should instantly remove all the difficulties which oppose the termination of what is called the Catholic Question, and dispel the well-grounded fears which most Protestants have of the admission of Roman Catholics to seats in Parliament, the Pope lets them struggle on towards the object of their am bition; with the view, no doubt, of reminding them, in case they should gain the point, that it is the duty of every spiritual son of Rome to exert himself in the destruction of Protestantism, and consequently so to behave themselves in Parliament, as to undermine the foundations of every Christian denomination which does not acknowledge the Pope as the Vicar of Christ on earth.

R. I know, Sir, many Roman Catholics who are most excellent people, and who appear to bear no malice against the religion of their neighbors.

Å. I have no doubt that there are many such persons among them; but am equally certain that every spiritual subject of the Pope is bound to oppose Protestantism, by the same conscientious principle which makes him a Roman Catholic.Why is he a Romanist? Because he thinks the Pope's religion the safest way to save his soul. Would he then endanger that soul by acting against the principles of that religion, merely for the sake of the Protestants?

R. I wish you would tell me the real belief of the Church. of Rome with regard to Protestants?

A. The Church of Rome declares, as positively as she does the doctrine of the Trinity, and the Death and Resurrection of our Saviour, that there is no salvation out of her pale; that is to say, that the promises of the Gospel are exclusively made to those who acknowledge the Pope as the representative of Christ. This doctrine has been repeatedly established by the highest authority of the Church of Rome, which is the Pope and his Bishops met in council. The same authority has declared and bound all Roman Catholics to believe, that every person who has received baptism, either in their church, or out of it, is obliged to obey all the precepts of the holy Church, either written or delivered by tradition; and that whoever denies that such baptized persons should not be forced to obey those precepts by any other punishment than that of excommunication, is to be accursed. Such is the declaration of the Council of Trent, whose infallibility no Roman Catholic can disbelieve. He is therefore accursed by the Church of Rome who supports religious toleration. Nothing, conse

* Session VII. Canon IV. and XIV.

quently, can be more evident, than that sincere Roman Catho lics are bound to be intolerant; for the Roman Catholic religion does not consist only in believing certain doctrines, but in believing them in obedience to that Church of which the Pope is the head. The sincere Roman Catholic cannot, therefore, explain away the practical consequences of his creed.— Je believes what his Church believes: his Church believes that whoever denies that baptized persons should be forced to obey the traditions of Rome, is accursed; he must therefore deem himself accursed if he omits any opportunity of forcing people into the Romish communion. Besides, f you see the Roman Catholics incessantly at work to make converts by persuasion, because their Church declares it to be their duty to snatch the souls of Protestants from eternal damnation; how can you suppose that, if they had power, they would not use it for the same purpose and under the same authority? But we are not left to inferences and conjectures upon this subject. The Church of Rome is so fully determined to impress upon her children their duty of forcing Romanism upon all who may be under their influence, that she enjoins that intolerant principle under an oath. The most solemn declaration of the Romanist faith ends in words which, translated into English, are as follow: "This true Catholic Faith, out of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, I promise, vow, and swear, to retain (with God's assistance) whole and entire to my life's end, and to procure to the extent of my power, that all my subjects, or those who, by virtue of my office, may be under my care, shall hold, teach, and preach the same." This oath was framed by the Council of Trent, with a determination to tender it to all persons in power; and is taken, even in this Protestant kingdom, by all Romans, Bishops and dignitaries. If this be not a proof, that checking and opposing every religion but that of the Pope, is considered a strict duty by the Church of Rome, all sound reasoning is at an end.

⚫R. Do you suppose that any free-born Briton could approve of anything like the Inquisition ?

A. I have a very high opinion of the British character; but, on the other hand, I am too well acquainted with the banefu! effects of the Roman Catholic religion upon the mind. I hope that few among the subjects of Great Britain are, in their hearts, abetters of that darling of the Romish Church-the Inquisition. But I know that a dignified Spanish Clergyman, who was in London a few years ago, met with English

Roman Catholics who declared their approbation of the Inqui sition. In the preface to a history of that jnfamous tribunal, which he published in the year 1818, he has the words which I am going to give you translated from the French: "During my residence in London, I heard some Roman Catholics say, that the Inquisition was useful in Spain for the preservation of the Catholic Faith; and that it would have been well for France if it had had a similar establishment.”* This he asserts, not to attack the Roman Catholics, for he died in the communion of their Church, but as a simple fact.

R. I am quite surprised!

A. I am not surprised at all. It is when I hear of Roman Catholics who engage not to persecute Protestants, even if they had the power, that I am seized with astonishment.How can the spiritual children of Rome be so unlike their mother? Was it not the church of Rome that in Spain, urged the burning of thirty-one thousand nine hundred and twelve dissenters from her doctrines, and that punished with imprisonment, fine, confiscation, and public infamy, two hundred and ninety-one thousand four hundred and fifty, who saved their lives by recantation? Was it not by the same authority that in this kingdom of England, and during the four years of the reign of Queen Mary, two hundred and eighty persons were burnt alive; the number of those who perished in prison, for not turning Papists, being unknown? If this sanguinary church acknowledged her error, if she confessed that she was misled by the ignorance and bigotry of old times, (though she herself had undoubtedly caused that ignorance and bigotry,) we might believe that her children had also put off their persecuting character. But when has mortal man heard that the Church of Rome ever whispered a regret for the torrents of blood with which she has drenched the earth? Her Spanish Inquisition existed till within the last five years. The Pope restored it in 1814, and his Bishops are at this moment doing every thing to revive it. But what is the existence or abolition of the Inquisition, but a mere external symptom of power or want of it, to put the invariable principle of Romanist intolerance into practice? The cruel deeds of the Romish Church are nothing but a republication, in blood, of the ar ticles of her Faith stamped in every copy of the decrees of Trent. How then can I believe that sincere Roman Catholics have renounced persecution? When a man's hopes of *Llorente's History of the Spanish Inquisition. Paris edition, 1818, vol. 1. P. xxii.

362

PRESERVATIVE AGAINST POPERY.

eternal happiness are bound up in a persecuting creed, he may indulge in toleration as he does in sin, under a sense of spirit ual danger, and a hope of future amendment: in the hey-day of life he will be for letting every man have his way; but 1 would not trust my liberty and my life into his hands, differ ing, as I do, from his creed, when he turns his thoughts to religion, and begins his course of Romish repentance

R. I had never till now believed that intolerance and persecution could be taught by Christians as necessary for salvation.

A. One benefit, I trust in God's grace, you will at least derive from the clear proofs I have given you, that such is the doctrine of the church of Rome. Convinced as you must be, that she makes persecution an essential part of her creed, you will bear that fact in mind, if ever her emissaries should try their arts to seduce you from your Protestant profession.Whenever you shall hear the often told story of St. Peter and his Primacy, you have only to remember the tyrannous doctrine and conduct of the Popes which have grown out of that threadbare fiction. Compare the government of the pretended successors of Peter, with the model of a Christian Pastor which Peter himself. has left in his first Epistle. "Feed," he says, "the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, NOT BY CONSTRAINT, but willingly; not for FILTHY LUCRE, but of a ready mind; NEITHER AS BEING LORDS over GOD'S HERITAGE, but by being ensamples to the flock.”* There needs not much learning to rebut all the pretensions of the Romish Church, when you compare her Popish government with this passage. You have only to remember the constraint and bloodshed by which the Popes obtained at one time the oversight of the flock of God: the filthy lucre which at this very day is the effect of their indulgences and dispensations; and lastly, to observe the lordly manner in which they still claim the spiritual dominion of this and all other countries which have shaken off their tyrannical and usurped authority. Remember all this, and beware, my friend, of the guiles and arts of a Church, which, even at this moment, looks upon ⚫ you and your brother Protestants as runaway slaves, whom she does not punish, from mere want of power; and rest assured, that where there is so much spirit of pride and ambi tion, the Christian spirit must have been nearly quenched.

* 1 Peter v. 2. 3.

DEFECTS OCCURRING IN THE MASS.

NO. I.

A curious extract from the Roman Missal, p. 53, &c. "respecting Defects occurring in the Mass." Thayer's Contro. p. 71. 79.

'Mass may be defective in the Matter to be consecrated, in the form to be used, and in the officiating Minister. For if in any of these there be any defect, viz. due Matter, Form, with Intention, and Priestly Orders in the celebrator, there is no sacrament consecrated.'

The defects in the bread.

1st. "If the bread be not of wheat, or if of wheat, if it be mixed with such quantity of other grain, that it doth not remain wheaten bread; or if it be in any way corrupted, it doth not make a sacrament."

2d. 'If it be made with rose or other distilled water, 'tis doubtful if it make a sacrament.

3d. If it begin to corrupt, but is not corrupted: also, if it be not unleavened according to the custom of the Latin Church, it makes a sacrament; but the Priest sins grievously.

Of the defects of the Wine.

"If the wine be quite sour, or putrid, or be made of bitter or unripe grapes: or if so much water be mixed with it, as spoils the wine, no sacrament is made.

'If after the consecration of the body, or even of the wine, the defect of either kind be discovered, one being consecrated; then, if the matter which should be placed cannot be had, to avoid scandal, he must proceed.

The defects in the form.

"If any one shall leave out, or change any part of the form of the consecration of the body and blood, and in the change of the words, such words do not signify the same thing, there is no consecration.

The defects of the Minister.

"The defects on the part of the Minister, may occur in these things required in him. These are first and especially