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^OVA SCOTJ4

PROVINCE HOUSE

mmmt

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l | pWIW I l."!!ll»ili ! l l iWP I ■ » », , J..

WHAT IS POPERY 1

A LECTURE

DELIVERED IN THE

mxivm^ of St* m^vQ^vtVn l^afft K* s.

IN THE YEARS 1842, 1847. a.vd 1851,

I By J. ST ANN AGE,

I RECTOR,

'And Missionarij of ike Society for the Propagation of the

Gospel in, Foreign Pmis.

'Prove all things: bolu fast tlmf^liich is good,?,,.

1 TiiESS., V. 2t-;

n A L I F A X, N ^

JfRINTBD h^ WM. G08S!P. AT THE CIIUBCU TJMES OfFW^r,

1866,

f*Vf'

.*%

WHAT IS POPERY?

My dearly beloved Brethren,

According to promise, I proceed to give you the differ-
ences, or rather the chief differences between the English
Catholic and the Roman Catholic Churches.

But before enterii.^^ upon the subject, I would again
call upon you, as I have always done when alluding to
other denominations, to endeavour to think and to speak
of all these things in a spirit of peace, and with a greater
desire after the truth as it is m the Bible, than after the
conquest of other people's opinions ; with a greater wish to
know the will of God better and better every day than to
increase our numbers, or overcome by force of arguments
or of mere high-sounding words, those who oppose them-
selves to us, or to what we consider to ]je tlie truth as it
is in Jesus. Let us pray, tlieu. Beloved, for the sinrii of
meekness as well as for that degree of firmness and unsha-
ken stability in the faith which is always so necessary for
the support of all Christian doctrines.

We may not always have r^ppeared to possess as much
of that gentleness and meekness as the Gospel demands.
In all discussions there always naturally mixes too much
harshness and severity ; and we are in danger of falling
into this snare quite as much as those with whom we are
often obliged to contend, and therefore it is very neces-
sary that we ever bear in mind, and in these days of dis-
cord more than ever, tliis valuable Scripture passage in
the 25th verse of the 2d Chapter of the 2d Epistle to
Timothy, wliere the ApostU) calls iqwn Timothy to •' be
gentle unto all men, apt to teach, i)aticut ;" " In meek-
ness itisi racking those thai oppose thcmsclvc,'<:' Aud again in
Lst. Peter, IT[. 15, "Be ready always to ,^ivo ui answer tr»
every man that asketii you a reason of the liu|)e that is m
you with niee/iiiesd and fear.''

It is, Beloved, in order to enaldo you lo dn ihis. • u<
give a reason of the hope thai i.< in you ri/// lu't/mrys ^oul

-an

/V«r," that I am so anxious to instruct you upon all j^oints
of the Christian doctrine. The state of division ii?to
which the Christian world is fallen makes the office of
God's Ministers most trying and painful. Many of those
who are opposed to us are so on account of such small
differences that it becomes doubly painful for us to disa-
gree with them. This is the chief cause, no doubt, that
so many Church people, in other parts, are so much afraiu
to hear their Ministers touch in any way upon the differ-
ences between them and other bodies. Many of our own
people are inclined to accommodate themselves with the
opinions of others much more than others are tc accom-
modate themselves with theirs ; ai.d t)iis laxity of zcol in
support of our own Reformed Catholic Chui li. while it
leads to greater and greater errors day by day, procoods
from several causes such as the following, — the feat' cf of-
fending kind friends or neighbours — the desire not ti ap-
pear bigotted, as it is commonly called — and it is to be
feared, often from no other cause than pure worldlin %s
of mind, or carelessness, or real want of information on
the subject.

Now these princii^les may do very well for those who
have only this world in view, and who care not much
whether they support truth or error, so long as they oli-
tain a name, or pass through the world as very :ood,
([uiet, and liberal men. But the Bible Christian, in what-
ever denomination he may find himself situated, will
think it the most important duty of his life to be as firm
as a rock in support of the least particle of truth, and will
not even be afraid of the name of bigot, so long as his
principles are grounded on the Holy*13ible, the only un-
erring rule of faith and practice. He will however pray
that he may be thus firm in all mceknoss and gentleness
of spirit, ])atiently allowuig for the iudrmities of others,
while he bogs ot' them to make allowance for his own.
It is pleasing to me, however, Brethren, to fiud that as far
as my own people in this Bay arc genei-ally concerned in
the above remai'ks, 1 have not nuicii reason to complain.
The great majority of our uiembers Iiave noldy supported
me while explaining the Holy tScripturcs on which thev

and others were at issue ; and I have found an increase
everywhere in ihe iieal, the attendance, and knowledge of
our people. Two or three may have doubted the neces-
sity of thus openly speaking the truth, yet they all the
time allowed it to be the truth, and thus only shewed
their own want of zeal or firmness, rather than my want
of faithfulness. For these I pray that the3Mnay have a
greater zeal for God, and for all, let us pray that our zeal
may be according to knowledge, and not after the tradi-
tions of men, or the dcceitfulness of our own puffed up or
misled reasoii.

We now come to the subject before us. I am anxious
to inform the minds of my people upon the difference be-
twean the Church of their Fathers, which happens happi-
ly to be a branch of the true Church of Christ in the
world, and that known as the Eonum Church. It has
long ippeared to me as if Protestants were, to an alarm-
ing dogreo, forgetting the great reasons which induced
our pious Bishops and fathers of the Keformation to fight
so maniiilly, even " to the death," for the doctrines and
princinlcs of our Church. Our own Clergy have not per-
haps preached so often on the subject us they ought, and
I fear that I myself have shared largely in the general
neglect in this matter, especially when I remember that
by the Canons of the Church, which 1 have sworn to obey,
wo are bound to preach four times a year against what is
commonly called Popery. From this cause perhaps it is
in a great measure that there is a belief gaining ground
among the yoimg and uninformed, who seldom hear the
Clergy speaking against these things, and who have no
other means of learning the truth except at the '^ Priest's
lii)s," that both Churches are much alike, and *hat it is
little matter to which we belong. Advantage is thus tak-
en for inter-marriages, and for making concessions which
wouhl never be made if a proper acquaintance on the
subject existed among the people generally.

The duty of Protestants is to obtain all the information
they can on the principles of the Reformation and the
nature and spirit of the Roman Church, teaching the same
to their children with all possible cnro, while they should

take c;.ro to l,a,ve so much of the spirit of tlic Gospel in
tlieniselves, as not to use carnal weapons, or world!/ rea^

'X't/^f r r''Tf; "'^rr''''^ of UieSpint" which is
oiv^ -Vr'^ ' '.?^^ ^'^' gentleness of Christ which

^iNc. not evil for evil, but contrariwise, blessin<r"

.hnnll o'^joetion which a 7^./Ww,,/ "Catholic

Otiuich is--their not taking tfio Bible, in its plainest
sen.e,asthe only infallible^.n<l unchangeable lulTe of
j<ith and as of gi-eater authority than all the clercry or
e churches m the world put together, whether as hav-
ing hyed, living, or that may live hereafter. The English
Cathohcs sav they respect the office of their Bishops and
dergy very highly for their work's .ake, but they ilspect
he Bible above all,* the Roman Catholics say they wil

^reTot^^l•^' \" '^'' ^^^^V^^ ''' '^'''''^ clergy,^who alone
Th. F 1 f n"^"? l^' }"" *^^^ ^'^S-^^^ i)iterpretation of it.

Ihe English Catholic Clergy say we are fallible men as
well as our ay brethren. We hold, it is true, the place
01 rulers m the Church of God, but ^e are not to tmst to

w^tV'r "^rl' "'w " ?' ^?'"^"f ' ''''''^' ""' '^^' ^« tliey agree
with God s Word, and on that account we must give the

\liT v/'T'Vn""/^'^^^ ^' '""'y '''' ^^'''^ '''^''^^ ^ve teach
IS the \yord of God, and not our own inventions or the
traditions of men.

But the Eoman clergy say no ; the ])eople need not the
l^ible— we are the only ministers of Christ who have
power to open and to shut the gates of Heaven, you are
to believe us, and not trouble yourselves about what the
Jbible says.

he synonymous. ChHst clid inrV^i ^Vm Sit^^^ r*"^" *''"^'^°'

and interp.vtc of Scripture an.l I c . 11,1 nv.k, ? T ?,"" Vl.'"''V" '''' tliCfrur.rdiari
the chief 'corner-stone tKn:!! ion'o" H C u r^^BVir H 7'?'^' "™-"»">«'""«
gave authority to Peter over Lis k-other Apostle" A.,'""^^ '" &7'l't"re

Churcl, of God nor the Pope of Rome 1 ii " ev ;nll ohnv T ^ u' ?'"'^' ""^^^ "'" *''°
spisc all anthoritv, forj^cttiU thaMheir on n iVn^^ .n ^ J^" '' * "'""^ ^ ''''>' ^'^•
oUer, and that ""no Scriptu^^ i";t> -^ •£ Sl^};'^^ »^'' i'''*^ - ^"7

Churdi as a guide to our conscienci, an tl fcCch S ves u h !vV"Jl'' '" '*' ''"
sec her doctrines arc contained tlierci i n u nnV f .V ^ u ''*^ "' !'° ''''" '^'^ '"">'

our own destruction, „s the JmlearS an !n"Sb lo " "s/o ^'^^ ^.^f^''-^'"
Bishop Jlopkin. on the Jiritish Ueformatiun. ^^c Ictcr ch. ni. lo. Sec al.o

ino;

f»JS

i 'II II ' Wtm

-^■^^'ig^m^'-^stm'F:

The EngliMh Catliulio clergy .sii y tlii^ is ti now clootrino.
It was not so in the first ages of tlio Gosju'l. 'Ilie cleigy
in those days were guided by the Word of Cod jiIoirs
and by the rules and ceremonies established ))y inspired
a])oatlcs, and so we should be at all times and in'all plaecs.
We should always put the Bible above the Chureli, and
the Church next to the Bible ; neither should we trust
those clergy too much who scum to be so unwilling to
let us see for ourselves what that holy book says on all
these important matters.

But Komanists will say — Protestants have abused the
Bible, most of them seldom read it, and when they do so
it is very carelessly and very partially, and it leads them
into sects and parties. You cannot expect the working
classes to study as mnch as they ought to know the true
meaning of the Bible.
To this the English Catholics rci)ly, that if the Bible is
abused by many, and if it seems to lead them into sects,
it is not the fault of the Bible, nor of the clergy, but th^^
fault of the corrupt human heart, which is always inclineu
to make a bad use of the best gifts of God, and that the
clergy themselves, without the Bible, are just as liable to
make a bad use of their authority, and have actually done
so in a most dangerous and pernicious manner, at tht
time when the people had no Bibles, and when the clergy
themselves were full of ignorance, and thus became
blindly superstitious.

Besides, the English and Eefoimed Catholics believe
that those passages of Scripture which call upon us to
study the Sacred Writings, apply to all, u th clergy and
laity. The Saviour says in the Gospel of St. John, v. 39,
" Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." St.
Paul says to Timothy, " But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, know-
ing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a
child thou hast known the Holy Scripturen, which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus." "All Scripture is given us by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for y&

proof, for ooiroctioii, foi instruetloa in ri«^htooiisness. that
the man of God may bo perfect, thoroughly furnished un-
to nil good v,'orks."

Again, we are told " fliat the peonle of IJerea Hcnrclied
the iScripti res duU// to nee w hether what t)ie Apostle., told
them were s(; or not." All these passages do not lead
us to suppose that the people had not the b'criptures to stu-
dy and to search, or tluit they were to leave them entirely
into the Priest's hands. As everybody is at liberty to buy
the laws of the country in which he lives, and to study
them, yet without having, on Hiat account, the right to
break tho^e laws or to rule that country, so every Chris-
tian is at liberty, and it is his duty to have the Word and
will of God in his possession, and to study it carefully and
with a humble and obedient mind, yet he is not, for all
that, allowed to l)reak the rules of that blessed book, or to
take upon him any authority which belongs alone to
God's ministers. We give the Bible because we arc not
afraid to have it as a wimeas against us.

But there are many errors amoi:g Protestants, Roman
Catholics as 111 say. It is true, we reply ; but the Roman
church herself is also fallen into so many new and strange
doctrines that nobody w^iU trust his soul into it who pro-
perly understands the Holy Scriptures. We do not mean
to say that every one of her members is lost. God forbid.
God, for Ch) 'st's sake, will forgive those who do His will
as far as they know. But we mean to say that she holds
so many erroneous doctrines, whicli she says must be be-
lieved as necessary to salvation, that her members are in
the greatest danger possible of making total shipwreck
concerning the faith ; nay, but w^e believe that she, as a
body, has r.ctually greatly erred — thai she has very little
indeed of what can be truly called Catholic and Apostolic
truth in her creeds and ceremonies, of which I proceed tc
give some powerful proofs.

The first great and fundamental error which is to be
found in the Roman Creed is on the doctrine of Justiiica-
tion. They do not believe that faith in Christ alone jus-
tifies the sinner. This error proceeds from the want of a
proper knowledge of the Scriptures; for if the Bible were

well read among llioni, thonsoiuls would most undoubted-
ly gludly embrace its gracious nud free salvntiun, instead
of U3penduig upon "those couunanumenta of men which
render the Word of God of none oftect;'~.Matt. xv. 2, 8.
A decree of the Cour.cil of Trent savH, that " if any one
8hall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confi-
dence in the Divine mercy pardoning sins for Chrisfn
sf.ke, or that it is that confidence alone bv which we are
justified, let him be accursed." This i..; the root of all the
other errors of Romanism. They do not believe that
Christ alone is able or sufficient to w>ve us— they do not
trust his merits^ sufferings, death, and intercession alone,
as we are so often ex: ted to do in the Holy Bible, but
all kinds ol good works., they say, our own, together with
as many as we can buy, or borrow, from saint?, and
the prayers of the Cl vg^^, of the Virgin Mary, of depart-
ed saints, and of angel ^, who arc proved to s' ^etines
more than God himself, all these besides suffe-' rco'in
a great imaginary fiie called Purgatory, +^ i'mish in us
what our good works, or the blood of Christ could n*)t fin-
ish, are necessary to our salvation !

Now the Catholic clergy of Eng.and say that a!i this is
new in the Chrisiiaii Church, nav.but that such doctrines
were never formally embraced by any part -f Christen-
dom before the Council uf Trent, which Council only
completed the mischief of the dark ages. We believe ft
to be the destruction of all Gosrel doctrine, and to detract
from Gods glory and from Christ's merits and death, to
hive recourse to any other merits than his own, nay, but
we believe ourselves so full of sin, and all our i)rayera, ^
web as those of all other saints, even including tlie blessed
virgm, so imperfect, as not to be worth ofrenng ui) to
God except through the all-atoninir sacrifice once offered
for the sins of the whole world. We believe also that
good works are necessary, bu.; not meritorious; thcv are
necessary to shew our gratitude to God for the unspeak-
able gift of his own dear 8on ; and " when we have done
all ttiat which is commanded us," we are t. ught bv our
blessed Lord to «ay « we are still unprofit(d:)le servants."—
Luke XVII. 10. How then can any of our works be meri-

wyi

lorious in the .'^iglit of God? or liow can we (lepeiid iii)on
those of others, since '• all men luive sinned .'ind come
short of tlie ghjry" of God, and thus all men have need of
the sriie saving grace which is alone tobefonnd by faith
in Christ Jesns ? Oh ! wonld that the members of the
lioman Church nnderi-^tood these sacred i)assagcs as thev
ought. St. Panl says in Iiom. xi. (*», '• If by grace, then is
it no more of works ; otherwise grace is iio more grace ;
otherwise woriv is no more work :" and Gal. v. 4, " Chii^t
is become of no effect nnto yon. whosoever of von aic
justified ])y the law ; ye are fallen from grace." ' Again.
Eph. 11. S. For by grace are ye saved, "through faith ;
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God : not of
works lest any man should boast."

The next great and new error — new at least to the true
Catholic Church, is the doctrine of the Mass. In the
Mass they believe tliat they every time renew the sacri-
fice of the Cross. '• I profess," says Pope Pius IV. '• that
in the Mass there is offered to God a true, ])roper and ])ro-
pitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead ; and tliat
in the Sacrament there is truly, really, and substantially,
the body and blood, together with the soul andDivinitV
of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that there is made a con-
version of the whole sn'jstance of the In-ead into the
body, and of the v>hole snbstance of the a\ iiie into the
blood, which the Catholic Church calls transubf>tantiation,'"

To this the English Catholic re])lies, that no snch doc-
trine ever entered the head or the heart of the lirst Chris-
tians. It is all ii corruption of the original benutiful and
simple institution (;f tlie Lord's Su])])er. Our Saviour
merely took bread and wine, and ]>lcssed them, and gave
them to his disciples, saying, " This is my ])ot!y, do tliis
in remem1)rance of me." lie wished his followers never
to forget llim, and ever to bear in mind what he had suf-
fered f)i^ tlirn, tliat th'\\- might feed their souls by hiith,
aud in a spiritual uiauui'i'. ii})OH liis nu'rilorious saciilice,
])iit lie neser meant thnt llie bicnd auu llie ^\iue shoidd
becom,'. inalcriilhf^ his real fl'sh and )dood ; they were to
liO nsed only as means (f imiou with IJim l.)V j'aith, and
v.itli bis b,)i!\- the (,'!..■(•!] iu'lil;nil heie on earth, as Avell

,„. r»,tf

iKKmmsms%*-''=mfm'ii:~r-mimSia!^ ^£t!g^j^^

ml n])on
1(1 come
' need of
by laith
i oi* the
^ a.s lliev

, then is
.^ grace ;
^^ Llnki
\o\\ aic
Auain.
li iaJth I
: not ol"

the true
\n the
he f-;acri-
\ '• that
and ])ro-
[nd tJiat
antially,
Divinitv
3 a con-
nto the
into tl]o
tiation,"
iicli doc-
st Chri.s-
il'iil and
tSavioiir
nd li'ave
do t)iis
rs never
]iad Hiil-
jv' faith,
"^aciilice,
L' hlionhl
were to
th, and
. as Avell

as with that wliich i.s triumphant above, ir^t. Paul Fay><,
'- Christ was ollered once for alb" How then can any man
olfer him .;gain ? Ifo oiiered himself for uf, and wo can
only present onr prayers, and oHer the sacrifice of our-
selves, our bodies and souls, our alms and oblations, to
Him, as our most reasonable service. This was the Apos-
tles' doctrine, and it is also that of the true Catholic
Church. Indeed no Church has, a right to be called Ca-
thoHc which in any way destroys the real meaning and
sense of the word of Gocl.^ I ought also to have '^men-
tioned that this Roman view of the Sacrament loads the
l)eople to worship the biead and the wine, <ind to call it
(hod, and thus produces idolatry ! It also leads to an ex-
traordinary reverence for the^clergv, who are believed
capable of converting by a lew word's bread and wme mto
real God ! But indeed, beloved, the idea is so shocking
that I cannot dwell upon it any longer. It would rcqui/e
luany sermons to [)oint out all the' unscriptural doomas
into which this poor degenerate Church has fallen. "One
or two more I must allude to, though [ fear the time will
not permit me to be very explicit. "

Let us coirsider for a few moments the honour which
is paid by Romanists to the viigin, to angels, and saints.
They pray to these invisible beings, and kneel before
their images, as heathens do belbre their wooden gods,
and call upon their assistance and intercession, as if'diey
had the power of onniipresence, which belongs to Go*d
alone ! God alone can see and hear all things at the same
time, and lias promised to hear our prayeiS tor his Son's
sake, but in no other way. Jesus says :'^ •• I am the way,

* Tho Author's view.-; on tlio Sacraiivnts iiiiiv ho fiirtlior exjilniiu'd ns fWilow-i ■— V
Sa.Tniiu'ut consists of two piirts— " the uiitwanr ami visi!,!e .-l-n, aiw! rlio inwai-l "n I
sinntiiai .uraee." (See ('liiu'eli Cafeel.iMa ) So Ion- as we live in t!ie Cluiivii n.i.itai.t
I'M' iwo iKirts must lie iiisej.arai.le *o niaixo a Saeramenf. He is no trae eoni;miiii,.-.iit
\y]M does not partake of l.otii tlie outward ^ij^n and tiie spirhu il grace. As tliere is i.„
t nil witlioiit worli';, so there is no " inward oraec" wiiiiont " the outward .>i.'n." T!io
oatwani si-n would he no ..aintary Sacrament, ifdeprivid of t!ie inward -ralv. Tl'us
lo siiythat the bread and wine in fh- Lord'.s .Supi)er heconie, inateriiilv the verv /
hod, :ind hlood of Christ, is the IJoaiish, not the Catholic, duciriiie ; and to (+rmi tli'tA^"/
tlie hread ami wnie mo not tiie niCM's v h. rel v Me ixeeivc .spiiiiiml • ra.c o- that fh.V
are not spu-itual food to the helicver, to •' the t'cren-thenini;' and relVe>liiM;. of uiir ,nou ',
!iy the !)ody an J blood of Christ, as uiir lujdies are hy tlie hread and wiuH," is erpia-ilr
nncatholie and heretical. 'I'he -^plrihial i.rescn.'C of C'lni-t in t!ie Sacrament wa«. n v^'r
disputed hy the ''!iure!i nf Kn-!aiid. hut ou'v tlie ,MLnu! cl ■>:■■■'• nf ihceiuneuts ea'lid

I i':Hi'rjiLl.llrUi'j:>.''

III

the truth, and the life, no one cometh to the Father but
by me." — John xiv. 6. But the Koman Church tries to
approach God by many other ways. " There is one Me-
diator between God and man," says the Bible, but the
Pope har invented a great many. Pie says that the vir-
gin Mary is the Mother of God ! and so can hear our
prayers ; but the true Catholic cannot believe God to
have had, at any time, a beginning, therefore He cannot
have had a mother ! That part of Christ which was God
was God from all eternity, and could not proceed of the
virgin Mary. Mary was merely the Mother of Jesus
Christ's humanity, but not of his Divinity. Mary, besides,
acknowledges herself a sinner saved by Christ as well as
others, so that she could have been no other than an hon-
oured vessel chosen by God to bring his Son into the
world. To worship her, to pray to her or any saint, is
giving to the creature the honour due alone to the Crea-
tor, and is therefore pure idolatry !

The next monstrous error is that of the pretended wfcdli-
hilUy of the Church. Romanists believe their Church
cannot err — cannot be wrong, and that it was always the
eame and is unchangeable. But the Tnglish Catholic
Bays, with the Scriptures, that all Churches may err, and
hive erred ; and that even in the Apostles' times many
Churches under lawful Bishops, had already fallen into
-irror, as will be seen by reading attentively the first
Chapters of the Revelation of St. John, and other parts of
Scripture. There is no man upon earth, however high or
holy his office may be, that is not liable to be deceived or
mistaken. The same may be said of any institution.
Since the Christian Church was first planted in Rome it
has chano;ed in a most extraordinary manner. It has
adopted too much of worldly wisdom and human pohcy,
and lost its character as a Scriptural body. Its Priests
were rightly ordained, it is true ; but as a father is always
a father, though he may fiill into very serious mistakes,
so the clergy that are truly ordained are always clergy-
men, though they may greatly ei'r upon some points.
The Saviour him^^elf gives us his opinion on this subject.

js-^^s^tk- V- m^j smm4^^i^-%- ^ ~

-tlier but
I tries to

one Me-

but the
; the vir-
lear our

God to
e cannot
was God
d of the
of Jesus
, besides,
s well as

an hon-

into the

saint, is

he Crea-

ed infaUi-
Church
vays the
Catholic
err, and
es many
lien into
the first
? parts of
.' high or
eived or
5titution.
Rome it
It has
n policy,
) Priests
s always
nistakes,
s clergy-
points,
subject.

13 '

" The Scribes aud Pharisees are seated iu Mosej*' seat,'*
says he, yet he says that they were fallen into sad and
dangerous errors, even so much as to " make the com-
mandment of God of none effect by their own traditions."
Traditions are good only when they establish, not when
they destruy, the truth.

But, it might be said, :f the Pvomish clergy are truly
ordained, as you admit, why then not unite with them in
order to correct their mistakes, and try to mend the evils
into wbich we believe they have ftillen?

To this wc reply, that we, as English Catholics, have
our own lawful Bishops and Clergy, who never would
fully acknowledge the Bishop or Pope of Rome to have
any authority over this Church or nation. We were for
a thne under the Pope, but it was when we were forced
to it, and then not from the beginning. Indeed, the Pope
never had the power which he claims, before hundreds
of years after the Christian era, when the Emperor Phocas
made him Bishop over all the Bishops of the world, and
even king of kings, and lord of lords.^ This authority,
however, never was given him by Christ or his Apostles,
and was rejected in England by the Clergy and Nation so
soon as Providence gave them an opportunity. When
the Apostles went about establishing churches, they^ ap-
pointed bishops and clergy over them ; but each province
or each nation had its own independent bishops, p.nd the
bishops from other provinces were never allowed to inter-
fere with their brethren in their respective Dioceses. Nei-
ther did any of the Bishops assume authority over
other bishops, other than the laws of the whole Church
had defined. One was generally chosen to preside
in their assemblies, as the Archbishop of Canterbury does
in England, but no further. The English Church had
her own Bishops from the Apostles' times, and the Bishop
of Rome, even if he were now right on all points of the
Christian doctrine, add not have any power over us, ex-
cept through usurpation. We wish to have none but kind
feeUngs towards him, personally, but we wish him to re-
main satisfied with his own province, as our own bishops
do, and that he may do all ho can to correct the great and

f ■

i I

{ t

(1an;i:<.'roii.s orrois into wliicli lie 'i.*is ralleii. Yes, bretlireii,
it is our duty to pray earnestly unto God that the veil
may soon l)e taken fioni our l'oin;ni Catliolie friends' cj'g.-
and tbat ihev UK'n' see that we are indeed tl

leir true and

b"st iVlends

It is not in Protestant eoinitries you can see the evil
genius of Popery. There is too much of the enlightening
rays of iloly l^eripturo to allow them to come out under
theii' true colours. You must go into those countries
where no kind of reformation is allowed, wliere the Bible
is mH reati, and where the Inquisition, or at least the spirit
of it reigns in all its terror, and there you will see whether
the pi'ople are led, as they ought to be, to that blood
which cleanseth us from all ^nu' sins, and to that only Me-
diator between God and man, Jesus Christ the righteous;
or rather, whether the praise aiul glory which alone be-
long to this good and great Saviour, is not given to Popes
and Priests, to Angels and Saints, to the hlthy rags of
pretended good works, to relics, crosses,* images, indul-
gences, and an infniite number of ceremonies, forming
such a heap of " wood, hay, and stubble," as to coveV
from view " the only name given under Heaven whereby
man can be saved."

There is but one more error to which the time will
permit me brietly to allude. I mean the Eoman principle
— that Christians may use force of arms and all kinds of
carnal vveapons to conquer the opinions and principles of
others. Their belief is, that those who difler from theni
may even be put to death, if, by that means, the Koman
Church can be increased and benefitted. This is so
shocking a doctrine that it i''' a most dilficult thing to
believe that it can be for one moment entertained by any
person of sound sense and reason ; and indeed, I can-

* Tho Cross is callcil by our Cliurcli " the banner oF Christ oruciiiiMl."' It wtis
usfd in thnt sense alone ijy tlic primitive CImrcli. To nuil^c it t'lo fipciial sisn, or
hnnner, of Popery, then, is t,^ivin<,^ an ii(lvitnf:i;re to Komo to which she lias no"riniit.
There is a w'de dirarcnee between the riglit ami wron;;; use (jt'a tiiinj,'. If wo must bo
ashanieil of " the banner of Christ" because some inixkc a su])erstition.s use of it, we
must, l>y the same reasoning', bo nshamed of every otiier (lee(>nt tiling wiiieh \vc h'ave,
if it have ever been aliused. And wliat is there upon earth whirh is n(jt abused, bv lioth
Vrotostauls.nnd Uotnanists ? • Tiio RiWe, and the most holv Sac rameut.s are dreaViliiliv
;ilni«Pii ; are we, i!i"!i, on iliat a<'i'ounf, to reiect iln-ni altoL^tlirr '.

ruG aiKi

) cover

not but 1101)0 tliat few oiitertjiin it in this roi.ntrv,
(lioiii;-!! m'Auy iacts luive lately ( onie to my ki:ov.lLd»>o
which have greatly astonii^hcd me. lint surely, duc
should think that there would be too much of the f'.i)iiit
of the Gospel abroad in these Pi ovintci^ to i^ciniit M.th
|)rinci[)les to grow very rile.

It is, however, my opinion, that thousands b'elong to the
Kon.an Church who are (juite ignorant of its i:nscjii)Uiial
charai'ter, and Avho Avould soon shake oil' its trammels and
its chains, if they oidy woidd listen to the AYoid of God,
and receive it in its true, and plain, and unsophisticated
sense. It is bad enough when a spirit of obstinacy f.nd
bhndness takes hold of us in support of any sect or paity.
It is sad enough when Christians cannot follow the ])rimi-
tive model o^ vniifj and love, by making those great Goi^pel
l)rinci]des work together for the reformation of all the er-
rors which may from time to time ha})pen to exist in na-
tional churches, or their individual members, (for this is,
beloxed, the true Catholic spirit, a (■})irit of toleration,
without partaking of other men's sins,) but when a spirit
of intolerance takes place and is sanctioned b}- one .that
calls herself a Christian church, nay, but the only Chi-is-
tian church in the world, then it is that her own members
ought to begin to yee that there is something wrong at
the bottom.

Christ '• came not to destroy men's lives, but to save."
When his disciples, under an erroneous spirit, wanted to
call down fire from above to consume liis enemies, he
])romptl3' re])roved them by these significant words— "^e
know not what manner of spirit ye are of" — Luke ix. 55.
The spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of truth and grace, and
truth and grace, or peace, must '• kiss each other," or Ihey
lose their eflect and their object. I want to declare my-
self a Protestant, individuals have often told me ; but you
must iu)t reveal it, for I am afraid of mv Poman Catholic
friends, who, 1 am sure, would kill me, if they knew it.
Komani^s will say, perhaps, that they have been long
ke]it unl?er disabilities by Protestants ; but they may
be sure that would not have been the case had they been
as o-ood su1)iccts of the British 'j'hrone as tbev are of the

^1 ,

— t

•pi*

.15 •

I'ope of Rome. It is because we know them to be mon
attached to a Foreign Prince, or Bishop, than to their law
ful one, that we are afraid of them. We know not th,
moment the Pope, through his a^^ents, the Priests wil
call upon them to revolt and murder all the Protestant
in their neighborhood, promising them eternal life lor s(
doing,— and this is the cause why we are uiiwilhngli
obliged to look upon them with more suspicion than upor
any other body of Her Majesty's subjects.

I would now. Beloved, conclude, by addressing a le^^
words of application to Protestants more particularly. I
^•s now three hundred years since our forefathers taught
and died for the great blessings of the Bible in its purity
for the Church as it was in primitive times, lor lait i ii
Christ alone, for English instead of Latin prayers and foi
the worship of the one True God without dividing it amonj
a number of saints, angels, &c., whom the Bible plainl3
forbids us to worship. We have all these blessing'
We have the Catholic Church upon the primitive mode)
We have the Divine office [our Prayer-book] so Iramec
that our prayers alone will ever preach Christ and th<
way to Heaven, so long as they remain as they are, eyei
though our clergy should unhappily preach folse doctiinc
Is it not, then, the duty of Protestants never to forget th<
necessity of explaining these things plainly and distmctlj
to their'children, shewing them the necessity of ever pm
testing against such dangerous abuses and oi tirml]
maintaining the faith as it was once delivered to thj
saints ? Oh ! mv beloved, would that we all had the spi
lit of the Gosp'el, which wvas, and must be, lu all tru<
Christians : and then wo would feel on these matters a
we ought to feel. Let us only feel alive to our own sal
vationl-let us only be anxious to obtain the forgiyenes
of our many sins— let us only seek that forgiveness m th.
Sacrifice of the Cross till we find it, and then we wil
know the value of Christ alone as our only Saviour, am
will do all in our power to impart the same bjAssmgs t|
Others, to our chUdren, our neighbours, and tt^^^he worl'
«t large.

St. Paul's, .Tan'y, 1851.

^f ■-

.".•.lijj^rf -