IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I liilZS |Z5 [JO ■^" ■■■ ■i^ iiii 122 IS |i£ 12.0 I I iHl IL25 i 1.4 - 6" 1.6 FiiotograpAiic Sciences Corporation ^^^ 3» WtST MAIM STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SM (716) «72-4S03 4' eight hundred and seventy-five, by Wilham Jamks iviAOKBi./. «., the Minister of Agriculture. .'^ >:i;i'i INTRODUCTORY. ousand ffioe af The writer cannot better introduce the present work to the reader's attention, than by quoting the following sentences from the published prospectus : — " These Lectures consist of plain statements of truth, confirmed by such statements as the several Protestant denominations acknow- ledge to be authoritative. The three first Lectures were lately delivered in St. Paul's Church, Mount Forest, Ontario, to large audiences, composed of the diflFerent religious denominations of the place, including Roman Catholics : the attendance and interest increasing to the end. On account of the nature of the Lectures themselves, and of the part which local and other newspapers took in publishing outlines and reviews of them, the state of public opinion became so intensely excited and otherways unpomfortable, that the writer thini^ing he had dono enough in the meantime for good, P deemed it proper to finish in quieter circumstances the remaining subjects announced for lecture. He had anticipated the natural ^ and immediate results of such public disclosures — a good deal of personal abuse, and some degree of commendation — and was not f§; disappointed. But now, that the first outburst of surprise and indignation at the writer's temerity is over, and the people have had time for calm reflection on the truth, other more pleasing results, also anticipated, have been very fully realized, namely, greater caution and charity in judging of each other's religion, and especially of that of the Church of England. But an un- expected result has been the earnestly expressed wish of many persons, of different creeds, to have these Lectures printed, not in mere outline, but fully, aa delivered. The writer believing that the desired publication will do good, cheerfully consents, without hesitation and without apology, to give his compositions, in all tlieir unadorned simplicity, to the public." He has only to add, that, as he cannot recognize everything as Protestant which is popularly so called; so he does not regard everything as Romish which is called by that name. January, 1876. ^ *»1 CONTENTS. Lboturb I. — Things generally believed to be Romish, with Professor Cunningham's test. The Protestant temple of Ilomish architecture, and with Romish decora- tions. Consecration of buildings resulting in saactuaries or holj places in which God resides. The communion table an altar. Holy water. The minis- ters of the temple, holy fathers, prelatio bishops, absolving priests. Lecture II. — Apostolic succession. Romish rags on Protestant ministers. Protes- tant and Popish rule of faith very much alike. Baptismal regeneration : sign of the cross. The Protestant confessional. Protestant penances, indulgences, and absolutions. The Protestant sacrifice of the altar. Lecture III. — Consubstantiation, transubstantiation, and the Real Presence in the Lord's Supper. Observance of saint's days, and religious processions. Romanism in extempore prayer. Romanism in the service of praise. Lboturb IV. — Religious reverence for relics and holy places, with Protestant pilgrimages to them. Miracles performed by modern Protestant saints. Hymns and prayers addressed to departed saints, and prayers for the dead. Romish practices at burials. Lecture V. — Cruel and bloody persecutions. Given up to strong delusion to believe a lie. Seducing spirits preaching unity. New P. -formed Episcopal presbyter merely old priest unfrocked. 'I I". ~x T LECTURE I. 8- SB, in ns. ant its. !ad. to opal Any Ronaanism, real or supposed, ^la existing in the English Church in Canada, or in that branch of it called the Protestant Ep-scopal Church of the United States, is well looked after not only by the ministers and lay- members of that church, but also by the various Protestant denominations ■whose many voices are heard, all the year round, lamenting that both the ministers and members of the English Church are drifting towards Rome. If it be kindness and charity, on the part of these Protestant denom- inations thus to warn the members of the English Church against the deadly evils of Romanism, it surely becomes us as Churchmen to extend the same charity, sympathy, and brotherly kindness to these Protes- tant denominations, by pointing out to them whatever Romanism, real or supposed, we may find existing among themselves. Professor Cunningham, of the Free Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh, says truly, that " all is not Romish that is called by that name," and he woul<; restrict the term to things whica had been formerly in the Romish Chui'ch, but which were re- jected by the great body of Reform- 'crs in the 16th century. He admits, however, that this definition is open to objection. — (^Historic. Theol.) Perhaps we cannot do better, therefore, than follow the opinions of the Covenanters and I', ritans of Britain in presenting popular ideas as to what is Romish. Romanism lurks under many visi- ble things, and as a straw or a feather may show how t]ie wind blows, so the presence of certain visible things may be indications of the presence of that unseen and spiritual thing which Protestants call the mystery of in- iquity. 1 . The Modem Protestant Temple of Romiah architecture and with Ro- mish decorations. Places of worship of gothic archi- tectiire and its peculiar ornamenta- tions, have been considered as the fa- vorite haunts and lurking places of Romanism. The jwinted arches, clustered pillars, traceried and pic- tured windows of stained-glaas, cross- topped spires and cross-topped gables, and the ever- recurring cruciform, tri- angular, and other symbolic outlines have all been denounced as the inven- tions and handiworks of the man of sin, whereby the minds of professed Christians have been diverted from spiritual worship and from the sim- plicity of the gospel, and enslaved with what was merely outward, sen- suous, idolatrous, and Romish. Hence the Covenanters, Puritans, and other Protestant reformers de- molished the crosses and stained-glass windows of the Romish and Episco- pal Churches, and filled the windows 6 with unstained glass. Even such things as steeples and bells, and nil ornamental carvings in wood and stone, were classed among the super- stitious and idolatrous abominations of Popery. "There was no religion in stone or lime." The plainer the meeting-house, the purer and more Protestant the religion of those who met in it. The largest and best of the new churches might be built of one of the pagan five ordera of architecture, or of ''The Augustan Style" with bare walls and square-topped win- dows of unstained glass, or in the style of a barn, but the gothic was generally avoided as the ally of Rome. But, what a change ! Almost all the new places of worahip pertaining to the Protestant denominations, in - Britain, Canada, and the United States, are gothic. Thirty years ago there was not, probably, in Scotland a single modern church having stain- ed-glass windows, or cross on steeple or gable; but such things now are quite common there. In Glasgow, the venerable •'Hie Kirk," still used for Presbyterian wor8hip,haa latterly been filled from crypt to clerestory with costly pictured windows of stained- glass, the larger pictures representing historical scenes from the Old and New Testaments. These windows indicate a prodigious change Rome- ward since the year 1828, when, in the same city, the new St. Enoch's Church having been adorned with one pictured window, representing Christ blessing little children, it was summarily denounced and removed as <'an idolatrous image!" In the same city may be seen, quite com- monly, now Free Kirks and United Presbyterian Kirks, whoso lofty, gothic spires are decorated with the Roman cross. And as in the old Romish times, it was customary to have the hood-mouldings of church windows and doors terminated with some ornament of carved flowers, or foliage, or head of saint, so wo see thei'e the hood-mouldings of the fine gothic Free St. John's Kirk, Glas- gow, each terminated with a carved imago of some leader of the disrup- tion of 1 843. There is the head of St. Thomas Chalmers ; and there is the head of St. Patrick McFarlane ; and there is the head of St. Robert Candlish ; and so on through all the calendar of the sainted fathers of that branch of Presbyterianism. Pass up to Edinburgh, and the same change is noticeable there. In the very city where covenant- ing heroes and martyrs suffered tor- ture and death for protesting against such things as crosses and pictures, you may see on one United Presby- terian Kirk no fewer than four or five stone crosses ; and on the face of a Free Presbyterian Kii'k two very noticeable stone carvings, — one representing the good shepherd leading forth his sheep, while the wolves are kept at bay in the dis- tance ; and the other carved picture representing the faithless shepherd asleep, while the wolves are devour- ing his flock. Who could have be- lieved that even the famous Rev. Dr. Guthrie, of Edinburgh, who be- longed originally to one of the strict- est sects of Scotch Presbyterians (called Seceders), but latterly a lead- i i er of religious opinion in tho Free Kirk, should have become an advo- cate of church decoration, including crosses and other things formerly re- garded as Romish ! He says, " I am one of those who think that a church should be ornamented. * Ha !' you will say, ' what has the house of God to dc with ornament V My answer to that is this : Go to your mountains, and pick me up a flower that is not an ornament, «fec. * * « 3K « • Yes, God has poured beauty on everything he has made ; and I say, it is a right and a proper thing that the house of God should not ofiend the taste that God has given me. I don't believe there is any sin in beauty, and neither do I believe there is any holiness in ugliness." Then speaking of his former sect, the Seceders, he says : " They have changed wonderfully of late. What with their former aversion to (ministers') gowns and bands, to crosses on the outside of the church, or any ornament what- ever within, there is no denying it, my (Seceder) friends were a little narrow." — ^(See Anecdotes and Sto- ries of Dr. Guthrie, Houlston k Wright, London. Pp. 17, 18, 165, 166.) Yes, Dr. Guthrie and the Seceders have changed; and the Presbyterian ministers and people of Scotland generally must have changed — changed wond&rjvXly Romeward during the last thirty years ! For, could any man imagine the Covenanters, or the old Seced- ers, or even the members of the Presbyterian Establishment, thirty years ago, thus ornamenting their places of worship with crosses, stained-glass pictures, and images carved in stone ! Why, we have known, in our young days, some pious Presbyterians who maintained that it was a sin against the Second Commandment to possess a picture in private, or to receive a photo- graph of a near and dear relative. How sadly, or how angrily, as the case might be, have true Protest- ants looked at tho picture of Mary Queen of Scots, with her small cross suspended from her neck, and lamented over the blind bigotry and Romish superstition that could lead a professed Christian to w-ar such an ornameiit ! The cross— the ma- terial cross — has, ever since the Reformation in Scotland, until late- ly, been I'egarded as the symbol of Popery, and the mark of tb ^ Beast. It has been treated there Wifh the same kind of scorn, contempt, and hatred with which it is yet treated by Jews and Turks. But how vast the change Romeward, when the daughters and wives of Presbyte- rians, Baptists, Methodists, and Con- gregationalists, now wear, like Mary Queen of Scots, a cross on the neck or breast, or wear it suspended from a belt on the waist, as nuns and monks are accustomed to do ! But we need not travel so far as to Britain for illustrations of our subject ; nor to the United States, where Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists, build magnificent gothic churches, and ornament them with pictured windows and cross-topped gables and steeples. Let us look nearer I home, even to Toronto ! Not long ago 1 acood there looking at what the Methodists call their Metropli- tan Church, with its gothic towers and pinnacles, and pictured memo- rial window, the whole thing re- minding me much of a Methodist preacher in clerical costume, when 1 was accosted by an old man, who proved to be of the Methodist per- suasion. He seemed to take me to be of the same persuasion myself, for he talked confidentially, exclaim- ing, as he looked at the building, — ** What pride and vanity ! Ah ! Methodism is changed ! changed for the worse, since I remember !" But let us take a little ramble north- ward from this building, and use our Protestant eyes. Here is a Congregational chapel, having a ga- ble facing the street ; and in the gable an elaborate gothic window, the tracery of which is so construct- ed as to form fifteen distinct crosses ! Well, that, we think, may be regard- ed as even ultramontane in Romish- ness. A little further north, we come to Gould Street Presbyterian Kirk, which is also a gothic struc- ture, and has a gable facing the street. On the top of the^gable is a substantial stone cross ! Still fur- ther north we come to Forkville, where we behold, on the top of a Methodist steeple, a most wonder- ful cross, more imposing and ornate, if I remember aright, than even the large gilded cross on the steeple of St. Michaels Roman Catholic Cathe- dral ! So much for even a short walk in Toronto. But we need not go for illustrations even so far away. We have a notable one at our owt door. The Pre««byterian8 of this place have lately erected a kirk of the gothic order. The corner stone was laid with most imposing cere- monies — symbolical ceremonies, very similar to those in which the Pope himself engages, when he, as Ponti- fex Maximus, with apron and trowel, commences the re-closing up of the holy gate of St. Peter's Church, at the end of the Year of Jubilee. Then the spire of our new Presby- terian kirk haG been topped with a most expressive symbol of *' con- cealed and increasing Romanism." It is a cross, the four arms cf which are intersected by the symbolical circle. The concealment is inge- nious, but is, of course, defective. It consists in having something like a spear-head, placed on the top of the upper arm. This Presbyterian cross is not, however, the only architectural proof of concealed and increasing Romanism among us. We have another one at the north end of the village : it is found on the face of the New Connection Methodist chapel. There we behold a large, shadowy, deformed cross, constructed by indentation in the brickwork. We have also two other architectural crosses in our village ; they are on the top of the Roman Catholic chapel. These are decided, unmistakable crosses ; there is no concealment about them. The men who placed them there were honest and consistent in doing so. They said virtually by their act, "We are, as you nee, Romanists ; and we are neither ashamed nor afraid to ^ ^ '1 ■declare ourselves such by placing these crosses on our chapel." But •what shall we say of our Presbyte- Tian and Methodist neighbours who profess to be the enemies of all such things as are called Fomish, Pusey- ite, and Ritualistic, and who, on public platforms, and elsewhere, de- nounce the Church of England, and applaud the Coveuantere and Puri- tans who battered down the crosses and carvings of the English churches? Are our friends honest in their pro- fessions of Protestantism 1 Are they consistent with their claims to Pro- testant purity 1 If so, what have such people to do with crosses on their places of worship? Has not the material cross been hitherto re- garded by you as the distinctive symbol of the Man of Sin 1 and even the transient sign of the cross as the mark of the Beast 1 What would your Covenanting and Puritan heroes have said and done on seeing such decorations on your places of worship ? They would have de- nounced them as Popish and idola- trous images ; and they would have shown their sincerity and their zeal "by utterly destroying what they thus denounced. Ah, you must have departed far from their principles, and wandered far toward Rome I In words you may deny it ; but your practice contradicls your pro- fessions. • 2. Consecration of buildings re- sulting in sanctuaries or holy places in which God resides. Roman Catholics dedicate their churches ; And hence call them holy places, and holy temples j for what is dedicated to God is, in Scripture, called holy. These places of wor- ship, although dedicated to God, are nevertheless erected quite commonly in honour of some saint, such as St. Peter, St. Barnabas, St. Andrew, &c Now, the Covenanters— those true Protestants detekied and abhorred "the dedication of kirks,'' and scorned the idea of there being any holiness connected with them. John Knox declares expressly, in his Trea- tise on Prayer, that the place of public prayer is not more holy than any odier place, "for the whole earth, created by God, is equally holy." Knox, however, seems to have modified his views somewhat before he died. He had seen the vast nossessions of the Romish Church seized by the nobility and gentry of Scotland for their own private and secular use, or rather as Knox expressed it, '' two parts free- ly given to the devil, and the third part divided betwixt God and the devil ;" and therefore the Reformer and his fellow-workei's preached and published sermons against the sin of sacrilege, or the stealing of holy things. In these sermons they speak of dedicated lands as " holy posses- sions," and of the places of worship, as "temples" that should be "rev- erently repaired." Yet the truly Protestant doctrine is, that of the Covenant, and this doctrine is re- affirmed in the Presbyterian Direc- tory for "Worship, which was drawn up by the "Westminster Assembly of Divines, in the year 1645. In the Appendix to it, these champions of Presbyterian and Independent Pro- ,10 teatantism declare that, " no place is capable of any holiness, under pre- tence of whatsoever dedication or consecration." These men were true Puritans, and their doctrine was ex- tensively put in practice by the Armies of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, who thought ncihing of turning cathedrals and other churches into barracks, where they ate, drank, and made merry, and wherein they stabled their horses. But how far astray are professed Protestants now ! They are now as Romish in this matter as Home itself! At "the opening," as it is called, of Presbyterian places of woi-ship, the prayer of Solomon, at the dedi- cation of the temple, is almost invariably read ; and if read devo- tionally, as it ought to be, then is the kirk as much dedicated as was the Jewish temple itself, or rather more so, because of some additional and appropriate extempore prayers, which are usually offered on the occasion, and which have commonly somethir)g of a dedicatory character in them. The Presbyterians of the United States havr left out the Appendix to the Dii ctory, in which the protest against holy places is found, but in their modern Direc- tory expressly call places of worship "sanctuaries," that is, "holy places.'' Scotch Presbyterians, in singing the Psalms of David, are quite common- }y engaged in calling the place of worahip by the very titles applied to the Jewish Temple — namely "the House of Gtod — the holy place— the sanctuary — the Temple." Methodists usually ani: unce in the public prints, " the dedication '* of their buildings. The Baptists go veiy thoroughly into this matter, having thirteen hymns for the express purpose, A few sentences from these hymns may shew their general character : — Hymn 932. " Lord of Hosts, to Thee ire raise Here a bouse of prayer and praise." Hymn 933. •' Great King of glory, come And with Thy favour crown This temple as Thy Home." Hymn 934. " We build this earthly house for The»,. choose it for Thy fixed abode." " But will indeed Jehovah deign Here to abide, no transient guest." Hymu 937. " Spirit divine attend our prayer. And make this house Thy home." Hymn 944. "To Thee this temple we devote Our Father and our Qod ; Accept it thine, and seal it now Thy Spirit's blest abode." If these sentences, and others like them, be not Romish, then we have utterly mistaken the meaning of Pi'otestantism, as held by the great bod}' of the Reformers of the 16th century. Were I a Baptist, holding such views as these, not only would I enter the chaiel with head uncov- ered, but with all the solemn and reverential feelings with which the- Jewish priests of old entered the holy of holies, or with such feelings of awe as Romanists approach the altar on which, they believe, is the real presence of Christ. If I be- liftved that a Baptist chapel wa» u in _ » Gk)d'8 « fixed abode," " his home," '* His Spirit's blest abode," 1 should feel justified in doing what pious Boraau Catholics do in passing their places of worship, I would take oflf my hat, and offer a short prayer to God. who had a special and a gracious presence in that house. But how could I be guilty of such conduct without protesting against Protestantism, and without symbo- lizing with Romanism 1 Does Mr. Spurgeon, the renowned Baptist preacher of England, ap- prove of the doctrine of these hymns] Does this champion of Protestantism, this man who glories in being one of the sons of the Puritans, this man who is for ever shouting *' Po- pery in the Church of England," does he believe in the dedication of churches, and that they become holy places by virtue of such dedi- cation or consecration 1 Here I give his own sentiments in his own words, as contained in Sermon vii. 2nd series. He is speaking of the purification of the Jewish tabernacle by the sprinkling of blood. Then, turning from the Jewish tabernacle in the wilderness, to his o%vn taber- nacle in Londou, he says, *' It was a sweet reflection to me, as I came hei-e this morning. I thought, * 1 am going to the house of God, and that house ia a holy place': but when I thought how many sinners had trodden its floors, how many unholy ones had joined in its songs, I thought ''Ah, it has been defiled : but. Oh ! there is no fear, for the ^jlood of Jesus has made it holy wain!" And these are Spurgeon's medi- tations as he was going to his tabernacle ! Had they been the meditations of a pious Koman Cath- olic, or of an Anglican Ritualist, they would have been consistent, or at least creditable to his heart, whatever they may have been to his head ; but such meditations in the mind of " a son of the puritans," prove him to be a degenerate son indeed, who ought to blush every time he howls against Ritualism and Romanism in the English Church. There is, as yet, a wholesome diversity of opinion among Presby- terians concerning " the holiness of churches and of the material things connected with them." The ques- tion is known as The question of relative holiness. The late Rev. Dr, Burns, Professor in Knox College, Toronto, seems to have been much more in advance Romeward than some of his brethren, for in a sermon of his in the Scottish Pulpit, vol. i., he says, "We do say that certain times, and certain places, and certain vestments are represented in the sacred word as consecrated to the Lord — as taken out of the ordinary range of human objects, and invested with a relative sanctity. * • And although the state of things under the Christian economy is greatly changed, still we may affirm of every Christian church and place sacred to religious worship, that it is the habi- tation of God's house, and the place where His honour dwelleth." And the reason why such places are thus to be regarded as holy or sacred is, "that they are invested with this 12 peculiar attribute of being given up or dedicated to God!" Such doctrine is the doctrine of Home, and is in direct opposition to that of the Directory for Worship : and to a genuine follower of the divines of the Westminster Assem- bly, it must be sad to think, that, if teachers of Presbyterian ministers hold such views, the taught are not likely to be sound in the faith. And see the number of saints' churches in Canada ! Some excuse may be made for the old countries, where Romish churches remained \indemolislied, and retained, in spite of Protestantism, their old Romish names. But there can be no such ex- cuse made for continuing the Rom- iph practice in Canada, by giving to new churches the names of saints. Presbyterians cspeciallj-^are charge- able with this kind of Romanism. Churches held forth or erected in honour of St. Andrew are quite com- mon. In Scotland they go through ■with the whole college of apostles in naming the city churches, whether they be Free Church or Established. And a Free St. George's, or Free St. Columba's, or Free some other saint not mentioned in the Bible, is quite common. While in Canada, they have not only many churches held forth to the honour of John Knox, and some to the honour of such departed saints as the Presby- terian ministers Erskine and Mel- ville ; but they have outstripped Scotland aud Rome itself, by giving to their places of worship the names of saints while the saints were yet living ; hence, we have Chalmers' Churches, Bums* Churches, a Cooke's Church, a Willis' Church, and prob- ably some others, all indicating a reckless return to that practice which our Protestant forefathers so bitterly opposed. 3. Roman Catholics maintain that it is not the Jewish synagogue, but the Jewish temple that should be the model for the arrangements and the worship of the Christian church. And therefore, as the temple of old had a laver of holy water for divers washings or baptisms, so the Chris- tian church should have its font of holy water for baptism : and as the temple of old had its altar for sacri- fice, and that altar was separated from the court of the people by a fence or low wall ; so the Christian church should have its altar for so.c- rifice, and that altar separated from the body of the chiirch by a rail or fence of some kind. Protestants, on the other hand, have maintained that the synagogue, not the temple, is the model for the Christian church ; that an altar in the church is Popery ; chancel rails is Popery ; and holy water is Pope- ry. So far from encouraging the idea of an altar, the Westminster divines had a discussion for three weeks as to whether communicants should even rise out of their seats in church to go up to any table to receive the Communion — the In- dependents contending fhat there should be no leaving of seats, but that every communicant should be supplied with the Communion just wherever he might be sitting at the time. The Presbyterians, however, IS hand, i being iu the majority, voted down the Independent mode of Commu- nion, and carried their own plan. That plan was to have several Com- munion tables in each place of wor- ship, to which communicants should go up, and at which they should sit while receiving the bread and wine. Hence Presbyterians, until quite lately, have talked of " table seats" in their places of worship. Only one table, however, namely, that at which the minister stood, had bread and wine placed on it ; the other tables, covered with white cloth, were merely for sitting at, and for receiving the elements. But changes Homeward are now rapidly taking place. Table seats are being abol- ished. In some places the ordinary pews, having the book-board cov- ered with white linen, were substi- tuted ; but the white linen is also being gradually withdrawn, and has nearly disappeared both here and in the United States. What a change in this respect has come over the minds of Presbyterians since the year 1638 ! In that year the cele- brated Glasgow General Assembly met, and deposed, that is, turned out of their office and ministry, the Episcopal clergy of Scotland ; and one of the heavy charges against them, and for which they were de- posed, was, their having an altar with rails — that is, a Communion table with rails before it. Thus, the record says, " The Rev. Francis Hervey was deposed for erecting an altar with rails at his own expense ; and the Rev. Thomas Forrester was deposed for having made his altar and rails himself." Therefore, to avoid the very idea of an altar in the church, it has been a custom among Presby'.erians to remove, im- mediately after the Communion, the table on which the bread and wine are placed. But what a change now even in Presbyterian Scotland ! I am credibly informed that in some of the tine, new carved gothic churches, with cross- topped spires, and stained and pictured glass win- dows, the Communion table, with rails, instead of being removed, stands all the year round in the place where the Communion is adminis- tered, and nobody opposes this Rom- ish innovation. In Canada we have seen more than one instance of t}\e same kind ; and as for Methodists, they not only have this arrangement of altar and rails, but quite common- ly speak of the table as an altar. Thus, at their protracted meetings in school-houses they speak of the penitent bench merely, but in their churches they invite penitents " up to the altar." In proof of this, I quote from three well-known Meth- odist books, namely, Rev. Dr. Pot- ter's Compendium oj Methodism ; Daniel Wise's Popular Objections to Methodism, Answered ; and Mrs. Palmer's Incidental Illustrations of tlie Economy of Salvation. Dr. Pot- ter says, " For many years we have practised inviting (penitents) to come forward to the altar or front seats and kneel, while we commend them to God in prayer, that they may be converted." Then speaking of the mode of receiving persons into full connection, he says : '* Some preach- 14 ere call the candidates forward be- fore the altar." Daniel Wise, per- suading a young convert to become a Methodist, says to him : " Why did your heavenly Father select a Methodist preacher to be the in- strument of your awakening, and a Methodist altar to be the scene of your conversion?" Mrs. Palmer, who is a notable preacher among the Methodists, makes frequent mention of the altar. In pages 161, 162, she tells of urging a young woman to go forward and be prayed for ; the young woman, yielding to a sense of duty, " went forward," says Mrs. Palmer, •' and with several other seekers of salvation, who had pre- sented themselves, she knelt at the altar of prayer." Then, speaking of a newly married couple, she says (p. 235): "Only three evenings pre- vious, had this newly married pair, before the altar, pledged themselves to each other." And in page 155 she describes what she calls '* A flight to the altar." It is the case of a young girl who, with others, was seated in the gallery of a Methodist place of worship, and who seemed to Mrs. Palmer to be one of " the votaries of fashion and folh Mrs. Palmer goes up to her. speaks to her, and finally says to her, "If you wish to have the united prayers of God's people, I will go with you from the gallery, and we will go lorward together to the altar of prayer." The young lady finally rises, leaves her seat, exclaiming, " I am going down to the altar." Now giving such a name to the Communion Table, and making a practice of going to pray at the altar, aa though prayer were more accepta- ble there, have been regarded by thorough Protestants as nothing but Bomanism. And are Presbyterians free from this charge of cherishing the Romish altar 1 What do they mean by so commonly singing the following Psalms, either immediately before, or in connection with, the Lord's Supper — Ps. xliii. send Thy light forth, and Thy truth, Let them be guides to mo ; And bring me to Thine holy hill Even where Thy dwellings be. Then will I to Ood't altar go, To God my ohiefest joy." Ps. xxvi. 6, 7, 8. Mine hands in innocence, Lord, I'll wash and purify ; So to Thine holt/ altar go, And compass it will I. Now, these are the very psalms, and we may say the only psalms, which the Romish priest sings in the celebration of Mass. He does indeed sing two or three vei'ses of another psalm which refers to in- cense : but the two psalms men- tioned are the only other j^salms which he sings, in what is called the Ordinary of the Mass, namely, Ps. 43, and Ps, 26, from the 6th verse : and the reason why these psalms are selected is, that they speak of going to the altar of God. Now, if Pres- byterians have no altar, why should they, like the Roman Catholics, so constantly sing these very psalms in connection with the Communion ? But Roman Catholics maintain that the Christian sanctuary or temple should have nut only an ^% 18 I altar, but also Iioly water for bap- tism and other purposes. Holy water is that which has been set apart from common use, and sancti- fied by prayer. To consecrate or sanctify, is to make holy. Water sanctified, is holy water ; and holy water is considered to be thoroughly Romish. Now the Presbyterian Directory for Worship requires the following rules to be observed in Baptism : — (1) That "Baptism be adminis- tered only in the place of public worship, and in the presence of the congi-egation ;" and (2) That " Prayer is to be joined to the word of institution, for sanc- tifying the water to this spiritual use." Therefore Presbyterians are re- quired to use " holy water " in their temple. It is very noticeable that old Presbyterian ministers are veiy care- ful to pray God for the sanctification of the water in baptism, so that the greater number of persons of that denomination in Canada, have pro- bably been baptized with Jioly water , and in that respect are as Komish as the Romans. In the year 1661, King Charles II, gave commission to some twenty of the leading Presbyterian divines who, in the Westminster Assembly, had drawn up the Directory for Worship, that they should meet at the Savoy with ministers of the English Church and make amend- ments, alterations, or improvements in the Book of Common Prayer, Among those Presbyterian ministers were such men as Richard Baxter, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Lightfoot, and other celebrated men. They pro- posed many improvements, some of which were adopted, but they found no fault with, nor proposed any alteration of the prayer of the Baptismal Service — " sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin." What the Congregation alists think of this matter, I know not ; but it is quite evident that Baptists also use lioly water. For, thus they sing in connection with Baptism : — Hymn 801. 'I stand before the aacred flood. Thy grncious words invite." Hymn 811. •' We seek the coruecrated grave, Along the path he trod: Receive us in the hallowed wave. Thou holy Son of God." Hymn 823. - " Down to the hallowed grave we go, Obedient to Thy word ; 'Tis thus the world around shall know, We're buried with the Lord." How the Baptists haUow or sanc- tify the water which is here called " the hallowed or holy wave," *' the sacred or holy flood," the consecrated hallowed, or holy grave into which every one of them is dipped or im- mersed, I know not But certain it is, they regard the waters as holy waters. It is customary, according to Scripture to sanctify the good crea- tures of God, by the word of God and prayer. But there seems to be a speciality, judging from these hymns, in the sanctification of water among the Baptists. Hymn after hymn implores the Holy Spirit of Y u €rod to descend upon the waters ; thus — Hymn a03. "Shine o'er the waters, Dove divine, And seal the cheerful tow," Hymn 807. •• Come Holy Spirit, Dove diyine, On these baptismal waters shine." Hymn 810. " Move o'er the waters, DoTe divine. And all Thy grace reveal." Hymn 81 G. "Eternal Spirit, heavenly Dove, On these baptismal waters move." Hymn 820. " Come, pacred Dove, in peace descend. As once Thou didst on Jordan's wave." Now this invocrttioa of the Holy Spirit to descend on the baptismal water, is thoroughly Romish. The Church of England had something like it in the year 1549 ; but the celebrated German Reformer, Martin Bucer found much fault with it ; saying that, " although it was indeed very ancient, yet it created in peo- ple's mine's the notion of magic and conjuration." Therefore the Church of England laid it aside. Strange, that the Baptists should revive a a Romish practice ! The Romish priest sings the Benedictio Fontis, that is, the blessing or sanctifying of the baptismal water. And in that hymn he alludes first to the Spirit of God at the beginning of the world, moving on the face of the water : he alludes to the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan : he prays, in this hymn, that the water may be " a living fountain, I'egeneratiug wa- ter, a purifying wave, and that all who shall be washed in this health- giving bath, may enjoy by the operation of the Holy Spirit in them, perfect cleansing : and h& finishes the hymn by imploring three times, in the same words, that the " virtue or power of the Holy Spirit may descend " on the water. The resemblance between the Baptist and the Romanist in this respect, is remarkable, not only in the singu- larity of the thing which is prayed for, but also in the very manner of asking it, namely by singing. 4. Having glanced at the outside and inside of the modem Protestant temple, let us now observe its officers or those who are its minis- ters, and we may probably observe here also a tendency Romeward. The Roman Catholic clergy have titles which we cannot find in Scrip- ture, such as Cardinals, Archbishops^ Archdeacons, Metropolitans, Deans, Rural Deans, Vicars, Sub-deacons, Acolyths, Priests, &c. All Romish ! and Protestants declare, that one chief objection to such titles is, that they are unscriptural, and ought therefore to be abolished ; for the Bible is, or ought to be, the only rule of faith and practice for all true Christians. Let us, therefore, apply the rule to the titles common to Protestant, ministers. Where in the Bible do we find such titles ^a "Moderator of Session : Moderator of Presby- tery : Moderator of Synod : Mode- rator of General Assembly 1 Where in the Bible do we find such titles as Class-Leader : Local Preacher : Circuit Preacher : Chairman of the District : President of Conference 1 Where in the Bible do we find such, titles as Session Clerk : Presbytery ^ ^ 1 4 4 \ ir of Clerk : Synod Clerk : Clerk of the General Assembly : Agent of the Church : Beadle or Sexton ? Where in the Bible do we find such titles as Licentiate, Probationer, Professor of Theology : Professor of Moral Philosophy : Doctor of Divinity : Reverend, or Very Reverend 1 We search the Bible in vain for such titles : they are just as unscriptural as are those of the Romish Church ; and therefore for tlie same reason ought to be abolished. Were we to apply this rule rigid- ly, of not admitting anything into religious practice, except what may be found in the Bible, it is almost inconceivable the number of things which the Protestant denominations would require to give up. Let mo just run over a few of them without any studied order — such as " A sti- pend or salary for ministers, manse, parsonage, glebe, tythe or teind ; steeple and bell ; tokens or tickets for Communion ; quarterly meeting; class-meeung ; moderating in a call to a minister ; session records ; evan- gelical association ; congregational union ; consociation ; psalms in me- tre and paraphrases; catechisms, con- fessions of faith, directories of wor- ship, and codes of discipline ; church soirees, picnics, and bazaai-s; and the education of the young in school or college, where the religious ele- ment, instead of being the chief thing, is but barely tolerated ? Some of these things I do not find fault with ; but I merely state them to show that there is not among Pro- testants that rigid adherence to the Bible alone, as the rule of practice, which they so constantly affirm dis- tinguishes them from the Roman Catholic Church. There ai three titles of the Rom- ish clergy that are especially obnox- ious to many Protestants — namely, Pope, Bishop, and Priest. As for the word Pope, every in- telligout school-boy may find in a good dictionary, with derivations, that Pope simply means Jather. In Italy the Pope is called papa, and hence English Roman Catholics commonly call him Holy Father. Romish priests are also called fathers. Hence we say that it is Romish to call a minister <* father," or "father in God." Yet the Larger Catechism of the Presbyterians would teach us to do so. For thus it instructs us : '* Qties. 124. Who are meant by father and mother, in the fifth com,' mandment f '• Ans. By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only natural parents, but all su- perior in age and gifts, and especial- ly such as, by God's ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or com- monwealth." So, according to this, such minis- ters as are over us in the church have a divine right to the title, or to be called father. Congregations are to regard their pastors as fathers. That eminently pious minister, the late R. W. McCheyne, of Dundee, who died while a young man, says of himself, in one of his letters (p. 288) : " Hundreds look to me as a father ;" and he thinks nothing of // '/T' 18 concluding one of his letters to M. B„ one of his flock, thus : " I have no greater joy than to know that my childn'n walk in the truth." It is evident that McCheyne, and other Presbyterian ministers, must bo considered fathers only in some religious sense, like that implied in the titles of Romish clergy, name- ly, "Father in God," "Father in Christ," which is the very thing ob- jected to by Protestants. The next title is that of Bishop. It suggests to the minds of many Protestants the ideas of tyranny, ambition, and of anything but pie- ty. It is true, that many bishops iii ancient and in modern times have been very humble, pious, prayerful, kind-hearted men, and have been, at the same time, very active, zeal- ous, and courageous in the cause of Christ. Yet, among some denomi- nations, such as Presbyterians, Con- gregationalists. Baptists, and, with one exception, the Methodist de- nomination, the title of Bishop is suggestive only of Romanism ; and hence, although retained in theory, it is virtually repudiated. According to this idea, the 'de- nomination called Episcopal Method- ists are chargeable with encouraging Romanism. But perhaps, when we examine some of the other denomi- nations, we shall find them equally guilty, if not more so. Let me com- pare, for example, the Roman Ca- tholic bishop and the Presbyterian pastor. They are both equally called bishops, for Presbyterianism contends that pastors are the true bishops of Scripture. The Roman Catholic bishop is consecrated by the laying on of the hands of bishops only ; no presbytei's, elders, or deacons, having any authority to lay their hands upon his head. So the Presbyterian pastor is ordained only by pastors or bishops, no elders or deacons being allowed to lay their hands upon his head. The Roman Catholic bishop presides with au- thority at meetings of his presbyters and deacons, and they cannot meet for the transaction of ecclesiastical business "'ithout his sanction or pre- sence. ?■ the Presbyterian pastor presides at the meetings of his eld- ers and deacons, and they cannot meet for the transaction of business without his sanction or presence. The Roman Catholic bishop alone has power to ordain presbyters and deacons, nei.ber presbyters nor dea- cons having any such power. So the jFi C3by terian pastor alone has the power to ovdain presbyters and deacons : neither elders nor deacons having any such power. No mem- ber of the Romish Church can be admitted at fii-st 'to the Holy Com- munion b\it by the action of the bishop, in what is called Confirma- tion ; so in the Presbyterian denomi- nation no person can be admitted for the first time to the Communion but by the action of the pastor, or pastor and elders, in some formality corres- ponding with the rite of Confirma- tion. The Roman Catholic bishop presides in the congregation ; and in the place of worship has a throne or seat which is distinguished from all other seats in it by its promi- nence, costliness, and generally by a 11 19 ited by auds of 1, elders, loi'ity to sad. So Ji'dained lo elders ay their Roman 'ith au- resbytt'i'S lot m(!et esiiistical n or pre- pastor i" his ekl- y cannot business presence, op alone ^ters and nor dea- iwer. So done has yters and r deacons No mem- h can be [oly Coni- m of the Confirina- n denomi- mitted for union but , or pastor ity corres- Confirma- lic bishop >u ; and in a throne jhed from its prorai- jx-ally by a cano[)y. The Presbyterian j)astor preyidea in the congregation ; and he has a throno or seat called a puli)it, which is not only prominent and cost- ly above all other seats in the place of worship, but which, in these modern times, far surpasses in its costliness, its carvings, its guildings, its cushions, its canoj)y, its sofa, or other apj)ointments, the most sump- tuous of Rome's prelatic thrones, and might even be a formidable rival to the throne of Solomon in all his glory. The Romish bishop lives in a respectable building, called, by way of dignity, a palace : the Presbyterian pastor lives, not un- commonly, in a building equally re- sjiec table, called, by way of dignity, the mansion or manse. The Romish bishop has a high salary or stipend, compared with that of his i^resbyters and deacons : the Presbyterian pas- tor has also a salary or stipend, which, in some cases, is great, in other cases, small : but his presby- ters, or elders and deacons, get no salary or stipend whatever for all their trouble and work. The Rom- ish bishop is distinguished outside and inside the church by a peculiar dress, which distinguishes him from his presbyters and deacons; so the Presbyterian pastor, is, while on the street;, dressed commonly in black, with white neckerchief; and he only in the church may be dressed in gown and bands. The office of Roman Catholic bishop is not only higher than the office of presbyter and of deacon, but is nominally the highest office in the chnrch: so according to the formularies of Presbyterianism, the pastor's office is the highest in the church. Thus the American Con- fession of Faith says, "The ordinary and per[)etual officers in the church are (1.) Bishops or Pastors, (2.) the representatives of the peoj)le, usual- ly styled Rullmj I'Uders, and (.3) Deacons. The jtastural office is the first in the church, both for dignity and use: fulness." The Roman Catholic bishop is not merely the Bishop of the laity or i)eople, but he is also the bishop of his dertjy : called preshytera and deacons: so the Presbyterian pastor or bishop having the highest and most dignified office in the church, is likewise not only bishop of the peojjle or laity, but is bishop also of his presbyters and his deacons who are all, according to Presbyterianism, in reality clergy. Thus, the Rev. James Denham in The Plea fw Ptpb- bytery, repudiates, in the strongest terms, the idea that Presbyterian elders and deacons are laymen; and the Rev. Professor Miller, of Prince- ton, devotes a large portion of chap. IX. in his book On the Hiding Elder, to prove, that, their elders and deacons are clergy or clergymen, and that Elders are in fact only au inferior order of bishops. He also maintains that both elders and deacons should have " seats in a conspicuous part of the church," during divine service. The Roman Catholic clergy, es- pecially the presbyters, commonly called priestfl, are spiritual officers whose duty is to assist the bishop in council, to aid him in carrying 'r 20 I 'i i I out tlie (liHciplinc of tho rhurch by BiiH|)eii(iirig or excoinmimicHting un- ruly mcinlters ; hy liearing tlio con- ft'NsioiiH of peiiitents, and grunting them alwolution ; to iisHist him also in giving instruction, rebuke, and warning to the people ; in praying ■with and for the people in piil)lic and in private ; in visiting the sick ; and in the administration of the saeiauK^nts. Very similar are the duties of the PresViyterian elder or j)resbytcr. He is rei>reHented by such sttmdard writers as Miller, (chap. IX.), Lorimer, and King, as a spiritual officer, whose duty is to assist the pastor in council, to aid him in carrying out the discipline of the church ; to visit the sick officially, and pi'ay with and for them ; to give instruction, rebuke, and warning to the people in private, and also in Sunday schools, and in meetings for social prayer. Also to meet with the pastor in the private judicial court, called the " Rirk Session," for the |nir|)ose of dealing with unruly members, either by sus- pending or excommunicating them, or else by hearing their penitent confessions of sin, and granting them absolution ; and, finally, it is their duty to apsist the pastor in the administration of the Lord's Supper. The Roman Catholic bishop may or may not have more than one congregation, and consequently he may or may not have many pres- byters and deacons to assist him. The more congregrations he has charge of, the more such helpers he needs, and the higher, we presume, will be his dignity. In like manner, a Presbyterian pastor may or may not have more than one congrega- tion, csjK'ciully in the country ; but he not uncommonly has two or three, and upwards of twenty pres- bytora and deacons to assist him ; the greater tho numlior of these the greater, we [iresume, is his dignity also. The Roman Catholic bishop, al- though nominally holding the high- est dignity in the church, may nevertheless have superiors, such as archbishops, metropolitans, patri- archs, cardinals, and Pope : so a Presbyterian pastor, although hold- ing nominally the highest office in his church, may nevertheless also have superiors in office, such as the Moderator of the Presbytery, the Moderator of the Synod, and the Moderator of the General Assemblyt Roman Catholic presbN'tera and deacons are called reverend, a title formerly objected to by Puritans and Presbyterians, and the bishop is called Right Reverend : even in our own day the Presbyterian eiders or presbyters and deacons, although clergy, and worthy of reverence, are not called reverend; they are not supposed to have any right to that title. But Presbyterians, with one consent, give the title of reverend only to the pastor, implying that he only has the right, he only of all their clergy, is rightly called reve- rend; in other words, that, he is right veverend. The Roman Catholic bishop is called Lord Bishop, that is, in the language of Scripture, master-bishop: so the Presbyterian elders or pres- SI al- bytoi-H, HCCorcHng to their view, being themselvt'S bishops, and the pastor bpi'iig their ofHcial superior or chief, ho is, in the hmguage of Scripture, their master or lord ; aud he if, therefoi-e, in reality their Lord Bishop. So that, it matters not how strongly ho may reptidiate such titles, and denounce them as Romish, the Presbyterian pastor is virtually, in relation to his clergy and his people, their jjrelate, their Right R(iverend Lord Bishop, and if'ather in God ! It could be easily shown that all Methodist, Baptist, and Congrega- tional pastors, having assistant deacons and preachers, are involved, more or less, in the same condemna- tion with the Presbyterian pastor. Such being the case, the much vaunted jjarity or ocpmlity of minis- ters in the so-called non-episcopal denominations is a sham or a '1; lusion; which illustrates the experience of a a man who had left the English Church, and gone over to the Pres- byterians for a time ; but having finally gone back to the English Church, he gave this as his reason : " I went over to the Presbyterians to get rid of my Lord Bishop, and I went back to the Church of England to get rid of my Lord Presbyter." The celebrated Isaac Taylor, who writes an impartial book, entitled Wesley and Wesleyan Methodism, declares in it, that Wesleyan minis- ters are " irresponsible lords of God's heritage."— (p. 245). Finally, let me introduce — merely introduce — at present, to your notice the most objectionable ot all the three titles of the (Christian ministry nanuily, that of Priest. The P' L'sbyterian minister, Albert Barnes, oi;e of the best known and most popular of modern conimenta- tors on the Scriptures, uses the fol- lowing language in reference to Hebrews v. 2, "Among the Paitists there is consistency — though gross and dangerous error — in the use of the word priest. They believe that the minister of religion offers up the real body and blood of the Lord. But why should this name be applied to a Protestant minister, who be- lieves that all this is blasphemy, and who claims to have no sacrifice to offer when he comes to minister before God?" But with singular inconsistency, in his note on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans xv. 16, where the Ajiostle speaks of his being "a minister of Jesus Christ, ministering the gospel of God," this same Albert Barnes says, that the Apostle means, " pei'forming the office of pried in respect to the gospel of God :" and again, it moans, '' acting in the Christian church substantially as the priests did a- mong the Jews ! " So, that, accord- ing to this view, St. Paul and tho other Apostles performed the office of p7'ie8ts, and acted in the Christian Church Substantially as the priests did among the Jews ! Why not then allow that they were priests, and why may not the title of priest be applied to them and to Christian ministers generally, in so far as they do the same kind of work in respect to the gospel, as the Apostles per- 22 ■in formed 1 If a man's oflice reqtiires him to perform mhstantially the •work of a priest, he is a priest^ although he may reject the title. If a man's business requires him to perform substantially the work of a sailor, he may reject that title, and claim to be called a seaman, or a mariner, or something else, but in fact he is a sailor, because his duties are those of the sailor. A man may be a servant, yet re- pudiate the title, and claim to be called an employee : yet as he per- forms substantially the duties of a servant, he is a servant, no matter what he may call himself As it is considered honest to call a spr^de a spade, so it would be but honest to call a man a 2^^^^^^i whose official duties are those of ])riesthood. Barnes is wrong in supposing that there can be no priesthood with- out offering the real body and blood of Christ. It is not necessary or essential to the priestly office to do so. The Jewish hierarchy or priest- hood did not make such an offering, and yet tliey were truly priests. But do Protestant ministers claim to do priest's work ? A.re we to be told and expected to believe that our Protestant ministers, who are for ever denouncing priests, priest- craft, Popery, and ritualism, are nevertheless themselves priests, "per- forming," as Barnes says, "the office of priest in respect to the gospel of God," and '' acting in the Christian Church substantially as the priests did among the Jews T " My answer is not far fetched ; it is near at hand. I have merely to read to you the duties of the Pro- testant pastor or minister, as these are set forth in the book called The Westminster, or as it is more com- monly called Tlie Scotch Presbyterian Confession of Faith. In that portion of the book, entitled. The Form of Church Gov- ernment, it is said — *' The pastor is an ordinary and perpetual officer in the church. " First, it belongs to his office, *' To pray for and with his flock, as the mouth of tJie people unto God. *' To read the Scriptures publicly, as did the Jewish priests and Levites. " To feed the flock by preaching of the word, according to which he is to teach, convince, reprove, exhort, and comfort. " To catechise. •' To dispense other divine mys- teries. " To administer the sacraments. •* To bless the people from God, as did the Jewish priests and Levites. " To take care of the poor. "And he hath a I'uling power over the flock as a pastor." This ruling po\. er over the flock is also claimed by Romish priests : but as to whether the Romish priest or the Presbyterian minister claims the greater power, I must leave to yourselves to judge, from the following condderations : — The Roman Catholic Council of Trent, in its Decree on Penance, quotes our Saviour's words to the Apostles thus : " Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them ; and whose sins you shall re- 23 ••^ tain, they are retained." — John xx. 22, 23 ; and therefore the decree aflfirms, that " Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was about to ascend from earth to heaven, left his priests in his place, as presidents and judges, to whom all mortal ot- fences, into which the faithful might fall, should be submitted, that they might pronounce senience of remis- sion, or retention of sins, by the power of the keys. For it is plain that the priests cannot sustain the office of judge, if the cause be un- known tx) them, &c. We all say that this power of the keys — this power to forgive and to remit sins — is a very formidable power indeed which is oiairaed by the priest of Rome. His ruling power is indeed great ! But how the Presbyterian pastor is to exercise his ruling power, and other powers vested in his office, we learn from chapter xxx of the same Presbyterian Confession q/ Faith, entitled, Of Church Censures, and is in the following words : — " The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate. "I. — To these officers tlie keys of the kingdom of heaven are commit- ted, by virtue whereof they have power, respe^^tively, to retain and remit sins, to shvZ the kingdom against the impenitent, both by the word and censures ; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the minis- try of the gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall re- quire." The ti'eraendous power thus vest- ed in the pastor's office may be bet- ter understood by considering what this Confession of Faith, in chapter XXV, says of the visible Church, namely, that " The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with their children ; and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation." Let us also bear in mind that this Confession of Faith, in chapter xxvii, tells us that " The sacraments of the Old Testament," namely, the bloody sacrifices, and purifications by blood and water, "in regard of the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibit- ed, were, for substance, the same with those of the New Testament sacraments," namely. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Now, think of any man, be he Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian, whose office or duty is, not merely to preach to the people, but to be their mouth unto God; and to bless them fro^m God: to administer to them substantially the same sacra- ments as did the Jewish priest in the temple'; and further, to retain or re- mit the sins of the people; authorita- tively turning human beings out of that kingdom wherein alone they might expect salvation ; or, again, by absolution re-admitting them to that 24 kingdom and to the favour of God ! mon sense, and common honesty to That man may repudiate the name say of him, that he is as much as- of priest, but he is nevertheless, by suming to be a priest as though he profession, svhstantiaUy, and very officiated at a Jewish altar, or at the- fuUy performing all the acts of priest altar of the Church of Rome. hood. And it would be but com- LECTURE II. The various topics to be noticed in this lecture are numerous ; in fact, too numerous to be ] perly illustrated aud disposed of in one lecture. But I find that such subjects, with- out much searching for them, grow so rapidly in number, and the mate- rials for illustrating tliem become so perplexingly superabundant, that I have neither the time, the ability, nor indeed the williuguess, at pre- sent, to gather and arrange more, for public inspection, than wliat I now submit in the present lecture. To bring so many subjects before the mind, and illustrate each, requii*ea the illustrations to be very brief, and very much to the point. Even could I be eloquent on such themes, there is no scope for any eloquence whatever, excepting that of simple truth or matter of fact. As in the last lecture, so in this, we shall specify certain Romish doc- trines and practices which Protest- ants are in the habit of denouncing as erroneous and wicked, while at the &ame time, the Protestants, who so denounce them, are themselves- guilty of the same or similar doc- trines and practices, and are becom- ing more and more chargeable with them. It is not ray duty in these lec- tures to oflfer any opinion either for or against the things called Romish, but simply to show that the drift of Protestantism is to wards Rome. I. Roman Catholics believe in Apostolical succession ; that is, that Roman Catholic bishops are the lineal, the lawful successors of Christ's first Apostles. The Apostles having laid their hands on the head of certain men, thus ordaining them to be bishops, and giving them authority and commission to ordain, in like manner, other bishops to rmcceed them, these bishops did so. They ordained others, and these again, as need required, ordained yet others; and this process of ordaining bishops by bishops has thus been continued, without break or interruption, from the days of the Apostles until the present day. Now, that doctrine is commonly m 4 '3 25 reckoned Romish. In fact, it is de- nounced, sneered at, laughed at, and called by some very ugly names ; and Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and others have been in the habit, hitherto, of joining in this repudiation and denunciation of apostolical succession. To be con- sistent with past opposition to it they still oppose it : but with singular in- consistency they are now claiming to have apostolical succession them- selves. The doctrine formerly held was this, namely, "that Christ gave the miniatry to the Church," that is, to the people ; and that the people themselves could make as valid a ministry as the Apostles could ; therefore apostolic succession was not needed; and, in fact, it would be wrong to have it through the corrupt Church of JRome. Now-a- days, however, the cry is, *'We have the succession — an unbroken line of succession from the Apostles; and although it has come to us, from the Reformers through the Church of Rome, yet we regard it as Apostoli- cal in its origin ! I have before me a Presbyterian pamphlet, entitled The ApostolicUy of the Church of Scotland, w^ritten by the Rev. Hugh Campbell, of Manchester, England, in which he says to the Rev. Dr. Hook, of the Church of England : " Our Presby- terian reformers were in orders — they were what I have denominated presbyter-bishops ; they had re- ceived their orders from those, who, if there be any truth in the ' apos- tolical succession,' had received their orders by an unbroken succession 4 from the Apostles. But if the Reformers had the apostolical suc- cession, then toe (the Presbyterians) have it still, for no break has taken place in the chain since their day. I may therefore claim an apostolic succession as well as yon," Here is another pamphlet, entitled Eocchmve Claims of Prelacy^ and issued by the Presbyterian Board of Publication in the United States. The authoi, the Rev. B. M. Smith, says, " We reject the theory of a prelatical succession, but it is not to be inferred that we reject a succes- sion. We can satisfactorily shew, that up to the period of the Refor- mation, our ministers have been set apart by ministers, and that the reformers to whom we trace this succession, had also been set apart. It is admitted on all sides, that the orders of the Roman Catholic Church were valid. Her presbyters became Protestants, and thus Presbyterian ordination has been transmitted. Then the Rev. Dr. Willis, lately the Piiacipal of (the Presbyterian) Knox College, Toronto, closed the Session of that Institution, iu 1803, with a Lecture on Apostolical Suc- cession, in which he leaves us in doubt as to whether the Reformer John Knox, regarded his own ordi- nation in the Popish Church or his call to the ministry in the Presby- terian, as his real ordination. But after expatiating on the corruptions of Popery and Prelacy, and putting but small value on succession through either of these channels, the Dr, says, nevertheless, "we believe in. an important sense iu 2(3 II 'I! li' i^\ ill ecclesiastical descent,--we please our- selves with the thought that in regular succession from Knox's time, we Presbyterians can trace an unin- teirupted cedes utslicat pedigree — a laying on of, we trust, holy handa in the u'ansmission of office L im one to another." These words of Dr. Willis suggest a comparison between Romish and Presbyterian hands in the transmis- sion of the clerical office. The Dr. cautiously ''trusts" that the hands were "holy" which in past ages transmitted to the present Presby- terian ministers their ordination ! The Doctor is fully aware of the long, dark reign of Presbyterian Moderatisra, dS recorded in the History of the Church of Scotland, by Hetherington, a Free Church minister. During that long period a vast majority of the ministers were Moderates. And what was their, character 1 Many of them were Ai"ian& or Unitarians, mere Deists, denying the divinity of Jesus Christ ; denying that the Holy Spirit is a divine person ; denying that our Saviour made an atonement for our sins ; denying the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures ; and instead of preaching the gospel, teaching a cold, dead, lifeless morality. These men opposed missions to the perish- ing heathen ; opposed Sunday- schools ; and all private meetings for prayer. Hetherington sums up the system of loderatisra in the following woi '. : — * It was worldly, despotic, unconstitutional, unpresby- terian. unchristian, and spiritually dead — the negation of everything free, pure, lofty, and hallowed, — if indeed, it ought not rather to be said, that its essence was antipathy to everything scriptural, holy, and divine." No wonder that Dr. Willis only trusts that holy hands had transmitted his ordination to him. The chances are few indeed, con- sidering how few, very few evange- listic ministers were found at the time among all the Presbyterian ministers of Scotland. If a Komish priest has not much to boast of as regards the holiness of the hands by which through successive ages in the j)ast, has been transmitted to him his ordination, as little, we fear, has the Presbyterian minister anything to boast of as regards Ihe holiness of the hands of his predecessors in office. In both cases the ordina- tion has come through Rome, and the Pi'esbyterian one subsequently through the unholy channel of Moderatism. But other denominations of Pro- testants also claim the apostolical succession. Thus, Rev. Dr. Potter, of the Episcopal Methodists, first calls "apostolical succession a ^^iow which is too fanciful to merit sober treatment." Then he calls Wesley (p. 331) a bishop; (332) a bishop not only in ministerial order,, but in jurisdiction — a bishop of twc' hemi- spheres : (333) the only bishop of Methodism : (335) the father and governor of the whole connection ; and that from him they derived their apostolical succession, or succession of bishops ; so that, Dr. Potter finally says, (p. 339) "Our episcopacy is valid, and toe are in the aucceasionf" 27 wed, — if to be atipathy oly, and r. Willis ida had to him. ed, con- evange- d at the ibytorian Romish ast of as hands by yea in the to him fear, has anything loliness of lessors in e ordina- tome, and )sequently lannel of IS of Pro- apostolical )r. Potter, iists, first >n 9. fiction nerit sober [Is Wesley ) a bishop der,, but in twc hemi- bishop of father and onnection ; (rived their succession )tter finally •iscopacy is icceasion/" Congregationalista get the succes- sion theoretically through the people, but take good care to have their ministers set apart by ministers al- ready in office. Such ordination implies a succession, as all ordinations by ministers must necessarily do ; so that all these denominations, while professedly repudiating apos- tolic succession as a Romish fic- tion, in reality act on the principle involved in it, and claim, in their own d' dominational ways, to have a ministerial succession from the Apostles. II. Let us now contemplate what have been called Romish Rags, in the official dress of Protestant min- isters. The surplice and stole : the black gown and bands : a certain style of the black coat, vest, and hat ; and the square cap of the University, have all been denounced as Romish. Pugin, the Roman Catholic archi- tect, antiquarian, and authoi', in- forms us that the surplice is not a priestly garnriCnt : Romish priests do not wear it. All the students of English and Irish Universities wear it in College chapel ; it belongs also to. church choirs, but Romish priests wear a totally different kind of vest- ments. In fact, the surplice is not Romish at all, but came with the gospel from the Holy Land. It is simply the article of dress called a coat, both in the Old and New Testaments ; and the scarf or stole commonly worn with it, is doubtless the same article, which is called, in Scripture, the girdle. These things have always been in the church. ever since the church was founded : and they have been retained in it for the same reason that the Quaker wears plain clothes, and that the pious " men " of Rossshire wear long hair and an old peculiar garb, namely, because, they ai*e not disposed to change the fashion of their dress with the ever changing fashions of this vain world. Yet the surplice has been, and is yet, denounced as Romish. The Puritans, both Presbyterian and In- dependent, i-eviled it ; and their descendants generally do so in some degree still. Yet what a change is taking place ! I am credibly in- formed that some Dissenting minis- ters of different denominations, in England, wear it ! The Irvingites clothe the men and boys of their choirs with it, while their different grades of ministers are clothed in robes of all the colours of the rain- bow. Congregational missionaries, who were sent from the American Board of Missions to the East, have arrayed themselves in the robes of the Episcopal Church, and used the Book of Common Prayer in their public religious services ! Then the black pul])it gown, gently called the Geneva gown, and college gown, has been denounced as Romish. Its Romish origin can- not be well denied. Rome doubtless introduced it into Geneva, and into colleges ! and the black preaching monks are commonly supposed to have introduced it into the pulpit. Yet it is worn now by Presbyterians and others as the perfection of Pro- testantism ! 1^1 28 Old Elder S. told me that the Seceders in the north of Ireland, taught him to believe that the wiilte bands worn under the chin, by ministers, were merely " rags of the Pope's skirt." Goodrich, the historian, tells us that the Puritans were furiously opjMJsed to the wp:.ring, especially by ministers, of the square caps such as are worn by students in the Toronto University. They denounc- ed the wearing of them as *' a sinful remnant of Popery." Alas, that theological students of Knox Col- lege, (fee, attending the University should be taught to reverence the pious wisdom of Puritans, and yet go, day by day, capped, crowned with what their forefathers denounced as " a sinful i-emnant of Popery ! " Only a few years ago, when a minister was seen, on the street, wearing a standing-up coat collar, or a long cassock vest, or a hat with the brim turned considerably up at the aides, he was regarded as an Anglican High Churchman, a Pusey ite, a Romanist at heart, or a Jesuit in disguise. But ail this has been changed : so much so, that, a certain Anglican minister, who is not a Low Churchman, persistently avoids all these pe m iiarities in dress, alleg- ing as his reason, that "if he indulged in such things, he might be mistaken for a Methodist." III. The Rule of Christian Faith. Roman Catholics maintain that we are to take the Holy Scriptures and the traditions of the Church, including the decisions of Councils, to guide us in our faith or religious belief : and further, that these tra- ditions are of equal authority with the Holy Scriptures. By traditions, they mean certain doctrines and practices, which, say they, have been handed down from the Apostles, either by word of mouth or by writing, and which have been be- lieved by the whole church always and everywhere. The Council of Trent, which met in the year 1545, and closed its twenty -fifth and last session in li)63, gathered together into its decrees the things to be believed by the Catholic Church, During these sessions, which, with several interruptions, extended over a period of eighteen years, the bishops and others who sat in the council, debated theological ques- tions, discussed the passages of the Scripture which had reference to these questions, and then decided generally according to the majority of the votes pro or con, and having prayed of course for guidance, their decisions are considered by faithful Roman Catholics to be those of infallible truth. These decrees or decisions were signed by 255 mem- bers of the Council, chiefly bishops. In the year 1G43 a Protestant Council met, at Westminster, in England. It consisted of 121 divines and 10 laymen. The pur- pose of their meeting was, the refor- mation of religion in doctrine, wor- ship, discipline, and government. The daily attendance of the members was between 60 and 80. They con- tinued to meet during 5 years, 6 months, and 22 days. They debated theological questions, discussed pas- 4 I -1 ■4 a» hese tra- ity with 'aditions> nes and ave been Apostles, or by- been be- always uncil of ar 1545, and last together } to be Church, ch, with led over irs, the in the il ques- s of the fence to decided majority I having ce, their foithful those of crees or 5 mem- ishops. otestant ster, in af 121 he pur- e refor- le, wor- [•nment. tembers ley con- ears, 6 iebated 3d pas- sages of Scripture having reference to these questions, and then decided generally, according to the majority of the votes, either pro or con, and having prayed, of course, for guid- ance, their decisions, called The Confession of Faith, with Lanjer and Shorter Catechisms, Directory for Worship, (fee, are considered by faith- ful Presbyterians, if not absolutely the infallible, at least something ap- proaching the decisions of infallible truth. The Council of Trent, instead of being content with the three short and simple creeds, which had been the creeds of the Catholic Church, added a Book of Decrees to them, which Book was epitomized and added to the Nicene Creed by Pope Pius IX. The Westminster Assembly of Divines, instead of being couteat ■with the same old Christian Creeds, al&o added a book to them, which every Presbyterian minister must declare, at his ordination, to be the Confession of his Faith. The 255 divines of the Council of Trent, decided on certain doctrines to be believed by every member of the Catholic Church, under paia of anathema. The sixty or eighty divines of the Westminster Assembly decided on certain doctrines to be believed, as divine truth, by every member of the Established Church in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Colonies, under pain of excom- munication. The Council of Trent incorporated tradition in their decrees ; the Westminster Divines incorporated in their decrees or decisions, what is essentially the same thing, "the use and wont of the church," that is, the traditions of the Presbyte- rians ou the old continent and in Scotland. The Conffregationalists, in New England, have repeatedly sanctioned and approved of this Confession of Faith, and especially in what they call the Say brook Platform, of 1708. Methodi>^ching else besides the Bible for your rule of faith and practice. In theory, the Bible is your rule ; in practice, it is the Bible and some- thing else ; or perhaps, it is merely the something else, such as worldly gain, or favour, without the Bible. And this disregard of the Bible is becoming more and more prevalent, by rejecting the Bible in our com- mon schools ; or neglecting to have it read as a class-book, and as the basis of all human education IV. Baptismal Eegeneration. Roman Catholics believe that bap- tism is necessary for salvation : and that in every case, wherein a person is properly baptized, the person re- ceives the grace of justification and regeneration ; that is, the pardon of all past sin, adoption into God's family, and such sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit as inclines the soul to obey God. In every case of infant baptism these blessings are sealed or made sure to the infant : and in the case of adult baptism, they are in like manner bestowed or made sure, unless the person bap- tized puts a sinful hindrance or bar in the way of enjoying them. There is perhaps no other Romish doctrine which is more frequently and furiously denounced and repu- diated, by Protestants, than this. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Methodists are especially loud in their professions of opposition to it. With regard to the Baptists, they have been in the habit of denouncing^ injant baptism and baptism bysprink' ling, as "remnants of Romanism. "^ But, if published and uncontra- dicted repoi*ts be truej the Baptists themselves, especially in England, are cherishing very kindly and large- -'A i i 31 \j these very remnants of Romish superstition, and have been doing so for a good many years back. As far back as the year 1847, the Rev. Mr. Wheelock, "a highly respecta ble " Baptist minister, of the United States, visited England, and sent to the JVew York Recorder, (an influen- tial Baptist paper), a report of what he had seen and heard. It is a sad report, looking at it from the Baptist point of vie\r. What he calls " the leaven of open communion " has, he says, so tar gained the ascendancy as to produce widespread " wraug- lings, and heartburnings, acd schisms." In some places a Baptist congregation has been destroyed, and a Pedobaptist one, that is, one practising infant baptism, established in its place ; and in others it is now agreed that the pastors shall be " alternately a Baptist and a Pedobaptist." He says, '' while in London, I casually learned that the ordinance of baptism was to be administered in one of the largest and most popular Baptist churches of that city." It had eight hundred members. He went to the chap«l at the appointed hour — it was twi- light, lamps were lighted, and but few people in attendance. Eleven were baptized — who also received that evening the right hand of fel- lowship, instead of on Sunday, at the communion. He asked the minister, " Why all this on a Thurs- day evening, and at such an hour when so few could attend?" The answer was this — "About one-half of the congregation are Pedobaptists, and therefore the evening and the hour were carefully selected whe there would be no other meeting or engagement, lest the Pedobaptists might think they had been entrap- ped to give their presence at the baptism." Again, he says, ''One of the largest Baptist Churches in L'vcrpool has a Pedobaptist for one of its deacons : and I was told the pastor of that church has all his children sprinkled. He is one of the most influential ministers of our denomination in England, and was commissioned lately, by the Baptist Mission Society, to proceed to the West Indies, to set in order the Coloured Baptist Churches in Ja- maica." (Copied from The Free Ch. Magazine, Jan. 1848). So pedo or infant baptism and sprinkling, which Baptists regard with such abhor- rence as Romish, are now quite common even among the largest and most influential of their congrega- tions in England ! Roman Catholics could not speak more strongly in favour of adidt haptisnal regeneration than the Baptists do. Our true creed is apt to come out in our devotions. So here is the true article of baptis- mal regeneration in the Baptist hymns, to be sung at the time of immersion : — Hymn 103, entitled •* SelJ-conSB' oration in Baptism, intended to be sung, of course, by persons, immedi- ately before their immersion : — " To Thee ve gladly now resign, Our life and all our powers ; Accept us in this rite divine. And bless these hallowed hoars. 32 I'i i H moy wo die to earth and sin, Beneath the Myittc Flood; And when we rise, n^ay we begin To live anew for God." Hymn 819. " Buried with our Lord, and riaing To a Itfe divinely new." In hymn 813, the church thus prays for those about to be baptized : •' Let faith, amsled now by signs, The wonders of Thy love explore, And washed in Thy redeemirg blood, Let them depart, and sin no more " And, then, when they have been actually baptized, the church wel- comes them in such language as that of Hymn 829 :— " Now saved from sin and Satan's wiles, Though by a scorning world abhorred, Dow share with \ia the Saviour' » smiles ; Come in, ye blessed of the Lord." Thus, it is prayed for and ex- pected, that, in baptism^ or when beneath the water, called the mystic flood, they shall thert and then die to sin, and be washed in redeeming blood : and that when they rise out of the mystic flood, or water, they shall begin to live a new or diving life ; which rising is but another name for a birth to a new lije, a being born again, or regeneration. Baptists have no inclination to con- tradict the girl v/ho declares, that, " when she had just come out of the water, it seemed as though a veil had been suddenly taken away from her eyes." Presbyterians, in their doctrinal standards, do not believe that any arc regenerated except the elect. They admit that infants may be regenerated in baptism ; but of such baptismal regeneration there can be no certainty. They say, in the Con- fession of Faith, chap, xxviu., that persons, whether of age or infants, can be regenerated without baptism; and in chap, x., that *' elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit." Such is their theory ; and we might leave it there, were there not some other doctrines, as well as practices, which seem at variance with it. For example, the Confes- sion of Faith says, that Baptism is " ordained not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church, but also, to be unto him a sign and seal, of his engrafting into Christ, of regenera- tion, and remission of sins." Now this looks extremely like the very doctrine which Homan Catholics call Baptismal Regeneration : so much so indeed that a Roman Catholic would say, that it is exactly what he believes, namely, that, when we are baptized, it is signed and sealed to us, that we are made members of Christ's Church, our sins are remitted or pardoned, and we are regenerated, which can only be by the Holy Spirit. No wonder, that, pious Presbyte- rian mothers and fathers, are un- willing to allow their dying infants to leave the world without being baptized ; and no wonder that, Presbyterian ministers go sometimes many weary miles, to administer to such infants, that holy ordinance ! fc?ball Scotch Presbyterians, " sing to the praise of God " and yet dis- believe what they sing when uttering the following lines of their 47th Paraphrase ] — 88 III., that ' infants, baptism; b infants, rated and 5 Spirit." and we bhere not well as variance 5 Confes- iptism is e solemn bized into 3o, to be /, of his regenera- ," Now the very [lolics call so much. Catholic 3tly what when we nd sealed members sins are 1 we are ,ly be by Presbyte- , are un- Qg infants )ut being ler that, jiimetimes inister to rdinance ! ms, " sing d yet dis- n uttering heir 47tli '• When to the snored font we came. Dill not the rite proclnim, That WHshed from ( sacri- fice, as representing and commemo- rating it. And it is no more im- proptM' than calling our bodies, and our alms, and our i)rayers sacrifice.s. And the naniiug of the table an altar, as related to this I'epresenta- tive saciifice, is no more im])roper than the otlnir. * We hnve an altar whereof they have no right to eat,' (Heb. xiii. 10.) seems plainly to mean the sacramental communion." — [O/tm/AjH Inslitiiffs.— A collec- tion of Tracts, by Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., Master of Tri- nity.] Modern Presbyterian ism, how- ever, does not stop short at this point, but has advanced much neai'er than this toward the Sac- rifice of the Mass. Let me explain and prove what I now say. Since things devoted to God. or ii 1 1 Ml set apart, and sanctified to His wor- ship and service, are necessarily sac- rifices to Him ; and when such con- secrated things are »ymhoh of Christ's sufferings and death for ow sins ; and when, moreover, ac- cording to Professor Fairbairn, eveiy sacrifice was an emhndied prayer of thanksgiving, petition, or inter- cession ; how shall we regird the consecrated elements on the Com- munion table of the Presbyterians, according to their own interpreta- tion of it ? Shall we regard the consecrated bread and wine, on the table, as an embodied prayer 1 Shall we go so far as to say that Presby- terians embody their prayers in the consecrated symbols of Christ's body and blood, so that these holy things — the bi^iad and wine — as they lie on the holy table or altar, are in fact a most solemn and ex- pressive means of pleading with God the merits of Christ's death for the pardon of sin, and the means also of giving God thanks for his mercy in Christ Jesus ] That indeed would be a sacrificial idea ! That indeed would be Romish ! Pi'esbyterians cannot, as you imagine, be charge- able with any such Romish supersti- tions ! Well, judge not before the time. First hear the truth, and then judge. I shall n ow quote a few sentences from a book well known to intelligent and pious com- municants of the Presbyterian per- suasion. It was written by the !^ ev. Dr King, of Glasgow, Scot- laud, a divine of no mean order, and who lived, and I presume has died, in the full odour of Presbyte- rian orthodoxy. His book, which treats of the Lord's Supper, has been read by thousands of Presbyte- rians, both ministers and people, ia the old world and in the new ; and not a whisper, I think, has been ut- tered against its soundness in the faith. No presbytery or synod ever called the Rev. Dr. King to ac- count for any statement in it. The book has been regarded as a high authority on the important subject of which it treats. The Rev. Dr., speaking of the Lord's Supper as a commeviorative institution (Sec. TI.), says, " I may remark, in general^ that as a token of Christ's i-egard, it is calculated to foster in us a recip- rocal attachment. "We discern in it a pledge of his steadfastness : for he will not surely require us to be more mindful than himself. Indeed the command, ' This do in remembrance of me,' is literally rendered ' This do for my memorial ;' and may signify not merely ' This do, that you may remember me,' but as naturally^ * This do to put me in mind of you.' Perhnps this latter inter j)ietation best consists with the analogy of Scripture. God said of the rain- bow, ' The bow shall be in the clouds, and lie ill look upon if, that 1 may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.' Here the bow is spoken of as if it were a remem- hrancer — not for man — but for Je- hovah himself. Similar langu.:ge is used I'especting the blood of the pas- chal lamb sprinkled upon the door- posts : ' When 1 see the blood, I will which [per, has fresbyte- >opIe, in w ; and •een nt- in the |od ever to ac- The a high subject ■V- Dr., >er as a c. II.), eneral^ 40 pass over you, and the plague shall not bo upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." So, according to the Rev. Dr. King, and according to the thou- sands of Presbyterians, both minis- ters and people, who agree with him, the sacramental bread and wine, on the Communion table, are intended to be a memorial, that is, a remembrancer ybr the Lord liimxelf ; that the Lord may look upon these emblems or symbols of Christ's aton- ing sacrifice, and thereby be put in mind, or be mindful of his people who seek thus to draw near to him, and to commune with him at his holy table : so that the desire or prayer of the people is really em- bodied in the broken bread and poured-out wine of the Sacrament ; and the prayer is and must be this — " 0, God, look upon these memo- rials of Christ's atoning death for us, and be mindful ofus^ and forgive us for His sake." Now, this view of the Lord's Sup- per is Romish ; and, the language in which the view is expressed is so thoroughly Romish that one is tempted to believe that it is bor- rowed from the Mass book. For the Romish priest, in celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass, says the fol- lowing prayers, concerning the bread and wine : " We therefore humbly pray and beseech thee, most merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, that thou wouldst vouchsafe to accept and bless these gifts, theae presents, these holy un- spotted sacrifices, which in the first place we oflier thee for thy holy Catholic Church, to which vouchsafe to grant peace," &c. He then adds, " Be mindful, Lord, of thy ser- vants, men and women, N. and N." Then praying silently, he says. Be mindjul ' • of all hero present, whose faith and devotion are known unto thee, for whom we offer, or who offer up to thee this sacrifice of praise," &c. Then after pronoun- cing the words of consecration, or, as the Presbyterians call them, the ivords of institution, the Romish priest says, in prayer, '• O Lord, we offer unto thy most excellent Majesty . . . the holy bread of eternal life, and the chalice (or cup) of everlasting salvation. Upon which vouchsafe to look, with a pro- pitious and serene countenance, and to accept them," &c. " Be mindful, O Lord, of thy servants," &c. Then, in those manuals of devotion ciUled The Way to Heaven and The Key to Heaven, in which are prayers for the people to say at the celel>ra- tion of Mass, we find the following, namely : 1. Be/ore Mass. "As this our Christian sacrifice contains all the virtue and perfection of those of the old law, so we offer it up to Thee in manner of the four-fold oblations of the ancient sacrifices." (2). After the elevation of the Host {or consecrated Wafer.) "If with a favourable eye Thou has regarded the sacrifices of Abel, of Abraham, and of Melchisedeck, look likewise on ours ; for however weak our faith may be, yet our sacrifice is greater than theirs, and only worthy of Thy heavenly altar. i 46 t: i |: (3.) W/icH the. Pri(st hows d -idm. — "Almighty God, who art infinitely good, foik not on our sins, but on the, infinite ransom paid for them ; and now while it is offered on our altars hn-e hchiw, do thou receive it on Thy altar above," (fee. These extracts are suffieient, I think, to prove that modern Presby- terianism agrees with Roraanitim in viewing the Lord's Sni)per as a sacrificial memorial to God himself, to be presented befi)re liim, that he may h 'k npm if, and he minlful of those who present i<>. Thus we find tliat the cimeci' itim of the bread and wine of the Sacra- ment loads iiei'esarlli/ to the idea of sacrifice ; and his led to the idea that the Lord's Siqiper is an embodied prayer to God ibr pardon and grace to hel|), for the sake of Christ cruci- fied. I have only met with two in- stances, among Protestants, of oppo- sition to the consecration of the elements of the Lord's Supper. The one instance is that of some clergy- man of the English Church, in Eng- land, whose opposition was published in the uewspajjers some few years ago. The other instance is that of a Presbyterian — the Rev. Dr. Mor- gan, of Belfast, Ireland, in his book on the Lord's Supper, a treatise founded on 1 Cor. xi. 23-34. The doctor says, on p. 61, that "A care- ful examination of the Scriptural record removes all ground for the imagination that Christ did any act which could be fairly interpreted as implying what has been called conse- cration of the elements." The doc- tor calls it "an injurious speoda- tion," and " a great error," which is the foundation of transubstantiation, a{)rivilegod priesthood, apostolic siic- cession," "rising in the |)ride of man, until if presumes to defy Jeho- vah himself!" Such being the dreadful results of consecration, we are anxious to know how to avoid it, and enjoy, neverthe- less, what the doctor calls the Lord's Supper. Sj)eaking of the Corinthian Christians, the doctor says that '* St. Paul gives them to understand that the judgment with which they had been visited, were manifestations of the Divine displeasure for the />ro- fdudtloa of His ordinance." Now, supjjosing that the doctor is I'ight in this view, we must sup- pose that the only things, or chief thing?! profaned were the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, and that these things were hnly ; for how could these things be profaned at all, if they were not sacred or holy things '? Any good dictionaiy tells us that profanation is the act of violating sacred or holy things, or treating them with contempt or irreverence, P'^ the profanation of the name of God, or the profanation of the Lord's Day, or the profana- tion of the Holy Scriptures. Dr. Morgan calls (in p. 103) the Lord's Sujiper " the sacred board." Now, if the bread and wine of the Sacra- ment be sacred or holy things, wlien and ]ioii\ we ask, do they become holy? Dr. Morgan calls these things the Lord's Supper; but when and how does the bread pass from the condition of being 47 common bread, ho as to become the bread of the Lord, representing the Lord's body 1 And when does the wine piiss from the condition of being common wine, so as to become the cup of the Lord, representing the Lord's blood ? By what meavis or in what manner do the elements of bread and wine cease to be com- mon things which cannot be pro- faned, and become holy things capable of profanation ? In what does the doctor differ in practice from his Presbyterian brethren, and especially from that of the Romish priest ? The Romish priest places or pre- sents the bread and wine on the table or altar of God. So does Dr Morgan. The Romish priest utters the words of Christ, " This is my body," and then considers the con- secration complete. So does Dr. Morgan. The chief diflTerence between the Dr. and his Presbyterian brethren, and between him and the Romish priest is this : he (the Dr.) professes to offer no consecration prayer. But the Dr. in this omission is guilty of not only disobeying the Directory of Worship, which he is bound to fol- low ; and guilty of disregarding the Holy Scriptures, which encourage us to sanctify or consecrate even our ordinary food by the word of Hod and prayer ; but he is guilty of dis- obeying the example of our blessed Lord himself, who, in instituting the Sacrament, offered up that prayer of blessing by which the bread and wine, at that time used, were set apart and sinctified, or consecrated to tlie holy use or purpose intended ; and, lastly, he is guilty of disobey ing the Saviour's empress cotnmand, which is : " This do in remembrance of me ;" that is, "Do as I now do — take bread and wine, place them on a table, q^er up a prayer in refei*- ence to them," &c. The Dr., however, must be re- garded as a thorough -going Protest- ant. He scents Romanism from afar, and, in his opposition to it falls foul oven of John Calvin and of the whole Westminster Assembly of di- vines, not only in regard to the consecration of the elements, but in regard also to their teaching concern- ing Christ's presence in the Lord's Supper, 48 M LECTURE III. . i We have seen, in the lust lecture, Protestantism and Rt)iuanisin walk- ing togother in great harmony, as far as to the belief that the broad and wine in the Lord's Supjier are a sacrifice ; and that the sacrifice is of such a nature that it pleads with God for the pardon of our sins. We found the Presbyterian Confession of Fuith teaching us that the Old Tes- tament sacrifices and the Lord's Sup- per are substautially the same. Wo found Professor Fairbairn teaching that the Old Testament sacrifices were embodied prayers ; and Rev. Dr. King, teaching that the Lord's Supper was a memorial to God, pre- sented unto him that he might look upon it, remember the sufferings of Christ for us, and have mercy upon us for whom Christ suflFered and died on the cross. It is quite in accordance with these principles that the justly cele- brated Presbyterian author, the Rev. Horatius Bonar, in his book called The Story of Grace, chap, xii., says of the sacrifice of our first parents, east of Eden, "There lay the sacri- fice, BH if knocking at the closed gate of Paradise for man and pleading for his re-admission, oflering to bear his sin and pay his penalty ; and each new victim laid upon the altar was a new knock at that awful gate, a new cry of intercession lifted up in man's behalf. And, during four thousand years, that cry continued ascouiling from many altars." These words of Bonar ex) what Fairbairn means by embouicu jirayers ; they explain what the Confession of Faith and Rev. Dr. King must include, when they tell us that those Old Testament sacri- fices and the Lord's Sup[)er are substantially the same in meaning, purpose, and results. But how incal- culably intensified and availing with God for pardon and a '.mission to the heavenly paradise would be the knockings and intercessions arising from the ordinance called the Lord's Supper, provided that the doctrine of Romanism were true, namely, that the bread and wine on the Com- munion table are, by consecration, changed into the real body and blond of our Lord Jesus Christ ! Then indeed would the Communion table be an altar on which we pre- sented to God for our sins, not only Christ's atoning sacrifice of His body and blood, but also His soul and His divinity ! Has Protestantism, in our day, gone so far in their ideas as that ? Let us see, and then judge. This is, indeed, a most solemn and awful subject, and nothing short of 49 what I believe to bo imperative duty could induce me to treat of it in this connection. Koman Catholics believe that when the priettt, in celebrating Maas, utters the words of Christ in reference to the bread, *' This is my body," the bread is no longer bread, but the real body of Christ ; and, when the priest utters the words of Christ, in reference to the wine, " TMb is ray blood," it is no longer wine, but the real blood of Christ. This doctrine concerning the change of the sub- stance of bread and wine is called transubstdntiation, and, because this alleged change must result in fhe real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Communion, it is quite com- mon among both Protestants and Roaian Catholics to include the whole doctrine in the single ex^jres- sion or phrase — " the real 2}rese}ice." The Covenanters speak in their *' National Covenant " of transub- stantiation or the real presence of Christ's body in the elements ; but, the coHimon practice of the great writers on Christian doctrine, both before and since the IGth century, is to use simply the expression, '' The real presence." It is a phrase which includes transubstantiation and its results. Thus, Pi'ofessor Eadie, in his Cyclopedia, says, "^ea^ prcsevx : a term commonly em- ployed to denote the supposed pre- sence of the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper. * * * This doc- trine is generally associated with the idea that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, by e virtue of, or in connection with, certain words of consecration pro- nounced over them by a divinely appointed priest." Without any difficult search, we find in the doctrines and practices of certain Protestant denominations the acknowledgment of belief in tran- substantiation and the real presence, or at least some modified views of them . That we may contrast the purely Protostaut doctrine with what is Romish, let me here mention that the true Protestant doctrine is con- cisely stated in the few following worils, appended to the Church of England Communion Service, namely, '* The natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in hoavwn, and not here ; it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one " The Roman Catholics, however, believe that the body of Christ is not only gloriously present in heaven, but that also it can be, and is, miracu- lous! v and corporeally, though in- visibly, present in this world on thousands of altars at one and the same instant of time. I need scarcely say that my own conscientious views of this most solemn and mysterious subject are those of the Church of England, whose decided testimony I have just quoted. It is therefore with feelings much more painful than that of mere astonishment that I find certain re- ligious denominations, while claiming pre-eminently the title of Protestant, nevertheless maintaining substanti- ally, without naming it, the doctrine il^ ^1 50 It- ..-rti ^fll iJ of the real presence, as already described. But to uuderstand this matter properly, let us here distinguish between the four different views held by professed Christians con- certina; the Lord's Supper : — (1.) 1 be Roman Catholic- — that the bread ant' wine are changed in their substance into the very body and blood of Christ ; and, because the body of Chi'ist is now inseparable from His soul md His divine nature, there is therefore on the altar, at the Coiamuuion, the i-eal presence of Christ, both as God and man. (2.) The Lutheran view or doc- trine called con-siibstantiation, which teaches that the bread and wine are not changed in substance, but that, nevertheless, there is the real, corpo- real, local, although invisible presence of the body nnd blood of Christ in, with, and under the elemeats of the sacramental bread and wine; and, that the real, corporeal body and blood of Christ are received by the mouth equally by believers and un- believers in reciiving the bread and wine. (3.) The Zuinglian doctrine, which teaches that the bread and wine remain unchanged ; that they are merely emblems of Christ crucified, reminding us of His death (,n Cal- vary ; and that there is no other or special presence of Christ, except as He is thought of and believed in by our minds. (4.) TheCalvinistic doctrine, which teaches that ihere is a real but spiritual presence of Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper ; that these realities are present to the faith of believers, and are partaken of in a spiritual manner by worthy receivers of the bread and wine. John Calvin himself says (Inst. B. IV., ch. 17, sees. 31, 32), that those theologians are "greatly mistaken who imagine that there is no \n'e- sence of the flesh of Christ in the Supper, unless it be placed in the bread." " But/' he adds, " should any one ask me as to the mode, I will not be ashamed to confess that it is too high a mystery either for my mind to comprehend, or my words to express ; and, to speak more plainly, I rather feel than understand it. The triuh of God, therefore, in which I cau safely rest, I here embrace without controversy. He (the Lord) declares that His flesh is the meat His blood, the drink of my soul : I give my soul to Him to be fed by such food. In His sacred Supper He bids me take, eac and drink His body and blood under the symbols of bread and wine. I have no doubt that He will truly give, and I re- ceive ; only, I reject the absurdities which appear to be unworthy of the heavenly majesty of Christ, and are incousister ■; with the reality of His human nature." Calvin's views, so far as now ex- pressed, I cau only partially endorse ; and I believe that it would have been well for the peace of the Chris- tian family if theologians generally, including Calvin himself and his pro- fessed followers, had gone no futher, or but little further, in attempting to explain a high and holy mystery, which is confessedly iucomprehensi- ■91 ble or, at least, inexpressible iti words, namely, the mode or manner in which the body and blood of Christ are present in the Sacrament of the Supper. The Presbyterian Confession of Faith is understood to be Calvln- istic in its doctrine. In chapter xxvii., section 2nd, it says, "There is ill every sacrament a spiritual rela- tion, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified.'' And in chapter xxix, section 7 th, it says of the Lord's Supper : " Wor- thy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacra- ment do then also inwardly by faith really and indeed, yet not car- nally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ cruci- fied, and all benefits of his death ; the body and blood of Christ being then not corpoi-ally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine ; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers, in thai or. dinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses." Here we are taught — 1 . That there is a real presence of Christ^s body and blood. This doc- trine is affirmed in opposition to the Zuinglians, who maintain that the only presence of these is in our own thoughts of them. But the Confes- sion of Faith teaches that the body and blood of the Saviour are really present, that is, that the very things themselves are present as realUiea. They are not mental images of the things, but the things themselves. They are not inward in the mind, but outward in the sacrament. They arc not the creations of the imagina- tion or memory, nor even the pro- ductions of the believer's faith ; but they are the true body of Chiist crucified, and the true blood of Christ shed on Calvary ; and are now presented to the believer's faith, that his faith may see or discern them, partake of them, and feed upon them. They are as really present to faith as the bread and wine are present to the senses of sight, touch, and taste : and when a believer receives, worthily, the sa- cramental bread and wine, he then receives, " really and indeed," the real body and blood of Christ cruci- fied. When it is affirmed that the body and blood of Christ are really present to the faith of believers, the idea intended to be conveyed is evi- dently this, namely, that faith dis- cerns the real body and blood of Christ, not as things absent in heaven, but as things present in the Lord's Supper,— the body of Christ related to, and in union with the bread ; and the blood related to and in union with ihe wine : for, says the Confession of Faith, the body and blood of Christ are really pre- sent in this ordinance ; and in this, as in every sacrament, there is a spiritual relation or sacramental union between the sign and the thing signified. The bread being the sli/n, and the body of Christ the thing signified, these two things, namely, the bread and body of Christ, are, in the sacrament, re- lated to each other, and united with ti! I (H 52 n r ieach other : and the wine being the sign, and the blood of Christ being the thing signified, these two things, namely, the wine and the blood of Christ, are also related to each other, and united with each other in the sacrament. But, says the Confession of Faith, the body and blood of Christ, although really m the Lord's Sup- per, are yet only spiritually present in it. If so, they must then be pre- sent in a spiritual condition : they are, and must be, spiritual exist- encies in the sacrament : for how could they be present in it, if they had no being or no existence in it ? But, says the Confession of Faith, they are not present locally. Lo- cally meant' in place, in a place. So we are to believe that the body and blood of Christ are present in the sacrament, as real, spiritual exislen- cies, and yet have no place in the sacrament, in which to exist ! I say, with all reverence, that this is not merely incomprehensible, but utterly impossible. A body, whether it be spiritual or material, must have a place ; it cannot exist at all with- out a place : it must be somewhere. If it have no place, it has no exist- ence : it is a mere fancy of the mind ; and even such a fancy itself must have a place, and that place is in the mind. To believe that body and blood can be really present in any condition, and yet not locally present, requires a much greater de- gree of implicit faith than the Ro- manist requires to believe in Tran- Bubstantiatiou ; and the leading ar- guments which we employ in refut- ing the doctrine of Transubstantia- tion apply with equal or greater force against the doctrine we are now considering. Protestants affirm that Transubstantiation is unscrip- tural, contrary to our senses, and contrary treseut on many Presbyterian communion tables at the same time. Protestants affirm that the Rom- ish doctrine of the real presence in the communion leads necessarily to idolatry. The alleged real pre- sence is undoubtedly the great cen- tral object of worship in the Roman Catholic Church. In honour of the Real Presence are built magnificent gothio temples, with richly decorat- 11 5|f- ed altars ; and sweet incense, and hymns of praise, and reverential ceremonies, and the humble pro- strations of the worshippers, with prayers and thanksgivings, are of- fered to the Redeemer, whose real presence is alleged to be in the ordi- nance — that presence including the real body and blood, also the soul and the divinity of Christ ; for these cannot be separated, the one fi"om the other. Where Christ's real body now is, there also is his divine nature. And this doctrine is true, whether that body be regarded as corporeal or spiritual. If Christ's body and blood be sphitually, yet really present hi the Lord's Supper, then there must be there also his human soul and his divine natui-e ; and if such doctrine be believed, it leads necessarily to the same rever- ence or worship to the sacrament, which Protestants call idolatry. If Protestants believe in this real pre- sence in union with the bread and wine, how can they consistently blame the Roman Catholics for pro- fessing to offer Christ's body and blood, soul andjdivinity, as a sacri- fice on the altar ? And how can they consistently blame them for bowing down and adoring the in- visible body and blood, soul and divinity, all veil i^ under the out- ward appeiirance oi mere bread and wine ? Since the days of John Calvin the opinions of Protestant theologians have greatly changed respecting the nature of bodies, both spiritual and material. Thus the Rev. Dr. Moore, of Virginia, a Presbyterian, in his book on The Last Days of Jesus, says (p. 94): " We would not dog- matize on a doubtful point, but facts seem to indicate that the resurrec- tion body of our Lord possessed ma- terial properties very different from its former conditions : that it was naturally invisible and intangible, though material, and became visible and tangible as before, only by a positive volition," or act of his will. *' This condition," he says, *' of mat- ter is not only not impossible, but is very conceivable, with the know- ledge we have now of the various forms in which matter is found to exist. If our conjecture is correct, we have some light thrown on the physical nature of the resurrection body of believers, 'the spiritual body' of which Paul speaks in 1 Cor. xv . It snail be material, and yet with properties that we have hitherto at- tributed to spirit, rather than mat- ter, though erroneously ; because we now know that there are forms of matter that are neither visible, tangible, nor limitahlr, in the ordi- nary sense of these terms." Again, the Dr. says (p. 100): " We have already seen that the risen body of Chiist was probably, in its nature, invisible, capable of passing from place to place, without feeling the restrictions of doors, walls, and ma- terial barriers, as other bodies do ; and yet really a body of flesh, and blood, and bones, in a real and true sense." - ' ' ■ ' ' '" ■ '' -'^ Now, the tendency of these ' ' new views " is to encourage the doctrines of both Consubtantiation and Tran- substantiation among Presbyterians ^ and any others who hold the doc- trine of the real presence. Because these new views of Christ's resur- rection body do set aside the usual argument from our senses against both the Lutheran and Romish doc- trine of the Sacrament. We say, " If Christ's body and blood were really present in the Sacrament, we should see them, and could touch them," (fee. " But," says Dr. Moore, " Christ's resurrection body is in- visih/e and mtangible :" that is, un- touchable. Tliese new views also set aside the argument against the Lutheran and Romish doctrine, from the fact that a body can only be present in one place at a time. We say to the Lutheran and to the Eoman Catholic that Christ's body is now in heaven, and cannot there- fore be now also present on earth ; but both Lutherans and Roman Catholics must admit that Christ's body is ubiquitous, that is, that it cav. be present everywhere. So Dr. Moore says : " A material body can be illimxtnlde ■" that is, without bounds or limits, as we usually see material things to be circumscribed : so that Christ's body, according to this view, may be both in heaven and on earth at the same time ! Alas for the true Protestant doc- trine, if such views as these should become common ! The Presbyte- rian doctrine of the real presence becomes identified with Consubstun- tiation. •, But among the Protestant de- nominations specially referred to in this lecture, the people called Wes- leyan Methodists are probably the boldest in asserting the Romish doc- trines of Tranav')staiitiation and the Real Presence. Thus in their sacra- mental hymn, 551 (one of the hymns added since Wesley died), they sing the following words, — to Christ : We need not now go up to heaven, To bring the long-sought Saviour down ; Thou art to all alreoily given. Thou dost even now Thy banquet crovm. To every faithful s iiil appear, , ;■ And shew Thy real presence here. And lest we should have some doubt as to whether the expression, '' real presence," means something different from the Romish " real presence," our doubts are quite re- moved by the hymn of two verses which immediately goes before it, namely, hymn 550, which I give en- tire — " Come Holy Ghost, thine influence shed, And realize the sign, Thy life infuse into tlie bread, Thy power into the wine, EfiFeotual let the tokens prove. And made, by heavenly art, , Fit channels to convey Thy love To every faithful heart." " Now, this is the same "heavenly art" whereby the body of Christ was formed of the substance of his mother, the Virgin Mary, at his in- carnation ; for, said the angel Ga- briel to her (St. Luke i. 35) : " The Holy Ghost iJiall rome upon thee, and the poioer of t'l Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Ask any intelligent Roman Catho- lic how it is possible that the bread and wine become changed into the body and blood of Christ ? and he % I! )1 X 6* I 1 I I 4] i ij will tell you that it is by «• the hea- venly art " of the Holy Ghost ; for the priest pmys in the Ordinary of the Mass, saying : " Come, O Al- mighty and eternal God, the Sancti- fier, and bless this sacrifice prepared for the glory of Thy name." Bui Methodism is even more ex- plicit than Romanism in describing this "heavenly art" of Transub- stantiation ; for it teacher that " tJie life of the Holy Ghost is infmed into the bread" so that the sacra- mental bread must become " living bread," or as our English New Tes- tament expresses it, ''the bread of life" -the very title of Chribt. And Methodism here teaches that the power of the Holy Ghost is infzised into the wine. It is the language used concerning the incarnation of Christ — " the power of the Highest" — "the power of the Holy Ghost," by which the sinless blood of Christ was formed, and which was thus made " the fit channel of conveyinj; to every faithful heart the love of God." Methodism teaches that this hea- venly art realizes the sign. The sign is bread, but when realized, or turned into the reality, it is no longer the mere sign, but the thing signified, namely, the body of Christ, having the life of the Holy Ghost infused into it. Such manifest Romanism, under the guise of evangelical Protestant- ism, is too painful to contemplate longer, and I here dismiss it. But I cannot do so without noticing that the Church of England does not in- voke the Holy Ghost upon the ele- ments of bread and wine ; but the prayer of consecration ''is so worded,' says Proctor, " as to exclude all no- tions of physical change in the ele- ments by virtue of which they might be identified or confounded with the body of Christ." And because some of my hearers may wish to know my own opinions on this whole sub- ject of the Lord's Supper, I may here state, and I state it with all the solemnity becoming the place, the position I now occupy, and the subject itself, that my own views are clearly expressed in what we call 7%e Articles of Religion, the 28th, 29ih, 30th, and 31st, which anybody may read for himself, in the Book of Common Prayer. With regard to kneeling at the Lord's Supper, I may here notice, that it has been considered by the Covenantera, by the Puritans, and by Presbyterians and Congregation- alists of our own day as a Romish practice. If so, our Methodist friends are all, I presume, charge- able with it, for I suppose they all kneel at the altar in receiving the bread and wine. But I do not blame them for it ; I merely call their attention to the fact, that if they would escape the charge of Ro- manism, they must give up that practice, and sit, rather than kneel at the Communion. For my own part, I believe, with the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, that the Lord's Supper is *' the greatest solemnity of our blessed faith ;" and I believe, with the Presbyterian fathers of Ross- shire, that in this greatest of solem- nities we *'make the nearest ap- w proach to the Lord than can be on earth," and as we are only miserable and needy sinners app^aching the Lord to receive the very highest favours and blessings, which we do not deserve, it becomes ns to ap- proach him in our humblest posture — a posture as humble at least as that which men assxirae in approach- ing earthly monarchs, or in receiv- ing knighthood, or a college degree, or ordination to the gospel ministry. In what attitude the apostles re- ceived the communion from the Sa- viour is an open question ; but I think that not until the day of Pen- tecos':, when the apostles received clearer views than before of divine things, is their example to be our guide. If kneeling be Romish, so also is sitting at the Communion ; for if books be true, the Pope of Rome receives the Holy Commu- nion in the sitting posture. It may be here worthy of no- tice, that in the year 1618 the Epis- copal clergy of Scotlaml, and others, met at Perth, and agreed to con- form with the Church of England in observing the following rules, namely : 1. Kneeling at the Com- munion. 2. The observance of cer- tain holydays, viz : Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. 3. Episcopal Confirma- tion. 4 Private Baptism, and 5. Private Communion. These regu- lations are known, in Scotland, as the Five Articles of Perth, But in the year 1638, at the General As- sembly held at Glasgow, Episcopacy and the Five Articles of Perth were abrogated ; and the Moderator of 8 that Assembly, Alexander Hender- son, closed the session with the dreadfully solemn warning, « We have now coat doton the waUa of Jericho; let him that rebuildeth them beioare of the eurse of Hiel, the Bethelite.*' The Rev. Thomas McCrie (Pres- byterian), in his Sketches of Scottish Church History, says : " The fourth and fifth articles, viz., the private administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper seemed to our forefathers not only juconsistent with Scripture, but fit- ted to revive those Popish doctrines against which humanity and reason alike protested— that all unbaptized infants are excluded from bliss, and that the reception of the consecrated host on a death-bed is essential to salvation." What a change in oui.' day ! In Canada private Presbyterian bap- tisms are quite common ; and in the United States both private baptism and communion are among Pre'sby- terians, Methodists, and Congrega- tionalists, considered quite orthodox and evangelical ! And what is very remarkable in the circumstances is this, namely, that, so fiir from the- cui-se of Hiel, the Bethelite, falling upon these denominations, they seem to '• flourish like a green bay tree." 2. Saints^ Days and Religious Procesisions. The observance of holy or saints' days, and of religious processions, was considered by the Covenanters and Puritans as Romish ; they therefore abolished all such days, and forbade, under pains and penal- i '58 PI I J I ties, either feasting, or fasting, or ceremonies formerly observed in con nection with such days. To call the Lord's day Sunday, has long been considered Romish ; and only a few yeare ago, Presbyterians, Congrega-;, tionalists, Baptists, and others kept their places of business open, in Canada^ and plied their ordinary work as a protest against such Po])ish sui)ej"stition as the observ- ance of Christmas and Good Friday. But what a change is passing over such people ! A professor of the Presbyterian College in Toronto has lately been instructing the students, and others, not to call the Lord's day the Sab- bath day, but to call it Sunday. The Puritans of Connecticut, in New England, made the following law : " No person shall read Com- mon Prayer, keep Christmas or saints' days, make mince pies, play cards, dance, or play any kind of music except the trumpet or Jew's hai'p.'" But now how changed is public opinion among the descend- ants of those very Puritans ! Con- necticut is one of the strongholds of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which not only is the Common Prayer read by many thousands, who are yearly increasing in num- ber, but by whom saints' days are duly observed, and Christmas is celebrated, not only by that chui'ch, but by all denominations ; and that «ven with mince pies, and with no- bler instruments of music than the trumpet or Jew's harp. And so it is all over Canada, not only in Rom> ish Lower Canada, but in Upper Canada, in cities, towns, and vil- lages, among evangelical Protest- ants, who glory in their Protestant- ism ; they now observe Christmas, and Good Friday, and St. Andrew's Day, and St. George's Day ; and not a few of them are seen observing the days of St. John the Ba])tist, and St. John the Evangelist. The saint's day is, with the exception of that of St. John the Baptist, the day of the saint's death ; so, in ac- cordance with this general rule, the Scotch Presbyterians duly observed, in 1872, the 24th of November, as the commemoration of the death of St. John Knox. . <.., , The present generation of teachers and scholars in our common Protest- ant schools are as familiar with Easter holidays, and Christmas holi- days, as though the education given were that of the Romish Church. What would the Presbytenan and Puritan forefothers have thought of such a state of things ! and more especially when Protestants can wil- lingly observe such days, and see no harm, no sin, no Romanism in doing so ! Religious processions have been denounced as Romi.sh. Doubtless the objections to them have been, like the objections to saints' days, exceedingly silly, frivolous, and abr surd : but our business at present is not to answer the objections, but simply to notice things considered to be Romish. Romish priests, monks, nuns, and other members of the Romish church, walk in re- ligious procession, both outside and inside the church, and have musi(^ ffO \d vil- )fcest- ^stant- id not ^rvinnr |ii>tist, The \on of the ac- the fved, 2'", as kh of and sometimes, if not generally, car- ry something sacred in the proces. sion, such as a cross, a saint's ban- ner, or the consecrated host, or some sacred relic. Now, what do we see among Protestants on St. John's days and other days 1 — a procession, with music, carrying a banner of some saintly hero, the Holy Bible, and symbols of Christian truth. And mark that procession from the Pres- byterian session-bouse or vestry to the communion table ! It is a pro- cession of eldci's. The first elder is carrying a veiisel containing the sa- cramental bread, covered with a white linen cloth, which, says Dr. Guthrie, reminds us of the white linen cloth in which the dead body of Christ was wrapt ; then follows another elder, carrying a flagon of wine ; and behind him comes one or two more, carrying communion cups, and all this while some psalm or hymn is being sung. Now, if these elders were only dressed in white in- stead of black, their little procession to the table or altar would be very much like what is commonly seen in a Romish church or chapel when the priest . nd his assistants enter in procession, carrying with them what is needed for the sacrifice of the Mass, including, I presume, the white linen cloth, which, I think, they call the corporal, because it shrouds the corpus or body of Christ. Surely if there be any- thing wrong in the mere proces- sion in the one case, there must be something equally wrong in the mere procession in the other. I belieye, however, that where good order and decency are to be ob- served, among a number of people passing from one place to another, processions must, and ever have been necessary. Hence funeral pro- cessions, and military processions. Even the Free Kirk ministers began their disruption, in 1843, by a pro- cession of about 200 of their num- ber, from St. Andrew's Church to theCannonmills Hall, in Edinburgh; and nobody, I presume, thought them wrong in doing so. 3. Romanism In Extempore Prayer. I have to touch on the subject of public jrt'ayer. Not a few persons imagine that the reading of forms of prayer in public is Romish ; but if such were the case, then every one of the Reformed churches, at, and since the Reformation, in the 16th century, has been Romish; for they all have used, and the most of them still use forms of ])rayer. C^alvin gave a prayer-book to Gene- va ; Luther gave a prayer-book to Germany and other places ; John Knox gave a prayer-book to Scot- land. Fhe Dutch Reformed, and the Waldensian Christians have prayer-books also for public wor- ship ; so that if it li Romish to use forms of prayer in public, these Protestants must have been, and are yet, very far astray. But the Puritans and Westmin- ster Assembly of Divines declaimed against forms of prayer in public, regardless of the fact that such forms have been in the church ever since apostolic days. But what we now particularly notice are the three following facts, namely : 1st. 60 II .; 1 I HI i W. !i \\t That if we are to believe the histo- rians of the 17th century there were mou iti[>reaenting themselves as Pu- ritan prHuchei-s, who travelled up and down England, preaching and leotui-iug against the Church of Eng> laud Prayer-book, and against all forms of prayer in public, and yet these men were not Puritans, nor Protestants, but Jesuits in disguise. Such disguised Jesuits as Coleman, ButtoTi, Hillingham, Benson, Cum- min, and Heath were professed Puri- tans, and niiled against the Romish - ness of the Prayer-book, the great objeci; being to weaken, and if pos- sible, to destroy the English Church. Heath called the English Prayer-book the English Mass book. Jesuitism is still working, and some Protest- ants are giving them aid and com- fort 'iy railing against the Book of Common Prayer. The second fact is, that extem- pore prayer, by the minister, silences the voice of the people in public wor.s!iip as effectually as does the of- ferinij of prayer by the Romish priest, in the Latin language. In the most ancient style of public prayer the people's voice was heard as w.^U as that of the minister. But among many Presbyterians, Baptists, and Congregationalists, (although not among Methodists), the i)eople are not expected to say even '• Amen " in an audible voice. And the third fact is, that extem- pore prayer makes the minister even more thoroughly the mouth of the people to God, and the mouth of God to the people, than the Romish priest is. Presbyterian ministers claim this for themselves, as we have already seen, from their Directory for Public Worship, and from their Form of Church Government. Ote of their number, the Rev. Matthew Heary, in hin Commentary, on 2 ChroD. XXX. 27, says of the Jew- ish priests, " It was part of their office to bless the peopL (Num. vi. 22, 23), in which they were both the people's mouth to God, by way of prai/er, and God's mouth to the people by way of promise, for their blessing 'Mcluded both. What a comfort to a congregation to be sent home thus crowned !" And the same great Presbyterian commenta- tor says, in his note on the Book of Numbers vi. 22, 23, " The priests, among other good offices, are so- lemnly to bless the people in the natne of the Lord. Hereby God honoured the priests, and gave great comfort to the people. Though the priest of himself could do no more than beg a blessing, yet being an in- tercessor, by office, and doing that in Mis name who commands the bless- ing, the prayer carried with it a promise. I. This (olFice of the Jew- ish priest) was a type of Christ's errand into the world. 2. It was a 2)attern to gospel ministers. The same that are God's mouth to his people, to teach and command, are- his mouth likewise to bless them ; and they that receive the law shall receive the blessing." So that, according to Matthew Henry, and according to the Direc- tory for Public Worahip, the I'res- byterian ministera are interceasora, by office, between God and the pe.en »« *» '''X^l' Lieut language, and aloud, in cnu , .^^^ ,„ u.e.t own " M^r^hat ho "»y »y "V*" °Wicpr.yo'-- But whence think "' tubl^ -r,hip, but winch ^ftHe doctrine that the niini^ter IB rr; '.U, and no. to ™.e t.ir P^ ■ _^^- „.. ,. be.eeu '"^"7theT°P> >' *»"»"^ °°\te irJf a^erLrine iu taugnt. Ill**" Y)e soiue pi'ij*-^' , • modevn reh- *' "irperilld" -*. «■ Xrt c"d " .Hhe primi- young, mexpiv „„„.,enae 8'""' "^ " ',„„;„„ when the ve- temporizing -"^^^ mouth „ I tive '=''"7^:™: i„ prayer bu«t in prayer, yet he M "l""" °' ' !li„ like a clap of the people -toGodJ An ^^ ^.^^^^,^^ ^''ZJ^^ of nfany only -. ''"/'rje^both to teach, '■'"■;''";„'^ ^e t^ik, ai,o, and can- ^^iCa^'h^:^*-; «t: ::rut:;trt..atpre.byteria.,isui tercessor in prayei^ A ^^^ „,„, , haUu ^^^ ^^_^^.^^ -rSonar^ - c«:^i- i^ye:^ t^ p^^^: ^^ « . .,,.,t an intercessoi is ^ ^ silencing the people *;:- one who intevpo^;-- i^^ortant in-ivilege and duty .p- -ri.rt:et::;e"' :-» - ^isfi: g^uro^rie ^^o. reconcile thena , ^^ ^^_ Chuicli is b ^ .^j^gg ^n behalf of another. ^^^^ *'^ ,.^.,,^ by vetamn 4 ita P""^ VathoUc priest, or AngUca" 7 language. CattoUc p ^.^^^^^^^, '^\^ ,eciet or private prayer we Puseyite, or x^o ^^^^^ Xn secio i ^,^t m claim greater priestly pow ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^, form what that] They never did. 62 nu w m public prayer the Church always has Scotland, have mow adopted what had its forms for various good rea- they call a Scriptural Liturgy — con- 80Q8 : one being, that the people taining fornas of prayer for public might join vocally in them, which worship in the morning, evening, at they could not possibly do without the communion, at baptism, at bu- forms. So that when we hear peo- rial, and for other occasions. Verily, pie denouncing the Book of Com- if forms of prayer be Romish, then mon Prayer, because it is a prayer- Protestants of the most pronounced book, we cannot but think of the kind are going headlong into Romish Kouiani.'fn which lurks under such practices j but they take good care, oppositi<>n, and the Romanism which is inherent in j'ublic ex- tem|)(»re prayer itself I am no friend of Jesiiitifn. But there is, I believe, Protestant Jesuitism as well as Romish, and I am as much afraid and suspicio-is of the one as of the other ; and I r^annot but think of Cummins and Heath when I hear insinuations and harsh re- however, in all such forms, to keep the people silent, and make the min- ister the mouth of the people unto God. -i. Rjmanium in the Serv'ce of Praise. A"d Sv,, also, in the service of praise, we find the same denomina- tions ^I'iviug hendloug in a direc- tion which, a few years ago, would marks ina«le against forms of prayer have been considered Romeward. in general, and against the English IVayer-book in particular. It is one of the signs of the times, how- ever, that the very denominations who have been loudest in their de- Within the memory of some not very old people it was considered, by large bodies of Presbyterians, Romish to sing hymns or para- phrases of Scripture. The Oc. -e- uunciations against forms of prayer nanters are, to this day, of the are inw oagcly adopting them, snme opinion. It wps muintjvned both in the family and in public, that nothing should be sung in In the United States forms of public worship except the Psalms prHyer for jirivate and family use oi" Oavid — an " inspired psalmody," have be^n prejmred by such Presby- by which they meant Rouv-o's Met- tirrian ministers as Edrnes, Smith, rical Veraion. We have heard of Winchester, anfl Spring. Besides a young minister having gone to many forms prepared by single an- preach for a Sunday in ona of thors, in Scotland, the Established those congregations in whicl^ tbi; and Free Kirks are each represent- opinion was held, and hi.ving given ed by a large volume of family pray- out a hymn or paraphrase, in the ers for each day of the year, morning, to be sung, wtvs rurprised Several dissenting congregations in to find, in the evening, that all the England use the Book of Common paraphrases and hymns had been se- Pra^er, and many of the Oongrega- curely sewed together with 'vaxed tionalists of England, if not also thread during the interval of '»rar- M .:„ W, hav, .even.1 time. »«». t"^a Jr heard, .n oM Covenan « L^a in the farthes. corner of u M^mc The singing of the building. y *» ^ «oa considered to oe hvmnw was cou»i" • 1 ;t was wiU-woi-ship, it waa "' ' I r the Word of God, and an insult to the Wor^ ^^ ^^^ therefore to God hims^^^^^^^^^^ Hshed in pamphlete a^d P ^^ __..Show me the man „a., better hyn,» *» '» „H ^ g„„t.y *.Bgea »n^- „t ^"t'k^b^BlSSu.auathe lC^t,^eBapU..a;^0»- g„g.tio„aU...a«aU.mth P^^^ Utively RomiBh, and those^^^^^ rfemo pa^aages lU .^ „load the ments of l-nnsv" S; aod death, have been eons* ered to be the n.o.t Romi.h ...d oh- ertionableofall. John Knox m,m- u i, among "diabolical imen- bere » among .. „t.itlio tionarforhe8ay»,«P<'«>""8"t "■« mark of the bea.t," - A l^^'"" "' , „f P.niatrv, "hioh were these dreg" of lapistry, Wt in youv Greek Book of Bug f:a-o,!ej..tot«biohl^nevr counsel any man to «M One jot, TL ot these diabolical iuvent.ons, 'l. 'croasing in baptism, knee ug ., ..e Lord. Wble. -d n.n S ;yr-a CrUe, a Sytcrian, says of the L,.,ny, .. We regard it as the n.ost ob .c tion.bleV«°f"'«"'l*f:„f:- Ohnrch) Liturgy : «« ''"'^' ""' ^^ ..eatitsolongaswekeeptheth.rd lommandment in mind,-m.ny parts Tit bear more resemblance to an ,rtv,hich«e shall not name, than to either prayer or p«- Such Msertions as -hose K„« and McCrie we know are the ^Us of prejudice; and in so a- thev refer lo the L.tany as « Jiow Sds in the Koglish Pray-Wk ,ueh assertions are Jhe r^n Wind, f"™'",,'"fjrt'ain class it „e lK>pul«r with a certam p^fess^OhrUt,ar,s;and t^,^^^ ft little courage, and some „t the Protestant rif "' ^"^^ i„agmenttowith,Un the- Now, the Baptists have done «.. commend them for it- J^^^ , actually had the "'"^^.^j'.i • .„ their hymns the metrical ver *f lis dreadfully Komish pro- sion ot tnis uic» j True, auction called the L.tany 1 T'U^ H n -word Litany, and anl^atituted the words ** we cry." But there it is, the most solemn, the most objection- able, the most Romish portion of the Litany in metre ! Let me mote a fevtr lines of it from the Baptist hymn-book : — Hymn 652. <' By Thine hour of dark despair ; By Thine agony of prayer ; By the crosd, the nail, the thorn, Pierc.og spear, and torturing scorn; By the gloom that veiled the skies. O'er the dreadful sacrifice, — •le^sus look with pitying eye; Listen to our humble cry. By the deep, expiring groan ; By the sad, sepulchral stoue ; By the vault, whose dark abode Held in vain the rising God," &c., &o., &c. Thus have the Baptists thrown themselves open to the charge of Komanizing. They are, according to John Knox, taking upon them the mark of the beast ; they are Adopting the dregs of Papistry • they have adopted into their wor- ship a diabolical invention ; a dread- ful something which the Rev. Dr. McOrie could not dare to repeat so long as he had in his mind the third commandment I If one might be permitted to of- fer a word of comfort to the Bap- tists in such desperate circumstances, it would be this, that they have nearly the whole of Christendom on their side in using the form of prayer called the Litany, and ths ex- ception, comparatively, are but a few bigots, who are fast dying out. But another Romish innovation is fast creeping into the service of praise — it is the Organ, which, but a few years ago, caused such a fierce war of discussion, and of threatened disruption, especially among the Presbyterians. The Puritans de- nounced it as " the devil's bagpipe," and denounced its music as "the bellowing of the ten -horned beast !" CalderwooQ, the Presbyterian his- torian, says all manner of evil against the Scottish prelates, and thus charges the sinfulness of in- strumental music among other great wickednesses, against them : " The prelate loveth carnr,' and curious singing to the ear, more than the spiritual melody of the gospel, and therefore would have antiphony and organs in the cathedral kirks, upon no greater reason than other sha- i>ws of the law of Moses." The Covenanters in Scotland pulled church organs to pieces, and bu»'ned them. And the great and justly celebrated Dr. Candlish said, but a few ye.' rs ago : < * Is the temple de- stroyed 1 Is the temple worship wholly superseded ? Have we, or have we not priests and sacrifices among us 1 Is the temple or the synagogue the model on which the Clurch of the New Testament is formed ]" * * * «' For my owa part (he says), I am per- suaded, that if the organ be admitled, there is no barrier, in principle, against the sacerdotal (or priestly) system in all its fulness,— against the substitution again, in our whole religion, of the formal for the spi- ritual, the symbolical for the real." Then the late Rev. Mr. McLachlan, who had been a Covenantei-, but lat- terly a Free Kirk minister in Cana- da, published A Catechism on the 65 Organ, Question, in which he as- seitb that the xxse of the organ is " sinful, and profane ; a breach of the second commandment ; and that the use of this instrument in public worship is a part of Popish ritual- ism, originating in the growing s\i- perstition of the dark ages.'' But what a change ! The barrier to the dreaded ^friestly system has been broken down. A part of Po- pish ritualism has been transferred into the Presbyterian worship ! *'The devil's bagpipe " now drones in many a Scotch Presbyterian place of wor- ship. What the Scotch used to call, contemptuously, " The kist o' whis- tles," has turned many of their town and country churches into what they were formerly accustomed to sneer at as "whistlin' kirks." And here, in Canada, the same innovation, originating in the superstition of the dark ages, is rapidly appearing among all kinds of Presbyterians. The music of thcj '' ten-horned bea.st" has so charmed the descend- ants of Covenanting forefathers, that there is really no saying where this wondering after the beast may end. The late Dr. Binney, of London, England, a Congregationalist, had the Psalter or Psalms pointed for chanting; in Toronto, one of the Presbyterian churches has chants, also, in public woi-ship ; and in St. Peter's Old School Presbyterian Church, in Rochester, N. Y. State, chanting of psalms has, for several years, been px-actised, with the re- peating of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Amen, by the peo- ple. Are sxxch things Romish ] Then Presbyteriunism and Congre- gationalism ai*e on tlie highway Romewai'd. or LECTURE IV Our next topic is Religious Rev- erence for Relics and Holy Places, and Protestant Pilgii mages to them. The following letter, on this sub- ject, appeared in The Kingston Whig, Saturday morning, April 9th, 1873.— " Protibtant Rbverrnob fob Rbli- oioirs Rklios. — ReT«reDoe for the remains, especially of the great, the good, or the beloved, is very natural to the human heart, and arises, doubtless, from "the association of ideas." Tho well-known Mrs. H. B. Stowe gives, in the following lines, a good illustration of it : — Hath not each common household That once of old was theirs, Been gifted with a holy charm To aid us in our prayers ? thing. Sweet fragrance from the heavenly land Falls softly from the skies, And fills the common household room, Once hallowed by their eyes. The book, the chair, the pen, the glove, To us are more divine Than crucifix or rosary. Brought from the holiest shrine. 66 The onrl of hair, the faded leaves, The ring, the flower, the &:em, Speak with a tender wnrning voice, And bid us follow them. High thoughts, brave deeds, and firm re- solves. And zeal that never faints, Come to us by these simple things, — These relics of our saints ! " According to Mrs. Stowe, and all who think with her, relics must be of im- mense value in a moral and religious sense, forming, indeed, 'a means of grace.' It is no wonder that the modern Romish Church attaches such importance to them. 'With the exception of accomplishing mi- raculous bodily cures, which are nothing, compared with the cure of the bouI'h dis- eases, no Roman Catholic could ascribe greater virtue than this to relics. The Fathers of the Council of Trent simply affirm that ' the holy bodies of the holy martyrs and others living with Christ, are to be venerated by the faithful, since by them Ood bestows many benefits upon them.' But these snmc Fathers append a caution to their decision in these words : — 'Let all superstition in the veneration of relics be taken away, and all base gain be abolished.' Late English papers indi- cate that veneration for relics is not con- fined to Mrs. stowe and the Roman Cutho- lics. The following is from the London Weekly Dispairh of March 13th, 1870 :— •The foundation stone of a Wesleyan Chapel was laid at Burslera, the other day, and it was announced that portions of the coffin, shroud, and the hair of John "Wesley, had been deposited in a bottle to be fixed in a crevice.' On reading such a statement as this, one is forced to ask himself can this renlly be true? Have they actually violated the grave of John Wesley to obtain these relics ? Will other such relics l>e taken away from the grave for other new chapels? Since John Wes- ley lived and died a churchman, and never belonged to the sect now called ' Wes- leyan Methoilist,' wl»at right have they to a single hair of his head ? What •benefits' do they expect to derive from these relics ? Do they believe, with Mrs. Stowe, that such things will ' aid them in their prayers,' and bring down ' sweet fragrance frotn the heavenly land ' upon their soul.>? Or is it a trick to make ignorant peoplu believe more firmly that John Wesley left the Church of England, and set up what is called 'The Wettleyan Church ?' \\ ould it not have been more honest to have obtained some relics of Clarke, or Pauaon, or Coke, who, after Wesley's death, led the Methodists out of Wesley's beloved Church? The robbers of graves, however, have always been de- tested, and the death penalty was for ages adjudged to them, even when the motive was to obtain relics for religious use. A people professing godliness are to be pitied whose piety is dependent, in any degree, on 'dead men's bones' What a hue and cry of Popery would have been raised against the Church of England if one of its congregations had been guilty of the escapade of the Uurslem Method- ists? Are John Wesley's prophetic words of warning becoming more and more veri- fied: ' If you leave the Church, God will leave you!' Be that as it may, I protest as a churchman, against robbing my brother churchman's grave, and remain, steadfastly, A Pkotestamt Churchman." This letter was replied to by an- other communication, signed '-Meth- odist," and which admitted the facts, but gave only the apology for them, that " there were some foolish Meth- odists in Burslem." We find the same kind of foolishness, however, quite prevalent in Canada and in the United States to an alarming extent. I know a clergyman who possesses a piece of John Biniyan'a pulpit, which relic was given to him as a veiy precious article, and a very great mark of friendship, by a Baptist lady, whose father had often preached in the pulpit of the im- mortal dreamer. Knox College, To- ronto, possesses -^ome rare religious relics. There are in its museum, I think, a piece of Samuel Ruther- ford's pulpit ; a couple of pens which were used by the fathers of the Dis- ruption, in 1843; a vial of water from the Dead Sea ; another vial of water from the river Jordan ; a piece of the rock of Mount Zion ; some olive leaves from the Garden 87' of Grethsemane, and other things of the same religious character. And although these articles are not the objects of what we usually call wor- ship, they are nevertheless cherished with considerable respect, if not rev- erence. In the United States the Reli- gious Tract Society jjossesses, or did possess what is regarded as a very precious relic indeed ; it is an old arm-chair — a chair which, on one occasion, was held up as higl) as hu- man arms could hold it, in the old Tabernacle Church of Broadway, New York, that it might be seen by the admiring multitude of Protest- ants convened on the occasion. It was brought all the way from the Isle of Wight, in England, and is the chair in which tlie pious and celebrated Dairyman's Daughter used to sit during her long sicknet ; and even the leaves from the box- tree wliich her saintly hands planted, are carried over to the United States, and treated with reverence as holy things ! When the Town Council of Ediubui'gh, Scotland, a few yeaiu ago, determined to jjuU down the old, rickety house of John Knox, the people of the Free Kirk immediately came to the rescue, and bought it, site and all, with as much zeal, liberality, and reverence as Ro- man Catholics might be supposed to have done, had it been the holy house of Loretto threatened with similar desecration. The graves of the (Jovenantitig martyrs, in Scot- land, are also cherished with pecu- liar reverence ; and they are con- sidered, in Home parts of the coun- try, as possessing a sacreduess of character which fits them for a yearly or periodical religious cele- bration. In the absence of other and stronger proof, which time could afford me to adduce, I turn to vol. v. of the Scottish Pulpit, p. 421, where we have a sermon entitled, T}ie Marlyr^s Grave, preached by the minister of the Parish of Iron- gray, Dumfriesshire. Two Cove- nanting martyrs are buried at the place. The sermon was accompanied with humiliation, fasting, and prayer. The remains of the martyrs are dis- tinctly described by the preacher as bones and relics, and the place of their burial as a sacred sput, I have also before me a volume, published by Carter, New York, which is much admired by Presbyterians, and entitled Lays of the Kirk and Cove- nant, by Mrs. A . Sttiart Menteath, One of its pictures represents the celebraved Alexander Peden, a per- secuted Covenanting minister, seated at the grave of his martyred fellow- minister, Richard Cameron, at Aira- moss ; and with eyes turned heaven- ward, exclaiming, " O, to be wi' thee, Ritchie !" If this be not a prayer to St. Richard, it sounds very much like it. Mrs. Menteath, as well as other historians, relate that these were the very words used. She adds greatly to them, however, in her lay or poem, and thus con- cludes it: — " Upon the wild and lone Airsmoss, Down siiuk the twilight gruy, In storm and cloud the evening closed Upon thftt chfcrless dny ; But Poden went his way redeshed, For peace and joy were given — And Cameron's grave had proved To him the very gate of heaven." Such being the case, need we won- C8 1. ii der that Covenanters and Roman Catholics should both be agreed as to the benefit of praying at the graves of the martyrs 1 We would all like to get an occasional peep through the g?te of heaven, but un- fortunately the martyrs' graves are far away from the most of us ; and sometimes the weather ;= not very favourable for visiting them, even if they were near to us. These and other considerations render it moi'e convenient to bring the relics of saints and martyrs from their graves into the jjlaceof public worship, that we may, through such rieana, enjoy comfortably our peep into the world of happiness. The Roman ( 'atholics have long ])ractisecl this plan ; and have |)laced such relics within or un- der thealtai', taking, doubtless, their authority for so doing from the Book of Revelation vi. 9 : *' I saw un- der the altar the souls of them that were slain for the woi'd of God, and for the testimony which they held." The word son/s to be understood here in the sense of bodies, as in the Acts of the Apostles ii. 26, 27: ''My flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The Roman Cath- olics also appeal to the practice of the primitive C'hristians of the first centuries, in holding religious festi- vals at the tombs of the martyrs, and in the churches whore they were buried, in commemoration of their virtues and death ; much in the same styl" as do the Covenanters and other Presbyterians of Scotland at the ])resent day. (Bingham, B. XX. c. vii.) Hence, every fully equip- ped Romish altar has some holy relics in or under it. But Protestantism denounces all this as I'ank supersti- tion and idolatry. Hence the Cove- nanters and Puritans demolished such altars and destroyed such relics. How degenerate then must be their descendants who, professing to have abolished saints' days or commemo- rations, now hold commemorations of Covenanting saints ; and, who, while denouncing reverence for reli- gious relics as Romish, are as enthu- siastic as Old Mortalitij himself, in paying Scotch martyrs' graves and bones the most affectionate respect ! " Ah, but do we bring relics into church ?" you say. Yes, you some- times bring, especially the bodies of beloved ministers, into the house of prayer, and bury ihem there under the pulpit, or under the communion table or altar, as in St. Andrew's Church, Cobourg ; where may be seen a tablet on the wall, stating very plainly that such is the case. See also '' the auld Kirk," in Mar- tintown, where Rev. Mr. Connell's bones are buried imder the altar. St. George Whitfield's bones also lie under the altar at Newburyport, U. S., in a Congregational Chapel, where Protestant pilgrims often touch and handle them with rever- ence. Close beside them, lie the bones of Rev. Mr Parsons, formerly a pastor of the congregation. The age of pilgrimages to holy places, has revived. Not only Roman Catholics, but Protestants flock in thousands to Palestine to visit Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, and 69 Calvary, and the Holy Sepulchre, where our Lord is supposed to have been buried ; and other places ren- dered or considered sacred by having been the scenes of His visible pres- ence. The Covenanters and Puritans denounced what they called peregri- nations, or pilgrimages ; and it has been considered, until recently, the pink of Protestantism to denounce the Crusaders as a pack of supersti- tious fools and fanatics, in attempting to rescue the holy places of Palastine from the grasp of the infidel Moham- raedans. There were no Christian holy places ; all the earth wi? now equally holy. But how changed the sentiments of Protestauts now in regard to the lioly places of Palestine ! Volumes of extracts might be col- lected illustrating this chauge, and proving that pilgrimiiges are now quite commonly made to th(?so jilaces, and prayers offered in tliem with all the faith and fervour of devout Ro- man Catholics ; and these Protestant pilgrims and devotees, some of whom are ministers of religion, publish to the world their uiiprotestant esca- pades without fear or censure ! Let me illustrate by a few brief extracts from a book written by one of these pilg'i'ms. Here is what he did in the garden of Gethsemane : " I walked pensively around and across again and r '.rn, and meditated and poured forth the nental prayer, humbled and elevated too with the thought that this was the place where our Lord walked and wept and was agonized, and I felt as if the spot possessed a charm more hallowed and severe than even calvary itself. Hero for ages the pilgrim has knelt and kissed these Olive trees, carrying thence a few of the fallen fruit, or a twig or a portion of the bark, to remind him at his distant home, of the spot where Christ was sor- rowful unto death. Having got a few twigs from the olive trees, which I have carefully preserved, I was conducted northward from the garden to the tomb of the Holy Virgin." Speaking of the supposed Holy Sepulchre, he says : — " Without and around the door of the eepulchre, but still under the dome, there was a crowd of pilgrims — Copts, Abyssin- ians, Syrians, Marouites, Greeks, Arme- nians, and Roman Catholics, all prostrate on the marble floor. Deep silence ob- tained. Every body seemed pale and as if struggling for breath. As each trembling traveller was admitted to the grave, he seemed to feel in the nervousness of hia frame, as if he were about to pass into the presence of God face to face. When I entered, I felt almost as if I had been summoned by death to give an account of the deeds done in the body. I kneeled over the tomb, trembled, wept, and mut- tered a short prayer for humility, repen- tance, faith, and mercy, for myself, my family, my flock, and friends. And in so far as I knew my heart, I may say that the gratitude of it ascended with a risen Saviour to the throne of the Father on high. Alone, and in silence, at the sup- posed centre of the world, and far, far from home, I tried fervently to remember my sins before God, and all the places and persons in the East Indies and in Europe, most near and dear unto me. I rose, pulled a flower which was afterwards sent home to my dear daughter Maggie, and came back from this scene of hope, joy, and sorrow, to give room to other visitors, for not more than three or four can be ad- mitted at a time." And who may the pious devotee be whose words I have now quoted? He is a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Dr. Alton, parish minister of Dolphinton, Scotland, and wno de- dicates his volume, entitled " The Lands of the MessiitJi, Mahomet, and the Pope" to his brother ministers who kindly supplied his pulpit in his absence. The pious and amiable McCheyne defends this love and respect for sacred places wherever situated. 70 if Having complied with a request to visit Ancruni, in Scotland, a place which had been distinguished by what is called a revival of religion, he wrote, "Sweet are the spots wherever Imraanuel has shown his glorious power in the conviction and convereion of sinners. The world loves to muse on the scenes where battles were fought and victories won. Should not we love the spots where our Great Captain has won his amazing victories 1 Is not the conversion of a soul more worthy than the taking of Acre ]" Accordingly, when McCheyne and another Presbyterian minister, An- drew Bonar, visited Palestiue in 1839, we find both of these good men entertaining the same senti- ments of love and reverence for the sacred places and relics as did their clerical brother Dr. Aiton. I quote from the original edition of Mc- Cheyne's " Memoir and Remains" Dundee, 1845. He says, p. 219 : " Several times we went to the Mount of Olires, 'o the Garden of Qethsemane, to the Pool of Siloam, and to the Village of Bethany, and every stone seemed to speak of the love of God for sinners." Page 229 : " I cannot tell you the delightful and solemn feelings with which wc traverse this land of promise. At Sychar we tried to find out the well where Jesus sat wearied. Mr. Bonar found it, and let his Bible fall into it. He could not get it again, 'for the well is deep.' " Page 106 : ••The day we spent at the lake (of Galilee), at the very water side, was ever memorable , it was so peculiarly sweet. We felt an indescribable interest even in lifting a shell from the shore of a sea irhere Jesus had so often walked." Page 228 : " Zion is literally ploughed like a field. I have brought with me some barley that I found growing on itd summit." Page 227 : " Gethsemane makes up in interest all that we want in Calvary. It is enclosed with old stone walls, of rude stones, with- out any cement. Eight very old olives, of a thousand years at leapt, stand as monu- ments in the place. It is a sweet and sacred spot ; and you will not wonder that we were often drawn to visit it, and to pray on the very spot where Jesus sweated great drops of blood." Page 232 : " It is a pleasant spot. No one who knows the Saviour can visit it, and look upon its eight old trees, without feelings drawn to it. We tried to pray there, where Jesu:) sweated blood for us. It was sweet to intercede for you and all we love in that sacred spot." These extracts, I think, are suffi- cient to show that the feelings of reverence among modern Protestants, for sacred places and relics, are not very different from those of our Roman Catholic neighbours. I. Let us now say a few words about Miracles performed by or on behalf of Modern Prote.(ant Saints. By modern saints, I do not mean only those who may now be living, but also such as have lived within the last two or three hundred years. Intelligent Protestants do not generally believe that the miracu- lous gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the power of working miracles, continued in the Church much beyond the middle of the second century. The Church of Rome maintains that such miracles are continued to the present day. Kirwin, in his second letter to Bishop Hughes, of New York, saya^ n who 'ook I'iiigs •ere, Was love '* You know very well the common belief among the Irish peasantry that Papal priests can work mir- acles. Whatever may be the teach- ing of the priests themselves U})on the point, such is the belief of the people, a belief strongly encoiiraged by the conduct of their spiritual leaders. Hence in diseases the peo- ple resort, not so much to the phy- sician as to the priest — they depend less on the power of medicine than upon that of priestly charms." He says also he frequently saw in Ire- land persons going to Father C.'s house '' to get some of their sick cured." Now such claims or pretences to miraculous power, on the part of priests, and miraculous cures per- formed by them, are denounced by Kir win and Protestants generally as among the lying wonders of the Man of Sin. But what shall we say if v\ e find the same kind of miracles Hmong Protestants themselves. For ex- ample, there is George Miiller, in England, who is a preacher, and has the management of orphan institu- tions, when he wants a few thousjuid dollars for building, or food or cloth- ing for the hundreds of orphans de- pendent on him, simply betakes him- self to prayer, and the needed sup- plies come in without fail. He says in his first 'Narrative,' p 85, ''About this time (1832) I repeatedly prayed ■with sick believers till they were restored. Unconditioncdlt/ I asked the Lord for the blessing of bodily health, and almost always had the petition granted. In the same way, whilst in London, Nov. 1829, ia answer to my prayers, I was imme- diately restored from a bodily in- firmity under which I had been labouring for a long time, and which never has returned since." Miraculous incidents in super- abundance could easily be adduced from the histories of the Covenant- ers, the Methodists, the Irvingites, and the comparatively modern re- vivals of religion among tlia Pro- testant denominations. I refer, for proof, to Howie's lives of 'rUe Scot- tish Worthies, The Clowl of Wit- nesses, John Wesley's Journals, llie Year of Prayer, and the many pamphlets conceruii)g Irvingism. Isaac Taylor, although finding some " points of comparison " between Methodism and Romanism, never- theless writes as the apologist for Methodism, and says, p. 74, that "miracles are neither now looked for, nor are they desired in that coiumunion." Yet he says, p. 73, there is a resemblance between the two systems, " in the encouragement given at fir. t by Wesleyan Method- ism, as also by Romanism, to what- ever touches upou the supernatural and miraculous. Wesley's most pro- minent infirmity was this wonder- loving credulity ; from the beginning to the end of his course it ruled him." And, "the personal histories of the Methodist worthies, their autobiographies and obi*;uaries, are rendered distasteful by the too copi- ous admixture of incidents which try the faith of a cool-tempered reader. In truth, some of these narratives are much in the style of those 72 ? i ** Lives of the Saints," which none but {rood Catholics should be allowed to look into." Let me close this part of our sub- ject with a few miracles performed by one of the Covenanting Scottish worthies, namely, Mr. Thomas Hog, minister of Kiltearn. The&e mira- cles are detailed in a volume en- titled Memoirs of Mrs. William Veitch, Mr. Thomas Hog, of KH- team, and Mr. John Carstairs ; and issued by the Committee of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland for the publication of the works of Scottish Reformers and Divines : Edinburgh, 1846. Concerning tlii.s Covenanting saint, Wodrow, is quoted at p. G4, as say- ing, "that great, and I had almost said, apostolic servant of Christ, Mr. Hog." P. 89. j\Ir. Hog, uniting with one or two other persons (whom he frequently em])loyed on extraordi naiy occasions), sets apart a day for fasting and prayer, on behalf of an insane young woman : he then, on the next day, wrestled in prayer until " she recovered her senses, and became as quiet as ever she was be- fore." A daughter of the Laird of Parks is taken with a high fever, and her life despaired of Mr. Hog prays for her, when the fever instantly leaves her, and she is restored to health." A child of the Rev. Mr. Thomas L^rquhart is " at the very point of death." Mr. Hog prays, and the child is restored to health. " A like instance is found in his diary, with respect to a child of Kinmun- dy. One David Dunbar, in a state of insanity, wanders into Mr. Hog's house. Mr. Hog bids him sit down; and saying to those present, "The prelates have deprived us of money wherewith to pay physicians, we will therefore use the Physician who cures freely :" " he then commanded the distracted man, in a very so- lemn, awful manner, to be still," and prayed for him, when ''he was im- mediately restored to his right wits." P. 90. Mr. Hog goes to see '' a gracious woman in great extremity, and sad distress of both body and mind." He prays for Jier, saying, '* O Lord, rebuke this tentation, and we, in Thy name, i-ebuke the same." '* She is immediately restored to en- tire health both of body and mind." Mr. Hog was also a proj^het, fore- telling with certainty future events. For example — P. 99. A funeral procession came to the church door intending to buiy the corpse within the church. Mr. Hog being op|)OHed to this " vulgar superstition," put his back to the church door to prevent their entrance, when a voung fellow laid violent hands on Mr. Hog to pull him from the door. Mr. Hog then foretold to the people present, that they "should see the sudden repentance of the young man, or a signal judgment be- fall him ;" which accordingly hap- pened a few months afterwards, he having been stabbed in the body, "so that his bowels buret out and he died most miserably." ' Mr. Hog being engaged at family 73 worship in a private house, observes a servant man laughing once and again. Mr. Hog preilicls, saying, that the servant " shall be visibly and suddenly punished, and shall ask for our prayers when he cannot have them." Which accordingly hap- pened that very niglit ; for the ser- vant having been takmi suddenly sick, cried bittei-ly for Mr. Hog's presence and prayers, but died before the latter reached his I'oom. Mr. Hog sent word to King James II, that if he (the king) did not sud- denly repent of his Popery, '- the land should spew him out ;" which accoi'dingly came to pas.s. When Mr. Hog was ])ut out of his parish, he foretold that he should be long prevented from returning, but should live to be recalkiil, and to die there ; which iilso came to pass. He foretold the glorious Revolu- tion of 1G88, and the coming of William Prince of Orang(s with the great public deliverance wliich fol- lowed. Being a prisoner in London, and his money having failed, a mysteri- ous stranger, " of much maje.sty and sweetness," visits Mr. Hog, comforts him, and supplies him with the needed money. The stranger re- fuses to tell his name ; retires, and is never seen or hiard of more. Wm. Balloch, a gracious man, inclines to think the stranger was an angel. Such is a specimen, only a speci- men, of mii-acles by or on behalf of modern Protestant saints of the Pres- byterian or Covenanting order ; and 1 think that we may challenge the Roman Catholic Church to shew a 10 more creditable record for any one of their saints of modern times. But what say the ministers of the Free Presbyterian Kirk anent these miracles 1 They have published them to the world by their highest authority — the General Assembly — and are therefore responsible for their truthfulness. Mr. Kennedy, Free Kirk minister of Dingwall, advo- cates such miracles in his book — ■ rhe Buys of the Fathers of 2iosS' shire, — and maintains, (pp. 282, 283) that it is only because modern Chris- tiuns have " backslidden " from God that such miracles are not performed in our times. A Roman Catholic would simply say that it was a want of faith. But our Lord himself says (Matt, vii ), '* Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord. Lord, lu?/e we not prophesied in Thy na).e? aiil in Thy name done manv wonderful works]' And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; de- part from Mo. ye that work iniquity." "Judge not, that ye be not judged." III. Prui/ers 1o or for the Dead. With regard to praying to or for the dead, it would be unjust, I be- lieve, to charge with such practices one or other of the Protestant de- nominations speciidly referred to in these lectures. There may be, how- ever, among them exceptional cases — persons of peculiar views or scnti- Igc in such practices, but Protestants generally, including the Church of England, are agreed in the belief that prayers offered either to or for departed souls are unscriptural and grossly supersti- tious. 74 ^: Yet it has been charged iguo- rautly against the English Church that she teaches, in the Litany, to pray for the dead in saying, " Re- member not, Lord, our oflfencos, nor the offences of our forejnlhera, neither take thou vengeance of our sins." Now, if such a charge does not a?'ise from ill-will, it can only come from ignorance of Holy Scripture whence the i)rayer is derived Common sense might teach that if Church of England people jivayed for the dead, they could not be so unkind as to pray merely for their dead fore- fathers, but would also pray fo? other dead relatives, such as dead wives, husbands, children, brothers, feistei-s, and even friends, neighbours, and enemies. But this they never do. Tlirobatiou the equally bitter Dr. McCrie in reference to the expurga- tion of the burial service of the Engli.sh Church : — " All expressions in the service which involved prayers for the dead were either expunged or .^o/tened: but the practice of reading, or singing, or praying, over the dead was continued, and thus the false and dangerous idea that this service was in come way or other available to the per- son interred, was fostered." But what would the Westminster divines, or the Covenanters and Puritans, or the Pleaders, and Dr. McCrie think if they saw and heard the doings and the goings-on of their professed followers in this our day and country ? Presbyterians and Congregationalists, as well as Bap- tists, have not only reading, pray- ing, and singing in the house where the dead corpse lies, on the day of burial, but also have prayer, and sometimes reading or singing also, both in the church and over the dead body when laid in ti)o grave ! And what would these old Covenan- ters and Puritans say or think, if they but saw and heard these modern Presby terians, C ongregation a 1 is ts, Ba})tists, and Methodists, as mem- bers of some secret societies, commit- ting to the grave the body of a deceased brother, with ceremonies which fairly outromanize Rome itself in ritualism ! What with reading and i)raying over the dead body ; and the marching arotind the grave, and the dropping of this and that into it ; and the Romish surplices and scarlet of some of the officials ; and the clasping and joining of liands and the crossing or raising of arms above the head — it is truly marvel- lous ! And not less marvellous are the words addressed by ay ofVicial, perhaps by a Presbyterian, Baptist, or Methodist minister, to the dead man : " Friend and brother, we bid thee a long, a last farewell. Thou art at rest from thy labours : mai/ it he in holy peace." And then all the Protestant brethren respond, " Amen, so mote it be." Now that is precisely what the Ro- mish priest and people do ! The priest prays for the dead man, say- ing, "Requiescat in pare, may he rest in peace," and the response is, " Amen," which means, so mote it be. But the Church of England, in 77 her Buriul Service, sanctions no such prayei-8 for the dead. She neitlior addreHses the deceased, nor prays /or the peace of departed believers. On the contrary, she afGrms, in the Bu- rial Service, that ' ' they who die in the Lord are blessed ; they rest from their labours ; they live with God ; and that they are with the Lord in joy and felicity." She, indeed, offers the prayer that ** we, with all those that are departed in the true faith oj His holij name may have our j)erfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in his eternal and everlasting glory." But this is not a prayer for souls in unhappiness, or in want of peace. If it can be con- strued into a prayer for departed souls at all, it must be for those who are now *' in joy and felicity," and for whose spiritual welfare our pray- era are not required. We know that the bodies of departed believers are not yet in the enjoyment of perfect conoummation and bliss, (Rom. viii. 23 ; 1 Cor. XV.), and we may, per- haps, warrantably plead God's prom- ises in reference to the resurrection and glorification of such bodies, aud their reunion with the souls of the departed saints. Nevertheless, it ap- pears to mo that the prayer in the Burial Service is not a prayer for the dead at all, but for oureelves ; that loe may enjoy what deparied saints are now enjoying in heavt n, and are certain of enjoying in the future, namely, }>erfect consumma- tion and bliss both in body and soul at Christ's second coming. It is Hubstuiitially the same prayer that we offer in the Te Deum, that we " may be numbered with the saints in glory everlasting ;" as also that other petition which we offer in the l\ayer jar the Church militant, that *' we may be partakers of the heavenly kingdom with tho.se who have departed this life in the faith and fear of God." LECTURE V. Cruel and bloody persecutions. I intend to speak only of com- paratively modern persecutions by those who bear the name of Pro- testant Christians : and here it may be as well to exempt from all blame, in at least bloody persecution, the de- nominations called Baptists, Quak- ers, and Methodists, and restrict that charge to Presbyterians and Congregationalists. We have to re- member, however, that there are other forms of cruel persecution be- sides that which is called bloody. Evil speaking, or slander, or insult, injustice, and such uncharitable treatment on account of diflference in religion, as is intended to lead to loss of character, or worldly pro- perty, may well be regarded as per- 78 secution ; and we cannot exempt Baptists and Methodists from all blame in that kind of it. Indeed, the Church of Enghmd siiffers all the year round from the slanderous attacks and unkind treatment of both Methodists and Baptists, as well as of Presbyterians and Con- gregalioualists, — a well-knowr fact, wliich need not be further noticed. But confining our observations simply to what is commonly called cruel persecution by Presbyterians and Congregatioualists, we might ea.sily occupy a whole lecture, or in- deed ii dozen lectures, instead of a few brief paragraphs, with the re- cital of the cruelties perpetrated by these two sects under the name of religion People who read only such Church history as is written by Presbyterian or Congregational authors, are quite naturally led to suppose that tlie Covenanters were a holy, humble class of men, the true friends of religious liberty, harmlt'ss towards those who differed from tliem in religion, and that they were persecuted for righteousness' sake : and as for the Puritans, that theii- greatest fault Wius beiug riglite- ous overmuch ! True history, how- ever, tells a totally diilerent tale The Covenanters were, and .still are, what are calleil, "The True Blue Presbyterians." and they derive their name from having subscribed a bond, covenant, or agreement to extirpate Pojjery, prelacy, tisurpa- tion, heresy, «.Vc., and they bound themselves '• with all faithfulness to endeovour the discovery of all such aa liave been, or sliall be in- cendiaries, malignants, or evil in- struments, by hindering the refor- mation of religion, dividing the king from his |)eople, or one of the kingdoms froTu the other, or making any faction or parties among the people, contrary to this league and covenant ; that they may be brought to public trial, and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences sha'.l require or deserve." It may be necessary to exj)lain, that there had been in Scotland one or two such covenants signed before this, having the same ends in view, and one of the ends which the chief Covenantei-s, namely, the nobility and lauded gent.y, had in view, was the appropriation to their own use of the lands and other revenues of the bishops and clergy of the Episco- pal Church. Hence they agree to extirpate prelacy, that is,' Episcopa- cy, or the order of Bishops IJeresy means any kind of religion diflerent from the Presbyterian. Mfiti^/innts, are all those whose consciences will not allow them to believe in Pres- byterianism, or sign the League and Covenant ; and Inccndinries, mean such persons as dare to preach or teach anything contrary to this new- fangled style of rational n-ligion called Presbyterian Coveiiiiniing. Moreover, it must be noticed that all Covenanters bound themselves to be detectives and infoiinere against tlxwe who thus ilift'ered from them, that such Malignants iis Kpis- copalians might be brought to con- dign punishment ! The document called the LeagUf and (\iVe/ur.'it, and which Lawa(m, the (Scottish 79 % nr Id, ne re I Church historian, well describes as "infrtmoiis, intolerant, and blood- thirsty," was drawn up, and issued for signing, by the Presbyterian min- isters and elders, in their General Assembly, held at Edinburgh, in the year 1643. Having been sanctioned in Scotland, it was sent up, in the same year, to England, where it was signed by the Westminster Assem- bly of Divines, and by both Houses* of Parliament, and all the peo|»le imperatively enjoined to sign it un- der the penalty of being (lenounced, and punished as Malignants ! How did this covenanting system worL when it had thus full power and authority 1 Let us, impartially look at its doings and fruits during its golden age. An eye-witness, namely. Sir Ewcn Cameron, of Lochiel, who was trained up religioualy as a soldier, in Cove- nanters' ways, by the chief of thetn, namely, the Duke of Argyle, and having seen so much cruelly and ra- pacity among them, withdrew from their evil ways, thus descinbes the influeuc ■ of the system in Scotland between the year 1G39 and the time of Cromwell's occtipation of tlie Kingdom. He calls the Covenant- ers' system, •• the most cruel tyran- ny that ever scourged and affc^cted the sons of men." He tells us that — " Tlie jiiila were cramnieil full of inno- cent people, in order to furuNIi our gov- ernors with blood siicrifices wherewith to feiiHt their eyes: the scutlolds dnily BHiiiked wiiii the blood of our b^st pntti- Ots ; iinarehy swnyed with an uncontro ■ \erted KUihority ; and uviiriee, cruelty', and revenue seemed to be ministers of State. The boucn of the d( ud were dig- ged out of their gniveH, iind their living friends were coiupellcd to ransom them at exorbitant snras. Such as they were pleased to call 3lalignant» were taxed and pillaged at diitorttion ; and if they chanced to prove the least refractory or deficient in payment, their persons or estates were seized. The CommUlee of the [^Pr/'sbyterian'] Kirk sat at the helm, and were supported by ft small number of fanaticiil, [persons] and others, who called themstelves the CommUteeof the Estates, h\i\. were truly nothing else but the barbarous execution- ers of their [the Presbyteri in] wrath and vengeance. Every parish had a [preach- ing] tyrant, who made the ^reatcHt lord in his district stoop to his authority. The kirk was the place where he kept his court ; the pulpit, bis throne or tribunal, from hence he i.ssued out his terrible de- creeo, and twelve or fourteen sour, igno- rant enthusiast.s, under the tide of Eiders, composed his council. If any, of what quality soever, had the ns-nrance to dis- obey his edicts, the dread/'u! sentence of excomiiiuuication wus imnn'diately thuu- dered out again-it him, his goods and chattels confiscated and seized, and him- self being looked upon as nctually in the possession of the devil, and irretrievably doomed to eternal perdition All who con- versed with him were in no better e.steem." — Memoirs of Lnchiel, in Liiwsun'.s llntlory of the Kpheopal Church of Scotland, pp. 063, 654. What I have quoted is a summa- ry, the details of wliich would fill a volume of horrors, compared with which such books as T/ie ,Scotfish Warfhi'es and T/ic Chmd of Wit- nest^fK, would dwindle into compara- tive insignificance. Think of such historic facts as the following given in the Mrmoirs of the kindlioartcd />'.r/j/p/.— " John Novay, wlio is ap- prn])riately styled 'a bloody ])reach- er,' seconded by ArgyU^, perstiaded the Covenatiting General, Tjeslie, to disarm the wretched ]»easantry of Cantyiv, and put them all to the sword without mercy. Tliese do- fenceless ]U'ople had suhinittcd to these tyrants on promise of life and liberty. But the preacher's advice 80 is followed ; and while the honid butchery is going on. Leslie sees Ne- vay and A rgylc coolly surveying the carnage. Leslie himfcif is struck with horror, and ceasing the bloody work, when too late, exclaimed to the preacher— ' Well, Mess-John, have you not, for once, got your fill of blood r These words saved eighteen persons who were carried prisoners to Invei-ary, whore they would have been allowed to starve in the dungeons of the unfeeling and troacherous Argyle. if Lochiel had not visited them daily, and secretly convi'yed to thein pro- visions." Think of the doings of the .same intolerant, unmerciful, and blond-thirsty wretches, "after the defeat of the Marquis of Montrose, at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, in 10 -Jo." The massacre of the pri- soners taken in that engagement is an indelible atrocity on the ann.als of Scottish. Covenanting Presbyterian- ism. The principal slaughter was of defenceless and unresisting prison- el's who had .sought and obtained quarter. The Covenanting j)reach- ers complained of quarter "given to such wretches as they, and declared it to be a)i act of moyt ;,inful imjiiety to spare them." The Covenanting nobles and their general, David Leslie, complying with the preachers' wish, let loose the army upon them in the courtyard of Newark Castle, and ci'.t tl.em all in pieces. The preachers actually justified this mas- sacre by adducing the case of A gag and the Amalekites, and other allu- sions to the Old Testament, by which they enforced the duty and lawful- ness of their bloody work. In addi- tion to the slaughter of the prisoners, hundreds of the unfortunate victims of Covenanting tyranny, men, to- gether with their wives and sucking children, were thrown headlong from off a high bridge and drowned in the river beneath " — (See Lawson, with mUltorities cited, p. G47). Hether- ington, the Presbyterian Kirk his- torian, glibly glosses over the.se horrid cruellies, merely remarking that " he dots not think it necessary to occupy sp:ice with them, and has no synqjath}' with those who luxuri- ate over tales of wholesale butchery." The same author, however, can aftbrd unlimited space to empty declamations in favour of the Cove- nanters, and ho can luxuriate over the tales of their real or sujiposed sufferings with wearisome repetition and particularity of detail. But, because of his insane opposition to the Epi.scopal Church — the true, historic church of the country, — he refuses to express the least sympathy for th' unparal'ed sufferings of its pious heroic members, both men and women, who, becau.se they could not conscientiously leave the apostolic church, or become rebels against their lawful king, submitted to im- prisonment, loss of property, and death itself in its most appalling forms. But great is the truth, and it is now prevailing in Scotland, in spite of dishonest historians. We were speaking of the golden age of Covenanted Presbyterianism, and have had a glimpse, a mere glimpse, of its intolerant and cruel proceedings in Scotland, let us catch -.i hu. 91 y rip • I A also a gliuipso of its doings iu Eiigl'iud duiiiig the same period. I quote from a most impartial publication, namely, the Rev. B. B' Edwards's Encijclopedia of Jieliyious Know- ledge, edited by the Rev. J Newton Brown. Under the word Persecu- tiott, the Encyclopedia notices the persecutions by Jews, Pagans, Roman Catholics and Episco[)alians, and then proceeds thus : — " Nor were the PieHbytcriuns. when thfir gdveriiment came to be estnl)H''lit'd in Eiiffliiud. free from tlid cliiirge ot' per- secution. In 10 15, iin orJiiiiince was pub- lis^hcd, Hubji'Cting all wlio preached or wrote itpainst the Presbyterian Directory for Public Worshiptc a tine not exceedini; fifty pounds ; and imprisonment for a year for tiie third olfenco, in using the Episcopal lionk of Common Prai^er, oven in a private family. In the followirif; year the Presbyterians (implied to Parliament to enforce uniformity in religion, and to ex- tirpate Popery, prelacy, heresy, scliib^iu, Ac, but tlii'ir petition was rejected; yet, in I (14^, the itrliament ruled by them, published an i, 104")), imp'siiig a fine of five pounds f..r the first offence ; ten pounds for the Hecond, and a year's 11 imprisoninont for the third, on any one whit in n church, chapel, or eren private bouse, should nse the prayer-book ; and all prayer-books remaining in churches and clinpels. were ordered to be given up to the oommittees of counties. Such were the tolerant principles of those abhorrers of the despotism of (Archbishop) Laud," The same Parliament appointed a committee to enquire into tiie life and doctrine of the Epi.scopal min- isters throughout the kingdom, that is, to a.scertain whether the clergy were Covenanter.s, Calvinists, dis- loyal to the king, and in other re- sjjects conforming themselves to the decrees of their parliamentary ty- rants. This committee, or holy office of Covenanting inquisition, ejected, turned out nearly two thou- sand clergymen, their wives and fatnilit.'s from the livings and parson- ages of England. Why ] Because they were Nonconformists ; they would not, could not conform to the new religion — a religioti wliich neither they nor theii fathers ever believed in. (Covenanting jneachers were placed in their stead. One half of the professors and fellows of the Univo.'.sity of Cambridgi^, were also ousted for nonconformity to the will of the Coveiiatiters, and their places supplied by t'le interested frieinls of the new tyranny. (See Keighth'y, p. 145.) Miiciulay, in his History of Eng- land, vol. I. pp 17. 48), says of the English Covenanters : — They proved as intolerant and as med- dling as ever L-md liad been. They inter- dicted, nmlc" heavy p unities, the use of the IJ())k of t'lminon Prayi-r, noi only in churches but ovmi in private hnuies It was a Clime in a cliihl to reail by ihe bed- side of I sick parol. t, one of those beauti- ful coiI'>cts which had soothed tin; giiefs 83 of forty generations of Christians. Severe punishments were denounced against such as iihould presume to blame the Calvinis- tic mode of worship Clergymen of very respectable character were not only ejected horn their benefices by thousands, but wre frequently exposed to the outrages of a fanatical rabble. * * * Christ- mas (in England) had been, from time immemorial, a scacon of joy and domestic affection ; the season when families assem- bled, when children came home from school, when quarrels were made up, when carols were heard in every street, when every house was decorated with evergreens, and every table wiis loaded with pood cheer. At that senson the poor were admitted to partake Inrjrely of the overflowing.^ of the 'zenith of the rich. The Long (that is the Covennriting) Parlia- ment gave orders in l(J44,tlint tlio twenty- fifth of December, ylioiild he htrictly ob- served !i.sa fast; niid tlmt nil men should pas- it in liumbly bi'iiioniiing tlie groat niitioiial sin whicli they iind their fore- fathcr.s had so oitcii connuitted by romping under the mistletoe, CiUiiig boar'e head, and drinking ale flavoured with roasted apples !" Keiglitloy may well say as he does, p. 102, ill reference to the Covenant- ing i»reaclief.s in England, that " in their yx-al t'ov uniformity, hatred of toleration, lust of power, and tyran- nical exercise of it, the Presbyterian clergy fell i:othing short of the pre- latic party who had been their ])er- secutoiH." The \inha])py victims of Covenant- ing tyranny iu Scotland and England were much indebted to the milder tyranny of Oliver Cromwell for a niitigatioti of their sufferings ; and need we v, ondor, when monarchy was restored in the i>erson of Charles II., and with it the rights of the ancient Episcopsd Church iti England, that acme two thousand Covenanting intruders into church parsonages, in that country, should be turned out, and the lawful inctimbents of par- iHhes restored to them, and to the enjoyment of those dwellings from which they had been so long exclu- ded by the injustice and rapacity of Covenanting interlopers. And need we wonder that during the reigns of Charles II. and James TI. Episco- palians in Scotland should shew but little leniency towards those blood- thirsty tyrants who, in the day of their power, ignored all the prin- ciples of justice and toleration, and who looked upon mercy to Christ's oppressed members, not na a Chris- tian duty, but as a crime to be pun- ished with the severest penalties ! We cannot but pity the Covenanters when we read of their sufferinjrs. We cannot but admire their j)atience and their courage. Doubtless they thought, as Saul of Tarsus did, tlvat tliey were serving God while perse- cuting his church ; but although thus deluded thoy were not the less, like Said, bloody jiers(;cutors. and if called on to suffer persecution themselves they could not, in strict justice, have much reason to com- plain. Their League and Covenant not oidy ignored toleration, but pro- hibited it, and compelled them to persecute. Many years of sad ex- ])erience had no effect in curing them of their folly and wickedncs.i. Kv n when the Revolution ;'-'«v ,'l. uieut under William, tl)«' I^inceoi UriniiS had granted to the Presbyti si ■•' o'" Scotland tht; property and privilef,;;::< belonging to the national Chv.ivh, the old cruel persecuting spirit again shewed itself while dei)riving the Episcopal clergy of their lawful pos- sessions. Macaulay dtsoribes their doings 83 on Christmas-day, 1688 — "the bet- ter day, the better deed." He says : " On Christmas Day the Covenanters held armed musters by concert in many parts of the western shires. Each band marched to the nearest manse, and sacked the cellar and larder of the minister, which, at that season, were probably bettir stocked than usual. The prieet of Baal was reviled and insulted ; sometimes beaten, sometimes ducked. His furniture was thrown out of the windows ; his wife and children turned out of doors in the snow. He was then carried to the mar- ket place, and exposed during some time as a malefactor. His gown wn.s torn to shri'ds over his head ; if he had a pra^ jr- book in his pocket it wns burned, and he was dismi^8ed with a charge, never, as he valued his life, to officiate in the parish again. * * * 'fhe disonlcr spread fast. In Ayrshire, Clydesdale, Nitliisdale, Annandale, every parish was visited by these turbulent zealots. About two hun- dred curates — so the Episcopal purish ministers were called — were expelled. The graver Covenanters., while they ap- plauded the fervour of their riotous bre- thren, were apprehen.sive that proceedings BO irregular might give sciindal, and learned, with especial concern, that here and there an Achan had disgriice'l the good cause, by stooping to plunder the Canuanites, whom he ought only to have smitten," &c. At the Revdlutioti, in 1088, I'res- byteritinisin became the religion eHtabli.shed by law in Scothmd, but the " covenanted work of reforma- tion " was scouted as incotupatible with the Con.stitutionof the Ivingdom, and was even denounced in the Pres- byterian General AH.seniblies, (Law- son, p. 880). Yet the virus of that fanatical aud malignant syHtom still continues to lurk in Pro.sbyterianism. As late as 1709 the uiso of the Book of Common Prayer in Scotland was vi.sited with civil penalties, and it was only tolerated by law so lato as the year 1719. It is not long ago that an Er '^iC'')'. ' minister iti Scot- land could iut !''g.t!"y preach to more than four persons at a time without subjecting himself to heavy penalties. Thus the pious, learned, and genial Rev. John Skinner, after the year 1745, was imprisoned six months for preaching to more than four persons. (^C/uimbers's Cj/clop. of Eiuj. Lit. p. 128 ; EiuUc's J'Jccles. C'^r/o/). p. 244). And Dr. Thomas Houston tells us in his Mrmorift/ nf C(nv)iantiuij, pp. 71-78, that both the United Presby- terian Church aud the Free Church in Scotland contain respectable mi- norities of ministers and members who recognize the descending obliga- tion of the Solemn League and Cove- nant, and .vould gladly carry out its principles at the present day. More- over, the many books now issued by the Presbyterian Boards of Publica- tion in praise of the Covenanters and their deeds, sliew that the blood- thirsty and intolerant spirit of the Covenanters, instead of being dead, is reviving and working for evil among us. Without noticing the doings of*. • Independents or Congregationalisi/S in England, during Cromwell's time, let us glance vX their conduct in the United States where their system of religion was for a long time fully developed and enjoyed unrestrained liberty. They made laws in Con- necticut and elsewhere, commonly called 'Bliin Law.s," among which were the following, which I copy from the public prints, (Cubottrg Sitii, December 4th, 1809) :-- - " No one i»hall be a freeman, or give a vote, unless he be a member in full com- miuiion with one of tlie churches (that is, congregation,".) allowed in this dominion. "No lodging or food shall be offered to a Quaker, Adamite, or any other heretic. 84 " If any person turns Quiiker lio shall be banished ; and if he returns he shall suffer death, " No priest Hi-all abide in the dominion : he shall be banished, and .sutfer deatii on his return. '* No person fhtxU run on tlio Siibhath, or walk in the garden or -elHewiiere— ex- cept fervently to and from n>eetin|^ ''No fer.'*on shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, shave or cut hair on the Sabbath. "The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday. " No person sliall read Common I'rai/er, keep Christm'is vr saint's day. make mince pie.", play cauls, dance, or play any kind of music, except the trumpet or Jew's hnrp. '•No miui!!ter shall join people in mar- riage: the magistrate only shall join people in marriage, as they may do it with less scandal to Christ's Church" We learn from the records called the Massachusetts Historical Collec- tions, and such authors as Gougli, Savage, Sewell, and Felt, that these intolerant laws were eufoiced with the utmost rigor. Fines, imprison- ments, branding the naked body with red-hot irons, whipping, cutting off the ears, boring the tongue through, public ex|)osure in a cage, fastening the limbs, and exposure in the stocks, banishment from the set- tlement, and hanging, were the com- mon pciiialties inflicted on persons who dared to diilor in religion from those much applauded Pilgrim Fathers, who are popularly sujtposed to have been the pioneers and cham- pions of civil and religious liberty in the United States. I hearti, not long ago, a lecture by a ch'rgyman, jiroving and illus- trating, from llio histdi- cal records referred to, all that is liere advanced, Of the long, black list of cruelticB perpetrated by these Pilgrim I'uri- taus, and of the principles on which they acted, I was able to make only a few hasty jotting.s, which I here present, believing them to be, for the most part, substantially correct: ''ThPi Pilgrim Fathers assert very strongly that toleration in religion is a sin, and is a curse to a Clirisrian commu- nity. "FINES. " For needless absence from public worsiiip five bhillings ; in another place, ten shillings. For spraking against a minister, five pounds. For refusing to surrender a heretical book, five pounds. The fini'S exacti'cl, from diffei't'iit per.-^on^, at one '.ime. amounted to one hundrud and sixty ..ine pounds, ten shillings This amount was levi'.-d mostly from Quakers. "Roger Williams, a Baptist minister, was banished. Philip Kadclifi'e, a l' ; but by the month of Deoeinher the prisons are ng.iin fond to be filled wiih the victims of Puritanical intolerance and per!n." Let these things stiffice for proof that Romanism and Episcopalianism hav<; not been the only persecutors of Christians, '* O," bome person will say, "these are old atlaiks ; neither Presbyteri- ans nor Oongregationalista ara guilty ing 85 of such intolerance and cruelty now- a-days," "Very well," we reply, " let by-goiies be by-goncH ;" let us hear no more lanientfitions over the memory of persecuted Covenanters : no more declamations in sermons and speeches against the cruel men who livod in the roigns of Charles I., Charles IT., and James 11 Away with your books and {»ainphlets, and periodicals which are continually rak- ing lip the real oi- supposed mis- deeds of preliitists who lived two hundred years ago. Tliese are old things. Prelatists do not persecute now. Let us cry quits. Lot by- gones be by-goiies ; or if not, there can oidy l)e nuitual recriuiiiiation unto th(! bitter end. (jireu lip I') Stiowj Deliitiiins to brliiv n lAv. In '1 Tlic^s. ii. 11, we read, "God shall send them strong delusion, that they shoiild believe a lie." Protestants generally affirm that these awful words apply particu- larly, if not exehisively, to Itoman Catholics. I i»eed not quote Scott, BlooMifield, Doildridge, MoKnight, and other,'-, who are all of tliis opinion. But, alas ! it can be easily shown that this passage of Scrip- ture is ecjually a{)plicable to Pres- byterians, Baptists, Metlioilists.Cum- minsit«!s, I'lymouthites, atid many other Protestant sects. The delu- sions and lies believed by these de- noniinatio!is are so numerous and varied that there is great dilfieulty in knowing where to begin, which to select, and where to end, so as to give a fair specimen of them. As it is much more easy to tell or state lies briefly than to I'efute them, I can only afford space here to specify a few of them, and in few words in- dicate the truths by which such lies may be refuted. Common lies, among the Protest- ant denominations, are, Tiiat the visible Church of Christ is not one organized body, having rulers and rnled ; but that it includes all the sects called evangelical, which, from time to time, have left it, and which fight against it. That these sects are parts of the Holy Catholic Church. 1'hat (.'hrist ha3 promiicd to be with sects which have left His Church, and to be in the midst of ov»-n two or three bitter sectarians who meet, as they imaj^ine, in His name. That the Holy Ghost teaches and leads pc'ople to leave the historic Ciiurch ; to resist the autho- rity of its divinely appointed rulers, aiiJ to attempt its overthrow ; and, tint schism is no sin, but, on the contrary, a Christian duty and pri- vilege, and is very beneficial. That the promises of grace and salvation, recorded in th<» Bible, are made to jjeople and belong to people who have left the Chui'ch ; and that we can be quite sure of the pardon of our sins and of heaven hereafter, although wo remain outside of the hibtoric Church of Christ. Now, the New Testament teaches UH that the Church of Clirist is a unity. Every term, title, or name by which it is mentioned in the Scriptures, shows it to be one thing, and not several unconnected and an- tagonistic things, such as the sects are. It is the family of God, the 86 kingdom of God, the one fold of Christ, the one body of Christ, and that body so thoroughly organized that every member has its own office, and all the members are members one of another. It is organized by having rulers and ruled, all under Christ. The apostolic ministry and apostolic faith are essentials of the true church j if one or other be wanting, it cannot be the Church of Christ. The apostolic ministry, especially the apostles or bishops> have been, during these eighteen hundred years past, the visible centres of the church's unity. It is the duty of the private members to obey those who are set over theiu> and it is only those who continue in fellowship witli the chief rulers of the church, that continue in the church's unity. All true bishops are bishops of the whole church throughout the world, even as the ajjostles were all apostles or bishops (Acts i. 20,) of one and the same church. To this one only Church of Ciirist God has given the Holy Scriptures with all the promises of grace and salvation recorded therein. The Romans, Corinthians, Ephesi- ans, Philippians, &:c., to whom the New Testament epistles were di- rected, were all members of this one only church. So also were given to the church all other parts of the Bible. The members of the chul^'h, .ind they only, are the heirs of pro- mise. Therefore, sucii people as do not belong to the church, or who leave the church, have no right to a single promise of Scripture. They may have printed copies of God's will and testament, namely, the Bible, and may read even devoutly what is therein promised ; but they cannot lay claim to what is promised, they not being heirs. "God adds to the church such as shall be saved," as we are told in Acts ii. 47 ; and indeed God instituted the church for the very purpose of gathering all into one loving brotherhood, for the purj)ose of training them to- gether for unity in heaven. But if we reject this heavenly institution, and take up with some rival institu- tion, some human invention, or sect, or society .instead of Chi'ist's C!hurch, then we can have no assurance of salvation, or of |)ardon of our sins, or of heaven hereafter. Christ has promised to be with His church alway, even unto the end of the world ; but it must be IJt's Cf lurch, not a sect fight- ing against it. Chinst has pro- mised to be in the midst of two or three who gather together in His name; that is, by His authority, in accordance with His laws, and lor His glory, as all Protosta?it com- mentators tell us. But schismatics hold their meetings in opposition to His authority, in violation of His laws. They are not with Him, but against Him : they are not gather- ing with Him into His Church, but scattering abroad, and therefore have no promise from Christ to be in the midst of them. To say that the Holy Ghost teaches or inclines peo- ple to leave the historic Church of Christ, seems exceedingly like the awful sin against the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit Himself tells us 87 l.tJy expressly that they " who separate themselves from the Church, have not the Spirit."— Jude 19. The world is fillfid with religious lies and delusions, and the greater part of them arise, probably, from mis- taking t'ae mere feelings and i)as- sions of our fallen and sinful nature for the motions of the Holy Gliost in the soul. See Quakerism, Mor- monisni,Quietism ; epileptic and hys- teric 1 affections in excited religious meetings ; the retirement into her- mitages and monastic cloisters ; the self-imposed bodily tortures ; the fervid worship addresstxl to saints and angels, and tiie oxtutic enjoy- ment arising from imaginary fellow- ship with theui ! All tliose who are deluded with such things are sup- jjosing themselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, whereas they are led by their own passions and inuigina- tions. I heard Mr. Gallagher, the Cumminsite, say in Toronto, that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Evangelical Alliance, at New York, which led Dr. Cummins to leave the church, and to begin his present crusade against it. Tlie truth is, that there were many " seduc- ing spirits " in that meeting of the so-sailed Evangelical Alliance, ans in the passages, while, all over the congregation, heads could be seen jerking backwards and for- wards, and flying from side to side, as if ready to fly from their should- ers. And all this was ascribed to the presence of the Holy Spirit, who absolutely forbids such unseemly conduct and confusioc. in the as- semblies of Christians, >wd requires US to " do all things decently, and in order !" Dr. Cummins, Mr. Gallagher, .J .jHlTTjIMIn 88 Mr. Cheney, nnd miiny other so- cnlletl chMgy of their sect, having been depoHed from their ministry, are no longer clergymen or minis- ters of Ohri-it's Chnrch. Mr GiiUii- gher talks glibly of lieli'iving with the Church of Rome and Church of England in "the indelible char- acter of the clergy," or '• onco a clergyman always a clergyman." But the truth is, that neither Ro- manists nor Protestants, worthy the name, believe that when a man is deposed by lawful authority in tho church he has any longer any power or authority to act as a minister. Binghani (b. xvii.) and all others who have written on tho diseipline of the historic Church of Christ, prove that such dep./scd men, as Messrs. Cummins, Gallagher, and Cheney, are degraded to the rank of mere laymen ; and that having left the church they have not even the rank of church laymen, but are by their own act strangers and aliens to the commonwealth of Israel. Dr. Cummins, the founder of the new sect, was an assistant bishop, but is now neither bishop, presbyter, nor deacon. He was a steward of the mysteries of God (Titus i. 7), but •was foi-nd to be an unfaithful stew- ard (1 Cor. iv. 2), and therefore by divine authority has been put out of the stewardship, so that he is no longer steward (Luke xvi). The same divine authority which put him into the ministry, has seen fit to deprive him of the ministry, so that he is now not even in the same position as he v as before being or- dained to the office of deacon. He has neither part nor lot, even as a layman, in the kingdom or Church of Christ. And yet this deposed stew- ard is going about among his Lord's debtors pretending that he has still authority to act officially in the church, and claims to be received into their houses as though he were yet one of our Lord's true and faith- ful stewards 1 Ts ho sincere in thinking himself to be yet a bishop '^ Then he is given up to a strong de- lusion to bolieve a lie, and so are all who belitn'e aiul follow him. Let nobody supjiose that I am singular in holding these views concerning the deposition or degradation of min- isters, for these views are held sub- stantially by Presbyterians, Ba])ti.st3, Congregationalists, and Methodists. If the doctrine here set forth be not the truth, then ordination is a farce, and the most solemn deposition is a farce equally contemptible, and is without effect. The CuTuminsitc preachers profess to have a great horror of sacerdotal ism or priesthood, and have, there- fore, I understand, taken the words priest and sacrifice out of their prayer-book. They may well, in- deed, leave out the word prient, in- asmuch as they are not even lay 2)riesta, as all members of the church are (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9) ; but Messrs. Cummins & Co., to be consistent, should cease to do officially those priestly acts which, in a previous lecture, we shewed were per- formed by the ministers of tho.so various religious bodies, that are for- ever crying out against sacerdotalism. These pretended reformers forcibly remind in Peter Romish ii., p. *')5 remind me of a question and answer in Peter Den's Theology — the most Romish of all Romish books. Vol. ii., p. 05 ; — " Q. What if any one should bo asked whether he be a priest, a monk, or a biDhop, is ho bound to confess? " A. No; because such titles are certain accidents of religion, and, therefore, by concealing them, a man is not thought to conceal anything esitential to the fui'.h, whtrtfore he who should deny himself to be a prieit [for example) when he really is one, only tells a mere official Ite," Let the Cumminsite and other preachers beware of telling this ** more official lie." It is a lie that leads IIS to the suspicion that if they are not indeed Roman Jesuits in disguise, they are at least disguised Jesuits of the Protestant kind. The following are also common delusions and ties among Mtihodists and others, nam(;ly : That John Wesley belonged to a sect called Methodists ; that he left the English Church ; that he was put out of the Church ; and was 'persecuted chiefly by the Church of England ; that he set up what is called the Methodist Church ; that he ordained ministei-s ; that he began what is called the Ei^iscopal Methodist Church, by or- daining Dr. Coke to be a bishop . that Mr. Wesley did not like the Prayer Book or services of the Eng- lish Church ; that he advised his lay preachers and the members of his societies to leave the Church of Eng- land ; and that people will be more pious, and be surer of getting to heaven by leaving the church, and uniting with some Methodist society ; that Episcopal Methodists have not sham, but real bishops ; that Primi- 12 tivo Methodists are the sort that Wesley belonged to ; that the modern Methodists are the same good, holy, humble peo[)le that they were before Wesley died in 1791 ; or before thoy left Wesley's beloved '"hurch of England ; that Methodist meeting- houses are churches : and thiii .Meth- odist preachers \re Christian niinis- tei*s or clergymen, to be called Rev- ercnds, having authority to preach and administer the sacrameiitH, al- though Wesley told them to the day of his death, that they wore not ministers, but more laymen, and that if they dared to administer the sacraments, they would bo guilty of the sin of Korah, Dathan, and AbL- rani. The following are common Bap- tist (/elusions or lies, namely : That the Bible represents the outward ceremony of baptism as a dipping or immei-sion ; that beoaTise we read of some persons to bo baptized, going down to or into the water, they were therefore plunged, dipped, or wholly imniei'sed in it ; that infants have no God given right to bo admitted into the kingdom or church of Christ, and cannot be born into God's family or church by the baptism of wattr and the Iloly Spirit. Vhereas, the truth is, that in those ])a sages of Scripture where the mode of baptism is indicated, it is not dipping but pouring or sprinkling. For exam- ple—the "divers washings (in the original Greek Testament, divers baptisms), of Heb. ix. 10, are de- scribed in verse 1 3, as the sprinl'ling of blood, and also the sprinkling of the water of purification vhich was i .V >> 'Vi^V /^ ^j*" ■> 7 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I L£|28 |25 15.0 w^^ IHHB Lo 12.0 It! I L25 MIU 11.6 I Photographic Sciences Corporation ^ -e ^\4 4&0 % ^ \ .V S> 4^. ^-^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ i\ ^ ^ 6^ 90 mixed with the burnt ashes of the red heifer, of -vhich we read in Numbers xix. And in Mark vii. 4, and Luke xi. 38, we read of the Jews washing (in Greek, Ne\y Tes- tament, baptizing) their hands and household furniture, which we know from 2 Kings iii. 11, and Numb, xix, was done by pouring and sprink- ling. The Jews, however, had an idea that baptism was most perfectly performed in a running stream, be- cause by standing to about the knees in the stream, and having the bap- tismal water poured on the head, it cleansed the body of its ceremonial impu"ity, and was then carried away by the stream, so that the i)erson, did not come out of his own cere- monial defilement, but was considered perfectly freed from it. Hence the Jews, when it was practicable, '' went down into the water." — (See Armsti'ong, Taylor, (kc, on Baptism, and the Baptist Commentator, Dr. Gill, on Acts ii. 41.) Jesui was displeased with those who would have kept in- fants out of his kingdom ; but he tells us that the only method by whicii we can enter that kingdom is, being born of water and of the Spirit — a kind of birth which the infants of the church have enjoyed ever since the days of the Apostles, as all true church history testifies. But here I must end these Lec- tures. I would fain have noticed the delusions of Presbyterians, — as for example, their imagining or be- lieving that the Scotch Culdees were Presbyterians ; that Presbyterian elders and Presbyteries, with their mode of public worship, are of the same kind as those mentioned in the New Testament ; and the fiction of their preachers being clergymen, reverends, lawfully ordained, and having authority from John Knox to be ministers of the gospel ; the fact being, that John Knox had no such authority to transmit, and never laid his hands on any man for ordi- nation. But these delusions, with those of Congregationalists, Plym- outhites, &c., are unpleasant things to contemplate any longer, and I dis- miss them. But I would be wanting in my duty to the Protestant denomina- tions, and wanting in duty to the Church of England, were I to omit noticing a gross delusion in which many chui'chmen themselves are in- volved. The delusion is this, that the Church of England in Canada, is going headlong into Romanism and Ritualism ! I ask for the proofs ; 1 demand, where are they ? and echo answers " where ?" I enquire of the 500 Clergymen of the dioceses of Huron, Toronto, Ontario, Montreal, and Quebec ; and I enquire of the twice as many congregations to which these clergymen minister, and there are only pointed out to me .some three or four solitary 'congregations where any resemblance to Romanism or Ritualism can be found ; and the chief of these is supposed to be the Church of the Holy Trinity in To- ronto! How unjust to blame the whole church for the misdeads, if u:isdeeds they be, of a few excep- tional cases. It is not my duty here either to defend or to condemn what is done in these few exceptional con^ i. is-: 91 !o8e falsehoods against the church rfCu commonly called Uoman- „ it than any other Protestant lem an it, tnau ^.i j bodv in the country. Let not the followers of Dr. Cummins deluae *r»elves or others with the ,dea that they are now more eefr^m --^.'■^^-rrhtyhar;-!- ir::X cull* Prayer td mav convince any nnpreju- !wm"nithatthenewOan>mm.^ L old Church priest, eMept that to tMe is somewhat lengthened, and r !lready noticed, that he -s com- as aueau> " ' « ^\.p tvue nletelv deprived now of t"*." pletuj V Cunimn>s\te niiest's authority. ll>c ^'U ^veacher^umes the same reWiJ Lard God and toward the p^op^ .Mchotherpri»ts».*^.-2^ ^"T::1 of rilly -/which the sacerdotal oi ^n^ j -r<„„ij,nd ^toist^rs of the CV«c^ '^J-^land I"?" !fi> X he, indeed, denies PrmapHy ''7 ",'.„ ••priests" that Christian »'"«'<^» "! . ^ „y„h facts] namely:— The Cumminsite preachers pre . a U> have official authority m tend to nave ^^^^ the church because they na oriainc.o.con«ecra.«^(p.572).tha^ is they have been separated fiom ^cuJlife. and have been given^ or dedicated to God to serve H^ in the holy ministry. They are, LrXe, relatively *o(.-(»-;^ ^,, or, as the W.ns wo^'^^ them, sacerdotes, or the Greeks, Itl. When, therefore, they* Lte in a dedicated or consecrated lldi^, they are hy profess^n eoually with the Jewish pnests, Trnple") Matt. xii.8,-holy men m SVhouse, Vf^f^^^ '''-'^rarrci— e'tiie:- ars not all tni' '^^ , r^ ers" ordained in like manner to be .iwtPrs or deacons, by bishops. V^-^^y'^f^ ,, ^, to the laying on oMiand. engage m pnestly woik not in the same sense, as the 1 evs," a royal priesthood tf^Lmandmen^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ f 78^ Why sbould the preachers, (p. 7»). >^ "J . riipnev, Galla- Mpssrs Cummins, bheney, Messrs. ^ some- ^'"'•''"r^wlS'beUevers"^ times, and allow then take their turn m the pul „hancel,soa».«.hear.thegoP rodrr:rr;e:;j^p-^ hood I Are so-called in the same sense as then Christian ^^^^^'^L^ or sacrifices sacerdotal or P^^.^^^^^ ^J i„„ eonse- which consists m dedicating 93 ci'ating, or giving up to God either persons or tilings. So these Cum- minsitc priests must have somewhat to offer: Heb. viii. .3. So they " consecrate or dedicate churches or chapels" to God (p. 581). They dedicate, ordain, or con.^ecrate men to God as bishops, presbyters, ov deacons — living sacrifices! They dedicate infants or adults in baptism (pp. 496, 502.) — also living sacri- fices! They take "the alms" of the people, and " ofier them unto the Divine Majesty," (p. 85,) — which alms St. Paul calls a sacrifice : Heb. xiii. 16. And these Ciimminsite priests take also bread and wine for the Holy Communion, and not only pi'esent over them unto God "a prayer of consecration," but also per- foT-m upon them ''an act of conse- cration '' (p. 99), which can mean nothing else than presenting, offer- iug, or making a sacrifice of the bread and wine unto God ! We ask again, why not allow the laics — the believing people — to perform such sacerdotal or priestly acts as these % Are they not in the same sense as their ** Chviatian ministers, a I'oyal priesthood 1" The granting or declaring of abso- lution or the remission of sins is also considered to be a sacerdotal or priestly function. The Cumminsite priests have left out the word abso- lution from their Prayer Book, and have changed the Declaration of ibsolution, in Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, into a prayer for pardon. Great reformation ! Yet, with marked inconsistency, and with something like priestcraft, they per- sist in using similar declai*ations of absolution to penitent sinners, in the introductory sentences to Moi'n- ing and Evening Prayer, and in the Comfortable, Words of the Holy Com- munion I Besides, they persist in giving sacramental absolution, assu- ring parents that Christ will receive and bless their infants in baptism (p. 497), and assuring adults in bap. tism that, if they repent and believe, "God grants unto them the remis- sion of their sins !" (pp. 504, S'^'o), So also in the Holy Communion (although they have presumptuously pretended to improve our Lord's language in the administration !) they act the priest in giving that which "preserves the body and soul unto everlasting life," which neoes- sai'ily includes the remission or abso- lution of sin by virtue of Christ's sacrifice. Why are not the Cumminsite be- lievers allowed to administer the communion to Messrs. Cummins, Cheney, and Gallagher, and other- Avise grant these fellow ])iiests the absolution, or as they call it, p. 498, the I'elease and forgiveness of their sins ] Are not all the Cumminsites in the same sense, '' a royal priest- hood f But these Cumminsite preachers also undertake to bless the people in the name of the Lord, and they call this kind of blessing a benedic- Hon, p. 69. Now, this is a tho- roughly priestly act. The blessing pronounced by the Pope or a bishop, or a priest, is supposed to be of value, and is an important element in sacer- dotalism. St. Paul tells us, Heb. vii. V the 1 Now, arrog pries else pron cons the and hoo If occ 93 Z U t blessed of the bettev." l„d of Mevio. q«.My »ud .. >t Tf „„t wliv do not the iOT.=lie.s "ecltlwU. or bow theU. heads to veeeive the benediction fro-n the to leteiv Q believeva, who ave in he sam a, the Christian minutera, a royal other 'iueon,istoucies and o™«o this new sect, and especially their *;Vi""orance, it not hypocrisy in Tn-^g the language nsed m the ordlnatiou of pnest. ''\^''\ of England. But a >vovd to the wise is sutficient.