The Mystery of Iniquity Unveiled

THE

MYSTERY OF INIQUITY UNVEILED.

THE

MYSTERY OF INIQUITY UNVEILED;

OR,

POPERY UNFOLDED -:AND REFUTED, AND ITS

DESTINATION SHOWN IN THE LIGHT

OF PROPHETIC SCRIPTURE,

IN

SEVEN DISOOURSES,

BY

CHANDLER CURTIS .

.. Every plant wluch my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rootedUp.n-MATT. xv, 13-

BOSTON:OROCKER &; BREWSTER.

1866.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by

CRANDLER CURTIS,

In tbe Clerk's Office of tbe District Court of the District of Mll8sachusetta.

OBO. C. RAID It A YS.T,

STJ:aaOTTPJ: ItS A3D PRIST.as ..

TO

PROTESTANTSo F EVE R Y DEN 0 MIN A T ION.

THESE DISCOURSES,

Showing the Nature, E1ToneouSM8S,AND

Destination of Poperq,

ARE VERY RESPECTFULLY AND

AFFECTIONATEVY

DEDICA.TED"

BY

PREFACE.

WHEN, many years ago, I first began to be acquainted

with the erroneous doctrines of the Roman Catholics, being

struck with their manifest opposition to the Bible, I felt de-

sirous that other persons also, who were as ignorant of them

as I had been, might be informed concerning them. Hence

I was led to speak of them sometimes, incidentally, in my

public ministrations. And 1'Y thus speaking of them, I was

led to write of them, in order to assist my memory. and that

my statements and representations might be all perfectly ac-

curate. And by thus writing something, I was led to write

and add more, from time to time; and in this way the manu-

script has been enlarged, from a few loose pieces of paper to

seven discourses .

. In preparing these discourses, I have endeavoured with all

fairness and candour to exhibit, as comprehensively and prom-

inently as possible, along with their refutation, the almost

innumerable erroneous doctrines and practices of the Bomaf

Catholic church; as well as to show, from the propheticalvu

vm PREFACE.

Scriptures concerning that church, in other"words concern-

ing popery, what its destination is; that so my readers, as

having in a manner the whole thing from end to end pre-

sented to view before them,"may become so thoroughly ac-

quainted with the soul-destroying errors and abominations of

Roman-Catholicism, that they may be led carefully to beware

of them; that they may studiously avoid them; be stirred

up to [abour and pray for the conversion and salvation of the

deluded Romanists; and be encouraged to expect the speedy

and certain and final termination of the Roman antichristianpower.

These discourses have been, and they are still, intended

especially for the common people. And yet, I am not insen-

sible that it may possibly seem to some as if the unlearned

reader were regarded with too little consideration when, here

and there, some things are introduced in a language other

than his own mother tongue. Our own mother tongue is

indeed the language for us all to use, principally, in writing

or reading or speaking; but I find it to be no easy"matter

either to write or to speak of the Latin church, by way of

exhibi~ing her errors, without being obliged to make some

use of foreign languages, especially the Latin; for the reason

that her standard writings, (from which, in showing what her

tenets are, one must needs quote,) are mostly printed and

published in the Latin language. But, as to all such quota-

tions as are not of our own vernacular tongue, whether from

PREFAOE. IX

the Latin or from any other foreign language, so far as they

appear in the present work, it is proper to say that they are

generally and with few exceptions translated into English.

May the blessing of him who has graciously enabled me to

write this work attend it in its circulation. Amen.

CHANDLER CURTIS.WESTlllINSTEB, MAss., Jan. 10, 1866.

CONTENTS.

DISCOURSE I.

THE ARROGANT CLADIS OF 'rItE ROMAN CATHOLICS RELATIVIIi TO

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 18

DISCOURSE n.THE UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ~'HE RO~IAN CATHOLICS RELA-

TIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH ee

DISCOURSE m.THE ERRONEOUS SENTllIfENTS OF ~'HE ROMAN CATHOLICS RBLA·

TIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS • '11

DISCOURSE IV.

THE IDoLATROUS WORSHIP 011' THE ROlllAN CATHOLICS. 187

DISCOURSE V.

THE DECEPTIONS OF THE ROHAN CATHOLICS • 2i7

XII CONTENTS.

DISCOURSE VI.

THE INTOLERANCE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS • • 306

DISCOURSE VII.

THE DESTINATION OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM • 3GO

THE

MYSTERY OF ~IQUITY UNV}llLED.

DISCOURSE I.

THE ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE RO!lAN CATHOL~C8 RELA-TIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

2 TRESS. II. 1-12: .. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LordJesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soonshaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nur by wurd, nor by Ietteras from us, as that tbe day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive youby any means: for that day shall not come, except there come n faUlngaway first, and tbat man of sin be revealed, tbe SOn of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or tbat Is wor-shipped; so that tie, as God, sitteth in tbe temple of God, showing himselfthat he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet witb you, I toldyou these things W And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might he pcrevealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: onlyhe who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And thenshall that Wicked be revealed, whom tbe Lord shall consume with thespirit of his mouth, and shall destroy witb the brightness of his coming:even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power andsigns and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousnessin them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, thatthey might be saved. And for this cause.God shall send them strong delu-sion, that they shonld believe a lie; that they all might be damned wbo be:lieved not the truth, but had pleasure in tinrighteousness."

WHEN the Apostle Paul wrote his second epistle to theOhristians at 'I'hessalonica, they were seen to be in dangerof falling into a great practical mistake in thinking" thatthe day of Christ," the day of judgment, was then "athand." Relatively to such an erroneous opinion, therefore,the apostle earnestly exhorted them not to be troubled." Now we beseech you, brethren, {nrep Tilt; 1rapovaiat; respect-ing the coming of our Lord Jesus Ohrist, and by ourgathering together unto him," says he, "that yo be not

18

,14 ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS,

soon, shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit,nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day ofChrist is at hand. Let no man deceive you by anymeans; for that day shall not come, except there comea falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, theson of perdition," &c. •

The language of the apostle here is prophetical. Iunderstand, the passage, as do Protestants generally, ashaving its fulfilment in the Roman Catholic church. Theapostle here speaks of what he calls " (,rroGrooia, the apos-tasy. Doubtless some very great apostasy is intended.And where has been this very great apostasy but in theRoman Catholic church? "Doubtless many apostasiesoccurred, in the primitive ages, under different heresiarchs:but, all the circumstances of this prediction were neververified, except in that departure from the faith, and thatusurpation and spiritual tyranny connected with it, whichtook place by means of the church of Rome: and themanifest absurdity of all other interpretations; as clearlyshown in the controversies of those who contend for oneor another of them against their opponents, abundantlyproves this. No apostasy of equal magnitude and dura-tion, no delusions equally pernicious and abominable, havetaken place, since the apostle's days. The imposture of

• Mohammed alone can be at all compared with it, andthis could not be here intended: for that impostor and hissuccessors were not placed 'in the temple of God,' the'visiblechurch, but without it, and in direct opposition tothe very name of Christianity; they propagated their ~delusions mainly by the sword, and not by 'lying mira-cles; , and indeed the impieties of Mohammed neverequalled the blasphemies here predicted." (Dr. Scott'sExplanatory Notes, in loc.)

With this view of my text, then, our attention is di-rected to the Roman Catholic church. In discoursing onthis subject, I propose to consider the claims of the Ro-,Fan Catholics relative to the Christian church J' theirrule of faithJ' their sacraments / their worship / theirdeceptions j their intolerance / and their destination, i.e.the destination of their church J' in other words, their ,popery, otherwise appropriately called Romanism, orRoman Catholicism.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 15

This first discourse will be devoted to the considerationof the arrogant claims of the Roman Oatholics relativeto the Ohristian church, And I observe here,

I. That the Roman Catholics claim to be the motherchurch~' that is, that their church is the mother of all otherChristian churches. Thus, (relative to themselves as achurch,) their style of speaking is, "The holy Catholic andapostolieal Roman church, the mother of all churchee " -Sanctam Catholicam et apostolicarn Romanam ecclesiam,omnium ecclesiarum matrem. ( Creed of Pope Pius IV.)"The holy Church -of Rome, the mother of all churchee"(Oatechism of the Council of Trent, translated by Buck-ley, part II., chap. VI., quest. vi. edit. Loudon, 1852.)

Let us examine this claim of the Roman Catholics,For a church to be the mother of all churches implies,

1. That it exi ted prior to all other churchee ; in oth rwords, that it is the most ancient of all cl~urclI.C8. Thill,we know, in behalf of th ir church, ornuu Catholicclaim: and hence the pretended priority, and COllS quontantiquity, of their church, are a perpetual boast in everyone's mouth, through all their ranks, in their discussionswith Protestants, especially in these our days. ""Vell,suppose it to be as they pretend, that they were the firstChristian church, having an antiquity made up of all the

. time that has elapsed since the first Christian church wasplanted, what then? Do not churches sometimes becomedegenerate and fall away? and is it not notorious of theRoman Catholics that they are a fallen church, whoseapostasy has been of long standing, and is most deplora-ble? What, then, avails their antiquity, or their so muchof boasting about it?-But is it so in fact, that the churchof Rome was before all other churches in christendom?Which was the first in being of all the Christian churches?Every reader of the New Testament knows, that it was thechurch in the city of Jerusalem," properly dated from the

... The Church at Jerusalem was the jirlft CHRISTIAN church; andconsequently, the boast of the Church of Rome is vain and unfound-ed." - Dr. A. Olorke:« OfY1Tlme:ntary, Acts viii. I.

" The first of all the Christian churches founded by the apostles wasthat of Jerusalem." Dr. Mosheim's Ecdesiasticai History, (translatedby Dr. Murdock.) cent. i., part. i., chap. iv. § 5.

16 ARROGANT OLAIMS OF THE ROM.4.N OATHOLIOS

day of Pentecost, A.D. 33. Acts ii. 41-47. Where wasthe church of Rome at that particular time? Nowhere:for, as yet, no Christian person had visited the city ofRome to carry the gospel thither. To inquire no further,

. then, here if! the historical fact of one Christian church,at a time when the church of Rome had no visible exist-ence.

For a church to be the mother of all churches im-plies,

2. That all other churches originated from it. But isit true that all other churches originated from the churchof Rome? Besides the church at Jerusalem, as we readin the New-Testament writings, there were the severalchurches in Judea (Gal. i. 22); one of no small note atAntioch ill Syria (Acts xi. 26); those of Galatia, Ephesus,Colosso, and others in Asia Minor; one at Corinth, severalin Macedonia and in other parts of Greece (2 Cor. viii.1); besides which, we know not how many more there-were even in those early times of the apostles, in varionshouses and towns and countries, of greater or less consid-eration, some of which are particularly mentioned (Rom.xvi, 5, Col. iv. 15, Philemon 2, 1 Pet. v. 13). Which ofall these originated from the church of Rome? Not oneof them, as all understanding readers of the Scripturesknow.· It is true' that many churches, as well as indi-vidual persons, have, from time to time in the past, sepa-rated themselves from the church of Rome; but this isnothing to the church of Rome's honor, for the reason oftheir separation from her communion was her abominablecorruptions.

II. The Roman Catholics claim to be the mistressOhurch / that is, that their church is the mistress of allother churches. Thus, in speaking of themselves as achurch, their customary style is, "The holy Catholic andapostolical Roman Church, the mistress of all churches"-omnia ecclesiarum magistram. (Pope Pius's Oreed.) "The

• The fact is, these churches all originated from the OhUl'ch in Jerusa-11'1Il. " This was the original, the mother churCh of Christianity j not theChurch of Rome; there were Christian churches founded in many places,w:hich CX}~tto the present day, before Rome heard the gospel of thekingdom. Dr. Clarke'3 Commentary,A.cts xi. 22.

RELATIVE TO THE CHIUSTIAN CHURCH. 17

holy Church of Rome, the mistres.s of all churches."-(Oatechism of the Oouncilof Trent,p. 305.)

A mistress i one that governs. For the Roman Catho-lics to style their church the mistress of all churches,therefore, is for them to say, in one form of saying, plain-ly, that it possesses authority to exercise government oyerall the churches in christendom. See what high notionsthey entertain of their church's authority!I remark here,First, That all the authority and power claimed by the

Roman Catholics for their church are, according to them-selves, vested in their supreme officer, the pope.- So ofcourse then, the supreme government must be vested inhim. Accordingly they claim for their pope,

1. A primacy. The primacy of the pope properlymeans that, in point of ecole iastical station and dignity,he is thejirst bishop. In the earlier ages r the church,such a primacy was acknowledged in the bish p of hom ,in consideration of its being the imp rial city, Theyclaim for their pOI,e, .

2. A supremacy. The supremacy of the pope origi-nated under the ill-obtained favour of the wicked empe-ror Phocas, That monster of a monarch was prevailedupon by the bishop of Rome, Boniface III., to conferupon him, by imperial decree, the title of universal bishop.This title had been assumed by John, surnamed the Fa t-el', bishop of Constantinople, and it had been confirmedto him and his successors by a council held at that placein the year 588 (Bower's History of the Popes - Pe-lagius II). Pelagius II., the bishop of Rome at that time,had remonstrated with him against the use of so impropera title. The next suoceeding pope, Gregory the Great,had repeatedly remonstrated, loading the. title with allthe names of reproach and ignominy he could think of;calling it 'vain, ambitious, profane, impious, execrable, anti-Christian, blasphemous, infernal, diabolical;' and applying

- The name pope is from the Greek word rr"1I"a papa, which signiticfather. It" was anciently common to all bishop'; but was afterwards,by a. special decree of Gregory VII. appropriated to the Bishop ofRome.' Bower's His/my Of the Popes, Vol. I. P: 27, edit. Philadelpld.1844 j 3 vols. 8vo. .

2

18 ARROGANT OLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

to him who assumed it, what was said by the prophetIsaiah of Lucifer, Isa. xiv. 12, 13, &c. But no soonerwas Boniface vested with the papal dignity, than he wasall prepared to seek from the unprincipled emperor Pho-cas that very objectionable title. And, by his flatteries,he pot only prevailed on the tyrant to revoke the decreesettling the title of 'universal bishop' on the bishop ofConstantinople, "but obtained, what no man would be-lieve could have ever come into the thoughts of a succee-

'SOl' of Gregory to demand, were it not vouched by all thehistorians to a man; but obtained, I say, a new decree,settling on himself, and his successors, that very title,which his immediate predecessor but one, and, of all hispredecessors, the best and the greatest, had so often con-demned in any bishop whatever, and rejected, with theutmost abhorrence,when offeredto himself, as 'vain, proud,profane, impious, execrable, blasphemous, anti-Christian,heretical, diabolical.' Boniface could not but know, thatthe controverted title had been thus stigmatized over andover again by two of his predecessors successively, Pela-gius II. and Gregory; that whoever should give it to, orapprove it in another, was declared by Gregory a heretic;and that whoever should presume, in the pride of hisheart, to take it to himself, was by the same great popedeclared' a follower of Satan, a rival of Satan in pride,and the forerunner of Antichrist.'· All this Bonifacewell knew; but so inconceivably great was his ambition,so utterly unbridled was his desire of exalting his see,that, rather than to let slip the favorable opportunity thatnow offered, and might never offer again, of raising ithigher than it had ever yet been, or, in the opinion of hisown predecessors, ought ever to be, he chose to stand con-demned, out of their mouths, as a 'heretic,' as a 'followerof Satan,' as ' a rival of Satan in pride,' as ' the forerunnerof Antichrist.' And thus was the power of the pope as

. universal bishop, as 'head of the church,' or in other

.. In a letter to the Bishop of Constantinople, Gregory "positivelyaffirms that, 'whoever calls himself universal bishop, or desires to be socalled, in the pride of his heart, is the forerunner of Antichrist; egofidenter dico, quod quisquis se universalem sacredotem voeat, vel vocaride&iden;t, in elatione. sua, Antichristum praecurrit,' are Gregory's ownwords.' Bouer's History of the Popes-Po Gregory, post medium.

RELA.TIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 19

words the papal supremacy, first introduced. It owedits origin to the worst of men; was procured by thebasest means, by flattering a tyrant in his wickednessand tyranny; and was in itself, if we stand to the judg-ment of Gregory the Great, 'anti-Christian, heretical,blasphemous, diabolical.'''· (Bower's History of the.Popes-:« Pope Boniface III.)

"It is an article of the Roman Catholic faith, that thePope has, by divine right -1. A supremacy of rank /2. A supremacy of jurisdiction in the spiritual concernsof the Roman Catholic church; and B. The principal au-thority in defining articles of faith. In consequence ofthese prerogatives, the pope holds a rank splendidly-pre-eminent over the highest dignitaries of the church; hasa right to convene councils, and pre ide over them by him-self or his legates, and to confirm the election of bishops.Every ecclesiastical cause may be brought to him, as thelast resort, by appeal; he may promulgate definitions andformularies of faith to the universal church / and wh nthe general body, or a great majority of het· prelates, haveassented to them, either by formal consent, or tacit as-sent, all are bound to acquiesce in them. 'Rome,' theysay in such a case, 'has spoken, and the cause is deter-mined.' To the pope, in the opinion of all Roman Catho-lics, belongs also a general superintendence of the con-cerns of the church; a right, when the canons provideno line of action, to direct the proceedings; and, in ex-traordinary cases, to act in opposition to the canons. Inthose spiritual concerns in which, by strict right, hisauthority is not definitive, he is entitled to the highest re-spect and deference." Rev. J. M. Oramp's Text-Bookof Popery,chap. XII. pp. 309,310, n. 52, edit. New York,1831.

The supremacy of the pope, properly viewed and un-derstood, is an arbitrary, despotic, and uncontrollable

• "It were to be wished the successors of Boniface had been satisfiedwith the title, which he procured them, and even with the power, of un i-versal bishops. But no sooner had they hrought that power to its high-est pitch, than .they began to extend their views, to join insensibly thetemporal to the spiritual power; nor did their boundless ambition allowthem, or the world, to enjoy any rest till they got themselves ncknowl-edged for universal monarchs as well as universal bishops." Bowcr-Bonifar III., in fine.

20 ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

monarchy; in which he, either in person or by his legates,exercises an authority from which popish writers argue hissuperiority even to cecumenical councils, that is, to thewhole church. "By such a superiority," (says Bower,)"those who maintain it, that is, all true papists, mean,1. That the authority of the pope is greater than that ofany council, however numerous, though even composed ofall the bishops of the catholic church; insomuch thatshould such a council and the pope disagree, all men wouldbe bound, on pain of damnation, to abandon the formerand adhere to the latter. 2. That no council can make lawsthat are binding with respect to the pope," or that thepope may not abrogate and annul at his pleasure, let thembe ever so expedient, just, or necessary, agreeably to thefamous aphorism of Innocent III., equally pregnant withnonsense and blasphemy, 'We, according to the pleni-tude of om'power, have a right to dispense with all right;'that is, in other words, we have a right to do wrong, ora power to change wrong into right. And truly Bellar-mine is so complaisant to the popes, as to allow them thatpower; for, according to him, 'should the pope enjoin

• " , The pope and the Lord,' in the statement of Innocent, Jacoba-tius, and Decius, 'form the same tribunal, so that, sin excepted, thepope can do nearly all that God can do.' Jacobatins, in his modesty,uses the qualifying expression nearly, which Decius, with more effron-tery, rejects as unnecessary. The pontiff, say Jacobatius and Durand,, possesses a plenitude of power, and none dare say to him, any morethan to God, Lord, what doest thou 1 He can change the nature ofthinrs, and make nothing out of something and something out of noth-ing. These are not the mere imaginations of Jacobatius, Durand, andDecius ; but are found, in all their absurdity, in the canon law, whishattributes to the pope the irresponsibility of the Creator, the divinepower of performing the works of God, and making something out ofnothing. The pope, according to Lainez at the council of Trent, 'hasthe power of dispensing with all laws, and the same authority as theLord.' This, exclaimed Hugo, 'is a scandal and impiety, which equalsa mortal to the immortal, and a man to God.' An archbishop in thelast Lateran synod, called Julius' prince of the world:' and ~othcrorator styled Leo, 'the possessor of all power in heaven and in earth,who presided over all the kingdoms of the globe.' This blasphemy, theholy, un~rrin,g, Rom~n council heard without any disapprobation, andthe pontiff with unmingled complacency. The man of sin then' sat inthe temple of God, and showed himself that he was .God.' 'Somepopes,' says Coquille, 'have allowed themselves to be called omnipo-tent.''' Dr. Edgar's Variations of Pope)'!!, chap. IV., edit. New York,1849.


vice, and forbid virtue, the church would sin, if she didnot believe virtue to be evil, and vice to be good.' Butthat infamous doctrine was not first broached by Bellar-mine. It was taught long before his time; for cardinalZabarel, who flourished near four hundred years ago,writes, that' in his, and in the preceding times, the popeshad been persuaded, by their flattering divines, that theymight do whatever they pleased, even such things as werein themselves, and with respect to others, unlawful; andso could do more than God himsel£'- 3. In virtue of theabove-mentioned superiority, the pope, how profligate so-ever and wicked, can by no council be judged or deposed.'Should a pope be so wicked,' says. one of the papalcanons, 'as to carry with him innumerable ouls to hell,let no man presmne to find fault with him, or r prov him;because he who is to judge all men, is to b jlldg d bynone.' Such propositions Cannot b heard without hor-1'01': and yet they alone are deemed true Roman Catholi 'Il,they alone are favoured and caressed by the popes, whohold, teach, and maiutain them." (Bower's IIi-story of thePopes-Pope Leo the Great.)

" It is a serted that the pope has not directly and im-mediately, any temporal power; but that, by reason ofhis spiritual power, he may possess, at least inilirectly,

~ -" Equality with the Almighty, it might have been expected wouldhave satiated the ambition of the pontiff, and satisfied the sycophancyof his minions. But this was not the giddiest step in the scale of blas-phemy. The superiority of the Pope over the Creator, has been boldlyan<J.unblushingly maintained by pontiffs, theologians, canonists, and

• councils. According to cardinal Zabarella, 'the Pontiffs, in their arro-gance, assumed the accomplishment of all they pleased, even unlawfulthings, and thus raised their power above the law of God.' The canonlaw declares that, 'the Pope, in the plenitude of his power, is aboveright, 'can chau?e the substantial nature of things, and transform unlaw-ful into lawful. Bellarmine's statement is of a similar kind. The car-dinal affirms that, 'the Pope can transubstantiate sin into duty, andduty into sin.' He can, says the canon law, 'dispense with right.'Stephen, Archbishop 'of Petraea, in his senseless parasitism and blas-phemy, declared in the council of the Lateran, that Leo possessed'power above all powers, both in heaven and in earth.' The son ofperdition thcn 'exalted himself above all that is called God.' Thisbrazen blasphemy passed in a general council, and is, therefore, in allits revolting absurdity, stamped with the seal of Roman infallibility."Dr. Edgar's Variations tfJ Poperg, chap. iv.


supreme power in directing t/~e temporal affairs of allChristiane. in order. to the bestowment of spiritual good.This assertion is illustrated by the following analogy: asman is compounded of flesh and spirit, which, thoughseparate, are closely connected; and the latter rules theformer, so that if the end prop sed by the spirit is hin-dered by the flesh, the flesh must be punished by fasts andother methods, and, if necessary, the tongue be prevent-ed from speaking, the eyes from seeing, &c.- in like man-ner, society is subject to political and to spiritual power, thoend of the one being temporal peace, of the other eternalsalvation. They constitute one body, and the inferiormust be subject and subordinate to the superior. Thespiritual power does not intermeddle with temporal mat-ters, so that the spiritual design is not hindered. But~fany thing of that kind take place, the spiritual power'may and ought to coerce the temporal power, in everysuitable and necessa1'y manner. -' The pope cannot,' saysBellarmine, 'as pope, ordinarily depose temporal princes,although just renson exists, in the same manner in whichbe deposes bishops, that is, as an ordinary judge; yet hemay change kingdoms, and take away from one, andbestow upon another, as supreme spiritual prince, if thesame should be necessary to the salvation of souls?Again -' The pope cannot, as pope, ordinarily enact or

. confirm civil laws, or annul the laws of princes, becausehe is not political head of the church; yet he may do allthis if any civil law is necessa'rlj to the salvation ofsouls, and kings will not enact it- or, if any civil law isinjuriOUS to the salvation of souls, and kings will notabrogate it.' Further -' The pope cannot, as.pope, ordi- •nanty judge in temporal matters; nevertheless, in anycase in which the safety of souls is concerned, the popemay assume even temporal judgment; when, for instance,there is no judge; as when two independent monarchs areat variance - or when those who may and ought to judge,refuse to give sentence.' Once more -' The-Pope may andought to compel all Christians to serve God in that man-ner which their station requires of them. But kings arebound to serve God by defending the church, and punish-ing heretics and schismatics, Therefore the Pope mayand olight to enjoin l.,"ingsto do this, and if they neg·

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIA.Y CHURCH. 23

lect, to compel them, by excommunication, and other suit-able measures.'''· (Cramp's Text-Boole of Popery,chap. xii.)

For their assumed temporal power, the puPIlS owemuch to Hildebrand, alias Gregory VII. " G.egory VII.was the first pope that claimed the power of deposingprinces, of absolving their subjects from tbeir oaths ofallegiance, and disposing, as sovereign lord over the wholeearth, of empires, kingdoms, and states at his pleasure.That such a power was vested in the bishops of Romewas unknown to the world, nay, and to those bishopsthemselves, till the time of this pope; that is, for thespace of near eleven hundred years. Hence the opinionascertaining that power in the pope has, from its author,been branded not only by Protestant, but by many Ro-man Catholic writers, with the name of the Hildebl'andineheresy. And truly 110 heresy, perhaps, ever wa broachedmore repugnant to the example set by our Saviour to hischurch, to the doctrine taught by his apostles, by thefathers, nay, by the popes themselves, and to the practiceof the church in all preceding ages. No heresy everarose in the church more pernicious to the peace, tran-quillity, and welfare of mankind, none that ever occasionedmore conspiracies, insurrections, rebellions, massacres,assassinations; which must all be placed to the accountof Gregory, the first author of that seditious and impiousdoctrine. The doctrine taught by Gregory was greedilyembraced, t and frequently practised by his successors,

• "Rome always has held and still holds the doctrine of its indirectpower in temporal matters, including the right of deposing kings, aswell as releasing subjects from their oaths of allegiance J1nd fidelity;though it dares not now to preach this doctrine openly and still less toput it in practice, deploring nevertheless the perversity of the timeswhich prevents it from doing so." SllObr.rl's Persecutions of Poperf, vol.IL p. 367, edit. London, 1844.

t Pope Celestine III., in crowning Henry VI. of Germany, "placedhimself ill the pontifical throne, and amidst the loud acclamations of thepeople put the imperial crown, which he held between his feet, uponthe emperor's head while he kneeled at the foot of the throne. Thehistorian adds, that he had no sooner placed the crown on the empe-ror's head than he struck it off with his foot, to show, that as he hadgiven him the crown, he had the rower to take it from him, if he. foundhim unworthy to wear it." Bower s History of the Popes -Po Celestine III.

" On the first day of the jubilee {which occurred under the pontificate

24 ARROGANT CLAIJ,rS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

deposing kings, absolving their subjects from their allegi-ance, encouraging rebellions, &c.; and this doctrine theystill hold, as is manifest from their allowing its author ,aplace in their calendar, and their worshiping him as asaint. Ifhis doctrine be an error, it is one of a very highnature, of most dangerous c~sequence, implies greatarrogance, injustice, pride, and ambition, tends to involveevery Christian kingdom upon earth in civil wars, rebel-lions, conspiracies, &c. And how can they who see it inthat light, as many Roman Catholics do, and must conse-qnently look upon the pope as a tyrant and all usurper,nevertheless communicate with him?" (Bower's Historyof the Popes-Pope Gregory VII., vers.fin.)

Such being the assumed temporal and spiritual powerof the pope, it is not strange that his subjects should allbe required to obey him, as they are, according to the fol-lowing oath: "And to the Roman Pontiff, the successorof St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and vicar ofJesus Christ, I promise and swear true obediencer s :«

of pope Boniface VIII.] Boniface appeared, if the abbot of Ursperg isto be credited, in the gorgeons attire of high pontiff, blessing the people,and showed himself to them on the second day in an imperial mantle,two swords being carried before him, and those who carried them cryingout aloud, 'Behold here are two swords,' which was assuming to him-self the supreme temporal as well as spiritual power." Bower-BonifaceVIU. .

• As this is an oath binding upon all Roman Catholics, so is it onewhich all the beneficed clergy in the Romish communion actually take.All Romish priests cspecially then, how strougly must they feel them-selves bound to the pope of Rome! Besides the pope, indeed, is thereany other power on Earth whom they hold themselves in duty bound toobey 1 " It)s now the doctrine of the church of Rome, and has been de-fined by the conncil of Trent, that the clergy are exempt, by divine right,from the power 'if the cioil maqistrate, or the jurisdiction of secular princes(see Bellar. de Cler.I. 1, c. 28); a doctrine, perhaps, of all that aretaught or held by that church, the most indisputably repugnant to thedoctrine of the Scripture,and the Fathers, as well as to the practice ofallnntiquity. St. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, recommends it as anindispensable obligation incumbent on 'evcry soul,' to 'be subject untothe higher powers; and declares, that' whosoever resisteth the power,resisteth the ordinance of God ;' and that, 'they who resist shall receiveto themselves damnation' (Paul. ep. ad Rom. c. 13); which is declaringall, without distinction or exception, bound, on pain of damnation, tobe subject to the superior powers. The apostle speaks here of the'minister of God,' who' beareth the sworrl; , and consequently of the

RELATiVE TO THE CHfllSTlAN CHURCH. 25

Romanoque Pontifici, beati Petri, Apostolorum Princi-pis, successori, ac Jesu Christi vicario veram obedientiamspondeo, ac juro. (Pope Pius's 'Creed.) .And this obedi-ence to the pope, is by the papists held to be universallynecessary to salvation. Accordingly pope Beniface VIII.,in his bull called Unam. Sanctam, says, "1,Ye declare,determine' and decree, that it is absolutely necessary tosalvation, that every human -being should be subject tothe Roman pontiff: Porro subesse Romano pontifici om-nem humanam creaturam, declaramus, dicimus, definimuset pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis." (Dr.Mosheim's Ecclesiastical IIistory, cent. XIV., part II.,chap. II., § 2, n. (2).)

Besides the preceding oath of the creed of pope Pius,there is another called tho "EPISCOPAl. [or l)iR11OP'SJ OATflOF ALLEGIANCE TO THE POPE. 'I'his oath, in its ontentsand object, is Loth 1cmporul and spiritual, doctrinal noelpractical; it is tho ccclci iustico-politi 'al ncknowl dgmcntof soverei21ty :1l1(1 suprcruucy in the p rsou of tho ucc s-SOl' of St. Yeter, thc ioielder of the two 8W01-Cls. The de-cree of Boniface Vlll., that it is necessa1'y to saioationthat eve1'y creature be subject to tlte Roman poraiff; is rec-ognized and adopted by this oath. The oath is imposednot only on archbishops ami bishops, hut on all who re-ceive any dignity from the pope. The following is a lit-eral translation of this oath -' I, N., elect of the churchof N., from henceforuard 10ill be faithful and obedientto St. Peter the apostle, and to the holy Roman Chu1'ch,and to mer lord, the Lord No, Pope No, and to his sue-

civil, not of the ecclesiastical powers, as hc has been ridiculously under-stood by some of the popes, pretending that, by the above-mentionedwords, he inculcates obedience and subjection to the bishop, especially

. to the first bishop, his holiness the pope. St. Peter seems to have beenas great a stranzer us St. Paul to the immunity of thc clerjrv, or theirexemption from'"the secular courts. For he too exhorts all Christians •

• the clergy not excepted, to' submit themselves to evcry ordinancc ofman, tor the Lord's sake ; whether it be to the king as supreme. or untogovernors. as unto them that arc sent by him.' PLI. ep. 1, c. 2, ver, 13."Bower' s History of the POpfS-P. Fclir Ill.

Iti not too much to assert, that no dUBS of people under heaven,holding such a doctrine 8.S the above, and being bound hy oath in ohe-dience to the pope. can be depended on 8.S proving true in their allegi-ance to any governmcnt, cxcept that of Rome.

26 ARROGANT CLlll1lIS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

cessors canonically entering. I will neither advise, con-sent, nor do any thing that they may lose life or member,or that their persons may be seized, or hands in any viselaid -upon them, or any injuries offered to them, under anypretence whatever. The counsel with which they willintrust me by themselves, their messengers, or letters, Iwill not knowingly reveal to any to their prejudice. Iwill help them to defend and keep the Roman papacy,and the reqalitie« of St. Peter, saving my order, againstall men. The legate of the apostolical see, going andcoming, I will honorably treat and help in his necessities.The rights, honours, privileges, and authority of the holyRoman Church, of our lord the pope, and his aforesaidsuccessors, I will endeavour to preser,e, defend, increase,and advance. I will not be in any counsel, action, ortreaty, in which shall be plotted against our said-lord.iandthe said Roman Church, any thing to the hurt or preju-dice of their persons, right, honour, state or power; andif I shall know any such thing to be treated or agitatedby any whatsoever, I will hinder it to my utmost, and, assoon as I can, will signify it to our said lord, or to someother by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rulesof the holy Fathers, the apostolical decrees, ordinances, ordisposals, reservations, provisions, and mandates, I willobserve with all my might, and cause to be observed byothers. Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord,or his forespid successors, I will to my utmost persecuteand oppose. I will come to a council when I am called,unless I be hindered by a canonical impediment. I willby myself in person visit the threshold of the apostlesevery three years; and give an account to our lord andhis foresaid successors of all my pastoral office,and of allthings any wise belonging to the state of my church, tothe discipline of my clergy and people ; and, lastly, tothe salvation of souls committed to my trust; and I willin like manner humbly receive and diligently execute theapostolic commands. And if I be detained by a lawfulimpediment, I will perform all the things aforesaid by acertain messenger hereto specially empowered, a memberof my c~:tpter, or some oth~r jn ecclesiastical dignity, orelse having a parsonage, or, ill default of these, by a priestof the diocese; or, in default of one of the clergy [of the

REL4TIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 27

diocese] by some other secular or regular priest of ap-proved mtegrity and religion, fully instructed in all things

. above-mentioned. And such impediment I will make outby lawful proofs to be transmitted by the aforesaid mes-sengfr to the cardinal proponent of the holy RomanChurch in the congregation of the sacred council. Thepossessions belonging to my table I will neither sell, norgive away, nor mortgage, nor grant anew in fee, nor anywise alienate, no, not even with the consent of the chap-ter of my church, without consulting the Roman pontiff.And if I shall make any alienation, I will thereby incurthe penalties contained in a certain constitution put forthabout this matter. So help me Gael, and these holy Gos-pels of God.''' (.Dr. Elliott's Delineation of RomanCat!wlicism,'book I., chap. I.)

"This oath of temr rnl and spiritual vnssalnge i bini/in.,!upon the whole 'ruling order in tho eccl siastical monaI' 'hyof Rome. It is the oath taken hy th ..Roman Oatholiobishops 0'£ America."· Ibid. By it we may IW howmiserably slavish is the condition of' the clergy of theRoman Catholic church, and how inconsistent their obli- ,gation to the pope is with their duty to civil rulers; inother words, bow utterly inconsistent it is with fidelityand allegiance to any good government under which theymay live.

Secondly, All the authority and power claimed by theRoman Catholics as vesting in the pope, are by themheld to be derived from our Lord Jesus Christ, throughSt. Peter. They hold that Jesus Christ, when on earth,constituted the apostle Peter his vicar J' in other words,that he constituted him, next to himself, the chiefpastor over all his flock; thus making him the head of thewhole Christian church. They hold, as plainly expressedin the words from pope Pius's creed, and as equally plainlyimplied in those of the Episcopal oath, just now recited,that the pope is St. Peter's successor, viz., in the see ofRome; consequently that the pope, after St. Peter, is thevicar of Christ J' in other words, that he is the principal

• The original Latin of this oath lOay be seen in Dr. Elliott's De-lineation of Roman Catholicism,ubi supra.

•

28 ARROGANT CLALIIS OF rue RO"1[AN OATHOLICS

pastor over all Christ's people in this world; head of theuniversal Christian church; "universal bishop." lit

Let us examine this pretension of the Roman Catholics,of their popes deriving their power and authority fromJesus' Christ, through St. Peter, as his successors.

1. Are the popes the successors of St. Peter in the seeof .Rome? To suppose them to be so, is to supposeSt. Peter to have been once bishop of Rome; but wehave no knowledge that he was even ever at Rome at all."That St. Peter was at Rome, that he was bishop ofRome, we are told by tradition alone, t which, at thesame time, tells us of so many strange circumstances at-tending his corningto that metropolis, bis staying in it, biswithdrawing from it, &c., that, in the opinion of everyunprejudiced man, the whole must savor strongly ofromance. Thus we are told, that St. Peter went to Romechiefly to oppose Simon, the celebrated magician; that,at their first interview, at which Nero himself was present,he flew up into the air, in the sight of the emperor, andthe whole city; but that the devil, who had thus raisedhim, struck with dread and terror at the name of Jesus,whom the apostle invoked, let him fall to the ground, bywhich fall he broke his legs. Should you question thetruth of this tradition at Rome, they would show youthe prints of St. Peter's knees in the stone, on which hekneeled orr this occasion, and another stone still dyedwith the blood of the magician. The Romans, as we are

'" "By the decree of the Council of Florence, A.D. 1439, it was or-dained as follows: • We define that the holy apostolic see and the Romanpontiff have a primacy over the whole world, and that the Roman pon-tiff hi.mself is th.c successor of St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, andtrue VIcar of Christ, and that he is head of the whole church, and the fatherand teacher of all Christians; and that to him in St. Peter was dele-gated_by our Lord Jesus Christ full power to feed, rule, and govern theuniversal church; as also is contained in the acts of general councilsuq,d i~ the holy canons.":" CRA.MP'S Text-book cif Popery, chap. xii:verso jinem.

t "To avoid being imposed upou, we ought to treat tradition as wedo a uot?rions and known liar, to whom we give no credit, unless what~e says IS confie.med to us by some person of undoubted veracity. If itI~ a~rm~d by him alone, wo can at most but suspend our belief, not re-jecnng It as f~lse. because a. liar rna! ~ometimes speak truth; but wecannot, upon hIS bare authority, admit It as true." BOWER'S HilJtor!Jof the POjJe$, vol. i., p. 1.


told, highly incensed against him for thus maiming, andbringing to disgrace, one to whom they paid divine honours,vowed his destruction; whereupon the apostle thought itadvisable to retire for a while from the city, and had'already reached the gate, when, to his great surprise, hemet our Saviour coming in, as he went out, who, uponSt. Peter's asking him where he was going, returned thisanswer, 'I am, going to Rome to be crucified anew:'which, as St. Peter understood it, was upbraiding himwith his flight; whereupon he turned back, and was soonafter seized by the prevoked Romans, and, by an orderfrom the emperor, crucified. These, and a thousand likestories, however fabulous and romantic they may seem,we cannot, without great incoherency, reject, if we admitSt. Peter to have been at Rom ; since the who] isequally vouched by the same authority, nnd ha b enupon the same authority equally b Iieved 'hy th s whoare called in, by the advocates of the see of Rome, to wit-ness St. Peter's hnving preached the gospel in that city.These are Arnobius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Eusebius, Ireu-reus, Tertnllian, Jerom, and Justin the martyr. Thesehave all supposed St. Peter to have been at Rome, and,together with St. Paul, to have planted Christianity inthat great metropolis of the world; but tki« they tookttpo'(i tradition, and consequently their authority is of nogreater weight than tradition itself; whiCh,had they dulyexamined, they would not perhaps have so readily pinnedtheir faith upon it. False and lying traditions are of'an earlydate, and the greatest men have, out of a pious credulity,suffered themselves to be imposed upon by them. Howmany traditions, after having reigned for ages withoutcontrol, were, upon the Reformation, when men took theliberty to examine what they believed, rejected by thechurch, ashamed to own them, and degraded into popularerrors! But that of St. Peter's having been at Rome,and the first bishop of that city, was a tradition of toogreat consequence not to be maintained at all events,since upon that chiefly was founded the claim of his pre-tendec1 successors to an uncontrolled authority, and uni-versal jurisdiction; a foundation infinitely too weak forsuch an immense superstructure. Neither St. Peter him-self, nor any of the sacred writers, give us the least hint

30 ARROGANT CLAIJIS OF THE ROI1IAN CATHOLICS

or intimation of his having ever been at Rome. Wearetold of his being at Antioch, at J erusalem, at Corinth, atBabylon (Acts, xi. 2, xv, 7; Gal. i. 18, ii. 9; Gal. ii, 11 ;1 Pet. v. 13; 1Cor. i. 12); but of the great metropolis ofthe empire, where he is supposed to have fixed his see,not the least, mention is mane. And may we not, fromthat silence, question, to say no more, his having everbeen there?" (BOWER'SHistory of the Popes, vol. I.,pp. 1, 2.) • But supposing he had, at some time in his life,been at Rome, it still remains to be proved that he wasbishop of that see: and if it cannot be proved that hewas bishop of that see, then it can never be proved thatthe popes of Rome are his successors in that see."

2. Was the apostle Peter, by our Lord Jesus Christ,when on earth, constituted his vicar? in other words,was he constituted, next to Christ, the chief pastor overall his flock, and thus made the head of the whole Chris-tian church? If he were, it is not unreasonable to sup-pose the appointment of him to so important an office tobe contained in some portion of the Now-TestamentScriptures. The Roman Catholics profess to find it inMatthew, xvi. 18,19 -" And I say also unto thee, Thatthou art Peter; ana upon this rock I will build mychurch. j and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.A.nd I will' .give unto thee the keys of the kingdom ofheaven: and wlratsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall bebound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose Oilearth, shall be loosed in heaven." "Thou art lleTpOr Peter,and npon TaUT!! 7l"~ 7l"ErP(l this rock I will build my church."The word rendered Peter and the one rendered rockhere, are two words of similar meaning.j It is not upon,

• " There is no evidence that St. Peter ever saw Rome. And as itcannot be prove:J that he ever was bishop or pope of that city, the ke./f- •stone of the triumphal arch of the pope of Rome is pulled out; tMsbuilding, therefore, of his supremacy, cannot stand.' Da. CLARKE'SCommentary, Col. iv. II. .

t "The word translated 'rock: is of a similar meaning with-thename of Peter, but it is not the same word. Nothing however can bemore absurd, than to suppo e that Christ meant that the person of PeterW:lS the !·ock. on which the church should be builded; except it be theWIld notion that the bishops of Rome have since been substituted in his /'place! 'Their rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves beingjudg~s.' W;ithout donbt Christ himself is the Rock and tried Founda-


nerpo, Peter, but upon rafJT'l)'Y rrf.7"pq. this rock thatour Lord says he will build his church. T/ds rocktherefore, as the church's foundation, must denote, eitherChrist alone, or Christ considered in conncxion with theapostles and prophets, as it is written -" Built upon thefoundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christhimself being the chief comer-stone." Eph. ii. 20."And I will give unto thee the key,~ of the kingdomof heaven:" &c. The ldngdom of heaven here, may beunderstood to mean the church of Christ on Earth. Thekeys denote authority to open and .shut, and to bind andloose, in relation to this church or kingdom. Peter firstexercised this authority, as it was he that first, after theresurrection of Christ, by thc preaching of th go. p I,opened the kingdom of heav n, in oth r words t hdoor of the .Christian hurch, to both the J WB anthe Gentiles. Acts ii. x. 44-47. But it was not anauthority belonging to Peter alouc, as :lppears from Matt.xviii. 18: "Whatsoever ,lie shall bind on earth, shall bebound in heaven; and whatsoever ,lie shall loose on earthshall be loosed in heaven." These words, you perceive,were addressed to all the apostles alike, and so implythe same authority in them all respectively. But theRomauists pretend that what was promised to Peter inthe passage in question, was performed to him in Johnxxi. 15-17: "Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son ofJonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith untohim, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. Hesaith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him againthe second time, Simon, son of Jonas, 10vest thou me?He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I lovethee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep." Etc. Theynote here upon the word.feed, as being" in Greek a wordthat signifieth withal to govern and ruie? (RhemishTestament, annat. in lac.) There are, indeed, in the

tiou of the church, aud woe be to him who attempts to lay any other:but Peter's confession is this Rock d/JCtrjllal~I/' The profession of th,etruths implied in it constitutes a man a member of the visible Church;the vital belief of them constitutes a member of the real church, howeverhe may err in other matters: but nothing less than this can entitle anyone to the name of & believer." Dr. Scott'» Explallatury Notes, Matt.xvi.lS.

32 ARROGLYT CLAIMS OF THE ROll1AN CATHOLICS

original Greek of the text, two words used which arerendered feed, viz. (3601(' and 1rOtp.atv.. One of the sig-nifications of the latter word is to rule or govern, as ashepherd docs his flock. But this is the duty of all the _pastors of the church of Christ, as really 3i1 it was theduty of Peter. And it is as different from the arbitraryand tyrannical rule of Peter's pretended successors, asperfect freedom is different from the worst of slavery.But, of the pretended general pastorship or vicariate ofPeter, let it be further observed, (1.) That there does notappear to be the least intimation in Peter's two generalepistles, nor in any other portion of the sacred writings,of any pretention on this apostle's part to such a higharch-apostolicaloffice. (2.) It does not appear that he everexercised himself in such an office. (3.) It does notappear that :lllY such office of Peter was ever acknowl-edged by the other apostles, in any manner whatever.They give him no title significant of such an office, al-though, in case he had such an office,some distinguishingtitle would have been very proper for him. The apostleshad to do with the management of various controversies;but, in all the statements which occur in Scripture relativeto controversies regarding doctrine or practice, there isno appeal made to the judgment of Peter, or allegationof it as decisive: there is no argument builded on hisauthority, as in any wise superior to that of the rest ofthem. And the reproof which Paul administered to Peter,as recorded in Galatians ii. 11-14, fully evinces _that theformer did not regard the latter as clothed with anyauthority superior to that which he himself possessed.(4.) The office in question is nowhere mentioned in theNew Testament, among the offices of the Christian min-istry. "ADd God hath set some in the church, firstapostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, afterthat miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,diversities of tongues." 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv, 11.Among all these names of the offices and gifts of theChristian church and ministry, ordinary and extraordi-nary, as you perceive, there is no mention made of anysuch name as that of "Vicar of Christ," the pretendedoffice of Peter; a plain proof that uch an office wasunknown to Chri tians in the days of the apostle Paul.

RELATIT'!: TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 33

(5.) The office in question is inconsistent with the plaindeclarations of Jesus Christ. "But be not ye calledRabbi: for one is your Mastel', even Christ; and all yeare brethren:" And call no man your Jatlcer upon theearth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master,even Christ. But he that is greatest among you, shall beyour servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall beabased; and he that shall humble himself shall be ex-alted." Matt. xxiii. 8-12.

Thus, as the apostle Peter, so evidently, had no suchoffice as that of vicar of Christ; and as, so evidently, thep~pe is not the successor of Peter in the sec of ROIDt',for the reason that Peter was never bishop of that particu-lar see; how manifest it is, eon .equcntly, that the pop'spretention of being the vicar of Christ,]' or Lh chief pHIl-tor or bishop over the whole Christian church on l~arLh,is entirely unwarrantable! Jesus Christ, as W(J ur Hali-factorily informed, "is the uooLl Shepherd that lelid downIds life /01' the sheep. All human souls arc inexpressiblydear to him, all they are the purchase of his blood. Heis still supreme Bishop or Overseer in his Church. Healone is Bpiscopus episcoporum, the' Bishop of bishops; }a title which the Romish pontiffs have blasphemouslyusurped. But this is not the only attribute of Jesus on

.. "No one among you is Aigher than another, or can possibly havefrom me any jurisdiction over the rest. Ye arc, in this respect, perfectlyequal." Clarke's Commentary, in loco.

t Jesus Christ" can have no vicars, either in hcaven or upon earth;those who pretend to be such arc impostors, and are worthy neither ofrespect nor credit. If he have all power in heaven and in earth, and ifhe be present wherever two or three are g.tthered together in his name,he can have no cicars ; nor can the Church need one to act in his place,when he, from thc necessity of his nature, fills all places, and is every-where present. This one consideration nullifies all the pretensions of theRomish pontiff, and proves the whole to be It tissue of imposture."Clarke's Commentary, Heb. v. 5, 6. -

" He that calleth himself the vicar of Christ, and putteth himself inthe stead of Christ, by the very siguiflcation of the word, is Antichrist.So oth the Pope: having no warrant out of the wonl of God, to be somuch as a member of Christ; because his doctrine, decrees, and life, arccontrary- to Christ as in the hook called Antithesis Christi, ei Papae, andmany other godly'treatises, is manife tly declared." Dr. Falke's Con.futation oJthe Rhemish Testament, Matt. x. 25. Edlt. New York, 18:14.

3 •

•

34 ARROG ANT CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CA1'HOLICS

which they have laid sacrilegious hands. And besidesthis, with force and with cruelty have they ruled thesheep: but the Lord is breaking the staff of their pride,and delivering the nations from the bondage of their cor-ruption. Lord, let thy kingdom come!" (Dr. ClarIce'sCommentm'y,l Pet. ii, 25.) ,

III. The Roman Catholics claim to have in their churchthe power to pardon and remit sins. "On this point,then," say they, "it is the duty of the pastor 'to teach,that not only is forgiveness of sins to be found in theCatholic Church, as Isaiah had foretold in these words:'The people that dwell therein shall have their iniquitytaken away from them;' '" but also, that in her is Cl}U-tained the power of remitting sins; which power, if ex-ercised by the priest duly, and according to the laws pre-scribed by our Lord, is, we must needs believe, such astruly to pardon and remit sins." (Catechism of the Coun-cil of Trent, part I., chap, XL, quest. I.) "Nor must wesuppose that the exercise of this power is restricted toparticular sorts of sins; for no crime, however heinous,can be committed or conceived, which the Church has notpower to "emit." (Ibid. quest. III.) "Not only Christas he was man, had this power to forgive sins, but by himand from him the Apostles, and consequently Priests.John xx. Whose sins you shatz forgive, they are forgiv-en." Rhemish Testament, annotation on Matt. ix. 8.Edit, New-York, 1834.

I answer. The.Lord Jesus Christ, when about ttl leavethe world, having met with his disciples, the apostles,breathed On them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost,"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." Johnxx. 22, 23. "This authority given them was full proofthat they were inspired. The meaning of the passage isnot that man can forgive sins - that belongs only to God(Isa. xliii. 23); but the meaning is that they should beinspired; that in founding the church, and in declaringthe will of God, they should be taught by the Holy Ghostto declare on what term. 0 what characters, and to tclll1t

'" "Tsa. xxxiii, 24, ' The people that dwell therein hall be forgiventheir iniquity.' " •

•,

RELA'l'IVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHUliCH. 35

temper of mind, God would extend forgiveness of sins.It was not authority to forgive individuals, but to estab-lish in all the churches the terms and conditions on whichmen might be pardoned: with a promise that God wouldconfirm. all ~?at they taught; that men might have assur-ance of forgiveness who would comply with those terms;and that those who did not comply should not be forgiv-en, and their sins should be retained. This commissionis as far as possible from the authority which the RomanCatholic claims of remitting sin and of pronouncing par-don." (Barnes's Notes, in loc.) It was the commissionof inspired men, whereby tHey were divinely authorized"to.declare the only method in which sin would b for-given, and the character and experience of tho. \ whoactually were pardoned, or the contrary. So that to theend of time, the rules and evidences of absolution or con-demnation, which they laid down, and which are COLl-tained in their writings, infallibly hold good; and alldecisions concerning the state of any man, or 110dyofmen, in respect of acceptance with God, whether bypreaching absolution or excommunication, or in .any oth-er way, are valid and ratified in heaven, provided theyaccord with the doctrine and rules of the apostles; butnot otherwise." (Scott's Notes, in loc.) Thus then, to saiin sh'ort: "Christ gave power to his Apostles, and the min-isters of the Church to forgive sins, not absolutely andproperly, as God forgiveth, but to be witnesses and minis-ters of God's forgiveness." - -(Dr. Fulke's Confutationof the Rhemish Testament, JJIatt.ix. 8.)

IV. The Roman Catholics claim to have in their churchthe power of Morking miracles. "It is not meant," saythey, "that all Christians or true believers should do mira-cles: but that some for the proof of the faith of all, havethat ,gift. The which is the grace or gift of the whole

• " It is certain God alone can forgive sins; and it would not only beblasphemous, but grossly absurd, to say that any crealure. could remitthe guilt of a transgression which had been eommitt.edll!!aInst t~~ Cre-ator, The apostles r~eeived from the Lord the doctrine of reconciliation,and the doctrine of condemnation, They who believed on the Son ofGod, in consequence of their preaching, had ~heir sins remitted;. an~they who would not believe were declared to he under condemnation.Clarice's (}ofllllleillary, John xx, 23.

36 ARROGANT CLAlJIS OF TIlE 1I0.llAN CATHOLICS

Church, executed by certain for the edification of thewhole." (Rhemish Testament, annot. on lIIa1'1cxvi. 17.)Here they speak of the gift of miracles as if it werestill executed in the church, that is, in their church, asthey would have us believe." Indeed miracles so-called,in their church have been of so frequent occurrence, thatthey have seen fit to use the language of caution regard-ing their reception. " Nor," say they, "are any new mira-cles to he admitted, but with the recognition and appro-bation of the bishop." Nulla etiam admittenda esse novamiracula - nisi eadem recoqnoscente et approbante Epis-copo. (Decreta et Canones Conc. Trid. sess. xxv.) Sothen, with "the recognition and approbation" of thebishop, it seems, they may still have admitted amongthem as mauy new miracles as they please. But, unfor-tunately for the miracles of the Romish church, they donot well stand the test of examination: it shows them tobe sadly wanting in character; it proves them to be spuri-ous. Compared with the miracles of the Bible, they verymanifestly appear to be worthless things. "The pretend-ed miracles of the papists," says the Rev. John Brown,"either relate to trifles Ull worthy of the eli vine interposi-tion, or they were wrought before persons drowned ingross ignorance, and incapable of trying them, or beforepersons resolved at any rate to believe them." (Dictiona-ry of the Holy Bible, art. Miracle.)

V. Another of the claims which the Roman Catholicsmake for their church is, sanctity. <Sancia ecclesia,"" Holy Church," or " S. Rornana ecclesia," " Holy RomanChurch," or "sancta mater ecclesia," "Holy motherChurch;' is their constant language in speaking of theirown community.

"The Church is called holy," say they, "because she is

• They claim also to have in their church the gift of p>'iJph'ei:y. " Asit regards the gift of prophecy, this is claimed by them because the apos-tles aUI] some early Christians possessed it, or because some of theirmembers are said to have possessed this gift. But the Church of Romehas no right to eJa(rn the testimony arising from the gift of prophecy~stowcd on the apostles and some of the early Christians; because thisf'lft was bestow?,l in nt~e~tation of our .c0n;tm~n Christianity, .and notm behalf of popish doctrines, morals, or institutions.' Dr. Elliott's De-lineation of RO/llflll Catholicism, book III., chap. II., prope finem. •


consecrated and t1enicated to God; for so other things,such as, under the old law, vessels, vestments, altars, whenappropriated and dedicated to divine worship, althoughmaterial, are called holy (Levit. xxvii. 28, 30); as, in likemanner, the first-born, who were dedicated to the MostHigh God, were also' called hply( Exod. xiii. 12). She isalso to be called holy, because, as the body, she is unitedto her head, Christ tlie Lord (Ephes. iv.15, sq.), the foun-tain of all holiness, from whom flow the graces of theHoly Spirit, nnd the riches of tho divine bounty. Yetfurther, the Church alone has the lesritimatc worship ofsacrifice, and the salutary use of the sacraments, by which,as by the efficacious instruments of divin grace, od j~fects true holiness; so tha» whosoever are really hol!! C(I1/-not be outside this Church:" (Catechism of the OUIICitof Trent, part L, chap. x., quest. xiii.)

I answer. To be " consecrated and dedicated to God bybaptism, which is the consecration and dedication theymean, is indeed to be holy, "as, under the old law, vessels,vestments, altars, are called holy;" and to be baptized isto be nominally of the body of Christ, whether otherwiseunited to him or not: but when they say, "that' whoso-ever are really holy cannot be outside this Church," by"this Church," meaning their own church, which is tosay that there are no holy persons except in their church,the assertion involves such gross uncharitableness as torender their character for real holiness extremely suspi-cious. And then arrain if, as we have seen in the sense ofmy text, the Church of Rome is in a state of apostasy,surely not holiness, but rather unholines« of the two, musthe considered to be its more proper general characteristic.If it be necessary to add any thing further, I will refer tothe lives of its members. Look at the popes. A speci-men of them is here given under a few of their names, M-ginning with that of

"SERGIUSIII. About the commencement ofthe tenthcentury, th singular spectacle was presented in Rome of'almost the whole power and influence being concentratedin the hands of three notorious and abandoned prostitutes,Theodora and her two daughters, Marozia and Theodora.This extraordinary state of things arose from the almostunbounded influence of the Tuscan party in Rome, and

•

38 ARROGANT CLAlillS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

".

the adulterous commerce of these wicked women with thepowerful heads of this party. Marozia cohabited withAlbert or Adalbert, one of the powerful counts of Tus-cany, and had a son by him named Alberic. Pope SergiusIII., who was raised to the papacy in 904, also cohabitedwith this woman, and by his-Holiness she had another sonnamed John, who afterward ascended the papal throne,through the influence of his licentious mother. EvenBaronius, the popish annalist, confesses that pope Sergiuswas 'the slave of every vice, and the most wicked of men.'Among other horrid acts, Platina relates that pope Ser-gius rescinded the acts of pope Formosus, compelled thosewhom he had ordained to be reordained, dragged his deadbody from the sepulchre, beheaded him as though he werealive, and then threw him into the Tiber l " .

"JOHN X. This infamous pope was the paramour ofthe harlot Theodora. While a deacon of the church ofRavenna, he used frequently to visit Rome, and possessinga comely person, as we are informed by Luitprand, a con-temporary historian, being seen by Theodora she fell pas-sionately inlove with him, and engaged him in a criminalintrigue. He was afterwards chosen bishop of Ravennaand, upon the death of Pope Lando, in 914, this shamelesswoman, for the purpose of facilitating her adulterous in-tercourse with her favourite paramour, 'as she could notlive at the distance of two hundred miles from her lover,' thad influence sufficient to cause him to be raised to thepapal throne. Mosheim says the paramour of pope Johnwas the elder harlot Theodora, but his translator, Dr.Maclaine, agrees with the Romish historian Fleury (whoadmits these disgraceful filets), in the more probableopinion that it was the younger Theodora, the sister ofMarozia.]

"JOHN XI. This Pope was the bastard son of his Holi-ness pope Sergius III., who, as we have seen, was one of thefavoured lovers of the notorious Marozia. The death ofpope tephen in 931, presented to the ambition of Maro-zia, says Mosheim (ii., 392), 'an object worthy of its grasp,

• 'Platina's Lives of the Popes, vita ergii ill.'t "Luitprand, Lib. ii., cap. 12.'f ' Mo h irn ii., 891, and J<'leury'H Bcclesi tieul History, book Iiv.'

RELATl1'E TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 39

and accordingly she raised to the papal dignity John XI.,who was the fruit of her lawless amours with one of thepretended successors of St. Peter, whose adulterous com-merce gave an infallible guide to the Roman church.'

"JOfIN XII. This monstel' of wickedness was a nephewof John the bastard, the last-named pope, and throughthe influence of the dominant Tuscan party in Rome, wasraised to the popedom at the age of eighteen years. His

. tyranny and debaucheries were 80 abominable, that uponthe complaint of the people of Rome, the emperor Othocaused him to be solemnly tried and deposed. Upon theEmperor's ambassadors coming to that city, they carriedback to their master an account of th notorious CI11JdalRof which the Pope was guilty j that' he carri d on in theyes of the whole city a criminal commer with on Rain-

, era, the widow of one of his soldiers, and bad pI' ntedher with crosses and chalices of gold belonging to thechurch of St. Peter; that another of his concubines namedStephania had lately died in giving birth to one of thePope's bastards; that he had changed the Lateran valace,once the abode of saints into a brothel, and there cohab-ited with his own father's concubine, wbo was a sister ofStephania ; and that he had forced married women, widows,r.nd virgins, to comply with his impure desires, who hadcome from other 'countries to visit the tombs of theapostles at Rome.' Upon'the arrival of Otho, pOlleJohnfled from the city. Several bishops and others testified tothe Emperor the above enormities, besides several otheroftences, The Emperor summoned him to appear, saying,in the letter he addressed to him,' You are charged withsuch obscenities as would make us blush were they said ofa stage-player. I shall mention to you a few of the crimesthat are laid to your charge; for it would require a wholeday to enumerate them all. Know, then, that you arc ac-cused, not by some few, but by all the clergy as well asthe laity, of murder,pel:jury, sacrilege, and incest witlt yourown two sister', &c. 'ltV e therefore. earne tly entreat youto come and clear yourself from these imputations,' &c.'I'o this letter his Holiness returned the following laconicanswer: -' John, servant of the servants of' God,.- to all

- "The pope styles himself, in all his bulls, I senn'.~ SerVOrl11l1 Dei,'

40 ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROjlfAN CATHOLICS

bishops. We hear that you want to make another pope.If that is your design, I excommunicate you all in thename of the Almighty, that you may not have it in YOttrpower to ordain any other, or even to celebratemass III'Regardless of this threat, however, the Emperor and coun-cil deposed 'this monster without one single virtue toatone for his many vices,' as he was called by the bishopsin council, and proceeded to elect a successor. No soonerhad the emperor Otho left Rome than several of the licen-tious women of the city with whom pope John had beenaccustomed to spend the greater part of his time, in con-cert with several persons of rank, conspired to murder thenew Pope, and to restore John to his See. The formerwas fortunate enough to make his escape to the Emperorthen at Camerino, and the latter was brought back intriumph to tbe Lateran palace. Upon his return, popeJohn seized upon several of the clergy who 'were opposedto him, and inflicted on them the most horrible tortures.Otger, bishop of Spire, was whipped by his command tillhe was almost dead; another, cardinal John, was mutilatedby having his right hand cut off, and Azo by the loss ofhis tongue, nose, and two fingers. But these horribleenormities were not permitted to continue long. Shortlyafter his return to the city, the pope was caught in bedwith a married woman, and killed on the spot, as someauthors say, by the Devil, but probably by the husband indisguise." (Dr . .DOWling'sHist01'y of Romanism, bookiv., chap. iv., § 32-35.)

"JOHN the Twenty-third seems, if possible, to have ex-ceeded all his predecessors in enormity. This pontiffmoved in an extensive field of action, and discovered,during his whole career, the deepest depravity. Theatrocity of his life was ascertained and published by thegeneral council of Constance, after a tedious trial and ex-amination of many witne ses. Thirty-seven were examinedon only one part of'the imputations. Many of these werebishops and doctors in law and theology, and all were

, the servant of the servants of God j , but, at the same time, he requireseven his eolleagues to acknowledge him for their lord, and to swearfealty to him as such," Bon-er's History of the Popes-Po Leo the Great.Vol. I. p. 220, note.


men of probity and intelligence. His holiness, therefore,was convicted on the best authority, and indeed confessedhis own criminality. The allegations against his infallibil-ity were of two kinds. One respected faith and the othermorality. His infallibility, in the former, was convictedof schism, heresy, deism, infidelity, heathenism, and profan-ity. He fostered schism, by refusing to resign the pope-dom for the sake of·unity, He rejected all the truths ofthe gospel and all the doctrines of Christianity. He deniedthe immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body,and the responsibility of man. The human spirit, accord-ing to this head of the church, is, like that of the brutecreation, extinguished at death. Agreeable to bis be-lief, or rather unbelief, he disregarded all the in titu-tions of revealed religion. These principle" be heldwith the utmost pertinacity. According to the lan-guage of tbe Constantian assembly, his infallibility,actuated by the devil, pertinaciously said, asserted,dogmatized, and maintained before sundry bishops andother men of integrity, that man, like the irrational ani-mals, became at death extinct both· in soul and body."The other imputations respected morality. The list ofallegations contained seventy particulars. But twentywere suppressed for the honor of the apostolic see. John,says Labbe, 'was convicted of forty crimes.' t 1'he Con-stantian fathers found his holiness guilty of simony, piracy,exaction, barbarity, robbery, massacre, murder, lying, per-jury, fornipation, adultery, incest, oonstupration, andsodomy; and characterized his supremacy as the oppress-or of the poor, the persecutor of the just, the pillar ofiniquity, the column of simony, the slave of sen, uality, thealien of virtue, the dregs of apostasy, the inventor of mal-evolence, the mirror of infamy, and, to finish the climax,an incarnated devil. The accusation, says Niem, 'con-tained all mortal sins and an infinity of abominations.'His simony, according to the council, appeared in the wayin which he obtained the oardinnlship, the popedom, 'andsold indulgences. lIe gained the cardinal and pontifical

- "Labb. 16. 178. Bruys, 4. 41. Du pin, 3. 13. Crabb. 2.1050.:Bin. 7. 1036.'

t •Criminibus quadraginta convictus. b:Jbb. 15. 1378. ct 16. 154.'

42 ARROGANT OLAIMS OF THE ROMAN OATHOLICS

dignity by bribery and violence. He extorted vast sumsby the traffic of indulgences in several cities, such asUtrecht, Mechlin, and Antwerp. He practised piracy witha high hand, during the war between Ladislas and Lewis,for the kingdom of Naples. His exactions, on many oc-casions, were attended with massacre and inhumanity.His treatment of the citizens of Bologna and Rome willsupply a specimen of his cruelty and extortions. He ex-ercised legatine authority for some time in Bologna, andnearly depopulated the city by barbarity, injustice, tyran-ny, rapine, dilapidation, and murder. H~ oppressed Romeand dissipatedthe patrimony of Peter." He augmentedformer imposts and invented new ones, and then aban-

. doned the capital to be pillaged and sacked by the enemy.His desertion exposed the women to the brutality of thesoldiery, and the men to spoliation, imprisonment, assassi-nation, and galley-slavery. He poisoned Alexander hispredecessor, and Daniel who was his physician. His con-duct, through life, evinced incorrigibility, pertinacity, ob-duraey, lying, treachery, falsehood, perjury, and a diaboli-cal spirit.]: His youth was spent in defilement and im-

* "The Roman church, and likewise the churches of Milan, of Raven-na, and of other great cities, possessed estates, not only within the limitsof their own districts, but in other countries, bequeathed to them by sen-ators, and other persons of rank and distinction, who lived in those cities.In the letters of Gregory mention is made of an estate, in the island of~icily, belonging to the church of Ravenna; and of one, in the jameIsland, that belonged to the churc-h of Milan. The Ron'lau church, byfar the most wealthy of all, possessed considerable estates, not only inCalabria, in AbI'UZZO,iu Lucania, and in other provinces of Italy; butin Sicily, in 'France, in Africa, in the Cottian Alps, and in most othercountries. These church estates were called patrimonies, a word thatimports, properly speaking, an estate descending to a person from hisancestors, or a family estate. The demesnes, or the private 'estate of theprince, were likewise called by the name of patrimony, but with the ad-dition of the epithet, •sacrum, sacrum patrimonium,' to distinguish itfrom the patrimonies of private men, as appears from several places ofthe twelfth Book of the Code. In like manner the church, to distin-guish, and, at the same time, the better to secure her estates, calledthem by the name of the saint which each particular church held in mostveneration. Thus the estate of the church of Milan was called thepatrimony of St. Ambrose; that of Ravenna the patrimony of St. Apel-linaris ; and that of the Roman church the patrim(illy of 'to Peter." \Bower- GregOl7! the Great, sub init., note.

t •Labo. 16. 154,158, 184. Brlt~. 4. 3. Lenfant, 1. 281.'

RELATiVE TO '1'HE CH11ISTI.AN CHURCH, 43

pudicity. He passed his nights in debauchery and hisdays in sleep. He violated married women and deflower-ed holy nuns. Three hundred of these devoted virgins'were the unwilling victims of his licentiousness. He wasguilty of incest with three maiden sisters and with hisbrother's wife. He gratified his unnatural lust on a motherand her son; while the father with difficulty escaped.He perpetrated the sin of Sodom on many youths, ofwhich one, contracting in consequence a mortal malady,died, the martyr of pollution and iniquity,", " Such was the pontiff who, according to the Florentine

council, was 'the vicar-general of God, the head of thechurch, and the father and teacher of all Christians.' Hisholines , it would appear, was indeed the father of a greatmany, though perhaps his offspring were not all Cbri tians.The council of Constance indeed deposed John from thepapacy. But pope Martin afterward raised him to thecardinalship, and treated him with the same honour andrespect as the rest of the sacred college. His remains,after death, were honourably interred in John's church.John, with all his miscreancy, was elevated to :1 dignitysecond ouly to "the pontifical supremacy.

"ALEXANDER the Sixth, in the common opinion, sur-passed all his predecessors in atrocity. TIllS monster,whom humanity disowns, seems to have excelled all hisrivals in the arena of villainy, and outstripped every com-petitor on the stadium of miscreancy. Sannazarius com-pared Alexander to Nero, Caligub, and Heliogabalus;and Pope, in his celebrated Essay on Man, likened Borgia,which was the family name, to Oataline. [The full nameof the man thus so fitly likened, was Roderic Borgia.]This pontiff; according to eotemporary historians, wasactuated, to measureless excess, with vanity, ambition,cruelty, covetousness, rapacity, and sensuality, and voidof all faith, honour, siucerity, truth, fidelity, decency, reli-gion, shame,'modesty, and compunction. 'His debauchery,

- 'Multos Juvcnes destruxit in posterioribns, quorum unus in fluxusanguinis decessit. Violavit tres virgines sorores, ct cognovit matrem,et tllium, et pater vix evasit. Hard. 4, 228. Lenfan, 1. 290. II etoitclaircmcnt prouve, qu'il avoit joni de Ia mere et du Fils, et que le Percavoit ou de 10. pIlino n echapper a. ses criminels desirs. Brlly. 4, 49.rsu. 16, 163. Bill. 7, 1035.'

44 £RROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

perfidy, ambition, malice, inhumanity, and irreligion,' saysDaniel, 'made him the .execration of all Europe. Rome,under his administration and by his example, became thesink of filthiness, the head-quarters of atrocity, and thehot-bed of prostitution, murder, and robbery,"

"Hypocrisy formed one trait in his early character.His youth, indeed, evinced to men of discernment symp-toms of baseness and degeneracy. But he possessed, in ahigh degree, the art of concealment from common obser-vation. His dissimulation appeared, in a particular man-ner, on his appointment to the cardinalship. He walkedwith downcast eyes, affected devotion and humility, andpreached repentance and sanctity. He imposed, by thesearts, on the populace, who compared him to Job, Moses,and Solomon.

"But depravity lurked under this specious display; andbroke out, in secret, in sensuality, and incest. He formedan illicit connexion with a widow who resided at Rome,and with her two daughters. His passions, irregular andbrutal, could find gratification only in enormity." (Ed-gar's Variations of Poperu, chap. ii., prope fin.) "Hav-ing, with his insinuating manners, gained the affections ofthe mother, and robbed her of her honour, he bent all histhoughts upon making the daughters a prey to his lust aswell as the mother. In the mean time the mother died,and Roderic, to whose. care she had committed her twodaughters, having them now in his power, as their guard- /ian, put one of them into a monastery, and continued withthe other, whom some called Rosa, and some CatherineVanozza, the incestuous commerce, which he bad begunin her mother's life time. By her be had five children,four sons, and one daughter, namely, Francis, Csesar,"(otherwise called Valentine,) "Giuffre, and another, whosename is uncertain. His daughter was called Lucretia."The licentiousness of his holiness, in its details was shock-

- 'Suunazarius ilium cum Caligulis confert, cum Neronibus et Helio-gabalis, Sann, II. Montfaucon, JJfonum. 4, 85.'

"Les debordemcnslublics, les perfidies, l'ambition demesuree, I'avariceinsatiable, Ia cruaut , I'irreligion en avoicnt fait l'objet de l'execrationde toute l'Europe. Daniel, 7, 84.'

'Mulieribus maxima addictus. Nee noctu tutum per urbem iter, necinterdiu extra urbem. Roma jam camificia facta erato Alex. 23, 113.'


ing; and hardly less so was his whole pontificate, whichwas a continued series of the blackest crimes. But he wassuddenly and righteously cut off, in drinking by mistakeof some poisoned wine which himself and his son Osesarhad prepared for others. "It was universally beJ!.eved,says Guicciardin, that the death of the pope was owmg topoison; and, as that author informs us, it happened, accord-mg to the more common report, in the following manner.Valentine had resolved to despatch with poison Hadrian,cardinal of Oorneto, one of the most wealthy of the sacredcollege; and being one night to sup with him, with hisholiness, and other guest, in a vineyard, near the Vatican,that belonged to the said cardinal, he sent thither, beforesupper, some flasks of wine infected with a most deadlypoison. These flasks were delivered to the waiter, withstrict orders not t6 open them for any person whatever.In the mean time the pope arrived, and being overcomewith thirst, as the season was extremely hot, he asked forsomething to drink. As the waiter, who was trusted withthe wine, had not been let into the secret, he imaginedthat it was some of the choicest, and presented his holinesswith it. While the pope was drinking, Valentine arrived,and took a draught of the same wine. The poison ope-rated immediately; the pope was carried for dead to thepontifical palace, and his son after him in the same con-dition," Such is the account Guicciardin gives UR ofAlexander's death; and from that account it does not ap-pear that the pope was privy to the affair. But by otherauthors the plot is charged upon the father as well as theson. Alexander, says cardinal Bembo, died on the 18thof August, having by a mistake of the waiter, drank thepoison which he had privately ordered to be given to hisintimate friend, cardinal Hadrian, in whose gardens hesupped with his son Ceesar, It providentially happened,that they who had despatched, with poison, so many illus-trious persons, in order to possess themselves of theirtreasures, and designed to have added their intimate friendand their guest to the rest, should, by the same means,have destroyed themselves instead of him.f TomasoTomasi writes, that the pope intended to have poisoned all

Gnice iardin, 1. 5. t Bembo, 1. 6.


the rich cardinals, as well as the cardinal of Corneto, andseize on their wealth, as he stood in great want of moneyfor his expedition against Tuscany; that he invited them,with that view, to sup with him and his son, in a vineyardnear the Vatican, that belonged to the said cardinal ofCorneto; that Valentine consigned the poisoned wine tothe-head waiter and acquainted him with the whole; butthat the pope arriving in his absence, and asking for some-thing to drink, the under-waiter, who had received noinstructions, gave him some of the poisoned wine, imagin-ing, as it was set apart, that it was reserved for his holi-ness. Tomasi adds, that the pope had scarce sat down tosupper, when being seized with a racking pain in hisbowels, he felloff his chair, and was taken up and carriedto his palace for dead."

"He died the next day, the 18th of August, in theseventy-second year of his age, when he had held the seeeleven years and sixteen days: his body, all swelled,black,and shockingly disfigured, was carried to St. Peter's, inorder to be ~here interred, the people crowding, withincredible joy, about it, and congratulating each otherupon their being, at last, delivered from one who, with hisimmoderate ambition, and unexampled treachery; withinnumerable instances of horrid cruelty, of monstrous lust,and unheard of avarice, exposing all things to sale, bothsacred and profane, had, like a venomous serpent, intoxi-cated the whole world. Such is the portrait Guicciardinhas left us of this pope.]

"I shall pass over, in silence, the many shocking instan-ces that occur in history. of his holiness's' monstrous lust,'but cannot help taking notice of his being strongly sus-pected of incest with his own daughter, and his having, inhis amour with her, his two sons, the duke of Gandia andValentine, for his rivals. This gave occasion to severalpasquinades, and, among the rest, to the following famousdistich of Pontanus, written by way of epitaph for Lucre-tia's tomb:

, Hoc jacct tumulo Eucretia nomine, sed reThais; Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus.'

'* 'Tomasi apud Gordon. Vita Alex. p. 361, et seq!t Gnicciard. I. 5.


He is charged with the same crime by the celebratedSannazar, in the following lines:

'Humana jura, nee minus coelestia,Ipsosque sustulit Deos;U t seilieet lieeret heu scelus !PatriNatae sinum permingere.'*

"His holiness, says Burchardus, was a great lover ofwomen, and in his time the apostolic palace was turnedinto a brothel, a more infamous brothel than any of thepublic stews. He then tells us of an entertainment givenby Valentine, in the apostolic palace, to fifty of the mo tnoted harlots then in Rome, and describes, perhaps toominutely, the obscenities practiced on that occa ion, in thepresence of tho pope, and his daughter Lucr tia.] Inshort, none of the Eastern, none of the Roman emp 1'Or8,

• . however lewd and debauched, exceeded Alexander inlewdness and debnuchery.]

" As for his' unheard-of avarice,' he stunk at nothing toaccumulate wealth wherewithal to feed the extravaganceof his unnatural brood, and raise them to the highest pitchof grandeur. It was a common practice, says Guicciardin,both with the father and the son, to dispatch with poison,not only those whom they had resolved to sacrifice totheir revenge and jealousy, but all other persons whosewealth tempted their unhallowed avarice, not sparing car-dinals, nor other courtiers, nor even their most intimatefriends, and their most faithful and useful ministers. IIInnumerable instances are to be met with in the writers ofthese unhappy times, especially in Tomasi and Burchardus,of persons thus dispatched, and charged, after their death,with crimes, for which, it was pretended, that they hadforfeited their estates; and thus were they twice mostbarbarously mnrdered.s •

"In simony 11" he f;nosurpassed all his predecessors; ex-

.. Sunna. L 2. Epi. 29.t 'Burchard. Diar. p. 77. ibid.' t' Tomasi, p. 187.'II 'Guieciard. 1. 5.' § "Buchard. et Tomasi, ubi supra.''If " Simony- the crime of buying or selling- eccleaiastical preferment,'

Webste>·. It is so called because of the resemblance it bears to the sinof Simon Maqus, as recorded Acts viii. 18-24. "Alas, Simon ilIagu..has left far more indisputable successors, than Simon Peter has done:especially in that church which grounds its claims on succeeding to St.Peter's authority; but not in that church alone." Scott's Notes, in loco.

48 ARROGANT CLAl"IIS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

posing to sale all ecclesiastical preferments, dignities, bene-fices, and even bishoprics; nay, and admitting none intothe sacred college, but such as had purchased that dignitywith ready money; which gave just occasion to the follow-ing pasquinade:

, Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum.Emcrat ille prius, vendere jure potest.'

To conclude; all, "rho speak of Alexander, seem to agreein this, that for lust, avarice, cruelty,·treach~ry, and per-fidiousness, he scarce ever had his equal." (Bower's His-tory of the Popes-Pope Alexander VI.)

But let these citations suffice. "Such themes of his-tory as the Popes of Rome are paragons of wonder, withno parallel in the universe. Their like never was andnever will be, Simillimi sibi omnes ; they are all liketlbemselvesalone. 'I'hey are the greatest usurpers, themost unprincipled despots, the most cunning politicians,the most sublime impostors, the most consummate hypo-crites, often the worst infidels, and, with some shadowsand degrees of exception, the worst human beings, as aclass,whose horrible system of wickedness, called in scrip-ture THE JlIYSTERY OF INIQUITY, produced through manycenturies, ever scourged and cursed this world of apostasy,delusion, and sin." (Bower's History of the Popes:"-In-troduction by the American editor, vol, i., p. v.)

"It might, of course, be expected that the examplesthus set by the occupants of the vaunted Holy See,the boasted successors of St. Peter, would be imitated bythe inferior orders of clfrgy, who were taught to regardthe popes as their spiritual sovereign and head, as thevicegerents of God upon earth." -Accordingly we find, bythe records of ecclesiastical history, that the dark and dis-mal time was not slow to come, when "a universal cor-ruption of morals had i,nvaded the monks and the clergy.'The houses of the priests and monks,' !'lays the abbotAlredns, 'were brothels for harlots, and filled with assem-blies of buffoons; where, in gambling, dancing, and music,amid every nameless crime, the donations of royalty, andthe benevolence of princes, the price of preciou blood,

RELATiVE TO THE CHRiSTiAN CHURCH. 49

were most prodigally squandered.t'< (Dowling's Historyof Romanism, book iv., chap. iv., § 39.)

"Atto's language, on this topic, is equally striking. Herepresents some of the clergy as solfl in such a degree totheir lusts, that they kept filthy harlots in their houses.These, in a public manner, lived, bedded, and boardedwith their consecrated paramours. Fascinated with theirwanton allurements, the abandoned. clergy conferred onthe partners of their guilt, the superintendence of theirfamily and all their domestic concerns. These courtezans,during the lives of their companions in iniquity, managedtheir households: and, at their death, inherited their prop-erty. 'I'he ecclesiastical alms and revenues, in this man-ner, descended to the accompli es of vile prostitution.fThe hirelings of pollution were adorned, the churchwasted, and the poor oppressed by men who profeei d tobe the patrons of purity, the guardians of truth, and theprotectors of the wretched and the needy.

"Damian represents the guilty mistress as confessing tothe gUilty priest.I This presented another absurdity andan aggravation of the crime" The formality of confessingwhat the father confessor knew, and receiving forgivenessfrom a partner in sin, was an insult on common sense, andpresented one of the many ridiculous scenes which havebeen exhibited on the theatre of the world. Confessionand absolution in this way were, after all, very convenient.The fair penitent had not £11' to go for pardon, nor for anopportunity of repenting the fault, which might qualifyher for another course of confession and remission. Herspiritual father could spare her blushes; and his memorycould supply any deficiency of recollection in the enumer-ation of Iier sins. A minute recapitulation of time, place,

-------------' ---------• '" Fuisse cieri corum domos prostibulu meretricum conciliabulnm

histrionum ubi aleae saltus cantus putrimonia regum, eleemosynaeprincipum 'profligaren'tur, im~ pretios'i sanguinis pretinm, et alia infau-da.' (Alredus, cap, iL)"

t 'Quod dicere pudet. Quid= in tantillibidinc rn~ncjpantur, ~t 0"scoenas meretriculas suas simal in domo securn habitare, uno cibumsumere, ac publice degere permixant. Unde meretrices o~ant~l'lecclesiae vestantur, paupel'cs"'trilJulanter. AlIo! Ep. 9,. Daclte'l'1j, 1. 430.

f 'Les coupablea se confessent- 1i leurs ~mphces, qUI ne leur Imposcntpoint de penitenees con venables. Damian 1/1 Bruy. 2. 356. GU.tnIlOIl,'X. § 1.' .

~

50 ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROJJfAN CATHOLICS

and other circumstantial trifles would be unnecessary.The rehearsal of the delicious sin might, to both, be veryamusing. The sacrament of confession, iu this manner,'would, by recalling the transaction to mind, become veryedifying, and afford a renewal of the enjoyment. Thismode of remission was attended with another advantage,which was a great improvement on the old plan. Theconfessor, in the penance which he prescribed on these oc-casions, exemplified the virtues of compassion and charity.

t Christian commiseration and sympathy took place ofrigour and strictness. Th~ holy father indeed could notbe severe on so dear a friend; and the lady could notrefuse to be kind again to such an indulgent father. Da-mian, however, in his want of charity and liberality, sawthe transaction in a different li~ht ; and complained in bit-terness of this laxity of discipline, and the insult on eccle-siastical jurisdiction and on rational piety. .

"This adultery and fornication of tJie clergy degenerated,in many instances, into incest and other abominations of

. the grossest kind. Some priests, according to the councilof Mentz in 888, 'had sons by their own sisters.'- Thecouncil of Nicen and some other of a later date, throughfear of scandal, deprived the clergy of all female company,except a mother, a sister, or an aunt, who, it was reckoned,was beyond all suspicion. But the means intended forprevention were the occasion of more accumulated scan-dal and more heinous criminality. The interdiction wasthe introduction to incestuous and unnatural prostitution.The council of Mentz, therefore, in its tenth canon, ail ","onas other coternporary and later synods, had to f(;;'11:(.weclergy the society of even their nearest female relations."(Eaga1"s Variations of Popery, chap, xviii., post mea-

. ium.)" In the tenth and eleventh centnries, concubinage was

openly practised by the clergy, a.nd it was regarded bypopes and prelates as a far less cnme to keep a concubinethan to marry a wife. ' Any person, clergyman or layman,according to the .council of Toledo in its seventeenthcanon, who ha not a wife but a concubine, is not to be re-

" 'Quidam sacerdotum cum propriis sororibus concumbentes, filiosex eis generassent. Bin. 7, 137. Eabb. 11, 586.'

REL.4TIVE TO THE CURISTUN CHURCH. 51

pelled from the communion, if he be content with one."And his holiness pope Leo, the vicar-general of God, con-firmed, in the kindest manner and with the utmost court-esy, the council of Toledo and the act of the Spanishprelaey.t Such was the hopeful decision. of II Spanishcouncil and a Roman pontiff: but, ridiculous as it is, this isnot alL The enactment of the council and the Pope hadbeen inserted in tbe Romish body of tbe Canon Lawedited by Gratian and Pithou, Gratian's compilation in-deed was a private production, unauthenticated by anypope. But Pitbou publi bed by the command of GrpgoryXIIL, and his work contain the acknowledged anonLaw of the Romish church. His edition is accredited bypontifical authority, and rc '()0'11 iz II thr ugh p piHh 'ltd·tendom. Fomicntion th refer is l n tionerl by II pnni hcouncil, a Roman pontiff, and the canon law.''' (lJowling's'History of Romanism, book iv., chap. iv., § 41.)

In this manner is fornication, in the Romi h clergy, notonly tolerated but also preferred to matrimony. It istherefore no strange thing at all, only what might be ex-pecten of many of them at least, if they do live lives ofdebauchery, and justify themselves in their sin by laws oftheir own making, and these flatly contrary to the expre'slaws of God! - What then can be expected of the com-mon. people, whose exemplars they are, and whom they

'profess to instruct in the religion of Jesus Christ? Doubt-less they are as good as the instructions which they re-ceive are suited to make them, notwithstanding that theirpersonal religion, as to the great mass of its professors,may be a thing of little or no value, mostly made up ofmere external observances. It may, indeed, be all the re-ligion which they feel to need; and it may be thought, byboth themselves and their teachers, to be to all intents andpurposes sufficient. And so indeed it is, if the teaching oftheir spiritual guides may be der,ended on. One of theircanonized saints, namely, "St. Eligius, a great man of hisage, says, 'He is a good Christian who comes often. to

, Christiano habere licitum est unam Ian tum aut uxorem, aut certeloco uxoris concubinam. (Pitbou, 47. GiamlOll, V. 5. Dachery, 1,528. Gani.iu., 2, II 1. )'

t 'Confinnatum videtur auctoritate Leonia Papae, Bill. 1,737.'

52 ARROGANT OI,AlloIS OF THE ROllIAN CATlIOLICS

church, and brings his offerin.q to be laid on the altar ofGod / who does not taste of his produce till he has firstoffered some of it to God ; who, as often as the holysolemnities return, keeps himsell' for some days beforepure even .from his own wife, so that he ma'!)come to thealtar of God with a safe conscience/ and 10110 finally hascommitted to memorsrtlu: Creed, or the Lord's Prayer.-Redeem your souls from punishment, 10hile ye have themeans in your power-present oblations and tithes to thechurchee, bring candles to the holy places, accordinp toyour wealth-and come often to the church, and beg sup-pliantly for the intercession of the saints. If ye do thesethings, ye ma.y come with confidence before the tribunal of .the eternal God, in the day of judgment, and say: Give,Lord, for we have g1:ven.' [' We see here a large andample description of the character of a good Christian, inwhich there is not the least mention of the love of God,resignation to his will, obedience to his laws, ·01' justice,benevolence,and charity towards men; and in which thew.ho1eof religion is made to consist in coming often tothe church, bringing offerings to the altar, lighting candlesin consecrated places, and such like vain services.' (Mo-sheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. vii., part ii., chap. iii.,§ 1. note (2).)

VI. Another among the principal claims which the Ro-man Catholics make for their church, is that of unity." So vast a multitude [as that of the whole church], al-though scattered far and wide," say they, '" is called One,for the reasons mentioned by St Paul in his epistle to theEphesians; for he proclaims that there is but One L01'd,one faith, one baptism. Bph. iv. 5. (Catechism of theCouncil of Trent. part i., chap: x., quest. x.) "It [thechurch] is in all points a Monarchy tending every -ivaytounity, but one God, but one Christ, but one Church, butone hope, one faith, one baptism, one head, one body.The unity of the Church commended so much unto U-8,consisteth in that mutual fellowship of all Bishops [andconsequently all Christians ~ with the see of Peter [that is,with the Bishop of' Rome].' (Rhemish Testament, anno-tation on Eph. iv. 5.), I an wer, By the Church here, it must be ob erved, theRoman Catholic' m an th ir own church, con idered by

RELATIVE TO 'rHE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 5&

them as the church of Jesus Christ. And by the unityof the church, as here by them described, they manifestlymean its visible oneness throughout the ioorld under a visi-ble head, viz. the pope of Rome. Such indeed is the unity'of the church of Rome, but is it the unity of the churchof Jesus Christ? Those who say it is, hold an opinionwhich "is manifestly contradicted by-the language of theapostles, who, while they teach that there is but oneChurch, composed of believers throughout the world, thinkit not at all inconsistent with this to speak of 'theChurches of Judea,' 'of Achaia,' 'the seven Churches ofAsia,' 'the Church at Ephesus,' &c. Among themselvesthe apostles had no common h ad; but planted Church sand gave directions for their government, in m t caseswithout any apparent correspondence with each other.The popish doctrine is certainly not found in their writ-ings, and so far were they from making provision for thegovernment of this one supposed Church, by the appoint-ment of one visible and exclusive head, that they providefor the future government of the respective Churchesraised up by them, in a totally different manner, that is,by the ordination of ministers for each Church, who areindifferently called bishops, and presbyters, and pastors.The only unity of which they speak is the unity of thewhole Church in Christ, the invisible Head, by faith; andthe unity produced by' fervent love toward each other.'''(Watson's Theological Institutes, part iv., Chap. i.)

Further. In the same description which they give usof their Church's unity, the "mutual fellowship" theyspeak of I understand to imply withal agreement amongthemselves. But, while Romanists boast of their unity,and are ever ready to charge protestants, as heretics, with"horrible divisions, dissentions, combats, contentions, di-versities among themselves," (.Rhemish Testament, annot.on Phil. iii. 15,) are they themselves, in their own ranks,perfectly harmonious? "The Romish community,

• "Yes! harmonious in heresy, mischief, and all evil !" Dr. Brown-lee's Doctrinal Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent, note p. 107.

"It is a singular fuct that the Roman Church, which boasts so muchof her unity, and is ever charging tho Reformed with being Calvinists,

54 ARROGANT CLAIMS OF THE ROAfAN OATHOLICS

though it proudly boasts of its peaceful and harmoniousstate, is full of broils and contensions of every kind, TheFranciscans and Dominicans contend vehemently, respect-ing various' subjects.. The Scotists and Thomists wageeternal war. The bishops never cease to wrangle with the.pontiff and his congregations, respecting the origin andlimits of their power. The French, the Flemings andothers openly oppose the Roman pontiff himself, and hissupremacy: and he inveighs. against them as often as hedeems it safe and necessary, with energy and spirit, andat other times cautiously and circumspectly. The Jesuits,as they from the beginning laboused successfully to depressall the other religious fraternities, and, also to strip theBenedictines and others that were opulent of a part oftheir wealth, so they inflamed and armed all the fraterni-ties against themselves. Among these, the Benedictines'and Dominicans are. their most virulent enemies; .theformer fight for their possessions; the latter, for their repu-tation, their privileges, and their opinions. The conten-sions of the schools respecting various doctrines of faith,are without number and without end. All these conteststhe sovereign pontiff moderates and controls, by dexter-ous management and by authority, so that they may nottoo much endanger the church; to adjust and terminatethem, - which would perhaps be the duty of a vicegerentof our Saviour, - he has neither power nor inclination."(Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical .History, cent. xvi., sec.iii., part i., chap. i. § 30.) . •

The pages of history, regarding the Roman Catholics,amply tell the story of their disagreements. But, in sucha system as theirs is, it would be passing strange if theywere not even very extensively united. It must thereforebe confessed that, notwithstanding all their quarrelingamong themselves, as known to all the world, there is

Lutherans, &c., is, in reality, divided into numerous conflicting sects,each ,worn to uphold the peculiar sentiment of its founder. If there isone principle more e sential than another to the Reformation, it is thatof entire independence. of all masters in the faith: 'Nullius addictusjurare in verba magistri.''' Pascal', Prooincial Uter" (translated by.M'Otie,) p. 86, note. Edit. New-York, 1853.

flELATIJTE TO THE CHRISTIMIT CHURCH. 55

among them in fact, after all, no inconsiderable amount ofharmony, such_as it is. And so there is among demons.

-----Devil withdevildamn'dFirm concord holds."- Milton's Parad. Lost, b. ii.

VII. A further claim which the Romanists urge fortheir church, is that of catholicity, i. e. universality."Holy Catholic Church," "Sanctam Catholicam ecole-siam," (Pope .Pius' Creed,) is the style they always use inregard to their church.

"U alike human republics, or' tho COIlV nticl . of her-etics," say ther, ". he [the chur hJ is not ircum crib 11within the Hunts of one single kingdom, nor is she on-fined to one class of meu ; hut embraces in the bo om fher love all mankind, whether they be barbarians, or cyth-ians, or slaves, or freemen, 01' mules or females. he isalso calleel universal, because, like those who entered the ark,lest they should perish in the flood, all who desire to attaineternal salvation must cling to and embrace her." ( Oate-cliism. of the Council of Trent, part i., 'chap, x., quest.xiv.)

Here, (as by the church they ever mean themselves,)the implied doctrine is that, as Noah's ark contained allthe temporally saved from the deluge, so tlw Romanchurch, with no less universality, contains all the spiritual-ly saved: in other words, that all who do not "cling toand embrace" this their so-called Roman Catholic Church,are destined to eternal perdition. It matters not who theyare, whether of the Greek Church, or of any of the denom-inations of protestants; howsoever eminent they may befor powers of mind, and learning, and piety, and heavenlygifts, and extensive usefulness, as they are not within theenclosure of"their self-styled universal Church she numbersthem among the finally lost. But is it so, that the churchof" the Roman Catholics is the catholic or universalchurch? I answer, it can only be so in namc: to thinkotherwise, ill to do so in direct opposition to plain matterof fact, "The European, Asiatie, and African denomi-nations that dissented from Popery were four times morenumerous than the partisan of Romanism, when, prior tothe Reformation, the Papacy shone in all its glory.

56 ARROGANT CLAHfS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

Popery, instead of universality, which is its vain but emptyboast, was never embraced by more than a fifth part ofChristendom. The West and especially the East werecrowded by the opponents of the Romish despotism andabsurdity." (Dr. Edgar's Variations of Popery, chap. i.,in fine.)

"The Church of Rome cannot, without absurdity or im-piety, be called the Catholic Church; 'because she is nomore the universal church than the Roman jurisdiction isthe whole world. There is great arrogance in the Churchof Rome in confining the name Catholic to themselves;and there is much inconsistency in Protestants in conced-ing the use of this name to them, unless by proper quali-fying terms. Nowell informed Protestant, nay, no Prot-estant at all, ever supposes that the catholic church, inwhich he expresses his belief, in reciting the creed, is anyother than the unioersal church of Christ,· and most cer-tainly not the Church of Rome. And if, in the ordinarycourse of lite, Protestants- speak of the Catholic chapel,the Catholic question, or the like, they use that term, notin reference to its ecclesiastical sense, but as a synonymefor Roman Catholic. The advantage, however, whichpopish writers take of this indifference, the. additionalclaim to exclusive catholicity which they affect to establishon this inadvertence, or by perverting the usual sense of it,should be a caution to Protestants never to use the wordbut with a sufficient explanatory accompaniment. Papistis the correct generic term. And the use made of theword catholic, in order to pervert unwary Protestants, is Itreason why more precision should be observed .in its usc.With the uninformed and unsus-pectingProtestant, for in-stance, it is argued, 'You believe in the holy catholicchurch, according to your own creed; now ours is theCatholic Church, as bqth you and we call it; you, there-fore, believe in ours, asthe true holy catholic church: that

• "The universal Church of Christ, is wheresoever the gospel or doc-trine of salvation is embraced, and not tied to the city or congregationof Rome, which when it was n member of Christ, was a particularChurch, and not the universal Church. Rome is not the universalChurch, nor any sound part thereof: but the whore of Babylon, thes(,at of Antichrist. Apcc. xvii. 18." Dr. Fulke's Confutation of theUhemish Testament, Luke xxiv 47,

RELATJVE TO THE CHRISTIA_V CHURCH, 57

your practice might be consistent with your faith, youshould therefore leave the Protestant, and come over tothe church in which yon yourself profess to believe.' Thisartifice is used, and has staggered some: and the design isto confound, ensnare, and lead captive. Protestants may,therefore, without just cause of offence, use the wordspopery, papal, and papist, because the word catholic, with-out an appellative, is too vague, and has been used to de-ceive. Till this practice therefore is given up, and theword catholic relinquished as belonging to the Church ofRome, Protestants may, without cause of offence, but de-fensively, call those papists who adhere to Rome, theirsystem popery, and their doctrine and acts, papal orpopish, This is the clearest istinction, ana ught not tgive offence, on account of its derivation from til iir spirit-ual father, the pupe of Rome', and because it is not a narnwhich Protestants have invented, hut received from Ro-manists themselves." (Dr. Elliott's Delineation of RomanCatholicism, book iii., chap. ii., sub in it.)

VIII. Yet another claim which the Romnnists urge infavour of their Church, is that of apostolicity. "The holyCatholic and apostolic Roman Church," is their languagein speaking of their own church of Rome. " Sanctam

, Catholicam, et apostolicam Romanam ecclesiam." ( Greedof Pope Pius iv.)

" Her doctrines," say they, " are truths neither novel norof recent origin, but delivered of' old by the apostles, anddisseminated throughout the whole world. The HolyGhost, who presides over the Church, governs her by noother than apostolic ministers j and this Spirit was firstimparted to the apostles, and has, by the supreme good-ness of God, always, remained in the Church." ( Catechismof the Council of Trent, part i., chap. x., quest. xv.)

.All this, you understand, they say only of their ownRomish community. They here declare the apostolicity oftheir Church,

First, \Vith respect to her doctrines ; as it is assertedthat they were" delivered of old by the apostles." Thedoctrines delivered by the apostles were doctrines of truth.That some part of the doctrines of the Romish church isconformable to truth, is not denied. But others of them,and no small portion of them it is, are so yery far from

58 ARROGANT CT.AhIIS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS

being truth, that to say of their doctrines altogether as 11whole that they were delivered by the apostles, is to uttera most bare-faced falsehood; as any candid person may seennd know by only comparing them with the doctrines ofthe Bible. They here declare the apostolicity of theirchurch, - .

Secondly, With respect to her ministers j as it is fur-ther asserted, that the Holy Ghost "$OVe111Sher by noother than apostolic ministers." By apostolic ministers,we must understand,

1. Holy ministers, (for the Holy Ghost employs noother,) such in moral character as were the apostles. Arethe Romish. ministers such? By apostolic ministers, Ro-nianists would undoubtedly have us understand,

2. Ministers of such orders as by the apostles were ap-proved. But where in the Nr w-Testameut, I wish toknow, do we read of such orders of ministers in theChristian church as those of porter, reader, exorcist,acolyte, sub-deacon.'} They would have us understand,

3. Such ministers as derive their authority by an un-interrupted succession of popes and bishops from theapostles j which succession, consequently, is called apos-tolical succession. ." They contend that by an uninter-rupted line of succession from the apostles, their bishopshave derived their authority, in consequence of whichtheir ministrations alone are valid, to the exclusion of allthose who cannot trace their origin without interruptionto this source." (Elliott's Delineation of Boman Oathol-icism, book iii., chap. ii.) But vain is all this pretensionabout the validity of the ministrations of Romish bishops,or the invalidity of those of others; for, as to such a suc-cession as that for which they contend, a succession ofpersons in the pontifical ann episcopal office, the fact is itcan never be proved. And it does not seem to be of anyessential importance that it should be. Do ministerial du-ties, performed for the salvation of men's souls, depend onsuch a succession or on the power of gospel truth, fortheir saving effects? "It is a very precarious and uncom-fortable foundation for Chri tian hope (says Dr. Doddridge)which is laid in the doctrine of an uninterrupted succesionof bishops, and which makes the validity of' the adminis-tration of Christian ministers depend upon such a succes-

RELATIVE TO 'J71E CHRiSTIAN CHURCH. 59

sion, since there is so great a darkness upon many periodsof ecclesiastical history, insomuch that it is not agreedwho were the seven first bishops of the church of Rome,though that church was so celebrated; and Eusebius him-self, from whom thegreatest patrons of this doctrine havemade their catalogues, expressly owns that it is no easymatter to tell who succeeded the apostles in the govern-ment o:' the churches, excepting such as may be collectedfrom St. Paul's own words. Contested elections, in almostall oo..siderabie cities, make it yery dubious which werethe true bishops; and decrees of councils, rendering allthose 0:' linations null where any simoniacal contract wasthe foun lation of them, mal es it impo ibl to prov thatthere is now upon earth any on person who ill II 1 gal 1311(:-cessor of the aro tl s ; at 1 a t according to tho priucipl .of the Romish church. OlHlCqU ntly, what ver llyst 'In isbuilt on this doctrine must be very procuriou ." (Buck'lITAeological .Dictionary, art. Succession uninterrupted.). How foolish then, not to say how morally wrong, it is,to make so much as they do of a succession which cannotbe proved, to exist I And yet it is the foolishness orwrongfulness of even some protestants also, who at leastin this particular seem to be somewhat Romish. Shall weembrace non-entities, or take fictions for realities? "Theidea of apostolical succession is plainly a fiction, an im-posture, an absurdity. It is pagan in its origin. Arch-bishop Whately has given it its logical and unanswerablequietus. The apostles had no successors. They live andreign with Christ, in their writings, to the end of theworld. An apostle, in the very etymology of the word,means one sent from the presence of another. They wereall immediately appointed and sent as legates a latere, byChrist himself. They were the witnesses of his resurrec-tion, as those who saw him after it, as well as knew himbefore. They were plenarily inspired and miraculouslyendowed, by the Holy Ghost. A successor of the apostles- is kindred to a vicar of Chri t! Nor docs the usurpingpope more effectually supersede Christ himself, on pre-tence of being his vicar on earth, than those ~lsurp~ngprel-ates, who rank themselves, and urge their claim, andaffect to be the successors of the apo tles, do, in effect, de-stroy the genuine apostolicity of the true catholicity, and


the proper autonomy of the church of God I It is notrifling error. It is a serious and shameful impiety; andtime it is that the sentiment, Oxonian and Roman, An~li-can or Anglo-American, were eliminated with indignationfrom the territories of Christendom. It is graceless - amystification of the church of God. It is a vast confusionand an awful detriment to the souls of men; and everyconsideration of truth, intelligence, protestantism, man-hood, philosophy, and piety, summons us to awake fromso delusive and treacherous a charm." (Dr. Samuel Han-son Uoz, in his Oontinuation of Bower's History of thePopes, vol. iii., Conclusion, inflne.)

IX. One more I will mention, of the principal claimsmade by the Roman Catholics in behalf of their Church,which is that of infallibility~' well defined to be "thequality of being incapable of error or mistake;" in otherwords, "entire exemption from liability to error." ( Web-ste?'.)

" The Ohurch," say they, "cannot err in doctrines offaith or, morais.. But as this one Ohurch, seeing it isgoverned oy the Holy Ghost, cannot err in de{ivering thediscipline of .faith and morals, so all other societies whicharrogate to themselves the name of Church, becauseguided by the spirit of the devil, arc necessarily sunk inthe most pernicious errors both of doctrine and morals."(Oatechism of .the Council of Trent, part i., chap. x.,quest. xvi.)

The pretended.infallibility of the church of the RomanCatholics is evidently thought much of by that self-right-eous, boasting, uncharitable people; and among themselvesat least, consequent'y, it must be exceedingly influential.In fact, "this is the chain which keeps its members fastbound to its communion; the charm which retains themwithin its magic circle; the opiate which lays asleep alltheir doubts and difficulties: it is likewise the maognetwhich attracts the desultory and nns table in other per-suasions within the spheresof popery, the foundation of itswhole superstructure, the cement of all its parts, and itsfence and fortres. against all inroads and attacks." 4J3uck'sTheological Dictionary, art. Infallibility.)

But how came the church of Rome by such a God-likeattribute? Romish pri st prof! 'S to find it conferred in

..RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 61

what our Lord said to Peter, Luke, xxii. 31, 32 : "And theLord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired tohave you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have pray-ed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou artconverted, strengthen thy brethren." '" None but Roman-ists will ever see infallibility conferred on Peter here, in .this text. But say they, "He calleth Peter twice by name,and. telling him the Devil's desire to sift and try them allto the uttermost, as he did that night, saith that he hathespecially prayed for him, to this end that his faith shouldnever fail, and that he bein~ once converted, should afterthat forever confirm, establish or uphold the rest in theirfaith. Which is 'to say, that Peter is that man whom hewould make Superior over them and the whole Church.Whereby we may learn that it was thought fit in the prov-idence of God, that he who should be the head of theChurch, should have a special privilege by Christ'sprayer and promise, never to fail in faith, and that noneother, either Apostle, Bishop, OrPriest may challenge anysuch singular or special prerogati ve either of his Officeorperson, otherwise than Joining in faitl~ with Peter, and byholding of him. Neither was this the privilege of Peter'sperson, but of his office,that he should not fail in faith, butever confirm all other in their faith. For the Church, for'whose sake the privilege was thought necessary in Peterthe head thereof, was to be preserved no tess afterward, thanin the Apostles' time. Not - that none of Peter's seatcan err in person, understanding, private doctrine, or writ-ings, but that they cannot nor shall not everjudicially con-

'" On this" text Bellarmine lays great stress, and reasons thus: OurSaviour prayed for St. Peter in particular, 'I have prayed for thee;'ergo, he obtained something in particular for St. Peter. And what elsecould it bo, but that he, as a private person, should never err from thetrue faith ; and that, as pope, he should never teach, nor should his suc-cessors in that office ever teach, doctrines 11lpugnant to the true faith ~elYlo, St. Peter was infallible, and the pope is as infallible as he. (Bellar.de Rom. Pont. 1. 3. c. 3.) This is no argument; but a senseless, ab-surd, an'] t::roundless conjecture, better calculated to show that the papal'nfallibility cannot he proved from scripture, than to provc it from scrip-ture. Our Saviour, it is true, prayed for St. Peter in particular, notthat he might not at any time err from the true froth; but, foreseeingthat he was to err, and deny him, that he might not quite lose the faith,but, returning to himself, repent of hi.i sin, and confirm h is brethren."BOIJ)I':r's Bistor.1J of till': Popes - Pelaqius II. (Vol. I., p. 385, :186, note.)


elude or [Jive ilqfinitive sentence .for falsehood or h~l'lJs.vaqainst the Oatholic faith, in thei» Oonsistories, Court«;Oouncils, Decrees, delibemtions or consultations kept fordecision and determination of eucli controversies, doubts,or questions of .faith as shall beproposed unto them:- be-cause Christ's prayer and promise protecteth them thereinfor confirmation of their brethren. And no' marvel thatour Master would have his vicar's consistory and Seat in-fallible, seeing even in the old Law the high Priesthoodand Chair of Moses wanted not great privilege in thiscase, though nothing like the Church's and Peter's prerog-ative." (Rhemish Testament, annot. in loc.)

Thus it appears they hold, that infallibility was first con-ferred by Jesus Christ on Peter, and that through Peter itdescended to the popes of Rome, as that apostle's succes-SOl'S: and so by consequence the church, as having thepope for its earthly head, is considered to be-infallible, asalso general councils over which the pope presides. Butas we have already seen, (under the second general obser-vation in this discourse,) relatively to the notion of thepopes' being the successors of St. Peter in the see ofRbme in the high office of vicar of Christ or head of thechurch, that there is no satisfactory evidence of the truth-fulness of such 3, notion; so their infallibility, consequently,all falls to the-ground. But suppose we turn our attentionto facts, and look at them just as they are. If the churchof Rome be infallible, it must doubtless appear to be infal-lible. If it be infallible, its infallibility must be percep-tible in the doings of general councils, and in the actingsof the popes. Are general councils perceived to be infal-lible? The well-known fact is, that general councils haveeven contradicted one another in instances too numerousto mention.] Moreover, the moral deformity with which

• "As for the distinction that the Pope may err personally, but notjlmirially, or difinitiue~1f, it is vain, seeing neither of both parts, can heproved out of the Scriptures!' Fulke's Corifutation of the Rhemist: Tcs-tament, in loc,

t How vain then for Romanists to pretend to their iufallibilitv ! Thetruth is, infitllibility in mall uninspired is. manifestly an a~surdity."The intellectual weakness of man shows, in the clearest light, the ab-surdity of the claim. Human reason, weak in its opel' tions and dec iredby passiou, selfishness, ignorance, and prep~sc sion; is open to the in-

RELATli'E TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 63

they have been disfigured has been such as to render thema stigma on religion and man. ":Manyof these conventions,in point of respectability, were inferior to a modem cock-fight or bull-baiting. Gregory Nazianzen,who is a Romansaint, has described these scenes with the pencil of truthand with the hand of a master. I never, says the Grecianbishop, saw.... synod which had a happy termination.These conventions, instead of diminishing, uniformly aug-ment the evil which they were intended to remedy. Pas-sion, jealousy, envy, prepossession, and the' ambition ofvictory, prevail and surpa s all description. Zeal is actu-ated rather by malignancy to the criminal than aver ion tothe crime. II cornpar the eli sen i nand wmnclinexhibited in the council, to tho quarrels of g s ancranes, gabbling and contending in confu ion, and r 'pI' -sents such disputation and vain jangling as calculat d todemoralize the spectator, rather than to correct or reform.This portrait, which is taken from life, exhibit, in graphicdelineation and in true colours, the genuine features of allthe general, infallible, apo tolic, holy Roman councils."(DI" Edgar's Variations of Popery, chap. v.)

Do the popes appear to be infallible? Their errings arenotorious to all the world. "The Bishop of Rome in Ter-tallian's time erred not only personally, but also definitive-ly, when he acknowledged the prophecies of Montanus,Pri ell, and Maximilla, and gave letters of peace to theheretical Churches of Asia and Phrygia, which bad beenexcommunicated by his predecessor, as witnesseth Ter-tullian, contra. Praaeam. Eiberius erred not personally,but judicially and definitively, when be subscribed to theAriana, as testifieth Athanasius. Apolog.2. Ad solitoram

roads of error. Facts testify its' fallibility. The annals of the worldproclaim, in loud and unequivocal accents, the certainty of tqis hum-bling truth. The history of Romanism, and its diversity of opinionsnotwithstanding its boasted unity, teach the same fact. The man whofirst claimed or afterwards assumed the superhuman attribute, must havepossessed an impregnable effrontery. Liability to error, indeed, withrespect to each individual In ordinary situations, is universally admitted.But a whole is equal to its parts. Fallible individuals, therefore, thoughunited in one convention or society, can never form an infallible councilor an infallible church." El!lgar's VariatjollS of Popery, chap. v,


vitarn aqentee, Hieronsjmn. in Oatalopo. Damasus inpontificali. Marian'us Scotus. Petrus Damianus epist.15, cap. 16. Honorius did not only fall into heresy, butalso in a decretal epistle, did publish and confirm the same,as was proved in the Council of Constantinople the sixth,where he was condemned for a heretic." (Fltlke's Confu-tation of the Rhemish Testament, Luke""Xxii. 31, 32.)Who in his senses can believe in the pope's infallibility, orhelp looking upon such an article of belief as the grossestaffront that ever was offered to human understanding,when he becomes informed of such facts as these? or whenhe reads "of John XXII. preaching up and propagating,both by his missionaries and his legates a latere, a doctrine .which he himself retracted on his death-bed; of sevenpopes - cursing and damning, in emulation of one another,all who denied a certain tenet.t and another pope] asheartily cursing and damning all who maintained it, nay,and recurring to the ultima ratio of the later popes, thefagot, in order to 1'00t out of the Church (these are hisvery words) so pestilential, erroneous, heretical, and blae-phemous a doctrine? This occasioned great scandal inthe church, insomuch that some even took the liberty torepresent to his holiness, that the decrees and constitutionsof one pope could not be reversed by another. The popereplied, (and what other reply could he make?) 'Thatthey were mistaken, since it might be proved by innumer-able instances, that what had been decreed wrong or amissby one pope or council could be rectified and amended byanother.' This answer silenced them at once, says ourhistorian: and well it might; I am only surprised that theword infallibility has ever been since heard of] The

- 'Gre~ory IX, Innocent IV, Alexander IV, Nicolas ill, Martin IV,Nicolas IV, Clement V.' •

t 'That the Franciscan friars had no property, in common or in pri-vate; a question, if any ever was, de lana caprina. What was it tomankind ? what to the Christian religion, whether a few friars had, orhad not, any property 1 No man was the better for believing they had,no man the WOIOefor believing they had not. And yet to read the bullsof the popCd, one would think that the whole of Christianity had beenat stake.' .l John XXII.II .. As for the word infallibility, it WRS never heard of till the twelfth

century, when it was invented, by the schoolmen, to express that unuc-

RELATJVE TO THE CHRLSTI.AN CHUllCH. 65

Franciscan friars, who had occasioned the dispnte, paid-dear for it: as they continued to plead the infallibility ofseven popes against that of one, and obstinately adheredto their doctrine. Pope John, losing all patience, orderedall to be burnt alive who did not receive his constitution;which was done accordingly, and many of those unhappywretches chose rather to expire in the flames than yield.These remarkable transactions are related by several con-temporary writers of unquestionable authority, and amongthe rest by Nicolaus Eymericus, who was inquisitor of theprovince of Tarragon, and has inserted them in his Direc-torium Inquieuorum:" (Bowcr'.9 .lIiat01,!!of the Popes.vol. 1., preface, pp. xvi, xvii.)

It is propel' to add, that "the moral character of thpopes" - which has been rendered perceptible to omextent already, by what has been said of the Rami hclaim of sanctity -" proclaims a loud negation againsttheir infallibility. J\Iany of these hierarchs carried rnis-creaney to an unenvied perfection, and excelled, in thisrespect, all men recorded in the annals of time. A John,a Benedict, and an Alexander seem to have been born toshow how far human nature could proceed in degeneracyand, in this department, outshine a Nero, a. Domitian, anda Caligula. Several popes in the tenth .century owed theirdignity to ]\-1aroziaand Theodora, two celebrated court-ezans, who raised their gallants to the pontifical throneand vested them with pontifical infallibility." Fifty of'these viceroys of heaven, according to Genebrard, degener-ated, for one hundred and fifty years, from the integrity oftheir ancestors and were apostatical ruther than apostolical.Genebrard, Platina, Stella, and even Baronins, call themmonsters, portends, thieves, robbers, assassins, magicians,

countable privilege: an 'unfortunate word: says a Roman Catholicwriter (Mumford. Cath. Scripturist.); and 0 it is indeed, being oftenemployed to vouch t~e greatest absnrdities; and to sta~,d alone ~gai~tscnpture, and authority, and reason, and common sense. Bower s Hist,of the Popes - Plaqiu« II. (Vol. i, P: 386, n. pmJ!Pfin.)

_ 'Intruuentnr in sedem Petri eorumamasil Pseudo-Pontifices. Baron.912, VIII. Spon. 900. 1. Genebmrd, IV.'

, On ne voyoit alors plus des Papes, mais des monstres. Baroniusecnt qu' alors Rome etoit sans Pape, Gianllon, VIII. 5. An. Eccl,345.' •

Ii


. murderers, barbarians, and perjurers, No less than seven-teen of God's vicars-general were guilty of perjury. Pa-pal ambition, usurpation, persecution, domination, excom-munications, interdicts, and deposition of kings have :filledthe earth with war and desolation." (Edgar's Variationsof Popery, chap. v.) _

Such are some of the lofty, the arrogant claims, whichthe Romanists make in behalf of their church, in all ofwhich they are exclusive. They do not admit them tobelong tq any church but their own. In their own esti-mation, their own church alone is the mother church, themistrese church; she alone, of all Christian churches,authoritatively pardons sins, and works miracles; shealone is one, is holy, is catholic or unioersal, is apostolical,infallible. And from these false premises they self-com-

o placently conclude that thei1'chntrch. is the only true ch1trchon Earth :" and consequently, that all other churches arefalse churches, made up only of heretics and schismaticsand unbelievers, professors of false religion, in the way toinevitable destruction: and consequently, further, that outof _their 'church there is no salvation j as indeed theyscruple not to say expressly-"One holy, Catholic, andapostolic church [meaning their own Romish church], outof which there is no salvation." Bull of Pius V., ordain-ing and announcing the Damnation and Excommunicationof Elizabeth, Queen of England, and her Adherents; inBoioer'« History of the Popes, vol. III., p. 482.

After what; has been advanced in this discourse, of thehigh and arrogant claims of the Roman Catholics in favourof their church, we perceive withal what is their leadingambition, viz, universal dominion. As in their own esti-mation, their church is the church universal, and their popethe universal bishop, high in pretensions and claims ofsupremacy as "head of the whole Church," as well as

- The church militant is by them described u as a body. of menunited in the profession of the same christian faith, and communion of thesame sacraments, under the government of lawful pastors, and particularlyof the Roman pontiff, Christ's only vicar on earth.' Bellarmine, deEccles. militante, c. 2." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. ii., p.43.) Here again, by the way of a pretended but false definition of thechurch of Christ on Earth, they would have it appear that themselveare the only true church.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIA.N CHURCH. 67

"sovereign of the whole Ea~"th," they naturally and ofcourse aspire after a dominion as extensive as are theirlargest pretensions and claims. After this they have beenlabouring, with a degree of zeal worthy of a far better ob-ject, for many past ages. May God almighty save theworld from their iron-handed domination.

..

;

DISCOURSE II.

THE UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICSRELATIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH.

2 TRESS. II. 1-12: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LordJesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soonshaken in mind, nor betroubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letteras from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand, Let no man deceive youby any means: for 'that Gay shall not come, except there come a fallingaway first, nnd that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is wor-shipped; so that he, as God, aitteth in the temple of God, showing himselfthat he is God, Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I toldyou these things W And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might berevealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: onlyhe who now letteth. will let, until he be taken out of the way. And thenshall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with thespirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:even him whose coming Is after the working of Satan, with all power andsigns and lying wonders, and with nil deceivableness of unrighteousnessin them that perish; because they received not the love of tile truth, thatthey might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them stroug delu-slon, that they should b/llleve a lie; that they all might be damned "'lro be-lIeved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

FOLLOWING the order proposed for the delivery of thiscourse of discourses, I have for my present subject, the un-authorized position of the Roman Oatholics relatine tothe rule of Ohristian faith.

The rule for Christian faith among the Roman Catholics, 'which by them is held to be the only true one, consists ofScripture and tradition, as they themselves have. declared,thus: "The sacred, holy, <Ecumenicaland general councilof Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit, the threelegates of the Apostolic See [the cardinals De Monte,Santa Croce, and Pole,] presiding therein; having .,co1\,-stantly in view the removal of error and the preservationof the purity of the gospel in the church, which gospel,promised before by the prophets in the sacred cripturE's,was first orally published by our Lord J us Christ, the

68

UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS. 69

Son of God, who afterwards commanded it to be preacbedby his apostles to every creature, as the source of all sav-ing truth and discipline; and perceiving that this truthand discipline are contained both. in written books and inunwritten traditions, which have come down to us, eitherreceived by the apostles from the lip of Christ himself, ortransmitted by the bands of the same apostles, under tbedictation of the Holy Spirit; following the example of theorthodox fathers, doth receive and ?'everence,WITH EQUALPIETY AND VENERATION, all the books, as well of the Oldas of the New Testament, tbe arne God being the authorof both - AND ALSO TIlE AFORESAID TRADITIONS, pertain-ing both to faith and manners, whether receiv d fromOhri t him elf, or dictated by the Holy pirit and pI' -served in tbe Catholic church by continual succe ion."Sacro-sancta eecumenica et generalis Tridentina ynodus,in spiritu sancto legitime congregate, praesidentibus in eaeisdem tribus Apostolicae Sedis :Eegatis, hoc sibi :perpetnoante ocnlos proponens, ut sublatis erroribus, puntas ipsaEvangelii in Ecclesia conservetur: quod promissum anteper Prophetas in Scripturis sanctis, Dominus noster JesusChristus Dei Filius, proprio ore primum promulgavit;deinde per SUOS'Apostolos, tamquam fontem omnis et salu-taris veritatis, et morum disciplinae, omni creaturae prae-dicari jussit : perspiciensque hanc veritatem et disciplinamcontineri in libris scriptis, et sine scripto traditionibus,quae ab ipsius Christi ore ab apostolis aceeptae, aut abipsis Apostolis, Spiritu sancto dictante, quasi per man ustraditae, ad nos usque pervenerunt; ortbodoxorum Patrumexempla secuta, ommes libros tam veteris quam novi Tes-tamenti, cum ultriusque unus Deus si~ auctor, necnon tra-ditiones ipsas, tum ad fidem, tum ad mores pertinentes,tamquam vel oretenus a Christo, vel a Spiritu sanctodic-tatas, et continua successione in Eeclesia Catholica con-servatas, pari pietatis affectu ac reverentit'i suscipit, etceneratur. (Decreta et (Janones Concilii TriclentilJi, sess.iv. Decret. de canonicis 8cripturis.)

Again they ay: "All the doctrines which are to be im-parted to the faithful are contained in the word of God,{chich is divided into cripture and tradition." ( Oat~.chism of the Council of T?'ent, preface, quest. xii.)

And again: '" Ifwe would have the whole rule of Chris-

70 UNAUTHORIZED' POSITION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

tian faith and practice, we must not be content with thoseScriptures which Timothy knew from his infancy, that is,with the Old Testament alone; nor yet with the NewTestament, without taking along with it the traditions ofthe apostles, and the interpretation of the church, to whichthe apostles delivered both the book and the true meaningof it.' Note on 2 Tim. iii. 16. Roman Catholic author-ized Version." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chapiii" p. 59.)

But is it so in truth, that the true and proper rule forChristian faith is made up of Scripture and trad'iUon?Let the question be examined: and particularly,

r. With regard to tradition. "Whoever" (say they)"shall knowingly and deliberately despise the aforesaidtradttions: LET HIM BE .ACCURSED." (Decrees and Canonsof the Oouncil of Trent, sess. iv.) But, to examine a sub-ject is not to despise it, unless it deserves to be despised.

Tradition, in the common acceptation of the term, andas the term is used by the Roman Catholics, is somethingdelivered or handed down from one person to another,through successive generations, by oral communication,uncommitted to writing. But that tradition, in this senseof the word, properly forms any part of the true and prop-er rule for Christian faith and practice I deny,· for thefollowing reasons.

First. It is not, as such, known in the Bible. Tradition,I say, is not recognized in 'the Bible, as forming any partof the true and proper rule for Christian faith and practice.I know, indeed, how the apostle Paul exhorted his Chris-tian brethren at Thessalonica, saying to them -" Standfast, and hold TCl{ T(upaoouGl!; the traditions which ye have

• "The simple statement of what Romanists mean by tradition mightbe enough to convince persons of common sense of the folly of depend-ing on them. It consists of certain doctrines and precepts which Christand his apostles arc said to have spoken, but which were not committedto writing, but have been delivered from age to age by word of mouth,and have come down to US as pure as the written word contained ill thegospels and epistles, And some of their doctors scrt that the knowl-edge of Christianity might have been preserved and propagated in theworld though the New Testament had never been written." Elliott'.Delinrotinn '?l Roman Catholicism, book i., chap, iii" svb init,

RELATIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH it

been taught, whether by soord or our epistle." if 2 These.ii. 15. "The word TCapaOOII~,which we render tradition, tsignifies any thing deiioered iu the way of teaching j andhere most obviously means the doctrines delivered by theapostle to the Thessalonians; whether in his preaching,private conversation, or these epistles j and particularlythe first epistle, as the apostle here states. Whateverthese traditions were, as to their matter, they were a reve-lation from G<Jaj for they came by men who epake andacted under 1he inspiration of the .Holy Spirit; and onthis ground the passage here can never with any proprietybe brought to support the unapo toJical and anti-ap to 1-ical traditions of the Romi h hurch ; tho bing matt '1'which are, confessedly, not taken from ith r'1 t m nt,nor were spoken either by a propha or an apo it." (Dr.Clarke's Oommenta1'y, in loc.)

So also ill chapter iii. 6, of the same epistle, tbe II mapostle expresses himself imperatively with referene tothe tradition those Thessaloni.an brethren had received." Now we command you, brethren, in the name of ourLord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from everybrother that walketh disorderly, ana not after the traditionrliv TCapMoo,v which he received of us." "This evidentlyrefers to the orders contained in theji1'st epistle j and thatfirst epistle was the tradition. which they had received

• "Dol\btless the apostle's oral 'traditions' were worthy of credenceand obedience; bnt how should we, at this day, know any thing of them,except as they were written for our benefit 1 It is therefore a singularinstance of the' deceivableness of unrighteousness' in ' the man of sin:to attempt the support of his corrupt system, by a single word in thatvery chapter, which most fully exposes his devices. For oral traditions,of equal authority to the written word, being the rule of its interpre-tation, and committed to the keeping of the church, (that is, to theRomish clergy.) has been the grand support of popery for ages: andof this fundamental principle they bave no better scriptural proof, thanthis single word, and one or two more of similar import!" Scolt's Ex-]llanator.'! Notes, in loc.

t "The words 'IrapMolI'~ and traditio arc used by the older ecelcsias-tical fathers, to denote any instruction which one gives to another,whether oral or written. In the New Testament also, and in the classicalwriters, 1rapaOol;Vat and trudrre ~il!nify, in gpneral, to teoeh, to j,j$tru~.Tradi ion in this wider sen .e was divided into scripta, and /loti scripfll 'lVeoralis. The latter, traditio oralis, was, however, freqnently called tra-ditio by way of eminence." Dr. Knapp" Christian TheolOfl.'!, [translatedh,YDr. Woods,) Introd. sect. vii., No, iii.

72 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF !lOMAN CATHOLICS

from him. It was, therefore, no unwritten word, no un-certain saying, handed about from one to anothcr; but apart of the revelation which God had given, and whichthey found in the body of his epistle. These arc the onlytraditions which the Church of God is called to regard."(Dr. Clarke's Oommentary, in loc.)

In another place, the same apostle commends his Chris-tian brethren for their regard to the traditions he had de-livered to them. "Now I praise you, brethren, .that yeremember me in all things, and keep Til, r.apaooaeu; the tra-ditions, as I delivered them to you." 1 Oor. xi. 2. Tothe Christian brethren at Corinth the apostle had deliver-ed "certain doctrines, or rules, respecting the good orderand the government of the church; and they had in gen-eral observed them, and were disposed still to do it. Forthis disposition to regard his authority, and to keep whathe had enjoined, he commends them." (Barnes's Notes,in loc.)

As therefore the original Greek word r.apuooat>, for whichthe word tradition is used as a translation, signifies anything deiioered, orally or in writing, in the way of teach-ing; so, as it manifestly appears, "the traditions approvedin Scripture are such only as were delivered by inspiredwriters. But as for the various traditions delivered bv

. other persons, either in the apostolic age or since that time,of which we have no account in Scripture, except a com-mand against receiving them, we must reject all such fromhaving a part in our religions creed. And the Church of .Rome cannot adduce a single article of religion, or ordi-nance of worship, which she has derived from oral tradition,that is not contrary to or inconsistent with Some part ofthe written word. Therefore it cannot be of God; for itis impious to say he commanded his servants to teach onething with their pens, and a contrary thing with theirmouths.-Besides, we have no reason to doubt that allthat was delivered by the apostles of any importance wascommitted to writing. AmI although, when Paul wroteto the Corinthians and Thessalonians, he mentions thetraditions that were formerl!! delivered to thcm by wordor epi rtle, we have no account in Scripture that any im-portant truth were omitted, either by the evangeli t orthe other writers of the New Testament. That the word

RELATIVE TO THE RFLE OF CHRISTIAN FAiTH. 73

which St. Paul preached orally was afterward written bySt. Luke, we learn from undoubted history, or from tra-clition,if this word .ismore pleasing to our Roman Catholicbrethren. This is recorded by Lrenaeus and Eusebins inthe following words r-i--s But Luke, the follower of Paul,wrote in a bookthe gospel which was preached by Paul.' '"Irenaeus says in the same chapter, that 'the gospel whichthe apostles prenched, afterward by the will of God, theydelivered to us in the Scriptures, that it might be thcfoundation and pillar of our faith.' t It was a traditionstill, not in its modern and ecclesiastical sense, bnt in itsprimitive and nutnral sense. Nor were those things whichwere written done by accident, a aome Roman Catholicssay; they were written under the irnmcdlnto providence'of God, so as to he entitled to as much cr dit as if Christhad written them with his own hand, as i clearly de .lnredby Augustine in the following words :-' For as many ofhis actions and sayings as Christ wished us to read, thesehe commanded to be written in a book, as if it were byhis own hands. For this common bond of unity, and har-monious ministry of the members, in different offices,un-der one head, each should understand, and should receivethe narratives of Ohrlst's disciples in the gospel no other-wise than if he saw the very hand of Christ writing it,which was attached to his own body.' (August. de Con-sensu Evangelistarum, lib. i. c.l.) How strange is it thatthe Roman Catholic divines; such as Milner, Hughes, &0.,,V'f11 assert that Christ never commanded the New Testa-ment to be written, when at the same time they professgreat reverence for Augustine and Irenaeus, and the manyother fathers who assert that Christ commanded his fol-lowers to write the New Testament!" (Dr. Elliott's De-lin8ation of Roman Catholicism, book i., chap. iii., subinit.)

Secondly. Tradition, as used for constituting any dis-

H'Lucas uutem sectator Pauli, quod ab Illo praedicabatur Evan-gelium, in Iibro condidit.' -s-Tren., lib. iii, c. 1. AovKar 0 aKoMvt9ornnvMv, TO err' eKf<VOVKlIpVUUOf'evf!V wayyeitwv tV Bc{3A.i.<,> Kara8eTO. - Eus.Ilist. Ecrt., lib. v., C. 8." •

t H' Evan~liull1 quidem tunc praecnniaverunt, postea vero pCI' Deivoluntntcm in Scdl'tnris nobis tradiderunt, fnndamcntum ct columnnmfidei no trae futurum.' -s--Lrenaeus, lib. iii, c. 1. p. 23!l."

74 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

tinct part of a standing rule for Christian faith and prac-tice,'can form. no other than an unsafe rule. All orallytraditionary matter, of whatever description, from theirvery nature as mere oral communications, are unavoidablyliable to variations: just as common neighborhood stories,we know, are always liable to be varied by the suppressionof circumstances or by untruthful enlargements, in pass-ing through different hands. And these variations mustbe numerous and endlessly multiform, in proportion to thenumbers of the persOl~sof all sorts of dispositions andcharacters through whose hands such matters may happento pass. Suppose, then, that, of the many instructions de-livered by the apostles, there were some portion of tbemnot committed to writing, which consequently must be.handed down by oral tradition if handed down at all; bowlong, think you, would such unwritten communications belikely to travel, in such a manner, without adulteration,especially within the range of a fallen church, an apostateas well as superstitious people? Sooner or later theywould become vitiated j would become more and more soin descending down the course of time; and, long beforethe termination of eighteen hundred years from the start-ing-point, not genuine apostolic doctrines or pure Chris-tian truths, but little or nothing else than a medley of worth-less notions, a mass of doctrinal corruption, of bad odorand pernicious tendency, would be likely to remain.Truthfully therefore it may be asserted that "tradition isso uncertain a way of conveying the knowledge either oftruths or facts, that no dependence whatever can be place-lon it; so that it is highly improbable, that, without writtenrevelation, anyone thing revealed to the prophets andapostles, would have been transmitted to us uncorrupted."(Dr. Scott's Explanatory Notes, vol. i., preface.)

" 'But it will be said, in a case of so. much importanceas religion, men would be more careful in delivering truththan in others. Undoubtedly they ought: but who canbe secure that they would? It is of equal importance tobe careful in: practising it too; yet we all know how thishath been neglected in the world: and, therefore, haverea on to think the other hath been no less so.-But who-ever made the first change, they say, must have been im-mediately discovered. Now so far from this, that persons

RELATIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 75

make changes in what they relate without discovering itthemselves i alterations come in by insensible degrees: oneman leaves out, or varies, or adds one little circumstance ithe next another i till it grow imperceptibly into a differ-ent thing.. In one age a doctrine is delivered as a proba-ble opinion i the following age speaks of it as a certaintruth i and the third advances it into an article of faith.Perhaps an opposition rises upon this, as many have done.Some have said such a doctrine was delivered to them,others that it wa not: ana who can tell whether fit lastthe rigbt 'side or the wrong have prevailed ? Only this iscertain, tbat whi h u ver prevails, th ugh by a smallmajority at first, will 11S [Ill menus of art nurl pow r tmake it appe:ll' a univ rsnl custoui at In t j nnrl th 'u pl<'lltluninterrupted tradition. But though su ,11 thin nH thmay possibly be done in almost :1JlYage, yet they areasily to be done in such ages as w ro five 0\' six of thosethat preceded the Reformation; when, bv the confessionof their own historians, both clergy and laity were souniversally and so monstrously ignorant and viciou , thatnothing was too bad for them to do, or too absurd. forthem to believe.l "

"There is much uncertainty arising from the manner inwhich the Chw'clt of Rome propounds and ex-plainshertraditions. She has been very sparing in her informationwith regard to the particular doctrines and ordinanceswhich she has received from tradition. So far as we know,there is no publication of theirs which contains a summaryof what their church believes under the head of tradition.It may be any thing or it may be nothing, for what anyman can tell; for the very writing of it would destroy itas a matter of oral tradition i and therefore no one cantell what their tradition is. As for lay persons in theChurc of Rome, they must receive it from the lips of thepries. Tradition is what the church propound'; and asthis is too lnrge a body to propound :lny thing otherwisethan by the mouth of its officialorgans, every priest is thepropounder of what he considers the traditions of thechurch. Thus there may be as many traditions as priest,all contradicting one another j for there is 110 authentic

•• Abp. Seeker's first sermon on popery.'

76 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OP ROMAN CATHOLICS

standard to which an appeal can be made. But the Cath-olic Church, i. e., the priests, are not only the propound-ers, they are also the explainers of both the written andunwritten word; and neither Scripture nor tradition is tobe considered the rule of faith otherwise than as propound-ed and explained by them. Let the articles of traditionbe ever so contradictory, the explanation of :1 priest canreconcile them with the utmost facility." (Dr. Elliott's.Delineation of Roman Catholicism, hook i., chap. iii.)

"Oral tradition was often appealed to by Irenaeus,Clemens of Alexandria, Tertullian, (De Praeser, cap. 7,)and others of the ancient fathers, as a- test by which totry the doctrines of contemporary teachers, and by whichto confute the errors of the heretics. They describe it asbeing instruction received from the mouth of the apostlesby the first Christian churches, transmitted from the apos-tolical age, and preserved in purity until their own times.'I'ertullian, in the passage above referred to, says, that anappeal to tradition is the most direct way of confutingheretics, who will often evade the force of an appeal totexts of scripture by misinterpreting them. This traditionis called by Origen KiJpvyfW- fKKA1jaW.OTIKOV, and by the Latin.Fathers 1'egulafidei (i. e. doctrinae Christianae) sive veri-tatis. (The latter title was given by them, more specific-ally, to the ancient symbols, which contained the instruc-tion received from the apostles, and transmitted andpreserved in the ohureh.)" Thus even then, in the timesof those ancient fathers, it seems, oral tradition, by someof them, began to be regarded very much as it is still re-garded by the Romish church; that is, as a principiumcoqnoscendi in theology. But let it be here observed thatin coming to :1 proper decision on the subject of doctrinaltradition, in other words oral tradition as it respectsChristian doctrines, (traditiI; orulis dogmatica,) so as tohave correct notions of it now, "every thing depends uponmaking the proper distinctions with regard to time.

"1. In the first period of Christianity, the authority ofthe apostles was so great that all their doctrines and ordi-nances were strictly and punctually observed by thechurches which they had planted, And the doctrine anddiscipline which pI' vniled in these apostolical churcheswore, at that time, justly onaiel'red by other to be purely

RELATiVE TO THE RULE OF CHnTBTIAN FAlTH. 77

such as the apostles themselves had taught and established.This was the more common, as the books of the NewTestament had not, as yet, come into general use amongChristiarrs. Nor was it, in that early period, attendedwith any special liability to mistake. In this way we canaccount for it, that the Christian teachers of the secondand third centuries appeal so frequently to oral tradition.

" 2.' But in later periods of the church, the circumstanceswere far different. After the commencement of the thirdcentury, when the first teachers of the npostolieal churchesand their immediate succes ors had passed away, andanother race came on, other doctrines and forms weregradually introduced, which differed in many ro pectsfrom npostolical simplicity. Anrl now thes innovatorappealed, more frequently than had ever been done before,to apostolical tradition, in order to give urrency to theirown opinions and regulations. Many at this time did nothesitate, as we find, to plead apostolieal tradition for manythings, at variance not only with other traditions, but withthe very writings of the apostles, which they had in theirhands. From this time forward, tradition became, natu-rally, more and more uncertain and suspicious. And espe-cially after the commencement of the fourth century, them,orejudicious and conscientious teachers referred more tothe Bible, and less to tradition. Augustine establishedthe maxim, that tradition could not be relied upon, in theever-increasing distance from ·the age of the apostles, ex- .cept when it was universal and perfectly consistent withitself. And long before him, Irenaeus had remarked, thatno tradition should be received as apostolical, unlessfounded in the holy scriptures, and conformable to them.(Adv. Haer. iv. 36.)

"3. From these remarks, we can easily determine thevalue of doctrinal tradition in our own times. We havebut little credible information respecting the first Ohri tianchurches, of as early a date as the first or second century,beside that which the New Testament gives us. And thein~ormation respecting them of a later origin is 1jO int~r-ruinzled with rumours nnd fables as to be quite uncertain.We cannot hope, therefore, to obtain by oral tradition anyinformation respecting the doctrines held in the first Chris-tian ohurche , beyond what we obtain from the books of


the New Testament, the only genuine records of the earlyperiod of Christianity. Lessing affirmed, indeed, that theChristian religion would have been handed down from ageto age, even if the writings of the New Testament hadnever existed. And true it is, that by oral tradition, bywritings of a later origin, by baptism, the Lord's supper,and other Christian rites, much of Christianity might havebeen preserved to our own times, without the aid of thesacred books of our religion. But it is equally true, thatwithout the New Testament any certainty with regard tothe doctrines of Christianity would be impossible; thesure, historical basis of the system would be removed, andChristianity soon become greatly disfigured; as may belearned from the example of the Romish church, wherethe use of the Bible was limited. Christianity did, in-deed, exist for some time before the books of the NewTestament were written. And during that early period,while the apostles and their immediate successors stilllived and taught, these books might be dispensed' with byChristians without serious injury. But not so in aftertimes.

"The reformers, therefore, justly held, that tradition isnot (certainly for us) a sure sonrce of knowledge respect-ing the doctrines of theology; and that the holy scripturesare to be received as the only principium cognoscendi.C£ Walch, Untersuchung vom Gebrauche del' heiligenSchrift unter den Christen in den vier ersten Jahrhunder-ten, Leipzig, 1779, 8vo; a work which appeared on occa-sion of the controversy with Lessing." (Dr. Knapp'sOhristian Theology, introd. sect. vii., No.3.)

Tldrat.ll. Tradition, as forming any part of a standingrule f~r Christia~ faith and practice, is unnecessary. Ifthere IS already III our hands a good and amply sufficientstanding rule for Christian faith and practice, then anything besides, to be received along with it as forming sucha rule, is manifestly unnecessary. But such a rule we havein the Bible, the divine book of our sacred writings.These Scriptures are evidently from God. They are arevelation of the will of God to man, containing withal,and de ignedly so, a standing rule for man's faith andpractice ; an infallible directory for all ages of time; and,consequently, they must contain all the things which are

RELATIVE TO THE BULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 79

necessary tobe believed by man or by him done in orderto salvation. -

That the Scriptures contain all the things necessary tobe believed or done in order to salvation, is sufficientlyproved from the testimony of the Scriptures themselves." As our blessed Saviour is the sole author of our faith,those ~ings, and those only, which he taught himself, andcommissioned his disciples to teach, are objects of faith.What his doctrines were, we :find in no less than four ac-counts of his life and preaching given in the gospels, Towhat belief his disciples converted men, we find in theActs. What they taught men after their conversion, weread in the epistle. That the inspir d writ rs intended togive a full account, 01' at lea t ,tdlicimtly 0, we havabundnnt proofs. - When t, Paul sot forth the advan-tages that Timothy hnrl by a roligiou 0(1It iation, h says,'That from a child he hall known the Holy criptures,which wore able to make him wise unto salvation, throughfaith which was in Christ Jesus,' 2 Tim. iii, 15. He alsosays, in reference to the Old Testament, 'All Scripture isgiven by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,reproof; correction, instruction in righteousness, that theman of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto allgood works,' 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. St. Luke, in the begin-ning of his gospel, tell us, that 'having a perfect knowl-edge of those things that were believed among Christians,he had undertaken to set forth a declaration of them, thatthey might know the certainty of those things in whichthey had been instructed,' Litke i. 3, 4. St. John informsus, in the conclusion of his gospel, 'And muny other signstruly did Jesus in the preseuce of his disciples, which arenot written in this book: but these things arc written thatye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God jand that believing, ye might have life through his name,'John xx. 30, 31. From the passage in Luke it appears,that what was written by Luke alone was sufficient to

- "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: sothat whatsoever is not rend therein, nor may be proved thereby, is notto be required of any man, thnt it should be believed as an article of theFaith, or be thought requisite o~ neces ary to ulvation." Book ofCommon Prayer, of the Prot. EpISC. Church, U. . A., art. VI. of theArticles of RelifJion, .

80 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ROMAN OATHOLICS

afford certctinty in those things in which CHristians hadbeen instructed. From the passage in John it is clear thatwhat was then written was sufficient to enable people tobelieve, and to lead them to life eternal. Besides, the OldTestament was able, or sufficient, to make Timothy wiseusuo salvation, through faith in Christ; and also that aChristian might be perfect, or completely taught, so as tobe thoroughly furnished toward the pursuit of every goodsoord and ioork, - Now as it appears to havp been the in-tention of the evangelists to relate every thing necessaryand useful for salvation, (although they did not writeevery thing that Christ said and did, for then the worldcould not contain the things that would be written,) wecannot suppose that they failed in accomplishing whatthey had undertaken; especially since Christ had promisedthem that 'the Spirit would bring all things to their re-membrance, whatsoever he had said unto them,' John xiv.26. Could they, after all, forget any part that wasmaterial or necessary? That any of them should do so isstrange; but much more so that they all should. ThatLuke, the writer of the Acts, should omit any' thing ofimportance, still adds to the wonder; and that no one of

-the many epistles written to instruct the churches in theirfaith and duty, should supply this defect, is beyond allbelie£ Nor do the apostles give us any hint of theirleaving any thing with the church, to be conveyed downby oral tradition, which they themselves had not put inwriting. They sometimes, it is true, refer to such thingsas they had delivered to particular churches; but by tra-dition in the apostles' days, and for some ages after,nothing more was meant than the-conveyance of the faith,and not any unwritten doctrines." (Dr. Elliott's Delin-eation of Roman Qatholicism, book i., chap. ii., propeinitium.)

But tradition is of the utmost importance to the RomanCatholics. There are in their church manv opinions andpractices for which, confessedly,no warrant can be pro-duced from the inspired Scriptures. Suppose then that aprotestant comes in contact with Roman Catholics in sucha manner that he ha occasion to speak of some of thoseunwarranted opinions or prnctices of' theirs, urging thatthey arc without scriptural authority; his Romish antago-

RELATI,E TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 81

nists have a ready reply, viz. that they have received themby tradition from the apostles. Thus tradition is made totake the place of argument and evidence; it supcrcedesreasoning, and answers many objections. And is itstrange that it should do all this, in tbe bands of thosewho bold it to be a part of the word of God, and whosechurch by bold decree (the decree of the council of Trent,as we have seen,) has declared to the world that theyreceive it with the same piety and veneration that theydo the holy Scriptures themselves F'" With such amethod as this for proving things, how asy it must be forthem to establish, to their own sntisfhction, whatev r th 'Iplease to undertake! and tim, like th scribes and Phurl-sees of old, render the word of od of none m ,t bytheir tradition I

The question is still before ua,II. Relative to the other part of the rule of faith at: th

Roman Catholics, which we have under consideration,~,iz,their Scripture. It is proper to observe, that the termScripture, like the word from which it is derived, viz. theLatin Scriptura; primarily signifies a writing, that is, anytMng written. But appropriately, it is commonly used to

~ "Some )!reat doctors of the Church of Rome declare tradition tobe superior to the written word. It is true that thi« is not authorized bythe express decision of the Council of Trent, which makes traditiononly equal to Scripture. Yet the true spirit of popery, apart fromsome of her formnl decrees, gives quite too much countenance to the ex-altation of tradition above Scripture. Accordingly some of the mpstdevoted sons of Rome have uneq uivocally placed tradition above Scrip-ture. Thus Cardinal Baronius teaches: 'Tradition is the foundation ofScriptures, and excels them in this; that the Scriptures cannot subsistunless they be strengthened by traditions; but traditions have strengthenough without Scriptures.' (Baron., an. lviii. n. 2.) Linden says:'Traditions are the most certain foundations of faith, the most sureground of the sacred Scriptures, the impenetrable buckler of Ajax, thesuppressor of all heresies. On the other side, the Scripture is a "use orwax, a dead autl killing letter without Iile, a mere shell without a ker-nel, a leaden rule, a wood of thieves, a shop of heretics.' ( LindenPanopl. lib. i. c. 22, &c.) Bishop Canus gives the following reason whytraditions are to be preferred to the Bible: 'Because tradition is notomy of greater force azain t heretics than the Scriptures, but almost 1\11lltsputation with heret~s is to be referred to trauition •.' (Ganus, Loc,Theol., lib. iii. e. 3.) See much more to the same purpose in l\I'Gavin'sPI"Ot., VQl. i. p. 678; and in Via Tuta et Via Devia, edit. 1818, pp. 300-:lU9." (Elliott's Roman Catho/icisJll, book i., chap. iii.]

6

82 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF RO,lfAN, CATHOLICS

denote the writings of the Old and New Testament.These books are called the Scriptures by way of eminence,as being the most important of all writings. They arecalled the sacred or holy Scriptures, because of the sacreddoctrines they contain j and sometimes canonical Scrip-tures, because, having been respectively ascertained to beauthentic, they have been duly received as collectivelyconstituting the sacred canon; lit that is, the great moralrule in conformity to which mankind are required tolive.

The Script1l1'e which we are considering, as forming apart of the Romish rule of faith, is of course such as .ispretended to be canonical. It consists of the Old andNew Testament, together with the Apocrppha, accordingto the decree of the council of Trent, de canonicis SC1'ip-turis, where the names of their sacred books are mention-ed. ":Moreover," (say they,) "lest any doubt shouldarise respectin the sacred books which are received bythe council, it las been judged proper to inse;;t a list ofthem in the present decree. They are these: of the OLDTESTAMENT,the five books of Moses, viz. Genesis, Exodus,Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; Joshua; Judges;Ruth; four books of Kings j two books of Chronicles; thefirst and second of Esdras (the latter is caned Nehemiah;)Tobit ~.Judith j Esther [with the .Apocryphal additions]j t

lit "Canon, a word used to denote the authorized catalogue of thesacred writings." Buck's Theoloqical Dictionary, art. Canon.

"Canon. 1. The Greek word Kavow denotes, primarily, a straightrod; and from this flow nnmerous derivative uses of it, in all of whichthe idea of stmighlr,ess, as opposed to obliquity, is apparent. Among. therest, it is employed to denote a rule or standard, by a reference to whichthe rectitude of opinions or actions may be determined. In this latteracceptation it is used in the New Testament (comp. Gal. vi. 16; Phil.iii. 16). In the same sense it is frequently nsed by the Greek fathers(Suiccr. Thess. Eccles. in voce); and as the great standard to which theysought to appeal in all matters of faith and dnty was the revealed willof God contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,they came insensibly to apply this term to the collective body of thosewritings, and to speak of them as THE CANON or RULE.

"2. The Canon then may be defined to be 'The Authoritative Stand-ard of Religion and Moral", composed of those writings whieh havebeen given for this purpose by God to men." Dr. Kitto's Cyclopredia ofBibliral Literature, art. Calion.

t These additions areat the end of the tenth chapter, ten verses,.followed by six more chapters.


Job; the Psalms of Da~id, in number i50; the Proverbs ;Ecclesiastes; the Song of Songs; Wisdom j Ecclesiasti-cus j Isaiah; J eremiah, with Baruch. j Ezekiel; Daniel[including the Son,,! of the Three Children, Susanna,and the story of Bel and the Dragon] j. the twelveminor Prophets, viz. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,and Malachi; and two books of Maccabees, the first and •second.. Of the NEW TESTAMENT,the four Gospels, ac-cordin~ to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts ofthe A;.ostle written by the Evangelist Luke; fourteenEpistlc.: of the Apostle Paul, viz. to the Roman, two tothe Ooi.nthians, to the Galatians, to til Ephesians, to thePhilippians, to the Col isiuns, two to th Th 'ssnloninlHI,two to Timothy, to Titus, to I hilemon, und t th II'-brews; two of the Apo tie P,.,tCI'; three of the po tlJohn; one of the Apostle J [UllOS; one of the .po tIeJude; and the Revelation of the Apostle John." Sacro-rum vera librorum indiccm huic decreto adscribendumcensuit; ne cui dubitatio suboriri possit, quinum sint, quiab ipsu synodo suscipiuntur. Sunt vera infra scripti :Testamenti veteris, quinque Moysis, id cst, Genesis, Ex-odus, Leveticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium; Joshue, Judi-cum, Ruth, quatuor Regum, duo Paralipomenon; Esdraeprimus, et secundus, qui dicitur Nehemias, Tobias, Judith,

. Hester, Job, Psalterium Davidicum centum quinquagintapsalmorum, Parabolae, Ecclesiastes, Canticum canticorum,Sapientia, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias cum Baruch,Ezekiel, Daniel, duodecim Prophetae minores, id est, Osea,Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc,Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, 'Malachias; duo Macha-baeorum, primus et secundus. Testamenti novi, quatuorEvangelia, secundum Matthaeum, Marcum, Lucam et J oan-nero: Actus Apostolorum a Luca Evangelista conseripti:quatuordecim Epistolae Pauli apostoli; ad Romanos, duaead Corinthios, ad Galatas, ad Ephesios, ad Philippenses,ad Colossenses, duae ad The alonicenses, dune ad Timo-theum, ad Titum, ad Pbilemonem, ad Hebraeos; Petri

• In the Roman Catholic authorized version, the Srmg of thi; ThreeObildren is placed in the third chapter, between the twenty-third andtwenty-fourth verses; and the story of Susanna, and that of Bel and tileDragon, are placed at the end of the book.


Apostoli duae, Joannis Apostoli tres, Jacobi Apostoli una,J udao Apostoli una, etApocalypsis Joannis Apostoli." (De-creta et Canones Concil. Trident; sess. iv.) Such is thelist of the sacred books of the Roman Catholics. Such aretheir Scriptures. Here, as you perceive, are ten books orpieces of composition such as they are, other than thoseordinarily received as belonging to the canon of Scripture,besides the apocryphal additions to the book of Esther.And not only do they receive as canonical all these apocry-phal books, thus intermingled with the books of the OldTestament, but fulminate their anathema against all otherswho do not receive them in the same manner. "Who-ever" (say they) "shall not receive, as sacred and canon-ical, all these books, and every part of them, as they arecommonly read in the Catholic Church, and are containedin the old V ulgato Latin edition, LET !JIM BE ACCURSED."Si quis autem libros 12JSOS integros cum omnibus suis pm'-tibus, prout in Ecc1esia Catholica legi consueverunt, et inveteri vulgata Latina editione habentur, pro sacris et can-onicis non susceperit; ANATHEMA SIT. Ibid. .

Concerning these Scriptures thus insisted on as "sacredand canonical" by the Roman Catholics, some things areto be observed. And

1. Concerning the apocryphal w1'itings which they con-tain. The apocryphal writings consist of " books not ad-mitted into the sacred canon, being either spurious or atleast not acknowledged to be divine. * The word Apoc-rypha is of Greek origin, and is either derived from the _words ana TTJf KpV7rTTJf, because the books in question wereremoved from the crypt, chest, ark, or other receptacle inwhich the sacred books were deposited, whose authoritywas never doubted; or more probably, from the verbarrOKpV7rT<J, to hide or conceal, because they were concealedfrom the generality of readers, their authority not beingrecognized by the church, and because they are bookswhich are destitute of proper testimonials, their originalbeing obscure, their authors unknown, and their character

• "Considered as human writings, the apocryphal books have theiruse: but If cllstom sanction any of them being bound up in the samevolume with the sacred oracles; truth r~uires that we explicitly declare,that they are not THE wont> OF GOD.' Scott's Commentary, vol, I.,Preface. .

R1J:LA7'IVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 85

either heretical or suspected. The advocates of thechurch of Rome, indeed, affirm that even these are divinelyinspired; but it is easy to account for this assertion : theseapocryphal writings serve to countenance some of theCOlTUptpractices of that church." (Rev. T. HartwellHorne's Introduction to the critical 8t~t(lyand Knowl-edge of the Holy Scriptures / vol. i., Appendix, No. v.sect. i. . Ed. Philadelphia, 1827.)

It is worthy of remark that the Roman Catholics, inmixing up the books of the Apocrypha with the inspiredScriptures, and thus receiving them all together as canon-ical, are manifestly guilty of adding to the word of God.

nd do they not thus subject themsol v s to tho curse pro-nounced against all such in the Apocalyps of th apo tlJohn? "ji'or I testify unto every wan that b ':.11' th thewords of tho prophecy of this book, If any man shall addunto these things, Goil slwll add unto him the plaguesthat are written in tliis book." • Rev. xxii. 18.

"The motives of tbe papists in giving these apocryphalLooks a place~in the canon of Scripture, are abundantlyevident from the use which they make of them in estab-lishing some of their unscriptural doctrines and practices.Yet so entirely opposed are the passages usually cited forthis purpose to the whole tenor of the inspired word ofGod" as to be sufficient, of themselves, were there no otherarguments, to prove that they arc not inspired. Two orthree instances of this only can be given.

"(1.) The Apocrypha teaches, as do the papists, that aman can justify himself and make atonement for his sinsby his own works; the inspired word of God ascribes jus-tification and atonement wholly to the merit of Christ'srighteousness, and the efficacy of his sufferings.

".Apocryphal Texts. - Says one of these writers: 'Thejust, which have many good WOrkslaid up with thee, shall

• "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou befound a liar." Provo xxx, 6. "How amply has this been fulfilled inthe case of tbe Homisli Church I It has added aJI the gross stuff in theApocr!fpha, besides innumerable legends and traditions, to the word ofGod ~ They have been tried by tho refiner'« fire. And tbis Church hasbeen reproved, and found to be a liar, in attempting to filiate on the mostholy God spuriou .• writings discreditable to his nature" Clarke's Com-JfIpntm7/,in loco.


out of their own deeds receive reward.' Tobit xii. 8, 9., Prayer is good with fasting, and alms, and righteousness.'

.-' Alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away'all sins. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shallbe filled with life.' Ecclus. iii. 3. 'Wlloso.honoureth hisfather rnalceth. atonement for his sins.' 30. ' ALMSMAKETH ATONEMENT FOR SINS!' xxxv, 3. ' To forsakeunrighteousness is a propitiation.'

"Inspired Texts.-To show how entirely these textsare opposed to the inspired word of God, it will be suf-ficient to cite the following two as specimens of hundreds,teaching the same glorious doctrine. Rom. iii. 24, 25.'Being justified FREELY, IlY HIS GRACE, through the re-demption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath setforth to be a PROPITIATION, through faith in his blood.'Gal. ii. 16. 'Knowing that a man is not justified by theworks of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, evenwe have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justi-fied by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of thelaw: FOR BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW SHALL NO FLESH BEJUSTIFIED.'

"(2.) The apocry hal book of Maccabees teaches thepopish practice of praying for the dead ; which is opposedto the whole tenor of God's inspired word, and never oncehinted at in a single passnge of the old or new Testament(2 Macc. xii. 43, 44). 'And when be bad made a gather-ing throughout the compnny, to the sum of 2000 drachmaof silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin-offering,doing therein very well and honestly: for if he had nothoped that they that were slain should have risen again,it had been superfiuous and vain to pray for the dead.'

" (3.). But these apocryphal books are not only destituteof the slightest claim to inspiration, they are also immoral,and teach and commend practices plainly condemned inGod's word. The Bible condemns suicide. (Exodus xx.13.) The book of Maccabees commends as noble andvirtuous the desperate act of Razis, in falling upon hissword rather than suffer himself to be taken by the enemy(2 Mace. xiv, 41, &c). The Bible condemns the assas .•i-nation of the Shechemites, in language of just severity(Gen. xlix. 7). The Apocrypha highly commends thisbase and treacherous wholesale murder (Judith ix, 2, &0).

RELATiVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 87

The Bible forbids and condemns rnagical incantations(Lev. xix, 26, and Dent, xviii. 10, 11, 14). The Apocry-pha represents an angel of God as giving directions for~uc9 inca~ltations, by the heart, liver, and gall of a fish (!)1ll a ludicrous and contemptible story, fitter for theArabian Nights' Entertainments, or the Adventures ofBaron Munchausen, than for a book claiming to be a partof God's word (Tobit vi. 1-8). 'And as they went ontheir journey they came to the river Tigris, and theylodged there; and when the young man went down towash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and wouldhave drowned him. Then the angel said unto him, takethe fish. And the young man hid 1101(1 of tho fj h anddrew it to land. To whom the anc 1 said, pen th flsh,and take the heart and th liver, ana the gall, a d putthem up safely. So the young man did as th ang 10m-manded him, and when they had roasted the fish, theydid eat it. Then the young man said unto the angel,brother Azarias, to what use is the heart and the liver andthe gall of the fish? And he said unto him, touching theheart and the liver, if a devil, or an evil spirit trouble any,we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the wo-man, and the party. shall be no more vexed. As for thegall, it is good to anoint a man that hath whiteness in hiseyes; he shall be healed.' In the same book of Tobit, theangel that is introduced, is guilty of wilful lying, byrepresenting himself as being a kinsman of Tobit (v. 12),and afterwards contradicting himself, by affirming that heis Raphael, one of the holy angels (xii. 17). It is un-necessary to refer to the silly £1We of Bel and the dragon,the ark going after Jeremiah at the prophet's command(2 Mace. ii, 4), the story of Judith, &c., and the numerouscontradictions and absurdities that are found in these

• books. It will be sufficient, in addition to the above, toshow that the apocryphal books were never admitted intothe canon of Scripture during the first four centunes, thatthe writers themselves lay no claim. to insp~ntl~n, andthat even popish authors, previous to the council of Trent,have admitted that they did not belong to the canon ofScripture.

" (4.) These apocryphal books are not me;t.tioned in. anyof tile earliest catalogues of the sacred wNtmgs j neither

88 UNAUTHORIZED pOSITION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

in that of Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in the second century,nor in those of Origen, in the third century, of Atha-nasius, Hilary, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, GregoryNazianzen, Amphilochius, Jerome, Rufinus, and othersof the fourth century; nor in the catalogue of canonicalbooks recognized by the council of Laodicea, held in thesame century, whose canons were received by the Catholicchurch; so that, as Bishop Burnet wen observes, ' we havethe concurring sense of the whole church of God in thismatter.'

"(5.) These books were never quoted, as most of theinspired books were, by Ghrist and his apostles. Theyevidently formed therefore no part of that volume towhich Christ and his apostles so often referred, under thetitle of Moses and the prophets. There is scarcely a bookin the 01<1Testament which is not quoted or referred toin some passage of the New Testament. Christ has thusgiven the sanction of his authority to Moses, and thePsalms, and the prophets; that is, to the whole volume ofScripture which the Jews had received from Moses andthe prophets; which they most tenaciously maintained ascanonical; and which is known by us under the title ofthe Old Testament. But there was not one of the apoc-ryphal books so acknowledged by the Jews, or so referredto by Christ and his apostles.

"(6.) The authors of these books lay no claim to in-spiration, and in some instances make statements utterlyinconsistent therewith. The book of, Ecclesiasticus,which, though not inspired, is superior to an the otherapocryphal books, was written by one Jesus toe son ofSirach. His grandfather, of the same name, it seems, hadwritten a book, which be left to his son Sirach ; and hedelivered it to his son Jesus, who took great pains to re-duce it .into order; but he nowhere assumes the character •of a prophet himself, nor does he claim it for the originalauthor, his grandfhther. In the prologue, he says, 'Mygrandfather Jesus, when he bad much given himself to thereading of the Law, and the Prophets, and other books of.our fathers, and had gotten therein good judgment, wasdrawn on also himself to write something pertaining tolearning and wisdom, to the intent that those which \tredesirous to learn, and are addicted to these things, might


profit much more, in living according to the law. Where-fore let me entreat you to read it with favour and atten-tion, and to pardon us wherein we maJCseem to comeshort of some words which we 'have laboured to interpret.Farther, some things .uttered in Hebrew, and translatedinto another tongue, have not the same force in them.From the -eight and thirtieth year, coming into Egyptwhen Euergetes was king, and continuing there for sometime, I found a book of no small learning: therefore Ithought it most necessary for me to bestow some diligenceand travail to interpret it; using great watchfulness andskill, in that space, to bring the book to an end,' &c.These avowals, as will be seen at a glance, are altogetherinconsistent with the supposition that this mod t andcandid author wrote under the direction of inspiration.

" The writer of the second book of the l\faccab es pro-fesses to have reduced a work of Jason of Cyrene, con-sisting of five volumes, into one volume. Concerningwhich work, he says, 'Therefore to us that have takenupon us this painful labour of abridging, it was not easy,but a matter of sweat and watching.' Again,' leaving tothe author the exact handling of every particular, andlabouring to follow the rules of an abridgment. Tostand upon every point, and go over things at large, andto be. curious in particulars, belongeth to the first authorof the story; but to use brevity, and avoid much labour-ing of the work, is to be granted to him that maketh anabridgment.' 'Is any thing more needed to prove thatthis writer did not profess to be inspired? If there wasany inspiration in the case, it must be attributed to Jasonof Cyrene, the orizinal writer of tbe history; but his workis 10nD"since lost ~nd we now possess only the abridg-~, d .ment which cost the writer so much labour an pams.Thus, I think it sufficiently appears, that the authors ofthese disputed books were not prophets; and that, ns faras we can ascertain the circumstances in which thoy wrote,they did not lay claim to inspiration, bnt e:<pres~d th,e~-selves in such n. w as no man under the inflnenoe of m-spiration ever (lid.'.' Tile author of this book concludeswith the followinrr word which are utterly unworthy of." ,

• '.Alexander 011 the Canon, p. 80.'

90 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ROMAN OATHOJ.IOS

n person writing by inspiration. 'Here Iwill make an end.And IF I IIA VE DONE WELL, AND AS IS FITTING THESTORY, IT IS TI{AT WHICH I DESIRED; BUT IF SLENDERLY.AND MEANLY, IT IS THAT WHICII I COULD .ATTAIN UNTO.For as it is hurtful to drink wine or water alone / and aswine mingled with water is pleasant, and dellghteth thetaste; even so speech finely framed delighteth the ears ofthem that read the story. And here shall be nn end.' ~

"(7.) There is one additional evidence at least, thatthis book is not inspired, to be drawn from the silly ex-pression just quoted that 'it is hurtful to dl'ink wateralone.' If there were no other proof; this single expres-sion would be sufficient to show that God was not itsauthor, especially since the investigations of total absti-nence societies have proved that cold water alone, insteadof being hurtful, is the most healthful beverage which canbe used.""" (Dr. Dowling's History of Romanism, bookvii., chap. 1. § 8.)

There are some things to be observed,2. Concerning the other Scriptures, as forming a part

of the Roman Catholic rule of faith, viz. the Old andNew Testament, as to the version in which they are adopt-

• "Romish priests are taking advantage of the general ignorancethat prevails relative to the Apocrypha, to inculcate some of the un-scriptural doctrines of their apostate church upon the authority ofthese books. In a recent course of popular lectures in defence of thedoctrines of Popcry in the city of New York, the preacher took as histext to estahlish the doctrine of prayers for the dead, evidently becausehe could -not find one in God's inspired word, 2 Macc. xii. 43,44, abovecited. He might just as well, in the estimation of protestants, havetaken a text from the history of Robinson Crnsoe or Sinbad the Sailor.Yet many might be ensnared with the plausible train of remark; 'Ifthese books are not inspired,' say the papists, 'why have even protest-ants bound them up in their Bibles I' And to this we can only reply- WHY INDEED 1 No consistant protestant should ever purchase aBible with the Apocrypha. Let booksellers, if they choose, pnblishthese apocryphal books, and let readers purchase and read them as theywould any other curious and ancient writings, but let them never bebound in the same volume with God's inspired word.

" The reader who would examine still further the overwhelming evi-den-cs that the apocryphal books are -nninspi d and uncanonical, isreferred to any or all of the following works :- Lardner's works, vol.v.; llorne's Critical Introduction, vol. i., Appendix No. v.; Alexanderon the Canon. But especially the recent valuable work entitled, 'TheArgnments of the Romanisrs on behalf of the Apocrypha, discussedand refuted by Professor Thornwall, of South Carolina College.' "

TlELATIrE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. 91

ed for use. As the Old Testament was written in theHebrew language, and the New Testament in the Greek,these originals therefore - the Scriptures in these originallanguages-must be the only true and proper standardof faith and obedience, and ought to be so considered inpreference to all translations. But the Roman Catholics,passing by these divine originals, - strange as it may seem,have adopted a Latin translation, viz. the VULGATE,which, as their sole standard of faith and morals, theyhave formally authorized, in these words: Insuper eademsacro-sancta Synodus considerans non parum utilitatisaceedere posse Ecclesiae Dei, si ex omnibus Latinis edi-tionibus, quae circumferuntur, sacrorum Iibr rum, quaenampro authentica habenda sit, innotoscat, statu it, t d clnrat,ut haec ipsa vetus et vulgata ediuo, (Ill. o 1 n,g t t s u-lorum usu in ipsa Ecclesia probata st, in publicis 1 ction-ibus, disputationibus, praedicationibus, t expositionibuspro authentica habeatu» " et ut nemo illam rejicere quovispraetectu. audeas vel praeeumat. "Moreover, the samemost holy council, considering that no small advantagewill accrue to the church of God, if, of all the Latin edi-tions of the Sacred Book which are in circulation, someone shall be distinguished as that which ought to beregarded as authentic - doth ordain and declare, that the

• Ignorance or dislike, or both, no doubt, lies at the bottom of thisneglect of the original Scriptures. "A bishop of Dunfelt congratulatedhimself on never having learned Greek or Hebrew. The monks assert-ed that all heresies arose from these languages, but especially from theGreek. 'The New Testament,' said one of them, 'is a book full ofserpents and thorns. Greek,' continued he, 'is a modern language, butrecently invented, and against which we must be upon our guard. Asto Hebrew, my dear brethren, it is certain that whoever studies that im-mediatelv becomes a Jew.' Heresbach, a friend of Erasmus, and arespectable writer, reports these very words. Thomas Linacer, a lea:rn-ed and, celebrated divine, had never read the New Testament. Drawingnear his end, (in 1524,) he called for it, but quickly threw it from himwith an oath, because his eye had caught the words, 'But I say untoyon, Swear not at all.' ' Either this is not the Gospel/ said ~e, ~or weare not Christians.' Even the school of theology III Pans did notscruple to declare before the parliament, , There is an end of religion, ifthe study of Hebrew and Greek is permitted.' :r.1iiler's ~eJiQ. tom ..3,p. 253." Dr. D'Allb':qntf's History of the Great Reformotio» of the SIX-teenth Century, book l., p. 19. Ed. New York, 1845, \"0.

92 UNAUTHORIZED POSITION OF ROMtlN CATHOLICS

same old and VULGATEEDITION,which has been approvedby its use in the church for so many ages, shall be held as.AUTHENTIC,...in all public lectures, disputations, sermons,and expositions; and that no one shall dare or presume toreject it, under any pretence whatsoever." (Decreta et

" Canones Cone. Trid., sess. iv.)The Vulgate was formed by Jerome, one of the most

learned of the primitive Latin fathers. It was done atthe request and under the patronage of pope Damasus,towards the close of the fourth century. Jerome appearsto have formed the text of the Vulgate principally out ofthe old Itala or Italic, collating the whole with the He-brew and Greek, from which he professes to have trans-lated several books entire.j Whatever the work waswhen it came from the bands of Jerome, the well-knownfact is that at the time of the council of Trent it aboundedwith errors. This has been acknowledged by many ofthe most learned among the Roman Catholics themselves."The learned Roman Catholic, Dr. J ahn, confesses that intranslating the Scriptures into the Vulgate Latin, Jerome, did not invariably give what he himself believed to bethe best translation of the original, but occasionally, as he

... "Authentic,-a very ambiguous term, which ought to have been~?,re precise}y defined, t~an the ~embers. of that council c.hose to definert, .Horne s Introduction, vol. 11., part 1., chap. v., sect. 1. § 4.

t "This important work [the Vulgate of Jerome], which, in processof time, supplanted the Itala, was finished A. D .. 384, and was calledVersio Vulqata, the VULGATE, or COMMON version, because receivedinto general use. No version of the sacred writings was more generallyreceived than this; and copies of it were multiplied beyond calculation.And perhaps scarcely any book has been more corrupted, by frequent andcareless transcription, than the Vnlgate, from the year 384 till the in-vention of printing, about the middle of the fifteenth century. Thefirst edition of this version was printed by Guttellburg and Fust, atMayence, in large 101.sine titulo, et sine ulld notd, somewhere between 1450and.1457. By the order of Pope Sixtus Quintus, a complete edition ofthe Vulgate was printed at Rome in 1588, hut not published till 1590.'I'his, though stamped with the infallible authority of the pope, opostolioinobis a Domino, tradita auctoritate; to be the authentic Vulgate, which hestyles perpdno »alituram constitutionem, a decree that shall forever remainin force; yet, on examination, it was found to be so excessh·t/!! ."·oneousand sc!{-cf)l1trwlicior!J,that another edition was undertaken by the author-ity of Pope Clement VIII., widely differing from that of Sixtus. Thisis the edition from which ill those were formed which are now in corn-mon u 'c." Ulurke'« Uommen! tr!J, vol, v., In trod. to the four Gospels,and to the Acts of th Apo tles, p. 23, 8vo.

RELATIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FA1TH. 93

confesses (Praef. ad Com. in Eccles.) followed the Greektranslators, although he was aware that they had oftenerred through negligence, because he was apprehensive ofgiving umbrage to his readers by too wide a departurefrom the established version; and therefore we find that,in his commentaries, he sometimes corrects his own trans-lation. Sometimes, too, he has substituted a worse inplace of the old translation.' In another place, Dr. Jnhnadds as follows: 'The universal admission of this versionthroughont the vast extent of the Latin church multipliedthe copies of it in the tr:mscritltioll of which it becamecorrupted with many errors, I'ownrds the ('1, of theighth Or the boginnlng of tho ninth r-cntnry, H was, atthe commnnd of Churlcmagne, correct ([ by ] .uin ii' mthe Hebrew tc .t, This rccen ion was 'ilb r nut wid 1ypropagated, or was again infected with 1'1'01"8; for whichreason Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, who died in108D, caused some copies to be again corrected. N ever-

• theless, cardinal Nicholas, about the middle of the twelfthntury, found tot exemplaria quot codices (as many copies

s manuscripts), and therefore prepared a correct edition.'"In the year 1540, the celebrated printer, Robert

. Stephens, punted an edition of the Vulgate with thevarious readings of three editions and fourteen manu-scripts, 'This agaiu,' says Dr. Jahn, 'was compared byHentenius with many other manuscripts and editions, andhe added the various readings 1.0 an edition published atLouvain in 1547. This edition was frequently reprinted,and was published at Antwerp in 1580, and again in 1585,enriched with. many more various readings, obtained by anew collation of manuscripts by the divines of Louvuin/ "

" As the Vulgate was thus exalted by the council ofTrent to the place of the inspired original, it was, ofcourse, necessary to prepare an authorized edition of thisLatin version on account of the innumerable variations inthe different editions of the Vulgate issued previou tothat time. To effect this object, pope Sixtus V. com-manded a.new revision of the text to be made, and cor-rected the proofs himself of an edition which was publishedat Rome in 1<DO, and procIa.imed, by his infallible papal

.. 'Sec Dr. Jahn's Introduction to the Old Testament, ect. 62, 64.'

94 UNAU~HORIZED POSITION OF ROltlAN CATHOLIC!i/

authority, to be the authentic and unalterable standard ofScripture.

"It was very soon discovered, however, that this editionabounded with error", though it had been accompanied bya bull, enjoining its universal reception, and forbiddingthe slightest alterations, under pain of the most dreadfulanathemas.

"The popish dignitaries thus found themselves in amost embarrassing predicament, and that whichever hornof the painful dilemma they chose, ,r the facts only be-came known, it would be equally fatal 0 themselves!Either this edition must be maintained as a standardwith thousands of glaring errors, or infallibility must be .shown to be fallible, by the correction of these errors.To make the best of a bad thing, the edition, as far aspossible, was called in, and a more correct redition issuedby pope Clement VIII. in 1592, accompanied by a similarbull. Happily for the cause of truth, the popish doctorswere unable to effect an entire destruction of' the editionof Sixtus. It is now exceedingly rare, but there is a copof it in the Bodleian library at Oxford, and another in throyal library at Cambridge.

"The learned Dr. James, who was keeper of the Bod-leian library, compared the editions of Sixtus tind Clement,and exposed the variations between the two in a bookwhich he called, from the opposition between them, Bel-lum Papale, i. e. the Papal War. In this work Dr.'James notices 2000 variations, some of whole verses, andmany others clearly and decidedly contradictory to eachother. Yet both editions were respectively declared tobc authentic by the same plenitude of knowledge andpower, and both "guarded' against the least alteration bythe same tremendous excommunication.-

" Dr. J ahn candidly relates the facts above named, andmakes the following remarkable admission :-' The morelearned Catholics have never denied the existence oferrors in the Vulgate; on the contrary, Isidore Clariuscollected EIGB'l'Y TUOUSAND.' It is amusing to notice theembarrnssruent caused to this learned Rornanist, by the

'Fur It fuJI account of these two editions of the Vulgnte, see DrTownley's illustrations of biblical Iiternture, ii. 168, &c.'

RELATIVE TO THE RULE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. !)5

decree of the council of Trent establishing the authorityof the Vulgate. .As a good Catholic he was bound to re-ceive that decree, and yet his learning forbade him toblind his eyes to the errors of that version, elevated bythe said decree to a higher stand than the original He-brew and Greek text. The attempt of Dr. Jahn to explainthe decree of the council of Trent, so as to reconcile itwith his own enlightened views of the Latin Vulgate, ex-hibits an amusing specimen of ingenuity, and may be seenin his Introduction to the Old Te tament, section 65."(Dowling's Hist01'y of Romanism, book vii. chap. ii. § 9,10.)

As to other translation f th Bibl among thman Cntholics, UR made by them elv II ill th Jivinglanguages of'mankind, they hold th m t bo n ith '1' 11 <' -sary nor expedient. Consequently, if at any tim th 'yhave made and published a translation of the sa redwritings in the vernacular tongue of any people, they musthave done 80 as driven to it by the force of very urgentcircumstances. It was under such circumstances that theirversion of the Scriptures in the English language cameinto existence. The case was this: some time after thecommencement of the reformation under Martin Luther,i. e. "in the year 1582, the Rom:mists finding it impossi-ble to withhold the Scriptures any longer from the com-mon people, printed an Euglish New Testament at Rheims:it was translated, not from the original Greek, but fromthe Latin Vulgate. The editors (whose names are notknown) retained the words azymes, tunike, holocaust,pasche, and a multitude of other Greek words untranslated,under the pretext of wanting proper and adequate Eng- .lish terms, by which to render them; and thus contrivedto render it unintelligible to common reader. Hence thehistorian Fuller took occasion to remark that it was a'transh~tion which needed to be translated;' nnd that it"editors, 'by all means laboured to suppress the Iirrht oftruth under one pretence or other.''' (Horne's Iniroduc-tion to the critical Study and Knowled,qe of the HolyScriptures, vol. ii., part i., chap. vi., sect. iii. (p. 24G.)

Afterward the Romanists printed a translation of theOld Testament, "at Douay " (whence it is called the

.. It was printed at Douay, "the English Jesuits [by whom i~was

96 UNAUT!lORIZED POSITION OF ROj}IA~V CATHOLICS

Douay Bible) in two volumes 4to, the first of which ap-peared in 1609, and the second in 1610. Annotations aresubjoined, which are ascribed to one Thomas W orthing-ton: the translators were William (afterwards Cardinal)Allen, Gregory Martin, and Richard Bristow." (Horne,ubi supra, p. 247.) This translation, like the RhemishTestament, was made from the Vulgate: and whateverother trauslatious of the Scriptures the Romnnists have oftheir own anywhere, in any language, they have all beenmade, not from the original Hebrew and Greek, but fromthe same imperfect version of the V nlgate. "And as thestream cannot be expected to rise higher than the foun-tain, the errors of the Vulgate arc perpetuated in all thetranslations made from it. True, even the Douay bible isbetter than none: but Romish priests are afraid to let eventhat be given to their blinded adherents without notes toprove that, wherever it condemns their anti-Christian sys-tem, it does not mean what it says." (DOWling's Historyof Romanism, book vii., chap. ii. § 10.)

Such is the Roman Catholic rule of faith. Whence theunavoidable conclusion is, that the Roman Catholic churchmust be an exceedingly erroneous church - very deplor-ably erroneous in both principle and practice. For, tohave an improper rule of faith, a rule made up of diverseingredients, of truth and falsehood all mixed together, isto be erroneous in doctrine; and to be erroneous in doc-trine, on religious and moral subjects, is in effect to prac-tice erroneously, and badly; and to practice badly, is to betravelling in a dangerous road, a road which may finallyterminate in total and remediless ruin.

done] having removed their monastery from Rheims to Demay, beforetheir version' of the Old Testament was completed." Rhemish Testa-ment, Introductory Address to Protestants, p. 5.

DISCOURSE ITI.

THE ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICSRELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS.

2 TRESS. ii. 1-12: " Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LordJesus Cbrist, and by our gathering together uuto him, that ye be not soonshaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter8S from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no mnn deceive youby any mcans e for that duy ah ..U not come, exc pt there COIM u falliul!'away first, and that mall of sin be revealed, the SOli of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that I.wor-shipped; so that he, us God, sltteth in the temple of God, showing hhnselfthat he is God. Remember ye not, iillLt, wben I was yet with you, 1 toldyou these thiugs W And now ye know whut withholdeth, that he might berevealed in his time. For the mystery of iuiquity doth already work: onlyhe who now Ictteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And theushall that \Vicked be revealed, whom the Lord shalt consume with thespirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:even him whose eomlng is after the working of Satan, with all power andsigns and lying wonders, and with n11deeelrnblenesa of unr-lguteousnessin them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, thatthey mtght be saved, And for this cause God shall scud them strong delu-sion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who be-lleved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

AGREEABLY to the orderin which it was proposed thattbis series of discourses should be delivered, the subjectwhich comes under consideration at the present time is,the erroneous sentiments of the Roman Catholics ?'elativeto the Christian sacraments.

Relatively to what a sacrament - is, the Ro~an Catho-lics "teach that it is a thing subject to the senses, andpossessing by divine institution at once the power of signi-

• The word" sacrament is derived from the Latin word saemmentlll1l,which sig-nifies nn oath, particularly the oath taken by soldiers to hetrue to their country ami general. The word was adopted by the "Tit-ers of the Latin church, to denote those ordinances of religion by whichChristians came under an obligation of obedience to God. and whichobli~ation, they supposed, WM equally sacred with that of an oath."But'liI's 7'heologlt~tl Dictionary, art. SalTalllent.

7 M

98 ERRONEOUS SENTIAfENTS OF ROMAN CA.THOLICS

fying, and accomplishing sanctity and righteousness."(Catechism of the Council of Trent, part ii., chap. i.quest. viii-) But is it true, that a sacrament possesses thepower of "accomplishing sanctity and righteousness" inthose who receive it?

The Roman Catholics hold that the number of the sac-raments is seven, all instituted by Jesus Christ, and theycurse those who hold not with them. " Whoever," saythey, "shall affirm that .the sacraments of the new law

•were not aU instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, or thatthey are more or fewer than seven, namely, baptism, con-firmation, the eucharist, penance, extreme unction, order,and matrimouy.ior that any of these is not truly and prop-erly a sacrament : LET HIM BE .ACCURSED." Si quis dixerit,Sacramenta novse legis non fuisse omnia a Jesu Christo,Domino nostro, instituta ; aut esse plura vel pauciora

• quinn eeptem, videlicet, Baptismum, Confirmationem, Eu-charistiam, Poenitentiam, Extremum Unctionem, Ordinem,et Matrimonium; aut etiam aliquod horum septem nonesse vere et propria Sacramentum; .A:N.ATIIEM.A SIT. (IJe-creta et Canones Concil, Trident., sess. vii. IJe Sacramen-tis in Genere, can. 1.) Baptism and tho Eucharist, allproperly instructed Christians hold to be sacraments, insti-tuted by Jesus Christ; the former initiatory into the visi-ble church, the latter commemorative of his death: but asto the other :five,to hold them to be sacraments, institutedas such by our Lord Jesus Christ, is to hold what can byno means be proved.-The Roman Catholics hold that the sacraments confer

grace by their own power. " Whoever," say they, "shallaffirm that grace is not conferred by these sacraments ofthe new law, by their own power / but that faith in thedivine promise is all that is necessary to. obtain grace:LET HIM BE ACCURSED." Si quis dixerit, per ipsa novrelegis Sacramenta ex-opere operata non conferri grati:llll,sed solana fidem divinee promissionis 00 gratiam copse-quendam sufficere; .ANATHEMA SIT. (Concil. Trident., sess.vii., can. 8). But, that grace is conferred in the sacra-ments by their own power, exopere operato, fA) virtue of thecaemony performed, where is the proof? -

"The acraments give not grace or justice of the work wrOl/ght, but

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAAIENTS. 99

They hold that the valid administration oT the sacra-ments depends on the intention of the minister: so thatif the proper intention be wanting, by design or accident,the sacrament is not validly performed, " Whoever," saythey, "shall affirm that when ministers perform and confera sacrament, it is not necessary that they should at leasthave the intention to do what the church does: LET HIM BEACCURSED." Si quis dixerit, in ministris, dum Sncramen-ta eonfieiunt, et conferunt, non requiri intention em salternfaciendi quod facit Ecclesiu ; ANATHEMA SIT. (Gone. Trid.,sess., vii. can. 11.) But how can any person roc iving asacrament know wh ther the mini tel' administering ithave the necessary int ntion r not? A1Hl if h do II notknow, what a sndly dubious cas h mil t h ill! Thusfor instance: as marriage is 1\ Roml h a 'r:l1lH'ut (b -illgone of their seven),'it "mullt be rllspeneed by tho jlri st's'intention;' and if this be wanting, then theparti s nro

~ not married. But, as no man can kn6w certainly, whetherthe essentially necessary' intention' was possessed, andexerted by the priest, it follows, by a certain demonstra-tion, that no Roman Catholic, married by a priest, canhave any certain assurnnce that he and his 811ppOSe(Zspouse are truly married. They mny for aught theyknow, be not married, and are therefore before God, livingin mutual sin; and dying in these perpetual doubts, theyhave no assurance against positive damnation.". (Dr,

are seals of the justice of faith." Dr. Fullce's Confutation of the RhemishTestament, ROlli. iv, II.

The Romish "doctrine concerning the sacraments, by which theyteach that the sacraments confer gmce, is replete with great danger tothe souls of men. Well may the reproof which the prophet adminis-ters to Israel be applied to the Church of Rome: 'They have forsakenthe fountain of living- waters, and have hewed out to themselves hrokencisterns that can hold no water.' Entire reliance on God is weakened,and trust in the arm of flesh is promoted. -By this means God is rCJll'e-sented as depending on man and on ceremonies in the bestowment of hisgrace, and the people are diverted from the source of grace, and arc ledto de~cnd on man and on ceremonies in the place of trusting ill God."Dr. Elliott's Deline ation of Roman CatJrolirislIl,book ii., chap. i., propefinem,

• "This doctrine, with respect to till' intention, prow" daily to tim, ..rous consciences the source of endless doubts and perplexities, which elmnever be removed: for though they may know, for certain, that the ei-re-mon . wa performed, yet they can never know whether or not it woo

100 ERRONEOUS SEN'J'/.IIENTS OJ? pO.lIAN CATHOLICS

Brownlee's 'Doctrinal Decrees and Canons of the Councilof T'rent, note p. 112.) - What a sigular fiction is thisRomish dogma respecting the minister's intention! Thetruth is, when a sacrament is received at the hands of aproperly authorized minister, 1]0 anxiety need be feltabout bis intention whatever it be, the sacrament receivedis to all intents and purposes valid,

They. hold concerning three of their sacraments, viz.baptism, confirmation, and order, that they impress acharacter, an indelible mark on the soul. "Whoever," saythey, "shall affirm that a character, that is, a certain spir-itual and indelible mark, is not impressed on the soulby the three sacraments of baptism, confirmation, andorder; for which reason they cannot be repeated: LETHIM BE ACCURSED." Si quis dixerit, in tribus Sacramentis,Baptismo scilicet, Comfirmatione, et Ordine, non imprimicharacterem in anima, hoc est, signum quoddam spiritale,et indelebile, unde ea iterari non possunt ; ANATHEMA SIT.

.. (Oone. Trid., sess, vii., can. 9.) A.proofless dogma this ofthe indelible character. "The popish fantasy of the indeli-ble character, hath no ground ill the scripture." (IJr.Fulke's Confutation of the Rhemish. Testament, 2 Cor.i.22.)

But let us examine these sacraments of the RomanCatholics separately. In this way. we shall come to in-form ourselves of what their sentiments are concerningeach sacrament in particular, as also how they accord tothe principles of the holy Scriptures. And

I. Baptism.The Roman Catholics hold baptism to be necessary to

performed with the due iutention. In confessions, for instance, tbeymay hear the words of the absolution pronounced hy the priest; butthey know nothing- of his intention, of the intention of the minister whobaptized him, of the bishop who ordained him, of the priest who bun-tized, or the bishops who ordained that bishop, and so up to the apostle's,by whom the first bishops were ordained. Should the right intentionhave been wanting in any of these e-c shouhl the priest, while he pro-nounces tile words of absolution, have his thoughts employed on someother object, as it may easily hnppen ; the penitent sinner would departfrom his tribunal with the whole load of his sins, and be damned, not-withstanding his repentance, for, or, more properly speaking, thrOll~hwant of attention in the priest. A mo-t unchristian and impious d.;'e-trine, plueing' our eternal salvation in the hands of others, and not inour own." Dower's E!is/v.!} !ifthe Popel! - P. Sylvest( r, sub iuit., note.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 101

salvation. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirmthat bap-tism is indifferent, that is, not necessary to salvation: LETHur BE ACCURSED." (Decrees and Canons of the Coun-cil of Trent, sess. vii. De Baptismo, can. 5.)

Again they say: "The law of baptism is prescribed byour Lord to all, insomuch that they, unless they be-regen-erated unto God through the graee of baptism, whethertheir parents be Christian or infidel, are born to eternalmisery and perdition." (Oatechism of the Council ofTrent, part ii., chap. ii., quest. xxx.)

Thus plainly do the Roman Catholics teach the damna-tion of all the unbaptized among mankind. Upon 0 ir-rational as well as uncharitable a dogma, no reasoning' ntall is necessary, for the sentiment even of itself alone i itsown condemnation. Baptism is important, and, as anordinance of the gospel of our blessed Lord Je us Chri t,it ought to be received by all who are proper subjects ofit; but it does not become the baptized of any denomina-tion to say that none shall ever be saved but themselves.

They hold the baptism of infants withal. "Whoever"(say they) "shall affirm tha» children are not to be reck-oned among the faitliful by the reception of baptism,because they do not actually believe; and therefore thatthey are to be re-baptized when they come to years ofdiscretion; or that, since thcy cannot personally believe, itis better to omit their baptism, than that they should bebaptized only in the faith of the church: LET nrsr BE AC-CURSED.". (Council of Trent, sess. vii. can. 13,) Butconscientious persons will still believe and act and evena.!firmconscientiously, in the matter of baptism, especially

. • Formerly they practiced infant cmnmunion also. The fact is ad-mired by the council of Trent. (Sess. xxi., chap. iv.) History men-tions the practice as having existed as early as the third century. TheLord's Supper, important as the ordinance is, was evidently thoujrht ex-travagantly of. "All believed it absolutely necessary to the attainmentof salvation; and therefore they llllivn·sall.'1 wished infant» to partake'If it." "They believed that this ordinance rendered persons immortal;and that such as never partook of it, had no hope of a resurrection,Hence Dioll.v .•ius Alex., (cited hy En_cb., H E., vii., 11). ~1!$ it al..Ut9TJ-rTJVfmu. Toli KVpi(fU ITtJvayl.lyijv. Tluu childrn: also partook of ,I, IS testified by~~lJpriCl~U0 ,LfljJS;';, p. 184 umI189" ed. Rlluze. See P. ZJrn's .E!isloriaElwhnrlst. infuntum c. 4 § I, &c., and c. 6, § 3; also J. BlIl~flm,An iquitates I:erle.~.:b. xv:, . h. 4, § 7." t./Oillteilll's EccltSiasticalH~'y. cent. iii., part ii., chap. iv. §. 3, te.l:t and note (9) •

•

102 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

in countries where they are free so to do, regardless of thecurses of Rome.

As to the mode of baptism, they hold it to be indiffer-ent. "By the common custom and practice of the Church,"say they, "there are three ways of administering baptism.For those who ought to be initiated with this sacramentare either immersed in the water, or have the water pouredupon them, or are sprinlded with the water. And which-soever of these rites be obsqrved, we must believe thatbaptism is rightly administered; for in baptism water isused to signify the spiritual ablution which itaccomplishes,Hence baptism is called by the apostle a lamer / '" but ab-lution is not more really accomplished by the immersionof anyone in water, which was long observed from theearliest times of the Church, than by the effusion thereof,which we now perceive to be the general practice, oraspersion, the manner in which there is reason to believePeter administered baptism, when on one day he convertedand baptized three thousand persons." t (Catechism ofthe Council of Trent, part ii., chap. ii., quest. xvii.) " Im-mersion," they here say, "was long observed from theearliest times of the Ohur6h:" can they assert the sameof the other two ways they mention as being in their com-mon practice, viz. effusion and aspersion?

The ministers of the sacrament of baptism are bishops!lnd priests by right 'Of office; deacons by permission ofthe bishop or priest; and besides these are "those whomay administer baptism in case of necessity, but withoutits solemn ceremonies; and in this class are iricluded all,even from among the laity, whether men or women, what-ever sect they may profess. For this office is permitted,if necessity compel, even to Jews, infidels, and heretics;provided, however, they intend to perform what the.Catholic Church performs in that act of her ministry."(Ibid., quest. xxiii.) Yes, with this proviso, what strangelyextended liberties may be granted!

In the baptism of young children, the Romish manner

'" Tit. iii. 5; Eph. v. 26.t Acts ii,41. But if "immersion was long observed from the earliest

times of the Church," is there not reason to believe this to have beenthe manner in which baptism was administered to the three thousand 011the day of Pentecost 1 .

RELA-rIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAlIIENTS. 103

•

is to make use of eponsors, otherwise called godfathersand gorlmothe1·s. The number of sponsors is "limited toone male or female, or, at most, to one male and ouefemale; because the order of discipline and instructionmay be confused by a number of teachers; and also toprevent the multiplication of affinities, which would im-pede' the wider diffusion of social relations among men bymeans of the ties of lawful marriage." (Ibid.; quest. xxix.)·For " it has been ordained by the Church that not onlythe person who baptizes contracts a spiritual affinity withthe person baptized, but also the sponsor with the god-child and its natural parents; so that between all th emarriage cannot be lawfully contracted." ana if contractedis void." (Ibid. quest. xxvi.) See how Rom , old an Ievil in policy, makes her own ordination conflict with thedivine institution of marriage.

"The ceremonies with which the church of Rome hasencumbered baptism, may be reduced to three heads: suchas are observed before coming to the font-such as areused at the font - and those which immediately followthe administration. In the first place, the water is pre-pared, and 'consecrated with the oil of mystic unction;'this is most commonly done at the festivals of Easter andPentecost. The person to be baptized is brought or con-dueted to the door of the church, and is prohibited en-trance, 'as unworthy to be admitted into the house ofGod, until he has cast ofIthe yoke of the most degrad-mg servitude of Satan, devoted himself unreservedly toChrist, and pledged his fidelity to the just sovereignty ofthe Lord Jesus:'" Catechetical instruction follows: 'if theperson to be instructed be an adult, he himself answersthe interrogatories ; if an infant, the sponsor answers ac-cording to the prescribed form, and enters into a solemnengagement for the child.' Next comes exorcism, con-sisting of 'words of sacred and religious import, and ofprayers? and is used to oxpel ~he devil, to w~ak.en ::ndcrush hIS power.' Salt is put into the mouth! mtunatmgthat 'by the doctrines of faith, and by the gift of grace,

• "It is to be observed, that dispellsation.~.for ma:riagcs within anyde~e whatever of spiritual relation, IU"O easily obtained by all. who cal'afford to pay for them." Bower's History tif the P0pe8 - P. Deusdedit,

104 ERnoNEoUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

he shall be delivered from the corruption of sin, experi-ence a relish for good works, and be nurtured with thefood of divine wisdom.' The forehead, eyes, breast,shoulders, ears, are signed with the sign of the cross, 'todeclare, that by the mystery of baptism the senses of theperson baptized are opened and strengthened, to enablehim to receive God, and to understand and observe hiscommandments.' The nostrils and ears are touched withspittle: 'by this ceremony we understand, that as sightwas given to the blind man mentioned in the gospel, whomthe Lord, having spread clay on his eyes, commanded towash them in the waters of Siloe; so by the efficacyofholy baptism, a light is let in on the mind, which enables·it to discern heavenly truth.'

" At the font, the person to be baptized is asked, 'dostthou renounce Satan?' 'and all his works?' 'and all hispomps? ' To each question, 'he, or the sponsor in hisname, replies in the affirmative.' Next, he ill annointec1with the oil of catechumens - , on the breast, that by thegift of the Holy Ghost he may lay aside error and igno-rance, and receive the true faith; for the just man liveth byfaith-on the shoulders, that by the grace of the HolySpirit be may be enabled to shake off negligence and tor-por, and engage actively in the performance of goodworks; for faith without works is dead.' The apostles'creed, in the form of questions, is then propounded to him,and belief is signified, personally or by the SpOllSOl'. Uponthis baptism is ac1ministered.

" After baptism, the crown of the head is anointed withchrism, 'thus giving him to understand, that from themoment of his bapti m he is united as a member to Christ,his head, and eugrafted on his body; and that he is there-

- fore called a Christian, from Christ, as Christ is so calleel- from Chrism.' A white garment· is put on him, with

• "All persons newly baptized were anciently clothed in white gar-ments, to signify their having 'put off the old man with his deeds, andhaving put on the new man Christ Jesus.' Hence they were called thewhite flock of Christ, 'Grox Christi candid us et nivens.' These gar-rnents were commonly delivered to the Neophitcs with a solemn formof words. in the nature of u. charge; such us that which we read in theSucrameutarium of p"pe Gregory: 'Hcccive the white and unspottedI!:,LrInmt, which thou maycst produce without spot before the tribunal ofour Lord .J' 1I i Uhrist, that thou ,naye-t have .ternal life. Amen.'

RELATIVE TO THE CU'!:ISTIAN'SACRAMENTS, 105

these words, 'receive this white garment, which mayestthou carry unstained before the judgment-seat of ourLord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life.Amen.' Infants receive only a white kerchief, accompa-nied with the same words. ' According to the doctrine ofthe holy fathers, this symbol signifies the glory of theresurrection to which we are born by baptism, the bright!ness and beauty with which the soul, when purified fromthe stains of sin, is invested, and the innocence and integ-rity which the persoR who has received baptism shouldpreserve through life.' A burning light is put into thehand, ' to signify that faith received in baptism, and in-flamed by charity, is to be' fed and augmented by theexercise of good works.' - Lastly, a name is given' whichshould be taken from some per 011 whose eminent san ·tityhas given him a place in the catalogue of th saints; tbi.similarity of name will stimulate to the imitation of hisvirtues, and the attainment of his holiness; and we shouldhope and pray, that he who is the model of' our imitation,may also, by his advocacy, become the gua1'dian of oursafety and salvation.' Such are the unauthorized andfoolish additions made by the church of' Rome to thesimple ritual of' scripture. Justly may it be asked, ' Whohath required this at your' hands? '" (Oramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. vi., pp. 132-13J.)

Among the efect« which the Roman Catholics ascribeto baptism are regeneration, pardon and roinission of sins,together with other invaluable privileges. "Whoever"(say they) "shall deny that the merit of Ohr-istJesus isapplied, both to adults and infants, by the sacrament ofbaptism, rightly administered according to t~e forms ofthe church; LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Oounc!l of Trent,sess, v.)

~'Whoever shall deny that the guilt of original sinis remitted by the grace of' our Lord Jesus Chl"is~, b~-stowed in baptism j or shallaffirm that that whe,.e~ns~!1.truly a1jdproperly consists is not wholly rooted ~p, but IS

These garments were commonly worn cieht days, and then laid up, andcarefully preserved in the vcsrric of the ~hurehJ to. be ~roduee~ us anevidence atraiast such lIS should not ob erve the promises which thcyhad ,~nde ;t their baptism." Bower's History of tile Popes - P. Sergil/',S '0 1lI1t" note.

IOn ERRONEOUS SENTlME'NTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

only cut down," or not imputed: LET HIli! BE .ACCURSED."(Ibid.)

Our Lord "himself having been baptized by John, hegave to the water the virtue of sanctifying." ( Oatechiemof the Oouncil of Trent, part ii., chap. ii., quest. xx.)" The water of baptism not only entirely washes away

•and removes the stain and defilements of all past sins,but adorns the soul with divine grace, by the aid and helpof which we are enabled to avoid sin also for the future,awl to preserve righteousness and innocence; in whichmatter all confess that the sum of a Christian life con-sists." (Ibid., quest. xxxiv.) "By the admirable virtueof this sacrament sin is remitted ctnd pardoned, whetheroriginally contracted from pur first parents, 01' actuallycommitted by ourselves, however great its enormity."(Ibid., quest. xli.) "The remission of all sin, whetherby fault of our origin or by our actual. delinquency, is,therefore, the propel' effect of baptism." (Ibid., quest.xliii.) " But in baptism not only are sins remitted, butall the punishments due to sins and crimes are also be-nignantly remitted by God." (Ibid., quest. 'xliv.) "Bap-tism, moreover, gives a remission of all the punishmentsconsequent on original sin. after the course of this life isended." (Ibid., quest. xlvi.) "By virtue of this sacra-ment, we are not only delivered from evils, that are trulyto be called the greatest, but are also enriched with in-valuable goods and gifts. Our soul is replenished withdivine grace, by which, being made righteous and childrenof God, we are also constituted heirs to eternal salvation.But grace, as the Council of 'I'rent has decreed should bebelieved by all, under pain of anathema, is not only thatwhereby sin is remitted, but is, also, a divine quality in-herent in the soul, and, as it were, a certain splendour andlight, that effaces all the stains of our souls, and rendersthe souls themselves brighter and more beautiful." (Ibid.,quest. xlix.)

We may object to the doctrine of the church Qf Romein reference to the effects of baptism, in the following re-spects: "1. Faith is made void, by their substituting bap-

., '" Radi? It will be perceived that the allusion is to the differencebetween merely felling a trc • and grubbing it up by the root-." .


tism in its place. From the foregoing quotations fromtheir standard authorities, this must appear evident toany who have carefully read the Scriptures, and havestudied their contents. 2. They put baptism in the placeof regeneration by the Holy Ghost. This is doing despiteto the Spirit of grace, which alone renovates man. It istrue, the baptism of the Spirit is sometimes, in theirwritings, distinguished from baptism by water; but thereis such a prominency given to the latter, and so muchstress bid on the mere ordinance, that most Roman Catho-lics have no correct views of the renewal of the HolyGhost, or a change of heart by his divine influences. 3.The mere ceremony of baptism, as performed accordingto the ritual of tile Church of Rome, is the principalthing kept in view in their baptism. The re ult i , thatthey mostly rest in the form, without looking for the sub-stance." (Elliott's Delineation of Roman Oatholicism,book ii., chap. ii., prope jinem.)

II. Thc next of these sacraments of the Roman Catho-lics is - Confirmation;

"Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm that the confir-mation of the baptized is a trifling ceremony, and not atrue and proper sacrament; or that formerly it was nothingmore than a kind of catechising; in which young personsexplained the reasons of their faith before the church:LET HIM BE ACCURSED. •

" Whoever shall affirm that they offend the Holy Spirit,who attribute any virtue to the sacred chrism of confir-mation : LET HIM: BE ACCURSED.

" Whoevel' shall affirm that the usual administrator ofco~firmation is not the bishop only," but any ordinarypriest : LET HIM BE ACCURSED." ( Council of Trent, sess.vii., canons 1, 2, 3.) .

" According 00 the doctrine of the Romish church, 'con-firmation is so called, because the person who receives it'is confirmed in strength, by receiving new virtue, andbecomes a perfect soldier of' Christ.' It is affirmed thatit was instituted as a sacrament by the Redeemer himself;and that' at his last supper he committed 'to his apostles

• Confirmation being- dministered only by the bishop, is otherwisesometimes called 'hi. "~I);"!l"

108 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROllfAN CATHOLICS

the manner of making chrism;' for this, no evidence isadduced, but, say the compilers of the 'Catechism,' thefact is ' of easy proof to those who believe confirmationto be a sacrament, for all the sacred mysteries are beyondthe power of man, and could have been instituted by Godalone.' Although not essential to salvation, it is 'necessaryfor those who have occasion for spiritual increase, andhope to arrive at religious perfection ; for as nature intendsthat all her children should grow up and reach full matur-ity, so it is the earnest desire of the Catholic church, thecommon mother of all, that those whom she has regener-ated by baptism may be brought to perfect maturity inChrist. This happy consummation can be accomplishedonly through the mystic unction of confirmation; andhence it is clear that this sacrament is equally intendedfor all the faithful.' It is not to be administered till chil-dren have attained the use of reason; they must therefore'be at least seven years of age. Sponsors are required, asin baptism, and the same spiritual affinity is contracted.

" Confirmation is administered in the following manner.The bishop anoints the forehead with chrism; saying, , Isign thee with the sign of the cross, and I confirm theewith the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father,and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Then he gentlyslaps the person on the cheek, 'to remind him, that us acourageous champion, he should be prepared to brave withunconquered resolution all adversities for the name ofChrist.' Lastly, he receives the kiss of peace, 'to givehim to understand that he has been blessed with the ful-ness of divine grace, and with that peace which surpasses allunderstandinq? The chrism is a mixture of oil and b31-sum, the mystical meaning of which is thus explained:-, Oil, by its nature unctuous and fluid, expresses the pleni-tude of divine grace, which flows from Christ the head,through the Holy Ghost, and is poured out, like the pre-cious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard

. of Aaron, to the skirt of his ga1'ment J' for God anointedhim toith. the oil of gladness, above li,isfellows, and of hisfulllC8S ue an have received. Balsam, too, the odour ofwhich is most grateful, signifies that the faithful, madeperfect by the grace of confirmation, diffuse around them,by reason of their many virtues, such a sweet odour, that


they may truly say with the apostle, we are the good odourof Christ unto God. Balsam has also the quality of pre-serving incorrupt whatever it embalms; a quality welladapted to express the virtne of this sacrament; preparedby the heavenly grace infused in confirmation, the souls ofthe faithful may be easily preserved from the corruptionof sin.

"In common with the other sacraments, confirmation issaid to confer grace. Its peculiar characteristic is to 'per-fect the grace of baptism; those who are initiated intothe Ohristian religion, "hare, as it were, the tendernessand infirmity of new-born infants I but they afterwardsgather strength from the sacrnment of chrism, to combatthe assaults ofthe world, the fI sh nnd th d vil," ( Cramp'.,Text-Book of Popery, chap. vi.) . ..

Deluded creatures I to think that" perl ct mr turity mChrist," with "strength to combat the assaults of the worldthe flesh and the devil," "can be accomplished oulythrough the mystic unction of confirmation," the cererno-nious application of popish chrism I

c, Did the Church of Rome observe the rite of confir-mation as a formal ceremony to initiate members into thechurch, we would have no controversy with them on thispoint; but as they attach to it sacramental qualities, andtherefore give it quite a new character, we must oppose itas unsound and unscripturaI. Every sacrament musthave its appointment from Christ, consisting of an out-ward sian and words of institution. But this ordinance oftheirs h~s none of these. 'I'he sign which they use is oil.Their words of consecration are, ' I sign thee with the signof the cross, anoint thee with the chrism of health, in thename of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'But none of these have their institution from Ohrist 01'his apostles. We read, indeed, that the apostles used .im-position of hands but never of chrism or oil. Indeed, thisSuper titions device was not then in use, being brought inlong atter by Sylvester, who is i'eported by Damasus tohave been the deviser of chrism.' (Elliott's Delineationof Roman Catholicism, book ii., chap. iii.) .

. n short, "tho Popish sacrament of Confirmation hathno im;titution or rrround in the IIoly Scriptures," (Fulke'8Confutation of the Rhemi.~h Testament, John vii. 39.)

110 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OJ,' ROMAN CATHOLICS

III. Next to be examined is the sacrament of the Eu-charist.

The Eucharist is a sacrament of divine institution, butit has been most sadly abused in the hands of the RomanCatholics. It is well known that the Roman Catholicshold the dogma of transubstamtiation. J' that is, the conver-sion of the bread and wine in the Eucharist into the realbody and blood of Christ. " By the consecration of thebread and wine" (say they), "the whole substance of thebread is concerted into the substance of the body of Ohrist.our Lord, and the whole substance of the wine into thesubstance of Ids blood J' which conversion is by the holyCatholic church fitly and properly called transubstantia-tion." (Decrees and Oanone of the Oouncilof Trent, sess.xiii., chap. iv.)

"Immediately after the consecration" (say they), " thetrue body of our .Lord, and his true blood, together withhis soul and DIVINITY, do exist under the species of thebread and wine;" his body under ·the species of bread,and his blood under the species of wine; by virtue of thewords of consecration;" his body also under the species ofwine, and his blood under the species of bread, and hissou! under each species, through that natural connexionand concomitance by which all the parts of Christ ourLord, who has risen from the dead, no more to die, areclosely connected together; and his DIVINITY, throughthe wonderful and <hypoetatical union thereof with hisbody and soul. Wherefore it is most certain that all iscontained under either species,and under both;" for Christ,whole and entire." exists under the species of bread, and

• "In this sacrament are, contained not only the true body of Christ,and whatsoever appertains to the character of a true body, such as bonesand nerves, but also Christ whole and entire. But it is necessary to teachthat the word Christ is the name of the God and man, that is to sayone person in whom are united the divine and human natures. 'lie;therefore, embraces both substances, and the accompaniments of bothsubstances, the divinity and the entire humanity, which latter. is com-posed of the soul, and of all the parts of the body, and also of the blood,all which we ure to believe ate contained ill tile saCta1nl'11t. For, as in heaven,the whole humanity is united to the divinity in one Person and HYP08-tasis, it is impiety to suppose that the body, which is in the sacrament,is s parated from the same divinity." (CatH'his", Of the Coun..;10/ Trentpart ii., chap. iv., quest. xxxi.) . ,

· RELAl'IJ"E TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 111

in every particle thereof, and under the species of wine,and in all its parts." (Tbid; chap. iii.)

"Whoever" (say they) "shall deny, that in the mostholy sacrament of the eucharist there lire truly, really, anasubstantictlly contained the boay ana blood of our LordJesus Christ, togethel' with his soul ana DIVDHTY, andconsequently Christ entire; but shall affirm that he is pres-ent therein only in a sign or.ftgure, or by his power: LETHIM BE ACCURSED.

"Whoever shall affirm, that in the most holy sacramentof the eucharist there remains the substance of the breadand wine, together with the body and blood of our LordJesus Christ; and shall deny that wonderful atd peculiarconversion of the whole substance of the bread into ILiaboay, ana of the whole substance of the wine into Mablood; the species only of bread and win r ruaining,which conversion the Catholic church most fitly termtransubetantiation : LET HIlI! BE ACCURSED.

"Whoeyer shall deny that Christ enti1'eis contained inthe venerable sacrament of the eucharist, under each spe-cies, and under ~ery part of each species when they arescparated : LET HIM BE ACCURSED.

"Whoever shall affirm, that the body and blood of our~o!'d Jesus Christ are not present in the admirable eucha-rrct, as soon as the consecration is performed, but only asit is used and -received, and neither before nor after; andthat the true body of our Lord does not remain in thehosts· or consecrated morsels,t ~ohich are reserved orleft after communion: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Ibia.,canons 1, 2, 3, 4.)

• "Host. The term by which the pa~ists designate the cons~crated'wafer, derived from the Latin word Hostia, which signifies an animal-forsacrifice, a victim." Dowling'S History of Homanism, P: 198, note. Ed.18~5.

t These" consecrated morsels or "hosts," are small pieces of brcadstamped out in the form of !L'afers; which is the form in which thc Ro-man Catholics receive the bread in partaking of the sacramenr. Thesewafers are put upon the tongue of the communicant by.thc priest, 1111,1,WIthout mastication arc swallowed whole. Of course WIth them, there-fore, it is not bl'oke~ bread, "The body of Christ, as 'broken,' in hissUfierings and death, is represented by the bread b!"oken.: but an u~;broke" wafer does not represent this moat material circumstance.SI'OIt'sXOfes, 1 COl'. xi. 2~.

112 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLIC.'!

It is, as rou observe they say, "by the consecration ofthe bread and wine," "per consecrationem panis et vini," P

that is, "EX VI VERBORUM," "BY VIRTUE OF THE WORDSof consecration," that the asserted trans~lbstantiation is ef-fected. The so pretendecUy potent words of consecrationare contained in the consecration prayer, which translatedreads thus: "Do thou, 0 Goel,we beseech thee, vouchsafeto make this oblation in all things blessred," ndmittj ed,ratifij ed, reasonable and acceptable; that it may be madefor us the bofdy and bljood of thy most beloved Son ourLord Jesus Christ: who, the claybefore he suffered, tookbread into his holy and venerable hands, and with eyeslifted up 'to heaven to thee, 0 God, his almighty Father,giving thanks to thee, he blessjed, broke, and gave to hisdisciples, saying, Take and eat yo all of this; for this ismy body- (hoc est enim corpltS meum). In like manner,after he had supped, t.iking also this excellent chalice intohis holy and venerable hands, also giving thee thanks, bebless-ted it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take anddrink re all of it; for this is the chalice of my blood, (hicest enim calix sanguinis mei,) of the new and eternaltestament; the mystery of faith; which shall be shed foryou and for many unto the remission of sins. As often asye shall do these things ye shall do them in remembranceofmc." (lJ1issale Romanum-Oanon Missae.) As soonas these words, in these two short, Latin sentences, Hocest enim corpus meum t (for this is my body), Me est enimcalix sanguinis mei (for this is the chalice of my blood),are pronouced by the priest in performing the services of

_the sacrament, then instantly, as the Romanists profess.to believe, t the bread and the wine are changed into the

• Where this mark t appears, the priest makes the sign of the cross.t "Hoc est corpus meum (this is my body), from which is doubtless

derived the cant phrase Ilocus pocus, used by pretcnted conjurers."Doiclinq:» Romanism, p. 204, note.

t Erroneous as theii' professed belief manifestly is, they are evidentlv,God only knows the proportion of them, even worse at heart. MartinLuther discovered. this to be the f,tct amonc; them, even in the city ofHome itself, whither he had been despatched on business, some timebefore the !rn~at reformation, of' which he was about to be tile leadinghonoured instrument. His office there, that .. of' envoy from the Aueus-ti.ne~ of. Gennany, p~urod him invit~tions t? several meetings" ofdistinguished eccle tastics. One day, ID particular, he was at table

RELATIVE TO THE CHl/ISTIAN SACR.'LIJENTS. 113

real body and blood of Chr'istj there remains only thespecies, that is, the form or appearance, of bread andwine, each and 'every particle of both which containsChrist whole and entire, body soul and divinity.· Truethe feeling, the smell, the taste, as well as the appearance,are still to the recipient those of bread and wine; but theRomanist disregards his senses, he abandons commonsense, to him they are flesh ana blood, TIlE WHOLECIlRIST, BODY AND SOUL .A1I.TJ)DIVINITY, .ALLOF WIlICH HE PROFESSES TO SWALLOW IHorrible profanity I Bla phemons abourdity !twith several prelates: the latter exhibited openly their buffoonery inmanner. and impious conversation; and did not scruple to giv utr r-anco before him to many indecent jokes, doubtless thinking' him one likethemselves, They related, among other things, laughing', IIlHI,Jriliingthemselves upon it, how, when saying mnss lit tho altar, insteud of thesacramental words which wore to transform the elements into the bodyand blood of the Saviour, they pronounced over the bread and winethese sarcastic words: 'Bread thou art, and bread thou shalt remain;wine thou art, and wine thou shalt remain - Panis es et panis manebis :villum es et villulli l1ulIlebis.' 'Then,' continued they, 'we elevate thepyx, and all the people worship.' Luther could scarcely believe hisears. His mind, gifted with much vivacity, and even gaiety, in thesociety of his friends, was remarknble for gravity when treating onserious things. These Romish mockeries shocked him. 'I,' says he, 'wasa serious and pious youn'" monk; such language deeply grieved me. Ifat Rome they speak th~s openly at table, thought I, what, if theiractions should correspond with their words, and popes, cardinals, andcourtiers SflOUld thus say mass. And I, who have so often heard themrecite it so devoutly, how, in that case, must 1 have been deceived 1'"D'Aubupu: His/01Y of the Great Reformation, book ii. p. 52.. .* Hence they blasphemously speak of themselves as maki~g theirCreator. "Wherefore" said the notorious bishop Bonner, "pnests areto .be honoured before ~11 kings of the earth, princes and nobles. For apriest is higher than " king, happier thll;n an n~~el, lI1AK~~ ?F HISCREATOR." Fox's Bool: of jJ[artyrs, vol, I" book 11.,chap. VII., in fine.

"The chief prerogative of the Roman hierarch seems to be his pOlVerof -ereatinq the Creator. Pascal and Urban plumed themselves on thisattribute, which accordiuz to their own account, raised them above nilsub.tection to eU1:thly sovel~igus. 'l'his, however, is a commnnieable per-fection, and, in consequence, is become common to all the sacerdotal ('';In-fraternity. His holiness keeps a transfer o.fficeat ~he Vatican, III ~hlchhe can make over this prcrogutive to all his deputies through Chn"ten-dom, These, in consequence, can make and eat, create a~~ SW.3l\ow,wl~o~e thousands of pastry-gods every day. But these dettle., lU th.e~plUIOn of their makcrs, 3re ~crhaps u.ot new g'oc.ls,but llle~cly Il~Wedi-tlOn~,of the old one." Ed!J(lf s VII/'i"tt012S ~flj'opery, chap. IV.~ !? 160,

.t The absIlrdity resemhles the prOdll('tlou of some 63t11'u;1,whoW1lIhed to ridicule the my tery, or 'ome visionary, who had laboured tAl

8

114 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS 01-' ROMAN OATHOLICS

The great mistake of the Romanists in this matter, liesin the false interpretation they give to the words of ourLord, understanding them literally where he says, "This ismy body," and, "This is my blood," as in Matt. xxvi, 26-28. "The interpreting of his words, Uterally, is not onlyrepugnant to the sacred, history, and involves an absurdi-ty, but is also contrary to the context, to parallel texts,and to the scope of the passage. Yet it is upon a forcedand literal construction of these words that the church ofRome has, ever since the thirteenth century, erected andmaintained the doctrine of transubstantiation, or of theconversion of the bread and wine in the sacrament of theLord's Supper, into the actual body and blood of Christ!-A doctrine which is manifestly 'repugnant to the plainwords of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacra-ment, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.'.The expressions, 'this is my body,' and' this is my blood,(Matt. xxvi. 26, 28, and Mark xiv. 22, 24, compared withLuke xxii. 19, 20, and 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25,) by a well knownmetonymy, simply mean, 'this represents my body,' and'this represents my blood.' t For, as these words werespoken before Christ's body wasbroken upon the cross,andbefore his blood was shed, he could not pronounce themwith the intention that they should be taken and inter-preted literally by his disciples: nor do we find that theyever understood him thus. If the words of institutionhad been spoken in English or Latin at first, there.mightperhaps have been some reason for supposing that our

bring forth nonsense. A person feels humbled in having to oppose suchinconsistency, and scarcely knows whether to Wllep over the imbecilityof his own species, or to vent his bursting indignation against the im-postors, who, lost to all sense of shame, obtruded this mass of contradic-tions on man. History, in all its ample folios, displays, in the deceivingand the deceived, no equal instance of assurance and credulity." Edgar,chap. xiii., sub init.

• 'Art. xxvii, of the Coufession of the Anglican Church.'t "Whitby in locoDr. Clarke's Discourse on the Eucharist, pp. 50-

54. The modern Jews employ a similar phraseology in celebrating thepassover. The plate containing the pussover-cakes being lifted up bythe hands of the whole company, they unite in rehearsing: 'This IS thebread of TJovclty and affliction which our fathers did cat in Egypt,' &c.Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 383. The doctrine of transubstantiation isconfuted at length by the Bihop of Durham. (Tracts, pp. 355-370.)

ee also Ir, Fletcher's Lecture on Popery, pp. 139-169.'


Saviour meant to be literally understood. But they werespoken in Syriac; in which, as well as in the Hebrew andOhaldee languages, there is no word which expresses tosignify, represent, or denote. Hence it is that we find theexpression it is, so.frequently used in the sacred writings,for it represents or signifies. Thus, in Gen. xvii. 10, 23,26,~his is [represents] my covenant betwixt me and thee. So,III Gen. xli, 26, 27, the seven good kine and the seven ill-favoured kine ARE [represent] seven years. Exod. xii.11. This IS [represents] the Lord's passover. Dan. vii. 24.The ten horns ARE [denote] ten kings. 1 001'. X. 4. Thatrock WAS [typified or represented] OIL?'ist. Matt. xiii. 38,39. The field IS [denotes] the toorld j the {IOodseed IS[represents] the children of the ldngdom j the tares ARE[represent] the children of the wicked one. l'he nomy IS[represents] the Devil: the haroest IS [Hin'nille] the endof the world j the reapers ARE [represent] angels. Similarmodes of expression occur in Luke viii. V, xv. 26, Gr. andxviii. 36, Gr. John vii. 36, and x. 6. Acts x.17. Gal. iv.24, and Rev. i. 20. It is further worthy of remark, thatwe have a complete version of the Gospels in the Syriaclanguage, which was executed at the commencement ofthe second if not at the close of the first century, and inthem it is probable that we have the precise words spokenby our Lord on this occasion. or the passage, l\fatt.xxvi. 26, 28, the Greek is a verbal translation: nor wouldany man even in the present day, speaking in the samelanguaO'e,use, among the people to whom it was vernaeu-1:11', oth~r terms to express, 'this represents my body,' and'this represents my blood.' It is evident, therefore, fromthe context, from parallel passages, and the scope o~'thepass~ge, tbat the literal interpretation of Matt. XXVI. 26,28, must be abandoned, and with it necessarily falls tbemonstrous doctrine of trapsubstantiation." (IIorne's In-troduction to the Oritical Studu and ffino7oledge of theHoly Scriptures, vol. ii. part ii., ~hap. v. sect. i.) .

Of the wine in the celebration of the Eucharist amongthe Homan Odtholics, the laity and non-offiCiating clergyare not permitted to partake: - theirs is communion in one

•. " ~oth elements, indeed, are nlways eonsecrated an~ received ~Y theadminiatrator. The sacrificial character of the Institution, according to

116 ERRONEOUS SENTIJIENT1'l OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

kind - half communion. This was long ago establishedamong the Roman Catholics, by positive decree. For,say they, "the laity and non-officiating clergy are notbound by any divine precept to receive the sacrament ofthe eucharist in both kinds; nor can anyone who holdsthe true faith indulge the slightest doubt that communionin either kind is sufficient to salvation: For althoughChrist the Lord did in the last supper institute this vener-able sacrament of the eucharist in the species of breadand wine, and thus delivered it to the apostles; yet it doesnot thence follow that all the faithful in Christ are boundby divine statute to receive both kinds." (Oouncil ofTrent, sess. xxi., chap. i.) "Though from the beginningof the Christian religion the use of both kinds was notinfrequent, yet when in process of time that practice wasfor weighty and just causes changed, holy mother church,recognizing her acknowledged authority in the adminis-tration of the sacraments, approved the custom of com-munion in o.nekind, and commanded it to be observed aslaw: to condemn or alter which, at pleasure, without theauthority of the church itself, is not lawful." (Ibid., chap.ii.) -" Whoever " (say they) "shall affirm,that the holyCatholic church had not just grounds and reasons for re-stricting the laity and nO'lJ,-ojficiatingclergy to communionin the species of bread only, or that she hath erred therein:LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall deny that Christ,whole and entire, the fountain and author of every grace,is received under the one species of bread; because, assome falsely affirm, he is not then received according tohis own institution, in both kinds: LET IITII BE ACCURSED."(Ibid., canons 2, 3.) - How ingeniously are transubstan-tiation and communion in one kind connected together!Roman Catholics, believing that Christ whole and entire,his soul, body, and divinity, is contained in either species,and in the smallest particles of each, hence" infer, thatwhether the communicant receive the bread or the wine,

papal theology, requires the distinct consecration of the broad and thewine, in order to represent the separation of the body and blood of theimmolated victim. The officiating priest participates in both species;but the people only in one. The cup, for the prevention of scandal andaccidents, i withheld from the laity." Edgar's Varia/iolll of Pope"!!,chap. xiv., in principia.

RELATIVE TO THE OHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 117

he enjoys the full benefit of. the sacrament. Thus, to sup-port their monstrous dogma, a Christian ordinance is cutin two : transubstantiation justifies communion in onekind, and communion in one kind proves the truth oftransubstantiation. Such is the argument. But in deny-ing the cup to the laity they divide this sacrament ofChrist, they pervert his express 'law in this matter, andrecede from the practice of the apostles. And thoughthey confess it was the practice of the primitive church to'receive the sacrament in both kinds, they lay it a ide, andcurse all who say they arc wrong; that is, they curse thosewho follow Christ, his apostles, and his church, and refu eto follow . n themselves." (Elliott's Roman Catholi-cism, book ii., chap. vi., in princ/p.) Th y acknowl elt>that Christ instituted this sacrament "in the sJ) ·i '8 ofbread and wine, and thus delivered it to the apostle ;"and yet they have the impudence to nssert that the churchhad" weighty and just causes" for changing the originalpractice of using both kinds -" that the holy Catholicchurch had just grounds and reasons for restricting thelaity. and non-officiatin!? clergy to communion in t~eepecies of bread only!" Just grounds and reasons, that IS, •f?r altering, mutilating, and corrupting a divine institu-~101l ! :l\Iost audacious impiety! No, all such restrictionIS utterly inadmissible. When the Lord Jesus, institutingthe sacred' Supper, had taken the cup, and had giventhankil, giving it to his disciples he said, " Drink ye all ofit." .Matt. xxvi, 27. Upon their drinking of the cup helays a remarkable stress. "With respect to the bread, hehad before simply said, take, eat, this is my body: butcouceminc the cup, he says, drink ye all of this j for asthis point~d out the very essence of the institution, viz.the blood of atonement, it was necessary that each shouldhave a particular application of it, therefore he says,drink ye ALL of THIS. By this we are taught that theC1tp i essential to the sacrament of the Lord's Slipper; ISO

that they who deny the cup to the people, sin againstGod's institution; and they who receive n~t the cu.r, arenot partnkers of the body and blood of Christ. If eithercoulrl without mortal prejudice be omitted, it might bethe bread .. bnt the cup as pointing out the bl??~ poure.c1out, J. 1'. the life, by which alone the great sacrificial act IS


performed, and remission of sins procured, is absolutelyindispensable. On this ground it is 'demonstrable, thatthere is not a popish priest under heaven, who denies thecup to the people, (and they all do this.) that can be saidto celebrate the Lord's supper at all; nor is there one oftheir votaries that ever received the holy sacrament. Allpretention to this is an absolute farce, so long as the cup,the emblem of the atoning blood, is denied. How strangeis it, that the very men, who plead so much for the bareliteral.meaning of this is my body, in the preceding verse,should deny all meaning to drink ye all of this cup, inthis verse!· And though Christ has in the most positivemanner enjoined it, they will not permit on the laityto taste it! 0 what.a thing is man! a constant contradic-tion to reason and to himself. The conclusion thereforeis unavoidable. The sacrament of the Lord's supper ISNOT celebrated in the church of Rome." (Dr . .AdamUlarke:«Discourse on the Nature, Design, and Institution,of the Holy Eucharist, pp. 54, 55. Ed. New-York,1812.)

But this ordinance is held by the Roman Catholics tobe not merely a saorament, but also a sacrifice. ""Vho-ever" (say they) "shall affirm, that a true and propersacrifice is not offered to God in the maes ;" or that theoffering is nothing else than giving Christ to us, to eat:LET HIM: BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm, that bythese words, 'Do this for a commemoration of me,' Christdid not appoint his apostles priests, t or did not ordain

• "The' mass' is the communion-service, or consecration and admin-istration of the sacrament. 'High mass' is the same service, accom-panied by all the ceremonies which custom and authority have annexedto its celebration. An account of these may be seen in the fourth'volume of Geddes's' Tracts against Popery.' In tbe early ages of tbechurch the congregation was dismissed before the celebration of theLClfd's Supper, none but the communicants being suffered to remain.o ita missa est: Thus the congregation is dismis ed, said tbe officiatingminister, and immediately the congregation withdrew: the term thusemployed was nsed in process of time to designate the solemn serviceabout to be performed; it was called 'missa: the mass. Cramp'» Text-B,,,,I .. of POp",-!!, chap. xi., in princip, note.

t Chri. t, by those words, did not do any such thing. "The 1Ilinistersof the 'cw Testament are never in Scripture culled priests, though thisname has been applied to the Christian people who offer lip the' spiritual

RELATIVE TO THE CBRISTlilN SACRAMENTS. 119

that they and other priests should offer his body andblood:" LET HIM BE ACCURSED. Whoever shall affirm,that the sacrifice of the mass is only a service of praiseand thanksgiving, or a bare commemoration of the sacri-fice made on the cross, and 110ta propitiatory offering,. orthat it only benefits him who receives it, and ought not tobe offered for the living and the dead; for sins, punish-ments, satisfactions, and other necessities: LET HIM B~;ACCURSED." (Council of Trent, sess. xxii., can. 1, 2, 3.)- The sacrifice of the mass t is held by nhe Roman Cath-olics to be the very same sacrifice that was onoe offeredon the cross. "We thereforeofconfess" (say they) " thatthe sacrifice of the Mass is ana ought to be consid rod,one and the same sacrifice with that of the cross, for thvictim is one and the same, namely, Christ our Lord, whooffered himself, once only, a bloody sacrifice on the altarof the cross. The bloody and unbloody victim are nottwo, but one victim only, whose sacrifice is daily renewedin the Eucharist, in obedience to the command of ourLord: Do this in remembrance of me. The priest is alsoone and the same, Christ the Lord; for the miuisters whooffer sacrifice, consecrate the holy mysteries, not in theirown person, but in that of Christ, as the words of conse-cration itself show, for the priest does not say: This isthe body of Christ, but, This is my body;" and thus act-ing in the person of Christ the Lord, he changes the sub-

sacrifices' of jlraise. and good works. Heb. xiii. 15, 16; 1 Pet. ii. 5."Pascal's Prouincial Letters, p. 144. Note by the translator.

• "It cannot be affirmed that the body of Christ is offered in the ~mass, unless it can be said that, as often as it is offered, Christ has suf-fered death , for the apostle says expressly, Heb, ix. 25, 26, that ifChrist offered himself often, he must often have s~.fered since thefoundation?f Ike world. Let him disprove this who can.' Clarke's Commenlary,Heb. x. 18.

t "To understand properly what Roman Catholics understand bythe sacrifice cf'the mass, we must consider that they believe, that iu thesacrament oi' the eucharist arc contained truly, really, and substantially,the bodv und blood. soul arnl divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; that isto say the whole Christ. And the' sucritlee of the ..q>ls.>is qt!erillg 1t;1II"A 10 God us « propitiator!! sacrifice both till' the living 811<.l the dead, inas true a manner as he was ofierc.l on the cross at Jerusalem; am! thatit is equally meritorious ail his first sacrifice was. This d.octrine theChurch of Rome teaches as an article of faith, and requires all hermeln!>er.>to til .enr to it on pam of damnation." Elliott's Roman Catho-1/"/<,/1, book ii., ch 'p, v.• in prin ;1"


stance of the bread and wine into the true substance ofhis body and blood. This being the case, it must betaught without any hesitation that, as the holy council [ofTrent] has also explained, the sacred and holy sacrifice ofthe Mass is not a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving only,or a mere commemoration of the sacrifice performed outhe cross, but also truly a propitiatory sacrifice, hy whichGod is appeased and rendered propitious to us. It; there-fore, with a pure heart, a lively faith, and affected with aninward sorrow for our transgressions, we immolate andoffer this most holy victim, we shall, without doubt, obtainmercy from the Lord, and .grace in time of need." for sodelighted is the Lord with the odour of this victim, that,bestowing on us the gift of grace and repentance, he par-dons our sins. Hence this usual prayer of the Church:As often as the commemoration of this victim is celebra-ted, so often is the uiork: of our salvation being done, thatis to say, through this unbloody sacrifice flow to us themost plenteous fruits of that bloody victim." ( Catechismof the Oouncil oj Trent, part ii., chap. iv., quest. lxxiii-lxxv.) - How easy it is for Roman Catholics to be atvariance with the Scriptures! According to the Scrip-tures, Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice for sin.. The bodyof Jesus Christ was offered by himself -" once for all.This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, foreyer sat down on the right hand of God. For by one of-fering he hath perfected for ever them that are salwtifiecl.'Vhereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for afterthat he had said before, This is the covenant that I willmake with them after those days, saith the Lord, I willput my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will Iwrite them; and their sins and iniquities will I rememberno more. Now where remission of these is, there is nom01'e offering for sin." Reb. x. te, 12,14-18. But if,after remission of sins, there is needed no more offeringfor sin j and if Christ, by one offering, hath perfected forever the sanctified j then the so-called sacrifice of the mass,(the immolation'und offering of Christ in the mass.) aboutwhich the Romish clergy employ themselves so incessantly,and to which the laity trust for the pardon of their sins,

• Reb. iv. 16.


not only has no foundation in the Scriptures, but is ablasphemous flction.s an evil superstition, impiously de-rogatory to the divine sacrifice of Jesus Christ which wasonce for all offered by himself when he expired upon thecross.j

The mass.is pEfformed, not in the vernacular language,..but in Latin. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm-that the mass should be celebrated in the vernacular lan-guage only: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." ( Council of Trent,sess, xxii., can. 9. No matter what the common languageof the people is, in whatever nation or country, the massmust be in a dead language, it must be in Latin. ThiHisone way to keep the people ill ignornnc ot AO thapostle Paul, who nobly ays : "Iu the church I 11:1(1rather speak five words with my understandiug, that bymy voice I might teach others also, than tell thousandwords in an unknown tongue." (1 Cor. xiv, 19.) "Thecustom of celebrating mass in the Latin language onlystands in direct contradiction to his reasoning in that im-portant chapter, and is not less opposed to the te timonyof ~story t than it is to the authority of Scripture. Like

• The Romish sacrifices of masses arc by the Protestant EpiscopalChurch, in her Book of Common Prayer, very properly stigmatized as"Blasphemous fablf$ and dangerous deceits." Articles of Reliqio», art.XXXI.

t "Th!l sacrifice of Christ's body, was performed once by himself, tothe eternal salvation of all his chosen; Jleb. be. and x. And thereforethe repetition thereof, supposed in the Popish Mass, is a most hon?bleblasphemy aeainst the sacrifice and eternal Priesthood of our SaviourChrist." D':. Full.e's Confutation <If the Rhemisn Testament, Mark xi,17.

" It is a monstrons sequel, that one only sacrifice but o~ce offer~d,never to be reiterated, alter which there remaiueth no sacrifice for. sin,should draw after it another sacrifice, to be repeated ten thousand timesevery day." Idem, Heb. x. 2.

t "'I'he primitive church for more tban six hundred ycars afterChrist, never app,roved any usc of service in a tongne. uu~own to thecommon people. ' Pulice's Confutation '!f the Rhenash 1 estameni, 1Cor. xiv,

" \Vhile the Latin language WIlS spoken .unong:;II the nations <!f the. est, or at least was understood by most people, .httl~ could .be,obJccted

to.the use of this Irlllg'lIll!!l in tho public I1ssembhes lor Clm~tl.lm wor-shIp. But when the Roman !rI.I1:,,'U'1'"e,wit~ the ~oman domIl~lOn, hudbeen grnrlunlly subverted ann ber-ome extinct, It "'80S m!l t Ju.st andreasonable, that each nation should use its own langua",~ m theIr wor-

122 ERRONEOUS SENTIllIENTS OF ROll/AN CATHOLICS

the ancient wizards, who' peeped and muttered,' the Ro-man Catholic priest recites a considerable part of the ser-vice in a low, murmuring voice, entirely unintelligible tothe people. If it be said that they are allowed the use oftranslations, it may be replied that those translations com-

,.prise only detached portions of the se ice, and that it isobviously impracticable to derive any benefit from themduring the time of worship. The rapid succession ofceremonies, the frequent changes of posture, the constant

• appeal to the senses, cannot but divert zhe attention, andpresent an insuperable obstacle to all attempts of thekind; to say nothing of the difficulty of reading with ad-vantage, while at the same time the service is being carriedon in another tongue. Of this, Roman Catholic instruct-ors are fully aware. Their books of devotion contain nodirections for the use of the translated Missal, but ratheraim to recommend what is termed spiritual communion, .that is, meditation on what the priest is supposed to besaying!' (Oramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. xi.,pope .finem.)

IV. The next in order, of the sacraments we are examin-ing, is Penance.

Penance, as a sacrament, is helel by the Roman Catho-lics to be an institution intended for the remission 0.(,sinscommitted after baptism. "If, in all the regenerate,' (saythey,) "there were such gratitude to God, that they al-ways kept the righteousness received by his goodness andgrace in baptism, there would have been no need to in-stitute another sacrament for the remission of sins, besidesbaptism. But since Goel, who is rich in mercy, knowethour frame, he hath provided a saving remedy for those

ship. But this privilege could not be obtained from the pontiffs of thisrcent.;i.] and the following centuries, for they decided that the Latinfanguage should be retained though unknown to the people at large.Different persons assign different reasons for this decision, and somehave fabricated such as were quite far fetched. But the principal reasondoubtless was, an excessive veneration for what is ancient. .And theOriental Christians have fallen into the same fault, of excessive love ofantiquity; tor public worship' is still performed by the Egyptians in theancient Coptic, by the Jacobit8s and Nestorians in Syriac, and by theAbyssinians in the ancient Ethiopic, notwithstanding all these 1l1hlfUageshave long since become obsolete, and gone out of popular usc.' Dr.J/[oshei1l1'S Ecdesiastical His/or!/. cent. xi., part ii., chap. iv., § 2.


who yield themselves again to the slavery of sin and thepower of the devil; namely, the sacrament of penance,whereby the benefits of the death of Christ are applied tothose who sin after baptism." "Whoever shall affirmthat penance, as used in the Catholic church, is not trulyand properly a sacrament, instituted by Christ our Lord,for the benefit of the faithful, to reconcile them to God, asoften as they shall fall into sin after baptism: LET JImBE ACCURSED." (Decrees and Canons of the Council ofTrent, sess. xiv., chap. i., and can. 1.)

Of penance as a sacrament they speak particularly, :Ulto both its matter and its form. "The form ofthe sacra-ment of penance, in 'which its power chiefly lies," til y Bay,"resides in the words of the minister, 'I absolve theefromthy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and ofthe Holy Ghost.''' (Cmtncil of Trent, sess, xiv., chap. iii.)The absolution which in these words the minister pro-nounces, is by the Roman Catholics considered to be, notdeclaratory or conditional, but judicial and absoiute."Though the priest's absolution is the dispensation of abenefit which belongs to another," (say they,) "yet it is notto be considered as merely it ministry, whether to publishthe gospel or to declare the remission of sins, but as ofthe nature of a judicial act, in which sentence is pro-nounced by him as a judge." (1bid. chap. vi.) This isclaiming large power. Do yon ask what their proof is ofsuch power? They call it "the power of the keys," illother words the power to "bind" or "loose," (Ibid.,)which they pretend was conferred supremely on theapostle Peter (Matt. xvi. 18, 19), hut which they areobliged to admit was also given to all the apostles, Matt.xviii. 10: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall bebound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earthshall be loosed in heaven." 'Vhatever ye shall do in tbediscipline of the church, in accordance with the teachingsof your Lord, shall be ratified in heaven. Surely, there isno part of popery here. They quote John xx. 22, :!3:" He breathed on the , and saith unto. them, Receive yetbe Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they areremitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain,thf'y are retained." Thev say that Jesns in these wor.isiJuitnterl the sacrament of penance. .uu«, chap. i.)

124 E1WONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATlJOLlCS

But, most manifestly, there is nothing of it expressed;and it would cost them more labour than they will everbestow to make out that any such thing was intended.That our Saviour, in breathing on his apostles, conferredon them the gift of the Holy Ghost, it was to qualify themfor executing their great comruission of preaching thegospel to the nations; in doing which it was necessaryfor them to make known the terms of salvation; which wasin effect to declare to their hearers their sins either re-mitted or retained accordingly as they complied or notwith the terms required; and thus, in an important sense,they might be said to remit or retain their sins. But thisis a very different thing from taking the place df a judge,and judicially remitting or retaining sins. Judicially,"who canforgive sins but God only'!" Mark ii, 7, Andhow can any man pretend thus to forgive sins withoutusurping the prerogative of God himself?

By the matter of the sacrament of penance we are tounderstand, according to the Roman Catholics, the actsof the penitent. It consists, they S~lY,of three parts, viz.contrition, confession, and satisfaction. They hold thatthese three parts" are required by divine appointment, inorder to the completeness of the sacrament, and the fulland perfect remission of sins." "Whoever" (say they)"shall deny, that in order to the full and perfect forgive-ness of sins three acts arc required of the penitent, consti-tuting as it were the matter of the sacrament of penance,namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, which arecalled the three parts of penance; or shall affirm thatthere arc only two parts of penance, namely, terrorswherewith the conscience is smitten by the sense of sin,and faith, produced by the gospel, or by absolution, where-by the person believes that his sins are forgiven himthrough Christo; LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Council of,Trent, sess. xiv., chap. iii., and cnn. 4.)

Let us see how they understand these three parts. And.First. Contrition. "Contrition," (say they,) "which

hold the first place in the above- entioned nets of thepenitent, is the sorrow and detestation which the min'}feels fOI' past sin, with a purpose of sinning no more. Nowthis emotion of contrition wa always necessary in order toobtain the pardon of sin; and when a man ha sinned after

RELATIVE TO THE OHRISTIAN SAORA,1fENTS. 125

baptism it prepares him for the remission of sin, if joineawith confidence in the mercy of God, and an earnest de-sire of performing whatever is necessary to the proper re-ception of the sacrament." (Ibid., chap. iv.) .Accordingto this then, contrition in anyone does not prepare himfor the remission of sin, that is, is not genuine, unless"joined with an earnest desire of performing whatever isnecessary to the proper reception of the sacrament" ofpenance; an earnest desire, that is, of performing what

.they call sacramental confession and satisfaction. Indeed,elsewhere they say plainly, "Thel"e is no true contrition,but with desire also of the Sacrament in time andplace,"(Rhemish Testament, anmot. on Lul ..e xvii. 14.) RomanCatholics, it seems, cannot even Iescribe what ontritionis without mixing it up and spoiling it with error, Letus see,

Seconilly, How they understand confession. Confes-sion, as a part of the matter of penance, is the confessionof sins to a priest. The priest who hears confessions iscalled a confessor j nnd the seat where a confessor sits tohear confessions is called a confession-chair, or confes-sional. There, at the feet of the priest, whom he callshis ghostly father, the penitent reverently kneels,· tohim ho makes the confession of his sins, expresses tohim his sorrow for them, and implores him to grant himabsolution.] This, viz. confession to the priest in orderto re<:eive his. absolution, is what they call sacramental

• "He that repents him of his sins, casts himself down ~ith a lowlyand humbled spirit at the feet of the priests, that in this his so humbledemeanour he may easily recognize the necessIty of extirpating pride,from which all those enormities which he deplores derive their birthand origin. In the priest, who sits as his legitimate judge, he should '''n-erate the person and power of Christ the Lord; far in the administration ofthe sacrament <if penance, as in that of the others, the priest discharges thefunction <if Christ." Catechism of t'he Council <if Trent, par! ii., chap.v., quest. xvii.

t A form of general confession used by the "Roman Catholics is thefollowing, called, from the first word with which it begins in Latin, the" COlljiteor:" " I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever Vir-gin, to blessed Mlchnel the archangel, to ble ed John the Baptist, to thehoi. apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the saint, that I have sinned ex-ce Iin~ly, in thought, word, and deed, through myfault, tl.,.ollghmyfalllt,t'".vu!!'. 1II.Ymost rl'"ieL'Oll fault, Therefore I beseech bles ed. Mary, everVlrgm, blessed Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy

126 El/.RO~VEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROM.dN CA7'HOLICS

confession; and this they hold to be necess-ary to sal-vation. "Whoever" (say they) "shall deny that sacra-mental confession is necessary to salvation: LET HIMBE ACCURSED." (Oouncil of Trent, sess. xiv., can. 6.) -As a thing of course, all Roman Catholics are required tomake "their confessions to the priests. With them, thepriests arein the place of Jesus Christ. There are certaincases, embracing "the more weighty causes and crimes,"which are referred, some to the bishops, others to thepope: these are called "reserved cases" (casus reser-vati),· because reserved by these superior officersto their

apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, to pray to the Lord our Godfor me.

" May Almighty God have mercy on me; forgive me my sins; andbring me to life everlasting. Amen. .

" May tbe Almighty and merciful Lord grant me pardon, remission,and absolution of all my sins. Amen." St. John's Manual, P: 58. Ed.New-York,1857.

When one confesses his sins to the priest, the following is "the methodof confession." prescribed: "Approach the confessional with the samerecollectedness, silence, and modesty which would fill your heart ifChrist our Lord were seated there in person ready to hear your confes-sion, and not the priest who is really his representative. When yourtum has come, kneel down and say: 'Bless me, Father, for I havesinned,' and then begin the' Confiteor,' proceeding as far as ' throughmy fault,' &c. Then tell when you last approached the sacraments, theperiod yom confession is to embrace, and begin the avowal of your sins .Accuse yourself first of the faults, if any, in your last confession andcommumon, and when you have stated all, especially if you are so hap-pyas to have no mortal sin on your conscience, conclude thus: 'Forthese and all the sins of my past life, especially my sin of (naming somegrieve sin), I am heartily sorry, beg pardon of GOd, and absolutionof yon, my Father,' and conclude the' Confiteor.'

" Listen then with humility anti docility to the advice of your confes-sor, and during this time avoid all recurrence as to the confession itself;remembering that sins forgotten after a serious examination are reallycomprised in the absolution. Accept with submission the penance im-posed, and if any obstacle that you forsee will prevent your accomplish-Ing it, state this respectfully.

"Should your ghostly father deem it proper to defer absolution, ac-knowledge your unworthiness, murmur not, least of all show your wantof contrition by any spiteful emotion, any thought of not returning.Leave the confessional resolved to use every effort, by a change of lifeand sincere repentance, to obtain God's pardon, which his minister willratify.' Ibid., p. GIL

• These" rcserved cases," of " the more weighty canses and crimes,"are 811chlIS the e, viz., " heresy, simony, asaault on no ecclesiastic, rob-IJcry of a church, violation of an interdict, attempts to tax the clergy,

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 1~7

own decision. (.Ibid., chap. vii.) . But why is it so indis-pensably necessary for the confession of sin to be made tothe priests? "Because" (say they) "our Lord JesusChrist, when he was about to ascend from earth toheaven, left his priests in his place, as presidents andjudges, to whom all mortal offences into which the faith-ful might fall should be submitted, that they might pro-nounce sentence of remission or retention of sins, by thepower of the keys." (.Ibid., chap. v.) They tacitly referhere to Matt, xvi. ID, xviii, 18, and to John xx., 22, 23;where our Lord speaks of binding ana loosing, and of re-mitting and retaining sins. Thus, as we have already seenin considering the form of penance, they misconstruethose texts of Scripture as commix loning them j u Ii iaJIyto remit and retain sins, and then wish to have it it'"ferred, though falsely, that peopl must com uud confe stheir sins to the priests. Thus all that coufession to thepriests has to rest on here i , merely a false inference.But what better has it to rest on anywhere? Rornishpriests have had their eyes very wishfully, but doubtfully,on James v, 16; "Confess your faults one to another, andpray one for another, that ye may be healed." - "It isnot certain" (say they) "that he speaketh here of Sacra-mental Confession; yet the circumstance of the letter will·bear it, and very probable it is that he meaneth of it."(Rl.emislb Testament, annat. in loc.) Not only veryprobable, absolutely certain it is, that sacramental con-

and generally allotrenders against the persons and property of that priv-ileged order. Vide Decret. Causa 17. 9.4. Extravagant. Commun.lib. v . tit. 9. c. 3. On Thursday and Friday in Passion week a cardinalsits to receive confessions of such crimes, 'armed with the delegatedpowers of the Pope.' Rome in the nineteenth Century, vol. ii. p. 261."C,.aml"s Text-Book 'if POpe1',Ij,chap. viii., p. 197, note 90.

- "The apostle here speaketh of mutual confession or acknowledgingof our trespasses one against another, not of our sins to a priest."Ful!.:e's Confutation of the HI,emi.h Testament, in loco,

"It is not said, Ootifess your faults to th« ELDERS that they lIlayfurgivethem, or prescribe penance in order to forgive them. No; the membersof the Church were to confess their (tults to each a/her; therefore auricularconfession to a priest, such as is pi'escribed by the Romish Church, hasno foundation in this pas-age. Indeed, had it lIlly foundation here itwould. prove more than they wish, for it would require the pries: to con-fi~.hf~ sill to the peopic as well as the people to confess theirs to thepriest, Olarke's COlllmflltary, ill lee.

128 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF' ROMAN CATHOLICS

fcssion, (confession to a prie t j n order to receive his ab-solution.) is not that he meaneth of it. The apostle hereexhorts Christians to ncknowlege their faults" one to an-other," tbat is mutually j but not a word does he sayabout their confessing their sins to priests. Where is thetext> of Scripture that speaks out plainly, and exhortsChristians to make their confessions of their sins topriests? Such a text cannot be found anywhere betweenthe lids of the Bible. So poorly supported is the argu-ment in favour of the sacramental confession of sins topopish priests.

Confession is required to be made se(JT"etly,i. e. to thepriest alone. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm thatthe practice of se(JT"etlyconfessing to the priest alone, as ithas been ever observed from the beginning by the Cath-olic church," and is still observed, is foreign to the in-stitution and command of Christ, and is a human inven-tion: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Council of Trent, sess.xiv., can. 6.) But, that this sort of confession is not" ahuman invention," is more than any Romish priest is ableto make appear. It is commonly called auricular confes-sion; because expressed only in the ear of the priest. Asconfessionis required to be made thus secretly, to the priestalone; so upon the priest inviolable secresy is enjoined,regarding all matters which to him in confession are re-vealed. " As there is no one who is not desirous that hiscrimes and .defilement should be kept secret," (say they,)" the faithful are 'to be admonished that there is no reasonwhatever to apprehend, that what they d\sclosed in con-fession shall ever be revealed to anyone by the priest, ortbat by it he can, at any time, be brought into danger ofany sort. For against the priests who bury not in eternaland religious silence all the sins revealed to them in con-

• " To this we answer, 1. That auricular confession has not existed'from the organization of the Christian church. This they can neverprove. They can give no institution of Christ for this practice, no ex-ample from him or his apostles, nor any early usage of the primitivechurch. They can produce no practice of the church for several hundredyeurs after Christ by which it could be proved. 2. But, secondly, therewas no public constitution for nuriculur confession before the twelfl"general council, which was the fourth Lateran, held in the year 1215,under Innocent III., so that from this it takes its commencement."Elliott's ROM"1 Cfllholirism, book ii., chap. ix., 10, (I.).

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRA"lIENTS. 129

fession, the sacred ordinances ofthc Church denounce theheaviest ohsstisement.v Wherefore we read in the greatCouncil of Lateran: Let the priest take the greatest care,neither by word nor sign, nor by any other means what-ever, in the least degreeto betray the sinner." t (Catechismof the Council of Trent, part ii., chap. v., quest. lvii.) -" The instructions on this point given to Roman Catholic

,priests in some of their seminaries train them to false-hood; yea, more, their theology, as a system, insists IIponperjury, and demands it of their confessors. This is aheavy charge, and the proof ought to be called for andproduced. Here is the proof: Peter Dens, in his Theology,which is the class-book ill the Maynooth College, in Ire-land, and is generally used in most Roman Cnrliolic theo-logical schools, and is approved of by the dignituri s ofthe Church of Rome, teaches as follows what the dutyof confessors is in reference to what is commuuicuted tothem in confession: - 'Can a case be given in wMch it islawful to break: the secrecy of confession? I Ans. NoneCUll be given; although the LIFE or SALVATION of a man,or the destruction of the commonwealth, would dependthereon. For the pope himself cannot dispense with it;because the secrecy of the seal of confession is more bind-ing than the obligation of an oath, a vow, a natural secret,&c.; anti it depends on the positive will of God. Whatthen ought a confessor to answer when interrogated re-specting any truth wh1'chhe Icnoiosonly by sacramentalconfession! Ane. He ought to answer that HE DOESNOT KNOW IT; anrl, if necessary, TO CONFIR3I THAT BYAN DATU. 0l:j. It is.not lawful to lie in any casej butthe confessor lies, because he knows the truth j therefore,&c. Ans. The minor proposition is denied: becan esuch a confessor is interrogated AS A MAN, and answers ASMAN; but he does not know this truth as marr, though lIEKNOWS IT AS GOD; as St. Thomas Aquinas says, q. ii., art.1, ad. 3: and this sense properly exi. ts naturally in thevery answer; for when he is interrogated or an wers inother cases than confession, he is considered A A MAN.But 'What if the confessor is directly asked whether heknows that by sacramental confession! Ans. In this

• Cf. Leo, cpist. lxxx,9

t Cap. xxi,

130 ENRO_VEOUS SEKTJJIENTS OJ.' ROMAN CATHOLICS

case he ought to answer nothing: so says Steyart withSylvius. But such an interrogation is to be rejected asimpious: or the confessor can say absolutely, not relative-ly, to the inquiry, (Ego nihil seio,) I knoio nothing jbecause the word (Ego) I refers to human knowledge. Inlike manner, if a confessor should be cited before a court fortria], that he might give a reason for the denial, he oughtto contend that in this matter HE KNOWS NO SUPERIOR,BUT GOD.' (Theol. ad USUIll. Semin. De Sigillo Oonfes-sionis, No. 159. vol. vi. p. 239. Mechlin, 1830.) - It wouldbe difficult to find, in so ma.ny words, such a total disre-gnrd to truth, and such blasphemous assumptions, as arecontained in this quotation from Dens. Here blasphemyis unblushingly taught; for the priest here affects to actas God, thereby making himself equal with God, and man-ifesting the marked character of autichrist, who, '.AS GOD,sitteth in the throne of God.' Here, too, a known anddeliberate lie, according to this veracious Roman Catholic"writer, may be told, and told by a preacher of religion,connected, too, with administering a sacrament, as theycall it. To this is to be added PERJURY, in order to makethe deliberate lie pass for truth. Besides, the LIFE of' aman, or even his SAL V.ATION, or the DESTRUCTION, interi-tus reipublicce, the ouerthroio of our republicasi govern-ment, (to use the very words of Dens,) are consideredsm:111matters, if necessnry to keep up the authority of theRoman Catholic priesthood! * It is useless to inquire

* It is by recurring to the Romish doctrine of the secrecy of sacra-mental confession, "that F. Daniel Bartoli, in his history of England,or rather of the Jesuits iu England, endeavours to justify the conductof the Jesuit Garnet, in not discovering the qnnpouxierplot, to which he sup-poses him to have been privy: but as it was disclosed to him in confes-sion, or at least under the seal of confession, he had sinned grievouslyby discovering it, though by such u discovery he might have saved. awhole nation from destruction. So that the violating such a seal is afill' ~rcater evil than the loss of so many lives, than the utter ruin of anentire nation. A doctrine evidently repugnant to the dictates both ofreason and hnmunitv." Bowers History 0/ the Popes - P. Syricills.(Vol. t., p. 114, nolp.)

"What an infernal contrivance, and genuinely Romish, was the noto-rious gunpowder plot! and yet nil concealed under the professedly su-cred seal of solemn sar-ramental confession! It was in the beginnin~~ofthe seventeenth century, rix. ill the year 1605, that the dark ILll<1 horridplot v.uuo out. " 'mite nefarious miscreant' Imming with hatred of

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAJ1lEKTS. 131

what kind of citizens Roman Catholic priests will make,when they arc taught such horrible principles." (Dr.Elliott's Roman Oatholicism, book ii., chap. ix., 7.)

Confession is required to be made fully. "For" (saythey) "it is plain that the priests cannot sustain the officeof judge, if the cause be unknown to them, nor inflictequitable punishments if sins are only confessed in general,and not minutely and individually described. For thisreason it follows that penitents are bound to rehearse inconfession all mortal sins, of which after diligent exami-nation of themselves, they are conscious,even though theybe of the most secret kind, and only committed againstthe two last precepts of the decalogue,· which sometim sdo more grievou Iy wound souls, and nre m 1" perilousthan those which arc open :\Il11 mnnile t. FOI' venialoffences,by which we are not c. eluded from the grue of'Go<1,and into which we so frequ mtly fall, m: y be con-cealed without fault, and expiated in many other ways,although, as the pions custom of many demonstrates, theymay be mentioned in confession very properly and use-fully, and without any presumption, But seeing that allmortal sins even of thought, make men children of wrathand enemies of God, it is necessary to seek from him par-don of everyone of them, with open and humble confes-sion. Therefore when the faithful in Ohrist labour to con-fess every sin that occurs to their memory, without doubtthey place all before the divine mercy, that they may bepardoned. Tho e who do otherwise, and knowingly con-ceal any sins, present nothing to the divine goodness, tobe for!:rivenby the priest ; for if the sick man is ashamed toshow his wound to the surgeon, that cannot be cured

what they regarded as a new and. false religion, and prompted by thecounsel of three Jesuits of whom Hen"y Ga:rnet was the chief, deter-mined to destroy at a stroke, king James I. with his son, and the wholeBritish parliament, by means of gunpowder, which they had concealedunder t~~ house where the parliament usually met. For they had nodoubts, If these could be destroyed, means would occur for reinstatinethe old religion and glving it its -!ormrr ascendency, The English caDthis horrid conspiracy, the fI'tnp<JlI'd,'r plot. But divine Providencecaused it to be wonderfully discovered and frustrated, when it was ripefor execution." jj/osheilil's Ecclesiastical Hi.~tor!J, cent, xvii., sec. ii.,part i., chap. i., § 10.

• The tpn/I,,. ns they are read by Protestants.

,132 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOL/CS

which is unknown. Moreover it follows that even thosecircumstances which alter the species of sin are to be ex-plained in confession, since otherwise the penitents cannotfully confess their sins, nor the Judges know them; and itbecomes impossible to form a right estimate of the heinous-ness of the offence, or inflict a suitable punishment.""Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm, that in order to ob-tain forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of penance, it isnot by divine comUland necessary to confess all and everymortal sin which occurs to the memory after due anddiligent premeditation -including secret offences, andthose which have been committed against the two lastprecepts of the decalogue, and those oircumstances whichchange the species of sin; but that such confession is onlyuseful for the instruction and consolation of the penitent,and was formerly observed merely as a canonical satisfac-tion imposed upon him; or shall affirm that those wholabour to confess all their sins wish to leave nothing to bepardoned by the divine mercy; or, finally, that it is notlawful to confess' venial sins; LET HIM BE .ACCURSED."(Council of Trent, sess. xiv., chap. v, and can. 7.) Thus,according to wHat is here expressed, venial sins may be,and mortal sins" must be, confeseed ; the latter must allbe minutely and individually and circumstantially de-

• All sins are by the Roman Catholics distinguished into these twokinds, mortal and venial. As they themselves describe them-" Mortalsin is a grievous transgression of the law. It banishes the grace of Godfrom our souls, renders us hateful and abominable in the sight of God,and worthy of eternal Punishment. Venial sin, is a smaller transgres-sion of the law, a more pardonable offencc, which, though it docs notkill the soul, as mo-ral 'in docs, nor deserve eternal punishment, yet itobscures the beauty of the soul before God, and displeases him, and de-sert·,s a temporal chastisement. Venial sins in general are divided intotwo kinds: (1.) Such as arise from human frailty, surprise, Or inadver-tency, and from ohjects to which the person has no inordinate attach-ment. (2.) Such as a person commits willingly or deliberately, or outof an ill en tom, which he is at no pains to amend, or with affection to asinful object." (Sincere Christian, p. 258, 275. In Dr. Elliott's RomanCatholicism, book ii., chap, ~i., 7,) But how can any thing be sin, andy~t not deserve any tbing wore than "(I temporal chastisement f" Thetruth is, every sin is against the divine l:\\v, and, consequently, in theaccount of divine justice it must he damnable. The distinction there-fore, which the Homan Catholi<-s make of sins into mortal and venial,cannot be 0. propel' olle: for, thongh there is 0. difference in sins, somebeing /.,'1' -ater nnrl .01111' I.. " than others, rC·I,;ono.hlyr quiring, couse-

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAbIENTS. 133

scribed, and humbly confessed, to the priest. And it isnot enough to rehearse actions and words; thoughts, pur-poses, desires, wishes, must also be made known. Ques-tions must be answered - just such questions as are suitedto draw out, from the persons to whom they are put, allsuch communications of thoughts, intentions, feelings, con-ceptions and imaginations, as are naturally secreted fromevClJ. body in the world. But from such an one as the"anctimonious prying Romish confessor, the superstitiouslycompliant man ana the timid female dare not concealthem. Indeed, concealment is represented as mortal sin.It must not be attempted. Accordingly, in all de~re sthe heart is laid open to the view of the scrutinizingpriest, and thus he i made acquaint d with all its privatworkings, with every thing he wish to examine of itscontents, filthy and polluting as they may be, even to itsmost retired recesses. Of all such disclosures Romi hpriests know well how to serve themselves, even althoughit may be at the expense of character," After the priesthas gone through with his sifting interrogatories, andthoroughly examined his female penitents with all thequestions he pleases to ask, many of them grossly inde-eent.t what may be supposed to be the result? "And

quently, some greater and some less punishment, yet all sins of theirown essential nature are mortal.

" The difference of sins proveth not that some are mortal, and somevenial: for all of their own nature are mortal. The reward of sin, saiththe apostle, is death, Rom. "i. 23." Dr. Fulke'e Confutation <if theRhunish Testament, lJIlIt~. v, 23.

• :Xo citizen who regards tho virtue and character of Ameriean wo-men can understandingly think of Romish auricula>' eonfeesitm bnt withfeeling' of detestation and repulsiveness. "'Vho would admit into thebosom of his home a sleek confessor, to demand account of the actionsof th~,c most do,,~ly. allied a~d most. dear to him-to pry with greedyand impudent CUriOSItyeven into their most secret thoughts 1 A pru-dent mall would as soon receive a wolf, if tonsnred and covered with acowl, admit him to his sheep, and leave him with them, with full faithin their "'l'nrity, as IJrin~ a confessor to those who have purity to lose,and feel contidcnt that they would. continue pure. .May that time neverarrive when American women shall bend before the priest for his treach-erous absolutiou, or confide their thoughts in his keeping, or lend anear to Ius polluting interrogatories l " Romanism illcOIIt]J<ltiQ/ewith Re-publican Iustitntion .•, by eIYIS; pp. 71, 72. Ed. New-York, 1845.

t For a specimen of the questions alluded to, see " An examinaticm ofconsciellce" upon what Romanlsts call the sinh, and we the seventh com-


more especially when the penitent, after-reciting the con-fiteor, and raising herself up from her prostration, :.toucheswith her lips either the ear or cheek of the spiritual father;'and this in private. Surely comment is unnecessary here.The facts brought before the public by Roman Catholicsthemselves convict their sacrament of penance of grosslicentiousness.- Time would fail and modesty forbid togive even half the well attested facts that could be ad-duced to prove the immoral tendency of auricular con-fession. In Spain, Pope Paul IV. uttered his bull againstthe crime of solicitants, or of those priests who, in theact of confession, solicit the person confessing to indecentacts," When this bull was introduced into Spain, everyperson who had been .solicited was instructed, withinthirty days, to report to the inquisitors. So great a num-ber of females went to the palace of the inquisitor in thecity of Seville only, to reveal the conduct of their infa-mous confessors, that twenty notaries, and as many inquisi-tors,were appointed to note down their-severalinformations.But these being found insufficient, several periods of thirtydays were appointed, and the matter was finally given up,and the whole matter terminated where it began. Indeed,in Roman Catholic countries, the corruption arising fromconfession alone sets chastity at defiance, and serves tointroduce a Hood of every species of sin. In Protestantcountries, a sounder morality, even among Catholics, pre-vails. But we cannot endure the disgust of even writingthese abominations. Those who desire to read extendeddiscussions on such topics we refer to those authors whohave treated on the corrnptions of the Church of Romein this respect." (Dr. Elliott's Delineation of RomanOatholicism, book ii., chap. ix., prope finem.)

Confession is required to be made at least once a year."The duty of confession" (say they) "should be fulfilled

mandment, in "The Garden fir the Soul," pp. 213, 214. Obscene ques-tions must be polluting. " .At the Con~e sional~ young person~ le~rumore wickedness, and suffer more pollution of mind, than by minglingfor months with the worst kind of company I The Homan priests aregenerally, the most infamous and polluted men in all countries, which"roan under their footsteps." VI'. Brownlee's Doctrinal Decrees andCanon s of the Oounci! of Trent, note f' 116. •

, Ree an extract from this bul in M'Gaviu's Protest., vol. i. p.648.'

RELA'l'lJ'E TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 135

at least once a year by all persons who have attained toyears of discretion." "Whoever shall affirmthat the con-fession of every sin, according to ,the custom of thechurch, is impossible, and merely a human tradition,which the pious should reject; or that all Ohristians, ofboth sexes, are not bound to observe the same once a year,according to the constitution of the great Council ofLateran; and therefore that tbe faithful in Christ are to bepersuaded not to..confess in Lent: LET HIM BE ACCURSED."(Council of Trent, sess. xiv., chap. v. and can. 8.) Onemay, if need be, confessoftener, but not less often. " Yearsof discretion" are attained, in tho estimation of RomanCatholics, at about the age of seven Furs. At the 'a"'yage of seven years, therefore, "th Ruman ntholio ·hildis taught to kneel before his conies.or, am! runsuck hiyoung heart for sin. From that time till tit hour of hi

,)' death, he is bound under the heaviest P nalties to dis-burden his soul at stated periods to the priest." ( ramp,p. 207.) In this manner confession being required of allHoman Catholics, of both sexes, in all the various walksof life, in nll departments of society, of course it is a busi-ness that must be done; in default of which, dismal con-sequences would be likely to ensue. '" If' (says a respect-able writer) 'every true-born Italian, man, woman, andchild, within the Pope's dominions, docs not confess andreceive the communion at least once a year, before Easter,his name is posted up in the parish church; if he still re-train, be is exhorted, entreated, and otherwise tormented;and if he persist in his contumacy, he is excommunicated,which is a very good joke to us, but none at all to anItalian, since it involves the loss of civil rights, and per-haps of liberty and property/ " Rome in the Nineteenth

_ "Thou~h excom7llunication, from the time of Con stontine the Great,had great influence among Christians every where, yet it had no whereso great influence, or was so terrific and so di~rcs.sinlr, as in Europe.And the difference between European excommumClI./101l and that of otherChristians, from the eighth century onward, was Immense: Those ex-cluded from the sacred rites or exmmmunicnted, were indeed everywhere viewed as odious to G~d and to men; yet they did not forfeit theirri$lhts as mcn and as citizens, and much le~~JVerekings anrl pri~ces snp-posed to 10'0 thcir autborltv to rule, by being pronounced by bishops tobe unworthy of commt1nio~ in sacred rites. But in Europe, fcom thiscentury onward, a person excluded from the church by a bishop, and

136 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS,

Century, ii. 262." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap,viii., Ve1'S. finem, n. 99.)

We will see, .Thirdly, What their doctrine is of satisfaction. Satis-

faction, as a-part of the matter of penance, is to be under-stood to be satisfaction rendered to God for sin, with refer-ence to its temporal punishment. ' It is held by the RomanCatholics, that when sin is forgiven, though the guiltthereof and the eternal punishment due on account of itare wholly remitted, there always remains some temporalpunishment to be endured, for which satisfaction must bemade by the penitent, either ill this world or else afterdeath, in purgatory. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm,that when the grace of justification is received, the offenceof the penitent sinner is so forgiven, and the sentence of •eternal punishment reversed, that there remains no tem-poral punishment to be endured, before his entrance intothe kingdom of heaven, either in this world, 01' in thefuture state, in purgat01'Y: LET IITM BE ACCURSED." ( Ooun-cilof Trent, sess, vi., can. 30.) "lVe are able" (say they)"to make satisfactioti to Goel the Father through ChristJesus, not only by punishments voluntarily endured by usas, chastisements for sin, or imposed at thepleasure of thepriest according to the degree of the offence, but also bytemporal pains inflicted by God himself, and by uspatiently borne." "Whom-er" (say they) "shall affirm,

especially by the 'prince of bishops, was no longer regarded as a king ora lord; nor as a citizen, a husband, a father, or even as a man, but wasconsidered as a brute, What was the cause of this ~ Undoubtedly thefollowing is the true cause. [On the conversion of the barbarous un-tions of Europe to Christianity], those pew and ignorant psoselytes con-founded Christian excommuuication with the old Gentile excommunica-tion practised by the pagan priests, or they supposed the forrnef to havethe same nature and effects with the latter; and the poutiffs and bishopsdid all they could to cherish and confirm this error, which was so usefulto them, Read the following extract from Julius Caesar, de Bello Gal-lico, vi" c. 13, and then judg-e whether I have mistaken the origin ofEuropean and papal excommunication. Si qui aut privatus aut publicuDrnidum decrcto non stetit, sacruficiis interdicunt. Haec poena npudcos est gravissima. Quibus ita est interdictum, ii numero impiorum aescelcracorum habcntur, iis oJlIlles dccednnt, nditum eorum, sermonemquodefugiunt, ne quill ex contagioue incommodi accipiant : neque iis peten-tibus ju rcdditur, neque honos ullus communicatur.' Dr. Mosheim'sEcclfsi<lstical llisfory, cent. viii., part. ii, chap. ii. § 6, n (8).

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRA.lfENTS. lSi

that the entire punishment is always remitted by God,together with the fault, and therefore that penitents needno other satisfaction than faith, whereby they apprehendChrist, who has made satisfaction for them: LET HIM BEACCURSED." "Whoever shall affirm,that we can by nomeans make satisfaction to God for our sins, through themerits of Christ, as far as the temporal penalty is con-cerned, either by punishments inflicted on us by him, andpatiently borne, or enjoined fry the priest, though not un-dertaken of our own accord, such as fastin!Js, prayers,alms, 01' other works of piety / null th refore that the bestpenance is nothing more than a new Iifc : LET IJI:M BEACCURSED." (Council of Trent, so s. iv., .hnp, ix. anticanons I:!, 13.)

They here give us to understand that the punishm 'ntwhereby penitents make sntisfhctiou to GOll 101'th ir sins,are either such as are inflicted by God himself/ or suchas are voluntarily undertaken, that is self-imposed / orsuch as are enjoined by the priest at confession. Of thesepunishments, the self-imposed and those enjoined by thepriests are of the same sorts generally; consisting in theperformance of professedly good works, works of' piety socalled, under the name of' punishments, mixed up with astranze variety of bodily tortures and painful privations,They'"mention "fastings"/'" and tell us, either truly or

'" For an account of the regular fasting daNS, and days of abstinence,required to be observed in the Roman Catholic church, whieh all itsmembers are expected to observe as a matter of course, see St. John's"'fanl/al, pp. 16, 17. "To fast." (say they) "is to abstain from fleshmeat, and to cat but one full meal in the day, not before 12 o'elock,noon. Besides this, a collation (about one-fourth of a meal) is allowedin tbe evening. All who have reached the age of twenty-one, are re-quired to observe the Fasting-days, unless exempted for sufficient cause."" .A day of abstinence." (say they) "is that on which the re~ar num-ber of meals is allowed, hilt flesh meat is forbidden; and IS to be ob--served by nil who have attained the age of reason, unless lor sufficientcause to the contrary. Ibid.

'. The obligation of fasting begins at midnight, just when the leadingclock of every town strikes twelve. (Letters from Spain, P: 270.)"Pascal's Prooinriol Letters, p. 124, note.

O~ ,tasting day .• and days of abstinence both, you observe, flesh 7lIeat isprohibited, and yet at the same time, as is well known, they allow them-selves in the use of fish. They" tell us that fish is notjlesh . and whiletheir religil?n prohibits, at one time of the year, the flesh of 'quadrupedsand fowls, It allows them to eat fish, fondly supposing that fish is not

'138 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLlCS

falsely, in the lives of their saints, of 'uninterrupted abostinence from food from Ash-Wednesday till Witsunday;'of 'living one half of the year on bread and water;' andso on. Doubtless some persons among them have, in timespast, fasted extravagantly: and as long abstinence fromfood is afflictive, and, in their way of thinking, serves tomake satisfaction to God for their sins, so they have pro-ceeded on to other afflictive austerities, still more extrava-gant and unauthorized ; such as self-flagellation,*' the use

.flesh: they might as well tell us that a lily is not a vegetable, because itis not a cabbage. There is a Jewish canon pronounced by Schoeuqenwhich my readers may not be displeased to find inserted here: Nedarim,fo1. 40: o"::)m o"~, ""IW:::: ""I'O~ ~n" ""Itl:Jn 'Itl "'1,n He who isbound by <:r. vow to abstain from .flesh, is bound to abstain from-the .flesh offish and of locusts. From this it appears that they acknowledged thatthere was one flesh of beasts. and another of fishes, and that he was re-ligiously bound to abstain from the one, who was bound to abstain fromthe other." Clarke'» Commenta,..'!, 1 Cor. xv, 39. .

*' "The use of the disciplining whip, nnknown, say Du Pin andBoileau, to all antiquity, began in the end of the eleventh century.The novelty was eag;erly embraced by a community which boasts of itsunchangeability. The inhuman absurdity has been advocated by Ba-ronius, Spondanus, Pullus, Gerson, and the Roman Breviary. Baronius,the great champion of Romanisru, followed by Spondanus, calls flagel-lation 'a laudable usage.' This satisfaction, Candinal Pullus admits,is rough, but, in proportion to its severity, is, he has discovered, 'themore acceptable to God.' Gerson, in the council of Constance in 1417,though he condemned the absurdity in its grosser forms, recommendedthe custom, when under the control of a superior, and executed byanother with moderation, and without ostentation or effusion of blood.Self-tlagelladon, indeed, is sanctioned by the Popish church. The Ro-man Breviary, published by the anthority of Pius, Clement, and Urban,has recommended the absurdity by its approbation. This publicationdetails and eulogizes the flagellations practiced by the Roman saints.These encomiums on the disciplinarian whip are read on the festivals ofthese canonized flagellators. The work containing these commendations,is authorized by three Pontiffs, and received with the utmost unanimityby the whole communion. The usage, therefore, in all its ridiculousness,possesses the sanction of [Romish] infallibility. - This improved speciesof penance was adopted by the friendly monks of the age of the cru-sades, who, with a lusty arm, belaboured the luckless backs of the peni-tential criminals, men and women, even of the highest rank in society.The nobility, gentry, and peasantry, the emperor, the king, the lord,the lady, the servant, and the soldier, as well as the cardinal, the metro-politan, the bishop, the priest, the monk, and the nun, all joined in thepainful and disgusting extravagauce. Cardinal Damian in 1056,brought it into fashion, and Dominic, Pardolf, Anthelm, Maria, Mar-garet, Hedwig', Hildegard, and Cecald, who have all, men and women,

RELATIVE TO THE CHRTSTTAN SACRAMENTS.· l39

of ' lacerating bandages, and iron chains bound constantlyabout the body, immersions in freezing water, .and everymethod of gradually and painfully destroying life.' Weare informed that, "in Italy and Spain it is usual to seeChristians, almost naked, loaded with chains, and lashingthemselves at every step." (Bucle's Theological Diction-ary, art. Penance.) The time has been when, in Italy,voluntary flagellations were" an absolute mania. Noblesand peasants, old and young, even children of five yearsold, went in pairs through the villages, the towns, and thecities, by' hundreds, thousands, and "tens of thousands,without any other covering than a cloth tied round themiddle, and vi iting the church 8 in procession in th v 1'ydepth of winter. Anll d with SCOl1l'g 'H, they lash d them-selves without pity, and th btl" .(:; resound 'd vith cri IIand groans, which drew forth tears of compassion from allwho heard them." (D'AubiUfle's History of the GreatReformation, book i. l). 14.) -" Dominic, Hedwig, andMargaret, merit particular attention in the [annals] offlazellution. Dominic of the iron cuirass seems to havebe~n the great patron and example of this discipline. Heshowed himself no mercy, and whirred, on one occasion,till his face, livid and gory, could not be recognized. Thisscourging was accompanied with psulm-singing." Themusic o{'the voice and the cracking of the whip mingled,dnrinc the operation, in delightful variety. Dominic, inthe u~e' of the whip, had the honour of making several'[note-worthy] improvements. He taught flagellators tolash with both hands, and, consequently, to do double ex-eeution.] The skilful operator, by this means could, in agiven time, peel twice as much superabundant skin fromhis back, and discharge twice as much useless blood frcmhis veins. He obliged the world also with the inventionof knotted scourges. This discovery also facilitated theflaring of the shoulders, and enabled a skilful hand tomangle the flesh in fine style for the good of the soul.-Hedwig, and Margaret, though of the softer sex, rivalled

been canonized, followed Damian's example, and lacerated their backsfor the good of their souls." Edgar's Variations of. Popery, chap. i.,pp. 36,37. •

• 'Psaltaria integra recitabantur. Boileau, c. 7.'t 'Se utraque mnnu IIffatim diverberasse. Boileau, 185.'

140 ERROj'rEOUS SENTI.11EKTS OF RO,lfAN CATHOLICS

Dominic in the rut of chastising the body. Hedwig wasDuchess of Silesia and Great Poland. She often walkedduring tbe frost and cold, till she might be traced by theblood dropping from her feet on the snow. She wore nexther skin, a hair-cloth that mangled her flesh, which shewould not allow to be washed. Her women had, byforce," to remove tbe clotted blood, which flowed fromthe torn veins. The Dnchess invented or adopted aneffectual, but rather rough means of sanctification. Shepurified her soul by the tears which she shed, and herbody by the blows which sbe inflicted with a knottedlasb.t-Margaret, daughter of tbe King of Hungary,wore a hair-cloth and an iron girdle. She underwent notonly the usual number of stripes, but made the nuns inflicton her an extraordinary quantity, which caused such an'effusion of blood from her flesh as horror-struck the weep-ing executioners. Her devotion still augmenting duringthe holy week, she lacerated her whole body with theblows of a Whip." t (EclgarJs Variations of Popery,chap. i., pp. 38,39.) -" St. Theresa's' ardour in punishingthe body was so vehement as to make her use hair shirts,cbains, nettles, scourges, and even to roll herself amongthorns, regardless of a diseased constitution.' St. Rose, bore day and night tbree folds of an iron chain roundher waist, a belt set with small needles, and an iron crownarmed inside with points; she made to herself a bed of

• the unpolished trunks of trees, and filled up the intersticeswitb pieces of broken pottery.' (Practical and InternalEvidence against Catholicism, p. 208-:n~.) The folly ofthese self-inflictions might provoke a smile: but when suchpersqns are lauded. as models of sanctity, and such deedsare represented as methods of satisfaction for sin, it isenongh to make an angel weep.' (Oramp's Text-Bookof Popery, chap. viii., p. 201, note 97.)

They mention "prayers." Their prayers, as used in theway of penance, that is, to make satisfaction to God fortheir sins, they are accustomed to repeat over and over,many times, particularly the Pater-noster and Ave-Ma-

• "Ses femmes l'en retires ent par force. Andilly, 769.'t Andilly. 770.t Andilly, 795.


ria» To help them in the business of repeating andcounting their prayers, they have a contrivance called arosary, and one not much unlike it called a cltaplet. "TherOl$aryof the Virgin was probably invented in the tenthcentury. This is a string of beads consisting of one hun-dred and fifty, which make so many Aves, or Hail-Ma1'ys,every ten beads being divided by one something larger,which signifies a Pater, or Lord's prayer. Before repeat-ing the rosary, it is necessary fOJ' the person to take it andcross himself; and to repeat the creed, after which he re-peats a prayer to tho Virgin for every small bead, and aprayer to God for every large one. Thus it i Beenthatten prayers are offered to the Virgin [01' very one offer dto God; and such continues to b the cu tom, as w learnfrom 'the Garden of the Soul, ' and other popish books ofdevotion, down to the present tirnc.j In the chaplet8,more commonly used, there are only fifty Ave Maria8, andfive Pater nesters" (D9wlinU's History of .Romanism,book iv., chap. i. § 11.)

They mention" alms?' To give alms in order to sup-ply or relieve the wants of the poor, is one way of doinggood; but those persons who give alms, expecting therebyto make satisfaction to Goit jbr their sinsl entirely de-eelve themselves.

They refer to "other works of piety." Whatever worksin particular are intended by these" other works of piety,"it sufficesfor us to know that they are all comprehendedeither in those which individuals impose on themsel \'OS todo, or else in those which are enjqined by the priests, whoof course, in acting as judges in hearing confessions, en-join what they please according to their views of the of:fense or offenses confessed: and whatever their injunctionsare, they must be consented to, because compliance on the

- The Ave-lllaria, Hail-lJ,faTy, or angelig salutation, in Roman Cath-otic books of devotion reads thus: "Hail MaT!!, full of grace, the Lordis with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruitof thy womb, JESUS. Holy Mar.lf, mother of God, pray for us, sin-ners, now, and at the hour of our death. .Amell." Garden <if the Soul,p.44.

t See "the Rosary of the blessed Virgin" in "the Garden of thoSoul," p. 296. .


part of the penitent confessing is indispensably requisitein order to his obtaining the priest's absolution.

It is by ali such penitential works and punishments asthese, that the Roman Catholics, in their own estimation,make satisfaction to God for their sins. " Temporalpains inflicted by God himself," you bear in mind, areamong the rest. ".As during this life we are oppressed bymany and various afllictions and oalamities," (say they,)"the faithful are especially to be taught that those whobear with a patient mind afllictions coming from the handof God, derive therefrom an abundant source of satisfac-tion and of deserving." (Catechism of the Council ofTrent, part ii., chap. v., quest. lxxi.) Properly regarded,afflictions coming from the hand of God are consequencesof sin: in the case of the children of God they are chast-eniogs of the Lord, intended to mortify their evil propen-sities, and promote their holiness; but not at all are theyto be considered as a source of satisfaction for sin, and ofdeserving. But Roman Catholics, it seems, in their ownway of thinking, must needs do or suffer something to makesatisfaction to Goelfor their sins: for, say they, "Christ'spains or passions have not so satisfied for all, that Christianmen be discharged of their particular suffering or satisfy-ing for each man's own part:" neither be our painsnothing worth to the attainment of heaven, because Christ

• "Nevertheless," (say they,) "this onr satisfaction which we makefor our offenses is not otherwise to be regarded than as being throughChrist Jesus; for we, who of ourselves, as of ourselves, can do nothing,can do all things through his co-operation who strengtheneth us: sothat man has nothing to glory in, but all our glorying is in Christ, inwhom we live, in whom loP merit, in whom we make satisfaction, bringingforth fruits worthy of penance, which from him derive their value, byhim are offered to the father, and through him arc accepted by theFather." (Council of Trent, scss, xiv., ('hap. viii.] According to whatthey say here, then, their doings and sufferings derive all their value formaking satisfaction, all their merits, .r,.OIlL Christ. Substantially so theysay: hut" though they say so, yet, according to their system, somethingis done TTil'1'iloriollS/!1 by the sinner. If they believe that Christ's meritshave rescued them from eternal punishment, they also believe that hytheir own merits the ,quilt of sin is effaced, and sniisfaction is made fortemporal punishment. To say that the cificacy of hnman works is de-rived from Christ is nothing to the purpose; it is maintained that theyarc IItpriton·oll.9, and thus, according to their own scheme, salvation can-not be wholly of g e, nor wholly by Christ, nor by sanctification ofthe ,.pint." Elliott" Roman Catholicism, hook ii., chap. xi., 6.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 1.13

hath done enough, but quite contrary: he was by his pas- ~sion exalted to the glory of heaven: therefore we by com-passion or partaking with him in the like passions, shallattain to be followers with him in his kingdom," (Rhe-mish Testament, annat. on Rom. viii: 17.) Thus, they notonly impudently profess to makesatisfaction for sin bytheir own personal sufferings and works, by which doctrinethey impiously derogate from the finished satisfaction ofour Lord Jesus Christ; but, of the .me personal suffer-ings and works of their own, they boldly hold forth thatthey are meritorious j so highly 0 as to be really deserv-ing of heaven. " Thc comm n mi .ri thnt fall to tho trupreachers and other Catholi m n r01' hrist's nkc, aspoverty, famine, mourning, and p [ cntlons," (suy th y,)"be indeed the greatest blessings that can be, and armeritorious of the retcard oj' hea en." (Rh mish Testa-ment, annat. on Luke vi. 23.) The suffering« of men andtheir works done while in unbelief, before their conver-sion, they admit to be not 80 deserving -" though" (saythey) "their works afterwards proceeding of faith andgrace do merit heaven. (Ibid., annat. on Rom. xi. 32.)" 'We will prove,' says Bellarmine, 'ana this is the com~onopinion of all Catholics, that the good works of the justare truly and properlr, merits, deserving eternal life itself.'De Justi!: lib. v, c. 1.' (Gramp's Tc;vt-Bool. of Popery,chap. v., p. 104, n. 52.) "Whoever" (say they) "shallaffirm, that the good works of a justified man are in suchsense the gifts of Goel, that they are not also his worthymerits j or that he, being justified by his good works,which are wrought by him through the grace of God, andthe merits of Jesus Christ, of whom he is a living member,does not really deserve increase of grace, eternai.life, theenjoyment of that eternal life if he dies in a state of grace,and even an increase of" glory: LET TIm BE .ACCURSED."(Decrees and Oanons of the Oouncil of Trent, sess. vi.,can. 32.)

IIow different from this is the teaching of the Bible!"Thou shalt love the Lord tllY God with all thine heart,and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." I}eut. vi.fl. 'I'his most compr hensi ve commancl enjoins it uponman to love God according to all the power he posse esin his whole heing 1';0 to do; which divine injunction im-


plies that it is man's bounden duty to serve God with all hispowers of soul and body, to the utmost extent of his abili-ty; in other words, that he is in duty bound tp obey allthe requirements of God, cordially, fully, perpetually.Consequently, for man to be able to do any thing more in'the service of God than what is required of him, must bean utter impossibility. How vain then, how shockinglyimpious for men, fallen sinful men, to talk of meritingheaven by their p~ works l " and by their poor worksand sufferings to think of making satisfaction for sin I t"When ye shall have done all those things which arccommanded you, say, TVe are unprofitable servants: wehave d e that which was our duty to do." Luke xvii.10. "We have conferred no favour. We have meritednothing, and have not benefited God, or laid him under ob-ligation. If he rewards us, it will be matter of unmeritedfavour." (Barnes's Notes, in loc.) "These are theywhich came out of great tribulation, and have washedtheir robes, and made them white in the blood of theLamb. Therefore - not because of any merit in theirsufferings of tribulation, but because their robes are washedana made white in the blood of the Lamb, THEREFORE -are they before the throne of God, and serve him day andnight in his temple." (.Rev. vii. 14, 15.)

But notwithstanding all the punishments endured andthe works performed by the Roman Catholics,which in theirown estimation arc so meritorious, and of so great efficacyin making satisfaction for sin; yet, as they themselves admittha~ they have reason to fear that all these penitential andsat' tory works and sufferings are insufficient, so theyhol nd teach that at death the souls of all ttJe dead inChris whose debts due to divine justice are not fully dis-

• " A man may deserve hell by a wicked life; but he cannot meritheaven by a good life, because he cannot do good but through the graceof God, and the merit of the work belongs to the grace by which it waswrought. Reader, hear God's sentence on this subject: 'The lcoges ofsin is death.' This is desert. '.But the g((t of God is etemal Ilfe.' Hereis no desert, for it is ' by Jesus Christ our Lord.' To him be glory for-ever. .Am n." Clarke's Commentary, PSI}. lxii., in fine:

t " 't .rinb"" of lIny man are lLleritoriolls or satisfactory,eith r r other." it is horrible blusphemy aguinst the meritand s Of Christ's neath, which want th nothing in himself tomerit a fy for all his m moors." Fulke's ConfutolioTI of the Rhe-II/Ish TfJSlwnenl, Col. i. 24.

RELATiVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS, 145

charged in this life, have to go to purgatory, to make outfull satisfaction there. They are very earnest in urgingthe doctrine of a purgatory. "Since" (say they) "theCatholic church, instructed by the Holy Spirit, throughthe sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the fathers,hath taught in holy councils, nnd lastly in this cecumenicalcouncil, that there is- a purgatory, and that the souls de-tained there are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful,but especially by th« acceptable sacrifice of tILemass;" thisholy council commands all bishops diligently to endeavourthat the wholesome doctrine of purgatory, delivered to usby venerable fathers and holy councils, be believ d andheld by Ckl'i t's faithful, :lOU verywh .rc t:nv,.ht nndpreached. • • • Let tho bishops take our that tho I:lwfti':.lgl',of the living faithful, vi;". mas,~es,prayer8, alnu, and otherworks of piety, which the faithful have been uc ustomudto perform for depnrte.l believers, be piously and religious-ly rendered, according to' the institutes of the church; ariawhatever services arc due to tlu: dead, t/wou{Jh the endow-ments of deceased persons, or in any other way, let themnot be performed slightly, but rliligently and carefully, bythe priests and ministers of the church, and all others towhom the duty belongs." (Uouncil of Trent, sess. xxv,Decretum de .Purqatorio.v " Purgatory, in the Romishtheology, is a middle place or state, in which departedsouls make expiation for venial faults, and for the tem-poral punishment of mortal sins. Those who departthis life guilty of mortal or aggravated sin go direct tohell, from which there is no redemption. Those who dieguiltless of venial or trivial sins, and, at the same time, ofthe temporal penalty of aggravated transgression, go im-mediately to heaven. But many, belonging to neither ofthese two classes, are, at the hour of death, obnoxious tothe penalty attached to venial faults and the temporalpains of heinous iniquity. These, in purgatory, undergothe due punishment; and, purified by this rueans, are ad-mitted into heaven. All mankind, says the Florentinecouncil, consist of saints, sinners, and an intermediateclass. Saints go to heaven; sinners go to hell; and the

,middling class to purgatory."· (Ed{/ar',~ Variations 0/" Purgatory. urcordirur to Bellanuine, i 'that place in which, after

l()

146 ERRONEOVS SENTiMENTS OF ROJlIAN CATHOLICS

Popery, chap. xvii., in princip.) In attempting to provethat there is such a place as purgatory, the Romnnists laygreat stress on 2 Maccabees xii. 43-46, where the writerspeaks of praying for the dead, saying -" It is thereforea holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, thatthey may be loosed from sins." (Douay version.) Amiserable resort, for a miserable purpose! a quotationfrom an uninspired, apocryphal piece of composition,grossly erroneous, to prove the fiction of a purgatory!

~They have indeed tried to find proof in the book of'inspi-- ration; as for instance, in 1 Cor. iii. 15 -" If any man's

work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himselfshall be saved; yet so as by fire." "The pepish writershave applied what is here spoken to the fire ofpurgatory /and they might with equal propriety have applied it tothe discovery of the longitude, the perpetual motion, or theIJhilosopher's stone / because it speaks just as much of theformer as it does of any of the latter. The fire mentionedhere is to try the man's work, not to purify his soul/butthe dream of purgatory refers to the purging in anotherstate what lett this impure ; Bot the work of the man, butthe man himself; but here the fire is said to try the ioork :ergo, purgatory is pot meant even if such a place as pur-gatory could be proved to exist; which remains yet to bedemonstrated." (Clarke's Commentary, in loc.) It is ofno kind of use for Roman Catholics to seek to the Biblefor evidence of a purgatory. It is nowhere there. Toquote particular passages of Scripture to prove such aplace, (as indeed they -are foolish enough to do,) is topervert and abuse them. .Most justly therefore is thedoctrine of purgatory characterized as "a fond thing vain-ly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture,but rather repugnant to the Word of God." (Book ofCommon Prayer, of the Protestant Episcopal ChurchU. S. A.; art. xxii., of the Articles of Religion.)

death, the souls of those persons are purified who were not fully cleansedon earth, in order that they may be prepared for heaven, whereinnothing shall enter that defileth.' De Purgatorio, 1. i. cap. 1." Cramp'sText-Book of Popery, chap. xiv., sub init.

"Den, in hi. Theology, (De Purg., 0.35,) defines it thns: 'It is apia ze in which the souls of the pious dead, obnoxious to temporal pun-ishrnent, make satisfaction.''' Elliott's Roman Ca/Mid.rn, book ii.,chap. xii .. paulo 1'06/ initium.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS, 147

As to where purgatory is, Romanists affirm that it·" issituated in the centre of the earth, and that it forms oneof the four compartments into which the infernal regionsare divided. In the first of these, the damned are placed;the second is purgatory; in the third reside the spirits ofinfants who died without baptism, and who endure theeternal punishment of loss, though not of sense; thefourth was limbo, the abode of the pious who departedthis life before the birth of Christ, and were delivered byhim when he descended into hell." This last is now emp-ty, as it is supposed that purgatory will be hereafter."

•

- The Roman Catholis hold a. an article of th ir bl>1i(·fthnt hrist,lifter his crucifixion and before his r ssurrcction, d« rr "r1P'[ into nIH, t ndthat he then delioerrd 1/lfIIl,l181!f!I'rPl"'/,mlll PIII'.?1l101'.V' l~ ther IIny!4 'ripture for the Romixh notion of hri~t's ,k rending into hell 1 " knowwh.ll.t the words of the psalmist arc, as record il in PS(J. xvi, 10. andho,", the same are quoted with reference to Jesus Christ of Nazareth bythe apostle Peter, in .AI'I,. ii. 27 j "B,'rause tlun: wilt IIot leave my soul illhell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." In the

J~rmcr place the original Hebrew word lor lull is ::'i~l:isheol, in thelatter the original Greek word, hy which the Hehrew word'is translated.is iioqr hades " each being used for expressing the same thing - theplace or region of the dead ; the abode of spirits, whether I!ood or bad,"The idea which was conveyed hy the word 81<"O!, or Had, s, was notproperly It qrace or sepulchre, hut that dark, unknown state, indudillg thegrave, wliieh constituted the dominions cf the dead, In the place beforeus, therefore, the meaninr; is simply, thou u:ill not leave me AMOXG THEDEAD, This conveys all.the idea. It does not mean literally the gru.veor the sepulchre; that relates only to the body, This expression refers tothe deceased lJfessiah, Thou wilt nOt leave him among the dead j thouwilt raise him up. It is from this passage, perhaps, aided by two others(Rom. x. 7, and 1 Pet. iii. 19), that the doctrine originated, that Christ'descended,' as it is expressed in the creed, 'into hell;' and many haveinvented strange opinions about his going among lost spirits. Thedoctrine of the Roman Catholic church has been, that he went to purga-ton}, to deliver the spirits confined there. But if the interpretation nowgiven be' correct, then it will follow, (1.) That nothing is affirmed hereabout the destination of the human sOl11 of Christ after his death. Thatlie went to the region of the dead is implied, but nothing further. (2,)It may be rcmarl cd that the Scriptures affirm nothing about the state ofhis soul in that time which intervened between his death and resurrection,The only intimation which occurs on the subject is 'ueh n~ to le~ve us tosup'po~c t~at he wol; in n state of happiue.ss. To ,lite,dymg tlMef.:'!esussmd, 'TIllS do,V shalt thou be with me In parar!tse, Luke XXIII. 43.When Jesus died he saiel, 'It is fini-hed ;' an,l h,' ,.Ionhtlt,·s meant h)'that, that his sufferings an,l toils for mlm's rctlempt,on were a t an mel.

II snppositions of lInv toils or pains after his eleath are fahl('" 8ndwttlton! the'lightc t ,~:i1Tantin the ~TewTe'tnment." Brrrllcs' .\'ote"Act. ii. 27.

148 ERRONEOUS SENT1.lIENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLiCS

(Gramp's Text-Book Of Popery, chap. xiv., cub init.) -:.As proofs of the locality of the infernal regions, cardinalBellarmine "gravely brings forward certain silly tales ofvisions and apparitions: for instance, that in the eruptionsof Mount Hecla, souls have often appeared: this, of course,is conclusive evidence thn.t the craters of volcanoes areentrances into hell! " (Ibid., note 91.) ,

As to the punishment 'supposed to be endured in pur-gatory, by which it is pretended souls there are purified,it is said to be that of fire, material fire. But how suchan agent as material fire can act upon incorporeal spirits toeffect their purification, even Romanists themselves pru-dently confess "cannot be understood upon earth. Allthat can be known in this state is, that the pains of puri-fication are so horribly severe that no sufferings everborne in this world can be compared with them. How •long they continue is not reported; bnt it is thought t~atthe process is very gradual, and that some will not bethoroughly cleansed till the day ofjuclgment." (Gramp's'Text-Book of Popery, chap. xiv., sub init.) "S. Bernm~writes that a certain saint, praying for a deceased sister,thrice saw her in vision. The first. time she was clothedin black, standing without the church: on the second oc-casion, attired in a brownish garment, she appeared justwithin the threshold: when he saw,her the third time, shewas dressed in white, and standing before the altar withthe other saints. Whence the holy man inferred that pur-gatorial cleansing is gradual. And Bellarmine says thatthe same may be proved from many other visions! DePurqat. 1. ii. c. 14." (Ibid., n. 93.)

'rhus it appears that, though the process of the cleans-ing be gradual, there is deliverance from the place. TheRoman Catholics have not created so dreadful a place 2.8purgatory, and sent their own faithful thither to suffer inthe fire, without contriving means whereby to deliverthem therefrom. They inculcate earnestly and diligently,"that the sufferers in purgatory may receive powerfulrelief fsom their' brethren on earth, and that the durationof their pains may be considerably shortened by prayc1·.~,alms, and other works o.f.piety performed for their benefit,but more especially by the sacrifice of the mass, o.tfered intheir beMif by the priest. A readier method of filling the


coffers of the church could not have been invented. Thatthey have been so filled, even to repletion, is an historicalfact,that cannot be disputed.-Great care is taken to bringthe subject constantly before the people. In every massthere is a general commemoration of the departed: Pray-ers are prepared, to be offered at the moment of death, atstated intervals after it, and at the returns of the anniver-sary of the event. A solemn office for the dead formspart of the service of the church, and is usually recitedonce a month, and in Lent once a week. On All Soulsday (Nov. 2,) extraordinary masses are celebrated fortheir relief. Arrangements may be made at any time withthe priest for the appropriation of his service to the rela-tive or friend whoso deliverance is th immediate objectof concern: besides which, for a small urn of money, or atrifling penance, or some ea y act of devotion, the zealouaCatholic may always indulge his benevolent feelings, andcontribute largely to the comfort of the whole body ofsufferers in that dark and melancholy abode." ( Oramp,chap. xiv., sub init.)

What a strange doctrine is this of purgatory! How.ingeniously conceived is the whole notion of it, as a thingto work on the religious fears and sympathies of the peo-ple, all fiction although it is,· and move them to emptythe contents of their pockets into the purses of the priests!For if the priests perform divine service, if they sayprayers oroffer the sacrificeof the mass, that instrumen- •tality so peculiarly efficaciousin this business, they ~ustbe paid for their services. " No penny, no pater-noster,"tAnd provided the people will only pay money enough,they can have for themselves and others as many massesand prayers as they please. And some persons that areable are pleased to have ",erymany. " 'Philip V. ordere~,by his Will, all the priests of the place where be shonld dieto say mass the same day for the repose of his soul: be-sides which, they were to celebrate during three days, be-fore privileged altars, as many massesas possible; and that

• "The pains of purgatory are but a vain lemculament, to make menpay dear for Popish masses, merits, satisfactions and pardons." Fulke'sConfutation of the RhRmish Testament, Ht;.b. x. 31.

t "With popish priests it hath always been a true proverb, ' no penny,no pater-noster.''' "Fulke's Confutation, 2 Tim. i. )8.


he might not fail in his purpose, he further commandedanhundred thousand masses to be said on his' behalf, thesurplus of as many as were necessary to conduct him toheaven reversible to poor solitary souls, eeucerning whom110 person bestowed a thought.' Bourgoing's ModernState of Spain, iv. p. 273." (Cramp, chap. xiv., n. 94.)

But there is another grand instrumentality, (in thehands of the priests of course.) whereby the sufferers inpurgatory may be released with surprising dispatch; andit must here be mentioned, viz. indulgences. "Since"(say they) "the power of granting indulgences has beenbestowed by Christ upon his church, and this power,divinely given, has been used from the earliest antiquity,the holy council teaches and enjoins that the use of indul-gences, so salutary to Christian people, and approved bythe authority of venerable councils, shall be retained byihe church ] and it .ANATHEMATIZES those who assert thatthey are useless, or deny that the church has the power ofgranting them." (Council of Trent, sess. xxv.) An in-dulgence is the remission 01 the temporal punishment dueto sins. It is held by the Roman Catholics, that there isan immense treasure of unapplied merits, partly theSaviour's, and partly accruing from works of supereroga-tion * performed by the 'saints; which treasure, havingbeen originally placed in the hands of the apostle Peter,with the privilege of transmitting it to his successors, is

• now at the disposal of the Pope; who therefore has thepower, out of this treasure of these superabundant merits,for a sum of money, (which on some occasions is a sinequa non,) or for some other kind of property, or for someconsideration or other, as he or his authorized agents inthe business may choose to prescribe to their customers,to bestow upon them the remission of the temporal PUD-

ishments due for their sins. Indulgences may be limited,

• "Voluntary Works, besides over and above God's Commandmentswhich they call Works of Supererofation, cannot be taught without ar~rogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare, That they do notonly render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that theydo more for his sake than of bounden duty is required: Whereas Christsaith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say,W~ are unprofitable servants." Book of Common Prayer, of the Prot.Episc, Church U. S. A. .Art. xiv., of the Articles of Re1igi01l.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 15 L

as granted for a specified number of years-; or they maybe plenary, releasing the persons receiving them from allthe pains and penalties by them incurred, up to the timewhen they are granted. They are granted with referenceto the future, as well as the past; for the dead as well asthe living; more or less to relieve the sufferers in purga-tory, or else fully to release them from the place, and sofrom all their torments therein. (See Cramp, chap. xiv.,p. 339-341.) Such then being believed by the RomanCatholics to be the power and efficacyof indulgences, theymust of course be in demand. Ever since they first cameinto use in the eleventh century, they have been doingall that 'they have power to do. The people have u dthem extensively, and the popcs and th 'ir :1'" nt haveshown themselves ns urgent to r commend UTHl dis pOllC fthem as the people' have been to obtain them at theirhands. Thus, for instance, pope Leo X., when he wantedto complete the magnificent structure of St. Peter's churchat Rome, published his indulgences abroad in all king-doms, for the purpose of raising money. And Albert,ejector of Mentz and archbishop of Magdeburg, solicitedfrom the pope the contract for the fa1"ri~in!lof all the in-dulgences in Germany. And the notorious John TetzeJ,a Dominican friar, a man of titles." hastened to the arch-bishop, and was accepted as an agent for retailing indul-gences in Saxony, where he soon appeared, selling all theindulgences he could, crying them up full impiously. " In-dulgences," said he, "are the most precious and sublime ofGod's gifts. This cross" - (pointing to the great redwooden cross which he had caused to be erected, with thepope's arms suspended thereupon) -" has as much efficacyas the cross of' Jesus Christ. Draw near, and I will giveyou letters duly sealed.] by which even the sins you shall

• "Numerous honors had been accumulated on him. Bachelor ofTheology, Prior of the Dominicans, Apostolical Commissioner, Inquis-itor, (hereticae praoitatis inquisitor,) he hail, ever since the year 1502,filled the office of an gent for the sale of indulgences." D'Auoigne'sHistury of the Reformation, book iii., sub init, . .

t Indulgences are granted in the form of letters. The followmg 15one of these letters of absolution: '" Our Lord Jesus Christ have mercyon thee, N. N., and absolve thee by the merits of hi~ most holy suffer-ings I And I, in virtue of the apostolic power committed to me, absolve

152 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROAfAN CATHOLICS

hereafter desire to commit, shall be all forgiven you." Iwould not exchange my privileges for those of SaintPeter in heaven, for I have saved more souls with my in-dulgences than he with his sermons. There is no sin sogreat that the indulgence cannot remit it, and even if anyone should (which is doubtless impossible) ravish the HolyVirgin Mother of God, let him pay -10t him only paylargely, and it shall be forgiven him. Even repentance isnot indispensable. But more than all this: indugencessave not the living alone, they also save the dead. Yepriests, ye nobles, ye tradesmen, ye wives, ye maidens, andye young men, hearken to your departed parents andfriends, who cry to you from the bottomless abyss: ' Weare enduring horrible torment! a small alms would deliverus; - you can give it, and you will not!' The very mo-ment, continued Tetzel, that the money clinks againstthe bottom of the chest, the soul escaResfrom purgatoryand flies free to heaven. 0, senseless people, and almostlike beasts, who do not comprehend the grace so richlyoffered! This day, heaven is on all sides open. Do you

thee from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments, an\penalties that thoumayst have merited; and further, from all excesses, sins, and crimes thatthou mayst have committed, however great and enormous they may be,and of whatever kind-even though they should be reserved to om'holy father the Pope, and to the Apostolic See. I efface all the stainsof weakness, and all traces of the shame that thou \Ilayst have drawnnpon th;rself by such actions. I remit the pains thou uioultls: have had toendure tn purgat01Y. I receive thee again to the sacraments of theChurch. I hereby reincorporate thee in the communion of the saints,and restore thee to the innocence and purity of thy baptism; so that, atthe moment of death, the gate of the place of torment shall beshut against thee,and the gate of the paradise of joy shall be opened unto thee. .And if thoushouldst live long, this grace continueth unchangeable, till the time of thyend. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.Amen. The Brother, John Tetzel, commissarp, hath signed this with his OW"hand.'

"In this document, we see with what art presumptuous and false doc-trines were interspersed among sacred and Christian expressions."I!Aubigne's History of the Great Reformation, book iii., paulo post ini-hum.

- Do not indulgences, apparently, as well as in effect, give licence tocommit sin 1 Dr. D'Anbigne, in describing tbe state of Europe priorto the Reformation, and speaking of indulgences, says: "All that themultitude saw in them was a permission to sin ; and the sellers were inno haste to remove an impression so favoumble to the sale." History ofthe Greal Rrformation, book l., P: 18.

RELATIVE 'ro THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 153

refuse to enter? When then do you intend to come in ?This day you may redeem many souls. Dull and heedlessman, with ten groschen you can deliver your.father frompurgatory, and you are so ungrateful that you will notrescue him. In the day of judgment, my eonscience willbe clear; but you will be punished the more severely forneglecting so great a salvation. I protest that though youshould have only one coat, you ought to strip it off andsell it, to purchase this grace. Our Lord God no longerdeals with us as God; He has given all power to thePope! ". (D'Aubigne' 8 History of the Reformation, bookiii., sub init.) - Thus this mountebank monk. A memor-able specimen he, of the Romish priests. What will th 'ynot say or do for the ake of filthy Iucro P It is impos si-ble to compute the vast amount of wealth which, in pastages, has been obtained by mercenary pI est through thesale of indulgences. These detestable things have longbeen among the most successful means both of collectingmoney and of deceiving the souls of men. "And in truth, /"indulgences continue to the present day to form an im-portant article of papal revenue,'] and a prime support of

• It is no wonder that some persons, where the bold indulgence-pedlerwent, were disgusted with him. "A Saxon gentleman had heard Tet-zel at Leipsic, and was much shocked by his impostures. He went tothe monk, and inquired if he was authorized to pardon sins in intention,or such as the applicant intended to commit ~ 'Assuredly,' answeredTetzel; , I have full power from the pope to do so.' 'Well,' returnedthe gentleman, 'I want to take some slight revenge on one of myene-mies, without attempting his life. I will pay you ten crowns if you willgive me a letter of indulgence that shall bear me harmless.' Tetzelmade some scruples; they struck their bargain for thirty CrO\IDs.Shortly after, the monk set out from Leipsic. The gentlcman, attendedby his servants, laid wait for him in a wood between Jiiterboch andTreblin -fell upon him, gave him a beating, and carried off the richchest of indulgence-money the inquisitor had with him. Tetzel clam-oured against this act of violence, and brought an action before thejudges. But the gentlemnn showell the letter, si~ned by Tetzel himself,which exempted him, beforehand, from all responsibility. Duke George,who had at first been much irritated at this action, npon seeing thiswriting, ordered that the accused should be acquitted." D' Allbigne His-19ty of th« Reformation, book iii., paulo post init. •

t Whoever would learn the who\IJ art and mystery of the financialconcems of the Hamish. court, may consult such works as are mentionedin Musheilll's Ecclesiastical Hislaty, cent. xvi., sec. i., ch. i., §.8, n. (7).

154 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CA'l'HOLICS

the superstitions of the church of Rome." (Oramp'sText-Book of Popery, chap. xiv., post mecl.)

The immense profits accruing from indulgences led:tothe appointment of the centennial jubilee, ~hich was fir~tcelebrated in the year 1300,under the pontificate of ~ODl-face VIII.; who, in an epistle sent throughoRt Christen-dom, announced, "that in every centennial year, all thatshould confess and lament for their sins, and devoutlyvisit the temple of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome, shouldreceiveplenary abOlition of their sins." (Mosheim, cent.xiii., part ii.•chap. iv. § 3.) Thus every centennial yearwas made a jubilee of indulgences. A matchless devicewas such a jubilee as this, for pouring into the coffersofRome an enormous amount of money ia a short space oftime. "John Villani, the Florentine historian, who wentto Rome on thfl!loccasion, tells us that during the wholeyear the number of strangers in that city amounted at leastto two hundred thousand; that, the streets were constantlyso thronged that he alwayswalked in a crowd, and yet thatthey were all plentifully supplied with provisions at veryreasonable rates. And cardinal Caitan assures us that theofferings made at the tombs of the two apostles in brassmoney, and consequently by the poorer sort of people,amounted to the value of fifty thousand florins of gold,and leaves us to judge from thence of the immense sumsthat were collected in gold and silver. As the holy yearended on Christmas day, the pope by a special bullgranted the same indulgences to such as had been pre-vented by sickness, or any other lawful impediment, fromperforming before that time the conditions that were re-quired to gain them. By the same bull he declared, thatby the year were meant twelve months, beginning andending, according 'to the style of the Roman church, onChrismas day. For at this time the year began in Franceon ~aster-day, and in several ?ther places on Lady-day;which chronologers not attendmg to have puzzled,in theircomputations, both themselves and others." (Bower'sHistory of the P01!es- Boniface VIII;). The great storeof wealth brought 10 by the fir t cele~ra.tlOnof the jubilee,very naturally made the R\;>mansWIShto have it comeagain before the end of a. hundred years. Aecordingly, inthe year 1343 pope" Clement VI., the first that gave"it


the name of 'jubilee,' ordered it to be solemnized everyfiftieth year, in imitation of the Jewish jubilee. In 1384the fifty years were reduced by Urban VI. to thirty-three,and lastly, by Paul II. and Sixtus IV. to flvelustrums, ortwenty-five years." (Ibid.) At every return of this pe-riod, the jubilee is still celebrated at Rome, "and contin-ues to be a profitable source of enriching the coffersof thepopes, though the income arising therefrom, amidst thelight of the nineteenth century, must, of course, fall vastlyshort of the immense revenue extorted from the fears ofthe ignorant and the superstitious at tbe comparativelydark and gloomy period of its original establishment."

. (.Dowlin.q's History of Romanism, book v., chap. xii.§ 125.)

V. Another of these Romi h sacraments is, .ExtremeUnction.

"Extreme unction in the Popish system, consists in thesacramental application of oil to the sick, for the remi sionof sin. The administrator is a priest or bishop. Thesubject is the sick, who, to all human appearance, are atthe point of death. The sign is oil, consecrated by episco-pal benediction. The form requires the application of thesign to the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, bands, feet, and, if thepatient be a male, to the reins, accompanied with prayer."(Edgar's Variatione of Popery, chap. xv., in princip.)The prayer, as used at each anointing, is this: "'By this

.holy unction, may God indulge thee whatever sins thou.hast committed by sigl~t,smell, touch, &c." ( Oatechismof the Council of Trent, part ii., chap. vi., quest. vi.)

"Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm that extreme unc-tion is not truly and properly a sacrament, instituted byChrist our Lord, and published by the blessed apostleJames, but only a ceremony received from the fathers, ora human invention: LET HIM BE ACCURSED.

"Whoever shall affirm, that the sacred unction of thesick does not confer grace, nor forgive sin, nor relieve thesick: but that its power has ceased, as if the gift of heal-ing exi ted only in past asres: LET HIM BE ACCURSED."(Decrees and Oanons of the Oouncil of Trent, se s. xiv.,can. 1, 2, de sacramento extl'emae unctionis.)

Here, in the first of these canons, they refer to 'theblessed apostle Jame.' Roman Catholics pretend to find

156 ERRONEOUS SE}tTlilfENTS OF ROMA.\' CATHOLICS

proof of extreme unction as 11 sacrament in James v. 14,15: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the eldersof the church; and let theni pray over him, anointing himwith oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faithshall save the sick,and the Lord shall raise him up; and ifhe have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Inthese words, doubtless there is intended no such unctionas Rome prescribes. "It need scarcely be observed, thatthe extreme unction, used by the' church of Rome, totallydiffersfrom the anointing recommended by St. James ; forthat is never administered, till the sick person is supposedto be at the point of death, and no hope is entertained ofhis recovery: * so that {t spiritual benefit alone can beproposed by the ceremony; which On the contrary servesmerely as an opiate, to quiet and stupefy the consciences,both of the dying, and of the living." (Scott's Notes, 1:nloc.) How lamentable! " All will confess the vast im-portance of right views and feelings in the prospect ofdeath. Perilous as is deception or delusion in thingsspiritual at any time, the danger is immeasurably increased'when the last change is fast approaching, and the finaldestiny is about to be sealed for ever. It is then that thechurch of Rome 'lays the flattering unction to the soul.'The dying man sends for the priest, and makes confession;absolution is promptly bestowed: the eucharist is admin-istered; and lastly, the sacred chrism is applied. Theseare the credentials of pardon, the passports to heaven. Noattempt is made to investigate the state of the heart,detect false hopes, bring the character to the infalliblestandard: nothing is said of the atonement of Christ andthe sanctifying influencesof the Spirit. Without repent-ance, without faith, without holiness, the departing soulfeels happy and secure, and is not undeceived till eternitydisclosesits dreadful realities - and then it is too late. Itis not affirmed,indeed, that the description is universallyapplicable: but that, "With.regard to a large majority of

• Extreme unction" is applied only to those who, in all human ap-pearance, are departing, and, in consequence, has been called the sacra-ment of the dying. The sacerdotal physician never administers thisspiritual prescription, while there is any expectation of recovery. Thesacred unction is always intended as a mittimus to eternity." Edgar'sVariations 0/ P0l'P:1:Y,chap. xv., paulo ante med.

RELATIYE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 157

instances, it is a fair statement of facts, cannot, alas, bequestioned." (Oramp's Teet-Book of Popery, chap. ix.p.215.)

VI. Another of the sacraments which we have underexamination is, Order.

The solemn consecration of ministers to their respec-tive ministerial functions, according to the Roman Catho-lies, "is called The Sacrament of Order, or Sacred Ordi-nation." (Uatechiem. of the Oouncil of Trent, part ii.,chap. vii., quest. viii.) "This appellation," (the appellationof order, say they,) "which has a mo t extensive significa-tion, the holy Fathers have thought prQper to employ, illorder to indicate the dignity and excellence of the minis-ters of God. Understood in its strict and proper accepta-tion, order is the disposition of uperior and inferiorthings, which are so well adapted to each other as tostand in reciprocal and mutual relation. Comprising,then, as the ministry does, many grudations and variousfunctions, and disposed, as all these gradations and func-tions are, with regularity, it is appropriately and suitablycalled the sacrament of Order" Ibid. quest. ix. "Who--ever" (they say) "shall affirm,that order (ordinem) or holyordination, is not t1'Ulyand properly a sacrament, institutedby Christ onr Lord; or that it is a human invention, de-vised by men unskilful in things ecclesiastical; or that itis only the ceremony of choosing the ministers of the wordof God and of the sacraments: LET my BE ACCURSED."(.Decreesand Oanons of the Oouncil of Trent, sess. xxiii.,can. 3.)

The 'ministers among 'the Roman Catholics are of sev-eral distinct orders, or grades of office, the principal of

, which is that of the priesthood, which they hold to be aliteral priesthood, literally to offer saorifice ; and of sucha priesthood they hold and teach, that it "was institutedby the Lord our Saviour, and that to his apostles andtheir successors in the priesthood, the power was given toconsecrate, offer, and minister his hody and blood, andalso to remit and retain ins," "As the mini try of soexalted a priesthood is a divine thing," (say they,) "it wasmeet, in order to surround it with the greater dignity andveneration, that in the admirable economy of the churchthor should be several distinct orders or ministers, in-


tended by their office to serve the priesthood, and so dis-posed, as that, beginning with the clerical tonsure," theymay ascend gradually through the lesser to the greaterorders. For the sacred scriptnres make express mentionof deacons as well as of priests, and instruct us in veryserious language respecting those things which are to bespecially regarded in their ordination; and from the be-ginning of the church, the names and appropriate dutiesof the following orders are known to have been in 'use,viz. eub-deacone, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and porters."(Council of Trent, sess.xxiii., chap. i., ii.) Here, five ofthe orders of their ministers are mentioned; which, withthose of priest and deacon, make seven orders. ".It mnstthen" (say they) "be taught that, according to the uni-form tradition of the Catholic Church, the number of theseorders is seven / and they are calledporter, reader, exor-cist, acolyte, sub-deacon, deacon, priest." t (Catechism ofthe Council of Trent, part ii., chap.viii, quest. xii.) These

'" " As persons are prepared for baptism by exorcisms, for marriageby espousals," (say they,) "so also those who are dedicated unto Godby tonsure of the hair, are prepared, as it were, for admission into thesacrament of Order. For by tonsure is declared what manner of personhe should be who desires to be imbued with holy orders. The name ofclerk, which is then for the first time given him, implies that thencefor-ward he has taken the Lord for his inheritance, In tonsure the hair ofthe head is cut in form of a crown, and should always be worn in thatform, so as to enlarge the crown according as anyone advances inorders. Tonsure is said to have been first introduced by the prince ofthe apostles, in honour of the crown of thorns which was pressed uponthe head of our Saviour. Some, however, assert that by this note oftonsure is signified the royal dignity, which seems peculiarly to suitthose who are called to the inheritance of the Lord; for, as is easily un-derstood, to the ministers of the Church belongs, in a peculiar and moreparticular manner, what the apostle Peter says of all Christians: YeaTe a chosen generation, It myal priesthood, a holy nation, (l Pet. Ii. 9.)Nor are there wanting those who are of opinion that by tonsure, whichis cnt in form of a circle, the most perfect of all figures, the superiorperfection of the ecclesiastical state is exemplified; or that, as it is con-ferred by cutting hair, which is to the hody a sort of snperfluity, it im-plies a contempt of external things, and a disengagement of the mindfrom all human cares." Catechism of the Oouncil of Trent, part. ii.,chap. vii., quest. xiii., xiv.

t " Of these some are greater, which are also called holy, some lesser,called m;nOT orders. The greater, or holy, arc sub-deaconship, deacon-sbir>, and priesthood ; the lesser, or minor orders, are porter, reader,exorcist, and acolyte." Catechism, part ii., chap. vii., quest. xii.


are the orders which compose the hierarchy among theRoman Catholics, which they have the impudence to pre-tend to have been divinely appointed. "Whoever" (saythey) "shall affirm, that there are not in the Catholicchurch, besides the priesthood, other orders, both greaterand lesser, by which, as by degrees, the priesthood maybe ascended: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." "Whoever shallaffirm, that there is not ~ the Catholic church a hierarchyinstituted by divine appointment, ani! consisting of bish-ops, presbyters, and ministers: LET RIM BE ACCURSED."(Oouncil of Trent, sess. xxiii., can. 2, 6.)

It is one thing for them to say that their hierarchy wasinstituted by divine appointment, but it would be quiteanother thing for them to prone it to have bo n 0.- Butlet us briefly notice the functions of th several ord fa ofwhich their hierarchy is compo ed. The duty of theporter, (say they,) " consists in keeping the key and gateof the church, and in excluding tho e from entering towhom entrance had been forbidden. [The porter] alsoassisted at the holy sacrifice of the mass, to bee that noone should approach too near the sacred altar, and inter-Iupt the priest whilst celebrating divine service. To theporter also were assigned other functions, as may be clearlyseen from the rites used at his consecration; for taking thekeys from the altar and handing them to him, the bishopsays: So conduct thyself, as having to render an accountto God, for those things that are kept under these keys.That in the ancient Church this office was One of consider-able dignity may be inferred from ecclesiastical observancesstill existing; for the office of treasurer, to which was alsoattached that of guardian of the sacristy, and which be-longed to the porter, is still numbered amongst the morehonourable functions of the Church." - To the reader" it

• "As for the names and offices of sub-deacon, acolyte, exorcist,reader, and porter, we have no warrant out of Scripture to make themorders of the church, and therefore, as such, we condemn them. What-ever difference of grade or officeis profitable for the church, is embracedin such istinctions as nrc expressed by the following passage: 'Andhe gave some apostles j and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; andsome, pastor; and tcachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for thework of the ministry, ana for the edifying of the body of Christ,' Eph.iv. 11, 12." Elliott's Roman Catholicism, book ii., chap. xv., t'/ll'SUSfinem,


belongs to recite in the Church, in a clear and distinctvoice, the books of the Old and New 'I'essament, particu-larly those read during the nocturnal psalmody; * and onhim also devolved the task of instructing the faithful inthe first rudiments of the Christian religion. Hence, athis ordination the bishop, in presence of the people,hand-ing him a book wherein is written what belongs to theexercise of this function, says: Receive [this book], and bethou an announcer of the word of God, destined, if thoufaithfully and usefully. aischargest thine office,to hat'e apart with those who,from the beginning, hav.ewell minis-tered the ioord of Goa."- The duty of the exorcists is," to invoke the name of the Lord over persons possessedby unclean spirits.] Hence the bishop, when initiatingthem, hands them a book containing the exorcisms,andsays: Take ana commit to memory, and have power tolay hands on possessed persons, uihether baptized or cate-chumene? - The duty of the acolytes" is to attend andserve those in holy orders, deacons and sub-deacons,in theministry of the altar. They also carry and attend to thelights used during the celebration of the sacrificeof themass, especiallywhilst the Gospel is being read, and werehence called by a different name, that of wax-candle-]bearers. At their ordination, therefore, the bishop,havingcarefully admonished each of them of the nature of theoffice which he is about to undertake, places in his handa light, with these words: Receioe the candlestick with thewax-lighb, and know that henceforth thou art to 'light thelights of the Church, in.the name of the Lord. He thenhands him also empty cruets, II used to supply wine andwater at the sacrifice,saying: Receive these cruets, to sup-ply uiine and water for the Eucharie» of the blood ofChrist, in the name of the Lora." - The office of theeub-deacon; "as the name itself declares, is to serve the

* "I. e. at matins.'t "The Popish Church abnseth the ignorant, to make them believe

they can cast out devils, whereas they have no such power, neither byall their prayers or fasting, can they conjure out one unclean spirit, un-less they have first as sorcerers and witches conjured him in." Fulke'«Confutation of the Remish Testament, :Matt. xvii. 21.

t "Cerofererii. Du Cangc is the best exponent of these terms.'II 'Ul'ccolos.'


deacon at the altar, for it is his business to prepare thealtar-linen, the vessels, the bread and wine necessary forthe sacrifice. He now ministers water to the priest orbishop, when they wash their hands in the sacrificeof themass. The sub-deacon also reads the epistle, which wasformerly recited at mass by the deacon; assists as a witnessat the sacred mysteries; and prevents the priest officiatingfrom being disturbed by anyone. These duties, whichconcern the ministry of the sub-deacon, may be knownfrom the solemn ceremonies used at his consecration. Inthe first place, the bishop admonishes him, that upon himis imposed the obligation of perpetual continence, andproclaims aloud that no one is eligible to the order of snb-deacons, who is not prepared fre ly to r ccivo this law.In the next place, after the solemn prayer of tho litanies,[the bishopJ enumerates and explains what are tbe dutiesnnd functions of the sub-deacon. This done, ncb of thecandidates for ordination receive from the bishop a chaliceand sacred paten, and from the archdeacon, to remind himthat It sub-deacon is to serve the deacon, cruits filled withwine and water, together with a bason and towel forwashing and drying the hands. The bishop at the sametime gives this admonition: See what sort of ministry isgiven to you: I admonish you, therefore, that so ye com-port yourselves as that ye may please God. Additionalprayers are then recitecl; and when, finally,the bishop hasdecked the sub-deacon in the sacred vestments, on puttingon each of which are used appropriate words and cere-monies, he hands him the book of the epistles, saying:Receive the book of the epistles, and have power to readthem in the holy Church of God, as wellfor the living asfor the dead."- To the deacon" it belongs constantly toaccompanythe bishop, to take care of him when preach-ing, to assist him and tbe priest during the celebration ofdivine service,· and at the administration of the othersacraments, and to read the gospel at the sacrifice of themass.- To the deacon also, as the eye of the bishop, Itbelongs to investigate who within his diocese Iead livesofpiety and religion, and who do not; who attend the sacri-fice [of the mass] and the preaching [of their pastors] at

• 'I. e. of the muss, sacra facicnti;'11

1112 ERRONEOUS SENTINlENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

the appointed times, and who do not; that thus the bishop,being made acquainted by him with all these matters,may be enabled to advise and admonish each offenderprivately, or to rebuke and correct publicly, as he maydeem either more likely to prove effectual. He shouldalso call over the names of catechumens, and present tothe bishop those who are to be initiated in the sacramentof order. In the absence of the bishop and priest, he isalso permitted to expound the, gospel to the people, not,however, from an"elevated place, to make it understoodthat this is not his proper office."* - "The prayers used atthe ordination of a deacon are more numerous and moreholy t than those used at that of a sub-deacon, and thebishop adds another style of sacred vestments. He alsolays hands on him, as we read was done by the apostlesat the institution of the first deacons; t and finally,he de-livers to him the book of the gospels, with these words:Receive power to read the gospel in the Ohurch of God,as well for the living as for the dead, in the name of theLora." - The office" of the priest is to offer sacrifice untoGod, and to administer the sacraments of the Church; asis declared 9Y the rites used at his consecration; for thebishop, with all the priests present, first lays hands on thecandidate for the priesthood; and next fitting the stoleon his shoulders, adjusts it on his breast in the formof a cross, thus declaring that the priest is endued withstrength from on high, to enable him to carry the cross ofChrist our Lord, to "bearthe sweet yoke of the divine law,and to inculcate this law, not by word only, but also bythe example of a life most correctly and holily spent.[The bishop] next anoints his hands with the sacred oil,presents to him a cup containing wine, and a paten witha host, saying: Receive power to offer sacrifice unto God,and to celebrate masses as well for the living as for thedead. By these ceremonies and words he is constitutedan interpreter and mediator between God and man, which

• 'This custom seems still partly preserved in the different heights ofthe lectern, litany-table, reading-desk, and pulpit.'

t "Perhaps' more solemn.' Sanctioribus is the word employed; but.to speak of the comparative holiness of pmyer seems strange."

t Acts vi. 6.

RELATlVE TO THE CHRISTIA..V SACRAMENTS. 1~3

must be deemed the principal function of the priesthood.Finally, again placing his hands on his head, [the bishop]says: Receive thou the Holy Ghost: whose sins thou shaltremit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose thou shaltretain, they are retained,.· thus bestowing on him thatcelestial power of remitting and retaining sins,which wasconferred by our Lord on his disciples." (Catecldsm ofthe Council of Trent, part ii., chap. vii., quest. xvv-xxi,xxiv.)

Such are thc functions and ordination ceremonies ofthese seven Romish hierarchical orders, not one of which,by name, is known in the New-Testament as an order ofthe gospel ministry. The deacon, WQ know, is an officerof the Christian church, originally appointed, not topreach the gospel, but to "serve tables" (Acts vi. 2), thatIS, to take care of the secular affairs of the chur h. Theonly officermentioned in the New-Testament, as ordainedby the apostles to the ministry of the gospel, is the onewho is there denominated 'lrpeC1{3vTtp~ pl'esbyter .01' elder;otherwise sometimes called t7riC1H.Orr~ ovel'seer or bi,~lwp.The New-Testament, therefore, knows nothing of anyhierarchy among the ministers of the gospeL As to theorder of priests in the Roman Catholic ministry, they whocompose that ministry are interested to plead for such anorder as well as they can; but all they can say avails themnothing. The truth is that priests are a class of personsbelonging to the Old Testament dispensation; they arethe old Levitical priesthood, whose leading officialbusinesswas to offersacrifices,according to the Mosaic eremoniallaw. But as all those sacrifices were of no kind of use

.otherwise than as they were employed to typify the onegreat sacrificeof the death of the Lord Jesus Christ; so,therefore, when Christ was put to death upon the cross,all those typical sacrifices and oblations, and of coursethe whole Levitical priesthood, necessarily ceased altoge-ther; since which time, consequently, there has not been,in the literal and proper sense of the word, a priest uponearth. The term is in the New-Testament nowhere ap-lied to Christian ministers, except only as it is applied

alike to all true Christian, who are called" an holy priest-

• John xx, 22, sq.


bood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God byJesus Christ." * (1 Pet. ii. 5.) It follows of course, thatthe Roman Catholic priests are, as public ministers, priestsonly in name. Nor would they have even so much as thename, were it not that they have most unwarrantably as-sumed it.

It is in tbe priesthood that the government of the Ro-man Catholic church resides, in tbe several degrees ofdignity and power into which their nominal priesthood isdistinguished. The first degree" is that of those who aresimply called priests, whose functions we have hithertoexplained. The second is tbat of bishops, who are placedover their respective sees, to govern not only the otherministers of tbe Church, but the faithful people, and, withsupreme vigilance and care to watch over their salvation.The third degree is that of archbishops, who preside overseveralbishops : and wbo nre.also called metropolitans, be-cause placed over the metropolis of the province. Arch-bishops, therefore, although their ordination is the same,enjoy a more exalted station, and a more ample power

;I< Under the New Covenant, "all true Christians are priests alike,because there is none other sacrificing priesthood left but the eternalpriesthood of Christ, and the spiritual priesthood of all Iris saints.""Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priest-hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God hy Jesus Christ."1 Pet. ii. 5. "And hath made us kings and priests unto God and IrisFather." Rev. i. 6. "The word which the Holy Ghost here useth, is"pur, in the Latin Sacerdotes, iu English sacrificers : this office of sacri-ficers and sacrificing, we say, and boldly say, is either singular to Christin respect of his sacrifice propitiatory, and all other parts of his holyoffice, pertaining to our perfect reconciliation and redemption, or else itis common to 'all true Christians, in respect of their spiritual sacrificesof praise and thanksgiving. Neither is this word ever applied in theNew Testament, to any Ecclesiastical ofdel' and function of men, butthey are called "Episcopi, Presbqteri, Diaconi, Ministri, Praepositi, Doc-tores,' and such like, that is, overseers, elders, millisters, govemors, teachers,&C. But never arc they called more than any other Christian men orwomen, iepet«, Sacerdotes, that is, sacrificers, or sacrificing priests.Therefore if the scripture speak properly and truly, all Christians aresacrificers alike, and only Christ is our eternal high sacrificer or sacri-ficing priest, Wherefore they that usurp that sacrificing priesthood,which is peculiar to him, do much more show themselves seditious rebels,than Core, who challenged the figurative and temporal sacrificing priest.hood of Aaron, which was hut a shadow of the true lind eternal sacri-

• ticing priethood of Christ." Fulke's Confiliation of the RTtemish Testa-ment, Apocalypse, chap. i. 6.

RELAT1VE TO THE CHR1ST1AN SACRAMENTS. 165

than bishops. Patriarchs occupy the fourth place, andare, as the name implies, the first and snpreme fathers inthe episcopal order. Beyond all these, the CatholicChurch has ever revered the sovereign pontiff of Rome,whom Cyril of Alexandria denominated in the Council ofEphesus, the chief bishop, father, and patriarch of thewhole world." ( Catechism of the Oouncil of Trent, partii., chap. vii., quest. xxv.)

VII. One more of these Romish sacraments is, Matri-mony.

Matrimony is held by the Roman Catholics to be oneof their seven sacraments, and therefore that, as such, itconfers grace. "Since uncle!' the gospel," (say tTlCY,)"matrimony excels the nuptials of the ancients, b causeof the grace receive i through Ohrist, our h Iy fatb I'll, thecouncils, and the universal traclitioll of the church havalways taught that it is deservedly reckoned among tilsacraments of the new law." (Decrees and Canons of theOouncil of Trent, sess, xxiv.) "'Vho ver " (say they)"shall affirm, that matrimony is not truly nnd properlyone of the seven sacraments of the evnngclical law, Insti-tuted by Christ our Lord, hut that it is a human invention,introduced into the church, nnd does not confer grace:LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (ibid., can. i.)

Flatly contrary to what is here so boldly and oursinglyinculcated, I for one do "affirm, that matrimony is nottruly and properly one of the sacraments of the evangeli-cal law:" but yet, it is a divine institution, having had itsorigin in the formation of the first human pair," in thegarden of Eden, and, as such, it ought to be sacredly re-garded. But, let it here be observed,

First, That -it is claimed by the Roman Catholics in be-half of their church, that they have power to constituteMndrances to matrimony, or reasons for renderinq thecontract null, additional to those degrees of consanguinityor affinity mentioned in Leviticus r and that some of thosedegrees they have power to dispense with. "Whoever"(say they) "shall affirm, that only those dearees of consau-

• "To make marriage a .acrnment of the New Testament, whiehwas instituted in the beginning of the world, is a~aiDst all reason."Fulke's Confutation <if/h. Rhemish Tcstammi, Heb. xiii, "


gttinity or affinity which are mentioned in the book ofLeviticus can hinder or disannul the marriage contract;and that the church has no power to dispense with some ofthem, or to constitute additional hindrances or reasons fordisannulling the contract: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Ooun-cil of Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 3.)

" Here is evidently an assumption of power to dispensewith, and add to the laws of God; can there be a clearerindication of anti christ ? It may be observed, by the way,that this dispensing authority has ever been tenaciously.defended by the Popes, and for two reasons - it is an ac-cession of dignity and power, and a fruitful source ofwealth. No dispensations can be obtained by the poor."(Oramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. xiii., note 66.)

Secondly. They claim that their church has power todisannul marriage, even after it has been legally solemnized."'Vhoever" (say they) "shall affirm, that a marriagesolemnized but not consummated is not disannulled if oneof the parties enters into a religious order; LET HIM BEACCURSED." (Oouncil of Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 6.)

" See the policy of Rome; [in canon 7th] she declaresmarriage indissoluble, even for adultery. But every thingmust give way to the church: and to get an additionalmonk or nun, an inviolable compact may be broken."( Cramp, chap. xiii., note 67.)

Thi1'd~'IJ'During some parts of the year, namely, ":fi.-omthe first Sunday in Advent till Twelfth day, and from thefirst Wednesday in Lent till Low Sunday, inclusive"(Oramp, chap. xiii., p. 323), marriage among the RomanCatholics is prohibited. " Whoever" (say they) "shallaffirm, that to prohibit the solemnization of marriage atcertain seasons of the year is a tyrannical superstition,borrowed from the superstition of the pagans; or shallcondemn the benedictions and other ceremonies used bythe church at those times: LET HIM BE ACCURSED."(Oouncil of Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 11.)

\Vhat is the use of their cursing here? such it prohibi-tion of marriage can be nothing less than "a tyrannicalsuperstition," to say the least of it, and, by all understand-ing persons who dare speak their minds it will be pro-nounced to be so, after all.

Fow·thly. The Roman Catholics extol 'celibacy and

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTI4,P SACRAMENTS: 167

virginity as preferable to the state of marriage. ." Who-ever" (say they) "shall affirm,that the conjugal state isto be preferred to a life of virginity or celibacy, and thatit is not better and more conducive to happiness to remainin virginity or celibacy than to be married ; LET HIM BEACCURSED." (Oouncil of Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 10.)Romish curses are not arguments. Let them prove ifthey can, and, if they be able, make the world believe it,that on the whole it is "better and more conducive tohappiness to remain in virginity or celibacy than to bemarried."

The supposed superior excellence of the single above themarried state is a sentiment which Rome has long enter-tained. It was early in the history of the Christianchurch, (as curly ns tho third c ntury.) at a tim whennumerous corruptions began to b introduo «l, that li-bacy and virginity began to be immoderat ly .omm nde 1."The fathcra, out of a mistaken notion of an extraordin: ry

• merit attending celibacy in this life, ann.an extraordinaryreward reserved for it ill tho other, began very early torecommend it to persons of all ranks and stations, butmore especially to the clergy, as the principal excellenceand perfection of a Christian. By their exhortations, andthe praises they were constantly bestowing on virginity,celibacy, and continence, many among the clergy, andeven some of the laity, were wrought up to such a pitchof enthusiasm, as to mutilate themselves, thinking theycould by no other means be sufficiently qualified for theunnatural, but meritorious, st-ate of celibacy. And, whatis very surprising, the practice became so common in theend of the third; and the beginning of the fourth century,that the fathers of Nice were obliged to restrain it by aparticular canon. They enacted one accordingly, exclud-ing for ever from the priesthood, such 'as should makethemselves eunuchs, the preservation of their life or healthnot requiring such a mutilation.' By tbe "arne can~)Uthey deposed and degraded all, who should thus mannthemselves after their ordination.' (Bower's History ofthe Popes - P. SI/ric'ius, lxwlo post initium.)

But those p)'(tiseB from the fathers, which they were so"constantly bestowing on virginity, celibacy, and conti-nence," had of course their influence; a a natural con -

168 ERRONEOUS SE~TIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

quence of such strong recommendations of single life, menbe&,an to turn monkis:" A monk originally was one whoretired from the world, into a sort of solitude, in orderprofessedly to devote himself wholly to religion. One ofthe first and most remarkable instances of monkery wasexhibited in the fourth century, in the person of a man bvthe name of Anthony, an Egyptian, who deserted hi:"family and house, took up his residence among the tombsand in a ruined tower, and after a long and painful novi-

. tiate, at length advanced three days' journey into thedesert, to the eastward of the Nile, where discovering alonely spot which possessed the advantages of shade andwater, he fixed his abode for the remainder of his life.There others gathered themselves about him; personswhose curiosity pursued him to the desert, who were in-fected by his example and his lessons; and there heformed them into a regular body, engaged them to live insociety with each other, and prescribed to them fixed rulesfor the direction of their conduct. Thus monks began tobe organized in society by themselves. Hence Anthonyis regarded as the founder of the monastic institution.From Anthony, monkery spread through Egypt, into Asia,and thence into Europe, with so much rapidity that, incomparatively a short space of time monks, lazy t andignorant and superstitious, in a manner filled all Christen-dom; while their residences, viz. monasteries, otherwisecalled convents, cloisters, abbeys, priories, friaries, becameof course correspondingly numerous.

The monastic institution was not confined to the malesex. Females also began about the same time to retirefrom the world, and dedicate themselves to solitude anddevotion. Suc~ females were called nuns, as they have

• "]Jfonk anciently denoted, a person who retired from the world togive himself wholly to God, and to live in solitude and abstinence.The word is derived from the Latin lIlonachus, and that from the GreekfWvaXO!:solitary, of povo; solus, alone." Buck's Theological Dictionary,art. Monk. .

t "The profession of Popish monka.js to leave labour, and all good• exercises, to tire themselves with idleness and belly cheer like epicures.

In Friar's profession is a fairer show of hypocrisy, bnt never a stepnearer to the true imitation of Christ." Fulke's Confutation of the Rhe-misn Testament, Mau. xix. 21.

IRELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRMIENTS. 169

been ever since; and the houses, or apartments whichthey occupied, were callld nunneries, as they still con-tinue to be. The name nun is in Latin nonna, a wordwhich is said to be of Egyptian origin, and to signify avirgin. In becoming nuns, females 'lire required to vowperpetual virginity. The ceremony of the occasion iscalled taking the veil, or making profession of virginity.In the past, females have sometimes been allowed to be-come nuns at a very early age. "Young women are nowallowed to take the veil of virginity at the age of sixteen;that is, they are allowed to dispose of themselves for life,when they are not yet thought capable of disposing ofany thing else; to vow perpetual virginity, when theyscarce understand what they YOW, at least, when they canhave but a very faint idea of' the difficulties of keepin ' itthrough their whole live." (Bower's llistory of thoPopes - Leo the Great, versus finem.) -:Many a youngwoman has repented too late, ever having taken th vowthat placed her for life within the walls of a convent.

"Anciently the monks were all laymen, and were onlydistinguished from the rest of the people by a peculiarhabit, and an extraordinary devotion. Not only themonks were prohibited the priesthood, but even priestswere expressly prohibited from becoming monks, as ap-pears from the letters of St. Gregory. Pope Syricius wasthe first who called them to the clericate, on occasion ofsome great, scarcity of priests that the church was thensupposed to labour under ; and since that time the priest-hood has been usually united to the monastical profession."(Buck's Theological.Dictionary, art. Monk.)

Of the monks there are several orders, or societies, eachorder being regulated according to its own particularrules. Those persons who belong to any of the orders ofmonks. are called requlare. Hence, as the Romish clerg)~are part of them monks, and part of them not, accordinglythey are distinguished into two classes, the repulor andthe secular. The regular cle1'gy consist of those monkswho have taken upon them' holy orders' in their respec-tive monasteries. The secular clergy are those who arenot of any mona tic order, hut who have the care anddirection of parishes. Among the principal orders of themonks are the Dominicans, otherwise called Black-

170 ERRONEOUS SENTIifENTS OF ROJlfAN CATHOLICS

Friars,. Jacobine, Predicants or preaching Friars; theFranciscans, otherwise called Gray-Friars, Minorites,Oordelier»j the Augustines, otherwise called Austin-Friars ; the Oarmelites, otherwise called White-Friare jthe Benedictines, &c. Friar, from the French frere sig-nifying brother, is a term common to all the monks of allorders, whether they are clergymen or laymen: but thosein 'holy orders' are usually dignified with the appellationof .father. There are three vows which all monks are re-

I quired to take, which are those of pove,"ty, chastity, andobedience to the superior of their respective monasteries.The last of all the monkish orders that have arisen wasfounded by a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola by' name,'] whobeing a soldier, gave it the military name of "the (lorn-pany of Jesus," and thence the members of this Societyare called Jesuits. Bred in the court and the camp, Loy-ola "contrived to combine the finesse of the one, and thediscipline of the other, with the sanctity of a religiouscommunity; and proposed that, instead of the lazy routineof monastic life,his followers should actively devote them-selves to the education of youth, the conversion of theheathen, and the suppression of heresy. Such a proposal,backed by a vow of devotion to the Holy See.] com-mended itself to the pope [Paul III.] so highly that, in

.. The terms Black-Friars, Gra.'1-Friars, White-Friars, refer to thecolour of their respective habits.

t " Ignatius Loyola was a native of Spain, and born in 1491. .At firsta soldier of fortune, he was disabled from service by a wound in the legat the siege of Pampeluna, and his brain having become heated by read-ing romances and legendary tales, be took it into his head to becomethe Don Quixote of tbe Virgin, and wage war ag-ainst all heretics andinfidels. By indomitable perseverance he succeeded in establishing thesect calling itself' the Society of Jesus,' This ignorant fanatic, who,in more enlightened times, would have been consigned to a mad-house,was beatified by one pope, and canonized, or put into the list of saints,by another! Jansenius, in his correspondence with St. Cyras, indig-nantly complains of pope Gregory XV. for having canonized Ignatiusand Xavier. (Leydecker, Hist. Jansen. 23.)" Pascal's Provincial Lei-ters, pp. 274, 275, note.

t "To the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, commonto all religious orders, they [the order of the Jesuits) add a fourth, thatif implicit, blind, and-unlimited submission to the pope; and thus are theyat hie absolute disposal; always ready, at a moment's warning, torepair to what part of the world he shall think fit to send them."Bourr'« Histmll ifth. Popes - P. Paul Ill" propp finem.

RELATIVE _TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 171

1540, he cORfinnedthe institution by a bull, granted itample privileges, and appointed Loyola to be its firstgenetal.

"Never was the name of the blessed Jesus more grosslyprostituted than when applied to a Society which is cer-tainly the very opposite, in spirit and character, to Himwho was' meek and lowly,' 'holy, harmless, undefiled, andseparate from sinners.' The Jesuits may be said to haveinvented, for their own peculiar use, an entirely new sys-tem of ethics. In place of the divine law, they prescribed,as the rule of their conduct, a 'blind obedience' to thewill of their superiors, whom they are bound to recognizeas 'standing in the place of God,' and in fulfilling whoseorders they are to have no more will of their own' than :tcorpse, or an old man's staff.' The glory' of God theyidentify with the aggrandizement of their ociety ; nullholding that' the end sanotifie the mans,' they scruplat no means, foul oor fair, which they conceive may ad-vance such an end." The supreme power is vested in thegeneral, who is not responsible to any other authority,civil or ecclesiastical. A system of mutual espionnge, ani]a secret correspondence with head-quarters at Rome, illwhich everything that can, in the remotest degree, affectthe interests of the Society is made known, and bymeans of which the whole machinery of Jesuitism canbe set.in motion at once, or its minutest feelers directedto any object at pleasure, presents the most completesystem of organization in the world. Every memberis sworn, by secret oath, to obey the orders, and all areconfederated in a solemn league to advance the causeof the Society. It has been defined. to be 'a nakedsword, the hilt of which is at Rome.' Such a monstrouscombination could not fail to render itself obnoxious.Constantly aiming at ascendency in the Church, in whichit is an imperium in imperio, the Society has not onlybeen embroiled in perpetual feuds with other orders, buthas repeatedly provoked the thunders of the Vatican.

'" 'Caeca quadam obedieniia. - Ut Christum. Domillum in superiore quo-libet agnoscere studeatis. ~ Perinde ac si cadaver esseni, cal similiter atquespn;., baculus. -.Ad majorem Dei gloriam. [Constit, Jesuit. pars vi. cap.I; Jgnat, Eplst., &".j'

172 ERRONEOUS SENTl,lJENTS OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

Ever intermeddling with the affairs of civil S'~vernments,with allegiance to which, under any form, Its principlesare utterly at variance, it has been expelled in turn fromalmost every European State, as a political nuisance. ButJ esuitism is the very soul of Popery ; both have revivedor declined together; arid accordingly, though the orderwas abolished by Clement XIV. in 1775, it was found ne-cessary to resuscitate it under Pius VII. in 1814; and theSociety was never in greater power, nor more active oper-ation, than it is at the present moment. It boasts of im-mortality, and, in all probability, it will last as long as theChurch Of Rome. It has been termed 'a militia called outto combat the Reformation,' ann exhibiting, as it does tothis day, the same features of ambition, treachery, and in-tolerance, it seems destined to fall only in the ruins of thatChurch of whose unchanging spirit it is the genuine typeand representative." '" (Pascars Prooincial Letters, In-troduction by the translator, pp. xvi.-x 'iii.)

The Jesuits are a very numerous Society. And neverwere any creatures of Rome more busily engaged thanthey are, as dispersed through all the world, in variousemployments, acting with the most consummate addressand cunning and effrontery, sticking at no crimes by whichtheir religion may be advanced, or the interests of theRoman see promoted; and,in all this.faithfully carrying outtheir own chosen principles. FOl',even theprofessed moralprinciples of the Jesuits are, on many important points,very singularly bad/ as is well known to those who areinformed as to 'what their moral principles are. They (theJesuits) "maintain that it is of no 'consequence by what

" motives a person is actuated, provided he in fact performsthe deeds which the law of God requires; and that theman who abstains from criminal actions through fear ofpunishment, is DO less acceptable to God than the man

'" "Balde, whom the Jesuits honour in their schools as a modernHorace, thus celebrates the longevity of the Society, in his Carmen Se-culare de Societate Jesu, 1640:-

'Profuit qulsquis voluit noscere.Cuncta subsident sociis; ubiqueExules vivunt, et ubique cives 1Sternimus victi, supreamus imi,

Surgimus plures toties cadendo.'''


who obeys the divine law through the influence oflove toit." They" assert that no one can be said to sin, unlesshe violates some known law of God, which is present tohis mind, and correctly understood by him; and therefore,that noone can be justly charged with criminality andsin, who is either ignorant of the law, or doubtful as to itsimport, or who does not think of it at the time he trans-gresses. From these principles originated the celebrateddoctrines of probabilism - and of philosophical sin, t whichhave brought so much ill-fame upon the schools of theJesuits." (Mosheim's Ecclesiastical IFistory, cent. xvi.,see. iii., part i., chap. i., § 35.) Accordingly they teachthe following doctrines in particular: "That n bad manwho is au entire stranger to th love f God t provided he

• 'Mornl probabilism is properly the doctrine of tbe Jesuits, thnt noaction is sinful, when there is the slightest probabilit.q thnt it mny belawful; and even wben it lias the approbation of any single, respectableteacher; because it may be supposed that he saw reasons for his opin-ions, though we know not what they were, and can sec so many reasonsfor a contrary opinion.'

Iu other words, '<probabllism is the doctrine, thnt if any opinion inmorals has been held hy any qraue doctor of the Church, it is probablytrue, and may be safely followed in practice." Pascal's Provincial Let-ters, Introduction, p. Ix., note.

t c Philosophical sins in opposition to theological, according to the Jes-uits, are those in which a man at the time of committing them, has notGod and his law before his mind; and therefore, without thinking ofGod, transgresses natural or revealed law.' ~

t On the duty of loving God the following arc their opinions, as re-ported by tbemselves: '" When is one obliged to have an actual af-fection for God ~ Suarez says, it is enougb if one loves bim beforebeing articulo mortis - at the point of death - without determining -theexact time. Vasquez, tbat it is sufficient even at the very point ofdeath. Others, when one has received baptism. Others, again, when oneis bound to exercise contrition. And others, on festival days. But ourfather, Castro Palao, combats all these opinions, and with good reason- merito. Hurtado de Mendoza insists that we arc obliged to love Godonce a-year; and that we ought to regard it as a great favour that weare not bound to do it oftener. But our Father Coninck thinks thatwe arc bound to it only once in three or four years; Henriquez, once infive years; and Filiutius says that it is probable that we are not strictlybound to it even once in the years. lIow often, then, do yon ask ~Why, be refers it to the judgment of the judicious.' -' St. Thomas saysthat we are obliged to 10.0 God as soon as we come to the use of reason:that is rather too soon I Scotus says, every Sunday: pray, for whatreason ~ Others say, when we are sorely tempted: yes, if there be noother way of escaping the temptation. Scotus says, when we have

174 ERRONEOUS SENTIlIfENTS OJ<'ROMAN OATHOLICS

feels some fear of the divine wrath, and from dread ofpunishment avoids grosser crimes, is a fit candidate foreternal salvation: That men may sin with safety, providedthey have aprobable reason for the sin; i. e. some argu-ment or authority in favour of it: * That actions in them- .selveswrong and contrary to the divine law, are allowable,provided a person can control his own mind, and in histhoughts connect a good end with the criminal deed; or asthey express it, knows how to direct his intention right ..t

i'eceived a benefit from God: good, in the way of thanking him for it.Others say, at death: rather late! As little do I think it binding at thereception of any sacrament: attrition in such cases is quite enough,along with confession, if convenient. Suarez says that it is binding atsome time or another; but at what time 1- he leaves you to judge ofthat for yourself- he-does not know; and what that doctor did notknow I know not who should know.' In short, he concludes that weare not strictly bound to more than to keep the other commandments,without any affection for God, and without giving him our hearts,

, provided that we do not hate him." Pascal's Provincial Letters, pp.220,221.* Thus they say, in the words of Layman: "A doctor [of theology],on being consulted, may give an advice, not only probable accordingto his own opinion. but contrary to his opinion, provided this judgmenthappens to be more favourable or more agreeable to the person thatconsults him - si forte haec faoorabilior seu exoptatior sit. Nay, I gofurther, and say, that there would be nothing unreasonable in his givingthose who consult him a judgment held to be probable by some learnedperson, even though he should be satisfied in his own mind that it isabsolutely false." Ibid. p. 129. Again, in the words of Castro Palao :"May a judge, in a question of right and wrong, pronounce accordingto a probable opinion, in preference to the more probable opinion 1 Hemay, even though it should be contrary to his own judgment- imocontra propriam opinionem," Ibid. p. 171.

t For a person to direct his intention right, which, as understood by theJesuits, is the same thing as to have" a good, i. e. some allouiable end;""simply consists in his proposing t~imself, as the end of his actions,8()I1leallowable object:" Ibid. p. 154. Thns, tbey say: "A miJitary man maydemand satisfaction on the spot from the person who has injured himnot, indeed, with the intention of rendering evil for evil, but with thatof preserving his honour -' nOll ut malum pro malo reddat, sed ut con-servet honorem:' Ibid. P: 155. Again:" An incumbent may, withoutany mortal sin, desire the decease of a life-renter ou his benefice, and ason that of his father, and rejoice when it happens; provided always itis for the sake of the profit that is to accrue from the event, and notfrom personal aversion." Ibid. p. J56 . .Again they say: "It is perfect-ly reasonable to hold that a. man may fight l\ duel to save his life, hishonour, or any considerable portion of his property, when it is apparentthat there is a design to deJ.lrivehim of these unjustly, by law-suits andchicanery, and when there IS no other way of preserving them, Navarre

RELATIVE TO THE OHRISTIAN SAORAMENTS. 175

That philosophical sins, that is, actions which are contraryto the law of nature and to right reason, in a person igno-rant of the written law of God or dubious as to its truemeaning, are light offences,and do not deserve the punish-ments of hell: That the deeds a man commits, whenwholly blinded by his lusts and the paroxysms of passion,and when destitute of all sense of religion, though they beof the vilest and most execrable character, can by nomeans be charged to his account in the judgment of God;because sucb a man is like a madman: That it is right fora man, when taking an oath or forming a contract, inorder to deceive the judge and subvert tho validity of thecovenant or oatb, tacitly to add something to the wordsof tho compact or tho oath: and other sentiments of thelike nature.". (Ibid., cent. xvii., sec. ii., part i., 'bap. i.,§ 34.)

Such being the principles and teachings of the Jesuits,what must their moral conduct and character be It But,

justly observes, that in such cases, it is lawful either to accept or tosend a challenge -lice! acceptare ef. offerr~ duellum: The same authoradds, that there is nothing to prevent one from despatching one's adver-sary in a private way. Indeed, in the circumstances referred to, it isadvisable to avoid employing the method of the duel, if it is possible tosettle the affair by privately killing our enemy; for, by this means, weescape at once from exposing 0111' Iife in the combat, and from partici-pating in the sin which our opponent would have committed by fightingthe duel!" Ibid. pp. 158, 159. Again: "Priests and monks may law-fully prevent those who would injure them by calumnies from carryingtheir ill designs into effect, by pntting them to death. Care, however,must be always taken to direct the intention properly." Ibid. p. 166.

* ,One might make up a whole library of books, exposing and censur-ing the corrupt moral principles of the Jesuits. The best work on thesubject, is the very elegant and ingenious production of Blaise Pascal,entitled: Les Provinciales, on Lettres eerites par Louis de Montalto "un Provincial des ses amis, et aux Jesuites, sur la morale et 1" Politiqnede ces peres, 2 tomes 8vo. Peter Nicole, under the fictitious name of Wil-liam JVendrod:, added to it learned and judicious notes, in which hecopiously demonstrates the truth of what Pascal had stated either sum-marily or without giving authorities. It was also trnnslnted intoLatin, by Samuel Rachels. An English translation of the ProvincialLetters, was pnblished in 1828, by .T. Leavitt, New-York, and Crockerand Brewster, Boston, 319 pn"es, 12mo.' The copy of the ProvincialLetters which I have, is -"~ new Translation with historical Intro-duction and Notes, bv the Rev. Thomas JJl'G'rie, Edinbnrgh. New-York: Robert Carter &. Brothers. IS53."

t " 'Jesnitism,' in fact, is another word for sophistry, wicked artifice,and atrocious villainy." Cramp, chap. xiii., circa finem, n. 81.

176 ERRONEOUS SENTTl1IElI'TS OF ROlJUN OATHOLICS

if moral character 'be looked- at, as exhibited practically;not only in the Jesuits but in the other monkish orders itsappearance is dark and unsightly. That the monastic or-ders generally, as they have existed in the past, have beenherds of ignorant, lazy, dishonest, and debauched people,is evinced by an abundance 'of unexceptionable testi-mony. Of their "three vows, of .poverty, chastity, findobedience to the superior, the first two, it is well known,have been systematically and shamelessly broken, in thou-sands of instances. The enormous wealth of the monas-teries, often procured by the most nefarious methods, andthe scandalous lives of their inmates, both male andfemale, have been exposed by all writers on ecclesiasticalhistory." '" (Oramp, chap. xiii., post meir.) Testimony tothe scandalous behaviour of the inmates of the monas-teries comes sometimes even from the inmstcs themselves:'rhus, "the declarations of the nuns testified that in theconvents of Sainte Lurie, and of Catharine of Pistoia, theDominican nuns received their confessorsinto the interior,and abandoned themselves to those monks, and even onthe steps 'of the altar, practised the most unbridled licen-tiousness. Other nuns avowed that the spite and jealousy,through the inconstancy of the monks, kindled amongthem the most serious c"ollisions;that they quarrelled forthe embrace of the provincial and the prior; that they df>-prived themselves of their money ana other property tosupply their confessors; that many of the Dominicanpriests had five or six mistresses, who formed a species ofseraglio; that at each promotion of a provincial in themonastery, the newly elected monk hastened to the con-vent to choose a favorite; that he .would then arrange intwo files all the nuns, entirely naked; that he examinedthem from head to foot, and finished his inspection byplacing his hat upon the head of the nun which seemedto him the most beautiful, and whom he instantly took ashis mistress. Scipio Ricci also discovered that thoseabominations were not the only disorders to which theDominicans were given up; he learned the certainty thatthe nuns engaged in more horrible saturnalia among them-

• " See Dr. Geddes' , View of all the Orders of Monks and Fri8J'i inthe Roman Church: in the thi -<1 volume of his' Tracts.'''

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SACRA,lIE A-TS. 177

selves, and that they professed the most wicked and irre-ligious libertinis!l1."· (Boioer:« History of the Popes-'Pius VI. Vol. iii., p. 398.)

Such is monasticism. "If it be said that these areabuses, it may be justly replied, that they are inseparablefrom the system. For it is beyond the power of any in-stitution entirely to extinguish the propensities of ournature, or to preserve purity in a mode of living which isaltogether at variance with the principles and precepts ofthe word of God." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery,chap. xiii., p. 326.)

Fifthly. On all clergymen, that is, all persons in thegreater or 'holy orders,' in the Roman Catholic hierarchy,perpetual celibacy is enjoined; in other words, the!! areforbidden ever to marry. "Whoever" ( ay til y) "RhaJlaffirm, thett persons in !loly orders, or regulars, who havemade a solemn profession of chastity, rna!! ciJntl'act mar-riaqe, and that the contract is valid, notwithstanding :1Oyecclesiastical law or vow; and that to maintain the con-trary is nothing less than to condemn marriage; and thatall persons may marry who feel that thongh they shouldmake a vow of chastity, they have not the gift thereof;

_LET rmr BE ACCURSED-for God does not deny his giftsto those who ask aright, neither does he suffer us to be

• "The prioress of the convent of St. Catharine of Pistole says:, With the exception of three or fonr religions persons, all the monks,now dead or alive; whom I have ever known, were of the same eharac-tel'. They all made the same professions and adopted the same conduct.They live with the nuns on more familiar terms than married peoplelive togethcr" For endeavouring to pnt a stop to these disorders, Ricciwas stigmatized by Pope Pins VI. as a "fanat ic, a liar, a calumniator,seditious, and a usurper of other men's rights! ' Life of Ricci, Bishopof Pistole and Prato." Cramp's Ten-Book 0/ Popery, ehap. xiii., n.76.

"In 1783, Baron Born, a nobleman of Hungary, and an eminentliterary and scientific character, pnblished a work entitled' Monachologia,'a severe satire on the monks. They arc thus dcscribed-

, MONK. Description. An animal greedy, filthy, impure, unprofit-able, slothful, more .inclined to cndure hunger than toil. They live byrapine and gllin; they think that the world was created for their usealone; they indulge in secret intercourse with women; they do not cele-brate the rite of marriage; they 'expose their offspring : the¥ treat theirown species with cruelty and deceitfully ensnare their enemies. Use-An unprofitable hurthen to the earth, created to devour the fruits there-of.' Townson's Travels in Hnngary, p. 420." Thill

12

178 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN C-ATHOLICS

tempted above that we are able." (Decrees and Canonsof the Council of Trent, sess. xxiv., can. 9.)

Surely no other than they who enacted it, in otherwords papal Rome, could be capable of such a canon asthis. "Forbidding to marry." 1 Tim. iv. 3. How mani-fest it is to whom this Scripture applies !" In forbiddingto marry, in all the extent to which she does forbid it,Rome forbids the use of a divine institution; a divine in-stitution designed for the use of all mankind, as it is writ-teu -" Therefore shall a man leave his father and hismother, and shall cleave unto his wife." Gen. ii. 24.Again; "Marriage is honourable in all." Heb. xiii. 4. Ofcourse then it cannot be otherwise tban honourable inclergymen. Accordingly we read, that" a bishop must bethe husband of one wife." 1 Tim. iii. 2. Some haveinferred from this text that all pastors should be married"men: and the inference mnst be admitted, or else mostevidently the meaning of the passage must be, that a pas-tor or minister of .the gospel must have only one wife atthe same time j plainly implying that it is proper for himto have one wife. And this is "abundantly sufficient toprove, that marriage is entirely consistent with the mostsacred fnnctions, and the most exemplary holiness; and tosubvert the very basis of the antichristian prohibition ofmarriage to the clergy, with all its concurrent, and conse-quent, and incalculable mischiefs." (Dr. Scou:« Explana-tory Notes, in loc.). The celibacy of the clergy, "a burden too heavy for

most of them to bear, as experience has shown, was firstmoved in the council of Elvira, held about the year- 300,according to the most probable opinion; and, being warmlypromoted by the celebrated Osius of Cordoua, and Felixof Acci, now Guadix in Andalusia, who presided at thatassembly, it passed into a law; and all bishops, presbyters,deacons, and sub-deacons, were commanded on pain ofcleposition, 'to abstain from wives, and the begetting ofchildren.' These are the very words of the 33d canon

.', Iarriage has been forbidden,. while the pardon of fornication,adultery, and incest, has been rated at a certain price by that grandmerchant of the souls of men, who hath ventured to call himself thevicar of Christ upon earth." Dr. Doddridge'. Family Expositor, in loc.,Improvement.

RELATIVE TO THE CHRISTIAN SAORA1.IENTS. 179

of that council. That, till this time, the clergy wereallowed to marry, even in Spain, is manifest from the 65thcanon of the same council, excluding from the communionof the church, even at the point of death, such ecclesias-tics, as, knowing their wives to be guilty of adultery,should not, upon the first notice of their crime, immedi-ately turn them out of doors. How long the 33d canoncontinued in vigor, is uncertain; nay, it may be questionedwhether it ever took place: if ever it did, it was out ofdate, or at least not generally observed by the Spanishclergy, in the time of [popeJ Syricius, as evidently appearsfrom the words of his letter, or answer to Himerius ofTarragon: I said, by the Spanish clergy; for no sucb in-junction had yet been laid on the ecclesiastics of anyother country or nation. Abont fifteen years after, washeld the council of Aneyra, in which it was 1 ree 1, that'if any (lcacon did not declare at hi ordinati 11,till t hedesigned to marry, he ought not -to be all W -<1 to m rryafter; but might, if he made such a declaration, because,in that case, the bishop tacitly consented to it.' Thecouncil of Neocaesarea, which assembled soon after thatof Ancyra, and consisted, in great part, of the samebishops, commanded 'such presbyters as married aftertheir ordination to be degraded.' In the year 325, washeld the council of Nice; and, in that great assembly, itwas moved, perhaps by Osius, who acted a chief partthere, that bishops, presbyters, deacons, and sub-deacons,should be debarred from all commerce with the wivesthey had married before their ordination. But this motionwas warmly opposed by Paphnutius, who had himselfever leu a chaste and single life, and was one of the mosteminent and illustrious prelates, at that time, in thechurch. He represented, that the 'burden they proposedlaying on the clergy, was too heavy; that few had sufficient'strength to bear it; that women, thus abandoned by theirhusbands, would be exposed to great dangers; that mar-riage was no pollution, but, according to St. Paul, com-mendable; that those, therefore, who were not married,when first admitted to the sacerdotal functions, shouldcontinue in that state; and such as were, should continueto live with their wives. Thus Sozomen, Socrates, andSuidas, - The advice of Pnphnutius was applauded hy

180 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATHOJ.ICS

the whole assembly, and the above-mentioned historians,and the point in dispute was left undecided. In the year340, it was decreed, in the council of Arles, that no man,encumbered with a wife, should be admitted to holyorders, unless he promised, with his wife's approbation andconsent, to abstain for ever from the conjugal duty.-This is all I can find in the ancient records concerningthe continence or' celibacy of the clergy, before the timeof Syricius. And hence it is manifest, that both Crieh-tonaeus and Melancthon were greatly mistaken; theformer in affirming,which many have done after him, thatcelibacy was first imposed upon the clergy by Syricius;and the latter by confidently asserting, that celibacy wasnot required of the ministers of the gospel by any council,but by the. popes, in opposition to all councils and synods.It must be ownell, however, that this law was ~ot so gen-orally observed before the time of Syricius, as it was after.For it was not long after his time before it became anestablished point of discipline in most of the westernchurches, not in virtue of his letter, or of those which hissuccessor wrote to the same purpose, but because it wasenjoined by the synods of each particular nation. Thusit was established in Africa by the council of Carthage in390, in Gaul by one held at Orleans, by two at Tours, andone at Agde; in' Spain, by three held at Toledo ; in Ger-many, by the councils of Aquisgranum, or Aix In Chapelle,of Worms, and of Mentz. We know of none in Britain;and that it did not even begin to take place here till thearrival of Austin, in the sixth century, may be sufficientlyproved from the letters of that monk to Gregory, andGregory's answer to him."

* The celibacy of tho clergy was introduced, in the different countries,against no small opposition to so unreasonable a thing .. Rome suc-ceeded, but not without great difficulty, It was a long protracted strug-glo. " It was a struggle against the natural rights and strongest affec-tions of mankind, which lasted for several ages, and succeeded only bythe toleration of greater evils than those it was intended to remove.The laity in g-eneral, took pact ag-ainst the married priests, who wereredueed to infamy and want, or obliged to renounce their connexions.In many purrs of Germany, no ministers were left to perform divineervices. But perhaps there was no country where tho rules of celibacv

met with so little attention as in England. It was acknowledged in thereign of Henry I. thnt the groater and better part of the clergy were


" As to the present practice and doctrine of the churchof Rome, with respect to this.tin their opinion, most es-sential point of ecclesiastical discipline,no man is allowed,after his ordination, to marry, or to cohabit with the wifehe bad married before: nay, in order to prevent all pos-sible means even of any clandestine commerce betweenthem, the woman must, by a solemn vow of chastity, re-nounce all claims on her husband, and retiring into a mon-astery, bind herself by a second vow to continue there,without ever once going out, on any pretence whatsoever,so long as her husband lives, who cannot be admitted somuch as to the rank of a subdeacon, till she is secured bythese two vows. Such is the present practice of thechurch of Rome, though subdeacons wore allowed to mar.rllong after the tim of yricius, who, in hi lett r, m n-trons only deacons and presbyters, and do not evenoblige them to part with their wives, but only excludesthem from rising to a higher degree in the church. PopeLeo the Great, chosen iii 440, was the first who extendedthe law of celibacy to the subdeacons, eommanding them,in a letter, which he wrote about the year 442, to Rustieusbishop of Narbonne, to abstain, as well as the deacons,presbyters, and bishops, from all commerce with theirwives. But this law was observed by very few churches.In-the time of pope Gregory the Great, that is, in the lat-ter end of the sixth centnry, it had bot yet taken place,even in Sicily, thongh reckoned among the suburbicarianprovinces; it ~as first introduced into that island by him;but he allowed those to cohabit with their wives, who hadbeen ordained without a previous promise to live conti-nent, though he would not suffer them to be raised to ahigher degree without such a promise." Bellarmine, and

married; and that prince is said to havc permitted them to retain theirwives. TInt the hicrarchv never relaxed in their cfforts; and all thecouncils, g·cneral or provincial, of the twelfth century, utter dennncia-tions against ~oncZlbillaJ:11 priests, After that age we do not find them sofrequently mentioned; and tbe abuse by degrees, though not suppres ed,was reduced within limits at which the church might connive. Hallam,ii. p. 249 -252." Cramp's Tea-Book of Poperf, chap. xiii., n. iO.

• " As to those eeclesiastics, who. at the time of their ordination. hadpromised to Iive chaste, Gregory exacted of them the performance oftheir promise, with the utmost severity. His own clergy he obliged tobanish all women from their houses, excepting their mothers. their sis-

182 ERRONEOUS SENTIJJlEN7'S OF ROMAN CATHOLICS

the other divines of the church of Rome, to soften theodium, which the hard, and commonly impracticablecommand she lays on her clergy, must reflect on her, re-present continency as a virtue to be easily acquired.Their 'ascetics seem better acquainted with the difficultiesand struggles attending the practice of that virtue, thantheir divines; for they prescribe, as the sole means of at-taining it, constant prayer, frequent fasting, maceratingthe rebelling flesh with all kinds of austerities, and princi-pally the avoiding of all' female company. .And, if thesebe the sole .means of attaining it, I leave the reader tojudge how few of their clergy do attain it." (]Jower's..History of the Popes - P. Syricius.)

That this law of the celibacy of the clergy is a bad one,is very manifest by its consequences. "It ~very law orinstitution is to be judged good or evil, according to thegood and evil attending them, it is by daily experiencebut too manifest, that the forced celibacy of the clergyought to be deemed of all institutions the very worst.

ters, and the wives they had married before their ordination, chargingthem to govern their wives chastely, and to converse with them so as toleave no room for the least suspicion of any matrimonial commercebetween them, 'ut nulla proxsus suspicio esse possit mutuae commix-tionis.''' (Bower's History of the Popes -Gregory the Great. Vol. i., p.398.) But for men to live with their wives strictly after this manner,was found to be not so easy a thing. " St. Bernard, a saint of the firstrate in the Romish calendar, thought it more impossible (if that canbe), for a man to cohabit thus with any woman, than to raise up thed~: •

, Cum foemina semper habitare,Et cum focmina nunquam peceare,Majus est quam mortuos resuscitare,'

is a famous saying of his. Of that truth the patrons of celibacy werewell apprised long before Bernard's time; and the clergy were, on thatconsideration, forbidden to cohabit, ox even converse, with their wives,or with any other woman whatever, except their mothers, their ownsisters, or the sisters of their fathers ox their mothers; and to them toothe prohibition was extended in some countries, several ecclesiasticshaving been found guilty of incest with their own sisters, as was de-clared by the two councils of Metz and Mentz, both assembled in theyear 888, to check the unbridled lust of the unmarried clergy. By tbesecouncils the prohibition was extended to aJI women whatever; andRiculfns of Spissons not satisfied with confirming their canons, in thefamous constitutions, which he published the next year, declared it un-lawful for a clergyman to converse in private with any woman, or evento speak to a woman without a witness." tu«, note.

I1ELATirE TO THE CHRiSTiAN SACRAMENTS. 183

Indeed all sensible men of that church know and lamentthe innumerable evils which the celibacy of her clergy oc-oasions, and must always occasion, in spite of all remediesthat can be applied to it. But she finds one advantage init, which, in her eyes, makes more than sufficient amendsfor all those evils, namely, her engrossing by that meansto herself all the thoughts and attention of her clergy,which, w.ere they allowed to marry, would be divided be-tween her and their families, and each of them wouldhave a separate interest from that of the church. Severalcustoms and practices, once warmly espoused by- thatchurch, have, in process of time, been abrogated, and quitelaid aside, on account of the inconveniences attendingthem; and this, which long experience has shown to beattended with more pernicious con equences than anyother, had, but for that political view, been likewise abol-ished." (Ibid.) But what church, except that of "themother of harlots," would be willing to possess. such anadvantage as this, on such terms? to engross to herself allthe thoughts and attention of her clergy, by requiring theircelibacy, in opposition to the arrangements of divineprovidence, when the known consequences of such celiba-C'.Y are inuulgence in unlawful commerce with women, andall the gross indecencies and crimes and miseries there-with connected, in the gratification of unbridled lust-couscquenoes which must continue, so long as it remainsimpossible to destroy the natural affections of the humanheart ? As to what they say in the canon, that" God doesnot deny his gifts to those who ask aright, nor suffer usto be tempted above that we are able," it is impertinent;for, Gorl having provided, in the institution of marriage,an easy and sure remedy against all temptations arisingout of the desires naturally existing between the sexes,cannot reasonably be expected to furnish any extraordina-ry assistance or gifts to those who neglect this divineremedy for a way of their own choosing. '" If they cannotcontain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than toburn:' says the apostle St. Paul (1 Cor. vii. 9). But no,says the church of Rome, excepting her clergy from thatgeneral command, if they cannot contain, let them fast,let them watch, let them COVt'l' their bodie with hair-cloths, let them Whip themselves, let them, with St. Bene-

184 .;,;RRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CATlIOLl(','I

diet, roll themselves naked upon thorns ;" or, with St.Francis, in the snow; t and if nature still remains unsub-dued, if the inbred fire continues still unextinguished andalive, let them burn; 'for it is better to burn than to mar-ry.' This, in effect, is the doctrine of the church ofRome, though she, to palliate and disguise it, pretendseontinency to be attainable by all men; and consequently,that there is a 'medium' betwcen marriage and burning.But that continency is not attainable by all men, andconsequently that, in some, there is no medium betweenmarriage and burning, is evident, beyond contradiction,from the words of the apostle, quoted above, and fromwhat he says in the preceding verse: 'For I would thatall men were even as myself;' that is, continent. ' Butevery man hath his proper gift of God; t one after this

• " Benedict, in his distress, had recourse to a pointed remedy. Thissaint was born of a noble family. He was educated at Rome, and de-voted himself wholly to religion or rather to superstition. He lived threeyears in a deep cave; and, in his retreat, wrought many miracles. 'Heknocked the Devil out of one monk with a blow of his fist, and out ofanother with the lash of a whip.' But Satan, actuated by malice andenvious of human happiness, appeared to Benedict in the form of ablackbird, and renewed, in his heart, the image of a woman whom hehad seen at Rome. The Devil, in this manner, rekindled the torch ofpassion, and. excited such a conflagration in the flesh, that the saintnearly yielded to the temptation. But he soon, according to Mabillonand the Roman breviary, discovered a remedy. Having-undressed him-self, ' he rolled his naked body on nettles and thorns, till the laceratedcarcass, through pain, lost all sense of pleasure.' The father of the Be-nedictines, it appear" had his own difficulty in attempting to allay theferment of the flesh." Dr. Edqar's Variation,. of Poperf, chap. xviii.

t " The Seraphic Francis, who flourished in the thirteenth century,was the father of the Franciscans. The saint, though devoted to chas-tity and brimful of the spirit, was, it seems, sometimes troubled with themovements of the flesh. An enemy that wrought within was difficult tokeep in subjection. His saintship, however, on these occasions, adoptedan effectual way of cooling the internal flame, and allaying the carnalconflict, He stood, in winter, to the neck in a pit full of icy water. Oneday, being attacked in an extraordinary manner by the demon of sensu-nlity, he stripped naked, and belaboured his unfortunate back with adisciplinarian whip: and then leaving his cell, he buried his body, naked,u; it was, in a deep wreath of snow, The cold bath, the knotted thong,and the snowy bed were necessary for discharging the superabundantcalonc of hi. salnrship's constitution.

t " Continence is a state that cannot be acquired by human art or in-dustry; a man has it from God, or not at all' and if he have it fromGod, he has it from him .\S the author of his nature ; for wh re it docs

RELATIVE TO THE CHRiSTIAN SACTlAJfENTS. 185

manner, and another after that,' &c. (Ibid. v. 7.) Thesame doctrine was taught, in express terms, by our Sa-viour himself, when, to the apostle's saying, 'If the OIIseof the man be so with his wife, it is not good to mar-ry,' he answered, 'all men cannot receive tMs saying [viz.that it is not good to marry], save they to whom it isgiven;' and' he that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'Matt. xix. 11, 12." (Bower - Gregory the Great," vol.i., p. 398, note.) But the Romish clergy are obliged toreceive it, whether able or not. To them there is no al-ternative in this matter; it being an absolute law withthem, "not to marry," whatever may be their constitu-tional temperament, or the stroncth of their natural affec-tions anrl inclination. Miserable men I That some of themare chaste and continent is admitted ; but how numerousthe instances are of a different character, it is lamentableto reflect. "I cannot" - snys one who had experience inthese matters - ".{ cannot think of the wanderings of thefriends of my youth without heart-rending pain. One, nowno more, whose talents raised him to one of the highest dig-nities of the church of Spain, was for many years a modelof Christian purity. When, by the powerful influence ofhis mind and the warmth of his devotion, this man haddrawn many into the clerical, and the religious life (my.YOllllgest sister among the latter) he sunk at once into thegrossest and most daring profligacy. I heard him boastthat the night before the solemn procession of OorpusOl~risti, where he appeared nearly at the head of hischapter, one of two children had been born, which his twoconcubines brought to light within a few clays of eachother," Such, more or less, has been the fate of my earlyfriends, whose minds and hearts were much above thecommon standard of the Spanish clergy. What then,

not exist naturallu, it never can exist, bnt either by miraculous interfer-ence, whish shonld never be expected, or by chintr!Jicat operation, which

. is a shocking abomination in the sight of God!' Clark,'s Commentary,in loco

• '" It were to be wished,' says Alvarns Pelaglus, bishop of Silva inPortugal, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, 'that tho clergyhad never vowed chastity, especially the clergy of Spain, where the sonsof the laity are not much mora numerous than the sons of tho clergy! _(Alvar. ~e planctu Ece~~s. J. ii. art. 27.)" Bower's History 0lthe Papa- P. Ntcholas. (Vol. 11., p. 259, note.}

186 ERRONEOUS SENTIMENTS OF ROMAN CAf'HOLICS

need I say of the vulgar crowd of priests, who, coming,as the Spanish phrase has it, from coarse swaddling clothes,and raised by ordination to a rank of life for which theyhave not been prepared, mingle vice and superstition,grossness of feeling and pride of officein their character?I have known the best among them; I have heard theirconfessions j.I have heard the confessions of young personsof both sexes, who fell under the influence of their sug-gestions and example; and I do declare that nothing canbe more dangerous to youthful virtue than their company.I have seen the most promising men of my university ob-tain country vicarages, with characters unimpeached, andhearts overflowing with hopes of usefulness. A virtuouswife would have confirmed and strengthened their pur-poses; but they were to live a life of angels in celibacy.-They were, however, men, and their duties connectedthem with beings of no higher description. Young womenknelt before them in all the intimacy and openness of con-fession. A solitary bome made them go abroad in searcbof social converse. Love, long resisted, seized them, atlength like madness. Two I knew who died insane;hundreds might be found who avoid that fate 'by a life ofsettled systematic vice.' Rev. Blanco White's Practicaland Inte'rnal Evidence against. Catholicism, p. 132-138."(Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap, xiii., n. 71.)

Such are the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholicchurch. What a prodigious accumulation o.f erroneousdoctrines, mixed 'up with sinful practices I What a com-plete system of.formalism I "Having a .form o.fgodliness,but denying the power thereof: .from such turn away."2 Tim. iii. 5. " But in vain do they worship me, teaching.for doctrines the commandments of men." ~fatt. xv. 9."Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever ~.man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that sowethto his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he thatsoweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlast-ing." Gal. vi. 7, 8.

DISCOURSE IV.

THE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

2 TRESS. Ii. 1-12: "Now we bessecb yon, brethren, by the coming of our LordJesns Christ, and by our gathering together nnto him, that ye be not soonshaken In mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letteras from us, as that the day of Cbrtst Is at hand. Let no mnn deceive youby nnl means: for that day shall not come, exeept there come a fallingaway /lrst, nnd that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above nil that Is called God, Or that I wor-shipped; so thnt he, a God, sltt th in til temple of od, sbowing hlmB Ifthar he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, ( toldyou these things 9 And now ye know what wlthholrleth, thnt he ml~ht berevealed in his time. For the mystery of IniquiLy doth alrendy work: onlyhe who now letteth Will let, until he be taken out of the way. And th nshotl that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord &ball consume with thespirit of his mouth, lind shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:even him whose coming Is after the working of Satan, with nil power andsigns and lying wonders, and with all decelvableness of unrtgbteousneaain them tlia. perish; because they received not the love or the truth, thatthey might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delu-sion, that tbey should belfeve aile; that tliey all might be dnmned who be-lieved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

THE subject now before us is, the idolatrous worship ofthe Roman Oatholics.

I propose to show, that the worship of the RomanOatholics is idolatrous. By the word idolatrous, as ap-plied to the Roman Catholic worship, I mean that it par-takes of the nature of idolatry j understanding by idol-atry the worship of any thing which is not the true God.In support of the proposition, I observe,

First, That the Roman Catholics worship the Pope ofRome. The pope of Rome is elected by the cardinals :»

• "The cardinals have for several ages been the sole electors of thepope. These are seventy in number, when the sacred college, as it iscalled, is complete. Of these, six'are cardinal bishops of the six subur-bicarian churches; fifty are cardinal priests, who have all titles fromparish churches in Rome; and fourteen are cardinal deacons, who havetheir titles from churches in Rome of less note, called diaconias, or dea-conries. These cardinals arc created by the pope when there happen to

187

188 TRE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP

of' whom two thirds of' the number that are present in thecity of Rome when a new pope is to be elected, meetingin conclave, must vote for the same person, in order to aneffectual choice. When a new pope is chosen, straightwayhe is "invested with the, pontifical garments; which cop-sist in white hose, shoes of red velvet, the uppers of'whichare decorated with a cross embroidered in gold; cassock,white tabby, like mohair; girdle garnished with goldentassels; lawn sleeves, pallium, stole, and white cap. _Thusa puppet becomes a pope, 8}wwinU himself that he isGod." (Bower's History of. the Popes - Leo XIL)Crowning and adoration quickly follow, and the formalannouncement to t1leworld of the man's election, togetherwith the assumed name by which he intends to be knownas pope. He is conducted to an altar, is seated thereupon,and all the cardinals come and kiss his feet, which cere-mony they call" adoration." "Like other idolaters theymake their idol, and then worship him: and an ancientmedal, struck on that occasion, has this motto, '2uemcreant, adorant, 'whom they create, they adore!' " (Dr.Scott's .Explanatory Notes, Rev. xiii, 13-17.)

The manner in which the. pope is ordinarily received atRome, when he shows himself to the multitude after per-forming divine service in St. Peter's, is by an elegantwriter, himself a zealous Roman Catholic, thus described:" 'The immense area and colonnade before the church arelined with troops, and crowded with thousands of spec-

be vacancies, and sometimesghe names one or two only at a time; butcommonly he defers the promotion until there he ten or twelve vacancies.or more. Their distinctive dress is scarlet, to signify that they oughtto be ready to shed their blood for the faith and church, when the de-fence and honour of either require if. They wear a scarlet cap and hat:the cap is goiven to them by the pope if they are at Rome, and is sent tothem if they are absent; bnt the hat is never given but by the pope'sown hand. These cardinals form the pope's standing council, or COIl-

sistory, for the management of the public affairs of church and state.They are divided into different congregations for the more easy despatchof business; and some of them have the principal offices in the pontificalconrt; as that of cardinal vicar, penitentiary, chancellor, chamberlain,prefect of the signature of justice, prefect of memorials, and secretarvof state. They have the title given thcm of enzinl'7lce and most eminent."Bw·k's Tlteo{o!/iM.LDirtiOIla!".'!> art. Pope. Sec also Bower, in vita Ste-phani TIL [vol. ii, pp. 11 ,119, /loie.) Also Mosheim, cent. xvi., sec. iii.,part i., chnp. i. § 1.

OF THE ROM.AN C.ATHOLICS. 189tators. All eyes are fixed on the gallery [in the front ofthe church]; the chant of the choir is heard at a distance;the blaze of numberless torches plays round the columns;and the pontiff appears, elevated on his chair of state,under the middle arch. Instantly the whole multitude be-low fallon their faces; the cannons of St. Angelo give ageneral discharge, while rising slowly from his throne, helifts his hands to heaven, stretches forth his arm, andthrice gives his benediction, to the crowd, to the city, andto all mankind: a solemn pause follows,another dischargeis heard, the crowd rises, and the pomp gradually disap-pears.' (Eustace's Clas ical Tour, ii. 167-171.) When-ever the pontiff appears in public, all kneel in his sight;anti in private, there are' greater appearan e of splendourin the approach to his person thau in an introduction toany other sovereign.'''· (Oramp's Tea-Book of Popery,chap. xii.,prope finem.)

Every body has heard of the senile ceremony of kiss-ing the pope's foot, when one approaches his person.The practice of kissing the pope's foot "was introduced

• The pope is a person of pomp and parade and show. This wasremarked of him 3S long ago as the pontificate of IJope Damasus, whowas elected A.. D. 366. "The heathen [Ammianns] Marcelllnus, aftertelling us, that Damasus and Ursinus aspired with equal ambition tothe episcopal chair, adds tbis famous remark, which I shall set down inhis own words: 'I must own,' says he, 'that when I reflect on thepomp attending that dign[ty, I do not at 'all wonder, that those, whoare fond of show and parade, should scold, quarrel, fight, and strainevery nerve to attain it; since they are sure, if they succeed, to be en-riched with the offerings of the Iadies ; to appear no more abroad onfoot, but in stately chariots, and gorgcously attired; to keep costly andsumptuous tables; nay, and to surpass the emperors themselves in thesplendor and magnificence of their entertainments. But how happywould they be, if, despising the' grandeur of the city, which they allegeto excuse their luxury, they followed the example of some bishops inthe provinces, who, 'by the temperance and frugality of their diet, thepoverty and plainness of their dress, the modesty of their looks fixed onthe ground, the purity of their !i1'CS, and the regularity of their wholeconduct, approve themselves to the cternal.A.God,and all his true WOI'-

shippers!' Thus Ammianus. And thnt rramasu~wns fond of all thatpomp, grandeur, and parade, that hc lcd such a voluptuous life, as Am-mianus here so justly censures and condemns in the bishops of Rome,is Dot to 4c doubted, since Practextatus, 11 man of the first quality,honoured with the greatest employments of the empire, and zealouslyatta: hed r» paganism. in conversing familiarly with him, u ed pleasantlyto say, ' make me bishop of Rome.and I'll immediately tum Christian.' ..E" cer'» 111<fo".~ of tht Pop-« - P. IJmll(7~·I.<.,"11110]Jost initium.

190 THE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP

pretty early, and Anastnsius tells us, that the clergy ofRome having in 827 elected Valentine, the Uoman senateand the people declared their approbation and consent bysaluting the new pope, and kissing his feet, according tocustom. He repeats the same thing in speaking of theelection of Leo IV., chosen in 847. At what time thisceremony was first introduced is quite uncertain; but cer-tain it is, that it was yet practised' only on occasion of theelection of a new pop~, and by the Romans only, whoelected him; the popes not being arrived, till some agesafter, to such a height of pride and presumption' as to re-quire all, who approached them, excepting crowned heads, ,and cardinals, whom they equal to crowned heads, to falldown at their .feet, and kiss them. (Bower's History ofthe Popes-Pope Conon.)-"Ofall the sovereign pon-tiffs of Pagan Rome, it is very remarkable that Caligulawas the first who ever offeredhis foot to be kissed by anywho approached him: which raised a general indignationthrough the city, to see themselves reduced to suffer sogreat an indignity. Those who endeavoured to excuse itsaid, that it was not done out of insolence, but vanity;and for the sake of showing his golden slipper, set withjewels. Seneca declaims upon it, in his usual manner, asthe last affront to liberty; and the introduction of a Per-sian slavery into the manners of Rome. Yet this servileact, unworthy either to be imposed or complied with byman, is now the standing ceremonial of Christian Rome,and a necessary condition of)lccess to the reigning popes,though derived from no better origin, than the franticpride of a brutal Pagan tyrartt," (Dr. Middleton's Letterfioom Rome, p. 104. Edit. New-York, 1847.) .

As a matter of course, such an one as the pope of Romeis not wanting in titles, lofty and blasphemous as his pre-tensions, such as, 'His Holiness;' 'Holy Father;', Most holy Father;' ,Universal Bishop;' , Sovereignof kings and kingdoms;' 'Christ's vicegerent on earth'(Scott's Notes, Rev. xiii. 5); "Dominus Deus noster Papa

·-Our Lord God the rpope j " Alter Deus in terra-An-

•. " Some have denied that he is a man, as the See of Peter is sub-jed unto him." Dr. Fulke's COII!Ullllin>! of the Rhelllish Testament, Eph.i.22.

"The name and the works of God have been appropriated to the

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 191

other God upon earth; Rex regum, dominus domi!!:orum-King of kings, and lord of lords" (Bp. Newton's Dis-sertations on the Prophecies, Diss. xxii.); "Our most holylord" (Bower's History of the Popes-Po Leo II~.,subinit.); "Vice-god upon Earth, the Monarch of Christen-dom, and the Supporter of Papal Omnipotence" (Ibid. P,Paul V.}. Perfectly.in keeping with such blasphemoustitles as these, are their equally blasphemous affirmations,such as the following. " Idem est dominium ~i et papae- The same is the dominion of God and the pope, Pa-pae potestas est major omni potestate creata, extenditquese ad coelestia, terrestria, et infernalia - The power ofthe pope i greater than all created power, and' extendsitself to thin~fl eel stial, terrestrial, and infernal. Papafacie quiclJuid libet, etiam ilUcita, et est plus quam Deus- The pop doeth what oev r he Iisteth, v n thing un-lawful, and is more than God,"· (Bp. Newton's Dis er-

pope, by theologians, cunonists, popes, and councils. Gratian, Pithou,Durand, Jacobatius, Musso, Gibert, Gregory, Nicholas, Innqcent, thecanon law, and the Lateran councll have complimented his holinesswith the name of deity, or bestowed on him the vicegerency of heaven.Pithou, Gibert, Durand, Jacobatius, Musso, and Gratian, on theauthority of the canon law, style the pontiff the Almighty's vicegerent,, who occupies the place, not of a mere man, but of the true God.'According to Gregory the Second, 'The whole Western Nations reck-oned Peter a terrestrial God,' and the Roman pontiff, of course, sue-ceeds to the title and the estate'. This blasphemy, Gratian copied intothe canon law. 'The emperor Constantine,' says Nicholas the First,'conferred the appellation of God on the pope, who, therefore, beingGod, cannot he judged by man.' According to Innocent the Third,'the pope holds the place of the true God.' The canon law, in thegloss, denominates the Roman hierarch, ' our Lord God.' The canon-ists, in general, reckon the pope the one God, who hath all 'power, hu-man and divine, in heaven and in earth. .Marcellus in the Laterancouncil and with its full approbation, called Julius, 'God on earth.'This was the act of !I. general council, and, therefore, in the popish ac-count, is the decision of infallibility." Edgar's Variations of Popery,chap. iv., sub init. .

• "Such blasphemies are not only allowed, but are even approved,encouraged, rewarded in the writers of the church of Rome; and theyarc not only the extruvagunces of private writers, but are the Ianguageeven of public decretals and acts of councils. So that the pope is evi-dently the God upon earth: at least there is no one like him, who exalt-elh himself aboce e/Jer!!God; no one like him, who sitteth as God in thetemp!« of God, sho/l)ing llims"'f that he is God." Bp. Newton's Disserta-tio.i« on the Prophc-irs, Diss. xxii.

192 'IHE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP

tations on the Prophecies, Diss. xxii.) "Infallible, superiorto councils,Papa Deus, qui poteet omnia, extra jus, suprajus, contra jllS."" (Shoberl's Persecutions of Popery,vol. ii., p. 3~8.)

Secondly. The Roman Catholics worship the sacramentof the Eucharist. Thus, after declaring the dogma oftransubstantiation, (de cultu et veneration", huic sanctis-simo Sacrimento exhibenda) they say: "There is, there-fore, no robm to doubt, that all the faithful in Christ arebound to venerate this most holy sacrament, and to reu-del' thereto the w01'ship of LA-TRIA, WHICH IS DUE TO THETRUE GOD(latriae cultum, qui nero Deo debetu1")accord-

• ing to the custom always observed in the Catholic church.Neither is it to be less adored, because it was institutedby Christ the Lord, as has been stated; for we believehim who is present therein to be the same God of whomthe Eternal Father said, when he brought him into theworld, 'And let all the angels or God adore him' (Heb.i.~);before whom the Magi prostrated themselves, ador-ing; and whom, as scripture testifies, the apostles worship-ed in Galilee." (Decrees and Canons of the Council ofTrent, sess. xiii., chap v.) "Whoever" (say they) "shallaffirm, that Christ the only begotten Son of God, is notto be adored in the holy eucharist with the external signsof that worship which is due to God; and therefore thatthe eucharist is not to be publicly presented to the peoplefor their adoration: t and that those who worship the

• !' The God of the Papists is, in fact, the Pope - a truth as easy ofdemonstration as the simplest proposition in Buclid. Thus,

All men are fallible;The Pope is not fallible;

. Ergo, The Pope is not man.Again - God alone is infallible;

. The Pope is infallible;Ergo, The Pope is God. Q.E.D."-Shobcrls'sPcr-

sreutions of Popery, vol, ii., p. 393.t "It is well known, that at the elevation of the host in Roman Cath-

olic chapels, all present (excepting Protestants) kneel down and adore.Many a semi-Prate taut would call this an imposing sight; rightly con-sidered, it is deeply humiliating and affectill~- the triump,h of super-stition over common sense, reason and scriptural piety.' Cramp'sText-Bock oJ Popery, chap. vii., vel's. finem, n. 58.

OF 7'HE ROMAN CATHOLICS,

same are idolaters: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Ibid, can.6.)

'Wnen, in the administration of the eucharist, the priesthas pronounced the consecration prayer over the bread,professing thereby to change it into the real body of theLord Jesus Christ, immediately this consecrated bread, orhost as they call it, in the form of wafers, is adored by thepriest, and by him elevated for the adoration of the peo-ple: and when the consecration prayer is pronounced overthe wino in the chuliee, then this also in like manner iselevated and adored, by the priest and tlie people. Thus,as the '0 sub, tnnc il of hrend and wine remain bread nndwine, the HallW in subst nnr- \ ;till'r as before consocration,notwithatuudlng their prolh;sed b 'Ii 'f'1o the contrary, thoRoman Catholics, it appcal',., :WP uccustonu-d to ""O/W/ll])the bread and wine wMch -in tlte sacrumcui tlu!! cat anddrink. Such gross idolatry HS this seems to lie too absurdfor even heathenism itself " As to that celebrated act ofPopish idolatry, tlie "duration of the host," says Dr. Mid-dleton, " I must confess that I cunuot fiurl the least re-semblance of it in any part of the Pagan worship; and asoften as I huvo been ~tanding by at mass, and seen thewhole congregation prostrate on the ground, in the hum-blest posture of adoring, at the elevation of this conse-crated piece of bread, I could not help reflecting on apassage of Tully, where, speaking of the absurdity of theheathen in the choice of their gods: 'But was any man,'says he, 'ever so mad, as to take that which he feeds up-on, for a god?' This was an extravagance reserved forPopery alone: and what an old Roman could not butthink too gross even for Egyptian idolatry to swallow, isnow become the principal part of' worship, and the dis-tingui~hing article of faith, in the creed of modern .Rome."· (.Dr.1Jfiddleton's Letter from .Rome, p. 75.)

Such being the idolatrous worship and veneration paidby the Romanists to the Eucharist, we need not wondel'at the imposing ceremony with which it is carried by

• Yes, modern Rome, the Roinan Catholics of the nineteenth cen-tury, have the extravagance to take that which they feed upon for aGod; hey rleify the material substances used in the celehrution of timLord's Supper, worship the acramcnt ln the form' of the bread and the

j;l

194 THE IDOLA'l'ROUS WORSHIP

them in solemn procession along the streets to the sick.Instead of setting apart bread and wine as particularoccasions may require, their custom is to keep in thesacristy of the church, with reference to the sick, a quan-tity of their wafers already consecrated; and when thepriest goes to administer the sacrament to a sick person,he takes the consecrated wafer along' with him." " InSpain, when a priest carries the consecrated wafer to adying man, a person with a small bell accompanies him,

'At the sound of the ben, all who hear it are obliged tofan on their knees, and to remain in that posture till theyhear it no longer. 'Its sound' (says a sensible writer), operates like magic upon the Spaniards. In the midst ofa gay, noisy party, the word, Sa Majestad (his Majesty,the same expression being applied both to God and theking) will bring everyone upon his knees until the tinklingdies in the distance. Are you at dinner? you must leavethe table. In beel? you must, at least, sit up. But themost preposterous effect of this custom is to be seen atthe theatres. On the approach of the host to any militaryguard, the drum beats, the men are drawn out, and as soonas the priest can be seen, they bend the right knee, andinvert the firelocks, placing the point of the bayonet onthe ground. As an officer's guard is always stationed at

wine, and, senselessly superstitions enough, to it they offer their prayen,among which are the following:

'Vheat of the elect,Perpetual Sacrifice,Clean Oblation,Sacred Host,Chalice of benediction,Most high and adorable Sacrament, ~True Propitiation fOTthe living and the dead, 4Heavenly Antidote against the poison of sin,Most, wonderful of all Miracles, gMost august and holy Mystery, ~Unbloody Sacrifice,Our Food and our Guest, etc.

Litany of the Blessed Sacrament, St. John's Monual, pp. 1128, 1129.• "Wboever shall affirm, that it ill not lawful to preserve the holy

euchari t in the sacristy, but that immediately after consecration it mustof neees ity he distributed to those who are present; or that it is ~ law-.f'" to cnrr!! it in procession to the sick: LET HI (B AOCURSED." Coun-ell 'If Trent, sess. xiii., can. 7.

Oil THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 195the door of a Spanish theatre, I have often laughed in mysleeve at the effect of the chamade both upon the actorsand the company. Dios, Dios / resounds from all partsof the house, and everyone falls, that moment, upon hisknees. The actors' ranting, or the rattling of the casta-nets in the fandango, is hushed for a few minutes, till thesound of the bell growing fainter and fainter, the amuse-ment is resumed, awl the devout performers are once moreupon their legs, anxious to make amends for the Interrup-tion.' Doblado's Letters from Spain, p.13." (Oramp'sText-Book of Popery, chap. vii., n. 53.)

This idolatry of the Roman Catholics in. regard to thoeucharist rcaohe its height in th iir annual festival culledOorpus Ohristi. Thi 113 tivul "was institut -<I by UrbanIV. in 1264, and the in titution wru nflnn -11at a g n 'rajcouncil held at Vicuna in 1311.- Its origin iti variouslyrelated. Some say that a woman named Juliana, residingat Liege, had a vision, 'intimating to her, that it was thewill of' God, that a peculiar festival should be annually ob-served in honour of' the holy sncrameut, or rather of thereal presence of Christ's body in that sacred institution,'and that this induced the Pope to institute the fcnst,Juliana declared, 'that as often as she ruldrcssed herself toGod 01' to the saint: in prayer, she I>;lW the till! moon witha small defect or breach in it; and that having longstudied to find out the signification of this strange ap-pearance, she was inwardly informed by the Spirit, thatthe moon signified the church, and that the defect orbreach was the want of an annual festival in honour ofthe holy sacrament.' Others say that a certain priest wasperforming mass, who doubted the dogma of the real pres-ence, and that blood flowed from the host which he heldin his hands, which of comse completed his conviction:this being reported to the Pope, he instituted the festival.(See Mosheim, cent. xiii, part ii. chap. 4, s. 2. Hospinian

;If It was also approved by the Council 0/ Trent, Decrees and Canons,scss. xiii., chap. v.

" Whoever shall affirm - that the euchari t is not to be honoured withe:ttroordinar!J f tice celebration, nor' solemnly carried "bout in processions,according to the Iaudahle and universal rites and customs of holyehurch : r,ET rrr r DE ACCURSED." Ibid. can. 6.

196 -7'HE /lJOLATlIOUS WORSHiP

de Ong. Fest. Christian. p.74-78. Regnum Papisticuui,p. 153-156.)

"Corpus Christi day is the Thursday after Trinity Sun-day. In Roman Catholic countries it is celebrated withmuch pomp. The host is carried about in solemn proces-sion and devoutly adored; the streets and houses arcsplendidly decorated; all is joy and festivity. In someinstances allegorical representations' of truths or eventsform part of the pageant. A Spanish custom is thus de-scribed: -' At a short distance in front of the proces-sion appeared a group of seven gigantic figures, male andfemale, whose.dresses, contrived by the most skilful tailorsand milliners of the town, regulated the fashion at Sevillefor the ensuing season. A strong man being concealedunder each of the giants and giantesses, they amused thegaping multitude, at certain intervals, with a very clumsydance performed to the sound of the pipe and tabor.Next to the Brobclignag dancers, and taking precedenceof all, there followed, on a movable stage, the figure of aHydra encircling a castle, from which, to the great delightof all the children at Seville, a puppet not unlike punch,dressed up in a scarlet jacket trimmed with morrice-bells,used often to start up, and having performed a kind ofwild dance, vanished again from view into the body of themonster, The whole of this compound figure bore ·thename of Tarasca, a word of which I do not know eitherthe meaning or the derivation. That these figures wereallegorical no one can doubt who has any knowledge ofthe pageants of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.It would be difficult, however, without the help of an ob-scure tradition, to gUCSE(that the giants in periwigs andswords, and their fair partners in caps and petticoats, wereemblems of the seven deadly sins." The Hydra, it shouldseem, represented heresy, guarding the castle of schism,where folly, symbolized by the strange figure in scarlet,displayed her supreme command. This band of monsterswas supposed to be flying in confusion before the triumph-ant sacrament. Doblado's Letters from Spain, p. 303.

• "The seven deadl!! sins-Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Glut-tony, Envy, Sloth." 81. John's Mauua}, p. 21.

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 197Sec also Miss A. Plumtre's 'Resideuce in France,' vol. ii.p. 220-241." (Oramp, chap. vii., n. 52.)

Thirdly. The Roman Catholics worship departed saints." No one" (say they) "should be venerated as a saint,without the license of the pope. Hence he only is proper-ly and strictly taken as a saint, nnd worthy of veneration,who is duly canonized by the pope with an album, or whois publicly, solemnly, and canonically enrolled in the num-ber and catalogue of saints, and declared and defined tobe a saint, by declared statute, that he may be esteemedand worshipped as such by all." (Ferraris, in Dr. Elliott'sDelineation of Roman Oatlwlicism, book iv., chap. iv.)The saints therefore, whom tho Homan Oath. Ii·s worship,(as authorized by the pope,) publicly a well as privat ly,·are such as have heen canonized, that is, such as have be nformally declared by the pop to bp, saints, as having b enenrolled in a catalogue of saints called a canon.t The'ceremony of canonization follows beatification. " Beforea beatified person is canonized, the qualifications of thecandidate are strictly examined into, in some consistoriesheld for that purpose; after which one of the consistorialadvocates, in the presence of the pope and cardinals,makes the panegyric of the person who is to be proclaimeda saint, and gives a particular detail of his life and miracles;which being done, the holy father decrees his canoniza-

• "In private every one is allowed to honour, worship, and invokewhom they please, provided they have sufficient gronnds to believe themin a state of happiness, or in the way to it, that is, in heaven, or in pur-gatory; for the souls in purgatory may be privately worshipped andinvoked; nay, most of the popish divines are now of opinion, that evena canonized saint may be still in purgatory." Bower's History of thePopes - P. Syriciu.s, versus finem, note.

t " The word canon in the middle ages, denoted in general a registeror a matriculation roll, and in a more limited sense a list of the saints;and to canonize a person was, to enrol his name in this book or registerof the saints." 1Jfosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. x., part ii., chap.iii. §4, n. (7). .

"The earliest solemn canonization by the popes, of which wc haveauthentic records, is that of Ulrich bishop of Augsburg, by John xv.,A. D. 995. Yet bishops, metropolitans, and provinci~ councils! wereconcerned in such acts, for more than a century after this. And It WlIlInot till the pontificate of Alexander Ill., A.D.116Q-1l81, that the popesclaimed thc exclusive power of adding new saints to the Calendar,"Ibid. cent. ix., part ii., chap. iii. § 4, n. (ll).

198 'rOE IDOL./TROUB WORSHIP

tion and appoints the day.- On the day of canonization,tho 'pope officiates in white, and their eminences aredressed in the same colour. St. Peter's church is hungwith rich tapestry, upon which the arms of the pope, andof the prince or state. requiring the canonization, are em-broidered in gold and silver. A great number of lightsblaze an round the church, which is crowded with pioussouls, who wait with devout impatience till the new sainthas made his public entry, as it were, into paradise, thatthey may offer up their petitions to him without dangerof being rejected.-The following maxim with regard tocanonization is now observed, though it has not been fol-lowed above a century, viz. not to enter into the inquiriesprior to canonization till fifty years, at least, after thedeath of the person to be canonized." By the ceremonyof canonization it appears that this rite of the modernHomans has something in it very like the apotheosis ordeification of .the ancient Romans, and in all probabilitytakes its rise from it; at least, several ceremonies of thesame nature are conspicuous in both." t (Buck's Theo-logical .Dictionary, art. Canonization.)

The names of the canonized saints appear in theRoman Calendar, opposite certain days which are ap-pointed for their commemoration, and which consequentlyare called holy-days, or saints' days, feasts or festivals.These saints' days are so numerous as to be almost all thedays in the twelve calendar months; and yet, the saintsthemselves which are worshipped on these appointed daysare more nume .ous still," as, upon an average, there arenot fewer than .five of these real or imaginary beings toevery day of the year!" (Clarke's Commentary - Expla-nation of the Roman Calendar, at the end of the epistleto the Romans.) These festivals of the saints are an-niversary occasions,on which the saints are worshipped

• H nut for just causes, by dispensation from the pope, the case maybe examined and decided before, as appears from the decrees of Alexan-der VII., Clement IX., and Clement XI." Elliott's Homan Cathol.icism,book iv., chap. iv., paulo post inilium.

t A genuine Romish ceremony this, H of canonization; which is a curi-ous, costly, and theatrical pomp, unmeet for the simplicity of theChurch of Christ, and meet for the bravery of the whore of Babylon,"Fulke'« Con/ulation of the Rhemish Testament, Mall. ii. 16.


with more than ordinary solemnity. Of course muchtime is consumed in the business. But how much betterit would be for the people to be at their work, exceptingonly on Lord's day, than to be in attendance on the su-perstitions ceremonies of these so-calledholy-days I Theirgiving np their time to attend on so many saints' days, isone cause of the poverty that so extensively prevailsamong the peasantry in Roman Catholic countries. '" Of .all the religious grievances of which the French peasantry l-and labouring classes now complain, as falling the heavi-est, the necessity they arc under of attendinz mass on

.working clays,and the strict ob crvance imposed on themby the maires, or maei tratcs, of many of the communes,to religiously ob erve all feasts and festival .und ev n 1'-tuin hours, on particular day8 dedi ted t pnrticularsaints, on pain of a heavy penalty, is the most oppro sive.These agents for the revived claims of the long-forgottenlegion of saints frequently levy their fines, without mercy,on the profane, but industrious peasant who takes up hisspade during the vigil of St. Didyrnus, or who plies thewheel on the feast of St. Catharine.' (Lady Morgan'sFrance, i. p. 103.) -' Bavaria is one of the most backwardcountries of Germany, in regard to every kind of improve-ment. A bigoted and ignorant priesthood, not contentwith possessing a valuable portion of the lands of the coun-try, have insisted on the expulsion of the P..rotestants, andon the strict observance of the endless holidays and ab-surd usages which impede the progress of industry amongtheir followers. Hence a general habit of indolence and •miserable backwardness in all arts, and especially in agri-cultnre; and in point of learning a complete contrast tothe north of Germany.' Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Ag-riculture, p. 96." (Oramp's Tezt-Book of Popery, chap.xvii., 11. 64.)

That all the persons whom the Roman Catholics havecanonized, or whose names have a place in their calendar,were genuine saints, is more than every body will believe:and that all the names they have used for canonized saintswere the genuine names of professed Christians, is a propo-sition no more to be believed than the former." "In their

• Examine their own martyrology. " The Roman martyrology con-tnins the nam:s of such sain 113 mar be publicly worshipped, and of


stories of their saints," says Dr. Middleton, "I have observedthe names of Quirinus, Romula and Redompta, Concordia,Nympha, Morcurins ; which, though they may, for anything that I know, have been the genuine names of Chris-tian martyrs, yet cannot but give occasion to suspect, thatsome of them at least have been formed out of :1 corrup-tion of the old names; and that the adding of a moderntermination, or Italianizing the old name of a deity, hasgi ven existence to some of their present saints. - Thus thecorruption of the word Soracte (the old name ofa mountainmentioned by Horace in sight of Rome) has, according toMr. Addison, added one saint to the Roman oalendar ;being now softened, because it begins with an S, into St.Oraste / in whose honour a monastery is founded on theplace: a change very natural, if we consider that the titleof saint is never-written by the Italians at length, but ex-pressed commonly by the single letter S., as S. Oracte :and thus this holy mountain stands now under the protec-tion of a patron, whose being and power is just as imagi-nary, as that of its old guardian Apollo:

Sancti custos Soractis Apollo. Virgo LEll. ix., Apollo the guardian of sacred Soracte.'

" No suspicion of this kind will appear extravagant tothose who are at all acquainted with the history of Pope-ry; which abounds with instances of the grossest forgeriesboth of saints and relics, which, to the scandal of many

the places where they died, with a succinct account of the most re-markable feats which .they are supposed to have performed. Whenlearning began to revive, many gross mistakes were discovered in theRoman, as well as in the other martyrologies, some being placed amongthe saints, and consequently worshipped as saints, who had been notori-ous sinners; and others daily invoked, who had never existed. Thatthe church therefore might be no longer misled in her worship, Gregoryxm. thought it necessary to interpose his infallible authority; and,having, accordingly, ordered Baronius to revise and correct the Romanmartyrology, he confirmed, by a special bull, dated the 14th of Jannary,1584, all the emendations, additions, corrections, &c. which Baronius hadhePn pleased to make, threatcning with the indignation of the AlmightyGod, and of his apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, all who should presumeto make llny further alterations. And yet many alterations have beenmade since Gregory's time; and that many more might and ought tobe made, has been s~ently shown 1>yIUany protestant, and someRoman Catholic, divines.' BOllw'g Ui.tor.v of tile Popes - P. Syridlls,N'fSlIl:rjilkm, note.

OP 7'B£ ROJI,.j.y CATHOLICS. 20l

even among themselves, have been imposed for genuineon the poor ignorant people. It is certain, that in theearlier ages of Christianity, the Christians often made freewith the sepulchral stones of heathen monuments, whichbeing ready cut j.o their hands, they converted to theirown use; and turning downwards the side on which theold epitaph was engraved, used either to inscribe a newone on the other side, or leave it perhaps without any in-scription at all, as they are often found in the catacombsof Rome. Now this one custom has frequently been theoccasion of ascribing martyrdom and saint. hip to personsand names of mere Pugnns. Mabillon gives it remarkableinstance of it in an old ston , found on th gr. ve of 1\

Christian, with this inscription:D. M.

, IYLIA EYODIAFILlA l<'ECIT

MATRI.-

And because, in the same grave, there was found likewisea glass vial, or lachrymatory vessel, tinged with a reddishcolour, which they call blood, and look upon as a certainproof of martyrdom, this Julia Eoodia, though un-doubtedly a heathen, was presently adopted both for saintand martyr, on the authority of an inscription, that ap-pears evidently to have been one of those above men-tioned, and borrowed from a heathen sepulchre. Butwhatever the party there buried might have been, whetherheathen or Christian, it is certain, however, that it couldnot be Evodia herself, but her mother only, whose nameis not there signified.

"The same author mentions some original papers,which he found in the Barbarine library, giving a pleasantaccount of a negotiation between the Spaniards and popeUrban the eighth, in relation to this very subject. TheSpaniards, it seems, have a saint, held in ~reat reverencein some parts of Spain, called Viar; fOr the farther en-couragement of whose worship they solicited the Pope togrant some special indulgences to his nltars ; and upontile Pope's desiring to be better acquainted first with his

- Translation. -D. M. (Diis lI1anibl.") To the Manes. .Julill EVil-din, the daughter, caused this stone to be erected to her mother.

202 TIlE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP

character, and the proofs which they had of his saintship,they produced a stone with these antique letters, S.VIAR., which the antiquaries readily saw to be a smallfragment of some old Roman inscription in memory ofone who had been Praefectu S VI.ARum, or overseerof the highways." (Dr. Middleton's Letter from Rome,pp.67-70.)

As to the manner in which the Roman Catholics wor-ship their saints, I observe

1. That they are accustomed to celebrate rn:assesinhonour of them, and in order to obtain their intercessionwith God. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirm,that tocelebrate masses in honour of the saints, ana in order toobtain their intercession with God, according to the inten-tion of the church, is an imposture: LET 111M BE AC-CURSED." (Council of Trent, sess, xxii., can. 5.) - Thefollowing is a specimen of their prayers, in celebratingthese masses: "Receive 0 holy Trinity, this oblationwhich we offer to thee, in memory of the passion, resur-rection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ; and in.honour of blessed Mary ever Vir,gin,· and blessed JohnBaptist, and the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and ofthese,and all the saints: that it may be to their honourand our salvation: and may they vouchsafe to intercedefor us in heaven, whose memory we celebrate on earth.Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen." (Missal forthe Useof the Laity: Orilinal'y of the Mass.) The" ob-lation" here, you must observe, is Christ himself Christhimself offered in honour of the saints! in order to obtaintheir intercession with God! Is not this setting the serv-ant above the Master? Is it less than blasphemy?

2. They are accustomed to use prayers in which thesaints arc represented as intercessors, adoocates, or medi-ators / in which their intercessions are asked ; and in

• "Ever Virgin." Roman Catholics hold the perpetual virgillit.~ ofMary, that is, that she was a virgin after, as well as before the birthof J"sus. "The virginity of Mary, previously to the birth of Christ,is an article of the utmost con equence to the Christian system; andtherefore it is an article of faith: he rperpetual virginity is of no con-e-quence ; and the learned. labour sr.;nt to prove it has produced a merecastle in the nil'. The thing is possible ; but it never has becn.und nevercan be proved;' Ctnrke'» COlllJn,ntar!l,Mau. i, 25.

OF THE HOllfAN CATHOLICS. 203which they are thus invoked with manifest reliance ontheir merits:" The following are instances of these pray-ers. "0 God, for whose Church the glorious bishopThomas fell by the swords of the iinpious : grant, we be-seech thee, that all who implore his assistance may obtaina salutary effect of their petition." -" Sanctify, 0 Lord,the offerings consecrated to thee; and by the intercessionof blessed Thomas, thy martyr and bishop, appeased bythe same, look down favourably upon us."-" May thiscommunion, 0 Lord, purify us from crime: and by tile in-tercession of blessed Thomas, thy martyr and bishop,make 11K partakers of a heaven1y remedy." t (1Jfissal for

• "Tho holy council commands all bi-hopa, and others wbo have rhoCIU'C and charge of teaching', thut th Y labour with dilil\ nt fl, iduiry 10instruct tho faithful concerning the invo ution and Int 'rcession of thesnints ; tcuching them that the saints, who reign tof.lether with hrist,offer their J'1'Ilyers to Gorl for men - thut it is a goou lind useful thingsuppliantly to invoke them, and to flee to their pl'lLy rs, help, und us-sistunce, because of the benefits bestowed by God through his Son JesusChrist our Lord, who is 0111' only Redeemer und Saviour; and that thoseare men of impious sentiments who deny that the saints, who enjoyeternnl happiness in heaven, arc to he invoked-c-or who affirm thnt theydo not pray for men, or that to beseech them to pmy for us is idolatry,or that it is contrary to the word of God, and opposed to the honour ofJesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and men, or that it is fool-ish to supplicate, verbally 01' mentally, those who reign in heaven."Council of Trent, sess. XXY.

t The Thomas mentioned in these three prayer., is Thomas a Becket.Thomas a Becka; archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated in his owncathedral, where he was assisting at Vespers, or evening prayers. Thecause of such a shockiug deed, was his exceedingly obstinate conduct inrelation to his sovereign, king Ifenry II.; "a conduct not only inconsist-ent with, but diametrically opposite to that subjection to the higherpowers which is so much recommended to nil in Holy Writ. The-hanghty prelate, possessed with a notion of the sacerdotal and arehiepis-copal dignity, had, it seems.nothing less in view, than to share the sover-eignty with his sovereign, and to make himself, under his lord the pope,as absolute a monarch over the clergy of nil ranks and degrees, as theking was over the laity, Had he shed his blood in the cause of Godand religion, the resolution, courage, and resignation with which be suf-fered, would entitle him to a place among the most illustrious martyr'.But as he laid down, or rather threw away, his life to maintain thepapal usurpations, in direct opposition to the laws of his conn try, findhis duty as a subject, he ought ruther to be looked upon us n traitor andrebel than II martyr, the title with which Rome, in whose service hedied, has honoured and distinguished him; for it is not what n man suf-fers, but the cause, in which he suffers, that makes him a martyr..:... nOll

,"art,vre:m facit paena, sed CII""(I," BoWf'T"s History qf the Pope .• - P.Aluuode" m., poslllle<l.

••

204. THE TDOLATROUS WORSHIP

the Useof tlte Laity, pp. 75, 77. Edit. London, ~IDCCCLIII.)_" Sanctify, 0 Lord, the offerings devoted to thee; andby the intercession of thy blessed ma7·tyr Saturninue, beappeased hy these same, and Iook down upon us," - " Wesuppliantly beseech thy majesty, 0 Lord, that as blessedAndrew the apostle was.both a preacher and ruler of thyChurch, so he may be with thee a perpetual 'intercessorfor us." -" We beseech thee, 0 Lord, that the holy prayerof the blessed apostle Andrew may render our sacrificepleasing to thee; that it may be accepted by his merits, inwhose honour it is solemnly offered." -" 0 God, whodidst adorn the blessed Bishop Nicholas with innumerablemiracles, grant, we beseech thee, that, by his merits andprayers, we may be delivered from the flames of helL" -" Hear, 0 Lord, our prayers; and, appea.•ed by the inter-cession of blessed Damasus thy confessor and bishop,grant us pardon and peace." -" Come to our assistance,o merciful God, and, the blessed apostle Thomas inter-ceding for us, mercifully preserve thy gifts bestowed uponUR." - " We beseech thee, 0 Lord, that the intercession ofthe blessed abbot Maurus may commend us to thee; thatwhat we cannot obtain by our own merits, we may by hispatronage." -" Mercifully hear the prayers of thy people,o Lord, we beseech thee, that we may be helped by themerits of blessed Marcellus, thy martyr and bishop, inwhose martyrdom we rejoice." -" 0 Goel,who, conferringthe keys of' the kingdom of heaven, didst deliver to thyblessed apostle Peter the sacerdotal power of binding andloosing, grant that by the help of his intercession we maybe delivered from the chains of our sins." -" 0 Gael,who,!i,ht cause the, soul of the blessed Virgin Scholastica toenter heaven in the form of a dove, to shew the way ofinnocence, grant us, by her prayers and merits, to live soinnocently, that we may deserve to arrive at eternal joys."-" Grant, we beseech thee, 0 Almighty God, that wewho celebrate the festival of blessed Valentine, thy mar-tyr, may be delivered by his intercession from all threaten-in:! evils." - "0 God, who didst vouchsafe to send blessedPatrick, confessor and bishop, to preach thy glory to thegentiles, gr,mt, through !tis merits and intercession, thatwhat thou commandest us to do, we may be enabled toaccomplish by thy mercy.' (Ibid. pp. 491-556.)

• /

•

OF THE ROMAN CATHOUCS. 205It is easy to see that, by all such prayers as these,

(which among the Roman Catholics, in all their liturgicalbooks, are exceedingly numerous,) the mediatorial charac-ter of our Lord Jesus Christ is grossly invaded.

3. They are accustomed to confess their sins to thesaints as well as to God, and to offer pl'ayers to the saintsdirectly. An instance of this sort of confession and prayeris -" the Oonfiteor." " I confess to Almighty God, toblessed Mary ever virgin, to blessed Michael the arch-angel, to blessed John the baptist, to the holy apostlesPeter and Paul, and to all the saints, that I have sinnedexceedingly in thought, word, and deed, throuzh my fault,through my fault, through my most grievous fault : there-fore I beseech.the blo cd l'rIary ever virgin, the bless dMichael the archangel, th bl essed John tlte b !l>tilJt,tbholy npostles Peter and Paul, and all the saint8, to prnyto the Lord our God for me.

"May the Almighty God have mercy ou me, and forgiveme DIysius, and bring me to life everlasting. Amen.

" May the Almighty and merciful Lord give me purdon,absolution, and remission of all my sins. AtIlen." ( Gar-den. of the soul, p. 45.)

In this form of confession and prayer, solemn confessionof sin in general i& made equally to God, to an angel,· andto the saints '" to the two last with no Scriptural authority,

";If The Roman Catholics worship angels withaL See" Devotions tothe Holy Angels." St. John's .Manual, pp. 900-905. "Litany of theHoly Angels." Ibid. pp. 1139-1141. And, "Litany of the HolyAngel Guardian," Ibid. 1142. But how plainly disapproved of in theScriptures, is the worship of angels! "And when I had heard andseen, I fell down to wOIship before the feet of the angel which showed

.me these things. Then saith he nnto me, See thou do it not: for I amthy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them whichkeep the sayings of this book: uorship God." Rev. xxii. 8, 9. "Theworship of creatures, or demons, under the names of saints and angels,forms the most prominent part of that corruption ofChristlnnity hyidolatry, which has extended its baleful influence through so manypopulous narions, and continue'] during so many revolving ages; andagainst whi ..h the apostle was, in this book, required to bear a most de-cided prophetical testiruouv. (Note, I Tim. iv. 1-5.) Now, nothingcould give more energy to this protest, than the repeated injunction laidon him, not to pay any homage at all resemhling adoration, to a mostglorious benevolent angel, when visibly present, and acting the part ofan instructor to him. Surely then, no invisible, and (as far as we canknow) ab. ent. creatures, C n he worshipped, without gi\'ing to them the

206 THE IDOLA.TROUS WORSHIP

..

any more than there is for the prayer, so far as it isdirected to the angels and the saints only.

Of other prayers offered directly to the saints, the fol-lowing are examples. "Per te Thoma post levae mtmeraamplexetur nos Dei dextera. 'By thee, Thomas," after thegifts of the left hand, let the right hand of God embraceus, lest the enemy, the world, or the works of the flesh docarry us away captive to hell.' Again:' 0 Thomas reachthy help unto us, rule them that stand, lift up them thatlie, correct our manners, acts, and life, and direct us intothe way of peace; Moreover in a prayer to Osmund:'Thou confessor of our Lord, Lelp the people with thyprayers, that being void of vices, they may be associatewith thee, and whom thou findest preventing thy solemni-ties, thou teacher of people cause that they may accom-pany thee.' To Anne. 'Thou that wast happy, beingconceived with such a virgin, make us in the last hour todie without sin.' Again,' Anne, thou healthful mother,make as to live to Ohrist,' To Catharine, 'Hail virginworthy of God, hail sweet and gentle virgin, obtain for usthe joys, which thou dost possess with glory.''' (Dr.Fulke's Oonfutation of the Rhemish Testament, John,xvi, 23.)

"A Oommemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.- 0holy Mary, succor the miserable, help the faint-hearted,comfort the afHicted; pray for the people; intercede forthe clergy; make supplication for the devout female sex:Let all experience thy help, who celebrate thy hory com-memoration.

" v:- Pray for us, 0 holy mother of God;"R. That we may be made worthy Q.f the promises of

Christ." (Garden of the BOtd, p. 153.)"Salve Regina.-Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,

our life, our sweetness and our hope; to thee do we cry,poor banished sons of Eve; to thee do we send up oursighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears: turn,then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towardsu , and after this our exile ended, show unto us the bless-

glory which belongs exclusively to JEHOVAlI." Scott'. NotC8,Rev. xix.9,10, in fine,

• 'I'hcmas l Becket.

OJ.' THl!.' 110M_LV CA'fIl0],[l.'S- 207

ell fruit of thy womb, Jesus I 0 most clement, meetpious, and most sweet Virgin Mary. '

" v: Pray for us, holy Mother of God.".R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of

Christ." (Ibid. pp. 299, 300.)To the same, viz. the .Vir·gin Mary. -" We fly to thy

patronage, 0 holy Mother of God," despise not our peti-tions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, 0ever glorious and blessed Virgin." (Ibid. p. 288.)

A.ll such prayers as these, with the like of which allRoman Catholic books of devotion abound, how entirelyuncountcnanced are they in the word of God I There isno Scriptural authority for praying to departed saints. t

J. They arc accustomed to ascribepraise directly to theeainss, along with expressions of praise to God. •

"Tuc following quotation from the Roman Breviary,thirty-third page of thc vernal part, will furnish a suitableexample:

'To those who recite devoutly the following prayerntlcr the office,Pope Leo X. hath granted pardon for those.lefcet an.l faults arising from human weakness in readingthe office.

, Eternal praise, honour, virtue, and glory from everycreature, to the holy and undivided Trinity, to the humanity

• It was in the fifth century, when erroneous opinions and practiceswere fast coming into the church, that the title of "mother of God" be-~an to be commonly given to the virgin ]Jfury; a blasphemous title,which oc-nsioned a famous dispute" between Nestorins, bishop of Con-stantinople, and St. Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, which rent the wholechurch into two op~osite ami irreconcilable factions." Boicer's Histor!!of the Popes - P. Uelestine, paulo ar.~emed.

"The elllperor [Constantine Copronymns] one day said to the pa-triarch of Constantinople, 'What harm would there be in terming theVirgin Mary J[other if Christ?' 'God preserve you,' (answered thepatrlarch.] 'from entertaining such a thought, Do you not see howNestorius is anathematized by the whole church for using similar Ian-guage l' -' I only asked for my own information,' (said the emperor.}, let it go no further.''' Jones' H;sto".¥ <1' the Ohristiun Uhurch, chap.iii., sect. v., p. 228, note. Edit. Albany, 1824.

t There is indeed one solitary instance mentioned in Scripture, of aprayer offered to a departed saint: bnt it W,IS the prayer of one, "a cer-tain rich man," who had lived out his probation on earth, whose sonlwas in hell, whence, nnder the pressure of his torments, he cried formercy to the patriarch Abraham - but cried in loa;ll. See the particu-lar, 1-"",, xvi. 19-31. •

208 THE IDOLATROUS WORSHIF

of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, to the most blessedandglorious i1J:tegrityof the fruitful lI-Iary.always virgin,and to all the saints j and may we receive remission of allour sins for ever. Amen?' (Dr. Elliot's Delineation ofRoman Catholicism, book iv., chap. iv., versofin.)

Solemn praise is here, by the offerers of it, very de-voutly divided between Divinity aad humanity j betweenGod and the saints. Oh! how deceived are they whothink that the great Creator God can be pleased with suchpraise as this, distributed to him and hill creatures, to beshared between them! .-

In the 'worship rendered to the saints, the nume of the'"Virgin Mary, you perceive, is most prominent. Here,viz. in the Virgin M'wy, creature-worship reaches itsutmost height. "The devout Roman Catqolic pays herthe most extravagant honour and veneration. In all de-votions she has ;1 share, The Ave Maria accompaniesthe Pater Noster. 'Evening, morning, and at noon,' saidthe Psalmist, 'will I pray unto thee, and cry aloud:' thepious Romau Catholic transfers these services to the Vir~gin. In tender childhood he is taught to cherish for herthe profoundest reverence and the highest affection:throughout life she is the object of his daily regard; andin the hour of death, he is taught to place reliance on hermercy. To the ignorant devotee she is more than 'Christ,than God; he believes that she can command her Son, thatto her intercession nothing can be denied, and that to herpower all things are possible." (Oramp's Text-Book ofPopery, chap. xv.) She is worshipped under innumerableappellations, many of which are absolutely blasphemous."(See -" Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonlycalled ~The Litany of LOI'etto.''' St. JoAn's Manual, pp.79-82. "Devotions to the Blessed Virgin." Ibid. pp. 769-899. " Litany of the Sacred He31t of Mary." " Litanyof the Immaculate Conception." "Litany of the HolyName of Mary." "Litany of our Lady of Prompt Suc-cor." " Litany of our Lady of Sorrows." Ibid. pp. 113~'

• "\Vhllt dishonour do those do to this holy woman, who ~iveher names und characters which her pure soul would abhor; and whichproperly "(·.Jon.~to GOD J,''T S,!vi?llr! By ~lCrvotaries she is addressed>1< 'lilel/, of l icorsn, ,.lio/I" r of (,0;], &c., title. both nh urd and blas-phcrnou /. ('/"rI",·· .• {JOII/II/' ;"f1I!J' (,·,kr~. 4R. •

OF THE RO,lIAN CATHOLICS, 209

-1138.) "It was even proposed at one of the councils,that she should be declared the fourth person of the God-head." (Shoberl's Persecutions of Popery, vol. i., p. 35.)No less than five solemn festivals are annually observed toher honour: LeI'Conception, December 8th; her Nativity,September 8th; Annunciation, March 25th; Purification,February 2d j Assumption, August 15th.· The festival ofher Conception was established on the supposition of herhaving been conceived and born immaculate, that i ,without original sin.t The council of Trent, in treating

• "In severn! churches of France [in tile time of 'the 'lark ng 8' 1,they eel brated <l festival in rommemoratk», qf I/,~ Vi'y/in Mar,ts flightinto Eg!Jpt. It was culled th Feast of the ,h,~. A young I\'irl richlydressed, with a child in her unns, wus s t upon an ass superl,ly 'UrHU'I-soned. '1he ass was led to tho altar ill solemn proces ion. 11lgh mu •Wl\B said with great pomp, Tho M. was taught to kneel at properpluces ; Il hymn no less childish than impious was sling ill his prniae :und when tho ceremony was ended, the priest, instead of the usual wordswith which he dismissed tho people, bruyed three times like an ass; undthe people, instead of the usual response, ' ...Ve bless the Lord,' /;rayedthree times in the same manner. Du Cange voc, Festum, vol. iii, p.424. This ridiculous ceremony was not, like the festival of fools, nndsome other pageants of those ages, a mere farcical entertainment exhibit-ed in a church, and mingled, as was then the custom, with an imitation)f some religions rites; it was an act of devotion performed by the minis-ters of religion, and bN the antllOrif!!of the Church. However, as thispractlce did not prevail universally in the Catholic church, its absurdityxmtributed at last to abolish it." 1),'. Iidertson's Histmy of Charles V.,,·0J. L'pp. 19-1,195, Ed. Philadelphia, 1812.

t The following is one of the hymns in the "Little Office oj' the Im-naculate Conception."

14

Hail, Virgin most wise!Hail, Deity's shrine!

With seven luir pillars,And table divine 1

Preserved from the guiltWhich hath come on US all I

Exempt, in the uomb,Prom the taint of the fall !

o new star of Jacob!Of Angels the Queen I

o gate of the Saints Io mother of men!

o terrible usThe embattled array!

Be thou of the faithfulThe refuge and stay.

St. John's ],/anual, p. 865.


of original sin, sess. 5th, decreed in favour of the immacu-late conception of the Virgin Mary; '" a dogma not onlyutterly destitute of any Scriptural evidence, but plainlycontradictory to the assertions of the sacred writers re-specting the universal depravity of mankind. The festivalof her Nativity is in memory of her birth. The festivalof the Annunciation, otherwise caned Lady-Day, is incommemoration of the announcement made to the virginby the angel Gabriel that she was destined to become themother of Jesus, the Messiah. The festival of the PU1"i-.fication is in remembrance of her purification in ~e tem-ple at J erusalem, forty days after the birth of J esus,according to the law of Moses, Lev. xii. This" feast ofthe purification of the Virgin Mary, commonly known bythe name of candlemas, because candles were blessed, asis still practiced .in the church of Rome, at the mass ofthat dny.] is thought by some to have been introduced' inthe room of the lupercalia, t which were kept on thesame day. It is true there is no conformity between

ill The immaculate conception was not, however, authoritatively de-fined and settled" as an article of faith until Dec. 8, 1854. The formalstatement of the doctrine is found in the constitution of Pope Pius IX.,Ineffabilis Deus. The words of the decree are as follows: 'We definethe do 'trine which holds the most blessed Virgin Mary in the first in-stant of her conception to have been preserved free from all stain oforiginal sin, by the sing-ular grace and privilege of Almighty God andthrough the merits of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the human race, tobe a doctrine revealed by God, and therefore to be firmly and constantlyheld by all the faithful.'" New American Cyclopaedia, art. ImmaculateConception.t "The candles, that arc blessed on candlemas day, are thought to be

a sure protection against thunder and lightning, and therefore are light-ed by timorous persons in stormy weather. But their chief virtue is tofrighten the devils, and drive them away; and for this reason they arekept burning in the hands of drin!!: persons, so long as they can holdthem, and by their beds, from the time they begin to be in agony, tillthey expire; none of the spirits of darkness daring to appear where theygive light, To this practice the Italian proverb, 'ridotto alia candela,reduced to the candle,' owes its rise; and is used to express the greatestdistress a man can be reduced to."

t "One of the most ancient Roman festivals, which was celebratedevery year in honour of Lnpercus, the god of fertility. The festivalwas held on the 15th of February, in the Lupercal, where Romulus andRemus were said to have been nurtured by the she-wolf; the place Con-tained an altar and a grove sacred to the god Lupercus." Dr. Smith'sDicrionrzry of Greek and Roma« Antiquities, art. Lupercalia, where seethe ceremonie described.

OF TH;E ROMAN CATHOLICS. 211

the ceremonies of the two festivals, as some have ob-served. But it is likewise true, that though the heathen-ish rites were, generally speaking, retained almost entirein the Christian feasts, and only sanctified by a change ofthe object, as the statutes were by a change of name; yetsometimes it happened, that, in the room of the pagan, aChristian superstition was introduced, entirely differentfrom the pagan; the people only wanting to riot and revel,no matter in honour of whom, or with what ceremonies,as their pagan ancestor.' had done, and at the same statedtimes and season of the year." (Bower's IIistory of thePopes-Po (Jelasius.) The festival of the Assumptioniflin commemoration of the Virgiu'a having b 'en casumed,as the Romani til. believe, soul and body into Ileav n."The assumption of the Virgin Mary, in s ul and body,into heaven, was never heard of' till the eighth c ntury,abbot Authpertus, who died in 778, being the first whospoke of it, and used the word assumption: and from hiswords it appears, that, i.nhis time, some believed that shewas assumed in her body, and some that she was assumedout of it, ' sive in corpore,' says he, 'sive extra corpus as-sumptam super codas credamus? However, that she wasassumed in soul and body into heaven is .now generallybelieved ill the church of nome; and woe to the man whoshould assert the contrary in Spain or in Italy, though ithas not tbe least foundation in the sacred writings, inthose of the fathers of the first eight centuries, or in his-tory. The reader will find in Pellart, who wrote in thefifteenth century, and dedicated his book to pope SixtusIV., a very particular and curious account of the death ofthe virgin :M:ary,at which assisted all the apostles, convey-ed on white clouds to her house from the different cornersof the earth; of her resurrection, ana her assumption intoheaven in soul and body. As she was thus assumed, wehave no relics of her besides her milk; but of that therais such a quantity, as sufficiently supplies the want of allother relics." (Bower-Pope Nicholas, post med.)

5. They burn incense to the saints. Says Dr. Middle-to ,writing from Rome: "The very first thing that as ranger must nece arily take notice of, as soon as heenter their churches, is the use of incense or perfumes intheir religious offices. 'I'he first step which he takes with-


in the door, will be sure to make him sensible of it, by theoffence that he will immediately receive from the smell, aswell as smoke of this incense,with which the whole churchcontinues filled for some time after every solemn service;a custom received directly from Paganism, and whichpresently called to my mind the old descriptions of theheathen temples and altars, which are seldom or nevermentioned by the ancients without the epithet of per-fumed or incensed." .

"In some of their principal churches, where you havebefore you, in one view, a.great number of altars, and allof them smoking at once with streams of incense, hownatural is it to imagine one's self transported into thetemple of some heathen deity, or that of the PaphianVenus described by Virgil! •

- Ubi templum illi, centumque SabaeoThure calent arae, scrtisque recentibus halant, - Aen. i. 417.

, Her hundred altars there with garlands crown'd,• And richest incense smoking, breathe around

Swect odors,' &C.

" Under the pagan emperors, the UBeof incense for anypurpose of religion was thonght so contrary to the obliga-tions of Christianity, that, in their persecutions, the verymethod of trying and convicting a Christian was by re-quiring him only to throw the least grain of it into the.censer or on the altar.] Under the Christian emperors,on the other hand, it was looked upon as /1 rite so pecu-liarly heathenish, that the very places or houses, where itcould be proved to have been done, were by a law ofTheodosius confiscated to the government. - In the oldbass-reliefs,or pieces of sculpture, where any heathen sac-rifice is represented, -we never fail to observe a boy in

• ' Saepe Jovem vidi, cum jam sua mittere vellct,• Fulmina, thure dato sustinuisse manum. - Ovid.'

'Thuricremis cum dona imponeret aris. - Vlrg. Aen. iv. ver. 453.'t 'MaximuS' dixit: Thure tantum Deos, Nicander, honorato, Ni-

cander dixit: Quomodo potest homo Christianus lapides et ligna colere,Deo relicto immortali 1 &C. - Vid. Act. "Martyr. Nicandri, &c., apudJIabill. Iter.lletl. T. i. par. ii. p. 247.'

'Adeo ut Christianos vere saeriflcare crederent, ubi summis di¢tispaululum thuris injecissent accrram, &C. - Vid. Durant. de Rilib.L. i. c. 9.'


sacred habit, which was always white, attending on thepriest, with a little chest or box in his hands, in which thisincense was kept for the use of the altar. * And in' thesame manner still in the church of Rome, there is alwaysa boy in surplice, waiting on the priest at the altar withthe sacred utensils, and among the rest, the Thuribulumor vessel of incense, which the priest, with many ridicu-lous motions and crossings, waves several 'times, as it issmoking around and over the altar in different parts of theservice." (lI-Iiddleton'sLetterfrom Rome, pp. 43-45.)

How different then, from the worship of the primitiveChristianll, in respect to the use of incense, is the practiceof the Roman Catholics! with their altars erected, BornetoGod, Borneto their saints Ion which incense is offered, as toGod, so likewise to their saints! as it unci ntly was am ngthe pagans to their false deities, which in fact these Romi .hsaints are made in some respects very much to resemble.And, consequently, "when Jeremiah rebukes the people

. of Judah for burning incense to the queen of heaven~Jerem. xliv. 17), one can hardly help imagining, that heIS prophetically pointing out the worship now paid [bythe Roman Catholics] to the Virgin; to whom they ac-tually burn incense at this day under that very title." t(Middleton's Letter from Rome, pp. 118, 119.)

• '1?a mihi Thnra, puer, pingues faeientia flammas. -: Odd.'t ~ld. Offie. Beatac Virgo Salve Regina; Ave Regina coelorum j

Domma Angelo rum, &c. The following is the Ave Regina coelorum.

Ave, Regina coelorum!Ave, domina angelorum !Salve, radix, salve, porta,Ex qua mundo Lux est orta,Gaude, Virgo gloriosa,Super omnes speciosa,Val de, 0 valde decora !Et pro nobis Christum exors.

(The same in Englisl •.)Hail, 0 Queen 0/Heaven enthroned IHail, by angels mistress owned!Root of Jesse! Gale of mom 1Whence the world's true Light was born.

Gloril?us Virgin, joy to thee,Loveliest vhom in heaven they see;l;'nircst thou where all are fair!Plead with Christ our sins to spare, - St. Jobn:« Ma-

,'"nl, pr. 8U, ~15.


_ 6. They make vows and votive offerings to the saints.Vows constituted one of the chief parts of the worship ofthe ancient Romans in their pagan state. When at anytime they were sick, or otherwise in circumstances of dis-tress or of danger, they were accustomed to make vows totheir dieties; to whom, when they had obtained the desiredrelief,they made their offerings,which were hung up in theirtemples (See Adam's .Roman Antiquities - Places and.Rites of sacred Things, p. 343, et seq.): and just so theRoman Catholics, upon similar .occasions,make their vows- not to God only, but to their saints also; to whom, iftheir wishes are realized, they present offerings,which are -hung up in their churches all around their altars.

This presenting of gifts or offerings in consequence ofvows made, was "a practice so common among theheathen, that no one custom of antiquity is so frequentlymentioned by all their writers; and many of their originaldonaria, or votive offerings, are preserved to this day, inthe cabinets of the curious, viz. images of metal, stone orclay, as well as legs, arms, and other parts of the body,which had formerly been hung up in their temples, intestimony of some divine favour or cure effected by theirtutelar deity in that particular member (Vid. Montfauc.Antiquit. T. ii, Par. i. L. iv, c. 4, 5, 6): but the most com-mon of all offeringswere pictures; representing the historyof the miraclous cure or deliverance, vouchsafed upon thevow of the donor.

Nnnc, dea, nunc snccnrre mihi; nam posse mederiPicta docet templis mnlta tabella tuis, Tibul. El. i, 3.

'Now, goddess, help, for thou canst help bestow,As all these pictures round thy altars show.'

"The temples of Aesculapius were more especially richin these offerings,which Livy says, were •the price andpay for the cures that he had wrought for the sick:'where they used always to hang up, and expose to corn-mon view, in tables of brass or marble, a catalogue of allthe miraculous cures which he had performed for his vote-ries: a remarkable fragment of one of the se table is tillremaining and published in Gruter's Collections, havingbeen found 'in the ruins of a temple of' that god in thei Iand of the Tiber at Rome; upon which the learned

0/1' THE ROMA.N CA.THOLICS. 215

Montfaucon made this reflection: that 'in it are eitherseen the rilea of the devil, to deceive the credulous; orelse the tricks of Pagan priests, suborning men to coun-terfeit diseases and miraculous cures' (Montfauc, Antiq.T. ii. P. i. L. iv. c. 6). Now this piece of superstition, hadbeen found of old so beneficial to the priesthood, that itcould not fail of being taken into the scheme of the Romishworship: where it reigns at this day in as full height andvigor, as in the ages of Pagan idolatry; and in so gross amanner as to give scandal and offence even to some oftheir own communion. Polydore Virgil, after having <le-scribed this practice of the ancients, 'in the same manner,'says he, 'do we now offer up in our churches little imagesof wax; and as oft as any part of the body is hurt, as thehand or foot, &c., we presently make a vow to God, orone of his saints, to whom upon our recovery we make anoffering of that hand or foot in wax: which custom is nowcome to that extravagance, that we do the same thing forour cattle, which we do for ourselves, and make offeringson acconnt of our oxen, horses, sheep; where a scrupulousman will question whether in this we imitate the religionor the superstitione of our ancestors.' (polydore Virgilde Inv. ReI', J.J. v. i.)

"'The altar. of St. Phillip Neri,' says Baronius, 'shineswith votive pictures and images, the proofs of as manymiracles; receiving every day the additional lustre offresh offerings from those, who have been favoured withfresh benefits.' (Baronius's Annals i. An. 57.)

"There is commonly so great a number of these offer-

- Well may they suspect themselves of superstition. "Their con-stant, m~thod of recurring to differeat saints in their different exigencies,IS nothIng' else, as many writers have observed, but an exact copy oft!J.ePu",onn superstition, grounded on a-popular belief, that tbeir saints,like the old demons, have eaoh their distinct provinces, or praefectures,assIgned to them; -some oyer particular countries, cities, societies, undeven the different trades of men' others oyer the several diseases of tbebody, or the mind; others over'the winds, the rain, and various fruitsof the earth (Ori~. ron. eels. 8, p. 3.~(»), So that God's rebuke to theapostatizing Jews, is full as applicable to the papists, for committing'~horedoms with their idols, en-I saying, 'I will tio after my lovers, whoA'IVeme my bread and my water, m," wool and my flax, l~ine oil andm, drl1lk - for they did not know that I gave them their corn, andwme, and oil. ann rnulrlplied their ailver and gold which they preparedfor Baal. ]lO'Cll ii. 5, 8.·.. .lliddletnn'. Lette...from Home, pp. 13(), 140.

216 THE IDOLATROUS WOllSHIP

/

ings hangmg Up in their churches, that, instead of addingany beauty, they often give offence,by covering or ob-structing the sight of something more valuable and orna-mental; which we find to have been the case likewise illthe old heathen temples; where the priests were obligedsometimes to take them down, for the obstruction whichthey gave to the beauty of a fine pillar or altar. Forthey consist chiefly,as has been said, of arms and legs, andlittle figures of wood or wax, but especially of pieces orboard painted, and sometimes indeed fine pictures, describ-ing the manner of the deliverance obtained by the mirac-ulous interposition of the saint invoked: of which offer-ings.the blessed Virgin is so sure always to carry off thegreatest share, that it may be truly said of her, whatJuvenal says of the goddess Isis, whose religion was atthat time in the greatest vogue at Rome, that the paintersget their livelihood out of her.

Pictores quis nescit ab Iside pasci. Juuenal,, As once to Isis, now it may be said,That painters to the Virgin owe their bread.'

"But the gifts and offeringsof the kind that I have beenspeaking of, are the fruits only of vulgar zeal, and thepresents of inferior people; whilst princes and great per-sons, as it used to be of old, frequently make offerings oflarge vessels, lamps, and even statues of massy silver orgold; .with diamonds, and all sorts of precious stones ofincredible value; so that the church of Loretto is nowbecome a proverb for its riches of this sort, just as Apollo'stemple at Delphi was with the ancients on the same ac-count.

'Ovo' oaa NUVO' oMiJ, U¢~TO~ tv: iJ, t€pytLit>oi{3ov'A1r6AM>v~. Homer Il. L. 404.

'Not all the wealth Apollo's temple holdsCan purchase one day's life.' &c. Dr. Middleton's Letter

from Rome, pp. 52-57.

Fourthly. The Roman Catholics worship relics.Relics, such as are worshipped among the Roman

Catholics, are the remains of the bodies or clothes orother things of saints and martyrs, and the instrumentsby which they were put to death,

It is njoined upon their ministers to inculcate among

•

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLIOS. 217

the people the veneration and honour of relics. " Letthem tea 1," (say they,) "that the holy bodies of the holymartyrs and others living with Christ, whose bodies wereliving members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit,and will be by him raised to eternal life and glorified, areto be venerated by the faithful, since by them God be-stows many benefits upon men. So that they are to bewholly condemned, as the church has long before con-demned them, and now repeats the sentence, who affirmthat veneration and honour are not due to the relics ofthe saints, or tIiat it is a useless thing that the faithfulshould honour these and other sacred monuments, nnd

, that the memorials of the saints are in vain frequent u, toobtain their help and assistance." (Decrees and Oanonsof the Oouncilof Trent, sess, xxv.)

It is here said of these relic, that" by them God be-stows many benefits upon men." Many benefits, nodoubt, in the line of offerings or gifts, are derived to Ro-mish priests by utenns of relics, from the stupid worship-pers of them, superstitiously vi 'iting the churches or mon-asteries where the e remains of persons or things are su-perstitiously or knavishly shown.

"The honouring the relics of saints, appears to haveoriginated in a "ery ancient custom' that prevailed amongCillistians, of assembling at the cemeteries or burying-places of the martyrs, for the purpose of commemoratingthem, and of performing divine worship. When the pro-fession of Christianity obtained the 'protection of civilgovernment, under Coustantine the Great, stately churcheswere erected over sepulchres, and their names and memo-ries were treated with eyery possible token of affectionand respect. This reverence, however, gradually exceededall reasonable bounds; and those prayers and religion"services were thought to have a peculiar sanctity andvirtue which were performed over their tombs: hence tlu-practice which afterwards obtained of depositing relics ofsaints and martyrs under the altars in all churches. Thispractice was then thouzht of such importance, that St.Ambrose would not co;'''ecrate a church because it hadno relics; and the council of Constantinople in Trullo "

• I. e. in & tower of th,> imperial palace. which was called Trnlln« •.that is, the Cupola.


ordained, that those altars should be demolished underwhich there were found no relics. The rage of procuringrelies for this and other purposes of a similar nature be-came so excessive, that in 386, the emperor Theodosiusthe Great was obliged to pass a law, forbiding the peopleto dig up the bodies of the martyrs, and to traffic in theirrelics.

"Such was the origin of that respect for sacred relics,which afterwards was perverted into a formal worship of

'them. In the end of the ninth century it was not suffi-cient to reverence departed saints, and to confide in theirintercessions and succours; to clothe them with an imagi-nary power of healing diseases, working miracles, and de-livering from all sorts of calamities and dangers; theirbones, their clothes, the apparel and furniture they hadpossessed during their lives, the very ground which they hadtouched, or in-which their putrified carcasses were laid, weretreated with a stupid veneration, and supposed to retainthe marvelous virtue of healing all disorders, both of bod vand mind, and of defending such as possessed then;.against all the assaults and devices of the devil. The con-sequence of all this W:;lS, that everyone was eager to pro-vide himself with these salutary remedies; consequentlygreat numbers undertook fatiguing and perilous voyages,and subjected themselves to all sorts of hardships; whileothers made use of this delusion to accumulate theirriches, and to impose upon the miserable multitude by themost impious jmd shocking inventions. As the demandfor relics was prodigious and universal, the clergy em-ployed the utmost dexterity to satisfy all demands, andwere far from being nice in the methods they used forthat end. The bodies of the saints were sought by fastingand prayer, instituted by the priest, in order to obtain adivine answer, and an infallible direction; and this pre-tented direction never "failed to accomplish their desires:the holy carcass was always found, and that always inconsequence, as they impiously gave out, of the suggestionand inspiration of God himself. Each discovery of thiskind was attended with excessive demonstrations of joy,and animated the. zeal of these devout seekers to enrichthe church still more and more with this new kind oftreasure. Many traveled with this view into the eastern

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLIOS. 219provinces, and frequented the places which "Christ and hisdisciples had honoured with their presence; that with thebones Th.(1 other sacred remains of the first heralds of thegospel, they might comfort dejected minds, calm trem-bling consciences, save sinking states, and defend their in-habitants from all sorts of calamities. Nor did these pioustravellers return home empty: the craft, dexterity, andknavery of the Greeks, found a rich prey in the stupidcredulity of the Latin relic-hunters, and made a profitablecommerce of this new devotion. The latter paid consid-erable sums for legs and arms, skulls, and jaw-bones, (sev-eral of which were Pagan, and some not human,) andother things that were supposed to have belonged to theprimitive worthies of the Christian church; and. thu theLatin churches carne to the posse sion of those celebrated •relics of St. Mark, St. James, St. Batholomew, Cyprian,Pantaleon, and others, which they show at this day withso much ostentation. But there were many, who, unableto procure for themselves these spiritual treasures by voy-ages anel prayers, had recourse to violence and theft; forall sorts of means, and all sorts of attempts, in a cause ofthis nature, were considered.when successful, as pious andacceptable to the Supreme Being." (Bucl.;'s TheologicalDictionary, art. Relics.)

"They show :it Rome the heads of St. Peter and St.Paul, encased in silver busts, set with jewels, a lock of theVirgin Mary's hair, a phial of her tears, and a piece ofher green petticoat, a robe of Jesus Christ, sprinkled withhis blood, some drops of his blood in a bottle, some of thewater which flowed out of the wound in his side, some ofthe sponge, a large piece of the cross, all the nails used inthe crucifixion, a piece of the stone of the sepulchre onwhich the angel sat, the identical porphyry pillar onwhich the cock perched when he crowed after Peter de-nied Christ, the rods of Moses and Aaron, and two piecesof the wood of the real ark of the covenant l Rome inthe nineteeth Century, ii. P: 234, 289." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. xv., p. 361.' n, :W.) .

"In the church of the Eseuriul, In Spmn, there areeleven thousand relics. A few extracts from a Spanishaccount of them, printed in 1764, will probably amuse thereader.

220 TOE IDOLATROUS WORSHIP

, We will first begin with the relics of our Saviour,who, as he gave himself to us, left us some of his preciousjewels, which are incomparable and divine.

, A sacred hair of his most holy head or beard is pre-served here with the utmost veneration in a preciousvase; and opportunity can never offer us a better hair toobtain glory by.

'Several pieces of his most holy cross, all admirablygarnished with gold, silver, and jewels, especially thatwhich is adored on Good Friday.

'Thirteen thorns out of his crown which pierce the soulwith their 'points, when we consider them as in the deli-cate temples of that most loving King of glory.

'Some pieces of the column to which he was bound,and of the manger in which he was born to die for ns;which invite hearts to break in pieces through compassionand gratitude.

'In the second place, are the relics of his most holymother, which gladden the hearts of those who seriouslyconsider their incomparable value. Three or four pieces.of the habit which adorned that most pure and virginalbody, in which was formed that of Jesus Christ our Lord,-her son, are placed in one case. Also a piece of the hand-kerchief with which she Wiped her' eyes, at the foot of tilecross,when those tears, as precious as the gems of Aurora,joining themselves with the rubies of the western sun,incorporated themselves with the treasure of our redemp-tion.

, Besides these, we possess a hair, which may be sus-pected to be that which, flowing down her neck, enamour-ed her sponse. .

,We possess also a thigh of the glorious martyr St.Lawrence; it is entire, but the hair is singed: the holeswhich were made in it by the prongs which turned himon the gridiron, are very visible. - One of this saint's feet:the toes arc entire, though contracted: between two ofthem is a small cinder, which in the eye of piety shineslike a carbuncle.

'In order to protect the edifice from lightning, therearc several relics, especially those of St. Lawrence, itspatron, in metal cases, inserted in the balls and crosses

OF THE ROMAN CilTHOLICS. 221

which are on the tops of the towers,' Twiss's Travels inPqrt;.,ugal and S'p~in, p. 105." (Ibid. prope finem, n. 28.)

" Such quantities of wood, supposed to be the wood ofthe true cross, are now in the possession of private per-sons, or shown- in the churches, that, were they all puttogether, they would make a burden too heavy for tenmen to carry. Great numbers of them are thereforeevidently false and counterfeit ;" and yet as they are allsupposed to have touched the body of Christ, they areall worshipped with divine ioorship? (Bower's IIistoryof the Popes- Gl'e[Jory the Great, prope finem, note.)

"It would be difficult to imagine anything more scan-dalous, more disgusting, more contrary to the spirit of thegospel than the popish farce recently enacted nt Treves,a CIty of Germany, belonging now to the kingdom ofPrussia. The clergy of Treves pretend to have in theirhands the seamless coat of Jesus Christ (John xix. 23, 24),and they made a formal exhibition of it, from the 8th ofAngust to the 6th of October [1844], inviting all Roman-ists to come and see and touch this precious relic. Some

• Examination and inquiry would doubtless make sad havoc amongRomish relics. "'At the extremity of the "reat nave of St. Peter's [atRome), behind the altar, stands a sort of throne, composed of preciousmaterials, and supported by four gigautic pillars. This throne enshrinesthe real, plain, worm-eaten woollen chair, in which St. Peter, the princeof the apostles, is said to have pontificated.' 'When the French wereat Rome, 'they removed its superb casket, and discovered the relic.Upon its mouldering and dusty surface were t:;aeed carvings which borethe appearance of letters. The chair was quickly brought mto a betterlight, tho dnst and cobwebs removed, anti the inscription faithfullycopied, The writing is in Arabic characters, and is the well-known ron-fession of Mahometan faith, <There is but OlleGod, and Mahomet is hisprophet,' It is supposed that the chair was brought from Pa!estine bythe crusaders. Lady Morgan's Italy, iii. p. 81.

" The church of St. Lorenzo in Genoa possessed a most sacred relic,a dish of one en tire and perfect emerald, said to be that on which ourSaviour ate his last supper, It was guarded by knights of honour, undonly: exposcd to view once a year. The French seized. it! an~l m?stsacrilegiously; sent it to a laboratory! 'Instead of submitting It, Withits traditional story, to a council of Trent, thcy handed it over to theInstitute of Paris; and chemists, geologists and philosC?Phers, were call-e.l on to decide thc fate of that vessel which bishops, priests and deaconshad pronounced to be too . acrcd for human illve:;tio-.ltion, or even forhuman touch. The result of the scientific inquis.ition was, that theemerald dish was a piece of gretm .qlau!' Ibid. i. P: 414." Cramp'.Text-Book of r"p":y, chap. xv., prOfUfi"mt, n. 27.

222 THE iDOLATROUS WORSHIP

journals say that eleven hundred thousand pilgrims re-sponded to this call. The most moderate computationmakes the number of visitors at least five hundred thou-sand. What a striking proof that the church of Romeshows ever the same spirit, the same conduct, the samecontempt of the common sense of mankind, and the sameinclination to deceive miserably the consciencesof men!In the nineteenth century, in the heart of civilizedEurope,by the side of the flourishing literary institutions of Ger-many, when a thousand periodical journals are daily re-lating all t re news, are priests who dare, in the face ofheaven and earth, to exhibit an old bit of cloth which'they call our Saviour's coat! and they promise a plenaryindulgence to all who will come to view it! and they assertthat this relic will work miracles! and a million of menare found floc1.-ingfrom all parts to countenance this ab-surd sacrilege. Oh! let us not be so proud of what wecall the intelligence of our <r.fJe.Gross darkness still coversthe people. There are still thousands, millionsof unhappymen, who are the dupes of ambitious and greedy priests.'- It is stated ' that Pilgrims to this marvelous piece of oldcloth, have been heard in numbers to use' this prayer,'Holy coat! pray for us l' Think of that, Americans._Amidst the intelligence of the nineteenth century, 'HOLYCOAT! PRAY FOR us!'" (Dr. DOWling's History of Ro-manism, book ix., chap. v., § 38.)

The Romish passion for relics was the occasion ofRomish pilgrimages, that is, journeys to some place orplaces deemed sacred and venerable,· in order to pay de-votion to the relics of Rome deceased saint or saints.Among the several places which have been most visitedby persons on such pilgrimages as these, Jerusalem andRome are the most noted. " Helena, the mother of (Ion-stantine the Great, seems to have been the first who gavethe signal for these religious journeys, At least, it isstated by Socrates, Hist, Eccl., 1. i., c. 17, and by Thee-doret; H. E., lib. i., c. 18, that she was instructed by a dreamto go to Jerusalem, and that she wished to find the grave

• "Popish places of devotion and the pilgrima~ to them arc super-stitious and idolatrous, having no warrant of God s word for their holi-ness, but manifest prohibition in God's law. Ezod. xx." Fulkt's Cotl-fuuuio» of the RJumish T estament, Acts viii. 27.

'OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 228of Christ; that she actually did find three crosses, with asuperscription; that one of them instantly cured a dyingwoman, and was therefore concluded to be the cross ofChrist. She gave a part of it to the city of Jerusalem;and sent the other part to the emperor, who encased it inhis own statue, and regarded it as the Palladium of hisnew city; and that the people used to assemble around •this statue with wax candles." See J. Andr. Schmidt,Problem. de crucis Dominicae pec-Heleuam Constantini ,Imp. matrem inventione, Holmst., 1724." (Mosheim'sEcclesiastical History, cent. iv., part ii., chap. iii., § 2, n,(I).)-Rome, of course, has been a famous resort of pil-grims from all quarters. Pilgrimages thither, to the sup-posed tombs of the apostles Peter uu(4Paul, were thoughtto be of extraordinary merit. "As such pilgrimagesproved very profitable to the popes, the Roman mission-aries spared no pains to encourage them; they even per-suaded their credulous proselytes, as may be gatheredfrom Bede, that all, who traveled to Rome, to visit thetombs of the apostles, and died there, went straight tobeaven. For that historian, speaking of the journey ofof Ceadwalla to Rome, tells us, that the king had ardentlydesired to be baptized at the tombs of the apostles, andto die at Rome, having learnt (no doubt, of the Romishmissionaries, for who but they could have taught him sucha lesson?) that from the ground, where the tombs stood,the entry into hea n was open to all nkind, - Thesuperstitious practice of traveling to Rome was first in-troduced among the English by Wilfrid, who, being yeta youth, undertook a journey to Rome, says EddinsStephanus in his life, to see the chair of St. Peter; attempt-ing, with that design, a way never before trodden by anyof his nation. That journey Wilfrid undertook in theyear 658, and before he died.ihe had the satisfaction of

• Afterward, in the fifth century, pilgrimages were" so common, thatsome Christians fell into absurdities truly ridiculous. They Journeyedquite to Arabia, in order to see the dunghill on w~ich th~ diseased Jobsat, and to kiss the ground which had absorbed hIS precIOUS blood; asc.hr!Jsostom inform us, (Homily v. to the Antiochinns), where he says, inhis rhetorical way, thnt the dunehill of Job was more venerable than thethrone of a king." Afosh,'im's EccZtsiastical Hist., cent. v., part ii., chap.m., § 2, n. (4).


seeing his example followed by incredible numbers of hiscountrymen, traveling to Rome, to visit the holy placesthere; and in the mean time, leaving their families to shiftfor themselves. It was not only among the men, butamong the women as well as the men, that this humorprevailed. And what fruit the female pilgrims reapedfrom their pilgrimage«, we learn from a letter writtenabout the middle of the eighth century, by Boniface, arch-bishop of Mentz, to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury :in that letter Boniface, who was himself a native of Eng-land, and had the honour of his country at heart, ndvisesCuthbert to get the pilgrimages of women to Rome, by allmeans, forbidden, either by the king», or a syno-I, ' becausemost of the women' says he, 'perish in the undertaking,that is, forfeit the r virtue, there being scarce a city inFrance or Lombardy, where some adulteress, or prostitute,is not to be foun.I of the English nation;' so that the effectof this devotion in the English women, was to supplywith prostitutes the French and Lombards, through whosecountries they passed. However, it does not appear thatCuthbert ever offered to forbid it, or to get it forbidden."(Bouer:« History of the Popes-Pope 8ergius.)

Essentially the same was the origin of the crusades,those military expeditions of the Rornish Christians againstthe infidels or lI-fohammedans, for the conquest of Pales-tine. For," the foundation of them was a superstitiousveneration for hose places where 0 Saviour performedhis miracles, and accomplished the work of man's redernp-tion. Jerusalem had been taken and Palestine conqueredby Omar, This proved a considerable interruption to thepilgrims, who flocked from all quarters to perform theirdevotions at the holy sepulchre. They had, however, stillbeen allowed this liberty, on paying a small tribnte to theSaracen califs,who were not much inclined to molest them.But, in 106!, this city changed its masters. The Turkstook it from the Saracens; and being much more fierceand barbarous, the pilgrims now found they could nolonger perform their devotions with the snrne safety. Anopinion was about this time also prevalent in Europe,which made these pilgrimages much more frequent thanformerly : it was imagined, that the 1000 years mentionedin Re» .. ' r. WE'rE'fulfilled ; that Christ was soon to make

OF THE MAlAN CA THOLICS. 225

his appearance in Palestine to judge the world; and con-sequently that journeys to that country were in the highestdegree meritorious, and even absolutely necessnry. Themultitudes of pilgrims who now flocked to Palestine nieet-ing with a very rough reception from the Turks, filled allEurope with complaints against those infidels, who pro-faned the holy city, and derided the sacred mysteries ofChristianity even in the place where they were fulfilled."(Buck's Theological Dictionary, art. Oroieade, or Oru-sade.) In snch a state of things was set on foot the pro- .ject of r<>isingforces, to go and rescue the Holy Land outof the hands of the infielels. The design of this was fit'stformed by Gregory VII. (elected A. D. 1073); but so f:1I'as we can judge from the principles and view of' thatpope, as well a from the use his succe ,aI'S have made fIt, "we have but too much reason to believe that it pro-ceeded from a very different zeal from that for religion, orfOI' the relief of the persecuted Christians in the East.The holy war, as it is called, lasted near two hundredyears, cost perhaps more Christian blood than had beenshed before in all the wars the Christians had made," andnone in the end gained :my thing by it but the church andthe popes." (Bower's History of the Popes-s-P, UrbanII.)

.F~ftMy. The Roman Cntholics worship images."}Horem'er," say they, "let them [viz. the ministers of

reli.gionJ teach that the images of Christ, of the Virgin,Mother of God, and of other saints, are to be had and re-tained, especially in churches, and due honour and vener-ation rendered to them. Not that it is believed that anydivinity or power resides in them, on account of whichthey are to be worshipped, or that any benefit is to besought from them, 01' :my confidence placed in images, aswas formerly by the Gentiles, who fixed their hope in idols.But the honour with which thev nrc resrarded is referredto those who are represented by them ;"'sothat we aclol'cChrist, nnd venerate the saints, whose likene ses theseimages bear, when we kiss them, and uncover our heads

• "It is computet! that in the whole of the crusades to Palestine, twomillions of Europeans w~re buried in the east." T!fller'. HistlYT'!/'partii., sect, xvii., 6. .

14


in their presence, and prostrate ourselves. All which hasbeen sanctioned by the decrees of councils against thc im-pugners of images, especiallythe second council of Nice."(Decrees and Canons of the Oouncil of Trent, sess.xxv.)

They here hold forth, that" due honour and venerationare to be rendered to images:" of what use is it for themto say, that" the honour with which they are regarded isreferred to those who are represented by them? II the ideais too refined for the mass of the people. Practically theyarc the images themselves that are honoured, vener-ated, worshipped. "I may safely say, that among the Ro-man Catholics, there is scarce one in a thousand, who doesnot immediately address, in his prayers, the image itself,which is rank idolatry." (Bower's Histm'Y of the Popes-Leo the Great. Vol. i. P: 195, noto.) The fact is,images cannot be allowed ana idolatry prevented. Ac-cordingly, thus saith JEROV.AH: "Thou shalt not makeunto thee any graven imagc, or any likeness of any thingthat is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, orthat is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bowdown thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thyGod am a jealous God." Exocl. xx. 4, 5. " Had God in-tended to forbid the worship of all images without distinc-tion, I should be glad to know with what more significantand comprehensive words he could have expressed hismind, then those of the second commandment, 'Thoushalt not make to thyself any graven images,' any at all.Are the words, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' morecomprehensive or significant? As to he distinction ofabsolute and relative worship," now used in the schools to

• "Thc many kinds of worship, ascribed to images by Romish doc-tors, shew their disagrcemcrrt, shuffling, and difficulty, as well as the ab-surdity of their system. Latria, Dulin, Hyper-dulia, sovereign, supreme,divine, subordinate, inferior, improper, relative, outward, reductive,analozical, ac idental, imperfect and honorary worship, all these epithetsand distinction' and many more, have been used by Rornish theologians,to evan diff 11lty or explain nonsense. These, they wield with equalresolution and fury n~ninst heretics and against each other. Thepopish advocate finds himself opposed to the ancients, and exposed totheir heaviest artillery. But he escapes by a distinction. His systemdiffers from some Pope or council. But all is reconciled by the media-tion of some luck)' epithet or orne useful discrimination: and these Me

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 22ielude the law, 'Thou shalt not bow down to them, norworship them,' it i quite impertinent; for whether theworship be absolute or relative, it is ~o01'I:iMp/ andwhetlier it be the one or the other, they 'boio down to them.'(Bower's History of' the Popes-s-P, Stephen II., in med.)

And what have they to urge in favour of their practiceof worshipping images? They pretend to find examplefor the use of images in the two cherubim, which Moseswas commanded to make in thetwo ends of the mercy-seat over the Israelitish ark of the covenant: but thosetwo chernbim overshadowing the mercy-seat were notobjects of worship; and they had their place in the innercourt of' the temple, the holy (:1 holies, wher th y W renot even seen by the people, IIf cour e not worshipp d bythem. The same is their pretension with rc ct to thebrazen serpent, as mnde by divine command, in looking towhich the bitten Israelites were healed: but Romanistsvery well know, that the brazen serpent was not made tobe worshipped, and that when king Hezekiah found thepeople burned incense to it, he broke it in pieces, and is saidto have done right in the sight of the Lord, as we-read in2 Kings xviii. 3,4.- In the New-Testament, they turn toDeb. xi. 21, and seek to find in it something favourable tothe worship of images by translating the passage falsely,thus: "By' faith, Jacob dying, blessed everyone of thesons of Joseph: and adored the top of his rod." (.Rhe-ntish New-Testament.) Here the preposition trr, upon, isby them wholly suppressed. That cannot be a Bible prac-tice, which seeks to support itself by a corruption of theword of God. •

numerous and ready on every occasion of difficulty." Dr. Edgar'sVariations of Popery, chap. xvi., lWh.jllit. .

• "But, notwithstanding, it is thus positively said in the holy Scrip-tare, that the brazen serpe~t was destroyed by Hezekiah ; yet the impu-dence of the Rom:mists is such, that in the church of St. Ambro"c atMilan, they now keep and show to their devotees a. brazen se.rpent,w~ich they pretend to be the very same that Moses. did. set up lU. thewilderness'; and upon this belief, an id.olatrons d~votlOn IS t~ere prod toIt, as gross a that of the Jews, for which Hezekiah ca~sed It to be de-stroyed. But it must not be denied, that, among their learned men,there are tho 'e who acknowledge the cheat, and disclaim it." . Dr. P~i-deoua'« Conneaio» of the Old and the NeU' Testaments, vol. I., part 1.,

hook I., pp. 107, 108.


"That the Christians, for the first three centuries afterChrist, and the greater part of t fourth, neither wor-shipped images, nor used them in their worship, has, byseveral protestant divines, been so fully proved from theconcurring testimonies of all the primitive fathers, thatm:my eminent Roman Catholic writers, ashamed to dis-pute so plain a truth, have ingenuously owned it."(Boioer:« History of the Popes - P. Gregory II. Vol. ii.,p.28.)

"The introduction of images into places of Christianworship,and the idolatrous practices to which, in processof time, it gave rise, is an evil that dates its origin soonnfter the times of Constantine the Great; but, like manyother superstitious practices, it made its way by slow andimpercepeibledegrees. The earlier Christians reprobatedevery species of image worship in the strongest language;·and some of them employed the force of ridicule to greatadvantage, in order to expose its absurdity. When theempress Constantia desired Eusebius to send her theimage of Jesus Christ, he expostulated with her on theimpropriety and absurdity of her requisition in the follow-ing striking words - 'What kina of image of Christ doesyour imperial M:uesty wish to have conveyed to you? Isit the image of his real and immutable nature; or is itthat which he assumed for our sakes,.when he was veiledin the form of a servant?" With respect to the former, Ipresume you are not to learn, that' no man hath knownthe-Son but the Father, neither hath any man known theFather but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willreveal him.' But you ask for the image of Christ whenhe appeared ill human form, clothed in a body similar toour own. Let me inform you, that the body is nowblended with the glory of the Deity, and all that wasmort.il in it is absorbed in life.'" (Jones's History of theOhu'istian Ohurch, chap. iii., sect. v., sub init.)

The worship of images was not extensively received inthe chnrchcs without strong opposition. The contest,both for and against the use of images, was severe, and socontinued, until at length, under the reign of Irene,· em-

• A most atrociously wicked woman, this Irene. Her husband, theemperor Leo IV., WM opposed to the use and worship of images. Slut

OF TlI$ ROMAN CATHOLlCS. 229

press of Constantinople, and her son Constantine, near theclose of the eighth century, that is, in the year 786, wasconvened what is reckoned by the papists the seventh gen-eral council; at which the controversy was decided infavour of images. The council was held at Nice in Bithy-nia, and hence it is called" the second council of Nice,"as referred to in the decree of the council of Trent onimages, already quoted. "The number of bishops presentwas.about three hundred and fifty. In this venerable as-sembly it was decreed,' That holy images of the crossshould be consecrated and put on the sacred vessels andvestments; and upon walls and boards in private housesand in public ways. And especially that thoro bould beerected images of' the Lord God, our aviour Je u Chri. t,of our blessed Lady, the mother of God, of the ven rablangels, and of all the saints. And that whoever shouldpresume to think or teach otherwise, or to throw awayany painted books, or the figure of the cross,or any imageor picture, or any genuine relics of the martyrs, theyshould if bishops or clergymen, be deposed, or if monks orlaymen be excommunicated.' They then pronounced anath-emas upon all who should not receive images, or whoshould apply what the scriptures say against idols to theholy images, or who should call them idols, or who shouldwilfully communicate with those who rejected and de-spised them; adding, according to custom, 'Iiong liveConstantine and Irene his mother- Damnation to allheretics - Damnation on the council that roared againstvenerable images - - The holy Trinity hath deposed

first caused him to he removed by poison, and then assembled the coun-cil of Nice, full of zeal for images. And, not content with ~overning theempire during the minority of her son, she procured his death also, thedeath of her own son Constantine, in order that she herself might reignalone. But in tho year 802, she was banished by the emperor Nicepht>-rus to tho island of Lesbos, where she died the year foJlowing. SelllJfosheim'.< Ecclesiastical lIistory, cent. viii., part ii., chap. iii., § 13, textand notes (23) & (26).

- The council thcy had in view was tho council convened by the em-peror Cousrantiue Copronymus, at Constantinople, A. D. 754, called bythe Greet.s tho s enth !J'n~ral council. "This council was composed of338 bishops; a greater number than had ever before boen assembled inunr council. The council held its sessions in the imperial palace ofHlera, over ~ainst the city on the Asiatic shore; and delibe~ated fromthe tenth of February till the seventh of August, when they adjourned to


them.' One would think the council of Pandemoniumwould have found it difficultto carry impiety and profane-ness much beyond this. - Irene and Constantine ap-proved and ratified these decrees- the result of whichwas, that idols and images were erected in all thechurches, and those who opposed them were treated withgreat severity. And thus, by the intrigues of the popesof Rome, iniquity was established by a law, and the wor-ship of idols authorized and confirmed in the Catholicchurch, though in express opposition to all the principlesof natural religion, and the nature and design of the Chris-tian revelation." (Jones, chap. iii., sect. v., in med.)

"The bishops of the second council of NicE',an assem-.bly of the most remarkably credulous and ignorant menthat perhaps ever met, to prove the antiquity of the useand worship of images, told a wonderful story of an imageof our Saviour made by Nicodemus, perhaps when hecame to Jesus by night. That image, said the goodfathers, had been long worshipped by all true Christians inthe city of Berytus in Syria. But some sacrilegious Jewshaving found means to convey it away, and crucified itout of hatred to Christ and the Christians, there issuedfrom it, as if Christ himself had been crucified anew, anincredible quantity of blood and water, which was sentinto all parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe." (Bower'sHistory of the Popes - Gregory II. Vol. ii., p. 29, note.)This story" wns believed by the good fathers, and when itwas read lrew tears from the eyes of the whole assembly."Such were their sympathies! -" I should" (says Bower)

the church of Sf. Jfary ad Blochemas in Co;,slantinople, and there pub-lished their decrees. Its acts p nd deliberations have all perished, orrather, been destroycd by the patrons of image-worship, except so muchof them as the second Nicene council saw fit to quote, for the purpose ofconfuting them, in their sixth Bet. (Harduin's Concilis, tom. iv, p.325--444.) From thesc quotations it appears, that the council deliber-ated soberly, and reasoned discreetly, from Scripture and the Fathers;that they maintained, that all worship of images was contrary to Scrip-ture, and to the sense of the church in the purcr ages; that it was inola-try, and forbidden by the second commandment. They also maintained,that the use of images in churches and places of wor .hip, was II customborrowed from thc pllgllns; that it was of dangerous tendency, andought to be abolished. They accordingly enacted canons, expressiveof these views and requiring a corresponding prscriee." Jfosllelnl, rent.viii., part ii., chap, iii., § 12, n. (24).

OF THE R02JAN CATHOLICS. 231

"l:\uite tire the reader were I to relate the many absurd,childish, and ridiculous tales, the many dreams of oldmonks, and old women's stories, that were read out ofobscure and fabulous writers, or grayely told by some ofthe bishops of this venerable assembly to convince theIconoclasts, that images had ever been worshipped inthe catholic church, and that God had, by stupendousmiracles, approved of that worship. To some of them,however, I must allow a place here, that from them thereader may judge of the rest, as well as of the sense, wis-dom, peuetratio ,and learning of those, who not onlywere not ashamed to relate such idle and incredible sto-ries, 01' hear them related in such an as embly, bntgrounded chiefly upon them a definition of faith. - Outof the Pratum Spirituale, a book only fit for the entertain-ment of children, was read the following story. An oldmonk, who had been haunted with the spirit of fornicationever since his youth, finding the unclean spirit continuedto assault him, without intermission, even in his old age,began to lament his hard fate, and addressing the devil,'how long,' said he, 'wilt thou plague and torment me?Depart from me now; thou hast been with me even to oldage.' Hereupon the devil appearing to him said, 'swearto me that thou wilt tell no man what I shall say to thee,and I will assault thee no more.' The monk swore as thedevil directed him, and thereupon the devil, satisfied heshould compass his end, the damnation of the old monk,more effectually by diverting him fi'om the worship ofimages, than by tempting him to uncleanness, said to him,'worship no more tbis image,' the image of the virginMary with her Son in her arms, 'and I will tempt theeno more.' The monk desired time to consider of it, anddiscovered the next day to the abbot Theodore, notwith-standing the oath he had taken, all that had passed be-tween him find the devil. The abbot commended him forbreakinz his oath, and at the same time assured bim, that'he had" better go into all the stews in the city than for-bear worshipping Ohrist nnd his mother in their images;'·

• " , Expedit autem tibi potius ut non dimittas in civitate ista Lupa-nar, in quod non introeas quam ut recuses adorare Dominum-nostrumJesum Christurn cum propria matre in sua imagine,' were the words ofthe abbot. - Concil, Nit', 2. p. 269."

232 TI1& IPOJ,AT/JOUS WORSHIP

that is, if he could not redeem himself from the tempta-tion by :my other means bnt by either renouncing theworship of an image, or flatisfying his lust with all theharlots in the town, he ought to let loose the reins to hislust. The answer of the abbot, that would have raisedthe indignation of any other Christian assembly,and wouldhave been rejected with the utmost abhcrrcnce, as uttered'by the devil of fornication himself in the disguise of an ab-bot, was received by the council,by a council of three hun-dred and fifty or three hundred and seventy bishops,withgeneral applause; nay, the assembly s so well pleasedwith the whole story, that they ordered it to be readagain in the following session.- Out of the same bookwere read two other tale!', and both approved and ap-plauded by the council. John the anehoret, a very greatman, as he is called, lived in a cave at Sochas in Palestine,where he had an image of the virgin Mary with Christ inher anna. Before that image the holy anchoret kept acandle constantly burning; and when ltis devotionprompted him, as it frequently-did, to undertake a pil-grimage to Jerusalem, to mount Sinai, or to any other'more distant sanetury, he used to commit the care of hiscandle to the virgin Mary, charging her not to let it goout, lest she and her son should be left in the dark. Thevirgin acquitted herself of her trust with great fidelity;for though the holy man was absent sometimes two, some-times four, and sometimes six months, he found thecandle burning, nnd not wasted in the least, at his return.The other story was of a woman, who having dug a deeppit to find water, and finding none, was ordered in hersleep to lay the image of the abbot Theodosius at thebottom of the pit; which she did, and the pit immediatelyfilled with most excellent water. Of this miracle thefathers thought no man could doubt but a Mahometnn01' a Jew, since the person, who relates it, saw the well,and drank of the water. The true criterion, or mark ofdistinction between true and false miracles is, accordingto St. Irenaeus, that true miracles are done for the benefitof maoklnd, And what mighty benefit was it to mankindthat a pit should be filled with water for the convenienceof a silly woman, or that a candle should be kept constant-

OF TUX ROM.lN CA.T110/J.CS.

1y burning to light nobody." (Ibid. Pope Hadrian,post med.)

One of the most remarkable images worshipped by theRoman Catholics, is an image of our Saviour, which iscalled the Ve?'onica, or holy handkerchief. "Weare told,that as our Saviour was carrying his cross to mount Calva-ry, a pious woman, named Ve1'onica, seeing him bathedin sweat under so great a burden, and touched with com-passion, made her way through the crowd, and wiped hisface with a handkerchief'; and that our Saviour, to rewardthe good woman for that small relief, left the impressionof his countenance on the cloth. That image, called bythe name of its original owner, the lTeronica, is suppo edto have been brought to Rome, in the time of the crnp 1"01'Tiberius; and there it is kept to this day, and exposed,at solemn times, to public adorntion ; the many miracles,says Pame1ius,(Pamel. Annot. in Apologet. Tertull. c. 12,)that are daily wrought by it, leaving no room to questionits authenticity, It is once a year visited, and solemnlyworshipped, by the pope, and all the cardinals; and thefollowing prayer is appointed to be said at the showingof it: 'Hail, holy face of our Redeemer, printed upon acloth as white as snow; purge us from all spot of vice,and join us to the company of the blessed. Bring ns to ourcountry, 0 happy figure! there to see the pure face ofChrist.' . Reasonable requests indeed, to be made to apainted handkerchief! To every repetition of this prayer,pope John XXII. annexed ten thousand days' indul-gence. As that cloth is supposed to have touched thebody of Christ, it is worshipped with the worship of Levtria, that is, with the same supreme or sovereign worshipthat is due to God; and it has nn -altar consecrated to itin the church of St. Peter at Rome, culled' the altar of~hemost holy handkerchief.' But of this wonder-workingimage no mention is made, nor is the least notice taken,by any writer whatever during the long elisputo about theantiquity and lawfnlness of images, nor indeed during thefirst ten centuries after Christ. And who can believe, thatsuch an image could have remained so long utterly un-known to the Christian world; or, if it bad been known,that no writer would have mentioned it; that none of theadvocates for images, not even the father of the second


council of Nice, who believed every old woman's storythey had ever heard, would have availed themselves of itagainst their adversaries? An image of our Saviour,made by himself,would have been a stronger proof of thelawfulness of images, than one made by his night discipleNicodemus. As for the miracles said and believed to bedaily wronght by the Veronica at Rome, no less stupen-dous miracles are said to be daily wrought by the Veron-ica in Spain, and by another at Jerusalem. For in thesethree different places Veronicas are shown,are worshippedwith the worship of Latria, and by their respective vota-ries proved-to be originals, from the miracles they dailywork. This multiplication of Veronicas occasionedwarmdisputes, each of the contending parties pretending theirsto be the' original, and the other two only copies,till alucky discovery of the Jesuit Gretser put an end to thequarrel: for by him it was founel out, that the handker-chief of Veronica had three foldings, that on each of themour Saviour imprinted a distinct image, and consequentlythat they are all originals. It were to be wished thatGretser had likewise discovered, and let us know, wherethese three originals were kept concealed from all man-kind, for the space of one thousand years and upwards.

" We are told by Nicephorus Oalistus, (Niceph. Hist. 1.14, c. 2,) that St. Luke drew a picture of our Saviour, andno fewer than seven of the virgin Mary; and what hewrites is confirmed by the following inscription, which"(says Bower) "I have often seen in one of the chapels ofBanta Metria in Wa Eata in Rome: 'Here was formerlythe oratory of St. Paul the apostle, of St. Luke the evan-gelist, and of St. Martial, all three martyrs; and here waslikewise found the image of the blessed virgin Mary, oneof the seven that were painted by St. Luke.''' , It was atRome,' says Paulus Aringhus, speaking of this inscription,, that the worship of the virgin Mary was first begun and

• "Many moderns have attributed to him [to St. Luke] the mostprofound skill in the science of painting, and that he made some picturesof the ViJ:gin Mary. This is justly esteemed fabulous; nor is thisscience attributed to him by any writer previously to Nicephorus Callisti,in the fourteenth century, an author who scarcely deserves aay credir,especially in relations not confirmed by others." Dr. Clarke's Commen·tary-Priface to the Gospel according to St. Luke ..


recommended to the world; there St. Luke made waron the Iconoclasts with his pencil, which served him in-stead of a sword against the heretics, enemies of imazes.'(Paulus Arin hus, Rom. subterran. 1. 3, c. 12.) F~omthese pictures Nicephorus gives us a very minute descrip-tion of the virgin Mary as to her person, her stature, size,complexion, &c., and even of the lenzth of her fingers,which, he says, were somewhat too lo;g, and not eP.1iteproportioded to the rest of her body. (Niceph. Hist. Ec-cles. 1. 2, c. 23.) But in the time of St. Austin, who livedin the fifth century, not one of these pictures had yet beenheard of; for that father tells us, that in his (lays no onocould give any account of the pel' on of Christ, or of thevirgin Mary (August. de Trinit. 1. 7, c. 4 i 5): nor indeedwas any of them heard of till the time of iceph rns, thais, till the fourteenth century. But since his time theyhave multiplied to such a degree, that twenty nt least arenow shown in different parts; all p inted by St. Luke,and all alike famous for the miracles they 1V0rk." (Ibid.Pope Gregory II. Vot ii., pp. 29, 30, notes.)

At Rome, in their idolatrous way of worshipping, theyuse those temples, and those very altars, which were builtoriginally by their heathen ancestors, the old Romans, tothe honour of their pagan deities ;" where, were we tovisit that oity, and enter into those places of worship, weshould" hardly see any other alteration, than the shrineof some old hero filled by the meaner statue of some

• "It was not till the latter end of the fourth centnry that the pagantemples began to be converted into Christian churches. They had all,till then, been either shut up, or pulled down, the bishops of those timesthinking it a great profanation to worship God even in the places whereworship had been paid to the devil." Bower's Histm"!) <if the Popes-Gre!/or!/tile Great, t'fTS. finem.

" The famous temple of HeIiopoIis, called Balanaiam, was the first Ican find in history to have been converted into a Christian church, aboutthe year 391. About twenty years after the magnificent temple .of theDea Coelestis at Carthnee was likewise turned into a church, With thefollowine remarkable ch~umstanee. 'It had been dedicated, when built,by onc 1\ureIin<, an heathen high priest, as appeared from the inscriptionon thc frontispiece, 'Aurelius POllt!/ex dedicaoit ;' and one o.f the sa~enamc .happening to be bishop of Carthage, the ~amous Aurelius, when It~as given to the Christians, it was by him ?edi<;au:at~ the u,seand ~er·VIceof the Christian religion: so that the inscripnon Aureltus pontifexdedicavit ' served for the Christian, as it had done for the heathen pontiff,and wu therefore left untouched." .Il>idem, note.


modern saint. Nny, they have not always, as I am wellinformed, given themselves the trouble of making eventhis change, but have been content sometimes to take upwith the old image, just as they found it, fter baptizingit only, as it were, or consecrating it anew, by the impo-sition of a Christian name. This their antiquaries do notscruple to put strangers in mind of, in showing theirchurches j and it was, I think," (says Dr. Middleton.) "inthat of St. Agnes, where they showed me an antique sta-tue of' a young Bacchus, which, with a new name, andsome little change of drapery, stands now worshipped un-der the title of a female saint.

"Tully reproaches Clodius,for having publicly dedicatedthe statue of a common strumpet, under the name and·title of the ~c1dess,Liberty; a practice still frequent withthe present rcomans, who have scarce a fine image or pic--ture of a female saint, which is not said to have been des.tined originally by the sculptor or painter for the repre-sentation of his own mistress j and 'who dares,' may wesay, ironically, with the old Roman, to 'violute such ngoddess as this, the statue of a whore? '.

"The noblest heathen temple now remaining in theworld, is the Pantheon or rotunda, which, as the inscrip-tion t over the portico informs us, having been impiouslydedicated of old, by Agl-ippa,to Jove and all the gods,was piously reconsecrated by pope Boniface the fourth, tothe blessed Virgin and all the saints. \Vith this singlealteration, it serves as exactly for all the purposes of thePopish, ::IS it did for the Pagan worship, for which it wasbuilt. For as in the old temple, everyone might find thegoel of his country, and address himself to that deitywhose religion he was most devoted to; so it is the samething now; everyone chooses the patron whom he likes

• "Hanc Deani quisquam violare audeat, imaginem meretrieis ~ Cic,pro Dom. 43.'

t 'PANTHEON, &c.An AGRIPPA AUGUSTI GENERO

IMPIE JOVI, C.ETERISQUE MENDA.OlBUS DUIA :BONIFAOIO II IJ. PONTI FlOE

DIUP4RA!l ET 8. 8. OHRISTI lUllTTJUB1l'1 PI.DICATUllI,

&0.'


best; and one may see here different services' going on atthe same time, at different altars, with distinct congrega-tions around them, just as the inclinations of the peoplelead them to the worship of this 01' that particular saint.

"~d what better title can the new demigods show tothe adoration now paid to them, than the old ones, whoseshrines they have usurped? Or how comes it to be lesscriminal to worship images, erected by the Pope, thanthose which Agrippa, or that which N ebuchadnezzar setup? If there be any real difference, most people, I daresay, will be apt to determine in favour of the old possess.ors; for those heroes of antiquity were raised up into gods,and received divine honours, for some signal benefits, ofwhich they had been the authors to mankind; n the in-vention of arts and sciences; or of something highly use-ful and necessary to life: whereas of the Romish saints, itis certain that many of them were never heard of, but intheir own legends or fabulous histories; and many more,instead of any services done to mankind, owe all thehonours now paid to them, to their vices, or their errors ;whose merit, like that of Demetrius in the Acts,· was theirskill of raising rebellions in-defence of an idol, and throw-ing kingdoms into convulsions, for the sake of some gain-ful imposture.

"And. s it is in the Pantheon, it is just the same in allthe other heathen temples, that still remain iu Rome; theyhave only pulled down one idol to set up another; andchanged rather the name, than the objectof their worship.Thus the little temple of vesta, near the Tiber, mentionedby Horace, is now possessed by the Madonna of the Sun;that of Fortuna Virilis, by Mary the Egyptian; that ofSaturn, (where the public treasure was anciently kept,)by St. .Adrian ; that of Romulus and Remus in the ViaSacra, by two other brothers, Cosmas and Damianus jthat of Antonine the godly, by Lawrence the saint; butfor my part, I should sooner be tempted to pro trate my-self before the statue of a Romulus or an Antonine, thanthat of' Lawren~e or a Damian; and give clivine. honoursrather, with Paean Rome, to the found of' empIres, thanwith Popish Rome, to the founder of monasteries."(Middleton's Letter from Rome, pp. 61-64.)

• Act. xix, 23,


"But" (says the same author writiug from Rome)" their temples are not the only places where we see theproof'! and overt acts of their superstition. The wholeface of the country has the visible characters of Paganismupon it; and wherever we look about us, we cannot butfind, as St. Paul did in Athens (Acts xvii. 17), clear evi-dence of its· being-possessed by a superstitious and idol-atrous people. The' old Romans, we know, had theirgods, who presided peculiarly over the roads, streets andhighways, called Vialee, Semitales, Oompitales j whoselittle temples or altars decked with flowers, or whosestatues at least, coarsely carved of wood or stone, wereplaced at convenient distances in the public ways, for thebenefit of travellers, who used to step aside to pay theirdevotions to these rural shrines, and beg a prosperousjourney and safety in their travels. Now this customprevails still so generally in all Popish countries, but es-pecially.in Italy, that one can see no other differencebe-tween the old and present superstition, than that ofchanging the name of the deity, and christening as it werethe old Hecate in triviis, by the new name of Maria intrivia j by which title, I have observed one of theirchurches dedicated in this city: and as.the heathens usedto paint over the ordinary statues of their gods, with redor some such gay color, so I have oft observed the coarseimages of these saints so daubed over with a gaudy red,as to resemble exactly the description of the god Pan inVirgil:

Sangnineis ebul baccis minioqne rubentem. Eel. x.

In passing along the road, it is common to see travellerson their knees before these rustic altars; which none everpresnme to approach without some act of reverence; andthose who are most in haste, or at a distance, are sure topull off their hats at least, in token of respect: and I tooknotice, that our postillions used to look back upon us, tosee how we beha-ved on such occasions,and seemed sur-prised at our passing so negligently before places esteemedso sacred. - But sides these images and altars. thereare frequently erected on the road huge wooden crosses,·

• The crOSJ among the Roman Catholics is honoured with a festival- "1I day consecrated to the wood of the crou on which the Saviour

OF THE ROMAN O.J.THOLIOS. 289dressed out with flowers, and hung round with the' tri-fling offerings of the country people; which always putme in mind of the superstitious veneration, which theheathens used to pay to some old trunks of trees or posts,set up in the highways, which they held sacred, or of thatvenerable oak in Ovid, covered with garlands and votiveofferings ;

Stabat in his ingks annoso robere quercus;Una nemus: Vittae medium, memoresque tabellaeSertaque cingebant, voti argumenta potentis. Met. viii.

'Rev'rend with age, a stately oak there stood,Its branches widely stretched, itself a wood,With ribands, garlands, pictures covered o'er,The fruits of pious vows from rich and pOor.''' Ibid. pp. 76-78.

"Akin to the worship of images is the use of .A,gnusDei's. 'An .AUnus Dei (so called from the image of' theLamb of'God impressed on the face of it) is made of vir-gin wax, balsam, and chrism, blessed according to theform prescribed in the Roman Ritual. The spiritual ef-ficacy, or virtue of it, is gathered fromthe prayers that thechurch make use of in the blessing of it, which is topreserveMm who carries an .Agnus Dei, or any particle of it,about him, from any attempts of his spiritual 01' tem-poral enemies/ from the dangers of fire, of water, ofstorms and tempests, of thunder and lightning, and froma sudden and unprovided death. It puts the devils toflight, succours women in child-bed,takes away the stainsof past sins, and furnishes us with new grace for thefu-ture, that we may be preserved from ,all adversities andperils, both in life and death, through the cross andmerits of the Lamb who redeemed and soashed us in hisblood,- The Pope consecrates the Agnus Dei's the firstyear of his pontificate, and afterwards on every seventhyear, on Saturday before Low Sunday, with many solemnceremonies and devout prayers.' And this in the nine-

hung." lJfosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. vii, part ii., chap. iv.,§2. Also, note (2).

They ascribe to the cross the worship of latria, i. e. supreme worship.Their worship of the cross therefore, it seems, is divino worship ad-dressed to a wooden deit!!. For a specimen of some of the prayera theyoffer to the cross, see - " Litan!! of the Holy Crou," in St. John', Man-ual, pp.1127, 1128.


teenth Century! See' Devotion and Office of the SacredHeart of our Lord Jesns Christ,' P: 375." «(Jramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. xv., circajinem, n, QQ.)

If oaths imply worship, which I suppose will not bedisputed, then in swearing, the Roman Catholics- worshipother objects besides God, for they swear by other objectsbesides him. " 'Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,' 8:1YSMoses, ' and shall serve him only, and swear by his name'(Deut. vi. 13). 'How shall I be favourable unto thee?'says God by the prophet Jeremiah; 'thy children haveforsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods' (Jer. Y.7-9). To swear, therefore, 'by those who are no gods,'by saints, by relics, hy the cross, is forsaking God, andbestowing on creatures the worship that is due to himalone. However, men are allowed, by the catechism ofTrent (in secund. Praeoept. Decal., p. 267), to swear bythe cross and the relics of saints; and in the church ofRome, few oaths are now administered in the nameof God alone. When the emperors came to Rome to takethe imperial diadem at the Pope's .hnnds, the followingoath was tendered to them: 'I, king of the Romans,swear by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by thewood of the cross, and by these relics,' &c. In this oath,the wood of the cross and the relics of saints, are placedin the same rank with the Trinity, and are consequentlyhonoured with the same divine worship. This kind ofidolatry seems to have crept into the church in the timeJustinian." (Bower's History of the Popes- P. Vigi-lius, in med., note.)

'Vhat a mass of heathenish idolatry and superstition isthe Roman Catholic worship, with all its overgrown ag-gregation of ceremonies, of which they seem to think somuch! One of these their superstitious ceremonies, istheir use of' holy water.' Among them, "nobody evergoes in or out of a church, bnt is either sprinkled by thepriest, who attends for that purpose on solemn clays, orelse serves himself' with it from a vessel, usually of marble,placed just at the door, not unlike one of our baptismalfonts. Now this ceremony is so notoriously and directlytransmitted to them from Paganism, that their ownwriters make not the least scruple to own it. The JesuitIII Cerda, in his notes on a pltS68ge of Virgil where this

•


practice is mentioned, says, 'Hence was derived thecustom of holy church, to provide purifying or holy waterat the entrance of their churches.' Aquaminariurn orA?r<!Ula,says the learned Montfaucon, was a vase of holywater, placed.by the heathen at the entrance of their tem-ples, to sprinkle themselves with. The same vessel wasby the Greeks called Periranterion ; two of which, the oneof gold, the other of silver, were given by Crcesus to thetemple of Apollo at Delphi; and the custom of sprinklingthemselves was SQ necessary a part of all their religiousoffices,that the method of excommunication seemsto havebeen by prohibiting to 'offenders the approach and use ofthe holy water-pot. The very compo ilion of this holywater was the same also among the heathen as it illnowamong the papist, being nothing more than a mixture ofsalt with common water; and the form of the sprinklingbrnsh, called by the ancients aspersorium or {Jsper{Jillum,(which is much the same with what the prie ts 110W makeuse of,) may be seen ill bass-reliefs or ancient coins,wherever the insignia, or emblems of the pagan priesthoodare described, of which it is generally one.

"Platina, in his Lives of the Popes, and other authors,ascribe the institution of this holy water to pope Alexan-der the first, who is said to have lived about the year ofChrist 113. But it could not be introduced so early;since, for some ages after, we find the primitive fathersspeaking of it, as a custom purely heatbenish, and con-demning it as impious and detestable. Justin Martyr says,'That it was invented by demons, in imitation of the truebaptism signified by the prophets, that their votariesmight also have their pretended purifications by water;'and the emperor J ulian, out of spite to the Christians,used to order the victuals in the markets to be sprinkledwith holy water, on purpose either to starve, or forcethem to eat, what, by their own principles, they esteemedpolluted.

"Thus we see what contrary notions the primitive andRomish church have of this ceremony; the first con-demns it as superstitious, abominable, and irreconcilablewith Chri tianity; the latter adopts it as highly edifying,and applicable to the improvement of Christian piety.The one looks npon it as the cont,i,3nce of the devil, to

J6

.. '"

. ,


delude mankind; the other as the security of mankindagainst the delusions of the devil. But what is still moreridiculous than even the ceremony itself is to see theirlearned writers gravely reckoning up the several virtuesand benefits derived from the use of' it, both to the souland the body j " and to crown all, producing a long rollof miracles, to attest the certainty of each virtue whichthey ascribe to it.t Why may we not the?- justly applyto the present people of Rome, what was said by the poet

~of its old inhabitants for the use of this very ceremony?Ah nimium faeiIes, qui tristia crimina cacdisFluminea tolli posse putetis aqua! - Ovid. Fast. ii. 45.

, Ah, easy fools, to think that a whole floodOf water e'er can purge the stain of blood.''' - Dr. IJliddleton',

Letter .from Rome~ pp. 45-48.

This holy water is thought so much of'among them thatthey apply its use to the purifying or blessing of theirhorses, and have" dedicated a yearly festival peculiarly tothis service, called, in their vulgar langnage, the benedic-tion of horses, which is always celebrated with much so-lemnity in the month of January; when" (at Rome) "allthe inhabitants of the city and neighbourhood send uptheir horses, asses, &c., to the convent of St. Anthony,near St. Mary the great, where a priest in surplice at thechurch door sprinkles with his brush all the animals sin-gly, as they are presented to him, and receives from eachowner a gratuity proportionable to his zeal and ability. Ihave met with some hints of a practice not foreign to this,among the ancients; of sprinkling their horses with waterin the circensian games: but whether this was done outof a superstitious view of inspiring any virtue, or purifyingthem for those races, ·which were esteemed sacred; ormerely to refresh them under the violence of such an exer-cise, is not easy to determine. But allowing the Romishpriests to have taken the hint from some old custom ofPaganism; yet this however must be granted them, thatthey alone were capable of culti vating so coarse and bar-

• 'Durant. de Ritib, L. i, c. 21. Hospinian de origine Templorum.L. ii, c. 25.'

t 'Hujus aqnae benedictae virtns varii« miraculis illustraeur, &C. _Dumnt, ibid.'

OF THE RO.IiAN CATHOLICS, 243

ren a piece of superstition into a revenue sufficient for themaintenance of forty or fifty idle monks." (Ibid. pp. 48,49.) -As each animal is presented to the priest, "he takesoff his skull-cap, mutters a few words, in Latin, intimatingthat through the merits of the blessed St. Anthony, theyare to be preserved for the coming year from sickness anddeath, famine and danger, then dips his brush in a hugebucket of holy water, that stands by him, and sprinklesthem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and ofthe Holy Ghost. Sometimes the visitor at Rome will seea splendid equipage drive up, attended by our rid ers, inelegant livery, to have the horse thn sprinkl d withholy water, all the people remainin nn v I' '(1 till thabsurd and disgusting ceremony is over, 11 one occn iona traveller observed a countryman, whose beast having re-ceived the holy water, set off from the church door at Dogallop, but had scarcely gone a hundred yards before theungainly animal tumbled down with him, and over itshead he rolled into the dust. He soon, however, arose,and so did the horse, without either seeming to havesustained much injury. The priest looked on, and thoughhis blessing had failed, he was not ont of countenance;While some of the hv-stnnders said that bnt for it, thehorse and his rider might have broken their necks. - Arecent eye-witness of this ceremony, writes as follows: 'IfI could lead my readers, on the 17th of January, to thechurch of St. Antoin in Rome, I am convinced they wouldnot know whether they should laugh at the ridiculous re-ligious performances, or weep over the heathenish prac-tices of the church of Rome. He' would see a priest inhis sacerdotal garments, with a stole over his neck, abrush in his right hand, and sprinkling the mules, asses,and horses with holy water, and praying for them andwith them, and blessing them in order to be preservedthe whole year from sickness and death, famine and dan-ger, for the sake and merits of the holy Anthony! Allthis is a grotesque scene, so grotesque ~hat no Americancan have any idea of it, and heathen priest would neverhave thought of it, Add to that, the great mass of people,the kickings of the mules, the meetings of the 10\'CI"8, thencighin:::,s of t he horses, the melorlious voices of the asses,thf' fh01~ting~ of the multitude, nnd mockings of the protes-

244 THE IDOLA TROUS WORSHIP

tants, who reside in Rome, and you have a spectacle,which would be new, entirely new, not only for Americanprotestants, but for the heathen themselves, and must beabominable in the eye of God. But enough; the subjectis too serious; it is a religious exercise, practised by thepriests of Rome, in the so-called metropolis of the Chris-tian world, sanctioned by the self-styled infallible head ofthe church of Rome. All we can say is: Ichabod, thyglory is departed. The priests of heathen Rome would beashamed of such a religious display in the nineteenth cen-tury.''' (Ibid. pp. 192-194.)

.Another of their superstitious customs is, their burningof lamps and candles in their worship by day, as well asby night. " No sooner is a man advanced a little for-ward into their churches, and begins to look about him,but he will find his eyes and attention attracted by anumber of lamps and wax candles, which are constantlyburning before the shrines and images of their saints:"'In all the great churches of Italy,' says 1UabillOJ1,'theyhang up lamps at every altar;' a sight which will notonly surprise a stranger by the novelty of it, but will fur-nish him with auother proof and example of the conform-ity of the Romish with the Pagan worship; by recallinzto his memory many passaglfs of the heathen writer~where their perpetual lamps and candles are described ascontinually bnrning before the altars and statues of theirdeities.r - Herodotus tells us of the Egyptians, (who first

• introduced the use of lights or lamps into their temples,)that they bad a famous yearly festival called, from theprincipal ceremony of it, the lighting up of candles; t but

• Their churches then must be great places for the burning of oil andwax, as we know they are for the celebration of masses, "In thechnrch of All Saints, at \Vittembnrg, 9,991 masses were annnally cole-brated, and 35,5iO lbs. of wax annually consumed. Luther called it, the sacrilege of Tophet.' l There are,' said he, 'only three or four lazvmonks who still worship this shameful mammon; and if I had not re-strained the people, this abode of all Saints, or rather of all Devils,would have heen brought down with a crash such cs the world hasnever yet heard.'" D'Aubigne's History rif the Heformntion, book x.,paulo post med.

t Centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem. Vb·g. Alln_ iv.200.

t K,.,/ 'i ;'[>T~ ;,r.m!,,, Krrr,.,t ~ 't"0Kat1/. Hrrod. L. h. 62. Edit. Lond.

OF THE ROMAN C.J.THOLLOS. 245

there is scarcely a single festival at Rome which mightnot for the same reason be called by the same name. -The primitive writers frequently expose the folly and ab-surdity of this heathenish custom; 'they light up candlesto God,' says Laetantius, 'as if he lived in the dark; anddo not they deserve to pass for madmen, who offerlampsto the author and giver of light?' - In the collections ofold inscriptions, we find many instances of presents anddonations from private persons of lamps and candlesticksto the temples and altars of their gods; a piece of zeal,which continues still the same in modern Rome, wheroeach church abounds with lamps of massy silver, and some-times even of gold; the gifts of prince , and oth r p rsonsof distinction; and it is surpri ing to e h w great anumber of this kind are perpetually burning bet' r thoaltars of their principal saints, Ormiraculou image ; as t.Anthony of Padua, or the Lady of Loretto; as well as thevast profusion of wax candles, with which their churchesare illuminated on e:vuy great festival j when the highaltar, covered with gold and silver plate, brought out oftheir treasuries, and stuck fun of wax lights disposed inbeautiful figures, looks more like the rich side-board ofsome great prince, dressed out for a feast, than an altar topay divine worship at." (Dr. Middleton's Letter fromRome, pp. 50, 51.). Their festivals are great times for the illumination of

their churches, as well as for innumerable other ceremo- .nics equally vain and superstitious. "At the feast ofChristmas,. the Roman Catholic have exhibited in their

• "From the first institution of this festival, the western nations seemto have transferred to it many of the follies and censurable practiceswhich prevailed in the pagan festivals of the same season, such asadorning the churches fantastically, mingling puppet-shows and dramaswith worship, universal feasting and merrymaking, Christmas visits nndsalutations, Christmas presents and jocularity, and Christmas revelrynud drnnkcnness. For from the days of Augustine anti Chrysostomdown to our own times, we find many devout persons deprecatl~g theheathenish manner in which the festival was kept, and labouring togive it a more Christian character. The Christmas holydays, - whichhy n law of Theodosius the Gr., (emperor.A. D. 383-395,) were to com-prise 14 days, or the seven days he/ore Christmas and the seven daysafter (Codex Justinian., lin. iii., tit. xii., leg. 2), - have horne so closea resemblance, wherever they have been observed, to t~e Roman Satur-nalia, Sigilaria, &e., and to the Juel feast of the ancient Goths, as to

246 IDOLATROUS WORSHIP OF THE ROMAN OATHOLICS.

churches a cradle, with an image of an infant in it, whichis rocked with great seeming devotion; and on Good-Friday they have the figure of our Saviour on the cross,and then they perform the service which they call theTenebres, having abundance of lighted candles, all ofwhich they extinguish one by one, after which the bodyis taken down from the cross and put into a sepulchre,and men stand to watch it." (Fore's Acts and JJfonu-ments of the Ohristian Ohurch, book xi., p. 642.) Andthe time has been when a practice of theirs was to con-.seerate a lamb at Easter. "That such a gross piece ofsuperstition as that of consecrating a lamb at Easter, andeating the fleshof it, once prevailed in the Roman church,appears from Walafric1usStrabo, who severely censures it(Strabo de reb. Eccles. c. 18); and likewise from the oldOrdo Romanus, where a form is set down for the conse-cration of a lamb at Easter." (Bower's History of thePopes - P. Nicholas, vers.jinem, note.) .

Alas for an idolatrous lJhurch! Such a church must bein a bad condition. "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, fleefrom idolatry." 1 Oor, x. 14. "What agreement haththe temple of God with idols?" 2 Oor. vi. 16. "Littlechildren, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." 1 John,v.21.

afford strong presumption of an unhappy alliance between them fromthe first." Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. iv., part ii., chap. iv.,§ 5, n. (12).

/

DISCO GRSE V.

THE DECEPTIONS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

2 THESS. II. 1-12: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the comiug of our Lord lJesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soonshaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letteras from us, as that the day of Cbrlst Is at hand. Let no man deceive youby any means e for that day shall not come, except there come n failingaway first, nnd that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that Is called G d, or that i. wor-shlpped ; so thnt be, as God, slttetll In the temple of God, howlng him. ·Ifthat he is God. Remember yo 1I0t, tbnt wbeu I was yet with you, I toldyou these things i And now yo know whnt wlthhnlrleth, that he might berevealed In his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: onlyhe wbo now letteth will let, until he be tuken out of the way. And then.h.1I thnt 'Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with theeplrlt of hh mouth, and shall destroy with the brigbtness of hi. coming:even him wbose coming Is after the working of Satan, wlth ali power andBigns nnd lying wonders, and with all deeelvnbleness of unrlgbteousnessIn them that perIsh ; because they received not the love of the truth, thatthey might be saved. Andior this cause God sball send them strong delu-slon, that they should believe a lie; that tbey ali might be damned wbo be-lieved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

..

My present subject in course is, the deceptions of theRoman Catholics.

The whole papal system, of doctrines and practices, isdeceptive, because it is so exceedingly erroneous: but thedeceptions of which I speak in this discourse, are such asare practiced with the more or less apparent design to de-ceive. For, that the Roman Catholicspractice deceptionsdesi{Jneilly to deceive, they themselves will not deny.The practice is in perfect accordance with a well knownmaxim of theirs, viz. that" the end sanctifies the means."Even as early as the fourth century, it was an extensivelyapproved principle nrnongthe professedChristians of theage, (a principle all alone retained by the Roman Cath-olics down to the present time.) "that to deceive and lie,'8 a 'Virtue, when religion can be promoted by it.- And

• "There is a lo.x morality in the world that recommends a lie ratherthan the /rutA, when the purposes of religion and Aumanit!! can be served

247

248 THE DECEPT10NS

it is almost incredible, what a mass of the most insipidfables, and what a host of pious falsehoods have, through-all the centuries, grown out of it, to the great detrimentof true religion." (Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History,cent. iv., part ii., chap. iii., § 16.)

by it. But when can this be? The religion of Christ is one eternalsystem of truth, and can neither be served by a lie nor admit of one.On this vile-subject fine words have been spoken. Tasso, in his elegantepisode of Sophronia and Olindo, in the Gerusalemme Liberata, b. ii.v. 22,represents the former as telling a lie to Saladdin, relative to the steal-ing of an image, for which, as he could not discover the culprit, hedoomed all the Christians in his power to death. Sophronia, a piousChristian virgin, getting into the presence of the tyrant, in order tosave her people, accusea herself, though perfectly innocent, of the theft.Her conduct on this occasion the poet embellishes in the following man-ner, for which the religion 'of that time, which dealt in holy fraud. ••would no doubt applaud him.

, Ed ella: iI reo st trova al tUG cos pet to;Opra e il flirt", Signori di questa mano10 l' Imn.egtne tolsi; 0 son coleiOhe tu rtcerohl, e me punir tu del,

Cosl al pubblicofato il capo alteroOfferee, e 'I volle in se sol racorre.l1AGNANUIA lHENZOGNA! or quando e il VERO,SI BELLO, che si possa a te preporre j'

Then she: 'Before thy sight .he guilty stands;The theft, 0 King, committed by these hands.In me the thief who stole tile image v~w 1To me the pnnishment decreed is due.'

Thus, filled with public zeal, the generous dameA victim for her people's ransom came.o great deceit! 0 lie divinelYfair!What truth with s~eha falsehood can compare t HOOLE •

.. Thus a lie is ornamented with splendid decorations both by theItalian and English poet, and the whole formed into an anti-apostolicmaxim, Let us do EVIL, that Good rna!!come of it.

H A purer morality was taught by one of the most ancient heathenwriters than is here preached by these demi-christians:-

EX19pOl' yap p,OL Kelvor, op.ox: a,<lao ,",AOU"','O~ z' brepo» p.ev Ke'J1'Je, Evi </>pemv, aMo de {3ai;et.

Iliad.T, ix., v. 312.lily soul detests him as the gates of hell,Who knows the truth and dares a falsehood tell .

.. The following is the advice of a genuine Christian poet, and one ofthe holiest men of his time:-

LIE not; hut let thy heart be true to God;Thy tontru« to it, thy action. to them bot/•.Cowards tell lies, and tbose who fear the rod;The stormy working soul spits lies and froth.DARE TO DE TRUE 1nothing can :NEED a lie.The fault that needs it most grows TWO thereby. HERBERT.

Dr. Clarke's Commentary, .Josh. ii., end-II.

OF THE RO.lfAJ.Y CATHOLICS. 249

The Roman Catholics are accustomed to practice theirdeceptions in various ways: as,

First, By means of forqeries. Among the most prom-inent of these are,

1. Their pretended miracles. Their miracles, most ifnot all of them; are manifestly such as are adapted to sup-port false doctrines, or superstitions and unscripturalpractices j and, consequently, as manifestly, they cannot betrue miracles. I will produce some specimens of theirmiracles, such as they themselves have published as hav-ing been wrought within the limits of their own self-styledOntholic church. Pretended miracles have b en connect-ed with the names, it seems, even of some of Rom 'R

earliest and best bishops. Thus of lement, ( lWI nsRomanu8,) it is related, and by Romanist b ·Ii v xl, notonly that he was banished, by the erop 1'01' 'I'rnjuu, intothe Chersonesns beyond the Euxine sea, and there Museda fountain to spring up miraculously for the relief of theOhristians confined to the same inhospitable region, andconverted the whole country to the faith, which provokedthe emperor to such a degree that he ordered him to bethrown into the sea, with an anchor fastened to his neck;but" it is added, that, on the anniversary of his death, thesea retired to the place where he had been drowned,though three long miles from the shore; that upon its re-tiring, there appeared a most map;nificent temple, all ofthe finest marble; anti in the temple a stately monument,in which was found the body of the saint; that the sencontinued thus retiring every year on the same day, notdaring', for the space of seven days, to return to its usualbounds, that the Christians might, at their leisure, andioithou: apprehension of danger, perform their devotionsin honour of the saint. To crown the whole, they add,that, one yeal', a mother having heodles ly left her young?hild in the t~mple, upon her return, next year, she !onn.dIt not only alive, but in perfect health. No mention ISmade of such stupendous miracles by Irenaens, who wasbrought up under Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna, in Asia, atthe yery time Clement is supposed to have suffered, andwho speaks of him at Ieneth. His silence is a plain dem-onstration that they we~e unknown to him; and they

THE DECEPTIONS

must have been known, had they been true." (Bower'sHistory of the Popes- pope Clement.)

"We are told" (concerning pope Leo the Great) "thata very beautiful woman being admitted, among others, tokiss Leo's hand, on Easter day, according to the customthat then obtained, he was surprised with a sudden attackfrom an enemy, whom-he believed to have been long sinceentirely subdued; and felt that he was still a man. Butit cost his hand dear; for the ceremony was no soonerover than he cut it off, thinking he thereby fulfilled thecommand given in St. Matthew (xviii, 8). However, asby being thus maimed he became incapable of dischargingsome of the duties of his pastoral office, he soon repentedwhat he -had done; and, desirous of having his hand again,he applied to an image of the Virgin Mary, said to be oneof the many that .were painted by St. Luke, the veryimage which, on that account, is honoured to this day inthe church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, with anextraordinary worship. The Virgin heard his prayers, re-stored him his hand, and, by a no less miracle, extinguish-ed in him the fire of concupiscence, to the very last spark.But his immediate successors, knowing themselves to be,at least, as frail as he, and not caring to expose their frailtyto the like danger, changed the ancient custom, and gaveno longer their hand, but their foot, to be kissed: and thusto the frailty of Leo, the custom, which still obtains, ofkissing the pope's foot, is said to owe its. first origin." Thefact here related is gravely attested by St . .Antoninus, andmany others, and was represented in a very ancient pic- _ture, on the wall of the old church of St. Peter. ButClement VIII. chosen in the latter end of the sixteenthcentury, taking offence at the representation, (for the devilwas there painted in the shape of a lecherous satyr, pre-senting to the pope, with a leering look, and a contemptu-

'" "As for the custom of kissing the bishops' hands, that mark of re-spect was paid them very early, even by the emperors themselves;, kings and princes,' says St. Ambrose, 'do not disdain to bend andbow their necks to the knees of the "bishops, and kiss their hands.' Bntthe custom of kissing the pope's foot was not introduced till many agesafter Leo' time, no mark of respect being then shown to the bishop ofRome, no title given him, but what was common with him to all otherbishops, at least to the patriarchs." Bouxr-s- Leo the Great, in fine,note.

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLICS. 251

ous smile, a beautiful woman), caused it to be erased; and,at the same time charged Baronius to disprove the fact,which he thought no-ways redounded to the credit of hisgreat predecessor. This task Baronius, who always wroteas he was bid, readily undertook; and the dissertation hepublished on the occasion is worthy of particular notice.For he there strives to convince the world, that traditionhad confounded pope Leo with the iconoclast emperorLeo, who had caused the right hand of St. John Damas-cene to be cut off, which he very gravely tells us, was re-stored to him by a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary,adding, 'And hence did these old women's stories (garru-larum fubulae vetnlarum), concerning Leo, tak their ri c:'as if the miraculous cure savored more of an old woman'sstory in the one case, than it does in the oth r. And,after all, if what is said of Leo was the 'invention anddreams of old women, without the least appearance oftruth,' why did .the popes suffer such dreams to be repre-sented in so holy a place as the Vatican? Why did noneof the predecessors of Clement undeceive the world, byordering such fabulous representations to be erased? Thereason is obvious; they believed them as well as the cred-ulous vulgar; and were, like them, imposed upon, by oldwomen's stories and tales, or else they were not ashamedto impose upon others what they had too much sense tocredit themselves." (Bower-P. Leo the Great, in fine,note.)

According to this story, as you perceive, the pope ap-plied to an image of the Virgin Mary to have his. handrestored; as if he thought an image could do a miracle.But this, it seems, is the real belief of Romanists. "Therecan be no doubt," say their writers, "but that the imagesof our saints often work signal miracles, by procuringhealth to the infirm, and appearing to us often in dreams,to suggest something of great moment for om' service."·(Middleton's Letter from Rome, p. 56.) And the~e canbe no doubt, we may venture to say, that th~ miraclesdone by their images are no very marvellous thmg~. Assays Dr. Fulke, they" are no marvels. No marvelir t~eysweat, when their paper heads be smeared on the mSide

• 'Dl1!llnt de Ritib. L. i. e. 5,'

THE DECEPTJONS

with hot oil. No marvel if they bleed at. the nose, whenblood is poured in at the top of their heads. No marvelif they move their eyes and lips, when a false knave be-hind pulleth the wires fastened to those devices by whichthey move. No marvel if they speak, wben a devilishwretch speaketh in a trunk behind them. These, andsuch like miracles done by them, no man need to marvelat." (Fulke's Confutation of the Rhemish Testament,John xiv. 12.)

"As St. Peter was thought to keep the keys of thekingdom of heaven, it was a crafty contrivance of thepopes, to have small keys made of different metals, someeven of gold, and to send them as presents from St. Peter,to those persons who had deserved well of the apostolicsee, or whom they wanted to oblige. Of these keys Greg-ory the Great was of all popes the most liberal. One hesent to king Ohildebert, the son of Bruniehild, assuringhim, that if he wore it at his neck, it would screen himfrom all evils, 'Quae collo vestro suspensue a malis vosomnibus tueantur.' Another he bestowed on Columbus,bishop in the produce of Numidia. A third he gave toTheodorus, physician to the emperor Mauritius; and afourth, of gold, the most remarkable of all, to Theotistesand Andrew, the governors of that emperor's children.For it had even wrought a miracle, which he thus relatesiQ the letter he wrote to them when he sent it. 'Thiskey,' says he, 'was found by a Lombard in a city beyondthe Po; who indeed made no account of it, as the key ofSt. Peter; bnt observing that it was of gold, he took itnp, and pulled out ::t knife with a design to cut it. But hewas that moment possessed with an evil spirit, and hestuck the knife in his own throat, and died on the spot.At this spectacle king Autharis, who was present, and theLombards who attended him, were struck with such dreadand tenor, that not one of them had the courage to takeup the key, or so much as to touch it. A Lombard, there-fore, named Minulphus, who professed the catholic faith,was sent for; anel he took it up without the least fear '01'apprehension. King Autharis, surprised at the event,caused another golden key to be made, and sent both tomy predecessor, namely, Pelagius II., with an account ofth» miracle. That very key,' continues Gregory, 'the key

OP THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 253

by which God was pleased to destroy an haughty andperfidious ~nan, I send to yonI' excellency, that you, wholove and fear him, may by it,' (remarkable wordsl) 'attainyour eternal salvation.' The unhappy Lombard had per-haps bis throat cut by some zealous catholic for the affrontwhich he offered to St. Peter in his key." (Bower's His-tory of the Popes-Po Vitalianus, note.)

"In the life of St. lVi"nnock, (in Mabillon's Acta Sanctor.ord, Bened., tom. iii. p. 195), it is stated as a miracle, thathis mill, when he let go of it to say his prayers, wouldturn itself And when an inquisitive monk looked througha crevice to see the wonder, he was struck blind for hispresumption. The biographer of St. Pardulphus (ibid.,p. 541, sec. 18) makes a child's cradle to rock day nfterday without hands; but if touched, it would stop, awl re-main immovable. In the life or'8t. Gutll1ack of Croyland,(ibid., p. 263, § 19), while the saint was praying at hisvigils, a vast number of devils entered his cell, rising outof the ground and issuing through crevices, ' of direful as-pect, terrible in form, with huge heads, long necks, palefaces, sickly countenances, squalid beards, bristly ears,wrinkled foreheads, malicious eyes, filthy mouths, horses'teeth, fire-emitting throats, lantern jaws, broad lips, ter-rific voices, singed hair, high cheekbones, prominentbreasts, scaly thighs, knotty knees, crooked legs, swollenaneles, inverted feet, and opened mouths, hoarsely clamor-ous.' These bound the saint fast, dragged him throughhedges and briars, lifted him up from the earth, and car-ried him to the mouth of hell, where he saw all the tor-ments of the damned. But while they were threateningto confine him there, St. Bartholomew appeared in gloryto him; the devils were affrighted; and he was conductedback to his cell by his celestial deliverer." (Mosheim'sEcclesiastical History, cent. viii., part i., chap. i., § 8, n.19.) .

As many of the miracles and miraculous stories of theRomanists were manifestly designed to do honour to par-ticular saints so the Virgin Mary especially is, among therest, made to have her share of this sort of honour."There was !J. man" (say they) "whose occupation washighway robbery; but, whenever he set out on any suchexpedition, he was careful to address a prayer to the

•254 THE DECEPTIONS

Virgin. Taken at last, he was sentenced to be hanged.While the cord was around his neck, he made his usualprayer, nor was it ineffectual. The Virgin supported hisfeet' with her white hands,' and thus kept him alive twodays, to the no small surprise of the executioner, who at-tempted to complete his work with strokes of a sword.But the same invisible hand turned aside the weapon, andthe execntioner was compelled to release his victim,acknowledging the miracle. The thief retired into amonastery, which is always the termination of these de-liverances.

"At the monastery of St. Peter, near Cologne, lived amonk perfectly dissolute and irreligious, but very devouttoward the apostle. Unluckily, he diecl suddenly withoutconfession. The fiends came as usual to seize his soul.St. Peter, vexed at losing so faithful a votary, besoughtGod to admit the monk into paradise. His prayer wasrefused, and though .the whole body of saints, apostles,angels, and martyrs joined at his request to make interest,it was of no avail. In this extremity he had recourse tothe mother of God. 'Fair lady,' said he, 'my monk islost if you do not interfere for him; but what is impossi-ble for us, will be but sport for you, if you please to assistus. YOUI' Son, if you but speak a word, must yield, sinceit is in your power to command him.' The queen motherassented, and, followed by all the virgins, moved towardher Son. He who had himself given the precept, 'Honourthy' father and thy mother,' no' sooner saw his own parentapproach, than he rose to receive her, and, taking her bythe hand, inquired her wishes. The rest may be easilyconjectured. Oompare the gross stupidity, or rather theatrocious impiety of this tale, with the pure theism of theArabian Nights, and judge whether the Deity was betterworshipped at Cologne or at Bagdad," (IJOUJling's Historyof Romanism, book iv., chap. i., § 11.) .

According to the Dominicans, the founder of their or-der, St. Dominic, was the Virf]in Mary's peculiar favour-ite j and a favourite instrument of theirs, in performing toher their devotions, is the rosary. With reference to the

. rosary therefore, they relate wonderful things. " A dam-sel," (say they,) "by name Alexandra, induced by Dominic'spreaching, used the rosary; but her heart followed too

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS 255

much after the things of this world. Two young men,who were rivals for her, fought, and both fell in the com-bat; and their relations, in revenge, cut off her head, andthrew it into a well. The devil immediately seized hersoul, to which it seems he had a clear title- but, for thesake of the rosary, the Virgin interfered, rescued the soulout of his hands, and gave it permission to remain in thehead at the bottom of the well, till it should Lave an op-portunity of confessing and being absolved. After somedays this was revealed to Dominic, who went to the well,and told Alexandra, in God's name, to come up: thebloody head obeyed, perched on the well-side, confesr cdits sins, received absolution, took the wafer, and continuedto edify the people for two days, when tho soul d partedto pass' a fortnight in purgatory on it. way to heav n.

"When Dominic entered Thoulouse, after oue of hisinterviews with the Virgin, all the bells of the city rangto welcome him, untouched by human hands! But theheretics [Albigenses] neither heeded this, nor regardedhis earnest exhortations to them, to abjure their errors,and make use of the rosary. To punish their obstinacy adreadful tempest of thunder and lightning set the wholefirmament in a blaze; the earth shook, and the howling ofaffrighted animals was mingled with the shrieks andgroans of the terrified multitude. They crowded to thechurch, where Dominic was preaching, as to an asylum., Oitizens of Thoulouse,' said he, 'I see before \Uea hun-dred and fifty angels, sent by Christ and his mother topunish you! This tempest is the voice of the right handof God.' There was an image of the Virgin in the church,who rai ed her arm in a threatening attitude as he spoke.'Hear me!' he continued, 'that arm shan not be with-drawn till you appease her by reciting the rosary.' Newoutcries now arose: the devils yelled because of the tor-ment this inflicted on them. The terrified Thoulousiansprayed and scourged them elves,and told their beads withsuch good effect, that the storm at length ceased. Domi-nic, satisfied with their repentance, gave the word, anddown fell the arm of the image!

"In one of his visits to heaven, Dominic wa carriedbefore the throne of Christ, where he beheld many religion-ists of both sexes, but none of his own order. This so

256 'l'HE DECEPTIONS

afflicted him, that he began to lament aloud, and inquiredwhy they did not appear in bliss. Christ, upon this, lay-ing his hand upon the Virgin's shoulder, said, 'I havecommitted your order [the Dominicans] to my mother'scare;' and she, lifting up her robe, discovered at). innumer-able multitude of Dominicans, friars and nuns, nestledunder it!

"The next of these foolish legends is almost too im-pious to be repeated. The Dominicans-the inquisitors-"tell us that' the Virgin appeared to Dominic in a cavenear Thoulouse ; that she called him her son and her hus-band; that she took him in her arms, and bared herbreasts to him, that he might drink their nectar! She

.told him that, were she a mortal, she could not live with-out him, so excessive was her love; even now, immortalas she was, she should die for him, did not the Almightysupport her, as he had done at the Orucifixion l At an-other visit, she espoused him; and the saints, and the Re-deemer himself, came down to witness the marriage cere-mony!

" It is-impossible to transcribe these atrocious blasphe-mies without shuddering at the guilt of those who inventedthem; and when it is remembered that these are the menwho have persecuted and martyred so many thousandsfor conscience's sake, it seems as if human wickednesscould not be carried farther." (Ibid., book v., chap. ix., §85.) •.

Pretended miracles, used as they are by the Romaniststo sustain the credit of any or every abomination of theirs,are, of course, not wanting to establish belief in theirwafer God. <Uaeeorius, lib. 9, cap. 8, reports, that a cer-tain woman, having received the communion unworthily,carried the host to her hives, for. to enrich the stock ofbees: and afterwards corning again to see the success, sheperceived that the bees, acknowledging their God in thesacrament, had, with admirable artifice, erected to him achapel of wax, with its doors, windows, bells, and vestry;and within it a chalice where they laid the holy body ofJesus Christ. She could no longer conceal this wonder.The priest, being advertised of it, came thither in proces-sion, and he himself heard harmonious music, which thebees made, flying round about the sacrament; and having

•


taken it out, he brought it back to the church fnll of com-fort, certifying, that he had seen and heard our Lordacknowledged and praised by those little creatures.

" Nicholas de Laghi, in his book of the miracles of theholy sacrament, says, That a Jew blaspheming the holysacrament, dared to say, that if the Christians would giveit to his dog, he would eat it up, without showing any re-gard to their God. The Christians being very angry atthis outrageous speech, and trusting in the Divine Prov-idence, had a mind to bring it to a trial: so, spreading anapkin on the table, they laid on many ho ts, amongwhich one only was consecrated. The hungry clog beingput upon the same table, began to cat tliem all, but omingto that which had been consecrated, with ut tubing it,he kneeled down before it, and afterwards fell with ragenpon his master, catching him so clos ly by the nos, thathe took it quite away with his teeth.- 'The sam whichSt. Matthew warns such like blasphemers, saying, ' Givenot that which is boly unto dogs, lest they turn again andrend you.'

." St. Anthony of Padua, disputing one day with oneof the most obstinate heretics that denied the truth of theholy sacrament, drove him to such a plunge, that he de.sired the saint to prove this truth by some miracle. St.Anthony accepted the condition, and said he would workmiracles upon his mule. Upon this, the heretic kept herthree days without eating and drinking; and the third day,the saint, having said mass, took up the host, and madehim bring forth the hungry mule, to whom he spoke thus:-In the name of the Lord, I command thee to come anddo reverence to thy Creator, and confound the malice ofheretics. While the saint made this discourse to themule, the heretic sifted out oats to make the mule eat;but the beast having more understanding than its master,kneeled before the host, adoring it as its Creator and Lord.This miracle comforted all the faithful, and enraged theheretics; except him that disputed with the saint, whowas converted to the Catholic faith." (Ibid., book iv.,chap. ii., § 20.)

"The Breviary teems with narratives 01miracleswrou~htby the saints. For instance, St. Francis Xavier turned asufficient quantity of salt water into fresh to save the lives

17 ",-

258 THE DEOEPTIONS

of five hundred travellers, who were dying of thirst,enough being left to allow a large exportation to different

.parts of the world, where it performed astonishing cures.St. Raymond de Pennafort laid his cloak on the sea, andsailed thereon from Majorca to Barcelona, a distance of ahundred and sixty miles, in six hours. St. Juliana lay onher death-bed: her stomach rejected all solid food, and inconsequence she was prevented from receiving the eucha-rist. In compliance with her earnest solicitations, theconsecrated wafer was laid upon her breast; the priestprayed; the wafer vanished; and Juliana expired. S.Elizabeth, queen of Portugal, had lived a long while onbread and water ;" in her illness the physicians directedher to take wine; when she refused to follow their pre-scription, the water she was about to drink was miracu-lously changed into wine. With many others of the sameBart. Breviar. Dec. 3 ; Jan. 23; June 19; July 8." (Oramp'sText-Book of Popery, chap. xv., in fine, note.)

"The melting of St. Jnnuarius's blood at Naples, when-ever it is brought to his head, which is done with greatsolemnity on the day of his festival, whilst at all othertimes it continues dried and congealed in a glass phial,is one of the standing and most authentic miracles ofItaly. Yet Mr. Addison, who twice saw it performed, as-Bures-us, that instead of appearing to be a real miracle, hethought it one of the most bungling tricks that he hadever seen." - (Dr. Miildleto'h's Letter from Rome, p. 97.)

"An amusing circumstance occurred in connection withthis pretended miracle of the melting of the blood of St.Januarius, at" the time of the invasion of Italy by thetroops of Nnpoleon Bonaparte. In order to excite thepopulace of Naples against the French, the Popish priests,through the medium of the confessional, and in otherways, had contrived to circulate the impression among thepeople, that St. J anuarius was incensed against the foreigninvaders, and that the phial of blood would show theanger of the Saint, by refusing to liquefy, On the ap-pointed day, the blood was exposed as on former occasionsto the adoration of the multitude, but true to the predic-tions of the priests, the Saint was angl'y, and the blood

• ' .Addison's Trav, at Naples"


remained congealed. The superstitious multitude, unsus-picious of the imposture practised on them by theirpriests, and deprived of their expected miracle, were uponthe point of rising en masse upon the impious French, whohad so deeply offended their Saint. The French com-mander, hereupon, planted cannon before the church of St.Januarius, and troops of soldiers in the principal streets.Having stationed cannoneers, with lighted matches readyto fire them at the word of command, he then issued aspecial order to the priests in charge of the miraculousphial of blood, that if in TEN MINUTES the Saint did notrepent of his obstinacy, and perform his usual miracle, thechurch should be fired upon, ana the city should he re-duced to ruins. It was a critical moment. Five minuteof the precious ten had passed away, and the aint yetcontinued obstinate. The cannoneers were ju t ready toadvanea with their matches, the multitude were lookingon in anxious expectation, when (mirabile dictul) theSaint relented just in time, and the blood was seen tomelt! The multitude rent the air with their shouts. Thechurch, the image, and the blood of the Saint were sparedfor future exhibitions; and the priests returned to their

- homes mortified and chagrined at having, at least once intheir lives, been compelled to perform their well-practisedjugglery in spite of themselves." (Ibid., .Appendix A., pp.177, 178.)

One of the most ridiculous and contemptible of all the"lying soonders" of popery "is the Santissima Casa, orholy house of the Virgin, at Loretto, a small town in thePope's dominions in Italy. The popish priests pretendthat this is the house in which the Virgin Mary was born,and was carried by angels through the air, from Nazarethto Loretto, some centuries ago; and that the Virgin ~laryherself appeared to an old man -to reveal to him the won-derful fact, They also show the Santissima Scodella, orholy porringer, in which, they gravely a8?ert, the pap ~~sm~de for the infant Jesu (!!) .The PlIgrl;ns who visitthis laughable imposture, regard It as a special fav~>ur~oobtain a chaplet or a 1'0 ary that has been shaken m thiswonderful porringer, duly certified ~Y th~ pr~ests, or aninch square of the Virzin's old veil, which is changedevery year; and if fortu~ate enough to obtain them, they

260 THE DECEPTIONS

sacredly preserve these treasures, which they regard aspreservatives against witchcraft and other calamities.The holy house and image are hung around with votiveofferings, some valuable, such as golden hearts, chainswith precious stones, silver and gilt angels, &c. whichhave been contributed by rich devotees, besides multi-tudes of' other offerings, the gifts of the poorer pilgrims.- This ridiculous fable of the journey through the air ofthe Santa Casa, porringer and all, irresistibly remindsone of the famous feat, recorded by Mother Goose, about-'the cow that jumped over the moon,' and' the dish thatran offwith the spoon;' and the mental imbecility whichcan credit the one is scarcely equalled by the childishsimplicity which believes the other. And yet, incredibleas it may seem, the great body of Romanist , amidst thelight of the ninteenth century, profess actually to believethis most absurd of all impostures; ann a regular establish-ment of priests is maintained, with an annual revenue ofmany thousand dollars, the proceeds of the exhibition. Asmall pebble picked up in the house, duly certified, hasbeen sold for ten dollars, and an unfortunate mouse thathad concealed itself under the Virgin's dress, for as muchas would purchase an ox, and afterward embalmed by thepurchaser, and kept as a preservative against diseases andaccidents."· (IJr. IJowling's History of Romanism,book ix., chap. iv., § 32.)

How manifest it is of Romish miracles, that they aremiracles only in name, i. e. that they are mere forgeries/"If we sit down to examine the pretended miracles ofRome, we shall find them always the most numerous, andthe most confidently attested, in proportion to the ab-surdity of the doctrine or practice in whose favour they

• Indefinitely more might be added, of sur-h like miraculous stories,strongly marked as impostures, but all piously believed by Romanists tobe real miracles. Designing men have long practiced themselves totake advautnge of the credulity of the common people. "The greaterthe simplicity and credulity of the multitude, the more audacious wouldhe the crafty in playing off their tricks." (JIosheim's Ecclesiastical His-tory, cent. v., part i., chap. i., §7.) "It is a fine saying of Livy, Histor.,lib. xxiv., c. 10, §6: Prodigia multa nuntiata sunt, quae quo magis ere-debant simplices ac religiosi homine , eo plum nuntiabantar." Ibid.,D. (15).


are alleged; as in the case of transubstantiation, purgato-ry, the worship of images, relics, crucifixes, indulgences,and all the tricks of monkery; as if miracles were of noother use but 'to subvert the reason and senses of mankindand confound all the distinctions between right andwrong: but if there be any rule of judging of their reality,or any power in man to discern truth from falsehood, wemust necessarily conclude, from the nature and end ofthe Popish miracles, that whatever testimonies may bebrought to support them, they were all, without excep-tion, either wrought by wicked pirits, or forged bywicked men." (Dr . .Middleton's Letter from Rome, p.169,170.)

2. Other forgeries ofth mall ntholic ar C rtain 81,1p-posiiitioue writinqs of theirs. s on I of the '::n'li, t f rg •ries of this kind, Imention certain pI' t nd d letters; vi::,one from .Agbarus (or Abgnrus), king of Ec1esa, to ourSaviour, and another from our Saviour to .Agbarus. ..Thefable of the [said] letter was proscribed as such by popeGelasius, in a council of seventy bishops. These letters, itis true, are quoted by pope Adrian as genuine, Bnt wasAdrian more infallible than Gelasius, who condemned themas apocryphal? (Bower's History of the Popes -(hegor!lII., note.) What ground (if any) there was for the story

.of these letters we cannot say, but the prevailing opinionamong the learned is that the letters are both of them aforgery. Of the one ascribed to our Saviour ])1'.. ClarkeRays: "The short and silly letter to .Agbarus, king of Edes-sa, attributed to Jesus Christ, by Eusebius and others, is amere self-confuted imposture, and worthy of no regard.This letter, together with Agbarus's letter to onr Lord, isprinted in the Monument. Pair. Orthodox. vol. i. p. 1."(Dr. Clarke's Ooncise new of the Succession of SacredLiterature, vol. i., part i., art. IH~OY! '0 XPl~T01:.)

Another of this sort of forgeries is the pretended dona-tion Of Italy to pope Sylvester, by the emperor Oonstantinethe Great, as a reward to the pope for baptizing him. "Ineed not employ many words to show the forgery of fheso much boasted donation of all Italy, supposed to havebeen made by Constantine to Sylvester, in the spring of'the .year 324, four days after he had been baptized by the

262 THE DECEPTIONS

pontiff, since the instrument - of that donation is nowlooked upon as supposititious, by all who have the leasttincture of learning. The arguments they allege againstit are: 1.That more thau twelve copies of that instrumentare still extant, all differing from one another. 2. That itevidently appears, from two constitutions of Constantine, 'still to be seen in the Theodosian Code, that he was notat Rome, but at Thessalonica, in the. spring '8f the year324. 3. That neither Eusebius, who has given us a veryminute and particular account of the actions of that prince,nor any other contemporary writer, ])([8 so much as hintedatso memorable a fact. 4. That all the ancient writers,both Greek and Latin, agree, that Constantine was notbaptized at Rome, but at Nicomedia, when he lay at thepoint of death.] Let those who stand up in defence ofthat donation, give satisfactory answers to these reasons,and I shall conclude with them, that Italy being, by sucha donation, disjoined from the empire, the emperors whosucceeded Constantine had no claim or title to thatcountry; that none of their constitutions were binding

- "The following extract from. this pretended deed of donation willbe sufficient to show the character of this bungling imposture. 'Weattribute to the chair of St. Peter ALL THE I!IPERIAL DIGNITY, GLORY,ANDPOWER.•• Moreover, we give to Sylvester, and to his successors,our palace of Lateran, incontestably one of the finest palaces on earth;we give him our crown, our mitre, our diadem, and aW.our imperial vest-ments; we resign to him the impcriul dignity .••• WE GIVE AS AFREE GIFT TO THE HOLY PONTIFF THE CITY OF ROME, and all the'Western cities of Italy, as wcll as the Western cities of the other conn-tried. To make room for him, we ABDICATE OUR SOVEREIGNTY overall these provinces; and we withdraw from' Rome, transferring the seatof our empire to Byzantium, sinee IT IS NOT JUST THAT A TERRES-TRIAL EllPEROR SHALL RETAIN ANY POWER WHERE GOD HASPLACED TIlE HEAD OF RELIGION." Dowlin.q's History <if"Romanism,book iv., chap. i., §2.

t "In his last illness, he summoned to the imperial palace at Nieo-media, several Christian bishops, fervently requesting to receive fromthem the ordinance of baptism, and solemnly protesting- his intentionof spending the remainder of his life as the disciple of Christ. He wasaceordingly baptized by Ensebius, bishop of that city; after which heentirely laid aside his purple and regal robes, and continued to wear awhite garment till the day of his death, which, after a short illness,took place on the 22d of May, in the year 337, at the age of sixty-four,having reigne?. thirty·t~ years." Jones'« H"story <if the Chri8tian

• Ch~rr}" chap. m., sect, r.

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 263there; and consequently that, by the inhabitants of Italy,recourse ought to be had, in all cases, not to the civil, butto the canon law: for such pernicious doctrines have beenbroached, published, and maintained, as natural deduc-tions from Constantine's great generosity to Sylvester."(Bower's History of the Popes - P. Bylvester, versusjinem.)

Among the very many forged writings of the Romanistsare their false decretals. These have been the means ofdoing much for the popes. But," all the decretal epistlesof tbe popes, before Syricius [who was elected in the year384J, are so filled with absurdities, contradictions, anachro-nisll:)s, &c., that they are now given up, even by the roostsanguine advocate for the papal supremacy. And yet tbvery decretals, absurd as they are, and inconsistent withthemselves, as well as with all the genuine writings of thosetimes, whether sacred or profane, were, for several ages,the main stays of the whole fabrio of the papal power.By them that power was established; by them it was sup-ported; for, 'in the days of ignorance, they were univer-sally received as the genuine writings of the ancientBishops of Rome, in whose names they were published.And, truly, were we to rank them, as they were rankedin the monkish and ignorant ages, with the decisions ofthe <:ecumenical councils, and the canonical books of theScripture, no room would be left to question any branchof the unlimited power claimed by the popes. They wereheld in the greatest esteem and veneration from the be-ginning of the 9th century to the time of the Reformation,when, upon the first dawn of learning, the cheat was dis-covered, and the stays removed, which till then had sup-ported the unwieldy edifice. But it was then in a con-dition to stand by itself, at least till new frauds weredevised to prop it up; and this was accordingly done,without loss of time.

"The decretals of the first popes are quoted by Bellar-mine, to prove, that the supremacy. of the B!shop!, ofRome was universally acknowledged In tbe earliest times(BeJI. de Rom. Pont. 1.2, e. 14): but, at the same time, heowns, that he dares not affirm them to be of undoubtedauthority. And what can be more absurd than to quoten f~l'gery, or what he himself owns may bp a forgery, in

264 THE DECEPTIONS

vindication of so darling a point as the supremacy'! Buthe did it for want Of better evidences, and mnst thereforebe excused. Baronius, ashamed to lay any stress on suchgross and palpable forgeries, contents himself with onlysaying, that the popes had no hand in forging them; andthat they never made use of their authority to supporttheir own. That they were concerned in, or privy to, theforging of those letters, I dare not affirm: but that theycountenanced them, as they did all other forgeries tendingto the advancement of their see: that they received themas genuine, and endeavoured to impose them upon others;nay, that they made use of them soon after their first ap-pearance in the world, to establish and promote theauthority of their see; are uudoubted matters of fact :witness the letter, which Nicolas I. wrote, in the year 865,to Hincmarus archbishop of Rheims, and to the otherbishops of France, who, refusing to comply with some ex-orbitant demands of the pope, had rejected the decretals,on which those demands were founded, as writings thathad been lately counterfeited. Nicolas, in his answer tothem, maintains the authenticity of those letters, exhortsall, who profess the Catholic faith, to receive them withdue ueneration, and claims, in virtue of such sacred andauthentic writings, an uncontrolled authority over all thechurches of the world, as lodged from the beginning inhis see. (Nic, I. ep. 42.) And was not this making useof the supposed authority of those decretals to promotehis own? Nicolas seems to have believed the letters tobe genuine; and, if he did, he was certainly mistaken, anderred in proposing, as he does, spurious pieces for a firmand strong foundation. of our belief, as well as our prac-tice. If he did not believe them to be genuine, and yetendeavoured to persuade the bishops of France that theywere so; nay, and claimed, upon the authority of suchpieces, a power over them, and their churches; a worseepithet would suit him better than that of fctllible, whichis common to all men.

"The first who published these decretals was, accordingto Hincmarus, Riculphus bishop of Mentz, who was sup-po ied to have brought them from Spain; becau e thename of Isidore was prefixed to the collection, and afamous writer of that name, namely, Isidore, Bi hop of

OF THE Rf)M.J.N OATHOLICS. 265

Seville, had flourished in Spain some centuries before.But such a mean and scandalous' unc1ert~ing is altogetherunworthy of so great a prelate; and besides, the author ofthe supposed decretals has copied, oerbatim, some pas-sages from the council of Toledo in 675, and from thesixth council in 681, whereas Isidore of Seville died in636. The learned Ellies du Pin lays this forgery at thedoor of some German or Frenchman, the letters being allwritten in the style of the Germans and French, of the9th century, and mauy of them addressed to persons ofthese two nations. Hincmarus was-mistaken, in supposingthe forged decretals to have been first published by Ricul-phus of Mentz; for in some of them are found fra~lUmtof the council held at Paris in 29, and he eli rl in 14.They were fir tushered into the world, :111(1 forged too, inall likelihood, by one Benedict, deacon of th hurch ofMentz, though, in his Preface to that collection, he wouldfain makeus believe, that Autcarius, the successor of Ri-culphus, found them in the archives of that church, andthat they had been placed there by Riculphus, who hadbrought them from Spain. Autcarius, in whose timeBenedict published his collection, is thought to have beenprivy to the imposture. The name of Isidore, which wasthen very common in Spain, was prefixed to it, to per-suade the world, that the decretals were brought from thatcountry, and not forged at Mentz, where they first ap-peared, However, they 'were suspected by some, even inthat dark age, and absolutely rejected by Hincmsrus ofRheims, as writings of no authority. But the popes,whose pretensions they were calculated t.o favour, exert-ing all their authority to bring them into repute, they werein the end universally received, and inserted in all the col-lections of canons. At present they are so universally ex-ploded, that there is not a single writer, no, not even inthe Ohurch of Rome, who is not a harned to patronize 01'defend them. But the work is done, for which they wereintended; and now that the edifice can stand by itself; nomatter what becomes of the stays that supported it whenit could not. These dccretals may be justly looked uponas a standing monument of the ignorance, superstition,and credulity, that universally prevailed in the church,from the beginning of the ninth century to the time of

266 THE DECEPTIONS

the Reformation. I shall conclude with observing, that,from these decretals, .Anastasius the Bibliothecarian, andafter him Platina, have chiefly copied what they relate ofthe first popes, supposing them to have really done what,in those spurious pieces, they are said to have done."(~ower-pope Oletus, alias Anacletus, note.)

".A long letter from [pope] Sixtus III. to the easternbishops, establishing several of the papal prerogatives, hasbeen long received as genuine, and is quoted by Bellar-

!mine, to prove, that councils ought to be called by nonebut the pope, Sixtus saying there, 'The emperor Valen-tinian has summonecl a council by our authority.' Butthat letter is wholly made up of passages borrowed fromthe VIIlth council of Toledo, from Gregory the Great,from Felix IlL, from Adrian, and from the Theodosianand Justinian codes; and therefore evidently supposititious,Sixtus is supposed to have written it on occasion of hishaving cleared himself before a council, from the 'Chargeof debauching a sacred virgin. But the acts of thatcouncil are so manifestly fabulous, that even Binius andBaronius have been forced to give them Hp, though theemperor Valentinian, whom the acts suppose to have as-sisted at the council, is there said to have referred thepronouncing of the sentence to the pope himself, 'becausethe judge of all ought to be judged by none.' It was,without all doubt, to establish this maxim, that the acts ofthis council were forged." (Bower-Pope Sixtus'IIL)

"To the acts of this council are commonly added, thoseof the judgment supposed to have been given at Rome,on occasion of an appeal, made to that see, by one Poly-chronius, said to have been bishop of Jerusalem, and tohave appealed from the judgment of his colleagues in theeast, to that of the bishop of Rome. The acts of thisjudgment too have been long received as genuine, andoften quoted to prove, that the power of receiving appeals,claimed by the popes, has been acknowledged even by theeastern bishops ~.nay, one of the popes, Nicolas I. appealsto them as genuine, in a letter, which he wrote to the em-peror Michael. .And yet that they are a mere forgery,may be as easily as evidently made .to appear. For thatjudgment is supposed to have been gi,,:en while the e,m-parol' Valentiman was the seventh time consul WIth


Avienus, that is, no fewer than eleven years after thedeath of Sixtus. Besides, it is manifest from the acts ofthe councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, that J uvenalisassisted at both as bishop of Jerusalem j and the first ofthese two councils was held a year before the election ofSixtus, and the latter eleven years after his death j so thatPolychronius was not bishop of Jerusalem in his time:it may be even questioned whether there ever was abishop of Jerusalem bearing that name; at least I canfind none in the catalogues of the bishops of that city,that have been handed down to us." (Tbid., note.)

The popish divines are so mad upon their idols that, toprove the antiquity of the use and worship of images,"they gravely allege a decree, supp sed to have be nmade in a council held by the apostles at Antic h, c rn-manding the faithful, 'that they may not err ab at thoobject of their worship, to make images of Christ, and toworship them.' But of the supposed apostolical decreeno mention is mane, no notice is taken, by any writerwhatever, till seven hundred years after the times of theapostles, that is, till the dispute about images, and thoworship of images, made such a council and such u decreenecessary. And on that consideration both are given up,as inventions of the more modern Greeks, by Potavius, byPagi, and by all the Roman Catholic writers of judgmentand candor." (Bower-P. Gregory II. Vol. ii., p. 29,30.)

Secondly. Another way i:q.which the Roman Catholicspractice their deceptions is, oy the bad uses they make offacts: such as,

1. The mierepresenting of facts. Thus cardinal Bellar-mine, who, in speaking of the institution of the vicars ofthe popes, " expresses himself thus: 'Leo appointed Anas-tasius, bishop of Thessalonica, his vicar in the east, in thesame manner as the predecessors of Anastasius had beenvicars of the predecessors of Leo.' From the. e wordsevery reader would naturally conclude, and Bellnrminedesigns they should, that the bishops of Thessulouica hadbeen the pope's vicars from the beginning, or time out ofmind; whereas it is certain, that this institution 11:1,1tukr-nplace but a few years before. Pope Leo I. in conferringon Anaetasius the vicariate dignity of his ee, as he tyle

268 THE DECEPTIONS

it, declared, that he followed therein the example of hispredecessor, Syricius, who first appointed Anysius to actin his stead: But he was doubly mistaken; for thesevicars were first instituted, as is notorious, by Damasus."and not Syricius; and it was not by Syricius, but by Da-masus, that Anysius was vested with that dignity. Thebishop of Thessalouicn is styled, by the ancient writers,the pope's vicar in East IllyriC'um, which is manifestlyconfining his vicariate jurisdiction to that district; butBellarmine extends it at once all over the east, by distin-guishing him with the title of the pope's vicar for theeast." (Bower's History of the Popes-Po Damasus,versus jinem.)

Thus again, the same cardinal..Bellm·mine, for the pre-tended power in the bishops of Rome of receiving appealsfrom all other tribunals, and finally determining all con-troversies, in a letter of Chrysostom in which he addresseshimself to pope Innocent in conjunction with several otherpersons, "finding some expressions which he thoughtmight be so interpreted as to favour and countenance thepretensions of the see of Rome, had Chrysostom address-ed himself to Innocent alone, makes him accordingly, byaltering the number in thepassage he quotes, address him-

• "The institution of oicars was, by the sncceeding popes, improvedinto that of leqates, or, to use De Marca's expression, the latter institu-tion was grafted on the former. The legates were vested with a fargreater power than the vicars, or, as pope Leo expresses it, 'were admit-ted to a far greater share of his car.hongh not to the plenitude of hispower.' They were sent on proper occasions into all countries, andnever failed exerting. to the utmost stretch, their boasted power, op-pressing, in virtue of their paramount authority, the clergy as well asthe people, and extorting from both large sums, to support the pompand luxury in which they lived.

" The custom of appointing vicars and legates may well be alleged asa remarkable instance of the craft and policy of the popes, siuce, of allthe methods they ever devised (and many they have devised) to extendand establish their power, none has better answered their ambitiousviews. But how Bellarmine could lay so much stress upon it as hedoes, to prove, that the pope has, by divine right, a sovereign authorityand jurisdiction over all the churches of the earth, is inconceivable. Forit is cert in, beyond all dispute, that such n custom had never beenheard of till the time of Damasus, that is, till the latter end of thefourth century, when it was first introdnced, upon the dismembering ofEast Illyricum, by Gratian, from the weetem empire." &1QeI'-P,Dam(WtII, """$. ji",."..

269•

self to Innocent alonej. and then concludes, that eventhe Greeks acknowledge the bishop of Rome for theirsupreme judge .. What must every impartial man thinkof a cause, that wants to be thus defended?· What ofthose, who thus defend it?" (Bower-pope Innocent.)

The onte-datinq of the edict issued in the Diet ofWorms against Martin Luther, is an instance of Romishmisrepresentation. That edict was issued near the closeof the Diet, when those favourable to Luther and hiscause had principally left. "The Spaniards, Italians, andthe mo t ultra-montane of tho German prince, alone re-mained. Thus Aleandcr (:1 nuncio of the P po) was mas-ter of the field, He presented to Oharl s [th emperorCharles V.] a rough drnught r an eli t, intended toserve as a model for that the Diet war; about t publishagainst the monk. The production of the nun io 'PI a edthe incensed empero\·. IIe assembled the members of theDiet, still at 'Vorms, in his ccuncil-cbambor, and read tothem Aleander's paper, which, as Pnllavicini informs us,was approved by all present. On the following day,which was nopublic festival, the emperor repaired to thecathedral, attended by the nobles of the court. The ser-vice being gone throug-h,a crowd of persons thronged theinterior, when Aleander, clothed in the insignia of hisorder, approached Charles. He held in his hand two-copies of the edict arrainst Luther, one in Latin, the otherin German, and, kne~ling-before his Imperial Majesty, hepetitioned Charles to affix to it his signature, and the sealof the ern ire. It was at the moment when sacrificehadjust been offered,when the incense filled the temple, andthe hymn was reverberating in the vaulted roofs, and, asit were, in the immediate presence of God, that the sealwas to be set to the destruction of the enemy of Rome.The emperor, in the most gracious mdnner, took a pen,and attached his ignature to the edict. Aleander with-drew in triumph, and instantly sent the decree to theprinter, and thence to every part of Christendom. Thisresult of Roman diplomacy bad cost no small pam to thepapacy, We learn from Pallavicilli himself, that theediet, though dated the 8th of May, was written and sign-

OF 7'HE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

• "He changes' obsecro ut scribatU' into •obsecro nt M:ril>cu.' "

270 THE DECEPTIONS

• ed some days later, lYutante-dated, in order that it mightappear sanctioned by the pesence of the wlwle Diet." '*(Dr. IYAubigne's History of the G'reat Reformation,book vii.,.prope finem.)

2. The denying of facts. Thus cardinal Baroniusmost audaciously denied that pope Honorius was con-demed as a heretic by the sixth general council. " ThatHonorius was not condemned by the sixth general council,is asserted by Baronius, and stiffiymaintained in his ac-count of that council." "'But it is no less certain andevident, if there is any certainty and evidence in history,that Honorius was condemned by the sixth general coun-cil, than it is certain and evident, that such a pope everexisted, or such a council ever was held; and Baroniusmight have as well questioned or denied-the one as theother." "Some will not allowthe pope to have been con-demned as an heretic, or for heresy, but for a criminalneglect in nat suppressing, as he might and ought to havedone, the heresy that sprung up in his time. But thatHonorius was condemned as an heretic, or for heresy, isso plain from the words of the judgment given by thecouncilagainst him, that one might as well,with Baronius,deny him to have been condemned, as deny him to havebeen condemned as an heretic. The words of the judg-ment are, 'having read and examined,' say the fathers ofthe council, 'the dogmatic letters written by Sergius ofConstantinople to Cyrus of Phasis, and to Honoriusbishop of old Rome, and likewise the answer of Honoriusto the said Sergius, and finding them entirely repugnantto the apostolic dogmas, as well as to the d~nitions ofthe councils,and the doctrine of the approved fathers, andagreeing with the doctrines of the heretics,owereject andaccurse them.' The council then ordered the names ofthose, whose' impious dogmas they had accursed and re-jected, to be erased out of the diptichs, namely, the nameof Sergius, Cyrus,&c. and of Honorius pope of old Rome,

'* "Pallaoicini says, Hist. concil. Trident., lib. i, e. 28, § 7, that thebill was drawn np May 25th, and signed May 26th, but dated back to11-1ay8th. The reason, it is said, was, that the bill was passed 'at theclose of the diet, and when many of the members had retired, and itwas wished to disguise that fact." Mosheim's Eccles. Hist., cent. xvi.,sect. i., chap. ii., § 16, n. (37). '


'because they had found, by his letter to Sergius, that hehad been in all things of the same mind with him, andhad confirmed his impious dogmas, quia in omnibus ejusmentem sequutus est, et impia dogmata confirmavit.'Thus the council in the thirteenth session; and in the endof the same session they ordered the writings of Sergius,of Cyrus, &c. and likewise of Honorius, to be publiclyburnt, as 'all containing the same impiety,' or the sameimpious doctrine. In their decree, or deffnition of faith,which they issued in the eighteenth and last session,andall signed to a man, they styled Theodorus of Pharan,Sergius, Cyrus, &c. and likewise Honorius, organs of thedevil, as having been employed by th enemy of mankind'in sowing errors, and propagating among th rth doxpeople the damnable here y of one will in hrist, and 11operation.' Now whether one condemned for writing I t-tel'Sthat' contained doctrines rrpugnant to th apostolicdogmas, to the definitions of the councils,to the doctrineof the fathers, and agreeing with the doctrine of theheretics; for being, in all things, of the same mind with aprofessed heretic, and confirming his impious dogmas; forsowing errors, as an organ of the devil, and propagating adamnable heresy;' whether, I say, one thus condemned,can be said to have been condemned only because he didnot suppress that heresy when he might, I leave the readerto judge." (Bower's History of the Popes-s-P, Agatho,in medio.)

Thus again, pope Alexander VI. flatly denied a positivefact respecting a dispensation he had granted to a certainperson; thus exhibiting, by the denial and its adjuncts, avery singular instance of baseness, cruelty, and injustice."He had granted a dispensation to a nun, heiress to thecrown of Portugal, to quit her religious prof~ssion,~dmarry the natural son of the late king. That dispensationgave great offenceto Ferdinand the Catholic,who claimedthat kingdom as the next heir to it after the nun; and thepope was, on the one hand, unwilling to revoke it, and, onthe other, apprehensive of the consequences that mightat~end his maintaining it, in ~pposition to so powerful.apnnce. But [his son] Valentme [who was one of biscardinals] extricated him out of his perplexity, advisinghim to deny his hewing ever issued sucl« a dispensation,

272 TPE DEOEPTIONS

and to charge the archbishop of Cosenza, the secretary ofbriefs, with having forged it. -This expedient the popereadily embracedj and the archbishop was immediatelyapprehended by his order, as guilty of forgery, and sentprisoner to the castle of St. Angelo. As he, conscious of hisown innocence, denied the fact with great constancy andfirmness, and all who were acquainted with his characterlooked upon th cbarge as a malicious and groundlesscalumny, the pope sent John Merades, bishop elect of

• Toul, one of the noted instruments of his cruelty, to as-sure the prisoner in his name, that, though he was inno-cent, if he would, for some weighty reasons; take theguilt upon him, his holiness would cause him to be imme-diately set at liberty, and prefer him to the greatest digni-ties. The unhappy bishop, allured with the hopes of lib-erty and preferment, fell into the snare, pleaded guilty inthe presence of several witnesses, and most humblybegged his holiness to forgive him. But instead of thepromised liberty and dignities, the pope ordered him tobe more closely confined than ever. He was soon after-wards brought before a private consistory, and beingthere found guilty, upon his own confession, of havingforged the dispensation in question, the following sen-tence was pronounced by the pope himself against him :that he should be degraded, that his effects should be confis-cated, and his person delivered up to the civil magistrate.This cruel and unjust sentence was executed with the ut-most rigour; all the bishop's effects, and the money hewas possessed of, were given to Valentine, and he himselfwas, by the civil magistrate, confined for life to a dun-geon in the castle of St. Angelo, without any other foodbut bread and water. But death soon put an end to hismisery." • (Bower - P. Alexander VI., versofinem.)

3. '&hibiting as facts matters Mhich are not facts,

• What a singular way of"their own the Romanists have of.justifyingthemselves in the denial of the facts of those matters made known tothe confessors, at the confessional! "What is only known under theeal of confession, say their divines, is not known to man, but to God

alone, since it was not discovered to a roan, but to God represented bya man, that is, to the priest or confessor; and therefore, the priest may,with a safe conscience, affirm, EVEN UPON OATH, that he knows not whathe thu .• i'1l'w." Boirer - P. S!Jricitt.•, paulo ante med.. note.

OF THE BOJf.J.N C.il.TBOLlCS. 273

which have no foundation in truth. Thus pope Leo theGreat was willfully guilty of falsif!Jing the truth, tofavour his pretended right of receiving appeals, "roundlyasserting that, upon appeals from Gaul, his predecessorshad frequently reversed or confirmed juclgments giventhere. It were to be wished he had alleged one instanceat least to confirm so bold an assertion; but that wasmore than was in his power to do, Celidonius [one whohad appealed to this pope Leo] being the first Gallicanbishop who ever thought of appealing from thc judgmentof his collegues in Gaul, to that of tho bishop of Rome.This Leo could not but know; but probably thought it nocrime in so material a point to sacrificetruth to tho exalt-ation of his see." (Bower's History of the Pop s,.... P.Leo the Great, prope init.)

Thus the legates of the same pope Leo, in tho councilof Chalcedon, after falsel!J charging one of the prelatespresent with presuming to assemble a council without theconsent of the apostolic see, falsely added, that to do sohad never been thought lawful, had never been done."As to what the legates added, that it had never beenthought lawful to assemble a council without the consentof the bishops of Rome, that i~had never been done, it isso repugnant to truth, that might the authenticity of theacts. of the council be questioned, no man, who has butclipped into ecclesiasticul history, would believe theycould have had the assurance gravely to advance, in :massemblyof six hundred and thirty bishops, such notoriousand palpable falsehoods. And yet their authority is al-leged by Bollarmino, and after him by all the RomanCatholic divines, to prove, that the power of assembling<ecumenicalcouncils is vested in the pope alone, as iftheir authority could be of any weight, or deserve theleast regard, when it evidently contradicts the most un-exceptionable monuments antiquity can produce." (lbid.,ante med.). When the army of thc crnsade';S~gainst the A~bigensesm. Fr:;nce were carrying on ~helr infernal warfare, theylaid uerre to the city of Avicnon, where many of thep.eople ~vhom they sought to destroy resided. But theCItywas defended with great bravery by Earl Raymond.Finding that the place was not to be conquered by force,

IS

27tf THE DECEPTIONS

the piJpe's legate, on the part of the crusading army, "hadrecourse to fraud ; and even these jneasures for some timefailed him. IIe then desired that he might be admittedinto the city, in company with his prelates, under thepre-tence tl~athe would examine into the faith of the inhabi-tants, and affirming with an oath that heput off the siegeof the city for no other cause than the uielfare of theirsouls. He added, that the cry of their infidelity had as-cended to thepope / and that he wished to inquire whetherthey had done altogether according to the cry that hadcome up before him. The too credulous citizens, not sus-pecting the fraud, and especially relying upon the sacred-ness of his oath, opened their gates, on which the soldiersof the French army, as had been previously determined,rushed violently into the city, seized the citizens, boundthem in chains, plundered their houses, killed numbers ofthe inhabitants, and having thus, by treachery, got posses-sion, they brake down the towers, and destroyed the wallsef that noble city." (Jones's History of the ChristianOhurch, chap. v., sect. vi., verso.fin.)

That notorious monk John 'I'etzel, when preaching upand vending indulgences in Germany, "found but few[persons] sufficiently enlightened, and still fewer boldenough to resist him. In general he could easily managea superstitious crowd. He had erected the red cross ofindulgences' at Zwickau, and the good people of the placehad hastened to pour in the money that was to liberatesouls [from their sins and from purgatory]. He wasabout to leave with a full purse. The evening before hisdeparture, the chaplains and their acolytes called upon himto give them a farewell repast. The request was reason-able; but what was to be done - the money was alreadycounted and sealed up. In the morning he had the largebell tolled. A crowd hurried to the church - everyonethought that something extraordinary had happened sincethe period of the station had expired. 'I had intended,'said he, 'to take my departure this morning, but lastnight I was awakened by groans. I 'listened : they pro-ceeded from the cemetery. Alas I it was a poor soul thatcalled me, and entreated to be delivered from the tormentthat consumed it. I therefore have tarried one day longer,t~lntI might move Chri tinn hearts to compassion for this


unhappy soul. Myself will be the first to contribute-but he who will not follow my example, will be worthy ofall condemnation.' What heart would not answer tosuch an appeal. Besides, who can tell what soul thuscries from the tomb? The gifts were many; and Tetzel,with the chaplains and acolytes, sat Clown to a merry feastpaid for by offerings forthe poor soul of Zwickau." (D'Aubigne"s History of the Reformation, book iii., popeinit.)

When pope Pius the Fourth determined to exterminatethe Waldenses from Calabria, (Italy,) where they had .formed themselves into two corporate towns, "he sentcardinal Alezandrino, a man of a very violent temper and afurious bigot, together 'IlJithtwo monks, to Calabria, wh 1'0they were to act as inquisitor, These authorized po onscame to St. Xist, one of the towns built by tb Wnld m-ses, and having assembled the people toll] them, that th yshould receive no injury, or violence, if they would acceptof preachers appointed by the pope; but if they wouldnot, they should be deprived both of their properties andlives; and that their intentions might be known, massshould be publicly said that afternoon, at which they wereordered to attend. The people of St. Xist, instead ofattending mass, fled into the woods with their families,and thus disappointed the cardinal and his coadjutors.The cardinal then proceeded to La Garde, the otber townbelonging to the Waldenses, where, not to be served as hehad been at St. Xis\, he ordered the gates to bo locked,and all avenues guarded. The same proposals were thenmade as to the inhabitants of St. Xist, but with this addi-tional piece of artifice: the cardinal assured them tl¥It theinhabitants of St. Xiet had immediately come into hisproposals, and agreed, that the pope should appoint the1t~preachers. This falsehood succeeded; for the people of LaGarde, thinking what the cardinal had told them to betruth, said, they would exactly follow the example of theirbrethren at St. Xist. The cardinal having gained hispoint by deludiqg the people of one town, sent for twotroops of soldiers, with a view to murder those of theother." (.Fox's Book of Martyrs, or, 4.~ts and .Monu-ments of the Christian Ohurch, book vui., p. ~5, Ed,Philadelphia, 1 30, 4to.)

276 THE DECEPTIONS

The antipope Felix, a character who figured on thestage of life in the fourth century, is honoured by thechurch of Rome as a saint and a martyr, and his festivalis kept on the 29th of July. "This honour was conferredon him in. the ages of darkness and ignorance, upon theauthority of his fabulous .Acts,and a more fabulous pontifi-cal, from which his .Acts seem to have been copied." Hisapotheosis therefore must have been greatly owing to theignorance and darkness of the times in which it tookplace. .Accordingly," during the ages of darkness he heldundisturbed the rank to which he had been thus raised:but when the dawn of knowledge began to appear, and itwas discovered at last from contemporary and unexcep-tionable writers, who Felix was, the church of Rome wasashamed to own him among her saints. On the otherhand, to elegrallehim had been giving a fatal blow to thepope's authority, and rendering it forever precarious, in somaterial a point as that of canonization. Felix thereforewas, at all events, to keep his place in heaven; his sanc-tity was to be confirmed,and the world imposed upon bysome contrivance or other, capable of utterly defeatingthe testimony of the ancients. This point being settled,to prevent all suspicion of deceit, or underhand dealings,Pope Gregory XIII. declared, in 1582, his intention ofhaving the cause of Felix impartially examined. In orderto this, he appointed Baronius, employed at that time inreforming the Roman martyrology, to put in writingwhatever could be objected against Felix, and CardinalSantorio to answer his objections, and collect likewise inwriting all that could be said in favour of his new client,that he pope might be thoroughly acquainted with themerits of the cause before he came to a final decision.This conduct in Gregory has been censured by some over-zealous divines of the Church of Rome, as if he had there-by given the world occasion to think that he questionedthe infallibility of his predecessors, who had honouredFelix as a. saint. But Gregory well knew what he wasdoing, and how the whole would end. In compliancewith his orders, Baronius wrote a dissertation, which hehim elf calls a volume, and not a short one, to prove thatFelix:was neither a saint nor a martyr. .Ashe had truthon his sido, Cardinal Santorio, though a man of learning,.

•OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 277

could neither answer his arguments! nor offer any thing inso desperate a cause worthy of himself He often ad-dressed himself in his prayers to his client, entreating himto undertake his own cause, by suggesting to him whatmight be alleged in his defence, But the client was no lessat a stand than the advocate. Some other person, there-fore, must interpose: and whom did the carrying or los-ing such a cause more nearly concern than the pope, sincehis authority in a most essential point was at stake? Thiswas a nice affair, and to be managed with great art anddexterity. Gregory, therefore, having often heard bothsides, in a full congregation of cardinals, without betrayingthe least partiality for Felix, appointed them to meet forthe last time on the 28th of July, the eve of the pr tendedsaint's festival, judging that the mo t prop r time to playoff with good uccess the trick, which he had k Jpt thwhole time in petto. The cardinals met on the day ap- ..pointed; Baronius quite silenced his adversary; the wholeassembly was fully convinced that Felix was no saint, nomartyr; the pope himself eemed to fall in with the rest,and accordingly rose up to declare, as was thought, theunhapfY Felix fallen from heaven; when n. great noisewas al on a sudden heard at the door, and immediately amessenger entered, who, after uttering these words, ' holyFelix, pray for u " acquainted the pope and the cardinalsthat the body of Felix was just discovered. Hereuponthey aIt repaired in great haste to the church of Cosmosand Damianus, where the miraculous discovery bad beenmade; and there saw, in a marble coffin of an extraordi-nary size,on one side the bodies of Mark, Marcellinus, andTranquillinns; and on the other that of Felix, with thisinscription on a stone that lay by it, 'The body of SaintFelix, who condemned Constantius.' Hereupon the TeDeum. was sunz with great solemnity for the triumph oftruth: Felix w~s declared worthy of the veneration andworship that had till then been paid him, and a place wasallowed him amonz the other saints in the Roman martyr-ology, where it is "'said,that' he was driven .from his ~eefor defending the Catholic faith, by Constantius, an Arianempe~'or,and privately put to death at Cer~,n?w Oerre-t:ra,1O Tuscany.' Baronius, transported WIth JOY, as ~ehimself declares, at 0 miraculous and seasonable a dis-

278 THE DECEPTIONS

covery, immediately yielded, not to his antagonist Santo-.rio, but to Felix, who had evidently interposed; and,taking that interposition for a satisfactory answer to all hisarguments, he immediately retracted whatever he hadsaid, and consigned to the flameswhatever he had writtenin opposition to Felix. Thus, to maintain a chimericalprerogative, they sport with truth / bet?'ayinto error thosewho con.fil!ein them / and, turning the worst of men intosaints, honour vice witlb tlle greatest reward they canbestow on virtue." (Booer:« History of the Popes - P.Eiberius, ante med.)

Snch are a few specificinstances of the bad uses whichthe Romanists make of facts, whereby we can easily Bee,to some extent at least, what they are capable of in theline of falsehood, in the practice of lying. ""What is alie? It is any action done or word spoken, whether trueor false in itself, which the doer or speaker wishes the ob-server or hearer to take in a contrary sense to that whichhe knows to be true. It is, in a word, any action done orspeech delivered with the intention to deceive,thou*h bothmay be absolutely true and light in themselves.' (IJr.Olarke:« Oommentary, Gen. xx. 12.)

Thirdly. Another subtle method by which the Roman-ists carryon their work of deceiving is, by equivocationsand mental reservations. In this method of deceiving,the Jesuits are most notorious." Thus, according to their"doctrine of equivocations," they say, "it is permitted touse ambiguous terms, leading people to understand themin another sense from that in which we understand themourselves." (Pascal's Provincial Letters, p.198.) Butif equivocation be, (as indeed it is-well defined to be,) theuse of ambiguous terms, and if ambiguous terms be usedwith the intention to deceive, is not such an intention ofthe very essence of lying? "Equivocations are said to beexpedients to save telling the truth, and yet without tellinga falsity~' but if an intention to deceive constitute the

• But the moral wrong of this species of deceiving is not to be under-stood as confined to the Jesuits as a distinct society, but as resting, in agreater or less degree, with the whole Romish church. For," by identi-fying herself, at various times, with the Jesuits, she has virtuallystamped their doctrines with her approbation." Pascal's ProoincialuIlers, p. 261, note.


essence of a lie, which in general it does, I cannot con-ceive how it can be done without incurring guilt, as it iscertainly an intention to deceive." (Buck's TheologicalDictionary, art. Equivocation.)

"An equivocation, which serves the purpose of a lie,bears the same relation to it, as a hypocrite does to a pro-fane person; it is only apparently better, and therefore amore dangerous cheat." (Dr. Scott's Explanatory Notes,1 Sam. xxvii. P.O.)

But there may be instances 'when even the equivocat-ing Jesuits can find no words with which to speak cquivo-cally. But yet, as if to meet their want in all such cases,they have "the doctrine of mental reseroadons. A manmay swear," say they, "that he never dill su h a thing(though he actually did it), meaning witltin ltimseif that ltedid not do so on a certain day, or before he was bon , or /Iii-derstanding any other such circumstance, whil the wordwhich he employs have no such sense us would discoverhis meaning. And this is very convenient in many cases,and quite innocent, when necessary or conducive to one'shealth, honour, or advantage." (Pascal's Provincial Let-ters, p. 198, 199.) .

But would not this be lying. and pC1jury too, do youask? They themselves answer, " No; for," say they, "itis the intention. t.hat determines the quality of the action."And they suggest" a still surer method for avoiding false-hood, which is this: after saying aloud, I swear that I havenot done that, to add, in a low voice, to-day j or after say-ing aloud, I swear, to interpose in a whisper, that I say,and then continue aloud, that I have done that." (Ibid:,p.199.)

If it be thought there is reason to fear, that many personsmight not have sufficient-presence of mind to avail them-selves of these methods, their" doctors have taught, forthe benefit of such as misrht not be expert in the use ofthese reservations, that nbomore is required of them, toavoid lying, than simply to say that they. have not donewhat they have done, provided they -have, ill gener~l, theintention» of giving to their language the sense which anable man would give it." (Ibid. pp. 199, 200.)

• The doctrine of intention, as held by the Jesuits, is, that the lnten-

2 0 THB DECEPTIONS

How surpassingly ingenious Romish doctors must be.confessed to be, at contriving how to facilitate the bnsinessof deception!

Fourthly. Yet another of the ways in which the Ro-man Catholics are accustomed to practice their deceivingsis, by false promises. "Promises" (say they) "are notbinding, when the person in making them had no intentionto bind himself. Now, it seldom happens that any havesuch an intention, unless when they confirm their promisesby an oath or contract; so that when one simply says, Iwill do it, he means that he will do it if he does notchange his mind; for he does not wish, by saying that, todeprive himself of his liberty." (Pascal's ProvincialLetters, p. 200.) Those who entertain such loose notionsas these, on the binding nature of promises, must of coursebe capable of falsifying them.

Thus, when the army of the crusadera acting againstthe Albi(Jenses in France, an army raised according to thewill of !{ome and leel on by one of the pope's leqates, ap-proached the city of Oarcasone, it was defended by theEarl of Beziers. The legate finding, on trial, that theplace was not so easily taken as he at first apprehended,and failing in an attempt to move the Earl to surrenderon the conditions he proposed, next" insinuated himselfinto the graees of one of the officers of his army, tellinghim that it lay in his power to render to the church a sig- -nal instance of kindness, and that if he would undertakeit, besides the rewards which he should receive in heaven,he should be amply recompensed on earth. The objectwas to get access to the Earl of Beziers, professing himselfto be his kinsman and friend, assuring him that he hadsomething to communicate of the last importance to his

tion determines the quality of the action, <if whatever description the ac-tion be r so that a man may perform an action safely b-yframing to hillls""ran intention of doin.'l right, although the same action without this artificewould be a damnable sin. What a wonderful thing, in the hands ofJesuits, is intention, for rendering all actions whether good bad or in-different allowable I For," what these casuists really maintain is, thatactions in themselves evil, may be allowed, provided the intentions aregood; and, moreover, that in order to make these intentions good, it isnot neeessiU"y that they have any reference to God, but sufficient if therrefer to our own convenience, cupidity or vanity." Pascal's ProvincialLetters, p. 169, note.

OF THE ROM.J.N C.J.TBOLICS. 281

interests; and having thus far succeeded, he was to pre-vail upon him to accompany him to the legate, for the pur-pose of negotiating a peace, under a plecl,qethat he shouldbe safely conducted back a[Jain to the city. The officerplayed his part so dexterously, that the Earl imprudentlyconsented to accompany him. At their interview; thelatter submitted to the legate the propriety of exercisinga little more lenity towards his subjects, as a procedurethat might have the happiest tendency in reclaiming theAlbigenses into the pale of the church of Rome; • he alsostated to him that the conditions which had been former-ly proposed to him were dishonorable and shnmeful.t andhighly indecorous in tho e who o eye ought to be achaste us their thoughts: that his people would ratherchoose to die than submit to such disgraceful tr atment.The legate replied that the inhabitants of Oarcn onmight exercise their own pleasure ; bnt that it was un-necessary for the Earl to trouble himself any further aboutthem, as he was himself a prisoner until Oarcasone uia»taken, and his subjects had better learnt their duty! TheEarl was not a little astonished at this informatiop ; heprotested t at he was betrayed, and that faith was violat-ed: for that the gentleman, by whose entreaties he hadbeen prevailed upon to meet the legate, had pledged him-self by oaths and execrations to conduct him back in sale-ty to Oarcasone. But appeals, remonstrances, or entreaties,were of no avaM.: he was committed to the custody of theDuke of Burgundy, 'and, having been thrown into pri-son, died soon after, not without exciting strong suspi-

• The Earl himself professed the Roman Catholic religion.t The conditions which the legate had proposed to the Earl were, that

"he should be permitted to come out of the city, and to bring with himeleven others with their baz and bazenee. But with regard to the restof the. inhabitants, they bho~ld not I;;ye"'the city except at!li~ discretion,of which they ought to entertain the most favourable opimon, becausehe was the pope's legate: That all the inhabitants both men, womc~,maidens, and children should come forth without so much as theirshirts or shifts on or the smallest coverinz to hide their nakedness, andthat finally, the Earl of Beziers shouldbe kept iu ~tr!ct custody andconfinement, and that all his po - ssions should rcmlU~ in tho hands ofsuch a successor as should be chosen for the prescrvn!lon of the c?u~·try!.' Jones'. History of the Christin,. Church, chap, v., sect, VI., '/1media.

282 THE -DECEP'!'IONS

cions of being poisoned." (Jones's History of the Ohri8-tian Ohurch, chap. v., sect. vi., in medio.)

When John Huss of Bohemia lifted up his voice againstthe corruptions of the Roman Catholic church, and expos-ed the vices of the clergy, his. adversaries accused him ofholding forth heretical doctrines, and the council of Con-stance afforded them an opportunity of having him ex-amined. "The council of Constance was assembled Nov.16, 1414, to cletermine the dispute between the three con-tending factions for the papacy, and thither Huss was citedto appear, in order to justify his conduct and writings.The Emperor Bigismund, brother and successor of Win-ceslaus, encouraged Huss to obey the summons, and as aninducement to his compliance, sent him a passport toithassurance of safe conduct, permitting him to come freelyto the council, and pllidfJinghimself for his safe return." '"(Jones's History of the (lhristian. Church; chap. v., sect.viii., post med.) But no sooner had Huss reached Con-stance, than the passport was disregarded: the council wastoo strongly prejudiced against the man to pay any re-gard.to a passport, and the emperor, a true son of thecVurch to which he belonged, instead of exercising thepower which he undoubtedly possessed of causing hispassport to be regarded, fell in with the council. Husswas arrested and committed to prison, was condemned inthe fifteenth session of the council, and straightway de-livered over to the secular power and burnt alive as aheretic. Such was the eni! of the emperor's assurance ofsafe conduct.

When, after the death of king Edward VI. of England,his sister the lady Mary was waiting, in Framlinghamcastle in Suffolk, an opportunity to seat herself as queenon the British throne, "the people of Suffolk were thefirst to resort to her on this occasion. But, as they werezealous supporters of the reformation, they accompaniedtheir promise of support under an express stipulation, that

'" "The words of the suf~ conduct were, 'You shall let John HusslIass, stop, stay, and return freely, without auy hindrance whatever.'''(Bower's History of the Popes-Po John xxiii., ante med.) "Omniprorsus impedimento remote, transitire, stare, morari et redire liberepermittatis sibique et suis, arc the very words of the safe-conduct."Jones, chap. Y. sect. viii., post !lied., note.

OF THE RO]JfAN CATHOLICS. 283

the protestant religion, as established in king Edward'sreign, should not be disturbed, and that none of the lawsand orders publicly enacted during his reign should bealtered. In consenting to this, she made no hesitasior;/promising them faitlifully, ~tpon the word oj a queen,that she would make no innovations in religion. Howsincere she was in these promises," her course afterwardshows; "and how honestly she meant to keep them, maybe inferred from that common and abominable subterfugeof the advocates and partisans of popery, that, 'no faithis to be kept with heretics.' Under this damnable anddetestable position, all, the civil and social duties of lifeare at once declared a nullity, whensoever they interfere

ith the interests of those, who maintain the Homi h I' -ligion. By means of a protestant army, collected underthe most solemn promises, and formed under the mostsacred sanctions, she secured her advance to the throne,and trampled on all the ties of political and civil obliga-tions by the almost instantaneous reoioal oj popery.\Vhat can the favourers of such a religion S:l.yto this?Or how is it possible for any sophi try of men or devils toremove such' blackness of darkness,' which must ever fixan indelible mark of disgrace on persons of every stationand condition in life?""':"When the protestants of Suffolk,on finding the queen's proceeilings against those who ad-her~d to the religion established in king Ed ward's. reign,rernindad her of the solemn eneacement and prolDlseshehad made, we have an eminent illu~trationof the versatilityof human nature, which so conspicuously demo?-strat~sthe difference of disposition in a prosperous and inauspi-cious condition. Her answer must not be omitted, as aproof of our observation. 'Forasmuch, (said she,) as you,being but the members, desire to rule your head, you shallone day well perceive that members must obey theirhead, and not look to bear rule over the same.'• Neitherwere these considered as bare words ; for, in order tostrike terror into others, not to upbraid her, however re-spectfully they might touch upon her breach of tnlst, she

. • "A letter of hers, nddres cd to bishop Gnrd.iner, ~xtnn~ in the Br!-t.Ish .Museum, in her own writing, declares her fixed Intention of ex~·pating and burning every protestant." Fox's Book of Martyrs, book u.,chap. i.

2 4 THE DEOEPTIONS

punished a gentleman of the name of Dobbe for this veryact of humbly petitioning her on account of her promises,with ordering him to be exposed three times in the pillory.Others were imprisoned for delivering her books and sup-plications, collected from the Scriptures, containing ex-hortations to induce her to continue in the true reformedreligion then established." (Fox's Book of Martyrs,book ii., chap. i.)

Arch bishop Cranmer himself experienced the falsenessof Romish promises. He had been a long time in theirhands, imprisoned, degraded, insulted, when, changingtheir manner of dealing with him, " his enemies promisedhim. his former greatness if he would but recant, as wellas tile queen's favour j" and when, induced by a love dflife, he signed thc detestable instrument of recantation,then they sentenced him to the fire. "They first seducedhim to live by recantation, and then doomed him to perish,using perhaps the sophistical argument, that, being broughtagain within the Catholic pale, he was then most fit todie." (Tbid., book iv., chap. ii.) But Cranmer did notdie a Roman Catholic; hc died indeed, by the hands ofthe treacherous Roman Catholics, a martyr at the stake,but not without evidencing, for the wrong of his reeanta-tion, the most sincere and genuine repentance. .

Even oaths, with all their awful solemnity, seem to pre-sent but a feeble barrier to .Romanists, even those of thehighest official standing among them, to prevent themfromfalsifying their promises. "Seventeen of the Romanpontiffs were perjurers. These were Felix, Formosus,John, Gregory, Pascal, Clement, John, Boniface, Innocent,Gregory, Benedict, John, Eugenius, Paul, Innocent, Julius,and Paul. Felix and the rest of the Roman clergy sworeto acknowledge no other pontiff during the life of Libe-rius, whom the emperor had banished. The clergy, not-withstanding, immediately after, while Liberius survived,elected Felix·to that dignity, which, without hesitation,he accepted. A perjured Roman bishop thcn presidedamong the petjured Roman clergy.-Formosus was de-posed and excommunicated by Pope John, who made himswear never again to enter his bishopric or the Romancity. Pope Martin, in the way of his profe sion, and withgreat facility, dissolved the oath and restored Formosue

OF THE BOMAN CAPHOLICS. 285to his dignity. -'The obligation having, in this manner,undergone a chemical analysis in the pontifical laboratory',Formosus returned with a good conscience and with greatpropriety to his episcopal seat, and, iu the end, to theRoman Sec.-John the Twelfth, in 957, swore fealty toOtho on the body of Peter. This solemn obligation, hisholiness afterward violated and revolted to Adalbert theEmperor's enemy.-Gregory the Seventh took an oath,inconsistent with the acceptance of the Pontifical dignitywith which he was afterward vested. The council ofWorms, in consequence, in 1070, declared his holinessguilty of perjury. Gregory, be ides, made Rodolph ofGermany break the oath of fidelity which be had taken tothe Emperor Henry.-Pascal the Second, in 1111,grantedto Henry on oath, the right of investiture, and promisednever to excommunicate the Emperor. Pascal, afterwardin a synod of the Lateran, excommunicated l!enry. Hisholiness excused his conduct and pacified his conscienceby an extraordinary specimen of casuistry. I forswore,said his infallibility, the excommunication of his majestyby myself, but not by a council. Bravo! Pope Pascal,Clement the Fifth, in 1307, engaged on oath to Philip theFair, to c dornn the memory and bum the bones ofBoniface the Eighth. This obligation, his holiness yiolated.John the Twenty-second, in 1316, swore to Cardinal Na-poleon, to mount neither horse nor mule till he had es-tablished the holy See at Rome. His holiness, however,established his apostolic court. not at Rome, but at Avig-n.0J.1' He satisfied his conscience by sailing instead ofrld1l1g, and substituted a ship for a bud conveyance.John's casuistry was nearly as good as Pascal's.-Boni-face, Innocent, Gregory, Benedict, and John engaged onoath to resign the Papacy; but, on being required to ful-fil the obligation, these viceroys of' heaven refused. Theoaths, on the occasion, were of the most solemn kind.Innocent swore on the holy Evnngelists ; and Gregory, inthE)n~me of God, Lady Mary, the Apostles, and all thecelestinl court. Benedict swore on the gospels and thewood of the cross. The oaths were attended with dread-ful imprecations. The attempt of these vice-gods toevade the accomplishment of their engagements, presentsa scene of equivocation an-i chicanery, which is unequalled

•

286 THE DECEPTIONS

perhaps in the annals of the world. Bengdict, said theParisian University, endeavored to escape by a forced in-terpretation, contrary to the intention of the obligation.Gregory and Benedict, says Giannone, swore and thenshuffled about the performance, and,' according to Alex-ander, resolved to retain their dignity contrary to thesanctity of a solemn oath. Gregory and Benedict, how-ever, on this occasion,discoveredsomecandour. Gregory,said the council of Pisa, contrary to his obligation,declared publicly and frequently, that the way of cessionwas unjust and diabolical, and, in this, he agreed withBenedict. Gregory, Benedict, and John were, in thecouncils of Pisa and Constance, condemned for perjury.-Eugenius the Fourth, in 1439, was condemncd in thecouncil of Basil for perjury. Paul the Second, as well asInnocent'the Eighth, bound himself by oath to certainregulations,"and afterwards disregarded his engagement.Julius the Second took an oath on the gospels, bindinzhimself to call a general council; but afterward deteITedthe fulfillmentof the treaty. The breach of his obligationoccasioned the convocation of the second council of Pisa.Paul the Fourth, in 1556,before the seventh month of his

. Papacy, created seven cardinals, though he 1 sworn inthe conclave before his election, to add only four to thesacred.college for two years after his accession. Seven-teen popes, it appears, at the least, were forsworn. Thechurch, therefore, had seventeen perjured heads, and God,seventeen perjured vicars-general." u». Edgm"s Vari-ations of Popery, chap. ii.)

So little regard for oaths have the Roman pontiffs,thatthey have long since been in the practice of causing.others besides themselves to violate them: in other words,they have long been in the practice of dissolving theobligation of oaths / and, incredible as it may seem, theyclaim to have a special God-given poioer so to do. " Thepower of dissolving the obligation of vows, promises,oaths, and indeed all engagements, especially those in-jurious to the church and those made with the patrons ofheresy, has been, in daring blasphemy, arrogated by thosevicegerents of God. This involves the shocking maxim,that faith, contrary to ecclesiastical utility, mfl,y beviolatedwith heretics. The popedom, in challenging and exercis-

•


ing this authority, has disturbed the relations which theDeity established in his rational" creation, and grasped atclaims which tend to unhinge civil society and disorganizethe moral world. Dispensations for violating the sanctityof oaths form perhaps the most frightful feature in themoral deformity of popery. This shocking maxim hasbeen, for many ages, sanctioned by theologians, canonists,popes, councils, and the whole Romish communion.

"Bailly, in the class-book nsed in the Maynooth semi-nary, ascribe to' the church a power of dispensing invows and oaths.' - This the author attempts to showf:'om the words of Revelation, which confer the preroO'a-tive of the keys in bindinz and loosing, and which, heconcludes, being general, signify not only the power ofabsolving from sin, but also from promises ana oaths.The moral theologian, in this manner, abu es the inspired!anguage for the vilest purpose, and represents his ho k-I!l!5 assumption as taught in the Bible and as an article offaith. The church, in this hopeful proposition, means theF-oman pont~tf, whom the canon law characterizes as themterpreter of an oath .. ."Dens, in his theology, the modern standard of Cathol-l?lSm in Ireland, authorizes this maxim.t The dispensa-tion of a vow, says this criterion of truth, 'is its relaxationby a lawful superior in the place of God, from a just cause.The superior, as the vicar of God in the place of God,remits to a man the debt of a plighted promise. God's~cceptance, by this dispensation, ceases: for it is dispensedill God's name,' The precious divine, in this manner,puts man in the stead of God, and enables a creature todissolve the obligation of a vow.

"(Jajetan teaches the same maxim. According to thecardinal, 'the sentence of excommunication for apostasyfrom .the faith is no sooner pronounced aguinst a king,than, ill fact, his subjects are freed from his dominion andoo~.'t ,

-, 'Existit in ecelesia potestas dispensandl in votis et juramentis.Badlq, 2, 140. :Dfaynootll Report, 283." .

•Dcclnratio juramenti seu interpretatio, cum de ipso dubitat , peru-net ad Papum. Gibert 3 512.'.! 'S?-perior, tanqua~ ~icarius Dei, vice et nomi~e Dei, remittit hom-mr debItum promissionis factae. Dens, 4, 134, 135. .

t 'Quam ~ito ali'1ws per sententiam denunciatur excommumcatus

288 THE DECEPTIONS

"Aquinas, though a Saint, and worshipped in the popishcommunion on the bended knee, maintains the same shock-ing principle. He recommends the same Satanic maximto subjects, whose sovereign becomes an advocate of here-sy. According to his angelic saintship, 'when a king isexcommunicated for apostasy, his vassals are, in fact, im-mediately freed from his dominion and from their oath offealty: for a heretic cannot govern the faithful.' Such aprince is to be deprived of authority, and his subjectsfreed from the obligation of allegiance. 'I'ais is the doc-trine of a man adored by the patrons of Romanism forhis sanctity. He enjoined the breach of faith and theviolation of a sworn engagement: and is cited for au-thority on this point by Dens, the-idol of the popish prel-acy in Ireland.

"Bernard, the celebrated Glossator on the canon-law,advances the same principle. A debtor, says the canonistof Parma, 'tlwugh sworn to pay, may refuse the claim ofc:z creditor who falls into heresy or under excommunica- .tion.' According to the same authority, 'the debtor'soath implies the tacit condition that the creditor, to beentitled to payment, should remain in a state in whichcommunication with him would be lawful.'

"The Parisian University, in 1589, consisting of sixtydoctors, declared the French entirely freed from their oathof allegiance to their king, Henry the Third, and author-ized to take arms against their sovereign,on account of hisopposition to Catholicism.

"The French clergy, in 1577,even after the reformation,taught the same infernal maxim. The Huguenots 'insistedon the faith which the French nation had plighted in a.solemn treaty. The Romish theologians, on the contrary,rejected the plea, and contended in their sermons andpublic writings, that a prince is not bound to keep faithwith thepartisans of heresy.'

"This atrocious maxim was taught by popes, as well asby theologians. Gregm'y, ill 1080, asserted his authorityto dissolve the oath of fealty.· His infallibility supported

propteJ'apostnsiam a fide, ip 0 facto ejus subditi sunt absoluti a dominioet juramento. Cujetan ill Aquin. 2, 50.'

, Contra illornm insaniam, qui, nefando ore, garriun», auctoritate~sanctae et Apostolicae sedis non potui se quemquam a sacramento fideh·tam ejtls ablolvere. La1Jb. Ill, 880, 4.'9, 497.'

OJ!' THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 289

his assertion by proofs, or pretended proofs, from scripture..and tradition. This authority, his holiness alleged, wasconveyed in the power of the keys, consisting in bindingand loosing, and confirmed by the unanimous consent ofthe fathers. The contrary opinion he represented as mad-ness and idolatry.

"Urban, in 1090, followed the example of Gregory.Subjects, he declared, 'are by no authority bound to ob-serve the fealty which they swear to a Christian prince, whowithstands God and the saints and contemns their pre-cepts.' The pontiff accordingly prohibited Count Hugo'ssoldiery, though under the obligation of an oath, to obeytheir sovereign.

"Gregory the Ninth, in 1229, followed the footsteps ofhis predecessors. According to his iufallibility, 'n neshould keep faith with the person who opposes God and

,the saints.' Gregory, on this account, declared the '01-peror Frederic's vassals freed from their oath of fidelity.

"Urban the Sixth imitated Gregory the Ninth. Thispontiff, in 1378, declared that' engagements of any kind,even when confirmed by oath with persons guilty of~chism or heresy, though made before their apostasy, areIn themseves unlawful and void.'

"Innocent the Tenth declared that 'the Roman pontiffcould invalidate civil contracts, promises, or oaths, madeby the friends of Catholicism with the patrons of heresy.' ifA denial of this proposition, his infallibility.styled heresy;and those who rejected the idea of papal dIspensatIOn.'10-curred, accordinz to his holiness, the penalty prescribedby the sacred c;nons and apostolic constitutions againsttb.osewho impugn the pontifical authority in questions offaIth. .

"The Roman pontiffs taught this diabolical doctrine,not only by precept but also by example. The practice ofennullino oaths and breakinz faith was exemplifiedby Gro-gory, In~ocent, Honorius, Clement, Urban, Eugenins, Cle-ment, Paul, and Pius. . ..

"C!0uncils, as well as pontiffs, encouraged this principleoffaltblessness." Mention may be made of some of them.

if '9~ntractus civiles, promissa, vel juramenta catholicorum .r.llmhaeretic16. eo quod h eretici sint, per ponnfirem enervan possmt.Caron, 14:

10

290 THE DECEPTIONS

." Gregory .vII. in 1076, in a Roman synod, absolved allChristians from their oath of fealty to the Emperor Henry,who, in his infallibility's elegant language, had become amember of the devil, and an enemy to the vicar-generalof God." He also interdicted all persons from obeyingHenry, as king, notwithstanding their oath. This sen-tence the pontiff,with the approbation of the council, pro-nounced as the plenipotentiary of heaven, 'who possessedthe power of binding and loosing, in the name of Almighty

1 God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.'"Gregory the Ninth, in 1228,convened-a Roman coun-

cil, consisting of the bishops of Lombardy, Tuscany, andApulia, and, with the approbation of this assembly, ab-solved, from their oath, all who had sworn fealty to Fre-deric the Roman Emperor. The sacred synod issued thissentence,because,according to its own statement, nopersonis obliged to keep faith with a Christian prince when hegainsays Goeland the saints. The pontiff, on this occasion,declared in council, that' he proceeded against the em-peror, as against one who was guilty of heresy and whodespised the keys of the church.' The synodal decisioncontains a direct and ttnmitigated avowal of the diabolicalmaxim, that no faith should be kept with persons guiltyof heresy or of rebellion against the popedom.

"The synod of IJiamper, in India, issued a decision ofthe same kind. This assembly, in 1599, under the presi-dency of Menez, invalidated the oaths that those IndianChristians had taken against changing Syrianism for Pop-ery, or receiving their clergy from the Roman pontiffinstead of the Babylonian patriarch. Such obligations, theholy council pronounced pestilential and void, and thekeeping of them an impiety and temerity. The sacredsynod, in this manner, could, by a skilful use of theirspiritual artillery, exterminate obligations and oaths bywholesale.

'i The encouragement to faithlessness and perjury wa .not confined to provincial synods, but extended to univer-sal councils. The third general council of the Lateran,superintended by Alexander and clothed with infallibility,taught this principle in word and deed. The unerring

• Omnes Christiauos tL vinculo juramenti absolve. £rTf",. 12, 600.'

•

OF THE RO,IIAN CATHOJ;JCS. 291

fathers, in the sixteenth canon, styled 'an oath contraryto ecclesiastical utility, not an oath, but perjury.' * Thepontiffs, whose province it is to explain oaths and vows,always confounded ecclesiastical utility with pontificalaggrandizement. Obligations, therefore, which militatedagainst the interest or grandeur of the papacy, soon has-tened to their dissolution. The Lateran' convention in itstwenty-seventh canon, exemplified its own theory, anddisengaged, from their oath of fidelity, the vassals of thebarons and lords who embraced or protected the heresyof Albigensianism.

"The fourth {Jeneralcouncil of the Lateran, in 121 Ii,issued an enactment of the sam kind. Thi>l infallibl a.sembly, in its third canon, 'fi'ced the Huhj 'l>l f (1(·11'sovereigns a embraced heresy from th ir fealty.' Thtemporal lord, who refused to purify his dominions fromheretical pollution, not only forfeited the allegiance of hisvassals, but his title ta his estate, which, in consequence,might be seized by any orthodox adventurer, Heresy,therefore, according to this unerring congress, rescinds the9bligation of ficlelity, cancels the right of property, andwarrants the violation of faith.

"The {Jeneral council of LyoJl,~ absol ved the EmperorFrederic's vassals from their oath of fealty. The synod intheir own way, convicted the emperor of schism, heresy,and church-robbery. His criminality, therefore, accordingto the unerring council, warranted a breach of faith, and adissolution of the subject's oath of obedience. Innocent,who presided on the occasion, represented himself as theviceroy of heaven, on whom God, in the person of theGalilean fisherman, had conferred the keys of his kingdom,and vested with the power of binding and loosing. Thecouncil concurred with the pontiff. The pope and tl!eprelacy, says Paris, 'lighted tapers and thundered, 111frightful fulminations, asrainst his imperial maje .ty.' The

• b 1 b .r . 1testImony of Paris is corroborate: Y.JOangis ant popeMartin.

"The {Jeneralcouncil of Pisa im.ita.~ed ~hose of the ~at-eran and Lyons. This assembly, In Its fifteenth sessiou,

'Non juramenta, sed perjuria potius unt dicenda, quae conuutilltatem ecclesiasticum attentantnr. Pi/h. 110. lAM. 11,426. ,;,,,''',,3,504.' ..

292 THE DECEPTIONS

released all Christians from their oath of fidelity to Benedictand Gregory, and forbade all men, notwithstanding flnyobligation, . to obey the rival pontiffs, whom the holyfathers, by a summary process, convicted of perjury, con-tumacy, incorrigibility, schism, and heresy. The sacred'synod, in this instance, assumed the power of dissolvingsworn engagements, and of warranting all Christendomto break faith with two viceroys of heaven, who, accord-ing to the synodal sentence, were guilty of schism "iIldheresy.

"The general council of Oonstance,· on this topic, out-stripped all competition, and gained an infamous celebri-ty, in recommending and exemplifying treachery, thedemolition of oaths, and unfaithfulness to engagements.The holy assembly having convicted John [XXII!.],though a lawful pope, of simony, schism, heresy, infidelity,murder, perjury, fornication, adultery, rape, incest, sodo-my, and a few other trifling frailties of a similar kind', de-posed his holiness, and emancipated all Christians fromtheir oath of obedience to his supremacy. His infallibili-ty, in the mean time, notwithstanding his simony, schism,heresy, perjury, murder, incest, and sodomy, exercised hisprerogative of dissolving oaths as well as the council.The holy fathers had sworn to conceal from the pontifftheir plans for his degradation. The trusty prelacy, how-ever, notwithstanding their obligation to secrecy, revealed,all, during the night, to his holiness. John, by this means,

• The noted council of Constance" was characterized by Baptiza, oneof its own numbers. His portrait is frightful. The clergy, he declared,'were nearly all under the power of the devil, and mocked all relirrionby external devotion and Pharisean hypocrisy. The prelacy, actu~tedonly by malice, iniquity, pride, vanity, ignorance, lasciviousness, ava-rice, pomp, simony, and dissimulation, had exterminated catholicism[libci-ality of sentiment 1] and extinguished piety.'

"The character of the holy bishops, indeed, appears from their "Com·pany. More than seven hundred PUBLIC WOMEN, according to Dacho•

ry's account, attended the sacred synod. The Vienna manuscript reck-ons the number of these female attendants, whom it calls vagrant prosti-tutes, at 1500. This was a fair supply for the thousand holy fatherswho constituted the Constantian assembly. These courtesans, sarsBrnys, were, in appearance, intended to exercise the chastity of the clcrgy. Theil' company, no doubt, contributed to the entertainment of thelearned divines and introduced great Yariety into their amusemen ."Edgru"s Variation.< qf POPpy!!, chap. v.

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLIOS. 293

had the satisfaction of discovering the machinations of hisjudges, and of inducing the infallible bishops to perjury,The pontiff, however, by his sovereign authority, and bythe power of the keys, soon disannulled these obligations,and delivered the perjured traitors, who composed thesacred synod, from their oath of secrecy. The pontiffshowed the council, that he could 'demolish oaths as wellas his faithless accusers, who 'represented the wholechurch and had met in the spirit of God.'

"The council's treatment of'Huss and Jerome constitutedthemostrevoltinginst::mce of its treachery. Themartyrdomof these celebrated friends, indeed, was one of the mostglaring, undi guised, and disgusting specim n of perfldyever e:»hibited to the gaze of an astoni hed world or r -corded for the execration of posterity. John HUMS wr ssummoned to the city of Constance on a chul'g4 f heresy.His safety, during his journey, his stay, and his RETURN,was guaranteed by a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sig-ismnncl, addressed to all eivil and ecclesiastical governorsin his dominions. Russ obeyed the summons. Plightedfaith, however, could, in those days, confer no security ona man accused of heresy. HUBSwas tried and condemnedby an ecclesiastical tribunal, which, in its holy zeal, 'devot-ed his soul to the infernal de-viIs,'· and delivered his bodyto the secular arm; which, notwithstanding the imperialpromise of protection and in defiance of all justice andhumanity, committed the victim of its own perfidy to the

: flames. This harbinger of the reformation suffered mar-~yrdom with the emperor's safe-conduct in his hand. Hedied as he had lived, like a Christian hero. He enduredthe punishment with unparalleled magnanimity, and, in thetriumph offaith and the ecstasy of divine love, 'sung hymnsto God,'. while the mouldering flesh was consumed from his.bones, till the immortal spirit ascended from the funeralpile and soared to heaven.j

• 'Animam tuam devovemus diabolis infernis. Lenfan, 1,409.'t 'Hus monta sur Ie bucher avec une grande intrepldite, ct il mourut

en chantaut dcs Pseaumes. Moren, 4, 221.''Auelln philosophe n'nvoit endure IIImort avec nne resolution si ~e-

termince, Il pratiqua le dehors de tous les aete que suggere Is.devotionIn Jllus solide. a fervour redoubloit lore qu'il apperceut Ie flambeau.Ht,t. du }Viclif. 2, 127, 128.'

294 THE DEOEPTIONS

"The council was accessory to the emperor's treachery.The safe-conduct, indeed, was not binding on the Con-stantian clergy. These were not a party to the agree-ment, and possessed,at least a canonical and admittedpower of pronouncing on the theology of the accused.An ecclesiastical court was the proper tribunal for decid-ing an ecclesiastical question. The Constantian fathers,therefore, according to the opinion of the age, might, withi>ropriety, have tried the Catholicism of Huss, and, onevidence, declared him guilty of heresy and obstinacy.But this did not satisfy the holy synod, who advised andsanctioned Sigismund's breach of faith, and, by thismeans, becamepartakers in his perfidy.

"The council's sanction of the oath-annulling aiid faith-violating system depends, by no means, on the contentsof the emperor's safe-conduct or his treatment of Huss.The holy ruffians, at Constance; avowed the shockingmaxim with fearlessness and without disguise, both bytheir deputation to the emperor and by their declarationsin council." The deputation sent to the emperor, for thepurpose of concerting a plan for the safety and conveni-ence of the council's future deliberations, maintainedthis principle. These gave his majesty to understand,that the council had authority to disengage him from alegal promise, sohen.pledged to a person g~tilt!l of heresy.This is attested by Dachery, an eye-witness,in his Germanhistory of the Constautian council. The deputation, saysthis historian, 'in a long speech,persuaded the emperor,·.that by decretal authority, ke should not keepfaith w~th aman accused of heresy.' t Nauclerus, who lived shortlyafter the council, testifies nearly the same thing. The em-peror himself entertained this opinion.of the deputation'ssentiments. His majesty, addressing Huss at his lastexamination, declared' that some tho.ught he had no rightto alford any protection to a man convicted or even sus-

- When, in the council, the case of Huss was argued, " the patriarchof Antioch declared that he must not be bailed, and that no fait" was tobe kept with a heretic; which they amply verified." Fox's Book of Mar-t!JTs,book L, chap. xix., post med,

t 'Caesar, quasi tenore deeretalium, Husso fidem datam praestarenon teneretur multis verbis persuasus, Husso et Bohemis Salvi Condue-tus fidem fregit. Lenfant, 1, 82.'


pected of heresy.' "The deputation, on this occasion,musthave known and represented the opinion of the synod,which acquiesdid, without any contradiction, in this state-ment, and which, had the emperor been mistaken, shouldhave corrected the error. Hues was a victim to the ma-levolent passions of the council, and the superstition andperfidy of the emperor." (Edgar, chap. viii.)

After what the perfidious council had done in relationto John Huss and 1J.ispassport from the emperor, it wasnatural for them to do something further. Accordinglyin the nineteenth session,"pnssed the famous decree relat-ing to safe conducts, granted by temporal princes to here-tics, or to persons suspected of heresy. The decree was •drawn up and published in the follcwinz words: 'the holysynod declare, that no safe- -onduct, grant()<1by til 'ill-peror, kings, and other secular princes, to h r 'tic., orpersons accused of heresy, in hopes of reclaiming tb illfrom their errors, by what tie soever they may have boundthemselves, ought to be of any prejudice to the catholicfaith, or to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, nos be any hin-drance that such perbons may and onght to be examined,judged, and punished by a competent and ecclesiasticaljudge, as justice shall require, if those heretics obstinatelyrefuse to renounce their errors; and that, though theyshould have come to the place of judgment relying upona safe-conduct, and would not have come without one;and the pp'son who shall have promised them security,sh.allbeunder no obligation, when he shall have done allthat it was in his power to do.' By this decree all safe-conducts, granted by secular princes to obstinate and un-repenting heretics, are declared nul!." (Bower's Historyof the Popes- P. John XXIII.) And in thus, by decree,declaring all such safe-conducts null, they ill the samemanner, and so far, declare faith also null with those towhom such safe-conducts are granted.

In the same nineteenth sessionof the council was issuedanother decree, relating particularly to the safe-conductof John Huss. "Whereas" (say they) "there are certainpersons, either ill-disposed or over-wise beyond what theyought to bs, who in secret an 1 in public, traduce not onlythe Emperor, but the sacred council.saying, or insinuating,that the safe-conduct granted to John Huss, an arch-here-

296 THE DECEPTIONS

tic, of damnable memory, was basely ~olated, contrary toall the rules of honour and justice; thouzh the said JohnHuss, by obstinately attacking the Cath~ic faith in themanner he did, rendered himself unworthy of :my mannerof safe-conduct and privilege; and though accm'dinu tothe natural, divine, and human laws, no promise or faithought to have been kept with him, to the preiudice of theOatholic faith. The sacred synod declares, by these pre-sents, that the said Emperor did, ~th regard to JohnHuss, what he might and ought to have done, notwith-standing his safe-conduct; and forbids all the faithful ingeneral, and everyone of them in particular, of what dig-nity, degree, pre-eminence, condition, state, or sex theymay be, to speak evil in any manner, either of the council,or of the King, as to what passed with regard to JohnHuss, on pain of being punished, without remission, asfavourers of heresy, and persons guilty of high treason."(Dr. Dowling's History of Romanism, book vi., chap.iv., § 49.)

Here, in tais decree, as it is declared that no promiseor faith ought to have beenkept.with John Huss, hence,as says Eenfant, "unless it can be proved that the caseof J. Huss was different from that of all other heretics, itfollows evidently that, according to the council, no faithis to be kept with any heretic whatever." (Bower, P. JohnXXIII., vers.jinem.) Accordingly the Rev. John Wesleyaffirms: "It is a Roman Catholic maxim, est:.lolished notby private men, but by a public council, that .No faith isto be kept with heretics. This has been openly avowed bythe Council of Constance; but it never was openly dis-claimed. Whether private persons avow or disavow it, itis a fixed maxim of the Church of Rome." (Moore's Lifeof Rev. John and Oharlee lTTesley,book vii., chap. iv.)

Fifthly. One more of the many ways in which theRoman Catholics practice their deceptions is, by their per-versions and corruptions of the holy Scriptures.

It has been stated, in the discourse on the rule of faithof the Roman Oatholics, that their Scriptures are the Oldand New Testament and the Apocrypha. The books ofthe Apocrypha, in their arrangement of the books of Scrip-ture, arc among those of the Old-Testament intermingled.Now, this mixing up of all these hooks together in the

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 291manner they do, so that by ordinary readers they are notdistinguished, and consequently the inspired' and the un-inspired, as to authority, are all esteemed or disesteemedalike, is nothing less than a bold corruption of the oraclesof God. The reason why they do this obviously is, be-cause they find in these apocryphal writings some thingswhich seem to afford support to some of their corruptpractices, which of course are not countenanced in thecanonical Scriptures.

"The suppression of the second commandment, inwhich the worship of images is prohibited, is u ually con-sidered as one article of accusation against the RomanCatholic church. The fact is this: the first and secondprecepts of the decalogue nre blended into one, and thetenth is divided into two. This division j adopt <1,they say, in deference to the authority of Augu~tin '; bthis as it may, it answers th ir purpose. In cruechi ms,spelling-books, and small works for the instruction of theyoung, the decalogue is often given in an abridged form,by which arrangement the second commandment (that is,our second commandment,) is entirely kept out of sight:thus-

1. 'I am the Lord thy Goel; thou shalt have no strangegods before me.

2. 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy Godin vain.

3. 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day.4. 'Honour thy father and thy mother.5. 'Thou shalt not kill.6. 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.7. 'Thou shalt not steal.8. 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh-

bour.9. 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. ,10. 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods. •

• Thus, "to countenance its ima'le-wors!lip, the Roman CatholicChurch has left the whole of the second commandment out of the deca-10!!Ue and thus lost one whole commandment out of the ten ; but tok:ep ~p the number they have divided the tcntl: into two. 'I'his is totallycontrary to the faith of God's elect and to tho lIc~now)edg~ent of thattruth which is according- to godliness. The verse IS fonnd in every MS.of the Hebrew Pentateuch that has ever yet been discovered. Ie is in nil

298 THE DECEPTIONS

"This is copied from Butlers Catechism; a work ex-tensively used in Ireland. A similar abridgment of thedecalogue is inserted in the spelling-book commonly foundin Italian schools, but with this difference, that the fourthcommandment is omitted as well as the second, and thatinstead' of the injunction to observe the Sabbath, theyoung Italian reads, 'Remember to keep holy the days offestivals.'" (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. iii.,versus finem.)

The Roman Catholics are guilty of perverting, and con-sequently of corrupting, the holy Scriptures, by erroneous-ly translating them, so as to make them favour as much asthey can their own peculiar tenets. In order to perceivethis to be so, one needs only to examine the translationswhich they have seen fit to make and publish; such in par-ticular as,

1. That of the Rhemish New- Testament, (first iJrintedin the year 1582, at Rheims,) in which we find such ren-derings as the following. "In those days came John theBaptist preaching in the desert of Jewry, and saying, Dopenance: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matt.iii. 1,2. "I indeed baptize you with water unto penance."Ibid. vel'. 11. "From that time Jesus began to preach,and to say, Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is athand." .Ibid; chap. iv. 17. "Then began he to upbraidthe cities, wherein were done the most of his miracles, forthat they had not done penance." Ibid. xi. 20. Afterthis sort .are the renderings in nearly all the places wherein our version we have the word repentance, or repent.Penance, you know, is a Romish sacrament.

" And whatsoever thou shalt supererogate, I at my returnwill repay thee." Luke x. 35. The Roman Catholics,you are aware, believe in works of supererogation.

"And when they had ordained to them priests, in everyChurch," &c. Acts xiv. 22. " The priests that rule well,

the ancient versions, Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac, Septuagint, Vulgate,Coptic, and Arabic; also in the Persian, and in all modem versions.There is not one word of the whole verse wanting in the many hundredsof 1\1SS. collected by Kennicott and De Rossi. This corruption of theword of God by the Roman CMholic Church stamps it, as a false andheretical Church, with the deepest brand of ever-during infamy!" Dr.Clarke's Commentary, Exod. xx. 4. .


let them be esteemed worthy of double honour." 1 Tim.v. 17. "Against a priest receive not an accusation: hutunder two or three witnesses." Ibid. vel'. 19. "For thiscause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst reform thethings that are wanting, and shouldst ordain Priests bycities," &c. Tit. i. 5. " Is any man sick among you? lethim bring in the Priests of the Church," &c. James v,14. " Neglect not the grace that is in thee: which isgiven "thee by prophecy, with imposition of the hands ofpriesthood" 1 Tim. iv, 14. Priest and priesthood, in-stead of p1'esbyter and presbytery, are thought much of bythose who pretend to offer in the mass real sacrifices ofthe true body and blood of Jesus Clwist.

"I beseech you therefore, brethr n, by th mercy ofGod, that you exhibit your (lies a living lwat," &c..Rom. xii. 1. "They that eat of the Hosts,:.U' th y notpartakers of the altar?" 1 Cor. x. 17. "For ev ry highPriest is appointed to offer gifts and hosts." IIeb. viii. 3."By him therefore let us offer the host of praise always toGod," &c. Ibid. chap. xiii. 15. "And beneficence andcommunication do not forget, for with snch hosts God ispromerited." Lbid. vel'. 16. And so in diverse otherplaces, it is host instead of the word sacrifice. Host illthe Romish church, you know, is the consecrated wafer,the wafer-idol. .

" But we ar~ bold, and have a good will to be pilgrimsrather from the body, and to be present with our Lord."2 (Jor. v, 8. A pilgrim among the Roman Catholics, youmust bear in mind, is one who travels from home into'foreign countries, to visit holy places and pay his devo-tions to the relics of dead saints.

" For Christ therefore we are legates,God as it were ex-horting by us." 2 Cor. v. 20. "For the which I am alegate in this chain." Eph. vi. 20. A legat~ is an embas-sador of the pope of Rome, to some foreign prince orstate.

"Because accordinz to revelation the Sacrament wasmade known to me,"&c. Eph. iii. 3. "And to illuminateall men what i the di pensation of the Sacrament hiddenfrom worlds in Goel." Ibid. vel'. 9. "This is a greatsacrament," &c. Ibid., chap. v. 32. "To whom Godwould make known the riches of the glory of his Sacra-

300 THE DECEPTI01rS

ment in the Gentiles," &c. Ool. i. 27. "And manifestlyit is a great Sacrament of piety, which was manifested illflesh," &c. 1 Tim. iii. 16. No person, except one hold-ing to seven sacraments in the church instead of two-certainly no one translating from the original Greek --would have used the word sacrament as it is -used here, insuch places as these, where the original word is p.vrrrf}pwv.

" By faith, Jacob dying, blessed everyone of thesons ofJoseph: and adored the top of his rod. Heb. xi. 21.Here, in wholly suppressing as they do the prepositionem, upon, their zeal manifestly is tofaoour the worship ofother things besides God.

"Remember your P?'elates," &c. Heb. xiii. 7. "Obeyyour Prelates, and be subject to them." Ibid. vel'. 17."Salute all our Prelate and all the Saints." Ibid. vel'.24. Prelates among the Roman Catholics are their higherecclesiastics, viz. bishops, arch-bishops, and patriarchs.

In Matthew ix, 13, the rendering is, " I came not to callthe just, but sinners;" the clause - to repentance, beingomitted. The same omission occurs in Mark ii. 17. InHebrews vii. 21, it is, " Thou art a Priest forever;" wherethe clause- after the order of JJ[elchisedec, is suppressed.And so ill the first part of the 28th verse of the same chap-ter, " The law appointeth priests them that have infirmity,"the word them is made to take the place of men. In theAp.ocalypse, chapter ii. 15, "So hast thou also them thathold the doctrine of the Nicolaites," there is a suppressionof the words - which th'ing I hate. And in chapte ix,11,rendered, "They [the mysticallocustsJ had over thema king, the Angel of the bottomless depth, whose namein Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon," there isthe addition of these words -" in Latin having the nameEeterminants"

2. The .Douay Old-Testament; (first printed in theyear 1609, at .Douay,) in which we meet with such render-

"ings as the following. "'l'hou shalt not make to thyselfagraven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in hea-ven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things

- The tran lation of the Rhemish New- Testament, as well as. that ofthe Donay Old-Testament, was made, not from the original Greek, butfrom the Latin V ulgate.

OF THE RO.VAN CATHOLICS. 301

that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt notadore them," &c. Eeod. xx. 4, 5. Here, in the 4th verse,the rendering is -" a graven thing," instead of "gravenimage;" is it because they for whose use the translationwas designed are in the practice of worshipping images,and the translator did not wish to have it appear that thepractice is so plainly forbidden in the Bible? .And in thenext, the 5th verse, is it":'- "thou shalt not adore them,"instead of, "shalt not bow down to them," in order thatthe Romish practice of bowing down to images may notappear to be quite so literally prohibited?

" Let him do penance for his sin." L(J/). v. 5. " If thypeople Israel shall fly before their enemies (because theywill sin against thee) and doing penance, ana conf ssingto thy name, shall come, and pray," &0. 1 Kings viii. 33."But if they sin against thee (for th ro i no man whosinneth not) and thou being angry deliver them up totheir enemies, so that they be led away captiv s into theland of their enemies far or ncar, then if they do penancein their heart in the place of their captivity," &c. Ibid.vel'. 46, 47. ".And after that he was in distress, he prayedto the Lord his God; and did penance exceedingly beforethe God of his- fathers." 2 Ohron. xxxiii..12. " Hear, Ibeseech you, my words, and do penance." Job xxi. 2." Therefore I reprehend myself, and do penance in dustand ashes." Ibid. xlii. 6. " But if the wicked do penancefor all his sins which he hath committed," &c. Ezek. xviii.21. "Be converted, and do penance for all your iniqui-ties: and iniquity shall not be your ruin." [bid. ver. 30.How oddly this phraseology of doing penance would havesounded in the ears of those who lived in the times of theOld Testament, before the peculiar theological dialect ofpapal Rome had come into use!

" They said in their heart, the whole kindred of theIRtogether : Let us abolish all the festival days of God fromthe land." Psa. lxxiii. 8.- (lxxiv. 8, in our protestant

• As it was from the Latin Vulgate that the English lJouay version ofthe Roman Catholics was made, so in this English version, as in theVulgate, the 9th and lOth psalm are joined together; 80 that thence-torward, in all the remaining part of the book of Psalms, the number isone less than it is in our version which W!lS made from the original

302 THE DECEPTIONS

version.) A Romish translator likes to bring in some-thing about festivals, having in his own ceremoniouschurch several hundreds of them, times of mirth andjollity.

" Exalt ye the Lord- our God, and adore his footstool,for it is holy." Pea. xcviii. 5. (xcix, 5, in our protestantversion.) It is perfectly natural, that a member of anidolatrous church should introduce matter favourable toidolatry into his translation.

But it is unnecessary to quote further from this publica-tion: the translation is all of a piece with that of theRhemish Testament, having been made by the same Jesuitcollege, after its removal from Rheims to Douasj.

3. The Bordeaux Neui-Testament."The following fact is perhaps known only to few; it

deserves some imperishable record. In the year 1685,Louis XIV. revoked the Edict of Nantes, deprived theProtestants of their civil and religious privileges, andforced hundreds of thousands of them to leave their na-tive land, and seek an asylum where they might worshipGod without molestation and restraint. But it was soonfound that Protestantism, though oppressed, was not de-stroyed. A new line of policy was then adopted. ThePapists saw that they could not prevent the Scripturesfrom being read, and therefore resolved to force the sacredvolume itself into their service, by the most audaciouscorruptions and interpolations. An edition of the NewTestament was published, so translated; that a RomanCatholic m1·uhtfind in it explicit statements of the pecu-liar doqma«: of his church. The book was printed atBordeaux, in 1686. It was entitled, 'The New Testamentof our Saviour Jesus Christ. Translated from Latin intoFrench, by the divines of Louvain :' and the attestationof the archbishop of Bordeaux was prefixed to it, assuringthe reader that it was 'carefully revised and ·corrected.'Two doctors in divinity of the university of the sameplace also recommended it as useful to all those, who, withpermission of their superiors, might read it. A few quo-

Hebrew. Our 11th psalm is their lOth, our 12th is their 11th, and 80onward to the 147th, which they divide into two, and thus make up thenumber of 150.

OF THE ROJIAN CATHOLICS. 303

tations will show the manner in which the work wasexecuted, and the object which the translators had inview.

"Ill the summary of the 'contents' of Matthew xxvi.Mark xiv. and Luke xxii. it is said that those chapterscontain the account of the 'institution of the mass!'f!ets xiii. 2, (' as they ministered to the Lord and fasted ')IS thus rendered-' as they ojfm'ed to the L01'd the sacri-'fice of the mass, and fasted,' &c, In Acts xi. 30, andother places, where our English version has the word'elders,' this edition has 'priests.'

"A practice that has proved very productive of gain tothe priesthood, is made scriptural in the following man-ner; 'And his father and mother went every year in pil-grimage to Jerusalem,' Luke ii. 41. 'An(l not only so, butalso he was appointed by the clmr he th ompanion ofour pilg,'image,' 2 001'. viii. 19. 'Beloved, thou a ·test asa true believer in all that thou doest towards the brethr n,aud towards the pilgrims.' 3 John 5.

"Tradition is thus introduced; 'Y e keep. my com-mandments, as I left them with you by tradition,' 1 Oor.xi. 2. ' The faith, which has been once given to the saintsby tradition.' Jude 5.

"That the Roman Catholic might be able to prove thatmarriage is a sacrament, he was furnished with these ren-derings ;-' To those who are joined together in the sacra-ment of marriaqe, I command,' &c. 1 (lor. vii. 10. 'Bonot join yourselves in t~ sacrament of marriage withunbelievers.' 2 Oor. vi. 14,

"1 Cor. ix. 5, is so directly opposed to the constrainedcelibaC1Jof the clergy, that we can scarcely wonder atfinding an addition to the text: it stands thus-' Have wenot power to lead about a sister, a woman to serve us inthe gospel, and to remember us with her goods, as the otberapostles,' &c.

"In support of human merit, the translation of Heb.xiii. 16, may be quoted-' We obtain merit towards Godby such sacrifices.'

"Purgatory could not he introduced but by a directinterpolation; 'He him elf shall be saved, yet in all casesas by the fire of purgatory.' 1 Oor, iii. 15,

"Many otber passages might be noticed. 'Him only

304 THE DECEPTIONS

shalt thou serve with latria,' i. e. with the worship speciallyand solely due to God: this addition was evidently madeto prevent the text being urged against the invocation ofthe saints; Luke iv. 8. 'Many of those who believedcame to confess and declare their sins.' Acts xix. Ii?'After a procession of seven days round it.' Heb. xi: 30.,Beware, lest being led away with others, b'lJ the error ofthe wicked heretics,' &c. 2 Pet. iii. 17. 'There is somesin which is not mortal, but venial.' 1 John v, 17. 'Andround about the throne there were twenty-four thrones,and on the thrones twenty-four priests seated, all clothedwith albs.' Rev. iv, 4. The alb, it will be recollected, ispart of the official attire of a Roman Catholic priest.

"But the most flagrant interpolation occurs in 1 Tim.iv. 1-3. 'Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in thelatter times some will separate themselves from the Ro-man faith, giving themselves up to spirits of error, andto doctrines taught by devils. Speaking false thingsthrough hypocrisy, having also the conscience cauterized.Gondemnimg the sacrament of ma1'riage, the abstinencefrom meats, which God hath created for the faithful, andfor those who have known the truth, to receive them withthanksgiving.'

"Such was the Bordeaux New Testament. Whetherit was actually translated by the divines of Louvain isdoubtful. This is certain, however, that it was printedby the royal and university printer, and sanctioned by thedignitaries of the church. It is proper to add, that theRoman Catholics were soon convinced of the follyof theirconduct, in thus tampering with the inspired volume.To avoid the just odium brought on their cause by thiswicked measure, they have endeavoured to destroy thewhole edition. In consequence, the book is now exces-sively scarce.

'" Everyone that deeth evil hateth the light, neithercometh to the light, lest his deeds 'should be reproved.' 'John iii. 20." (Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. iii.,in .fine.)

Such, and indefinitely more, are the deceptions practicedby the Romau Catholic church, affording room and mat-ter for endless specifications. How depraved must be thehierarchy, that are the ringleaders in thi diabolical busi-


ness of deceiving and ruining souls! And the people,easy and contented under the influence of their deceivingteachers and in cordial sympathy with them, how un-promising of genuine godliness is their condition! howpoor their spiritual prospects, as to both this world and.that which is to come!

20

. .

DISCOURSE VI.

THE INTOLERANCE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

2 TRESS. ii. 1-12: "Now \ve beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LordJesus Christ, and by onr gathering together nnto him, that ye be not soonshaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letteras from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive youby any means: for that day shall hot come, except there come a fallingaway first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth Iiimself above all that is called God, or that is wor-shipped; so that he, as God, sittcth in the temple of God, showing himselfthat he is God. Remember ye not, that wnen I was yet with you, I toldyou these things W And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might berevealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: onlybe who now letteth will let. until he be taken out of the way. And thenshall that Wicked be revealed. ",'hom tbe Lord shall consume with tbespirit of his mouth, nnd shall destroy with the hrightness of his coming:even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power andsigns and lying wonders, and with all deceivnbleness of unrighteousnessIn them that pei ish ; because they received not the love of the truth, tbatthey might be saved. And for this cause God shall send tbem strong delu-sion, that tbey should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who be-lieved.not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.'

THE theme of the present discourse is, the intoleranceof the Roman Oatholics. I shall oensider this subject asit respects,

I. The administration and obligations of baptism,II. The reacling ancl circulation of the Bible, and other

books, andIII. The exercise of thought ancl opinion.The intolerance of the Roman Catholics is to be con-

sidered,I. As it respects the aclministrat'kJn and obligations of

baptism. And I observe here,First, That the R'OmanCatholics hold to the administra-

tion of baptism, if/, certain cases, compulsorily. "Adultsal'&generally required to receive baptism as a voluntary act. Itis different with respect to children, who may, according totheir doctrine, be baptized in some cases wit/wut the con-sent of their parents. The following from Dens will pre-

80G

INTOLERANCE' OF THE RO.1IAN CATHOLICS. 307

sent the doctrine of the Church of Rome in its receivedlight. ' Can children be lawfully baptized uiithou: the /knowledge or consent of their parents? Answer. If theparents are baptized, whether they are heretics or Catho-.Iics, their children may lawfully be baptized without theirconsent j because the parents, by virtue of their own bap-tism, and their infants, by virtue of their nativity fromtheir baptized parents, are SUBJECTS (SUBDITI) of thechurch. But in cases iu which the parents arc heretics,(i. e. Protestants,) schismatics, &c. their baptized offspringought to be separated from the parents, lest they. houldbe perverted. Nevertheless, though the church couldmake the separation without injury to the parents, thicould not often be done, for sev 1':1.1 r ':1.80n8, 01' nt len tnot without great inconvenienccs ; hence it is not oft nexpedient to baptize such offspring. - If the parents areinfidels or not baptized, and they nrc dospoti ally subjectto a Catholic prince, as slaves 01' persons taken in war, thenalso in that case their infants may he baptized without theconsent of their parents j because in this case the parentsm~y be deprived of their children without injury, as theprince comes into the place of the pareuts.i "

"We quote the following from Ferraris, which be sup-ports by ample ecclesiastical authority : 'The small chil-dren of certain infidel's,or of those who were never bap-tized, or of those now baptized, can validly be baptizedwithout the consent of their parents. The reason is, be-cause no proper disposition is required of infants in orderto valid baptism. Nor does the. opposition of their parentsform any proper obstacle; because infants are not baptizedin the faith of their patents, but in the faith of the wholechurch, .and according to the will of Christ. - The chil-dren of infidels already baptized, that is, of heretics, orapostates from the faith, may be baptized not only validly,but lawfully, without the consent of their parents, if theirecclesiastical superiors so order it. This is certain, becauseheretics are subjected to the jurisdiction of the church,whence it is so, that the church, for the pre ervation of thefaith, can compel the parents by punishments, and candeprive them of their children and baptize thern.' t

• 'Dens de Bapt., vol. v., P: 192, No. 22.'t 'Ferraris in Baptismum, art. v., r 0 • 11-13.'

308 . THE INTOLERANCE

"The children of Jews, when in danger of death, orwhen exposed or forsaken by their parents, may be bap-tized without the knowledge or consent of their parents."·(Dr. Elliott's Delineation of Roman Oatholicism, bookii., chap. ii., in med.)

Secondly. The Roman Catholics hold that all personsbaptized, so far as they may be of themselves unwilling,may be compelled to .fulfill their baptismal obligations.Baptism is a ceremony of obligations withal: it is a bindingceremony, which always implies engagement, 01' promises,on the part of the persons baptized, (the vohtntarily bap-tized,) whether expressed or unexpressed. In somechurches these engagements, or promises, in some formof words, are always expressed, in connection with theadministration of baptism. They are so among the Ro-man 'Catholics. In administering the sacrament of bnp-tism, the priest interrogates, by name, each person to bebaptized, in the use of the following questions; the an-swers to which, in case the candidates are infants, aregiven in their name by their sponsors called Godfathers,and Godmothers.

"N., abrenuntias Satanae?

R. Abrenuntio.Sacerdos. Et omnibus operi-

bus ejus?R. Abrenuntio.Sacerdos. Et omnibus pom-

pis ejus?R. Alilrenuntio.

N., dost thou renounce Sa-tan?

R. I do renounce him.Priest. And all his works?

R. I do renounce them.Priest. And all his pomps?

R. I do renounce them.

Then [after anointing the person with' the oil of theCatechumens '] he asks:

N., creclis in Deum Patremomnipotentem, Creatoremcoeli et terrae ?

R. Credo.

N., dost thou believe inGoel the Father Almigh-ty, Creator of heaven andearth?

R. I do believe.

• 'Benedict XIV. Bull., tom. ii., vol. v., pp. 14, 18, sec. 8, 9.'

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLICS.

Credis in J esum ChristumFilium ejus unicum, Do-minum nostrum, natumet passum?

R. Credo.Credis in Spiritum Sanctum,

sanctam Ecclesiam Catho-licam, sanctorum commu-nionem, remissionem pec-catorum, carnis resurrecti-onem, et vitam aeternam?

R. Credo.

309

Dost thou believe in Jesus-Christ, his only Son, ourLord, who was born andsuffered?

R. I do believ~. _Dost thou believe in the

Holy. Ghost, the holyCatholic Church, the com-munion of Saints, the for-givness of sins, the resur-rection of the body, andlife everla ting?

R. J do believe.

Then, pronouncing the name of th J> rs n to b bap-tized, the Priest says:

N., vi&baptizari? N., wilt thou be baptiz d?R. Volo. R. I will. - (St. John'a

Manual, pp. 981, 982.)

The answers to these questions, as made in- the nameof infants, or small children, by their sponsors in baptism,are not improperly considered as so many promises-promises of the sponsors. These promises, the childrenin whose name they are made, when they grow up, areexpected to fulfill; which if they should refuse to do, ac-cording to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic churchthey may be compelled to do it. "Whoever" (say-they)"shall affirm that when these baptized children grow up,they are to be asked whether they will confirm the prom-ises made by their godfathers in their name at theirjbaptism;and that if they say they will not, they are to be left to theirown choice, and not to be compelled in the mean time tolead a Christian life,by any other punishment than exclusionfrom the eucharist ana the other sacraments, until theyrepent: LET HIM BE ACCURSED." (Deorees and Canonsof the Oouncil of Trent, sess. vii., de Bapusmo, can. 14.).Baptized children, children baptized without their ownconsent, when grown up compelled by punishment to leada Christian life,because their sponsors (whom they had nohand in appointing) promised to tnat effect in their name!- And observe further here, concerning the baptized.

310 .THE INTOLERANCE

The Roman Catholics admit the baptism even of heretics,to be true baptism. "Whoever" (say they) "shall affirmthat baptism, when administered by heretics, in the nameof the Father, and of the Son, and of' the Holy Ghost,withthe intention to do what the church does, is not true bap-tism'; let him be acCtl1'sed."· (Ibid. can. 4.) This appar-ent stroke of liberality comes in quite ingeniously as pre-paring the way to what was to follow. "Whoever" (saythey) "shall affirmthat, the baptized are free from all theprecepts of holy church, either written or delivered by tra-dition, so that they are not obUgeclto obseroe them, unlessthey will submit to them of their own accord: let Mrn beaccursed." (Ibid. can. 8.) Thus, in their evil policy, thebaptism even of heretics is admitted to be true baptism inorder that all the baptized, those among the heretics with-al, considered as, by virtue of their baptism, members ofthe church of Rome; may be "obliged to observe her pre-cepts;" in other words, "compelled by punishment to leada Christian life." Yes," every member ofthe church ofRome is bound to believe that all baptized persons [bywhomsoever baptized] are liable to be compelled, by pun-ishment, to be Christians; or, what is the same in Ro-man Catholic divinity, spiritual subjects of the Pope.Thus the council has converted the sacrament of baptisminto an indelible brand of slavery: whoever has receivedthe waters of regeneration, is in the thrall of her who de-clares that there is no other church of Christ. She claimsher slaves wherever they may be found, declares themsubject to her laws, both written and traditional, and, byher infallible sanction, dooms them to indefinite punish-ment, till they shall acknowledge her authority and bendtheir necks to her yoke. Such is, has been) and will eve/'be, the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church; such isthe belief of her true and sincere members; such the spirit

• Here" it is asserted that the baptism administered by heretics, orProtestants, is true baptism. This, at first pew, might appear liberal;hut the intention of it is to claim all baptized Protestants, whetherchildren or adults, as members of the Church of Rome, and subject to herauthority and laws, so that thel may be compelled hy penal laws to ~ub-mit implicitly to the Church 0 Rome. This must appear unque non-able to anyone who will examine the subject." Elliott's Roman CathOli-cism, book ii., chap. ii, in lIl.d.


that actuates her views, and which by every possiblemeans she has always spread among her children. Himthat denies this doctrine, Rome devotes to perdition.The principle of religious tyranny, supported by persecu-tion, is a necessary condition of Roman Catholicism: hewho revolts at the idea of compelling belief by punish-ment, is severed at once from the communion of Rome."(Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. vi., n. 99.)

The intolerance of the Roman Catholics is to be con-sidered,

II. As it respects tile 1'eading and circulation of theBible, and other books.

'I'he reading and circulation of books, among the Ro-man Catholic', are re tricted to uch book as th Yarpermitted or not forbidden to read •nd irculato.council of Trent appointed a committee to p1'epl\l' anIndex of prohibited books j prefixed to the arrang ill ntof which, when it was published, were ten "rules" (asthey call them), ItS enacted by the council, the fourth ofwhich relates particularly to the Bible,· and is as follows:"Inasmuch as it is manifest from experience, that if theHoly Bible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indis-criminately allowed to everyone, the temerity of men willcause more evil than good to arise from it, it is, on thispoint, referred to the judgment of the bishops, or inquisi-tors, .who may, by the advice of the priest or confessor,permit the reading of tileBible translated into the vulga1'tongue by Catholic authors, to those persons whose faithand piety, they apprehend, will be augmented, and not

• It must not be supposed that the council of Trent was tbe first coun-cil that ever enacted any thing against men's having the Bible to read."The council of Tolosa, in 1229,waged war against the Bible as well asagainst heresy. he sacred synod strictly forbade the laity to possessthe Books of the Old and New Testament in the vernacular idiom. A.layman, in the language of the holy fathers, mig-ht perhaps keep a ,Psalm-book, IIbreviary, or the hours of holy Mary; but no Bible. This,VeUy admi ,was the first prohibition of the kind. Twelve revolvingages from the commencement of Cbri~tianity had rolled their amplecourse over, the world and no assembly of men had dared to interdictthe book of God. B,:t a synod, ill a communion boasting unchange-ability, arrogated at length the authority of repealin~ the enactmentof heaven and the practice of twelve hundred year ." Dr. Edgar',Varia tions of Popery, chap. vii.

'312 THE INTOLERANCE

injured by it /. and this permission they must have inwriting. But if anyone shall have tbe presumption toread or possess it without such written permission, heshall not receive absolution until he have first delivered upsuch Bible to tl~e O1·dina?·Y. Booksellers, however, whoshall sell, or otherwise dispose of Bibles in the vulgartongue, to any person not having such permission, shallforfeit the value of the Books, to be applied by the bishopto some pious use; and be subjected by the bishop tosuch other penalties as the bishop shall judge proper, ac-cording to the quality of the offence. But regulars shallneither read nor purchase such Bibles without a speciallicense from their superiors." (Decrees and Canons of the•Council of Trent, sess. xxv.)

By this" rule,"as you perceive,the reading of the Bible inthe vulgar tongue is prohibited to all persons, except suchas may he so fortunate as to obtain a written permissionfrom their bishop, or superior, or from an inquisitor; andbooksellers are prohibited from selling Bibles (in the vul-gar tongue) to any person not having such. permission.The reason assigned for these prohibitions is, that" if theBible, translated into the vulgar tongue, be indiscriminatelyallowed to every one, the temerity of men will cause moreevil than good to aris~ from it." But this has the aspect

• What nonsense, or rather blasphemy, to talk of faith and pietybeing injured by reading the Bible! The reading of the Bible is one ofthe most appropriate means by which true faith and piety may be pro-moted, Rome would have us believe that" the Scriptures are so writtentbat they cannot bc understood without an interpreter." fR.hemish Tes-tament, Acts viii. 31.) But so far is this from being true, that wherevertbe gospel" dispensation bas been published, where tbe four Gospelsand tbe apostolic epistles are at hand, every thing relative to the sal-vation of the soul may be clearly apprehended by any simple, uprigbtperson. There are difficulties it is true, in different parts of tbe sacredwritings, which neither the pope nor his conclace can olve; and severalwhich even the more enlightened Protestant cannot remove; but these ,difficulties do not refer to matters in which the salvation of the soul isimmediately concerned: tbey refer to such as are common to every an-cient author in tbe universe. These difficulties, being understood, addto the beauty, elegance, and justness of the language, thoughts, andturns of expression; and these, only the few who are capable of under-standing are able to relish, As to all the rest, all that relates to faith,and practice, all in whieb the present and eternal interest of the soul isconcerned, 'the wayfaring man, though a fool, (quite illiterate,) allnot err therein!" Dr. Clarke's Commenta'7J, in loco

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 313. /

of being a mere pretence. Romish priests are undoubted-ly apprehensive that if their people all, without restraint,were allowed to read the Bible in their mother tongue,they would be likely thereby to discover the errors oftheir own religion; and rather than these should be seen,it seems, they choose to keep the sacred writings away

, from them, notwithstanding all the ignorance which mustever be the consequence of such a privation. An infernalpolicy this; a management all damnable. God in theexercise of his infinite mercy towards om' fallen race hasgraciously given to mankind the Bible, to instruct themhow, by a way of his own devising, they may be deliveredfrom impending destruction: Rome stand' up and d -elares, in the form of an established "rltl('," a law, thatthey shall neither read the book nor hnv it in their po .session, without fir rt having froui her a written p rmis LOll!Such is her heaven-daring presumptios. But it is a partof the working of the mystery of iniquity, as described bythe inspired apostle in my text.

It is perfectly in accordance with this tyrannical andwicked law of popish priests against the book of God, thatthey' should manifest the hatred and opposition whichthey do against its circulation. by Protestants. "In a

. letter addressed to the primate of Poland relative to BibleSocieties, and dated June 26th, 1816, pope Pius VII. usesthe following language: 'We have been truly shockedat this most crafty device (Bible Societies), by whichthe very foundations of religion are undermined. Wehave deliberated upon the measures propel' to be adoptedby our pontifical authority, in order to remedy and abolishthis pestilence, :1Sfur as possible, - this defilement of thefaith so imminently dangerous to souls. It becomes epis-copal duty, that you first of all expose the wickedness ofthi8 nefarious scheme. IT IS EVIDEYTFRO.\!EXPERIENCE,THAT THE HOLYSCRIPTURES,WHEYcnWULATEDIN THEVULGARTONGUE,HAVE,THIWUGBTHETEMERITYOF MEN,PRODUCEDMOREHARMTHAXBEXEFIT. Warn the peopleentrn ted to your care, that they fall not ~nto the snaresprepared for their everla:;ting ruin.' (thfl;t IS,as y?u. valueyour souls, have nothing to do WIth BIble Societies, orthe bible they circulate)." (Dowling's History of. R?-manz'8m, book ix., chap. iil., § 24.) - Pope Leo XII., In his

"

l!14 THE INTOLERANCE

encyclical letter, dated May 5th, 1824, expresses himselfthus: "You are aware, venerable brothers, that a society,vulgarly called BIBLESOCIETY,audaciously spreads itselfover all the land, and that in contempt of the traditionsof the holy fathers, and against the celebrated decree ofthe Council of Trent, they aim, with all their strength andevery means, to translate, or rather to corrupt, the HolyScriptures in the vulgar tongue of every nation, andwhich gives a just cause of fear that it may happen with

'every other translation, as it has with those alreadyknown,namely, 'that it is therein found, by a bad interpre-tation, instead of the Gospel of Christ, they give the gospelof men, or rather of devils.'" (Bower's History of thePopes- P. Leo XII., in med.) "The Irish Roman Catholicprelates, to whom this was written, publicly avowed theirfull concurrence with the Pope's views, and charged theirflocks to surrender to the parish priests all copies of theScriptures received from Bible Societies, as well as allpublications disseminated by the Religious Tract Society."(Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. iii.,n. 93.)-Other.popes have expressed the same opposition, Oll the samesubject. Thus pope Gregory XVI., in a.bull dated May 8th,1844,utters himself in the following, among m~ny otherwords. '" Venerable Brothers, health and greeting Apos-tolical: - Among the many attempts which the enemiesof Catholicism, under whatever denomination they mayappear, are daily making in our age, to seduce'the trulyfaithful, and deprive them of the holy instructions of thefaith, the efforts of those Bible Societies are conspicuous,which, originally established in England, and propagatedthroughout the universe, labour everywhere to dissemi-nate the books of the Holy Scriptures, translated into thevulgar tongue/consign them to the private interpreta-tion of each, alike among Christians and among infidels;continue what St. Jerome formerly complained of- pre-tending to popularize the holy pages, and render them in-telligible, without the aid of any interpreter, to persons ofevery condition - to the most loquacious woman, to thelight-headed old man, to the wordy caviler / to all, inshort, and even by an ab urdity as great as unheardof, to the most hardened infidels.' The Pope thenproceeds t? remark that these ocieties' only care anda-


ciously to stimulate all to a private interpretation ofthe divine oracles, to inspire contempt for divine tradi-tions, which the Catholic Church preserves upon theauthority of the holy fathers; in a word, to cause themto reject even the authority of the Church herself.'-Alluding to the [then] recently formed society calledthe Obrietian. Alliance, the Pope says: 'This societystrains every nerve to introduce among them, by meansof individuals collected from all parts, corrupt :1I1dvulgarBibles, and to scatter them secretly among the faithful.At the same time, their intention is to dis .erninnte WORSEBOOKSSTILL(! 1), or tracts designed to withdraw fromthe minds of their readers all respect for the Church nn-Ithe Holy Sec.' -' Whereforc,' ( ays hi lIolin '. s,) 'atlerhaving consulted some of the Cardinal' of th !Ioly Ro-mish Church, after having duly examined with themeverything and listened to their advice, we have decided,venerable brothers, on addrcssiug you this letter, bywhich we again condemn the BWLESOCIETIES,reprovedlong ago by our predecessors, and by virtne of the supremeauthority of onr apostleship, we reprove by name an-Icondemn the -aforesaid society called the CnmsTIANALLI-ANCE,formed last year at New York; it, together withevery other society associated with it, or which may be-come so. - Let all know, then, the enormity of the sinagainst God and his Church which they are guilty of whodare to associate themselves with any of these societies,or abet them in any way.''' (Dowling's History of Ro-manism, book ix., chap. iii., § 25.)

Such beinz their inveterate opposition to the Bible'sbeing circulated and read in the vulgar tongue, it is not somuch to be wondered at that Romish priests many timestake away Bibles from their people, and cause them to beburned. This has been done, as you are aware, even illour own Protestant country; no farther off than the townof Champlain, in the State of New-York, and no longerago than the ~7th of October, 1842. "The following ac-count of this sacrilegious outrage is from.~n official~tate-ment of facts, signed by four respectable CItizen appointedas a committee for that purpo~c : -' About the middle. ofOctober, a Mr. Telmont a mis ionary of the Jesuits, withone or more a ociate,' came to Corbeau in this town,

316 TilE IX TOLERANCE

where the Catholic chUl~chis located, and, as they sayin their own account gi"Venof their visit, by the directionof the bishop of Montreal. On their arrival they com-menced a protracted meeting, which lasted several weeks,and great numbers of Catholics from this and the othertowns of the county attended day after (by. After themeeting had progressed several days, and the way wasprepared for it, an order was issued requiring all who hadbibles or testaments, to bring them in to the priest, or laythem at the feet of the missionaries. The requirementwas generally complied with, and day after day biblesand testaments were carried in; and after a sufficientnumber was collected: they were burned. By the confes-sion of Telmont, as appears from the affidavit of S. Hub-bell, there were several burnings, but only one in public.On the 27th of October, as given in testimony at thepublic meeting held there, Telmont, who was a prominentman in all the movements, brought out from the house ofthe resident priest, which is near the church, as manybibles as he could carry in his arms at three times, andplaced them in a pile, in the open yard, and then set fireto them and burned them to ashes. This was done inopen clay, and in the presence of many speetators.' - Inthe affidavit of S. Hubbell, Esq., above alluded to, who isa respectable lawyer of the plaoe, it is stated that thePresident of the Bible Society, in company with Mr. Hub-bell, waited upon the priests, and requested that inasmuchas the bibles had been given by benevolent societies, theyshould be returned to the donors and not destroyed; towhich the Jesuit priest, perhaps with less cunning thanusually belongs to his order, coolly replied, that' they hadburned all they had received, and intended to burn allthey could get.'''· (DOWling'sRomanism, book ix., chap.ii., § 15.)

• " A colporteur in Belgium, whose labours were blessed in six orseven families, appointed a religious meeting iu one of them, iu which achild was soon after taken with convulsions. The priest was sent forand made the woman believe that the sickness was 0. punishment forreceiving the colporteur; and discovering the Bible, he took off the lid oftlte 'lOve, threw in the Bible, covered it witli large coals, replaced the lid, andsill> book wa.. consumed:" Christian llTatchman mid &fiector, for Jan.114,1850.


The Bibles published by our Protestant Bible Societiesare not such as Romish priests would be likely to permitto be read by their people, for the reason not only thatthey are not translated by Roman Catholic authors, as isrequired by the rule' of the "Index" that they should be,but for the further reason that they are unaccompanied bynotes: for an INJUNCTIO::S-of pope Benedict XIV. is,"THAT NO VERSIONSWHATEVERSHOULDBE SUFFEREDTOBE READBUTTHOSEWHICHSHOULDBE APPROVEDOFBYTHEHOLY SEE,ACCO:llPA.·IEDBYNOTESDERIVEDFROYTHEWRITINGSOFTHEITOLYFATHERS,OROTOERLEARNEDANDCATHOLICAUTHORS."(Bull of pope Gregory XVI., in.Dowlin(J's Iiomanism, book ix., hap. iii. § 25.) To hsuffered to be read among th R man nth lie, Ih 11, Bibl flmust not only be of such version IlA t b appro ~dof b!!the IIol!! See, but mu t also be ac ompanicd by not 8derined from the 7oritin(Js of Roman Oatliotic authors.Without notes, as if afraid of the influence of nnked Bibletruth, they never publish any Bibles. Were Bibles, even ofa translation of their own making, and consequently ap-proved of by the Holy See, to be circulated among them,unaccompanied b!!Roman.£latholic notes, the priests wouldburn such Bibles rather than suffer them to be read by tbepeople. A case of this kind is recorded, as roving oe-curred a few years ago in Chili, South America. SpanishNew Testaments of the Roman Catholic version hadbeen printed by the American Bible Society, (withoutnote or comment,) and circulated there. A worthy agentof that Society, in a letter to the secretary, describes, inthe folIowinsr manner, the burning of these Testaments,which had been taken from the people as proscribedbooks. '" On Sabbath evening, the time fixed for thesacrilegious confia<:rration,::\procession was formed! havingthe curate at thcO head, and conducted with the usualpomp, the priest kneeling a few moments ~t each cornerof the square, and placing a large crucifix ~lpon theground. Durinsr the afternoon a fire had been kindled forthe purpose, I :as told by several bystanders, of burniheretical books which ridiculed the ma sand confe ion;and amonrr the number was mentioned the New-Testa-ment. A guard of soldiers prevented me from examiningthem separately, hut I stood sufficiently ncar to discover

318 THE INTOLERANCE

that the greater part were copies of the New-Testamentissued by the American Bible Society. As the flame as-cended, increasing in brightness, one of the clergy shoutedViva Deos (Let God reign), which was immediatelyechoed "by the loud acclamations of a large concourse ofpeople. For the time I forgot what a late writer says,lITe must always remember that South America is a Chris-tian and not a heathen land. The outrage was public,and instead of being disowned, was openly defended, asdone, it was said, in compliance with the decree of an in-fallible council.' - The Scriptures burned were of the ap-proved Spanish version, translated from the Vulgate by aSpanish Roman Catholic bishop. They were New -Testa-ments too, so the plea that the Apocrypha was excludedcould not be urged. They were portions of their own ac-knowleged word of God, because in the vulgar tongue andWITHOUT POPISII NOTES, solemnly committed to theflames!!'" (Dowling's History of Romanism, bookix., chap. iii. \l:l7.)

The opposition of the Roman Catholics against thereading of tl!.-eBible is so great, that they have sometimeseven put persons to death for each. readiru). Thus on theisland of Great Britain, "at Buckingham, Thomas Bainard,and James Moreton, the one for reading the Lord'sprayer in EngUsh, and the other j'br reading St. James'sepistle in En[llish, were both condemned, and burnedalive." And not long after, that is, "in 1546, one Saitees,a priest, was, by order of Bishop Gardiner, h.anged inSouthwark without a council process; and all that was:Yleged against him was, that of reading Tindal's New-Testament." - (Fox's Book of Martyrs, book viii. Vol.ii., p. 517.) •

The other nine rules of the Index relate to the reading,

. ';I> It is the same spirit of opposition in operation still, in Romish

priests, against the Bible, which has led them of late years to try to getit out of our common scbools in this country. In reference to tbis boldndeavour of theirs, one of our most eminent gospel ministers truthfullyays : "There are those who would establish in our school-system tbe

thunder of the Vatican, with an Index expurqatorius for our wboleschool literature; and even good men are fearfully influenced by their8opbistty." Dr. Cheever', Rtght 0/ tk Bible in ollr Public Sdwol., pre-face, p. IV.


printing, selling, and circulation, of books generally.Some books are so forbidden, as to the reading of them,that no part of them is permitted to beread ; others areallowed after some part has been expunged. ".All bookscondemned by the supreme pontiffs, or general councils,before the year 1515, and not comprised in the presentIndex, are, nevertheless," (say they,) "to be considered ascondemned." Further:" The books of heresiarchs," (saythey,) "whether of those who broached or disseminatedtheir heresies prior to the year above mentioned, or ofthose who have been, or are, the heads or leaders ofheretics, as Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, Balthasar, Pacimon-tanus, Swenchfeld, anrl other imilar ones, arc alto,!!;itherforbidden, whatever may be their names, titl A, or subjects .And the books of other heretics, whi .h trent pI' fc~s dlyupon religion, are totally condemned." Rules 1 and \l.It is unnecessary to recite every one of these rul ' -the10th of them is as follows: "In the printing of books orother writin.l7s, the rules shall be observed, which wereordained in the 10th session of the council of Lateran,under Leo X.- Therefore, if any book is to oe printedin the city of Rome, it shall first be examined by thePope's Vicar and the master of the sacred palace, orotherpersons chosen by ow' most holy father for that pw'-pose. In other places, the examination of any book ormanuscript intended to be printed shall be referred to thebishop, or some skilful person whom he shall nominate,and the inquisitor of heretical pravity of the city ordiocese in which the impression is executed, who shallgratuitously and without delay affix their approbation tothe work in their own handwriting, subject, nevertheless,to the pains and censures contained in the said decree;this law and condition being added, that an authentic copyof the book to be printed, signed by the author himself,shall remain in the hands of the examiner; and it is tne

• "A, D. 1515. The decree of thut council was to this effect; that.no book whatever should be printed without examination and license bthe bishop, his deputy, or an jnquisitor; and that. those w~o offendedshould forfeit the whole impression of the book printed, which shouldbe p~hlic11 burnt, pay' a fine of 100 dn,cats, be suspended ,fro~ th,~exercise 0 their trade for one yelU',and lie under excommunication ICramp's Text-Book oj Popery, chap. iii., n. 85.

320 THE INTOLERANCE

judgment of the fathers of the present deputation, thatthose persons ioho publish uiorlc« in manuscript, beforethey have been examined and approval, should be subjectto the same penalties as those who print them>" and thatthose who read or possess them should be considered asthe authors, if the real authors of such writings do notavow themselves. The approbation given in writing shallhe placed at the head of the books, whether printed or inmanuscript, that they may appear to be duly authorized;and this examination ancIapprobation, &c. shall be grantedgratuitously.

"]}loreover, in every city and diocese, the house orplaces where the art of pl"inting is exercised, and also theshops Of booksellers, shall befrequently visited by personsdeputed for that purpose by the bishop or hi« vicar, con-jointly with the inquisitor of heretical pravity, so thatnothing that is prohibited may be pl'inted,· kept, or sold.Booksellers of every description shall keep in their libra-ries a catalogue of the books which they have on sale,signed by the wid deputies>"NOR SHALL THEY KEEP ORSELL, NOR IN A!.'{Y WAY DISPOSE OF ANY OTHER BOOKS,WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE DEPUTIES, UNDER PAINOF FORFEITING TUE BOOKS, AND BEING LIABLE TO SUCHOTHER PENALTIES AS SHALL BE JUDGED PROPER BY THEBISHOP OR INQUISITOR, WHO SHALL ALSO PUNISH THEBUYERS, READ.ERS, OR PRINTERS OF SUCH WORKS. If anyperson import foreign books into any city, they shall beobliged to announce them to the deputiee j or if this kindof oterchandise be exposed to sale in any public place, thepublic officers of the place shall signify to the saiddeputies, that such books have been brought,. and NO ONESHALL PRESUME TO GIVE TO READ, OR LEND, OR SELL, ANYBOOK WHICH HE OR Aloo""Y OTHER PERSON HAS BROUGHTINTO THE CITY, UNTIL HE H~S SHOWN IT TO THE DEPU-

• Under such laws as these, where is thejreedom or liberty of the P"esswithal 1 This, we know, is to Rome a most cordially hated thing, a nosmall trouble to popes. "Hither tends that worst and never sufficientlyto be execrated and detested LI:BERTY OF THE PRESS for the diffusion ofall manner of writings, which some so loudly contend for and so activellpromote." Encyclical. Letter of Pope Gregory XVI., quoted in Dowling •Romanism, book ix., chap. iii., § 23.


TIES L."<D OBTA.INED THEIR PERMISSION,1mlessit be a uiorkuieliknoum. to be 1mive1'sallyallowed,

"IIeil's and testamentary executors shall make no use ofthe books of the deceased, 1W1'in any way transfer them'to others, until they have presented a catalogue of them tothe deputies, and obtained their license, under pain of theconfiscatioa of the books, 07' the infliction of such otherpunishment as the bishop or inquisitor shall deemproper,according to the contumacy or quality of the delinquent.

"With regard to those books which the fathers of thepresent deputation shall examine, or correct, or deliver tobe corrected, or permit to be reprinted on certain conrli-tions, booksellers and others sltrdl be bound to obseroeuduuever is ordained respecting them, Th bishops . ndgeneral inquisitors shall, nevertheless, b at liberty, ac-cording to the power they posses~, to prohibit such booksas may seem to be permitted by these rules, if they deemit necessary for the good of the kingdom, or province, ordiocese. And let the secretary of these fathers, accordingto tbe command of our holy Father, transmit to thenotary of the general inqnisitor, the names of the booksthat have been corrected, as well as of the persons towhom the fathers have granted the power of exami-

ation."Finally, it is enjoined on all the faithful, that no one

presume to keep or read any books cont?'al'yto these rules,or prohibited by thi» index. But if .any one keep 01'

read any books composed by heretics, 01' the 101'itingsofany author suspected of he?'esy, or false doctrine, HESHALL INSTANTLY INCUR THE SE~TE~CE OF EXCOMMUJ',"'I-CATIO~; and those toho read or keep works interdicted onanother account, besides the mortal sin, committed, shallbe severelyp1tnished at the will of the bishops." (Decreesand Canons of the Council of Trent, sess. xx,.). .

Such are just the rules fOJ' keeping a people In I1m0r-ance, and consequently in subjection to nngo(lly Romish~riests: " A permanent committee, style~ the ' Congrega-tWD ot the Index,' is specially charged WIth the ex.ecutlODof these tyrannical and iniquitous laws. Tlnder It carethe index has been increa ed from year to year, by theadditions of such new works were deemed unfit for Ro-man Catholic readers. It now forms a considerable

21

..222 THE lN7'OLEr.ANOE

volume. A few of the names found in it may be men-tioned. No Rom:m Catholic is suffered to read thewritings of TVicl{f, Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Zuingliu,~,11felanct}wn,Bullinger, Oecolampadius, Beza, Tyndal,Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Knox, Coverdale, BishopHooper, John Fox, the }fartyrologist, John I£uss, Jeromeof Praque, Addison, Alqernon Sydney, L01'd Bacon,Boerhaave, Bayle, Bocliart, Hrucker, George Buchanan,.Iluetorf"; Camden, G'asaubon, Castalio, Cave, Glaude,LeClerc,the Oritici Sacri, Erasmus, (his Colloquies,andseveral other works), Glassius, Grotius, Sir' MatthewHale, Father' Paul, I1epler, Leoater, Locke, Milton,Mosheim, Robertson (history of Charles V.), Roscoe(Life of Leo X.), Saurin, Scaliger, Scapula, Schmidt,Selden, Sleidan, Jeremy Taylor, Vossius, Walton (thepolyglott), Young (the Night Thoughts). Of theseauthors, the works of some may not be possessed or read,according to the above rules, under any circumstances,without incurring the guilt of mortal sin, and the punish-ment of excommunication; the perusal of others is per-mitted, by license, after examination, or expurgation, to afavoured few, 'le:!rned and pious men.' In Burnet'sHistory of the Reformation the form of one of theselicenses may be seen, given by 'I'onstall to Sir ThomaMore. Such a license, it is presumed, Mr. Butler hasreceived, to enable him ttl read Southey's 'Book of theChurch,' and other heretical publications, which he hastaken so much pains to answer, but dared not peruse tillhis superiors gave him the .requisite permission. For weare not speaking of a defunct statute. The authority ofthe Lndox is acknowledged and felt in the nineteenth cen-tury; and in Roman Catholic countries the censorship ofthe press and the tyrannical vigilance of the priests per-petuate the dominion of ignorance, enslave and fetter thehuman mind, and inflict untold miseries, religious andpolitical, on a suffering people.

"Spain has from the beginning patronized and promotedthis detestable cru ade against knowledge,with character-istic zeal." The index was immediately reprinted in that

." There is still fixed, every year, at the church doors, the index,or list of those books, especially foreign, of which tho holy office had

OF THE ROIJfA.N OA.THOLICS. 323

country, and was subsequently so enlarged that it reachedthe enormous size of two foliovolumes! In 1571anotherindex was published by royal command,wholly expurga-tory, that is, containing lists of those passages in certainauthors, or in Protestant editions of their writings, whichwere to be erased, before the books were allowed to beread; this was chiefly intended for the Netherlanil , thenunder Spanish dominion. The manner in which it wasframed furnishes clear proof of the object which theChurch of Rome has in view in these nefarious proceed-ings, viz. to crush evangelical truth. This is especiallyevident from the plan adopted in regard to thc editions ofthe Fathers. In the ' Contents ' appended to the w rksof Augustine, Jerome, Chryso. tom, &c. by Protestanteditors, the theological sentiments of those illustrious m nare arranged in alphabetical order, with.suitable rete!' ncisto the pages. Now, to contradict the 'Fathers wouldnever be endured; yet it was felt that on many importantpoints their opinions symbolized with those of the re-formers. In this dilemma, it was resolved to condemnthose opinions, as they uiere giveniJ~ the 'Summaries,' or~Oontents,' compiled by the editors, and not in the textItself! The following propositions, contained in the' In-dex' or ' Contents' to the works of Chrysostom,are there-fore ordered to be expunged;-' That sins are to be con-fessed to God, not to man- that we are justified by faithonly - that Christ forbids us to kill heretics - that it isgreat stupidity to bow before images- that priests aresubject to princes - that salvation does not flow from ourown merits - that the scriptures are easy to be understood-and that the reading of them is to be enjoined upon allmen.' Chrysostom had affirmed all this, and much be-sides that was equally opposed to pope].'y;yet they havenot condemned Chrysostom, (he is one of the saints intheir own calendar,) but only the unfortunate editor whohas reported his opinions!

." In the same way have these lovers of darkness dea~t~th the apostles, yea, with our Lord him elf An. edi-tion of the Bible, published by Robert Stephens, contained

thought fit to interdict the reading, on pain of excommunication!Bourgoing's Modena Stos» 0/ Spain ii., P: 276."

3:24 THE INTOLERANCE

an index, stating the doctrines of Scripture, with referenceto the texts wherein tlwy are founrl. The following propo-sitions, with many others, are ordered to be expunged, assuspected, 'tunquam suspeotao ;" - , He who believeth inChrist shall never <lie,John xi. 26. - The .hearf is purifiedby faith, Acts xv, 9. - Weare justified by faith in Christ,Gal. ii. 16.- Christ is our righteousness, 1 Cor. i. 30.-No one is righteous before God, Psalm cxliii, 2. -.Everyone may marry, 1 Cor. vii. 2.' Here, notwithstanding theflimsy pretence of condemning only the editor, it is evi-dent enough that the sentence is in fact issued against theSaviour and his inspired servants; for though they arenot in express words censured for uttering the forgoingsentiments, yet as Robert Stephens is condemned for as-serting that they uttered them, it is plain that throughhim our Lord and his apotles are attacked. This is trulythe 'mystery of iniqu-ity.'''''' (Oramp's Text -Book ofPoper-f, chap. xvi.)

\Ve will now proceed to consider the intolerance of theRoman Catholics,

III. As it respects the exercise of thought and opinion.The intolerance of the Roman Catholics extends even

to the exercise of thought in the formation of opinions, aswell as to the exercise of opinions themselves. Such isthe fact regarding all such matters as are contained in theBible. Thus, in speaking of the use of the sacred books,they say: "In order to restrain petulant minds, the coun-cil further decrees, that in matters of faUh and morals andwhatever relates to the maintenance of Christian doctrine,no one, c(yJ~fidingin his monjud.qment, shall dare' to wrestthe sacred Scriptures to his own ,sense of them, contrary

{; The title of the book is, " An Expurgated Oatalogue of the bookswhich have appeared during this century, either filled with the errors ofa corrupt doctrine, or with an unprofitable and offensive slander, accord-in.!!' to tho decree of the Council of Trent. Published by the commandand authority of his Catholic Majesty, Philip II. and by the council ofthe Duke of Alva, in Belgium, 1571."

Thus it appears that, besides their Index prohibitorius, the Papists havealso their Index expurqatorius. "For a full account of both these in-dexes, sec that valuable, learned, and authentic work, 'Mendham's Lit.erary Policy of the Church of Home, exhibited in an account of thotlamn,\tory catalogues, or Indices, both Prohibitory and Expurgatory!London, 1820." Dowling's Romanism, book vii., chap. ii., § HI, note.

OF THE i/O.VAN CA.TBOLiCS. 825

to that which hath been held and still is held by holymother church, whose ~'i!Jl~tit is to j1tdge of the truemeaning and interpretation of Sacred Writ j or contraryto the unanimous consent of the fathers; even thoughsuch interpretations should never be published. If anydisobey, let them be denounced by the ordi'lfaries, andpunished according to law." (Decrees and Canons ofthe Council of Trent, sess. iv., de usu eaarorum libro-j·um.)

Thus does the church of Rome, with most mendaciousarrogance, claim for her own pretendedly infallible selfthe exclusive right of interpreting the Scriptures; with allher assumed authority decreeing that no on , excrci in~his own private judgment, shall dare to have any sen e tthem different from that which she has adopted. Perfect-ly in accordance with ' ch an enactment as this is herconfession, in the use of which each individual for himselfsays: "I also admit the sacred scriptures, according tothe sense which the holy mother church has held, and doeshold, to tohom it belongs tojudge of the true sense and in-terpretation of the holy scriptures j nor ~(JillI ever take orinterpret them othertoise,than according to the unanimousconsent of thefathers." (Creed of Pope Pius IV.) Suchare the terms in which the Roman Catholic, while he isnot allowed to think for himself to form any opinions ofhis own on the meaning of the holy Scriptures, is boundnever to take or hold or interpret them othenoise than ASTHEY ARE HELD AND INTERPRETED BY ms "HOLY MOTHERCHURCII." Accordingly, while this" holy mother church,"in her clergy, interprets the holy Scriptures according toher own established doctrines, the sentiments she thusholds forth all her people are bound unhesitatmgly to fallin with and receive in undissembled belief. The faith ofthe Roman Ostholies, therefore, as it respects their wholesystem of doctrines, must be what they themselves arepleased to call implicit faith,· a believing without exam-

• " Implicit faith, is that by which we take up any system or opinionof another without examination. This has been one of the chief sourcesof ignorance nnd error in the church of Rome. The divines of that com-mnnity teach, 'That we are to observe, not how the church proves anything, but what she sars: that the will of God is, that we should believeand confide in his mini ters in the same manner es himself: Cardinal

326 THE INTOLERANCE

ining either the truth or falsehood of what they believe.They believe what their church believes," What theirchurch holds, in her established doctrines, is, in their in-terpretation of the Scriptures, their one great standard,from which every person among them must take goodheed to hfmselfhow he allowshimself to vary. One maybe a good classical scholar, well acquainted with Greekand Hebrew: literature, and oriental customs, and pro-foundly versed in all learning suited to qualify him forbeing an able expositor'of the Bible; but he must be verycautious as to what liberty he takes in employing 1llsstores of knowledge in the interpretation of the holyScriptures, otherwise than in servile accordancewith theteachings of his "holy mother church;" else, considereddisobedient,he is'to "be denounced by the ordinaries,andpunished according to [popish] aw." .

But there are Christians - p ofessedlyand really such

Toletus, in his instructions for priests, asserts, 'That if a rustic believeshis bishop proposing an heretical tenet for an article of faith, such be-lief is meritorious.' Cardinal Cusanus tells us, ' That irrational obedi-ence is the most consummate and perfect obedience, when we obey with-out attending to reason, as a beast obeys his driver.' In an epistle tothe Bohemians he has these words: 'I assert, that there are no precepts

. of Christ but those which are received as such by the church (meaningthe church of Rome). When the church changes her judgment, Godchanges his judgment likewise.' What madness 1 what blasphemy IFor a church to demand belief of what she teaches, and a submission towhat she enjoins, merely upon her assumed authority, must appear tounprejudiced minds the height of unreasonableness and spiritual despo-tism. We could wish this doctrine had been confined to this church;but, alas! it has been too prevalent in other communities. A theologi-cal system, says Dr. Jortin, is too often no more than a temple conse-crated to implicit faith; and he who enters in there to worship, insteadof leaving hi shoes, after the eastern manner, must leave his under-standing at the door; and it will be well if he find it when he comes ontagain." Buck's Theological Dictionary, art. Implicit Faitlt .

• Implicit faith" is what is called in Italy .fides carbonaria, i. e., thecollier's faith, from the noted story which gives an account of a collier'sanswerine questions to one who had made inquiries of him respectinghis faith::' the word earbonarius signifying collier. _ 'QUEST. What doyou believe 1 ANS. I believe what the church believes. Q. Whp.t doesthe church believe 1 A. The church believes what I believe. Q. Well,then, what is it that both iOU and the church believe 1 A. 'Ve both be-lieve the very same thing. This is implicit faith in perfection, and, inthe estimation of several Roman doctors, the sum of necessary and sav-ini( knowledge in a Christian." Dr. Elliott's Roman (Jathollcism, booki., chap. ii. (Vol. i. p. 54., 55.\

OF THE lIO.lILY CATHOLIC';. 327- and blessed be God their numbers are not small, whoneither conform to the laws of the Romish church nor aremembers of her communion nor believers in" her falsedoctrines, Against all such her intolerance is exercisedas a matter of course, so far as they are within her reach.And here let it be particularly observed,

First, That she considers them to be heretice. No mat-ter how pious or morally good they are, in her estimationas well as in her dialect they are heretics. If heresy becorrectly defined, as undoubtedly it is, to be "a funda-mental error in religion, 01' an error of opinion respectingsome fundamental doctrine of religion," (TVeb ter); then aheretic is a person who holds, 01' holds and tenchc , somefundamental error in religion, or some err n on opinionrespecting some fundamentnl doctrin of r ligi n. Thibeing admitted to be a good defioition of the term her tic,as I believe it is, I submit it to the whole evangelicallyChristian world to judge which are the heretics, thosewhom the Romanists, the constituents of the Romishchurch, so frequently call such, or r'ather the Romariists.themseloes»

Secondly, She holds it to be impossible .for them, asnot being o.f the same faith and fellowship with her'self, tobe saved. This she undisguisedly expresses and declares,as in various forms of speech, so through her supremeearthly head, thus: "TMs true Catholic faith, OUT OFwmca NO="o'ECAN BE SAVED" - Hanc ueram CCltlwlicamfidem, EXTRA QUAM NEMO SALVUS ESSE POTEST. (Creedof Pope Pius IV.) Thus "the Roman Catholic is boundto believe that all who refuse to hold the doctrines ad-vanced by the Council of Trent, and summarily comprisedin Pope Pius's creed, are out of the reach of salvation, andmust certainly be damned to all eternity." t (Cramp'sTe.J)t-Book of Popery, chap. xvii., p. 395.)

- "All false doctrine, contrary to thc Scriptures, is the proper fruitof heretics. For he is a heretic, which obstinately maintaincth an opin-ion, contr~ry to the Scriptures, (IS ~h~P,:pi.t3 do man!. ~n.d especia!ly,those plain notes, which the SPirit gIVcth of cntichristian heretics,namely, the forbidding of marrince and meats, where are they to befound at this d~ but in Papists I "1 Tim. iv." Dr. Fulke's Confutationof the Rhemish Testament, blutt. vii. 16.

t It is this their intolerance of principle regarding salvation, in opera-tion in the Roman Catholics, that induces them to refuse to allow Pra-

328 THE INTOLElIA ....TJi:

Thil-dly. She holds to the infliction upon them of tem-poral penalties, including corporal tortures withal, evenunto death, as punishment« for their errors, that is, theiropinions - unless they will"enounce them. We find thateven as early as in the fourth century, there was well-nighpublicly adopted the unchristian principle, "that errors inl'eligio'fl"when maintained and adhered to after properadmonition, ought to be visited with penalties and punish-ments. The [erroneous] principle, from the very timewhen Oonstantine gave peace and security to the Chris-tians, was approved by many; and in the conflicts withthe Priscillianists and Donatists, it was corroborated byexamples, and unequivocally sanctioned by the authorityof Augustine,· and transmitted down to succeeding ages."(Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical IRstory, cent. iv., part ii.,chap. iii., § 16.)

The horrid principle of inflicting penalties and punish-ments on men because of their religious opinions has, fromtime to time, been fHghtfully exhibited by the church ofRome, in the doings of her councils. " The second generalcouncil of'Laterun, who in the year 1139,in the twenty-thirdcanon, excommunicated and condemned the heretics, com-manded the civil powers to suppress them, and included their

estants to b"'71 their dead in their grave-llards. Dr. Edward Young, havinglost a beloved daughter at Montpelier in the South of France, whithershe had been removed for her health, was obliged stealthily to bury thebody in a tield by night, "not being allowed interment in the church-yard on account of her being a protestant." (.Memoirs of Dr. EdwardYoung, prefixed to his Night Thouohts.) The fact is indelibly recordedby himself, in Night III. of the" Night Thoughts,"

It is the same intolerant principle that operates in the same kind ofpeople whcn they refuse, in Rome, to allow to be inscribed on the tomb-stone of a Protestant deceased any passage of the Bible expressive of ahope of salvation. See an interesting fact of this sort, as recorded in theAmerican Protestant, vol. iv, pp. 230, 231.

• "We will make here the single remark, that it was during these con-tests Augustine first exhibi ted in his writings that horrid principle, thatheretics are to be punished icitl« temporal punishments and death; - a princi piewholly inconsistent with Christianity, and one which in after agesserved [k; an excuse for inhuman cruelties. Only read Au,qustine's 48thEpistle, ad Vincent., and hi, 50th, ad Bonifae., and several others; andyOll will there meet with n11 the plausible arguments, which the spiritof persecution in after agCB so dressed up - to the disgrace of Chris-tinnity-a.; to blind the eyes of kings." j}Jo.~heim'sEcd« .•iastical BisftYT!I,cent. if'., part, ii., chap. Y" § 7, n. (12).


protectors and defenders in the same curse with themselves.-(Dowling's History lfJf Romanisrn, book viii., chap. i., §2.) -" By the council of Tours, held in 1163,princes wereexhorted and directed to imprison. all heretics within theirdominions, dnd to confiscate their effects." (Jones's His-tory of the Christian. Ohurch, chap. iv., sect, iii.) - In thethird general council of Lateran, held A. D. 1179, "athundering decree was issued against the heretics, calledCathari, Patareni, and Publicani, who no longer concealed,but openly taught their [so-calledjednmnablo enol'S in theterritories of Alby and Toulouse, that i , the .Albigenses,the name which they are now commonly known by. Theyuiere solemnly anathematized b1/ the council, and all to reforbidden, on pain of excommunication, to receiue theminto their houses, to suite}' them. in their territories, to buyany tAinu of them, or sell any thing to them. .And it was or-dained, that they ~ohoshould, under any pretence whatever,transgress tl~is decree, should have no o;{f'eringsmade forthem after their death, nor should they be buried amongOhristians. Thus werethose nnhappymen banished all hu-man society, and driven into the deserts to perish there ofhunger among the wild beasts." (Bower's History of thePopes-s--P, Alexander III.,propefinem.) -Of the fourthgeneral council of Lateran, held in the year 1215, "thethird canon was calculated to extirpate heresies andheretics, and contains many sanguinary laws against them,Heretics, when convicted, were, by that canon, to be de-livered up to the secular power, in 01'(1erto bepunished asthejl deserved, but the clerks were to be first degraded.The effects of laymen were confiscated, and those of theclergy to be applied to the church. And it was ordained,that all princes should moear to extirpate the heretics i1~their dominions / that they sho~tld be excommunicated bythe metropolitan and the bishops of the province, if theyrefused to take that oath / and if they gave not scltisfac-tion within the space of a yeoI', they should acquaint thepope therewith, that he mlght absolve their subjects from

• 'Eos ni religiositatis speciem simuJantes, tanquam baereticos abecclesia Dei pellimus, et damnamus, et per potestates exteras coerceripraecipimus. Defensores ?,noque ipsorum ejusdem damnationis vinculomnodamus. (Bin. 8, 596.)

330 THE INTOLERANCE

their allegiance, and bestow their dominions upon Oatholics,ioho should hold them upon their e::I!tirpatingheretics andmaintaining the p~trity of the faith, saving the right ofthe lord paramount, provided he did not oppose the exe...cution of this ordinance. For if he opposed it, he was toforfeit his right. By the same canon the privileges en-joyed by those who serve against the Saracens in Spainor in Palestine, are all granted to such as shall serveagainst the heretics, or any ~oays contribute to their de-structiori / all person are enjoined to avoid, on pain ofexcommunication, the company and all intercourse withheretics / and such as incur, on that account, the excom-munication, are excluded from the sacraments, and to bedenied Oh1'istian burial, if they give not satisfaction be-fore their death. Lastly, all bishops are commanded,upon pain of excommunication and deposition, to cleartheir respective dioceses of all heretics, employing for thatpurpose the secular power, and obliging the princes withthe censures of the church to concJ,!rwith them in sopious an undertaking." (Ibid., P. Innocent III.) - Thegeneral council of Trent, the last of all the general coun-cils that have been, which was first opened on the 13th ofDecember in the year 1545, and was long continued,breathed throughout the same spirit of intolerance,towards the same kind of persons, as all the other Romishcouncils had done. "This assembly, in its second session,'enjoined the extermination of heretics by the sword, thefire, the rope, and all other means, when it could be donewith safety.' '" The sacred synod again, in the last session,admonished' all princes to exert their influence to preventthe abettors of heresy fi'om misinterpreting or violatingthe ecclesiastical decrees, and to oblige these objectors, as1Mllas all their other subjects, to accept and to observe thesynodal canons with devotion and fidelity.' This was

'" "The good must tolerate the evil," (they say.] "when it is sostrong that it cannot be redressed without danger and disturbance ofthe whole Church, and commit the matter to God's judgment in thelatter day. Otherwise when ill men, be they Heretics or other male-factors, may be punished or suppressed-without disturbance and hazardof the good, the/!may and ought bl, public authority either spiritual or tern-poral to be chastised or EXEOUTED.' Rhemish Testament, annot, on Matt.xili, 29.

OF THE RO,l1AN CATHOLICS. 331clearly an appeal to the secular arm, for the purpose offorcing acquiescence and submission. The natural con-sequence of such compulsion was persecution. The holyfathers, baving, in this laudable manner, taught temporalsovereigns their duty, concluded with a discharge of theirspiritual artillery, and pronounced an 'anathema on allheretics.' '" The unerring council, actuated according totheir own account, by the Holy Gbost, terminated theirprotracted deliberations, Dot with blessing mankind, butwith cursing all who should claim religious liberty, assertthe rigbts of conscience, or presume to differ from the ab-surdity of their synodal decisions." (Dr. Edgar's Vari-ations of Popery, chap. vii.)

All these enactments, and many more th: t might badduced of enactments and injunctions and law of thesame bad sort, the doings of other Romish coun iils andpowers, as they are in the genuine spiritof the apostateRomish church so by her have they been with horrid zealcarried into effect, in many dreadfully distl'essing and de-structive persecutions.t Facts on this part of our subjectare horridly prominent on the pages of history, Not farfrom the middle of the twelfth century (1159), a com-

'" 'Anathema cunctis haereticis. Resp. Anathema, Anathema. Labb.20,197.'

t To such a dreadful effect, in some sense, every member of the Ro-mish church contributes his measure of aid, according to Rome'speculiar creed, by which he is bound, and of which these words are apart: "I also profess and undoubtcdly receive all other things delivered,defined, and declared by the sacred canons, and general councils, andparticularly by tlftl holy council of Trent; and likewise I also condemn,reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresieswhatsoever, condemned, rejected, and anathematized by the church."(Creed of Pope Pius IV.) As a professor of this creed, evcryRornanistsolemnly declares that he receives "ALL TlIINGS delivered, defined,and declared by the GENERAL COUNCILS." "To all tbeir canonsand decrees, as well us to those published at Trent, the Roman Catholicpromises his obedience, a sweeping declaration, which binds him, in thenineteenth century, to the observance of the revolting' absurdities andiniquitous enactments of the dark ages. It requires of him, for instance,to maintain that' oaths which oppose the utility ql the church, and the con-stitutions of the fathers, should rather be called perjuries than oaths,' andthat heretics are not !July to be anathematized, but deprived of all ]Jropel'ty,and civil rig!lts, and delivered Oller [0 the ecular power, to be punished andextirpated. Such are the unrepealed decisions of general councils,whieh ev~ry Roman Catholic, in every country,is bound to 'profess andundoubtedly receive!" Cramp's Text-Book of Popery, chap. :un.

332 THE INTOLERANCIl

pany of foreigners, conjectured to have belonged to thesect called Cathari, consisting of about thirty men andwomen, who spoke the German language, and had proba-bly emigrated either from-Germany or the south of France,settled "in England, and soon attracted the attention ofgovernment by the singularity of their religious practicesand opinions. They were apprehended and broug!lt be-fore a council of the clergy at Oxford. Being interrogatedabout their religion, their teacher, named Gerard, a manof learning, answered in their name, that they wereChristians, and believed the doctrines of the apostles.Upon a more particular inquiry, it was found that theydenied several of the received doctrines of the church,such as purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invoca-tion of saints; and refusing to abandon these damnableheresies, as they were called, they were condemned asincorrigible heretics, nnd delivered to the secular arm tobe punished. The king (Henry II.) at the instigation ofthe clergy, commanded them to be branded with a red-hotiron on the forehead, to be whipped through the streetsof Oxford, and, having their clothes cut short by theirgirdles, to be turned into the open fields,all persons beingforbidden to afford them any shelter or relief under theseverest penalties. This cruel sentenoe was executed in itsutmost rigour ; and, it being the depth of winter, all theseunhappy persons perished with cold and hunger. Theseseem to have been the first who suffered death in Britain,for the vague and variable crime of heresy, and it wouldhave been much to the honour of the connjry if they hadbeen the last." (Jones's History of the Christian Church,chap. iv., sect. iii.)

At about the close of the twelfth century, there was.commenced a ~eneral persecution of the Albigenses, inthe South of France. "The name of Albigenses was de-rived from the Albigeois, a district in which the town ofAlb! is situated, where, as well as at Toulouse, the dis-senters from the doctrines and practices of the RomishChurch were particularly numerous; and hence they spreadover the whole South of France. Their religious opinionsvery nearly resembled' those of the reformers of a muchlater period. They considered the Scriptures as the onlysource of faith and religion, without regard to tbe author-


ity of the Fathers and-of tradition .. They held the entire •faith, according to all the articles of the' apostles' creed.They rejected all the external rites of the dominantchurch, excepting baptism and the Lord's supper - astemples, vestures, images, crosses, the worship of holyrelics, and the rest of the sacraments. They rejectedpurgatory, and masses and prayers for the dead. Theyadmitted no indulgences or confessions of sin with any oftheir consequences; held the sacraments of baptism andthe eucharist as only signs, denying the corporal presenceof Christ in the latter. They held that monasticism wasa putrid carouse, and vows the inventions of men, andthat the marriage of tho clergy was lawful and nece sary.Finally, they declared tho Roman Church to b the whoreof Babylon, refused obedience to the Pope and th blsh ps,and denied that the former hail :loy authority over oth rchurches, or the power of either the civil or the ecole ias-tical sword.

"No wonder, then, if the enemies of these people haverepresented their doctrines with such characters only aswould make them appear the most hideous, and mingledwith all sorts of fables calculated to embitter the minds ofpapists against those who professed them. While, how-ever, they accused them of encouraging the utmostlicentiousness nnd debauchery, they admitted that, to allappearance, these heretics observed irreproachable chastity;that, in their zeal fur truth, they never, upon any occasion,resorted to a lie; and that such was their charity that theywere always ready to sacrifice themselves for others.Indeed, it was some time before their doctrines werebranded as heretical; and, as several prelates of the.Church had set the example of this reform, those whoadopted them were under no apprehension of goingastray ; and Rome herself had sometimes considered theAlbigenses, together with those new religious societiescalled Paterini, Catherini, and Poor .Men of Lyons, as somany monastic orders formed to rekindle the fervour ofthe public, and having no idea of shaking off her yoke.

"Itwas Innocent III. who, on ascending the pontificalthrone in the vigour of age, seemed first to be sen ible ofthe important consequences likely to result from an inde-pendence of pirit which was already tending to revolt.

334 THE INTOLERANOE

His predecessors, engag-ed in a struggle with the twoHenries and Frederic Barbarossa, had need of all theirforce"to defend themselves against those emperors; butInnocent, whose genius grasped and ruled the world, wasalike incapable of indulgence and pity. At the sametime that he was overturning the political balance ofItaly and Germany, threatening by turns the kings ofSpain, France, and England, assuming the tone of a mas-ter with the sovereigns of Bohemia, Hungary, Bulgaria,Norway, and Armenia; that he was alternately directingand reprimanding the crusaders engaged in overthrowing.the Greek empire and in erecting in its stead the Latinempire at Constantinople; Innocent, as though he had noother businessupon his hands, watched, attacked, punished,all discordance of opinions with those of the RomishChurch, all independence of spirit, all exercise of thefaculty of thought in religions matters.

"Though it was in the provinces where the Provencallanguage was spoken, and especially in Languedoc, thatthe reformed doctrines of the Albigense had made mostprogress, they spread rapidly in other parts of Christen-dom, in Italy, Flanders, Lorraine, Germany, and Spain.Innocent judged, both from disposition and policy, thatthe Church ought not to keep any terms with these sec-tarians; that if she neglected to crush them, to exterminatetheir race, and to strike terror into Christendom, their ex-ample would soon be followed, and the sparks which wereevery where seen smouldering would soon set the wholeRoman world on fire. He therefore directed his ministersnot to convert, but to burn the leaders, to disperse theflocks, and to confiscate the property of all who daredthink otherwise than be did. He insisted that the prov-inces in which the reformation was but commencingshould take the lead in punishing it: accordingly, severalheads of the new Church were doomed to the flames atNevers, in 1198,and in the following years. The emperorOtho IV., a creature of Innocent's, issued at his instiga-tion an edict for the destruction of the Paterini, 01', asthey were also called in Italy, Gazari. But a number ofgentlemen and high nobles had themselves adopted thenew opinions, and, 0 far from intending to per eeute,pI' teet d the profe or of them: while others reg. rded

OF THE llOMA.N CATHOLICS. 335

these people as industri~us 'vassals,whom they could notdestroy without diminishing their own power and rev-enues. The Pope tried whether he conld not arm animmediate interest and a brutal rapacity against this prov-ident economy of the barons. He relinquished to themthe confiscation of all the property of the heretics; he ex-horted them to seize it, to condemn them to exile afterthey had stripped them of every thing, and to threatenthem with death if they dared to return to their homes.,\.t the same time, Innocent fulminated anathemas against:ill those lords who should refuse to confiscate the posses-sions of the heretics for their own benefit, and laid theirlands under an interdict." (Shobert's Persecutions ofPopery, vol. i., article II.)

So early as the first year of his pontificate - which, ac-cording to Bower, commenced on the 8th of January,1198-the pope had sent into France two of his legates,Guy and Reinter, to seck ont and punish and extirpateheresy; and they laboured with true anti-Christian zeal.But these efforts were attended with too little success toanswer the wishes of his holiness, who would have thebusiness done more effectively. He accordingly resolvedon a crusade. The countries more especially devoted tovengeance, as the nurseries of heresy, were the territoriesof the count of Toulouse, Raymond VI., and those of hisnephew Raymond Roger, viscount of .Alby,Beziers, Car-cassonne, and Limoux. ".As the country of Toulouse wasthe principal place of rendezvous for the .Albigenses,andas they abounded there in immense numbers, the popeevinced the utmost solicitude to prevail upon count Ray-mond to expel them from his dominions. But all his en-treaties to induce the latter, either to banish so large anumber of his peaceable subjects, or even to persecutethem, proving frui ss, he ordered him to be excommuni-cated as a favourer of heretics. He sent his legate withletters to many of the prelates, commanding them tomake inquisition against the heretical .Albigenses inFrance, to destroy them and convert their protectors.He also wrote to Philip, king of France, reminding himthat it was his duty to take arms against those heretics,and to use all his power to suppress them, that by thuslabouring to stem the progress of heresy, he might purge

336 THE INTOLERANCE

himself from all suspicion of being tainted therewith inhis own person. Twelve abbots of the Cistercian order,accompanied by the pope's legate, went preaching thecross against the Albigenses, and promising, by theauthority of his holiness, a plenary remission of their sins,to all who took on them the crusade. With all this, how-ever, the cause proceeded but slowly. The pope was dis-satisfied. He therefore denounced open and more violentwar; invited the Catholic princes and nobles to take uparms, and commissioned his ministers to preach the sameindulgences, and to offer terms of every kind as advarr-tageous as those that were granted when levies were madefor crusading to Asia.

"The court of Rome, however, with a view to preserveat least the semblance of decency, thought it expedient,beforeproceeding to compulsory measures * with the Albi-genses, to try to reclaim them to the church by the moregentle and reasonable methods of persuasion, and thelatter formed the resolution of defending their own prin-ciples. They consequently gave the bishops to understandthat some of their pastors were ready to discuss the sub-ject with them in open conference, provided the thingcould be conducted with propriety. They explain theirnotions of propriety by proposing that "there should bemoderators on each side, vested with authority to preventtumult and preserve order and regularity-that the con-ference should be held in some. place to which all partiesconcerned might have free and safe access- and lastly,that a particular subject should be agreed upon betweenthe disputants, which should be steadily prosecuted untilit was fully discussed and determined, and that the party

* "It is the present doctrine of the church of Rome, that heretics ofall denominations may be 'compelled to come in .' and that doctrine shehas constantly practised when it was in her po r, as the world bnt tQOwell knows. However, she distinguishes between heretics who were,and heretics who were not, born and brought up in her bosom. Withthe latter, who ore only heretics, the faggot and the halter are the lastargument; but the first with the former, who are, in her eye, bothheretics and rebels; as if it were rebellion, and rebellion punishable

. h death, for II man to be persuaded, right or wrong, that anotherchurch i more pure in her doctrine and morals, than that in which hewas brought up; and thereupon betake himself to the other, in compli-ance with the dictates of his conscience." Bauer-s- P. Gregory tM Great,paulo post initium.

OF THE ROMAN OATHOLIOS. 337which could not maintain it by an appeal to the Scriptures,the only standard of faith to Ohristians, should own them-selves vanquished. .

"The proposal was so reasonable that it could not withdecency be rejected; it was therefore accepted by thebishops and monks. The place of conference agreed uponwas Montreal, neal' Carcassone, in the year 1206. Theumpires on the Catholic side were the bishops of Ville-

• neuse and Auxere - and on that of the Albigenses, R. deBot, and Anthony Riviere. On the part of the latter,several pastors were appointed to manage the debate, ofwhom Arnold Hot was the principal. He arrived first atthe appointed place. A bishop of the name of Eu us methim on behalf of the papacy, accompanied hy the renown (1Dominic, two of the pope's 1 gate , and Hov'1'I\1 of thCatholic clergy. The point which Arnold und .rtook toprove were, that the mass and transubstantiation are idol-atrous and unscril'tnral- that the church of Rome is notthe spouse of Christ - and that its polity is of a perni-cious and wicked tendency. Arnold drew up certainpropositions upon those points, which he transmitted tothe bishop, who required fifteen days to answer themwhich was granted. Ou the appointed Jay, the bishopappeared, and produced a large manuscript, which wasread in the public assembly. Arnold requested that bemight be permitted to reply by word of month, only en-treating their patience if he took a considerable time inanswering so prolix' a writing, and fair promises weremade him of a pasient hearing. He then discoursed forthe space of four days upon the subject, with such fluencyand readiness, such order, perspicuity, and forcible reason-ing, that a strong impression was produced on theaudience. Arnold, at length, called npon his opponentsto defend themselves. What they said on this occasionwe are not informed, but the cause of the abrupt termina-tion of the conference is a fact allowed on all hands, antimay possibly suggest what was the real state of the con--troversy. For, while the pope's legates were disputingwith Arnold, the umpire of the papal party, the bishop ofVilleneuse, declared that nothing could be determined,because tlw army of the crusaders was at ha1Ul. Whathe asserted, alas, was but too true j the papal armies ad-

22

338 THE INTOLERANCE

eanced, ana, by fir.e ana fa,qgot instantly aeciaea all thepoints of controversy / ana if we may place any relianceupon writers of unimpeachable veracity, 'the armies em-ployed by pope Innocent III, destroyed above two hundredthousand of them in the short space of a few months.'Arnold and his brethren, indeed, might have been fullyassured that it was never the intention of the pope to sub-mit to any decision of the controversy by ar~ent,which might happen to be unfavourable to his party .

• The acquiescence of his holiness in the proposal to discussthe differences between the parties in a public disputation,was, in all probability, a mere manrenvre, intended only toamuse the Albigenses and gain time, till the armies. thatwere preparing with a view to destroy them might be inreadiness. Platina, one of their own writers, in his Life.of Innocent XIII. seems to insinuate as much, when hetells us, that 'there was need, not only of disputations,but of arms also; to such a pitch was the heresy grown.'

" The immense army of crusaders being now in motion,[led on by an imperious ecclesiastic, Arnold Amalric by -name, the abbot of Citeaux, papal legate and director-general of the crusade], they every where attacked theAlbigenses, took possession of the cities in which theywere known to be, filled the streets with slaughter andblood, and committed to the flames numbers whom theyhad taken prisoners. When the army advanced towards.the neighbourhood of Beziers, the fate of the city waseasily foreseen, and the nephew of Raymond, fully sensi-ble that it could not be defended ag_inst an hundredthousand men, went out of the city, threw himself at thefeet of the. pope's legate, and supplicated his mercy infavour of his capital, beseeching him not to involve theinnocent with the guilty, which must be the case if Bezierswere taken by storm-that there were many RomanCatholics in the city, who would be involved in one indis-criminate scene of ruin contrary to the intentions of thepope, whose object was understood to be, solely thepunishment of the Albigenses. Numerous other topicsof entreaty were urged by the young prince; but the an-wer of the legate to all he could plead was, that 'all his

apologies and excuses would avail him nothing, and thathe must do the best he could for himself.' Thus foiled in


his object, the earl of Beziers returned into the city, con-vened the inhabitants, to whom he explained the ill suc-cess that had attended his mission; and particularly, thatthe only condition upon which pardon would be grantedby the pope's legate was, that the Albigenses should abjuretheir reiiqion; and promise to live according to the lawsof the Romish. ChUl·ch.- The Oatholic inhabitants ofBeziers now interposed, using every entreaty with theAlbigenses to comply with that stipulation, and not bethe occasion of their death, since the legate was resolver!to pardon none, unless they nll consented to live in sub-jection to one rule of faith. - The Albigcnses replied, thatthey never would consent to purchase a prolongation ofthis perishing life at the price of renouncing eh ir thith-'that they were fully persuaded God could, if ho plei d,protect and defend them :-uut they were us fully per-suaded, that if it were his good pleasure to be glorified bythe confession of their faith, it would be an high honourconferred upou them to sacrifice their lives for righteous-ness' sake - that they much preferred displeasing the

. pope, who could only destroy their bodies, to incurringthe displeasure of God, who is able to destroy both souland body together - that they hoped never to be ashamedof, nor forsake a faith by which they had been taught theknowledge of Christ and his righteousness, and at thehazard of eternal death, barter it {or a religion which an-.nihilated the merits of a Saviour, and rendered his right-eousness of none effect. They, !herefore, left it to theCatholics and the earl of Beziers to make the best termsthey could for themselves, but entreated that they wouldnot promise any thing on their behalf inconsistent withtheir duty as Christians.

"Finding the Albigenses inflexible, the Catholic partynext sent their own bishop to the legate, to entreat himnot to comprehend in-the punishment of the Albigenses,those that had always been constant and uniform in theiradherence to the church of Rome. In this int rview thebishop explained to him that he was their prelate; that heknew them well; and that as to the Albigenses, he did notthink them so irrecoverable as to be past all hopes of re-pentance - that, on the contrary, he trusted a becomingmildness on the part of the church, which does not delight

340 'rHE INTOLERANCE

in blood, might yet reclaim them. The sanguinary eccle-siastic, however, was wholly deaf to the voice of humanity.Transported with rage, he gave vent to the most terriblethreatenings; and swore that unless all who were in thecity acknowledged their guilt, and submitted to the churchof Rome, they should every individual be put to thesword, without regard to religious profession, age, or sex-giving instant orders for the city to be summoned tosurrender at discretion. Under these circumstances re-sistance was in vain; the assailants were immediately inpossession of it, and its inhabitants, to the number of three-and-twenty thousand,* wel'e indiscriminately massacred,and the city itself destroyed by fire. Caesarias informs us,that when the crusaders were about to enter the oity.,knowing that there were many Catholics mixed with theheretics, and hesitating bow they should act in regard tothe former, application was made to [the legate] Arnold,the abbot of Citeaux for advice, who instantly replied,'Kill them all- the Eord knoweth them that are Ids.'''·r(Jones's I:listory of the Christian Ohurch, chap. v., sect.vi.")

It is unnecessary to go into further particulars of thebloody doings of these inhuman cJ"Usaders. Suffice it to

.. Some historians make the number amount to sixty thousands," Though the stated population of Beziers was not over fifteen thousandpersons," (says Dr, Dowling,) "yet the influx of the people from thesurrounding districts, especially women and children, was so large, thatno less tha .. sixly thousand persons were ill tile citV when it was taken, and inthis vast number, not one person ~oas spared alive. The terrified anddefenceless women with their babes, as well as many of the men, tookrefuge in the churches, but they afforded no protection from theseblood-thirsty popish zealots. Thousands were slain in tbe churches,and the blood of the murdered victims, slain by the HOLY WARRIORS,drenched the very altars, and flowed in crimson torrents through thestreets. When the crusaders had massacred the last living creature inBeziers, and had pillaged the houses of all they thought worth carryingoff, they set fire to the city, in every part at once, and reduced it to avast funeral pile. Not 0. house remained standing, not one human be-ing was left alive. The Pope's legate, perhaps feeling some shame forthe butchery which he had ordered, in his letter to Innocent Ill., reducesit to fifteen thousand, though Velly, Mez~ray, an,d other historiansmake it amount to sixty thousand." Dowling's Htalory if Romall/slll,book v. chap. viii" § 71,

t 'TllCZ les tous, Dieu conaoit eeux qui sont a lui. Velly, iii. 441.'Edgar, chap. vii, i" I",¥I., note.

01" T,HE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 841

say, that the crusading army was augmented to upwardsof three hundred thousand men (some writers make themfive hundred thousand); and that the nefarious warfarewas carried on against the unoffending Albigenses, fillingtheir country with scenes of blood and carnage and con-fusion and devastation, for more than twenty years; inwhich time, it has been computed that a million of personsbearing that name were put to death. See Jones, ubisupra.

One of the most prominently as well as singularly activepersons connected with this infernal crusade was thefamous, or rather, infamous Dominic, founder of themonastic order of Dominican friare, as also of the IIl-quisition. It is said to have b ('II while engaged in thimurderous expedition that he digested the plan of thatiniquitous court. "Dominic descend .1 from an illustriousSpanish family of the name of Guzman, was tho on ofFelix and J'oanna, and bern at the village of Cabaroga,in the yenr 1170, ill the diocese of' Osma. Ilis motherduring her pregnancy; is"said to have dreamed that shewas with child of a pup, cnrrying in its mouth a lightedtorch; that after its birth, it put the world in an uproarby its fierce barkings, and at leng-th set it on fire by thetorch which it carried in its mouth. His followers haveinterpreted this dream, of his doctrine, hy which he en-lightened the world; while others, if dreams presage anything, think that the torch was an emblem of that fireand faggot by which an infinite multitude of persons wereburnt to ashes." He was educated for the priesthood, andgrew up the most fiery and the most bloody of mortals.Posterity will scarcely believe that this enemy of mankind,after forming a race like himself, first called preaching,and then Dominican friars, died in his bed, was canonizedfor a saint, worshipped as a divinity, and proposed as amodel of piety and virtue to succeeding generations." t

• <Limborch's History of the Inquisition, vol. i., chap. x.'t "Never, says Dr, Geddes, was there such a rabble in the world as a

Spanish saint-roll. The first class of them are ideal beings, or pagans,o enthusiasts r hut the Ins! are saints with a eenqeance, for all their IJIry'to paradise are marked 'hith human blood." (Jones, chap. v., sect. v.)Of such saints as these. doubtless Dominic deserves to be considered aconspicuous example. "The painful detail of his crimes may well be

1342 THE INTOLERANOE

(Jones's I-Eistory of the Ohristian Ohurch, chap. v., sect.v.)

As Dominic was the founder of the Inquisition, so washe the first inquisitor general, created such by the pope,Innocent III. "The scheme of Dominic for establishingthe Inquisition being communicated to him [the pope],the latter, in the year 1215, transmitted his letters patent,creating Dominic inquisitor-general, which was confirmedby the council of Lateran in the same year." (Jones,chap. v., sect. vi., sub init.) A most unenviable office.

The Infjuisition, by the Roman Catholics gently called"th,/)Holy Office,"is an extraordinary ecclesiastical court.Permanent courts of inquisition were erected, first in thecity of Toulouse, then at Carcassone and other places, inFrance. Afterward these fixed courts of inquisition wereextended to several other countries. See Mosheim, cent.xiii., part ii., chap. v., § 4. "But the Spanish inquisitionbecame the most 'powerful, and the most dreaded of any.Even the kings of Spain themselves, though arbitrary inall other respects, were taught to dread the power of thelords of the inquisition; and the horrid cruelties they ex-ercised compelled multitudes, who differed in opinion fromthe Roman Catholics, carefully to conceal their sentiments.- The officers of the inquisition are three inquisitors" orjudges, a fiscal proctor, two secretaries, a mlCgistrate,-:-amessenger, a receiver, a jailer, an agent of confiscatedpossessions; several assessors, counsellors, executioners,physicians, surgeons, door-keepers, familiars, and visitors,u;ho are sworn to sccrecy.-The principal accusationagainst those who are subject to this tribunal is here~y,

spared; suffice it to say, that in one day four-score persons were be-headed, and four hundred burnt alive, by this man's order and in hissight. St. Dominic is the only saint in whom no solitary speck ofgoodness can be discovered. To impose privations and pain was thepleasure of his unnatural heart, and cruelty was in him an appetite anda passion. No other human being has ever been the occasion of somuch misery. Thc few traits of character which cau be gleaued fromthe lying volumes of his biographers are all of the darkest colours."Dowling's Romanism, book v., chap. ix., § 83.

• As Dominic was the founder of the order called, from himself,Dominican. friars, so "the members of this order have ever since beenthe principal inquisitors in the various inquisitions in the world,"FOJ'. Book of ~Iart!lrs, book viii., p. 433.

OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS, 343

toMch [with the RomanistsJ comprises all that is spoken,or written, against any of the articles of the creed,or the..traditions, of the Roman thurch. The inquisition like-wise takes cognizance of such as are MCUSlOldof beingmagicians, and of such who read the Bible in the commonlanguage, the Talmud of the Jews, or the Mcoran of theMahometans.- Upon all occasions the inquisitors carryon their processes with the utmost severity, and punishthose who offend them with the most unparalleled cruelty.A protestant has seldom any mercy shown him; and aJew, who turns Christian, is far from being sccut'e.-Adefence in the inquisition is of little use to the prisoner,for a suspicion only if!deemed sufficient cause of cond '\11-nation, and the greater his wcaltl, the greuter hls Innc r,The principal part of the inquisitors' cruelties is wing totheir rapacity: they destroy the lifo to pOB e th pro-perty; and, under the pretence of zeal, plunder each ob-no .ous individual. -A prisoner in the inquisition i neverallowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnessesagainst him, but every method is taken hy threats andtortures," to oblige him to accuse himself, and by thatmeans corroborate their evidence. If the jurisdiction ofthe inquisition is not fully allowed, vengeance is denouncedagainst such as call it in question; or if any of its offi-cers are opposed, those who oppose them are almost cor-tain to be sufferers for their temerity; the.maxim of theinquisition being to strike terror, and awe those who arethe objects of its power into obedience. High birth, dis-tinguished rank, great dignity, or eminent employments,are no protection from its severities; and the lowest offi-cers of the inquisition can make the highest characterstremble. - When the person impeached is condemned, heis either severely whipped, violently tortured, -sent to thegalleys, or sentenced to death ; and in either case the ef-fects are confiscated. After judgment, a proce sion isperformed to the place of execution, which ceremony iscalled an AUTO DE FE, or Act of Faith." (Fox's Bookof MIJ'l'tyrs,book viii., pp. 441, 442.)

• For an account of some of the modes of torture practiced by theInquisition, see Shobcrl's Persecutions of Popery, vol. i., art. III. Also,Fox's Book of Martyrs, book viii.; " Some private enormities of the Inqui-sition laid opel!, by a VfT!J singular occurrence" -pp. 446-454.

344 THE 'lN7'OLERANOE

The Auto de Fe,· or as the Portuguese express it,Auto da Fe, may be called the last act of the Inquisito-rial tragedy. "This horrid and tremendous spectacle isalways represented on the Sabbath day. The term autoda fe is applied to the great burning of heretics, whenlarge numbers of these tortured and lacerated beings areled forth from their gloomy cells, and marched in proces-sion to the place of burning, dressed according to the fatethat awaits them on that terrible day. The'victims whowalk in the processionwear the san benito, the coroza, therope around the neck, and carry in their hand a yellowwax candle. The san benito is a penitential garment ortunic of yellow cloth reaching down to the knees, and onit is painted the picture of the person who wears it, burn-ing in the flames, with figures of dragons and devils inthe act of fanning the flames. This costume indicates thatthe wearer is to be burnt alive as an incorrigible heretic.If the person is only to do penance, then the san be itohas on it a cross, and 110 paintings or flames, If an im-penitent is converted just before being led out, then thesan benito is painted with the flames downward; this iscalled 'fuego repolto,' and it indicates that the wearer isnot to be burnt alive, but to have the favour of beingstrangled before the fire is applied-to the pile. The corozais a pasteboard cap, three feet high, and ending in a point.On it are likewise painted crosses, flames, and devils.Some of the victims have gags in their mouths, of whicha number is kept in reserve in case the victims, as theymarch along in public, should become outrageous, insultthe tribunal, or attempt to reveal any secrets.

• "The prisoners who are to be roasted alive have a Jesuiton each side continually preaching to them to abjure theirheresies, and if any one attempts to offerone word in de-fence of the doctrines for which he is going to suffer death,his mouth is instantly gagged. When the procession ar-rives at the place where a large scaffolding has beenerected for their reception, prayers are offered up, strangeto tell, at a throne of mercy, and a sermon is preached,consisting of impious praises of the Inquisition, and bitterinvectives against all heretics; after which a priest ascends

• Spanish,

OF THE RO.lILV CATHOLICS. 345

a desk, and recites the final sentence. This is done in thefollowing words, wherein the reader will find nothing buta shocking mixture of blasphemy, ferociousness, and hy-

~ pocrisy.'We, the inquisitors of heretical pravity,· having, with

the concurrence of the most illustrious N--, lord arch-bishop of Lisbon, or of his deputy, N--, calling on thename of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his glorious mother,the Virgin Mary, and sitting on our tribunal, and judgingwith the holy gospels lying before us, so that our jndg-ment may be in the Rightof God, and our eyes may beholdwhat is just in all matters, &c. &0. " ,

'We do therefore, by this our sentence put m WI'ltlllg',define, pronounce, declare, and sent nee th '0 (th pris-oner), oftho city of Lisbon, to be n C evicted, confessing,affirmative,and professed heretic ; and to be d livered andleft by us as such to the secular arm; and we, by this oursentence, do cast thee out of the ecclesiastical court as aconvicted, confessing, affirmative, and professed heretic;and we do leave and deliver thee to the secular arm, andto the power of the secular court, but at the same time domost earnestly beseech that court so to moderate its sen-tence as not to touch thy blood,nor to put thy life in anyS01·tof danger.'

" Well may Dr. Geddes inquire, in reference to thishypocritical mockery of God and man, 'IS there in all his-tory an instance of so gross and confident a mockery ofGod, an? the world, as this of the inquisitors beseechingthe civil magistrate not to put the heretics they have con-demned and delivered to them, to death? For were theyin earnest when they made this solemn petition to thesecular magistrates, why do they bring their prisoners outof the Inquisition, and deliver them 'to those magistratesin coats painted over with flames? ·Whydo they teachthat heretics, above all other malefactors, ought to bepunished with death? And why do they never resent

• "The phrase 'heretical pravity,' will sound rather uncouth tomodern ears that have no heen accustomed to the jargon of Catholicwriters; but the reader should he told that it is the usual slang of thosewriters for denolin~ 'the wickedness of thinking differently from thechurch of Rome." Jones'« History if the Christian Church, chap, v.sect. v., Mte, p. 353.

Tlib' iNTOLERANCE

the secular magistrates having so little regard to theirearnest and joint petition as never to fail to burn all theheretics that are delivered to them by the Inquisition,within an hour or two after they have them in theirhands? And why in Rome, where. the sup1'eme civil, aswell as ecclesiastical authority are lodged in the same per-1'0n,is this petition of the Inquisition, which is made thereR$ well as in other places, never granted?'·

" If the prisoner, on being asked, says that he will diein the Catholic faith, he has the privilege of being stran-gled first, and then burnt; but if in the Protestant or anyother faith different from the Catholic, he must be roastedalive; and, at }J!trtingwith him, his ghostly comforters, theJesuits, tell him, 'that they leave him to the devil; who isstanding at his elbow to receive his soul and carry it tothe flames of hell, as soon as the spirit leaves his body.'When all is ready, fire is applied to the immense pileand the suffering martyrs, who have been securely fast-ened to their stakes, are roasted alive; the living fleshof the lower extremities being often burnt and crisped bythe notion of the flames, driven hither and thither by thewind before the vital parts are touched; and while thepoor sufferersare writhing in inconceivable agony, the joyof the vast multitude, inflamed by popish bigotry andcruelty, causes.the air to resound with shouts of exultationand delight." (Dowling'S- History of Romanism, bookviii., chap. iii., § 20-22.)

After such an establishment as that of the Inquisition,so readily.adopted in the Roman Catholic church, we neednot wonder at her course, as ever unchangingly and toosuccessfully pursued, of murderous persecutions. Thusamong the Waldenses, or Vaudois, in the valleys of theAlps, in Piedmont. "Cooped up in secluded valleys atthe foot of the Alps, in the north-west corner of Pied-mont, these people are conjectured by some to have beendescendants of Christians who sought shelter there fromthe fury of the barbarian hordes by which Italy was in-vnded during the decline of the Roman empire. Neitherthe Vaudois nor their advocates, however, have thought

• • Geddes' trac 3 on Popery. View of tbe court of Inquisition inPortugal, p. 446. Limborcb, vol, ii., p. 289.'


it necessary to trace their origin higher than to the periodwhen they constituted a part of the primitive flock sovigilantly and boldly guarded by the apostolic Claude,bishop of Turin, at the commencement of the nineth cen-tury.

" Some writers, misled by the name, have most errone-ously attributed the foundation of the Walden sian Churchto Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of .Lyons, whoflourished about the year 1160; though Beza expressly as-serts that, so far from the Vaudois of the valleys havingtaken their nume from him, he was himself named Vnldobecause he adopted the doctrine of the Vaudois, or in-habitants of the valleys, called in the old language vaUJ.·.·

"So long as all the efforts of the papal lee wer 1I.

gaged by the struggle with powerful bi hops and stillmore powerful sovereigns, this remnant of genuine Chris-tians was left in the enjoyment of comparative peace.But no sooner had the Roman pontiffs acquired a spiritualand temporal supremacy, than it was directed againstthose who had dared to condemn their usurpations andthe errors upheld by them.• Alexander III., presidingover a synod held at Tours in 1167,pronounced the doc-

ine of the Vaudois to be a damnable heresy of longstanding. .Another synod, held at La Vaux, urged thePope to exterminate' an heretical pest, generated in oldentimes, of enormous growth and great antiquity.' Still thepapists themselves were obliged to bear witness to theirreproachable doctrines and lives of the professors of this'damnable heresy.'

".An Italian inquisitor, named Reinerus Sacco, express-ing his alarm at the danger which threatened his churchfrom the heresy of the Vaudois, because it was moreancient than any other, as well as more general, and be-cause those who professed it were both pious and moral,adds: -' While all other sects disgust the public by theirgross blasphemies against God, this, on the other hand,

• "l!'rom the Latin word VALLI, came the English word valle./{,theFrench and Spanish valle, the Italian raldesi, the Low Dutch rnllefe, theProven~nl vaux vaudois, the ecclesiastical Valdenses, Uoldenses, andWaldenses. The words simply signifY valle"!18, inhabitants of valleys, andno more." Robinson's EcclesiasticiJllWtarchu, p. 302: quoted by Jones,chap. v., sect, i., prope initium.

342 THE INTOLEJUNCE

has a great appearance of piety. For those who belongto it live justly among men, have a sound doctrine in allpoints respecting God, and believe in all the articles ofthe Apostles' 'creed: but they blaspheme the RomishChurch.' Cassini, a Franciscan, writing in the 16th cen-tury against the Vaudois, expresses himself nearly to thesame effect. 'The errors of the Vaudois,' he says, 'consistin their denial that the Romish is the holy mother church,and in their refusal to obey her traditions. In otherpoints, they recognize the Church of Christ; and, for mypart, I cannot deny that they have always been membersof his church.'

"Thus exemplary and unoffending, these people werenevertheless marked out for papal vengeance.* Bullswere issued against them by John XXII. and his suc-cessor Clement VII., but for a considerable time theattention of the Popes was diverted from the chastise-ment of the Vaudois to the subjugation of princes. Theuncertain tenure by which the house of Savoy held thecountry which they occupied contributed also to savethem from the rigorous execution of the papal mandates.

"The district inhabited by them is situated in the heartof the valleys which extend along the eastern foot of theCottian Alps, from Mount Viso to the Col de Sestrieres,amidst the wildest and most secluded of those fastnesseswhich lie between the Clusone and the Pelice, twomountain torrents that fall into the river Po. This dis-trict originally formed part of the marquisate of Susa, orof the duchy of Turin, both fiefs of the empire,which weregranted in the 13th' century by William count of Hollandto the counts of Savoy. About this time occurred the

* In an ancient poem, are "the following verses npon the Vaud0i8( Waldenses).

Que non vogli mandir De jura, ne mentir,N'occir, ne avoutrar, ne prerne de altrui,Ne s'avengear deli suo ennemi,Loz dison qu' es Vaudes and los feson mom.

That is,Who oever refuses to curse, to swear, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery,to steal, to he revenged of his enemy- they say he is a VAUDOIS, andtherefore tl.e.'!put him to death.' Jones's History of the Ohris/ian Ohurch.chap. v., sect. ii., note.


first persecution of the Vaudois recorded by historians.In the depth of winter, the inhabitants of the valley ofPrajelas were furiously attacked. Those who escaped the{Ieneralslaughter perished from the severity of the weatheron the lofty mountains to which they fled: and Morlandrelates that, in one morning, .eighty mothers with theirchildren were found frozen to death on the snow." (Sho-bert's Persecutions of Popery, vol, i., art, v.)

From that time, the Vaudois have ever since been apersecuted people. But to give an account of all the per-secutions they have suffered and do justice to the story,would require too much time and space for the presentdiscourse. Such an account, in considerable fullne s, maybe seen in Shoberl's Persecutions of Popery, vol, i., art. v.,entitled - Persecutions of the Vaudois, or Waldense8,But let this at least be here observed as, in divine provi-dence, a remarkable fact, that, by all the persecutions theWaldenses have endured, in which they have been ha(-assed, distressed, plundered, slaughtered, killed,' or dis-persed, by their mortal enemies the Romanists, they havenot been wholly annihilated so as entirely to cease to be apeople. "The W aldensians, notwithstanding the sangui-nary persecutions of Romnnism, still exist, and still arepersecuted in their native valleys. A population oftwenty thousand always remain, nd exhibit, to an admir-ing world, all the grandeur of truth and all the beauty ofholiness. Their relics still show what they have been,and they continue unaltered amid the revolution of ages.The world has changed around this sacred society; whileits principles and practice, through all the vicissitudes oftime, live immutably the same. The Walden sian church,though despised by the Roman hierarchy, illuminated, inthis manner, the dark ages; and appears, in a more enlight-ened period, the clearest drop in the ocean of truth, andshines the brightest constellation in the. firmament ofholiness; sparkles the richest gem in the diadem of Im-manuel, and blooms the fairest flower in the garden ofGod." (Dr. Edgar'.q Variatione of Popery, chap. i.)

In England -" though Wicklifte, the first reformer,died peaceably in his bed, yet such wa the malice andpirit of persecuting Rome, that his bones were ordered

to be dug up, and cast upon a dunghill. The remains of

860 PRE INTOLERANCE

this excellent man were accordingly dug out of the grave,where they had lain undisturbed four-and-forty years. Hisbones were burnt, and the ashes cast into an adjoiningbrook. In the reign of Henry VIII. Bilney, Bayman, andmany other reformers-were burnt; but when queen Marycame to the throne, the .most severe persecutions tookplace. Hooper and Rogers were burnt in a slow fire.Saunders was cruelly tormented a long time at the stakebefore he expired. Taylor was put into a barrel of pitch,and fire set to it. Eight illustrious persons, among whomwas Ferrar, bishop of St. David's, were sought out, andburnt by the infamous Bonner'" in a few days. Sixty--seven persons were this year, A. D. 1555, burnt, amongwhom were the famous Protestants, Bradford, Ridley,Latimer, and Philpot. In the following year, 1556,eighty-five persons were burnt. Women suffered; and one, inthe flames,which burst her womb, being near her time ofdelivery, a child fell from her into the fire, which beingsnatched out by some of the observers more humane thanthe rest, the magistrate ordered the babe to be againthrown into the fire, and burnt. Thus even the unbornchild was burnt for heresy! 0 God, what is human na-ture when left to itself! Alas! dispositions ferocious asinfernal then reign, and usurp the heart of man! Thequeen erected a commis on court, which was followed bythe destruction of near eighty more. Upon the whole,the number of those who suffered death for the reformedreligion in this reign.] were no less than two hundred and

\

'" Most fitly is he styled" the infamous Bonner," although bishop ofLondon. " Bishop Bonner, who was at the head of those sanguinaryexecutions in England, was accustomed to buffet the poor :e.rotestants,when on their examinations they were too powerful for him in argu-ment:-

, He proved his doctrine orthodox,By apostolic blows and knocks.' "

(Dr. Clarke's Commentary, Lam, iv., 14.)

f It was one ignoble reign, of a most unlovely woman, who well de-serves the name she wears in the appellation -" bloody queen Mary."Most appropriately is she thus characterized: "a woman who was amodem Theodora, and never obliged the world but when she died. Herdeath was the only favour she ever conferred on her unfortunate andpersecuted subjects." Dr. Edgar'. Vanations of Pop"!!, chap. Til.,Vl!1"" •• /inem.

-OF THE ROilfAN CATHOLICS. 851

seventy-seven persons j of whom were five bishops, twenty-OD£ clergymen, eight gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen,one hundred husbandmen, labourers, and servants, fifty-five women, and four children. Besides these, there werefifty-four more under prosecution, seven of whom werewhipped, and sixteen perished in prison." (Bucl.;'s Theo-logical .Dictionary, art. Pereecution.y

In France - thc diabolical scheme of" the Bartholo-mew Massacre" was carried into effect under the reizn ofCharles IX. The massacre was commenced in the n~onthof August, 1572. The object wall,by one grnnd troke tomake a lasting destruction of pretostnntism. The kingof France, acting in slavih concert with hi wily que' n-mother Catherine de Mcdicis, hnd nrtfully pr 'P 8 d amarriage betwc m Lis si t r and Henry, tL PI' t tantprince of Navarro; upon which OCC:1 ion many of thprincipal Protestants were invited to Pari under a solemnoath of safety. The imprudent marriage was publiclycelebrated in that city on the eighteenth of August, bythe cardinal of Bourbon, npon a high stage erected forthe purpose. They dined in great pomp with the bishop,and supped with the king at Paris. The queen dowagerof Navarre, a zealous Protestant, dying suddenly beforethe marriage was solemnized, was suppo sed to have beenpoisoned by a pair of gloves. Four days after its solem-nization, the 22d of the month, Gaspard de Coligny,grand-admiral of France, one of the most influential ofthe .Protestants, passing along one Of the streets, was shotin both his arms, and carried to hi>'residence. Two daysafter, the 24th of the month, the festival of St. Barthol-omew, in the morning just after midnight, by or r of theking, the fatal signal was heard in the ringing of thealarm-bell of the church of St. Germain, for the com-mencement of the slaughter. Instantly a party of armedmen flew to the residence of the wounded admiral, whoby them" was basely murdered in his own hou e, and thenthrown out of the window to gratify the malice of theduke of Guise: his head was afterwards cut off;and sentto the king and queen-mother; and his body, after a thou-sand indi ities offered to it, hung by the feet on a gibbet.After this e murderers ravaged the whole city of Paris,and butchered in three days, above ten thousand lords,

352 THE INTOLERANCE

gentlemen, presidents, and people of all ranks. :A horriblescene of things, says Thuanus, when the very streets andpassages resounded with the noise of those .that mettogether for murder and plunder; the groans of thosewho were dying, and the shrieks of such as were just go-ing to be butchered, were every where heard; the bodiesof the slain thrown out of the windows; .the courts andchambers of the houses filled with them; the dead bodiesof others dragged through the streets; their blood runriingthrough the channels in such plenty, that torrents seemedto empty themselves in the neighbouring river;' in a word,an innumerable multitude of men, women with child,maidens, and children, were all involved in one commondestruction; and the gates and entrances of the king'spalace all besmeared with their blood, From the city ofParis the massacre spread throughout the whole kingdom.In the city of Meaux they threw above two hundred intoa gaol; and after they had ravished and killed a greatnumber of women, and plundered the houses of the Prot-estants, they executed their fury on those they had im-prisoned; and calling them one by one, they were killed,as 'I'huanus expresses, like sheep in a market. In Orleansthey murdered above five hundred, men, women, andchildren, and enriched themselves with the spoil. Thesame cruelties were practiced at Angers, Troyes, Bouges,La Cha.rite, and especially at Lyons, where they inhumanlydestroyed above eight hundred Protestants; childrenhanging on their parents' necks; parents embracing theirchildren; putting ropes about the necks of some, draggingthem through the streets, and throwing them, mangled,torn, a half dead, into the ....river," According toThuanus, above 30,000 Protestants were destroyed in this

• The tragical sufferings which the Protestants underwent in this•dreadful massacre, "are too numerous to detail; but the treatment ofPhilip le Deux will give an idea of the rest. After the miscreants hadslain this martyr in his bed, they went to his wife, who was then at-tended by the midwife, expecting every moment to be delivered. Themidwife at least entreated them to stay the murder till the child, which

'was the twentieth, should be born. Notwithstanding this, they thrusta da~~er up to the hilt into the poor woman. Anxious to be delivered,she ran into a corn-loft; but hither they pursued her, sta d her in thebelly, and then threw her into the street. By the fall the child camefrom the dying mother, and being caught up by one of the Catholic


massacre / 0'1', as others affirm" above 100,000. But whataggravates these scenes with still greater wantonness andcruelty, was, the manner in which the news was receivedat Rome.* When the letters of the pope's legate wereread in the assemblyof the cardinals, by which he assuredthe pope that all was transacted by the express will andcommand of the king, it was immediately decreed thatthe pope should march with hi~ cardinals to the church ofSt. Mark, and' in the most solemn manner give thanks toGod for 0 gi'eat a blessing oonferrerl on the see of Romeand the Christian world; and that, all the Mouduy after,solemnmass should be celebrated in the church of Minerva,at which the pope, Gregory XIII., and cardinals, w represent; and that a jubilee should be publish d through-out the whole Christian world, and the CllUS f it d _elared to b to return thanks to God for the xtirpationof the enemies of the truth lind church in France. In theevening the cannon of St. Aug-elo were fired to testifythe public joy; the whole city illuminated with bonfires;and no one sign of rejoicing omitted that was usuallymade for the greatest victories obtained in favour of theRoman church II!" (Buck's .If'heological IJictionm'U, art.Persecution.)

The horrid persecutions occasioned by "the Revocationof the edict of Nantes" took place under Louis XIV.This edict was made by Henry IV. of France in 1598,and, as a charter of rights and privileges granted to theProtestants, it secured to them withal the free exercise oftheir religion. But, after some changes of rulers, it beganto be disregarded; so that many of its provisions wereviolated with impunity, and the Protestant's exposed to aseries of cruel insults and annoyances from their popishneighbours. " At length the diabolical revocation of thatedict passed on the 18th of October, 1685, and was regis-

ruffians, he stabbed the smiling infant, and then threw it into the river."Fox's Book of ~Martyrs, book viii., p. 436.

" Of all savage parts, that ever were practiced since the creation ofthe world, all circum tances considered, there is none comparable to theBartholomew Fair of the French Papists at Paris, and other places inFrance." Dr. Fulke's Confutation of the Rhem.isll Testament, .Acts viii. 17.

• " The man who first carried the news [to Rome] received 1000crowns of the cardinal of Lorrain for his godly message." Fox's Bookof l.-fart!Jr8,book viii., P: 435. '

23

•

3i>4 THE INTOLERANCE

tered the 22d in the vacation, contrary to all form of law."Instantly the dragoons were quartered upon the protes-tants throughout the realm, and filled all France with thelike news, that the king would no longer suffer anyHugonots t in his kingdom; and therefore they must re-solve to change their religion. - Hereupon the intendantsin every parish (which were' popish governors and spiesset over the protestants) assembled the reformed inhabit-ants, and told them, they must without delay turn Cath-olics, either freely 01' by force. The protestants replied;'They were ready to sacrifice their lives and estates tothe king, but their consciences being God's, they couldnot so dispose of them.' Instantly the troops seized thegates and avenues of the cities, and placing guards in allthe passages, entered. with sword in hand, crying, , Die, orbe Catholics!' In short, they practiced every wickednessand horror they could devise, to force them to changetheir religion. They hung both men and women by theirhair or their feet, and smoked them with hay till theywere nearly dead; and if they still refused to sign a recan-tation, they hung them up again, and repeated their bar-barities, till, wearied out with torments without death,they forced many' to yield to them. Others, they pluckedoff all the hair of their heads and beards with pincers.Others they threw on great fires, and pulled them outagain, repeating it till they extorted a promise to recant.Some they stripped naked, and after offering them themost infamous insults, they stuck them with pins fromhead to foot, and lanced them with pen-knives; and some-times with red-hot pincers they dragged them by the nosetill they promised to turn. Sometimes they tied fathers

•4< Louis XIV., in repealing that edict, did it in gratifying compliance

with the solicitations of the Romish prelates, "From this unrighteousact of the (on other occasions magnanimous) king, it may be seen howthe Roman pontiffs and their adherents stand affected towards thosewhom they call heretics; and that they reg-ard no treaty, and no oath,too sacred and too solemn to be violated, if the safety or the interests oftheir church demand it." Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. xvii.,Bee. u., part u., chap. ii., § 4.

t '<Proteaanu, who are said by Pasqnier to have been denominatedHugonols, from their having first mct at Hu.r;on's Tower, in Tours.A second derivation from the German word Eidgenossen appears to metoo far-fetched." Slwberl'. Persecutions of Poper!!, vol. i., art. vi .

•

OJ!' THE RO~AN CATHOLICS.

and husbands, while they ravished their wives and daugh-ters before their eyes. Multitudes they imprisoned in themost noisome dungeons, where they practiced all sorts oftorments in secret, Their wives and children they shutup in monasteries. Such as endeavoured to escape byflight were pursu d in the woods, and hunted in the fields,.and shot at like wild beasts: nor did any condition orquality screen them from the ferocity of those infernaldragoons: even the members of parliament and militaryofficers, though on actual service, were ordered to quittheir posts, and repair directly to their houses to sufferthe like storm. Such as complained to the king weresent to the Bastile, where they drank of th sam cup.The bishops and the intendants marched lit th h ad ofthe dragoons, wit! a troop of mission.uies, monks, andother ecclesiastics, to animate the soldiers to an execution80 agreeable to their holy church, and so glorious to theirdemon god and their tyrant king.

"In forming the edict to repeal the Edict of Nantes,the council were divided; some would have all the minis-tel'S detained and forced into popery as well as the laity:others were for banishing them, because their presencewould strengthen the protestants in perseverance; and ifthey were forced to turn they 1V0ulJ ever be secret andpowerful enemies iu the bosom of the church, by theirgreat knowledge and experience in controversial matters.This reason prevailing, they were. sentenced to banish-ment, and only fifteen days allowed them to depart thekingdom.

" The same day the edict for revoking the protestants'charter was published, they demolished their churches,and banished their ministers, whom they allowed buttwenty-four hours to leave Paris. The papists would notsuffer them to dispose of their efThcts,and threw everyobstacle in their way to delay their eseape till the limitedtime was expired, which sublected them to condemnationfor life to the galleys. The 'guards were doubled at thesea-ports, and the prisons were filled with the vidtims,who endured torments and wants at which human naturemust shudder.

"The sufferings of the ministers and others, who weresent to the galleys, seem to exceed all. Ohalned to the

356 THE lN1'OLElIAXCE

oar, they were exposed to the open air night and day atall seasons, and in all weathers; and when through weak-ness of body they fainted under the oar, instead of a cor-dial to revive them, or viands to refresh them, they'received only the lashes of a scourge, or the blows of acane or rope's end. For .the want of sufficient clothingand necessary cleanliness, they were most grievously tor-mented with vermin, and cruelly pinched with the cold,which removed by night the executioners, who beat antitormented them by day. Instead of a bed, they wereallowed, sick or well, only a hard board, 18 inches broad,to sleep on, without any covering but their wretched :1p-parel j which was a shirt of the coarsest canvass, a littlejerkin of red serge, slit on each side up to tbe arm-holes,with open sleeves.that reached not to the elbow; and oncein three years they had it coarse frock, and a little cap tocover their heads, which were always kept close shaved,as a mark of their infamy. The allowance of provisionwas as narrow as the sentiments of those who condemnedthem to such miseries, and their treatment when sick istoo shocking to relate, doomed to die upon the boards ofa dark hold; covered with vermin, and without the leastconvenience for the calls of nature. Nor was it amongthe least of the horrors they endured, that, as ministers ofChrist and honest men, they were chained side by side tofelons and the most execrable villains, whose blasphemoustongues were never idle. If they refused to hear mass,they were sentenced to the bastinado, of which dreadfulpunishment the following is it description. Preparatoryto it, the chains are taken off, and the victims deliveredinto the hands of the Turks that preside at the oars, whostrip them quite naked, and stretching them upon a greatgun, they are held so that they cannot stir; during whichthere reigns an awful-silence throughout the galley. TheTurk who is appointed the executioner, and who thinksthe sacrifice acceptable to his prophet Mahomet, mostcruelly beats the wretched victim with a rou~h cudgel, orknotty rope's end, till the skin is flayed off his-bones, andhe is near the point of expiring; then they apply a mosttormenting mixture of vinegar and salt, and consign himto that most intolerable hospital where thousands under


their cruelties have expired." (Fore's Book of Martyrs,book viii.)

All these persecutions of which I have spoken aremerely a few specimens. But what then must be theoverwhelming sum-total, of all the sufferings and thedeaths, of men and women and children, caused by thechurch of Rome since popery commenced its existence!

Such being the manner in which the Roman Catholicsact towards those who differ from them in matters of'religion, hence we Bee in the light of the most horriddemonstration that, as to liberty of religious opinions, itcan form no part of their creed. "lIence" (says popeGregor,lJXVI. in his encyclical letter of Aug. 15th, 1 32)"that pest, of art others most to b« rfreaclecliii, a state,UNBRIDLED J_IDElnY OF orr r ." (])owling's Roman-ism, hook ix., chap. iii., § 21.) From th s complainingwords of his Roman holiness it nppenrs that, in the mindof the pope, liberty of opinion is wholly disapproved,whether it be considered in respect to persons out of theRomish communion or within it - whether in respect toreligion or :my other Imbjcct;· and, consequently, allthose who venture to exercise' an independent opinionupon any subject whatever are liable to come into unhappycollision with him or some of his creatures, wherever theyhave power. Thus when, in the eighth century, "thepriest Vi1'Uilius in Bavaria, maintained that the earth isglobular, and consequently inhabitable on the other sideof it, and there enlightened by the sun and moon"-another Romish priest, Boniface by name, "looking upon.this as a gross heresy, accused the man before the pope[Zachary], ioho actually excommunicated him for a her-etic." (Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, cent. viii.,part i., chap. i., § 4, n. (7).

The ca e of Galileo is well known. "This great phil-osopher, for asserting the true system of the world, wastwice imprisoned by the holy infallible inquisition, in1612.and 1632; obliged to renounce hi heretical opinions,

• And if they approve not of liberty of opinion, no more can theyapprove of liberty of conscience. Tho same pOpEl Gregory XVI., in thosame encyclical letter, calls "liberty of conscience " a "mO!t pestilr»-tial "'1'01'." Do";l.ing's Romanism, book ix., chap. iii., § 21.

THE INTOLERANCE.

and not to defend them by word or writing; was con-demned to imprisonment during pleasure, and to repeat theseven penitential Psalms once a week; and his booksbeing condemned also, were publicly burnt 'at Rome! Thedoctrine, for which he was persecuted, is now believed bythe Pope and all his conclave!" (Fleury's Manners of'the Ancient Israelites, part ii., chap. xix., note. Ed. New-York, 1825.)

The case of Henry IV., king of Germany, (afterwardemperor.) is notorious. Because he had an opinion of hisown and durst act accordingly, regarding the bestowal ofinvestitures, he was, by pope Gregory VII. (whose propername was Hildebrand, -whence his nickname Hellbrand,)A. D. 1076, excommunicated and anathematized and de-posed; all Christians were absolved from their oath ofallegiance to him, and all persons forbidden to serve himas king. And though. he saw fit to seek for absolution, itwas not without being treated with the utmost indignityby the haughty pontiff; who required him to wait in anouter court of the castle where his holiness then was, inthe cold month of January (1077), stript of all ensigns ofroyalty, having on a coarse woollen tunic, barefooted, andfasting from morning to night, three whole days, before hewas admitted into his papal majesty's presence." Andthen the absolution he obtained, was upon very hard con-ditions, and but poorly answered his purpose.: for, notlong afterward, disagreement between him and Gregorystill subsisting, he was by the pope (in a council at Romeas before) again excommunicated and anathematized anddeposed. " 'I excommunicate and anathematize,' were

- The following words of Gregory, in which he himself describesthe humiliating posture of Henry imploring his absolution, deserveparticular notice as conveying a striking picture of the pontiff's arro-gance. Per triduum, ante portam castri, deposito omni regio eultu,miserabiliter, utpote discalceatus, & Iancis indutus, persistens, non prluscum multo fletu apostolicae miserationis auxiliurn, & consolationemimplorari dcstitit, quam omnes qui ibi aderant, & ad quos rumor ilIepervcnit, ad tan tam pietatem, & compassionis misericordiam movit, utpro eo multis precibus & laerymis intercedentes, omnes quidem insolitamnostrao mentis duritiem mirarentur; nonnulli vero in nobis non apos-tolicae sedis gravitatem, sed quasi 'tyrannicae feritatis crudelitatem eseeclamaru~t. Dr. RoIJ.rl8lm', Hist«y o/t1le R~ign of the Emperor CharlaV., vol. \., note xli.


the words of the sentence, 'Henry, whom they call king,and all his abettors: I again deprive him of the kingdo~of Germany and Italy; divest him of all royal power andauthority, forbid all Christians 'to obey him as king, andabsolve all who have sworn, or shall swear allegiance tohim, from their oath. May the said Henry and his abet-tors have no strength in battle; may he never gain avictory so long as he lives. As the Germans have chosenRudolph for their king, to him I give and grant that kinsr-dom, and to all who hall steadily nrlhore to him, 1 pro~.ise absolution from their sins, and all ble: sings in thi, awlin the life to come.' The pope in this H ntcnce I~uurc «shimself all alone to the apo tIcs 'to Peter nnd St. Paul,:1I1c1closes it t 11\1 : 'now th I' fOI'(, 1.11 sed npostl ,n1Okit known to all the world, that if ytlll can bind IUld unbindin hca 'en, yOIl can take away and giv awuy upon urtb,empires, kingdoms, principalitie , dukedoms, marquis t ,earldoms, nud the possessions of all men according to th irdeserts. For you have often taken from th unworthy,and given to the. worthy, patriarchates, primacies, arch-bishoprics, bishoprics. If you judge piritual matters.what power must we allow you to be vested with overtemporal nffairs ! If you are to judge the angels far abovethe proude t princes upon earth, how great must yourauthority be over their- slaves! Let the kings, therefore,-and princes of the earth now learn how boundless and un-controlled is your power! Let them dread for the futureto disobey the commands of your church. Let your ven-geance light without delay upon Henry, that all may knowhe falls, not by chance, but by yourpower. May Godconfound him, that his spirit may be sewedin the day ofthe Lord Jesus.' Thus did Gregory encourage the, ub-jects of a Christian prince to rebellion, on the part of theapo tles who had strongly recommended subjection andobedience to the wor t even of h athcni h princes, thesworn enemies and per ecutors of the Chrii tian name.The pope having thus deposed Henry, and confirmed theelection of Rudolph, sent a crown of gold to the newking, or rather usurpr\', with the followiD~ in cription, toet him know that he acknowledged him for Iring .

•Petra dedit Petro, l'etrua diadems. Rodulpho.'

860 THE INTOLERANCE

The decree excommunicating and deposing the king, isdated the 7th of March, 1080." (Bower's History of thePopes - P. GrefJ01'YVII.). Afterward in different countries, by different popes, atvarious times, were excommunicated and deposed otherprinces; among whom was Hen1'Y VIII., king of England.The bull of his excommunication, by pope Paul IlL, waspublished in the year 1538. "By that bl111the king wasdeprived of his kingdom ; his subjects were not only ab-solved from their oaths of allegiance, but commanded totake arms against him, and drive him from the throne; thewhole ki~dom was laid under an interdict; all treaties offriendship or commerce with him or his subjects were de-clared null; his kingdom was granted to any who shouldinvade it, and all were allowed to seize the effects of suchof his subjeots as adhered to him, and enslave their per-sons, &c. But these were all 'bruta fulmina;' and theking, provoked beyond measure at the insolence of thepope, continued to persecute, with more severity thanever, all, without distinction, who refused to renounce thepapal supremacy, and acknowledge his own." (Boioer>«P. Paul)II.)

On the 25th of February, 1569,pope Pius V. thunderedout a bull of excommunication against the English" queenElizabeth~' absolved her subjects from all subjection toher, and damned all, who should thenceforth acknowledgeor obey her. This bull was privately put up at the gateof the bishop of London's palace. But the commotionsit raised were soon quelled, and they who raised them,made to undergo the punishment their treason deserved."(Bower-P. Pius V.)

It is pretended by somepersons that the church of Romehas become less intolerant, nnd consequently less disposedto persecute, than she formally was. Such persons arelabouring under a grosS'JDistake. Has the church of Romeever repealed any of her intolerant laws, the intolerantenactments of her councils of ages past? • If not, (and itcannot be truthfully said that she has,) then she still retainsall her intolerant principles unrenounced, even the mostpersecuting and sanguinary of them. Yes, from the timethat she first began to exhibit them, "these anti-christianprinciples have ever since been maintained, as is but too


well known, by the church of Rome; and, in compliancewith them, the popps have never failed, when it was intheir power, to encourage persecution, and stir up thepopish princes to persecute, and pursue with fire andsword, their protestant subjects. To these principles areowing the racks, the dungeons, and the unrelenting tor-ments of the inquisition; it being highly meritorious withthe ministers of that infernal tribunal to rack the body,without mercy, for the good of the soul, and highly crimi-nal for any of them to show compassion, let the tormentsbe ever so exquisite, when they are, as they say, b comenecessary remedies for the cnrc of the ·oul. A thechurch of Rome 11a. adopted those maxims, she CaD ncv 'rrenounce them; and it is quite urpri ing, that s me pr t-estants, either .mi81ed themselves, or wnnting to mi 1 adother, should pr tend, that, ill Hom degree, sit has rc-nounced them already, and is become more indulgent,than she has been in former times, to those who dissentfrom her, Are not her prisons filled, at this very time,with those whom she styles heretics, or only suspects ofwhat she calls heresy? Are not her racks still daily em-ployed in extorting confessions? Does Rho any wheresuffer, where her power prevails, doctrines to be taught orprofessed, disagreeing in the tenst with those, which sheprofesses and teaches? On what, then, can the opinion befounded, of her having begun of late to abate of her for-mer severity? Let her discharge her inquisitors, shut upher inquisitions, grant liberty of conscience where shedares to refuse it; and then, but not till tben, we shall,with.these her protestant friends, acknowledge her lenity."

. (Bower's History of the Popes-Pope Hormisdas.y"If the court of Rome and the Catholic clergy have, as

it is loudly asserted, become more tolerant, how is it that,in the concordat of 1 18,between the Holy See and theking of Naples, there should be this stipulation, 'TheCatholic, apostolic, Roman religion is the only religion inthe kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and it shall be maintainedthere with all the rights and prerogative appertaining toit, according to the divine institution and the canonicalsanctions!' Mark tbe concluding words, which involvenothing less than a confirmation of all the most extrava-

362 THE INTOLERANCE

gant claims and pretensions of the Popes when at theheight of their power.

"If the court of- Rome has become more tolerant thanin former times, how is it that Pius VII., as soon as hepossessecl the power, re-established the Inquisition, whichcommenced its operations in the Ecclesiastical State withthe persecution of the Freemasons; and that, in 1829, thesame pontiff, in his general bull concerning that horribletribunal, confirmed all preoious sanguinary decrees andbulls afJainst heretics '!

"The exact measure of Popish tolerance, even at thisday, is to be found in the following injunction given in'the pastoral letter of the Belgian' bishops, published inAugust, 1843. 'If,' say these venerable pastors, in thesuperabundance of their ehristian charity, 'anyone ap-proach you who does not profess the doctrines of JesusChrist [meaning, of course, the doctrines of Popery], re-ceive him not into your houses, neither salute him; forwhoever acknowledges such persons is a participator intheir wickedness.' Such is the spirit inculcated by thePopish hierarchy, wherever it dares to give public expres-sion to its real sentiments." (Ehoberl's Persecutions ofPopery, vol. ii., art. ix.)

"It is a remarkable fact, and one which well illustratethe unchangeably persecuting spirit of Popery, that asolemn curse, 'with bell, book, and candle,' against allheretics, is annually pronounced by the Pope at Rome,and by other ecclesiastics in other places, on the Thursdayof passion week, the day before Good Friday, the anni-versary of the Saviour's crucifixion. This is called thebull In Coena Domini, or 'at the supper of the Lord.'The ceremonies on this occasion are well adapted to striketerror into the superstitious multitude. The bull consistsof thirty-one sections, describing different classes of ex-communicated persons. The following single sectionwhich includes all protestants, is given as a specimen.'In the name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and HolyGho t, and by the authority of the blessed Apostles, Peterand Paul, and by our own, we excommunicate and anathe-matize all Hussites, 'Vicklifiites, Lutherans, Zninglians,Calvinists, Huguenots, Anabaptists, Trinitarians, and otherapostates, fr0111 the faith; and all other heretic, by what-..

OF THE ROlJI4N CATHOLICS. 363

soever name they are called, or of whatever sect they be.And alsotheir adherents, receivers, favourers.and generallyany defenders of them: with all who, without our author-ity, or that of the apostolic See, knowingly read or retain,or in any way, or from any cause, publicly or privately, orfrom any pretext, defend their books containing heresy,or treating of religion; as also schismatics, and those whowithdraw themselves, or recede obstinately- from theirobedience to us, or the existing Roman Pontiff.'

"A recent spectator of the ceremony at Rome says thatafter the excommunicated are mentioned, the curse pro-ceeds as follows: -' Excommunicated :11lc1 uccur ed maythey be, anr] ~iven body nnd soul to the devil. ursodbe they in cities, in towns, in fields, in wnys, ill paths, illhouses, out of houses, and all other pluces, standing, lyinor rising, walking, running, waking, sle ping; atin!;,drinking, and whatsoever thiugs they do b sides. \Veseparate them from the threshold, and from all pmyer8 ofthe church, from the holy mass, from all sacraments,chapels, and altars, from holy bread and holy water, fromall the merits of God's priests and religious men, from tiltheir pardons, privileges, grunts, nnd immunities, which allthe holy fathers, the popes of Rome have granted; andwe give them utterly over to the power of the fiend!And let us quench their soul, if they be dead, this nightin the pains of hell-tire, as this candle is now quenchedand put out (and then oue of them is put out), and letus pray to God, that if they be alive, their eyes may beput out, as this candle is put out (another was then ex-tinguished) ; and let us pr,ty to God, and to our Lady, andto St. Peter, and St. Paul, and the holy saints, that all thesenses of their bodies may fail them, and that they mayhave no feeling, as now the light of this candle is gone(the third was then put out), except they come openlynow, and confess their blasphemy, and by repentance, asin them shall lie, make satisfaction unto God, our Lally,St. Peter, and the worshipful company of this cathedralchurch. And as this cro s fallcth down, so may' they, ex-cept they repent, and show themselves.' Then the cross •on which the extinguished lights had been fixed wasallowed to tall down with a lond noise, and the snper-titious multitude shouted with fear.

364 THE INTOLERANCE

"The impious farce of cursing is soon followed by thePope's blessing on all who believe, or profess to believe,his own creed. On Easter day he says mass at the highaltar of St. Peter's, and at its close pronounces his blessingon the prostrate multitude ill the square below, many ofwhom are pilgrims from considerable distances. Onething is, however, clear: he curses some who are objectsof the Divine favour; he blesses others with whom Godis angry every day. In each instance he speaks in vain,

! as it regards them ; but ill everyone there is a recordagainst him of presumptuous sin, in the book of God'sremembrance." * (Dowling's History of Romanism,book ix., chap. ii., § 18, 19.)

If the Roman Catholics do not persecute so much nowas they did formerly, it is because they have not now somuch power as formerly they had to do so. They maypersecute less than they otherwise would, because of' theirlack of power to persecute more; but still they continueto persecute. "The persecuting policy of Rome is stillcarried ont by her priests in the various countries wherethey are dispersed, just in proportion to the power andinfluence they possess. In thoroughly popish countriesthey continue openly and without disguise to act upontheir ancient intolerant and persecuting principles, thoughthe spirit of the age forbids them, as formerly, to sacrificeat once whole hecatombs of human victims; in semi-papallands, as in France and some other parts of continentalEnrope, where Protestantism is tolerated by the govern-ment, they exhibit the same spirit by a system of pettyannoyance, and attempted restrictions upon the freedomof a protestant press; and in protestant lands, as America

• "To one, who has become acquainted with true Christianity. as ex-hibited genuinely in the oracles of God, it is ineffably monstrous andoverwhelming to contemplate the orgies and the impieties of the papacy IThe man of sin, the son of perdition, that wicked, and other such designa-

. tions of Holy Writ, are plainly fit and proper; and to a mind well in-formed and unprejudiced, or uncommitted to the interest of the Beast,their applicability and their truth are plain and indubitable. No won-der the popes oppose the distribution of the Scriptures among the

• people! It i in their impartial and eternal light, that the abominationof the whole system, both foundation and superstructure, appear in alltheir lurid horror - the invention and the master-piece of hell! ,.&wr',5 Hist"'!11ftnr Popes-:« P. Pille VII., in finr


'"and England, in order the more effectually to accomplishtheir designs, they aim, as much as possible, to concealthe true character of their church, and sometimes evenhave the bare-faced effrontery to deny that persecution isor ever has been one of its dogmas .. In the first, case, thewolf appears in his own proper skin, showing his teeth,·and growling hatred and defiance against all opposers; inthe second, with his teeth extracted, but with all hisnative ferocity, showing that if his teeth are gone, he canyet bruise and mangle with his toothless jaws; and in thelnst, covered all over with the skin of a lamb, attemptingto bleat out the assertion, 'I am not a wolf, and I neverwas,' and yet by the very ton '8 of hi voice betruying thefact that though clothed ill the skin of a lamb, noel tryinto look innocent and harmless, he is a wolf still ; waitingonly for a suitable opportunity to throw off his temporarydi guise, and appear in all his native ferocity.

"As a recent illustration of this unchanged spirit ofRomanism may be mentioned the persecutions, banish.ment, and exile, in the year 1837, of upwards of fourhundred protestants of Zillerthal, in the tyrol, for no otherreason but because they refused to conform to the RomanCatholic ch urch."· (J)owling's Romanism, book ix.,chap. ii., § 14, 15.)

A still more recent, and striking illustration of the un-changeably persecuting spirit of the Romanists is seen intheir persecution of the protestants on the Portugueseisland of Madeira, in the years 1843-1846. Dr. RobertR. Kalley, a minister of the Free church of Scotland, asalso a physician, had introduced the Bible and the gospelamong the inhabitants of the island, and his labours hadbeen so signally blessed that many persons were convertedto God, and became protestants. 'I'his so alarmed anddispleased the popish priests, that they soon beg-an to stirup their deluded people to persecute them. The Biblethey declared to be :J. book from hell, and thundered outthe sentence of excommunication against all the readersof it. The sufferings of those persecuted Bible-Christians,

• 'An interesting account of tile sufferings of these exiles for con-science sake has been written by Dr. Rheinwnld, of Berlin, nnd trans-lated from the Germ:m by Mr. John B. Saunders, of London.'

366 THE iNTOLERANCE

are all known to God: suffice it to say, that of some ·thehouses were violently assaulted, mobbed, plundered, anddestroyed; some were unmercifully beaten and bruisedwith clubs; others were imprisoned, and. many sufferedthe loss of all their property. One, a woman, (Mrs.Maria Joaquina, wife of Manuel Alves, who was takenfrom her family of seven children, the youngest an infant,and committed to prison,) after having been in prison ayear or more, was j'ormally condemned to suife1' death;-and not less than a thousand souls, homeless and strippeclof almost every thing, were compelled to leave the island,and flee as exiles 'into other lands. Dr. Kalley, the bestand kindest friend to its inhabitants that had ever visitedMadeira, was obliged to make the best shift he could forhis life ;'withdrawing stealthily and silently from his housein the 'l1ight, in the country dress of a peasant, amidst agathering threatening mob, to the house of a friend;thence in a hammock under the disguise of female attirecarried hurriedly to the beacb, and thence in the extremestmoment of ~he peril escaping on board a British steamer;while at his house his library, valued at $10,000,includingthe sacred Scriptures withal, was by the infuriate mobactually thrown into a fire on the public street nnd allreduced to-ashes. See Record oj' Facts concerning thePersecutions at Madeira in. 18213and 1846: by Rev.Hermon N01'ton. New-York, 1854.

How appropriately is the Roman Catholic c!mrch,.alia.spopery, denominated anti- Ohrist; b uvrixp<aTor, 1 John ii. 18,as the great opposer of Ghrist, his people and his cause,on earth! t And, 'consequently, bow manifest it is, that

'" "Yes, condemned to de6th ill 1844, for denying the absurd dogma oftransubstantiation, refusing to participate in the idolatry of worshippingthe wafer idol, and (in the words of the accusation) 'blasphemingagainst the images of Christ and the mother of God;' in plain language,refusin~ to give that worship to senseless blocks of wood and stonewhich IS due only to God." tDr, Kolle], ill Norton's Record of Factsconcerning the Persecutions at Madeira, p. 43.) - The life of the sufferingwoman was finally spared-the punishment of death being commutedto imprisonment. Ibid., p. 42.

t "The Pope is that great Antichrist, which was prophesied to sit inthe temple of Gorl, that is, in the visible Church, and to deceive thegreatest part of them that profess Christianity." Dr. FuLke's Confu-tation of the Rhemish. Testament, John v. 43.

"King James I. used jocularly to say, that be would not swear tho


the church of Rome is not the church of Jesus Christ!No, the conclusion is not ouly logically it is absolutelycertain -" the Church of Rome is not the Church ofChrist, nor any longer a church of Christ; haviugretro-graded and apostatized from his ways, and now, insteadof being and continuing the Bride, the Lamb's wife, shehas become, in her corruptions, in her idolatries, in herblasphemies, and in her persecutions, a repudiated 'harlot,nay, by way of eminence, TIlE MOTHEROF,I1ARLOTSANDABO}nNATJO~SOF THEEARTH. As such, Jesus Christ hassolemnly and unequivocally excommunicatcc1 her, in hisown holy word. This he has done himself, by hi holyapostles and prophets. And h nee - excepti ns of indi-viduals possibly apart - he know how many and who~t hey are the Church of Christ no more, but only theChurch of Rome and the Synagogue of' Satan.

"There are some semi-Protestants, that fire not halfProtestants; find they cannot distinguish between themeretricious monster of Revelation, and ,the chaste spouseof the SOIl of God! though both of them are there de-scribed in awful juxta-position nnrl even frightful contrast,set in opposition, and with all the symbols and the pictur-esque delineations of contrariety, and antipathy, and dis-similitude. The angel had shown to the apostle at largeand in varying phases, the awful megatherium of theRomish establishment, when, at last, chapter twenty-first,verse ninth, he says, (lome hither, I will show thee theBride, the Lamb's uiife. And where was the scene ofthe vision ? Was it Rome? Was it the city of the sevenhills? No! indeed. The scene changes to a great dis-tance. .And he carried me away in the spirit to a .qreatand high mountain, and there was the vi ion realized,there was the Bride of Christ.

" Hence Goel has ordered all his pious people to retreatfrom the confines of Home. And I heard another voicefrom heaven, sayin[j, CO~IEOUTOFHER, !!Y PEOPLE,thatye be not partakers of her sins, and that '!Iereceivenot ofher plagues. 11'0'1' her sins have reached unto heaven,and God hath remembered he?' iniquities. Hence the

pope was the antichrist ; but if there were l\ hue and cry after the anti-christ, the pope would certainly be taken up." Botcrr's Hi.~fory of thePopes-s--P, Leo the Great. Vol. i., p. 224, nots.

·368 INTOLERANCE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS.

divine vindication of the noble army of the Reformers!It was no schism that they made; it was only REF9RlIIA-TJON. Ana next to Christianity itself, it was one of thegreatest blessings from God ever realized to mnn. Awaywith that superficial and smattering philosophy, becomingfashionable lately among a certain class of ultra fanaticalconservatives, the cringing exquisites and ostentatiousdandies of literature, which affects to impeach or doubtthe principles of our glorious Reformation. They are thereal, though disguised, enemies of liberty in church andstate - and we are almost tempted, when we witness theirincorrigibleness, and their inconsistency, and their ingrati-tude, to hand them over to the inquisition for a day ortwo, that the venerable and sublime conservative fathersof the inquisitorial commission may teach them subjec-tively a thing or two, which will REFORM their transcen-dentalism, and bring them to their senses. They mightthen become better citizens, possibly, better Christians,and so better Protestants, as well as better philosophers."(Bower's History of the Popes, vol. i.; Introduction by theAmerican Editor, pp. vi, vii.)

DISOOURSE VII.

THE DESTINATION OF ROMAN-CATHOLICIS~I. ALIAS POPERYOR RQ)IANISU.

2 TIlESS. Ii. 1-12: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the comiug of our LordJesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not ..oonshaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither by flpirit, nor by word, nor by letteras from us, as that the day of Christ is at haud. Let no man deceive youby any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a fallingaway first, nnd that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, whoopposeth and exalteth himself above all that Is called God, or that I. wor-shipped; so that he, as God, sltteth in the temple of God, showing himselfthat he is God. Remember ye not, that wh n I WM yet with you, T told)'OU these thIngs ¥ And now ye know whnt withhotdeth, tlmt be might berevealed in his time. For tbe mystery of Iniquity doth already work: onl)'he who now lelteth will let, untll he be taken out of the way. And Ulenshall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with thespirit of Iris mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power andslgus and lying wonders, and with nil decelvableneas of unrighteousnessin them that perish; because they received not the love or the truth, thatthey might be saved. And for thts cause God shall send them .strong delu-sion, that they Iltlould believe a lie; that they ali might be damned who be-lIeved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

The particular subject to be considered in this discourseis - the destination of Roman-catholicism, aliaspopery, orRomanism.. The destination of Roman-catholicism or popery is itsdestruction. / for "the man of Sill," a term used by Paulin my text to designate the pope." of Rome as the greatupholder of all Romish abominations, is by him expresslydeclared to be the son of perdition. "And that man of

• "If the apostasy [mentioned in the text] be rightly charged upon thechurch of Rome, it follows of consequence that tht ·man 0/ sin. Is thepope, not meaning this or that pope in particular, bnt the pope m gen-eral, as the chief head and supporter of this apostasy. .The apostasyproduces him, and he again promotes the apostasy. He IS properly theman 0/ sin, not only on account of thc scandalous lives of ~a!,y pOPE;s,but by reason of their more scandalous doctrines. and principles, ~IS-pcnsing with the most necessary duties, and grantm~ or rather sellingpardon~ and indulgences to the most abominable crimes." Bp. Ne~ton's Dissertations 011 the Prophecies, Dissert, xxii., vol. 2d, p. 364. Edit.London, 1i86.

24 369

370 THE DES1'INATlON

sin be revealed, the son of perdition," i. e. the son of de-r: .struction - a phraseology which, whatever else it mny becapable of meaning, in this place plainly implies 'the de-'struction of all that .which the expression b i'tv8p(,)1ro~ ri'"itf'f1pT[a~ the man of sin. properly includes.

III discoursing on the subject of the destruction ofpopery, I shall endeavour to show, so far as we have themeans of knowing, 1st. the time when, and 2dly. themanner how, popery is to be destroyed.

I. I shall endeavolu' to show the time when popery is tohe destroyed. ..

III order to fix with any degree of accuracy on the timewhen the destruction of popery is to be effected, it isnecessary to consider what the Scriptures say of theperiod of its duration. Says the prophet Daniel, "I sawin my vision b~ night, and, behold, the four winds of theheaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beastscame up from the sea, diverse one from another. The firstwas like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till thewings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from theearth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and aman's heart was given to it. And, behold, another beast,a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side,and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teethof it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.After this I beheld, and 10 another, like a leopard, whichbad upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beasthad also four heads; and dominion was given to it .. Afterthis I saw in the night-visions, and behold, a fourth beast,dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly: and it badgreat iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, andstamped the residue with the feet of it : and it was diversefrom all the beasts that were before it; and it had tenhorns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came upamong them another little horn, before whom tbere werethree of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and,behold, in this hom were eyes like the eyes of a man, anda mouth speaking great things. I Daniel was grieved inmy spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of myhead troubled me. I came near unto one of them thatstood by, and a ked him the truth of all this. 0 he toldme, and made me know the interpretation of the things,

OF ROMAN-CATHOLICISM. 3it

These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, whichshall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the MostHigh shalf take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever. Then I would know thetruth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all theothers, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, andhis nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, andstamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten hornsthat were in his head, and of the other which came up,and before whom three fell; even of that horn that hadeyes, and :1 mouth that spake very great things, whoselook was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and thesame born made war with the saints, and prevailedagainst them; until the Ancient of days came, and judg-ment was given to the saints of the Most Iligh ; and thetime came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thushe said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom nponearth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shalldevour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and breakit in pieces: Ana the ten horns out of this kingdom areten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise afterthem; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shallsubdue three kings. And he shall speak great wordsagainst the Most High, and shall wear out the saints ofthe :MostHigh, and think to change times and laws; andthey shall be given into his hand; u~til a time, and times,and the diyiding of' time." Dan. ViI.2-8, 15-25. Let it

-be observed bere,First, That these four beasts, according to the angel's

interpretation to Daniel, represent four kings (verse 17),•khIgdoms or empires, viz. the Chaldean, the Medo-Per-sian, the Grecian, and the Roman. The last, representedby thefourth beast, is the Roman empire. The three first

• "Four kings or four dynasties. There is no reason for supposingthat they refer to individual kinqs, but the obvious meaning is, that theyrefer to fonr dominions or empires that would succeed one another on theearth. So the whole representation leads us .to suppose, and so. the pas-sage has been always interprete~. The Latin vulg~ter~nders It repn~t:the Sept. {Jal1tA£tllt; Luther, Rell'he, Lengerke, 'Y~lllgreiche. ~hIS Ill-terpretation is confirmed also, by vel'. 23, where It IS ex pressly said that, the fourth beast shall b~ the fourth kingdom upon earth.' See also ver,24." Barnes's .Votes in lee.

C)~.")01, .... THE /JESTINATION

of these beasts, have successively had their dominion takenaway. "All the four beasts are still alive, thouzh thedominion of the three first be taken away. The ;atiomof Ohaldea and Assyria are still thc first beast. Those ofMedia and Persia are still the second beast. Those ofMacedon, Greece and Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria andEp;ypt, are still the third. And those of Europe, on thisside Greece, are still the fourth." (:Sir Isaac Newton'sObseroatione on the Prophecies, chap. iv., p. 31. Ed. Lon-don, 1733.)-

Secondly. The ten horns of the fourth beast, i. e. thetcn horns of the fourth or Roman empire, agreeably to theinterpretation of the angel, represent ten kingdoms intowhich the western Roman empire was divided, (ver, 7, 24.)For it is certain that the western empire of Rome wasoriginally divided into ten kingdoms; although they mightafterward be sometimes more and sometimes fewer, and

, still be known by the name of the ten kingdoms of thewestern empire. These ten kingdoms h::ntebeen "reck-oned up in several ways, by different writers, according tothe date assigned to the enumeration: but in general it isclear, that the principal kingdoms in Europe at this day,sprang from them, and comprise them; excepting some ofthe more northern regions, and ·those possessed by theTurks. 'The historian Machiaval,-little thinking whathe was doing, reckons up the ten primary kin.qcloms asfollows. 1. The Ostrogoths in Mesia. 2. The Visigothsin Pannonia, 3. The Sueves and Alans in Gasgoine andSpain. 4. The Vandals in Afi·Lca. 5. The Franks inFrance. 6. The Burgundi:ms in Burgundy. 7. TheHeruli and Turingi in Italy. '8. The Saxons and Anglesin Britain. 9. The Huns in Hungary; and 10, the Lorn-bards at first upon the Danube, afterwards in Italy. Thesame catalogue is exhibited by the t excellent chronologerBp. Lloyd, who adds the dates, when these ten kingdomsarose. 1. The Huns about A. D. 356. 2. The Ostrogoths,:l77. 3. The Visigoths, 378. 4. The Franks, 407. 5. TheVan dals, 407. 6. The Sueves and Alans, 407. 7. The Bur-~ndian ,407. 8. The Heruli and Rugii, 476. 9. Thetiaxon ,476. 10. The Longobards in the north of Ger-many, 4 3: in Hungary, 526. - These then upon the con-curring testimony of an historian and a chronologer, are

OF ROMAN· CA THOLICISM. 373

the ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was ori-ginally divided; and consequently they are the first tenhorns, of which we are in quest.' Faber, Vol. i. pp. 170,171." (Dr. Scott's .Explanatory Notes, Dan. vii. 7.)

Thirdly. The little hom (vel'. 8), which came upamong the other ten horns, represents the dominion ofpopery. It" evidently points out thepower of the churchand bishop of Rome, which, from small beginnings, longbefore it became a temporal dominion, thrust itself upamong the ten kingdoms, and at length got possession ofthree of them, having turned out those who hold them., If ever three kingdoms were pluelceel up before a littlekingdom, which arose imperceptibly among the t n pri-mary kingdoms, they mu t be three, th nam s of whichoccur in the preceding list of Machiavnl, and Bp. Lloyd.Accordingly we find that the kingdom of the II rnli, thekingdom of the Ostrogoths, aud the kingdom of th Lom-bards, were successively eradicated before the little papalIiorn, which at length became a temporal." no less than aspiritual power, at the expense of' these three depressedprimary states.' Faber. - In this horn, were 'eyes likethe eyes of a man.' This circumstance denoted the pol-icy, sagacity, and watchfulness, by which the little hornwould spy out occasions of extending and establishing its

•• Under the pontificate of Stephen II., A. D. 755, a donation of a

considerable principality was made to the pope by Pepin, king of France.SeC}Bower, in vita Stephani II., circa finem, "Carolns, the son ofPepin, afterward confirmed the grant of his predecessor, consisting ofRavenna, Pentapolis, or the March of Ancona, and the Roman duke-dom; and, according to the general opinion, added the duchy of gpo-leto, completing, by this cession, the present circle of the ecclesiasticalstates, and forming an extensive territory in the midland region ofItaly. This splendid donation raised the pontiff to royalty. The world,for the first time, saw a bishop vested with tho prerogatives of a princeand ranked among the soverelgns of the earth. His holiness added atemporal to a spiritual kingdom. The hierarch, in this manner, unitedprincipality to priesthood, the crown to the mitre~ an~ the sceptre to t~ckeys. The vicecerent of Jesus, who declared hIS kmgilom not of thisworld and refused a diadem, grasped with avidity at regal honours andtemporal dominion. Satan said Pas avan with equal truth and sever-ity, tendered this earth lUll all its glory to Immannel; but met with aperemptory rejection. The Devil afterward made the same overture tothe pope, who accepted the offer with thanks, and with the annexed con-dition of worshipping the prince of darkness. The observation unites allthe keenness of sarcasm, and the energy of truth." Dr. Edgar's Val'ia·tions of Popery, chap. vi., sub init.

374 THE DESTINATION

interests, ana advancing its exorbitant pretensions: andthe court of Rome has ever been -remarkable for_this,above all the states in the world, as every person at allacquainted with history must know. It had also' a mouthspeaking great things '- [' great words against the MostHigh 'J : '" and the style of ' his Holiness,' 'onr Lord God.the Pope,' 'another god on earth,' and the claim of infalli-bility, and of a power to dispense with God's laws, toforgive sins, and to sell admission into heaven, may serve.for a specimen of the great things which this mouth hasspoken." (Scott's Notes, ]Jan. vii 8.) The 'lool.;' of thelittle horn was seen to be "more stout than Ids fellows.""The Roman court and Pontiff, from very inconsiderablebeginnings, for many ages domineered over those king-doms intended by the ten horns, in the most audaciousmanner; laying them under interdicts an(I excommunica-tions, levying heavy taxes on them; deposing kings, anddisposing of their rlominions ; absolving their subjectsfrom their oaths of allegiance, and exciting them to rebel-lions and insurrections ; claiming a supremacy in all causes;and so trampling 011 the greatest monarchs, as never wasdone by any other power. Daniel had also noticed, thatthis horn' made war with the saints, ana prevailed againstthem' - [' wearing out the saints of the Most High 'J : and

• accordingly the persecutions, massacres, and religious wars,excited by the church and bishop of Rome, have occa-sioned the shedding of far more blood of the saints ofGod, than all the persecutions of professed heathens fromthe foundation of the world. (1hid. vel'. 20, 21.) Of thesaine hom it is said, that he should" thinl. to change timesand laws." " .Andhas not the papal power arrogated theprerogative of making times holy 01' unholy, contrary to

'" "Sm'mones quasi Deus loquetur ; 'He shall speak as if he wereGod.' So St. Jerome quotes from Symmaehu.~, To none can this applyso well or so fully as to the popes of Rome. They have assumed infal-libility, which belongs only to God. They profess to forgive sins, whichbelongs only to GOI.t. They profess to open and shut heaven, whichI.donJs only to God. They profess to be higher than all the kings ofthe earth, which belongs only to God. And they go br-yrma God in pre-tending to loose whole nations from their oath of allegiance to theirkings, when such kings do not please them I .And they go a.'loinst Godwhen they give indulqences for sin. This is the WOrl~ of all blasphe-mies !" Dr. Olarke's OOmmelltary in loco

OF ROMAN-CATHOLICISM. 375

the word of God? !las it not commanded men everywhere to abstain from meat, und cease from work, whenGod required no such thing? has it not multiplied itsholy clays, till scarcely four of the six working days havebeen left for man's labour? at the same time, has it notlicensed intemperance and excess on its festivals and car-nivals, and authorized licentious diversions on the Lord'sown holy day? ·This power has pretended to changeGod's laws, or to dispense with obedience to them, that itsown new laws might be observed, forbidding to marry,and licensing fornication, and many things of this sort."Ibid. verse 25.

Fourthly. Into the hand of the powel' denoted by thlittle horn it was foretold that tho saint hould b .v n,until a time, and times, and the dil)idin{J of time j "thatis, for three years and a half, or forty-tw mon h , which,reckoning thirty days to a month, (and this was the genel'alcomputution.) make just one thousand two hundred andsixty days; and those prophetical days signify one thou-sand tuio hundred and sixty years. At the expiration ofthis term, the dominion of this horn will cease: he will bejudged, condemned, and consumed, and his authority neverrevi ved to the end of the world." (Scott's Notes, Dan. vii.25,26.)

The question therefore is, here, when will this term ex-pire? To know when it will expire, we must first knowat what time it commenced. Some make it commence atthe time when Pepin, king of France, made the donationof Ravenna, Pentapolis, and the Roman dukedom to thepope, during the pontificate of Stephen II., .Lt• .1). 755;because they suppose the pope then first began to be atemporal prince: but the saints were as really in his handlong before that time as they were then. Ecclesiasticalhistory informs us that, in the year of our Lord 607,· popeBoniface III., by flattering the profligate emperor Phocas,

• Some historians say, A. D. 606. BOlL'!'!' says that" the death ofSobinian [the immediate predecessor of Boniface H'I.] was followed bya vacancy that lasted (and yet no writer accounts for it), cleven monthsand tweuty-six days; that is, from the 22d of February, 606, to the 19th ofthe same month, '607, when Boniface, the third of that name, Wl1~ or- •dained, and :(llaced in the chair." History of the Popes-Po BonifaceIII. , in princlpio,

376· THE DEiiTINATION

obtained from him an edict, whereby the decree of thecouncil of Constantinople which was passed in the year588, entailing the title of universal bishop on the bishopof Constantinople and his successors, was revoked andannnlled ; and whereby the sameproud title toas transferredto the said Boniface III., bishop of Rome, was settled onhim and kis successors, and whereby he was declared the" head of the whole catholic church." By that edict thesaints ioere given into the hands of thepope of Rome /thereby he was invested with absolute ecclesiastical do-minion; and Boniface acted accord-ingly. For he hadscarce obtained the desired title, "when he took upon himto exercise an unanswerable jurisdiction and power to thattime unknown and unheard of in the catholic church.For no sooner was the imperial edict, vesting him with thetitle of universal bishop, and declaring him 'head of thechurch,' brought to Rome, than, assembling a council inthe basilic of St. :PetCl',consisting of seventy-two bishops,thirty-four presbyters, and all the deacons and inferiorclergy of that city, he acted there as if he had not beenvested with the title alone, though Phocas probably meantto grant him no more, but with all the power of an univer-sal bishop, with all the authority of a supreme head, orrather absolute monarch of the church. For by a decree,which he issued in that council, it was pronounced, de-clared, and defined, that no election of a bishop shouldthenceforth be deemed lawful and good, unless made bythe people and clergy, approved by the prince, or lord ofthe city, and confirmed by the pope interposing his author-ity in the following terms; 'we will and command, volu-mus et jubemus.'" (Bower's History of the Popes - P.Boniface III.) The year of our Lord 607, therefore, theyear when the pope of Rome received the title of univer-sal bishop, appears very probably to be the year to be fixedupon as the time at which the beginning of the period of1260 years is to be dated. Dated at that time, the periodwill run out A. D, 1867; and consequently it must followthat at that time, ve~ probably, the usurped dominion ofpopery will be at an end.

John, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, had. visions of God containing views of popery. "A.nd" (sayhe) "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beastrise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns,

.O}' ROAfAN·CATHOLlCIS.v. .anand upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads thename of blasphemy. .And the beast which I saw was likeunto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear,and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the drazongave him his power, and his seat, and great authority .And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world won-dered after the beast. .And they worshipped the dragonwhich gave power unto the beast : and they worshippedthe beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is ableto make war with him? .And there was given unto hima mouth speaking great things and bla phemies; anapower was given unto him to continuo forty and twomonths. .And he opened his mouth in blt ph my again tGod, to blaspheme his name, and hi tabernacle, anrl th mthat dwell in heaven. .And it was giv: n unto him to

• make war with the saints, and to overcome them: andpower was given him over all kind reds, and tongues, andnations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worshiphim, whose names are not written in the book of life ofthe Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev.xiii. 1-8. The monstrous 'beasthere described representsthe Roman empire, and this, strange as it may seem, notin its pagan state but as professing Ohristianity. It rep-resents the civil or secular Roman power in intimate con-nection with the ecclesiastical. In other words, it is theLntin empire in union with the Latin ohurch.] Of-thissavage heast it is to be observed,

1st. That his seat and power were from the ib·agon .• "A beast in the prophetic style is a tyrannical idolatrous empire."

Bp, Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies, Dissert, xxv. part II. Vol.3d, p. 211.

t "As the phrases Latin Chur~h, Latin empire, &c., are not verygencrally understood at present, it will not be improper here to explainthem. During the period from the division of the Roman empire intothose of the east and west, till thc final dissolution of the wJlstern em-pire, the subjects of both empires were equally known by the name ofRomans. Soon after this event the people of the west lost almost en-tirely the name of Romans, and were denominated after their respectivekingdoms which were established upon the ruins of the western empire.But as the eastern empire escaped the ruin which fell upon the western,thc subjects of the former still retained the name of PUJT/llUlS, and calledtheir dominion 'H 'PfJp.a'iKfI {3aCTtA,fUl, the Roman empire; by which name •this monarchy was known among them till its final dissolution in 1453,by Mohammed II., the Turkish sultan. But the subjects of the eaatel n

378 THE DESTINATION

"The dragon gave him his powel', and his seat, and greatauthority." "'1'he dragon may here mean, either the devil,or the devil's vicegerent, the idolatrous Roman empire.So that when another idolatrous persecuting power hadsucceeded to that of the heathen emperors; then 'thedragon' had transferred his dominion to 'the beast,' orthe devil had appointed another vicegerent: and all theworld knows, that this accords to the history of the Romanempire, Pagan and Papal. - The project ofre-establishingthe old idolatry having failed, a new species was invented:saints and angels succeeded to gods and demi-gods ; andpersecution was the means employed for supporting it."(Dr. Scottis 1J}xplanator!l Notes, Rev. xiii. 2.)

2dly. The 'seven heads' of the beast represent' sevenmountains' or hills, on which was built the city of Rome.·

..emperor, ever since the time of Charlemagne or before, (and more partic-,ularly in the time of the crusades and subscquently.] called the westernpeople, or those under the influence of the Romish Church, Latins, andtheir Church the Latin Ohurch, And tile western people, in return, de-nominated the eastern Church the Greet: Church, and the members of itGreeks. Hence the division of the Christ-inn Church into those of theGreelc and Latin. For a confirmation of what has just been said thereader moy consult the Byzantine writers, where he will find the appel-lations 'Pw!-'aw, and AUn1'OI, Ilonums and Latins, used in the sense herementioned in very numerous instances. The members of the RomishChurch have not been named Latin s by the Greeks alone; this term isalso used in the public instruments drawn up by the general popishcouncils, as may be instanced ill !llCfollowing words, which form a partof a decree of the council of Basil, dated Sept. 26, 1437: Copiosi ..simamsaboentionem pro unione GRAECORU~I~um Lx TI"rs, 'A vcry grea.t con-vention for the union of the Greeks with the Latins.' Even in the verypapal buns this appellation has been aeknowlcd-rcd, as may be seen inthe edict of Pope Eugcnius IV., dated Sept. 17, 1437, where in oneplace mention is mude of Ecclesiae LATlXORu;U qnuesita tlllio, 'thedesired union of the Church of the Lnrins ;' and in another place weread, 1.\7ec SUpPTcsse modum alium l'wm;P'jlfendi operis tam pii, et sercandiL>\TINAE ECCLESIAEhonoris, 'that no means mi;;ht be left untried ofprosecuting so pions a work, and of preserving the honour of the LatinChurch.' See Corps Diplomatique, tom. iii., p. 32, 35. In a. bun ofthe same pontiff. dated Sept., 1439, we have Sonctissima LATINORUJIIetGRA.ECORU~Iunio, 'the most holy union of the Greeks with the Latins.'See Bail's Summa Conciliorum, in loco By the Latin empire is meantthe whole of the powers which support the Latin Church." D,.. Clarke'sCommentary, Heo, xiii. 1.

• Rome was built upon seven hills.Septemqu» una sibi muro circumdedit a,.ees.

Vi"g. Georg. ii. 535."Hence it was called lIrbs septicolli .•, and a festival was celebrated in

OF R OMAN· CA THOLICIS.II. 379

(See the explanation given by the angel, in chapter xvii,9, 10.) They signify also 'seven ldngs j' that is, sevenforms of government, or successions of rulers, (accordingto the usual prophetical meaning of the word 'ldngs,')namely, kings, consuls, dictators, clecemvirs, militm'y trib-unes, emperors, and the seventh form probably was thatof the ezarchs of Ravenna, deputies of the emperor of theeast, under which government Itome continued as a duke-dom for more than a hundred ye:ll'~. See Scott's Noteson Rev. xvii. 9-11. And Bp. Newton's Dissertatione onthe Prophecies, Dissert. xxv. part ii. Vol. 3,1, pr. 2 5-289.

The beast had 'upon his heads tke name - of blct,'-pllemy.' t A name of blasphemy is n name 11 0(1 impiou Iy.Imperial Rome W:lScalled the eternal city, the f/odde"s ofthe earth, with other blasphemous title ; and h had h rtemples and altfil's,and incense and sacrifloeswere offerednp to her as a deity: and as to nnti-Obvistian Rome, afterthe loss of the imperial dignity, her hlnsphemoua namesand titles are notorious to all the world. See Bp, New-ton's Dissertations on the Prophecies, Dissert. xxv., partii., in hunc locum. .

One of the heads of the beast was seen to be 'as it werewounded to death j' which "represented the entire sub-version of the imperial authority in the time of Augustu-Ius, or when Rome became a dukedom to the Exarchateof Ravenna. Five of the heads of the beast, or the dragon,(for in this respect they are the same,) were supersededbefore the apostle's time, namely, kings, consuls, dictators,

December called Septimontium fistis, to commemorate the addition ofthe seventh hill. Thc names were Mons Palatinus, Capitolinvs, Aven·tinus, Qui/inalis, Ooelius, Viminalis, and Exquilinus. There is a verystriking allusion to this local circumstance, Rev. xvii. 9, and the readermay see the snbject ably illustrated in Hurd's Introductory Sermons,"01. 2, Scrmon II," Jones's History of the Christian Church, ehap. i.,sect. v., note.

• "Instead of ovapa, the common reading, I think ovop.am, n~mes, inthe plural, which is supported hy the authority of the Alexandrian andother manuscripts, to bc preferable." Dr. Doddridqe:» Fa>nily Expositor,note in loco.

t "They must have very little acquaintance with the arrogant titleswhich have been assumed or admitted by the popes, who discern not inthem a very remarkable illustration of this circumstance of the proph-ecy." Ibid,

380 THE DES7'INATION

decernvirs, and military tribunes, but at the time abovementioned, the sixth received a .deadly wound. It was,however, afterwards healed, by the revival of the imperialname and dignity, in the person of Charlemagne, or Charlesthe Great, who was proclaimed Augustus; A.D. 800. Af-ter Charles had been thus proclaimed emperor, the tempo-ral and ecclesiastical rulers mutually strengthening eachother, the Roman power became again formidable, and, all the world,' or all the earth, was astonished to beholdthat empire revived, which seemed to be totally extinct:so-that a superstitions and idolatrous obedience was ren-dered to this temporal authority, as engaged to supportthe ecclesiastical tyranny of the Romish church. Thusthey virtually' worshipped the dragon, who gave his powerto the beast;' by submitting, without reserve, to the sameidolatrous pesecuting power as before, only in anotherform: and 'they worshipped the beast' as one, who neverhad his equal on earth, or in heaven, and who would surelycrush all that presumed to oppose him. Thus the old idol-atry was fully re-established, with new names; and the wor-ship of idols, OJ' creatures, is in effect worshipping the dev-il.- Some explain' the deadly wound,' inflicted on thehead of the beast, to mean the revolution which took place,when Christian emperors succeeded the Pagan persecutingemperors; and the healing of this deadly wound, the sub-sequent establishment of another idolatrous persecutingpower, bearing the Christian name. The two interpreta-tions agree in the great outline." (Scotts ExplanatoryNotes, Rev. xiii. 3,4.)

3dly. The' ten horns? of the beast, (the same as thosein Daniel's fourth beast,) represent the ten kingdoms intowhich the western Roman empire was divided. And it isto be observed, that the beast had npon his horns tencrowns, or oux.Mj/UI:w. diadems j which shows where thedominion was, viz. not at Rome, but among the ten king-doms. When the empire was represented by "a great reddragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven C1"OWnS

upon his heads" (Rev. xii. 3), the seven crowns upon theseven heads showed that the whole dominion was thenvested in the magi tracy at Rome: but afterward, when itwas represented by It beast having seven beads and tenhorns, and ten crowns 1pon his horns, these ten crown

OF ROMAN-CATHOLICISM. 381upon the ten horns show that the dominion was now re-moved from the imperial city, and divided among the tenkingdoms represented by the ten horns. Hence it is abso-lutely certain, that by the beast is meant, not pagan butpapal Rome - Rome professing Christianity. .

4tllly. To the beast was given, by divine permission, "amouth speaking great things and blasphemies" Themouth of the beast, (the same as that in Daniel's littlehorn,) denotes the Roman pontijJ' in intimate connectionnnd combination with the civil or secular power in the tenkingdoms, among which he has been proudly uttering' his"great things and blasphemies" for many past ages. 'Thebeast therefore, of which the Roman pontiff is the bla -phemous mouth, combines in himself the power f bothchurch and state. This ecclesiastico- ocular bat, lawle slyintrenching on the divine prerogatives, 'opened his mouthin blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name,' "byrequiring all men to render that worship to creatures, whichbelongs to God alone; ':llld his tabernacle,' or true Chris-tians, by stigmatizing, anathematizing, and murdering them,as heretics; 'and them that dwell in heaven,' - by scan-dalizing angels and departed saints.as if they sacrilegiouslysought and were pleased with the idolatrous worship ren-dered to them; and by ascribing to the saints a variety ofridiculous actions, which they never did." (Scott's Notes,Rev. xiii. 6.)

5thly. It was also given to the beast, by divine permis-sion, "to make war' with the saints, and to overcome them."The ecclesiastical power of Rome cannot bear the sight ofthe saints; and as the ecclesiastical and secular powerunited both act together in concert with each other, asone huge monster-formed savage beast, thus the latter, thesecular power, is employed as the executioner in the dia-bolical business of killing off the saints of Goel. And whatshocking alansrhter- has been made of them! "No compu-tation can rea~h the numbers who have been put to death,on different ways, 011 account of their maintaining the pro-

'" "It is very injurious to the saints nnd angels, whcn ~hey l;U"erepre-sented us desirous of nttracring to themselves thll~ wo!'slIlP.whlch oughtto be appropriated to God' and nothing worse can be imagined of them,than that they-should be delighted with uch services as are paid themin the Romish ritual." Dr>ddrid,qe's Fam;(v Expositor, note in loc.

382 THE DESTINATION.

fession of the gospel, and opposing the corruptions of thechurch of Rome. A million of the p'oor [Albigenses and]Waldenses perished in France; nine hundred thousandorthodox Christians were slain, in less than thirty yearsafter the institution of the Jesuits; the duke of Alvaboasted of having put thirty-six thousand to death ill theNatherljmds, by the bands of the commonexeeutioner,during the space of a few years. The inquisition destroyed 'by various tortures one hundred and fifty thousand Chris-tians, within thirty years. These are a few specimens, andbut a few, of those which history has recorded: but thetotal amount will never be known, till 'the earth shall dis-close her blood, and shall no more,cover her slain.' ISCl.xxvi. 21." (Scott's Notes, Rev. xiii. 7.)

"And power was given him over all kindreds, andtongues, and nations." " As the book of the Revelation isa prophecy of all that should come upon the Christianworld till the end of time, all kiudreds, and tongues, andnations, must imply the whole Ohristian ioorld. That .theLatin empire in the course of its reign has had the exten-sive power here spoken of~is evident from history. It iswell 'known that the profession of Christianity was chieflyconfined within the limits of the Greek and Latin empires,till the period of the Reformation. By means of the cru-sades the Latins extended their empire over several prov-inces of the Greeks. In 1097 Baldwin extended his con-quests over the hills of Armenia and the plain of Meso-potamia, and founded the first principality of the Franksor Latins, which subsisted fifty-four years, beyond theEuphrates. In 1204 the Greeks were expelled Constanti-tinople by the Latins, who set up an empire there whichcontinued about fifty-seven years. The total overthrowof the Latin states in the east soon followed the recoveryof Constantinople by the Greeks; and in 1291 the Latinempire in the east was entirely dissolved: Thus the Latinshave had power over the whole world professedly Chris-tian: but it is not said that the whole world was in uttersubjection to him, for we .rend in the following verse,verse8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,whose names are .not written in the hook of life of theLamb. The earth here is the Latin world. The meaningtherefore is, that all the corrupt part of mankind who are

OF ROMAN·CATHOLICISM. 888

inhabitants of the Latin world shall submit to the religionof the empire, except, as Bishop Newton expresses it,'those faithful few whose names, as citizens of heaven,were enrolled in the registers of life.''' (Clarke's Oom-mentary, Rev. xiii. 7, 8.)

6thly. By divine permission, power was given unto thcbeast to continue (01', as some copies read, '!tOMP-O/! '!to(~(JCl!

to make war) forty and two months (verse 5); which,reckoning thirty days to a month, make twelve hundredand sixty prophetic days, which are 1260 years. This isthe same term of time as that for which the saints weregiven into the hand of the little horn-" a time, and times,and the dividing of time," as already con id red ; it is thosame as that during which" tho woman loth a with tlsun," when fled into the wilderne from th fa of' thserpent, was to be feel there -" a thousand two hUl/dredand threescoredays," or "a time, and times, and half atime" (Rev. xii, 6, 14); the same with that during which"the holy city" was to be trodden under foot of the Gen-tiles - "forty and two months" (Rev. xi. 2); the samewith that during which Gail's ., two witnesses" were toprophesy in sackcloth -" a thousand two hundred andthreescore days" (Ibid. v. 3). The term of time is thesame, and doubtless has the same point of time for itsbeginning, in all these several cases. When therefore thisterm shall have run out, and its end shall have come,which,if the term is to be dated from A. D. 607,· is no farther off

• It is not perfectly clear whether the term in question is to be datedfrom A. D. 607, or from some point of time some years afterward, whenthe pope became or had become a temporal prince. Bp. Newton thusexpresses himself in favour of the latter opinion: "In the year 727 thepope and people of Rome revolted from the cxarch of Ravenna, andshook off their alleeiance to the Greek emperor. In the year 755 thepope obtained the e~archate of Ravenna for himself, and thenceforwardsacted as an absolute temporal prince. In the year 174 the pope by theassistance of Charles the Great became pO:isessed of the kingdom of thoLombards. In the year 787 the worship of images was fully established,and the supremacy of tho pope acknowledged by the second council ofNice .. From one or other of these transactions it is probable, that thbeginning of the reign of Antichrist is to be dated. What appears tobe most probable is, that it is to be dated from the year 727, when (lL'Sigonius sals) Rome and the Roman dukedom came from the Greeks to thrRom'll! pontiff. Hereby he became in some measure a horn or temporalprince, though his power WlIS not fully est blished till some year after-

384 THE DESTINA.TION

than the year of our Lord 1867,then the war of the beastwith the saints shall have sofar ceased as that he shall notbe able to prevail against them any more; they shall nolonger be in the hand of the little horn; nor shall thewoman clothed with the sun any longer be obliged todwell in the wilderness, nor the witnesses of God beobliged to prophesy in sackcloth, nor the holy city betrodden under foot of the Gentiles."

Another beast, seen by the apostle in the same divinevision, is too closely related to the one we have just beenconsidering to be passed by unnoticed. "And" (says he)" I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; andhe had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon..A~d he exerciseth all the power of the first beast beforehim, and causeth the earth and them which dwell thereinto worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire comedown from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, anddeceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of.those miracles which he had power to do in the sight ofthe beast j saying to them that dwell on the earth, thatthey should make an image to the beast, which had thewound by a sword, and did live. And he had power togive life unto the image of the beast, that the image of thebeast should both speak, and cause that as many as wouldnot worship the image of the beast should be killed. Andhe causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free

wards: and before he was a horn at all, he could not answer the charac-ter of the little horn. If then the beginning of the 1260 years of thereign of Antichrist is to be dated from the year 727, their end will fallnear the year 2000 after Christ; and at the endof the 6000th year ofthe world, ac-ording to a very early tradition of Jews and Christians,and even of Heathens, great changes and revolutions are expected bothin the natural and in the moral world; and there remaineth, according tothe words of the apostle (Heb. iv, 9), a sabbatism or holy rest to the peoplecif God." Disr.ertations on the Prophecies, Diss. xxvi .

• In the conclusion of the description of the beast it is added (vel'. 9,10), "If any man have WI ear, let hi"}-hear" - because in the descriptionof the beast are matters of weat Importance to be understood. "Hetluu leadeth. into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with thesword must be killed with the sword" - declarations which indicate notonly the g'cneral wrong-doing of the beast, but al 0 what his retributivefate is to he. "Here is tile patience and the fl1itll of the saints." The trialof the patience and the f1Lithof the saints, during the existence of thebenst, i.- most evere.

OF ROMAN-CATHOLICISM. 385and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in theirforeheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save hethat had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the num-ber of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath un-derstanding count the number of the beast: for it is thenumber of a man; and his number is six hundred three-score and six." .Reo. xiii, 11-18. The two-horned beasthere described, (which in chapter xvi. 13, xix. 20, and xx.10, is called the false prophet,) is the emblem of the eccle-siastical powe1' of Rome. It is the Roman Catholicchurch. It" is the spiritual Latin empire, or, in otherwords, the Romish hierarchy,. for with no other powercan the prophetic description be shown to accord. In thtime of Charlemagne the ecclesiastical power wa in sub-jection to the civil, and it continued to be so for a longtime after his death; therefore the beast, whose- deadlywound was healed, ruled over the whole Latin world, bothclergy and laity; these, consequently, constituted but one

. beast or empire. But the Latin clergy kept continuallygaining more and more influence in the civil affairs of theempire, and in the tenth century their authority was greatlyincreased. In the subsequent centuries the power of theRomish hierarchy ascended even above that of the emper-ors, and Jed into captivity the kings of the whole Latinworld. Thus the Romish hierarchy was at length entirelyexempted from the civil power, and constituted anotherbeast, as it became entirely independent of the secularLatin empire. And this beast came up out of the earth;that is, the Latin clergy, which composed a part of theearth or Latin soorid, raised their authority against thatof the secular powers, and in process of time wrested thesuperintendence of colesiastical affairs from the secularprinces." (Clarke's Commentary, Rev. xiii. 11.) - The tioohorns of this beast represent the 1'eflularand secular clergyof the Romish hierarchy. "As the seven-headed beast isrepresented as having ten horns, which signify 0 manykingdoms leagued together to support the Latin Church,so the beast which rises out of the earth has also two horns,which must consequently represent two kingdoms; for ifhorns of a beast mean ldngdoms in one part of the Apoc-alypse, kingdoms must be intended by this symbol whe~-ever it is used in a similar way in any other part of this

386 THE DESTINATION

book. As the second beast is the spiritual Latin empire,the two horns of this beast denote that the empire thusrepresented is composed of two distinct spiritual powers.These, therefore, can be no other, as Bishop Newton andFaber properly observe, than the two grand independentbranches of the Romish hierarchy, viz., the Latin clergy,REGULAR and SECULAR. 'The first of these comprehendsall the various monastic orders, the second comprehendsthe whole body of parochial clergy:' These two grandbranches of the hierarchy originally constituted but onedominion, as the monks as well as the other clergy werein subjection to the bishops: but the subjection of themonks to their diocesans became by degrees less apparent;and in process of time, through the influence and authorityof the Roman pontiffs, they were entirely. exempted fromall episcopal jurisdiction, and thus became a spiritualpower, entirely independent of that of the secular clergy."(Ibid.) - As to the appearance of the two horns of thebeast, or of the beast himself, the statement is that he had .two horns -" like a lamb." He had exteriorly much ofthe appearance of a mild and gentle lamb. The regularand secular clergy of the-Romish church profess to be theministers of the meek and lowly Lamb of God. Thebeast, or spiritual Latin empire, has the name of a Chris-tian power, and by his deluded votaries is esteemed to beso; but he is so only in name or appearance, for when hespake "he spake as a dragon." He had a voice of terror.The commands, menaces, and decisions of the Romishhierarchy, are uttered and published and executed with allthe severity and tyranny and cruelty of the persecutingRoman emperors.

It is said of this two-horned beast', that "he exercieeti:all the p01.cer of the first beast before him." Verse 12." In the preceding verse the two-horned beast was repre-sented as rising out of the earth, that is, obtaining gradu-ally more and more influence in the civil affairs of theLatin world. Here he is represented as having obtainedthe direction and management of all the power of the firstbeast or secular Latin empire before him, t:lirmlUW al!lOV, inhis presence. That the Romish hierarchy has had theextensive power here spoken of, is evident from history;for the civil power was in subjection to the ecclesiastical.

OF ROMA.N·(UTHOLICISM. 387The parochial clergy, one of the horns of the second beast,have had great secular jurisdiction over the whole Latinworld. Two-thirds of the estates of Germany were givenby the three Othos, who succeeded each other, to ecclesi-astics; and in the other Latin monarchies the parochialclergy possessed great temporal power. Yet extraordina-ry as the power of the secular clergy was in all parts ofthe Latin world, it W:JS but feeble when compared withthat of the monastic orders, which constituted another <'horn of the beast. The mendicant friars, the most consid-erable of the regular clergy, first made their appearance inthe early part of the thirteenth century. These friara weredivided by Gregory X., in It general council which hassembled at Lyons in 1272, into tho f ur following soci-eties or denominations, viz., th D mini .ans, tit Jj I' n i -cans, the Carmelites, and tho Hermits of' t. Au ustin ., As the pontiffs,' observes Mosheim, 'allow d thes fourmendicant orders the liberty of travelling wherever theythought proper, of conversing with persons of all ranks,of instructing the youth and the multitude wherever theywent; and as these monks exhibited, in their outwardappearance and manner of life, more striking marks ofgravity and holiness than were observable in the othermonastic societies; they arose all at once to the very sum-mit of fame, and were regarded with the utmost esteemand veneration throughout all the countries of Europe.The enthusiastic attachment to these sanctimonious beg-gars went so far that, as we learn from the most authenticrecords, several cities were divided, or cantoned out, intofour parts, with a view to these four orders; the first partwas assigned to the Dominicans, the second to the Fran-ciscans, the third to the Carmelites, and the fourth to theAugustinians. The people were unwilling to receive thesacraments from any other hands than those of the men-dicants, to whose churches they crowded to perform theirdevotions while living, and were extremely desirous. todeposit there also their remains after death; all whichoccasioned grievous complaints among the ordinary priest ,to whom the cure of souls wa committed, and who csidered themselves as the spiritual guides of the multitude.Nor did the influence and oredit of the mendicant endhere: for we find in the history of this (thirteenth century)

388 :L'HE DESTINATION

and the succeeding ages, that they were employed, not-only in spiritual matters, but also in temporal and politicalaffairs of the greatest consequence; in composing the dif-ferences of princes, concluding treaties of peace, concertingalliances, presiding in cabinet councils, governing courts,levying taxes, and other occupations not only remote from,but absolutely inconsistent with, the monastic characterand profession. We must not, however, imagine that allthe mendicant friars attained to the same degree of repu-tation and authority; for the power of .the Dominicans andFranciscans surpassed greatly that of the two other orders,and rendered them singula~y conspicuous in the eyes ofthe world. During three centuries these two fraternitiesgoverned with an almost universal and absolute sway, bothstate and church; filled the most eminent posts, ecclesias-tical and civil; tanght in the universities and churcheswith an authority before which all opposition was silent;and maintained the pretended majesty and prerogativesor the Roman pontiffs against kings, princes, bishops, andheretics, with incredible ardour and equal success. TheDominicans and Franciscans were, before the Reformation,what the Jesuits have been since that happy and gloriousperiod, the very soul of the hierarchy, the engines of state,the secret springs of all the motions of the one and theother, and the authors and directgrs of every great andimportant event in the religious ancTpolitical world.' Thusthe Romish hierarchy has exercised all the power of thefirst beast in his sight, both temporal and spiritual; andtherefore, with such astonishing influence as this over sec-ular princes, it was no difficult matter for him to cause theearth and them which dwell therein to worship the firstbeast, whose deadly wound toas healed. That is, he causesthe whole Latin world- to submit to the authority of theLatin empire, with the revived western empire at its head,persuading them that such submission is beneficial to theirspiritual interests, and absolutely necessary for their salva-tion. Here it is observable>that both beasts have domin-i over the same earth j for it is expressly said that the

cond beast causeth THE E..illTH and them that dwelltherein, to worship the first beast j therefore it is, as BishopNewton and others have observed, imperium in imperio,'an empire within an empire.' We have, consequently,


the fullest evidence that the two beasts consist in thedivision of the great Latin empire, by the usurpation ofthe Latin clergy, into two distinct empires, the one secu-lar, the other spiritual, and both united in e antichristiandesign, viz., to diffuse their most abominable system ofidolatry over the whole earth, and to extend the sphere oftheir domination." Clctrke's Commentary, Rev: xiii, 12.

It is further said of this two-homed beast, that "hedeeth g1'eat 'Wonders," (J'I{tEUX{tE)'al.a great miracles, that is,he pretends to do such things; so that, by certain devicesof pyrotechnics or in some other way, he makes fire eomedown from heaven on the earth in :the sight of men, anddeceives them that dwell on the earth by the means ofthose miracles which he has power to do in the ight ofthe beast; "saying to them that dwell on the earth, thatthey shouldmake an ima.qe to the beast, which had thewound by a sword, and did live." "The image of thebeast must designate a person who represents in himselfthe whole power of the Latin empire, therefore it cannotbe the emperor; for though he was, according to his ownaccount, supremum caput Christianitatis, the supremehead of Christendom, yet he was only the chief of theGermanic eonfederation, and consequently was only sov-ereign of the principal power of the Latin empire. Theimage of the beast must be the supreme ruler of the Latinempire; and as it is through the influence of the falseprophet that this image is made for the first beast, thisgreat chief must be an ecclesiastic. Who this is hasbeen ably shown by Bishop Nswton in his comment onthe following verse. And he had power to give lifeunto the image Of the beast, that the image of the beastshould both speak, and cause that as many as 'Wouldnot 'WorsMp the imabe of the beast shmtld be killed. Iwould just observe that the Brahmins, by repeating incan-tations, profess to give eyes and a soul to an image recentlymade, before it is worshipped; afterwards, ?eing supposedto be the residence of the god or goddess It represents, Ithas a legal right to 'Worship. On this verse the learnedbishop observes: 'The influence of :he two-horned bea:st,or corrupted clergy, is further seen m persuading ~nd In-ducinsr mankind to make an image to the beast 'Wh~chhadthe U'~und by a S11Jord, and did [i1J6. This image and

390 THE DESTINATION

representative of the beast is the pope. He is properly theidol of the Church. He represents in himself the, wholepower of the beast, and is the head of all authority, tem-poral as well spiritual. He is nothing more than a pri-vate person, without power and without authority, till thetwo-horned beast or corrupted clergy, by choosing himpope, give life unto him, and enable him to speak and utterhis decrees, and to persecute even to death as many as re-fuse to submit to him and to worship him. As soon as heis chosen pope he is clothed with the pontifical robes, andcrowned and placed upon the altar, and the cardinals comeand kiss his feet, which ceremony is called adoration.They first elect and then they worship him, as in the med-als of ]'Iartin v, where two are represented crowning thepope, and two kneeling before him, with this inscription,Quem creant adorant / Whom they create they adore.He is THE PRINCIPLE OF UNITY TO TilE TEN KINGDOMSOF THE BEAST, and causeth, as far as he is able, all whowill not acknowledge his supremacy to be put to death.' -The great ascendency which the popes have obtained overthe kings of the Latin world by means of the Romishhierarchy is sufficiently marked in the history of Europe.As long as the great body of the people were devoted toRoman Catholic idolatry, it was in vain for the kings ofthe different Roman Catholic countries to oppose the in-creasing usurpations of the popes. They ascended, in spiteof all opposition, to the highest pinnacle of human great-ness; for even the authority of the emperors themselveswas established or annulled at their pleasure, The highsounding tone of the popes commenoed in Gregory VII.,A. D. 1073, commonly known by the name of Hildebrand,who aimed at nothing less than .pniversal empire. Hepublished an anathema against all who received the inves-titure of it bishopric or abbacy from the hands of a layman,as also against those by whom the investiture should beperformed. This measure being opposed by Henry IV.,emperor of Germany, the pope deposed him from all powerand dignity, regal or imperial. See Corps Diplomatique,tom. i, p. 53. Great numbers of German princes sidingwith the pope, the emperor found himself under the neces-sity of going, (in January, 1077,) to the bishop of Rome toimplore his forgiveness, which was not granted him till he


had fasted three days, standing from morning to eveningbarefooted, and exposed to the inclemency of the weather!In the following century the power of the pope was stillfarther increased; for on the 23d of September, 1122, theemperor Henry V. gave up all right of conferring the rega-lia- by the ceremony of the ring and crosier, so that thechapters and communities should be at liberty to fill uptheir own vacancies. In this century the election of theRoman pontiffs was confined by Alexander III. to thecollege of cardinals. In the thirteenth century the popes(Dr. Mosheim observes) 'inclllcated that pernicious maxim,that the bishop of Rome is the supreme lord of the uni-verse, and that neither princes nor bishops, civit governorsnor ecclesiastical rulers, have any lawful ~ow("r in hurclior state but what they derive from him. 1'0 stabli h theirauthority both in civil and ecclesin tical matters upon thefirmest foundation, they assumed to themselves the pow rof disposing of the various officesof the Church, whetherof a higher or more subordinate nature, anel of creatingbishops, abbots, and canons, according to their fancy. Thefirst of the pontiffs who usurped such an extravagant ex-tent of authority was Innocent III" (A. D. 1198-1216,)whose example was followed by Honorius IlL, (A. D.1216,) Gregory IX., (A. D. 1227,) and several of theirsuccessors.' Thus the plenitude of the papal power (as itis termed) was not confined to what was spiritual; theRomish bishops' dethroned monarchs, disposed of crowns,absolved subjects from the obedience due to their sover-eigns, and laid kingdoms under interdicts. There was nota state in Europe which had not been disquieted by theirambition. There was not a throne which they had notshaken, nor a prince who did not tremble at their presence.'The point of time in which the Romish bishops attainedtheir bizhest elevation of authority was about the com-mencem~nt of the fourteenth century. Boniface VIII.,who was pope at this time, out tripped all his prede-cessors in the hisrh soundinz tone of his public decrees.Acccrdiuz to his famous bull Unam Sanctam, published~ov. 16,1302, 'the secular power is but a simple emsns-tion from the ecclesiastical' and the double power of thepope, founded upon Holy 'Scripture, is even an article offaith, God,' said he, 'has confided to St. Peter, and to

39~ - THE DESTINATION

his successors, two swords, the one spiritual, the othertemporal. The first ought to be exercised by the Churchitself; and the other, by secular powers for the service ofthe Church, and according to the will of the pope. Thelatter, that is to say, the temporal sword, is in subjectionto the former, and' the temporal authority depends indis-pensably on the spiritual power which judges it, whileGod alone can judge the spiritual power. Finally,' headds, 'it is necessary to salvation for every human creatureto be in subjection to the Roman pontiff.' The falseprophet SAID' to them that dwell upon the earth, that thcyshould make an image to the beast that had the wound bya sword, and did live;' that is, the Romish priesthoodPREACHED "UP the pope's supremacy over temporal princes;and, through their astonishing influence on the minds ofthe people, the bishop of Rome at last became thc supremesovereign of the secular Latin empire, and thus was atthe head of all authority, temporal and spiritual." (.Dr.ClarIce's Commentary, Rev. xiii, 14, 15.)

As to the mark - which the beast causes all in the Latinworld to receive, and without which, or the name of thebeast, or the number of his name, no man might buy orsell; whatever it be, it is undoubtedly something wherebyall who receive it are distinguished and known as mem-bers of the Latin church. And the name of the beast isobtainable through the revealed number of his name. Therevealed number of the name of the beast is - x~q, "s~'xhundred threescoreand six." This number has been soughtby different persons in different words and phrases, consid-ered as names applicable to the beast, by reckoning up thenumerical value of the letters used in the spelling of them.One of these name (which appears to me most likely tobe the true one,) is the following-' H .daTIl'1'f Baal'AEla,The Latin Kingdom,' which is numbered in the followingmanner:-

THE LATIN K.I:NGDOM.

H .daTI"'''' BaalAetct8 30 1 30010 5O!l 2 1 ~oo 1030 6 10 1=666.

- "By the mark of the beast, some understand the sigl. fir the cross,which is used, not only in a most superstitious, but even an idolatrousmanner, continually, es discriminating, and as required by authority inth church of Rome." &ott'. Notes, Rev. xiii. 16, 17. See also his noteon ver e 18, in fine.

0]1' ROllfAN.CATlfOLICISM. 398

It is proper to observe here that, as the time in whichthe ten-horned beast was permitted to continue and makewar with the saints was limited to forty and two months,1260 years; so, (such is the connection between the twobeasts,) at the expiration of that period will the two-hornedbeast,...with all his deceptiveness and evil dispositions to-wards the people of God, soon become equally powerlessand be no less near his end.- I pass to show,

II. The manner how popery is to be destroyed.When the prophet Daniel, (in his vision by night,) had

a view of the ten-horned beast, and of the existence ofpopery in the existence of the little horn, he had also aview of the destruction of popery in the destruction of thelittle horn / forthe de truction of the little h I'll i impliedin the destruction of tho bca t. Says the prophet, "beheld till the thrones were cast down." nd the Dei ntof days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and thhair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was likthe fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fierystream issued and came forth from before bim: thousandthousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand timesten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, andthe books were ·opened. I beheld then, because of thevoice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld,even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, andgiven to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of thebeasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their liveswere prolonged for a season and time. I saw in the nightvisions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came withthe clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days,and they brought him near before him. And there wasgiven him dominion, and glory,. and a kingdom, that allpeople, nations, and languages, should serve him: hisdominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not passaway, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."Dan. vii. 9-14. The representation of a solemn transac-tion of judgment is here recorded. Goelthe Father, under

• "Donee throni positi sunt, Vulg. i"'r OTOV 01 {JpoVOL £Teihiaav. Sept.Videbam subsellia posita esse. Syr. sedes posita fuerunt. Arab. andthe same word is used in the Chaldee paraphrase of Jer, i. 15, they shalleet eveTJIone ~is throne." Bp. Newton on the Prophecies, Dissert. xiv.,prope ftnem., note.

394 THE DESTINATION

the appellation of the Ancient of days, is represented ascoming in majesty to judge certain great enemies of thecause of righteousness and true religion on earth, particu-larly the ten-horned beast. " I beheld, even till the beastwas slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burn-ing flame." God almighty, filled with indignation at themany and often-repeated blasphemouswords of that proudand impious usurper the little horn, "will destroy all theremains of the power of the fourth beast, to which itbelongs; that is, of the Roman empire, as inimical to thecause of Christ: and his body shall be destroyed and givento the flames; because the little horn was the ringleaderto the beast, in tyranny, cruelty, and idolatry; and becauseof the close connection between it and the other ten horns.Rome will be wholly desolated, and her hierarchy abol-ished. Every antichristian power will be crushed. - Theother beasts had indeed been deprived of dominion, yet'their lives were prolonged for a season:' the countries,which had been governed by the Chaldeans, Persians, andMacedonians, though no longer in possession of empire,yet continued under the government of idolaters, or ene-jnies to true religion; for 'a beast' in the prophetical larl-guage is an idolatrous, or persecuting power: but whenthe fourth beast shall lose his authority, his life also shallbe taken away, and no idolatrous or antichristian powershall remain in any nation; for at that time the other beastsshall be slain, which is clearly intimated by 'their livesbeing prolonged for a season:" (Scott's ExplanatoryNotes, Dan. vii.9-12.) -It is further represented that, thefour beasts being slain, the empire of all the earth is topass over into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ and thesaints. "One like the son of man" was seen by theprophet as coming in tile clouds of heaven to the Ancientof days, and as being put in actual possession of dominionand of a kingdom both universal and everlasting. Thelittle horn was seen to make war with the saints and pre-vail against them "until the Ancient of days came," butat that very coming as seen by the prophet "judgmentwas given to the aints of the Most High; and the timecame that the saints possessed the kingdom" (v, 22).These things are as yet in futurity, "but" (mo t assuredly)"the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and


possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever"(vel'. 18). The saints of the Most High are given intothe hand of the little horn for a specified term of time,"but" ~oon) "the judgment shall sit, and they shall takeaway his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto theend. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatnessof the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given tothe people of the saints ofthe Most High, whose kingdomis an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serveand obey him." Verses 26, 27.- I observe here,

Fi1'st, That the doing away of popery is to be effected,to a very considerable extent, by the means of Bible truth-the truths of the Bible read in tho Bible, and preachedwith the living voice of gospel mini tel's, and heard, andunderstood, and felt, and experienced, and loved, andpractically carried out in every-day life. In this mannershall 'the man of sin,' 'that Wicked,' that' son of perdi-tion,' be done away to a very desirable extent. "Whomthe Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, andshall destroy with the brightness of his coming." Therehave been several centuries since such a series of attacks,by means of the truths. of Holy Writ, first began to bemade upon popery, as, steadily continued, have, under thedivine blessing, long ago produced large and extensive andglorious results. Such effective exhibitions of truth, bythe preaching of the gospel as well as by the press, are notunnoticed in the prophetical Scriptures. ".And" (saysJohn) "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them thatdwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, andtongu~, and people, saying, with a loud vo~ce!Fear GD~and give glory to him; for the hour of his Judgment IScome: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, andthe sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followedanother angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, t~atgreat city, because she made all nations drin~ of the WIlleof the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel fol-.owed them, saying with a 10Vdvoice, I.f any m~n ~orshipthe beast and his image, and receive hISmark m hI~ fore-bead, or in his hand the same shall drink of the wme ofthe wrath of God wblch is poured out without mixture intothe oup of his indignation j and he shall be tormented with

896 THE DESTI.NATION

fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, andin the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their tor-ment ascendeth np for ever and ever; and they have norest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.". Rev.xiv. 6-11. "It is generally admitted, by the best inter-preters, that the three angels here introduced, were emblem-atical heralds of the progressive reformation from popery.When, therefore, the extent and prevalence of the powerof the beast, at its full height, had been predicted in theforegoing chapter; the diminution and weakening of it, asintroductory to its destruction, is intimated in this. Wemay, I apprehend, interpret the 'first angel,' messenger,or herald, to be an emblem of those who first publiclyerected the standard of reformation, and who contendedfor' the everlasting gospel' of Christ, in opposition to allthe innovations and usurpations of the beast, his image,and the false prophet. 'I'his honour seems to belong tothe Waldenses and Albigenses, who had the true gospelamong them; avowed its everlasting obligation and excel-lency; opposed it to the authority of popes, councils,andpersecuting princes; declared the pope to be anticbrist;and propagated their doctrines with zeal and success,andmultiplied into a vast number of churches. And afterimmense slaughter had been made of them by persecutionsand bloody wars, the residue still retained their tenets, andbeing dispersed into other countries, they rapidly carried'the everlasting gospel' with them; as an angel, a messen-ger of peace to men, :flyingthrough the midst of heaven:so that the Lollards in England, an<dthe Bohemians inBohemia, and the adjacent regions, an~ many others in

• "When I seriously reflect on this text, and how directly the forceof it lies against those who, contrary to the light of their consciences,continue in the communion of the church of Rome, for secular advantageor to avoid the terror of persecution; it almost makes me tremble; andI henrtily wish, that all others, who connive at those things in the disci-pline and worship of protestant churches which they, in their consciences,think to be sinful remains of 'popish superstition and corruption, wouldseriously attend to this passage, which is one of the most dreadful, in thewhole book of God, and weigh its awful contents, that they may keep atthe greatest PO' .ible distance from this horrible curse, which is sutflcientto make the ear, 0[ e'!"Y one that May, it to tingle. Compare Jer. xxv, Hi,)6." Dtvldridge 8 Fg,milg Expositor, note ill loco

OF· ROMAN-CATHOLICISM. 397different places, seem ave principally learned the gos-pel from them; nay, the reformation itself appears to havesprung from the seed which they sowed, and watered withrivers of their blood. So exact was the prophecy, thatthey had 'the everlasting gospel, to preach to the inhab-itants of the earth! ' They also loudly called on men tofear and glorify God, as the hour of his judgment was athand; and to worship the Creator of all things, as revealedin the gospel, by refusing to join the worship of idols, andthat of the beast and his image.

"If we explain the first angel, as the herald of the dawn-ing of the reformation, in the twelfth, thirt enth, andfourteenth centnries; we may prop rly explain th s ndangel of the Bohemians ana others in the tiftc nth, whowere their genuine offspring and succe SOl". om ofthese persons, with still greater confidence nnd vehemence,than the Albigenses, declared Rome to be mystical Baby-lon, and the pope and church there to be antichrist ; andthey endured severe persecutions for these protestations,and for their profession of the gospel. John lIuss andJerom of Prague, especially, were perfidiously and cruellyburned. l;y the council of Constancc; which council was,in fact, the united power of the whole antichristian beast.These heralds announced the £'111 of mystical Babylon, asthe ancient prophets had done that of literal Babylon, longbefore the event. (Isa, xxi, 6-9. Jer. I. 2, 3; Ii. 7-9.)N either seas this doom more certain, than it would be just;as she had corrupted and intoxicated the nations, not onlywith her love potions, as a seducing harlot, but by thewine of the wrath of her fornications, terrifying men intoidolatry by fierce persecutions. As Rome was mentionedunder the name and emblem of' a Gentile city, so her idol-atry was called fornication rather than adultery y' as itgenerally is in scripture, when committed by the professedworshippers of God,

"The third angel and his proclamation 'with a loudvoice' may be explained of Luther, and his 10uc1,rough,and vehement protestation against the itlolatri~s o! ~hechu~ch and bishop of Rome, an~ that ~hole a~tlChnstlanfabnc: yet we must also take ill all hIS coadjutors anrlsuccessors, and all the effects of this combined and pel' e-vering protestation, to this day, and even beyond it. Hi"

398 THE DESTINATION

voice, with that of those who . e raised up in diverscountries to join him, and to follow up the assault, wasindeed very 'loud.' They attacked the beast with farmore vehemence, than any who went before had done.They not only declared him to be antichrist; but they·carried their researches into the idolatries, iniquities, andimpostures of the whole papal system; and showed thatit was utterly incompatible with the religion of the scrip-tures, and founded in ignorance, usurpation, avarice, and

) hypocrisy. And they insisted strongly on the necessityof separating from so corrupt a church; boldly retortingthe eharge of heresy and schism, which the popish partybrought against them, and fully proving it against theiropponents. Thus they induced whole nations to cast offall regard to the church of Rome, and engaged vast multi-tudes to protest against popery as a damnable religion, not'only in the persecuting tyrants who imposed it, but in allwho, even from dread of persecution, or from more corruptmotives, conformed to it: and this was exactly the purportof the third angel's proclamation. They loudly insistedupon it, that all who adhered, with a blind and devotedattachment, to the beast and his image; profes~ng theirabominable doctrines, conforming to their idolatries, con-curring in their cruelties, and reducing their principles topractice; (being intoxicated with 'the wine of the wrathof her fornications; ') would drink of the unmingled wineof God's wrath, from the cup of his indignation. Yea,that they would be tormented with fire and brimstone, orbe cast into hell, to be tormented in that flame; that thiswould be 'in the presence of the holy angels,' who wouldapplaud the justice of their punishment; , and in tile pres-ence of the Lamb,' who would pronounce and execute thesentence upon them, for their opposition to his gospel, andfor giving his mediatorial glory to saints and angels: and, that the smoke of their torment would ascend up for everand ever,' The words translated 'for ever and ever,' arethe most energetic which are found in the whole Greeklanguage, to ignify eternity, and seem incapable of anyother ~eaning. The passage contained in verses 9,...11,therefore, evidently predicts the clear and trong manner,in which the e reformers would prot t and argue gainstpurgatory; and in ist upon it, that the wicked will 00

010' ROMAN-OATHOLIOISM. 399

'tormented in hell for ever:' and a subsequent verse (the13th) evidently opposes the same doctrine, by showinz theimmediate happiness of believers after death, - Every'"one,who is at all conversant with the writings of the reformersand their successors, knows that they generally declared,without hesitation, that popery was a damnable religion.Mr. Hooker, in Queen Elizabeth's time, brought himselfinto suspicion, and was engaged in a controversy, becausehe asserted, with much caution, and many distinctions, thatpapists might be saved .. and, whatever contempt may becast on their bigotry, in this day of false candour, liberality,and disregard to the scriptures; it is worthy of seriousconsideration, whether tbi. passage do not wnrrunt by fhrthe greatest part of what these reformers advanced on thatsubject; though they might not always exactly di tinguishbetween those' who hated the light,' and thos who i eywere too weak to endure its effulgence, when it broke inupon them all at once. - To explain this most energeticpassage, (which beyond doubt predicts a general and mostawful protestation against the leading tenets of P9pery asdamnable, in all who embrace and adhere to them, as wellas in the inventors and imposers of them,) to signify auytestimony, or protest made ill a single kingdom, as forinstance in England, seems to me a total departure fromthe grand scale, on which these. prop~ec.ies should be inter-preted; and as in all respects inadmissible, Nor can anytemporal judgments on collective bodies, be the fulfilmentof the awful denunciation, which Jlvidently relates to indi-viduals, and to each individual "Tio is guilty: and if wordscan convey the idea of eternal punishment, it is heredenounced. - It may also be VCl'y well worth inquiring,whether there be not some remains of the papal supersti-tion and corruption, even in protestant churches? Andhow far they, whose grand object it seems to be, to contendmost, and most v,ehemently, not to say virulently, fOI"thatwhich admits of the least scriptural proof, or no scripturalproof, keep at a proper distance from this tremendouswarning.". (I)r. Scott's .Explanatory Notes,-in loc.) -But,

• It is added (after the statement of the proclamations of the threeangels) verses 12 13 "Here is tM patience of the saint .., here are they thatlevp the'commJ),nd/~ent;of God, and the faith of Jesus." The times of ~heReformation were times of great persecution and bloodshed. 'The froth

400 THE DESTINATiON

Secondly. So far as Bible truth fails to effect the doingaway of popery, its destruction is to be fully accomplishedby the judgments of the Almighty. After the eastern orGreek church, because of the many corruptions of itsmembers, had been visited with divine punishments underthe two first woe trumpets, anQ the first woe of the Arabianlocusts, i. e. the Saracens, had failed to bring them torepentance; and after the second woe of the Euphrateanhorsemen, i.e. the Turks or Othmans, had completed theruin of that church, (as well as of the Greek empire,) andhad established Mohammedanism; strange as it may seem,"the rest of the men which were not killed by these plaguesyet repented not of the works of their hands, that theyshould not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver,and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see,nor hear, nor walk, neither repented they of their murders,1101' of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of theirthefts." Rev. ix. 20, 21. "The rest of the men," viz. themembers of the western 01' Latin church, 'who were notdestroyed, or compelled to become Mohammedans, by theseplagues; repented not of their evil works. "'Jllle Latin orRoman church, which escaped this destruction, still per-sisted in the idolatrous worship of demons, or angels andand patience of the saints were so severely tried, that no other than thetrue followers of the Lord Jesus could stand unfallen: am} there weremany martyrs. But they were comforted with good words, "And lheard a great voice from heat-en, saying unto me, IV,.ite, Bft.s.« d f,le the deadwhich die in the Lord from. henceforth: .'lea, saitli the Spirit, that they mayrest from theirIabours : and thefr uiorks do follow them." Mark the phra-seology regarding the time of their entrance on their blessedness, it is«ftom henceforth ;" that is, from this period. Luther and the otherreformers, preaching against the errors of popery, having proved to thesatisfaction of all candid minds that there is no such place as pur,qatury,but that the wicked when they die go directly to hell and the righteousimmediately to heaven, hence, from this period, "!:relievers will gener-ally understand that encouragiua truth; and not have to encounter theleal'S of purgatory, or to apprehend a delay of their felicity, when seizedwith the ag-onies of death, or called to sutler martyrdom tor Christ'ssake. Indeed, it is an undeniable fact, that the expectation of immediatehappiness, was the joy and support of those numbers, who were burnedalive, or otherwise cruelly martyred, during those times. - This' voicefrom heaven' was attested by an internal sUj!g-estionof the Holy Spirit,who assured tbe apostle, that believers rested after death from all theirlabours and sufferings, and consequently could have no purgatory tofear; and that their works followed them. to prove the sincerity of theirfaith, and to ensure a gracious reward, -, Scott'» 'lYotes, in loc, .t

#

OF 1I0MAN·CATHOUCISM . 401

.leparted saints; real or fictitious, by which devils are virtu-ally worshipped; in their stupid adoration of senselessimages, for which they have no better plea to use than thePagans had; in their 'murders,' massacres, and bloodywars with heretics, so called, and their execrable persecu-tions; in their 'sorceries,' or pretended revelations andmiracles: and in 'their fornication;' forbidding marriage,yet conniving at concubinage in the clergy; bindinz nu~.hers by vows to a single life, and yet licensing brothels bypublic authority of the Pope, in Rome itself: and in 'th irthefts,' or those exaction and impositions, by which theyfraudulently, oppressively, and iniquitou ly dr w immensetreasures from the nations." (cott's IiJxplanatol'!I Not .8,in loe,)

Of the divine judgments, as inflicted on til Latin 01'

Roman church in its connection with the t sn-horu xl ben t,John takes particular notice. " And" (sa)' he) "I sawanother sign in heaven, great nud marvelous, 'even angelhaving the seven last plagues ; for in them is filled up thewrath of God, And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass min-gled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory overthe beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and overthe number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, havingthe harps of God. Aud they sing the song of Moses theservant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Greatand marvelous are thy works, Lord God almighty; justand true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shallnot fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou onlyart holy: for all nations shall come and worship beforethee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And afterthat I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle ofthe testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angelscame out of she temple, having the seven plagues, clothedin pure and white linen, and having their breasts girdedwith golden girdles, And one of the four ('woov) livingcreatures gave unto the seven angel seven golden vialsfull of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory ofGod, and from his power; and no man was able to enterinto the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angelswere fulfilled. And I heard a great voice out of the tem-ple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ,ny_, and pour

26

402 THE DESTINATION

out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Andthe first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; andthere fell a noisome anc1gricvous sore upon the men whichhad the mark of the beast, und uron them which worship-ped his image. And the second angel poured out his vialupon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man:and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angelpoured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters;and they became as blood. And I heard the angel of thewaters say, Thou art righteous, 0 Lord, which art, andwast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. Forthey have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thouhast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. AndI heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord Godalmighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And thefourth angd poured out his vial upon the sun; and powerWIIS given unto him to scorch men with nrc. And menwere scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the nameof God, which hath power over these plagues: and theyrepented not to givc him glory. And the fifth angel pouredout his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdomwas full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues forpain, and blasphemed the Go(l of heaven because of theirpains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the greatriver Euphrates: and the water thereof was clried up, thatthe way of the kings of the east might be prepared. AndI saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouthof the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out ofthe mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spiritsof devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kingsof the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them tothe battle of that great day of God almighty. Behold, Icome as a thief Blessed is he that wntoheth, and keepethhis g-arments, lest he walk naked, and they .see his shame. /And be gathered them together into a place called in theHebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angelpoured out his vial into the -air; and there came a greatvoice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying,It is (lone. And there were voices, and thunders, andlightnings; nn-I there was a great earthquake, such as wanot since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earth-

OF 1I0M.J.N·CATHOLIC1SM. 403

quake, and so great. And the great city was divided intothree parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and greatBabylon came in remembrance before God, to give untoher the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.And every island fled away, and the mountains were notfound. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven,every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blas-phemed God because of the plague of the hail; for theplague thereof was exceeding great." Rev. xv., xvi. Itis to be observed here, that these seven plagues are called"the seven LAST plagues." They 'must therefore comeunder the seventh and last trumpet, which is th third andlast woe trumpet. As all the seven trumpets of the Apoao-lypse are included under the seventh seal,so all these sov nplagues of the seven vials are included under th s v nthtrumpet. The sixth trumpet, which is the c ond woetrumpet, ends at the resurrection and ascensionof the twoslain witnesses, after they shall have prophesied "a thou-sand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth,".and then the seventh trumpet quickly begins to sound(Rev. xi. 3-15). Now as this period of a thousand twohundred and threescore prophetic days, or 1260 years,reckoning from the year of our Lord 607, extends to theyear 1867; this therefore (viz. A. D. 1867) must be thetime, (if the period of the prophesying of the witnesses be.correctly dated,) when the sixth trumpet will really termi-nate, and when the seventh trumpet will quickly begin tosound. It follows therefore, that the pouring out of allthese seven vials is, as yet CA. ]).1866), wholly in futurity;and consequently, that the same obscurity rests upon themas upon all predictions while unfulfilled. What we surelyknow of them is, that they are" vials of the wrath of God,"and that when they shall be poured out upon the earth,the antichristian papal empire will be entirely desolated." As the first four trumpets were so many stages In thedestruction of the western empire, and the fifth and sixthshowell the extinction of the eastern empire: so these vialsmark the o-l':Hl.ualdesolation of the Roman church, and theantichristi~n tyranny of the kingrloms which .support it:the one being the pagan idolatrous persecutmg powel';the otber, the papal idolatrous persecutmg power, thebeast to whom the dragon had given his seat and empire

.404 THE DESTINATION

This circumstance occasions a similarity of some of thevials to the trumpets. A resemblance also is found betweenthese vials, and several of the plagues of Egypt; to whichRome may be compared for tyranny, cruelty, and enmityto the people of God." (Scott's Notes, Rev. xvi. I, 2.) Anything more in detail, by way of attempting :my particularexplication of these unfulfilled predictions, is unnecessary.Only with regard to the pouring out of the seventh vial, Iobserve,

First, That under it mystical .Babylon, the city itselfof Rome, the seat and head-quarters of the Roman Oath-olic church, will fall to rise no more. "And great Baby-lon came in remembrance before God, to give nnto her thecup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." GreatBabylon is papal Rome. Papal Rome has several names,all strikingly significant, as applied to it by God himself."And" (says John) "there came one of the seven angelswhich had the seven vials, and talked with me, sayingunto me, Comehither; I will show unto thee the jttdgmentof the great tohore,· that sitteth upon many waters: withwhom the kings .of the earth have committed fornication,and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunkwith the wine of her fornication. So he carried me awayin the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman situpon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,

.. " The great whore in this chapter signifieth the congregation of Anti-christ, the members whereof be all spiritual citizens of Rome: theirwhole faith and religion, depending npon the See of Rome, and theirhead usurping all his tyran.ny, by pretence of right of that city. .Alively image of which vision God made manifest to the whole world,when a whore was made head of the Romish Church, called John theSeventh, and of some the Eighth, commonly Pope Joan. Which sowringeth the Papists at the heart, that they have no way to shift it off,but by impudent denying of that which is so notorious, even in theirown stories of their Popes' lives. Dr. Fulke's Confutation <if the RhemishTestament, Rev: xvii. 1. .

.As Martin I...uther, when he was in Rome, was one day "passingalong the principal street that led to St. Peter's church, he stopped inastonishment before a statue, representing a pope, nuder the figure of IIwoman holding a sceptre, clothed in the papal man tie; bearing a child inher arms. 'It is a girl of Mentz,' said the people, 'who WaSchosenPope by the Cardinals, and was delivered of a child on this spot: there-fore no pope ever passes through this street.' ' I wonder,' observedLuther, 'that the popes allow the statue to remain.' " Dr. D' Allbigll~,Historv of 1MReformalio«, book ii., paulo J1C$t med.

or ROJlAN·OATHOLICISM. 405

having seven heads and ten horns," And the woman wasarrayed in purple and scarlet-colour,1; and decked with~old and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cupIII her hand full of abominations and filthiness of herfornication: and upon her forehead 'was a name written,MYSTERY, t BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HAR-LOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. § And I saw thewoman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with theblood of the martyrs of Jesus: II and when I saw her, Iwondered with great admiration. And the angel aidunto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee,the mystery of the woman, and of the bea t that carriethher, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The batthat thou sawest was, and is not; and shall :1S(' nd out f ,-the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: aIHI they thatdwell on the earth shall wonder, (whose names w re notwritten in the book of life from the foundation of theworld.) when they behold the beast that was, and is not,

• The beast here mentioned is the same that is spoken of in chapterxiii. 1-10, which has already been under our considcration, and is inthis chapter, in verses 9-12, explained by the angel who showed thesethings to the apostle.

t "The womun was 'urrnyed in purple nnd scarlet-eolour : ' for thesehave always been the distinguishing colours.of popc8 and cardinals, aswell as of the Roman emperors and senators: nay, by a kind of infatu-ation, the mules and horses on whicb tbey rode, have been covered withscarlet cloth; as if they were determined to answer this description, andeven literally to ride on a scarlet-coloured beast!" Dr. Scott's Notes,ill loa.

t " ¥¥,ter¥ - This very word was inscribed on the front of the pope'smitre, till some of the Reformers took pnblic notice of it." Rev. J.Wesley's ExplanatOl:¥ Note.', ill loe. . .

§ "Tbis inscription being written upon her forehead IS mtended toshow that she is not ashamed of her doctrines, but publicly professesand glories in them before the nations; she has indeed a whore's fore-head, she has refused to beashamed. The inscription upon her forehead isexactly the portraiture of the Latin Church. This church is, as ~ishopNewton well expresses it, A MYSTERYof iniq/!ity. This W0U;'lIlIS alsoealled Babyloll the Grmt; she is the exact an~ltype .of the ancient Bab.f-Ion in her idolatry and cruelty, hut the ancient city called Babylon ISonly a drawing- of her in miniature. This is indeed Bab.llionTH&GREAT., She affects tho style and title of Ollr HOLY;UOTm;:Rthe CHURCH; butshe is, in truth, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.' ,.Dr. Olarke's Commentary, ill lor. . .

II "In this respect Rome Pagan and Rome Papal were both cnmma! ;but tbe latter has probably" slain more thousands, than the former didindividual • .' Dr. Scott'. Notes, in loco

406 XHE DESTIN.4.XIO.N

and yet is.· And here is the mind which hath wisdom.The seven heads ase seven mountains, on which the womansitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, andone is, and the other is not yet come; and when he com-eth, he must continue a short space. And the beast that.was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven,and goeth into perdition. t And the ten horns whichthou sawest are ten kings, which have received no king-dom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with thebeast. These have one mind, and shall give their power

•and strength unto the beast. These shall make war withthe Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he isLord of lords, and ltipg of .kings: and they that are with

.. him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saithunto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whoresitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, andtongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon thebeast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her deso-late and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and BURN HERWITH FIRE. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfilhiswill, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast,

• "The Roman empire was irlolatrous under the heathen emperors,and then ceased to be so for some time under the Christian emperors,and then became idolatrous again under the Roman pontiffs, and so hathcontinued ever since. It is the same idolatrous power revived again,bnt only in another form: but in this last form it shall rIo into perdition;it shall not, as it did before, cease for a time, and revive again, but shallbe destroyed for ever." Bp. Newton's Dissertations on the Prophecies,Dissert, xxv. (Vol. 3d, p. 285.) •

t "There are SeL'en kin,gs," or forms of the Roman government: "fh'eare fallen," viz. those of kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and militarytribunes; "and one is," viz. that of emperors, which was the sixth inorder, and was the one then subsisting- wben the apostle wrote; "andthe other is not yet come," viz. that of tbe exarchs of Ravenna, which wasthe seventh form, under which Rome was a dukedom; "and whe:nhecometh, he must continue a short space," i. e. about 160 years, which is ashort timejn comparison of the duration of the imperial power whichpreceded, or of the papal power which followed. ".And the beast thatwas, and is not, even he is the eiqhth," This eighth form of governmentis tbat of the popes: it is in some respects different from all the forms ofgovernment that were before it, and yet it "is of the seven;" it is in suchwise of the seven, that it is in some respects a likeness of them all, Itis a prolongation of the same domination. It is the same old idolatrouspersecuting domination in its last form of being, the very form in whichit ill destined to go into everlasting perdition. See Bp. Newton i» loc,Also Barnes's NOtes in loco•

OF 1I0MAN.CATHOL/0l8M.

until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the womanwhich thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth overthe kings 0.( the earth." Rev. xvii,- By this explanationof these thmgs from the angel, how plain it is made toappear, that" that great city which reigneth over the kingsof the earth" is the city of ROME!• For what city butRome reigned over the kings of the earth at the time Johnhad the vision of these things? And ever since, evendown to the present time, in greater or less degree, hasshe reigned over the kings of the earth with either tempo-ral or spiritual authority. Rome therefore must be the"woman sitting on a scarlet-coloured boa t;" sh i II TUlllGREAT WHORE"of whom it is written, that II the t nhorns of the beast shall hate the whore, and make h "desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and BURN HER WITFIRE." Most assuredly therefore they, probably the mostof them, will so do; but some of them, a appears fromthe 9th and 10th verses of the following chapter, when,they shall see her to be actually falling, will lament overher in very doleful strains.

After this instruction from the angel concerning thegreat whore or mystical Babylon, as to who and what shewas, and what her end was to be, the apostle was favouredwith a further vision concerning her., description of herutter destruction. IIAnd after these things" (says he) "Isaw another angel come down from heaven, having great

• Rome was formerly the greatest cit.'1 on Earth; as also was Babylonbefore it, by which Rome is symbolized. Wboever sees Rome, sees" oneof the most celebrated cities in the universe, the capital of Italy, andonce of the whole world; situated on the river Tiber, 410 miles SSE. ofVienna; 600 SE. of Paris; 730 E. by N. of Madrid; 760 W. of Con-stantinople; and 780 SE. of London. Long'. 12°. 55'. E., lat. 41°. 54'.N. This famous city was founded by Romulus at the end of the seventhOlympiad, A. M, 3251 ; of the flood, 1595; and ,.-;>3 years ~fore theChristian rom. The history of this city must he sought for m workswritten expressly on the subject, of which there are many. lIfo<!emRome is greatly inferior to ancient Rome in every respect. Its population,taken in 1709, amounted to 138,569 souls only; among whom were40 bishops, 2686 priests, 3359 mOil ,181~ n~ns, 893. r1)Urtezans, bem:een8 and 9000 Jell's and 14 M(){JI"s. TIllS City, which once tyrannizedover the world by it arms, nd over the whole Chri itian world byits popes, is now reduced to II. very low sta~ among the govert1J!1~ntlr~f Europe, by whom i i uppor~ed. for It h. no po e:.. ufficlenttor its own defence." Dr. C/arl..-e, Commelltary, ArU xxvm. 14.


power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. Andhe cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon thegreat is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation ofdevils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage ofevery unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunkof ths wine of the wrath 'of her fornication, and the kingsof the earth have committed fornication with her, and themerchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abun-dance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice fromheaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be notpartakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hathremembered her iniquities. Reward her even as sherewarded you, and double unto her double according toher works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to herdouble. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived

.deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for shesaith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, andshall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come inone day, death, and mourning, and famine / and SHE

.SHALL BE UTTERLY BURNED WITH FIRE: for strong isthe Lord God who judgeth her:" And the kings of theearth, who have committed fornication and lived deli-ciouslywith her, shatJ.bewail her, and lament for her, whenthey shall see the smoke of her buming, standing afaroff for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas! thatgreat city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour isthy ,judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shallweep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their mer-chandize any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver,and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple,and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood,t and all mannervessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most preciouswood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon,and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine,

• <t These expressions Can imply 0 less than a total destruction byfire." Bp. Newton, ill loe.

t "The wood of the thyia v. thuja articulata of Linnaeus, an arom-atic evergreen tree, resembling the cedar, and found in Libya. Thewood was used in burning Incense." Prof Robinson, in Calmet', Dlr-tionary of Ihp Bille., art. Thy'lle'II·OQ(;/.

OF ROJfAN·CATHOLICISM. 409

and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheepand horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.~And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed fromthee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are de-parted from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.The merchants of these things, which were made rich by?er, shall st~Il;dafar off for. the fear of her torment, weep-mg and walling, and saymg, alas, alas! that great city,that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, anddecked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! Forin one hou» so great riches is come to nought. And everyshipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailor, andas many as trade by sea, stood afar off, nnd cried, t0h nthey saw the smoke of he?' bllrninq, saying, Who t city islike unto this great cjty! And tlley cast dust on th irheads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Ala, nln I~hat great city, wherein were made rich all that had shipslD the sea, by reason of her costliness! for in one hour isshe made desolate.t R('joice over her, thou heaven, and ycholy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you onbel'. And a mighty anget took up a stone like a greatmillstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with vio-lence shall that great city Babylon be throu-n down, andshall be found no more at all.t And the voice of hl)fpers,

'" "Not only' slaves,' bnt 'the souls of men,' are mentioned as arti-£'lesof commerce; which is, beyond comparison, the most inf~mo~s ofall traffics that the demon of avarice ever devised ; even almost infinitelymore atrocious, than the infamous slave-trade. Yet alas, it is very farfrom uncommon. The sale of indulgences, dispe~sations, absolllt,jon~,masses, and bulls, has always enriched the Romish clergy an~ .theirdependents, to the d~ceiving and destroying of t~e souls of ~lllhons ;and thns 'by feizned words they made merchandIse of them; nor hasthe management of church-preferments, and many oth.er things, ~enany better than trafficking in souls; and it would be highly gratlfyI?gto protestants, if we could say, that this merchandise has been peculiarto the Roman antichrist, and exclusivel" their ,guilt; a~d that noneamong us were 'partakers of their sins.' '. Scott s.•Votes, In loco .

t "Probably, the destruction of Rome WIll be fin!s~ed by S?J!I~ Imme-diate judgment of .God : and the nature of the .sOlIIII the VICInity,!hefrequent eruptions of ubterraneous fires, and terrible earthquakes, w~Ichbave often occurred, seem to point OI~tthe method: the comb~stJblesare provided, and the train is already laid ; thereonly wants the breathof the Almighty to kindle it.''' rott's Notes, t~ loco

t "As a stone was tied to a book, and cast into the Euphrates, bySeraiah, in token of literal Babylon's fall (Jer. Ii. 61-64); so 'a mIghty


, \and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall beheard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of what-soever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; andthe sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all inthee;" and the light of a candle shall shine no more at allin thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the brideshall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchantswere the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries wereall nations deceived. ..tfnd in her was found the blood ofprophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon theearth." t Rev. xviii,

Mystical Babylon's destruction will be the occasion ofgreat rejoicing among the servants of God, in Heaven andEarth, and they will feel loudly to praise him. ".And afterthese things" (says John) "I heard a great voice of muchpeople in heaven, saying,Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, andhonour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true andrighteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the greatwhore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand..And again they said, Alleluia, .Andher smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, and thefour living creatures, .fell down and worshiped God thatsat qn the throne, saying, .Amen; .Alleluia. And a voicecame out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye hisservants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. .AndI heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and esthe :voice of many waters, and as the voice of mightythunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipo-tetitreigneth. Let us be glad !tnd rejoice, and give hon-

angel' here cast a large millstone into the sea, to represent the violence ofmystical Babylon's fall, and to show that she would never rise again."Scott's Notes, in loco

.. "It seems as if this city WllS to be swaUowed tip by an earthquake, orburnt up by fire from heaven."-Clarlce's Commentary, in loco

t " There is no city under the sun which has so clear a title to Cath-olic blood-quiltiness as Rome. The guilt of the blood shed under theheathen emperors, has not been removed under the popes, but hugelymultiplied. Nor is Rome accountable only for that which hath beenshed In the city, bnt for that shed in all the earth. For at Rome, underthe pope, as well as under the heathen emperors, were the bloody ordersand edicts given: and wherever the blood of holy men WaSshed, therewere the grand rejoicings for it." Wesley's Explanatory Notes, in loco

OF ROMAN·CATHOLICISM., 411

our to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and hiswife hath made herself ready." And to her was grantedthat she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white:for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And hesaith unto me, Write, Blessed are they. which are calledunto the marriage-supper of the Lamb. t And he saithunto me, These are the true sayings of God," t Rev. xix.1-9.

Seconaty. Under this same seventh vial will take placethe great decisive battle of Armageddon. In the last partof the time of the sixth vial, the mighty gathering togetherto this great conflict will commence, in the manner statedby John. "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogscome out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of themouth of'the beast, and out of the month of th fal

- "The relation of God, and especially of the Messiah, to the church,is often in the Scriptures represented under the image of marriage. Theidea is also said to be common in Arabic and Persian poetry. It is to beremembered also that Papal Rome has just been represented as a ~ayand meretricious woman, and there is a propriety, therefore, in represent-ing the true church as a pure bride, the Lamb's wife, and the final trioumph of that church as a joyous marriage. The meaning is, that thechurch was now to triumph and rejoice as if in permanent union withher glorious head and Lord. All the preparations had been made fora permanent and uninterrupted union with its Redeemer, and the churchwas henceforward to be 'recognized as his beau tiful bride, and was nomore to appear as a decorated harlot- as it had during the Papal supremoacy. Between the church nnder the Papacy, and the church in its trueform, there is all the difference which there is between an abandonedwo gayly decked with gold and jewels, and a pure virgin, chastelyand modestly adorned, about to be led to be united in bonds of love toa virtuous husband." Barnes's Notes, in loco ' •

t '<The marriage-supper of the Lamb" is an expression employed torepresent the state of happiness which the church of the Lord Jesuswill enjoy in fellowship with himself, either in the times of the millen-nium, or else afterward when, in all its completeness, it shall be publiclyavowed and admitted into the everlasting enjoyments of Heaven.

t Thus "confirming all by a solemn declaration. The importanceof what is here said; the desirableness of having it fixed in the mindamidst the trials of life nd the scenes of persecution through which thechurch was to pass, makes this solemn declaration proper. The idea is,that in all times of persecution; in every dark honr of despondency;the church, as such, and every individual member of the church~ s~lOuldreceive it as a solemn truth never to be doubted, that the religion ofChrist would finally prevail, and that all persecution and sorrow herewould be followed by joy and triumph in heaven." BarTWJ'. Notes, illloco

..

412 THE DESTINATION

prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working mira-eles," which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and.ofthe whole world, to gather them to the battle of that greatday of God almighty. Behold, I come as a thief.] Blessedis he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walknaked, and -they see his shame. And he gathered themtogether into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Arma-geddon." The word Aep.aydJi5w1J Armageddon, meansproperly, 'tl~e mountain of Mepiddo.' .ZlIegiddowas anancient city of Palestine, situated on the west of the J'or-dan, belonging to the Manassites, although within theboundaries of Issachar (Judges i. 27. Josh. xvii, 11). "Ithas not been found easy to identify the place, but recent'researches have made it probable that the vale or plain ofMegiddo comprehended, if it was not wholly composed ofthe prolongation of the plain of Esdra-elon towards MountCarmel; that the city of'Megiddo was situated there; andthat the waters of Megiddo, mentioned in Judges v. 19,are identical with tbe stream Kishou in that part of itscourse. See Bibli. Repository, i. 602, 603. It is supposedthat the modern town called L~ji1n occupies the site ofthe ancient Megiddo. Robinson's Biblical Researches, iii.177-180. Megiddo was distinguished for being the placeof the decisive conflict between Deborah and Sisera, andof the batt1e in which Josiah was slain by the Egyptianinvaders, and hence it became emblematic of any decisivebattle;jield- just as Marathon, Leuctra, Arbela, or Waterloo,is. The word 'mountain' in the term Armagedd -, Mountain of ]Uegiddo '- seems to have been used be auseMegiddo was in a mountainous region, though the battleswere fought in a valley adjacent." (Barnes's Notes in loc.)At the place denoted by the term Armageddon, whetherit be in Palestine of Asia or in Italy of Europe, when thetime shall have arrived, then the grand struggle will comeand rapidly hasten on to its issue, agreeably to the divinepredictions. "And I saw heaven opened" (says John),

• "Or, 'signs:' like those anciently wrought by tho Egyptian ma-gicians." Annotated Puraqrapli Bible, note in loco

t "See Matt. xxiv. 42-44. This appears to be the great time oftrial referred to by our Lord, when the very elect will be in danger, andwill need, more than at any other period, warning, admonition, andencouragement.' Ibid., note in loco

OJ<'ROMAN·CATllOLIC[SllI. 413

"and bebold, a white horse; and be that sat upon him wascalled Faithful and True; and in risrhteousness be dothjudge and make war. His eyes w~re as a flame of fire,and on bis head were many crowns; and he had a namewritten, that no man knew but he himself." And he wasclothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name iscalled The Word of God. And the armies wbich were inheaven followed bim upon white horses, clothed in finelinen, white and clean. And out of his month go~th asharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: andhe shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadetl; tilewinepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. t

• ".4 name written, that no 1ntl~ knew. This is a reference to whut therabbins call the shem hammephorash, or tetraqrammaion, mi1~YllV II ;or what we call Jehocah, Tbis name the Jews nov r attempt to pro-nounce: when they meet with it in the Bible, they read ~ji~ Atlonaifor it; but, to l\ man, they all declare that 710 man can pronounce it; andthat the true l','onuneiation has been lost, at least siuce the Bahylonishcaptivity; and that God alone knou:s its true inurpreuition alld pronuncia-tion. This, therefore, is the name uihich. 110 man knew but he himself;"Oiarke's Commentary, in lac. .

t "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine ofthe earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in hissickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it intothe great unne-press of the wrath of God. 4nd the uiine-press was troddenwithout the city, and blood came oul of the wine-press, even unto the llOru:bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred ji,rlongs." Rev. xiv.18-20. It is said here, "that the blood came evell unto the Lorse-bridles,which is '1 strong hyperbolical way of speaking to express vast slaughterand effusion of blood; a WHyof speaking not unknown to the Jews, forthe Jerusalem Talmud describing the woful slaughter, which the Romanemperor Adrian made of the Jews at the destruction of the city of Bi tel',saith that the horses waded in blood up to the nostrils. The stage" erethis bloody tragedy is acted. is without the cit.y, b1j the space of a thousandand six hundred furlongs, which, as Mr. Mede ingeniously observes, isthe measure of stato della chiesa, or the state of the Roman church, or St.Peter's patrimony, which reaching from the walls of Rome unto theriver Po and the marshes of Verona, contains the space of 200 Italianmiles. which make exactly 1600 furlonqs:" Bp, Neunon, ill loco Vol. iii.,pp. 255, 256.

"It is remarkable, that sixteen hundred furlongs, or two hundredmiles, is exactly the length of the papal dominions in Italy; and prob-ably &hesewiII be delueed with blood, in a most awful manner, which isrepresented by languu~e tremendously hyperbo]i,'al.". (Scott's NOIlS, illloc.) "The opinion also, that the lund of Cnnnan WIll he the stage, onwhich the last grand conflict shall be decided, i. highly probable (E:zek.xxxviii. 9-23. Dan. xi. 40045): hut whether that country, or the pllpaldominions, he meant, hy the thou.and nnd six hundred furlongs, to be

414 THE DESTINATION

And he hath on his vesture and on his thig-h a name writ-ten, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And.I Raw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with aloud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst ofheaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto thesupper of the gre:1t God. That ye may eat the flesh ofkings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, andthe flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small andgreat." And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth,and their armies, gathered together to make war againsthim that sat on the horse, and against his army. And thebeast was taken, and ~()ith him the false prophet thatwl'ought miracles before him,t with which he deceivedthem that had received the mark of the beast, and themthat worshiped his image. THESE BOTHWERE CASTALIVEINTOA LAKE0];' FIREt BUR~INGWITH BRIMSTONE. Andthe remnant ioere slain with the sword of him that sat uponthe horse, ~ohicheuiordproceeded out of his mouth: andc,ll the fowls were filled ioith. their flesh." Rev. xix, 11-21.

drenched with blood, must be left undecided. The dimensions may suiteither one or the other." Scott's Notes, Rev. xvi. 17-21.

;I< See Ezek. xxxix. 17-20. Jt will be in the great battle of Armaged-don, probably, that the prophecy of Ezekiel concerning Gog and Magog,as contained in the 38th and 39th chapter, will have its fulfillment. "Forthe total ruin of the eastern antichrist, and of all the opposers of thegospel in Asia and elsewhere, seems to be intimately connected with thefall of the western antichrist." Scott's Notes, Rev. xix, 17, 18.

t "Tholli!:h Rome 'the seat of the beast' was destroyed, yet 'thebe~t' himself is supposed still to subsist: for the spirit of antichristwiTTsurvive that antichristian city. Probably the adherents of the partywill unite with other enemies of geuuiue Christianity, in differentparts of the world: and' the woman,' who was the emblem of Rome,which was to be destroyed, was not' the beast,' hut' sat upon the beast.', The beast,' or the idolatrous persecuting power, whose chief seat hadbeen at Rome, will form a confederacy with 'the kings of the earth,'that, with combincd forces, they may fight against Christ and his ser-vants: but, in the event, the antichristian tyl'llnny, and the corrupt clergy,who deceived men by lying- miracles to support it, will be seized on anddreadfully destroyed ; hy being' cast alive iuto the lake of fire bnrningwith brimstone :' and then all the remnant of their adherents will e cutoff, according' to the words of Christ; so that all opposition to his purereligion will then cease, till after the millennium." Scott's Notes, ;/1 loco

t "A description of eternal torments; probably founded on the pun-i hment of Sodom: see Gen. xix. 24-28; Psa, xi. 6, etc. AnnotatedParaqmpb Bible, note in loco

OF R02ffAN·CATHOLICISM. 415

Most important events you perceive, are to be expected'to transpire under the pouring out of the seventh vial,under the soundin~ of the seventh trumpet, after the ter-mination of the prophetic period of the 1260 years. Andas this prophetic period is our only directory beforehand,as to when those events will probably happen, hence wesee how necessary it must be, if we would know any thingaccurately of the time of their occurrence, that this pro-phetio period be correctly understood. The prophet Dan-iel, in his last recorded vision, which he had by the side ofthe river Hiddekel (or Tigris), after receiving revelationsof marvelous things, heard an angel ask, "How long shallit be to the end of these wonders?" to which the an werwas, from a gloriously looking personage" loth d in lin n,which wa upon the waters of the riv 1', wh n b lift d uphis right hand and his left hand unto h savcn, and warby him that liveth for ever, tha» it shall b for a time;times, and an halfj and when be shall hnve accompli hedto scatter the power of the holy people [true Christians],nil these things shall be finished." Dan. xii. 6, 7. Theperiod here expressed is the same, and must undoubtedlybe cnlculated'from the same point of time, with that whichh-is already been considered as recorded in Daniel vii. 25,.Rev. xiii. 5, and elsewhere; as signifying three propheticyears and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty propheticdays, that is, 1260 years; as commencing at the time whenthe saints were delivered into the hand of the little born.

"And" (the same glorious personage added) "from thetime that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and theabomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall bea thousand two hundred and ninety days." Dan: xii. 11."The setting up of the abominatiO'Tl;of desolation appearsto be a general phrase, and comprehensive of variousevents. It is applied by the writer of the first book of:M:accabees(i. 54,) to the profanation of the ~emple byAntiochus, and his setting up the image of J upiter Olym-pius upon the altar of God. It is applied by our Saviour(Matt. xxiv. 15,) to the destruction of the city and templeby the Romans, under th conduct of Titus, in the.reignof Vespaelan. It may for the same reason be applied tothe Roman emperor Adrian's building a temple to JupiterCapitolinus, in the same place where the temple of God

416 THE DESTINATION

had stood; and to the misery of the Jews, ana the desola-tion of Judea that followed. It may with equal justice beapplied to the Mohammedans invading and desolatingChristendom; and converting the churches into mosques:and this latter event seemeth.to have beenparticularly in-tended in this passage." (Bp. Newton's Dieeertatione onthe Prophecies, Diss. xvii. Vol. ii., pp.196, 197.) "Moham-medanism sprung up A. D. 612.* If ,~e reckon one thou-sand two hundred and ninety yem's from that time, it willbring us down to A. D.1902, when we might presume fromthis calculation, that the religion of the ~Arabian] FALSEPROPHETwill cease to prevail in the world," (Dr. Clarke'sCommentary, in loc.)

" Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousandthree hundred and jive and thirty days." .Dan. xii, 12.If these prophetic' days, these 1335 years, are to be reck-oned from the epoch when Mohammedanism arose, sayA. D. 612, they bring us (lawn to A. D. 1947-into timesof the most important, awful, glorious realities, ailexpre~sedby the blessed apostle John: " AmI there were great VOICesin heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are becomethe kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shallreign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders,which sat before Goa on their seats, fell upon their faces,and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, 0 LordGod almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; be-cause thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hastreigned. And the nations were angry, and' thy wrath iscome, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

• It is remarkable how contemporaneous Mohammedanism and thesupremacy of the pope were in their beginning. The pope's supremacy isdated by some from A. D. 1>07,by others, 606: Mohammedanism also,if we fix on the year when Mohammed retired to his cave to forge hisimposture, is dated A. D. 606; or if we fix on the year in which theforgery begpn to be preached and propagated, it is dated A. D. 608, oru, some say, 609 at 612. "The doctrine of Mohammed" (says .Dr,Scott) "was first forged at Mecca, and the supremacy of the pope wasestablished by a grant from Phoeas, in the very same year, A. D. 606:so that the little horn of the third beast, and that of the fourth beast[in other words Mohammedanism d popery], began their reigntogether, and will probably terminate them nearll at the same time."Scott's Notes, Dan. xi. 40-43. See Bp, Newl2n's Dissertations on theProphecies, Diss. xvii. Vol. ii, p.p. 194,195. :Mt!shf'im's EcclesiasticalHistory, cent. vii. part. i. chap. ii. § 2.


and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants theprophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroythe earth."· Rev. xi. 15-18.

• This brings us down to the time of the millennium, or ;riMa eT1/thousand years duration immediately before the last judgment, introducedby the banishment of Satan into the bottomlesspit, and the resurrection of thesaints, called the first I'esurrection (Rev. xx.}; when the m.lfsteryof Godshall be finished. "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea andupon 14e earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that livethfor ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are,and the earth, lind the things that therein are, and the sea, and the thingswhich are therein, that there should be time 110 longer: but in the da,y6of thevoice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the m.1l.tery£If Godshould be finished, as lie hath declared to his servants the prophets." Rev. x.5-7.

THE END.

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The Mystery of Iniquity Unveiled

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