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THE 
 
 CHUECH OF PEACE AND TRUTH. 
 
 Delivered in the Town Hall^ Guildford^ on the Wth of .August and 
 9th of October^ before the 
 
 GUILDFORD PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. 
 
 AND OTHERS^ 
 
 TheMayor^ JOSEPH HAYDON, Esq. in the Chair, 
 
 BY THE REV. JOSEPH SIDDEN. 
 
 CATHOLIC PASTOR. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY T. JONES, 63, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1838. 
 
 PRICE SIXPENCE. 
 

s; li. 
 
 K 
 
 THE 
 
 PS 
 
 CHURCH OF PEACE AND TRUTH. 
 
 4 
 
 Discourse delivered in the Town Hall^ Guildford^ on the \^th of August and 
 4th of October y before 
 
 THE GUILDFORD PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION AND OTHERS. 
 
 The Mayor ^ JOSEPH HAYDON, Esquire, in the Chair, 
 
 BY THE REV. JOSEPH SIDDEN, 
 
 CATHOLIC PRIEST. 
 
 Peace be to you! ’’ 1 beg of you to regard my appearance here to 
 
 day as a Christian peace-offering — an humble attempt to heal unhappy 
 divisions on religion, and to bring to your minds and hearts a blessing, of 
 which the sweetness surpasseth all understanding the peace of 
 God.’^ Not the peace, or rather the dead calm of indifferentism, but the 
 energetic, the world-converting peace of union in truth : for, the real 
 Christian peace-offering can be God’s truth alone — the one true religion. 
 Kindly and wisely bear with me a little,’’ my friends and fellow-coun- 
 trymen, and study that which I am about to address to you : humble 
 yourselves profoundly, ‘‘God gives his grace to the humble:” raise 
 your minds to heaven in fervent prayer, “Ask and ye shall receive:” 
 preserve an upright intention and benevolent heart; ready to follow truth 
 wherever it may lead ; and you may reasonably hope, that the grace of 
 God will set your judgments free from the mistakes in which education or 
 other circumstances have, innocently perhaps, involved you. 
 
 Consider, that one distinctive mark of true Christianity must be a 
 tendency to unite the minds of men, not to divide them; to unite their 
 understandings in the firm belief of the same religious doctrines, as well as 
 their hearts in a charitable love for one another. Receiving one faith and 
 obeying one law, we might reasonably hope that our merciful and good 
 ^ God would exalt us to a much higher degree of grace with Him, and of 
 4 salutary influence with our fellow-creatures. Remember how large a 
 ^portion of the world still “ sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.” 
 if) Luke, i. 79. There are perhaps 500 millions of men on earth who do not 
 •P believe in Christ! Reflect on this fact, and on the dreadful miseries 
 ^ implied in it; miseries of mind and body, in individuals, in families, and 
 — in whole communities; evils so horrible, that the sight of them, as they 
 ^ now exist in many pagan countries, would cause you to weep with com- 
 ^ passion. With reference to this, reflect again, how often are public 
 assemblies held in various parts of England, sometimes in this town, how 
 ^ many laborious speeches are made, what large sums of money are collected 
 ? for the conversion, as it is said, of heathens and unbelievers. But is it 
 not true that the Englishman who would become instrumental in spreading 
 c^ the blessings of Christianity among the Pagans of Eastern, and the Ma- 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 hometans of Western Asia, should first adopt principles exalted above all 
 the disputes so prevalent among some people called Christians in North- 
 western Europe. Christ will hardly obtain credit abroad, while his pro- 
 fessed followers are divided at home. Can the confusion of discordant 
 sectaries, contradicting and discrediting each other, gain respect and 
 admiration and love from strangers, so as to extend the limits of Christen- 
 dom.? Is a common design likely to be attained without unity of spirit 
 and operation? Can dominion be given to a kingdom divided against 
 itself?” Luke, xi. 17. Is not union strength, and division weakness? 
 Does not the Apostle reckon heresies and sects in the same list of crimes 
 with adultery, murder, and idolatry. Galatians, v. 19, 20, 21. Does he 
 not again beseech Christians, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
 they all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among them ; 
 but that they be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the 
 same judgment.” 1 Corinthians, i. 10. And now, what is the actual 
 condition of fifty millions of those who call themselves Christians.? I will 
 purposely take a Protestant account, and it shall be but short. I give it 
 you in the words of two or three English Protestant clergymen of distinc- 
 tion, whose writings I happen to have at hand. “ Our church,” says the 
 Rev. Mr. Gleig of Winghani near Canterbury, and now of Chelsea, 
 Our ( Anglo-protestant ) church is in the situation of a kingdom divided 
 
 against itself How can it be expected,” he asks, that a God of 
 
 perfect order will forward with his blessing the operations of men who 
 thus set all spiritual authority and ecclesiastical subordination at defiance? ” 
 ( Letter to Sir E, Knatchbull, Bart.) The violent followers of Calvin,” 
 says the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Perceval, Rector of East Horsley, (in his 
 ‘ Christian Peace Oftering,’ a copy of which was sent to me by the 
 author), ‘‘ teach monstrous impious and antichristian doctrines.” — ‘‘ Bap- 
 tists,” says the same Protestant clergyman, “ oppose Christian charity, and 
 show a want of faith in God’s fatherly affection by denying baptism to 
 infants.” — Independents,” he says again, are alien from the spirit of 
 true Christianity; they break Christian unity and thwart the express wishes 
 of our Saviour.” — Sectarians,” he continues, “ in addition to their 
 various errors, are wandering about like wilful sheep, and having deserted 
 their true and lawful shepherds, have submitted themselves to self-chosen 
 and self-appointed guides, and would therefore have been considered by 
 the whole Church of Christ for the first 1500 years to have excluded 
 themselves from the body of the church Catholic ; ” — “ without a bishop, there 
 is no church.” The Anglican clergy,” says the Rev. Mr. Gleig, ‘^differ 
 greatly among themselves on numerous important points of doctrine, . . . 
 the Evangelical party differ in no respect from the Methodist Whitfield 
 • . , .yet they would not so far forget what is due to the clerical character, 
 as to acknowledge the right claimed by Methodist preachers of adminis- 
 tering the sacraments, because it is a fundamental principle of our Pro- 
 testant church, that episcopal ordination is necessary to confer the 
 sacerdotal character, . , .episcopacy was established by Divine authority.” 
 “ The tendency of the Bible Society,” says the Rev. Mr. Perceval, “ is, 
 it seems to me, to sap the vital principles of Christianity.” — ( See Mr, P’s 
 Reasons why I am not a member of the Bible Society,”) ‘‘ In England,” 
 he says, the infidelity of the Unitarians has spread its noisome influence 
 to the ruin of the unhappy souls who are drawn within the snare of that 
 fatal heresy. Christianity in Germany has been sapped to its foundation 
 by the Rationalist system,” On the Continent, among Protestants” 
 
3 
 
 declares the Protestant Rev. Mr. Tattersall, scepticism and infidelity 
 have subverted the pure doctrines of the Gospel.” “ In fine, as to the 
 Protestant sects, let Christian love,” says Mr. Perceval, melt and subdue 
 that implacable spirit of hostility which they bear to the Roman Catholic 
 Church, our Mother Church and their’s; and prevail upon them to imitate 
 her in the apostolic purity of her Christianity. Persons may be forgiven,” 
 he adds, if they think that there is something else besides the difference 
 in religion which excites this fierce and deadly hatred against the Church 
 of Rome, . • .(also,) language cannot convey sentiments of fiercer hatred, 
 than some of the petitions of the Protestant Dissenters have expressed 
 against the Established Church.” — (Peace Offering, page 123, &c.) 
 
 Such is the description given by these Protestant clergymen, and by 
 many more, of what they call Christendom. And will the hundreds of 
 millions of Gentiles be converted to such a distracted system, (or rather 
 systems), as if it were, The onefold of the one Shepherd?” Or can 
 the Protestant principle ever produce a better state of things.^ In other 
 words, can unity be the effect of a disuniting cause? No, certainly. 
 And unless professed Christians, renouncing the principles of private inter- 
 pretation, shall all agree to listen to the Church as to God speaking by the 
 Church — to hear and obey the great body of Bishops succeeding the 
 Apostles, and joined in communion with him who succeeds the Apostle 
 Peter — to believe this venerable body, not as making articles of faith, 
 but declaring the old; not as producing human inventions or even an- 
 nouncing new divine revelations, but as gradually through successive ages 
 when dangerous disputes arise, judging with the judgment of the “ Holy 
 Ghost,” interpreting the original revelation without error, and, with God’s 
 authority, proposing in clearly defined articles the doctrine first made 
 known by Christ and the Holy Spirit, eighteen centuries ago; and, by the 
 same, ever since preserved in the Church. Unless, I say, men thus hear God 
 speaking to them, as he ^promised to speak, not obscurely in parables 
 and proverbs, but plainly ” — teaching the unlearned and the unstable ” 
 in a way accommodated to meet the wants of human nature — if, I repeat, 
 men will not agree that God is, ever since our Saviour’s days, teaching by 
 his ministers in this manner — then we must expect that self-conceit, human 
 error, blindness leading blindness, diabolical delusion, fanaticism, harras- 
 sing disputes, tormenting doubt, or careless indifference, and deathlike 
 infidelity, will pervade what is called Christendom. 
 
 To shew further how necessary is the return of all Christian sects to the 
 bosom of unity as a preliminary step towards the extension of the Christian 
 religion, I will introduce an example, partly by altering and adapting to 
 my purpose some sentences from the writings of an illustrious prelate. Let 
 us suppose then that an honest Hindoo, or Chinese, or Mahometan, has 
 been reading a Bible given to him by some agent of the “ Society for the 
 diffusion of the Gospel in foreign parts,” or of the “ British and Foreign 
 Bible Society,” or the Church Missionary Society he has reflected, 
 he has prayed, and finding himself unable to settle his mind on the fol- 
 lowing points, determines to consult certain persons called missionaries, who 
 have lately arrived with a fresh importation of ill translated and corrupted 
 Bibles,* under the protection of the British army, or some mercantile 
 
 • “ I could shew you from various Reports of the Bible Society, and from 
 the acknowledgment of its members, that many versions, after having been 
 diffused among the natives of countries to be converted, have been necessarily 
 withdrawn, on account of the absurdities, impieties, and innumerable errors 
 
 A 2 
 
4 
 
 company. To them therefore he goes and enquires — What Scripture am 
 I to consider as the true one ? for, amongst the different sects, there are, 
 
 I observe, very different Scriptures. The Scripture of the Catholic Church 
 contains many books not admitted by the Anglo-Protestants ; that of the 
 latter contains some portions not admitted by the Lutherans; and that of 
 the Lutherans many not admitted, I hear, by Unitarians. Again, the 
 Scripture says, ‘‘ Hear the church, and he that will not hear the church, 
 let him be to thee as a heathen.” What church did Christ, in this passage, 
 command us to hear? Or, how are we to hear it? The Scripture says, 
 “ All nations are to be taught to observe all things that Christ commanded, 
 and he that believeth not shall be damned.” What doctrines are we com- 
 manded to believe under pain of damnation ? The Scripture says, ‘‘ He 
 who believeth and is baptized shall be saved ;” and, “ unless a man be 
 born again of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of 
 God.” Do these texts teach that baptism is necessary to salvation ? Our 
 Saviour ordered his Apostles to baptize in the name of the Father, of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Is the use of this form in baptism essen- 
 tial to its validity ? Christ said to his Apostles, Whosesoever sins ye 
 shall remit, they are remitted to them ; and whosesoever sins ye shall re- 
 tain, they are retained.” Does this commission constitute the Ministers 
 of religion the authorised agents of heaven in the remission of some of the 
 consequences of sin ? Is it commanded, when we have sinned, to have 
 recourse to their ministry ; or may we safely trust to a mere private repen- 
 tance ? Is confession of sins necessary; or, is it safe to omit it? The 
 Scripture says, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink 
 his blood, you shall have no life in you ;” and, He that eateth me, shall 
 live by me.” What are we by these words, in plain truth, required to eat 
 and drink ^ The Scripture says, Swear not at all : neither by heaven, nor 
 by the earth, &c. ; but let your speech be yea, yea ; nay, nay ; for what- 
 soever is more than these is of evil.” Does Christ here forbid all taking 
 of oaths ? 
 
 No one will deny that an honest and sincere man, reading his Bible, 
 may find a difficulty on these and many other points, which the Bible 
 alone is not able to remove. He distrusts the infallibility of his own 
 judgment; he resolves to consult those who call themselves Christian 
 teachers and ministers. But alas, he finds that they are not agreed among 
 themselves; he cannot follow their doctrines; for they are opposite and 
 contradictory on almost every point. As easily might he travel north and 
 south, east and west, at the same time, as believe and disbelieve the doc- 
 trines they will teach him. There is the Lutheran minister from Tanjore, 
 and the Baptist from Serampore, the Wesleyan minister and the Indepen- 
 dent from Calcutta, the Scotch Presbyterian from Madras, and the Anglo- 
 Protestant High Church and Low Church ministers from Benares, &c. &c. 
 When our enquirer puts his questions to them, he has yes and no on every 
 subject. He is told that it is, and it is not necessary to hear the parliamen- 
 tary church of England ; that certain doctrines are and are not required 
 to be believed under pain of damnation ; that baptism is and is not neces- 
 sary to salvation ; and that he may and may not omit the confession of 
 his sins. On the nature of the Eucharist he will hear a dozen contradic- 
 tory systems. One man cries out, “ it is with me you must go, if you 
 
 which they contained.” Besides, “ for the Bible to be the Rule of faith, it can- 
 not be sufficient even that men should really possess and read it ; but they must 
 surely be able to comprehend it.” — Dr. Wiseman, Lecture page 44, 
 
5 
 
 would be secure/’ And why must I go with you ?” Because ray 
 religion is according to the Bible.” “ No,” says another, come with 
 rne, for mine is according to the Bible, and his is not.” “ Go with neither,” 
 says a third, “ but come with me, for neither of their systems is con- 
 formable to the Bible, but mine is.” “ No,” says a fourth, “ they are all 
 wrong, and I am right; behold the Bible!” So says a fifth, — so says a 
 fiftieth. And what can our enquirer do ? Can he follow them all? Im- 
 possible. Can he settle their disputes.^ Alas! he cannot remove his own 
 doubts. Shall he leave his soul to hazard and remain inactive ? This is 
 too awful a decision. Probably he will think it wise to say to the assem- 
 bly, “ Gentlemen, I thank you for your good intentions towards me and 
 my country. I regret that I cannot follow the advice of you all, because 
 it is contradictory, nor adhere to the decisions of some of you without 
 condemning the rest. Leaving you, therefore, as I found you, I will first 
 try if more consistent advisers are to be met with, and if not, I suppose I 
 must remain as I am. With your example, gentlemen, before my eyes, 
 
 I should indeed be madly presumptuous to attempt privately to judge of 
 the meaning of Scripture for myself, in expectation of discovering with 
 certainty the doctrines, the duties, and the constitution of the true religion. 
 Every sect which has made the attempt has been declared to have failed 
 by all others engaged in the same pursuit. So that, judging even from 
 your decision, not a single instance of success is to be found, and con- 
 sequently if 1 were to succeed, I should be the first; and even then the 
 secret of my good fortune would be concealed from me ; I could never 
 know with certainty that I had really succeeded. Whatever may be the 
 divinely appointed rule for leading sincere enquirers to the true doctrines 
 of revealed religion, it must be one which unites all those who adopt it in 
 the belief and profession of the same doctrines as essential. But, the 
 maxim of each individual judging of Scripture and teaching himself, has 
 a result directly the reverse of unity; it is the prolific parent of all discor- 
 dant and contradictory sects, divided and sub-divided without end, of 
 which you, gentlemen, are so many living proofs. To say that you have 
 not each been sincere in judging of Scripture would be to calumniate : to 
 say that Christ established as the principle of belief that which to the sin- 
 cere enquirer was to prove a source of illusion, would, according to you, 
 be blasphemy. Again, when legislators publish a code of laws for the 
 government of a people, they declare it to be intended as such ; they are 
 careful to include in it all the leading branches of internal polity, to arrange 
 the different articles under distinct heads, to select terms the best adapted 
 to express their meaning, and to exclude whatever is irrelevant to the 
 subject. But, of what do your Scriptures consist? Of a number of 
 separate tracts written by different persons, and on different subjects, not 
 one of which purports to have for its object to point out the articles which 
 are to form the belief of the Christian. In the Old Testament you have 
 the creation and the deluge, the history of the chosen people from their 
 origin to the captivity of Babylon, the sacred hymns used in the service 
 of the Jews, and a collection of prophecies respecting the fate of Judea and 
 the neighbouring countries, the birth and sufferings of the Messiah, and 
 the establishment of his church. All these tracts, of course, to you are 
 useful and highly venerable ; but not one of them can be considered as 
 forming a rule for the belief and discipline of Christians. In the New 
 Testament, you have four accounts of the life and death of Christ, the 
 history of some events which followed his resurrection and ascension, and 
 
6 
 
 some letters written by five of the Apostles, to different persons and on 
 different occasions : there were some other apostolic letters, it seems, which 
 are lost. Of course these writings claim your veneration, and deserve 
 under due circumstances, your pious perusal. They are records of the 
 actions of Christ, and of the sentiments of his Apostles on several interesting 
 subjects. But what evidence is there that any of them separately, or that 
 the whole collection together, contains all things whatsoever Christ taught 
 and commanded his Apostles, and commissioned them to teach and com- 
 mand their disciples? Would not the Holy Spirit, had the Scriptures 
 alone been designed to be the rule of our faith, have in some part of them 
 directly informed us in plain and easy words, what are the essential articles 
 of the Christian belief? Again, if the private study and judging of Scrip- 
 ture by each individual was and is an essential part of Christianity, ‘ why 
 do we never find any precept given to the Apostles to disseminate the 
 Scriptures after having them translated into all languages?’ Besides, is 
 it probable that Christ would establish that, as the only rule of faith, from 
 the use of which the greater part of Christians would necessarily be ex- 
 cluded ? How were men, ignorant of the art of reading, to examine the 
 Scriptures and judge and determine on all the articles of the Christian 
 creed ? Did Christ appoint for the illiterate any guide in the way of 
 truth and salvation ? If he did, it could not be the Scripture. What 
 then was it? — A blind guide? or an unerring one? Again, what security 
 have I, who can read, that the book which has been put into my hands is 
 the real Scripture ? Am I to rely on the title-page, or on the word of the 
 secretary of your Bible Society ? It is evidently a translation. But who 
 were the translators? Were they equal to the task.^ Honest? Unpre- 
 judiced ? Of all this I know nothing; and yet, till 1 am satisfied on these 
 heads, I may, for aught I can shew to the contrary, be reading the conjec- 
 tures of men for the word of God, and reverencing the errors of the trans- 
 lator for the dictates of eternal truth. Moreover, to increase my perplexity, 
 different readings I find are given by different copies, of which some favour 
 the pretensions of one of your sects, and some those of another. In fine, 
 you tell me that Christ teaches a man not to believe any doctrine which he 
 cannot expressly discover for himself in the Bible; and yet this, the first 
 article of your creed, is not to be discovered there. Indeed, something 
 like the very contrary of it may be learnt from the Bible itself. ^ Brethren 
 stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught whether by 
 word or by our epistle.’ (2nd Thessalonians, chap. 2, verse 14.) ‘ Hold 
 
 fast the form of s'ound words which thou hast heard of me in faith.’ (2nd 
 Timothy, chap. 1, verse 13.) And again : ‘ The things that thou hast heard 
 of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who 
 shall be able to teach others also.’ (2nd Timothy, chap. 2, verse 2.) 
 
 Again, gentlemen, you have no evidence to shew that even the very 
 existence of those writings called the New Testament is essential or neces- 
 sary to true religion. From the date they bear, it is certain that Chris- 
 tianity existed before them. Christ wrote no part of them, nor commanded 
 them to be written ; they owe their existence to the circumstances in which 
 the writers happened to be placed, as they themselves inform us. I have 
 read your Bible : I find there no command addressed by Christ to the 
 Apostles to write a code of belief for his followers, no hint that such a 
 code is contained in the Scriptures, no declaration that it is the duty of 
 each Christian to enter on a course of biblical studies to fix the articles of 
 his creed. But I find much to a very different purpose. I find that, * in 
 
7 
 
 the Scriptures/ among which Paul's Epistles in particular are specified, 
 
 ‘ there are things hard to be understood, which are wrested by the un- 
 learned and the unstable (or unfixed) to their own destruction/ (2nd 
 Epistle of Peter, chap. 3, verse 16.) I find the commission given to the 
 Apostles not to write, but to teach all nations, with a promise that Christ 
 and the Holy Spirit of Truth would abide with them all days, even to the 
 consummation of the world. (Matthew, chap. 28, verse 20 ; and John, 
 chap. 14, verses 16, 17.) I find that it is the duty of others not to teach 
 themselves, but to be taught; I find a church that is for ever to consist of 
 teachers and disciples; of teachers commissioned by God himself, and by 
 God himself protected from all danger of ever teaching falsehood for truth, 
 or vice for virtue ; and of disciples upon whom the duty of being taught 
 is enforced by the sanction of reward and punishment, by the promise of 
 salvation to him who believeth, and of condemnation to him who believeth 
 not. (Mark, chap. 16, verse 16.) To conclude, I had heard, gentlemen, 
 that the English do not follow the religion of Brahma, nor of Boodh, nor 
 of Mahomet, but of a person called Christ, and I wished to learn what 
 doctrines Christ required men to believe, what religious and moral duties 
 he commanded, and what means he instituted for handing down his religion 
 correctly to after ages. Your Bible was given me : 1 read it : it left me 
 full of doubts about a multitude of matters. I came to consult you as 
 missionaries from Christendom, and, instead of removing my doubts you 
 have added to them, and shocked me more than ever by your systematic 
 contradictions and endless disputes. Reason tells me that whatever were 
 the doctrines, the duties and the regulations established by Christ, if he 
 had wisdom, goodness, or even common sense, they must have been such 
 as were consistent with each other. They cannot have been contradictory 
 doctrines, conflicting duties, inconsistent regulations, or their author deserves 
 nothing but contempt. Thus, if Christ be wise and good, he cannot have 
 taught both that he is and that he is not God, nor can he have commanded 
 and forbidden himself to be worshipped as God. He cannot have taught 
 that he is really present in the Eucharist and that he is really not; nor 
 can he have both commanded and forbidden himself to be worshipped in 
 the sacrament. He cannot have taught that infant baptism is both neces- 
 sary and not necessary, useful and useless. He cannot have taught that 
 his ministers have power from him to forgive some of the consequences of 
 sins, and that they have not that power ; nor can he have commanded 
 men to confess their sins, and left them at liberty not to do so. He cannot 
 have taught that baptism is necessary for salvation, and that it is not 
 necessary. He cannot have made a collection of writings the sole rule of 
 faith as explained for himself by each individual, and at the same time 
 have appointed the pastors and teachers of his church a living rule of 
 faith, and obliged all to learn their Christian doctrines and duties from 
 them. Gentlemen, it is not possible to incorporate myself with you : you 
 are not ^ one body,' nor have you all ‘ one spirit.' (Ephesians, chap. 4, 
 verses 4, 5.) I must try whether more united and consistent guides are 
 to be found : if not, 1 remain as I am." 
 
 This example, my beloved friends and fellow countrymen, will, I hope, 
 enable you, in some measure, to conceive the dreadfully antichristian effect 
 of protestant principles among heathen nations abroad. Christianity and 
 its Divine author slighted and disgraced! — Paganism and all its horrid 
 consequences perpetuated! Effects of the same kind, as is well known to 
 reflecting observers, result from protestantism nearer home, and have con- 
 
8 
 
 tinued to flow from it since its first appearance in the sixteenth century : 
 indeed, these effects were witnessed, as well as foreseen and foretold, by 
 Luther, the first protestant, and his associates, when it was too late. They 
 are now visible enough in the north-west of Europe, and in a portion of 
 North America: — fanaticism, deism, atheism, — melancholy doubt, — and 
 the wide-spreading folly of indifference as to all preparation for eternity. 
 What avails national greatness without individual happiness? Now, if 
 the cause of these evils be continued, the effects may increase to an indefi- 
 nite degree, and continue to plunge thousands into vice of every kind, 
 despair, madness, suicide, and all misery, temporal and eternal. Is not 
 the only remedy a general renunciation of private conceits, and a return to 
 Catholic Unity; for one distinctive feature of a Catholic mind is to prefer 
 the general sense of the great body of the church to what might otherwise 
 be one’s own private sentiment. Melancthofi, the most learned and least 
 unamiable of Luther’s companions, with inconsolable grief discovered this, 
 three hundred years ago. If the authority of the Pope and of the Bishops 
 whom succession had established was not restored, he foresaw that dis- 
 cord would have no end, and would be attended with ignorance ” of true 
 religion, and all kinds of evils: ” Book 4, £p. 196; and Arts, of Smal- 
 kald. 
 
 The experience of three centuries has since proved that the protestant 
 sects can never be really united with each other until they cease to protest 
 against the church that proceeded them, by returning to the principle and 
 practice of universal communion with St. Peter’s successor.. That great 
 man, the celebrated Grotius, though educated a protestant, declared that, 
 without this, no common agreement could possibly be hoped for, and he 
 heartily wished to see the end of schism. — (See Discussion of Rivetus’ 
 Apology.) With him agrees the learned Thorndyke of Westminster, and 
 King James I, who, in spite of a protestant education, in his speech to 
 parliament, anno 1608, says, “ I acknowledge the Church of Rome to be 
 our mother church.” “And in his premonition to monarchs” he says, “Let 
 the Bishop of Rome, in God’s name, be the first bishop among all bishops, 
 and chief of the bishops, so that it be no otherwise but as Peter was chief 
 of the Apostles.” What more is required? “A great many of these 
 controversies,” says the Protestant Archbishop Bramhall of Armagh, 
 “ are kept on foot either out of prejudice or pride, or want of judgment, 
 or all together.’" The Hon. and Rev. Mr. Perceval of East Horsley, 
 s])eaking of the separation of Catholics and Protestants, calls it, “ One 
 of the largest and most hurtful w’ounds which the body of Christ has ever 
 received: ” and again, “ the rent in the garment of religion, which has so 
 long given its enemies cause to triumph./’ — (Peace Offering, pages 9 and 
 157.) “ In the points of merits, justification by works, assurance of sal- 
 
 vation, the nature of Faith, &c.” (says the patriarch of English Dissenters, 
 Mr. Baxter, in his life penned by himself,) “ the misexpressions of Catho- 
 lics, and their misunderstandings of us, with our mistakirigs of them, and 
 inconvenient expressing our opinions, hath made the difterence in these 
 points to appear much greater than they are, and in some of them it is 
 next to none at all. Alas, at first it would disgrace any doctrine with me, 
 if I did but hear it called Popery and Antichristian; but I have long 
 learnt to be more impartial, and to know that Satan can use even the 
 names of Popery and Antichrist against the truth.” In fine, let us 
 hear the Anglo- Protestant Dr. Thorndyke. “ It is out of love for the 
 reformation,” says he, “ that I insist on such a principle as may serve to 
 
9 
 
 reunite us to the church of Rome; being well assured that we can never 
 be united with ourselves otherwise ; and that not only the reformation, 
 but our common Christianity will be lost in the divisions^ which will never 
 end otherwise^’ 
 
 Can that principle, I now ask with confidence, the principle of private 
 anti-catholic and anti-traditional interpretation of Scripture, from which 
 these contradictions and divisions flow, be a principle that Christ intro- 
 duced into his church ? or, is it not rather “an enemy that hath done 
 this Doth not Christ declare that “ every kingdom divided against 
 itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house 
 falleth Would Christ therefore, “Wisdom” itself and “Prince of 
 peace,” occasion his kingdom to be divided against itself? Would 
 he bring into his church a rule or principle of division ? And can a 
 church which maintains or allows such a principle be Christ’s church ? 
 Again, is not Christ, (the architect of his church,) a wise builder ? And 
 does he not say that while it is the part of a “ foolish builder to build his 
 house on sand, which occasions its fall, — the wise builder buildeth his 
 house on a rock, and that it falleth not because it is built on a rock.”^ — 
 Matthew vii. 24 to 28. 
 
 I will now return to the example which I brought to shew the unedi- 
 fying and destructive effect of that principle which supposes Christ to 
 abandon his Teaching Church (the “ city seated on a hill,” “ the light of 
 the world,” as he calls it,) to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doc- 
 trine, by the powers of darkness, and the uncontroled influences of human 
 errors and passions. The same example will serve to shew how, while 
 the Protestant principle according to its own advocates tends to pull 
 down, if it were possible, that which Christ built on a rock, and to dis- 
 perse it for ever in inconsistent fragments, or at the best to rebuild in 
 another style and on sand, some few scattered stones of the sanctuary ; — 
 while, I say, it is the melancholy occupation of our separated brethren, 
 to shake and tear asunder, and destroy, and to put together nothing 
 securely, — the church from which they went out remains firmly fixed in her 
 ancient, distinguishing principle ; namely, the Unfailing Unity and Uni^ 
 versality of True and Holy Religion, taught, commanded, and adminis- 
 tered ivitk God’s authority, by the legitimate Successors of those to whom 
 Christ originally revealed it. I believe there is a Church ever Holy, ever 
 Catholic. “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.” (Apostles’ Creed). 
 Faithful to this principle, a million of Catholic Pastors from the four 
 quarters of the globe, if asked, what are their terms of communion? what 
 are the duly proposed Articles of Faith? would all give consistent and 
 equally comprehensive answers to every enquirer. Thus they exert a 
 consolidating, uniting, and edifying power ; since the individuals, fami- 
 lies, cities and kingdoms that hear and obey them, instantly become alike 
 to each other in Articles of Faith, in Moral doctrine, and in Church 
 government. Thus united as the sheep of onefold, and the members of 
 one body, they may consistently proclaim themselves to be the faithfnl 
 disciples and messengers of one Divine Master ; and reasonably hope to 
 be received as such by heathen nations. Consolidated into one mass, 
 their attractive power is great upon those that are without. “ Being made 
 perfect in one, the world may know that God has sent them.” John xvii. 
 18, &c. If therefore, in my former example, the Chinese or the Hindoo, 
 instead of consulting the disagreeing and varying ministers of Protestant 
 political and dissenting Christianity, had proposed his questions to Cath- 
 
10 
 
 olic Bishops or Priests, whether Secular or Regular, European, African, 
 American or Asiatic, how differently would he have been received ! One 
 universal Yes^ or one universal iVo, would resound from all sides. ‘‘ Such 
 is the doctrine,” one and all would exclaim, in words like these of 
 the judicious and experienced Bishop Baines, “ such is the doctrine 
 which we have received from our forefathers in every age ; we give it to 
 you as we receive it. It has been believed by the whole Catholic Church 
 at all times, and in every country. What other proof can you require of 
 its truth ? 
 
 ** If, doubting the truth of these assertions, he asks, what proof do you 
 give me that your doctrines have been thus believed ? the whole assembly 
 will with one voice reply, the page of history is open before you : the 
 Church, of whose faith we are the guardians, has existed 1800 years ; its 
 extent from its first complete establishment has been always nearly what 
 you now behold it ; the belief of such a body could never be a secret, 
 nor undergo a change without the knowledge of the world. Its bulk is 
 too vast to be the sport of every wind. It must be an earthquake shaking 
 the world to its centre, that can shake the foundations of such a Church. 
 Shew us then, in the pages of history, the time at which the Catholic 
 Church did not believe as we do ; and shew us the time, when, forgetful 
 of their sacred trust, the whole Catholic Church, Bishops, Priests, and 
 People, conspired to alter or permit the alteration of any received article 
 of faith. 
 
 Who would not consider the most valuable treasure secure, which 
 could not be opened without the joint application of a thousand keys, 
 kept by a thousand honest and honourable men in different countries of 
 the world? Would not the owner of that treasure always feel assured, 
 that, if ten or twenty, or even a hundred of these men, seduced by some 
 local or personal motive, should, in violation of all principle, conspire to 
 rob him, the remaining nine hundred would refuse their concurrence ? 
 Would he not feel that a general combination so wicked, so dishonour- 
 able, and so extensive, was repugnant to the nature of things, and morally 
 impossible ? It is more impossible still, that the Bishops of the Catholic 
 Church, believing as they do that it is a deadly crime to suffer a change 
 in any article of revealed religion ; bound, as they are, by the most 
 solemn promises, and by every principle of honour, honesty, and religion, 
 not to admit such change ; separated, as they are from each other, by 
 distance of place, and influenced, as they ever must be, by opposite tem- 
 poral motives, should unanimously conspire to betray their sacred trust, 
 and succeed in hiding their perfidy from the world. 
 
 If such an event has taken place, the clearest records cannot be want- 
 ing. It is impossible that doubt can exist of the public, the notorious, 
 the melancholy fact. Let these clear and undoubted records be brought 
 forward, and not only will we give up our claims to your confidence, but 
 we will dissolve ourselves as a body and abandon for ever the Church, 
 which in consequence of her change God himself must have abandoned.” 
 
 Let us now hear in another form the same infallible testimony of the 
 Holy Ghost respecting the Christian Church. My Protestant friends, 
 consult your Bibles, and with your own eyes convince yourselves, and be 
 converted again to unity. In the Old Testament, Christ’s Church is pro- 
 phetically described as follows : — 
 
 Genesis; chapter 12, verse 3. — God said unto Abraham, In thee 
 shall all families of the earth be blessed.” And again, chapter 22, verses 
 
11 
 
 16, IB. ‘‘ By myself hath I sworn, saith the Lord, that in thy seed shall 
 all the nations of the earth be blessed.’^ 
 
 Isaiah ; chapter 7, verse 14. — Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and 
 bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel which being intrepre- 
 ted, is, God with us.’’ Matthew; chapter 1, verse 23. 
 
 Isaiah ; chapter 9, verses 6, 7. — “ Unto us a child is born, unto us a 
 son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his 
 name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the ever- 
 lasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government 
 and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, 
 from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will per- 
 form this.” 
 
 Micab ; chapter 4, verses 1, 2, 7. — In the last days it shall come to 
 pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the 
 top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people 
 shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say. Come, and let 
 us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of 
 Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : 
 
 . . . .and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth 
 even for ever.” 
 
 Psalm 72, verses 5, 7. — In his days shall the righteous flourish; and 
 abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. . . .They shall fear Thee 
 as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations,” 
 
 Isaiah ; chapter 59, verse 21 ; chapter 60, verse 11 ; chapter 35, verse 
 8 ; chapter 54, verses 9, 10, 13, 17. — “ This is my covenant with them, 
 saith the Lord ; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have 
 put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth 
 of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from 
 henceforth and for ever. .. .Thy gates shall be open continually: they 
 shall not be shut day nor night ; that men may bring unto thee the forces 
 of the gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. . . .And an highway 
 shall be there, and it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean 
 shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though 
 fools, shall not err therein. ... For as I have sworn that the waters of 
 Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would 
 not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart 
 and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, 
 neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
 hath mercy on thee. . . . And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord ; 
 and great shall be the peace of thy children. . . .No weapon that is formed 
 against thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise against thee 
 in judgment thou shalt condemn.” 
 
 Daniel ; chapter 2, verse 44. — In the days of these kings shall the 
 God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. . . .it 
 shall stand for ever.” 
 
 Ezekiel ; chapter 37, verses 24, 26. — David my servant shall be king 
 over them ; and they shall all have one shepherd : they shall also walk in 
 my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them, , , .Moreover I will 
 make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant 
 with them : and 1 will place them, and multiply them, and I will set my 
 sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 
 
12 
 
 In the New Testament, Christ’s Church is thus introduced and de- 
 scribed : 
 
 John; chapter 1, verses 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 14. — ‘‘ In the beginning was the 
 Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things 
 were made by Him; and without him was not made any thing that was 
 made. There was a man sent from God whose name was John : the same 
 came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light: he was not that Light, 
 but was sent to bear witness of that Light. And the Word was made 
 flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory.” 
 
 Luke; chapter 1, verses 26, 27, 28, 30 to 35, 37 to 43, 46 to 50, 55. — 
 “ The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a Virgin espoused to a man whose 
 name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the Virgin’s name was Mary. 
 And the angel said to her, Hail thou that art highly favoured, the Lord 
 is with thee: Blessed art thou among women. Thou hast found favour 
 with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring 
 forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall reign over the 
 bouse of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then 
 said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 
 And the angel answered, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee ; and the 
 power of the highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore that Holy thing 
 that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. For with God 
 nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said. Behold the handmaid of 
 the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed 
 from her. And Mary arose, and entered into the house of (the priest) 
 Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth (her cousin). And Elizabeth was filled 
 with the Holy Ghost : and she spake out with a loud voice and said. 
 Blessed art thou among women; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 
 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to 
 me? And Mary said. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
 hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low eststate 
 of his handmaiden ; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call 
 me Blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and 
 holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation 
 to generation, . . .As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and his seed 
 for ever.” 
 
 Luke; chapter 2, verses 6 to 11, 13, 14, 51. — ‘^And the days were 
 accomplished that she should be delivered; And she brought forth her 
 first born Son. And there were in the same country shepherds, keeping 
 watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon 
 them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And the angel 
 said, Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 
 people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, 
 which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a mul- 
 titude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in 
 the highest, and in earth peace, good will to men. And Jesus dwelt at 
 Nazareth with his Mother and Joseph, and was subject unto them.” 
 
 Matthew; chapter 3, verses 1, 2, 5, 6, 13 to 17. — (And when Jesus 
 was thirty years old), in those days came John the Baptist, preaching in 
 the wilderness of Judea, and saying. Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven 
 is at hand. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the 
 region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing 
 their sins. Then cometh Jesus to be baptized of him. But John said to 
 
13 
 
 him, I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me ? And 
 Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it be- 
 cometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus 
 when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo the 
 heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending 
 like a dove and lighting upon him: and lo, a voice from heaven, saying. 
 This is my beloved Son, in whom 1 am well pleased. 
 
 John ; chapter 1, verses 15, 29, 32, 34 to 37, 40, 41, 42. — ‘‘ And John 
 bare witness of him, and cried, saying. This was He of whom I spake : 
 Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world! I 
 saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon 
 Him : and I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. Again, 
 the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon 
 Jesus as he walked, he saith. Behold the Lamb of God! And the two 
 disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. One of the two that 
 followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his 
 own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, 
 which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. 
 And when Jesus beheld him, he said. Thou art Simon, the son of Jona: 
 thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone.” 
 
 Matthew; chapter 10, verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 14, 15. — And Jesus 
 called unto him twelve disciples. Now the names of the twelve apostles 
 are these: The first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, 
 James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, 
 Thomas, and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alpheus, and 
 Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas 
 Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and 
 commanded them, saying. Go, Preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand. And when ye come into an house, salute it: and whosoever 
 shall not receive you, nor hear your words, Verily I say unto you, it shall 
 be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of 
 judgment, than for that city.” 
 
 Matthew; chapter 16, verses 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. — ‘‘ And when 
 Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 
 saying. Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said. 
 Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others Jere- 
 mias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them. But whom say ye that 
 I am? And Simon Peter ansv/ered, and said. Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said unto him. Blessed 
 art thou Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto 
 thee, but my father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that 
 thou art Peter (which word Peter, like Cephas, signifies a rock,) and 
 
 ♦ The name Peter signifies a rocA*;” (says the learned Dr. Wiseman ;) “ for 
 in the language spoken by our Saviour, not the slightest difference exists, even 
 at this day, between the name whereby this Apostle or any one bearing his name, 
 is known, and the most ordinary word which indicates a rock or stone; (in 
 Syriac Kipho). Thus the phrase of our Redeemer would sound as follows to 
 the ears of his audience : ‘ And I say to thee that thou art a rock,' Now see 
 how the remaining part of the sentence would run in connexion with the pream- 
 ble ; ‘ and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against it.* This Apostle now called Peter, is thus declared to be 
 the rock upon which will be founded a church that is to be for ever impregnable 
 in consequence of its foundation ; like the house of the wise builder, spoken of 
 
14 
 
 upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of 
 heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earthy shall be bound in 
 
 heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
 
 heaven.’^ 
 
 Matthew; chapter 17, verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. — ‘‘ And after six days, Jesus 
 taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an 
 high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them ; and his face did 
 shine as the suu, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold 
 there appeared unto them, Moses and Elias, talking with him. Then an- 
 swered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord it is good for us to be here. 
 
 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and 
 
 behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in 
 whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.^’ 
 
 John; chapter 20, verse 21. — ‘‘Jesus said to the disciples. Peace be 
 unto you : as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.’’ 
 
 Luke; chapter 10, verse 16. — He that heareth you, heareth me; and 
 he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth 
 him that sent me.” 
 
 John; chapter 17, verses 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. — “ Christ saith to his 
 Father, As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent 
 them into the world. And for their sakes 1 sanctify myself, that they also 
 may be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone; but 
 for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all 
 may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may 
 be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And 
 the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them ; that they may be one 
 even as we are one : I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made 
 perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and 
 hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” 
 
 Luke; chapter 22, verses 31, 32. — “ And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, 
 behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 
 but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art con- 
 verted, strengthen thy brethren.” 
 
 John; chapter 10, verse 16.~“ Jesus saith to the Pharisees, Other 
 sheep 1 have, the Gentiles, which are not of this fold : them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold, and one 
 shepherd.” 
 
 John ; chapter 21, verses 15, 16, 17. — “ So when they had dined, (after 
 Peter’s miraculous draught of fishes,) Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon 
 son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these He saith unto Him, Yea, 
 Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed my 
 lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, lovest thou me? 
 He saith unto him. Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith 
 unto him. Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, 
 
 by Christ ; Matthew vii., 24, 25. To give a new name had been the means 
 occasionally used by the Almighty, of denoting an important event in the lives 
 of his servants, when he rewarded them for past fidelity, by bestowing upon 
 them some signal pre-eminence. It was thus that he altered the names of Abra- 
 ham and Sara, Jacob,” &c. — See Lecture 8th : On the Supremacy of the Pope^ 
 by Nicholas Wiseman, D.D. ; Professor in the University of Rome ; Foreign 
 Member in the Royal Society of Literature ; Corresponding Member of the 
 Royal Asiatic Society. 
 
15 
 
 lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third 
 time, Lovest thou me ? And he said unto Him, Lord, thou knowest all 
 things: thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him. Feed my 
 sheep.’’ 
 
 Matthew ; chapter 28 , verses 19 , 20 . — And Jesus coming to the dis- 
 ciples, spake unto them, saying, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
 commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the 
 world.” 
 
 Mark; chapter 16 , verse 16 . — He that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” 
 
 John; chapter 14 , verses 16 , 17 ; and chapter 16 , verse 13 , — And 
 Jesus said to the disciples, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
 another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit 
 of Truth.... He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.... and he 
 will guide you into all truth.” 
 
 John ; chapter 20 , verses 22 , 23 . — ‘‘ Jesus breathed on the disciples, 
 and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye 
 remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they 
 are retained.” 
 
 Matthew; chapter 18 , verses 17 , 18 . — Christ saith to the disciples. 
 If thy brother shall neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as 
 an heathen. , . .Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, 
 shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be 
 loosed in heaven.” 
 
 Matthew; chapter 5 , verse 14 . — Ye are the light of the world. A 
 city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” 
 
 Acts ; chapter 1 , verses 15 , 22 , 26 ; and chapter 2 , verses 1 , 4 , 14 , 
 38 , 41 , 42 , 46 , 47 . — And in those days, (after the ascension of Christ 
 into heaven,) Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said. One 
 must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. — And the lot 
 fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. — And 
 when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all tilled with the 
 Holy Ghost. — And Peter standing up with the eleven (in Jerusalem), 
 said unto the people. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins ; then they that gladly 
 received his word, were baptized ; and the same day there were added unto 
 them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the 
 Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in 
 prayers: — with one accord. ...and the Lord added to the Church daily 
 such as should be saved.” 
 
 Acts ; chapter 4 , verses 8 , 32 ; and chapter 5 , verses 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 29 . 
 — Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, preached unto the rulers of 
 the people. .. .and the multitude of believers were of one heart and of 
 one soul. — And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of 
 men and women : Insomuch that they brought out the sick into the 
 streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of 
 Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a 
 multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick 
 folks, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits : and they were 
 healed every one. Then the high-priest — and the Sadducees were filled 
 
16 
 
 with indignation. , , .And Peter and the Apostles answered and said Wo 
 ought to obey God rather than men.’’ 
 
 Acts; chapter 19, verses 10, 11, 12, 18. — ^^All they which dwelt in 
 Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And 
 God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul : so that from his 
 body were brought unto the sick handerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases 
 departed from tliem, and the evil spirits went out of them. And many 
 that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds.” 
 
 Acts, chapter 15, verses 7, 22, 23, 28. — When there had been much 
 disputing, Peter rose up and said, Men and brethren, ye know how that 
 a good while ago, God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my 
 mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. . . .Then pleased 
 it the Apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of 
 their own company to Antioch. ... and they wrote letters to them after 
 this manner — It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us,” &c. 
 
 Romans; chapter 1, verses 1, 5, 6, 7,8. — ‘‘Paul, a servant of Jesus 
 Christ, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to 
 the faith, among all nations, for his name: among whom are ye also 
 the called of Jesus Christ : To all that be at Rome : beloved of God, 
 called to be saints : Grace to you and peace. First I thank my God, 
 through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout 
 the whole world. God is my witness that I make mention of you always 
 in my prayers. I long to see you that I may impart unto you some 
 spiritual gift,” &c. 
 
 Ephesians; chapter 5, verses 24, 25, 26, 27, 29. — “As the Church is 
 subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every 
 thing. Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that it 
 should be holy and without blemish. .. .No man ever yet hated his own 
 flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the church.” 
 
 Ephesians; chapter 4, verses 11, 14, 15.—“ Christ gave some, apos- 
 tles ; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and 
 teachers; that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and 
 carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cun- 
 ning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ; but, speaking the 
 truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even 
 Christ.” 
 
 1st Timothy; chapter 3, verse 15. — “ The church of the living God ; 
 the pillar and ground of the truth.” 
 
 The foregoing description of Christ’s Church was inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost. Let us now read a contradictory description : inspired hy what 
 spirit shall we call it.^ surely not the same “ Spirit of Truth.” Turn to 
 the 35th Article of Religion in the Protestant Book of Common Prayer, 
 an article there said to be agreed upon by the newly appointed Protestant 
 Archbishops and Bishops in the year 1562, for the establishing of consent 
 touching true religion. This 35th article is as follows: — “The second 
 book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this 
 article, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine. . . .and therefore we 
 judge them to be read in churches by the ministers diligently and distinctly 
 that they may be understanded of the people.” And now turn to the 
 Book of Homilies, Peril of Idolatry, part 3, where you will find the 
 Church described in the following words: — “ Laity and clergy, learned 
 
17 
 
 and unlearned, all ages sects and degrees of men, women and children of 
 whole Christendom have been at onoe drowned in an abominable and 
 damnable idolatry; and that for the space of eight hundred years and more, 
 to the destpuction and subversion of all good religion universally ! 1 
 
 Such are the two contradictory descriptions of the Christian Church. 
 The first is a Catholic description : (for your convenience I here express 
 it in the words of your own version of Scripture.) It is the description, 
 which Catholics have always and every where (“ semper et ubique ’’) re- 
 ceived and claimed as applicable to the church throughout the whole of its 
 duration, beginning from the life-time of the Apostles. The second is a 
 Protestant description, expressed in the words of the first Protestant Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, in the year 1547, when the Homi- 
 lies were first forced upon every parish church in England and Wales, and 
 the Bishop of Winchester, who wrote against them, was imprisoned. (See 
 Wilkins, Collier, Strype, &c. quoted by Dr. Lingard in his History of 
 England.) Similar to this is the description of God’s church given by the 
 other founders of Protestantism, as their apology for going out from all 
 Christendom : ‘‘ Primb solus eram At first I was alone,” says Luther, 
 (preface to his works.) A toto mundo discessionem facere coacti sumus,” 
 
 We have been obliged to renounce the communion of the whole earth,” 
 writes Calvin. ( Epis, 114.) The truth (by which you are to under- 
 stand the Protestant religion) was both unknown and unheard of, when 
 Martin Luther first came to the knowledge of the gospel,” says Jewell 
 Protestant bishop of Salisbury. (Apology, book 4, c. 4.) In times past 
 no religion but the Popish had place in the church,” says Whitaker, ( Con, 
 4.) And Tillotson, a Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, says, that 
 before Luther’s days Popery had subdued her enemies on every side, and 
 Antichrist sat securely in possession of his kingdom.” ( Sermon 49.) Na- 
 pier and other Protestant leaders even carry back the subversion and total 
 disappearance of religion beyond the first Council of Nice. Thus is laid 
 the foundation of Protestantism in an asserted destruction of Christ’s 
 Church for many ages, a victory of damnable idolatry over true religion 
 so complete, that not one man, woman, or child possessed the principle of 
 spiritual life during more than eight hundred or a thousand, or twelve hun- 
 dred years. Had Christ then built his house on a rock to secure it from 
 falling : if not, was he a wise builder ? The Eternal God, the Three 
 adorable Persons have solemnly promised and even sworn, that Christ’s 
 Church on earth is divinely endowed with uninterrupted Indefectibility, 
 "Visibility, Catholicity, Apostolicity, Unity, Veracity, and Sanctity. See 
 the above and many other passages of Holy Scripture, as well as the Tes- 
 timonies of the Christian pastors and people during all the first five hundred 
 years after Christ, as well as in succeeding ages. (These testimonies may 
 easily be consulted in a valuable work entitled. Faith of Catholics con-- 
 firmed by Scripture, and attested by the Fathers of the first five centuries of 
 the Church,) 
 
 Here we find God himself announcing that for His own glory and for 
 man’s salvation. He has given to us on earth the rich present of a Church 
 that would never fail or be overthrown — a Church that would be always 
 publicly and clearly visible to mankind^a Church that would exist in all 
 parts of the world — a Church that would be guided, administered, and 
 governed by pastors lawfully succeeding the Apostles, and possessing a 
 mission and a right to teach and to rule derived from the Apostles, and, 
 by them, originally from Christ — a Church whose pastors and people would 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 form but ‘‘ one body with one spirit’’ by receiving and requiring the same 
 standard and unchangeable declarations and canons of faith, and by being 
 all and every one joined, as of obligation, with the successor for the time 
 being of St. Peter the apostle, believing him to be the divinely appointed 
 centre of Christian union on earth — a Church that, by virtue of the divine 
 protection, would never require men either to believe any thing untrue or 
 to practice any thing unholy as a condition for admittance to her commu- 
 nion — a Church, by which, as by an instrumental or ministerial agent, 
 God himself would in all days until the end of the world continue to teach 
 the Christian truth and law which He originally revealed, and to confer 
 true virtue and holiness on multitudes of the children of Adam through 
 Jesus Christ the fountain of all grace and justice and glory. 
 
 And now, my beloved friends, in the face of all this evidence, human 
 and divine, with this merciful and cheering, this really ‘‘ godly and whole- 
 some doctrine ” present in your memory, once more turn to the foundation 
 of Protestantism expressed in the very words of the first Protestants 
 themselves: — ‘‘All good religion universally uprooted and destroyed,” 
 “ Pastors and people, all ages, sects and degrees of men, women and chil- 
 dren of all Christendom drowned in abomination, antichristianism, idolatry, 
 damnation for nine or ten or twelve hundred years together,” during which 
 period of course many thousand millions of baptized men women and chil- 
 dren must have lived and died in this horrible situation, and none, unless 
 perhaps infants, in any other ! ! ! To make such a proclamation is surely 
 to bring the author of Christianity into disgrace among mankind. Mahome- 
 tans, Pagans, and unbelievers in general are thus told, that the possession 
 of the true religion is not essential to the Christian Church ; that if they 
 were to become converts and join the church of Christ, they would not be 
 secure from becoming drowned in damnable idolatry — that in direct con- 
 tradiction to his own declaration, confirmed even by an oath, Christ’s 
 kingdom has been and may be without “ righteousness ” or “ peace” or 
 “justice” or “judgment ” or “ holiness” or truth, — that none are safe 
 from pernicious error in obeying its laws — that God’s “ kindness ” may be 
 and actually has been “ taken away” from it, his “covenant” broken, 
 his “ teaching ” ended, his “ spirit ” and his “ word” departed, his “ sanc- 
 tuary” removed, his “ kingdom ” shaken and overthrown — that Christ’s 
 church was not built on an impregnable “ rock,” that “ the gates of hell” 
 have “ prevailed against it” — that Christ’s promise of “ being with” its 
 “ teachers,” faithfully instructing “ all nations ” uninterrupted to the very 
 “ world’s end ” has been violated — that the “ Holy Ghost, the spirit of 
 truth,” did not duly “ stay with ” the church and guide ” it and “ animate ” 
 it as Christ promised — that there is no “ perfection of unity and union ” in 
 the church to enable “ the world to know that Christ was from God” — 
 that Christ has neither “ nourished nor cherished his spouse” the church, 
 but deserts her and leaves her in a state of starvation and total destitution 
 for hundreds of years together — that the “pillar and ground of truth ” 
 upholds the most horrible and damnable of all vices and lies — in fine, that 
 the work of Christ, like that of Mahomet, or of Manes, of Confucius, or of 
 Numa, or any heathen philosopher, in spite of his predictions and sworn 
 promises to the contrary, has been already and may be now or at any 
 time totally uprooted and destroyed. 
 
 Must not such a system tend to blast the credit of Christianity, and ruin 
 the reputation of Christ? Is it not virtually an ilw#i-christian system ? 
 Can it fail to prevent the conversion of unbelieving nations, and to beget 
 
19 
 
 and multiply infidels among the nations that believe? Does not history 
 record these effects actually resulting from this system during the whole 
 three centuries, since its first appearance in Germany. Do not such fruits 
 visibly shew themselves at present? (Read the History of the Variations 
 of the Protestant Churches yhy Bossuet; and the first volume of 
 
 .the Essai sur V Indifference,) It is true no doubt that the teaching of 
 exalted mysteries, and the inculcation of strict morality and regular disci- 
 pline, as also, on the other hand, the partial prevalence of abuses, and 
 inconsistency of practice with profession in individuals, may indirectly tend 
 in some degree to make Christianity unpopular, particularly with ignorant, 
 self-conceited, self-indulgent, licentious, weak, and superficial minds: — 
 but in these cases the tendency is indirect, accidental, local : it is an 
 occasion rather than a cause. Whereas, to contradict and falsify the 
 prophecies announced as inspired, the sworn covenants and proclamations 
 of the Old and New Testaments, as well as all the subsequent historical 
 testimonies of the Martyrs and Saints of Christ in the earliest ages — is to 
 begin, (whether intended or not), a direct attack on revelation altogether : 
 it is to lay the groundwork of universal doubt and dissolution. Such 
 however is the foundation on which Protestants were forced to build, in 
 order to evade the reproach of schism, and provide an excuse for deserting 
 the fold, and rising up against the church into which Christ had baptized 
 them. Such is the announcement which Protestant ministers are required 
 to make and enforce diligently upon the minds of the people until they 
 shall thoroughlj’^ adopt it.” ( See the S^th Article as above.) And now, 
 my kind friends, be pleased once more to look back at the passages which 
 I produced from your ^own version of the Bible; and look at the titles of 
 the chapters whence I copied them. Do they not announce the uninter- 
 rupted reign of God’s power and truth and holiness in one widely extended 
 and publicly conspicuous, as well as duly governed and united Christian 
 church? Is not this a scriptural fact ? and does not that great religious 
 society, whose ambassador I am to you, always and everywhere proclaim 
 this fact to mankind? Compare the consoling prophecies, the merciful 
 and benevolent promises of your God, with the unmerciful and desolating 
 declarations with which Protestantism has lately come to announce herself 
 to England and a few other countries in the North-west of Europe. 
 
 Can you then any longer hesitate which to choose.'^ Protestantism or 
 the Holy Bible? for it is not possible really to follow both. Will you 
 take for a guide mere private interpretation of Scripture; or the word of 
 God explained by the ever living church of God, exhibiting her credentials 
 before the eyes of all, whether learned or unlearned ? Come then to God’s 
 church, and ‘‘ be taught of the Lord ” all that he commands you to know 
 and to do. Come and learn what degree of doctrinal information is suffi- 
 cient, and what is not so. Come and be taught in a manner provided by 
 God’s goodness to suit the nature and condition generally of man on earth, 
 and of every one of you, my friends, in particular. 
 
 Probably you know not what is really taught as requisite in the Catholic 
 church. None of the frightful and ridiculous doctrines and practices 
 which the nursery, the school-book, the novel, the prejudiced traveller, 
 the tract, and the newspaper have told you ; nothing of all this is our 
 religion: we hate it and despise it as much as yow can do. You have 
 been misinformed, my friends, you are deceived : — for the honour of God, 
 for the peace of society, for the credit of your characters, and the welfare 
 of your souls, I beseech you to believe me when I declare to you that you 
 
20 
 
 have the misfortune to be misinformed. Return to judgment, for they 
 have borne false witness against the faithful spouse of Christ.’^ After 
 humble prayer to God, seek for correct information, by the use of such 
 means as prudence dictates, and the awful nature of the enquiry demands. 
 Take the advice of a Catholic Bishop if you have the opportunity; or at 
 least consult some regularly appointed Catholic teacher, and pray heartily 
 both for him and for yourself before you go to him, that God would vouch- 
 safe to speak to you by his mouth. Enquire,, what the Articles of 
 Catholic Faith; or, what are the Terms of Communion with the Catholic 
 Church, Carefully distinguish between Articles of Faith and matters of 
 Opinion: the former, when suflSciently notified to you, you are obliged to 
 receive as truths revealed by God; with the latter you need not concern 
 yourself. Study, if you can, the genuine Canons and Decrees of the 
 Council of Trent, which was the last general assembly of the Bishops of 
 the Catholic Church. With pious sincerity, mention your real diflficulties 
 and objections to a competent Catholic teacher. Have patience with him 
 and with yourself. He will gradually, with God^s grace, enable you to 
 discover that our religion really is not what you now perhaps imagine, and 
 he will unfold to you what it really is. Two antagonists of truth, calumny 
 and misrepresentation, you will perceive, have been operating on your 
 mind. Calumny causes men to regard us as responsible for doctrines and 
 practices which are foreign to the substance of our religion, and in many 
 instances quite contrary to it: — and misrepresentation causes men to mis- 
 conceive the nature and the effects of doctrines and practices which we 
 really hold. Often too will you perceive that individuals have presumed 
 to censure the church for the very abuses which she laments and condemns, 
 and which would be effectually remedied by a happy return of all sincere 
 servants of God, to the unity of her faith. Instead of keeping up a schism 
 under pretence of ignorances and abuses in the church, come rather, all 
 you who are men of good will, come and join us in labouring lo remove 
 every real abuse that can be discovered among us: — such scandals cannot 
 be more odious in your eyes than they are in ours. Once happily united, we 
 might mutually assist each other to attain the height of Christian perfection; 
 and then go out together to bless all the families of mankind. In short, my 
 friends, if your enquiry be pursued with reasonable sincerity, diligence, and 
 piety, you will make the most delightful of all discoveries in this world. 
 The mist of prejudice will gradually break away; and the majestic 
 form of your Saviour’s church will stand revealed before you. You will 
 look on with delightful amazement ; you will compare former mistaken 
 notions with the present reality, and your heart will be dissolved in con- 
 solation and gratitude. Instead of the monstrous suppositions which once 
 haunted your mind, behold, you have found solidity, consistency, regu- 
 larity, beauty, piety, charity and peace. You will clearly see, what, 
 thousands still living and who once thought as you have hitherto thought, 
 are now clearly seeing, that Reason and History and Scripture all con- 
 verge towards one grand object as their common centre, and that that 
 divinely fixed centre is the Catholic Religion. As for me, finding myself 
 to be by nature a fallible and sinful man, I have always felt that I could 
 rest only in a church of God, preserved by Him uninterruptedly True and 
 Holy in her doctrines and laws : — with humble gratitude I remain obedient 
 lo the everlasting Gospel preached through nations, and kindreds, and 
 longues;” (Rev. xiv. 6); and it is my daily prayer, that my sincere and 
 
21 
 
 worthy neighbours may receive the same blessing. They will perhaps em- 
 ploy the precious talent far more profitably than myself. 
 
 Return, Oh England, return! If all who boast the Christian name were 
 but united in belief respecting the doctrines and laws of their Divine 
 Master, no earth-born error could long maintain extensive sway. The 
 kind influence of their harmonious and consistent endeavours by word and 
 example, would spread truth and goodness over the globe. Dark cold 
 systems of infidelity would dissolve away before the gospel of light and 
 love. One beautiful combination would spring up of all that is amiable 
 and elevated in human nature. An eminently reasonable love of God and 
 man would bring forth useful exertions, far more effectual than anything 
 that can proceed from fanaticism, or policy, or from selfishness urged by 
 the view of earthly honours and riches and pleasures. The world would be 
 converted to the God that made it. Piety, profitable to all things,’^ 
 rising in the hearts of millions, would enlighten and cheer them with hea- 
 venly joy amid the beneficient labours of an actively virtuous life, then 
 guide them under the passing cloud of death, and go with them to shine 
 in splendour for ever increasing through the interminable day of a blessed 
 eternity. 
 
 The sublime prayer of our Lord would be fulfilled. Seeing all his fol- 
 lowers made perfect in one, the world would recognize his Divine 
 Mission”: John xvii., 23. Thus would ancient prophecies be verified, 
 realizing the hopes of the just from the beginning of the world. God’s 
 
 kingdom would come.” ** All the ends of the earth would remember 
 and return to the Lord : and all the kindreds of the nations would worship 
 before him:” Psalm xxii., 27. ‘‘ He would come down like rain upon 
 
 the fleece: as showers that fall gently on the earth. He would have 
 dominion from sea to sea: and from the river unto the ends of the world. 
 All kings would fall down before him : all nations would serve him. He 
 would deliver the needy when he crieth ; the poor also and him that hath 
 no helper. He would save the souls of the poor; and their name would 
 be honourable in his sight. All nations would call him blessed : and the 
 whole earth would be filled with his praise.” Amen, amen! Psalm Ixxii,, 
 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19. 
 
 Rut, my friends, your attention to-day has been largely demanded. I 
 hope to have the pleasure of addressing you again : and, one great object 
 which I had in presenting myself before you now, was to bespeak, if you 
 will allow me, your kind attention to what I may write or say on such 
 subjects in future. I conclude. Be pleased to fix your serious thoughts 
 upon my concluding declaration. 
 
 By evidence of the very highest authority, contemporary, historical, 
 scriptural, rational, I am undoubtingly convinced that every doctrine which 
 the Catholic Church really requires men to believe as an Article of Faith, 
 was originally revealed to the apostles by God himself. And 1 know 
 that I am regularly sent by the successors of the apostles, to teach these 
 doctrines and no others as the terms of ecclesiastical communion, I ear- 
 nestly wish to fulfil my commission by every means consistent with piety, 
 charity, candour, and all virtue. The church and my own conscience 
 forbid me to employ other means : nay, requre me rather to die than to 
 commit the least sin, though it were to save the whole world. I thank God 
 1 have never intentionally used any means of an unworthy kind ; in parti- 
 cular I cannot discover that I have deliberately written or spoken one 
 
22 
 
 sentence in defence of religion either falsely or angrily or proudly. And 
 if my words have appeared to any person in this light, I regret it, and I 
 trust that my divinely excellent cause will not be viewed with injurious 
 prejudice in the mind of any one, through my imperfect manner of defend- 
 ing and promoting it. Peace be to you !” ‘‘ God is my witness how I 
 
 long after you all in the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1st. Luther owns that he added to the Bible in translating it. For instance, 
 in Rom. 3, where St. Paul writes, We account a man to be justified by faith,” 
 Luther inserts the word alone after faith.” His fellow protestant Zuinglius 
 says, Luther was a foul corrupter and horrible falsifier of God^s word, who 
 razed out such places of God’s writ as were against him.” (Lib. de Sacr.) 
 Zuinglius himself also corrupted Scripture : instead of Christ’s words, ** This 
 is my body,” Zuinglius translated This signifies my body.” — Beza, another 
 of the first protestants, is proved to have grievously corrupted the Bible, by his 
 fellow protestants Molinaeus, Castalio, and Osiander. (In Test.) And Beza 
 pronounces Castalio’s translation to be sacrilegious and heathenish. (In 
 Respon. &c.) — D’Israeli, speaking of Anglo-protestant translations, says, ^^Our 
 English Bibles were suffered to be so corrupted, that no books ever swarmed 
 with such innumerable errata — voluntary omissions, interpolated passages, and 
 meanings reformed and forged for certain purposes.” The Irish Society, in 
 1832, resolved as follows : ^^That after a full enquiry, the members of this 
 society feel satisfied, that material and very numerous errors exist in the ver- 
 sion of the New Testament edited by the British and Foreign Bible Society.” 
 The Hon. and Rev. Mr. Perceval speaks of 1400 variations, and 280 material 
 errors in the Testament, if the first ten pages might be taken as a specimen. 
 (Reasons for not being a Member of the Bible Society.) See also the London 
 Monthly Review, Feb. 1833, and the Glasgow Christian Journal, July 1833, 
 where the most shocking expositions are made in this matter. The Rector of 
 East Horsley again says, Not only the Socinians in England, but the Rati- 
 onalists in Germany, are allowed to infuse their heresies into the translations of 
 the Scriptures, or the prefaces printed to accompany them.” (page 17.) The 
 Vice-Chancellor of England, in December 1833, from his judgment seat de- 
 clared, that the improved version of the New Testament,” by the Unitarian 
 protestants, fetters the understanding of the reader, by imposing their creed 
 in the shape of a translation.” See also ‘^Ward’s Errata of the Anglo-pro- 
 testant Bible.” The frequent errors of this version are acknowledged by the 
 protestant divines Louth, Wakefield, Bellamy, Knox, Horne, and many others. 
 
 2nd. Speaking of protestant missionaries in pagan countries, the Rev. Mr. 
 Gleig, himself an Anglican protestant, says : In Africa and New Zealand our 
 religion is embraced in letter, but violated in spirit ; being regarded as a mere 
 matter of traffic, as a mode of obtaining fish-hooks and such like luxuries at the 
 trifling expence of listening to a sermon, or receiving the sign of baptism. But 
 in India, evils infinitely more glaring attend upon the steps of the missionaries.” 
 (Letter to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart., page 74.) At page 7, he talks of 
 nominal converts to Christianity, made by the Church Missionary Society, at 
 the expence of £ 236,200 \ of whom many are admitted to have returned to 
 
23 
 
 their idolatry, as soon as the food and raiment which were the efficient causes 
 of their conversion, were denied them/^ — Mr. Bowen, a protestant, in his Mis- 
 sionary incitement and Hindoo demoralization,^’ quoting the celebrated Ram- 
 niohun Roy, says : Notwithstanding every exertion on the part of our divines, 
 1 am not aware that we can find a single respectable Moosulman, or Hindoo, 
 who were not in want of the common comforts of life, once glorified with the 
 truth of Christianity, constantly adhering to it. Of the few natives who have 
 been nominally converted to Christianity, and who were generally of the most 
 ignorant class,” &c. — At pages 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, of his Reasons why,” &c. 
 the Hon. and Rev. A. P. Perceval describes some of the anti-christian evils 
 which flow from sects, not only in distant and foreign parts, but at home also: 
 all,” he says, are lowered to the same level, to an equality of contempt: the 
 very cause of Christianity suffers,” he says again ; and he speaks of the univer- 
 sally admitted axiom, that the strength and prosperity of a body, depend on its 
 being ‘ at unity in itself.’ ” Mr. Perceval also confirms his assertions by the 
 repeatedly expressed declaration of the late protestant Bishop Heber, of Cal- 
 cutta, attempting the conversion of heathens, and practically experiencing the 
 counteracting effect of doctrinal dissentions and sects among professed Chris- 
 tians. To shew the extent to which dividing and subdividing on religious 
 principles has been carried among the descendants of those who renounced the 
 communion of St. Peter’s Successor in the sixteenth century, I may notice, 
 that Mr. Perceval, after mentioning'^ Quakers, Baptists, Independents,” adds, 
 and the thousand and one varieties of Dissenters.” — Speaking of Bible So- 
 ciety efforts, Mr. Perceval says (page 16), " There is much talk, but little 
 business ; great shew and parade, with really scarcely any thing effected ; 
 accounts of successful missions, where, except the missionary, there is hardly 
 a Christian to be found.” — Again, on the other side, this Hon. and Rev. pro- 
 testant Rector, speaking of the accusers of the Catholic Church, at page 139, 
 &c. of his 'Peace-Offering,’ says, " Let such persons again consider the noble 
 and truly Christian institutions, which are to be met with in Roman Catholic 
 countries, and the spirit which presides in them,” &c. " Are these the fruits 
 
 of Babylon and anti-christ ? Truly the tree bears good fruit considering its 
 ill name.” " Let them, once more consider the noble and illustrious missionary 
 spirit, which the Romish” (Catholic) '^church has shewn in her unceasing 
 labours for the conversion of the heathen: of which labours, be it remem- 
 bered, our church is” (was) "among the fruits.” ... It is certain and 
 undeniable that all England was heathen, when the Bishop of Rome sent over 
 St. Augustine to instruct us in the true faith.” "... But the labours of the 
 Roman Catholic Church have not been confined to this country and others 
 in Europe; in the East, in the West; whether the countries were in the 
 hands of members of their own Church, as in South America, or in those of 
 the heathen, as in Japan, or elsewhere, her missionaries have spared no labour, 
 or treasure, or blood, so they might but forward the great work of bringing men 
 to the knowledge of the Messiah.” Mr. Perceval thus concludes this point: 
 " When after considering the example of the Church of Rome, the mind rests 
 upon our own, (sins of commission and omission, which he partly enumerates,) 
 one is forced to feel that it would be more becoming, to say the least, to refrain 
 a little from lavishing the terras Apostate and Antichrist, to lay our hands on 
 our mouths, and to acknowledge, that though our sister may have motes in her 
 eye, we have a beam in our own.” In the 7th of Dr. Wiseman’s admirable 
 Lectures, the success of Catholic Missions is treated of: some most edifying 
 particulars of the martyrdom of the holy priest Gagelin, on the 17th October, 
 1833, in Cochin China, may be found there. This very learned doctor and 
 eminent writer, also briefly notices some of the other charitable Catholic martyrs 
 
24 
 
 and confessors who laid down their lives, or suffered imprisonment and tortures 
 for the faith about the same time, in those parts of the world. One who shed 
 bis blood in the persecution five years ago, was a native Chinese Priest in 
 Tonkin, Peter Tuy, venerable for his age and virtues. Another imprisoned 
 and beheaded was captain of the royal guards of the Emperor in Cochin China. 
 He walked cheerfully to execution, prostrated himself for a few moments in 
 prayer, then meekly raised his head and received the glorious stroke.^^ This 
 and the other Lectures of Dr. Wiseman, afford authentic information, most solid 
 instruction, and gratification of the highest order, (See Dr, Butler’s Lectures, 
 and the Dublin Review.) 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: T. JONES, 63, PATERNOSTER ROW, 
 
 of whom may he had the following Works, which Mi\ Sidden begs leave to recommend 
 
 to his neighbours : 
 
 s. d. 
 
 Dr. AViseman on the Supremacy of the Pope ,,. 0 6 
 
 On the Success of the Protestant Missions ••• ,,, 0 6 
 
 On the Success of the Catholic Missions ••• 0 6 
 
 The New Testament ••• ,,, ,,, ••• ,,, 2 6 
 
 Following of Christ ,,, ,,, ,, ,,, ,,, ,,, ,,, 1 6 
 
 Manifestation of Christ in the Holy Sacrament, by the Rev. Joseph 
 
 Sidden ,,• ••• ,,, ,,, ,,, 1 0 
 
 Papist Misrepresented and Represented ••• ••• ••• ... 1 0 
 
 Geraldine, a Tale of Conscience, 2 vols. ,,, ... ... ... 12 0 
 
 Bishop Challoner’s Catholic Christian Instructed ••• ... ... 2 6 
 
 Holy Bible 12 0 
 
 Faith of Catholics confirmed by Scripture, and attested by the Fathers 
 
 of the first five centuries ,,, «.. ... ... 13 6 
 
 Christianity, by Bishop Poynter ,,, ,,. ... ... ... 4 6 
 
 End of Religious Controversy, by Bishop Milner .,, 5 6 
 
 The Truths of the Catholic Religion proved from Scripture alone, by 
 Thomas Butler, D.D. Cameraire d’honneur to his Holiness Pope 
 
 Gregory 16th, and Catholic Pastor of Weymouth •,, 12 0 
 
 Bishop Bossuel’s Exposition ,,. ,,, ... ... ... 1 0 
 
 Rule of Fath, by Veron 2 6 
 
 Printed by T. Jones, Paternoster row. 
 
To all my Thoughtful Neighbours in Surrey. 
 
 I THINK you would not wish to be guided by men who grossly 
 and repeatedly contradict themselves on the very subject in which 
 they profess to guide you, and to guide with God’s authority too. 
 ]\^ow, I perceive that a certain Hon. and Rev. Person in our 
 County, who is striving hard to prop up a human system opposed 
 to the Holy Catholic religion, tells you, in one of his tracts, that 
 I, who, by God’s grace, with all my infirmities, have the honour 
 and happiness to be the Catholic Pastor of this neighbourhood, 
 and am so acknowledged by the Church of all ages and nations, 
 and by the Civil Law of England ; this Protestant Rector, I say, 
 tells you that I am not in Holy Orders — that my pretended 
 ordination was invalid” — that I am a heretic” — that I am 
 classed with thieves and murderers, and other fivil doers ” — that 
 I am ** a profaner of the mysteries pf God ” — that I and my 
 
 Italian master” (his own Patriarch!) have sinned against the 
 Bible and the Church ” — in fine, that Mr. Sidden and the Bishop 
 of Rome, and all their assistants, and every convert to their 
 Church, are bound by an oath to be guilty of greater wickedness 
 than even the wretched Balaam dared to commit,” &c. Of 
 course, I am not going to disprove these extravagances, nor will 
 I now examine whether this person was here confessing his own 
 sins instead of mine : indeed, I heartily wish his condition may 
 not be quite so deplorable : I hope his head has erred rather than 
 his heart. However, this is what he tells you in print; and now 
 I will let you know what he tells me with his pen, in several 
 letters addressed by him to me. In these, he repeatedly calls 
 himself my brother;” he tells me that his “ spirit, with regard 
 to my Church, is the very opposite to hostile ; ” he says to me, 1 
 have occasionally attended some of the chapels belonging to your 
 Communion in London.” Again he says, I am, my dear Sir, 
 your faithful friend and servant in our common hope ; ” and again, 
 were I in a Roman Catholic country, nothing would prevent 
 me from receiving the Communion at the hands of those to whom 
 God has there committed the ministry of reconciliation, but the 
 refusal of your Church to administer it;” and again he says to 
 me, I doubt not we do hold spiritual communion with one 
 
interpolate a passage in the work of a well known writer, living within 
 a few miles of my own residence. 
 
 Now perhaps it is scarcely worth while to account for my mistaking 
 Mr. Perceval’s meaning. But the account is so easy and the occasion 
 so public that I will proceed. 
 
 The main subject which Mr. Perceval treats in the whole paragraph, 
 pages 121, 122 and 123 of his Peace-Offering, is the hatred enter- 
 tained by some people in England against the Roman Catholic 
 Church, and the unreasonableness of that hatred. With this point 
 Mr. Perceval begins the paragraph, and with the same he ends it. 
 
 What is there,” he says, at the top of page 122, What is there in 
 the doctrines of the Church of Rome to make her the sole object of 
 hatred and detestation Persons,” he concludes, at the bottom of 
 
 page 123, Persons may be forgiven if they think there is something 
 besides the difference in religion which excites this fierce and deadly 
 hatred against the latter ” — (meaning the members of the Church of 
 Rome, line 16.) Now in the middle of a paragraph so begun and so 
 ended, T light upon the words — implacable hostility which they 
 bear to our Mother Church and theirs’^ — and / declare, that I supposed 
 the implacable hostility, the bearers of this hostility, and the object 
 of this hostility here mentioned in the middle of the paragraph, to be 
 the same as those mentioned at the beginning and at the end of it. 
 Though I would not wish through gross negligence to misunderstand 
 any writer, yet of course in reading Mr. Perceval’s pages, I do not 
 search after his meaning with all that solicitude which I should feel in 
 reverently studying the Canons et Decreta Concilii Tridentini, or even 
 in reading any writing of standard authority among Protestants. I 
 thought that Mr. Perceval at the bottom of page 122 was proposing 
 Anglo-protestant love for sectarians as a model for all Protestants to 
 follow in their sentiments towards Catholics. As to his speaking of 
 the Apostolic purity of^' some Christianity,^^ this was no difficulty 
 for me, though understanding it of Rome, because Mr. Perceval has 
 acknowledged that we retain the doctrines of Christianity, with one or 
 two exceptions, in a state of purity. And I thought, that in order to 
 conciliate good will towards us, he was referring to the pure Christian 
 doctrines retained by us and forsaken by so many of the sects ; in 
 particular I thought he referred to that Apostolically derived autho- 
 rity,"^^ which, (in line 18.) he owns that we maintain. 
 
 Speaking of the Church of England, T should have expected him to 
 call it simply our church ; as an Irish or French Catholic usually would 
 do in speaking of the portion of the Catholic Church existing in his 
 own country. As to Mr. Perceval’s calling the Roman Catholic 
 Church our mother church, this certainly struck me not as incongruous. 
 
3 
 
 For, did not King James 1st, in spite of a Protestant education, pub- 
 licly in Parliament acknowledge the Church of Rome to be our 
 mother church?” And I recollected that Mr. Perceval himself had 
 somewhere made the same acknowledgment. Indeed, I find that he 
 does so in the very book from which I quoted. Nay, more ; he not 
 only calls the Roman Catholic Church our mother, but also proves 
 that she has a right so to be considered. At page 143, of his Peace- 
 Offering, speaking of the Roman Church, he expressly says, that to 
 that church, under God, we owe our Christian life. And again, at the 
 same page, he actually writes the following words — words that I have 
 so often read with pleasure in the presentation copy forwarded to me 
 by his publishers more than nine years ago. Mr. Perceval, at page 
 143, writes as follows: ‘‘ It is certain and undeniable that the whole 
 Saxon heptarchy was heathen when the Bishop of Rome sent over St. 
 Augustine to instruct us in the true faith : our relation to her therefore 
 is one degree higher than it has been hitherto stated ; she is not only 
 our sister church, but may in some sense be styled our mother,’*’ 
 
 I have not time to write more to night, nor is it necessary. This last 
 quotation, however, suggests so much to me, that I cannot conclude 
 without beseeching Mr. Perceval and all my protestant neighbours to 
 read without delay. The Faith of Catholics confirmed by Scripture, 
 and attested by the Fathers of the first five centuries a work which 
 may be found at all Catholic Booksellers. Price 13s 6d, 
 
 This work, as well as the writings of Pope St. Gregory the Great, 
 the Bishop of Rome who sent St. Augustine to instruct us in the 
 TRUE EAITH,” a.d. 597 ; and the Church History of Venerable 
 Bede, who was one of the early fruits of St. Augustine’s mission — these 
 writings, but particularly the first mentioned work, will enable Mr. 
 Perceval, and all my protestant fellow-countrymen, to know what the 
 true faith is in which England was instructed by Roman Catholic 
 missionaries 1240 years ago. Mr. Perceval in particular, and some 
 others, will here learn to know what a Roman Catholic clergyman 
 has to do in England” in these days; and neither he nor any one will 
 wonder on entering our English Catholic churches and chapels to find 
 us praying that God in his good time would restore the Church of 
 England in her original purity, and give the people grace to repent and 
 do the first works” 
 
 JOSEPH SIDDEN. 
 
 Sutton Park, Oct. 21, 1838. 
 
4 
 
 I know of no other misquotation in my pamphlet, The Church of 
 Peace and Truth, I believe there is none ; but should any be dis- 
 covered to me, I shall gladly correct it at a future opportunity. 
 
 Mr. Perceval, I perceive, has advertised some of his aw^i-catholic 
 books and tracts at the end of his Observations, Let all who would 
 know his character, as a controversial writer, read the article entitled 
 PercevaVs Peace-Offering and Roman Schism, page 368 in the Dublin 
 Review, No. 6, published in October 1837. Long ago Mr. Perceval 
 announced that he was preparing a Refutation of Papal Strictures, but 
 none have I seen. Indeed a refutation is impossible, and an answer 
 worse than useless. If he wishes to ease his troubled mind, the best 
 course that he can take is, to make an act of Christian humility, and 
 publicly acknowledge his many, many great errors, as a writer of anti- 
 catholic controversy. Numbers before him have erred in the same 
 way ; and some have repaired their errors by an humble and candid 
 acknowledgment. It is a method that shews true nobility of mind, 
 and brings great peace to the heart. Mr. Perceval once wrote to me, 
 that he warmly admired the w^ork of the pious and learned Jesuit — 
 Rodriguez, On Perfection, Indeed, he said, that he could love our 
 church if it were only on account of that book. Will he now permit 
 me, with sincere affection, to recommend him to read, in the spirit of 
 humble prayer, a daily chapter from the third book of the Following 
 of Christ, 
 
 His last tract against me is refuted by anticipation in the above- 
 mentioned article of the Dublin Review. To proclaim the theological 
 excellence of the Dublin Review, I need only proclaim, that Dr. 
 WISEMAN is a conductor. My neighbours who never meet with 
 the Dublin Review may, if they please, consult it at my cottage on 
 any Thursday or Friday, I procure it through Messrs. Russell, of 
 Guildford ; price 6s. the quarterly number. 
 
 Oct, 22, 1838. 
 
 Errata in my Letter addressed to the Rev, F, Vincent, price 4d, 
 Page S, line 16, for xxvii , read xxxvix, ; line 23, for me, read he, 
 
 — 13, — 8, for she, read some of her pastors, 
 
 — 13, — 10, for she has, read they have. 
 
 These last two incorrect expressions were copied by me from a magazine, 
 as appears at page 14 of my Letter. In quoting from the magazine, my 
 attention was fixed chiefly on those portions of the quotation which I have 
 printed in italics. 
 
 Just Published, 
 
 THE CHURCH OF PEACE AND TRUTH, &c. &c. A 
 Postscript, (1 1th Oct.) and these Remarks (22nd Oct.) given gratis to 
 all purchasers of the publication. 
 
 Printed by T. Jones, 63, Paternoster Row, London. 
 
§• 
 
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