him to seek shelter under the grossest personal abuse, and to determine to leave the field before the contest was properly begun, I would have dealt him blows with a gentler hand. Put since he has retired 1 would shout after him what he ought to learn in humility, that error is a feeble weapon to raise against the truth, and that all the fallacious logic of the Vatican will not over- throw the word of God. Though it may not be beneficial, 1 am sure it cannot but be amusing to notice the disturbed state of the Rev. gentleman's mind, when ir-^^ting face to face with truth he cannot assail. He insinuates that my sermon must have been composed by some abler person than I nave proved myself to be, and in a few .sentences further on. he proves by hii A\i^ii- that it cannot be either mine : )i p 36 Letter, Rev. R. Scohie. or any one else's thesis. He gets into a dilemma too about this thesis, and quotes Webster's definition — " a position or proposition which a person ad- vances and offers to maintain," &c. I agree with this definition, but I fail to ,see how a conclusion drawn from " a position," can be a thesis. What the Rev. gentleman would have me accept as the thesis of my sermon, viz. : " that there * are certain marks of the true Church, which don't belong to tht Catholic Church," is just the conclusion I draw by contrast from the position, " One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, distinguishing marl s of the true Church.' Again, he quotes from my sermon the following : " But what is meant by in- ternal unity ? It is not that all the members of the true Church should think exactly alike on every point, that is impossible, it is not desirable " : — and from this he concludes that I teach that " the members of the Church of Christ are not bound to believe all the doctrines which have been taught by Christ." By the same mode of fallacious reasoning, and with equal propriety, he might have proved that I teach that there is no God, no hereafter, no such person as Rev. Father Molphy in Strathroy, and so on. If these are examples of the Rev. gentleman's logical powers when he is calm and fully recovered from the pain of defeat, I don't think a year under some one of our professors ot logic would do him an) harm. However, I will put, and answer a question or so, that may show the Rev. gentleman his position in relation to the above quota- tion. Do all the Fathers thiv.k exactly alike on every point ? " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will built my Church." Do they all tJiitik alike on this point ? He knows full well that they do not. They divide themselves into three different classes, and hold three distinct opinions of it. Do all the riiem.bers of the Romish Councils think exactly alike on every point ? Take for example infallibility. Do they all think alike on this point ? Why, the Rev. gentleman knows that some place infallibility in the Pope— some in a general Council — and odiers in the Pope and Council united. From the above I will now give you a specimen of Rev. Father Molphy's reasoning. The Fathers did not think exactly alike on every point, therefore, both the Fathers and the members of the Councils taught that the members of Chris. t's Church are not bound to believe all the doctrines which have been taught by Christ. How does this look for logical reasoning ? In my opinion the com- parison the Rev. gentleman draws between my ignorance and that of a four year old child, could have been retained with propriety at home. The Rev. gentleman proceeds to say that when we acknowledge the subor- dinate authority of the Governor General, we do not exclude the highei au- thority of the Queen. I agree with him here. But when he goes on to use this line of argument for the purpose of establishing the subordinate anthority of the Pope in relation to God, I say stop. The Governor (kneral has his authority by royal permission, the Pope has his by usurpation, and in direct opposition to the will of God. In my letter I asked the Rev. gentleman to prove from Scripture that Christ is only Head of the redeemed Church in heaven, and that the Pope is the head of the Church on earth, but this he could not do. In his usual way of getting over difficulties, he takes no notice of it. If he will attend I will now prove to him that Christ is Head of both the Church in heaven, and the Church on earth. " For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church : and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let \^y Letter, Rev. R. Scohie. 37 the wives be to their own husbands in everything." — Eph. v., 23, 24. Here we have God's own word asserting that Christ is Head of the Church on earth. Again, — " And He (Christ) is the Head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." — Col. i., 18. How does the Pope's position agree with the above ? Where is the Divine perniission for the Pope to reign as head of the Church on earth ? It is awful assumption for a poor, fillen, depraved crea- ture to take to himself the power, and character, and position of God's Son. It is said of Christ that, " He openeth and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth." — Rev. iii., 7. In tlie face of this truth the Pope assumes to hold the keys of heaven, and his deluded followers believe he does ; and thAt it is he who "openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth." If then the Pope openeth and shutteth at pkasi're, he is rot man, but (Jod. It is of Christ alone these words are used, and He savs that His glory. He will not give to another. If then the Pope oi)cneth and shutteth, he is more than a mere subordinate authority ; in a word, he must be Christ Himself, or the word of God is a lie. I am astonished that the Rev. gentle- man with his acute reasoning faculties did not perceive this, and argue, not for a subordinate, but for a Divine position for the Pope. " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death." — Rev. i., 18. Why has God mislead us, if the Pope have these keys ? If God erred in telling us that Christ had them, sure- ly, He might have coi.ected the error, and pointed us to the Pope, the real possessor of the keys. But this is not my only difficulty about these keys. I have others, and I trust the Rev. gentleman will exercise a little sympathy, and come to my help. In \. I). 1378, there were two Popes at once, Clement VII., at Avignon, in France; and Urban \T., in Italy. Which was the Vicar of Christ ? Which was the " infallible, living, speaking judge," from whom there was to be no appeal ? Which held in his possession the keys of heaven ? Between 1033 and 1048, Bei^edict IX.. Gregory VI. ; and Clement II., were rival Popes. In the ninth century we have no less than pre Popes. Ncrv, will the Rev. gentleman kindly inform me, if only one of these possessed the keys, or if they were each supplied with a sej)arate set. The Rev. gentleman gets cor '"used next about the origi.i of popery, and about the dates of the first Popes. I have drawn out the following items for his information : — * Century II. — First steps tf»wards a Purgatory. Rise of Ascetics or Christ- ian Hermits. Sign of the Ooss on the forehead, oji the most common oc- casions. Consecrated elements begun to be carried to the sick or absent, strangers, heretics, ^'c, a custom ending in grossest abuse. (!entury III. — Over estimation of the celibacy ot the clergy. Anniversar- ies of the death of the martyrs. Collections for the poor on such occasions, supposed by Baronius to be an example of the .Sacrifice t>f the Mass. Grad- ual corruption of Christian morals ; ambitious rivalry of some of the bishops and clergy the occasion of much animadversion and grief Century lV.-Muiti|)1ication of rites and ceremonies. First indications of usurped authority o^ the Bishop ot Rome. Invention (fin ordaining that sins should be confessed to him, in order to be forgiven. Evidently, the Rev. gentleman is a little ru^ty on Church history, or he would have known this fact, and thereby saved himself from the titter of those who do know. But to go on with what occurred in century V. In- creased veneration for the cross and relics. Rise of the invocation of the Vir- gin Mary and the saints. Rise of prayers for the dead. Something more about Purgatory. Century VI. — Prayers to the saints, dedication of temples, and ronscrntion of festival days to them. Public use of images. The absolute necessity of baptism to salvation. The title, " Mother of God,'' given to the Virgin M-^*-;/. The Canon of the Mass founded by Gregory I. w^ Century VII. — Purgatory .sanctioned by Gregory I. Title of " UNj\ iik ,/,l Bishop" assumed by Boniface III. I .vill stop here in the meantime. But if the Rev. gentleman wishes more, I .shall be glad to continue from the VTIth Jown to the XlXth century. The above, I think, should convince him that I know what I am saying, when I spoke of Leo, Bishop of the Chuich at Rome. The Rev. gentleman says, "I proved from St. John xxi., Si. Luke xxii., St. Matt, xvi., Ac, that Peter received from our Lord an authority to direct and confirm his brethren, the other Apostles, and that this authority being con- ferred as an authority essential to the Church, it should pass to St. Peter's suc- cessors." I have examined these passages, but I cannot find the expression " the other Apostles." Would the Rev. gentleman point me to where Peter is called upon " to direct and confirm the other Apostles ?" The charge Christ gives to Peter in St. Matt, xvi., is given to all the Apostles in St. Matt, xviii. In St. John xxi., I find Christ saving to Peter, "Feed my lambs; feed my sheep," nothing more. In St. Luke xxii., I find Christ saying to Peter, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," bnt cannot find the expression, " the other Apostles." " Lamias " refer to the young, and " sheep " to those older in the Christian Church. Af> a kind and faithful Shepherd, Peter was to feed the young and also the old with spiritual food, protect them from danger, and guide them to the fold of the Great Shepherd. This he was to do in common with the other Apostles. Peter by his denial of his Lord had lowered himself in the estimation of his fellow-disciples, and, no doubt, was regarded by them as one who was unqualified for the work of the ministry. But Christ will restore him to his former position, and rf^spect among his fellows. As he had denied his Master three times, so Christ or- dains him three times to his office. Christ having done this Himself to Peter in the presence of the others. He thus prevents any one of them from re- proaching him afterwards on account of his sinful fall. " When thou art con- verted, strengthen thy brethren." .Mas ! for the supremacy, when it must look ^r ¥ Letter^ ReiK R. Scobie. 39 ey all been Christian, nay, have they been moral men ? " Baronius, their own historian, admits that, idufing a succe.ssion of fifty popes, not one pious or virtuous man sat in the chair. Some were heretical — others guilty of murder and incest — others were infidels a. d voluptuaries, such as Leo X., whose famous saying was, Quam luci'osa nobis est ista fabula CJiristi ! — " What a lucraih^ affair this fable of Christ has been for us /" Such have been tlie worshipful Vicars of Christ upon earth ! Such the pure channels through whic'h the sacc. dotal character of Rome has been conveyed ! Such the character of men professing to hold the keys of heave", and to decide who were worthy to enter, and who were not ! I am sorry that the Rev. gentleman should try to charge his ignorance on me. If he will turn to The Saving Truths of Christianity, (Luthai'dt), he will .find something to enlighten him regarding the proceedings of the Latern 1 . 40 Letter, Rei'. R. Scobie. ill ! I 11 Council, On page 338, he will find a collection of af! the blasphemous titles that were applied to th2 Pops at the different sittings. Among the rest he will notice '* Vestra diviia majestas" a title given at the first sitting. If this does not keep him from soiling his priestly lips with the language of the vul- gar, I shall be glad to send a few authorities to his place for his examination. If the Rev. gentleman quoted Scripture to prove that the saints pray for us, the printer must have omitted them, as they are not to be found in his let- ter. To prove that a knowledge of what occurs in Canada, Scotland, India, and Australia at the same moment does not constitute omniscience and omni- presence, the Rev. gentleman says. Why, there are many on earth who have means of hearing news from all parts of the globe, and yet no one ever sup- posed that they were equal to God in knowledge and immensity." Profound reasoning this ! Suppose he occupies the position he refers to, and that trom four different telegraph wires, four different petitions are flashing into his ear at the same moment, what then ? Why, he would be more than a priest, if he tell a single woi ' ")f any of them. Apart (rom this, I was not aware that there were telegra ! ' i > reaching from earth to the eavs of the saints. What knowledge the priesi the Church of Rome do possess ! The Rev. gentle- man makes reference to Dives — the rich man praying in hell for his brethren on earth, &c. Did his brethren ask him to pray for them ? Was his prayer answered on their behalf ? Was it from earth he prayed? These questions are for the Rev. gendeman's private consideration. By the way, is he sure whether it was in Purgatory or in hell that Dives prayed ? He says it was in hell, and I believe him, for Purgatory had not been discovered at that time. It was not till 700 years after Christ that Purgatory was fully discovered, and sanctioned as a place of penance and torment for the spirits of the departed Roman Catholics. But to return. The Rev. gentleman has found from Zach. i., that angels pray, and he has seen in the Gospel that saints are equal to the angels, therefore, he concludes, saints as well as angels pray for us. O logic I if tortuie would kill you, you ought to die ! Well, I have no objections that both saints and angels should pray, and i>ray U.•^, continually and forever. But where does the Rev. gentleman find Scriptural injunctions for us to pray to them ? Let him point out one single passage where we are enjoined to pray either to saints or angels, and that their prayers for us prevail with God, and I shall embrace saint-worship. He says further, that the :ingels rejoice over a sinner's conversion, no matter when he is converted. I say so, too ; but from whom do the angels receive their knowledge of the events ? Is it from God, or do they know it of themselves ? If they know of themselves about every conversion which takes place, then t/iey must be omniscient and omni-present, and hence, angels, created beings are equal to God. If the Rev. gentleman would lay what he calls logic aside, and take common sense for his guide, it would be better for him. But I go a step further, and maintain that Scripture emphatically forbids and condemws snint-worsh- . I denounce it, therefore, as a sin committed in impious defiance of (Jod's authority. It is forbidden by those statements which tell us that n>he>i ivorship was offered to angels and Apostles, it was rejected h them at once, and with a holy indigna- tion. When John fell at the feet of the angel who prese ited to his gaze vis- ions of the invisible and the future, which overwhelmed him, he was once and again reproved, and commanded to desist from casting so foul a dishonor upon I > Letter, Rev. R. Scobie. 4J the supreme God. "See thou do it not ; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Cod ; worship God." When Cornelius would have fallen at the feet of Peter, Pet jr immediately said to him, " Stand up, for I myself also am a man." Paul and Barnaba': rejected human worship in the same way. These noble Apostles had too much of the sturdy and stalwart Proteritant to dishonor God by becoming the objects of religious wor- ship. We hear a prohibition of this idolatry, loud as heaven's thunder, in every announcement of the truth that God is die only object of worship and the only hearer of prayer ; and when the Romanist pays homage to a fellow- creature, we remember that we have been instructed to say, " Our Father who art ii. heaven," and our invocation is, " O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." The only prayer that was ever offered to a departed spirit was that of the rich man from hell, and it was offered in vain. When he conies to iransubstantiation, the Rev. gentleman very wisely re- marks that he is not bound to follow me into new fields. I will, however, sug- gest a f'^w points on the subject for the consideration of the public. When Christ said, " Peace be still," to the stormy waves j how did the disciples know that a miracle had been performed ? Why, because the storm was hushed in an instant, and the raging billows sank to a calm. When He turned water in- to wine, how did the guests know that a miracle had been perf)rmed? Why, because they sa^v, smelled, touched, and tasted the newly made wine. And so with all the miracler performed either by Christ or His followers. Men had the evidences of their senses that wonderful things had been done. But when the Rev. gentleman performs the most stupendous of all miracles, when he pretends to create Almighty God from a piece of bread, the senses have no evidence that a miracle 'has been performed. The bread smells like bread, it tastes like bread, it looks like bread, and it feels like bread. Now, in the face of reason, how are we to know that the bread has been changed into the real body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord ? Again, the Rev. gentleman ac- knowledges that Christ was the Son of the Virgin Mar^, and nobody eles's Son. But the bread out of which he creates Christ is not born of the Virgin, therefore, his Christ is not Mary's Son. Again ; was there ever a true, proper, and real sacrifice for sin on earth, but the death of Christ on the cross ? No. The Rev. gentleman knows that all sacrifices from Abel's till then were typical only. But Christ's last supper, which the Rev. gentleman calls Mass, was be- fore His death on the cross, therefore, it could only be typical or figurative ; and yet, he, as a priest, is bound on oath to believe and teach " that in the Mass, there is a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." Again ; God is eternal, without b'.ginning or end. Yet, the Rev. gen- tleman pretends to create Him that is, to give God a beginning in the Mass. Hear what Averroes, the heathen philosopher says about this doctrine. *' I have travelled over the world, and found diverse sects, but so sottish a sect, I never found, as that, who with their own mouth devour the God, whom they worship." The Rev. gentleman accuses me of scandal, when 1 assert that Catholics worship images. I would ask him. What Church is it, that has made a posi tive law, to which the clergy are sworn — " That the images of Christ, of the Virgin Afar;, ami of other saints, shall he had, consecrated, retained, and dully worshipped, by kissing them, aud with uncovered head, bowing do7vn before them i ir^ J ! Ji 'W I Hi 42 Letter, Rev. Father Molphy. and their relics '"' Trent Creed, and Sess. 25. The Rev. gentlenuin must charge his own Creed with slander, if slander there be in the fact. Is it a slander to say, that the images of Christ, and of the Virgin are in his Church, and that the people do them homage ? Is it a slander to say, that in every Catholic's home there are the crucifix, and pictures, and images which receive d'le veneration ? The space allowed me will not permit me to say more thari a few words. The Rev. gentleman in his first letter denied that the Church of Rome had been a persecuting Church ; in his last, however, he acknowledges the fact, declaring, at the same time, that the Presbyterians have been the worst of all persecutors. Would he point to a single instance ot persecution by Presbyterians ? And though they were guilty of the charge, which I em- phatically deny, their doctrines condemn it in every shape and form. The Church of Rome not only sanctions persecution, but enforces it, and puts her priests under oath to further it. What follows when a priest, or a member of the Church of Rome, embraces the Protestant religion ? Why, he is persecu- ted in every place, and threatened on all hands, and often falls a prey to his enemies. While a man is a member of that Church, he has no liberty of con- science. He dares not to think for himself The Bible, which Cod has given him to ma ve him wise unto salvation he dares not to reao. He nmst resign himself body and soul into the hands of the Church or be damned. Should the Rev. Father Molphy think of appearing in public debate again, I trust, for the sake of the morals of the community, he will endeavor to con- duct himself as a gentleman. It ill becomes a priest with his holy pretensions to use such undignified and ungentlemanly language in discussion. No doubt, his defeat must be very painful, both to himself and those who were expecting him to retire with a laureled crown, still, it would n6t have been so bad, had he maintained a manly bearing throughout. There is one source of consola- tion open to him, and that is, he was not defeated in trying to defend truth from the weapons of error, but vice versa. Mr. Editor, allow me to thank you sincerely for the kindly and unpreju- diced way you have acted during this confused debate. Yours very truly, ROBT. SCO B IE, Presbyterian Minister. Strathroy, Dec. 26th, 1876. [From the Westkkn Dihpatch of January 10th, 1377. J UNITY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. I a To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — The Rev. Mr. Scobie once more appears in your columns with a letter treating of every subject which lies within the scope of theology and history. Besides giving an unfounded, untrue and unproved synop;iis of seven centuries of the history of the Church, he gives lectures on logic, on the Fath- ers, the Councils, the Pope, Prayers to the Saints, Purgatory, Transubstantia- tion, the Mass, the honor which Catholics pay to sacred images, persecution, ^T,., he winds up with a lecture which treats partly ot Christian morals, and Letter, Rex\ Father Molphy. 43 with and even ^ath- ntia- tion, and partly of politeness. From one who is dishonest enough to misrepresent the reasoning of an ai jj'onist, and to deny his own words, from one who has knowingly slanderec Catholics by attributing to us doctrines which are not ours, a lecture on morals is as much out of place, as is a lecture on politeness from one who calls Catholics by the nicknames, " Papist," and the like used by Mr, Scobie. Equally out of place is the continuation of the lecture on " logic " by one who persists in not knowing the meaning of a " thesis " or proposition. The follov.ing acknowledgment of an ignorance which cannot be dispelled exceeds anything of tlie kind which I have .seen for a long time. It is extracted from Rev. Mr. Scobie's la^t letter. He says : " I fail to see how a conclusion drawn from a position can be a thesis." How about the conclusion drawn in the 17th Proposition. Euclid, Book I., "Any two angles of a triangle are together Kss than two right angles?" Is this conclusion not the thesis or maintained proposition of the author, as in all the other theor- ems of Euclid ? The fact is, Mr. Scobie has made from the beginning such a muddle of the thesis question that the more he speaks on the subject the more complete is his confusion, as must always be the case when a man does not understand what he is writing about. As regards Mr. Scobie's synopsis of Church history, I can scarcely say whe- ther unscrupulous dishonesty or gross fgnorance has the most to do with it. If I attempt to show its falsity, statement by statement, we shall probably find him saying again that the assertions are not found in his letter, as he did con- cerning his original statement that Eeo I. was the first who claimed supremacy, and in fact we find him, in the letter now before me, making the statement that this supreme authority was first " usurped " in the 4th century, and, there- for \ 100 years earlier than h^ stated befoie. We have only to leave Mr, Scobie thus to himself, and in letter after letter he will refute his own false statements. However, I already proved that the authority of the Popes was acknowledged in the Church by St. Irenaeus, Sozomen, Socrates, Julius, St. Athanasius, &c., whose united testimony manifests what was the belief both in theirs and preceedin'j; ages. I might have added St. Ignatius, Origen, St. Cyp- rian, &c., who all lived before the period even now named by Mr. Scobie. I will here merely ask how- it is, if the Pope's authority was not claimed till the 4th century, that Tertulllan, who lived in the 2nd century, when he was a heretic, reproached the Pope for being styled " Supreme Pontiff, and bishop of l)ishops, the most benign interpreter of God, &c. ?" He further reproaches him with claiming to forgive even the most grievous sins by the authority which (!hrist gave to Peter. The fact, then, that TertuUian, when he was out- side of the Church, thus rebuked the Bishop of Rome, proves that the Church did regard him in the 2nd century as St. Peter's successor, and as having au- thority to forgive sin. What, then, becomes of Mr. Scobie's Church liistory, which staNis that the former doctrine began in the 4th, and the latter 1 5th century ? The a*»sertions were evidently made either in the grossest ignor- an<;e, or with deliberate falsehood. I leave Mr. Scobie to choose between the two. It may be more charitable to suppose the former, but as one of these statements is made after having been previously proved false, I am obliged to think that when a fiilsehood is repeated under such circumstances it must be considered deliberate. in order to show still more conclusiveh- that Mr. Scobie's assertions are ti 44 Letter^ Rti'. Father Molphy. quite unreliable, and that no credit whatever is to be given to them, I shall quote a few passages on each of these subjects, which will suffice to show that both of these doctrines were the doctrines of the Christian Church during the age of Pagan persecution. St. Cyprian, martyr, who wrote A. D. 253, said : "All heresies and schisms have sprung from disregard for the one priest of God whom Christ has consti- tuted priest and judge in His own stead, and whom if the whole brotherhood would obey, according to the Lord's command, no one would oppose the priestly xollege." — 55 Ep. to Pope Cornelius. Again, " Cornelius was made Bishop (of Rome) by the judgnient of (iod, when the place of Fabian, that is, the place of Peter and the rank of the sacerdotal chair was vacant * * * nor can he have the ordination of the Church who holds not the unity of the Church." — Ep. 52 to Antonius. Again, when certain Presbyters who had been excommunicated, ana had succeeded in being the first to go to Rome to bring their case before the Bish- op of Rome, or the Pope, St. Cyprian wrote to Cornelius that they had brought to him '' a merchandise of lies, as though the truth could not sail after them and convict their false tongues by proof "of the real fact. They dare to sail and to carry letters from schismatics and from profane persons to the chair of Peter and to the principal Church, whence the unity of the priesthood took its rise." I might continue to quote both St. Cyprian and other authors of the period when the Church was fresh in the memory of the Apostolic doctrine. Now, even the Mahometans preserved the doctrine of Mahomet for many centuries as it was delivered by their founder ; is it possible that in the days of Cyprian, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Ignatius, the Church which Christ established, and with whose teachers Christ promised to remain to the end of the world, and to which He promised the assistance of tlie spirit of truth, to enable her to per- severe in the truth to teach all nations, should already have proved false to her Divine Master by admitting a usurped authority, which was alr'^.-^dy teaching doctrines that were damnable? The hypothesis is simply blasphemous, if the mission of Christ on earth has in it a germ of truth. As regards confession of sin for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness, which Mr. Scobie says was first introduced in the 5th century, I shall quote Tertul- lian and St. Cyprian, of whom the former wrote A. D. 200, and the lai^er A. D. 253. - Tertullian says : " Since, therefore, you know that after the first protection appointed by our Lord against hell, there is still a second help in confession, why do you desert your salvation ? why do you not approach what you know will cure you ?" — Book on Penitence, chap. 1 2. St. Cyprian says : ('•'■ Dc lap- sis^) Beloved Brethren, I beseech all to confess their sins, while confession will avail, and while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests is agreeable to the Lord." Origen's teaching is the same : but to quote all the early writers who have treated this subject as the universal doctrine in the Church would require a long treatise, so I shall content myself with these. The constant teaching of the Church has been that Christ conferred upon his Apostles the power of forgiving sins. St. Matt, xvi., 19; xviii., 16; St. John xx., 21, 23, and that this power, being a part of the essential constitution of the Church, was to Letter, Re%\ Father Molphy. 45 ction ision, :now lap- Ission Ists is have lire a igof ?r of that is to continue in the successors of the Apostles ; for these were sent, even as Christ was sent by His Father, to continue His work, and to be dispensor of His mys- teries to the end of time. Thus after Judas hanged himself, hi-^ successor, Mathias, became possessor of his apostolic office, ivc. The pretended dates which ^e assigns to other doctrines of the Catholic Church are equally erroneous with those I have just dealt with. I might for them adduce equally strong proofs from Christian writers, who lived hundreds of years before the dates he has mentioned for the several Catholic doctrines of which he speaks, but so totally devoid of truth is every assertion which Mr. Scobie makes, that it would be necessary for me to write a dozen long treatises to expose all his falsities and fallacies at length. What I have here exposed will serve as a specimen of his complete unreliability. Mr. Scobie said in his first letter that he is not aware that " all the earliest Christian writers, who have spoken of the doctrines of the Church in their own day, have expressed the doctrines of the Catholic Church of to-day:" and he declares that most of these doctrines are of modern date. The titter then which he declares has b^ien raised against me among his friends, on account ol my supposed ignorance of Church history, would be more prudently kept for himself. The following propositions 1 have already established by proofs' which have not been refuted, and I have, therefore, every right to consider them demonstrated. ist. That the essential unity of the Church of Christ cannot be preserved without a visible head. This unity consists first in unity of doctrine : for Christ commanded His Apostles to teach all things which He revealed. Matt, xxviii., 20. He commands this unity "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." This unity of doctrine is further prescribed in Eph. iv., 4; Rom. xvi., 17; Phil, ii., 2; Tit. iii., 9. Not only the denial ot Christ's doctrine, but schism, or the forming of a different family or sheepfold excludes from Christ's Church : St. John x., 16; xvii., 20, 21 ; i Cor. i., 10; Phil, iii., 16, &c. Now, in proportion to the numbers contained in Christ's Church, and to their various interests, it is absolutely impossible that this unity should be preserved without a divinely appointed head. Therefore such a head must be looked for This I confirmed by the example of the divinely appointed synagogue whose head was the high priest, and by the human attempts to sup- ply a head, where a divinely appointed head was lacking, as the Presbyterians and other Churches. 2nd. 1 proved that St. Peter was appointed the rock on which the Church was built. 1 showed, and Mr. Scobie also acknowlepgtd that the First Chris- tians believed that Peter, or Peter's unfailing taith, is the rock on which the Church is founded : concerning this, Mr. Scobie says in his letter, that he is willing to commend as a good interpretation of the text that Peter was the rock on which the Church was built. He makes, however, several objections against his own concession ; but by the very fact of acknowledging that the in- terpretation is a good one, he acknowledges that his objections against it are all worthless. Ihen it would not have been necessary for me to refute them ; though I did efute them in a manner which could not have been otherwise than satistactory to your readers. At all events, Mr. Scobie has prudently left my answers alone, and has thus acknowledged their force. 3rd. St. Peter should have a successor in the Primacy. I have proved the 46 letter, Jir, . Father Molphy. Primacy to be essential to the Church : therefore, a successor was as'necessary in the Primacy as in the Aposlohc oftice. Indeed the prerogatives' instituted by Christ \ox the perpetuity of the Church, should necessarily endure as long as the Church itself. But the Church was to live forever : therefore, the pre- rogatives established as part of the Church's essential being, should al^^o last forever — and such is the primacy ot Peter. The Church cannot be without a foundation : tiierefore, Peter as the foundation of the ('hurch should live in his successor. Peter was tc feed tr,e lambs and the sheep, .that is the whole flock, and it was necessary that Christ's flock should be fed to the^ end of time ; therefore, Peter's ortice, from its nature, should continue to the end of time. We have besides the testimony of St. Clement, St. Irenneus, and other Christian writers of the first age, that the Apostolic constitution of the Church, the Primacy included, was understood by Christ's appointment to be perpet- ual : therefore, the Primacy of Peter must be found in his lawful successors. 4th. The question who is the successor of St. Peter, is a historical one, and 1 have already shown that no one but the Pope has ever pretended to possess this chair. 1 have shown by the clearest proofs tha't his right was acknow- ledged in die Church from the beginning, and the acknowledgment was uni- versal both in the East and in the West. Thus the first Council of the Church, that of Nice, declared that " the Roman Church always held the Pri- macy :" and me second general council held a few years afterwards at Con- stantinople, declared that " the Bishop of Constantinople held the first posi- tion of honor after the Bishop of Rome." These considerations and testimonies prove to a demonstration that the Ro- man Pontiff, or St. Peter's successor, holds in the wnole Church of Christ the Primacy of jurisdiction and honor by Divine right. Mr. Scobie again pref ':;nds that the words, " your divine Majesty," were ad- dressed to the Pope by the V Council of Lateran. He says this occurred in the First Session of the Council, and in his foimer letter he says these words were addressed in 1516 to Pope Leo X. Now the first session was held under the Pontificate of Julius 11., not of Leo X. So that the Council could not have addressed Leo X as Pope at its first session. Leo X became Pope A. D. 1513, and in the year 1516, the words " Heavenly Majesty" were appfied to God, and not to the Pope. Mr. Scobie's quotation is, therefore, a forgery, like the words which he pretends to have found in St. Ambrose, but which St. Ambrose never used, as I pointed out in my last letter : " iherefore, the Church of Christ is built, not on Peter, but on the faith of Peter." Another forgery is made by die Rev. Mr. Scobie in quoting the 25th session of the Council of Trent. This is done to sustain his calumny " that images are wor- shipped by Catholics," and he quotes the Council as saying " That the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of other saints shall be had, consecrated, retained, and duly worshipped, by kissing them, and with uncovered head bowing down before thtm and their relics." I stated in my first letter that *' we use pictures and images of the saints for the purpose of reminding us of their virtues, and of encouraging us to imitate them ; and we retain them with due respect just as the. photographs of dear friends are retained in the albums of respectable families ; with this difference that the honor paid to the saints has a religious object, and is therefore of a Letter, Ra\ Fathei Molphy. 47 hifher order." Now the words of the Council of Trent precisely bear out my statement, and repudiate the "worshipping" which Mr. Scobie says is com- manded therein. " The Holy Council decrees * * * that the images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of (lod and of the other saints are to be had and to be retained, particularly in Churches, and that due honor and veneration is to be paid to them : (eisque debitam honorem et veneration- em impcrtiendam) not that we should believe that there is in them any divinity or virtue on account of which they are to be honored, or that we should ask anything from them, or that any confidence is to be placed in images, as was formerly done by the Gentiles who placed their hope in idols ; but because the honor which is paid to them is referred to the originals whom they repre- sent ; so that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads and bow down, we adore chkist, and honor the saints, whose images they are." — Sjss. 25. This, then, is the Catholic doctrine. Mr. Scobie's cjuotation, " they .ire to be consecrated * * * and duly worshipped," is a forgery. It. seems he has a fatality foi forging whenever he makes a quotation. The secret is, that all his arguments and quotations are borrowed bodi'y second-hand from half penny controversialists of no authority, and as he is not able to sustain an argument himself, be hopes by reiterating their assertions, and leaving my proofs unrefuted. that he will succeed in making an impression. As regards prayers to the angels and saints, Mr. Scobie finds it hard to prove*that they do not pray for us, so he now says, " I have no objection that they should pray." Well, probably they would continue their prayers even if he had objection. It is clear from Holy Scripture, and from the teaching of the early Church, that the Blessed Spirits in Heaven know what is going on on earth, for "there shall be joy in heaven when one sinner doetli penance." — Luke xv., 7, and "we are a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men." — i Cor. iv., 9. It is clear that the saints as well as the angels know the occurrences of earth, for Abraham knew of Lazarus' poverty, and the voluptuousness of Dives, and the teaching of Moses and the prophets, who all lived on earth after him. Luke xvi. And Christ tells us that the saints are like the angels, and equal to them. It is clear that the Blessed Spirits pray for us, Zach. i., 12. And, indeed, there can be no sense or reason in saying that their prayers are less powerful when they are iniheaven than while they lived on earth. Yet on earth we are commanded and besought to pray one for another, St. James v. ; Rom, xv., 30, &c. And Holy Scripture teaches us that the just man's prayers are powerful with God. St. Jas. v., r6. It is, therefore, clearly useful for us»to ask the saints to pray for us, sinc2 their prayers are powerful, and they have means of knowing that we ask their intercession. Mr. Scobie wishes to know whether it is by means of telegraph wires that the saints have their mformation. 1 am satisfied with God's word that they have the knowledge, without pretending to explain the precise means which God makes use of to enable them to have it : still, St. Paul does vouchsafe to inform us that there is a means of knowledge which the saints in heaven possess which we have not on earth, i Cor. xiii., 12 — "We see now through a glass in an obscure man- ner : but then face to face. Now I know in part: but then I shall know r r 48 letf^r, R(V. i?. S:obie. J ■ n 'M even as I am known." Mr. Srobio's scoffing is worthy of an Atheist ; but as there is not the shadow of a reason advanced to sustain his absurd ridicule of the knowledge of God's court in heaven, it is quite unnecessary for me to explain it further than I have done. Mr. Scobie says I acknowledged that the Catholic Church persecuted. lie is here guilty of his usual falsehood. I acknowledged nothing of the kind. On the contrary, I declared, and declare that his accusations on the subject are false, like everything else that he has stated in his letters. He says that Pres- byterians never persecuted. This assertion is worth about as much a.s most of the Rev. gentleman's assertions. The Earls of Argyle, Morton, (Ilencairn, Murray, Mar, Lennox, Botliwell, Cassilis and Arran were the leaders of the Reformation in Scotland. Nearly all of these men were steeped in conspira- cy, treason, blood and crime, and were the worst characters of the aye in which they lived. Knox himself perverted the text of the Old 'I'estnment, in order to induce his follow. rs to shed blood, and at a meeting of the Presby- terian preachers at Edinburgh, on the 27th May, 1561, the Council and the Estates were petitioned to "repress the Roman Anti-Christ, as otherwise the brethren would be obliged to take up the sword themselves for that purpose." Macaulay himself, a well-known partizan of the Presbyterian cause, shows cleaily enough the persecuting spirit and acts of rhe syst.ui, l)ut as 1 have al- ready taken up more of your space, Mr. Editor, than I wo.ild wish, I must draw this letter to a close. ^ Thanking you for your kindness, I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, JOS. P. MOLPHY, Pastor of Catholic Church. Strathroy, Jan. 8, 1877. ■ .^ [From the Western Dihpatcii of January 17tli. 1877.] THE CHURCH OF ROME. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir,— I see from your last issue, that the Rev. Flther Molphy and his numerous assistants are writhing under the wounds they have received in trying to defend the blasphemous fioctrines, idolatrous rites and superstitions of the Church of Rome. They cannot bear to have the impious creeds of their Church brought before the public. They shrink back with horror from their own heathenish practices, when shown in the light of the nine- teenth century. When I quote from their standard authors, and from the authorized creeds of their Church, which they as priests are sworn to ob- serve, they tell me I am guilty of forgery. When I mention the worship they give and are bound to give to the Virgin Mary, saints, angels, images andrelics, I am termed a slanderer. 1 suppose from these and other abusive terms they think to silence me, and to make thejaiblic believe that their wick- ed foolery and damnable doctrines are being misrepresented. Well, I pity these men in their blindness, and will deal as charitably with them as possible, Uttir, Rev. H. Scobie. 49 but 1 will drag forth from their hiding places into the realms of day the mon- strous errors of their Church, and open her chambers of imagery that the light of God's truth may show to men the abominations and filthincss of the inter- ior. They were the first to throw the stone, and while one lies within my reach, I will hurl it Ixick edged wi'ih truth. After dooming the Protestant in- habitants of Strathroy, and every place else, to the miseries of hell in the world to come, I wonder how they ran have the hardihood to walk our streets. Not only do I wonder at this, but I wonder also how the citizens of this town give of their means to the support of a system that has their destruction for its aim. Nay, do not think I am exaggerating, for I will soon establish what 1 hav^said. The following propositions, taken from Dr. Den's System of Thfo/ogy, a text book for every Romish theological seminary, will put this matter l)eyond a doubt: — I. " Protestants are heretics, and as such are worse than Jews and Pagans." 2. " They are by baptism and blood, under the power of the Ro- man Catholic Church." 3. "So far from granting toleration to Protestants, it is the duty of the Church to exterminate the rites of their religion." 4. " It is the duty of the Roman Catholic Church to compel heretics to submit to her faith." 5. " That the punishments decreed by the Roman Catholic Church are confiscation of goods, exile, imprisonment and death." The following are the notes appended to the work known as the Rhenish Testament : — " Protes- tants. To be present at their ser\ <;e, and all communication with them in spiritual things, is a great and dan; ible sin." " The Church service of Eng- land, they being in heresy and schism, is not only unprofitable, but damnable." " The translators of the English Bible ought to be abhorred to the depths of hell." "Justice and rigorous punishment of sinners is not forbidden, nor Christian princes for putting heretics to death." " Heresy and apostacy from Catholic faith punishable by death." " Heretics ought by public authority, either spiritual or temporal, to be chastised or executed." Here is an oath taken from the Jesuit Confession of Faith, published in Germany, at Berlin, as late as 1829: — " We also swear that we will persecute this cursed evangelical doctrine as long as we have a drop of blood in oiif bodies ; and we will eradi- cate it secretly and publicly, violently and deceitfully, with words and with deeds, the sword not excluded." These give but a faint idea of the persecu- ting doctrines frequently uttered by the Popes of the Romish Church, and adopted, sanctioned and promulgated by her councils. And all who have any acquaintance with that Church's history, know how faithfully they have been carried out on every convenient occasion. Her history is one of inhuman ciuelty and bloodshed. In 1207, through the persecuting zeal of Innocent III and his legates, an army of 300,000 men was let loose upon the unoffend- ing Albigenses and burghers who had incurred the implacable hatred of the Pope by daring to worship God as their fathers had done from the days of the Apostles, and as their own conscience, enlightened by Scripture, taught them to do. Beziers was the first town that was captured, and its inhabitants were given up, by the orders of the Pope's legate, to indiscriminate slaughter. " But how," said some of the commanders, staggered at such unlimited li- cense, " how shall we distinguish the (Catholics who art there from the here- tics ?" " AY// all" was the unhesitating reply. " KiU all : the Lord will knaw who are his/" Every human being in the town, to the number of 60,- 000, was slain, and then the whole consumed by fire. Space will not allow 50 Litter, Rro. R. ScoHe. if i: r: I Si ; ( « .1; i^ii n '■^W- rf! me to detail this frightful war, which was prosecuted for nearly half a century, and in which nearly a million of lives were sacrific^^u to the fury of the vilest persecutors. Of this enormous barbarity, the guilt rests primarily and chiefly upon the Church of Rome. To exterminate the Albigenses, the Holy Inquisi- tion was instituted — an institution, every principle, and law. and usage of which is so •epugnant to liberty, humanity, justice and religion, that it could have had its origin and its sanction only within a body thoroughly ]>ervaded by the spirit of the most fiendish cruelty and persecution. When I think of the rack on which innocent men and women were stretched till their limbs were disjointed and torn asunder — of the wheel upon which they were l>roken— of the hot pans in ivhich they were roasted — of the " Beautiful Lady," which em- braced thern, cutting them into a thous.and pieces—of the screws, the iron chair and drop of water — when 1 think of those horrid instruments of torture and cruelty which .sent thousands into et^ miry, I make bold to say, that on/y in the Apostate Church of Rome could such an institution be found. Out of many instances of the cruelty and revengeful spirit of Popery in France, 1 shall only mention one, the massacre of the Huguenots. The slaughte. com- menced on St. Bartholomew's Day, the 24th of August, 1572, the holy Sab- bath as it happened, when Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Protestants, was basely murder^-'d in his lodgings, at Paris, whither, there is good reason to be- lieve, he had been enticed on purpose by the king. In Paris, this butchery of Christ's people lasted for seven days, during which the streets flowed with hu- man blood. In pity for the feelings of the public, I dare not describe the scene. From the Capital, the massacre spread into the Provinces, where for nearly two months the sword of the persecutor continued to be bathed in the blood of the doomed Hu ". nots, till fifty thousand were siain. The tidings of this bloody sacrifice of ti e innocent spread consternation through .11 the Protestant states of Europe; but at Rome they were receiv^ed with acciama- tio"". The messenger who brought them was liberally rewarded ; the Pope went into grand procession to the church, where high mass was performed, and the Te Deum sung in celebration of the event ; cannons were fired from the walls, to announce the joyful news to the .surrounding villages ; a cardinal was dispatched as legate to France, to thank the French king for what he had done, and animate him to finish his bloody work ; and, as I have already men- tioned, medals were ordered to be made, bearing on one side the image of the reigning Pope, Gregory XIIL, and on the other, the angel of destruction, holding a cross in one hand, and in the other a sword striking the Protestants, with the inscription, " Huguenotorum strages, 1572," " The slaugnter of the Huguenots." I mi^ut speak of the infamous Gunpowder Plot, the delfbcrate contrivance of the Roman Catholics to destroy, at one blow, the king and the heads of the principal Protestant families in England, and thereby secure the return of Popery to supremacy. I might narrate the horrors of the Irish Re- bellion of 1641 — a rebellion planned by Popish cunning, and exasperated by Popish malignity — "the Hibernian St. Bartholomew," as it has been just'y styled, but exceeding in its atrocities even that from vhich it receives: its name. I might go to Poland, and Germany, and Spain, or t any other place where Popery has had a footing, and show you there its cruel and persecuting spirit, but I must hasten to other subjects. Many good tvnd liberal-minded people think that Popery has ceased to be a persecuting sysvem. I ask them Letter, Uro. R. Scobie. 5* the the Re- by stly its ace em to tell me when Popery ceased to be a per "icuting system ? I ask them to produce a single authoritative statement, irom any quarter by which Roman- ists would consider themselves bound, declaring that the Church has given up the principle of persecuting heretics ? I "sk them to explain, by any process of rational logic, how a Church, which takes its stand on infallibility, can .cease to be what in principle and spirit it has at one time been. If the Church of Rome has persecuted at any time, she must persecute to the end, or she is not infallible. The following passage from a circular just issued to his clergy by the Bishop of Minorca will, I think convince you that she is to-day what she has always been : — " We renew and reiterate our sentence of the highest order of excommunication against heretics of every sort, kind and description, against their pupils or adopted children, against their fathers, mothers, precep- tors, and all who sit at nieat witu them. We fully excommunicate all who aid or look kindly on them ; we excommunicate the doHiestic semants of all heretics; we excommunic ite all and every person or persons who dare to let a house to a heretic or Protestant for school or services, and ever>- one who gives money, or makes a loan, or leaves a legacy to such persons ; we excommunicate every one who lives on terms of friendship with heretics, and every one who dares to say or write one word in their 'let'ence." I will add nothing further on this subject, only this, that we, as Protestants, ought to thank God that we are strong of ourselves, and under the protection of the British flag. Apologising for this digression, 1 shah ;ry now to answer another of those letters to which Rev. Father Molphy has affixed his name, and which shews the character of his religion about as well as anything I can advance. As a priest, he ought to " have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;" but instead of this, he resorts to the vilest abuse. Here is Christ's command to the members of His Church : — " Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to thtm that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."- -Matt, v., 44. I hope the Rev. gentleman and his assistants will measure themselves alongside of this and learn how they should conduct themselves. Rev. Father Molphy says that I have treated " of every subject which lies within the scope of theology and history." I thought he was either rusty or that he did not know a gieat deal, and now I have his own words for it. If he will remain on the field for a few weeks or months longer, I think I shall convince him a number of subjects connected with his Church which touched. He complains of the number of subjects on ask him to turn to his fir!*t cttc; a. d see who intro- duced them. I thought, at the time, that he had put more irons in the tire than he cou'H attend ic, but I !iad no complaint 10 make. However, if he thinks he could handle a single subject with more effect, and credit to himself, let him choose it at once, and recover his reputation. He says also, that I gave an " unfounded, untrue, unproved synopsis ot seven centur- ies of the Church." This is certainly strong language, but, considering its source, it is weak, and disappears like siiow on n hot iron when applied to the time-honored men from whose writings the synopsis is gathered, I ask the Rev. gentleman to go and study Mosheim'i licclest. Hist. ; Sprinheims Ec- clest. Hist. ; Greer's Epitome of General Councils ; Home's Popery Delinea- ted; and then he will see the truth of my former assertions. Had 1 known that I know cjuite have not yet been hand, but 1 would 11 5» LetUr, Rev. R. Scobie. that the term Papist would be offensive to him, I would not have used it. But knowing that the Pope is called Pape in the French, Papa in the Latin, and that he is called Father by the members of the Romish Church, I did not think that the Rev. gentleman would be ashamed and offended to be called after his Lord, and Father, the Pope. To please him, I will avoid the use of the term in future. In proof of his absurd assertions, the Rev. gentleman- quotes from the Fathers, and is evidently annoyed because he; cannot prevail upon me to let go the Word of God, and plunge into their writings. I know well what the writings of his Fathers are, and from the late exhibitions we have had of what the modern Fathers ca»i say without a blush, the public will be able 1 1 draw a good inference regarding the testimony of his ancient Fathers. Men who can pervert the Bible to suit their own infsmous purposes, will have few scruples in twisting the writings of the Fathers for every time of need. I value the writings of the Christian Fathers, but even they are worthless to prove which is the true Church. Her character is written in the Bible by a Divine hand ; and that Church which cannot prove from the Bible that she is God's Church, is not His, but the devil's. If the Bible be against the Ci.urch of Rome, all the writings of the Fathers who have ever lived will not make her Christ's Church, nor save her from the wrath of a holy God. And the Bible is against her, to her everlasting condemnation. Let any man turn with an unprejudiced mind to the 2nd chap, of 2 Peter, whose successors the Popes pretend to be, and he will find such a description of the character of those in- famous and wicked men, as will convince him that they are only " wolves in sheep's clothing." And let him read the xvii. and xviii. chaps, ol " The Reve- lation," and from what he knows of the Church of Rome, he will be compelled to acknowledge that she is " the mother of harlots, and abominations of THE EARTH — drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus ;" and doomed to destruction, root and branch. The Rev. gentleman proceeds to say, that he has proved this, that, and the other point. Now, to be candid with him, 1 set nothing he has prov- ed but his own ignorance of Scripture and Church history, and his want of common sense and common civility. He disputes the time when private confessions of sin were first introduced. To save him from charging me with forgery, &c., as he continually does when he meets facts he cannot destroy, and arguments he cannot overturn, I would again call his at- tention to the fact that private confession was first introduced in the 5th cen- tury under Leo, and that " auricular confession " in secret to a priest, was first sanctioned under Innocent III., in the 13th century; Spanheim's Eccies. Hist, sec V. and xiii. The Rev. gentleman has denied many things which no read- er of history could deny, but surely he will not deny that piivate confessions are poured into his ear once a year by every member of his Church, and that, by muttering a few I^tin words, after pcckecing the confessional fee, he ab- solves or pardons the mortal sins of the kneeling penitent, and makes him just before God. Now, from the general teachings of Scripture we sin every hour. If any man will notice his thoughts for a few minutes in the light of a holy law, he will be amazed at the number of sins which can b; laid to his charge in an hour. Counting 12 waking hours in the day, and 365 days in the year, wc have 4,380 hours of many sins. How then can a Rom.i:t Catholic rem em- l)er all his sins so as to make a full confession of them at one sitting once a I Letter, Rex\ R. Scobie. 53 year? It is simply impossible. Granting that the priest has the power to forgive sin, which is awful blasphemy, if the penitent does not confes ^z'^ry sin even the least and get it pardoned, according to the Bible, he is guilty in the sight of (jod, and under wrath. " He that offends in ore point is guilty of all." To get over this difficulty, and to make sure of her victims, the Church of Rome teaches that some sins are venial,, or such as may be taken away by the sprinkling of holy water, counting of beads, bowing before the altar, or by do- ing penance in one or other of its innumerable forms. The Douay Cate- chism reduces the deadly or capital sins to seven — pride, covetousness, luxury, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth. The French Catechism issued by Bonaparte and the Pope, gives preci.sely the same number, with two slight verbal variations — what the former calls luxury and sloth, the latter calls wantonness and idle- ness. The Douay Catechism has also six sins ag.iinst the Holy Chost ; but as they are not called mortal, we must consider only as venial. These are — despair of salvation, presumption of (jod's mercy, to impugn the known truth, envy at another's spiritual good, obstinacy in sin, and final impenitence. Then they are four particularly marked by Douay divines — wilful murder, sin of Sodom, oppression of the poor, and to defraud workmen of their wages. Now, a man may be unconscious of any of the seven deadly sins — of any of the six sins against the Holy Ghost, or of any of the (our that cry to heaven for vengeance, it may not be in the power of any man to convict him of any one of these seventeen sins, and yet he may be under condemnation, because the love of God is not in him ; and while his fellow-creatures are regarding him as a saint, worthy to be canonized and adored, all the benevolence of Heaven is looking down upon him with pity, as an enemy to God in his mind, and as belonging to that description of men for whom is reserved the black- ness of darkness for ever. From whom does the Rev. gentleman get power to pardon sin ? Is it from God, or th ' ■hr( ii ? If from the Church, then it is a vile deception practised upon those from whom the Bible is withheld. He quotes again Matt, xvi., 19, .t igain I tell him that the same power given to Peter was given to all the Ap> .^ in commun, but to ni»n'- " 'hem was given th*. power to forgive sin. Not one sin 'c pn sage can Ik qu ned from the '-y ora of God to prove that the Apostle understood our Lord to have be- stoweu on ttiem the power of forgiving sins ; n< is it reco led of any one of them that he took on him the authority to forgive sins, which none can for- give on\)'. The following is the testimony of Peter and the . 'ostles t • this truth ; — " The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew* and hanged on a tree. Him hath God excited to be a Prince an a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel zx\d^ forgiveness of sins." — Acts v. 30,31. And Christ Himself teaches us to ask God alone for forgiveness— • A"d forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." He also prayed for for<'i ,iess, and it was to God He prayed — " Father, forgive them, &c." Th v. gentleman says that the power of forgiving sins being a part of the essential constitution of the Church, was to continue in the successors of the Apostles. I ask him to prove that this power invested in man is essential to the constitution of the Church, and also that this power was to continue in the successors of the Apostles. Does the Rev. gentleman claim along with the Pope to be a successor of the Apostles? If not, why, and by whose authority does he forgive sins? And where, 1 ask him, does he fiid his authority for asking people to confess their 54 Letter, Rro. R. Scobie. sins to him? He refers to James v., i6 — " Confess your faults one to anoth- er, and pray for one another, &c." I wonder if he means this as his authori- ty? I know his Church does. Well, does the Rev. gentleman, afier listening to the confessions of his people, turn round and confess his sins to one and all of them ? Knot, th; passage is against him, for it says, " Confess your faults one to another." The simple fact is, this confessing of sins to a sinful man is a mockery before God, and is followed by the most wic'ced results. By it the priest learns the secrets of every family and individual 'mder his care, and acquires a power over them which they dare not gainsay. i his is why they pay him so much reverence, and this is why 'e can wring their money from them as it pleases him. He has the secrets of their hearts, and they are his slaves, young and old, man and woman. Space will not permit me to speak of the countless wrongs that have been done by the communica- tions at the Confessional. Children have been made the accusers of their pa- rents, and parents the accusers of their children to the keeping? full of that terrible place of torture and death, the Holy Inquisition. Questions are put to young women, and answers expected that would disgrace this letter. No pure-minded man can carry out the teachings in the Confessional, and -no wo- man can be pure as she leaves the box where she has poured into the enr of a priest the story of her life and thoughts. Consult Liguori, or Dona, whose teachings form the basis ot the education of every priest, and you will '.le con- vinced of the truth of what I say. Here is what the Bible teaches about this doctrine, and it casts a dark shadow over the Ro)nish C nifessional : " The blood of Jesus Christ his (God's) Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If wc confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." — i John, i. 9. Is it to di priest we are to confess our sins, and from him expect forgiveness ? Nay, it is to God alone we arc to confess, and it is from God alone we are to look tor pardon. Unity of doctrine is the 'next point, but as 1 have already shown that such unity did not exist in the Church of Rome, 1 will only allude to it. What un- ity could there be in a Church in which there were two Popes contending for the supremacy at the same time, and each backed by thousands of deluded followers? What unity could there be in a Church whose infallible counsels have contradicted and anuUed each other's decrees from time to time ; and whose most imminent writers differ sadly on various doctrines ? VVhy, does the Rev. gentleman not know that there have been and are still divisions in his Churcii? The r).)mi.iicaisand PVaiiriscans the Jaseaists and the Jesuii.s, and others, were directly opposed to eacii other, not only on matters of form and discipline merely,but upon the most fundamental points of doctrine. The Franciscans stoutly maintained that the Virgin Mary was born immaculate, while the Dominicans asserted that she came into the world under original sin : and by their quarrel the peace of Europe was disturbed for many a day. In later times the Jesuits and the Dominicans had a furious contest on the subjects of fate and free-will, »fcc. So much for the holy and infallible Church. Different sects within her bosom teach the most opp )site doctrines ; and they hate each other with a perfect hatred. NoUiingcii exceed the abhorence with which the Jesuits speak of the Jansenists, of wi ch see an example in the Orthodox fni4rnal {ox Tnly, 1820. Letter, Rev. R, Scobie. 55 The next point is the headship of the Pope as successor of St. Peter. I think I showed clearly from Scripture in my first letter, that Peter was a most inveterate enemy to the Church of Rome. The Rev. gentleman has evident- ly consideied it best to leave my arguments on that point alone, as he has never attempted to refute them. However, he might enlighten me by proving, first, that the words of Christ, " Upon this rock 1 will build my Church," ap- ply to the person of the Apostle Peter. Second, it they apply to his person, he might show that they assign to him supremacy over the other Apostles. Third, that Peter was bishop of Rome. Fourth, granting Peter's supremacy, he might show that it was communicable to others as his successors. Finally, admitting all this, he might also show that the succession of Popes, from the days of Peter, has been uninterrupted, and .that the supremacy of the Papal chair has been indefectible and unchangeable. He says that it is essential that the Church should have a head. Quite so, and Christ says He is the Head, and surely the Rev. gentleman w'ould not make her a monster by giving her two heads, Christ and the Pope. I ask him oi^^aiii to prove from the Bible that Christ is die Head of the Church redeemed, and that the Pope is the head of the Church on earth. I do hope he will attend to this point. His assertion that he has proved the .'accession of the Popes, is merely a fable. The Rev. gentleman accuses me of forgery when 1 say that his Church sanctions the worshipping of idols. Here is a sentence he quotes from the Council of Trent, and surely it cannot be a forgery: — " So that by the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads and bow down, we ADORK CHKKsr, AND HONOR THE SAINTS, whosc imagCo they are." Now, this bounng and kissing are the very terms ue:ed in Scripture to denote Divine wor- ship ; and the giving of which to any creature or image is declared to be idol- atry. In the 72nd Psalm, the woiship which shall be paid to the Messiah himself is expressed by the words-—" They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him," and in the g5th Psalm, it is said, " Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." In both these passages, boaviiig btfore and kneeling be- fore God and Christ are expressive of the worship paid to them. In Psalm ii. 12, the worship paid to the Son of God by the kings of the earth, is express- ed by the words.—" Kiss the Son ;" and the seven thousand in Israel who had not been partakers of tlie sin of idolatry, are designated as "all the knees who had not bowed to Baal, and the mouths which had not kissed him." Hosea xiii., 2, the worship of the calves, the golden calves of Dan and Bethel, is rep- resented as the most lieinous idolatry. But tJiis very tvorship, the Rev. gentle- man says, his Church pays to the images of the saints, &c., and, therefore, ac- cording to his own showing, he, and the members of his Church, ivorship idols. ''Thou Shalt not MAKE unto thee any GRA VEN IMAGE, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the 7catcr under the earth. Thou shalt not BOW 2 II Y SELF DOWN to them, not serve them." — Ex. xx. The Church of llome has made such images, and enjoined the kissing cf them, and the bowing down to them, therefore she wiHully violates the above commandment, and proves herself to bean idolatrous Church. I'he \»orshit) of the above calves at Dan and Beth- el, and the worship of the calf at Sinai, was the same, in every respect, as the worship of the images of Christ, the Virgin, and saints in the Church of K '•e, and hence it is the grossest idolury, and an al) -minalion in the sight of God. ii ffl '■» il! 56 Letter, Rev. if. Sco/'ie. Jn support of saint worship, the Rev. gentleman resorts to his former mode of reasoning, angels pray, saints are equal t*^' the angels, therefore saints pray. It may surprise him a little when 1 tell him "ihat the spirits of the departed are not equal to the angels. If he will take the trouble to examine the following passages : — Luke xx., 36, Matt, xxii., and Mark xii., he will find that they are not equal to the angels till the resurrection. It is then, when the soul is uni- ted to the body, and only then, accordi'^g to Christ's own words, that sainis are equal to the angels. 1 will allow the Rev. gentleman to pervert the wri- tings of his Fathers, and the decrees of the councils of his Church, in any way he may think proper, but 1 will not allow him to pervert the pure doc- trines of the bible, and turn them to unholy and idolatrous purposes. Here is a quotation from his letter, " it is clear from Holy Scripture, and from the teachings of the early Church, that the Blessed Spirits in Heaven know what is going on on earth, for ' there shall be joy in heaven when one sinner doeth penance.'" — Luke xv., 7. We have here a good example of the Rev. gentle- man's honesty, and of the manner in which he perverts the Word ol Cod. ■ " I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that re- penteth." These are Christ's words in the above passage, and they give no countenance to the barbarous austerities the Romish Church enjoins upon the members in the name of religion. Would the Rev. gentleman turn up the Greek word " metanoias" and see if it means *' doeth penance ?" With a so- lemnity that contrasts strangely with his M'ritings, he says, " that the Blessed Spirits in Heaven know what is going on on the earth." To prove this, he says that Abraham knew ot Lazarus' poverty, and of the voluptuousness of Dives, and so on. Did Abraham of old know such in his redeemed state ^ The Rev. gentleman would answer yes, 1 suppose, because Lazarus was carried "to Abraham's bosom." With all reverence for the expression, I must say that Abraham must have had an uncommon bosom ; lor into it all the faithful have been gathered, and will be gathered to the end of time. 1 think the Rev. gentleman must be trying d little deception in his interpretation of the phrase " Abraham's bosom," for he cannot but know that it signifies the blessedness of heaven. But, further, I ask him to prove "that the Blessed Spirit" in Hea- ven know what is going on on earth." I submit the following passag^o tor his consideration : — " Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, O Lord, art our father, our re- deemer; thy name is from everlasting." — Isa. Ixiii,, i6. When speaking of a dying man, the writer of Job says, xiv., 20, 21 — " Thou changest his counte- nance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knovveth it not ; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." In Eccles. ix., 6, we find that the dead have absotutely no portion in anything that hap- pens under the sun. Apart trom this, I maintain that departed spirits must be everywhere present, before they are able to listen to the millions of prayers that ascend to them daily; and if they are everywhere present, then they are not equal to angels, but equal to God Himself. I offered in my last letter to bc- co.ne a worshipper of the saints, if the Rev. gentleman would point out a single passage in the Bible enjoining us to pray to the spirits of the departed, but he, seemingly, does not wish to have me for a convert. " O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come." " Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shah glorify m;. ' " Draw nigh to God, I Letter^ Kcv. Father Mo^phy. 57 and he will draw nigh to you." " Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be delivered." — Ps. Ixv. and 1. ; Jas. iv., 8. ; Joel ii., 33. There are a few of the y)assages which point us to the Hearer and Answerer of all pray- er, and ot Whom it is written — " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy Ciod, and Him only shalt thou serve." The members of the Romih Church cannot allow God's Son to have the honor of having borne in His own body the sins of men, and of having taken them away by His death. They must do penance, they must suffer here and in Purgatory to help Christ in His work of saving them. By their ridiculous austerities they proclaim that He is not a perfect Saviour : and by their prayers to the Virgin, angels and saints they dishonor Him, and proclaim ihat He is not a perfect Mediator, and Intercessor. Befo. closing I will give another example of the Rev. gentleman's honesty and truthfulness. In his last letter he says " Mr. Scobie says I acknowledged that the Catholic Church persecuted. He is here guilty of his usual falsehood. 1 acknowledged nothing of the kind. On the contrary, 1 declared, and still declare that his accusations are false, like everything else he has stated in his letters." Now, I will give you:what I took for his acknowledgment of the fact. In a former letter, after denouncing Presbyterians as persecutors, he says^'Tt, therefore, ill-becomes a Presbyterian minister to hold up his hands in holy hor- ror at the blood which others shed in the name of religion. It is known by vhat name our Lord called those who saw so plainly the niote \\\ their broth- er's eye, but saw not the beam which was in their own eye." I charged his Church with persecution, and if language has meaning, the above is an ac- knowledgment of it. He mentions a few names as Presbyterian persecutors, but space will not permit me to show how false the charge. Even though persecutors could be found in the history of Presbyterianism, its principles are love to God, and love to man. No, Rev. Father Molphy, I have had no assistance from any quarter, in re- futing your fallacious arguments, and in exposing the unholy doctrines, and heathenish forms of your Church ; nor do I need any. So long as I have the Bible, and the assistance of God's Spirit, I have all I require. I beg to thank you, Mr. Editor, for the space you have allowed me in your paj^er to defend the truth. The subject of my next letter will be, irrespective of the abusive language that may be issued in answer to this, THE CHURCH OF ROME A COUNTERFEIT. ROBT. SCOBIE, Presbyterian Minister. Strathroy, Jan. 15th, 1S77. [From the Westeun I)i?p.\Tcn of January Slst, 1877.] THE UNITY OF CHRIST'S CHURCH. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — There is a small animal called by zoologists Piilex. Josh Bil- lings says " it is the smallest animal of the brute creation, and it bites on the run," and " it will go all over a man's suburbs in two minutes." When this little animal bites, the same humorist tells us that the only way to deal effectu- i 58 Letter, Re7K Father Alolphy, ally with the case is " to quit business of all kind and hunt for him, and when you have found him he is not there." Most of your readers will recognize the animal by this description. Rev. Mr. Scobie resembles in his travels no other being that I can think of, for he also *' bites on the run, and when you have found him he is not there." He says I " complain of the number of subjects on hand." Oh, no. 1 have no complaint to make on the subject at all. Mr. Scobie may treat of all the subjects which are dealt with in the American Cyclo- pedia if he likes within three or four colums of your journal. I merely let the public understand that the writer who thus evades answering the arguments which effect the real issue between us, proves that he cannot answer them,and that his lucubrations are and must be balderdash. He calls upon me to choose a subject. 1 intend to do nothing of the kind, for several reasons, one of which is because a subject, the " unity of Christ's Church," was chosen by Mr. Scobie, and 1 proved that his thesis — that is to say the main proposition which he maintained, was a complete failure. Your readers will remember that Mr. Scobie tben denied his thesis, thus acknowledging the failure, and showed that he did not so much as understand what a thesis is. I adopted Mr. Scobie's subject and proved that the unity requisite in the Church of Christ is found in the Catholic Church, but Mr. Scobie has not attempted even to refute my main arguments ; instead of this he brings in as many different subjects as would require me to write books enough to fill a large library, if I were to dX- itm^i, pu/ex-fashion, to follow him. Now, I would not blame any writer, who, while treating satisfactorily the main point at issue, proving it and refuting objections, would refer in a cursory way to a few other points, which have more or less connection \\ith the subject at issue. But a man who endeavors to avoid answering actual reasoning, by braggadocio and improved bluster about the " blasphemous doctrines, idolatrous rites and superstitions of the Church of Rome;" about her "impious creeds, heathenish practices, wicked foolery, damnable doctrines, monstrous errors, abominations and filthiness," proves himself an imbecile or a knave, and will be regarded as such by all who know what reasoning is. A prick of a pin will make a bag of wind col- lapse: so this summary of the first column of Mr. Scobie's last epistle needs only to be quoted, and it is seen to be ridiculous and puerile. Mr. Scobie may pursue whatever course he pleases. He may attack the Catholic Bible, he may invent stories of Catholic persecution, he may appeal to humanity against the horrors of " Popery in France " or elsewhere, he may deny the persecuting spirit of Presbyterianism in its various forms under Cal- vin, Knox, Oliver Cromwell, and others down to our own day, he may treat fifty other subjects if it so pleases him, but as the Unity of the Church of Christ has been the real subject at issue, I shall treat of this subject especially in this letter, and I shall not enter at length upon any other until it shall be seen to demonstration not only that the Catholic Church possesses the Unity which is a mark of the Chnrch, but also that his Presbyterianism is totally devoid of this characteristic; and until it shall appear conclusively that Mr. Scobie's arguments against Catholic unity are as false as are his own for- geries. When 1 shall have finished this subject, 1 may or may not select from his vagaries some one of the hundred or so subjects he has touched on so superficially, and'if i do .so he may expect that his arguments on // will be as completely answered as they have been which concern unity. % d.etter, Rn\ Father Molphy. 59 the IS at )r- )m iso as The unity of the Church of Christ consists ist, in her teaching the ^same doctrine evtiywhere and at all times. This is clearly set torth by our Lord Himself, who commanded his Apostles, " Teach ixll nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and behold lam with you all days even to the consummation of the world." — St. Matt, xviii., 20. Here it is seen that Christ's doctrine is to be taught in its fulness, and that it is not lawful for Christians to reject any part of it. Now it was proved already in my first and second letters that both Mr. Scobie and the Westminster Confession of Faith teach that some of Christ's doctrines may be rejected without excluding from his own fold which is in Scripture declared " the pillar and ground of truth." In tact so certain is it that Fresbyterianism does not teach all Christ's doc- trine, that Mr. Scobie himself acknowledged that the Presbyterian Church is not the true Church : " I am not so presumptuous as to say the Presbyterian Church is the true Church." He then explains that " believers of all Church- es constitute the true Church." This certainly puts on a par tho.se who hold with Mr. Scobie's Church th.it some men have been created by God for the purpose of being damned, and those who believe with holy Scripture that God wishes all to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved. It puts on a par those who with Brigham Young count their wives by the score, and those who with Henry VHI. kill and put aside their wives at will, and those who with Luther, Melancthon and Bucer, are ready to permit a man to have two wives at once, as these did for Phillip Langrave of Hesse, and laose who receive the doctrine that the husband can have but one wife, and the wife but one husband. 1 might multiply proofs that the aforesaid doctrine saps the very essence of unity of faith ; but I will only add that the Westminster Co7t- /ession of Faith, which Mr. Scobfe is bound to teach, acknowledges that Pres- byterianism does not possess it, when it declares that "the purest churches un- der heaven are subject to mixture and error." It is because of the absence of Christ's One Faith, that Presbyterians and other sects can sit down together to consider what doctrines (of Christ) may be compromised or thrown aside for the nonce, so that an " Evangelical union" fonsooth may be effected; and this they do, once in a w'lile, just as coolly as if they were huckstering beef for a set of crockery, or peas for a pair of Wellington boots. On the other hand, the Catholic Church proclaims to all nations the one faith, teaches the same doctrines in Rome and Constantinople, in England, in Canada, and in Japan. And the quotations I already made from St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Sts. Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine &c., prove that the doc trines which she teaches to-day, to all nations, she taught from the beginning. So that she alone can be the Church with which Christ promised to remain teaching "all days even to the consummation of the world." She alone pos- sesses the One Faith spoken of in Eph. iv. 5. In addition to the Scriptural evidence which I advanced on this point, I also proved all this by the testimony of writers who are acknowledged by Mr. Scobie to have belonged to the Church when she was pure. Now how does Mr. Scobie meet these Scriptural and historical evidences ? The Scriptural evid- ences he passes over without a word ! The historical evidences, he says he will not believe, because he wants Scriptural evidences ! Again we trace the path of little Pulex. But charlatanism like this will have no weight with an intelligent public. I have giv^n both Scriptural and historical evidence : and I w lit 60 /y//^/-, /^ev. Father Molphy, !! > as I foresaw even when I wrote my first letter that he would betake himself to this" subterfuge, I even then exposed the trick which Mr. Scobie was prepar- ing to make use of, and 1 said " the trick, however, will not succeed," and I proved by a course of argument that the kind of history of which we are now treating, is a kind which ( annot be gainsaid. I (juoted the sayings of men who were Christians when even Mr. Scobie says the Church was ])ure — men who lived during the first one or two hundred years of the Church's existence, and who were fully competent to attest the doctrine believed and received direct from the Apostles. It follows trom the above considerations that the unity ot Faith, es.sential to Christ's Church, is to be found only in the Catholic Church. I showed, in the next place, that unity of discipline is also essential to the Church. In connection with this thesis I proved these four propositions : — I St — That the Church of Christ requires a visible head by Divine appoint- ment. and — That St. Peter was appointed the first visible head of the Church. 3rd — That thu headship passed to the lawful successors of St. Peter. 4th — That the lawful successor of St. Peter is the Pope. Ho.v does Rev. Mr. Scobie reply to my proofs of these four propositions? In hij first and second letters he made an attempt to upset my proof of the doctrines contained in them; but as I demonstrated the absurdity and false- ness of eveiy objection which he advanced, he perceived that be had failed, and now he says he will only allude to the subject of unity. What? is it pos- sible that after making such an onslaught on the authority of the Pope that Die would think it would have capitulated to him had it been as strong as 100 Malakoffs, he is so straitened in argument 'that he can now only alliule to it ! bark at from a distance ! as a cur does \\\,c\\ he has been worsted in a savage attack upon a mastiff, and he knows he can get no more satisfactory revenge. Now, let it be understood, that a disputant is bound by the laws of logic to dis- prove the arguments by which an adversary sustains his thesis, and to refute Uhe objections which are brought against his own. This Mr. Scobie has not attempted even t>, do ; so that I claim to have established my four proposi- tions presented above, and to have refuted his thesis completely, though by boasting and violent abuse he tries to make his readers believe the contrary. But Mr. Scobie does make a lew attempts to weaken though not to refute my position. He says first that his historical synopsis (including the rise of the Pope's authority in the 4th century, yet its being unheard of until Leo I. claimed it in the 5th) is correct because he (]Uoted it from Mosheim, Span- heim, Greer and Home. As 1 already proved from writers of an earlier date than either the 4th or 5 th century, that the authority was fully recoj^uize:^ both in the east and west long before either date mentioned, I need not repeat my proofs. I have only to say that any author that makes the statement which Mr. Scobie quotes, is just as unreliable as he is himself. The authors Mr. Scobie quotes are all violent partizans of Protestnntism, and 1 object en- tirely to his quoting their speculative opinions, or even their notion of facts as against the Catholic Church. Their testimony is worth much when they testify against themst es and the Protestant cause of which they are partizans, but for statements of Catholic doctrine and church his- tory their testimony is of no weight whatever. We must look to the Letter, Rer. Father Afolphy. 6i ^authorities from which they derive their information, and judge according to their weight. However, what will the public think of Rev. Mr. Scobie's honesty when 1 state that I have Mosheim now before me, and that I find even in Mosheim the acknowledgment : (3rd century, chap. 2.) "The Bishop of Rome is sup- pos.'d by Cyprian to have had at this time a certain pre-eminence in the church ; nor does he stand alone in this opinion." It is true the author next end( Ivors to show that this pre-eminence was more nominal than real ; but I have given already from St. Cyprian extracts which prove distinctly every one of my four propositions, I did the same by other authorities, and Mosheim ac- knowledges that those authorities exist. lam therefore right in saying that when he makes the concession against himself, he speaks the truth which is wrung from him against his will ; but when he speaks against Catholics, his statements must be suspected as those of an cpemy. At all events in the above extract Mosheim acknowledges that in the 3rd century the pre-eminence of the Pope was fully recognized, as h ,■ says a little lower down " in the universal church," loo and 200 years before Mr. Scobie says it was heard of! I presume this will suffice to show that I am not astray when I state that Mr. Scobie's church history is the product of " unscrupulous dishonesty or gross ignorance," or more likely both. From all this it will be seen that Mr. Scobie's boast that he will "convince me that he knows quite a number of subjects connected with the Church which have not yet been touched," is but the vaporing of a braggart. The next argument which Mr. Scobie advances against my thesis is thus set 'ibrth : " There have been two Popes ruling at the same time each backed by thousands of followers. Councils have reversed the decrees of Council ; and some religious orders have opposed the doctrines taught by other religious or- ders." 1 answer: There were never two Popes ruling at the snme tinie. There was one Pope, anS one man and even two claiming to be Pope at the same time : but this no more invalidated the claim of the rightful Pope, than the claims of Simon Magus invalidated the authority of the true God, or than the claims of Jack Cade invalidated the rights of King Henry VI. As to Councils reversing the decrees of Councils ; since only Ecumenical Councils are believed to be infallible, having authority over the whole Church, I have to deal only with them. Now, it is not true that any Ecumenical Council ever reversed the doctrinal decrees of another Ecumenical Council. Matters of discipline may be changed from time to time, but the doctrines of the Catholic Church to-day are the same as they were at the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, and at the Council of Jerusalem held A. D. 51 (Acts xv), and the dogmatics- decrees of those Councils are received with the same respect as they were when they were issued. Next a word about difference of opinion which existed in the Catholic Church. I must here premise that the Jausanists who are numbered by Mr. Scobie as a sect among Catholics, were no more Catholics than are Presbyter- They were excommunicated for tea':hing the doctrine which both they lans. and the Presbyterians borrowed from Paganism : the doctrine of fatalism. 'J'hey might be called Presbyterians in this res[)ect, but Catholics they were not, and are not, for they still exist as a separate sect, protesting against the one Church of Christ. 6! I I il^' il 1^ 62 Letter, Rev, Father AJolphy. The Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits are Catholics ; and all teach all the doctrines of the Church, including the doctrines of the Immaculate Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin. In matters not of faith, the Church does not bind her children to any particular opinion ; as for instance in matters merely political, or other matters not revealed by God. Some doctrines which neces- sarily follow from known revelation, but by reasoning not equally clear to all, have been for a time doubted by some who were not contumacious. Such was the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. The Church, always inclined to the side of mercy, did not pronounce excommunication against those who disputed the doctrine, before her positive definition was is- sued, though she herself, always right, continually held the doctrine. This is no objection against unity ot FAITH. The third and last objection made by Mr. Scobie is that I ought to have proved my thesis in a different way from the one which I have chosen. I should have shown ''first, that the words of Christ, ' Upon this rock I will build my church,' apply to the person of the Apostle Peter. Second, if they apply to his person, &c." Now, if I ought to have chosen this method of proof, instead of the method I took, it should be all the easier for Mr. Scobie to show that my method of proof is no proof at all. This he has not attempt- ed to do except by the lame argument which I have just quoted and refuted. His line of argument reminds me of a certain pedant who was present at a High School examination in a town which shall be nameless. The Euclid class was called up, and one of the pupils demonstrated very well the 5th Proposition, Book ist. Our pedant listened very attentively, and remarked to the teacher at the close of the proof: "A-h ! this demon.stration may br good enough, but many mathematicians consider the method rather inconclusive. The — a-h — perfect demonstration is by fluxions." Of course the teacher saw at once that the pedant knew nothing of either EucHd or Auctions ; and Mr. Scobie is in the same predicament. He evidently knows no more of one msthod of reasoning than of another. I have said enough for the present on the " Unity of the Church." I have answered all that Rev. Mr. Scobie was able to say on this subject, I will, there- fore, now say a few words on some of the many subjects with which the Rev. gentleman deals. Regarding persecution, 1 can only say a few words, as 1 have already tres- passed on your space more than I would wish. I cannot, and do not deny, that Catholic governments, or at least governments called Catholic, have pun- ished, sometimes most severely, sometimes even with death, those who taught heresy ; but the Catholic Church is not responsible for the acts of any civil government or ruler. The charge of religious intolerance which the malicious and ignorant bring against Catholics is one by which they hope to inflame the public mind against us. They shut their eyes to the fact that Protestants have been guilty of enormities at least fullv equal to those which Catholics have committed ; and among Protestants, the Presbyterians above all have systema- tized persecution, and made of it a tenet, though Mr. Scobie in his 2nd letter denies both of these facts, and stated that the Presbyterian "doctrine emphati- cally condemns it." In his last letter, however, he barely acknowledges the possibility that there have been Presbyterian persecutors. He did not, how- ever, explain the conduct of Knox, and of the Scotch preachers who in 1561 I 1 Letter^ Rev, father Molphy. 63 petitioned the Council and Estates to persecute the Catholics. The Westminster Confession of Faith, which Mr. Scobie is obliged to teach, declares it to be the Christian's duty arising out of the second commandment, to disapprove, detest, oppose all false worship, and according to each one's calling, to remove it and all monuments of idolatry, chap, xxiii, and by the Acts of Parliament embodied in the National Covenant and approved formal- ly by the Presbyterian church of Scotland, it is ordained, '* That Papistry and superstition may be utterly suppressed * * ♦ all Papists and priests are to be punished with manifold civil and ecclesiastical pains, as adver saries to God's true religion. " It appears then that while Catholics and others have in excess of zeal shed blood under the name of religion, it was reserved to Presbyterians to shed blood hy virtue of God's conimandment. Yet we find Mr. Scobie professing a holy horror of persecution, and declaring that the principles of Presbyterianisin are *' love to (iod, and love to man." It is no wonder that the great American statesman, JefTersor, said in a letter to Wm. Short, found in his published letters, " the Presbyterian clergy are the loudest, the most intolerant of all sects ; the most tyrannical and ambitious ♦ ♦ Calvin consumed the poor Servetus because he could not subscribe the propo- sition of Calvin that magistrates have a right to extermmate all heretics to Calvinistic creed, &c." It cannot be effaced from the records of history, that wherever the reformers of the I6th and 17th centuries became the triumphant party, not content with the free exercise of their own religion, they violently overturned that of their ancestors, and carried on the most severe and oppres- sive persecution against those who continued to adhere to it. This was the case in England, Scotland, France, Ireland, Germany, the Low Countries, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Geneva, cScc, though in different manners, and with different degrees of violence. But what is to be said of the treatment of the " unoffending Albigenses," as Mr. Scobie calls them ? According to Mr. Scobie, an army of 300,000 men was sent by Pope Innocent III. against them because they were good Chris- tians, and they were slaughtered without m^rcy, 60,000 having been slain in the single town of Beziers, in the south of France, The truth is that the Al- bigenses were bands of lawless ruffians who over-ran the south of France, sacking and burning churches, and killing and commttting every kind of out- rage upon all who did not belong to them, not sparing the widow or the or- phan, age or sex, so that Raymond, Count of Toulouse, the principal sover- eign in the south of France, was obliged to seek the aid of the King of France to assist him in quelling these pernicious sectaries, and when peaceable means failed. Innocent 111. aided in inducing the king to declare war against them. It was necessary by force to prevent the spread of iheir practices, and to break up their bands. War is always cruel, civil war especially, and no doubt, on both sides, many excesses were committed; but during the war which followed those excesses arc much exaggerated by Mr. Scobie, and the Poi>e was not re- sponsible for them. The details of the war were carried on by Arnold and Simon de Montford without the Pope's knowledge, and as neither of these was even a model Catholic, it is not honest to hold the Catholic Church responsi- ble for their acts. The American Cyclopedia ^Ayii that 20,000 were killed at Beziers, not 60,000 as Mr. Scobie asserts. The massacre of Paris on St. Bartholomew's day in 1572, I acknowledge to m 64 Zf/ter, Rev. father Molphy, \^^ ■n ,1 ' A been unj usf ifiable, but the blame should be laid where it is due, on the unre- lenting Charles IX. and the unprincipled Catherine de Medicis. These were goaded by the protracted rebellion of the French Protestants, by the frequent destruction, by continuous sacking of chiirches, and especially by the murder of the Dike of Guise; still the massacre was unjustifif:ble. To show how un- justly this massacre is attributed to the Catholic Church, I will merely quote the following passage frcr.; the American Cyclopedia : — "A grave question has arisen as to the supposed complicity of the Papal court in the massacre. The dispatches of the Papal Nuncio at Paris seem to set this question at 'rest * * 'i'he govtinment at Rome would hardly have asked information about a conspiracy in which they had borne a part, and the Nuncio in a s^icret dispatch would hardly have spoken in terms of such condemnation of a plot in which his superiors were implicated." Mr. Scobie also endeavors to exaggerate the number that perished. The American Cyclopedia says — " The number of persons put to death in all France is variously stated at 100,000 to 1,500. The former number xt doubtless much too great, the latter much too small." It was, therefor?, a massacre carried out by politicians, for political purposes. There are good reasons to believe that not even 1,500 were killed' but at .ill events as the Catholic Church had nothing whatever to do with the matter, it does not concern me to enter any further into its details Mr. Scobie has not made any attempt to justify his numerous forgeries. My own quotations have all \iten authentic, being taken from the works named by me ; his have all been forgeries, being taken second-hand from unreliable con- troversialists. In Mr. Scobie's last letter there are at leas> two tie7C' forgeries. His statements about the massacre of Paris and of the Albigenses I do not style forgeries, because he quotes no authorities. Those stater"'>^;nts ai-e ' 's o^an falsehoods ; but when he C][uotes authorities, he is invariably guilty of lorgery. On2 forgery is the "Jesuit's oath, published at Berlin in A. I). 1829," "We also swear that we will persecute this cursed evangelical doctrine, &c., violent- ly and deceitfully." I have before me the history of the Jesuits by J. Cretinean July, in which all the vows of the Jesuits are given. They comprise poverty, chastity, obedience to the superior and to the Pope, but not a word about persecution of Protestants. Published at Berlin in 1820. 1 presume the " Jesuit's oath" that Mr. Scobie talks about was not in English. Let us have the original, and either Mr. Scobie himself or the author from whom he has borrowed the translation, will be found guilty ot deliberate falsehood, or gross ignorance of the language he has attempted to trans'ate. The excommunication said to have been issued by the Bishop of Minorca, is also a forgery. As I have already trespassed too much on your valuable space, I will not enter at length upon the proofs of this forgery. I will merely state that its original is to be found in Tristram Shandy, and the indecent A- ^oldsby Legends. Was it from these sources Mr. Scobie borrowed it ? I would wish, Mr. Editor, to refute Rev. Mr. Scobie's arguments against the invocation of saints, and against confession, but I have already taken up too much ol your space. I will, thereibre, only say that the confessional is an admirable means of preserving weak mortals in the path of virtue. The con- s:iousness that when we have offended God, we must confess our sins in or- der to obtain forgiveness is a great preventive ot sin. Mr. Scobie stated that Letter, Rev. R. Scohie. 65 the first time a mortal man heard the confession of sins in order to forgive them was in the 5th century. I quoted Tertullian and St. Cyprian of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, who declare that by means of confession to the priest for- giveness of sins is obtained, and Mr. S. now pretends that he spoke only of private confession. He acknowledges then that confession of sins was the practice of the church from the beginning. Does he practice public confess- ion ? The frict remains that the priests of the period when the Church is ac- knowledged to have been pure, exercised the authority granted to the Apostles by our Lord : " Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained." — St. John XX., 23. The Holy Scripture is itself perfectly clear in teaching that the Apostles received the power of forgiving sins, and that the successors of the Apostles possess the Apostolic office, and the early Christian writers and Fathers are quite clear in teaching that the words of our Lord were always un- derstood in this way by the Church, I am, Mr. Editor, Yours sinceiely, JOS. P. MOLPHY, Pastor of Catholic Church. Strathroy, Jan. 27 th, 1877. ^ [From the Western Dispatch of February 7th. 1877.J THE CHURCH OF ROME A COUNTERFEIT. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — From a rapid glance at the letter which appears in your col- umns to-day, I see that a fresh hand has taken up the pen in defence of the doctrines of the Church of Rome. Of late, our town has been distinguished, inaway ,by visits from the higher dignitaries and controversialists of that Church. Each of my letters has to encounter a new champion, and each champion, so soon as he feels the sling-stone of truth penetrating beneath his cunningly devised armor, retires quietly that some greater Goliath may take his place. If this controversy continues, I suppose we may expect a visit from Pio Nono him- self. I am sorry to see that the latest champion differs not from the preceed- ing ones, in his treatment of myself and the subject under discussion. Un- deniable truths, and authentic quotations, are termed forgeries and falsehoods. Myself he compares to a lively ^^Pulex." I accept the compliment, and prom- ise him that 1 will bite more deeply in the future, and still escape the priestly traps set for my capture. Before showing the falsity of this last ungentleman- ly and demoralizing letter, I shall treat of the subject intimated in my last, viz., " The Church of Rome a Counterfeit." I shall begin with Rome's counterfeit of the saints of God. Now, a saint, in the sense of Scripture, is a holy or godly individual — one who is holy and god- ly by profession, covenant, and conduct. He is born again of the Spirit of God, sanctified, justified, and united to Jesus Christ — and who lives here as a stranger and pilgrim, looking for a better life to come. * If you look at the be- ginning ot the Apostolic Epistles, you will see at once who the saints truly are — even all, who belong to Christ, and are His genuine friends. One of the swr 66 Letter, Rev, R. Scobie, i I Epistles is addressed " to the saints which are at Eph .sus;" another " to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse," and so on. Thus it appears, that renewed and sanctified men and women, however ]>oor in this world, are saints, as much as the Apostles and martyrs ; and that God alone can create them. Let us now attend to the manner in which the Church of ' Rome makes saints, and what kind of saints they are, when made by her. She has a catalogue in which she registers the names of those she deems \\ orthy of dwelling with God, and who deserve to be honored by those on earth with the veneration they pay to the blessed in heaven. On the day the saint is to be made, by having his name enrolled in the canon, the Pope officiates in white, and his cardinals are dressed in the same color. " St. Peter's Church is hung with rich tapestry, upon which the arms of the Pope are embroidered with gold. An infinite number of lights blaze all around the Church, which is crowded with pious souls, who wait with devout impatience till the new saint has made his public entry, as it were, into Paradise, that they may offer up iheir petition to him without any danger of being rejected. The expense altogether of this religious farce amounts to about 25,000 Roman crowns, or ;^6,ooo sterling." — Enclydopa:dia Brittanica. Some of the saints made by the Church ot Rome, and exalted to heaven to be " venerated, adored, worshipped " — the words of the Trentine Catechism — have been worthy of her. Some have been traitors, and villains, and murderers. Thomas Beckett was one who deserved to be punished as a traitor and rebel against his sovereign, rather than to have been esteemed a saint. Ignatius Layola, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits, whose name is synonimous with treachery, fraud, and villainy, is another of her saints. Dominie de Gusman,- or . Saint Dominie, is another of her saints. He was the founder of that horrible tribunal, the Inquisition — that slaughtet" house and shambles of human beings. Animals are not roasted until they r.re killed ; but this saint provided for the roasting of his fellow creatures' flesh whilst yet alive ! ! ! Such are some of the saints made by the Pope, and raised by him to the realms of the good as objects of veneration and worship to the members of the Church of Rome. Are not such a vile counterfeit of those faultless ones, washed in the blool of Jesus, and now around the throne of God and the Lamb? The saints of the Church of Ronie are taken from a select and favoured class, the .saints of God are chosen from all classes. Her saints are created by the Pope ; God's saints are made only by Himself. Her saints are raised by the Pope to be the objects of creature worship ; the saints of God are exalted to glory to praise and adore their Saviour. Judge, now, of the difference between the saints of God, and the counterfeit saints of the Church of Rome. The Church counterfeits also, the ground of the sinner s acceptance with God. The following is the Scriptural ground for our acceptance : — " Tlie blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," — or, " He shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquties," — or, " They washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the L.uiib, therefore are they before the throne of God." True, Rome sends forth from the voices of hei thousands Christe eleison (Christ have mercy upon us) — " O Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us ;" but that is just the counterfeit bait by which she allures the ignorant to ruin. If she denied the efficacy of Christ's blood to save, then the multitudes would be shocked and desert her. This Letter, ReiK R. Scobie. 67 the by it's his she knows, and therefore she resorts to an awful and deceitful counterfeit. The same mass that sends up " O Lamb of God, &c.," proves beyond contra- diction, that the death of the Lamb of God can save no man — that Christ must, again and again and again, be brought down from heaven to earth, and offered up on that altar, soul, body and divinity, by the priests of Rome, for remission of sins. The Bible says, " When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high — by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that r.re sanctified." But in opposition to this, every priest of Rome swears in the creed of Pope Pius IV., " I profess that in the Mass is offered unto God a true, and proper, and propitiatory sac- rifice for the living and the dead." Who then is the Saviour ? Is it the priest who offers the sacrifice, or the sacrifice which he offers ? Is it the priest who even makes the thing to be sacrificed, or the piece of bread which he pre- tends to be the Son of God ? It must be one )r the other, or both combined. But neither the death of Christ on Calvary — nor the ofTering of Him up times without number on the thousands of Romish altars, is sufficient to atone for the sins of Roman Catholics. They must pay the priest to get their sins par- doned ; they must do penance to atone tor their sins; they must step into pur- gatorial fires after death to suffer for sins, while their friends on earth must pay dearly for masses to get them out of these fires. All this, and more, Roman Catholics must do before they can cherish the hope of enteriiig heaven. What then is the dtath oi Christ, but a convenient pedestal on which to ele- vate Popes and priests and deified men, to a place where they may be able to satisfy for the sins of their fellow-men, and co-operate with the Son of God in securing heaven and eternal life for them. " As a single drop of Christ's blood," says the Maynooth class-book, " was sufficient for the redemption of the sins of the whole world, there remains an infinite hoard of his merits at the disposal of the Church tor the service of her children." What a conven- ient counterfeit of the merit of Christ's sacrifice I Well mi^ht the infidel Pope exclaim — " How lucrative for us that fable of Jesus Christ." In short, Ro- man Catholics must buy that salvation which Christ has bought with His blood, and which God proclaims free, and offers to all men without MONEY, AND WITHOUT PRICE ; thty must suffer and atone, and atone and suifer to accomplish the redemption which Christ has accomplished. Here is a question I would like my Rev. opponents to answer. If sufferings after death in that imaginary place called Purgatory, take away sin and prepare the sufferer for heaven, will not the sufferings of the lost in hell take away their sins and prepare them for glory ? If net, why ? The Church of Rome counterfeits also, that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. This counterfieit begins at baptism, which ordi- nance is substituted for " the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Holiness, according to the Bible, is a gracious confor- mity to the Law of God, — " I will put my spirit within you, and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."'- " This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." But, accord- ing to Rome, this is not holiness at all. The holiness of her saints consists chiefly in the observance of evangelical counsels, " infallible counsels," per- petual :elibacy, voluntary poverty, and monastic obedience. B3' a strict ob- servance of these, though not essential to salvation, her saints not only tit 'I' il; ^m ft 68 Letter, ReiK R. Scobie. H». become holy themselves, but lay up a store of it which they can impart to their less observant neighbours. I find the saints of Scripture crying out, while they wash the feet of Christ with their tears, " Behold, I am vile — enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justi- fied " — " for thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." How different Rome's saints must have been ! In the common Missal I read, " Grant that by the merits and death of St. Nicholas, we may be delivered from eternal flames." The Bible says, ** Be ye blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked anti perverse nation, among whom shine ye as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." But the Chuich of Rome says this won't do. If you would reach true holiness, you must go oi4t of the midst of that nation — you must retire from society, and go and bury yourself within the walls of a cloister. Christ says, " If any man will come after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." But Rome says that this is not all essential for the common sort of disciples ; it is enough if they do penance, and live a decent life, and sign themselves with the cross from day to day. This, with a touch of purgatorial fire is quite enough for the salvation of a common individual. But it is not enough for those who wish to secure a quantity of merit or holiness to give to others who may lack sufficient to take them to heaven. No, they must wear hair shirts, and scourgt themselves well-nigh to death, and walk without shoe.s, and starve out a miserable existence as patiently as a Hindoo devotee. O wretched coun- terfeit this, of the holiness that is pleasing to God ! See, too, Rome's counte'feit of spiritual worship. How is God to be wor- shipped ? Our Lord answers this question thus, " God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Paul says, Phil, iii., 3, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and re- joice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." What does Rome say to this mode of worship ? She says that it does not suit her purpose. She must have something that will meet the carnal taste — something that will regale the senses, and stir up the natural emotions — something that will soothe men into a pleasant dream, regarding their state before God, and that will lead them to believe that they are spiritual and devout. For this purpose she counterfeits the worship God asks from intelligent creatures, in the witcheries of a carnal service, to which painting, and imagery, and music, and architec- ture, and endless decorations and ceremonies, are made each to lend its high- est enchantment. How pleasing to the natural and unregenerated man is such worship ! He has no desire to meet with God in spirit-corrtmunion. He shrinks from soul-converse with the Almighty. He would rather worship in some other way, and the Church of Rome furnishes that other way. Her worship is not designed to reach and lead to a change of heart, but to please and regale the senses, and lull the soul into profoundest spiritual slumber. But more awful still, Rome removes, I shudder to use the word counterfeit here, the Great Being whom we are commanded to worship, from the scene of worship altogether. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him ONLY shalt thou serve." How does Rome obey this command ? Let the images and crucifixes which her members kiss, and before which they bow tell — let the prayers they offer to departed spirits, and to the Virgin Mary, de- clare how God is removed from the scene of worship. She finds that it would Letter, Rev, R. Scobie. «9' 5 in Her ease iber. rfeit e of rlim the bow de- ould not be convenient to place a holy and sin-hating God only accessible through the mediatorship of Christy before the minds of the millions who have been trained in a religion that ministers to the wants of a sensual and depraved heait, and that keeps them in grossest ignorance of spiritual things. And, therefore, she creates her tnediums of worship. She makes and sets up in Christ's stead, not golden calves, and Baals, and Molechs. Such unsighUy creatures would shock her people. To avoid the barbarous and shocking, she makes images of saints, exhibits a harrowing spectacle ot our dying Lord, and elevates a decorated statue of the Virgin, and commands her members to wor- ship (Jod through these as mediums. I challenge the world to prove that this is not grossest idolatry. As I have already stated, for the same kind of wor- ship three thousand were slai". at the foot of Sinai — and for the same kind of worship, Israel was punished with drought and famine for three and a half years, and four hundred and fifty of the priests of Baal were destroyed at t'le base of Mt. Carmel. God is jealous, and will suffer no rival, either in the Virgin, or in the saints. The ('hurch of Rome has done her heathenish work well. She has succeeded in dragging her people dow;i from the worship ot the true God through the mediatorship oi Christ, to the worship of Him (?) through the medium of idols and graven images. The audience chamber of the Almighty which the sinner is invited to enter and make known his requests, confess his sins, and spread out his wants before a listening and merciful Father, is converted by the Church of Rome into a confessional box, in which a presumptuous priest occupies the position of God, listening to the confessions of sinful men, and pretending to grant them par- don. God says, " If lue confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us OUR sins, and to cleanse us font all unrii^htfousn^ss." But Rome says, confess your sins, not to God, but to the priest, and for a sum of money named, he will grant you absolution. This is a daring imposture. The right of God to {orgi\effeelj' the sins of the penitent, is claimed and exercised by a priest to forgave, not the penitent only, but every individual who pays the money, and makes his confession. See also, Rome's counterfeit of the humble pastors and teachers of God's people. Our Lord said to His disciples, " Be not ye called masters, for one is yourmaster, even Chi it," and the disciples said of themselves. ''Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy ; for by fatthye stand" — ''the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder" — ''we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ou> selves your servants for Jesus' sake." See those pastors and teachers changed into Poises, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests, and each and all invested with Divine attributes, and wielding God-like power over the millions. Priests — the very term is a mock- ery before God. Priests had their day under the Mosaic dispensation, when sacrifices were necess.iry, and mediation required. But the Gofpel dispensa- tion acknowledges no priest but Christ, no sacrifice but His. 'Jhe term priest and bloodv sacrijiic go together. When an end was made to sacrifices in blood, an end also was made to the priesthood. True, the priests of Rome pretend to offer in Mass the body, &c., of our Lord ; but where is the sacrificial knife to slay the victim ? and where is the blood of the sacrifice? Christ was offer- ed once for a//,and yet apostate Rome will persist in offering Him ten thousand times. See then, the humble ministers of Christ changed into beings who can 7° Letter, Rev. tt. Scohic. I ■\ ' create God, bruise him with their teeih, and swallow Him again and again, and before whom the people must say " the confiteor" on thiiir bended knees. God has given us the Bible to be the unchanging standard of faith and life, whereof it is written, "Sanctify them through thy truth, tby word is truth" — and is ^'' profitahle for doctrine, for reprooj, for correction, for instntcticn in right- eousness; that the man of God may be perfect, than ughly furnished unto all ^ood works." See its evidences counterfeited and burlesqued, in Rome's lying le- gends placed side by side with its miracles ; and its sacred truths counterfeited and poisoned, at once in the mingling of apocryphal fables with its divine pages, and in placing on the same level with it, and as essential to the discovery of its sense and meaning, of an unknown gigantic mass of documents, not cap- able of being even handled, much less read and understood. Has not the Church of Rome made the Word of Go'i of none effect by her unholy tradi- tions? Would not Christ say to her as He said to the Jews, " Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition ? You have made void the commandment of (Jod for your tradition." 'i'he Apostle Paul fore- seeinr^, as it were, Rome's huge system of imposture by traditions, says, " Be- ware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit ; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ."— Col. ii., 8. Christ says to His followers, "Search the Scriptures," but Rome says, NO ; you must not handle the Bible; you could not under- stand its truths; you must look to the priest for all the knowledge in Divine things you require; he will be God's mouth-piece to you, and put you in the right way to merit salvation. Hence the Roman Catholic dares not open the Word of God, which is only able to make huu wise unto salvation. He dares not exercise his own judgment on religious matters, but must submit in all things to the man-god the Church has placed over him. Rome counterfeits also, the supreme dominion of Christ, and the viial un- ion of His followers to His person, and that solemn truth, " neither is there salvation in any nher, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Christ's dominion and Headship, she counterfeits in the supremacy of His pretended Vicar and Viceregent — " re- ceive the tiara adorned with the triple crown, and know that thou art the Father of Princes and of Kings, the Ruler of the World upon earth, the Vicar of our Saviour Jesus Christ." These are the words addressed to Popes at their Coronation, and to make any comment upon them is useless. " I am the vine, and ye ate the branches," says Christ, but this sacred union of His people to Himself, the Church of Rome changes into slavish submission to her impious creeds, and doctrines and ceremonies. 'I'hese gracious words, " Be- lieve on the Lord [esus Christ, and tho7i shall be saved," she turns into — believe and submit to my authority, and you are safe. And, as we lately heard, she turns the solemn truth, that out of Christ there is no salvation, into the dog- ma that there is none out of tiiat community of which the Pope is the head. Dr. Wiseman writes — " The Catholic Church is as a city to which avenues lead from every side, towards which men may travel from any ([uarter by the most diversified roads — by the thorny and rugged ways of strict investigation — by the more flowery paths of sentiment and feeling ; but, arrived at its pre- cincts, all find that there is but one door to the sheep-fold — narrow and low, perhaps, and causing flesh and blood to stoop as it passes in. They may Letter, Jiev. R. Scobt'e. 71 wander about its outskirts ; they may admire the goodliness of its edifices and its buhvarks ; but they cannot be its denizens and children, if they enter not by that one gate of absolute unconditional submission to the teaching of the Church." O fearful counterfeit of Christ and His words, "I am the door, by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved," — " Strive to enter in at the strait gate." But Rome nut only counterfeits the way to heaven, but heaven itself. We have been taught by the Bible to believe in the sthigless and peaceful death of God's people — " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our I,ord Jesus Christ." " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors." There is no peaceful death for the members of the Church of Rome, for beyond is purgatory with its frozen plains, on the one hand, and its flaming regions on the other. To that place of hottest fires, and intenses* -old, merciful Rome sends the departed spirits oi her children, that they may oe cleansed from their sins, by roasting and freezing alternately. O CRUEL Mother ! But why does Rome doom her members to the torture ot purgatory? For the simple reason, that she may extort money from the surviving relatives to bring them out. One instance will show to what lengths this decei>tion is practised to wring money from the poor and ignorant. Two weeks ago, not ten miles from Strathroy, a Roman Catholic died suddenly while driving home. The humane priest informed the poor sorrow-stricken woman, that the spirit of her husband had gone to purgatory. How did he /&«tetl as the correct authority, against wliich the statements of prcjjudiced controversalistsare of no weight whatever. Au'lre's 6V/;aw y^m' deinies canonization: "the judgment pronounced by the ('hurch iliat a [>i'rson died in the state of the .sanctity, and that during life he gave by miracles or otherwise remarkable proofs of his virtues." Bergier's Didionitry of T'Ji^o/o'^v gives substantially the same definition. It therefore api)ears th:it the Church docs not prc-tend to '• make .saints " by canonizing them. '1 hey were saints, heroes of Christianity when they lived and when they ditd ; but the Chuich does not pc them to be invoked or honored publicly until she has officially pronoui. i upon their sanctity; and that sanctity must be attested by the very strongest evidences of virtue liefore tlie ofticial sanction is given, 'i'his course is ceitaijtiy more wise than that of the Presbyterians, who leave to every fanati<; the liberty of decreeing the sanctity of accomplices in murder, such a.s John Knox and the first Aiwstles of Prcs- byterianism in Scotland, who counselled and approved the persecution of Catholics under the blasphemous pretence of obeying Ciod's commandment by " removing the monuments o( idolatry." — Prtshyterion Ij)}iger Catechism Q//es- tion, 1 08, and Confession 0/ Faith, ch. xxiii. Having disposed of Mr. Scobie's calumnies concerning the canoni/.ation of saints, 1 may next treat of the honor which the Church pays to saints and theii images : for this subject is connected with the former. Mr. Scobie says on this: " the heaven of Rome is as full of gods and goddesses as th< »e are canonized saints, who share with the Father and the Son, the homage and af- fection of the Ciiurch." He then cjuotes from the Roman Breviary a prayer recited by the priests every day, offering homage and honor, first to the ador- able Trinity, and then to the Blessed Virgin and all the saints. Here 1 must compliment Mr. Scobie for his first act of hone.sty. Hitherto his quotations have been in almost every ca.se glaring forgeries, as I proved ; but for this ONCE his quotation his correct. However, Mr. .Scobie is careful even this ime not to be honest long. I aiii, therefore, suspicious diat his honest quota- ion now results rather from fear of new exj>osiire, than from love of trutli. nimediately after his fit of honesty, he adds: " this is one of the most un- lushing pieces of polytheism to l^ found anywhere on record. I iniend, .Ir. Editor, in this letter, to prove that this is a sbnder. Again Mr. Scobie lates that we give to " images and departed saints the worship which is Awst ) Him (God) alone." I propose, therefore, to deal with these subjects, and for sake of clearness 1 m Ulter, RetK FaVter Molphy. 75 shall divide my argument into distinct propositions, as I did when treating of the •' Unity of the Church." Proposition ist. — It is lawful to honor the saints. 2nd. It is lawful and useful to invoke the angels and saints, that is to ask their prayers. 3rd. — It is lawful and laudable to honor sacred images T In proving that we may honor the saints, I need not enter upon the vin- dication of the illustrious saints, Thomas A. Heckett, Ignatius of I^yola, the founder of the Jesuits, and Dominie, from Mr, Scobie's calumnies ; for this would lead to the treatment of several subjects which have no actual connec- tion with the question with which I intend to deal. However, 1 will say this much in regard- to the three saints named, viz., that as when Mr. Scobie quotes authorities, they are authoriHea of no weight, or he forges them ; so now as he attaf;ks these three without citing authorities, we have only Mr. Scobie's word that their characters wepe bad Now, as I have already shown that Mr. Sco- bie does not scrujjle to state what is false, the three saints will not suffer in their good rwxme from his atUiCks. I shall, before closing this letter, give a new proof that Ahv S. does not scruple to tell a falsehood when he imagines it wiHsirve his purpose. At present I shall merely state that in my last letter I proviad Mr. Scobie 10 be goilty of one false charge against the Jesuits ; it is (hei:efo-rc as impertinent as it is immoral to slander them again without even aiiempting to siibstintiato |iis former slander that they take an oath " tOipt^rsecure Protestiinlv t^ '- t violently and deceitfully * • ^■'fe^'-^^l^vwds, detdSy^id sWoi-d." Now, t^rfiy'Wlytct' propers; it is la^^ honor the saints. One would think tJiat this proposition is* %o self-evident that Jt should need no proof. The saints ure the friends of God in heaven, rei^' Jng with Christ in glory. Children are connnanded to honor \}cit\r parents. - v^jpc. xx., 12. Subjects are «;ommanded to honor the king. — i Pet ii., 17, andrm Rom. xii., 10, Christians are exhorted to " love one another with brotherly love: in honor preventing one another." That is, as the (ireek and f^tin show, " in honor leading the way (proieople ^)f God when they encountered men remarkable for holiness on earth ; for we read that the prophets Elias .-ind Elisens were reverenced in the same way when living. — 3 Kings xviis., 7; 4 Kings ii., 15; (Protestant Hible i and 2 Kings). With greater reason tln-n did josue and Balaam honor the heavenly spirits. It will be noticed here that the word "worship" is used in tlie Catholic Bi- ble: whereas " bowed down" is the Protestant reading, Mr. Scobie has as- serted that lK)th words mean the honor which should be paid only to God : *^ Divine Worship." The farf is these words do rvat necessarily mean "Divine ! 1. ifw|pi"«w 76 Letter, Rev, Father Molphy. ■h Si ' I flii Worship," and in these passages they only mean the reverence due to saints. Even the word " worship " is sometimes used to mean this lesser honor; and the EngHsh Church prayer book uses it tor the respect with which a husband should regard his wife. The husband is made to say "with my body I thee worship." — Marriage ^en>ice. However, as this word "worship" is now usual- ly used only for " Divine worship" (latria) it becomes somewhat ambiguous, and is seldom used in the sense of the inferior honor (dulia) paid to creatures to whom honor is often due, as the Apostle says: " Glory and honor and peace to every one that worketh good." — Rom. ii., 10. Mr. Scobie objects to the Catholic practice of honoring the saints, that " Scripture forbids and con- demns saint worship," — (letter 2,) and that " this very worship," which the heathens paid to Baal and other idols " the Church pays to images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and saints." In proof of this he puts in capital letters my correct quotation from the Council of Trent, sess. 25, '* WE ADORE CHRIST AND HONOR I'HE SAINTS" (letter 3), and by the way this is one of the passages of which he /orgeJ a. version, "the images of Christ, &c., * are to be consecrated and duly worshipped " (letter 2). Now, that Mr. S. is guilty of calumny is clear from the fact that the Council expressly states here that there is a vast difference between the two : Christ, " we ADORE ;" the saints — workers of good, who, according to St. Paul, ought to be honored, we " HONOR," but do not ADORE. Jt is, therefore, not only lawful, but it is highly commendable to honor the saints of God. The pray- er, which Mr. Scobie quotes from the Roman Breviary, honors the saints only as they deserve ; so Mr. Scobie's horror at the pretended polytheism will ex- cite only contempt for his buffoonery. " May this honor," the prayer says, " be offered by every cre^ature through endless ages of ages." Well, as we read (St. John xii., 26,) ,j|^.^t God Himself honors them, and as that honor will endure for endless ages 't^ ^fges, it cannot be wrong for us, God's creatures, to rejoice that such shall be cneir glorj'. 2. I have next to prove that it is lawful and useful to in\oke the angeL and saints. Mr. Scobie says that " the prayers we offer to departed spirits (God's saints), and to the Virgin Mary, remove Goil from the scene of worship." As reason for this he £ays, "God is only accessible through the Mediatorship of Christ." There is evidently an allusion intended here to i Tim. ii., 5, " For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himstl" a redemption for all." * * * Now, it is quite true our Lord Christ Jesus is the only Mediator who gave Himself for our redemption ; but this does not prevent us from askmg the prayers of pious friends on earth, and we know that Protestants too ask the prayers of " spirits on earth," as Mediators, not of redemption, but of intercession, and the prac- tice does not interfere with the Mediatorship of Jesus ; for Scripture says, " the continual prayer of a just mri availeth much." Should the just man die and be admitted to heaven, why should his mediatorship of intercession begin at this moment to interfere with the mediatorship of Christ? The principle is precisely the same. The advocacy of Christ in heaven is none the less powerful 4)ecause we ask the prayers of our fellow creatures on earth ; so Christ is none the less our Advocate, if we ask the prayers of the saints in heaven : and as the prayers of the just on earth avail much with God, the prayers of the just in heaven, both angels and saints, are still more powerful. Lttter, Rev. Fathn Molphy. 77 u and (God's As lip of " For Jesus, it is elf for pious spirits prac- says, man ession The none earth ; ints in )d, the werful. It That botli the angels ai.d saints pray for us is seen in Apoc. v.. 8 (IMoitstant Bible Rev.) "the tour and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them hai,is, and golden vials full of odours, whitk are the pray- ers of the saints." (viii., 4.) — "And the smoke of the inrti.se of the prayers of the saints ascended up before (lod, from the hand of the angel." 1 proved before frotn Zath. i., that the angels pra, f(jr us on earth and that their prayers are heard. 1 proved from the joy that exists in heaven w hen one sinner doeth penance (Luke xv., 7), and from i C!or. iv. 8, that the blessed spirits in heaven know what is done on earth. 1 showed that from the vords of our Lord those [passages ai)i)ly to saints t(|uall\' with the angels ; for their glory is the same, the enjoyment of Clod's vision, and our Lorcl says they are equal. Matt, xxii, Mark ii,, Luke xx. Ji follows, therefore, that the prayers of the saints equally with the prayers of the angels are powerful with (lod. We ha\e in Daniel x., 13, an example ot how the blessed si)irits strive in holy contest as to which will obtain for those committed to their (are the choicest blessings of ^he Almighty ; "tiie princ- of the I'ersians," the ang' \ that protects the Persians thus strives against Michael, " one of the chief princes," and the angel that reveals the matter to Daniel. In Jeremias w., i, we read: "the Lord said to me, if Moses and Samuel shall stand before me, my soul is not towards this people : cast them out from my sight, and let them go forth." Moses was then over 800 years and Samuel over 600 years dead ; yet Almighty God plainly indicates that they were a('Customed to pray for the Israelites, and that lie was accustomed lo hear them ; but on this occasion, owing to His indignation. He would not do so. The books of the Macca- bees, 1 might also quote as Scripture, i'hey \>ere received in the early Ghris- lian Church ; and our blessed Lord keeps the t'eant of the dedication, which was esiablished by Judas Maccabeus. — St. John x., 22 ; 1 Mace, iv., 59. However, as Protestants in this country do not receive them. I shall at present waive iiiy right to quote them as such. Hut as historical records they show what was the practice and belief of the Jews before our Lord's coming. Now, in these books, we fmd (2 Mace. xv.. 12, 14) that the departed spirit " Onias, who had been high priest, a good and virtuous man. (!vc., held up his hands, praying for all the people of the Jews." Then Jeremias appeared, and Onias said, " This is a lover of his brethren and of the peojile of Isr.ael. This is he that prayeth much for the people and for all the holy city, Jeremias, the prophet of (jod." Our . blessed Lonl was accust«)med to rebuke the Jewish errors ; but this doctrine so far from rebuking and correcting, He approves. After showing (Luke xvi.) how the unjust steward had provided fiiends for himself who would succor him when he would be steward no longer, and after expressing regretfully that the <-hildren of light do not in the spiritual order do similarly, He sa}s, " Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of inicjuity ; that when you shall fail, they may receive yon into everlasting dwellings." This is clearly a reference to the do» trine that the saints may aid us in at aining heaven. The same doctrine is taught by the earliest (Ihrjstian writers, who reiei\ed the Christian doctrine from the Apostles : .Saints Ignatius, Hegesi|)pus, Ire- nceus, Cvjjrian and Origen. It is found in all the ancieiu liturgies, the Latin, Greek, Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian and Mozarabic. It could not have been in- U-oduced so universally into the {!hurch by imposture, without leaving some w m 78 LetUr, Rev. Father Molphy. trace of the first atleuipis at innovation, and of the opposition which pure Christians showed. It is, therefore, evident both by Scripture, reason and history that this is the Anostolic doctrine. This last mode of reasoning is ap- plicable also to the ist and 3rd propositions, as well as to the and. 3. My third proposition is that " it is lawful and laudable to honoi' sacred images:" that is to say the images of persons worthy of honor, such as Christ and His saints. In Ex. xxv., 18, 19., we find that God ordered "t o cheru- bims of beaten gold" to be placed "on the two sides of the oracle >r taber- nacle, and the way in which these were to be placed is most carefully described. God also ordered Moses to make a brazen serpent as a sign ; and whosoever was bitten by the fiery serpents which infested the Hebrew camp was cured by looking upon it. This was, as we learn from our Blessed Lord, a symbol of Himself (St. John iii., 14.) Those who are bitten by the fiery serpent, the devil, are healed by the blood of Christ crucified. The ark of the covenant was likewise a symbol of God's presence : and when Josue and the ancient of Israel approached it the^- prostrated themselves upon the ground. Josue vii. 6. The great respect which was shown to the ark may likewise be seen in 2 Kings vi., Ps. xcviii., 5, i Par. xxviii., 2, (Protes- tant Bible, 2 Saul vi., Ps. xcix., 5, i Chron.) It is of these and sinnlar sacred ivnages and symbols, that Mr. Scobiesays : that the respect shown to them "is declared to be idolatry," letter 3 ; and Mr. Scobie's rule of faith, the West- minister confession, styles them " Monuments of idolatry." More a])propiate- ly may Mr. Scobie's letters and liis rule of faith be called monuments of blasphemy and folly. In fine, it is a part of human nature to revere the images of those we love, referring our respect to the original. Those who have de- served well of their country have statues erected to them by a grateful public, why should not Christ and His saints be similarly honored ? As by bad pic- tures and images men are led to evil : so by the pictures and images of Christ and His saints we are led to imitate their virtues and good works. However, as images do not pertain to the essence of religion, it is a matter of the juris- diction of the Christian Church to decide to what extent they are to be per- mitted or encouraged. Having already carried this letter to considerable length, 1 will make very short my answer to Mr. Scobie's objection drawn from Ex. xx. It is forbidden in the commandment to make " graven things " for the purpose of adoring and serving them as the idolaters did. The term " graven things " may be proved from Holy Scripture to mean " idols," and not " sacred images." 'I'he intro- duction of the term "image" into the text, as is found in the Protestant Bible, is a falsification, 'i'he correct reading, as found in the original, may be seen in the Catholic English version. It therefore avails nothing against my thesis to quote the fiilsified text against the Catholic ])ra(;tice ; and still less will it avail to put the interpolated woxiS. in large cajjitals, as Mr. Scobie does. This makes a show of learning; but " when you have got it, it is not there." I must now notice a couple of ([uibbles which Mr. S. rai.sed against my se- cond proposition. Tiie first is that the saints will not be ey showing that in i 4 Lettet Rev. Father Molphy. 79 the resurrection the saints enjoying the IMessed Vision of (led shall be equal to the angels. But the saints who " have paid the last farthing " enjoy the Beatific Vision immediately after death, as we learn from 2 Cor. v., 6 that im- mediately after they are "al.'sent from the body" tliey arc "present with the Lord." Therefore, also St, Paul (Phil, i., 23) desired "to be dissolved and to be with Christ." Now, the ISeatific Vision consists in "seeing God as He is," in "knowing as we are known." and in "being like unto God." — Matt, v., 8, r Cor. xiii., 12, Jno. iii., 2. It follows then that the likeness and equality which will exist at the resurrection between the saints and angels will be also imme- diately after death. The next quibble is against the text " there shall be joy in heaven u}>on one sinner that doth penance." Mr. Scobie has said that the rendering " doth penance" is incorrect, that it should be "repenteth." To my present thesis, which regards the knowledge '^t" the saints in heaven, it makes no difference whether we say " doeth penanc ' or "repenteth." J'he text (proves in t-ither case that the saints know what is passing on earth. It is, theretbre, a quibble to raise the question of the meaning of this word, without a refutation of the thesis in support of which I adduced it. However, I shall remark that 1 am quite prepaied to show that the (Jreek /ndanoia in its Christian sense means penance ; that is to say, " repentance or sorrow for sin, joined with the works of mortification, which among (Christians should accompany such sorrow." Etymologicaliy the word means " repentance," as Loi^os means a word. Hut for both of these words there is n ])eculiar Christian meaning which is more sublime. Z(7!,w means the Son of God, and tuefatioia \wq2s\s "repentance with satisfaction for sin," that is to say, penance. This can be proved by Scripture, by the use of the Christian (ireeks, by the authoriiy of Jerome who translated metanoia, poeniifiitia, penance, and by other authorities. 1 shall now call attention to a deliberate falsehood concocted by Mr. Scobie concerning myself. The retailer of such slanders, does not deserve, even i)y courtesy, the title Reverend, which means "deserving of honor." He states that noi ten miles frf)m Strathroy, a priest informed a certain woman that her husband, who died suddenly, was in purgatory, and would be delivered by the "performance" of six masses, at a cost of $24. A pathetic I picture is then drawn of the cunning priest's efforts to mulct the poor widow in the afore- said sum. A pen and ink sketch of a row and pigs completes the carica- ■ ture. 1 am the only priest within ten milei* of Strathroy, and 1 hereby brand the story as a falsehood from beginning to end, and Mr. Scobie 1 brand as a deliberate slanderer. I,et him bring forward his proofs, or submit to be held up to public scorn as a convicted slandkkkk. He takes occasion from this tale to declare that the laws should treat the Catholic priesthood as worse than "deceivers, importers and thieves." Mr. S, here shows the real spirit of Presbyterian ism, which he hypocritically describ- ed as "love for God, and love for men." The Presbyterian spirit is that whi( h is set forth in the " N;'.tional Covenant," demanding civil pains and penalties - not only agair.st ("atholics.but against all who will not accept the Presbyterian tissue of absurdities, as the pe'fect religion of C!hrist. Thanking y;)U, Mr. Editor, for vour kindness. 1 remain, very sinrerelv vours, JOS. P. MOLPHV, Strathroy, Feb. 10, 1877, Pastor of Catholic Church. 8o Lttter, Rti>. R. Scobie. ! !■ [From the Wkbtern Dispatch of February 28th, 1877.] THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. To the Editor of the Strath roy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — Amid the incessant volley of abuse the Rev. Father Molphy discharges, it is difficult to discern the subject he pretends to discuss in letter No. I. But as he himself calls it " Unity," I have no objections to look at* it under that title, "The unity of the Church of Christ," he .says, "consists first in her teaching the same doctrines everywhere and at all times." The sophistry here is easily detected. If we proceed by the same method of rea- soning, we shall find that the u?iity he claims for the Church )f Christ, by her teaching " the same doctrines everywhere and at all times," is the same in kind as that which binds together all the great heathenish systems on earth. The followers of Mahomet teach the same doctrines evcryxvhere and at all times ; therefore, the unity annongst the Mahommedans is the unity which distinguish- es the Church of (. Urist. Brahmans, too, teach the same doctrines everywhere and at all times ; tl^ereforc, the U7iity of those deluded idolaters is the unity of the Church of Christ. No, Rev. Sir, the unity of Christ's Church does not consist " in her teaching the same doctrines everywhere and at .dl times ;" but ' in her teaching the doctrine of her Lot J, dnd Head, Jesus Christ, everywhere and at all limes. " Teaching them to olj^erve all things whatsoever / have commanded yoji ; and lo, I am with you alway, et^en unto the end of the world." I agree with the Rev. gentleman, when he says, that "the Catholic Church proclaims to all nations the one faith, teaches the same doctrines in Rome and Constantinople, in England, in Canada, and in Japan." But 1 deny that her proclamations of faith and doctrine, neai and f^r, prove that she is the Church of Christ. On the contrary, they prove beyond contradic tion, that she is one of those great systems that " have changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." Making reference to the verse just quoted, " Teaching them to observe all things, &c.," the Rev. gentleman says, " Here it is seen that Christ's doctrine is to be taught in its fulness, and that it is not lawful for Christians to reject any part of it," He might have gone a little further, and said, that it is equal-, ly unlawful to add to any part of it. But 1 suppose, he finds it necessary, in the present circumstances, to hide and withhold, and disfigure the truth as much as possible. Nevertheless, I will bring it into open day. Christ Him- self sets a fence around His doctrines, and woe be to those who break through it. " For T testity unto every man that heareth tiie words of the projjhecy ot this book. If any man shall ADD to these things, Ciod shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall I'AKE A^\ AY FROM the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his aart out of the book of lite, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." - Rev. xxii., i8, 19. Does the Church of Rome neither "ADD TO" nor "TAKE AWAY FROM" the doctrines taught by Christ ? Did He teach the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin? Nowhere does the Bible say she was born without sin. The Virgin herself de-. (lares that she was a sinner. Luke i.. 47 ".And my spirit hath rejoiced in Letter, Rev. R. Siolie. 8i ,-e all :trine reject qual- ry, in th as Him- ough cy ot him awiU' lings h^of rines r^^in? fde-. (] in God my Saviour." A woman born without sin did not require a Saviour. Only a pardoned sinner can rejoice in a Saviour. If then the Virgin was sin- less, as the Church of Rome maintains, these, her own words, are without meaning, and could not have been spoken by her. Has the Church of Rome taught this absurd doctrine '* everywhere and at all times ?" Why, it was only decreed by the Council of Basil in the 15th century, and according to the Rev. gentleman's own showing, there are still those in the Church who reject it. Did Christ teach that men should bow the knee to the Virgin's image on earth, and address their prayers to her spirits in heaven ? No, He condemns it. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him ONLY shall thou serve." Has Rome taught that she was to be worshipped as occupying a superior posi tion to that of the Saviour, " everywhere and at all times?" The first worship offered to her was by Pagans in the 4lh century. In the 6th, the title " Mother of God " was given to her, and so on, till she rose to that position which draws forth from her suppliants the prayer, " Holy Mother command thy Son." Hefe, then, we have a kind of conglomerate doctrine which Christ never taught, and which the Virgin condemned, and which the Church of Rome had not in her infancy. Did Christ teach the doctrine of infallibility ? No such doctrine is io be fi%md in Scripture. Has the Church of Rome taught this dogma " every- where and at all times?" Why, it is only of late she decreed it. At this mo- ment her members are divided in opinion as to whether this infallibility rests with the Pope alone, or in a (ieneral Council alone, or in both together, 01 in the Church at large, or anywhere. How can a sinful man be infallible? Or, how can any number of sintul men make that which is jjerfect and infallible ? We all know that crows are black, and that they are likely to retain their sable costume to the end. No man in his right mind would say, " Well, yes, ciows are blac/i, but if you bring a number together they will become h'/iitc. Su<-h is the kind of reasoning Rome employs to establish the blasphemous dogma of infallibility. (Christ never taught this dogma, and at tlie present hour the Church of Rome has not fully acknowledged it. l)id Christ teach the doctrine of Plenary Indulgence? Did He teach that for a sum of money i)riests were to give to i.ien written documents, releasing them from 11 punishment due to sin here, and from the flames and ice of Pur- gatory hereafter^ Did the Son of God grant men permission to sin, as did Pope Clement \'U1., when he granted perunssion to Henry \T1I. of England to have two wives? or, as did Leo X, when he granted IndnlK^ciHes to tviimiif all. \i/!ds 0/ si/i ? Indulgences at that time were sold by the Pojie'f authority to the highest bidder ; and then retailed ihrougb.out the country. The follov.- ing is an i:\ample of what these indulgence dealers said about their imjiious wares: •• Indulgences .^re the ni'st precious and sublime of God's gifts. This cross (pointing to the red cross) has as mu(-h efitica( y as the '-ross of Jesus Christ. Draw near, and I will give you letters duly sealed, by wiu'ch c;\'ii the sins xiHi shall heiiaitci' desire to commit shall a'l he fo'-;iiv^ii yen I would not exchange mv privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven, for I li:ne w.wcA more souls with mv indulgences tiian he with his sermons. There is no sin so great that the indulgence cannot remit, &(.. The; v.^ry momjnt the nKjney (links against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from i)urgatory and Hies to heaven."— ♦i'Anbigne. Has the Chmrh of Komf taugin this awful delusion r^ 83 Letter, Rev. R. Scolne. I ! " everywhere and at all times?" There is no trace of it before the year 1300, when " Boniface VIII. commanded a jubilee to be held at Rome, at which a plenary indulgence, and pardon for every sin, was granted to all who should visit the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, and observe other ceremonies." Cardinal Cazetan says, *' If we could have any certainty concerning the origen of indulgences, it would help us much in the disquisition of the truth of pur- gatory ; but we have not by writing any authority, either of the Holy Scrip- tures, or ancient doctors, Greek or Latin, which afford us the least knowledge ihereof" — Cazet de Indtilg. Opusc, torn. /, trad 16 , cup. I. Alphonsus, another Romish writer, testifies to the above. Christ did not teach this wick- ed imposition ; and according to Rome's great authorities, she has no author- ity, from any source, to teach it. Did Christ teach that men and women were to give to a priest a sum of money, confess their sins to him, and receive pardon ? Did He teach that priests were empowered to create God from a piece of dough, and offer Him in sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead? Did He teach that there was such a place as purgatory to which the souls of the departed were to go, in order to suffer and atone for their sins? Did He teach that priests should possess such Divine attributes as enable them to know whose souls went to that place, how long they would require 10 remain there, and what amount 'of money it would take to bring them out? Picherellus, a doctor of the Sor- bonne, in Missa, chap, ii., p. 115, declares that " there is no fuel to be found in Scripture, either t9 kindle or maintain the fires of purgatory." Cardinal Bellarmine agrees with this, and says that " Purgatory cannot, by any rules of logic, be proved from Scripture." Did Christ teach that men were to pra(;tice the most barbarous austerities — go on pilgrimages, walk on peas, ascend stairs on their bare knees, whip themselves with cords, eat flesh some days and fish on others, count beads, repeat paternosters so many limes, &c., Ax., to atone for their sins, and to gain merit in his sight? No, for He Himself "hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgres- sions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." — Isa. i., 3. f^id Christ teach that the Bible should be withheld from the people, and that the most absurd traditions should be placed before it. Did He institute seven sacraments ; and teach that the people were otily to eat of the bread (God), while the priests alone were to drink of the wine in the observance of His Supper? Did He teach that salt was to be put into the water used for baptism ; that the devil was to be driven out of it; that salt was to be put into the child's mouth; that it was to be anointed with oil and spittle, and baptized for a sum of money? Did He teach that men were to worship angels, and in- voke the spirits of the departed ? Did He teach that old bones, old garments, locks of hair, drops of blood, pieces of stone and wood, should possess heal- ing power, and that men were to venerate them? Did He teach that there should be a pope, cardinals, archbishops, robed priests, monks, friars, mms, feasts and fasts, celibacy, holy water, mitres, croziers, palliuuis made frttin the wool of sheep, and the t^ ■)U3and other fooleries which Rome has connected with His worship? Not only does the Word of God not santtion any one (/f the foregoing doctrines, or impositions, but it condenDn Hum m those who have changed Letter, Rev. R. Scobie. 83 the word of God into a lie, and added to the doctrines taught by our Lord. These blasphemous additions and fooleries are what constitute the religion of that Church, which boasts of unity of doctrine in all lands, and proclaims in our hearing that there is no salvation outside her pale. For the sake of those over whom he presides, and for his own sake, I would advise my Rev. oppo- nent to lay aside prejudice and emnity, and consider solemnly the position of his Church in the light of revelation. If her doctrines won't stand to be test- ed by human intelligence, how will they stand to be tested by the Great Judge of all? The Rev. gentleman goes on to say that Presbyterians believe " that some men have been created by God for the purpose of being damned." I would advise him to be more guarded in his language, not that he offends me, but that people may not be led to the conclusion that he is entirely destitute of everything that constitutes a reasonable and responsible being. I offered in a former letter to become a saint-worshipper, if he would quo,te one passage from the Bible enjoining us to invoke the spirits of the departed. This offer he did not accept. I will make him anojher, and if he do not accept of it, he must never again bicathe such language as the above. If he will prove from the standards of our Church that we believe in this blasphemous doctrine, I shall leave her the moment the proof reaches me, and never again enter one of her pulpits. At your request, Mr. Editor, 1 will close in a few words, and continue this letter in yonr next issue. Before closing, however, I would like to relieve the public mind with reference to the story I introduced in my last letter concern- ing the imposition practised by a priest in our own neighborhood. I know not what priest made the inhuman demand, nor do I care t > know. It is enough for me to know that it Wu m; jo in the name of religion. I am not disposed to bring the namt^ o\ respectable people in print as testimony, merely for the . sake of pleasing mv opponents, and affording them an opportunity of calling them liars ind evervrhing else. Though I can bear with the utmost compo- sure Ronae « holy but wicked and slanderous abuse, still I will not h-ixx to have the feelinL:^ of those who would befriend me njured by her malignity. Slould the prif'st. however, choose to make a ca^^e of it in the civil court, and compel me to bring out my witnesses, he will find me fully prepared to prove to the satisfaction of th; court and the whole Dcnnnion the truth of all I have said. If Rev. Father Molphy was not thf priest who so dishonored religion, why did he allov> the composer of his letter to lead the public! to believe that he was, and that the whole affair was false ? And if he was the priest, why does he de- ny that whi( h is as true as the sun shines jin the_ firmament. In either case. the Rev. gentleman must ascend the infamous gibbet he lias erected fur me, and hang himself out in the sight of an intelligent community as an object of slan- der, deception, and falsehood. ■ V'ours \erv tnilv, Konr. sconiH, - • - :^ ; ^ .^. Presbyterian Minister. Strathrov, Feb, 241)1. 1S77. ., '^<^-\ 84 Lettify Rev. R. Scobie, [From the Western Dispatch of March 7th. 1877.1 THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. To the Editor of the Strathroy Dispatch. Dear Sir, — Continuing my letter, 1 must confess that I really do not know where my Rev. opponent found the character which he gives to the Albigenses, who were persecuted to death by the Church of Rome. The following quo- tation is from one of his letters : "The truth is that the Albigenses were bands of lawless ruffians who over-ran the south of France sacking and burning Churches, and killing and committing every kind of outrage upon all who did not belong to them, not sparing the widow or the orphan, age or sex, &c." I would remind the Rev. gentleman, who asserts thai all his quotations are tak- en from rehable sources, that he has forgotten, in this case, to mention his authority. The following writers prove that the above is a wicked calumny, invented to deceive and mislead those who are not acquainted with history. Sismondi's History of the Crusades against the Albigenses ; Jones' Histcty cf the Waldenses; Monastier's History of the Vaudois Church ; Faber's Inquivj into the History and Theology of the a?icient M'^aldenses and Albigenses; Hurter, Historic d' Innocent III., Sfc, torn. iti. ; and De Thou, Historic Universelle. All these renowned historians agree ,in declaring that the Albigenses were known to the world to be a peaceful people, and harmless in theit lives. They clung to the pure doctrines of the Gospel, as taught by Christ and His Apos- tles, and, therefore, they could not, and would not embrace the blasphemous doctrines of Rome. They looked to One alone, as their Master, even Christ, and hence they refused to acknowledge the usurped authority ot the Pope. This was their only crime. And tor this— for choosing to serve Ood through Christ the Mediator, rather than through the perverted medium of Rome- - they were burned on forked stakes, thrust into flaming ovens, thrown over precipices, hung on trees and gibbets, buried alive, hacked to pieces with sabres, sawn asunder, their mouths filled with powder and their heads blown to atoms, mothers disemboweled, children dashed against rocks — for this, they were tor- tured on rack and wheel, till thousands had gone to receive the martyr's crown. O HOLY, MOTHER CHURCH, if you will put men, women and children to death in the nsMne of Christ's religion, why not do it in a way that would be less shocking to the feelings of humanity, and that wouUi redound more to the honor of Him who made us, and Whose name is I.OVE 1 To show that the character given above to those noble Christians, the Albi- genses, is utterly false and impious, 1 shall quoi;' a few passages from Romish writers. iJernard speaks of them thus: "If you ask them ot their faith, noth- ing can be more Christian-like, if you observe their conservation, nothing can be more blameless, and what they speak they make good by their actions. You may see a man for the testimony of his faith fre(iueiU the Church, hon(jr the elders, offer his gift, receive the sacrament. \\\va\ more like a (christian ? As to Hfe and manners, he circumvents nu man, •)vcr-reaches no man, DOE.S VIOLENCE TO NO MAN. He fasts much and eats not (he l>read of idle- ness, but works with his liands for support." H-rnard on ihc ("iiiuitlcs, Letter^ Ra\ R. Scobie. 85 i t Sermo LXV., Claudius, archbishop of Turin, writes, ''their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other Christians." And again, '* in their lives .they are perfect, irreproachable, and without reproach among men, ad- dicting themselves, with all their might, to the service of God." This testi- mony is the more valuable from the fact that the man who wrote it, notwith- standing the good character he gives to these heretics, joined in hunting and persecuting them to death, because they would neither submit to the impieties of Rome, nor acknowledge the Pope as Christ's Vicar on earth. Their whole offence is mentioned by Cassini, a Franciscan friar, where he says, "that all the errors of these Albigenses consisted in this, that they denied the Church of Rome to be the HOLY MO THER CHURCH, and WOULD NOT OBEY HER TRADITIONS." Thuanus, a celebrated Roman Catholic historian, enumerates their heresy more at length ; he says they were charged with these tenets, viz., " that the Church of Rome, because it renounced the true faith of Christ, WAS I'HE WHORE OF BABYf.ON, and the barren tree which Christ Himself cursed, and commanded to be plucked up, that consequently NO OBEDIENCE WAS TO BE PAID TO THE POPE, or to the bishops who maintain her errors; that a monastic life was the sink and dungeon of the Church, the vows of which (relating to celibacy) were vain, and served only to promote the vile love of boys for uncleanness ; that the orders of the priest- hood were marks of the great beast mentioned in the Apocalypse ; that the lire of purgatory, the solemn mass, the consecration days of the Church, the worship of saints, and propitiations for the dead, were the devices of Satan, &c." — Thuani Historia, lib. vii., sect. 16, and lib. xxvii. With such testimony from Romish writers to the Christian character of the Albigenses, we may well point the finger of shame at those priests who would endeavor to blacken their memory with charges of the most enormous crimes, in order to justify the fiendish cruelty of Rome's spiritual tyrants in putting them to death. My Rev. opponent proceeds to say that the blame of putting so many thou- sands to death in France, during what is called the " Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew," should not be laid upon the Church ot Rome, but " on the unrelent- ing Charles IX., and the unprincipled Catherine de Medici." In confirmation of this, he quotes the following passages from the American Cyclopedia : " A grave question has arisen as to the supposed complicity of the papal court in the massacre. The disi)atches of the papal nuncio at Paris seem to set this question at rest * * * the government at Rome would hardly have asked information about a conspiracy in which they had borne a part, and the Nuncio in a secret dispatch would hardly have spoken in terms of such condemnation of a plot in which its superiors were implicated." I have not seen this American Cyclopedia, but the writer of this paragraph, either lacks discrimination, or is deeply imbued with the spirit and doctrines of. my Rev. opponents. This, I think, I can easily show. As Rome endeavors to keep men in ignorance of Ciod's truth, deprives them of the right to judge for themselves in religious matters, makes them believe salvation can only come through her priests and ceremonies, forces them by threats of eternal fire to obey her in everything — as she teaches them that to deceive and lie is a virtue when done for her interests, and that to take away life is sometimes a duty, surely she is responsible for the wicked ds^eds which result from such teaching, and the fearful crimes which have often been perpretated with a view to V.'. : I 1 I i 86 LetUr, Rev. K. Scobie. promote licr welfare. Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici were Roman (Catholics, trained in Romes impiety, and boimd down by her oaths to extir- l)ate heretics or become fuel for hell. The 4th Council of I-ateran, can. 3, has these v\ ords : — " Pro dejcnswne fidci prwstat jnramcntiim. quod deterris siue Jurisdictionis subjectos universos ha'viticos ah Ecclesia denota/os, bona fide pro veribus extenniiiare stiidebiint" " For the defence of the faith, all princes must swicar that they will, bona fide, most diligently .sjudy to root out of their territories, ail their subjects, by the Church pronounced heretics, which, should they neglecl to do, they must themselves be excommunicated antl deposed." In the 5th Council of 'i'oledo, the Holy Fathers say : " We promulge this decree pleasing to Cod, That whosoever shall ascend to the kingdom, shall not a.scend the throne till he has sworn, among other oaths, to permit no man to live in his kingdom, who is not a catholic ; and if, after he has taken the reins of government, he shall violate this promise, /ct /tint be anathema maranatha in the si^ht of God, and fuel of the eternal fire^ — (]aranza, Sum. Coneil, p. 404. With these oaths in view, wherk, 1 ask, does the jiin/t of that terrible slaughter of innocents rest? Is it upon Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici, as my Rev. opponent asserts ? Oh, no ; but upon the Apostate Church of Rome, whose persecuting character the inspired Apos- tle has fitfully described in these words — mothkr ok harlois and ahomina- TIONS, DRUNKKN WITH THK HLOOD OK SAINI'S, AND WITH THK BLOOD OK THK MARTYRS OF jKsus. Howcver unrelenting and unprincipled Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici may have been, they were only tools, fashioned and form- ed by Rome for the carrying out ot her inhuman purposes. Not only has Rome shed much blood in the past, but she would do it to-day if she dared. Her persecuting spirit is unchanged, and, according to her own declaration, it is unchangeable. Have we not proof of this every day ? Do we not hear how the Oka Indians are being persecuted ? Do we not hear, too, how Father Chiniquy is being persecuted? Again and again attempts have been mahat was said before a crowd of witnesses I And how much more fearful aiul awful to intluence a human being to swear to what was false before God, in order to deceive the public? ^Vhy such conduct on the part of one who pretends to guide sinners to the kingtlom of heaven, into which no one shall enter who loorketh abomination or /naketh a liel Is the Rev, gentleman ashamed of that imaginary place his Church has furnished with ice and flames for the purpose of wringing money from her bereaved members for the release of the souls of their departed? If he believes he is doing right, when, Cod-like, he tells people that such and such a soul has gone to purga- tory, and will be detained there til' a certain number of masses have, for a round sum, been said fasting, why should he be ashamed ? The very fact of such secrecy being enjoined on the people by the priests regarding the rites observ- ed to bring souls out of purgatory, ought to condemn it, and show even Ro- man Catholics, that it is a fearful deception. My Rev, opponent talks of his system of theology as being superior to every other system. Theology dots he call it? Nay, call it dupeoXogy, or deceitoXo^y, ox pries toXogy, or any kind of ology, but for the sake of all that is sacred, don't call it THKOLOcv. Take back. Rev. Sir, your slanderous language. It is yours, and no character dots it describe more minutely than your own. Take it back, and keep it for the next opponent who may cross your path. But, if i am not mistaken, you will not be anxious to airxonx logic and foul abuse for a lon^ ti/ne to come. Farewell. In closing, allow me, Mr. Editor, to thank you sincerely for the honest, up- right and gentlemanlv manner you have e\hibited during this controversy. Ror.r. scoiuE, Strathroy, March 14th, 1S77. . Presbyterian Minister. 92 A.lvertisement. A Good Local Paper for Only $1, THE STRATHROY (^^liWRB' e* 1 P C^MWm^.iS' m ^t^k ISSl'ED- Every Wednesday Morning, from the Office, No. 13 Athol Block, Front-st., Strut hroy. Always replvtc wltb aplcy, readable matter. iiond ('orrespondenti* tbroughont tbc county. Correct Miiiiiiuary of tbe Eiiropeau War Ne'i^s. The lateitl tacneral .\'ew8. < An excellent, iulereNtIng Kiory. THE -DiaPATCH" IS RAPIDLY AND STEADILY RISING IN THE FAVOR OF THE PEOPLE OF NORTH AND WEST MIDDLESEX AND EAST LAMBTON -ONLY $1 A YEAR. AIno excellent raclllties fur exeenline all bind« of JOB PRINTING ! Su,-^h as Books, Pamphlets, Posters, Dodgers, Cards, Circulars, Bill-Heads, Envelopes, Letter-Heads, Tags, dc, dc, in the best of style. A. DINGMAN, PROPRIETOR. ■tiorj'. THE opes,