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BISHOP HOB ART'S CHARGE,
ENTITLED
** Corruptions of the Church of Rome, contrasted with certain Protestant Errors"
IN A
LETTER TO THAT PRELATE,
BY
GEORGE E. IRONSIDE, A. M.
LELLOW OE THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OE NEW-YORK,
•The Spirit ©f Troth shall guide you into all truth." St. John 16. v. 13.
WASHINGTON^
PRINTED BY DAVIS AND FORCE, PENNSYLVANIA AVENl/£,
1820.
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BISHOP HOBART'3 CHARGE,
ENTITLED
i6 Corruptions of the Church of Rome, contrasted with certain Protestant Errors"
IN A
LETTER TO THAT PRELATE.
BY
GEORGE E. IRONSIDE, A. M.
FELLOW OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-YORK.
"The Spirit of Truth shall guide you into all truth." St. John 16. v. 13.
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WASHINGTON : PRINTED BT DAVIS AND FORCE, PENNSYLVANIA AVIINVE,
1820.
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OBSERVATIONS, &c.
HIGHT REVEREND SIR:
I have been just favoured with a sight of your Charge to your Clergy of New- York, in 1817, and to the Clergy of the Diocese of Connecticut, in 1818; and I cannot help making a few observations upon its matter, and the man- icr in which it appears before the public. In these, however, • shall be guided solely by a defensive view of those charges A corruption, asserted by you, against that. Church of which, jj the blessing of God, I am an unworthy member. You are oo well aware of my personal regard and esteem for you, to suppose, for a moment, that any personal insinuation should ever issue from my pen against you ; and I am so well per- suaded of your candour, as to feel confident that whatever I may advance in support of the holy faith, which I have em- braced, will be received with that attention, which a matter so important most justly demands. Indeed, the first para*- graph of your charge inspires me with this confidence.
The investigation of truth often becomes, from cir- cumstances, not only tedious and difficult, but sometimes painful : and, as you very justly observe, " The duty of vigi- lant and zealous examination of popular opinions in religion, is very far from being inviting. Much more pleasant is it to swim with, than to stem the current ; to be carried along with the popular gale, than with incessant and wearying exertion to struggle against it ; to be hailed by the applauses of the hosts, in whose ranks, or as whose leaders, men bear to a triumph the opinions or the measures of the day, than to meet their odium by refusing to enlist with them, or by opposition, some- what to perplex their progress, if not to diminish their suc- cess." But as our duty to God and his truth should be supe- rior to human respects, so the encouragement held out, that the undeviating diligence which we exhibit in defence of these truths will tend to our eternal happiness, ought to silence every murmur, and urge us forward in the thorny path of in- vestigation.
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While, however, we are engaged in a strict and seriour scrutiny, into " popular opinions" in religion, we ought to be guided by candour, temper, and a rigid regard to decorum. Men of the present day are too prudent to sutler prejudice to usurp the place of candour, or the ebullitions of passion and abuse to pass current for moderation and good breeding. And I am truly sorry to observe that your Reverence has per- mitted these wayward passions to appear in several instances^ which I shall take the liberty of pointing out, as I pass along.
You observe, page 6th — " The period was when the decrees of ecclesiastical councils were received as the infallible deci- sions of christian verity ; when it was supposed that the spirit which presided in the assembly of the inspired apostles, and led them into all truth, exercised the same divine agency in the subsequent councils of fallible men," &c. Now, Right Reverend Sir, did not your Charge afterwards tell me, that you believed the scriptures to be the word of God, I should be much tempted to doubt your belief of them. For our blessed Lord declares to his church, through the apostles, that he would send to her the Spirit of Truth to guide her into all truth. Was this only to be a temporary presence, and only as long as the apostles should remain with the faithful upon earth ? Or, was this Spirit to continue through all ages, as he himself has declared ? Here, almost at your outset, you are placed be- tween the horns of a dilemma. If the Holy Ghost were not present with those councils, then neither could he be said to remain with Christ's church to the consummation of ages, for these councils were the lawful representatives of the whole church. If, therefore, he were not present, Christ has not fulfilled his promise. This you will not maintain. Now, if the Divine Spirit were present with this church, then so was he with those councils of which you have written so harshly. This you ought not to deny. Now, if the Spirit of God pre- sided in these councils, as you have admitted, the dogmas set forth by these councils, and ratified by the supreme head of the church, must receive the same implicit reverence and submission as any other decision of the living God. The Almighty is not changeable. " He is the same yesterday, to- day, and for ever," and what he has promised, he will assuredly perform.
By your precipitate eagerness to show your dislike to the^ Catholic church, you have, in this paragraph, fallen into something like an inconsistency. You charge her with being guilty of admitting the decisions of fallible men as those of the oracles of the living God, and in the same breath say, that she " when enlightened by science, shook off her degrading bond- age, and carried the torch of inquiry into the recesses of the conclave, whence, it was said, issued the unerring decrees of
the Divine Spirit ; so many tenets shocking to reason, both for their folly and their blasphemy ; so much intrigue and corruption, disgusting to the honourable and upright mind, dis- graced the counsels and conduct of those who, wearing the apostles' commission, claimed also the guidance of apostolic inspiration, that their decrees were rejected equally with their claims to infallibility, as repugnant both to the dictates of com- mon sense and the decisions of the word of God." If there be not something, Right Reverend Sir, in this paragraph, incon- sistent with matter of fact, as well as common sense, I know not what fact and common sense are. In the first place you assert that the " Church of Rome" rejected the decrees of her councils, and their claims to infallibility. This assertion even you yourself must reject as false, on serious reflection, or why load her with so much abuse ? In the second place you insinuate that those, who wear the apostles' commission, have not that claim to the guidance of the spirit of truth, which our blessed Lord himself has granted to them, " Lo, I am with you always, to the consummation of ages" St. Matt. 28. That the divine spirit should " teach the church all truth to the end of the world," and that this church should be a false guide : that Christ should be with this church to the consumma- tion of ages, and that this church under his guidance should have erred, although built on a rock, and bidding defiance to the gates of hell and the powers of darkness ; that it should be the pillar and ground of truth, and still the support of false- hood, superstition, and absurdity, are inconsistencies, whose reconciliation should be the subject of your next Charge. What are we to think of this inconsistency ? How are we to account for it otherwise, than by supposing that passion and prejudice had so darkened your mind, that you could not dis- tinguish between what they proposed, and the real matter of fact?
The church of Rome never denied her faith, never im- pugned the acts of general councils, nor ever held that the spirit of God did not always act with the church, as he him- self has promised, and that he has sent his Spirit of truth to guide her into all truth ; and with this presence and this guid- ance, that she can never err from the faith, but continue firm and infallible, as her gracious spouse has taught her to believe, to the consummation of ages. And her tenets " shocking to reason both for their folly and blasphemy," have been long ago fully explained to the satisfaction of those, who will open their eyes to the truth, to be as consonant with reason, and as far removed from blasphemy, as the doctrine of the Trini- ty in Unity, or the Incarnation, which you might with equal justice impugn. What you mean by the church being " en-
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ligntened by science, and shaking off her degrading bondage,*5 I am at a loss to discover. When was it that the sun of science did not shine on the church of God ? That its rays wore some- times obscured and did not shed such lustre a.c, at others we can readily admit ; but that it was so very dark, as your language seems to represent it, can be by no means allowed. We are well aware that during those barbar- ous ages, when war was the only science known in Europe, and when the hordes of barbarians from the north deformed the fair face of Christendom, then every thing was opposed to knowledge and science ; then these were obliged to seek for shelter in the monastic cell or in the hermit's cave, and often there they were not safe from the common destroyer. But although they were persecuted and hunted down, still some glimmerings kept them alive, and where ? In the bosom of the church, and no where else. All the light of science, that was then in the world, was confined to monasteries and to monastic institutions. Whence then was the Catholic church enlightened but from her own bosom, where she had cherished the only remaining spark, that lingered in the world? The " degrading bondage," which you mention as being shaken off, is equally undefined. If you mean the bondage of ignorance, naturally superinduced by a long state of savage warfare, not only against nations but religion and knowledge, we agree. If not, when you shall choose to explain, we shall be ready to give our assent or dissent, according to the truth of the proposition. You constantly throw sout much abuse against the Roman catholic church, without condescending to go further than to throw it, in such a manner, as that it shall be left to the minds of your readers to form what conjectures they please, either with regard to its truth or its enormity, This, Right Reverend Sir, I conceive to be dictated by a spirit of hostility, and to be engendered by passion and prejudice. This is not the path through which we should travel in the pursuit of truth.
The infallibility of the church seems to draw forth no small share of your asperity ; it is represented by you " as repug- nant both to the dictates of common sense and the decisions of the word of God." But upon a serious and dispassionate view of the matter, we 'shall find that the word of God sup- ports it, and that the dictates of common sense, regulated by that word, must, of necessity, embrace it.
You admit the divine authority of the scripture, and, if so, you must believe it, not receiving one part and rejecting ano- ther according to your own "judgment, taste, and fancy," but you must believe the whole or none, and that too with a divine faith. Our blessed Redeemer says, St Mark xvi. 16;
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*l fie that believeth and is baptized shall he saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." IN^ow it cannot be supposed that God should lay such a heavy obligation upon christians, as is contained in this text, and at the same time leave them in the dark in regard to the truths he has really revealed. But you have conceded one thing, which will much help to obviate the difficulty. You quote one of the articles of your church, which says, " the church is a witness and keeper of holy writ," and has " authority in controversies of faith." Art. 20. We want no surer guide than the church, and ad- mitting this, we must either renounce revealed religion en- tirely, or submit to all the decisions of the Catholic church. For the Catholic church, or the church of Rome was surely the church, and the only church, before the reformation. If it were not this church, why do protestant bishops so strenu- ously maintain that they have received their orders through it? Your Articles, Right Reverend Sir, admit the authenticity of the Holy scriptures upon the authority of the church, and where can be the consistency of rejecting the authority of the church, in her interpretation of those divine oracles, which you have received from her ? If the church is to be securely relied upon in one instance, so should she in another. The motives of credibility are the same in both, and we cannot, with con- sistency yield to them in one respect, without yielding to them in the other. But you admit the holy scriptures to be the word of God, and that too on the authority of the church 5 taking this as admitted, .let us see what these divine oracles say respecting the church. Our blessed Redeemer, in ad- dressing St. Peter, says " upon this rock will I build my churchy and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." St. Matt, xvi. 18. And again, when comforting his disciples, who were grieved at the idea of his departure from them, he says, " 1 will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Para- clete, that he may abide with you for ever ; the Spirit of truth." St. John xiv. 16, 17. And again, upon the same occasion^ " when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." St. John xvi. 13. And again, " But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, ht will teach you all -things, and bring all things to your minds, whatsoever I shall have said to you." St. John xiv. 26. And again, after his resurrection, he gives them a promise of his perpetual presence with them ; "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." St. Matt, xxviii. 20. Jesus Christ says, whoever " will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. St. Matt, xviii. 17. St. Paul calls the church " the pillar and ground of truth." 1. Tim. iii. 14. These texts, Right Reverend Sir, prove be-
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yond the possibility of doubt, the perpetual duration and in- fallibility of his church. That God, who cannot deceive has declared that the gates of hell, the powers of darkness, shall not prevail, against his church. If this church, therefore were to fall into damnable errors, the gates of hell would pre- vail against her, and Christ's promise would be falsified. The Protestaat Episcopal Church has admitted the homilies of the church of England in her 39 Articles. The homily " of peril of idolatry," part third says ; " the laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men women and children of whole Christendom, were at once drowned in abominable idolatry, of all other vices the most detested by God, and damnable to man, and that for the space of eight hundred years and more." Such is the doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal Church. During this long period of time, there could have been no visible church of Christ upon earth. All had gone out of the fold, from the hoary head, sinking into the grave, to the infant " mewling and puk- ing in its nurse's arms," and had continued out of the church " for the space of eight hundred years and more." But, Right Reverend Sir, you very properly assert that the church is, always has been, and always will be visible, see pp. 24, 26, 27. Therefore this doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal Church is impugned by you. Either the doctrine of the Pro- testant Episcopal church is false, or the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church is so. You contend for the truth of our Lord's promise, and so do we. If therefore the God of truth cannot speak falsehood, the doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal church must be abso- lutely false.
The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, is to abide with the church for ever, to guide her into all truth, and to teach her all things ; nay, the blessed Jesus himself is to be with her even to the end of the world. If, therefore, God be infallible, and his word truth, what connexion can there be between him and a fallible church ? His presence secures her infallibility, inas- much as he is her divine head. The head and the body must be homogeneous, or there must be an unnatural connexion between them. To adduce here the stale doctrine held forth generally by protestant controversial writers, that the promise of always abiding with them, was confined only to the apostles and sacred penmen, you must allow to be without colour or pretext whatever. Our blessed Lord would not have been so particular, if it respected only them ; nor has it the least ap- pearance of reason that it should be so. Taylor's dissuasive, as quoted by the author of an anonymous pamphlet, lately published in your city, asserts that the spirit of infallibility
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was to depart with the Apostles, but Jesus Christ says " Be- hold I am with you ail days, even to the consummation of the world." Now, Right Reverend Sir, which of these do you wish to believe ? " The Spirit of Truth," says the blessed Jesus, 44 shall abide with you for ever." The Apostles did not live for ever ; therefore, that Holy Spirit of Truth was to abide with the Apostles, in their successors, for ever. Nothing can be more clear, nothing more easily understood ; and docility is our oaly duty under such plain truths. The blessed Re- deemer commanded his Apostles to "go into the whole world and preach t'ae gospel to every creature 5" this they did, while on earth, and left behind them a succession of men, who should proceed acting as they had done, to the end of time. Had it not been so, his sovereign command would have been nugatory, inasmuch as his Apostles did not themselves person- ally preach the gospel to every human creature, nor to half the human creatures that were then in existence. But they and their successors have continued from that day to this, endeavouring to fultil the command of their Lord, and will con- continue to the end of time, in the execution of the same holy duty.
St. Paul says, Ephe-s. 5. v. 25, 26, 27. " Christ loved the- ehurch, and delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." If this be characteristic of the church of Christ, (and we have God's authority for it,) in what sense can she be said to have fallen ? Our blessed Lord has in no place given us even a hint that she should fall from that purity, which becomes the spouse of the fountain of purity ; and surely, if she have fallen into idolatry, or deviated from the faith, she must be polluted. But he has declared that he gave himself for her, that after having purified her by the laver^ of water in the word of life, she might be pure from spot or wrinkle, and be holy and without blemish. Must we, to please our own wayward fancies, or to follow the dictates of our boosted reason, or to serve any other sinister purpose, de- clare that to be polluted, which the God of purity has declared spotless, or that to be unholy, which he has sanctified ? You know better than this, Right Reverend Sir; and although we ad- mit with you, that some particular parts of the church have fallen from the faith, yet we can never allow that the Catholic Church has so fallen, or else we libel the divine veracity. Has Christ died in vain ? Surely not, unless in regard to those, who have rejected the calls of divine grace, and wilfully lent a deaf ear to his gracious invitations.
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St. Paul, as above quoted, calls the church the pillar and ground of truth; now, if the principal support of truth be^ come decayed and rotten, what becomes of the truth sup- ported by it ? The temple of Dagon, the false Philistine god, was supported by two pillars, and when Sampson had prayed to Almighty God, that his strength might be restored, he shook the two pillars and the house fell. Judges xvi. 23, &c. Now the truth, in the same manner, is supported by its pillar and foundation, the church; if, therefore, the pillar fall into damna- ble errors, it becomes rotten to the core, and of course can no more support its burden. Truth therefore must fall with it. But God hath said of his church, " This is my rest for ever and ever : here will I dwell, for I have chosen it." Psalm cxxxi. 14. We must not therefore suppose that God will forsake his church, in which he desires to dwell, nor suf- fer her to be overcome by the powers of darkness, contrary to his promise ; nor will he permit the pillar, which supports his truth, to fail or be corrupted.
In the ninth article of the Apostles' creed, (admitted by the Protestant Episcopal church, as well as the Nicene creed, in her eighth article,) we are taught to profess our faith in the following words ; " I believe the Holy Catholic church, the Communion of saints ;" and to this are added in the Nicene creed the two titles of one and apostolical. Now, Right Rev- erend Sir, we have here the essential and unchangeable attri- butes of the church, that of her being one, holy, catholic or universal, apostolical and the communion of saints. If ever, therefore, the church should fail entirely, or cease to be one, holy, catholic, apostolical, or the communion of Saints, this ninth article of the creed would then become false, and no one could profess this, as an article of his faith, without being guilty of falsehood. Since, however, by the 8th ar- ticle of the Protestant Episcopal church, " these creeds ought thoroughly to be received and believed : for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture," who- ever shall call this article of the creed false, must of necessity become guilty of blasphemy. Or, should the church fall into such gross errors, as to destroy the faith, the creed would be false ; but the creed, being founded upon and proved by most certain warrants of holy scripture, can never be false ; therefore the true church can never err from this faith, but continue for ever holy, and of course infallible in all her de- cisions of faith. Bishop Pearson, whose exposition of the creed is a standard work in the Protestant Episcopal church, says upon this article; " when I say, I believe the holy catholic church, I mean, that there is a church, which is holy, and which is catholic." p. 335, 4th Lond. edit. — -
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>' It is not only an acknowledgement of a church which shall be, but also of that which is, that which was, when the creed began, and was to continue till the creed shall end, which is proposed to our belief in every age, as being ; and thus ever since the church was constituted, the church itself, as being, was the object of the faith of the church believing. The existence therefore of the church of Christ (as that church is before understood by us, p. 336, that is, as a visi- ble and known society) is the continuation of it in an actual being from the first collection of it in the time of the Apos- tles unto the consummation of all things. A collection un- interruptedly continued in actual existence of believing per- sons and congregations in all ages unto the end of the world." p. 342.
Now this indeed is a proper object of faith, because it is grounded only on the promises of God. There can be no other assurance of the perpetuity of this church, but what we have from him that built it, " The church is not of such a nature, as would necessarily, once begun, preserve itself for ever. Many thousand persons have fallen totally from the faith professed, and so apostatized from the church. — Many particular churches have been wholly lost, many can- dlesticks have been removed." p. 342. " But though the providence of God does suffer many particular churches to perish, yet the promise of the same God will never permit that all of them at once shall perish. When Christ spoke first particularly to St. Peter, he sealed his speech with a powerful promise of perpetuity, saying ; ' thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell .-hall not prevail against it,' When he spoke generally to all the rest of the Apostles, go teach all nations baptizing them, &lc. Matt, xxviii. v. 19. he added a promise to the same ef- fect, ; and lo, 1 am with you alway even unto the end of the world.' The first of these promises assures us of the con- tinuance of the church, because it is built upon a rock — the latter of these promises gives not only an assurance of the continuance of the church, but also the cause of that continu- ance, which is the presence of Christ p. 342. " Wherefore being Christ does promise his presence unto the church even to the end of the world, he does thereby assure us of the ex- istence of the church until that time, of which his presence i- the cause. Indeed this is the city of the Lord of hosts, the city of our God : God will establish it for ever, as the great prophet of the church has said." Psalm xlviii. v. 8. p. 342. •• Ijpon tin; certainty of this truth the existence of the church has been propounded as an object; of our faith in
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every age of Christianity, and so it shall be still unto the end of the world." p. 343.
Were I to proceed, Right Reverend Sir, I might swell this letter to a much larger size than 1 purpose. I might point out to you, how this learned writer describes the unity of the church, oat of which he proves salvation to be im- possible from many texts of scripture ; but, as I know you to be intimately conversant with the work, I shall forbear, and only use the liberty of transcribing his summation of the ar- ticle.
" Whoever then professes to believe the holy Catholic church, is understood to declare thus much. I am fully per- suaded and make a free confession of this as a necessary and infallible truth, that Christ by the preaching of the Apostles did gather unto himself a church consisting of thousands of believing persons, and numerous congregations, to which he daily added such as should be saved, and will successively add unto the same, to the end of the world. So that by virtue of his all-sufficient promise, I am assured that there was, has been hitherto, now is, and hereafter will be as long as the sun and moon endure, a church of Christ one and the sao;e. This church I believe in general, holy in respect of the author, end, institution, and administration of it. Par- ticularly in the members here I acknowledge it really holy, and in the same hereafter perfectly holy. I look upon this church not like that of the Jews, limited to one people, con- fined to one nation, but by the appointment and command of Christ, and by the efficacy of his assisting power to be dis- seminated through all nations, to be extended to all places, to be propagated to all ages, to contain in it all truths neces- sary to be known, to exact absolute obedience from all men to the commands of Christ, and to furnish us with all graces necessary to make our persons acceptable, and our actions well pleasing in the sight of God. And thus I believe the Holy Catholic church."
From the doctrine thus delivered by this learned man, I would infer that, inasmuch as we are taught to profess our faith in the church of Christ having been, that it will be, and also that it is, or, to use his own words ; " I am assured that there was, has been hitherto, now is, and hereafter will be, as long as the sun and moon endure, a church of Christ one and the same," and that the attributes essential and unchange- able of this church, according to the same creed, are her being one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolical, and the commu- nion of saints ; her indef edibility, that is to say, that she will never perish, fail, or be destroyed entirely ; and her infalli~
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bihty, that is to say, that she has been, is, and always will be an unerring guide in decisions of faith, are fully proved.
I might here adduce a multitude of testimonies from the Holy Fathers of the church in proof of the same article of our faith, but I shall content myself with the following. St. Cyprian, de Unitate Ecclesiae, * says ; " we go into error, whilst we do not return to the origin of truth, nor is the head sought after, nor is the doctrine of our heavenly Mas- ter kept, which, if any one consider and examine, does not need a long treatise or argument. The proof of faith is easy from the brevity of truth. The Lord says to Peter, I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock (or Peter) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not vanquish her." And St. Augustine, t Serm. 2 Psalm 101, v. 23, n. 8, speaking of the unity of the church, says ; " that which was the church of all nations does not now exist, but has perished: thus say those who are not in her. O impu- dent speech ! She is not, because thou art not in her. Take care therefore that thou be in her : for she shall be, although thou be not in her. This abominable and detestable speech, full of presumption and falsehood, supported by no truth, il- luminated by no wisdom, seasoned with no salt ; this vain, rash, inconsiderate, and pernicious speech, the Spirit of God foresaw. The scriptures have been fulfilled, all nations have be! eved, but the church has apostatized and perished from all nations. What is this, * announce to me the fewness of my days !' He has both announced it, and that word has not been void. Who has announced it to me, but the zoay himself? How has he announced it? 'Behold I am with you even to the consummation of time." In the above cited passage from St. Cyprian, he clearly proves to us how we fall into error, and schism, by not returning to God, the origin of truth, by not seeking the head, and keeping the
* Ad errorem defiectitur ecclesia " dum ad veritatis originem non reditur, nee caput quaeritur, nee magistri coelestis doctrina servatur, Quae si quis con- sideret et examinet, tractatu longo atque argumento opus non est. Probatio est ad fidem facilis compendio veritatis. Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum. — " Ego tibi dico,'' inquit, "quia tu es Petrus, et super istam petrarn aedificabo Ecclesiam mearo, et porta? mferoruni non vincent earn."
+ Ilia Ecclesia qua; fuit omnium gentium, jam non est, periit: hoc dicunt qui in ilia non sunt. O impudentem vocem ! Ilia non est, quia tu in ilia non es. Vide ne tu ideo non sis : nam ilia erit, etsi tu non sis. Hanc vocem abomi- nabilem, detestabilem, et praesumptionis et falsitatis plenam, nulla veritate suffultam, nulla sapientia illuminatam, nullo sale conditam, vanam, temerari- am, praecipitem, perniciosam, pvaevidit Spiritus Dei. Impletse sunt Scriptu- ' rae, crediderunt omnes gentes sed apostatavit et periit Ecclesia de omnibus gentibus. Quid est hoc, Exiguitatem dierum meorum annuntia mihi? Et annuntiavit , nee vacavit istavox. Quis annunciavit mini, nisi ipsa via.' Quo- aiodo annuntiavit? Ecce ego vobiscum sum v.sque ad consummatio?iem saeculi.
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doctrine of our heavenly Master, which requires no long treatise or argument, but is brief on account of the sim- plicity of truth. The Lord says to Peter, thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it : intimating that, from the evidence of this divine sentence alone, the infallibility and perpetuity of the church are clearly proved. In the pas- sage from St. Austin, the very position of the reformers is prophetically laid down, and the answer to it given by him, in nearly a similar manner to that of St. Cyprian. Those who are not in the church, says he, that is those, who have strayed from her fold, say that she has perished from all na- tions. But that the way, the truth, and the life, hath de- clared the contrary by saying, behold I am with you even to the consummation of ages.
From all this I infer, Right Reverend Sir, that since the church is the spouse of Christ, she must be pure ; for he, being the essence of purity, can have no connexion with impurity ; that since this God of purity is to abide always with his church, she must continue pure, inasmuch as the origin of purity always must continue pure, and always must have the same dislike to any thing that differs from purity ; that since the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, is to abide al- ways with the church to guide her into all truth, it is im- possible that this church can deviate from that truth, which is here designated as the peculiar characteristic of that divine Spirit ; therefore to suppose or to admit, that the God of pu- rity and the Spirit of Truth, who is unchangeable, should con- sent to any change, (which he must necessarily do, if the church is to fall from that purity and truth, which are infused into her by the continual permanence with her of the God of purity and truth,) is the grossest blasphemy. We must either believe the Scriptures or reject them: there is no me- dium. If we believe them, we must take them as Almighty God has given them to us, or not at all ; for to act in any other way, is to make them a nose of wax, which I should suppose to be more criminal, than to reject them altogether. God has there declared, that the gates of hell shall never pre- vail against his church, and we must either believe that, in the most literal sense, in which the words can be taken, or we make the Scripture, not the unerring word of God, but the foolish fantasies of fallible and interested man. To sup- pose that, pure and holy as he is, he would be present with a sink of impurity and idolatry, as the church is represented to be, must be the very height of impiety. Yet he has declare ed that he will be with her all days, even to the consumma- tion of ages, and we must believe his word, or reject it alto*
15
wether. If we believe it, he is still with his church, and she- is pure and holy as he is, and of course infallible as he. — This is perfectly consonant with reason, and does not require infallibility to believe it, as has been insinuated by a certain nameless pamphleteer of your city. My dear Sir, I cannot help expressing my astonishment at the incredulity of such men as yourself to such irrefragable truths, as must come home to the bosom of every one, whom prejudice has not blinded, and a wrong education so biassed, as to prevent him from seeing the truth, however lucid it may shine upon him.
In your 8th page, Right Reverend Srr, you quote St. Vincent of Lerins's rule for receiving or rejecting what has been be- lieved by the church. And, would to God, you would adhere to that rule, ft* if you did so, you would be more sparing of your ill-natured reflections and observations. " Quod sem- per, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus," says that venerable Saint, u id Apostolicum." What has been believed at all times, and in all places, and by all, is apostolical. Those articles of the Ca- tholic faith, which you treat so harshly, Right Reverend Sir, have undergone the test above quoted, and having been found agreeable to it, have been held as apostolical. If the subject were not of too serious a nature, we might justly smile at the idea of a Protestant prelate citing the words of St. Vincent of Lerins. That great man was, in every respect, a child of 'the Roman church. He employed his life in illustrating and defend- ing it. And the prelate who cites his words, must have placed little confidence in their propriety, when he imagines that the Catholic Vinceiit could have given a rule, which is con- stantly violated by those tenets which he spent his life in de- fending. He must have a contemptible idea of our doctors, when he thinks that they would establish a test which would prove their own condemnation. They must have been very artless, undesigning, and imprudent characters. If faith were to be changed by every man, or by any body of men, as they pleas- ed, then with equal propriety might they form a new scripture, or reject that which we receive. And as you advise your Pro- testant dissenting brethren, so / advise you, search diligently for the faith once delivered to the saints, and when you have found it, let no earthly advantages of wealth, or honour, or ease prevent you from embracing it.
Your assertions in your 9th page, respecting the unlimited nnd the restricted right of private judgment, and the discrimi- nation which you make between them, are only shades of the same colour. For if we are allowed to form our faith as we please, (or, as you word it, " by depending frequently f>n the learning and information of others,") it matters but
16
little whether we make the scriptures or " the light, as far as it is disclosed to us, which has shone on the church universal," the guide of this proceeding. Our faith, thus formed, must be our own, not that of Jesus Christ, and the Catholic church, or else it must depend on church authority and tradition. But, Right Reverend Sir, if there were any ecclesiastical power in the United States, by that power, I think, you would be con- demned for approaching too near the vortex of Catholic infal- libility in this passage. It is thus, Right Reverend Sir, that so many jarring faiths have been spread abroad, and have distracted the world, and by this " right of private judgment," have the scriptures been made a tool by every ignorant or designing empiric in religion, from the days of your German apostle to the present day. Designate all the heresies that have been branded by the Catholic church from the days of the Apostles to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and you wili find them all alive at the present day, and acting in different forms in full vigour, being every one of them revived from the dead by that fell watch-word of the reformation " the right of private judgment." " God made man right, and he has entangled himself with an infinity of questions." Eccles. 7. v. 30. God has commanded us to hear the church ; but in what are we to hear her ? How can we hear her, when we do all that we can to overturn her ? With humility and docility we must receive her dogmas, otherwise we act in diametrical opposition to the commands of our Lord and his spouse. " The church of the living God," says St. Paul, 1, Tim. 3, 15, "is the pillir and ground of truth." She is the support and foundation of truth, and if you take away this support and foundation, truth must inevitably fall to the ground. The church is not supported by truth, but truth by the church. * " That church alone is Catholic," says Lactantius, lib. 4. near the end, " which retains the true worship. This is the fountain of truth ; this is the habitation of faith ; this is the temple of God ; into which if any one enters not, or from which if any one departs, he is an alien from the hope of life, and eternal salvation. But although each sect of heretics considers itself Christian, and its church to be Catholic, yet they must know that that only is the true church, in which is confession and penance ; and which effectually cures the sins and wounds to which the weakness of the flesh is subject."
* Sola igitur Catholica Ecclesia est, quae verum cultum retinet. Hie est' fons veritatis ; hoc est domicilium fidei ; hoc templum Dei : quod si quis non intraverit, vela quo si quis exiverit ; a spe vitas, ae salutis aeternae alienus est. Sed tamen, quia singuli quique coetus hcereticorum, se potissimum Christianos, et suam esse Catholicam Ecclesiam putant ; sciendum est illam esse verain, in qua est confessio, et poenitentia: quas peccata et vulnera, quibus subjecta est xmbecillitas carnis, salubriter curat.
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Your denunciation) therefore, in your 1 1 th page, is perfectly just. Nothing ought to deter you from searching for the true church, and having found her, to embrace her. If you do not, your guilt will be great, and so much the greater, by how many you may have misled from the faith, and caused to tear Christ's seamless garment, defile his spotless spouse, and go asiray after their own imaginations. Take the lesson home, Right Reverend, and Dear Sir ; you have a soul to answer for, nay, you have a vast multitude of souls, for which you must account, and how will you be able at that dreadful day, to answer at the bar of God, if you shall neglect the precious opportunities, which Almighty God bestows upon you. Throw aside prejudice, passion, and every diabolical snare, and enter upon a candid, serious, and interested examination of the truth, and the God of truth will assuredly be found by you. The prejudices of education, and early habits are severe enemies in this examination, and while we permit them to rule, truth may come in view, and like a man afflicted with the jaundice, we shall not be able to discover her loveliness on account of the disease which pervades our system.
" The church from which Protestants separated," you say in your 14th page, " claims, for its visible head, prerogatives as unfounded in scripture as they are dangerous in the exercise. And a little further, " what evidence is there that the church was not established on the other apostles, and that the power of the keys, or of remission of sins in the administration of the sacraments and ordinances, and of discipline, was not confer- red on them ?" And so on to the end of the paragraph. In this and your succeeding paragraph, you endeavour to throw off the supremacy o?the visible head of Christ's church, and I shall beg leave to say a few words upon that subject, as it is a matter, I believe, but little understood, and less attended to than it ought to be, among the members of the Protestant Episcopal church.
First, in St. John's gospel, chap. 1, v. 42. our Lord says, rt Thou art Simon, the son of Jona : thou shalt be called Ce- phas, which is, by interpretation, Peter, (a rock.)" Again, in St. Matthew, chap. 16, v. 18, Jesus Christ says, " Thou art Peter, (a rock) and upon this rock (or Peter) will I build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." — Taking these texts in connexion, as you will no doubt admit, the latter text would run thus, according to the interpretation *>f our blessed Lord himself. " Blessed art thou Simon Bar- jona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." From this text it is
3
18
plainly evident, that St. Peter, in his person, was the rock, upon which our blessed Lord chose to found his church, arid the words that immediately follow, not only confirm the pre- ceding, but evidently give St. Peter a superiority, which was given to none of the other apostles, nor to them all collec- tively ; and I will give unto thee, Peter '," and to no other,." the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." Here there is an evident distinction made between what he says to St. Peter, and what he says, after his resurrection, to the other apostles in common, St. Matt. 28, v. 18, " whatsoever ye shall bind, &c." not only inasmuch as he speaks in the first passage to St. Peter individually, and alone, but in that he gives him two distinct commissions. First, he gives him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that is, supreme authority in his church, by which he is to possess authority and supremacy, as well over the bishops and pastors of the church, as over its other members. That power which our blessed Lord himself has. he confers on him, and on none of.the other apostles, for " he has the key of the house of David ; he openeth and no man shutteth ; and shutteth and no man openeth." Apocal. 3, v. 7. And secondly, to him singularly he gives the power of binding and loosing. His other apostles were present at the time of his giving this commission to St. Peter, yet he does not give them the same charge, which plainly shows, that he intended him to have the supreme authority over them, as well as the rest of his disciples. In giving his apostles their commission, he gives them generally the power of binding and loosing, but he gives the keys, the emblem of supreme authority, only to St. Peter. Jesus Christ gave him a new name, significative of his office ; he calls him Peter, a rock, the foundation of his church ; and He, who is supreme ruler of the universe, gives him supreme power, by conferring on him the keys of the king- dom of heaven. " He who is faithful and true, who has the key of David, and openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth," confers on him alone the same power, and that too, in presence of his other apostles, to whom he gives no such power.
And lest this should be in any manner misunderstood, in his' last charge to his apostles, after his resurrection, he gives the power of loosing and binding to all his apostles, among whom was St. Peter ; but he does not give to them the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He had already given them to. St. Peter, and by his giving him along with them, a confirmation of that supremacy, which he had formerly bestowed upon him in their presence, he only proves that supremacy the more
19
strongly. " He is not a man that he should repent," nor can we without blasphemy suppose, that, without mentioning it, he would retract, what he had solemnly given. In the presence of them all he had conferred on St. Peter the keys, the em- blem of supreme power, and now he confers on them a com- mission, but still subject to that supremacy, which he had pre- viously confirmed to their chief. And to confirm this supre- macy still further, he says to St. Peter, in the presence of the other .apostles, at his third appearance to his disciples, after his resurrection ; " Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Pie saith unto him, Feed my Lambs, He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jona, 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, son of Jona, 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." St. John, 21, v. 15, 16, 17, Than this, there can be no plainer proof of the supremacy and principality, which our Lord had formerly conferred on St. Peter. In the first place he asks him, if he loved him more than all the rest did, and what is the natural deduction from this question, but that, as he was to confer upon him an honour superior to them, he must love him more than they ? He asked no question respecting their love of. him from the other apostles, but from St. Peter alone, and as soon a& he had given him the answer, " yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," our blessed Lord immediately gives hinrcharge of feeding his lambs, and afterwards his sheep. The word translated " feed," im- plies authority, such as a shepherd has over his flock, as well as supplying them with food, as may be easily learned from its use among profane authors, who call absolute kings the "shep- herds of the people." And the word sheep, implies all the flock, not only the lambs, begotten into the fold, but also the fathers, who have begotten these lambs into the fold, the church of Christ ; so that all, who belong to the fold of Christ, (and surely the bishops and pastors of the church belong to that fold,) arc placed by Jesus Christ under the supreme au- thority of St. Peter. If St. Peter possessed no supremacy, I blush for the inconsistency of the scripture, the only rule of Protestant faith. " Dost thou love me more than these, Peter ? yes, Lord ; then thou shalt feed my lambs and my sheep, but this shall give no other power than that which the other apostles possess. Because thou lovest me more than the other apos- tles, thou shalt be rewarded: but the reward of thy superior
2(>
love, shall be exactly equal to that which their inferior love merits. Govern my lambs and my sheep, that is, all my flock ; but thy fellow apostles, who are part of my flock, and there- fore to be governed by thee, must enjoy the same dignity, why ? because they love me less than thou dost." Ah, Cory- don, Corydon — this must be the explanation of a Protestant divine.
To an unprejudiced mind, Right Reverend Sir, these texts are positive proofs of the supremacy of St. Peter, and his successors over the other Apostles, and all the arts, which cunning and designing men have used to evade their force, only more fully display that perversion of the hu- man mind superinduced by the fall of man. And here to meet another of your observations, p. 15th — " Where is the proof that it descended to the bishop of Rome!" Our bles- sed Lord, when he had given his last charge to his Apostles, declared, " and lo, 1 am with you alway to the consummation of ages," St. Matt, xxviii. v. 20. And if you, Sir, can sur- mount this, your own. Episcopal office must fall to the ground. Besides, our blessed Lord, as recorded St. Luke, xxii. v. 31, 32, says; Simon, Simon, 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 thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren." Here you will allow that some dis- tinction is made by our blessed Lord, between St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles. But St. Irenaeus's reproach comes in here with full force, " when they are accused from the Scriptures, they begin to accuse the very Scriptures them- selves." St. Iren. 1. 3, cap. 2.*
Tertullian in his book de Prasscript. cap. 22, says ; " was any thing concealed from Peter, who was called the rock of the foundation of the church ; who obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the power of binding and loosing in heaven and earth ?"f
Origen, on the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, writes ; " when the chief power of feeding the sheep was delivered to Peter, and the church was founded upon him as upon a rock, the confession of no other virtue but chari- ty is demanded of him," And in his 5th homily upon Exo- dus, he says ; " hear what is said to the great foundation
* Cum enim ex Scripturis arguunturj in accusationem conveituntur ipsarum scripturarum.
t Latuit aliquid Petrum, eedificandae Ecclesiae petram dictum : claves regoi »?.oelorum consecutum, et solvendi et alligandi in coelis et in terris potestatem ?
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*>f the church, and to the solid rock, upon which Christ built his church ; O man of little faith, why hast thou doubted ?"*
St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who/n no one will accuse of obsequiousness to the Pope, says in his book de Unitate Ecclesiae ; '" upon him (Peter) alone he builds his church. And although he gives a like power to all his Apostles, and says ; as my Father hath sent me, &c. yet that he might mani- fest unity, by his authority, he placed the original of this same unity, beginning from one, Peter." And in his 43d Epistle, addressed to the whole people, he says ; " there is one God, and one Christ, and one church, and one chair founded upon Peter by the word of the Lord." In his 59th Epistle, to Cor- nelius, he has these words ; "after these things, the heretics, having appointed for themselves a false bishop, still further dare to cross the sea ; and to bring letters from the schisma- tics and prophane, to the chair of St. Peter, and the principal church, from which the unity of priesthood has arisen." In his 71st Epistle, and in his book De Bono Patientias, he says ; " Peter, whom our Lord chose the first and on whom he built his church." And in his book de Disciplina et Ha- bitu Virginum, he writes thus; " Peter, to whom our Lord recommends the care of his sheep, and upon whom, he built and founded his church."!
Eusebius in his ecclesiastical history, b. 2, cap. 14, calls Peter " the bravest and greatest among the Apostles, and by the merit of his virtue the Prince and Patron of all the rest." St. Jerome, in his commentary on the 16th chapter of St. Matthew, says ; " to Simon, who believed in Christ, the rock, he gave the name. of Peter, and according to the metaphor of the rock, it is properly said to him, on thee I will build my church." St. Augustine on Psalm 69th, sect. 4th, says, " Pe- ter, the chief of the Apostles, door-keeper of heaven ; Peter, who for his confession was named the rock, on whom the church was to be built."
* Petro cum summa rerum de pascendis ovibus traderetur, et super ipsum velut super petram fundaretur Ecclesia, nulhus confessio virtutis alterius ab eo, nisi caritatis exigitur.
Vide magno illi Ecclesiae fundamento, et petrae solidissimae, super quant Christus fundavit Ecclesiam, quid dicatur a Domino : Modicas fidei, quare du- bitasti ?
+ Super unum aedificat Ecclesiam suam. ' Et quamvis Apostolis omnibus, par- cm potestatem tribuat et dicat: sicut misit me Pater, &c. tamen ut unitatem manifestaret, uniUitis ejusdem originem ab uno Petro incipientem sua auctori-
tate disposuit. Deusunusest, et Christus unus, et una Ecclesia, et cathedra,
una super Petrum Domini vocefundata — Post ista adhuc insuper pseudo-epis- copo sibi ab haereticis constituto, navigare audent ; et ad Petri Cathedram, at- que ad Ecclesiam principalem, unde unitae sacerdotalis exoita est, a schisma- ibus et profanis literas ferre. — &c.
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In opposition to your observation, p. 15th, "are we not struck with the remarkable fact so subversive of the alleged supremacy of St. Peter, that in the first council that settled the disputes of the infant church, St. James, bishop of Jeru- salem, even in the presence of St. Peter, enjoyed that prece- dence, and exercised that power, which are claimed as of divine origin for him ?" Now, Right Reverend Sir, the re- markable fact rests not on a solid foundation, as I hope to make presently appear. Whilst St. Paul, and St. Barnabas were at Antioch, some came from Judaea, and taught the brethren, that in order to be saved they must be circumcis- ed after the manner of Moses. After much contest, it was determined that Paul and Barnabas, and others of the op- posite opinion, should go to the Apostles and priests at Je- rusalem, to obtain a decision of the question. After their arrival at Jerusalem, some of the believing Pharisees arose and said, that they must be circumcised ; and be command- ed to observe the law of Moses. This question was of great importance, and therefore the Apostles and Ancients assem- bled to consider the matter. After there had been much dis- pute, we are told; " Peter, rising up, said to them: Men, brethren, you know that in former days God made choice, among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe, &c. And all the multitude held their peace." Here we are told that there was much disputing upon the subject, and after the disputations, St. Peter rose up to pass definitive sentence, in proof of which, the whole multitude were silent. His definitve sentence si- lenced all disputations, for we hear of none after it. St, James as being bishop of Jerusalem, next gave his opinion, in no way disagreeing from that of St. Peter, and doubtless the other Apostles also gave their opinion in a similar manner. — The very first sentence that St. Peter utters, is proof of his supremacy. He declares it as a thing well known to the whole multitude, that God had made choice of him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles, and that they should believe through his word, and St. Paul, Gal. 2. v. 7, 8, declares, that the Apostleship of the circumcision was committed to St. Peter. Therefore it is evident, that having the Apostleship of the circumcision, and of the uncircumcision, or Gentiles, he had a supremacy over all. For although St. Paul was especially set apart by the Holy Ghost for the instruction of the Gen- tiles, yet God had previously appointed St. Peter to this service, thereby plainly intimating that nothing should be ex- cepted from the jurisdiction and authority of St. Peter. The Prince of the Apostles then goes on to expound the doctrine concerning the exemption of the new converts from the ob-
S3
servance of the Mosaic ceremonies, after which he repre- hends the multitude, and observe with how great authority, "why tempt you God, to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear Vs Then he pronounces his definitire sentence ; " but by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, in like manner as they also." How briefly, how simply, and how precisely he speaks ! Here we do not find him, as a private member furnishing arguments to be afterwards de- cided by the council, but determining the controversy, silen- cing opposition, and first pronouncing sentence.
What do the multitude of opponents say to the words of St. Peter? They are all silent, no one dares to contradict him, they feel his supreme authority, and those who pertinaciously held the contrary opinion, and were vociferous in its defence, compelled by reverence and obedience, hold their peace. St. Jerome in Epist. ad August, says, "all the multitude was silent; and James, and along with him all the priests agreed to the sentence of Peter*" After St. Peter had given his definitive sentence, Paul and Barnabas, by relating the miracles, which God, by their means had wrought among the gentiles, confirm his judgment. Then St. James, when about to give his opinion, expressly begins with St. Peter's words ; u Men, brethren, Simon hath related," &c. and goes on to explain the sense of the scriptures on the question, then in giving his judgment, he subscribes to St. Peter's sentence ; " For which cause I judge that they, who from among the gentiles are converted to God, are not to be disquieted." As to the words, " I judge," used by St. James, and made such a handle of by you, as to estab- lish your remarkable fact, they imply no superiority, nor any delivery of a definitive sentence, but merely an acquiescence in the definitive sentence already pronounced by St. Peter, as may be easily understood from his silence as well as that of the rest, when that sentence was delivered. But even admit- ting it to have all the force that you can give it, the whole will only be a negative argument, and of course cannot coun- teract positive proof, such as is given for the supremacy of St. Peter.
. Your following section, in page 15th, contains a number of questions, and assertions arising out of them, some of which have been already sufficiently treated above in reference to the sacred scripture, and the holy fathers of the first ages. Among others, 1 find the following : " where the warrant for the lofty titles, involving equally lofty prerogatives, assumed by the papal pontiff, of Vicar of Jesus Christ, and universal bishop ? Of those lofty titles and these lofty prerogatives, we, have no record set forth in the apostolic history recorded in
m
the Acts,''' &c, Now, Right Reverend Sir, I shall endeavour to meet your wishes, (however loftily expressed,) inas brief a manner as possible, as I have hitherto most studiously attempt^ ed. Jesus Christ promised to send the Holy Ghost, the Para- clete, to be the guide of his church into all truth. Both you and I believe this Paraclete to be God, as well as is the God-man Jesus Christ. Therefore this Paraclete could not be the Vicar of Jesus Christ, for he is equal to him in every respect, God cannot be his own Vicar. Besides, sir, the church is a " Visible body," (as you very justly remark, p. 24th,) and as such, must have a visible head. The Holy. Ghost, the Para- clete, is invisible, andtherefore cannot be the head of a visible church ; I conclude, then, that the Paraclete is not the vicari- ous head of this visible body ; and I have before proved that he cannot be the vicar of Jesus Christ in another sense. Jesus Christ himself is the head of his church, but Jesus Christ is now invisible, therefore he cannot be the head of a, visible body ; His church is a visible body, and, therefore, to be complete, it must have a visible head. Where is this head to be found ? In the person of the pope of Rome, already amply proved to have been appointed by Jesus Christ as su- preme head of his church, as having a power superior to the rest of the apostles, as having to feed Christ's sheep, as well as his lambs, and therefore supremely governing the former as well as the latter. You will say, that the bishops are the visible heads, each of his respective church. Here we agree. The bishops are the heads of their respective portions of the church of Christ, each in subordination to the jurisdisction of the pope ; but is Christ many ? No, he is one. The whole church is his body. He himself is the head of the whole church, visible and invisible, but as he himself is now invisible, his church visible must have a visible head, one, not many ; and surely no bishop, except the bishop of Rome, after what has been already proved, can claim the title of visible head of the universal visible church. The bishop of Rome, therefore, whom we call Pope, is the visible head of the Catholic church of Christ, and, as such, is the vicar of Jesus Christ upon, earth.
In this sense, therefore, the pope of Rome is " universal bishop," or bishop of the universal church of Jesus Christ on earth. Your observation that it was conferred upon him by the " corrupt hand of secular power," has been abundantly proved incorrect, and therefore, I need not travel over the same ground. One observation, however, I beg leave to make, and it is, that the reproach, which you throw upon the Roman Catholic church in your 16th page, is no more than what has been often said before, and, of course, is founded
25
upon the secular argument fabricated by the royal divines of the temporal theological church of England. They were ap- pointed, and (if consecrated they were,) consecrated by power emanating from the king, and, of course, whatever did not proceed from the king, was in their eyes uncanonical. Hold- ing this doctrine, therefore, we cannot wonder, that they should broach the opinion, which rests on their foundation alone, that the supremacy of the pope emanated from the em- peror of Rome, and therefore they have constantly held the same out to their people, that the pope was emboldened, as being the bishop of the imperial city, and under the special protection of the Roman emperor, to assume this title. But, Sir, from what has been said before, and the consideration, that all ecclesiastical power comes only from God, you must be convinced that the reproach is unfounded, and therefore unjust.
As to the reproach thrown by St. Gregory the Great, upon John, Patriarch of Constantinople, for assuming the title of (Ecumenical bishop, it is well founded upon three points. First, he had no right to this title, founded upon divine, or apostolical authority ; secondly, he seemed to assume it to the exclusion of all other bishops ; and, thirdly, the pride and arrogance of the Greeks were such, as to cause the holy pon- tiff to tremble for the dreadful consequences that might ensue, were such an assumption tamely submitted to by the head of the visible church. These things being considered, and the Roman pontiff never having claimed the title of " universal bishop," although the authority and jurisdiction had been con- ferred by Jesus Christ himself, and had been frequently exer- cised, and was well known and acknowledged, not only by single bishops, but by several general councils, and, in short, by the whole church, yet St. Gregory the Great, lib. 7, epist. 62. says ; " If there be any crime found in bishops, I know no bishop but is subject to the See Apostolic." And in lib. 4, indie. 13, ep. 32. '* The care and principality of the church hath been committed to the holy apostle, and prince of the apostles, St. Peter, yet is he not called universal apostle, as if there were no other apostle but himself." From this we may easily learn the sense in which that holy pontiff under- stood the title of " universal bishop," which the patriarch of Constantinople at that time arrogated to himself; and of course your reproach, in the end of your paragraph, cannot .take effect.
Besides, if we examine the annals of those times, in which you say that the supremacy of the bishop of Rome was not spoken of, we shall rind Pope Victor, Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 5, cap. 24, 25, who lived in the second century, exercising
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all the power, with which his supremacy, derived from St. Peter, endowed him, not in matters of faith only, but in matters of discipline. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical history,, lib. 4, cap. 13, tells us, that St. Polycarp, appointed bishop of Smyrna by the Holy Apostle St. John, came to Rome, to confer with Pope Anicetus, concerning the day of Easter. — Now it may be here observed, why did St. PoJycarp come to Rome, a distant, and at that time dangerous voyage, to con- sult with Anicetus, the eleventh from the Apostles, if there were not something of superiority in the latter, of which the former was conscious ? This, Sir, maylbe sufficient to prove, that the church in the second century acknowledged the su- premacy of the Roman See, and that the bishop of Rome ex- ercised that supremacy ; and in further testimony, we have St. lreneeus.
As to our having " no record set forth in the Apostolic his- tory recorded in the Acts," I am, in some manner at a loss to Understand your meaning. You well know, Right Reverend Sir, that the book entitled " the Acts of the Apostles," is rather a summary of the travels and actions of St. Paul, than an " apostolic history." St. Luke, the author of that book, was particularly attached to St. Paul, and we are not to wonder, that he is the main subject of that history. Yet from what we have proved a little before, and some other instances, we have abundant proof, even in the Acts of the Apostles, of the supremacy of St. Peter, over the rest of the Apostles ; nor are we to expect that those, who had so recently been rebuked by their Lord and Master for claiming superiority, would be inclined to renew the contest, after the unequivo- cal testimony, which he had given of his committing the su- preme jurisdiction of his flock to St. Peter. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we are told, that " St. Peter, rising up in the midst of the brethren, said ; one of these must be made a witness with us of his resurrection." — St. Peter, here, like a faithful guardian of his trust, orders an election of an Apostle in the room of Judas the traitor.— He directs the mode of election, and expounds the suggestion of God, and the Scripture of the old testament, for his doing so, and plainly proves his supremacy, by the contexture of the whole business. In the second chapter of the same book, we are informed, that, after the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Peter made the first sermon, by which he con- verted three thousand. The beginning of his discourse speaks superiority, without claiming it in words, for he stood up with the eleven, and having lifted up his voice said ; u ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with your ears receive my words. For
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these are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." Here we find the Holy Apostle, like a true shepherd, standing up in defence of his iloek, against the malicious attacks of those, who would have it believed that the Aposties were drunk. His office of supreme pastor of his master's flock gave him, and him alone, the title to de- fend them from the rude assaults of the wolves and foxes of this world, and he boldly executes his office. After having produced by his sermon such compunction in his hea that " They said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles ; what shall we do men and brethren ? Peter said to them, do pen- ance and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins." Here were all the* Apostles ; St. Peter takes the lead, and defends his brother Apostles, and when he had compelled the multitude by com- punction, to ask of him and the other Apostles what they should do, he alone answers them, he alone directs them. We find no mention made of any of the other Aposties saying any thing to the multitude, save St. Peter alone. They all stand up with him, as a proof of their assent to the doctrine, whicli he should deliver, and of their perfect accordance with their chief, but not one of them addresses a word to the mul- titude, not even when asked. In the third chapter, we are told, that Peter and John went up to the temple to pray, and that a certain man, who was lame from his mother's womb, asked an alms of them, to whom Peter said, u Silver and gold I have none ; but that which I have I give thee : in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk." Here al- though St. Peter ordered the lame man, " look on us" yet to show his superiority, he makes his declaration in the singular number, and not in the name of both. " Silver and gold / have none ; but that which /have / give thee." And when they were dragged before the council for teaching in the temple, St. Peter alone spoke, St. John said nothing. In the case of Ananias andSapphira, St. Peter acts authoritative* ly, and passes sentence of excommunication against them, which was followed by their sudden death. In an authoritative manner also he excommunicates Simon, the magician, in the presence of St. John, In ail these instances, Sir, when at- tentively considered, the supremacy of St. Peter is fully re- corded and set forth. For we can account in no other way, for his being chief speaker, and at the same time with such authority, but in consequence of that superiority conferred upon him by Jesus Christ.
You say also, that " Clement bishop of Rome, next but one in succession to that see from the Apostles, in his celebrated epistle, advances no such claims. The venerable martyr Ig,-
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ttatius, the disciple of St. John, delineating with the greatest minuteness the Christian hierarchy, and enforcing the duty of submission to it, utters not a word of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome." I can discover, Right Reverend Sir, no argument in this, against the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. It is not necessary that St. Clement, because he was bishop, and successor of St. Peter, should particularly tell the faithful to whom he wrote, that he was endowed with the supremacy of the Christian church, they all knew and acknowledged it. For the same reason, St. Ignatius makes no mention of it, but he does one thing, which appears to militate a little against your position, for he calls Anacletus, the bishop of Rome, " Pope," an appellation, which he does not make use of, in all his epistles, to any other bishop. St. Ignat, Epist. ad Mariam, prope ab initio.
In your 1 7th page, you ask " Is his (the Saviour's) atone- ment diminished in its' redeeming efficacy, because Papal superstition connects with it the intercession and merits of created beings?" Here, Right Reverend Sir, you labour under a mistake. The Catholic church connects no interces- sion or merits, with the intercession and merits of Jesus Christ. And as this subject is but little, if at all, understood by Protestants, and has been much abused, I shall beg leave to state it, as briefly as possible, that they may see how unreasonably the church is accused in the matter.
The veneration and invocation of Angels and Saints have a rational and Scriptural foundation, and the support of the Holy Fathers, without being at all derogatory from the ho- nour due to God. For when Catholics kneel and pray to An- gels or Saints, it is only done as to God's eminent servants, and for his sake ; when they kneel and pray to God, it is done as to their Lord, God, Creator, and Redeemer, and for his sake only they pray to Angels or Saints to assist them, by and through the merits of Christ ; without which Catho- lics know that the Angels and Saints are and can do nothing. When they pray to Christ to assist them, they do so by and through his own merits only, so that there is no more dan- der of robbing God of his honour, by reverencing his Angels and Saints, than there is danger of robbing a king of his hon- our, by reverencing his peers and nobles, according to their several ranks and dignities. Roman Catholics believe, that, as the prophets of old by the special light of grace were able to know things done at a great distance, much more can the blessed Angels and Saints in heaven, having a greater and more special light of grace, know things done at a great distance ; witness the prophet Eliseus in the 4th book of kings (2d book in the protestant bible) chap. 6th, and St. P^-
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ter in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Add to this, the various predictions of future events, which accordingly hap- pened. Even the reprobates in hell know what passes in this world. Witness the rich glutton, St. Luke 16, who knew that his brethren were following his example, and re- quested Abraham for permission to send Lazarus and warn them of their danger. The blessed Angels in heaven can- not, therefore, be denied to have an equal power with the reprobate in hell, seeing they have the light of grace and glory superadded to the light of nature. And, moreover, the blessed Angels and Saints in heaven see and know God with all his attributes and perfections. u For now we see through a glass in a dark manner ; but then face to face ; now I know in part ; but then shall I know, even as I am known." 1 Cor. 13, v. 12. They therefore cannot but see us with all our actions, since they see God, who is far more invisible and inscrutable than we and all his creatures put together, a for in him we live, and move, and have our being," besides, " there shall be joy in heaven when a sinner does penance," St. Luke, 15, v. 10. How can they rejoice, unless they know even our in- terior thoughts ? For penance requires interior dispositions. But further.
The blessed Angels and Saints are by God's appointment our guardians and governors, and know our affairs and pray for us ; it must, therefore, be good and profitable for us to venerate, invocate, and pray to them ; for we are taught by the light of nature to look up, with respect, to our earthly guardians for assistance.. God has appointed the Saints to govern us, u And he that shall overcome and keep my works unto the end, I will give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." Apocal. 2, v. 26, 27. — " And hath made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth." Apocal. 5, v. 10. The Saints know our necessities and our aflairs ; " So I say to you, there shall be joy before the Angels of God upon one sinner doing penance." St. Luke, 15, v. 10. " See that thou despise not one of these little ones ; for 1 say to you, that their Angels in heaven always do see the face of my Father who is in hea- ven." St. Matt. 18, v. 10. As the Angels know our affairs and pray for us, so do the Saints, for there can be no reason why the Angels can and the Saints cannot ; nor was it ever maintained. " For they are equal to the Angels ; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection*" St. Luke, 20, v. 36. " When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord." Tobias, 12, v. 12. The Angels and Saints do actually pray for us ; " And the Angel of the
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-Ijord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thofc not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry ? this is the seventieth year." — Zaeh. i. 12. "The four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials^ full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. "■ — Apocal. v, 8* As the chosen friends of God are recorded in scripture to have honoured and invocated the saints, it must be also good and profitable for us to follow their example. " No : but lam prince of the host of the Lord, and now I am come. Josue fell on his face to the ground, i^nd worshipping, said," Jo- sue v. 14, 15. "And Lot, seeing the angels, rose up and went to meet them, and worshipped prosuate to the ground." — Gen, xix. 1 . St. John fell down, to adore before the feet of the angel, which he would not have done, if he had considered it to be idolatry. — Apoc. xxn. 8. " The angel that dehver- eth me from all evils, bless these boys : and let my name be called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac."— -Gen. xlviii. 16. "And he prevailed over the an- gel, and was strengthened ; he wept, and made supplication to him." — Osee xii. 4. Grace be unto you and peace from him that is, and that was, and that is to come, and from the, seven spirits which are before his throne." — Apocal. i. 4.
If we believe " the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints," we shall then discover the propriety of invocating and praying to the saints ; for otherwise there can be no meaning attached to the Article, In every Protestant church, the sick apply for the prayers of the congregation ; or those who have obtained any mercy, desire their assistance in re- turning thanks. What is the reason of this ? It is, that being considered, (according to the doctrine of Protestants as well as Catholics,) as members of Christ's body, " if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it. Or. if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it.": — 1 Cor. xii, 26. Catholics, in all ages, have considered the faithful on earth, as members of the same mystical body of Christ, with the blessed saints in heaven. If therefore, it is lawful to sup- plicate the prayers and intercessions of sinners upon earth, how much more so must it be lawful, to supplicate the suffrages of the blessed saints in heaven, who must, as members of the same mystical body, have a fellow feeling with their fellow members ? This, I conceive to be perfectly conclusive. St, Paul says, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, " Charity never falleth away."— Though faith and hope cease in heaven, being inconsistent with the state of bliss, yet charity remains, and without doubt, is increased in heaven. If charity even in this world, obliges $s to be solicitous, and pray for one another's salvation, surelv
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the angels and saints in heaven, whose charity far surpasses ours, cannot fail of performing their part, in sending up pray- ers to the throne of grace, for those who are yet engaged in the warfare of this mortal life, and uncertain of their future state. Mr. Thorndike, an eminent protestant writer, in his " Just Weights and Measures," has the following words : "All mem- bers of the church triumphant in heaven, according to their degrees of favour with God, abound also with love to his church militant on earth. Therefore it is certain, both that they offer continual prayers to God, for its necessities, and that their prayers must be of great force and effect with God, for the assistance of the church militant, in this warfare ; which, if it be true, the communion of saints will necessarily require, first, that all, &c, secondly, That the living beg of God a part and interest in their prayers, which they, who are so near to God in his kingdom, tender to him without ceasing, for the church upon earth." He further observes, in Epil. part third, page 358, " It is confessed that the great lights, both of the Greek and Latin church, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gre- ' gory Nvssen, St. Ambrose, St.- Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Chrvsostom, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret, St. Fulgentius, St. Gregory the great, St. Leo, more, or rather all, after that time, have spoken to the saints, and desired their assistance."
Bishop Forbes, of Aberdeen, in page 311, says, in general terms, " It has been a practice for many ages, in the whole thurch, in the east as. much as in the west, and even in the north, amona; the Muscovites, ( the church of Russia,) to sing this litany, for example, St, Peter pray for us." The Bishop of Oxford, in his edition of St. Cyprian, says, "We do not doubt but the souls in heaven pray earnestly to God, that he may show his mercy to those that live here." Bishop Monta- gue, in his treatise of invocation of saints, page 97, says, u I see no absurdity in nature, nor incongruity unto the ana- logy of faith ; no repugnance at all to sacred scripture, much less impiety, for any man to say, Holy angel guardian pray for us." Again, in his Antidote, page 10, he says, " I do not de- ny but the saints are mediators ( as they are called ) of prayer and intercession. — 'They interpose with God, by their suppli- cations, and mediate by their prayers." And again, in his treatise of invocation, page 118. — "I grant Christ is not wronged in his mediation. It is no impiety to say as they do, holy Mary, pray for us, — holy Peter, pray for me." The Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Book of Common Prayer, hopes for succour and defence, through the angels, (and surely as much may be said of the saints,) see the collect for the feast of St. Michael, and all Angels, — " 0, everlasting God, wh»
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hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order ; mercifully grant, that as thy holy an- gels always do thee service in heaven; so, by thy appoint- ment, they may succour and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen." St. Paul, in his epistle to the Ro- mans, xv. 30, applies to the Roman converts thus : — " I be- seech you, therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God." At this tim«, St. Paul evidently makes them mediators of intercession, and surely he had no idea of derogating from the honour of the one mediator be- tween God and man, by so doing. In his epistle to the Gala- tians, hi. 19, he teaches us " that the law was ordained by an- gels in the hand of a mediator," who, Theodoret says, was Moses. And Moses said thus of himself, Deut. v. 5, " I was the mediator, and stood between the Lord and you at that time." In this sense, the Lutheran Profession of Wittemjberg says, Tit. de ordine, " If we mean a mediator of prayer, every good man is another's mediator, through Jesus Christ : be- cause it is every man's duty to recommend the salvation of others, by prayers to God." This is the Catholic doctrine, clearly explained. Thus the apostles and the other scripture, together with some protestant divines of no mean note, join- ing issue, completely defend and establish the doctrine of the Catholic church, respecting the invocation of angels and saints, which you so strongly impugn. If this be superstition, as you, have termed it, I had rather be superstitious with the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, and Confessors, as my guides and companions, than be wise with those who oppose them.
In your next question, you ask, " Does the institution of public worship lose its obligation, because in the church of Rome its spirituality is obscured by the pageantry of supersti- tious ceremonies ?" The only observation which I shall make upon this illiberal remark, I shall extract from the preface of the book of Common Prayer, and one of the articles published under your own immediate authority. " In every church, what cannot be clearly determined to belong to doctrine, must be referred to discipline ; and therefore, by common consent and authority, may be altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of, as may seem most convenient for the edification of the people, according to the various exigencies of times and occasions." Article 20th, says, " The church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies." Surely, Right Reverend Sir, you could not wish to take away from the Ca- tholic church, (so ancient and so extensive,) what you so stre- nuously vindicate for the Protestant Episcopal church, " that
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blessed liberty wherezvith Christ has made us free." But we cannot be surpised at this monopoly of privilege.
You next add, " Do the elements of the holy Eucharist, consecrated as the symbols of the sacrifice of Christ, cease to convey spiritual health and nourishment to the souls of the faithful, because the church of Rome impiously claims for her priesthood the power of entirely changing the substance and qualities of these elements, while the outward appearances re- main the same ; and of offering in the sacrifice of the mass, the same adorable personage, body, soul, and divinity, who suffered on the cross ?" Now, Right Reverend Sir, with the exception of the gratis dictum " impiously f^ I answer this ques- tion in the affirmative, and shall adduce my proof. I answer, if it be mere„bread and wine, it conveys no spiritual nourish- ment at all.
The doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucha- rist, and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, have constantly been a bone of con- tention with Protestants, who attempt to construe the words of our blessed Lord into a figure, contrary to all just reasoning and fair inference. They speak of a mystery, as of a matter subjected to their reason, and treat it accordingly. They sup- pose that the glorious body of our Redeemer is subjected to the same laws of place and motion as their own gross bodies, and arguing from this postulate, they endeavour to throw ridi- cule on the doctrine of the church. To set this matter in the proper point of view, we shall first examine the arguments for the doctrine of the real presence.
The blessed Eucharist is a sacrament ; in some respect, a visible sign, type, figure, or symbol of the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, and also of his death and passion ; nor is it an empty sign, type, figure, or symbol only, but also the very natural and substantial body and blood of Jesus Christ, true God and man, under the outward signs and symbols of bread and wine. For the doctrine of the Catholic church is, that in the blessed sacrament of the eucharist, we receive the same body, which was given and broken for us, and the same blood which was shed for the remission of our sins. " This is my body." St. Matt. 26, v. 26, and St. Mark, 14, v. 22. " This is my body which is given for you." St. Luke, 22, v. 19. "This is my body which shall be delivered for you." 1, Cor. 1 1, v. 24. t: This is my blood of the New-Testament, which shall be shed for many to the remission of sins." St. Matt. 26, v. 28. St. Mark, 14, v. 24. " This is the chalice the New-Testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you." St. Luke, 22, v. 20. *; This chalice is the New Testament in my blood." 1 Cor. 11, v. 25. And in proof of these expressions, meaning the
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true, natural, and substantial body and blood of Christ, see Ephes. 5, v. 25. " Christ gave himself for his church," — and Heb. 9, v. 12. " By his own blood he entered into the ho- llies." If the latter scripture texts are to be construed liter- ally, so also are the former. If Christ only gave bread and shed wine for us, he also gave a fantastical body for us, and shed something else than his true natural blood for the remis- sion of our sins ; and this is precisely the Manichean heresy. , The texts of scripture, cited above, " this is my body," <fec. are not by any means cxp essed as figurative, and when liter- ally and properly understood, imply neither sin nor contradic- tion, for this is impossible with Christ, the essence of sanctity and truth ; and as it was possible for Christ to have changed the bread and wine into his body and blood, therefore these texts ought to be understood literally and properly. We. have no right to say that Christ did not mean what he said, when he made the declaration, " This is my body — this is my blood ;" nor can we by any fair construction say that " This is" means " This signifies." No rational or prudent man would ever seal or complete his last will and testament with figurative, equivocal, and improper words, and of consequence it must be blasphemy to charge Christ with doing so.
"There is," says St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15, v. 14, " a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. It is sown a natural body, and it is raised a spiritual body ;" so that the condition of Christ's body in the blessed sacrament is glorious, impassible, incorruptible, immortal. The manner how it is in the blessed sacrament, is the same as when he came into the place where his aisciples were met with shut doors, spiritual, though real. If catholics held the doctrine that the body and blood of Christ were carnally present in the blessed sacrament, in the same manner as our gross bodies, then we might be chargeable with inconsistency ; but we disclaim the honour of being cannibals. And although we believe that the whole substance of the bread is changed into the substance of his body, and the whole sub- stance of the wine into the substance of his blood, the species of the bread and wine remaining, we believe, that this trans- substantiation takes place in a spiritual and sacramental man- ner, a mystery far beyond the power of the senses to compre- hend, and this doctrine, although like every other mystery, beyond the grasp of our senses, yet is not repugnant to the correct principles of philosophy, and is in perfect consonance with the express words of the Son of God himself; " This is my body, this is my blood," Besides, its truth and consonance with our blessed Lord's meaning may be easily gathered from the circumstance, formerly hinted at, of his coming into the chamber, where his disciples were secretly assembled for fear
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pf die Jews, without any visible mode of entrance, although at the same time his sacred body was palpable, or else he could not have said to St. Thomas, " reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side."
St. Paul says ; " whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice oi' the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord." How can the unworthy re- ceiver be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, if they are only figuratively represented 1 No one can be said to be guilty in a higher degree than he really is ; if the unworthy receive the body and blood of Christ, they become guilty of that body and blood ; if they only receive it in figure, they can only be figuratively guilty ; but St. Paul says they are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, therefore they receive the body and blood of the Lord, not figuratively, but really and in substance. Besides, if, according to the doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal church, the worthy only receive the body and blood of the Lord, it follows of consequence, that the unworthy receive not the body and blood of the Lord, and therefore cannot become guilty of it. But this the holy apostle absolutely contradicts, and therefore the converse of this pro* position is only true.
Our blessed Lord himself makes it as plain as is necessary for those who wish to see the truth, when offered, to them, when, in the sixth chapter of St. John's gospel, v. 48, he says 5 M 1 am the bread of life. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven ; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and 'the bread that 1 will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to. eat ; Then Jesus said to them : Amen, Amen, 1 say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed ; and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my /!e>h and drinketh my biood, abideth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live for ever." In ali this passage, we find not the least insinuation ofany figurative meaning intended, but the contrary ; for when the Jews, who understood him in the gross carnal manner, -which Protestants attribute to the Catholics, strove among themselves, say ihg ; "How can this
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man give us his flesh to eat ?" Although he could not but know what passed among them, we find not that he endea* voured to show them 'that he spoke figuratively. And when many of his disciples said ; a this saying is hard, and who can hear it?" Jesus said to them, "doth this scandalize you ? If then you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before ?" By which he plainly shows, that what he had said was to be literally understood, for that when he should ascend into heaven, and thereby prove himself to be God, they would then be convinced that he had power to make his flesh meat and his blood drink. He then subjoins these words ; u It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and life," Thereby intending, as St. Augustine says, " as they understood it, (the flesh) torn in pieces like a dead carcase, and sold in the sham- bles, it profits nothing; but it profits as animated by the spirit. For if the flesh profiteth nothing, the word would not have been made flesh, that it might dwell among us." Here still there is nothing figurative, for we are told from that time " many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve ; will you also go away ? And Simon Peter answered him : Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and have known that thou art Christ, the Son of God." In ail this we have not one hint that his language had been figurative, but that it still was to be understood literally and truly as he spake it. The blessed Redeemer of mankind came for too compassionate a purpose, ever to have suffered one to have gone from him for the want of an explanation, which he would undoubtedly have given, had his language been figuratively intended ; nor would he have permitted any of his followers through a mistaken meaning of his words, to have forsaken the way of life. From the passage above quoted from this very chapter, if wilful error and obstinate prejudice do not shackle us, we have the true key to the literal and not figura- tive meaning of Christ's words, " This is my body — This is my blood." And we have the concurrent testimony of the church from the earliest ages to prove that we are correct.
St. Ignatius, the martyr, the disciple of the Apostles, wri- ting to the Smyrneans, says ; " certain heretics refrain from the eucharist and the oblations, because they own not that the eucharist is the flesh of our Lord, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father through his goodness hath raised."*
* These extracts would have been given in the originals, but the printer's Greek types not having come in time, the author thought it better to give a faith- ful translation, and tne places carefully marked, than to give mutilated quo- tations.
St. Justin, the martyr, in his 2d apology, near Adrian's re- script, says ; " for we do not take these as common bread or a common cap *, but as God has taught us. Jesus Christ our Saviour having become flesh, and taking flesh and blood for our salvation, so are we taught that the eucharist is the flesh and blood of the same Jesus incarnate."
Tertullian adv. Marcion. 1. 4, c. 40. " The bread taken and distributed to his disciples, he made his body, by saying, this, the figure of my body, is my body."
St. Cyprian in caena Dom. says ; " the bread which our Lord gave to his disciples, being changed, not in shape, but in na- ture, by the omnipotency of the word is made flesh."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. Mystagog. 4, c. 3, says ; " know, and be assured, that the bread, which we see, is not bread though it hath the taste of it, but is the body of Christ, and the wine which we see, is not wine, although the taste ap- vear se, but is the blood of Christ." And in his 4. c. 1. " since Christ has said of the bread, ; this is my body,' who now dares doubt of it ? And he himself having said ' this is my blood,' who dares to doubt of it, by saying it is not his blood ? He formerly changed water into wine at the wed- ding of Cana, by only willing it, why then does he not deserve to be believed when he changes the wine into his blood ?" St. Gregory Nyssen. Cat. Orat. c. 37, says ; we truly be- lieve, even by the word of God, that the sanctified is changed into the body of God, the word, and these things he bestows, trans dementing (transubstantiating) into it, by virtue of his blessing, things that are seen."
St. John Chrysostom de Sacerdotio, says ; " He that sits above with the Father, even in the same instant of time, is touched oy the hands of all, and gives himself to such as are willing to receive him, &c. whereas Christ leaving his flesh to us, yet ascending to heaven hath it also there."
St. Ambrose, de sacram. 1. 4, c. 5, says ; " the day before he suffered, he took bread into his holy hands. Therefore Defore it is consecrated, it is bread: but when the words of Christ come, it is the body of Christ. Before the words of Christ, it is a cup full of wine and water. But when the words of Christ have operated, then it become the blood which redeemed the people. Consider therefore how power- ful the word of Christ is in changing all things. When the Lord Jesus himself testifies to us that we receive his body and blood, ought we to doubt of his credit or testimony ?"- — Andde Initi. c. 9. "If that (Manna) which you admire, is a shadow, how great a matter is it, that you admire even a shadow ? But light is superior to the shadow, the truth to a figure, the body of the original to the manna from heaven. — - But if the word of Eiias was so powerful as to call down lire
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from heaven, shall not the word of Christ he ahle to change the nature of the elements? Perhaps you may say, I see different : how can you assure me that I receive the body of Christ ? And this also remains with us to prove. How many- examples then do we use to prove, that this is not the same thing which nature formed it, but what the benediction has consecrated it, and that the power of benediction is greater than that of nature, because even nature itself is changed by benediction ? Moses held a rod, he threw it down, and it became a serpent. Again he seized the tail of the serpent, and it returned into the nature of a rod. You see therefore, that by prophetic grace the nature of the serpent and of the rod Was twice changed. We observe therefore, that grace is more powerful than nature."
But, Right Reverend Sir, besides the testimony of the holy Scripture and Fathers of the church, we have the testimony of the Protectant . Episcopal church itself for the real pres- ence of Christ in the eucharist. In the exhortation at the time of the communion, the bread and wine are called Holy Mysteries, which term, if they are merely bread a: d wine, and remain so after the consecration, is a contradiction ; for what holy mystery is there in common bread and wine ? — And there being no mystery in common bread and wine, there can be no mystery in them after consecration, unless gome change take place. The consecrating or setting them apart from common uses, which is all that Protestant Epis- copalians allow, can by no means render them a mystery, or else the edihce of Trinity church, being consecrated or set apart from common uses, is also a mystery, which no one will be disposed to admit. Again, in the prayer immediate- ly following the preface and trisagion, " the priest in name of all those who shall receive the communion, says ; Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may ever more dwell in him and he in us;" No Roman Catholic can more strongly or pointedly express the real presence of Christ in the eu- charist than is done in this prayer. At the distribution of the elements, the minister says, when he delivers the bread to any, " The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life ;" and when he delivers the cup ; " The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life." In these two sentences, the doctrine of the real presence is affirmatively expressed, and they support the doctrine of the church of England expresiedV. in her catechism (however altered in this country,) wherein
»
she declares that " (he body and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's supper."
By these testimonies from the sacred scriptures, the holy Fathers, and even the Protestant Episcopal church, 1 infer, that your charge of impiety, brought against the church of Rome, is unfounded and rash ; that the doctrine of the Ro- man Catholic church is true beyond contradiction ; and that I have proved the t/uth of my position, that the elements of the holy eucharist, as mere elements, can convey no spiritual nourishment whatever.
Your next observation, Right Reverend Sir, is too abu- sive to be worthy of you. " Is preaching to be renounced," you say, " as a scriptural ordinance, because, in the ages of Papal darkness, it was degraded to the office of celebrating the imaginary virtues of the saints whom superstition had canonized, and the efficacy of relics which received unlimi- ted reverence from the ignorance of the multitude ?" That the virtues of the Saints ought to be celebrated, you virtual- ly acknowledge, but your denouncing these virtues as imagi* nary, must rest upon stronger authority than your own as- sertion. If the Saints are to judge the world, as the Holy Ghost says they are, certainly their virtues must be great, that can exalt them to such a dignity, and therefore they must be worthy of imitation. If, therefore, they are worthy of imitation, why quarrel with the celebration of those vir- tues, as excitements to progress in every christian virtue ? Our blessed Lord gives us, among many other lessons of the same nature, the example of the good Samaritan, and after describing, and celebrating his virtues, ends with a "go and do thou likewise." St. Luke 10, v. 37. If Jesus Christ has given us an example that we should follow his steps, what better authority can we have for celebrating, not the imagi- nary> but the real virtues of those, who have surrendered all to follow him ? If this be degrading the office of preach- ing, we can plead the best authority for it, and I think it may be safely continued upon that authority, notwithstanding your denunciation. To be sure, if that gospel rule of forsaking all, taking up the cross, and following Christ, be superstition, we Roman Catholics are guilty, and must of course en- counter he opprobrium, with which you have been pleased to brand us ; but if it be not, I fear you have committed a breach of Christian charity, which you cannot justify. As to the virtue of relics, we even venture to put that upon the same hrm foundation. We revere the relics of those, who, having i put off this mortal coil,' are gone to receive the re- compense of their labours, because Elizauis did so, who put ?uch faith, even in the manUe of his departed master, that he
divided the water* of the river Jordan, so as to be able to go over upon dry ground. 4 Kings, 2, v. 14. We revere them because the woman was healed by barely touching the hem of Christ's garment* St. Matt. 9, v. 20, 21, 22. And chap. 14, v. 36. Because the shadow of St. Peter passing by, cured the diseased ; Acts, 5, v. 15. And because hand- kerchiefs and aprons brought from the body of St. Paul cured the sick, and even cast out demons. Acts, 1 9, v. 1 2. For these reasons we reverence the relics of God's chosen servants, but not with unlimited reverence, because we re- serve that for God alone.
Your next observation, Right Reverend Sir, seems to strike at the root of what you have asserted, both before and after, against the Roman Catholic church. For, if the *{ same fountain cannot pour forth from the sam d ening sweet wa- ters and bitter," St. James, 3, v. 11, nor the same tree can bring forth good and bad fruit, St. Matt. \ v. 18, so neir: icf can the Roman Catholic church, seeing she has fufnisl d you with the " wells of salvation," the holy Scriptures, be guilty of those gross charges, which you bring against her. "Through that church," you say, " you trace the bible to the age of inspiration," how therefore can she be guilty of those grievous errors and superstitions, with which you charge her, when she has produced these sacred volumes pure and! unsullied to you ? May she not have corrupted them during the acges of darkness and superstition ? Are you sure she has not ?
You proceed, " does Episcopacy lose its claims to a divine origin, because on its simple and apostolic foundation has been reared the gorgeous and unhallowed structure of the Papal hierarchy ?" Permit me here, Right Reverend Sir, to ask you in turn, whence comes your Episcopacy ? Comes it not from this ' gorgeous and unhallowed structure of the Papal hierarchy V Most assuredly you assert that it does ; and as our blessed Lord has declared that a " bad tree brings forth bad fruit," I now say, that if you come from that tree, which however I cannot admit, you prove that you are of the same nature. Either your Episcopacy comes from the Pope and his church, or it cannot have an existence. I have al- ready proved, that without the authority of the Pope there can be no Episcopacy and I now assert, that unless you have, and can show the authority of the Pope for your Episcopa- cy, that Episcopacy is a phantom, produced in the brain of the minions of the Virgin queen Elizabeth, and propagated as a weed in a fertile garden, where exotic plants find conge- nial virtues, to the present time. Your pretensions to an Apostolic foundation are vain und nugatory, inasmuch as I
41
have amply proved that all the power descending from the prince of the Apostles is vested in the Pope, and you cannot show even the semblance of concurrence or permission for your Episcopacy from him. You may arrogate as much as you please from the language of the Holy Fathers, but the Methodist Episcopalians, who derive their episcopacy from John Wesley, a simple English parson, have as good Episco- pal authority as you, and may with as much propriety adduce the authority of the Holy Fathers. Since you cannot trace your unbroken chain of connexion to these Holy Fathers, of whom you boast, you can be none of theirs ; for they always made the succession of their bishops one of the first criterions, by which they judged of the truth or falsehood of a church. — And now, Right Reverend Sir, I cheerfully join with you, in paying ; " if some imaginary abuse of an institution ren- ders necessary the rejection of it, if legal prerogative justi- fies resistance to legitimate power — what is there in religion — what is there in civil polity — what is there in the depart- ments of science — what is there in social life, that can re- main sacred ?"
As I wish not to go out of the way any further than you lead me, I shall not enter into the merits of your Episcopa- cy, or else I could prove that it neither was agreeable to civil or canon law ; and opposed to both these, its foundation must be on sand, which the least force might undermine and level with the dust. And that I may not leave this asser- tion of mine insulated and without proof, I shall be ready to prove, when called upon, that the Episcopacy of England, as by law now established, is not only contrary to the canon law of the church, but contrary to the municipal laws of the kingdom of Great Britain in existence at the time of its introduction ; inasmuch as the pretended consecration of Dr. Parker and his compeers was contrary to both. Whenever you are inclined to put the matter to the test, I am prepar- ed to prove, to your conviction, the truth of my assertion.
I have now, (and I hope to the conviction of every unpre- judiced person) proved that the church of Christ is infallible in matters of faith ; that the Pope of Rome is Supreme head of the visible church of Christ upon earth ; -and that the various doctrines of that church, which you have impugn- ed, are established upon such a foundation, as that neither you, nor a greater than you, can subvert them. I have proved that your gratuitous assertions of" papal claims ; papal domi- nation, established centuries after Christianity ; that the ancient Fathers knew nothing of the pope being the visible head of the church on earth; that Papal and Episcopal preroga- tive is at variance 5 that the Papal opinion of church unitv
6
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has no foundation in scripture ; that the papal superstition for ages disfigured and concealed the primitive splendour of the Christian Zion; and that the precedence of the bishop of Rome, which constituted the principle of church unity, was usurped centuries after the first ages of Christianity ;" are nugatory, and contrary to the truth. Having, 1 say, abundantly proved these things, and, as I hope, in the spirit of christian charity, let me entreat you to meditate well on what I have said in defence of that church, in the bosom of which vou have said that you wished to die.
Recollect, Right Reverend and Dear Sir, that soon, very- soon, both you and I shall be called upon to render an account of our actions ; and in that dreadful hour no one will rise in our defence. As we have acted in this world, so shall we be judged. Our zeal, if in a bad cause, will shelter neither yon nor me. We have the means of finding out the truth,, and we are assured of the assistance of God's grace in the search ; and', if we neglect that gracious offer, we shall be inexcusable. The Holy Ghost has declared that there is but " one Lord, one faith, one baptism," there cannot, therefore, be many faiths, and still this unity retained. There must be one church, as there is but one faith, as archbishop Land observes, in one of his most beautiful productions, 1 mean a prayer, which he constantly used. There being therefore but one church, as there is but one God, it is our duty to search for that one church with all diligence, that we may be within its pale, or else, being without the fold, we may run the dreadful risk of being placed among those, who ate and drank at our Lord's table, and in whose streets lie had taught, we may be dismis- sed vith, " I know you not." Much has been lately written, my Dear Sir, by those who belong to your church, respecting the true religion, or rather against the church of Rome, and very little to the purpose. The spirit of charity did not pre- side over their words, nor over their sentiments. I wish not to call them up, from any vindictive feeling, although I am wed aware that some of their shafts were levelled at me ; but I do so for the purpose of pointing out to their brethren, that their hearts were not right. They took many things for granted, because they had been said before, and they, without further consideration, without examination, dealt them out for truths, which had been proved. Of this number is the Reverend Samuel F. Jarvis, who in his sermon before the convention in Trinity church, threw the first stone at an unoffending, and, till that time unoffended church in the United States. He was followed- by an anonymous pamphlet, dictated in all the spirit of rancour and malignity, and said to be written by the late Reverend Doctor John Bowden. but very far different
43
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from the urbanity and kind heart of that gentleman, and which I do not hesitate thus publicly to declare to be contradictory to others of his publications. Next followed the Reverend Doctor Thomas Yardly Howe, who, in the feebleness of his wrath, endeavoured to wreak his vengeance on a church, of which he knew little more than the name. All these trilling and malevolent productions were levelled against an unoffend- ing trio, Dr. John Kewley, Mr. V. H. Barber, and my unwor* thy self, because we had ventured to look over the wall, and see whether the pastures of our old grandmother, the church of Rome, were more safe, if they were not more savoury to flesh and blood, than those really barren, yet flowery pastures, in which we had been hitherto fed. These productions would have met with a merited retort, had not Divine Providence seen fit that it should be otherwise. But now, when you, who have more than once expressed your wish to pass the end of your days in the bosom of the Roman Catholic church* come forth, armed with all the dignity and all the influence of office, it is necessary that you should meet with an answer ; and I p
am only sorry that the hand has not been more powerful. Yet Almighty God sometimes " chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and weak things to confound the strong," and herein I have consolation. My sole aim in this answer has not been to refute your positions so much as to .1
point out the truth. I wish not to be an angry polemic, be- cause I do not conceive myself calculated for the task, either naturally or mentally, but by the persuasive words of unadorn- ed truth, to induce my brethren to examine for themselves, as I have done, and thus endeavour to follow their Lord's will. And may Almighty God send his grace into their hearts, that they may be enabled to discern truth from falsehood, the -straight path from error, and true religion from hypocrisy ; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I am, Right Reverend Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
GEORGE EDMUND IRONSIDE.
Washington City, 2 J Feb. 1820.
* The author unequivocally disclaims the least reproach or malevolent in- tention against Bishop Hobartby this expression, as he is well aware that other prelates of the Protestant church have expressed nearly the same sentiment, declaring, "That the Protestant religion was the most convenient, wherein to live, but the Catholic religion the most safe, wherein to die."
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