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THE REFORMATION: 
 
 a 
 
 BRIEF EXPOSITION 
 
 OF SOME OF THE 
 
 ERRORS AND CORRUPTIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 &t)urcf) of Home. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RT. REV. ALEXANDER VIETS GRISWOLD, D. D., 
 
 LATE BISHOP OP THE EASTERN ' DIOCESE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JAMES B. DOW, PUBLISHER. 
 1843. 
 I. 
 
> 
 
 .*>*: 
 
 GP 
 
 19781 
 
THE REFORMATION. 
 
 The objection so long and so much urged against 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, as having retained 
 the errors of the Romish religion, is being revived. 
 And with mortification and shame we must acknowl- 
 edge the fact, that efforts are now making, by Pro- 
 testant Episcopalians even, to stigmatize the Reforma- 
 tion as being without principle and without use, and 
 even a departure from the true Catholicism of the 
 church of Christ. 
 
 Emboldened by this extraordinary movement, a 
 bishop of the Romish Church has published a 
 " Letter, addressed to the Bishops of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church," inviting them to union with the 
 Papists, and more than intimating that there is now 
 but little which separates us from them ; that sub- 
 mitting to the pope is necessary to the saving of our 
 souls; and that, unless we do it, numbers may break 
 from our ranks. 
 
 Whether we shall be more sure of saving our souls 
 by acknowledging as our spiritual lather him whom 
 St. Paul justly styles " the man of sin," usurping 
 authority above God himself, (2 Thess. ii- 3, 1.) Borne 
 will be likely to question; but it is not the question 
 which I now propose to examine. They who arc 
 
4 
 
 disposed to break from our ranks, will do us less 
 injury as acknowledged Papists ; and the sooner* 
 they make the change, the better for us, though I 
 feat not the better lor themselves. In regard to the 
 Roman religion, I desire chiefly that people may 
 know fairly what it is : if any truly prefer it, 'tis a 
 matter between them and their God. And when, in 
 those countries, where Popery wholly predominates, 
 there shall be the same toleration, the same liberty 
 given to all to teach what they believe, and to read 
 what they will, as with us is given to them, I shall 
 never complain of their increase. That Popery has 
 been instrumental of good, of great good, (if any so 
 please,) I have no intention to deny, but would 
 rather bless God for all good that is done. I would, 
 with St. Paul, rejoice that Christ, in his true charac- 
 ter and office, is preached by those even who, in 
 other respects, are in error, and their motives not 
 pure. The apostle did not rejoice in what was evil, 
 but in the good done, — that the knowledge of 
 Christ was promulgated, and souls converted to 
 God. There is no denomination of sincerely reli- 
 gious Christians who are not made instrumental of 
 some good. But who can count the evils which 
 corrupt doctrines and usurped power have pro- 
 duced? We are not to follow a multitude to do 
 evil, but to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, 
 and leave the event with God. 
 
 It is not, I trust, more my duty than it is my 
 desire, to treat all men, and especially those who are 
 of the household of faith, with due respect. And it 
 will not be improper to say something of the names 
 by which Christians are distinguished. It is very 
 common for particular sects to assume names, or to 
 be usually distinguished by denominations, as pecu- 
 liar to themselves, which might as justly be applied 
 to others. And, for convenience, we give them those 
 names, without acknowledging their exclusive claims. 
 Some people are distinguished as Deists: but they 
 
are far from being the only people who believe, what 
 the word signifies, that there is a God. One sect of 
 Christians are called Friends, and another, United 
 Brethren; and yet other Christians are friends, and 
 they unite as brethren. Some call themselves Uni- 
 tarians, as believing in one God ; though all the 
 disciples of Christ believe that there is but one true 
 God. We call some Baptists, which signifies bap- 
 tizers ; and, though we believe that other denomina- 
 tions also baptize, we consent that this one sect 
 should be so distinguished. Those of our Church 
 in this country are often distinguished by the word 
 Episcopalians, when nine tenths, probably, of the 
 Christians in the whole world, are also Episcopalians. 
 The like is true of the term catholic, which signifies 
 general, liberal, universal. It is somewhat arrogant- 
 ly assumed by one sect or part of the universal 
 church, as exclusively appropriate to themselves ; and 
 people are accustomed so to distinguish them. The 
 Romish Church is usually called the Catholic Church; 
 though it is but a part, and not the purest part, of 
 the " One Catholic and Apostolic Church." And it 
 should be always remembered that, when in the 
 Apostle's Creed we profess to believe in " the Holy 
 Catholic Church," we have no more regard to the 
 Church of Rome than to the Church of England, or 
 Russia, or Greece. We mean the whole body of 
 those who, by baptism, have put on Christ, and are 
 branches of him, the true Vine ; and especially those 
 who " are very members incorporate in his mysti- 
 cal body, — the blessed company of all faithful peo- 
 ple." So far as the word means liberal, tolerant, or 
 free, no church is less catholic than the Romish. 
 There is, indeed, a manifest impropriety in applying 
 this epithet exclusively to any one part or branch of 
 the Christian church. The Church o( England, or 
 America, of ( rreece, or i)( Rome, cannot, o( Itself, be 
 the Catholic Church, more than a part can be the 
 whole. The Romanists, indeed, claim to be the 
 1* 
 
whole of the Church in which salvation can be 
 obtained; and there are, perhaps, a few other de- 
 nominations who make the like arrogant preten- 
 sion^ ; but the truly catholic Christian has no such 
 narrow views of that salvation which is by faith in 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The whole system of the Romish religion most 
 essentially depends on the Papal hierarchy, or the 
 power claimed by the Bishop of Rome; and the 
 word Papists is, of course, the most distinguishing 
 and suitable appellation of the members of that com- 
 munion. And for this reason it is that I use it, and 
 not from any design or feelings of disrespect. There 
 is the same reason and fitness in calling them Pa- 
 pists, as in calling us Prelatists or Episcopalians, 
 and why the one should give any reasonable offence 
 to them, more than the others to us, I cannot 
 imagine. 
 
 The purpose of what is now proposed to be offered 
 on the subject of the Reformation, is not any contro- 
 versy with Papists or censures of Popery ; but to 
 show, (whether it be right or wrong,) what the Re- 
 formation is, — in w T hat we profess to be reformed. 
 What is now so confidently said, that there remains 
 very little which divides us from the Romish Church, 
 is, I fear, becoming the belief or view of many of 
 our own people. It certainly is not merely fitting, 
 but highly important, that they should be set right in 
 this matter ; that they should know in what and how 
 many particulars the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 the United States differs from what was generally 
 held and practised in the church in the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century, when the Reformation com- 
 menced. 
 
 Should it be said, that some of the particulars, 
 which I may notice, are not held by the Romish 
 Churchy I rejoice if it be so, and have only to say, 
 that at the time immediately preceding the Reforma- 
 tion, they did generally prevail, and were not, by 
 
popes or clergy, condemned or opposed. We fre- 
 quently hear it said of this point or that, though cer- 
 tainly taught and practised, where that religion fully 
 prevails, is not required by their church. This seems 
 to admit that such points are erroneous, and that we 
 do well in rejecting them. They indeed who would 
 know what popery is, should reside in the countries 
 where it predominates, as in Italy, Portugal, and 
 Spain. Where Protestants bear sway, as in Eng- 
 land and in these United States, Romanism has a 
 very different appearance. Or should it be said that 
 the Romanists are, in some things, themselves re- 
 formed, we believe and rejoice in it ; but we should 
 not forget that this change for the better is the effect 
 of the knowledge of the scriptures, and of the doc- 
 trines of Christ, which the Reformation has produced ; 
 and that the Romanists claim to be infallible, — to 
 be free from all error, and that they never change. 
 And so, too, if they give, as they very much do, 
 plausible explanations, to obviate what seems to us 
 objectionable, it shows that they are conscious that 
 such explanations are necessary to reconcile their 
 tenets to the holy scriptures, and that Protestants are 
 wise in taking ground which needs no such expla- 
 nation. 
 
 That the Church of Rome, under the pontificate 
 of Leo X. and several of his predecessors, was, in 
 doctrine, morals, and discipline, corrupt, very few, it 
 is believed, who fairly consult the history of those 
 times, will, at the present day, venture to deny. By 
 the churches of several countries, those corruptions 
 were, in the sixteenth century, more or less rejected ; 
 and some, we fear, in their zeal to remove the tares, 
 have rooted up some stalks of the good wheat. It 
 is enough, for our present purpose, to mention the 
 Church of England, from which we emanate. As 
 an independent National Church, she shook off the 
 usurped authority of foreign powers, and asserted 
 the liberty wherewith Christ ha^ made her free. 
 
8 
 
 What shall be said in the following pages may, it is 
 hoped, help some to judge whether or not a reforma- 
 tion was necessary, — whether our Church has re- 
 tained all that is essential to the religion of Jesus 
 Christ, and has rejected any thing but what was a 
 departure from the sure word of God, and was worse 
 than useless. 
 
 And here I would briefly observe, that the claims 
 of differing sects to be Protestants is no better argu- 
 ment against our use of the word, than their like 
 claim to be believers, or Christians, or disciples of 
 Christ, or members of his Church, is against our use 
 of these appellations. The question is, Against 
 what do we protest? If against any part of the 
 truth of God, as revealed in his word, we err. I 
 have,' in these remarks, no controversy with the 
 Papists, nor ill-will, I humbly trust, against any de- 
 nomination of Christians. I desire to love all who 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth. 
 In my attempt to show what the Protestant Episco- 
 pal Church in these United States now is, and our 
 reasons for rejecting some things which other Chris- 
 tians hold, no offence to any will be intended, and 
 it is hoped that none will be taken. " Let every one 
 be persuaded in his own mind," and " to his own 
 Master let him stand or fall." Whether this our 
 Church has rejected too little or too much, we invite 
 a candid inquiry, and would have every one, after 
 due examination, act according to his true convic- 
 tions, and to the knowledge and grace given him. 
 
 § I. It has been before observed that the system of 
 the Romish religion most essentially depends on the 
 papal hierarchy, or the power claimed by the Bishop 
 of Rome. Of course, it is proper that this should 
 be numbered as the first among the points against 
 which we protest. It was said by one writer, (if I 
 mistake not, by an English bishop,) that it seems 
 unreasonable that any of the Protestant Episcopal 
 
9 
 
 Church should incline more to favor the Roman 
 Church, " who are unsound in every thing but the 
 ministry, than those Dissenters who are unsound in 
 the ministry only." But, in fact, there is no other 
 one point in which the Roman Church, in the view 
 of Protestants, is more in error than in the ministry. 
 They have set up an order of priesthood, of which 
 true Christianity knows nothing, far above all other 
 orders, and every thing human. The pope claims 
 authority over all the ministers of Christ, of any 
 grade, and indeed over all the powers of the earth, 
 both civil and ecclesiastical. Of what his claims are, 
 and what authority he has exercised, none who read 
 ecclesiastical history can be ignorant. The Bishop 
 of Arath tells us that the pope's power " interferes 
 with civil liberty and independence no farther than 
 the divine law puts bounds to human power, and says 
 to the pride of man, Thus far shalt thou go, and here 
 shalt thou break thy swelling waves." * And as the 
 pope claims to be the infallible interpreter of the 
 divine law, this disclaimer amounts to no more than 
 that the pope interferes with the civil liberty and in- 
 dependence of kingdoms and states no farther than 
 what seems to him fitting. What he has in many 
 instances done, and what power the Roman Church 
 claims for him, is well known to all who have can- 
 didly made the inquiry. My present purpose is 
 but to remind the reader that it is a power against 
 which we protest. We deny that God has given 
 such power to any one man ; nor is there, indeed, 
 any proof that Christ gave to any one of his min- 
 isters such authority over the others. The papa] 
 hierarchy is a power remarkably distinct from Chris- 
 tianity ; the pope appoints the cardinals, and the 
 cardinals elect the pope. He has various orders of 
 clergy dispersed through the world, subject to him- 
 self, and not to the bishops of the churches. The 
 
 * Letter, p. 12. 
 
10 
 
 popes, indeed) have uniformly endeavored, and with 
 too much success, to lessen the authority of Christian 
 bishops, the more to exalt their own. It is remarka- 
 ble, that, when they assume that office, they renounce 
 or discard the use of their Christian names, given at 
 their baptism. In this, indeed, they act consistently; 
 as the office is no part of Christianity, it seems fitting 
 that they should not, as popes, be distinguished by 
 the sacred names which would indicate their con- 
 nection with the church of Christ. 
 
 § II. Another thing against which we protest is 
 the pope's pretended power to dispose of kingdoms 
 and states, and to excommunicate as heretics, all who 
 deny his authority. That this he has. done in a 
 number of instances, none will deny ; nor has the 
 Church of Rome denied that he has this power; but 
 on the contrary, has sanctioned it. To give one in- 
 stance will suffice ; and let it be that which to us, as 
 a Church, is the most interesting. 1 * Pius V. thus in- 
 troduces his bull for deposing Queen Elizabeth : 
 
 " He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all 
 power in heaven and in earth, committed one Holy 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is 
 no salvation, to one alone upon earth, namely, to 
 Peter, the chief of the apostles, and to Peter's suc- 
 cessor, the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fulness 
 of power. Him alone he made prince over all peo- 
 ple and all kingdoms, to pluck, destroy, scatter, con- 
 sume, plant and build,''' and so forth. In virtue of 
 this supreme authority given him of God, he pro- 
 ceeds to excommunicate Elizabeth and all who ad- 
 hered to her, and to deprive her of all title to the 
 kingdom, and of all dignity and dominion. 
 
 We should constantly bear in mind that this in- 
 fallible church of which he is the sovereign, with 
 such unlimited power, never changes ; it claims to 
 
 # See, among many writers, Fuller's Church History, book ix. 
 pp. 93, 94. 
 
11 
 
 be free from all error. The pope would still do the 
 same, if he could do it with safety, and to his own 
 advantage. The light of the Reformation has, we 
 know well, imposed a restraint upon the exercise of 
 that power, but has effected no change in its arrogant 
 claims. It is very natural, for some kings and 
 princes, from their circumstances, and the superstitious 
 devotion of their subjects to the papal authority, to 
 submit to it through fear ; and others find it for their 
 interest and security, to acknowledge the pope's 
 power, as the means of securing their own. How 
 far it may endanger a republican government, to 
 have within its bosom, a large body of people de- 
 votedly subject to their priests, and all those priests 
 religiously bound and subject to a foreign power, is 
 for the politician to consider. When two great 
 parties shall be nearly balanced, one of them, by 
 favoring the Papists, may easily succeed. How very 
 much this state of things will naturally tend to 
 strengthen and increase that denomination among 
 us, is very evident. 
 
 § III. We protest, also, against any power of the 
 pope to set aside or counteract the laws of God, 
 such as pretending to release men from the obliga- 
 tion of their solemn oaths, though God has com- 
 manded that our oaths shall be performed. For an 
 instance of this we may take the following further 
 extract from the bull deposing Queen Elizabeth : 
 " We do, out of the fulness of our apostolic power, 
 declare the aforesaid Elizabeth, being a heretic, and 
 a favorer of heresies, and her adherents in the 
 matters aforesaid, to have incurred sentence of 
 anathema, and to be cut off from the unity of the 
 body of Christ. And, moreover, we do declare her 
 to be deprived of her pretended title to the kingdom 
 aforesaid, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege 
 whatsoever ; and also the nobility, subjects and peo- 
 ple of the said kingdom, and all others which have 
 
12 
 
 in any way sworn unto her, to be forever absolved 
 front any such oath, and all manner of duty of do- 
 minion, allegiance and obedience; as we do also, by 
 authority of these presents, absolve them, and do de- 
 prive the same Elizabeth, of her pretended title to 
 the kingdom, and all other things above said. And 
 we do command and interdict all and every noble- 
 men, subjects, people and others aforesaid, that they 
 presume not to obey her, or her monitions, mandates 
 and laws : and those which do the contrary, we do 
 innodate (innodamus) with the like sentence of 
 anathema." 
 
 Should there hereafter, in this or any other coun- 
 try, be a war between Papists and Protestants, who 
 can doubt but that the former would, by this same 
 usurped power, be in like manner absolved from any 
 oaths or laws, or allegiance, which would otherwise 
 operate as a hindrance to their success? We abhor 
 the Jesuitical doctrine that the end in view, if sup- 
 posed to be good, justifies means in themselves 
 wicked, for the gaining of that end; — that we may 
 do evil that good may come. We might speak of 
 unnumbered murders, massacres, assassinations, and 
 other horrible crimes, which, by this diabolical prin- 
 ciple, have been justified and approved. We con- 
 demn the principle, and we deny the right of any 
 foreign power to interfere in the concerns of this 
 country, either civil or religious. No bishop of 
 Rome, or of Greece, or of England, has any influ- 
 ence or control, farther than that of Christian fellow- 
 ship and love, over the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in these United States. 
 
 § IV. Another thing which Protestants reject is, 
 the power of the pope, or of any human being, to 
 forbid a people or nation to worship God, which is 
 usually called an interdict. I cannot give the reader 
 a better idea of what this means, than by citing the 
 account which the historian, David Hume, gives of 
 
13 
 
 the one which Pope Innocent fulminated against 
 John, king of England.* " The sentence of inter- 
 dict," says the historian, " was at that time the great, 
 instrument of vengeance and policy employed by the 
 court of Rome. It was denounced against sove- 
 reigns for the slightest offences, and made the guilt 
 of one person involve the ruin of millions, even in 
 their spiritual and eternal welfare. The execution 
 of it was calculated to strike the senses in the highest 
 degree, and to operate with irresistible force on the 
 superstitious minds of the people. The nation was 
 of a sudden deprived of all exterior exercise of its 
 religion. The altars were despoiled of their or- 
 naments; the crosses, the relics, the images, the 
 statues of the saints, were laid on the ground ; and, 
 as if the air itself were profaned, and might pollute 
 them by its contact, the priests carefully covered 
 them up, even from their own approach and venera- 
 tion. The use of bells entirely ceased in all the 
 churches; the bells themselves were removed from 
 the steeples, and laid on the ground, with the other 
 sacred utensils. Mass was celebrated with shut 
 doors, and none but the priests were admitted to the 
 holy institution. The laity partook of no religious 
 rite, except baptism to new-born infants, and the 
 communion to the dying. The dead were not in- 
 terred in the consecrated ground ; they were thrown 
 into ditches, or buried in common fields, and their 
 obsequies were not attended with prayers or any 
 hallowed ceremony. Marriages -were celebrated in 
 the church-yard; and, that every action in life might 
 bear the marks of this dreadful situation, the people 
 were- prohibited the use of meat, as in Lent, or in 
 the times of highest penance, — were debarred from 
 all pleasures and entertainments, and even to salute 
 each other, or as much as to shave their beards, and 
 give any decent attention to their persons and 
 
 * See Chapter xi. 
 
14 
 
 
 apparel. Every circumstance carried symptoms of 
 the deepest distress, and of the most immediate ap- 
 prehension of divine vengeance and indignation." 
 
 All this extreme of Buffering and distress upon a 
 whole nation, was in punishment of John's not sub- 
 mitting to the will of the pope. Should any say that 
 this is not now practised, we say that it was prac- 
 tised and observed by an infallible pope, and the 
 Roman Catholic Church. If in this they have re- 
 formed, we rejoice. It is enough to add that it is 
 another instance of the pope's assuming power over 
 the nations of the earth, and exalting himself above 
 the laws of God ; and that Protestants view it as a 
 great sin, and a most abominable tyranny and abuse 
 of religion. 
 
 § V. The manner of fasting, as practised by the 
 Romanists, we cannot approve. It was predicted 
 by St. Paul,* that in times then future there would 
 be a departure from the faith ; among other abuses, 
 commanding to abstain from meats, in consequence 
 of which, fasting becomes a mere formal thing, the 
 people obeying man rather than God. The priests 
 command them to abstain from particular meats, or 
 indulge them in eating, by their own assumed pow- 
 ers, as will best promote their interest and authority. 
 Our Church appoints seasons for abstinence and 
 prayer ; but she pretends not to restrain us in that 
 in which Christ has left us free. True religious 
 fasting is a free act of devotion, in which, by abstain- 
 ing from lawful enjoyments, and by earnest prayer, 
 we endeavor to obtain grace to humble that pride 
 which is natural to all, to subdue our sinful desires 
 and worldly affections, and to become more spiritual- 
 ly-minded, and more ready and disposed to every 
 charitable and good work. Except our hearts are 
 humbled and our lives made better by it, our fasting 
 
 # 1 Timothy iv. 1—5. 
 
15 
 
 is of no use. To think that our fasting is merito- 
 rious, or to consider our abstinence in one season as 
 an occasion or excuse for luxury, or rioting, or car- 
 nivals, at another time, is, as the apostle says, a de- 
 parting from the faith, and giving heed to seducing 
 spirits ; it is an abuse of fasting. 
 
 § VI. We also protest against absolution, as 
 practised in the Roman Catholic Church, and the 
 sale of indulgences. How naturally and how much 
 these, as actually practised, encourage men in sin, 
 and substitute the fear of priests for the fear of God, 
 I leave the reader to judge. They are among the 
 points in which we profess to be reformed. 
 
 § VII. The canonization, as it is called, or apothe- 
 osis, of some people after their death, as being saints, 
 in a sense in which other Christians, who have de- 
 parted in the true faith of Christ, are not saints, done 
 by the assumed power of the pope, is another thing 
 of which we disapprove. We deny that the pope 
 has either the power or the right to make such dis- 
 tinction in the characters of Christians deceased. 
 So far as we can judge, some of his saints were not 
 among the best of Christians ; and whether they are 
 saved, even, is doubtful. They who stoutly main- 
 tained the pope's power, and other peculiarities of 
 the Romish Church, were the most likely to be thus 
 honored; such, for instance, as the notorious Thomas 
 a Becket. Mr. Southey observes, in his " Book of the 
 Church," chapter x., and all history seems certainly 
 to justify him in saying, that " the Greeks and Ro- 
 mans attributed less to their demi-gods than the 
 Roman Catholic Church has done to those of its 
 members thus canonized. They were invoked as 
 mediators between God and man ; individuals claim- 
 ed the peculiar protection of those whose nanus 
 they had received in baptism; and towns and king- 
 doms chose them as their tutelary saints." The 
 
16 
 
 \irtue which they were supposed to possess was 
 also attributed to their images. Volumes, in proof 
 of this, might be brought 
 
 | VI II. Another practice of the Roman Church 
 againsl which we protest is, their forbidding the 
 ministers oi Christ to marry, according to what St. 
 Paul also predicted of them, and contrary to what is 
 more than merely allowed in the word of God. It 
 is remarkable that, under the old dispensation in His 
 Church, none but the sons of priests could be of the 
 priesthood. Not only does the page of history, but 
 a knowledge of human nature, teach us what must 
 be the result of such a prohibition. 
 
 § IX. Another point in which Protestants differ 
 from the Church of Rome is, the pretence of work- 
 ing miracles. When God would make known his 
 will to mankind, he has been pleased to give miracu- 
 lous signs, to confirm our faith. These signs w r ere 
 shown on such occasions, and accompanied with 
 such circumstances, as to convince all who beheld 
 them. I shall not now enter into the inquiry when 
 miracles ceased, or whether or not God does in every 
 age manifest a miraculous providence. If he does 
 so, it is, no doubt, in a manner suited to his charac- 
 ter and wisdom, and on occasions worthy of such 
 interference ; not by the nodding of an image, or 
 bleeding of a relic, nor to exalt our reverence for an 
 idol, which he forbids us either to make or to wor- 
 ship. True miracles will, like those wrought by 
 Moses, confound impostures, and compel opposers 
 to say, as did the magicians of Pharaoh, " This is 
 the finger of God." * If evil spirits have still power 
 of showing " lying wonders," f we may reasonably 
 suppose that they will most readily do it, to em- 
 bolden men to reverence images, and worship idols. 
 
 * Exodus viiL 19. f 2 Thess. ii. 9. 
 
17 
 
 In nothing has the rule of Horace (Nee deus inter sit, 
 &c.) been more disregarded than in the thousands of 
 pretended miracles, and false, and many of them very 
 ridiculous, signs of this sort, which have disgraced 
 the Christian name. Their natural tendency is to 
 excite a distrust of all miracles, and to increase in- 
 fidelity. 
 
 § X. All Protestants are, by the Romanists, de- 
 nounced as heretics, however sincere may be their 
 faith in Christ and the doctrines of his cross, and 
 however godly may be their lives. There are not, 
 it is hoped, any Protestants, of whatever denomina- 
 tion, equally uncharitable ; none, we believe, of this 
 our Church. 
 
 § XI. That there is no salvation out of their 
 Church, is another of their tenets. Though some 
 may attempt to deny this, nothing is more evident 
 than that it has been and is generally and very much 
 held up to view, and thousands and myriads have 
 by this claim been frightened into their church. The 
 Bishop of Arath has tried its effect on the bishops of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church. " The papal 
 supremacy," he kindly tells us, " is the rock on 
 which the whole edifice of Christianity rests in im- 
 movable firmness. This is the essential centre of 
 unity, around which all the faithful must gather, in 
 harmony of faith and obedience. The will of our 
 heart and of our petition to God is for you unto sal- 
 vation; and we count as dross every worldly ad- 
 vantage, to gain to the Catholic Church of Christ 
 your souls, and the members whose eternal destinies 
 are bound up with yours."* And what docs this 
 mean, if not thai the salvation of Our souls, and o( all 
 the members of our churches, depends on our ac- 
 knowledging the papal supremacy, and thai now we 
 
 •Letter, p. 14. 
 
18 
 
 do not belong to the Church of Christ? " Who art 
 thou, that judgest another man's servant?" 
 
 § XII. This uncharitable spirit wars with the 
 dead, and extends beyond the grave. Protestants 
 arc not allowed to rest in their burying-grounds. 
 The mention of this will call to the reader's recollec- 
 tion the pathetic complaint of the poet Young, whose 
 daughter-in-law was thus, in Lyons, France, denied 
 Christian burial : 
 
 — " On a foreign shore, where strangers wept, — 
 
 Strangers to thee, and, more surprising still, 
 
 Strangers to kindness, wept. Their eyes let fall 
 
 In human tears ! strange tears ! that trickled down 
 
 From marble hearts ! obdurate tenderness ! 
 
 A tenderness that called them more severe. 
 
 In spite of nature's soft persuasion steeled ; 
 
 While nature melted, superstition raved ! 
 
 Thai mourned the dead, and this denied a grave. 
 
 Their sighs incensed ; sighs foreign to the will ! 
 
 Their will the tiger sucked ; outraged the storm ; 
 
 For, O ! the cursed ungodliness of zeal ! 
 
 While sinful flesh relented, spirit nursed. 
 
 In blind infallibility's embrace, 
 
 The sainted spirit petrified the breast, 
 
 Denied the charity of dust to spread 
 
 O'er dust ! a charity their dogs enjoy," 
 
 We of the Protestant Episcopal Church do not 
 presume to say that they are not of Christ's church, 
 though we think them, in many things, erroneous ; 
 and no Protestants, it is hoped, would deny them 
 Christian burial, or be unwilling to sleep with them 
 in the grave. In this world we would gladly unite 
 with them, so far as is consistent with God's re- 
 vealed word. 
 
 § XIII. Another and very important point in which 
 we profess to be, and trust that we truly are, re- 
 formed, is, in the authority and use of tradition. 
 The rule of faith, according to the Roman Church, 
 is not merely the written word of God, but what 
 
19 
 
 they call the whole word of God, both written and 
 unwritten ; in other words, Scripture and Tradition, 
 and these propounded and explained by the Catholic 
 Church, meaning exclusively their own as the only 
 catholic church. The doctrine of our Church is, 
 that " holy scripture containeth all things necessary ; 
 so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be 
 proved thereby, is not to be required of any man 
 that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be 
 thought requisite or necessary to salvation." On 
 this point, our Church is very decided and express. 
 Every one, and of every grade, who is ordained to 
 her ministry, is required, with his own hand, to sign 
 a declaration of his belief in this doctrine of the suf- 
 ficiency of the scriptures. And not only this ; but 
 when he is ordained with full authority " to preach the 
 word of God," he solemnly declares his " persuasion 
 that the holy scriptures contain all doctrine necessary 
 for eternal salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ ; " 
 and also his " determination out of the said scriptures 
 to instruct the people committed to his charge, and 
 to teach nothing as necessary to salvation but that 
 which he shall be persuaded may be concluded and 
 proved by the scripture." 
 
 Much has been recently written and published 
 upon this subject, to which the reader, if he is in 
 doubt, is referred. We must have a standard to 
 resort to ; but as no one can be more doubtful or 
 contradictory than tradition, to remedy this, the 
 Romish Church resorts to her infallibility. In sev- 
 eral things, what is called tradition runs counter to 
 the scriptures, and makes void the word of Cod. 
 The one or the other must be our authoritative 
 guide: we must test scripture by tradition, or tradi- 
 tion by scripture. Our Church, and I believe all 
 Protestants, have most decidedly taken the Latter 
 ground. Some have said that the Reformation is 
 without principle; if this be not principle, and of 
 the highest importance, 1 have yet to Leaf!] what is. 
 
20 
 
 I 
 
 Some have urged, as an argument for the author- 
 ity of tradition, that the apostles preached without 
 scriptures. Any force in this argument I cannot 
 perceive. Suppose this to be the fact, — that they 
 preached without scriptures ; the will of God respect- 
 ing man's salvation was fully revealed to them ; by 
 the Holy Ghost they were inspired with the knowl- 
 edge of all truth. The people had need only to 
 know what they taught ; which they who heard them 
 preach did of course know. What was necessary 
 for others and for all future times was, that, before 
 their decease, they should leave a written record of 
 the life and ministry of Christ, the fulfilment of the 
 prophets in him, the doctrines which by his authori- 
 ty they taught, and whatever was wanting to com- 
 plete the volume of God's revealed w r ord. And this 
 they faithfully and in due time did, setting to it their 
 seal, and pronouncing a heavy denunciation upon 
 those who shall add to, or take from the words of 
 that book. 
 
 Can any one reasonably doubt whether or not the 
 apostles wrote in their Epistles the same doctrines 
 and other truths which they taught by their words ? 
 Indeed, we have recorded a number of their dis- 
 courses and other acts, and know, of course, what 
 doctrines they preached, and how they exercised 
 their ministry. 
 
 But is it a fact, that the apostles preached without 
 scriptures? Do we learn this from their recorded 
 discourses ? Take the first sermon which they 
 preached, after being endued with power from on 
 high, and by which three thousand were converted 
 and added to the church. Was there no text, no 
 appeal to the written word of God ? Christ himself 
 preached the scriptures in proof of his own character 
 and authority ; and he commanded his hearers to 
 search the scriptures to obtain a knowledge of their 
 Saviour, and of the doctrines of eternal life. The 
 hearts of two of his disciples burnt within the?n, when, 
 
 
21 
 
 " beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he ex- 
 pounded unto them, in all the scriptures, the things 
 concerning himself." See, also, Luke xxiv. 44 — 48. 
 And see all the discourses of the apostles. And see 
 particularly what St. Paul said to King Agrippa, 
 Acts xxvi. 22, 23 : " Having, therefore, obtained help 
 of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing unto 
 small and great, saying none other things than those 
 which the prophets and Moses did say should come." 
 The apostles preached the scriptures which were, by 
 inspiration of God, written for their learning ; and, 
 by the same inspiration, they added to the written 
 word of God what was wanting to give us a full 
 knowledge of the gospel, and of what we must be- 
 lieve and do to obtain the salvation which is in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 There is in fallen man a natural disposition to 
 depart from the word of God, and follow, in prefer- 
 ence, the commandments of men. This was very 
 much the fault of God's people under the old dis- 
 pensation : they made void the law of God by their 
 tradition; for which the Saviour severely reproves 
 them. See Matt. xv. 1 — 9. Far from giving any 
 sanction to their tradition, he condemns it, and he 
 appeals to scripture : " What is written? how readest 
 thou ? " Under the gospel dispensation, men are 
 of like passions as they were under the Jewish ; 
 and we might reasonably fear and expect that such 
 tares would still be sown, — that on the true founda- 
 tion of apostles and prophets, of which Jesus Christ 
 is the chief corner-stone, " wood, hay, and stubble " 
 would be built, — that Christians, also, would "trans- 
 gress the commandments of God by their tradition*," 
 which, to our great sorrow and regret, we find BO to 
 be. At the time of the Reformation, Christians had 
 in many things not only departed from the unerring 
 standard of God's word, but had madr it roid, — had 
 received doctrines and adopted practices contrary to 
 the holy scriptures, as (should the Lord permit their 
 
23 
 
 continuance) may hereafter be further seen in these 
 remarks. 
 
 Upon oral tradition there can be but little depend- 
 ence. Almost all of our knowledge of times past is 
 from the written pages of history : what concerns the 
 Church is called Ecclesiastical History. From this 
 we learn what have been the state and the doctrines 
 and practice of the Church, from its earliest date to 
 the present time. From history, we have full and 
 satisfactory proof that we now have those scriptures 
 which were given by inspiration of God. There is, 
 from history, satisfactory evidence that we have the 
 writings of uninspired men, of nearly the same age ; 
 of Virgil, for instance, and Horace, and Caesar. 
 The Mahometans have no reason to doubt of their 
 still possessing the genuine writings of their prophet; 
 and still better historical evidence have we of the 
 authenticity of our Bible, without any resort to the 
 divine authority of tradition, or to any infallibility of 
 the Church. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose, and, as we search for 
 the truth, to expect, that, in the earliest ages, " the 
 faith once delivered to the saints" would be the 
 most truly regarded ; and this does history confirm. 
 Even in the apostles' days, schisms and heresies 
 disturbed the church, and corruptions began to ap- 
 pear. The spirit of antichrist was even then already 
 in the world* In the church in Corinth were four 
 denominations, though all of them, we doubt not, 
 were of the one Catholic and Apostolic Church. 
 The Christians in Galatia soon began to be removed 
 from the gospel which Paul preached to them. And 
 some of the seven churches of Asia, spoken of in 
 the second and third chapters of Revelation, were 
 much corrupted. But still they were all churches 
 of Christ, and by Christ himself so acknowledged. 
 In the second century, when the first apostles 
 
 * 1 John iv. 3. 
 
 
23 
 
 were all removed from the Church on the earth, cor- 
 ruptions began slowly, and, at first, few in number, 
 to take root in the Church. In the third and follow- 
 ing ages, they increased more and more, until the 
 times of the Reformation. Church history is very 
 useful in its teaching at what times, and under what 
 circumstances, trials, and temptations, Christians de- 
 parted from the standard of the holy scriptures, and, 
 like as the Jews had done before them, made void 
 the law of God by their traditions. The Fathers, as 
 we call them, were competent and credible witnesses 
 of the facts, of which they had knowledge, and the 
 transactions of the times in which they lived. Since 
 the second century, we may well believe that the 
 doctrines of Christ have in no age been better under- 
 stood, and the holy scriptures more carefully, criti- 
 cally, and prayerfully examined, than by many 
 Christians at the present time. Of the erroneous 
 practices which early crept into the Church, we may 
 hereafter have occasion to speak. Some of them 
 have since been, if I mistake not, by most, perhaps 
 by all, Christians discarded : such as, baptizing 
 people naked ; giving the Lord's supper to infants ; 
 forbidding Christians to kneel in prayer during a 
 large part of the year; not allowing unbaptized 
 persons to be present at public prayers ; and delaying 
 baptism till near the time of death. 
 
 The ancient writers in the Church should be ex- 
 amined as witnesses of facts, not as teachers of doc- 
 trine. As one writer observes, " On questions of 
 interpretation, or sacred philology, they are not of 
 much weight; for it is well known thai either their 
 attainments in biblical literature were small, or thai 
 their principles of philology were, to a great extent, 
 fluctuating and unsound." Ceremonies which the 
 fathers have introduced, if useful, may, because 
 useful, be continued ; but we cannot be too cautious 
 not to Le1 their supposed authority sanction the prac- 
 tice of what is at variance with the scriptures, In 
 
94 
 
 deed, nothing good should be rejected because it 
 has, by other denominations, whether Papist or 
 Protestant, been invented or in use ; and, on the 
 other hand, nothing superstitious or at variance with 
 (iod's word may. lor its antiquity, be safely followed. 
 It is somewhat amusing to see, in some late publica- 
 tions, reasons urged, with apparent seriousness, to 
 show that the Protestant Episcopal Church has a 
 right to claim or adopt prayers long used by the 
 Roman Church ; as if it could be a matter of doubt 
 whether any church or individual may or may not 
 adopt or use any prayers, new or old. which are 
 suitable and proper. 
 
 Some have referred to the Apostle's Creed, as an 
 evidence of the great use of tradition. And what do 
 we learn from that Creed, which we do not much 
 better learn from the holy scriptures ? except it be 
 the descent into helL which was not added to the 
 Creed till several centuries after the apostolic age. 
 Several of the most important doctrines of Christian- 
 ity are not found in that Creed ; and a great part of 
 the Twelve Articles which it does contain cannot be 
 rightly and fully understood without resort to the 
 written word of God. On this subject, should the 
 Lord permit, something more may hereafter be said. 
 
 And what is there essential to Christianity, taught 
 us by tradition, which we do not find in the word of 
 God? Is it Episcopacy? or Confirmation? or the 
 Covenant and Membership of Infants in the Church? 
 or observing the " first day of the week," as "the 
 Lord's day?" or using written forms in social wor- 
 ship ? or the sacraments ordained by Christ ? The 
 best and most satisfactory proofs of all these we find 
 in the scriptures, and were they not there found 
 more less clearly recorded, we should not insist upon 
 them as an essential part of Christianity. We re- 
 joice to find these things confirmed by the practice 
 of the early Christians, but we receive them on the 
 authority of the sure word of God. 
 
 
25 
 
 § XIV. The right of private judgment in religion, 
 in contradistinction to the supposed authority of the 
 church to decide for all its members what they must 
 believe and do to be saved, is among the most im- 
 portant points wherein we differ from the Church of 
 Rome. This authority some attempt to prove from 
 the words of our Saviour : " The Scribes and the 
 Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; all, therefore, which 
 they bid you observe, that observe and do." The 
 word of God will best explain itself. Much injury 
 is done to the cause of truth, by wresting particular 
 passages from their true sense, or by ascribing to 
 them meaning which was not intended. In these 
 words, our Saviour taught the people to reverence 
 those who were authorized to be their rulers and to 
 make laws for the government of the people. He 
 does not tell them to believe all that the Scribes and 
 Pharisees should teach as doctrine ; but to do and 
 observe what they should prescribe as rules of life. 
 Those same Scribes and Pharisees had made void 
 the law of God by their traditions and by their erro- 
 neous teaching. In this same chapter (Matt, xxiii.) 
 and same discourse, our Lord severely reproves them 
 for having taught doctrines contrary to God's word. 
 (See verses 16 — 22.) Can any one believe that our 
 Lord intended that the people should receive then- 
 false doctrine respecting the solemnity and obligation 
 of oaths ? No ; he corrects their doctrine, and shows 
 what should be received. He calls them blhid 
 guides ; and he elsewhere says that they who follow- 
 ed those " blind leaders of the blind " would fall. 
 And how did the apostles understand our Saviour? 
 Did they, in regard to doctrine, observe and do as 
 those blind leaders bid them? On the contrary, 
 when the Scribes and Pharisees sot in council, which 
 was most truly Moses' seat, and wi commanded the 
 apostles not to speak at all, nor teach in the name o( 
 Jesus," the apostles told them boldly that they should 
 continue thus to preach, and thai it was their duty to 
 3 
 
26 
 
 obey God rather than man. The true doctrine has 
 
 our Church embodied in her XXth Article : " 
 
 It ifl not lawful tor the Church to ordain any thing 
 that is contrary to God's word written : neither may 
 it so expound one place of scripture that it be repug- 
 nant to another.' 1 
 
 In examining this question, resort is sometimes 
 had to the infallibility of the Church ; which may 
 hereafter require some consideration. And sup- 
 posing that somewhere there is such infallibility, how 
 shall a man find it, but by searching- for himself? 
 We are to search for the old ways; and who is to 
 search, if not he who desires to find them ? We 
 will suppose that a man is inquiring, (and every 
 man should inquire.) What is truth ? What is the 
 will of God respecting man here on the earth ? 
 Where shall wisdom be found ? What must I do 
 to obtain immortal life ? He looks around and sees 
 various teachers crying, " Lo here and lo there," and 
 doctrines contradictory prevailing throughout the 
 world. How shall he decide on which to rely as 
 sound and safe ? How, but by exercising the rea- 
 son, and by using the means of knowledge which he 
 has or may have ? Or shall he rather rely upon his 
 teachers, and adhere, without examination, to the 
 system in which he has been educated, or adopt as 
 certainly true the religion of those among whom he 
 lives ? Shall he continue a Pagan or a Jew, a 
 Mahometan or a Christian, without inquiring for 
 himself which is according to the truth of God ? Or 
 suppose that there is some one in this our country, 
 who is awakened to righteousness — who believes in 
 Christ, and sincerely desires to be a member of his 
 church : must he remain a member of the society or 
 sect or denomination among whom he finds him- 
 self? or should he not rather search the scriptures 
 and the history of the church in ages past, that he 
 may be satisfied which denomination has the best 
 claim to orthodoxy ? whether the Greek, which is the 
 
27 
 
 oldest, or the Roman, which is most numerous, or 
 the Protestant, which is the most scriptural and 
 apostolic? And suppose even that he has made 
 this decision — he is a fixed and satisfied member 
 of a church ; must he make no further inquiry ? must 
 he not search for himself, but receive whatever is 
 taught by his church, or its ministers, as certainly 
 true ? How was it in the first century ? "We read 
 of the Bereans, who heard the words of life from in- 
 spired teachers, that, after they had readily received 
 the word, " they searched the scriptures daily, whether 
 those things were so." And for doing this they are 
 highly commended. How different from this is the 
 practice of that church which takes the scriptures 
 from the people, not allowing them to search whether 
 the things taught them are agreeable to the word of 
 God ! What Christ said to some, he says to us all : 
 " Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have 
 eternal life ; and they are they which testify of me." 
 And how shall any one become wise unto salvation, 
 if he do not search the scriptures ? If a man would 
 know what is the character of his Saviour — what 
 he has done to redeem mankind — what are the 
 doctrines of his cross — who are truly his ministers 
 — and where his church may be found, — the man 
 must inquire for himself. How else can he give to 
 every one who asketh a reason of the hope that is in 
 him ? If tradition were to decide, to know where 
 and what tradition is would require very careful in- 
 vestigation. If the church is to decide, every de- 
 nomination of Christians claim to be truly the church, 
 and he must remain where he is, or search for a 
 better way. God's word requires him to " try the 
 spirits, whether they are of God ; " to " prove all 
 things, and hold fast that which is good." 
 
 It is objected to the righl of private judgment, thai 
 divisions will be the consequence, and thai Protest- 
 ants are divided. This must be ascribed to the 
 frailty or corruption of mankind. This evil com- 
 
28 
 
 menced, as we have seen, in the apostles' days ; and 
 in the two centuries following, there were more sects 
 and heresies, in proportion to the numbers of Chris- 
 tians, and in their doctrines and creeds more extrava- 
 gant, abominable, and absurd, than what exists at 
 the present day. The ancient churches now existing 
 differ one from another ; as the Greek, the Roman, 
 the Syrian, the Armenian, Novatian, Nestorian, &c. ; 
 but we trust, though more or less in error, they are 
 all of the one Catholic Church, built on the founda- 
 tion of apostles and prophets, having Jesus Christ, 
 the Son of God and only Saviour of men, for its 
 chief corner-stone. The Romish Church within her- 
 self has been much divided. She has had her 
 Scotists and Thomists, her Jansenists and Jesuits — 
 her rival popes — her disputes about the immaculate 
 conception ; one part of the church thundering de- 
 crees against another. Even where her infallibility 
 resides, and where it is to be found, she cannot her- 
 self decide. And how, we should also inquire, has 
 that church maintained the degree of union which 
 it does preserve ? How, but by its intolerance and 
 carnal weapons ? Let history say how Protestantism 
 was suppressed in France and the Netherlands, in 
 Italy and Spain. " When the strong man armed 
 thus keeps his palace, his goods are in peace." It 
 is a sure way to make all of one profession, to kill 
 those who dissent from it. And let it also be con- 
 sidered with what watchful care, and a spirit how 
 intolerant, she debars her members of the means of 
 knowledge, not permitting them to read, and search, 
 and inquire for themselves what the scriptures teach, 
 or Protestants truly believe. While they read and 
 hear on one side only, prejudice and bigotry must 
 usurp the place of charity and truth. And suppose 
 that, as the Bishop of Arath proposes, Protestants 
 should unite with Rome ; would the church then be 
 united? Will the other ancient churches above 
 named, who are very numerous, and the church in 
 
29 
 
 Russia, come into the same union, and submit also 
 to the " papal supremacy ? " If we think it our duty 
 to conform in all things with some ancient church, 
 why not with the Greek, which is much less corrupt ? 
 The truth is, that to unite with any church in what 
 is opposed to God's word, is itself a sin, and what 
 nothing can justify. Schism is a great evil, and 
 should be conscientiously avoided. But heresy, or 
 departing from the truth of God, is worse. Nothing 
 will more truly unite men in religion, than the ren- 
 ovation of their hearts by the grace of God, and a 
 sound and holy faith in Jesus Christ. This spirit 
 of unity may be possessed by those who do not 
 externally commune together in this world. We 
 had better, indeed, be divided into many denomina- 
 tions, than to unite in what is false and unscriptural. 
 The many corruptions which have crept into the 
 church are of themselves a good proof of the vast 
 importance of our faithfully exercising the right of 
 private judgment, that we may try these spirits. 
 
 It may be well here to repeat what has been so 
 often repeated, — that reforming a church is not 
 making' a church. Rejecting what is false, makes 
 no change in what is true. A church may be both 
 corrupt and divided, as was the church of Corinth, 
 and yet continue to be a church. There was a time 
 when God's church in Israel was so very corrupt, 
 that the prophet Elijah thought that he was the only 
 one who did not unite with the others in bowing to 
 idols; but he determined, though, as he thought, 
 alone, to reject what was false, and hold fast to 
 what was true. Happily, he was not alone; there 
 were, at that very time, seven thousand Protestants, 
 So, too, had Joshua, before him, protested against 
 the idolatries of God's chosen peoph 4 , and solemnly 
 declared thai, though all the others worshipped 
 idols, he and his house would serve none hut the 
 true God. And so should Christians still refuse to 
 bow to an image, and to worship a piece of bread, 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 
 though in consequence they must, as thousands have 
 done, suffer martyrdom. 
 
 § XV, Denying the scriptures to the people is also 
 by Protestants condemned. It is directly contrary 
 to the command of Christ, who bids us " search the 
 scriptures," that we may have a saving faith in him 
 our Saviour. In his discourses, he evidently sup- 
 poses that his hearers had read the scriptures, as no 
 doubt they had J and he appeals to them according- 
 ly, as did also his apostles. " What saith the scrip- 
 tures?" is a question which they put to the people, 
 St. Paul tells the Romans, " Whatsoever things 
 were written aforetime, were written for our learn- 
 ing, that we, through patience and comfort of the 
 scriptures, might have hope." And to Timothy he 
 writes, " All scripture is given by inspiration of 
 God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the 
 man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
 unto all good works." And he speaks of it as a 
 great blessing to Timothy, that " from a child he 
 had known those holy scriptures which were able to 
 make him wise unto salvation."* We have already 
 seen the high commendation bestowed upon the 
 Bereans, who, when they had inspired apostles for 
 their teachers, still searched the scriptures daily for 
 themselves, that they might know the certainty of 
 those things wherein they had been instructed. 
 And we are informed, too, of the happy effects of 
 this their " noble " conduct : " Therefore, many of 
 them believed." Through the comfort of the scrip- 
 tures, they had hope. No other book on earth has 
 such comfort to give. What claim have they to 
 freedom or independence, who dare not read this 
 word of God but by the permission of a priest ? 
 
 The policy of this prohibition is evident. If 
 
 2 Timothy iii. 15—17. 
 
31 
 
 people search the scriptures, they will be likely to 
 see wherein many have departed from the word of 
 God. From the same policy, other books are for- 
 bidden. The Papists will not allow their people to 
 be present at Protestant worship, — not even at 
 family prayers. This is among the means by 
 which their boasted unity is maintained. To keep 
 them in ignorance, is the surest way to preserve im- 
 plicit faith and blind subjection. 
 
 §XVI. The claim of the Romish Church to 
 Infallibility we view as very false and presumptu- 
 ous. That it is false, her many errors, and de- 
 parture in so many things from the word of God, 
 abundantly prove. A knowledge, indeed, of our 
 fallen nature, might prepare us to expect that the 
 church which has erred the most, should most confi- 
 dently claim to be free from error. Of the merits of 
 this claim, I leave them to judge who read her 
 history. Councils, even of the ancient church, con- 
 sisted of individual, fallible men, subject to err; 
 and that they sometimes did err, " even in things 
 pertaining unto God," is too evident in their clash- 
 ing, contradictory decrees. " Wherefore," as our 
 Church said in her XXIst Article, " things ordained 
 by them as necessary to salvation, have neither 
 strength nor authority, unless it may be declared 
 that they are taken out of the holy scriptures." It 
 is enough for my present purpose to add, that the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church makes no such claim 
 of freedom from error, and she protests against such 
 claim in any other church. 
 
 §XVII. On the doctrine of Human Merit we 
 differ essentially from the Church of Rome, She 
 holds that men may merit salvation by their good 
 works. We believe thai our works, wrought through 
 
 faith in Christ, and in obedience to God'a command, 
 are pleasing to him, and are an evidence o( onr faith 
 
92 
 
 and sanetifieation, and they strengthen our hope of 
 being accepted in the Beloved, and blest in heaven ; 
 but we ascribe no merit to man which entitles him 
 to claim salvation as his right or due : nor, indeed, 
 dare we »j erf ourselves, or of the best saint on 
 earth, that he is so sanctified as to live wholly with- 
 out sin. The best Christians come short of what 
 (rod's perfect law requires, and daily have need of 
 repentance. •• If we say that we have no sin. we 
 deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." We 
 boast of no perfection, and we see no merits but in 
 Jesus Christ. •• By grace ye are saved through 
 faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of 
 God ; not of works, lest any man should boast." * 
 
 § XVIII. Connected with their doctrine of Hu- 
 man Merit is that of Supererogation : or that man 
 can do, and that the saints have done, more good 
 works than what is necessary to their own salvation. 
 These meritorious works they suppose to be collect- 
 ed into one vast treasury, of which the pope claims 
 to have the key, and the power of dispensing it to 
 the good and salvation of whom he pleases. That 
 it may pass the more current, they add to this treas- 
 ury the merits of Jesus Christ, which may seem to 
 render it inexhaustible. But that the saints have 
 added any thing to it, or have merits sufficient to 
 save themselves, or that the pope has authority, 
 more than any other minister of Christ, to say who 
 may or may not partake of Christ's merits, we 
 utterly deny. 
 
 The most of these points I mention briefly, and 
 would that the reader should bear it still in memory, 
 that my object is not to refute what we deem to be 
 the errors of Popery : in that case, there would be 
 very much to be said ; but to show, what probably 
 at the present day is not generally known nor well 
 
 Ephesians ii. 8. 
 
33 
 
 considered, how many and how important are the 
 particulars against which we protest, with some few 
 of the reasons of the hope that is in us. As I am 
 informed, from high authority, that there are some 
 who are likely soon to break from our ranks, except 
 we seasonably or soon submit to the papal suprema- 
 cy, I wish that they may do it with their eyes open, 
 and that others may judge whether or not it will be 
 wise to follow them. 
 
 § XIX. From the little said under the two last 
 heads, the reader will be prepared to hear, and will 
 scarce need to be reminded, that, on the great and 
 very essential doctrine of Justification, the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church differs materially from the Church 
 of Rome. But, considering that another of the 
 bishops of our Church has recently published an 
 able and full vindication of our doctrine on this mo- 
 mentous subject, it will suffice here to mention it 
 as among the doctrines in which we profess to be 
 reformed. 
 
 § XX. The next that I would mention is their 
 doctrine of Purgatory, which is among the most 
 profitable, (in a pecuniary view,) of the tenets of 
 the Romish Church. The money which it has 
 brought and still brings into the coffers of that church 
 is incalculable. 
 
 It is my earnest desire not to misrepresent the 
 tenets of any denomination of Christians, and not 
 to say any thing to increase the differing opinions 
 by which the members of the " One Catholic and 
 Apostolic Church " are unhappily in this world 
 divided; but on the contrary, would willingly make 
 any concessions, which the truth of God will admit, 
 to promote unity among the disciples of Christ. 
 The doctrine of Purgatory, as held by the Roman- 
 ists, is, in itself, were it true, of such immense im- 
 portance to mankind, and in its practical results, as 
 
34 
 
 by them used, of such interest and deep concern, 
 thai evidently it ought not to be admitted, without 
 clear, direct, and certain proof by revelation from 
 God. But so obscure and unsatisfactory are the 
 proofs alleged in support of this doctrine, that its 
 advocates are very cautious in explaining it, and I 
 desire to be equally cautious in stating what it is 
 that they hold and teach. It is, so far as I can un- 
 derstand what they teach on the subject, a place 
 where the just, or they who depart in the grace of 
 God, expiate those venial sins which do not merit 
 eternal punishment ; that the redemption of Christ is 
 from eternal punishment only ; that the greater part 
 of good Christians remain in that place of torment 
 a time, how long is not decided, and suffer torments 
 similar, while they continue, to those which the 
 damned endure. The uncertainty of the time ren- 
 ders the doctrine more profitable to the priests ; for 
 they hold, further, that the treasury of the good works 
 which the saints have done, beyond what was neces- 
 sary to save themselves, is available for the benefit 
 of souls in purgatory, and may be applied to short- 
 en those sufferings, under the direction and control 
 of popes and priests, and according to the money 
 given to purchase prayers and masses for the dead. 
 The heathen, before the advent of Christ, believed 
 in a state similar to purgatory, and when converted 
 to Christianity it is more than probable that they 
 were instrumental in introducing the belief of it 
 among Christians. Some early Christian writers 
 use obscure expressions respecting an intermediate 
 state, of souls departed, but a state very different 
 from the popish purgatory, of which Protestants 
 deny that there is any good proof. We deny also 
 that there is any good authority for their distinction 
 between sins mortal and venial. We believe that 
 the penitent believer in Christ may fully trust in his 
 one sacrifice for sin, and depart this life in peace 
 with God. For the use, or rather the very great 
 
35 
 
 abuse, which has been and still is made of this 
 doctrine, the reader is referred to the history of the 
 church during the last five hundred years. 
 
 Let us suppose, what is no uncommon case, that 
 a poor woman loses a brother or a husband ; if by 
 any means she can get, say a dollar, and give it to a 
 priest, it relieves her relation from purgatory for a 
 time, say a month; after which the money musi 
 again be given, or the sufferings will be continued 
 God forbid that I should treat or think of such a 
 subject with any lightness. But it is evidently a 
 matter for serious inquiry, whether the relief in such 
 case obtained is from the former or from the latter 
 part of the sufferings. Whether the soul is taken 
 out of purgatory for one month, and afterwards, if 
 no money is given, is returned back to the place of 
 torment; or whether it shortens the whole period one 
 month, — reduces, say one thousand months of suf- 
 fering to nine hundred and ninety-nine. There are 
 many insuperable difficulties in this doctrine besides 
 its want of proof. They are wisest and safest, who, 
 while living, look for mercy and justification through 
 him who is their only "Advocate with the Father," 
 and place no trust in masses, or in the piety of 
 friends after their decease. 
 
 § XXI. The doctrine of what is called Transub- 
 stantiation is, of itself, an insuperable barrier to the 
 communion of Protestants with the Church of 
 Rome. For that church maintains that the bread 
 and wine used in the sacrament of the Lord's sup- 
 per are, by the consecration of their priest, changed 
 and converted into the real body and blood o( Christ; 
 so entirely changed, thai, notwithstanding what all 
 our senses deelare to ihe contrary, nothing of the 
 Substance of the bread or wine remains! and not 
 into Christ's body and blood only, but (what seems 
 almost blasphemy to Utter) into his human soul and 
 his divinity! that merely by speaking these few 
 
36 
 
 words, " This is my body/' a piece of bread is 
 changed to the true and eternal God, and as such is 
 to be worshipped! All who do not believe this, 
 that church anathematizes and declares to be ac- 
 cursed ; and for the denying of it, myriads of faithful, 
 pious Christians have suffered martyrdom, and 
 rivers of righteous blood have been shed upon the 
 earth. A greater insult to common sense and abuse 
 of the credulity of mankind than this cannot be 
 imagined. 
 
 That these words of our Saviour, in the institution 
 of the sacrament, do not necessarily mean such a 
 change, or any change of the substance of the bread 
 and wine, is evident from the like use of language 
 in many other parts of the scriptures: as when in 
 Daniel it is said, " The ten horns are ten kings;" 
 that is, they represent or signify ten kings. So in 
 our Lord's parable of the tares he says, " The good 
 seed are the children of the kingdom." St. Paul 
 says, " They drank of that rock which followed 
 them ; and that rock ivas Christ ; " it typified or sym- 
 bolized Christ. And in the Revelation, " The seven 
 stars are the angels of the seven churches : the seven 
 candlesticks are the seven churches." A rock is not 
 literally Christ, nor is a horn a king, nor a candle- 
 stick a church ; but they fitly represent those things, 
 as does also the broken bread, Christ's mangled 
 body, — and wine, his blood. So is Christ said to 
 be " the Lamb of God," as having been symbolized 
 in the lamb slain for the Passover ; but he is not a 
 lamb, except in a figurative or spiritual sense. 
 
 And who does not know that this manner of 
 speaking, naming a thing as being what it repre- 
 sents, is among all people common ? Suppose that 
 several persons are viewing a picture of the holy 
 family, and one of them, pointing with his finger, 
 should say, " That is Joseph, and that is Mary, and 
 that is the child Jesus ; " would they not all under- 
 stand him to mean that those persons were repre- 
 
37 
 
 senied in the picture? would not that manner of 
 expression be wholly unexceptionable? would any 
 one of a thousand be so absurd as to understand him 
 -as saying that what they saw was not paint and 
 canvass, but two living parents and their child? 
 And can we with any more reason believe that, 
 when Christ said, " This is my body," he meant to 
 tell the disciples that he held his own body in his 
 hand ? All our senses assure us that the bread, after 
 consecration, still remains what it was before, with- 
 out any change of its substance. That manner of 
 expression proves no such change, because, with the 
 utmost fairness and reason, it may be understood as 
 meaning that the bread represents his body, and the 
 cup (or wine in the cup) his blood. Indeed, if the 
 words must be taken literally, the cup (not the wine) 
 is changed into blood. 
 
 Hear, also, what St. Paul saith : " As often as ye 
 eat this bread [not body] and drink this cup, [not 
 blood,] ye do show [or commemorate] the Lord's 
 death." And, again, " We are all partakers of that 
 one bread" This doctrine, that man can so easily 
 make him who is the Maker of all things, and with- 
 out whom was nothing made, however it may exalt 
 the priesthood, is by Protestants viewed as awfully 
 profane and idolatrous. What is held by our Church 
 is in her standards clearly taught. 
 
 Transubstantiation has, by way of proof, been 
 compared with our Lord's miracle of changing water 
 to wine. And are they similar? After the change, 
 did it still, to the senses of men, appear as water? 
 On the contrary, it appeared to the taste and other 
 senses as wine, and the best of wine. The ruler of 
 the feast, having tasted it, complimented the bride- 
 groom for its excellence. 
 
 And supposing thai Christ's words were to be 
 
 understood in their most Literal sense; what are his 
 
 words? "This is my bodyfl He does not bay, 
 
 This is my soul } or spirit, or divinity; nor has any 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
38 
 
 man the shadow of authority for saying that such 
 was his meaning. If it be said, (and some do say) 
 that these cannot be separated, then we virtually say, 
 with some ancient heretics, that Christ did not die 
 but in appearance only. For what is the death of 
 man. if not the separation of his soul and spirit from 
 the body ? But Ave are told, of a certainty, that he 
 did die ; and, indeed, his death is what we com- 
 memorate in that sacrament. His words are, " This 
 is my body, which is given for you ; " * " .... my 
 body, which is broken for you : " f " given " and 
 " broken " in his death, which was his sacrifice for 
 our sins. And he adds, " Do this [eat this bread] 
 in remembrance of me." The ordinance is com- 
 memorative, — that we may have in continual re- 
 membrance this inestimable benefit, — that we may 
 never forget that, whilst w^e were yet sinners, Christ 
 died for us — that he put away sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself. And if with a true failh we discern his 
 body, the sacramental benefits of that " one sacrifice 
 for sin " will be sanctified, or spiritually applied, 
 to the benefit of our souls. It also becomes an as- 
 surance to us that we are truly members incorporate 
 in the mystical body of that church which is the 
 blessed company of all faithful people. Our Church 
 truly says that " the body and blood of Christ are 
 spiritually taken and received by the faithful in the 
 Lord's supper." All the benefits of our Lord's body, 
 given and broken for our sins, which we need or 
 can receive, are mercifully accounted to us in and 
 by this obedience of faith thus w T orking by love, and 
 keeping the commandments of God. Our Church 
 teaches that, by duly receiving these holy mysteries, 
 the faithful soul is strengthened and refreshed by the 
 body and blood of Christ; and has given all the 
 explanation of this mystery which we need ; and the 
 many attempts to explain it farther do but "darken 
 counsel by words without knowledge." 
 
 * Luke xxii. ID. f 1 Cor. xi. 24. 
 
39 
 
 And the like may we say of the wine in the eu- 
 charist. Christ says, " This is my blood, which is 
 shed for you " — which is shed for many. We com- 
 memorate that blood only which was "shed" — 
 which fell from his body to the ground. And what 
 else is meant by shedding blood? And does any 
 one believe that Christ's blood, after falling to the 
 ground and mingling with earth, returned back into 
 his veins and arteries, and that the same blood is 
 now in his glorified body? Christ took our nature, 
 and was made perfect man, of the seed of Abraham. 
 His body and blood were human, like ours. " But 
 flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, 
 neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." When 
 Christ rose from the dead, and till his ascension, he 
 appeared to men in the same body which he had 
 offered in sacrifice ; otherwise, there would not have 
 been the necessary evidence of his resurrection, nor 
 would he have " become the first fruits of them who 
 sleep " in the grave. But are we to suppose that he 
 now has such flesh and blood as he had while on 
 earth, continually circulating and changing, and re- 
 quiring food and breath to support life ? The scrip- 
 tures teach that he has now a spiritual and glorified 
 body, and that our bodies, in the resurrection, shall 
 also be changed. While on earth, his body was 
 like unto ours ; after death, ours shall be like unto 
 his. " This corruptible shall put on incorruption " — 
 "shall be made like unto his own glorious body." * 
 
 If, then, the bread were actually changed into the 
 body given and broken and the blood shed in his 
 death, they would not be God, nor lawful objects of 
 religious worship. If we had now a lock of our 
 Saviour's hair, it would be idolatrous to worship it ; 
 we arc forbidden to worship any created being 01 
 thing: "God only shall thou serve," In the sacra- 
 ment we do not commemorate thai "glorified body" 
 
 # 1 Cor. xv. DO, 35—54 
 
40 
 
 of Christ which now (probably without human " flesh 
 and blood") sits at the right hand of God, united in 
 oik 4 Person with his divinity; but that body which 
 suffered the excruciating agonies of death — which 
 mangled with nails, and pierced with a spear, 
 and afterwards laid lifeless in the tomb. 
 
 We may observe, further, that Christ's body can- 
 not see corruption ; but the sacramental bread does 
 and soon see corruption. And we may well ask 
 those who maintain the doctrine of Transubstantia- 
 tion, how long after it is eaten does what seems to be 
 bread remain the body of Christ ? and in what stage 
 of digestion does it cease to be so ? And when eaten 
 by dogs, or mice, or worms, do they eat Christ's 
 material body ? 
 
 So we may truly say that the wine, after consecra- 
 tion, contains alcohol, and will intoxicate those who 
 drink much of it. Does not, then, the substance of 
 the wine remain ? Or will they profanely say that 
 it is the blood of Christ which intoxicates the brain, 
 causes drunkenness, and makes men worse than 
 brutes ? 
 
 We may add, that Christ's sacrifice was one, per- 
 fect and complete, not needing to be repeated ; but 
 the Papists hold that it is offered many times. His 
 sacrifice, too, was for all mankind ; they make it an 
 offering for one only, or for a few individuals. 
 
 This section alone would be sufficient to show 
 the necessity of the Reformation. 
 
 § XXII. In the last section was mentioned our 
 protest against the doctrine of the Papists respecting 
 the nature of the sacrament called the Lord's supper : 
 in the present, I would say something of their 
 manner of administering, or rather of not administer- 
 ing it ; of their giving the bread only to the people, 
 and reserving the wine for the priests. In conse- 
 crating the bread, they depart, as if designedly, from 
 the example of Christ, who took the bread and brake 
 
41 
 
 it. This is a very significant act, and essential to a 
 right consecration of the bread. Our Church so 
 deems it, and accordingly directs the minister, while 
 saying the words, to brake the bread. This the Pa- 
 pists do not; but give a small, unbroken cake or 
 wafer to each communicant. Of course, the sacra- 
 ment does not, to them, signify (to use St. Paul's 
 words) that they are " all partakers of that one bread" 
 or one loaf; each of them has a loaf or cake to him- 
 self. 
 
 But one of their grossest and seemingly wilful 
 departures from the institution of Christ is, giving 
 but one half of what he has commanded to be given; 
 that is, the bread only. " Drink ye all of this," is as 
 essential to the institution as the words, " this is my 
 blood." Christ has never said that the bread is his 
 blood, nor that, in any way or sense, it signifies or 
 symbolizes his blood. Of course, giving the bread 
 without the wine is no more a sacrament of Christ, 
 than would be giving the wine without the bread ; 
 or would be baptizing in the name of the Father, 
 omitting the names of the Son and of the Holy 
 Ghost. St. Paul's words, twice used, " Eat this 
 bread and drink this cup" * show (if any one can 
 doubt of it) that the apostles gave both. It would 
 have been strange indeed, had they, the inspired 
 teachers of divine truth, thus mutilated a holy ordi- 
 nance of their divine Master. It is difficult to 
 imagine why the pope should, in this and other in- 
 stances, so needlessly and boldly sanction direct 
 departures from God's word, except (to use scrip- 
 tural language) these things are done that the scrip- 
 tures should be fulfilled, spoken by the apostle St. 
 Paul of " that man of sin, who opposeth and 
 exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that 
 is worshipped; so that he, as i\(n\, sitteth in the 
 temple of God, showing himself thai he is God."f 
 
 • l Cor. xi. 96, 27. +2 These, lv.3,4. 
 
 v 
 
42 
 
 It may be of use and some satisfaction to the 
 reader to make here an extract from " A Discourse 
 on the Nature and Design of the Eucharist, or Sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper," by the Rev. Dr. Adam 
 Clarke, author of the Commentary on the Holy 
 Bible, pp. 40, etc. New York edition. 
 
 " Perhaps," he says, " to many of my readers, it 
 may appear utterly improbable, that in the present 
 enlightened age, as it is called, any people can be 
 found who seriously and conscientiously believe the 
 doctrine of Transubstantiation. Lest I should fall 
 under the charge of misrepresentation, I shall here 
 transcribe the eighth lesson of the c Catechism for 
 the use of all the Churches in the French Empire/ 
 published in 1806, by the authority of the emperor, 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, with the bull of the pope, and 
 the mandamus of the Archbishop of Paris : 
 
 ' Q. What is the sacrament of the eucharist ? 
 
 'A. The eucharist is a sacrament which contains 
 really and substantially the body, blood, soul, and 
 divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the forms 
 or appearance of bread and wine. 
 
 i Q. What is at first put on the altar and in the 
 chalice ? is it not bread and wine ? 
 
 i A. Yes ; and it continues to be bread and wine 
 till the priest pronounces the words of consecration. 
 
 i Q. What influence have these words? 
 
 'A. The bread is changed into the body, and the 
 wine into the blood, of our Lord. 
 
 ' Q. Does nothing of the bread and wine remain ? 
 
 '-A. Nothing of them remains except the forms. 
 
 ' Q. What do you call the forms of bread and 
 wine? 
 
 'A That which appears to our senses, — the color, 
 figure, and taste. 
 
 1 Q. Is there nothing under the form of bread, 
 except the body of our Lord ? 
 
 i A. Besides his body, there is his blood, his soul, 
 and his divinity. 
 
43 
 
 ' Q. And under the form of wine ? 
 
 'A. Jesus Christ is there as entire as under the 
 form of bread. 
 
 ' Q. When the forms of the bread and wine are 
 divided, is Christ divided? 
 
 'A. No ; Jesus Christ remains entire under each 
 part of the form divided. 
 
 'Q. Say in a word ivhat Jesus Christ gives us 
 under each form. 
 
 'A. All that he is ; that is, perfect God and per* 
 feet man, 
 
 ' Q. Does Jesus Christ leave heaven, to come into 
 the eucharist ? 
 
 i A. No ; he always continues at the right hand 
 of God, his Father, till he shall come at the end of 
 the world, with great glory, to judge the living and 
 the dead. 
 
 i Q. Then how can he be present at the altar ? 
 
 'A. By the almighty power of God. 
 
 ' Q. Then it is not man that works this miracle ? 
 
 'A. No ; it is Jesus Christ, whose word is em- 
 ployed in the sacrament. 
 
 < Q. Then it is Jesus Christ who consecrates ? 
 
 'A. It is Jesus Christ who consecrates ; the priest 
 is only his minister. 
 
 ' Q. Must, we ivorship the body and blood of Jesus 
 Christ in the eucharist ? 
 
 'A. Yes, undoubtedly ; for this body and this 
 blood are inseparably united to his divinity.' 
 
 " Volumes maybe quoted to the same effect; but 
 it is hoped that the above will suffice to show that I 
 have in nothing misrepresented this doctrine, as gen- 
 erally and very strenuously held by the Papists." 
 
 In regard to what, is in the above Catechism 
 declared, that Jesus Christ is entire under each part 
 
 of the bread and wine, however divided, I would 
 add to what was said in § XXL, that it is the belief 
 of Protestants that the spirit, the divinity of Christ is 
 in all places and every w here ; but that a human 
 
n 
 
 A tVlO 
 
 body, or any one particle of matter, can be at the 
 same time in several places, seems to me as impossi- 
 ble as that two added to two should amount to two 
 only. Christ is spiritually, and to all intents and 
 purposes of our need, for " the strengthening and 
 refreshing of our souls by his body and blood," 
 present in all places where this sacrament is rightly 
 administered. There may be two or more bodies 
 exactly alike ; but how they can be identical and but 
 one, no one can imagine, and no one is of God re- 
 quired to believe such a direct contradiction. Christ 
 positively declares (John xiv. 23) that he, with his 
 Father, will make his abode with them who love 
 him and keep his words. This is truly effected by 
 the Holy Ghost, which is " the Spirit of the Father," 
 " the Spirit of the Son," " the Spirit of Christ," and 
 which dwells with good Christians ; but if the body 
 of Christ cannot, in any one place, be separate from 
 his spirit, then his material body is in every good 
 Christian as much as it is in the bread and wine of 
 the Lord's supper. 
 
 It will not, I trust, be deemed unsuitable to ob- 
 serve here, that Henry VIII. of England, who is 
 sometimes and very erroneously spoken of as a 
 Protestant, was a rigid Papist in all but the pope's 
 supremacy, which, from political, and, we may fear, 
 selfish views, he discarded. Transubstantiation was 
 chief among the " six articles," for the denying of 
 which so many of those who were truly Protestants 
 were, in his reign, cruelly persecuted. The wicked- 
 ness of Henry, as did the treason of Judas Iscariot, 
 and the persecutions which the apostles suffered, 
 " turned out for the furtherance of the gospel." The 
 wisdom of God brings good from evil ; by his over- 
 ruling providence, he makes the wrath of man to 
 praise him, and all things to work together for the 
 good of his people. It is much the practice of the 
 Papists to stigmatize and blacken the motives and 
 moral character of those who were any way instru- 
 
45 
 
 mental in promoting the Reformation ; and Protes- 
 tants are not free from the like fault. It proves 
 nothing on either side, but the want of that charity 
 which " rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
 truth." One might expect that the belief of the 
 Papists, that the greater part of their own communi- 
 cants are, immediately after death, sent to purgatory, 
 to be punished with torments beyond what language 
 can express, would make them cautious how they 
 magnify the faults of others ; that they would re- 
 member (and God grant that we may all remember) 
 the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, " Judge 
 not, that ye be not judged ; for with what judgment 
 ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what meas- 
 ure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." 
 
 There is no one thing that I more desire on earth, 
 than to see Christians united in this life, before they 
 depart to that eternal world in which they hope to 
 live together in perfect harmony and love. Neither 
 the piety nor the wickedness of a few individuals 
 proves the orthodoxy or the heresy of the church or 
 the sect to which they belong. We must resort " to 
 the law and to the testimony." We must " let God 
 be true, and every man a liar." We are all con- 
 cluded under sin ; and the best saint on earth, far 
 from having righteousness that can save others, can- 
 not, by his own merits, save himself. There is no 
 name given under heaven, whereby we can be saved, 
 but that of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Of the doctrine that the bread and wine are to be 
 worshipped, as the Papists hold, I may say some- 
 thing hereafter. The withholding of the wine from 
 the people, I now mention as the twenty-second of 
 what we deem essential errors, and against which 
 we protest. 
 
 § XXI17. Another practice of the Roman Church, 
 
 held by IVotestanls in abomination, is that of carry- 
 ing in procession, through the streets of large tow ns. 
 
 
46 
 
 a piece of bread which they call the Host, and which 
 do! only do they themselves worship, but oblige 
 those whom they meet to how and oiler idolatrous 
 adoration. They who are of the reformed religion 
 will not, of course, submit to this, except in outward 
 appearance : as Xaaman, perhaps, bowed in the 
 house of Rimmon. But whether such a compliance, 
 in violation of the second commandment, (of the 
 letter, at least.) is not a sin. is worthy of serious con- 
 sideration. The example of certain Jews, in refusing 
 to "fall down and worship the image" which Neb- 
 uchadnezzar had set UP) is much more worthy of 
 imitation ; as is also that of thousands of holy 
 martyrs, who have voluntarily suffered the most ex- 
 cruciating torments, rather than (in outward appear- 
 ance even) worship idols. The safest course is, an 
 undeviating adherence to sound principle, leaving 
 the event with God. Let us not forget who has 
 said. " He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he 
 that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it." In 
 this country, where, through God's blessing, we en- 
 joy religious freedom, we are not subjected to this 
 particular trial ; and I may well here repeat what in 
 the commencement of these remarks was said : He 
 who would know what Popery is. must go where no 
 other religion is tolerated. The inestimable blessing 
 of religious liberty is evidently increasing in the 
 world. The light of the Reformation continues to 
 penetrate into the dark regions of idolatry and su- 
 perstition. The pope has already lost very much of 
 his power, which we trust in God he will never re- 
 gain : and his adherents will find it more and still 
 more difficult to blind the eyes of people, and pre- 
 vent their searching for themselves what is the truth 
 of God. We do not say that men will cease to be 
 idolaters : the whole history of ages past teaches us 
 to fear the contrary. " Men love darkness rather 
 than light." " The natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God." The external form of 
 
47 
 
 religion will probably continue to be more pleasing 
 to the unrenewed heart than " the inward part, or 
 thing signified." How large a proportion of those 
 "who profess and call themselves Christians" may 
 continue to prefer the commandments of men to the 
 word of God, He only knows. With regard to human 
 authority, every one should be permitted to worship 
 God according to the reasonable persuasion of his 
 own mind. Censure even, cast upon men for using 
 this liberty, is a degree of persecution. If any prefer 
 to go out from vs, being- not (in heart) of us, let us 
 not judge nor cease to pray for them. If they act 
 conscientiously, God may receive and bless them. 
 The prediction of the Bishop of Arath, that, in case 
 we do not, as a Church, submit to the pope's su- 
 premacy, some will break from our ranks, is already 
 being verified ; and how many more will follow, 
 need cause no painful anxiety. God will take care 
 of his Church ; and if we who remain in it faithfully 
 obey his word, he will daily add to our ranks " such 
 as should be saved." They who carefully, with 
 prayer, search for the old ways, (truly so called,) who 
 desire to hold fast to what truly appertains to ancient 
 Christianity, and to reject what is corrupt, erroneous, 
 and superstitious, will, we believe, still find in the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church a safe asylum. And 
 good reason have we to hope that our ranks are 
 much more likely to be increased than diminished. 
 
 §XXIV. Another article of the Latin or Roman 
 Church against which we protest is what is called 
 the Sacrifice of the Mass, or the doctrine tliat, in the 
 celebration of the Lore]'.- -upper, the priesl offers the 
 real body and blood of Christ, literally understood, 
 as a true and expiatory sacrifice for the living and 
 (lend, equally meritorious with thai which Christ 
 hiniscH" offered upon the cross; Bind thai this may be 
 offered for any individual who is dead', it' he has left 
 money to pay, or if any who are living will pay the 
 
 
48 
 
 priest for doing it. Supposing this doctrine to be 
 true, of what immense value must wealth be! A few 
 dollars may save a soul ! The doctrine of our Church 
 is, that God " gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, to 
 sutler death upon the cross for our redemption, who 
 made there, by his one oblation of himself, once 
 offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, obla- 
 tion, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, 
 and did institute, and in his holy gospel command 
 us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his pre- 
 cious death and sacrifice." We do it as Christ 
 commands, " in remembrance of him." There is, 
 indeed, a general sense, in which any religious offer- 
 ing may be called a sacrifice. Such, at the celebra- 
 tion of the eucharist, are owr alms and oblations; 
 such the gifts and creatures of bread and toine which 
 we offer; and such "our sacrifice of praise and 
 thanksgiving, . . . And we offer and present unto 
 the Lord ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a 
 reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto him." But 
 we do not consider these offerings as being in us 
 meritorious, or as making any expiation for the sins 
 of ourselves or others ; but, on the contrary, we ac- 
 knowledge that we are unworthy to offer any sacri- 
 fice, and pray God not to weigh our merits, but 
 pardon our offences. 
 
 The sacrifices under the law given by Moses, as 
 the apostle to the Hebrews has clearly shown in 
 chapter X., were shadows of good things to come ; 
 they were typical of Christ : they looked to him as 
 the substance, — as " the Lamb of God, who truly 
 taketh away the sins of the world " — " who, after he 
 had offered one sacrifice for sin, forever sat down on 
 the right hand of God." By his stripes we are 
 healed ; in him we have complete redemption. The 
 Jewish passover was prophetical, directing the eye 
 of faith forward to the death of Jesus Christ, in the 
 fulness of time to be offered once for all; and in the 
 Lord's supper we look back to the same all-sufficient 
 
49 
 
 Sacrifice. It being full and complete, and offered for 
 all, it needs not to be repeated ; and no act of man, 
 whether priest or layman, can, by words spoken, or 
 money given, add any thing to its efficacy, or render 
 it more perfect, or more extensive, or more availing* 
 " By one offering, he hath perfected forever them that 
 are sanctified.' The pretence of thus repeating his 
 death evidently implies that Christ's sacrifice was 
 not full and complete. It implies that he should 
 ■* offer himself often " — that " he must often have 
 suffered." * Protestants choose to rely on the sacri- 
 fice which Christ himself made for their sins, rather 
 than on this mercenary traffic of the priests. It 
 seems that, according to their own views, in taking 
 money for masses, they sell Christ to be crucified 
 afresh. The traffic is certainly lucrative in a high 
 degree : what Judas received was as nothing, in 
 comparison. In saying this, I pretend not to judge 
 of their sincerity or their devotion, nor whether or 
 not they are accepted of God. It is worthy, how- 
 ever, of repeated remark, that the most of their doc- 
 trines and practices, which, in our view, are de- 
 partures from the word of God, are wonderfully 
 adapted, certainly, if not designed, to add power to 
 their priests, and wealth to their church. How vast, 
 beyond what human language can express, must be 
 the power which can change a piece of bread into 
 the eternal Son of God, and offer him, at pleasure, 
 an expiatory sacrifice for any man or for all men ! 
 And what reasonable man, if he can, indeed, bring 
 himself to believe such doctrine, would not, at his 
 death, gladly leave a part, or, if needed, all, of his 
 estate, to rescue his own soul from future punish- 
 ment? The Protestant, like the martyr St. Stephen, 
 will, at his clying hour, look unto the w * Lord J( , sns " 
 rather than to any pope or priest, to "receive" and 
 save his soul. How, indeed, a mass offered for an 
 
 * Heb. be. 25, 9a 
 
50 
 
 individual, can be considered as the identical sacri- 
 fice which Christ offered for all men, cannot, without 
 light from Rome, be imagined. 
 
 § XXV. The doctrine that the Lord's supper is an 
 Expiatory Sacrifice, making satisfaction for the sins 
 of men, — the same as that which was offered by 
 Christ himself, leads, of course, to another doctrine, 
 equally erroneous, — that the man who administers 
 the sacrament is a priest in the sense in which Christ 
 himself is a Priest. This, too, we reject. In our 
 Prayer-Book, and in the offices of our Church, the 
 word priest is, indeed, often used, but not in that 
 sense — not as designating one who offers a real 
 sacrifice, making expiation for sin. With us, the 
 word means the same as presbyter or elder ; it means 
 a minister of Christ, ordained with power to com- 
 memorate the sacrifice of Christ in that sacrament. 
 He pretends not to repeat, but to " show forth, the 
 Lord's death" — to do in remembrance of Christ 
 what he commanded. 
 
 The Pagans had priests many and sacrifices many, 
 and idols and gods unnumbered ; but they were all 
 abominations in the sight of the true God, the Lord 
 Jehovah. Under the Mosaic Dispensation, there 
 were, indeed, priests and sacrifices of truly divine 
 appointment ; but, as above observed, they were 
 typical ; they were prophetic symbols of the one 
 only true Priest and true Sacrifice — of that " Lamb 
 of God, who taketh away the sins of the world." 
 The law, as St. Paul says, " was a schoolmaster to 
 bring us to Christ ; " and it is desirable that Chris- 
 tians should profit more than they generally do by 
 its instruction. " It had a shadow of good things to 
 come, but not the very image of the things." It 
 could " never, with those sacrifices, which they 
 offered year by year, continually, make the comers 
 thereunto perfect. . . . For it is not possible that the 
 blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin." 
 
51 
 
 In the holy scriptures, the ministers of Christ are not 
 called priests ; but he is himself so called. Aaron 
 was a priest, as Moses was a mediator ; both typical 
 of him whom God hath ordained to those high and 
 holy offices. And they who are blest with a true 
 knowledge of him need no other, and acknowledge 
 no other priest or mediator. 
 
 § XXVI. One of the distinguishing peculiarities of 
 the Christian religion is, that it has but one Priest, 
 and needs no other. In religions of man's invention, 
 they have priests taken from among men. The 
 priests appointed according to the law given by 
 Moses, as we have in the last section seen, were 
 types prefiguring the Saviour, and designed, as were 
 the other parts of that law, to prepare mankind, 
 God's chosen people especially, for the advent of the 
 Messiah, and for the gospel dispensation. Man can 
 offer nothing that will take away the sins of others, 
 nor can he redeem his own soul. We have one 
 Priest, who is " the Lord from heaven," the eternal 
 Word and Wisdom of God. This Word, being 
 made flesh, and dwelling among us, offered himself 
 to expiate our sins. And having made this " one 
 sacrifice for sin," perfect and complete, there was no 
 need of its being repeated. He then ascended into 
 heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of God, 
 as our Advocate with the Father, and the only pre- 
 vailing Mediator between God and man. He is in 
 himself sacrifice, and priest, and altar. And as we 
 need no other propitiatory sacrifice, and no other 
 priest to offer it, so of course we need no other altar } 
 whereon to make atonemenl for the people. In this, 
 also, we differ from the Romanists, who have what 
 they call altars, at which their priests officiate, and 
 on which they pretend to make an expiatory sacrifice. 
 In the scriptures, the board on which the bread and 
 wine, in administering the Lord's supper, are laid, is 
 
 not calico! the alhn\ but the table: the same is true 
 
52 
 
 of our Prayer-Book, properly so called, which ends 
 with the Psalter, as may be seen by ' the table of 
 contents ; " and also in the offices which follow 
 the Psalter, for ordaining deacons, and priests, and 
 bishops ; and for consecrating a church it is often 
 called a table, but not an altar. In the office of in- 
 stitution recently added to our Book of Common 
 Prayer, the word altar is used, not certainly in the 
 sense in which the Papists use it ; nor is it, I trust, 
 from any change in the doctrines of our Church on 
 this very material point, but rather in compliance 
 with what seems to be becoming common language, 
 without any regard to doctrinal propriety. We pre- 
 tend not to offer on that board any expiatory sacri- 
 fice ; we offer devoutly " our alms and oblations," 
 and with great solemnity the " gifts and creatures of 
 bread and wine, . . . according to Christ's institution, 
 in remembrance of his death and passion." 
 
 And here I have occasion to introduce a question 
 (in my view) of much importance, respecting which 
 I fear that there may be some difference of opinion 
 among the clergy of our Church : it is, whether any 
 doctrine of Christ, or religious propriety, requires 
 that our ministers or people should worship with 
 their faces towards the communion-table, rather than 
 in any other direction, or whether the practice of so 
 worshipping has not arisen from the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation, and does not countenance that 
 doctrine? The Papists, we know, are consistent, 
 however idolatrous, in doing it ; they have constant- 
 ly before their eyes, and on the table, a cake of 
 bread, which they avowedly worship as their God. 
 But we have no such image or visible Deity on our 
 communion-table ; nor can we give any good reason 
 for supposing that God is there present more than 
 in any other part of the church. Christ has, indeed, 
 positively declared that he is in the midst of his people 
 who meet to worship in his name ; but I would not 
 infer from that gracious promise, though it is un- 
 
53 
 
 doubtedly fulfilled, that the minister is bound to pray 
 with his face to the congregation ; yet I do say that, 
 if God is particularly present any where, it is among 
 his people, rather than upon the table. In regard to 
 this question, it is fitting that all things be done 
 decently and to edifying. Decency may require 
 that the people should face the minister, when he 
 preaches, and perhaps when they pray, though this 
 last may well be doubted. Both decency and con- 
 venience render it fitting that, when the priest offi- 
 ciates in administering the Lord's supper, his face 
 should be towards the table, where his business is, 
 except when he speaks to the people. In adminis- 
 tering baptism, when he says, " Sanctify this ivater 
 to the mystical washing away of sin," it is decent 
 and fitting that he should turn his face toward the 
 water, and even touch it with his fingers. And so 
 in the Lord's supper, when he comes to the conse- 
 cration of the elements, it is convenient and fitting 
 that he should remove from the end of the table 
 where he has performed the foregoing part of the 
 communion-service, and " stand before the table," 
 with his back to the people, that he may more con- 
 veniently " order the bread and wine," and " with 
 more readiness and decency break the bread before 
 the people, and take the cup in his hands." In all 
 this there is no unfitness, nor any thing like idolatry 
 or superstition. 
 
 Some have urged, in justification of their table 
 worship, that the table is in the rubric called "the 
 holy table." Is this a good reason for worshipping 
 towards it? Can the Church, by a word, create an 
 object of worship? It is a holy table in a scriptural 
 sense of die word holy, and so are all other parts of 
 the church; but things Sanctified audio be consid- 
 ered as holy, are not, therefore, things to he wor- 
 shipped, if they were so, the bodies of living Chris- 
 tians would be the most suitable objects of adoration. 
 
 We are repeatedly told from the highest authority, 
 
5-1 
 
 that their bodies are holy, being the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost dwelling within them. St. Paul says 
 to the Corinthians, " Know ye not that ye are the 
 temple of (Joel, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
 in you ! the temple of God is hoty^ which temple ye 
 are." * Here, again, is much better reason (if either 
 of them be any reason) for the minister's worship- 
 ping towards the people, than towards the table. 
 Indeed, if in worship we turn towards any thing, 
 because we deem it holy, it must, in the nature of 
 things, be in some degree idolatrous. It implies 
 that the God whom we worship is particularly in 
 that place, and the turning- to it for that reason, be- 
 cause of its holiness, is, of course, an act of adora- 
 tion. The Bible is called holy, and more truly so 
 called than any table. And ought we, then, to turn 
 toward the Bible when we pray ? It has been ob- 
 served of the Papists, that in their churches they 
 appear to be very devout ; and has it not also been 
 observed that w 7 hen they are so, their eyes are stead- 
 fastly fixed upon some image or picture? The 
 Pagans are still more devout in the presence of their 
 idols. 
 
 The time was when God did visibly manifest his 
 presence in his temple at Jerusalem, and towards 
 that temple were all his people commanded to wor- 
 ship ; but now, under the Christian dispensation, 
 " the hour," as Christ told the Samaritan woman, 
 John iv., " is come when ive shall neither in that 
 mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father, 
 . . . when the true worshippers shall worship the 
 Father in spirit and in truth." Whether the worship 
 of which in this section I express my disapprobation, 
 is worshipping the true God in spirit and in truth, I 
 leave with the reader to judge. In what is the chief 
 point will, I trust, a vast majority of our Church 
 agree, that we have no sacrifice, priest, or altar, in 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 16. 
 
55 
 
 the sense claimed by the Church of Rome. I would 
 suggest the propriety of adhering, in this and other 
 things, to scriptural language, more than some Chris- 
 tians do. They who prefer calling " the Lord's 
 table " the altar, ought at least to understand what 
 they mean. When our ministers, as some of them 
 do, call upon those who are to be baptized or con- 
 firmed, to " come forward to the altar" I would 
 affectionately ask them whether the word chancel 
 would not be more suitable ? 
 
 § XXVIL Another point of difference from the 
 Church of Rome is the number of sacraments which 
 Christ has ordained in his church. In our Church 
 Catechism is a very excellent definition of " what we 
 mean by this word sacrament;" that it is " an out- 
 ward and visible sign of an inward spiritual grace 
 given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a 
 means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge 
 to assure us thereof." Of these we acknowledge 
 " two only as generally necessary to salvation ; that 
 is to say, baptism and the supper of the Lord." By 
 generally necessary to salvation, we mean those 
 which, generally speaking, are required of all who 
 would be saved in Christ ; that a sincere and faithful 
 use of them would be beneficial to every Christian. 
 The Romanists hold that the number is seven, in- 
 cluding, besides Baptism and the Eucharist, Confir- 
 mation, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, 
 and Matrimony. Their notion of a sacrament dif- 
 fers, no doubt, from ours. Though they should hold 
 that they are all ordained by Christ, and have out- 
 ward signs of spiritual grace, they will riot say that 
 they are all generally necessary to salvation. But 
 few are required to receive holy orders, and abstain- 
 ing from matrimonii they seem to view as a great 
 virtue, and vastly meritorious, It is, by the way, 
 somewhat singular that thej should view marriage 
 as a holy sacrament^ and yet deem both men and 
 
56 
 
 women less holy for their receiving it ! Vows made 
 wholly to refuse this sacrament they extol exceeding- 
 ly, and think it so meritorious as to justify the 
 neglect of almost every duty towards their fellow- 
 ini'ii. Of this their Monachisui and Convents afford 
 abundant proof. 
 
 If I mistake not, they view these seven ordinances 
 as outward actions or sacred signs, ordained by 
 Christ, and that they are sure means of bringing 
 grace to our souls. After baptism and the Lord's 
 supper, confirmation seems to come the nearest to 
 our notion of a sacrament ; but Ave have no proof 
 that it was ordained by Christ himself; we view it 
 rather as having been instituted by his apostles, 
 which is sufficient authority for its being received 
 and practised as a divine institution. We differ, 
 too, from the Romanists, in not dignifying it with 
 the name sacrament, and in rejecting all unauthorized 
 superstitious ceremonies in its administration ; we 
 do it, as did the apostles, simply by prayer and 
 laying on of hands. 
 
 Their fourth sacrament is Penance, of which I 
 may hereafter say something under the article Re- 
 pentance. As this has no outward visible sign or- 
 dained by Christy as a certain means of grace to our 
 soidSj I cannot perceive with what fitness any Chris- 
 tians should call it a sacrament. It is very profitable, 
 however, to their church, in a pecuniary view, and 
 adds much to the power of their priesthood. 
 
 Their authority for their sacrament called Extreme 
 Unction, is taken from what is recorded in the fifth 
 chapter of the Epistle of St. James. " Is any sick 
 among you? let him call for the elders of the church, 
 and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, 
 in the name of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith 
 shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, 
 and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven 
 him." The power of working miracles was then 
 still continued in the church; and this was a promise 
 
57 
 
 that such prayer of faith, by the elder, should be 
 blessed in the cure of the sick. Here, then, is 
 nothing corresponding with what is now called the 
 sacrament of Extreme Unction. Instead of being 
 raised to life and health, the sick whom they thus 
 visit, if I mistake not, in almost every instance, soon 
 after die. Is not this a flagrant abuse of that passage 
 of the scriptures ? And is it not very hazardous for 
 any Christian now to rely on such a ceremony for 
 the pardon of his sins ? 
 
 Matrimony we believe to be a divine institution, 
 ordained, not properly speaking by Jesus Christ, but 
 by God at the creation of the first human pair. But 
 what visible action or sign has it, assuring grace to 
 the souls of married people? Matrimony is not 
 " generally necessary to salvation ; " there is gener- 
 ally neither merit nor sin in the single life. In God's 
 sight " marriage is honorable among all men," 
 whether clergy or laymen ; but none are, by the law 
 of Christ, positively commanded to marry. 
 
 § XXVIII. The point on which I would next re- 
 mark is one which presents us with a very humilia- 
 ting view of human folly, and shows how blind is 
 man without the light of the Sun of Righteousness. 
 In reading the history of this world, nothing is more 
 remarkable than the propensity of mankind to the 
 ivorskip of images. This, from time immemorial, 
 has been prevalent throughout the heathen world ; 
 and the history of God's church, from the days of 
 Moses to this present time, give mournful and 
 abundant proof that his chosen people have, at 
 various periods, been much inclined to this abomina- 
 ble pollution. But a very short time after the 
 Israelites had, by the mighty, outstretched arm of 
 the laving God, been delivered from bondage in 
 
 Egypt, and even while Moses was in the holy 
 
 mount, receiving the tables o( the law, did they 
 make a calf, in imitation of the Egyptian idolatry, 
 
58 
 
 and worship the image, And what was their sub- 
 sequent conduct, in imitating the idolatries of the 
 nations around them, the sacred historians have 
 informed us. Indeed, they who attentively read 
 God's word must clearly See that one great purpose 
 of divine revelation is and has ever been, to make 
 known to his people and to all men the pernicious 
 evil of such idolatry, and to promote the knowledge 
 and worship of the one only and true God. 
 
 It might reasonably have been supposed that the 
 second commandment, which so clearly and fully 
 forbids the worship of any images, and the making 
 of them for that purpose, would effectually preserve 
 all, whether Jews or Christians, who believe in God, 
 and desire to render him acceptable homage, from 
 this gross pollution. We are forbidden to make any 
 image or imaginary likeness of the true God, as is 
 fully shown in Deuteronomy iv. The Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the living Saviour of men, who is one with 
 the Father, is the only image or likeness of God 
 whom he has authorized men to worship. God has 
 revealed himself to us " in the face of Jesus Christ," 
 in " whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily." He, our divine Saviour, is appointed of 
 God as the only Mediator, through whom we have 
 access unto the Father. How evidently the Papists 
 are guilty of this "pollution of idols" — of making 
 images, and falling down and worshipping them, I 
 leave to those who are acquainted with their worship 
 to judge. It is scarce necessary to say that rejecting 
 all worship of images is one essential article of the 
 Reformation. Protestants hold such idolauy in utter 
 abhorrence ; they regard the second commandment ; 
 how many of us violate the first, by setting up idols 
 in our hearts, God only knows. 
 
 It was by degrees, partly in opposition to the 
 Jews, and long after the apostles' days, that pictures 
 and images began to be introduced into Christian 
 churches. The pollution was then much opposed 
 
59 
 
 by Churches, and Councils, and the Emperors, 
 though they were not at first introduced to be objects 
 of religious adoration. But, after being introduced, 
 ■ — as any one acquainted with human nature might 
 expect, — - the worship of them gradually came into 
 use, chiefly through the influence of popes. It is a 
 remarkable and a mournful fact, that this and almost 
 every other corruption of religion have been intro- 
 duced by the priesthood. The laity, generally speak- 
 ing, are more ready to hear than the clergy to preach 
 the pure doctrines of the cross of Christ. 
 
 In justification of bowing to images, it is often 
 said that the homage is not offered to the image, but 
 to the being which it represents. Of the true God, 
 as I said, we are forbidden to make any material 
 image or likeness ; his image, since the ascension of 
 Christ, is to be formed in our hearts only, according' 
 to the pattern revealed to us from above. And if the 
 image is of any other being than the true God, 
 whether the homage be offered to the image or to 
 the saint, is immaterial ; for both are, so far as I can 
 see, equally idolatrous. The heathen said, and no 
 doubt truly, that they did not worship their images, 
 but the beings whom their images represented ; and 
 what well-informed Christian would more willingly 
 worship the false god than its image ? Why the 
 Papists have been at so much pains to conceal from 
 the people the knowledge of the scriptures, and of 
 the second commandment in particular, is very ob- 
 vious. In instances not a few, when a new image 
 has been set up, to honor the saint or idol, and bring 
 the shrine into repute, indulgences have been granted 
 by the pope to all who would devoutly visit it. So 
 highly do they estimate this species of idolatry, that 
 worshipping an image, which is one of the greatest 
 sins, they consider so meritorious as to atone for 
 other sins. 
 
 It is remarkable, and not, I trust, improper here to 
 notice, that about the time of the establishment of 
 
60 
 
 the Papacy, in the early part of the seventh cert* 
 tury, the Mahometan imposture also commenced. 
 These, by some writers, are denominated the two 
 grand apostacies from the Christian faith, the one 
 overrunning the Eastern, and the other the Western 
 Church. The latter, the Romanists, are advocates 
 for image worship ; the former abhor and oppose it. 
 These great evils, we may believe, were permitted 
 in just punishment of Christians, for their departure 
 from the pure simplicity of the gospel ; for their dis- 
 sensions, strifes, and worldly affections. And ought 
 we not in this to see and to admire, not only the 
 justice, but the wisdom of an overruling Providence 
 in balancing errors, and counteracting one great evil 
 by another ? The Mahometans, as also the Jews, 
 being, as they are, dispersed through a great part 
 of the world, must have a salutary effect in oppo- 
 sing the blind folly of image worship, and in en- 
 lightening mankind in that fundamental article of all 
 true religion, — that there is but one God, and he 
 the only just object of religious adoration. And 
 when other nations of the earth shall be converted to 
 the faith of Christ, those strenuous opposers of 
 image worship will, we may believe, have no small 
 influence in preserving the Church from idolatrous 
 corruptions. 
 
 § XXIX. Another species or form of idolatry, and 
 similar to that last mentioned, is the practice of pray- 
 ing to angels, and also to dead men and women, 
 which is well known to have been the general usage 
 of the Latin or Western Church, at the time of the 
 Reformation, and by the Papists is continued and 
 justified at the present day. Whether this worship 
 be called prayer or invocation is immaterial. A large 
 part of our prayers to the true God are also invoca- 
 tions. It would be easy to direct the reader to many 
 of these invocations which are published and much 
 used, and which are direct prayers for grace and aid. 
 
61 
 
 Mary, the mother of Jesus, whom they call "the 
 mother of God," and " the queen of heaven," with 
 many other appellations shocking to the ear of Pro- 
 testants, they worship, so far as we can judge, more 
 than any other deity ; and have more pictures made 
 and images erected to her honor, than to any other 
 god or goddess. 
 
 God has made his angels ministering spirits, and. 
 as we have reason to believe, they watch over his 
 people for their good ; and often have they been sent 
 to this earth as messengers of peace and love. To 
 them, if to any created beings, it would seem that 
 we might call for heavenly aid. But we read in the 
 nineteenth and twenty-second chapters of Revela- 
 tion, that this is expressly and repeatedly forbidden ; 
 we are still, to the end of the holy scriptures, com- 
 manded to " worship God," and no other being. 
 
 What is particularly the state of the soul after 
 death till the resurrection and the day of judgment, 
 has not been revealed to us, because, no doubt, it is 
 not necessary for the regulation of our conduct in 
 this world, and for preparing us for our eternal state. 
 " Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but 
 those things which are revealed belong unto us ; " 
 and happy would it be, if with them Christians were 
 more contented, and were less disposed to pry into 
 those times and seasons, and other things "which 
 the Father hath put in his own power." The world 
 is very little wiser for all the volumes that have been 
 written on the subject of the intermediate state, ami 
 for any and for all the attempts of men to be wise in 
 religious knowledge above or beyond what is M writ- 
 ten for our learning" in the word of God. Our 
 
 Saviour's words to the penitent thief on the cross, 
 and his parable of the rich man and Lazarus, mviu 
 
 to give us the clearest and almost all the knowledge 
 we have of the presenl state <>( ^)\[\* departed from 
 this life. Two places of departed spirits our Lord 
 mentions; one with himself in paradise, the other a 
 
 
B2 
 
 place of torment. This latter could not be a popish 
 purgatory ; for Christ expressly states that there is no 
 possibility of passing from either one to the other. 
 But, in my judgment, it may be doubted whether 
 these or any other passages in the BibLe, were in- 
 tended to give us any distinct knowledge of what 
 will be our state between death and our final judg- 
 ment. And it is, indeed, doubtful, whether we have 
 any language which can convey to our understand- 
 ing a clear knowledge of the spiritual world. By 
 what language can we give to one who was born 
 blind, a knowledge of light and of colors ? 
 
 But it is enough for my present purpose to say 
 that we have no knowledge of the present state and 
 capacities of souls departed ; and whether or not 
 they can hear our prayer, or do any thing for our 
 benefit, we are ignorant. And we know of a cer- 
 tainty, that we have no manner of need of their 
 mediation. God, in his unspeakable mercy, has 
 appointed and has graciously accepted one Mediator, 
 who is ever more willing to hear, and infinitely more 
 able to help us, than all the saints and angels in the 
 universe. To Him, as did the holy martyr Stephen, 
 will the well-informed Christian look for grace and 
 salvation. God has also given his Holy Spirit to 
 dwell within us, to sanctify our affections, and to 
 help us to do and to be what God's word requires. 
 He, who is " the Spirit of the Father," and " the 
 Spirit of Christ," is more powerful than all that is in 
 the world, and is ready to help you in every case 
 and every time of need. 
 
 I need not repeat what has been so often and truly 
 shown, that praying to a saint supposes him or her 
 to be possessed of divine attributes ; of omnipres- 
 ence ; of being able to read the hearts and know the 
 thoughts and desires of all men and in all places. 
 Is not this idolatrous? The deities that the heathen 
 worshipped had lived on the earth ; some of them, 
 no doubt, had been men or women, who had lived 
 
63 
 
 well, and had been benefactors to mankind. Why 
 was it more idolatrous to worship them, than to offer 
 like homage to those whom the pope is pleased to 
 call saints ? To worship Minerva than St. Wine- 
 f ride ? Hercules than St. Patrick ? 
 
 And who has given the pope authority to decide 
 who are blessed as saints in heaven, or who are 
 beings to whom the adorations of men may be 
 addressed ? It is not, indeed, strange, or very incon- 
 sistent, that they who believe that a priest, by speak- 
 ing three or four words, can change a piece of bread 
 into the eternal God, should also believe that their 
 great high-priest, whom some of their writers de- 
 nominate " our Lord God the Pope," has power to 
 decide what man or woman deceased, may be in- 
 voked in religious adoration. 
 
 And are we sure that saints, whoever may be truly 
 such, are more concerned for our good than those 
 who are not so blessed? It is remarkable that in 
 the parable of our Saviour above referred to, it is 
 not Abraham or Lazarus who expresses concern for 
 the living, and requests that means may be used to 
 prevent the loss of their souls, but he who was " in 
 torment ; " and the request was denied, not on the 
 ground of his being unqualified to make it, but be- 
 cause the living have the scriptures, containing the 
 revealed will of God. 
 
 § XXX. The greatest evils that have befallen the 
 church of God, next after the departure of its mem- 
 bers from the standard of his word, are its divisions ; 
 and the daily prayer of "all who profess and call 
 themselves Christians," should be that they u may be 
 led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity 
 of spirit, and in the bond of peace," as well as "in 
 righteousness of life." Such unity of spirit can 
 
 never be effected but by the Spirit of God, enlight- 
 ening the minds and ruling the hearts o( men. 
 M To bring into the way of truth all such as have 
 
64 
 
 erred and are deceived," requires the mighty power 
 of the Holy Ghost, for which we should " pray with- 
 out ceasing." 
 
 But other means arc to be used. Christians will 
 not be united till they know and clearly understand 
 wherein and why they differ. With this knowledge, 
 each one may inquire and examine for himself, and 
 if he does it in an honest and good heart, and with 
 humble, fervent prayer, he will u be ready always to 
 give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of 
 the hope that is in him ; " and also to do it " with 
 meekness and fear," which is very essential, that he 
 may do it to good effect. My chief purpose, as I 
 have repeatedly stated, and wish it to be constantly 
 kept in mind, is to give our own people a knowledge 
 of the points or articles wherein we differ from the 
 Church of Rome ; a knowledge which our people 
 seem much to need, especially at the present time. 
 In giving reasons ivhy we thus differ, I aim at little 
 more than a brief statement of the points wherein 
 that difference consists. If in any of the articles I 
 have misrepresented the tenets of the Romish Church, 
 no one would regret it more than myself. I wish 
 not to diminish their usefulness; — I would gladly 
 unite with them, and all Christians, so far as it may 
 be without departing from the truth of God, as taught 
 in his word. If I truly state wherein we differ, the 
 subject may be as useful to them as to ourselves ; it 
 points out to them what their church stigmatizes as 
 our heresies ; and gives them occasion and opportu- 
 nity to examine and judge for themselves ; happy 
 would it be were they, by their priests, permitted 
 thus to examine and to judge. And should any of 
 our brethren of other Protestant denominations deign 
 to look at these remarks, it is hoped that they will 
 be less inclined, than in times past, to accuse us 
 of Popery; — many of them certainly may see that 
 while we differ from themselves but in three or 
 four points at most, which we deem essential, we 
 
65 
 
 differ from the Romanists in more than ten times 
 as many. 
 
 Twenty-nine of these points I have already men- 
 tioned, the last of which was the offering of prayers 
 to the dead. The one to which I now ask your 
 attention, is praying for the dead. Among all the 
 errors against which we protest, there is no one 
 which seems more accordant with our natural feel- 
 ings than this ; it seems to flow from a pure and 
 charitable spirit. But we are commanded to wor- 
 ship not only in spirit but in truth; we are to 
 " pray with the spirit and with the understanding 
 also." And what do we understand in our pray- 
 ing for dead men and for dead women ? What 
 authority have we for believing that such prayers 
 will be of use to the dead or to the living? 
 What do they imply? and to what does the 
 practice lead? We have no divine authority for 
 such a practice ; nor do we know what is the present 
 state of those who have departed this life. The 
 Bible is silent upon the subject, which it would not 
 be were it a practice which could be of good effect. 
 The gospel of Christ is a revealed religion, and 
 wholly of divine authority. What may be our 
 natural feelings, or desires, or wisdom, is of little 
 amount and of no authority ; if indeed we were to 
 follow our own imaginations it would lead to con- 
 fusion and every evil work. 
 
 And what, I repeat, does this practice imply ? If 
 we pray in faith and with any meaning, it implies 
 the presumptuous and unauthorized belief, thai God 
 will hear, to their benefit, our prayers for the dead. 
 And it leads to a belief in the doctrine of Purgatory, 
 one of the worst of the corruptions which have crept 
 
 into the Church. This is undoubtedly its practical 
 effect. It leads also to other superstitious practices. 
 
 It encourages men to delay repentance and continue 
 
 in their sins in the expectation that others will pray 
 
 and oiler masses for them after their death. And 
 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 also to trust in their money to save them ; for when 
 they have no longer use for it in this world, they can 
 leave it to purchase of their priests such masses and 
 prayers. This increases very much the power and 
 the wealth of the priests, and must be with them a 
 very prevailing argument for the continuance of the 
 practice. This practice also derogates from the 
 glory of Christ, the only Mediator whom God has 
 accepted. The doctrine that there is to be another 
 state of probation after this life is of immense con- 
 sequence, and cannot reasonably be received without 
 divine authority, clear and express. To receive it 
 on human authority would be a perilous presump- 
 tion. Though praying for the dead was introduced 
 into the church at an early day, probably in the third 
 century, and although some individuals of the Re- 
 formed Churches have favored it, by our Church, 
 and by Protestants generally, it is discarded as a 
 practice wholly unauthorized and of very evil ten- 
 dency. 
 
 § XXXL It will suffice briefly to mention as 
 another article of our Reformation, the practice of 
 the Roman Church of using in their mass and public 
 prayers, the Latin language, which is to almost all 
 who pretend to unite in it, an unknown tongue. 
 With those who will continue and defend such a 
 practice, it can be of little use to reason. We are 
 bound to render a reasonable service, and how can 
 it be such to those who do not understand what is 
 offered in their name, and as their prayer to God ? 
 In the apostles' days there were individuals who. in 
 their prayer-meetings, seem to have been vain of dis- 
 playing their gifts of tongues by praying and giving 
 thanks in such foreign languages as were unknown 
 to many, probably to most of the people present, who, 
 of course, could jiot with propriety say "Amen," 
 in response to the prayer. What St. Paul has 
 written upon this subject in his first Epistle to the 
 
67 
 
 Corinthians, and fourteenth chapter, may justly be 
 applied to this present article, and must, we might 
 expect, be decisive with those who revere the pre- 
 cepts of an inspired apostle. They who will persist 
 in worshipping " in an unknown tongue," may 
 " pray with the spirit" but certainly do not " pray 
 with the understanding also," 
 
 § XXXII. The next article which I would men- 
 tion, is what is called Auricular Confession ; the 
 Roman Church makes it imperative on all her mem- 
 bers to confess their sins to a priest; a practice 
 which, like most of their other distinctive principles, 
 adds very much to the power and wealth of their 
 priesthood. It is not only fitting, but the duty of 
 Christians to confess their sins one to another, es- 
 pecially to those whom they have injured, that they 
 may make restitution, and obtain forgiveness ; and 
 also to confess such faults and offences as others 
 have a right to know. By making known our feel- 
 ings to our Christian brethren, we may hope to 
 obtain better knowledge of our religious state, and 
 of our duty as Christians. But there are many 
 secrets, which, though they may be connected with 
 what in God's sight is sinful, had better not be 
 known to man. And that laymen are bound to 
 confess to priests, any more than priests to laymen, 
 no good reason, nor divine authority can be given. 
 The confession should be voluntary, without human 
 constraint, and its object be, as above said, to make 
 restitution, or to obtain counsel, or to increase our 
 sorrow for having done amiss. The practical effect 
 of the Roman auricular confession is on the part of 
 the priests, gaining the secrets and the wealth o( the 
 people, and on the part of the people the notion 
 most evidently and very generally is entertained, that 
 if they advance the money required, do penance, re* 
 pealing perhaps a few ave-Marias, or visiting the 
 shrine of some saint, and obtain absolution from one 
 
6S 
 
 of their priests, their sins are forgiven, and they feel 
 wholly at ease respecting what is past. Though the 
 priest may say, with all sincerity and truth, that the 
 absolution is given on condition of their repentance, 
 the practical effect is too evidently as I have stated ; 
 there is, in practice, and very naturally, an undue 
 and perilous reliance on the formality. What im- 
 mense power and influence must be added to the 
 priests by knowing the most important secrets of 
 every family and individual, may easily be conceived. 
 That men should be willing that such questions 
 should be put to their wives, and sisters, and young 
 daughters in the confessional, as are found even in 
 the published rules of that church, have seemed to 
 me strange and astonishing. One who had been 
 educated among the Papists says, " I learned (in the 
 confessional) more sins than ever I had heard of 
 when conversant in the world." What effect many 
 of the questions which are known to be put to 
 females must have on the priests themselves, may 
 easily be imagined. Of what is done in private, 
 and in convents especially, where all is secret as the 
 grave, will not be known till that day when all 
 the works of darkness shall be brought to light. 
 That the people of this our free country, should have 
 such awakened suspicions and fears of the private 
 meetings of the people called freemasons, who are 
 men only, and they respectable members of society, 
 mingling with the community in all the affairs of 
 life, and yet manifest such apathy respecting the 
 secrets of the confessional, and of men and women 
 wholly retired from the view of the world, has long 
 to me seemed unaccountable. 
 
 § XXXIII. Another point in which we cannot 
 agree'With the Papists is their substituting penance 
 for scriptural repentance, and directing sinners to a 
 priest rather than to God, that they may obtain re- 
 mission and forgiveness. This is admirably adapted 
 
69 
 
 to what is evidently the great and overruling object 
 of Popery, properly so called, which is to exalt the 
 priesthood, enrich the church, and subjugate the 
 world. In this it may be truly said that it is uniform- 
 ly consistent, and never changes. To Protestants, 
 that church appears certainly not duly to regard the 
 repentance, which the scriptures require as necessary 
 to our pardon and acceptance, that inward grace, or 
 state of the mind which is " repentance towards 
 God." According to the tenets and practice of that 
 church, it seems, certainly, that forgiveness of sin is 
 to be obtained by outward acts, and the absolution 
 of a priest, rather than by contrition, by godly sorrow, 
 abhorrence of sin, renovation of heart and conversion 
 to God, through faith in Jesus Christ. To sustain 
 this, their doctrine, the word " repent," as used in 
 the scriptures, is rendered, in their translation, do 
 penance. This is done by paying money, abstaining 
 from some article of food, visiting some image, say- 
 ing a number of ave-Marias, or by some other pre- 
 scribed performance. One grand feature of the Pa- 
 pal system is its substituting forms and ceremonies, 
 and the commandments of men for inward grace and 
 the religion of the heart. Their sacrament called 
 penance is not " ordained of Christ himself," but or- 
 dained by a frail, erring, and sinful man ; and the 
 promise of its " inward spiritual grace " is not of 
 divine authority. The substituting outward forms 
 for inward grace, for the religion of the heart, is re- 
 markably adapted to the propensities of our fallen 
 nature, and is of itself sufficient to recommend that 
 religion to a great part of mankind. (1 Cor, ii. 1 I.) 
 Till their heart is renewed by a living faith in Christ, 
 any religion will be more acceptable to men than 
 the submission of their mind and will " to the holy 
 commandment delivered unto them" in the word o( 
 God. 
 
 What a door their sacramenl of penance, connect- 
 ed with their practice of auricular confession, opens 
 
n 
 
 to immorality ; what a temptation to impurity, es- 
 pecially where every thing is profoundly secret, and 
 tbe confessor prescribes the penance, may easily 
 be imagined! I would not willingly say a word 
 to darken the character of any Christians. Very 
 few of us are so free from sin, as to be qualified to 
 cast the stone at others. But to show what will 
 naturally be the evil tendency of any tenets or prac- 
 tices, is no departure from Christian charity. If any 
 one desires to see a brief statement of some of the 
 proofs of the actual effects of penance and other 
 Papal tenets on tbe morals, may consult the appen- 
 dix to the second volume of a work called the Pro- 
 testant, Essay III. Our Saviour has taught us to 
 pray, " Lead us not into temptation" But we do 
 not sincerely and truly thus pray, except we care- 
 fully avoid temptation. 
 
 So far as penance may be truly called religious 
 abstinence ; so far as by suffering ourselves we re- 
 lieve others from suffering; or when, by denying 
 ourselves lawful pleasures, or other good things of 
 this life, we make either ourselves better, or others 
 more happy, it is, we may believe, a sacrifice ac- 
 ceptable to God ; but the notion that mere voluntary 
 suffering or pain, or afflicting our soul for a season, 
 is meritorious, or that it will atone for sins past or 
 future, is a perilous delusion. The Lord will ask 
 us by his prophet Isaiah, " Who hath required this 
 at your hand?" The heathen and idolaters, those, 
 especially, of Hindostan, excel all Christians in this 
 imaginary merit and delusive sell-righteousness. If 
 we expect pardon of sin and eternal life for the 
 merits of any sufferings, but those of our Saviour, 
 Christ, we deceive ourselves, and " are fallen from 
 grace." 
 
 § XXXIV. We differ, also, from the Romanists 
 respecting the canon of scripture. They receive as 
 inspired of God those ancient writings usually called 
 
71 
 
 the Apocrypha. Why they receive them, is suffi- 
 ciently obvious ; they contain some passages which 
 seem to give countenance to the corrupt tenets and 
 practices of their church, Protestants reject them 
 for the very good reason that there is no evidence of 
 their having be-en written by inspired penmen ; there 
 is no good authority for receiving them as the re- 
 vealed word of God. They are not found in the 
 ancient Hebrew Bible. They were not received by 
 Christians till the fifth century, wiien the church had 
 become, in many things, corrupt. They contain 
 things which are at variance with the true scriptures, 
 and things, also, which are absurd and unworthy of 
 belief. But they are valuable as writings of consid- 
 erable antiquity, and in some of them are found 
 interesting historical matter; in others, noble senti- 
 ments and rules of moral life, for which reasons " the 
 Church reads them, (or parts of them,) for example 
 of life, and instruction of manner, but does not apply 
 them to establish any doctrine." 
 
 § XXXV. Another error, which appears to us 
 great, and which we reject, is the multiplying inter- 
 cessors, to the dishonor of him who is truly our 
 " advocate with the Father." God in his merciful 
 goodness has been graciously pleased to appoint his 
 only begotten Son to be a Mediator between him- 
 self and us, his erring, sinful creatures, and has 
 declared himself well-pleased with his Son's media- 
 tion. This Lord from heaven came to this earth, 
 and took our nature. By his whole life and suffer- 
 ings on our behalf he manifested that he is a coin- 
 passionate High-Priest, touched with the feelings of 
 our infirmities, and that, through him, we have ac- 
 cess to the Father. And God has appointed no 
 other advocate, and he does not promise to hear U8 
 for the merits and intercession of any other being, 
 
 nor tO accept ns bul in him the beloved. Is it not 
 very foolish in men to rely upon, or to wish tor any 
 
72 
 
 other intercessor than him whom God has chosen 
 and appointed to that momentous office ? Is it not, 
 besides being very idolatrous, a dishonor to Christ 
 to beseech any dead man or dead woman to inter- 
 cede for us ut thr throne of grace ? Is any one more 
 ready to hear us, or more able to help us, or more 
 loved of the Father, than our Lord Jesus Christ? 
 iVter, and Paul, and Mary, were sinners like our- 
 selves, and are not themselves saved but through the 
 merits of Christ's sacrifice for their sin. Some seem 
 to rely on the strange (may we not say blasphemous) 
 doctrine that Mary, being the mother of Jesus, and 
 " the mother of God," may control her son, and, by 
 her maternal influence, constrain him to do what, 
 without her interference, he would neglect! There 
 may be occasion, hereafter, to speak more particu- 
 larly on this point. It will suffice now to remark, 
 what is indeed very remarkable, that whilst our Lord 
 was on the earth, when he "made himself of no 
 reputation," and was " in the form of a servant," he 
 reproved her for interfering with what appertained to 
 his conduct, or ministry. (John ii. 4.) After Mary 
 had performed the momentous office for which she 
 was selected from the daughters of Eve, that of 
 bringing the Saviour into the world, and doing for 
 him what the law required, it is very remarkable 
 that so very little is said of her, and that little so said 
 as to make it evident to all who read the scriptures, 
 that after Jesus commenced his public ministry, she 
 was no more venerated by him and his disciples 
 than other pious women ; than the sisters of Lazarus, 
 for instance, whom " Jesus loved." While a child, 
 he was subject to Joseph and Mary, his reputed 
 parents, by which he gave a good example to all 
 children. And yet, when he was but twelve years 
 old, he began to remind them that he had an office 
 to perform wholly independent of their parental 
 authority. When his mother said to him, " Son, 
 why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy father 
 
73 
 
 and I have sought thee sorrowing," his answer more 
 than intimated that he had a great work before him, 
 in which no other people, not his mother, even, were 
 authorized to interfere : " How is it that ye sought 
 me ? wist ye not that I must, be about my Father's 
 business ? They understood not the saying which 
 he spake unto them." And it seems strange that, 
 after the revelation which had been made to his 
 mother especially, she should not understand his 
 meaning. And yet our Saviour was not regardless 
 of the fifth commandment. He had all the affection 
 for his mother, which, as man, he ought to have. He 
 made provision for her comfortable maintenance 
 while she lived ; he commended the care of her to 
 his beloved disciple John, who, after Jesus' death, 
 " took her unto his own home." But, as Christ, his 
 relatives, and the objects of his particular regard, are 
 his faithful disciples. Thus, when it was told him, 
 " Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desir- 
 ing to see thee," — he answered and said unto them, 
 " My mother and my brethren are those which hear 
 the word of God and do it." Much reason have we 
 to adore the wisdom of that divine Providence which 
 has so ordered these things, that there is not even 
 the shadow of authority for that idolatrous veneration 
 which, to the disgrace of Christianity, is offered to the 
 mother of Jesus. 
 
 § XXXVI. I have endeavored that the remarks 
 under each section should be no more than are 
 necessary for a concise view of the difference be- 
 tween Papists and Protestants, and of the need of 
 reformation. And the reader should nol forget that 
 what renders the subject tedious, — the great number 
 
 of the articles, shows its importance, and is a i:ood 
 reason, not only lor their being published, but also 
 for their being carefully read and well understood. 
 
 Whether we have rejected any part of the truth ot 
 
 God, a» it is revealed in Jesus Christ, each one for 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 himself may judge. As Archbishop Laud says, 
 " Protestants did not get that name by protesting 
 against the Church of Rome, but by protesting (and 
 that where nothing rise would serve) against her 
 errors and superstitions." It is no departure from 
 the church, to reject the things in which the church 
 has erred, and that which is at variance with the 
 word of God. 
 
 Episcopalians should be aware that they occupy 
 a middle ground in the great religious controversies 
 of the present day. Though unhappily there are 
 jarring dissensions among Protestants, and differen- 
 ces of belief, and though some of several denomina- 
 tions have recently, and with much acrimony, assail- 
 ed the Protestant Episcopal Church, not " knowing 
 (what is so evident) that we are set for the defence 
 of the gospel " and of the Protestant cause, this need 
 give us no great anxiety ; w r e may well believe that 
 the great majority of Christians will continue to be, 
 as they ever have been, Episcopalians. The great 
 contest in " the good fight of faith," is to be, on the 
 one hand, with those who have added to God's 
 word apocryphal scriptures, false doctrine, and cor- 
 rupt tradition ; and on the other hand, with them 
 who have taken from it what is essential to Chris- 
 tianity, " making the cross of Christ of no effect," 
 and leading those who profess and call themselves 
 Christians, a downward course to unbelief and laxity 
 of morals. True, Catholicism is in most danger of 
 being, on the one side, corrupted by Jesuitical arti- 
 fice and idolatrous superstition, and, on the other, of 
 being " spoiled through philosophy and a vain deceit, 
 .... after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
 Christ." Being warned from heaven to " beware" 
 let us continue in the straight and narrow way, and 
 " turn not to the right hand or to the left." The 
 differing denominations of those who are called 
 orthodox Christians agree in holding and teaching 
 the most essential principles of the gospel, and may 
 
75 
 
 be considered by us as laboring, more or less direct- 
 ly, in behalf of the true catholic church, and well 
 may we rejoice, and determine, with St. Paul, that 
 we will rejoice that by them " Christ is preached." 
 
 What I next mention, is the difference between 
 Papists and Protestants respecting the power of 
 priests to forgive sin. In addition to my former re- 
 marks on their views of repentance, of their sacra- 
 ment of penance, and of their sale of indulgence, it 
 is sufficient for my present purpose to say, what is 
 but too evident, that, as matter of fact, the great 
 majority of Papists, after confessing to a priest, and 
 receiving absolution, feel no compunction for their 
 sins, nor do they generally appear to have that " re- 
 pentance towards God," which God himself requires 
 as necessary to their forgiveness and to their being 
 " accepted in the Beloved." So far as we may rea- 
 sonably judge, they trust in the absolution as a 
 complete exculpation. And under the sanction of 
 an indulgence, they appear certainly to look forward 
 to sins in future without any remorse of conscience 
 or fear of punishment. Let those who doubt of this, 
 be at the pains to observe how it is practised among 
 them. Protestants send the sinner, not to a priest, 
 but to God, for perfect remission and forgiveness ; 
 exhort him to rend his heart, and not his garments, 
 and to turn unto the Lord his God, who alone can 
 forgive sin. The ministers of Christ, in our view of 
 this momentous point, have power and command- 
 ment from God, " to declare and pronounce to his 
 people, being penitent, the absolution and remission 
 of their sins." God "pardoneth and absolveth all 
 those, who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his 
 holy gospel." Without thai scriptural " repentance 
 
 which is nol to he repented of," giving money, or 
 
 killing a. heretic, or visiting any image, or saying a 
 thousand ave-Marias will avail as nothing. They, 
 
 of the Papists, who have, lor instance, hern engaged 
 in the service of their church, to assassinate kinu , 01 
 
76 
 
 to blow up a house of parliament by gunpowder, or 
 to invade the territory of a people whom the pope 
 baa excommunicated, far from feeling compunction 
 for such atrocious sins, have thought the deeds vastly 
 meritorious, and have expected a high seat in heaven 
 as their reward. In >\\c\i cases, they have confessed 
 to a priest, and been absolved, before the horrid 
 crimes have been perpetrated. Such has been prac- 
 tically the view of Romanists of the efficacy and 
 effect of absolutions pronounced by their priests. 
 
 § XXXVIL Monachism, or monkery, we view as 
 a great evil ; as a priestly order of human invention, 
 and not properly appertaining to the Christian min- 
 istry. It is not now what it was in its original in- 
 stitution. The first monks, so called, were those 
 who were driven by persecution into retired and 
 solitary places, living awhile alone in cells, and, soon 
 after, forming themselves into societies. " They 
 hoped to find that peace among the beasts which 
 was denied them among men." "Whether such 
 retirement, to avoid persecution, was consistent with 
 their duty as Christians, may well be questioned. 
 Our Lord told his disciples, when " persecuted in 
 one city to flee to another," where they might be 
 received, and their labors be blest. But he did not 
 direct them to retire from the society of men, and 
 spend their unprofitable lives in idleness and ease. 
 But whatever may be said of the earliest monks, in 
 the third and fourth centuries, they afterwards be- 
 came very corrupt. " The Reformation had a man- 
 ifest influence in restraining their excesses, and ren- 
 dering them more circumspect and cautious in their 
 external conduct." By hundreds of writers this is 
 confirmed. Mosheim observes, that as early as the 
 fifth century their licentiousness was become a prov- 
 erb. In the seventh century, their vices had much 
 increased. About this time they devoted themselves 
 wholly to advance the interests and maintain the 
 
77 
 
 dignity of the bishops of Rome, who exempted them 
 from the jurisdiction of all other bishops, so that they 
 are not improperly denominated "the pope's militia." 
 At the time of the commencement of the Reforma- 
 tion, says the author last named, (Cent. xvi. sect. 1,) 
 " The prodigious swarms of monks that overspread 
 Europe were universally considered as cumberers of 
 the ground, and occasioned murmurs and complaints 
 every where. And, nevertheless, such was the 
 genius of the age, . . . that these monastic drones 
 would have remained undisturbed had they taken 
 the least pains to preserve any remains, even, of the 
 external air of decency and religion that used to dis- 
 tinguish them in former times. But the Benedictine 
 and the other monkish fraternities, . . . forgetful of 
 the gravity of their character, and of the laws of their 
 order, rushed headlong into the shameless practice 
 of vice in all its various kinds and degrees." " The 
 monastic orders and religious societies have been 
 considered by the Roman pontiffs as the principal 
 support of their authority and dominion. It is 
 chiefly by them that they rule the church, maintain 
 their influence on the minds of the people, and 
 augment the number of their votaries." These are 
 not properly ministers of Christ, but of the pope, and 
 wholly devoted to his service. Monastic institutions 
 have been significantly denominated " the plague- 
 spots of Europe." Several of the civil powers of 
 Europe have become so far emancipated from papal 
 despotism, that some of them have removed, and 
 others are now removing, these plague-spots from 
 their dominions. That such pestiferous institutions 
 may never be transplanted to this our country, pious 
 Christians should daily pray. 
 
 § XXXVIII. The unscriptural exaltation of celt, 
 bacy, or ascribing merit and peculiar sanctity to the 
 
 unmarried stale is an error of pernicious tendency, 
 against which we protest. This was anions the 
 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 eariiest corruptions of true religion. The notion of 
 any peculiar holiness appertaining to the single state, 
 is wholly imaginary, without foundation in nature or 
 religion. " It is easy," as one writer says, " to per- 
 ceive the process by which infirm minds passed into 
 the error of attributing sanctity to celibacy. The 
 law of Christian purity knows of no such confusion 
 of ideas. The very same authority which forbids 
 adultery enjoins marriage." And yet so very much 
 is this divine law by the Romanists perverted, that 
 none, it is believed, will accuse me of departing 
 from truth or charity, in saying that with them it 
 was, and I fear still is, easier for their priests to 
 obtain absolution for adultery than for marriage. 
 The consequence of vows of living in single life, 
 has been generally such as might most reasonably be 
 expected ; they have tended much more to the dimi- 
 nution, than to the promotion of chastity. I have 
 formerly noticed the inconsistency of considering 
 marriage a pollution, and yet a holy sacrament. 
 This imaginary sanctity is a perversion of the pure 
 doctrine of God's word, and has caused other cor- 
 ruptions of religion, and much impurity and vice. 
 The incontinence of their priests, from popes down 
 to friars, is matter of history, open to those who 
 choose to read it ; but much rather would I conceal 
 than spread the knowledge of such abomination. 
 So long as morality is understood to consist in 
 obedience to the declared will of God, it can never 
 be imagined that a man is defiled by living in matri- 
 mony, any more than by eating with unwashen hands. 
 Such artificial holiness, or refinement upon natural 
 instinct, is subversive of pure and undefined religion. 
 
 § XXXIX. An idolatrous regard to relics, Protest- 
 ants justly reckon among the corruptions of the 
 Catholic religion. To what extent and ridiculous 
 extremes this is carried, is well known to those who 
 have given attention to the subject- This idolatrous 
 
79 
 
 corruption began as early as the fourth century to 
 disgrace the church. The relics of saints were 
 esteemed as " mighty ramparts, which are capable 
 of protecting towns from the military assaults of 
 their enemies ; as champions by which all disasters 
 are turned away from us ; as strong rocks which dis- 
 sipate and nullify the snares of unseen demons, and 
 all the craftiness of Satan ; as possessing such aston- 
 ishing virtues, that the very touch even of the shrine 
 which contains them will bring down a blessing, and 
 that the touch of the relics themselves will accom- 
 plish all the desires of those who are admitted to so 
 great a favor." * That, the Romanists avowedly 
 worship what they pretend to be the wood of the 
 cross on which Christ suffered, abundance of authori- 
 ties and proofs may be given. 
 
 The holy scriptures are so far from giving any 
 sanction to this idolatrous practice, that throughout 
 their sacred pages they bear testimony against it. 
 In the thirty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy , we read 
 that " Moses, the servant of the Lord, died in the 
 land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord ; 
 and he [the Lord] buried him in a valley in the land 
 of Moab, over against Beth-peor ; but no man knowcth 
 of his sepulchre unto this day." This concealment 
 of Moses' sepulchre, was by divine wisdom un- 
 doubtedly ordered for some important purpose. And 
 this purpose is shown to be the more important, and 
 our desire of knowing it is much increased, by a 
 remarkable passage in the Epistle of St. .hide, where 
 it is said that " Michael the Archangel, contending 
 with the devil, disputed about the body o( Moses." 
 It is, I think, sufficiently evidenl to every reader, thai 
 the body of Moses was concealed from the knowl- 
 edge of the Israelites, to prevent that idolatrous 
 
 veneration lor his remains, which would have cor- 
 rupted the nation and offended God. Though idol 
 
 • See Paber'e Difficulties of Romanism, chapter XVI. and the 
 authorities there cited. 
 
80 
 
 worship is of all things the most unreasonable, ab- 
 surd, and injurious to religion, and though nothing 
 is more directly and uniformly forbidden in the 
 word of God, still, there is in human nature a 
 strange and general propensity to this pollution. 
 The descendants of Abraham were chosen out of 
 the world, that they might abhor idols and worship 
 the true God ; yet they were much given to idolatry. 
 We might well suppose, what the scriptures clearly 
 teach, that this idolatrous propensity is from the 
 instigation of evil spirits ; and we can easily under- 
 stand why the grand adversary should wish the 
 people to know where the body of Moses was 
 ouried, and why it was thus concealed from their 
 knowledge. 
 
 That the people would have worshipped the body 
 of Moses, had they known where it was deposited, 
 is confirmed, — if it needs confirmation, — by what 
 we have recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the 
 second book of Kings. King Hezekiah " did that 
 which was right in the sight of the Lord, accord- 
 ing to all that David his father did." And par- 
 ticularly he pleased the Lord by his zeal in suppress- 
 ing idolatry. " He removed the high places, and 
 brake down the images, and cut down the groves, 
 and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had 
 made ; for unto those days the children of Israel did 
 burn incense unto it" Thus we are told that for 
 several ages the people had offered divine honors to 
 that image of a serpent, which, by an express com- 
 mand of God, (Numbers, xxi. 6 — 9,) Moses had 
 made and set up on a pole, that the sight of it might 
 heal the wounded Israelites. No relic that can be 
 named would be more truly valuable, or more grati- 
 fying to the curiosity of Jews or Christians ; none 
 that we could now more wish to see than that brazen 
 serpent. It typified, indeed, the cross on which 
 Christ suffered, " signifying what death he should 
 die." It very affectingly reminded the Israelites of 
 
 . 
 
81 
 
 God's mercy to their fathers, and of his promise to 
 raise them up a Prophet like unto Moses ; and it 
 also reminds us of those institutions which were 
 intended to be as " a schoolmaster to bring us to 
 Christ." Had the cross been preserved, there is 
 much reason to fear that the like idolatrous adora- 
 tion would have, by Christians, been offered to it. 
 Indeed, it is a fact, that the wood which is shown in 
 various places, as pieces of the true cross, is avow- 
 edly worshipped. It is not necessary to give any 
 proof of what nobody will deny. Had we the real 
 cross entire, known to be that on which Christ suf- 
 fered, it would, no doubt, be still more grossly idol- 
 ized, and there would be the same reason for des- 
 troying it, as for breaking the image of the brazen 
 serpent. Protestants worship, sincerely, we trust, 
 and as devoutly as any Romanist, him who suffered 
 upon the cross, as the only Mediator between God 
 and man ; but do not worship the wood to which he 
 was nailed, nor " the spear which pierced his side." 
 
 It is said that Helena, the mother of Constantine 
 the Great, a woman eighty years old, found at 
 Jerusalem, in the fourth century, by digging in the 
 earth, the cross on which Christ died. This, to say 
 the least, may reasonably be doubted. Helena, we 
 doubt not, may have believed that she had found 
 what she sought for; but that wood should remain 
 for so many ages buried in the ground without per- 
 ishing, and that after so long an interval, it should 
 be identified, are things highly improbable. II' any 
 should resort, as do the Romanists, to miracles, we 
 have good reason for saying in reply, thai divine 
 wisdom would be more likely to destroy, than to 
 preserve it by miracle. 
 
 And supposing thai the empress Helena did. after 
 three hundred years had elapsed, and alter mneh 
 searching, find the true cross, this fact alone shows 
 us how very little the Christians o( the fust three 
 centuries regarded relics. The first disciples must 
 
 
82 
 
 have known well, had they thought the matter worth 
 regarding, how the cross was disposed of. And if it 
 was not soon after the crucifixion destroyed, (which 
 is the most probable,) there could have been no 
 difficulty in ascertaining where it was ; and had they 
 fell any particular veneration for it, there could have 
 been no occasion in the fourth century to search for 
 it as something long disregarded and lost. It is re- 
 markable that we do not find, in all the New Testa- 
 ment, that Christians of the first century had any 
 religious regard for relics of any sort. The doctrines 
 of the cross — of Jesus Christ and him crucified, and 
 the duties of Christian life — what we must believe 
 and do to be saved — repentance towards God and 
 faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, were the things 
 which the first preachers of the gospel desired to 
 know ; and these they were faithful to teach. But 
 even then, while the apostles lived, there was operat- 
 ing in the minds of some Christians, the same carnal 
 propensity to depart from the spirit of religion, as we 
 learn from Revelation and from what Paul wrote to 
 the Corinthians. Many, like the Galatians, " having 
 begun in the spirit," endeavored to be " made per- 
 fect by the flesh," superstitiously " observing days, 
 and months, and times and years." While the 
 apostles lived, these evils were almost wholly sup- 
 pressed : but soon after their decease, tares, as 
 Christ predicted, were sown among the wheat in the 
 field of his kingdom; — errors gradually crept into 
 the church. Upon the foundation of Christ, Chris- 
 tians soon began to "build wood, hay, stubble." 
 Among other corruptions which continued to increase 
 till the Reformation, this idolatrous regard for relics 
 is among the most pernicious. Few things can be 
 named which have produced so much gross decep- 
 tion and imposture as the traffic in this trumpery, 
 and its exhibition to the credulous. These relics are 
 viewed, and as managed, they prove to be, the most 
 productive riches of the churches which contain 
 
83 
 
 them ; for " they bring no small gain to the crafts- 
 men." Their genuineness is proved by pretended 
 miracles. 
 
 We have reason to believe and occasion to be 
 thankful that, in regard to such relics, the wise provi- 
 dence of God, as in older times, has so interfered, 
 that very few if any things of this sort were by the 
 Christians of the first century preserved, or have 
 since been found. If any relic of the Saviour had 
 been discovered ; the clothes that he wore, or things 
 that he wrought with his own hands ; the spear which 
 pierced his side j the nails which pierced his hands 
 and feet, or the cross on which he died, we cannot 
 doubt but thousands and millions of deluded souls 
 would have worshipped them. We may so judge 
 from the well-known propensity of mankind to idola- 
 try and image-worship ; and we may so judge from 
 the homage which is and long has been paid to 
 things of this sort, which, at best, are doubtful, and 
 many of them known to be false. It is remarkable 
 that no traditionary knowledge of the person of 
 Christ, or of Mary his mother, or her grave, was 
 preserved by the primitive Christians. St. Paul 
 says, " Though we have known Christ qftti the flesh, 
 yet now henceforth know we him no more." They 
 were then occupied in things infinitely more impor- 
 tant ; what he had done and what he had taught to 
 save mankind. How vain, then, as well as idola- 
 trous must it be in men to make pictures or images 
 of Christ after the flesh, and to "bow down to them 
 and to worship them?" Protestants, like Sautre, 
 the first English martyr to the Reformation, kk wor- 
 ship him who Buffered on the cross ; but not the cross 
 on which he suffered." We have no proof thai the 
 apostles of Christ regarded that cross as more precious 
 than any other wood. 
 
 That these relics may be truly called u lying won- 
 ders," * will appear but too evidently to those who 
 
 * BThess. ii.9, 10, 11. 
 
84 
 
 consider what things they pretend to exhibit ; such 
 as u the instruments of our Lord's crucifixion ; the 
 clothes wherein he was wrapped in infancy; the 
 manger in which he was laid; the vessels in which 
 he converted water into wine at the marriage feast; 
 the bread which he brake at the last supper, and the 
 vesture for which the soldiers cast lots." They pre- 
 tended to produce " portions of the burning bush ; of 
 the manna which fell in the wilderness ; of Moses' 
 rod ; of Samson's honey-comb ; of Tobit's fish ; of 
 the blessed Virgin's milk, and of our Saviour's blood. 
 Also, the blood of St. Januarius ; the picture of the 
 blessed Virgin, drawn by St. Luke ; one of her 
 combs ; some relics of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; a 
 part of the bodies of Lazarus, and of St. Mark ; a 
 finger and an arm of St. Ann, the mother of Mary ; 
 a piece of the Virgin's veil ; the staff delivered by 
 our Lord to St. Patrick, and some of Joseph's breath, 
 which an angel enclosed in a phial, and which was 
 long adored in France, and was afterwards carried 
 to Venice, and from Venice to Rome." In Loretto, 
 they pretend to show the house in which Mary lived 
 at Nazareth, " as having been carried there by four 
 angels, and set down twice on the way." This 
 legend " received the sanction of successive popes. 
 Indulgences were promised to those who visit it in 
 devotion." * 
 
 I endeavor, in these remarks on the Reformation, 
 to refer to authors that are of easiest access to com- 
 mon readers; which authors give authorities for 
 what they affirm. 
 
 § XL. The idolatrous exaltation of Mary, the 
 mother of Jesus, is among the worst corruptions of 
 Christianity ; and against this, also, we are constrain- 
 ed to protest. Every Christian views her as the most 
 
 * See the Protestant, chapter LII. and Southey's Book of the 
 Church, chapter X. 
 
85 
 
 distinguished on earth among the daughters of Eve, 
 But this distinction does not exalt her to the honor 
 of being worshipped, nor render the religious adora- 
 tion which is so much addressed to her, the less 
 idolatrous ; it does not authorize us to put any trust 
 in her, as our advocate with the Father, or with our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The natural disposition of mankind to idolize men 
 in proportion as they are distinguished in this world, 
 is well known. Heroes and kings and emperors, 
 while alive, or after their death, have been thus wor- 
 shipped in all ages of the world. In the estimation 
 of those who " believe that Jesus Christ is the Son 
 of God," Mary has the highest honor ever bestowed 
 on woman, and all generations will continue, as they 
 ever have done, to call her blessed; to admire her 
 happiness in being thus distinguished. But this dis- 
 tinction gives her no title to divine honors, nor to 
 any kind of religious adoration, more than is due to 
 any other son or daughter of Adam's fallen race. 
 Mary, in common with all others of the human fam- 
 ily, is " concluded under sin." In being the mother 
 of Jesus, she was merely passive ; she has done 
 nothing to merit salvation ; and if she is saved, which 
 we trust she is or will be, it is by that blood which 
 was shed for us all — her sins are washed away, not 
 by the birth, but by the death of her Saviour. In 
 the wonderful plan of our redemption, it was re- 
 quired that Christ should be " made of a woman." 
 And in being so made, he is not the Saviour o( 
 Mary more or less than of other women. And so 
 far as we know and are taught of God, thousands 
 and myriads of others may be in heaven as hi. 
 and as highly honored as she. Thai the Christ 
 might assume and sanctify OUT fallen nature, lie must 
 be " the seed of the woman : M mfUSl he horn of some 
 female. He assumed our common nature, and not 
 particularly the nature of any individual. 
 
 It is very remarkable, and much to our present 
 
 S 
 
86 
 
 purpose, that, as was before briefly noticed, our 
 Saviour, after the commencement of his ministry, 
 and acting as the Christ, paid no particular regard to 
 his mother. He docs not call her his mother, but 
 " woman" in which there is an evident fitness. In 
 the three instances recorded of his speaking to her, 
 two of them were reproofs of her interfering in his 
 business : " Woman ! what have I to do with thee ?" 
 As our common Saviour he is " the seed of the wo- 
 man " — " the second Adam " — " the Lord from 
 heaven." He has a common relationship " to all 
 men, and especially to those who are of the house- 
 hold of faith." In regard to religion and spiritual 
 life, his mother and his brethren, — those whom he 
 especially regards, are his faithful disciples, — they 
 who are united with him as branches with the vine. 
 Of this he made repeated and very remarkable dec- 
 laration. Thus, " It was told him by certain who 
 said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without 
 desiring to see thee. And he answered and said 
 unto them, My mother and my brethren are those 
 which hear the word of God and do it." * " While 
 he talked to the people, his mother and his brethren 
 stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then 
 one said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy 
 brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 
 And he answered and said to him that told him, 
 Who is my mother, and wiio are my brethren? 
 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples 
 and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For 
 whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in 
 heaven, the same is my brother and sister and 
 mother." | These are his family — these his house- 
 hold ; these are the relatives who are especially his 
 favorites and friends. No earthly connection or re- 
 lationship is worthy to be compared with this, by 
 which we become the brethren of Christ. By adop- 
 
 * Luke viii. 21, 29. f Matt xii. 46—50. 
 
b7 
 
 tion and grace we are the sons of God, and heirs 
 through hope of his everlasting kingdom. There 
 are other passages of the gospels of the like import- 
 No one indeed can read the history of our Saviour 
 Christ, without observing what is so evident, that he 
 showed more attention and favor to his disciples, 
 than to his mother or to any of his relations accord- 
 ing to the flesh. And the like did his disciples. In 
 all the Acts of the Apostles Mary's name is mention- 
 ed but once, and that once in a way which does not 
 distinguish her as honored above the other women 
 and his brethren. In their epistles they speak par- 
 ticularly, and in high commendation of many other 
 women ; but say nothing of Mary the mother of 
 Jesus. This silence we may well believe was 
 providentially designed. The Lord foresaw what 
 idolatrous veneration w T ould be shown to Mary, and 
 has manifested the same wisdom respecting her as 
 he had long before done in concealing the body of 
 Moses, and causing the brazen serpent to be destroy- 
 ed. Our great prophet has so ordered the revelation 
 of God's will, and of the doctrines of life, that Chris- 
 tians have nothing to justify or excuse this Maryola- 
 try, — this idolatrous exaltation of Mary. 
 
 It seems strange that any reasonable person should 
 suppose, or could possibly believe that Mary now, in 
 the heavenly mansions, has an influence over Christ, 
 exalted as he is at the right hand of God, when we 
 are so clearly taught that in his state of humiliation, 
 while here on the earth, he did not allow her, in any 
 degree, to meddle in 11k* exercise of Ins ministry. 
 But in this, as the well-informed Christian clearh 
 sees, "he has done nil things well/ 1 And yet such 
 is the perverse disposition of mankind to depart from 
 the truth of God, and to worship the creature rather 
 than the Creator, by a wry large part of Christians, 
 prayers and Invocations and praises have been offer- 
 ed to Mary as to a being who, in every phut , can 
 
 hear the petitions, and know the beard and the 
 
 
88 
 
 wants of all (millions at the same time) who call 
 upon her, and is able to give them temporal and 
 spiritual blessings. The ancient Pagans attributed 
 less to their demigods than they who claim exclu- 
 sively the name of Catholic, attribute to her whom 
 they worship as " the mother of God," and the 
 " queen of heaven." The King of heaven they do 
 not so often address in words of adoration, as her 
 whom they denominate its Queen! There are 
 many ave-Marias to one Pater noster. Juno, the 
 pagan queen of heaven, was not so much adored. 
 Mary has probably more pictures, shrines, and 
 images, than any other god or goddess that can be 
 named. 
 
 So popular has long since become the worship of 
 this heavenly queen, that " each of the monastic 
 orders claimed the Virgin Mary for its especial pa- 
 troness. Some peculiar favor she had bestowed 
 upon each. She had appointed their rule of life, or 
 devised the pattern of their habit — enjoined upon 
 them some new practice of devotion, or granted 
 them some singular privileges ; she had espoused 
 their founder with a ring, or fed him like a babe at her 
 breast! Each of the popular orders had (as they 
 taught and some no doubt believed) been assured 
 by revelation, that the place in heaven for its depart- 
 ed members was under her skirts ! " * Many other 
 things equally false and still more extravagant have 
 been taught respecting her ; some of them are too 
 fulsome, indecent and disgusting to be repeated. 
 
 Of direct prayers offered to Mary by Roman 
 Catholics, vast numbers may easily be collected. 
 The one following is cited as a sample by Faber in 
 his Difficulties of Romanism, p. 191. " Comfort a 
 sinner and give not thine honor to the alien or the 
 cruel, I pray thee, O thou queen of heaven. Have 
 me excused with Christ, thy Son, whose anger I 
 
 * Book of the Church, chapter X. 
 
89 
 
 fear, and whose fury I vehemently dread ; for against 
 thee only have I sinned. O, virgin Mary, full of 
 celestial grace, be not estranged from me. Be the 
 keeper of my heart ; sign me with the fear of God ; 
 confer upon me the soundness of life ; give me 
 honesty of manners, and grant me at once to avoid 
 sins and to love that which is just. O virgin sweet- 
 ness, there neither was nor is thy fellow." " To the 
 industrious repeater of this prayer (Mr. Faber adds, 
 p. 193) Pope Celestine was pleased to grant three 
 hundred days of pardon." So much more merito- 
 rious and effectual did he, and do, we fear, thou- 
 sands of others, deem it to pray to Mary, than to 
 pray to God through Jesus Christ. 
 
 § XLI. In the last section, something was said of 
 the idolatrous exaltation of Mary the mother of Jesus, 
 as being superior to other human beings, and an 
 object of religious adoration. Among other inven- 
 tions for this purpose is what is called her Immacu- 
 late Conception; that she was conceived and born 
 spotless and pure, without original sin. In honor 
 of this is a Romish Festival held on the eighth of 
 December. The Papists, however, are not among 
 themselves agreed respecting this doctrine, which 
 has indeed been a subject of much controversy and 
 division in that church which boasts so much of its 
 unity. The Scotists and Franciscans strongly ad- 
 vocated this tenet ; while the Thomists and the 
 Dominicans were violently opposed to it. In Spain, 
 especially, the controversy was so great, thai authors 
 have compared it to "a violent hurricane, ^i\inu' 
 much trouble and perplexity to several of the Roman 
 pontiffs," who, with all their power and infallibility, 
 
 feared to give a decided opinion in favor of either 
 
 party. It is enough lor my present purpose to re- 
 mind the reader that it is wholly without proof"; there 
 is no good authority lbr Baying or believing that 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 Mary was not, like all others of the human race, 
 conceived and bom in sin. Christ took our sinful 
 nature (himself being without sin) to change and 
 purify it; but if Mary, his mother, was, unlike the 
 rest o( the human race, without sin, he did not take 
 a sinful nature. But all the orders and sects and 
 denominations of those, who submit to the dominion 
 of the pope, agree, as Mr. Southey says,* ; ' in elevat- 
 ing Mary to the highest rank in the mythology of 
 the Romish Church. Many of them pretend to 
 trace her in types throughout the Old Testament. 
 She was the tree of life ; the ladder which Jacob had 
 seen leading from heaven to earth ; the ever-burning 
 bush ; the ark of the covenant ; the rod which brought 
 forth buds and blossoms, and produced fruit; the 
 fleece upon which alone the dew of heaven de- 
 scended. Before all creatures and all ages she was 
 conceived in the Eternal Mind ; and when the time 
 appointed for her mortal manifestation was come, 
 she, of all human kind, was produced without the 
 taint of human frailty/' Such was the doctrine 
 taught by many of the Papal Church, and against it 
 the Reformers protested. 
 
 Our Church in her annual services commemorates 
 two interesting things respecting Mary; her annunci- 
 ation and her purification ; but in both of them re- 
 gard is chiefly had to our blessed Saviour ; in the 
 former, to his incarnation, and in the latter, to his 
 presentation in the temple, in fulfilment of what the 
 law required, both of them being interesting parts in 
 the great work of redemption. There is no proof or 
 intimation in the word of God, nor representation 
 in the services of our Church, that Mary is more 
 divine, or more holy, or more worthy of adoration 
 than other pious, Christian people, or that she is in 
 any thing superior to a mere human being. We 
 honor her as the mother of our Saviour, and call her 
 
 • Book of the Church, chapter X. 
 
91 
 
 blessed; but religious worship offered to her or to 
 any creature we view as idolatry. 
 
 § XLIL What is said in the first chapter of St. 
 Luke's Gospel, of the blessedness of Mary, seems to 
 have been by many misunderstood. In the twenty- 
 eighth verse it is written that " the angel came in unto 
 her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, [or 
 full of grace,] the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou 
 among women." Again, in the forty-second verse, 
 her cousin Elisabeth, saluting her, said, " Blessed 
 art thou among women; " and in the forty-fifth verse, 
 " Blessed is she that believed." And in the forty- 
 eighth verse, Mary herself said, " From henceforth 
 all generations shall call me blessed." From the 
 first of these passages " is formed the ave- Maria ^ or 
 hail Mary, in repeating of which consists a great 
 part of the devotion of the Romanists. But there is 
 nothing in that, or any other passage of God's word, 
 which gives any the least authority for praying to 
 Mary." Many Christians are favored of the Lord 
 and full of grace. The word hail is no more than a 
 friendly, common salutation. When Christ used it 
 to Mary Magdalene and other women, (Matt, xxviii. 
 9,) will any one say or believe, that he worshipped 
 them ? 
 
 " Blessed art thou among women," is a congratu- 
 lation most justly offered to this, the most distin- 
 guished among the daughters of Eve. But the like 
 was long before said of Jael. "Blessed above women 
 shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kerilte, be; blessed 
 shall she be above women in the tent."* The same 
 Gfcreek word is w>ed. See the Greek translation 
 called the Septuagint, which was used by the apos- 
 tles; "Blessed is she that believed" and blessed is 
 every one who truly believes in Jesus Christ 
 
 In the forty-eighth verse another Greek word ifl 
 
 * Judaea v. \M. 
 
92 
 
 rendered blessed: " all generations shall call me 
 blessed" or happy, as the word means. And so she 
 has been, and will be called while the world endures. 
 We doubt not but she truly believed, and if so, she 
 will, in the end of the world, be among those to 
 whom the Judge will say, " Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
 the foundation of the world." 
 
 Our Saviour pronounces blessedness on many 
 descriptions of people in this present world : " Blessed 
 are the poor in spirit; blessed are they that mourn ; 
 blessed are the meek; blessed are the merciful;" 
 and so of many others. It was very natural that 
 Mary should be much affected when she thought of 
 the very high honor of being the " woman " of whom 
 the promised "seed" should be the "fruit;" an 
 honor which, we cannot doubt, thousands of Jewish 
 women had ardently desired, and for which they had 
 earnestly prayed. Very naturally, and with the ut- 
 most confidence, might she say, " All generations 
 shall call me blessed." What greater happiness in 
 this world can a believer in Christ imagine? 
 
 In the eleventh chapter of St. Luke's Gospel is a 
 passage which very clearly shows of what nature 
 and degree, in the view of our Saviour and of the 
 inspired writers, is the blessedness of Mary. A 
 woman, who had for some time listened to his dis- 
 courses, such as " never man spake," and probably 
 had seen the miracle which he had just before 
 wrought, as was perfectly natural, thought of the 
 great honor and happiness of being the mother of 
 such a son, and could not, it seems, refrain from ex- 
 pressing aloud the thoughts which so affected her 
 mind. She " lifted up her voice and said unto him, 
 Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps 
 which thou has sucked;" * using the word that Mary 
 used. Our Lord's reply to that woman's remark is 
 
 Luke i. 48. 
 
98 
 
 worthy of the very serious regard of all Christians, 
 and theirs, especially, who would exalt Mary to the 
 honor of receiving religious adoration. " But he 
 said, Yea, rather blessed are they tvho hear the word 
 of God and keep it" This is very decided, and from 
 the very highest authority ; it is perfectly intelligible, 
 and it exactly corresponds with what the scriptures 
 uniformly teach. We have before seen that Christ, 
 as our Saviour, on several occasions declared that 
 those whom he chiefly acknowledged as his mother, 
 and sisters, and brethren, were not his kindred after 
 the flesh, but his faithful disciples ; those who be- 
 lieved his doctrine and obeyed his word. And here 
 he positively declares that to hear the word of God 
 and keep it, is more blessed than being the woman 
 of whom he took his human nature. There was 
 nothing meritorious in being his mother ; in that, 
 Mary was merely passive. Its blessedness was the 
 honor, the favor of being thus distinguished " among 
 women," and being gratefully remembered and hon- 
 ored by all generations, while the world continues. 
 But this honor, this favor, great as it is, in itself im- 
 plies no assurance of immortal blessedness ; whereas, 
 they who hear the word of God and keep it, shall be 
 forever happy; shall be saved with an everlasting 
 salvation. Mary herself is saved, not by being the 
 mother of Jesus, but by hearing and keeping God's 
 word. " Blessed is she that believed" No honor 
 of any woman in the church on earth can equal 
 Mary's; while the world endures, will the disciples 
 of Jesus view it as a great and very high favor to 
 herself thai she was the mother of such a son ; but 
 they who hear the word of God and keep it will be 
 blest forever. In this world, they may not, like Mary, 
 be called happy; they may be despised and perse- 
 cuted, but hereafter, " they Bhall shine forth as the 
 
 snn in the kingdom of their heavenly Father." Not 
 generations of men only, but the host iA' heaven shall 
 call them happy; even Christ iheir Judge shall sa\. 
 
94 
 
 " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for you." To all who hear the gospel, is 
 freely offered this greatest of all blessedness. 
 
 § XLIIT. In the last three sections, something has 
 been said of the idolatrous worship offered to Mary 
 the mother of Jesus ; of the very false doctrine of 
 her immaculate conception, and of the blessedness 
 ascribed to her in St. Luke's Gospel. Another 
 point which, for the purpose of increasing the super- 
 stitious notions of her sanctity, and the supposed 
 merits of celibacy, much taught by the Romanists, is 
 her perpetual virginity. Respecting this point, I can 
 very cordially say with the Rev. William Goode, in 
 his excellent and learned work, on " the Divine Rule 
 of Faith and Practice," that " it is with much un- 
 willingness that I enter upon the discussion of this 
 point lest I should appear to speak slightingly of one 
 so highly honored of God, and to whom, if upon 
 earth, we should be disposed to pay higher reverence 
 and respect, than to the most potent empress that 
 ever sat upon an earthly throne." * What he says 
 on this subject in the pages following this quotation, 
 I recommend to the perusal of those who have 
 access to the work ; and it may be truly said to be a 
 work " for the times." 
 
 The early writers, who have treated of this subject, 
 were of different opinions. They who favored the 
 conceit of Mary's perpetual virginity did not view 
 the belief of it as being necessary to true piety or a 
 religious faith, nor did they appeal to tradition in 
 proof of it ; but endeavored to prove it from the 
 scriptures ; and this all who are acquainted with the 
 scriptures know to be an entire failure. The scrip- 
 tures, so far as they appear to regard this question, 
 lead us to the contrary belief. And, as the writer 
 above referred to says, p. 158, " It is worth observing 
 
 # Vol. ii. p. 152, Philadelphia edition. 
 

 95 
 
 how the ground for belief of this doctrine has been 
 shifted. The fathers who defend it place it upon 
 the testimony of scripture, and arguments drawn 
 from the propriety of the case. Our opponents, with 
 the Romanists, seeing that nothing of the kind can 
 be proved from the scripture, fall back upon tradi- 
 tion, and quote the testimony of the very fathers, who 
 appeal to the scriptures for the proof of it, as evi- 
 dence of its being a doctrine established by an unin- 
 terrupted tradition of the church." And we may 
 hope, by the way, that the existing controversy be- 
 tween Protestants and those who are not improperly 
 called Low Papists, will have, among some good 
 effects and more bad ones, this, of a better and more 
 general knowledge of what is the just authority of 
 tradition respecting essential articles of the Christian 
 faith. On this much agitated and very interesting 
 subject, several learned and very excellent works 
 have been recently published in England, and some 
 of them republished in this country. It is remarka- 
 ble that this dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity is 
 among the chief articles of religious belief, which, it 
 is now said, we learn from tradition ; and the very 
 little or rather no importance of this, shows how little 
 we should gain by tradition, were its authority equal, 
 as the Romanists contend, with the holy scriptures. 
 We make no objection to any one's believing this, 
 but protest against its being taught as a necessary 
 article of belief, and stigmatizing, as unsound in 
 faith, those who think it unessential. Religion has 
 gained nothing and has lost much, by the various 
 attempts of Christians to make that necessary to sol- 
 vation in Jesus Christ, which God, in his revealed 
 will, has not made necessary, and by pretending to 
 be wise in spiritual things, beyond what he has 
 caused to be written for our Learning. Christians 
 will never be united, nor their religion appear in its 
 beautiful garments of salvation till they agree in 
 
 taking God's word for their guide, and "are per- 
 
96 
 
 suaded that the holy scriptures contain all doctrine 
 required as necessary for eternal salvation through 
 faith in Jesus Christ" 
 
 § XLIV. To render the exaltation of Mary more 
 complete, and the religious worship paid her more 
 extensive, there is added what is called her Assump- 
 tion, which, to give it the greater sanction, the Ro- 
 manists commemorate by a festival. They teach, 
 that as she was born without sin, so she died without 
 suffering; and that her body being too pure and 
 precious to see corruption and turn to dust like other 
 human remains, was taken up into heaven and 
 there glorified. This they pretend to prove by pre- 
 suming that had her body been deposited any w x here 
 on the earth, a treasure so precious would not have 
 been concealed from the early Christians. I have 
 had occasion already, in section XXXIX,, to give a 
 much better reason for the ignorance or disregard of 
 the Christians of the first century of the place where 
 the remains of Mary were deposited. If her body 
 was providentially concealed from the knowledge of 
 the first Christians, it was for the like reason that the 
 body of Moses was concealed from the Jews. But 
 it is far more probable, that her grave was forgotten 
 by reason of the little regard of the first Christians to 
 such things : — for the like reason that they did not 
 preserve the cross on which Christ suffered, and 
 many other relics, which, were they now to be seen, 
 would by thousands be worshipped. It is enough 
 under this head to say that we have no manner of 
 proof, nor any good reason for believing or suppos- 
 ing, that her earthly remains did not, like the bodies 
 of other mortals, return to the earth, " ashes to ashes ; 
 dust to dust." This pretended assumption of Mary's 
 body, is but one of the " signs and lying wonders," 
 which are predicted in the word of God. 
 
 Errors and corruptions began early to be sown in 
 the church, like tares among wheat. In the first 
 
97 
 
 century, they were scarcely visible, In the second, 
 they began to appear. In the third and fourth, their 
 number and their growth increased. In the fifth, 
 sixth and seventh, they arrived to a baneful maturity, 
 and they who did not embrace them were branded 
 as heretics. 
 
 May that blessed Lord, who has caused all holy 
 scriptures to be written for our learning, give us 
 grace so to hear and read and learn, and inwardly 
 digest them, that, by patience and comfort of his 
 Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the 
 blessed hope of everlasting life, which he has given 
 us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 § XLV. I have noticed above forty articles or 
 points practised by the Western Church, so called, 
 at the commencement of the sixteenth century, 
 against which those pious Christians, who thought 
 that they were bound to obey God, rather than man, 
 and to take the holy scriptures for their principal 
 guide, protested. There are many more articles 
 which may be added to the catalogue of those 
 already noticed; but my present purpose is to men- 
 tion but a few more, and the most of those few but 
 briefly. Protestants should be well aware of " the 
 face which Popery can assume, when addressing it- 
 self to an educated mind ; " and particularly of whal 
 is very common, — the saying that such and such 
 things are not the doctrines of the Roman Church. 
 And it is proper that I should often remind the read- 
 er that I speak not so much of their doctrine, as of 
 their practice; of what their religion is. els seen by 
 Christians and by the world. I judge not of their 
 hearts or motives or belief. In their bloodiest mas- 
 sacres and most cruel persecutions, they may "think 
 that they do God service."* The) who would 
 know what are the doctrines of the Church of Rome, 
 
 * John xvi. 9 
 
98 
 
 will do well to read the history and the decrees of 
 the Council of Trent, and the Catechisms of that 
 church, which have been published. Our Saviour 
 Christ has given us a plain rule of judging in these 
 things: "By their fruits ye shall know them." 
 Their fruits we can see, and from these form the 
 besl judgment of what the tree is. The profession 
 of men is a very uncertain criterion of what they 
 truly are. Strictly speaking, we do not protest 
 against any Church of Christ, however corrupt, but 
 against its corruptions ; against its departure from 
 God's word. I am not pretending to show what the 
 Church of Rome avows as its doctrine, but what in 
 practice she certainly tolerates, and by which, as a 
 hierarchy, she is chiefly sustained. 
 
 In section XXXVII. I said something of monkery 
 and monastic institutions, and of the reasons why 
 Protestants reject them. The good which they have 
 effected has, as we believe, been overbalanced by 
 more and much greater evils. In this forty-fifth sec- 
 tion I would direct your attention to the subject of 
 nunneries; — to those convents in which myriads of 
 females are imprisoned for life. In Europe, where 
 those institutions are of long standing, and their evil 
 effects on morals and practical religion are better 
 known, many of them have been suppressed, and 
 those remaining are watched with a more jealous 
 eye. In this country, where they are little known, 
 and where every artifice is used to render them 
 popular and attractive to the vanity and enthusiasm 
 of young females, some have been recently establish- 
 ed, and there is reason to fear that their number may 
 be increased. The burning of a convent in this 
 vicinity, a few years since, by a lawless mob, though 
 as nothing when compared with the massacres of 
 Protestants in France and Ireland, and other places, 
 was an enormous outrage, condemned, I believe, and 
 detested by every pious Protestant in our country, 
 and it has excited the sympathy of thousands, and 
 
99 
 
 will have no small tendency to the increase of such 
 institutions. 
 
 I shall not speak of the arts which are well know n 
 for many ages to have been used to induce females 
 to take the veil, as it is called, nor shall I question 
 the sincerity or the piety of any amongst us who 
 may prefer that mode of life. But we know what 
 human nature is. The spirit of enthusiasm and the 
 love of notice and of fame, which will induce the 
 young widow of Hindostan to be burnt with her 
 husband's body on the funeral pile, will very natur- 
 ally operate in the mind of a Christian female, who 
 hopes to live many years at ease, and to enjoy the 
 fame of her supposed sacrifice and devotedness to 
 God. Even the spirit of martyrdom has been, in 
 many cases, especially in later years, contaminated 
 by this love of fame. It has been sought for in a 
 way at variance with our Saviour's direction : " If 
 they persecute you in one city, flee to another," 
 which the apostles accordingly did. That love of 
 excitement, which is natural to man, and prefers, 
 " wonderful works " to good works, operates too 
 much among Protestants, and is one cause of our 
 division. 
 
 And supposing that females enter nunneries ever 
 so voluntarily, and after mature consideration and 
 counting the cost, which in many cases they doubt- 
 less do, why should they be imprisoned? Why. by 
 locks and bars, and the most rigid supervision, be 
 debarred of all free intercourse with the rest <>f tlu- 
 world, — of their relations even? If this be neces- 
 sary to preserve their virtue, it is hardly worth what 
 it costs. " There is, indeed, far more true holiness 
 in the discharge of duties in the midst of the temp- 
 tations of the world, than in flying from both duties 
 and temptations to the artificial atmosphere" of a 
 convent. It is, besides, a very easy thing, lor (hose 
 who are hid from the world, and are Been onlj in 
 such manner and place as they choose, to maintain 
 
100 
 
 the reputation of sanctity. But it is not so with 
 those who live in society, and engage in the busi- 
 ness and duties of life and religion ; their works and 
 their manners, both in public and domestic life, are 
 open to those who are best qualified to judge. By 
 their fruits they are known. 
 
 Imprisonment for life, is justly deemed the great- 
 est of punishments, that of death excepted, and many 
 think that this even should not be excepted. And 
 to me it has seemed strange that a civilized people, 
 Christians even, should suffer their citizens, without 
 law or conviction of crime, to be thus wholly debar- 
 red of their liberty. Is it right, — is it not very great 
 cruelty, that a young girl, because in a fit of enthu- 
 siasm or disgust with the world, or for other cause, 
 enters the convent, should endure, in consequence, 
 this dreadful punishment? If it be said that she is 
 reconciled to her condition, and happy in her con- 
 finement, why not then tear away the grates, open 
 the doors of her prison, and release her from all 
 restraint ? Do this, and then, and not till then, shall 
 we believe that she has no desire for liberty. That 
 such hopeless confinement has, in ages past, caused 
 a vast deal of wretchedness is known to the world, 
 though not by Christians, as it should be, considered. 
 How very much more suffering has been endured 
 in nunneries, we shall not know till that day when 
 the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, and the 
 works of darkness be brought to light. Lady Mary 
 Wortley Montagu says, after visiting a nunnery at 
 Vienna, " I never in my life had so little charity for 
 the Roman Catholic religion, as since I see the 
 misery it occasions so many poor, unhappy wo- 
 men." But I would not dwell on this : I am 
 pleased in believing that those sufferings, and in- 
 deed, the number of convents, are being diminished. 
 And I hope, through God's blessing, I may never 
 have " little charity " for any denomination of Chris- 
 tians, and especially for those who steadfastly main- 
 
101 
 
 tain so many of the essentials of Christianity, as " do 
 Roman Catholics." But I would contend for that 
 liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. He 
 came into this world not to subject men to bondage, 
 but to liberate the captive. 
 
 What our Saviour and his apostle Paul said of the 
 cares and sufferings of the married state, has regard 
 chiefly, as St. Paul expresses it, to " the present dis- 
 tress;" to the peculiar circumstances of those times. 
 And in all ages, there are many men and women, 
 who, without retiring from society, prefer a single life. 
 And in some cases, no doubt, they may not only 
 avoid the labor and trouble of family cares, but may 
 serve God more quietly by living in a single state. 
 But why should they retire from the field of duty, 
 and from the sight of man? The command of our 
 Saviour is, " Let your light so shine before men, that 
 they may see your good works, and glorify your 
 Father which is in heaven." In the apostles' day, 
 there were women particularly devoted to the duties 
 of religious life : but they were widows who had 
 been married and brought up children, and they 
 were not to be so devoted, till they were sixty years 
 old. Their duty was especially to instruct the 
 younger of their own sex. (See 1 Tim. v. 9, 10 ; 
 and Titus ii. 3, 4, 5.) Such deaconesses would be 
 infinitely more profitable in the church than nuns. 
 The establishments of Shakers (so called) in our 
 country, are less inconsistent with pure and undefined 
 religion, than Popish convents. They arc not 
 drones, but are honestly industrious in a lawful call- 
 ing, and are useful members of society, but no! so 
 useful as they might be. And their devotion to a 
 single life is indeed voluntary ; lor they arc not im- 
 prisoned nor debarred of thai liberty which is the 
 
 gib of God; nor is their conscience entangled by 
 any unlawful oaths. And we have txi)(n\ reason to 
 believe that their morals would not suffer by a com- 
 parison with the convents of anv country. It i> said 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 of Napoleon, who excelled in worldly wisdom, that 
 he refused to permit perpetual vows to a convent 
 which he had founded, because the nuns might after- 
 wards prefer returning to the world, where they 
 might become useful members of society; and said 
 that " nunneries assail the very roots of population, 
 and that it is impossible to calculate the loss which 
 a nation sustains in having ten thousand women 
 shut up in cloisters." 
 
 The lawfulness of such vows may be questioned, 
 both on political and on Christian principles. 
 Whether the law of the land allows of such extra- 
 judicial oaths, and especially whether it allows a 
 young girl to swear that she will retire from the 
 common duties of social life, and consign herself to 
 perpetual bondage, should be considered. And 
 whether such retirement to convents and nunneries, 
 where, comparatively, they can be of but little use to 
 the world, or to the church, or to religion, is not, in 
 the sense of our Lord's parables, burying their talent 
 in the earth, or keeping their pound in a napkin, 
 should, by the Christian, be still more seriously con- 
 sidered. Of those who are blest with health and 
 strength, God requires a life of active benevolence, 
 fruitful in good works. Instead of living at ease in 
 the enjoyment of what others have given for char- 
 itable use, they should themselves labor, that they 
 may have wherewith to " support the weak," and 
 " to give to him that needeth." 
 
 It is, I believe, becoming more and more a con- 
 scientious principle with Protestants, that all should 
 enjoy a free and full toleration in the choice and the 
 exercise of religion, and that persecution is con- 
 demned by the gospel of Christ. No one, I believe, 
 is more averse to persecution than myself. And 
 though I view the votes of those who enter cloisters 
 as sinful ; as tempting God ; as swearing that they 
 will never do what may afterwards appear to be 
 their duty, and the will of God respecting them ; and 
 
103 
 
 though I view the imprisonment of nuns as wholly 
 unjustifiable, I am neither authorized nor desirous to 
 judge those who think differently. To their own 
 Master let them stand or fall. As convents have 
 been generally managed, I view them as prejudicial 
 to morals and to religion. Yet if the vows and the 
 imprisonment were discontinued, they might be ren- 
 dered useful as charitable institutions for the benefit 
 of some whose age or state of health, or other cir- 
 cumstances, render such an asylum both convenient 
 and justifiable. 
 
 § XL VI. I propose to say something on the sub- 
 ject of persecution, and the Romanist " will surely 
 say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself." 
 That Protestants are in some degree justly liable to 
 such retort, I shall not deny. My desire is to view 
 this, and every other subject, with candor and im- 
 partiality. We naturally see a mote in a brother's 
 eye, sooner than a beam in our own eye. As it is 
 the duty of every private Christian to consider his 
 own sins and imperfections, rather than the faults of 
 others : so is it with all parties, and sects, and Chris- 
 tian denominations. It is far more agreeable to 
 Christian charity, and vastly more profitable to search 
 for our own errors and deficiencies, than for what 
 we may deem the corruptions or faults of any other 
 community of Christians. 
 
 Though with grief and shame we acknowledge 
 that Protestants have been guilty of persecution, they 
 who know any thing of the history of the Church 
 during the last three or four hundred years, must 
 think it strange that the Catholics, (as they affect 
 exclusively to denominate themselves,) should he 
 our accusers! And yet so it is. To give one from 
 a thousand instances : Pope Pius \ ., in bis sentence 
 
 of excommunication against Klizabeth, queen o( 
 
 England, speaks of her persecuting the Papists, and 
 of her forbidding " the exercise of the true religion, 
 
104 
 
 which (he says) Mary, the lawful queen of famous 
 memory, had, by the help of this see, restored." He 
 had the assurance to say this in the face of the world, 
 lauding her, whose most cruel persecutions have 
 justly given her the name of Blood?/ Mary, and when 
 the fires of Smithfield were so recently extinguished! 
 It was also about the time of that general and most 
 bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew's, when so 
 many thousands of Protestants of every age and sex 
 were in cold blood murdered in Paris, and other 
 parts of France, and for which there were great re- 
 joicings in Rome. The popes undoubtedly then, 
 though I w^ould hope not now, thought it a merito- 
 rious act in Papists to kill Protestants, and a very 
 great wickedness in Protestants in any way to perse- 
 cute Papists. We may believe that there are now 
 but very few, if any Protestants, who justify any 
 persecutions, even those of their own brethren, in 
 times past. Most gladly would I extend the same 
 charitable remark to those of the Romish Church ; 
 but they would not accept it as charitable, or as 
 complimentary ; they say that their church never 
 changes in doctrines or tenets ; and with grief I add, 
 that we have great reason to fear that they say it 
 truly ; that the same spirit remains, waiting for the 
 power and opportunity of acting. We should be 
 ever ready to acknowledge past errors, and continu- 
 ally to increase in all virtue and godliness of living. 
 In reading church history, few things, if any, are 
 more painful to a pious disciple of a merciful Saviour, 
 than the intolerant spirit of myriads who professed 
 and called themselves Christians. The weapons of 
 their warfare were carnal. The gospel, like the 
 religion of Mahomet, has been propagated by the 
 sword, and nations compelled to be baptized. None 
 certainly, who have borne the Christian name have 
 erred more wickedly in this, than they who boast of 
 unchangeable perfection and infallibility. We boast 
 of no perfection in this ; but trust that we are in a 
 
105 
 
 great and happy degree reformed; we are like Gideon 
 and his little band, though " faint, yet pursuing/' 
 With the utmost confidence we appeal to the fact, 
 that much, very much, has been effected; — that 
 Protestants, through God's blessing, have been in- 
 strumental in checking, in a very great degree, the 
 horrors of persecution. 
 
 The difference between Papists and Protestants in 
 this, may now be seen throughout the world. In 
 those countries where the full power still remains in 
 the hands of the former, Protestants are not, even in 
 this age of light and liberty, tolerated ; they are not 
 allowed to build churches and worship in them ; — 
 they may not publish what they believe by preach- 
 ing or by the press. There is a small place of Pro- 
 testant worship in the city of Rome, which they were 
 constrained, if I am rightly informed, to grant. 
 When the act giving the Papists the same political 
 privileges as the Protestants, was discussed in the 
 British parliament, those who opposed it, urged 
 among other reasons, the fact, that at that very time, 
 Englishmen were not permitted in Rome, even to 
 meet for social worship. Soon after, a small place 
 of worship was allowed them. In France, and some 
 other countries called Catholic, their power is re- 
 stricted. And how is it in these United States and 
 in the British dominions, and other countries where 
 the reformed doctrines prevail ? The Papists have 
 precisely the same liberty as others; to build and to 
 preach, and to publish what they please, and it is ;i 
 liberty of which they avail themselves to the utmost 
 extent. And no Protestant Episcopalians, I believe, 
 desire that the religious liberty of any sect or denomi- 
 nation should be restricted. We ask for thai liberty 
 only which we gladly allow them; — that they would 
 do to others as they would have others do to them, 
 
 But while things continue as they are, we sec what 
 
 great advantage they take of Protestant toleration* 
 While we allow our people to read their books, to 
 
106 
 
 attend their worship, and their convents and schools 
 even, without restraint, they, as far as is in their 
 power, pursue the contrary course. They have their 
 Index Purgatorius, — the Bible even, which Christ 
 commands us to read, they consider as a book, by 
 the knowledge of which their religion would be 
 much endangered. They will not allow their peo- 
 ple to be present at family prayers, in the houses of 
 Protestants where they reside. 
 
 The evident consequence of this course is that 
 they, the common people, especially of their com- 
 munion, are generally ignorant of the reasons why 
 we protest against many of their practices, and they 
 are taught to believe many things respecting the 
 tenets and practice of Protestants, which are wholly 
 untrue, and which we of the Episcopal Church 
 should abhor. My desire is that the people may- 
 have equal liberty to " prove all things," and that 
 they may understandingty "hold fast that which is 
 good." If any, after fair and full examination of 
 what the truth is in Christ Jesus, prefer uniting with 
 the Roman Catholics, my wish is that they may not 
 be opposed or injured, — " to their own Master let 
 them stand or fall." VTe know who has said, that 
 if any man build on the foundation of Jesus Christ, 
 v:ood, hay, stubble, at the great day of trial his works 
 shall be burnt, and he will suffer loss; and though, 
 by the foundation on which he builds, he may be 
 saved, it will be as by fire; not as we believe by the 
 fire of their purgatory; but as a man surrounded by 
 combustible materials on fire, escapes from the peril, 
 leaving all behind. (1 Cor. iii. 10 — 15 ; xlvii.) We 
 protest also against what is called The Inquisition; 
 that most horrid tribunal of which a pious Christian 
 can scarcely think without shuddering. The history 
 of its tortures and unparalleled cruelties are so well 
 known, and by Protestants so generally detested, that 
 I need not dwell upon them. It is an institution 
 peculiar to Popery, and has been by the popes, and 
 
107 
 
 by their influence and authority, introduced into 
 several countries. And as their laws are like those 
 of the Medes and Persians, which alter not, we can- 
 not doubt but that the Inquisition will be again in- 
 troduced whenever and wherever their power and 
 their policy will admit of it. 
 
 The name of Inquisitors was, it seems, first given, 
 in the beginning of the thirteenth century, to certain 
 persons, or legates, appointed by Pope Innocent III. 
 to search for and extirpate those whom he stigma- 
 tized as heretics, among the people called Waldenses. 
 These people, distinguished also by other names, 
 inhabited some parts of the Alps, and the south of 
 France. Their views of religion were similar to 
 what Protestants now hold, and it is probable that 
 their ancestors had never embraced the corruptions 
 of Popery. The persecutions they endured in the 
 thirteenth and following centuries were horrid in the 
 extreme. " These spiritual champions, who en- 
 gaged in this expedition, upon the sole authority of 
 the pope, without either asking the advice or de- 
 manding the succors of the bishops, and who inflict- 
 ed capital punishments upon such of the heretics as 
 they could not convert by reason and argument, 
 were distinguished in common discourse by the title 
 of Inquisitors, and from them the formidable and 
 odious tribunal called the Inquisition derived its 
 original." * The pontiffs found those instruments so 
 useful for their purpose, " that they established mis- 
 sionaries of a like nature, or, in other words, placed 
 Inquisitors in every city whose inhabitants had the 
 misfortune of being suspected of heresy." They 
 had influence enough to establish iliis tribunal in 
 Spain especially, in which Protestants wen 4 numer- 
 ous, who, by the most horrid cruelties, were extirpa- 
 ted. But for persecution Protestantism would 
 probably have prevailed in France and Sp* *nd 
 
 Mobheini, cent. Mil. 
 
108 
 
 perhaps in Italy, no less than in England. " The 
 Romanists proceeding upon the principle of exter- 
 minating heresy, did their work effectually in Spain. 
 It our bloody Mary, instead of dying providentially 
 when she did, had lived to the age of Elizabeth, the 
 same work would have been done as effectually in 
 England. Every person whom they suspected of 
 favoring the doctrines of the Reformation was seized 
 without respect to sex or rank, and all whom they 
 failed to terrify into a recantation were burnt." * 
 
 Let us love those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 All who believe in the essential doctrines of his 
 cross, especially that he is the Son of God, and that 
 he has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, 
 should desire, and should endeavor to be united. 
 
 § XLVII. The chief object of these remarks is to 
 call the attention of our people to the reasons of the 
 Reformation, and to the points wherein Protestants, 
 those especially of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 disagree with the Roman Catholics. And this for 
 three reasons : First, because a bishop of the Roman 
 Church, by a printed circular directed to our bishops, 
 and intended no doubt, to operate upon the laity, 
 has represented that a large part of Episcopalians, in 
 England especially, have become so favorable to the 
 distinctive tenets of the Papists, that very few points 
 remain to justify a separation. Secondly, because 
 this is fast becoming the most important subject of 
 theological controversy throughout the Christian 
 world ; and, thirdly, because of the ignorance of our 
 people, and, I fear I may say, the apathy of Protest- 
 ants generally, respecting the points of this moment- 
 ous controversy. And though I suggest, under 
 each head, some few of the reasons for our rejecting 
 what we deem dangerous errors, it should be kept in 
 mind that what I say is but little of what might be 
 
 London Quarterly Review, number XII. article 1. 
 
109 
 
 said, and has been written and published, upon this 
 controversy. 
 
 In the present article, I would say something of 
 the effects of baptism, and of sin afterwards commit- 
 ted. I am well aware that among Christians, Pro- 
 testants especially, there is a diversity of opinion on 
 this subject. And some very serious Christians 
 seem to be in doubt respecting what are precisely 
 the effects of baptism, upon infants particularly. 
 And, perhaps, it would be wise in some teachers to 
 be less positive on a subject so mysterious. It is 
 sufficient, for my present purpose, to show that the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church differs from the Ro- 
 manists on the subject, and, especially, on the doubt 
 and difficulty of obtaining pardon of sins committed 
 after baptism. The Papists, if I mistake not, teach 
 that all past sins are washed away by the act (optis 
 operatum) of baptism, and that they who sin after 
 baptism have no second fountain to wash away this 
 uncleanness ; they have no more such easy access to 
 a perfect remission and forgiveness. If they do ob- 
 tain pardon, it must be by their sacrament of pen- 
 ance, and meritorious good works, such as visiting 
 the shrine of some saint or favorite relic. But, gen- 
 erally, such must, as they teach, be after death expi- 
 ated by the excruciating pains of purgatory, as long, 
 we may say, as their pope sees fit to continue these 
 sufferings ; for, according to their practice, he has 
 full power to shorten, and even to terminate these 
 sufferings. 
 
 Of the doctrines of our Church on this momentous 
 subject none of you can be ignorant She Bays, in 
 her sixteenth article, " They are to be condemned 
 which deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly 
 repent." She declares to her members, as by God's 
 word she is authorized, that u if we confess our >ius, 
 God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness;" that he has 
 commissioned his ministers "to declare and pro- 
 10 
 
110 
 
 nounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution 
 and remission of their sins. That he pardoneth and 
 absolveth all those who truly repent and unfeignedly 
 believe his holy gospel ;" and that " he hath prom- 
 ised forgiveness of sins to all those who, with hearty 
 repentance and true faith, turn unto him." 
 
 In regard to the effects of baptism, we know that 
 a part, and, I believe, the greater part of Christians 
 have been baptized in infancy, and, of course, all 
 the sins which they commit are after baptism. If 
 any say that original sin is washed away by the opus 
 operation of that sacrament, they must, of course, 
 hold that infants who die unbaptized are " damned." 
 But original sin cannot be truly called their sins; 
 these are what individuals actually commit. If the 
 doctrine were true that there is no promise of for- 
 giveness of sins committed after baptism, receiving 
 it, in early life, especially, must seem fearful to those 
 who are sensible of their natural infirmities. This 
 notion was imbibed by some Christians in early 
 centuries, and the effect was, that some delayed 
 baptism, that they might more safely live in sin, 
 and others, from fear that their sins after baptism 
 would not be forgiven.* If this notion were correct, 
 baptizing infants would seem to be placing them in 
 awful peril ; for though we believe that some sanc- 
 tifying efficacy accompanies their baptism, we have 
 no certain evidence that they who have been bap- 
 tized in their infancy, are not, other things being 
 equal, as liable to commit sin as they who have not 
 been baptized. If their sponsors are faithful to 
 bring them up, as the Church requires, in the nur- 
 ture and admonition of the Lord, this makes a great 
 difference. We may well hope that a truly peni- 
 tent believer in Christ will be forgiven. We know 
 that one Simon, as recorded in Acts, though bap- 
 tized by a minister of Christ, "full of the Holy Ghost 
 
 * Bingham, book XI. chapter VI. 
 
Ill 
 
 and of wisdom," not having true repentance, was 
 not forgiven ; for an apostle declared him to be " in 
 the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." Peter 
 exhorted him to repent, which, had he done, he 
 would probably have been forgiven. 
 
 Our Church teaches that the sanctifying grace of 
 the sacraments depends on the state of the mind (in 
 adults, certainly,) when received. She " requires of 
 persons to be baptized; repentance, whereby they 
 forsake sin, and faith, whereby they steadfastly be- 
 lieve the promises of God made to them." And of 
 those who come to the Lord's supper, not only that 
 they have repentance and faith in God's mercy, 
 through Christ, but also a thankful remembrance of 
 his death, a purpose to lead a new life, " and to be 
 in charity with all men." And she declares, (Arti- 
 cle XXV.,) that " in such only as worthily receive 
 the sacraments they have a wholesome effect or 
 operation." She teaches " the necessity of baptism, 
 ivhcre it may be had; but she does not teach, nor 
 does the scripture teach that there is no forgive- 
 ness to any penitent Reliever till he is baptized. 
 Baptism is a sacramental sign and assurance to a 
 penitent believer that his sins are forgiven, and that 
 he is " a member of Christ, a child of God, and an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven;" that he is a 
 member of Christ's church, and in covenant with 
 God, which assurance they have not, who are un- 
 baptized. And to baptized children the same great 
 blessings are sealed; to them it is an assurance, 
 when they come of age and take upon themselves 
 the sacramental obligation, that, if they repent and 
 believe in Christ, their sins are forgiven, and that 
 they "are children of God," and, saith St Paul, 
 "if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs 
 with Christ, if so be that they sutler with him," 
 Baptism, when rightly viewed, is a great comfort, 
 and strengthens our faith through life. To this holy 
 sacrament may you, who were baptized in child- 
 
112 
 
 hood, continually look back as to a token of God's 
 mercy to your soul through Jesus Christ ; that you 
 live in your Saviour ; and that if you sin, (in case 
 you repent,) you have him as an advocate with the 
 Father, who is the propitiation for your sins ; " for the 
 gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 
 § XL VIII. We differ, also, from the Romanists 
 respecting their claim to be exclusively the Catholic 
 Church, and their denying that the title belongs to 
 any Christians who are not of their communion, 
 who do not bow to the authority of their pope. We 
 hold, as do most Christians, that there is " One 
 Catholic and Apostolic Church," including all of 
 every age and nation who are " members incorporate 
 in the mystical body of Christ ; " it is that general or 
 universal church, " which is the blessed company of 
 all faithful people ; " of all who u are heirs, through 
 hope of God's everlasting kingdom." Of the im- 
 propriety of denominating any one branch of this 
 church general " the Catholic Church," as though no 
 others appertained to it, has been already noticed. 
 They may as justly make exclusive claim to the 
 name of Christian, as that of Catholic. They do 
 claim, indeed, to be the whole Church, and stigma- 
 tize, as heretics, those who protest against the errors 
 mentioned in the sections preceding ; even the Greek 
 Church, which is more ancient, and less corrupt than 
 themselves, they do not allow to be of the Catholic 
 Church. The reason of their being so tenacious of 
 this title is sufficiently evident. And, also, as I 
 would here particularly observe, you may easily see 
 the reason why they are so ready to complain of 
 being treated with disrespect, when they are desig- 
 nated by words the most appropriate and suitable to 
 distinguish them from other Christians ; such as 
 Papists, Popish, Popery, and the like. No other 
 Christians, I believe, are in like manner querulous 
 and arrogant in their claims to respect. Others are, 
 
113 
 
 as they ought to be, willing to be distinguished by 
 such appellations as are most characteristic of their 
 tenets, or of what is most peculiar to themselves. 
 One sect of Christians is distinguished by peculiar 
 notions respecting baptism, and they are willing to 
 be called Baptists. They, whose most distinguishing 
 tenet is that every congregation of Christians is a 
 complete church and independent of all others, make 
 no complaint of being called Congregationalists or 
 Independents. We who, in this country, are most 
 distinguished by adherence to the Episcopal govern- 
 ment, or the order of bishops in Christ's church, are 
 willing to be distinguished as Episcopalians, and 
 our religion as Episcopacy ; and when called pre- 
 latists, we make no complaint. So, too, there are 
 many who maintain that the true Church of Christ is 
 neither Congregational nor Episcopal, but Presbyte- 
 rian, and they are not offended at being called Pres- 
 byterians. 
 
 Now there is no one sect or part of the Church 
 Catholic, by any one tenet so strikingly distinguished 
 from all others, as the Church of Rome is by its 
 popes. They are an order of ecclesiastical rulers 
 peculiar to that church ; necessary, indeed, to its 
 hierarchy and very existence as a distinct pari of the 
 Church Universal. How then can they be otherwise 
 so well and so accurately distinguished from other 
 Christians as by such appellations as refer to that, 
 their most distinguishing tenet ? We view the Ro- 
 manists as a respectable body of Christians, and 
 would not treat them, — I certainly would not treat 
 them disrespectfully. We often call them Catholics, 
 in compliance with custom, and in complaisant sub- 
 mission to their uncharitable claims, not meaning by 
 such phraseology to allow thai they have any better 
 claim to it than the Greek Church, or the Church o( 
 England, or of Russia. They call us heretics, a 
 
 most opprobrious term, and deny to us any \io\)c ot 
 salvation, while they would have you think it dis- 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 respectful to call them Papists ; though their whole 
 system depends on the pope's supremacy! I am 
 thus particular respecting this point, that you maybe 
 reminded of the reason and the propriety of our 
 denying to them the exclusive right to the term 
 Catholic, and of the unreasonableness of their com- 
 plaint of being treated with disrespect, when we call 
 them Papists. The reason why they are so tena- 
 cious of this title, you can easily perceive ; it is to 
 support this claim of being the whole Universal 
 Church, " out of which there is no salvation. 7 ' 
 
 § XLIX. Protestants differ from Papists in the 
 number of days appropriated to the commemoration 
 of saints departed this life. By the latter, almost 
 every day of the year is thus appropriated. By us, 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church, some few of 
 such days are observed, in commemoration of saints, 
 not of doubtful character, but of the holy Evangelists 
 and first inspired teachers of the Christian faith ; and 
 to those few we render no idolatrous honors. It is 
 well known that, at the Reformation, the Church of 
 England retained some old customs, not only in 
 compliance w T ith the (then) popular prejudice, but 
 from the correct principle of not separating from 
 other Christians on account of things in themselves 
 indifferent, nor rejecting ancient usages any farther 
 than the word of God, and the purity of religion 
 require. The appropriation of days and seasons to 
 the commemoration of the more remarkable events 
 of the Saviour's history, we consider as highly 
 proper and of good effect. The addressing prayer, 
 or invocation to saints, is a practice, which, as the 
 Bishop of London says, " began in poetry, and 
 ended in idolatry." When we assemble on the 
 saint's days, so called, for public worship, it is our 
 duty, in obedience to the Church, to use the service 
 appointed, — in which there is nothing superstitious 
 or exceptionable. In regard to these days, we may 
 
115 
 
 well apply the words of St. Paul to the Romans: 
 " One man esteeming one day above another ; an- 
 other esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be 
 fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth 
 the day, regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that 
 regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard 
 it." My views on this subject correspond with what 
 the present Bishop of London has expressed in his 
 late Charge, p. 32. " I desire more particularly to 
 call your attention to the duty incumbent upon you, 
 of celebrating divine service upon each of the days 
 on which we commemorate the leading events in 
 the history of our blessed Lord ; not only his nativity, 
 crucifixion, and resurrection, but his circumcision, 
 his manifestation to the Gentiles, and his glorious 
 ascension." He evidently thinks, as I certainly do, 
 that " those observances, which are appointed in 
 honor of our blessed Lord himself, and the solemn 
 commencement of our great penitential fast, (Ash 
 Wednesday,) are entitled to peculiar respect." 
 
 I have now mentioned forty-nine particulars of 
 the practice of the Western Church in the sixteenth 
 century, which we view as corrupt, idolatrous, and 
 contrary to the revealed will of God, and, accord- 
 ingly, reject them. Many others might be added, 
 such as their addition to the three orders of the 
 Christian ministry, and setting up one called the 
 pope, claiming authority over all the churches, and 
 also over the kings, and rulers, and nations of the 
 earth, and the power of setting aside the laws of 
 God. Also, various orders of Monks, Jesuits, and 
 Friars, devoted to the papal hierarchy. These, and 
 others, we reject, as not belonging to the Christian 
 ministry. Those who arc truly the governors and 
 teachers in the Church they have degraded, styling 
 them the secular clergy, and their authority is in a 
 great degree usurped by popes, cardinals, abbots, 
 and other monks. With them, all bishops are sub- 
 
116 
 
 ject to the pope. u Bishop of bishops was an idea 
 abhorred by the primitive church." 
 
 I might notice many superstitious fooleries and 
 puerile conceits, which, to say the least, are worse 
 than useless. There is in our fallen nature a pro- 
 pensity to substitute forms and ceremonies for the 
 true spiritual religion of the heart, the inward fear 
 and worship of Almighty God. The w^ord of God 
 requires us, through Jesus Christ, the one and only 
 .Mediator, to " worship the Father in spirit and in 
 truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship him." 
 The slavery of formal ordinances is a bondage from 
 which Christ has redeemed us, and the folly of re- 
 turning to that slavery St. Paul has very fully shown. 
 If any one doubts this, let him read the Epistle to 
 the Galatians. 
 
 In the style, and manner, and neglect, of preach- 
 ing, a reformation was much needed. The little 
 preaching then in use, was chiefly on the legends of 
 saints, pretended miracles, the authority of the 
 Church, the increase of its revenues, and the dis- 
 tinctive principles, or rather practices of the papal 
 system. To give one sample from a thousand, when 
 Zuinglius, afterwards a great reformer, appeared to 
 take charge of the church in Zurich, to which he was 
 elected, the chapter fearing that he might favor the 
 Reformation, " it was agreed that the most important 
 duties attached to his new office, should be distinctly 
 pointed to him. You will use your utmost diligence, 
 he was gravely admonished, in collecting the reve- 
 nues of the chapter, not overlooking the smallest 
 item. You will exhort the faithful, both from the 
 pulpit and in the confessional, to pay all dues and 
 tithes, and to testify, by their offerings, their love to 
 the Church. You will be careful to increase the in- 
 come that arises from the sick, from masses, and, in 
 general, from all ecclesiastical ordinances. The 
 chapter added, As to the administration of the sacra- 
 ments, preaching, and personally watching over the 
 
117 
 
 flock, these also are among the duties of the priest ; 
 but for the performance of these you may employ a 
 vicar to act in your stead ; especially in preach- 
 ing." * 
 
 We may well suppose that such regulations did 
 not cause him to be less favorable to the Reforma- 
 tion. Enriching the Church was much more regard- 
 ed than the renewal of the mind with holy affections, 
 and the wood of the cross, than the evangelical 
 doctrines of him who suffered upon it. Preaching 
 " Jesus Christ and him crucified," is the ordinance 
 which God has appointed for producing " repentance 
 towards God, and faith towards the Lord Jesus 
 Christ." We know, indeed, as St. Paul says, that 
 " whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved ; " but, as the same apostle adds, 
 " How shall they call on him in whom they have not 
 believed? and how shall they believe in him of 
 whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear 
 without a preacher ? and how shall they preach, ex- 
 cept they be sent?" Were there no other good 
 fruit of the Reformation, than this which it has so 
 wonderfully produced, the preaching Jesus Christ as 
 " the way, and the truth, and the life," as " the end 
 of the law for righteousness to every one who be- 
 lieveth," we might well believe that it is the work of 
 God, ordered by his overruling providence, though 
 fallible men, and, perhaps, some worldly, wicked 
 men, were made the instruments of this wonderful 
 revival. 
 
 We may say with Bishop Stillingfleet, thai we 
 charge the Romanists "with those reasons for sepa- 
 ration which the scripture allows; such BLS idolatry, 
 perverting the gospel and institutions o( Christ, ami 
 tyranny over the consciences of men, in making 
 
 things necessary to salvation which Christ never 
 made so. But none of these things can, with any 
 
 # D'AubigrK'.'s History of the Reformation. Vol. II. p. 3] I. 
 
llfi 
 
 aoD, be charg n the Church of 
 
 toe we | ess to give religious worship 
 
 only ship no images; we invocate 
 
 ints : we adore no host : we creep to no crucifix : 
 
 We equal no traditions with the 
 i : we lock it not up from the people, in an un- 
 known language: we preach no other terms 
 vation than Christ and his apostles did : we set up 
 no monarchy in the Church, to undermine Christ, 
 and to dispense with his laws and institutions. We 
 mangle no sacraments, nor pretend to know what 
 makes more for the honor of his blood, than he did 
 himself. We pretend to no skill in expiating men's 
 sins when they are dead : nor turning the bottomless 
 pit into the pains of purgatory, by a charm of words 
 and a quick motion of the hand. AVe do not cheat 
 men's souls with false bills of exchange, called in- 
 dulgences, nor give out that we have the treasure of 
 the Church in our keeping, which we can apply as 
 we have occasion. We use no pious frauds to 
 delude the people, nor pretend to be infallible. 
 These are the things which the divines of our Church 
 have, with great clearness and strength of reason, 
 made good against the Church of Rome." * 
 
 I omit even to mention many things which we 
 deem as superstitious, and tending to idolatry. 
 Those which I have noticed are abundantly suffi- 
 cient to the object which I have in view. — to inform 
 such of our people as have not given much attention 
 to the subject, of the points of controversy between 
 Papists and Protestants, and how great was the 
 necessity of a reformation. Allow me. brethren, to 
 repeat, that it is against these heresies, idolatries, and 
 corrupt practices, that we protest, and not against 
 any church of Christ. In rejecting those corruptions, 
 we do not separate from the " One Catholic and 
 Apostolic Church." but rather adhere to it more stead- 
 
 ' >nllingfleet's Works. Vol. II. p. 649, 
 
119 
 
 fastly, and in its greater purity. And, as St. Peter 
 said to those who had " made the commandment of 
 God of none effect by their tradition," " Whether it 
 be right in the sight of God to hearken unto men, 
 more than unto God, judge ye." 
 
 Having, in many of the last sections, shown the 
 reasons and necessity of the great Reformation in 
 the sixteenth century, it seems to be proper, before I 
 dismiss the subject, that some brief notice should 
 be taken of the principal objections which the Ro- 
 manists urge against it. 
 
 One objection, often urged, and the most relied 
 upon, is the division among Protestants. This they 
 think to be a good proof that the Reformation is an 
 evil work : that men should not be allowed to " search 
 the scriptures," nor to judge for themselves, what are 
 the doctrines of Christ, and where his church is to be 
 found : that by continuing in the old corruptions, 
 and, as the good Bishop of Arath says, submitting to 
 the pope, we should all be united. 
 
 It is easy to show, and often has been shown, that 
 the Papists have not been themselves so united, as 
 they would have it believed. But passing that, we 
 may reply, that to unite in what is opposed to the 
 truth of God's word, far from being our duty, is a 
 great sin. The apostles have taught us, by their ex- 
 ample, even at the risk of our lives to obey God 
 rather than man. This the reformers did, and thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands accordingly and patiently 
 suffered the most excruciating deaths. What is 
 called union in the Church of Rome, is indeed in- 
 tolerance. They have nol allowed people to inquire 
 for themselves, and to profess what they sincerely 
 
 believe to be the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Their 
 people have no liberty of conscience ; but are com- 
 pelled to believe what they, who assume to he "lords 
 over God's heritage," command, or endure prisons, 
 pains, and death. Their remedy for divisions is the 
 
120 
 
 greater evil. It is much better that Christians should 
 be divided into as many sects or denominations as 
 were the Corinthians in the first century, than that 
 the conscience should be enslaved. The first settlers 
 of this State were all united, as long as they suffered 
 no one, who differed from their opinions, to live 
 among them. But who of us now would be wil- 
 ling that those persecuting laws should be revived ? 
 AVere they by any one sect of Protestants now re- 
 vived, the Papists would themselves be among the 
 loudest in complaining. Nothing will truly unite 
 men in religion, but the renovation of their hearts 
 by the grace of God, and faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 This reasoning of the Papists would prove that 
 the gospel should not be preached ; because, as 
 Christ foretold, it does u not brins: peace on earth, 
 but a sword," and produces divisions among fami- 
 lies and friends. As our Church truly says, Article 
 XXXIV., ; - It is not necessary that traditions and 
 ceremonies be in all places one and utterly like ; for 
 at all times they have been divers, and may be 
 changed, according to the diversity of countries, 
 times, and men's manners, so that nothing be or- 
 dained against God's word.'' 
 
 People, as they ever have done, will continue to 
 differ in opinion. The early fathers of the church, 
 of whom so much is said, differed in opinion one 
 from another, and on points, too. of much import- 
 ance, and some ' them seem to have differed from 
 themselves. Christians were divided in the apostles' 
 days, and much more in the three centuries next 
 following. This is shown by many writers.* 
 
 I have often wondered at the confidence with 
 which some learned writers speak of the union and 
 perfect harmony and agreement of the early Chris- 
 tians. In what is es^ntial, the most of them, no 
 
 ■ See one of the most recent and most easy of access. Good's 
 Divine Rule of Faith and Practice, vol. L p. 332, fee. See, 
 also, Mosheim, cent. I. p. ii. chapter V. 
 
121 
 
 doubt, agreed ; they built on one and the same 
 foundation, Jesus Christ, as our only mediator and 
 advocate with the Father ; in other things they dif- 
 fered. Can any one believe that the Galatians and 
 Philippians, when St. Paul wrote to them, were in 
 all things agreed ? Of no church do the scriptures 
 speak more than of that at Corinth. Though they 
 were so enriched by the divine favor, that they 
 " came behind in no gift," yet how divided ! in one 
 church four denominations! how irreverent at the 
 Lord's supper! how irregular in their prayer-meet- 
 ings! Look, also, at the seven churches of Asia. 
 How soon a large part of them had erred ! Accord- 
 ing to the number of professing Christians, there 
 were more sects, and heresies, and schisms, in the 
 two first centuries, than at the present time ; and 
 none at the present day are more extravagant or ab- 
 surd. Any one who doubts this, needs but to read 
 the short, but very learned work of Peter King on 
 the Apostles' Creed. Indeed, most of the heresies 
 of modern times are old ones revived under new 
 names. The word and the Spirit of God, with the 
 doctrines and sacraments of Jesus Christ, are the 
 true bond of union among Christians. 
 
 Division among Christians is a great evil; but 
 God, who is infinitely wise and governs all things, 
 can, and he does make it subservient to some good, 
 as might easily be shown. When this subject is 
 rightly viewed, we need not w< er at St. Paul's 
 rejoicing that Christ was preached ot" contention even. 
 It is vastly better that he should be preached u of 
 good-will;" but when the true doctrines of the cross 
 are preached from a spirit of emulation and sectarian 
 zeal, some good is produced; the knowledge of 
 Christ is extended, and souls arc converted to God, 
 In this we should all rejoice mkI may the Lord help 
 us to say, " We will rejoice 
 
 In our Lord's parable of the tares of the field, he 
 teaches his disciples to be very cautious in any at- 
 
122 
 
 tempts to root them out, lest the good wheat should 
 be injured. By no Christians has this precept been 
 disregarded more than by the Church of Rome. 
 Under pretence of purifying the church from heresy 
 and error, they have exceedingly injured the good 
 wheat ; thousands and myriads of the best and most 
 pious Christians have they put to death. Indeed, it 
 may be generally and truly said, that in their perse- 
 cution they have rooted up the wheat and left the 
 tares to grow. 
 
 Another objection often made is, that the reformers 
 were wicked, ungodly men. That such an objection 
 should come from such a quarter, all, who have any 
 knowledge of what the Church of Rome then was, 
 and for centuries had been, may well wonder. 
 Protestants boast of no perfection or infallibility. If 
 Paul considered himself as among the chief of sin- 
 ners, well may a sense of our unworthiness humble 
 us before God, and cause the best Christians daily 
 to pray, as Christ has taught them, " Forgive us our 
 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against 
 us." We know, too, that the infinitely wise God 
 can make the wrath of man to praise him ; the evil 
 designs of the wicked to promote the good purposes 
 of his providence, and to turn out for the furtherance 
 of the gospel. And were the reformers as bad, as 
 malice can represent them, it would not in any de- 
 gree prove that the doctrines of Christ, maintained 
 by Protestants, are not according to the word and 
 will of God ; nor that they have rejected any thing 
 as idolatrous and corrupt, which was taught by 
 Christ and his apostles. With this view of depre- 
 ciating the good work o£ the Reformation, no one 
 character has been more stigmatized and pointed at 
 than Henry VIII. of England. It is an unpleasant 
 thing to speak of the faults of any individual; of 
 those, especially, who profess to believe in Jesus 
 Christ. But I could never see that Protestants, as 
 such, have any interest, more than Papists, in de- 
 
123 
 
 fending the character and morals of that king. He 
 rejected, (very wisely, I think,) the pope's supremacy. 
 It was chiefly a political question, whether a foreign 
 power should have rule and collect tribute in Eng- 
 land. The time, we may hope, is not far distant, 
 when all kings will have the wisdom and moral 
 courage to do the like. The time has already come, 
 when, evidently in consequence of the Reformation, 
 the pope can no longer place his foot on the necks 
 of kings and emperors, nor compel them to hold his 
 stirrup, while he mounts his horse. Excepting this 
 point of the supremacy, which Henry for political, 
 and, I fear, from selfish reasons rejected, he remained 
 till his death, a bigoted and persecuting Papist. 
 
 " Talk they of morals ? " There was no one thing 
 that called louder for a reformation, than the im- 
 morality of Christians, of the clergy especially, and 
 of the monks chiefly, at the commencement of the 
 sixteenth century. The Papists themselves, the 
 more pious of the clergy and laity throughout Eu- 
 rope, deeply lamented the depravity of the times, 
 and demanded a reformation of many abuses. And 
 it required the utmost art and energy of the pope, 
 " the man of sin," and the aid of his monks and car- 
 dinals, to prevent a general reform. Let those who 
 read the very abusive language uttered and published 
 against Henry VIII., and his second wife, and 
 against Luther even, read also the history of Pope 
 Alexander VI., — his court, his mistresses, and his 
 most infamous children. They lived al the time o( 
 Henry and Luther; and people of more abandoned, 
 wicked lives cannot well be found on the page of 
 history. An 4 the Papists the people to cast the stone 
 at Henry and Luther? 
 
 It will suffice here to add, thai the reformers gave 
 
 abundant proof of their sincerity and renouncing the 
 
 world; — of their faith in Christ and trust in &od, 
 by the Bufferings and deaths, which, in defence ^( 
 
 the gospel, they SO patiently endured. 
 
124 
 
 Protestants are sometimes asked, " Where was 
 your Church before Luther lived ? " And they have 
 but to answer, " "Where it now is, and ever will be 
 to the end of the world." The Reformation has 
 founded no new church. How often must we re- 
 peat, that rejecting what is false and erroneous, 
 makes no change in that which is true ? We pro- 
 test against no church of Christ; but against the 
 errors and idolatrous superstitions which Popery has 
 added to the truth of God. 
 
 Some have said, that the Reformation is a failure. 
 As well may they say that Christianity is a failure. 
 Where will you find Christians more pure in doc- 
 trine, — more holy in practice, — more tolerant in 
 spirit, — more free from idolatry ; in worship more 
 scriptural, or in zeal more engaged in propagating 
 the true principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, than 
 in Protestant churches ? Though earnestly engaged 
 in " fighting the good fight of faith," the " weapons 
 of their warfare are not carnal." Our prospects of 
 success and of doing good were never more en- 
 couraging than at the present time. And, as it 
 seems to me, he must be much prejudiced or will- 
 fully blind, who does not see, that the Reformation 
 has effected and is still effecting great and perma- 
 nent good in the One Catholic and Apostolic Church. 
 Whether or not it be a failure, something perhaps 
 may be added hereafter. 
 
 Having said something in reply to the objection 
 to the Reformation, it seems proper to add some 
 few remarks upon the good fruits which have re- 
 sulted from it. To do justice to this subject would 
 require a volume. I would briefly remind you, that, 
 
 1. It has evidently produced some reformation in 
 the Church of Rome. Compare the morals of the 
 court of Rome since the Reformation, with what 
 they were during the three centuries previous, and 
 you will be surprised at the contrast. The power of 
 
125 
 
 that court has been very much diminished. The 
 thunders of the Vatican, at which the world then 
 trembled, are now heard with pity, mingled with 
 contempt. That infernal and most horrid machine 
 of Popery, the Inquisition, we trust in God will not 
 much more, by any Christians, be tolerated. That 
 lucrative traffic, the sale of indulgences, has, in con- 
 sequence of the Reformation, become, comparatively 
 an unprofitable business. 
 
 2. The ungodly spirit and bloody hand of perse- 
 cution have been very much restrained, and tolera- 
 tion, on true Christian principles, is happily and 
 very much increased. In this good work the Re- 
 formation has uniformly taken the lead and is now 
 far ahead. 
 
 3. The true spirit of missions, and efforts to con- 
 vert the heathen, not by carnal weapons, or by hiding 
 or perverting the truth, but by that " sword of the 
 spirit, which is the word of God." Preaching more 
 generally the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and him 
 crucified, is also among the noble fruits of the Refor- 
 mation. 
 
 4. The preaching of the Roman clergy has been 
 changed for the better, especially in Protestant coun- 
 tries. They now preach less of saints and relics; 
 of masses and purgatory, of popes and c * mother 
 church," and more of Christ. In this last, I fear, 
 they are still in all countries much deficient, and that 
 the worship of Mary, where Protestants arc not 
 spectators, is but little diminished. 
 
 5. The Reformation has produced far more kindly 
 feeling toward the Jews, and labors to open their 
 eyes to their true Messiah, not by the biquisition, 
 but by their own holy scriptures, and by the gentle 
 
 menus of persuasion and love. Il was Owing to the 
 spirit and power of Popery, thai they were formerly 
 
 persecuted in England, even. 
 
 6. And easily mighl it be shown, and evidently 
 
 indeed may it be seen, thai tin* Reformation lias 
 
126 
 
 been, to a great degree, instrumental in diffusing a 
 correct knowledge of the civil, as well as the religious 
 rights of men, and of enlightening the people in the 
 true principles of liberty and free government. 
 Very much more might be added on the subject of 
 the good which Protestants have effected. 
 
 Should any one ask, seeing the Church of Rome 
 has apparently, in some degree reformed, why we 
 should not, as the Bishop of Arath urges, return to 
 it? I answer, 
 
 1. It is a reformation forced upon it; the Roman- 
 ists will themselves tell you that they never change. 
 And, 
 
 2. Why should we go to them ? rather they reject 
 their errors and unite with us. Have we not the 
 words of eternal life ? 
 
 3. We never have departed from the One Catho- 
 lic and Apostolic Church. We have merely re- 
 jected what is unscriptural, superstitious, idolatrous 
 and false. 
 
 4. We would gladly, and are ready to unite with 
 them and all Christians, in whatever " is good unto 
 the use of edifying," and according to the word of 
 God. And, 
 
 5. To unite with any Christians in what is errone- 
 ous or unscriptural, is going, not to the true catholic 
 church, but from it. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the court of Rome 
 knows wonderfully well, how to turn all times, and 
 changes, and events, to its own advantage. They 
 are certainly " wise as serpents," whether or not they 
 are " harmless as doves." w The children of this 
 world are wise in their generation," and " the chil- 
 dren of light " may learn something from their con- 
 sistency and zeal. And so may Protestants from 
 the Romanists. 
 
 In the Edinburgh Review of Parke's History of 
 the Popes, No. CXLV., are remarks upon this sub- 
 
127 
 
 ject, which the reader, I trust, will readily excuse my 
 transcribing. 
 
 " It is impossible," says the reviewer, " to deny 
 that the polity of the Church of Rome is the very 
 master-piece of human wisdom. In truth, nothing 
 but such polity — could have borne up such doctrines. 
 We will, at present, advert to only one important 
 part of the polity of the Church of Rome. She 
 thoroughly understands, what no other church has 
 ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts. In 
 some sects, particularly in infant sects, enthusiasm 
 is suffered to be rampant. In other sects, particularly 
 in sects long established and richly endowed, it is 
 regarded with aversion. The Catholic (Roman) 
 Church, neither submits to enthusiasm, nor pro- 
 scribes it ; but uses it. She knows that when reli- 
 gious feelings have obtained the complete empire of 
 the mind, they impart a strange energy; they raise 
 men above the dominion of pain and pleasure. She 
 knows that a person in this state is no object of con- 
 tempt. He may be vulgar, ignorant, visionary, ex- 
 travagant ; but he will do and suffer things, which it 
 is for her interest that some one should do and suffer; 
 yet from which calm and sober-minded men would 
 shrink. She accordingly enlists him in her service ; 
 assigns him some forlorn hope; sends him forth with 
 her benediction and applause. The ignorant enthu- 
 siast, whom the Anglican Church makes her enemy, 
 and, whatever the polite and learned may think, a 
 dangerous enemy, the Roman Church makes ;i 
 champion. She bids him nurse his beard, covers 
 him with a gown and hood of coarse dark stuff ties 
 a rope round his waist, and sends him forth to teach 
 in her name. He costs her nothing* He takes not 
 
 a ducat away from the revenues of her beneficed 
 
 clergy. Fie lives by the alms o{ those who respect 
 his spiritual character, and are thankful for his in- 
 structions. He preaches, not exactly in the style of 
 Masillon, but in a way which moves the passions oi 
 
128 
 
 
 uneducated hearers ; and all his influence is employ- 
 ed to strengthen the church of which he is a minister. 
 In this way, the Church of Rome unites in herself 
 all the strength of establishment, and all the strength 
 of dissent. With the utmost pomp of a dominant 
 hierarchy above, she has all the energy of the volun- 
 tary system below. It would be easy to mention 
 very recent instances, in which the hearts of hun- 
 dreds of thousands, estranged from her by the selfish- 
 ness, sloth and cowardice of the beneficed clergy, 
 who have been brought back by the zeal of the 
 begging friars. 
 
 " Even for female agency there is a place in her 
 system. To devout women she assigns spiritual 
 functions, dignities, and magistracies. In our 
 country, if a noble lady is wooed by more than ordi- 
 nary zeal, &c. &c. At Rome, the countess of Hunt- 
 ington would have a place in the calendar as St. 
 Selina ; and Mrs, Fry would be foundress and first 
 superior of the Blessed Order of Sisters of the Gods. 
 
 " Place Ignatius Loyala at Oxford ; he is certain 
 to become the head of a formidable secession. 
 Place John Wesley at Rome ; he is certain to be 
 the first general of a new society devoted to the in- 
 terests and honor of the church. Joanna Southcote, 
 at Rome, would found an order of Barefooted Car- 
 melites, every one of whom is ready to suffer mar- 
 tyrdom for the church ; a solemn festival is conse- 
 crated to her memory, and her statue, placed over 
 the holy water, would strike the eye of every stranger 
 who enters St. Peter's." Diversity of opinion, which 
 divides Protestants into parties and sects, Rome so 
 uses as to increase her numbers, and strengthen her 
 power. In this she is "wiser in her generation 
 than " Protestants. We are, undoubtedly, unwise 
 in suffering things of little or no importance to 
 divide us ; and not only unwise, but sinful, in suf- 
 fering such divisions to excite animosities and 
 uncharitableness between those of differing denom- 
 
129 
 
 inations. Though we worship in separate commu- 
 nions, if we would all worship the same God and 
 Saviour, teach essentially the same doctrines, in the 
 unity of one and the same spirit, and if all of us, 
 each in his own way, were to labor in love, the ill 
 effect of our divisions would be very much dimin- 
 ished. They who believe in and practise what is 
 essential to Christianity, and necessary to salvation, 
 should love as brethren. And especially at the 
 present time, when the religion of Christ is so pow- 
 erfully assailed by those who add to God's word on 
 the one hand, and take from it on the other, all who 
 build on the foundation of Christ should unite in 
 one and the same spirit, if not in the same mode of 
 worship. 
 
 No believer in Christ should permit his faith to be 
 weakened or disturbed by those divisions ; they were 
 foretold by Christ and his apostles ; they are the 
 fulfilment of prophecies, and however they may 
 disgrace religion, they confirm its truth. And, for 
 the encouragement of Protestant Episcopalians I 
 would add, that if our Church adheres steadfastly 
 to her distinctive principles and her present stand- 
 ards, she is likely to be a happy asylum for all who 
 would avoid the idolatrous corruptions, or the spe- 
 cious infidelity, by which the religion of Christ is 
 beset, on the right and on the left. 
 
 I have now finished my remarks, which are in- 
 tended to remind you of the corruptions which we 
 deem to be idolatrous, unscriptural, and inconsistent 
 with the religion which Christ has established and 
 his apostles preached. You stand now on solid 
 ground. Take heed that you are not enticed to de- 
 part from it. " To the law and to the testimony." 
 Use the libertywherewith Christ has made von tree. 
 u Search the scriptures," and pray God so to en- 
 lighten your minds, that you may truly understand 
 them. 
 
V 
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