The real doctrine of the Catholic Church on the Scripture : to which is added an account of the conversions of the Duke of Brunswick, and of the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer, son of Lord Spencer, and brother of Lord Althorp

THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH

®]B II IP IP HUB ID

TO WHICH IS ADDED

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSIONS OF THE DUKE OF

BRUNSWICK, AND OF THE HON. AND REV. GEORGE

SPENCER, SON OF LORD SPENCER, AND

BROTHER OF LORD ALTHORP.

BY THE

Rev. N. RiaBY, of Egton Bridge.

Do read it, I hope you will find in it nothing to offend,
but, something to please.

gorfc:

Printed by Cornelius Croshaw,

Catholic Bookseller, 8fC.f 36, Pavement,

U(

WVK

EHTERED AT STATIONERS HALL.

■

TO THE
*'. ■

REV. BENEDICT RAYMENT, V. G.

Rev. Sir,
Young and unexperienced people, will na*
turally seek, (if they wish to act prudently.) to
strengthen their first and weak exertions, by the.
advice and approbation of the aged, the learned,
and the experienced. How fortunate, Rev. Sir,
am I in this respect, by having the advice and
approbation of you, in whom are united the valu-
able treasures of age, of learning, and of expe-
rience. Trivial as this pamphlet is in itself, still
when the public learn, that it has received the
approbation, and been honoured, whilst in the
press, by the inspection of the Very Rev.
Benedict Rayment. I think, it will not fail, to at-
tract the attention of both the Catholic and the
Protestant in York,: and other parts. They will
be anxious, I have no doubt, to convince you,
how highly you stand in their estimation, by
shewing you, that things, which are in themselves
only paltry, become objects of interest and atten-
tion, when they are honoured by your sanction
and patronage. Nor can any one, who is ac-
quainted with your character, say, that this is the
effusion of flattery. No, your character as a gen-
tleman and a minister, as a scholar and as a kind
friend to the poor, the widow and the orphan, of
all persuasions, is too well established, ever to
need the vain effusions of empty flattery. — What
ever defects and imperfections may appear in
the following pages, the public will have the
good sense to attribute them tome, their author;
nor can they, Rev. Sir, be imputed to you in
; any other light, except to your want of time to

a

attend to them, on account of your multiplicity
of more important engagements in your advan-
ced age, or to your unwillingness to discourage
the young in their first efforts by too tedious a
correction. In conclusion, Rev. Sir, allow me
to congratulate you (and I am sure all your wor-
thy congregation will unite with me) on your
having reached your seventy-first year, and on
your still being able to continue your zealous
labours of the ministry. The long and unwearied
exertions of your ministry, must be a subject of
sorrow and of joy to us all ; of sorrow, to think
that ere long we shall be deprived of the valu-
able assistance of your learning and experience ;
but of joy to reflect, that the time cannot be far
distant, when you will be in the hands of Him,
who has declared, " blessed are they that in-
struct others unto justice, for they shall shine
like stars for all eternity." — Duly sensible of,
and I hope grateful for all your past favours,

I remain

Very Rev. Sir,

most respectfully,

your obliged Servant,

N. R1GBY.

Egton Bridge,
.lamirmi 8M, 1834.

ON THE

SCRIPTURE,

RELTGlotrs charity requires that we should not
judge any sect of christians from the representations
of their enemies alone, without first hearing or reading
what they have to allege in their own defence. No one
can say, that this observation is not founded on the plain-
est principles of justice, on those plain principles of equi-
ty, which it would be deemed highly criminal to violate in
the ordinary concerns of common life. One of the grand
maxims of the English law, is, that no one shall be
condemned before he has been heard in his own defence.
I think it will be also allowed, that every minister is
justified, in endeavouring" to remove any false impres-
sions, that may have been formed by the public against
his religion, provided in the execution of his task, he
pays a due respect to the feelings of his dissenting
brethren and shews, that he is actuated by the laud-
able maxim of the great St. Augustine. " In articles
of faith let there be unity, in matters of doubt let there
be liberty, and in all things let there be charity."

My christian but dissenting brethren, allow us Catho-
lics the benefit of the two maxims, which I have just
laid down. Do not, I entreat you, condemn us on any
point, before you have heard us in our own defence : and
if in advocating our cause, we speak to you with senti-
ments of candour, sincerity and charity, listen to us, 1
beg of you, with corresponding sentiments of candour,
sincerity and charity.

a 2

I have often hoard it urged against us (and I believe
it is a general opinion) that catholicsare inimical to the
scripture, and that the common people of our persua-
sion are not allowed to read it. But I can confidently
assure the public, that the catholics neither are, nor
ever were enemies to the scripture, and that there nei-
ther is. nor ever was a general law prohibiting the peo-
ple from reading the authorized translations of the scrip-
ture. Of the truth of these assertions, Twill endeavour to
convince the public : but, before I proceed to the task, I
will state as shortly as I can, what are the sentiments
of every true catholic respecting the scripture. Every,
true catholic believes it damnable, to undervalue the
scripture or to take from it, the authority given it by
Jesus Christ. He pays it the respect, which is due to
the word of God, and acknowledges, that if it is pro-
perly understood, and read with sentiments of humility
and piety, it is capable of leading us to the truth, and
of producing in our souls the most salutary effects. But
at the same time, he knows (and experience has fully
proved it) that the scripture of itself, is a dead letter,
unable to explain its own meaning, that it may be made
to speak any language, which suits the caprice or con-
venience of the reader, and that it has been profanely
wrested by innovators and fanatics, to support doctrines
the most impious and contradictory. The catholic,
therefore, contends that Jesus Christ well knowing that
the dead letter of the scripture, if left to every private
person, to interpret it according to his own fancy, could
never be an infallible guide to lead mankind to the
knowledge of his divine truths, but on the contrary, an
unavoidable source of contentions and divisions, was
pleased to appoint his church to be the interpreter of
his word, and the depository of all the sacred truths,
which He had been sent by his heavenly father to reveal

to mankind. For this purpose, he has built his church
on the pillar of truth, he has declared that the gates of
hell, shall not prevail against it, and that he himself,
and his holy spirit, teaching it all truth, shall remain
with it. until the end of the world. Such are the senti-
ments of every true catholic respecting the scripture.
How people entertaining these sentiments of the holy
scripture, can be deemed enemies to scripture, 1 am
at a loss to determine. But thank heaven, we can
shew both from the testimony of our dissenting brethren,
and from the conduct of our church, that the charge is
without foundation.

To you my dissenting brethren, who believe that the
New Testament, contains the true and genuine word
of God, that it contains the words of eternal life, that
it points out to you the means, and the only means, by-
which you can be saved, to you I appeal, and confi-
dently ask you, from whom did you receive those words
of eternal life? You must either profess a profound
ignorance of history, or candidly acknowledge that you
received them from the catholic church. Luther the
father of the reformation, in his Commentary on the
xvi chapter of St, John's Gospel, says, "we are obliged
to yield many things to the papists, that with them, is
the word of God which we received from them, other~
wise we should have known nothing at all about it."
The following questions and answers, put down by
archbishop Wake, in his Commentary on the Catechism
of the Church of England, are also explicit on this
point. "How do you know, what books were written
by these persons the prophets, the apostles, and the
evangelists ? Answer. By the constant and universal
testimony of both the Jewish, and Christian church,
from the former, of whom we received the scriptures of
the Old, from the latter, those of the New Testament.

A3

What think you of the tradition of the church ?
Answer. Could I be sure, that any thing not contained
in the scripture, came down by a certain uninterrupted
tradition from the apostles, I should not except against
it. Nay I do therefore receive the holy scriptures as the
rule of my faith, because they have such a tradition to
warrant me so to do. " I shall now quote a more recent
authority, that of bishop Walker, of the Scottish epis-
copal communion, who, " in his serious expostulations
with the Rev. Edward Craig, observes, «f But, sir, we
cannot afford to give up the church of Rome, as a part
of the christian community. Even. if you (Mr. Craig)
.should deem me an absolute papist, I will yet maintain,
that her testimony (that of the church of Rome) is es-
sential in the successive links of evidence, by which wo
ascertain the authority of the scripture, and make up
with certainty, that faith once delivered to the saints.
These are strong testimonies even of our adversaries, in
favour of the catholic church, respecting the scripture,
nor are the^ without foundation. Every one, that is
acquainted with history, cannot, 1 presume, be ignorant
of the unsettled state of the sacred (1) canon during the
tirst ages of Christianity, and of the doubts, that existed
among some of the early christians, respecting the
authenticity of some of the books, which were after-
wards universally received as canonical, and of the
partial acceptance, and subsequent rejection of others,
that were ascertained to be counterfeit.

The books of the New Testament were written after
the ascension of our Saviour, for various reasons and
on various occasions. The gospels were written, to
satisfy the laudable wishes of mony of the faithful, who

(\) Cation, means a list of the inspired scriptures. Canonical
the same as 6criptunil.

were desirous of being informed of the facts of our
Saviour's life, and of having his admirable lessons im-
pressed on their minds, and also to oppose and confute
the wild conceptions of certain men, who either denied,
or misrepresented some points of the doctrine, or some
facts of our Saviour's life. The Acts of the Apostles,
were written to record the first preaching of the gospel
by the apostles, and the interesting events of the labours
of St. Paul. The epistles were written for the further
instruction of those, who had been converted to Chris-
tianity, to strengthen them in the various duties of
their new calling, and to guard them against false doc-
trine, which deceitful men were endeavouring to propa-
gate. These writings, historical and moral, received
at first a limited circulation, but were gradually, more
and more diffused, and more and more read in the
assemblies of the faithful. When the names of the
authors were known, the authenticity or genuine
character of their writings was admitted, but when the
author was not known, or any doubt prevailed (as did
in regard to the book of Revelations and the epistle to
the Hebrews) some hesitation in admitting them as
genuine, necessarily ensued. —

Besides the four genuine gospels of St. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles by
St. Luke, and the genuine epistles of the apostles, other
writings appeared under the same names, that were
either not genuine or authentic. As these several works
appeared, the pastors of Christ's church, were in pos-
session of an infallible rule, by which they could judge
of the truth of the facts related in them, and of the
soundness of their doctrine. For these pastors were
either the apostles themselves, who had received their
faith from the mouth of Christ, or the disciples or suc-
cessors of the apostles, who were instructed by them in

all truth. When therefore the claim of inspiration was
put forth in favour of any particular writing, they had
only to compare its contents with what they already
knew, that our Saviour and his apostles, had done and
taught. If they found it to correspond, they pro-
nounced it conformable to the truth; and if in addition,
they could trace it to an author of acknowledged inspi-
ration, they moreover pronounced it authentic, and part
of the word of God. On the other hand, if it did not
correspond with what they knew our Saviour and his
apostles had done and taught, they rejected it as false ;
or, though it did correspond, if it could not be traced
to an inspired author, they refused it a place among the
inspired scriptures. The progress however, of these
researches, was in some instances, only slow and deli-
berate. Hence the gospel was preached in several
countries, and christian churches were established, long
before the canon of the written gospel was settled, and
used as a guide for the christian churches. This delay
in settling the sacred canon, is thus satisfactorily ac-
counted for, by Dr. Tomiline, the late protectant
bishop of Winchester, in his Elements of Theology,
vol, 1 , ch. 1 . " The persecutions under which the
professors of Christianity laboured, prevented for many
centuries, any general assembly of christians, for the
purpose of settling the canon of the scripture.*' Ac-
cordingly it was not until the end of the fourth century
that the canon of the scripture was determined. In
the year 397, a catholic council was held at Cartilage
at which the learned and pious St. Augustine assisted.
In this council the canon of the scripture was fixed,
and in fixing the canon, the pastors of the council
were directed by the very same rule of conformity
which the apostles and their disciples had followed.
Those writings whose relations and doctrine this

9

council found to correspond with what they knew, our
Saviour and his apostles had done and taught, and
whose authors they could trace to have been inspired,
those writings this council received and sanctioned
as of supernatural origin, and ranked them in the
number of the books of the scripture. This council in
its forty-seventh canon, under the title of canonical
scriptures, gives us a list of the inspired writings ex«
actly as they were enumerated by the council of Trent
1149 years afterwards (Labbe's councils, torn. ii. p. -
1177, Binias, Caranza, &c.)

Thus you see, my dissenting brethren, that it was
a catholic council, that first fixed the canon of the
holy scriptures. This canon the catholic church has
always carefully preserved, and handed down from
generation to generation, as the sacred deposit of the
written word of God, which was first delivered to her
and it was from her hands, and no other source, my
dissenting brethren, that you first received your
scripture. Hence you see the correctness of Luther's
candid acknowledgement "that had it not been for the
papists, you would have known nothing about the
word of God ;" hence you see the meaning of Dr.
Wake's observation u that he therefore receives the
holy scriptures as a rule of his faith, because tradition
warrants him to do so, although in all other cases he
rejects tradition, '* And lastly you see the justness of
bishop Walker's declaration, "that although you may
call him an absolute papist, for so doing, still he
must candidly acknowledge, that the testimony of the
catholic church is essential in the successive links of
evidence, by which we ascertain the authority of the
scripture, and make up with certainty, that faith once
delivered to the saints.''

But not only the catholic church, but also her
faithful children are and always have been anxious to

10

preserve and to hand down the sacred scripture^
Hence many of her members, have spent a great por-
tion of their time in either copying or translating the
scripture* History bears testimony that the Monks
dedicated a certain part of their time, in learning
those languages which would enable them to read the
written word of God in the original tongues, and
prepare them for the important duty of copying or
translating the sacred volumes for the benefit of man-
kind. Hence Gibbon a well known enemy of catho-
licity declares that a single monastery of Benedictine
Monks, has contributed more to literature, than our
two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge." Again
who, I ask, published the Complutensian (2) poly-
glott? why a catholic cardinal. The Antwerpian poly-
glott ? a catholic king. The Parisian polyglott ? a
catholic gentleman. The first editions of the Sama-
ritan Pentateuch and of the Greek Testament, were
given by catholics. The Greek, the Syriac, the Arabic,
and the ^Ethiopian versions of the Bible, were first
edited by catholics. And are we still to be told, that
the catholic church is an enemy to the sacred scrip-
ture ? she who first settled the canon of the sacred
scriptures, she who has carefully preserved and handed
down to posterity those sacred volumes, she whose
members have been employed in transcribing or trans-
lating them for the good of mankind ?

Yes, some one will perhaps reply ; you are enemies
to the scriptures, because you will not allow the peo-
ple to read them. But, my dissenting brethren be
not too hasty in condemning us on this point, and
remember, that the scripture forbids you to bear false

($) Polyglott means the scripture in various languages. The
first is that of Complutum or Alcala begun in 1502, by Cardinal
Ximenus. See Charles Butler's Hora Biblica, vol. 1 .p. 90,e/ dein.

II

witness against your neighbour. I can confidently
assure you. that there neither is, nor ever was, in the
catholic church a general law prohibiting the use of
the scripture to the common people.

The catholic church, did indeed formerly require
that her members, by way of preparation for the dif-
ficult and important task of reading and understand-
ing the holy scriptures, should have received as much
education as would enable them to read the sacred
books in their original languages, or in the ancient
and venerable Latin version, the fidelity of which she
guarrantees to them ; or in case, they were desirous
of reading it in their own language, she demanded
some attestation of their piety and docility, in order
to prevent their turning (as St Peter declares, many
did in his days, and as daily experience shews
many thousands of Christians constantly do )
this salutary food of souls, into a deadly poison.
At present however the chief pastors have every where
relaxed these disciplinary rules, and the modern
translations of the whole scripture, are upon sale and
open to every one, even in Italy itself, with the ex-
press approbation of the Roman Pontiff. In these
islands, we have an English version of the Bible, in
folio, in quarto, and in octavo forms, against which
our opponents have no other objection to make, ex-
cept that it is too literal, that is too faithful. That
you may form a correct idea of the sentiments of our
church on this subject, I will lay before you a rescript
of Pope Pius VI., addressed to the learned Martini,
archbishop of Turin, on his translation of the holy
scriptures into Italian.

" Pope Pius the sixth.

Beloved Son, health and apostolical
benediction. At a time that a vast number of bad
books, which most grossly attack the catholic religion,

12

are circulated even among the unlearned, to the great
destruction of souls. You judge exceedingly well,
that the faithful should be excited to the reading of
the holy scriptures ; for these are most abundant
sources, that ought to be left open to every one, to
draw from them purity of morals and of doctrine, to
eradicate the errors which are widely disseminated in
these corrupt times. This you have seasonably ac-
complished, as you declare, by publishing the sacred
writings in the language of your country, suitable to
every one's capacity ; especially when yOu shew and
set forth, that you have added explanatory notes,
which being extracted from the holy fathers, preclude
every possible danger of abuse. Thus you have not
swerved, either from the laws of the congregation of
the Index, nor from the constitution published on
this subject by Benedict the XIV. In the mean
time, as a token of our pontifical benevolence, receive
our apostolical benediction, which to you we very af-
fectionately impart. Given at Rome, on the calends of
April, 1778, the fourth year of our Pontificate.

(Signed) Philip Buonamici, Latin Sec.
To our beloved Son, Anthony Martini of Turin."

Pope Pius VII, the immediate successor of Pope
Pius VI, addressed a rescript on the 18th of April
1820, to the catholic bishops in England, earnestly
exhorting them, to confirm the people committed
their spiritual care, in faith and good works; and f<
that purpose, to encourage the people to read boo
of pious instruction, and particularly the holy scrip
tare, in translations approved by ecclesiastical author-
ity, because to those who are well disposed, nothing
can be more consoling, nor more animating than the
reading of the sacred scriptures. AVhenthey are un-
derstood in the ir true sense, tbey serve to confirm the
faith, to support the hope, and to inflame the charity

Ira

R

13

of the true christian. That the catholic bishops, ap-
proved of this rescript and carefully fulfilled its in-
junctions, is evident from the declaration published
and signed by them in Great Britain, May 1820.

Their declaration is the following, "In England
the catholic church is held out as an enemy to the
reading and the circulating of the holy scriptures.
Whereas the catholic church venerates the holy scrip-
tures, as the written part of the word of God ; she
has in all ages, been the faithful guardian of this sa-
cred deposit, she has ever laboured to preserve the
integrity of these inspired writings, and the true sense,
in which they have been universally understood, in all
times, from the apostolic ages. She binds her Clergy
to read and explain to the faithful on Sundays, the
epistle or gospel of the day, or some other part of the
divine law. As to translations of the holy scripture
in modern languages, the catholic church, requires,
that none should be put into the hands of the faithful,
but such as are acknowledged by ecclesiastical author-
ity to be accurate and conformable to the sense of the
originals. There never was a general law of the catho-
lic church prohibiting the reading of authorized trans-
lations of the scripture, but considering that many
by their ignorance and evil dispositions have perverted
the meaning of the sacred text to their own destruc-
tion, the catholic church, has thought it prudent, to
make a regulation that the faithful, should be guided
in this matter by the advice of their respective pastors."

Now my dissenting brethren, I appeal to your can-
dour, and ask you, after this statement, whether you
really believe, that the lower classes of catholics, are
forbidden to read the scriptures ? that the catholic
church, will not allow the faithful, to read any editions
and translations of the scripture, except those that are
approved of by ecclesiastical authority,! most willingly

14

grant. Nor ought she to he blamed for this wise
regulation, the object of which is, to preserve the in-
tegrity of the inspired writings and to put into the
hands of the people, such translations and editions
as are accurate, and conformable to the sense of the
originals. For of what benefit would the scriptures
be in the hands of the lower classes, unless they had
faithful copies of the originals ? would not false trans-
lations, and corrupted copies of the scripture, be ra-
ther an injury than a benefit to the people who would
be unable to distinguish in them the word of God,
from the word of man.

Fortunate would it have been, had the reformed
churches adopted the same or a similar regulation to
that of the catholic church, then, the world would not
have abounded with so many incorrect translations of
the word of God. When the scripture was declared
to be the only rule of faith and obedience, it might
have been expected, that those persons, who proposed
such a rule, would have furnished the people with as
accurate translations as they could. But did they do
so ? let us examine their own testimony on this point,
and then our evidence will be stronger.

Luther was the first who put out a translation,
which was immediately condemned by Osiander and
Zuinglius. Of this translation Zuinglius says Luther
was a foul corrupter and horrible falsifier of God's
word. One who followed the Marcionites and Arians,
that razed out such places of holy writ as were against
him. Thou dost, says he to Luther, corrupt the
word of God, thou art seen to be a manifest and com-
mon corrupter and perverter of the holy scriptures.
How much are wv ashamed of thee, who have hither-
to esteemed thee. Luther soon had an opportunity
of retaliating, upon Ins disciple Zuinglius, for the
censure the latter, had cast upon his translations.

'

Id

When Proscheverus, the Zuinglian printer of Zurich,,
sent him a copy of the Zuinglian translation, Luther
rejected it, and sent it back to him, calling at the same
time the Zuinglian divines, in matters of divinity,
"fools, asses, antichrists,deceiversand of an ass-like un-
derstanding.'' Of the translation given by (Ecolampa-
dius and the divines of Basil, Beza says " that it is in
many places wicked and altogether differing from the
mind of the Holy Ghost.'' He also condemns the
translation ofCastilio, as being " sacrilegious, wicked,-
and heathenish."

We should naturally expect that Beza, after thus
reproving the translations of CEcolampadius and
Castilio, would himself have produced an immaculate
one ; but the learned Molineus observes of his trans-
lation, that " he actually changes the text" of which
he gives several instances. In sua Translat. Nov.
Testi. part 20. Castilio also wrote a ivh?le book
against Beza's corruptions, and yet he adds : " I will
not note all his errors, for that would require too
large a volume."

Of Calvin's translation, the learned Molineus thus
speaks ib part 12. ' Calvin in his harmony, makes
the text of the Gospel to leap up and down, he uses
violence to the letter of the Gospel, and besides this,
adds to the text." Such is the account of the trans-
lations of the foreign reformers given among them-
selves, 1-et us now turn to the translations of the
English reformers. The character of the English
protestant translations, until the year 1660. is thus
described by De Israeli. " Our English Bibles were
suffered to be so corrupted that no books ever swarm-
ed with such innumerable errata (errors). These
errata unquestionably were, in a great part, voluntary
omissions, interpolated passages, and meanings, re-
formed and forged for certain purposes." In November

B2

16

1822, the Irish society passed the following con-
demnatory resolution of the Irish translations. "Re-
solved that after a full enquiry the members of this
society feel satisfied that material and very numerous
errors exist in the version of the New Testament,
edited by the British and Foreign Bible society. *
According1 to Mr. Piatt, thirty-five variations were
discovered in the first ten pages, of which seven were
considered to be material. " This proportion in a
Testament of four hundred pages, says, the Hon. and
Rev. Mr. Percival, gives fourteen hundred variations
and two hundred and eighty material errors in a sin-
gle volume." The Monthly London Review for Feb-
ruary, 1833, in speaking of the Pamphlet of Thomas
Curtis, of Grove-house, Islington, on his discoveries of
the falsification of the Bible says: " In this compa-
ritively brief pamphlet, we find the exposition of one
of the most singular deceptions to which the world
has yet been exposed. The imposition is nothing short
of a downright falsification of the text of Scripture.
Need we add a syllable more to rouse the attention
of the thinking community/' The Review then pro-
ceeds to state the means by which Mr. Curtis was led
to the discovery of the falsification of the sacred text.
First, " Mr. Curtis's attention was called to the sub-
ject of errors in the Bible, by the accidental discovery
of various discrepancies, which occurred in the copies,
which were read in his family. He found it a good
method of securing attention amongst them, to cause
each in his family, and of his pupils, to read a verse
or two in succession, and scarcely passed a single day,
without his witnessing between the text in the modern
university Bibles, and in those which had been for a
long time in his possession, a very alarming amount
of varience." Secondly, " Mr Curtis had very strong
reasons to be discontented with the plan of publication,

17

on which the scriptures had been settled by govern-
ment. He says, that the office of printing the Bible>
was given as a bonne bouche to Mr. Reeves a barrister,
and he, not being acquainted with the necessary art,
actually farmed out to the highest bidder, at a certain
rate per annum, his right to the printing of God's
word. The printers, whom Mr. Curtis personally
knew, were men of quite a second order in their trade,
who employed their own workmen and stationer.5'
Thirdly, Mr. Curtis obtained the knowledge of another
singular fact, which threw still more light on the
infamous system of printing the holy scriptures, which
had so long prevailed. About twenty years ago, an
intelligent reader, at one of the printing offices, where
the Bible was in a course of printing, took the trouble
of drawing up a specification of a number of gross
errors, which he found in the very copy, that had
been selected by the proper authorities, as the stand-
ard of correctness, to which he was to adhere. The
errors pointed out by the penetrating reader, amount-
ed to no less, than seven hundred and thirty-one,
and these occured in the various chapters, from the
beginning of Genesis to the end of Jeremiah, the
Review then gives some of these errors. We find in
the same Review, page 220, "that in April 1832, a
memorial was addressed on the subject, to the vice-
chancellors of the universities of Cambridge and Ox-
ford, and the other delegates of the Clarendon press.
It was signed by the following gentlemen : —

J. Bennet, D. D. J. Fletcher, D. D.

J. Blackburn, E. Henderson,

George Collison, J. P. Smith, D. D.

F. A, Cox, L. L. D. J. Townley, D. D.

Thomas Curtis, R. Winter, D. D.

The names attached to this memorial, are too res-
pectable not to communicate a great decree of import-

B 3

18

ance to any statement to which they are affixed.
This memorial states, " that the modern Bibles issued
from the press of the university of Oxford, abounded
with deviations from the authorized version of King
James the I. — That though some of these errors were
merely typographical, yet of those that were inten-
tional, the number was of a serious amount — that in the
book of Genesis, there were upwards of eight hundred
errors ; in the Psalms, six hundred, in the gospel of
St. Matthew, four hundred and sixteen, and in about
the fourth part of the Bible, an aggregate of two
thousand nine hundred and thirty-one.'*

The authorities which I have quoted, are not
catholic, but authors of different persuasions and of
the first eminence. Of course they will for that rea-
son, have greater weight with the public, and espe-
cially when they see them giving evidence against
themselves. My intention for quoting them, was not
to throw any disrespect on my dissenting brethren,
but merely to shew them, from the testimony of
many respectable persons of their own creed, that,
the world, since the time of the reformation, has
been bewildered with many erroneous, imperfect, and
mistranslated Bibles, and it was to prevent these and
similar false translations from falling into the hands of
the faithful, that the catholic church has adopted the
wise regulation, that the unlettered of her members,
should read no copies or translations, except what
she approved of as correct and conformable to the
sense of the originals. But those translations, that
are correct and conformable to the sense of the origi-
nals, she wishes to be dispersed through every village
and cottage of the christian universe, and calls her
ministers to unite with her in the distributing of
them. Hence many of her catholic bishops in Great
Britain, have been the instruments of distributing

19

two and three thousand copies of the scripture in
their respective diocesses. For the catholic church
considers it particularly fortunate and providential,
that Christianity (although it was established without
the aid of the written word) should have its annals
and its written doctrines, that the faithful should
possess an authentic account of the first diffusion of
their faith, and of the titles of their future expecta-
tions, that amidst the trophies of error and the
monuments of incertitude and incredulity, truth also,
should equally and still more have its trophies and
its monuments, that while books without end or
measure, attest the thoughts of men, there should be
one at least to attest the thoughts of God, to bear
testimony to a variety of facts and instructions, which
powerfully help to enlighten the understanding, and
to move the heart, to present to us truths the most
sublime, and injunctions the most important, for the
regulation of the church, for the order of society, and
for the conduct and sanctification of individuals. In
short she is ^perfectly sensible of the truth of St.
Paul's observation. " All scripture is given by inspi-
ration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness, in
order that the man of God may be made more
perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good
works. '' Such are the sentiments of the catholic
church on the distribution of the scriptures. I hope
what I have said, will convince every reasonable per-
son, *\hat the lower classes of catholics are allowed,
and even exhorted to read correct translations of the
written word of God, and that the catholic church
has acted a wise part in restricting them to the peru-
sal of such as really contain what the sacred Penman
first delivered in those sacred volumes.

" Yes, some one will perhaps say, this is all very

20

plausible. You may pretend that you allow the peo-
ple to read the scriptures, but you cannot deny that
you do not allow the people to interpret them accord-
ing to their own private interpretation.'' My dissent-
ing brethren, I must again beg of you not to condemn
us, before you have heard our doctrine on this point,
and the grounds of our doctrine on this point. If in
explaining the scriptures the interpretation of an in-
dividual be not at variance with the tenets of the
catholic church, the right of an individual to believe
and to possess those interpretations, neither is, nor
ever was disputed by the catholic church. But the
case is different, when his private interpretation
differs from that of the church, or when she speaks
and decides; in that case, private judgment must
yield to authority. This distinction between private
judgment as opposed to church authority, and not op-
posed to church authority, I must beg of you to bear
in mind, and you will find that the same distinction
is admitted and acted upon with regard to the laws of
England. Every Englishman is permitted to inter-
pret the law of England in the sense he thinks proper,
provided his interpretation be not at variance with
legal authority, but if his interpretation be at variance
with legal authority, and he act according to his own
interpretation, then in the eye of the law, he is con-
sidered criminal, and punished according to the nature
of his crime. And why ? Because the nation has
appointed lawyers, magistrates, and judges to be the
interpreters of her law, wisely judging them to be the
most fit persons, from their superior knowledge and
experience, to understand the sense of her laws, and
to administer accordingly justice to the people. Were
the nation to adopt a different plan, what would be
the consequences? Were our gracious and worthy
sovereign to order a copy of the law of the land to be

21

presented to each individual, with an injunction, that
every individual was to be the interpreter and judge
of its signification, that no one had any right to res-
trict his opinion, or controul his decisions, but that
every individual had liberty to examine the law and
to regulate accordingly (without appealing to any
tribunal) the whole of his conduct, and his respective
claims to justice and property. Need I inform you
what would be the consequence of such a regulation?
Under its sanction every thing would become person- -
al and individual, and every thing Would become right,
which each individual might think right. All order,
justice, and regularity would be at an end, and
England (which has been so long the admiration of
Europe for her political regulations) would soon be-
come a scene of confusion, anarchy, and revolution.

Now, my dissenting brethren, if you are not allowed
to explain the law of the land as you think proper,
but are obliged to sacrifice your judgment when it is
at variance with that of those who are appointed to
explain the law. Why, let me ask you, do you con-
demn the catholics for acting on the very same prin-
ciple with regard to the law of God ? If a person,
who was summoned before the magistrates for mis-
conduct, were to be found guilty, and he were to
answer in his defence, that the magistrates had no
business to condemn him, that he understood the
law of the land as well as they, and had as much
right to explain it as they had, and that although
their interpretation of the law might differ from his,
still they had no right to condemn him; because every
Englishman was allowed to explain the law of the
land as he pleased, and to regulate his conduct by
his own explanation of the law. What would the
magistrates think of such an individual? Would they
not consider him either not in his senses, or guilty of

22

very great presumption, and inform him, that such
ideas of the law of the land were highly preposterous,
and very dangerous to the constitution. And yet this
very principle, is admitted, approved of, and even ac-
ted upon, with regard to the law of God. Hence
now-a-days, every individual, however simple, illiter-
ate, or ignorant he may be, or whatever may be his
rank, condition or circumstances, is allowed to inter-
pret the scriptures (the law of God) as he pleases,
and is permitted to form from it his religious tenets,
however absurd, presumptuous, or contradictory they
may be, whilst the catholic church, because she will
not allow her members to act on so ridiculous a prin-
ciple, is condemned as an enemy to the scripture,
and represented as the tyrant of the religious tenets
of her members.

I most willingly however grant, that it is not always
correct, to judge of the ordinances of God, from those
of men. Let us then see, what are the ordinances of
God on this subject. Come my dissenting brethren,
let us open the new Testament, and let us see, what
the word of God says on the subject of private inter-
pretation, St. Peter in his second epistle, c. 3. v. 16, in-
forms us " that in the epistle of St. Paul, there are
many things hard to be understood, which the un-
learned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, to their own destruction. '' Now, how can
any man that depends entirely on his own private
interpretation be certain he is not of this number ?
He may think he is not, but he can have no certainty.
Nay, if he will only sincerely reflect, he cannot
reasonably think that he is not of the number men-
tioned by the apostles ; for those who follow their
own interpretation as their rule, are perpetually dis-
agreeing among themselves, and giving contrary and
often contradictory interpretations to the same text.

23

How then, can he reasonably think, that his private
interpretation is right, when he hears it condemned
by numbers of others, who think themselves as well
qualified to understand, and interpret the scriptures
as himself. How then, some one will perhaps ask, is
he to know that he is right ? What is to be his guide?
Why, no other than that which our Saviour has ap-
pointed. Our Saviour knew, as well as St. Peter,
that in the scriptures there are many things hard to
be understood, which the unlearned, if left to their
own private interpretation, would explain to their
own destruction, and therefore He ordained his min-
isters to be the interpreters and teachers of his divine
word, and ordered the people to be obedient to them>
and to receive her divine doctrine from their mouths.
Hence he declares that as he himself was sent by his
heavenly father, to preach the gospel, Luke c. 4. i\
18, so he also sent his apostles, "As the father has
sent me, I also send you." John c. 20. v. 21. For
this purpose he revealed to them all divine truths,
*' All things, says he, whatsoever I have heard of my
Father, I have made known to you.'' John c. 15, v.
15. After this he gave them a commission to teach
the same to all nations, " Go ye says he, into the
whole world, and preach the gospel to every crea-
ture/' " He that believeth and is baptized, shall be
saved, but he that believeth not, shall be damned."
Mark c. 16, v. 15, 16. The same commission is re-
peated in St. Matthew, " Go ye, therefore, and teach
all nations, teaching them to observe all things, what-
ever I have commanded you, and behold I am with
you, all days even to the consummation of the world."
c. 28, v. 19, 20. When our Saviour gave this com-
mission to his apostles, he at the same time, imposed
on mankind a strict obligation to hear and learn his
divine word from the apostles, well knowing a com-

24

mission to preach, and the obligation of hearing and
learning were intimately connected, and that one was
useless without the other. Hence he says to his
apostles, " He that heareth you, heareth me, and he
that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that des-
piseth me, depiseth him that sent me.'' Luke c. 10.
v. 16. "Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear
your words, going forth out of that house or city
shake off the dust from your feet, Amen I say to you
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and
Gomorrha than for that city." Matthew c. 10, v. 14.
But whilst our Saviour imposes on mankind, the
necessity of hearing his apostles, he knew, that jus-
tice required he should pledge his infallible word,
that they should never lead the people astray, nor
teach any false doctrine. For this reason, he pro-
mises that he will send down his holy spirit upon the
apostles, to teach them all truth, that he and his holy
spirit, will remain with them for ever, teaching them
all truth, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against them. John 15. Matthew 16. From all
these texts, it must be evident to every reasonable
mind, that our Saviour appointed his apostles to be
the ministers of his word. And gave them a power
to preach and teach his doctrine to mankind ; that he
at the same time, commanded mankind to receive
his doctrine from them, and denounced the most
severe punishments against those, who despised or
refused to listen to their instructions; that this obli-
gation of submitting to their instructions, required
that there should not be the least possibility of error,
or deception to be apprehended from them ; accord-
ingly, the gates of hell will never be permitted to prevail
against their instructions ; the divine spirit is to pre-
side over them, to teach them all truth ; and their
doctrine, always incorruptible, shall be perpetuated

from age to age, with the world for its boundaries and
time for its duration. Such is the ordinance and
command of our divine Legislature, Jesus Christ.

That this absolute, and infallible authority of
preaching and teaching, was to be limited to the
persons of the apostles, and to the period of their
ministry, and was not to be extended to their succes-
sors and to future ages, is I know the opinion of
many. Bnt if they would mark well the words by
which the transmission of those powers, and the con-
tinuance of them, are forcibly delivered by our
Saviour, and if they would consider the vigilance of
the apostles in choosing faithful ministers to succeed
them, I am sure they would soon cease, to entertain
such an opinion. Our Saviour tells his apostles " that
they are to go and teach all nations, and that he will
be with them, even to the consummation of the world,
and that the spirit of truth, shall remain with them
for ever/' Now as the apostles did not teach all
nations in their own persons, and were not to con-
tinue on earth till the end of the world, it is manifest,
that the commission was not to be confined to their
persons, but it was to be given to their office, that is,
to them and their successors in office, who shall con-
tinue to the end of the world, and complete the work
of teaching all nations, which the apostles first began.
It was the apostles, therefore, in the first place, and
those who were to succeed them in future ages, until
the end of the world, that our Saviour appointed his
ministers, bis ambassadors, his representatives to
continue and consummate his work. That this, was
actually the intention of our divine Legislature, we
learn in positive and distinct terms from the apostle
St. Paul. The passage which I am going to quote,
from his Epistle to the Ephesians, deserves particular
attention. " And he gave some apostles, and some

26

prophets, and other some pastors, and doctors for
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the min-
istry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." " That
henceforth we may be no more children tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by
which they lie in wait to deceive/ c. 4, v. 1 1, and 14-
St. Paul, you see, here reveals to us, Jesus Christ's
positive intention, in giving his apostles, and after
them, succeeding ministers designated by the apostle
under the name of pastors and doctors. The apostle
assures us, that Jesus Christ has given us the ministry
of the pastors. That being strengthened by their
instructions, we may not float about in uncertainty,
like children, who, when left to themselves, go as
chance directs them, and that we may not be "tossed
to and fro with every wind of doctrine." Hence we
see the apostles, careful and vigilant in appointing
others to succeed them in the ministry of preaching
and teaching. St. Paul ordained St. Timothy to be
a pastor of the church, a successor of the apostles,
and conjures him faithfully to discharge the duty of
preaching. " I charge thee before God and Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead, by
his coming and his kingdom : preach the word,
be instant in season, out of season reprove, entreat,
rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.'' ii. Tim. c. 4,
v. 1, 2. He also orders the same Timothy to appoint
others to succeed him in the same office of teaching.
" The things, says he, which thou hast heard of me
before many witnesses, the same commend to faithful
men, who shall be fit to teach others also.'' ii. Tim.
c. 2, v. 2. The same apostle also writes to Titus,
" For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou should-
e&t set in order the things that are wanting, and
should est ordain priests in every city, as I appointed

27

thee." Titus c. 1, v. 5. "Now there were in the
church at Antioch prophets, and doctors, and as
they were ministering- to the Lord, and fasting, the
Holy Ghost said to them, separate Saul and Barnabas
for the work, whereof I have taken them, then they
fasting and praying and imposing their hands over
them sent them away, and they preached the word of
God in the synagogues of the Jews/' Acts c. 13.
But whilst the apostles, are careful to choose others
to succeed them in the office of preaching and teach-"
ing, they at the same time are careful to inculcate to
the people the same lessons of obedience to their
pastors, which our Saviour had inculcated in their
regard. Hence St. Paul says, " Obey your prelates,
and be subject to them, for they watch, as being to
render an account of your souls." Heb. c. 13, v. 17.
On all these strong passages of scripture, the catholic
church founds her right to restiict her members in a
certain degree in the interpretation of the word of
God. From these passages, she believes and teaches
that the apostles were chosen by Jesus Christ to
preach and teach his doctrine to mankind, that man-
kind were bound also to hear and receive the doctrines
of the apostles, because they were sent by Almighty
God for that purpose, she also believes and teaches,
that the apostles were to be succeeded, by other
ministers endowed with the same power of preaching
and teaching, and that the people were also equally
bound to hear them, and to be subject to them in
all matters regarding faith, and lastly, she believes
that this ordinance, was intended by our divine Sa-
viour, to continue through all ages, to the end of the
world. For these reasons, she requires her members,
to. receive their doctrine from her pastors, and to be
subject to them in all matters regarding faith. She

allows them indeed, to read and interpret the scrip-
C 2

2S

tures, but if their private interpretation differs from
that of the whole body of her pastors, she then, insists
on them either renouncing those opinions, or ceasing
to be her members.

Nor let any one suppose, that the interpretation
of these pastors, is the private opinion of a few indi-
viduals, no, it is the unanimous opinion, of the great
body of the pastors of our church, spread throughout
the whole world ; although these pastors are very nu-
merous, and spread throughout all nations, and differ
from each other, in their country, language, manners,
government, and even in their opinions on other sub-
jects, still with regard to Articles of Faith, they all
teach one and the same doctrine, one and the same
truths ; and the method which these pastors observe
.in declaring these truths, is admirably calculated for
preserving this unanimity of opinion. For when the
pastors of our church declare any article of religion,
,they never declare it, as their own private opinion, or
iis what lhey believe on their own private judgment
but they all protest, and declare that what they teach
their people, is precisely the same without addition or
diminution, which they received as the word of God
from their forefathers. Their predecessors from whom
.they had learned these truths, declared the same, and
pledged their salvation for the truth of this declaration
and every preceeding generation did the same, till we
arrive at the Apostles themselves. All the pastors in
all ages assure us that they held it a damnable sin
to add to or diminish one single tittle of the faith
once delivered to the saints by Jesus Christ and his
apostles. Does not this unanimity of opinion in so
delicate a matter as religion in which experience
shews how jealous men commonly are of their opini-
ons, evidently shew that it must be the work of the
Almighty ? For what but an over-ruling providence

29

could keep such a multitude of men united in religion,
who differ from each other in so many points ? Now
when all these pastors agree in giving us the same
interpretation of the scripture, and in declaring to us
any truth of religion, is it not infinitely more certain
to follow their direction, than to trust to our own
private judgments in opposition to theirs? Would
not a man he considered very foolish, who should
prefer his own interpretation of the civil law of the
land, when it was opposed to the unanimous decisions
of the whole body of lawyers and judges. Now my
dissenting brethren, I ask you to tell me candidly,
whether you think there is any thing unreasonable
in this restriction, and regulation of our church, with
regard to the interpretation of the scripture ? You
must acknowledge, that this regulation is sanctioned
by the restrictions, that are imposed upon you with
regard to the interpretation of the law of the land.
And that it is also sanctioned in the strongest manner
by innumerable and plain passages from the holy
scriptures. Why then should you, any longer con-
demn our church for an ordinance, which is founded
on the very principle, that is the support and pillar
of the wise laws of our country; an ordinance, that i«
enforced in the most powerful and plainest manner
in the word of God. Before I leave this subject,
allow me to call your attention to what is passing
around us. Whilst the civil law, admirably maintains
its dominion over all people without distinction, and
preserves peace and order through society, the evan-
gelical law is abandoned to systems, opinions, nay
even to the fanaticism of any individual, who chooses
to erect himself into an expounder, and preacher of
the gospel, and who possesses talent enough to gain a
hearing and to procure an audience. Every where by

the side of the established church, are to he found:
C 3

30

rival churches, dissenting chapels, temples, strangers
to one another, domestic meetings, where the gospel
is explained in different ways, and doctrines expound-
ed in different and contrary senses. In short, this
country presents a confused medley of every sort, and
every form of worship ; a perfect chaos of doctrines,
in which each one plunges and tosses, dogmatising
and disclaiming as fancy or feeling direct. In con-
sequence of this confusion of opinion men know not
whom to listen to, what to believe, or what to do.

This confusion of religious opinions, and doctrines
commenced with the reformation, and has continued
and daily increased ever since. No sooner had, Lu-
ther the father of the reformation, set up private
judgment as the interpreter of the sense of the scrip-
ture, than his disciples, proceeding on the same
principles, undertook to prove from plain texts of the
Bible that his own doctrine was erroneous, and that
the reformation itself wanted reforming. Carlostad,
Zuinglius, GEcolompadius, Muncer, and many more
of his followers, wrote and preached against him, and
against each other, with the utmost virulence, whilst
each of them professed to ground his doctrine on the
written word of God. Carlostad was Luther's first
disciple of distinction, and declared against Luther
in 1521. Zuinglius began the reformation in Swit-
zerland some time after Luther began it in Germany,
but taught such doctrine, that Luther termed him a
Pagan, and despaired of his salvation. CEcolompadius
was a Brigittine Friar of the monastry of St. Lawrence
near Augsburgb, but soon quilted the cloister, and
adopted the sentiments of Zuinglius, respecting the
real presence, in preference to those of Luther. His
death was sudden, and Luther asserted that he was
strangled by the devil. Muncer was also the disciple
of Luther, and founder of the Anabaptists. He

31

maintained that the property of the wicked belonged
to the just, and wrote to several princes of Germany,
requiring them to give up their possessions to him.
He soon after marched at the head of forty-thousand
of his followers to enforce this requisition. In vain
did Luther claim a superiority over these and other
of his disciples ; in vain did he denounce hell fire
against them, in vain did he threaten to turn back to
the catholic religion. He had put the Bible, in each
man's hands to explain it for himself. This principle
his followers soon adopted and turned it against himself
and each other, until their contradictions and discords,
became so numerous and scandalous, as to overwhelm
the thinking part of them with grief and confusion.
Capito, minister of Strasburg writing to Farel, pas-
tor of Geneva, says, " God has given me to under-
stand, the mischief we have done, by our precipitancy
in breaking with the pope, &c. The people say to
us, I know enough of the gospel, I can read it for
myself, I have no need of you." In the same tone,
Dudith writes to his friend Beza, " Our people are
carried away with every wind of doctrine. If you
know, what their religion is to-day, you cannot tell,
what it will be to-morrow. In what single point are
those churches, which have declared war against the
pope, agreed among themselves ? There is not one
point which is not held by some of them, as an article
of faith, and by others, as an impiety." Calvin also
writes to Melancthon as follows, " It is of great im-
portance, that the divisions which subsist among us,
should not be known to future ages ; for nothing can
be more ridiculous, than that we, who have broken
off from the whole world, should have agreed so ill
among ourselves, from the very beginning of the
reformation." Thus you see that this variety and
confusion of religious opinions and creeds, commenced

32

with the reformation, and took it3 origin from the
principle, of each man being allowed to explain the
scripture as he pleased. From that time, this prin-
ciple has divided its followers into numberless sects,
has multiplied error, and has taken away religious
certainty. That this principle, has produced num-
berless sects, is evident from the history of the re*
formed churches; that it has multiplied error, is also
equally certain ; for all these sects, differ from each
other, in points of doctrine, and consequently, since
truth cannot be at variance with itself, they must
among them, teach a variety of errors ; and that this
principle has taken away all religious certainty, is
evident from the want of any rule or authority to de-
termine between them. Suppose for example, that
you search the scriptures for your own satisfaction,
and that after a long and sincere enquiry, you make
choice of one of the reformed creeds, in preference to
the other, still what security can you have? Other
men, as sincere as yourself, blessed with equal
talents, and not inferior in judgment, have made a
similar enquiry, and have come to quite an opposite
result. What reason have you to believe, that you
alone are right, and that they are wrong? But you
will perhaps tell me, that this variety of opinion, is
of no consequence, and that your differences, are not
very material. I will suppose that you were to come
to my chapel, for several Sundays, and I will also
suppose, that the first Sunday, I told you that there
was one God, and in this one God three persons; the
next Sunday, I told you that there was no such thing
as three persons in God, but that there was only one
God. Another Sunday, I told you that Jesus Christ
was really God, and really man, the following Sun-
day, I told you that he was no such thing as God,
but he was only a mere man. On the fifth Sunday,

33

I told you that faith alone without good works, would
save you. On the sixth, I told you that faith alone
would not save you, and that it must be joined with
good works. On the seventh Sunday, I told you that
there were seven sacraments, on the eight, that there
were only two sacraments, and on the ninth Sunday,
I told you that there were no such thing, as either
seven sacraments or two, but that there were no sacra-
ments at all. What would you think of me ? Why
of course you would think and justly too, that my
doctrine was not worthy of credit, and what would
you think, if some of my congregation told you, that
the differences I taught were not of much consequence,
and that Jesus Christ, and the scripture, taught all
these differences ? Of course, you would conclude,
that my congregation were not blessed with a very
great share of common sense. Let any one enter the
different places of worship in a town, and he will find,
all the different points of doctrine which I have men-
tioned, are taught as the doctrine of Jesus Christ or
of the scriptures. Now if you would not believe that
these different points are the doctrine of Jesus
Christ or of the scriptures, if you heard them taught
by one man, will you be so good as to shew me how
they became. the doctrine of Jesus Christ, or of the
scripture, by being taught in different places, and by
different men. In my ideas, truth must be always
the same, whether it is taught in one or different
places, by one, or by different men. And of course
as the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of
the scripture, are the doctrine of truth, they must be
always the same, whether they are taught in one or
different places, by one or by different men. Let
not any one imagine, that I have been induced by
any unchristian feelings, towards the different sects of
the present day, to speak on this subject No, for

34

all my dissenting brethren, I entertain the most sin-
cere sentiments of charity, and my earnest wish is,
that we may all see, and embrace the doctrine of
Jesus Christ and his holy gospel, that united in the
same faith, hope, and charity, we might form one
and the same flock, and laying aside all mutual ani-
mosities, we may be joined in one common league for
our king, our country, and our laws. My only object
for speaking so strongly on private interpretation,
was to shew you the folly of admitting it as a prin-
ciple of religion, to shew you that as long as this
principle is admitted and acted upon, there will never
be any unity of faith, " but that men will be tossed
to and fro with every wind of doctrine.'' For as the
poet justly remarks

As long as words a different sense will bear,
And each may be his own interpreter,
Our airy faith, will no foundation find,
The word's a weather cock, for every wind.

Nor let it be supposed that I wish to hint at the
future destiny of any of the individuals of these sects.
Respecting the future state of those, who have formed
their creed in this manner, it is not for mortal man to
determine. The great searcher of hearts is the only
judge, to whom such judgments belong. I pass sen-
tence of condemnation on no man, however remote
he may be from the true faith, but hope that his
opposition, is truly the effect of conviction, and that
his conviction is not an obstinate adherence to opi-
nions, which he might, and ought to have discovered
to be erroneous. But at the same time, let me entreat
every individual to remember, that his eternal interest
is of far more value, than his temporal. " What will
it avail a man, says our Saviour, if he gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul.'' Let him therefore be
sincere, in his search of the truth, let him beg of God

35

to give him grace to know the truth, and strength to
embrace it, in spite of every opposition. Let him act
in this manner, and there is no doubt, that in the end,
he will find the truth. For our Saviour has said, " Ask
and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you."

By the observations, that I haVe made in these few
pages, I have endeavoured to shew the public, in a
short, and I hope plain manner, the real doctrine of
the catholic church, respecting the scriptures. I have
shewn, that the catholic church is by no means an
enemy to the scriptures, but on the contrary, that she
venerates them as the word of God, carefully preserves
them as the sacred deposit first delivered to her, and
has been the means by which they have been handed
down to the present generation. I have also shewn
the public, that the catholic church is most anxious
that her members should read the scriptures, and urges
her ministers to exhort the people often to read them,
being sensible, that if the scriptures are properly un-
derstood, and read with proper dispositions, they are
calculated to strengthen the faith, to increase the hope,
and animate the charity of the christian ; but at the
same time, she is anxious that the faithful should have
authentic copies of the scriptures, which contain the
sense of the original, and therefore she orders her
ministers to see that none, but what are approved by
her as correct, are put into the hands of the people.
For of what use is the scripture, unless it be a faithful
copy, of what the sacred penman inspired by the
Almighty, first delivered in the sacred volumes ? And
lastly, I have shewn, that although the catholic church
puts a certain restriction on her members, with regard
to the explanation of the scriptures, still it is a res-
triction which common sense dictates, it is a restriction

36

which is imposed on every Englishman with regard to
the laws of his country, and it is a restriction which is
strongly enjoined by the word of God. Such, my dis-
senting brethren, is the doctrine of the catholic church,
respecting the scriptures; a doctrine very different from
what you had imagined, and had been led to suppose
was held b^ the catholic church on the written word
of God; a doctrine, which if you will only be candid
and sincere, you must acknowledge is founded on the
dictates of common sense, and what is still more strong,
on the very word of God itself.

I cannot refrain from making here a few remarks on
the means which have been used to lower, and even
debase the catholics in the estimation of the public.
The first means is, misrepresentations and calumnious
statements of our doctrine, the second (which is a
natural consequence of the first) is misconceptions of
our doctrine, and the third is, blaming the catholic
religion for the vices of its members. I have often
thought it strange, passing strange, but at the same
time very hard, that in England, the catholics are not
allowed the faculty of understanding their own belief.
Of the thousands of declaimers against popery, with
whom this island abounds, there is not one, who does
not appear, to claim a more accurate knowledge of the
catholic doctrine, than the very catholics themselves.
It is in vain, that we disclaim the odious tenets, they
impute to us; in vain that we appeal to our professions
of faith, and to the testimony of our church. Our
complaints are disregarded, and our protestations
treated with contempt; the obstinacy of our adversaries
will yield neither to argument nor authority, objections
that have been a thousand times refuted, are again
confidently brought forward, as demonstrations of our
folly and impiety ; and the misrepresentations of

37

prejudiced men, are eagerly received with the veneration
due to simple unvarnished truth. You have often, I
have no doubt, my dissenting brethren, heard or read
with horror the long catalogue of crimes and abomina-
tions, which is branded upon us, by our charitable
enemies. You have heard or read, the series of crimes
of idolatry, and blasphemy, and sacrilege, and intoler-
ance, and bigotry, and mummery, and superstition,
and ignorance, and rebellion, and many other pretty
words of this kind. You perhaps stood aghast, at the
recital of these abominations, your blood boiled with
indignation against the professors of such a horrid creed,
and your zeal for religion, led you to hope, that the
justice of the Almighty, would ere long overtake the
monsters of such a creed. But my dissenting brethren,
do you not know that abuse is no argument, declama-
tion no evidence, accusation no verdict. Let people,
first state our doctrine fairly and correctly, let them
state, what we really believe and teach, and not what
they erroneously suppose we believe and teach; let them
do this, and then let them prove from our doctrine,
that we are idolators, let them prove we are blasphem-
ers, let them prove that popery is a monsterous com-
pound of superstition, rebellion, and the revolting
assemblage of anti-social, anti-christian, and anti-
scriptural principles. Let them do this, then will I
right heartily, join in the cry of "no popery \v then
will I exhort my congregation, to fly from it with
abhorrence, and to hang out at their doors " NO
POPERY," in large letters, as a caution to the un-
wary, and as a scare-crow to the papists. If the
catholics can be proved to be rebels, blasphemers,
enemies to society, to religion, and to scripture, then,
in the name of justice, hold them up to public execra-
tion, brand them with infamy, scout them from society,

38

but not until it can be proved ; no, I ask it in the
name of justice, I ask it in the name of Englishmen.
Were the abominable tenets, imputed to us, the real
tenets of the catholic church, I would not be a catholic
a single minute. Allow us however an equal (and we
may modestly ask it) a superior knowledge of our
religion to yourselves, and with this knowledge, we can
confidently inform the public, that the countenance
of the real doctrine of the catholic church, has been
unjustly blackened, and its features, distorted by mis-
representations, and base and calumnious statements,
and that a vast proportion of the people, are as little
acquainted, with the real doctrine of the catholic church,
as the vulgar are with the peculiar tenets of Mahomet
and his followers. For the truth of this assertion,
1 need only appeal to the public on the subject,
which has been the object of this pamphlet. Before
you read this plain statement, how many of you, had
been led to suppose, that the catholic church was an
enemy to the scriptures, that she would not allow the
people to read them, or even have them in their houses, but
that she kept them locked up from the people in an
unknown language. And yet you see, that these ideas
are as different from our real doctrine on the scripture,
as darkness is from light. Were you to examine our
tenets on other points, you would also find, that what
we really believe and teach, and what you suppose we
believe and teach, is as different as the doctrine of Jesus
Christ is from that of Satan. (3)

(.3) Whoever wishes to become acquainted with the real tenets
of the catholic church, i.ccd only read Dr. Milner's End of
Religious Controversy, "or, bishop Hay's Sincere and Devout
Christian." The character of Dr. Milner, both as a scholar, a
divine, and a christian, is too well known to the public to need
any comment. Bishop Hay was a native of Edinburgh, and was

30

But do not imagine, that I am blaming the general-
ity of the public for this ignorance of our religion, or
that I am any ways surprised at it. No, considering
what has been the state of things, I cannot conceive
how it could have been otherwise. For these misrepre-
sentations and false statements of our doctrine, are
often made by very respectable persons, and often de-
livered to the people, either from the pulpit, or in
tracts, and books, which either are or profess to be
written by learned men, and sincere members of society.
Hearing these statements, and accusations made by
persons, that either know, or ought to know the truth,
and in places of worship, were nothing but the truth
should be spoken, the people very naturally conclude,
that ail that is said against the poor benighted papists
must be true. These misconceptions of our doctrine,
are also formed or strengthened by the reading of novels
and travels which are nearly all of them, filled with
pretended descriptions of catholicity. As these books,
are very numerous, and their narratives often enter-
taining, they are in the hands of almost every one, and
are almost universally read. Although they are written
by a set of men, who, in general, know no more of
our religion, than so many children, men who have

descended from a branch of the noble house of Tweddale. He
was brought up a protestant, and educated for the medical pro-
fession, and made rapid progress in his medical studies. At the
age of twenty he became a catholic, and shortly after, dedicated
himself to the ecclesiastical state. He died at Aquhorties near
Aberdeen, on the loth of October 1811, in the eighty- third year
of his age, and forty-third of his episcopal dignity, highly esteemed
for his talents and his worth. Whoever will read his Sincere and
Devout Christian, or Dr. Milner's end of Religious Controversy,
will there find the real doctrine of the catholic church, and he
will also find that her doctrine is supported in the strongest man-
ner by the word of God, and the dictates of common sense.
D 2

40

never given themselves the trouble to ascertain our
real tenets, still these are another source, from which
the people judge of our religion. The tales of these
authors are received as so many truths, their misrepre-
sentations as certainties, and their ridicule as wit.
They are impressed on the minds of children by their
parents, are taught the scholar by his master, and often
become the subject of common conversation, and the
sport and merriment of the leisure hour. Thus people
naturally form from all these sources, misconceptions
of our religion, and of course, imbibe prejudices against
it. Few ever give themselves the trouble, to consult
the proper sources of information, by which their mis-
conceptions might be corrected, and their prejudices
removed. Would they consult a catholic writer, or
any well instructed catholic, they would find how
grossly they have been mis-led by fal?e misrepresenta-
ions and flaming exaggerations. But they never sus-
pect (as they perhaps would do, were it their own
case) that the statements may be false, or greatly
exaggerated. Thus imposed upon by misconceptions,
deceived by persons who are themselves the dupes of
ignorance and prejudice, cheated by wrorks which are
the effusions of hostility, bigotry and interest, they live
on, calmly and quietly, contented and secure, not
indeed very attentive to the law of God, which says,
" thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh-
bour," nor to the law of justice, " which commands
them to listen to the accused, before they venture to
condemn."

I cannot help relating here, a circumstance (I hope
it is not foreign to the purpose) that happened to one
of my acquaintance. He was travelling in a coach in
which were three other respectable passengers. Among
other subjects, the conversation (as is often the case)

41

turned on the catholics. One oF the gentlemen, im-
mediately commenced a philippic against the ca-
tholics, and called them idolaters, superstitious,
murderers, and many other pretty names. My
acquaintance allowed the gentleman to pour out his
abuse, for some time without interruption, and ap-
peared much amused by his bold assertions and
flaming descriptions of the poor deluded papists.
During the conversation, a person in liquor rode up
to the coach window, and began to annoy the pas-
sengers by his yells and impertinent behaviour. My
acquaintance immediately said to the gentleman, who
was telling such pretty things about the catholics, let
us have this drunken man taken up, he has murdered
two or three people. The gentleman replied "Are
you Sir, certain, that he has murdered two or three
people ? can you prove it ? Because it would be very
unjust to take the man up, unless you could prove
the crimes which you mention." No, answered my
acquaintance, I am not certain. And let me ask you,
if you are certain, that all the charges which you have
just brought against the catholics are true ? I am a
catholic and must tell you, they are fake, and if you
would only follow the advice which you gave me
about this man, you would find the truth of what T
say. If you would not wish me to accuse this man of
a crime, of which I am not certain he has committed.
I beg, that you, for the future, will never accuse the
catholics of charges which you cannot prove to be
true, nay, which if you would only take the trouble
to examine, you would find to be absolutely false.
The gentleman looked much perplexed, and was so
ashamed of himself, that he never spoke another word
until they parted. The other two gentlemen enjoyed
the joke wonderfully, and laughed most heartily.

The third means which has been employed to
D 3

42

injure us in the opinion of the public, is imputing to
our religion the vices and irregularities of some of its
members. This is a natural consequence of the false
statements, which have been made against our religion,
and of the misconceptions that have been formed of it.
Imagining that our religion is a compound of all that
is bad, and conceiving that it holds the most absurd and
diabolical tenets, people naturally enough conclude,
that its members must be a most curious set of beings,
whose faculties are darkened, and vitiated, and capable
of commititng the most abominable crimes. Hence, if
they see or hear of a catholic, committing any crime,
or guilty of any misconduct, or irregularity ; " Oh,
they exclaim : it is no wonder, he is a papist.'" But
my dissenting brethren, this is not correct reasoning,
neither is it just in you to adopt it in our regard. If
religion is to be judged by this criterion, I am afraid
there will be few, yea none, that will not be found
guilty before such a tribunal. For what sect is there
in which all its members are spotless and without
blemish ? With regard to our religion, I candidly
acknovv ledge, that there do exist among some of its
members a variety of abuses, irregularities, and vices.
Considering the immensity of our numbers, and the
character and weakness of the human mind, good
sense cannot suppose, that it can possibly be other-
wise. Such evils are in the natural and even neces-
sary course of human occurrences. " It is necessary
that scandal come, but wo to the man by whom the
scandal cometh." Matt. c. 18. v. 7. In the present
state of our existence, we are obliged to lake man,
not as we would have him, but as we find him,
formed by the hand of his all wise Creator, and as
long as we remain in this land of exile, and trial, we
shall find, that frailty and imp* ■rfeciion, will be our
infallible portion, and sympathy, and compassion,

43 ♦

for the weaknesses and frailties of one another, the
most becoming our fallen state. Does not the
scripture tell us, that even the just man falls seven
times ? Does not even . the great St. Paul, de-
clare " that the good which he wished to do, that he
did not, and the evil which he wished not to do, that
he did ? Rom. c. 7. v. 19. Does St. Peter not warn
those, that think they stand to take heed lest they
fall ? Even amongst the twelve apostles, did not one
deny our Saviour ? did not another betray him ? As
long then, as we are in our fallen state, frailty and
imperfection will be the necessary appendages of
human nature. But whilst, I allow the existence
of crime and disorders among some of the mem-
bers of our church, I deny the inference, which
you wish to draw from their existence. Those
disorders are not the effects of the catholic prin-
ciples, neither are they sanctioned by them, but,
on the contrary, they are a direct violation of the
law and precepts of the catholic church. She con-
demns as much as you do, those disorders, and
warns her members of the serious consequence, if they
persist in them, and do not wash them away by sin-
cere repentance. Do not therefore, any longer con-
demn the catholic church, for those disorders in her
members, which she herself highly condemns and
laments, but which, considering the present state of
man, she cannot prevent, but rather blame the weak-
ness or perversity of her thoughtless members, and at
the same time, remember that you are made of the
same imperfect materials, and the apostle warns you
that if you think you stand, you must take heed lest
you fall.

Another method, which is similar to the one that
I have just mentioned, is to go bar-k to past ages,
and to hold up to the present generation the faults

u

and errors of the people, who professed indeed to be
catholics, but who, by their wicked conduct violated
the commands and principles of the catholic church.
To me it appears, that nothing can be more unrea-
sonable, nothing more repugnant to every thing great
and good in man, and more destructive of every
principle of the gospel, than to fix on the present
generation the crimes of individuals of past ages, who
may have happened to have belonged to a religion or
society, on which such individuals by their crimes
brought disgrace. Penal codes oppressed the catho-
lics, from the reign of Elizabeth, with little or no
interruption down to the reign of George the ITT.
No sensible person, can read without bkishing for the
honour of his country, and for the sake of humanity,
the sanguinary code, which stood so long against us
on the Statute Book. But would it be just, to con-
demn the present generation of protestants for that
code, and argue from it that the present generation of
protestants were cruel persecutors ? No, you will
reply, it would be the highest injustice, because it
was we, who liberated you from that severe code.
Yes my friends we humbly acknowledge, that it was
you that liberated us from it. Your wisdom saw the
injustice of such a code, and your good sense signed
its death warrant, and may our hearts ever beat with
gratitude towards you, for the generous liberation.
And heaven forbid ! that we should ever be so un-
grateful and unjust, as to bully you with the existence
of a code, in which, although it was inflicted by your
protestant ancestors, you had no concern, and there-
fore can have no blame. In the same manner, let not
the catholics of the present generation, be blamed for
the wicked deeds of past ages, in which they had
no concern, and therefore can have no blame.

But if people will go back to past ages, I would

45

like also to go back to past ages and relate to you the
origin, the progress and consequences of the reforma-
tion. All my information should be taken from pro-
testant writers, and of course, the truth of it could
not then be called in question. I would then, give you
the character of each of the reformers, drawn by each
other, and leave you to judge, whether people of that
description (as they are really described by themselves)
did not stand in need of being reformed themselves,
instead of pretending to reform others. But as this
might perhaps appear inviduous to some, and unbe-
coming these pages, I shall refrain from it, and content
myself at present with giving the opinions of some
respectable protestants in favour of the catholic church.
In writing against the Anabaptists, Luther, the father
of the reformation, thus delivers himself: "Under
the papacy are many good things ; yea, every thing
that is good in Christianity, I say, moreover, that
under the papacy is true Christianity, even the very
kernel of Christianity."

The learned Hooker, in his Ecclesiastical Polity,
observes, that " to the church of Rome, is no doubt,
to be attributed a part of the house of God ; and we
gladly acknowledge them to be of the family of Jesus
Christ.''

And bishop White, in his Defence of his Way, p.
356, says, "I have never doubted the church of Rome
to be the visible church of God, wherein our ancestors
did profess the true faith, and were saved.''

Doctor Barro, {Sermon 3 ) "I dare not deny the
name of christians to the romanists, the most learned
protestants having owned the church of Rome to be
the church of God.'*

"In the judgment" (says Dr. Some, in his Defence
against Penry,) "of all learned men, and of all
reformed churches, there is in popery, a church, a mirtn

46

istry, a true Christ. And if you think that all of the
popish church are damned, you think absurdly, and
dissent from the judgment of the learned protestants."
" Though I sincerely blame the imposing new
articles on the faith of christians, yet I must, and do
truly profess, that I find no position necessary to
salvation prohibited, none destructive to salvation
enjoined to be believed by the church of Rome; and
therefore I must necessarily accept it for a true church,
as in the church of England I have always known it
accepted; seeing there can be no question made, but,
that it continueth the same visible body, by the suc-
cession of bishops and laws, that was first founded
by the apostles. There remains, therefore, in the
present church of Rome, the profession of all the
faith necessary for the salvation of all christians to
believe, either in point of faith or manners." — Thorn-
dyke, Epilogue, p. 146.

From Sir Edwyn Sandy's Relation of the Western
Religions. — " Of all probable proofs, the catholic
church testimony is the most probable. What mad-
ness, then, it is for any man to tire out his soul, and
to waste away his spirits, in tracing out all the thorny
paths of the controversies of these days, wherein to
err is no less easy than dangerous ! Why not rather
betake himself to the right path of truth, where unto
God and nature, reason and experience, do all give
witness ? That is, why not associate himself to that
church whereunto the custody of this heavenly and
supernatural truth hath been from heaven itself com-
mitted ? Why not weigh discreetly which is the true
church ; and having once found it, why not receive
faithfully and obediently what it delivers ? M These
words, it is true, are put into the mouth of the catho-
lic by Sir Edwyn, but he does not even attempt to
answer them. Sir Edwyn thus proceeds :-—

47

'• The catholic church was founded by the apostles,
with the promise that the gates of hell should not
prevail against it It has continued on now, till the
end of sixteen hundred years, with honourable and
certain line, of near two hundred and forty Popes,
successors of St. Peter, — both tyrants, traitors, pagans,
and heretics, in vain wresting, raging, and under-
mining it. All the general councils that ever were
in the world have approved and honoured it. God
hath miraculously blessed it from above, so many
learned doctors have enriched it with their writings,
armies of saints have embellished it with their holi-
ness, martyrs with their blood, virgins with their
purity. Even at this day, amid the difficulties of
unjust rebellions, and the unnatural revolts of her
nearest children, she yet stretcheth out her arms to
the utmost corners of the world, newly embracing
whole nations into her bosom. In all opposite
churches there are found inward dissensions and
contrariety, change of opinions, uncertainty of revo-
lutions, with robbing of churches, rebelling against
governors, and confusion of order. In the catholic
church there is undivided unity, resolutions unaltera-
ble, the most heavenly order, reaching from the height
of all power to the lowest of all subjection; all with
.admirable harmony, and undefective correspondence,
bending the same way to the effecting of the same
purpose''.

" Catholicity which has been this night the sub-
ject of so much abuse, has been the belief of the
most extensive and enlightened nations in Europe,
and of the most illustrious characters, that ever did
honour to the name of man." Speech of Lord Hut-
chinson in the house of Lords, May 10th, 1805.

Are not these strong and honourable testimonies
even of protestants in favour of the catholic religion ?

48

But how much more forcibly would these writers have
spoken, had they really seen the catholic religion in
her true light. Do you, my dissenting brethren, wish
to know, what the catholic religion really is ? Attend
and I will tell you in as few words as I can. Catho-
licity began with our Saviour, received her mission,
her powers, and her doctrine, from Jesus Christ. She
has been distinguished in every age, for the unity of
her faith, and the sanctity of her doctrine, for the
universality of her extent, and the apostolicity of her
origin. No earthly consideration, could ever induce
her, to swerve one iota, from the sacred deposit and
unity of faith, delivered to her by Jesus Christ.
Hence, when ever she found any in her communion,
either layman, priest, or bishop, or even a whole
nation, wishing to change, or add to, or diminish
one tittle of the faith delivered by her heavenly Foun-
der, she at first, like a tender mother, expostulated
with them, appealed to the grounds and truth of her
faith, and traced it to the mouth either of our Saviour
or his apostles, but, if they disregarded her tender
expostulations, she then, as St. Paul did the inces-
tuous Corinthian, cut them off from her communion,
and shewed them, when her faith was at stake, she
feared neither the frowns of individuals, nor the
strength of nations. Every article of her faith is so
holy in itself, and so conducive to true holiness, that
she challenges her greatest adversaries, to shew the
smallest stain in any part of what she really teaches ;
and the most convincing proof, of their being unable
to do so, is, that not daring to attack her true doc-
trine, they, by calumny and misrepresentation, lay
things to her charge, which she detests and condemns.
And then, after combating a phantom of* their own
creation, exult in an easy and decisive victory. From
the dawn of Christianity, to the present day, there

49

has not been a nation converted to Christianity, but
what was converted by her zealous exertions, nor is
there a religion under the sun, except hers, that can
prove that any of her members were ever honoured on
account of their virtues, and sanctity, with the name
of saints. She can look back through eighteen cen-
turies, and shew, that the unity and sanctity of her
doctrine, are the very same in the nineteenth century,
as they were in the first century. She can trace a long
succession of popes, even to the first pope, who was
St. Peter. She can present you a long catalogue of
learned and polite nations, of scholars, philosophers,
and divines, of generals, statesmen, and princes, of
saints, martyrs, and confessors, who looked upon her
faith, as their best inheritance, a treasure which they
held more dear than life itself. In short, she can prove,
that she is now that church, which our Saviour first
founded on a rock, against which, he promised, that
the gates of hell should never prevail, and that He and
his holy spirit, should remain with it, teaching it all
truth, until the end of the world. Hence she has
passed through the stormy trials of eighteen centuries,
which would have long since, shivered any human
institution into atoms, and now stands forth ever fresh
and vigorous in all her pristine strength, but silvered
with the venerable hoar of ages. This is a short
sketch of the catholic religion. You may perhaps be
tempted to call in question, the truth of this sketch.
I say then to you, read and examine the proper
sources of information, seek sincerely, and with an
earnest desire of finding the truth, and then, but not
before, question the truth of this sketch. Imitate the
noble conduct of the Hon. and Rev. George Spencer,
son of Lord Spencer, and brother of Lord Althorp.
You will find at the end of this pamphlet, an account
of his conversion written by his own hand in a letter
to the author. E

50

I cannot conclude without first drawing your atten-
tion to a few reflections, which often make a deep im-
pression on my mind, and they may perhaps produce
some on yours. You will acknowledge with me, I
have no doubt, that death is the time, when men's
prejudices often leave them, and when their passions
begin to lose their strong hold of the soul. We then
stand between our God, and an awful eternity, and
the world and all its delusions begin to retire from ,
our sight, and lose all their relish. Of course, we
may naturally suppose, that truth and our real:
interest, will then have the greatest sway with us,
and induce us to cling to, or embrace that which;
we are convinced is the most essential to our eternal
welfare. Now my brethren, did you ever know or
hear of any person, that had been brought up a
catholic, and always attended his duties in the catho-
lie church, ever send on his death-bed for any other
minister but a catholic minister ? I defy you to pro- .
duce a single instance. On the other hand, did you
ever know, or hear of people of other persuasions,
sending for the catholic minister on their death-bed ?
If you ever go to Pickering, ask there, if any of the,
Clark's died catholics, and you will be informed, that
two brothers, who had been methodists, and who had,
sometimes even preached among them, both at the
point of death, sent for a catholic minister eighteen
miles distant, and received the last rites of the catho-
lic church, in the most edifying dispositions. Their
mother also, although she was a singer in the Picker-
ing church, sent for a catholic minister and died a
catholic. I well remember her words to me, when I.
attended her. Some of the singers, she said, came
the other night to enquire after me, and hoped, that
I should soon be able to join them in the choir.
But, Sir, I answered them, that I had always

professed to believe in my creed, in the holy catholic
church. And for the future, if God spared me, my
voice should never be heard in any other, and I would
die in that church. Go also to Miekleby, and you
will there learn, that Mr. John Cass, although during
the whole of his life until his last sickness, he had
.always been quite against the catholic religion, still
in his last illness sent for the catholic minister, and
died a member of that church, although he had never
been in a catholic place of worship in his life. I shall
never forget his words to me when I first visited him.
•He told me he wished to die a catholic. I replied
''Sir, you perhaps do not know what the catholic reli-
gion is, and therefore it would not be right in you to em-
brace it before you have had it explained to you, and
you are convinced of its truth." " Sir, he answered,
I have read sufficient about that religion to convince
me, it is the religion of Jesus Christ, and in that,
and in no other I wish to die." Go also to Gerrick,
•and enquire for the family of Huttons. About two
years ago they lived near Guisborough : and they will
tell you, that their father sent fourteen miles for a ca-
tholic minister, and died a catholic. He told the min-
ister, who attended him, that he knew little or
nothing about the catholic religion, and he had often
heard it made game of, but still it had always been
his sincere and fervent prayer to Almighty God, that
he would give him his grace to know, and embrace
the true religion, and that now, he could not be
happy in his mind, unless he died in the catholic
faith, which he now firmly believed, was the religion
of Jesus Christ. These are only a few solitary instan-
ces, which have occured within the compass of my
mission. But if you would go to any of the large
towns, such as Leeds, York, Manchester, Liverpool,

London, &c, and ask the catholic ministers, if they
E 2

52

were ever called to any other people, except those of
their own persuasion, they would give you hundreds
of instances.

You have often, I have no doubt, heard the catho-
lic religion and its members ridiculed, for what peo-
ple are pleased to say, we do, when we attend the
sick. They will tell you " that we carry the sick,
that we bury them before they are dead, and that we
put a sod on them, and that they never rise more."
Now my dissenting brethren, we do none of these
things, but I will tell you, what we really do, and
shew you, that both common sense, and the scripture,
sanction what we really do on those occasions. When
we are called to sick persons, who are considered
dangerously ill, we endeavour* to impress on their
minds, a firm confidence in the merits and passion
of Jesus Christ, that there is no other name by which
they can be saved, and that they must not expect any
spiritual assistance, except what flows to them through
the channel of Jesus Christ's death and passion. We
then inform them, that if they wish to find mercy
and make their peace with God, they must be sorry
for their past sins, because by them they have
offended Almighty God, who is infinitely good in
himself, and infinitely good to them, and because
also by their sins, they have lost heaven and deserved
hell. We also insist that for the future they would
renounce their sins, and avoid also the occasion of
them, and in short begin quite a new life, if they
recover. We also declare to them, if they have in-
jured any one, or stolen any thing from any one of
whatever persuasion he may be, they must make satis-
faction, as far as lies in their power, otherwise their
gins will not be forgiven, and we moreover declare,
that they must forgive sincerely from their hearts all,
of whatever persuasion, that have ever offended or

53

injured them, otherwise they need not expect to find
mercy with God, for he has declared, " with what
measure we mete unto others, with the same measure
it shall be meted to us again," and we also pray in
the Lord's prayer, to the Almighty, to " forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against
us." After we have impressed these sentiments on
their mind, we then exhort them to make a sincere
confession of their sins, in compliance with the in>
junctions of St. James c. 5, v. 16, "Confess therefore
your sins one to another." But at the same time we
inform them, that we merely of ourselves have no
power to forgive sins, that we are poor sinners like
themselves, and stand in need of the same spiritual
assistances as they do. — But at the same time we shew
them, that Almighty God can forgive sins, and that
he gave this power to his apostles for the good of sin-
ners, and that he wished the same power should
continue with his ministers, for the benefit of poor
sinners, until the end of the world. We shew them
that our Saviour was both true God and true man,
and that sometimes he acted as God, and sometimes
as man. We then shew them, that our Saviour as
man, had received from his heavenly father, a power
on earth to forgive sins, and that he gave the same
■power to his apostles. Hence we see our Saviour in
St. Matthew c. 9, v. 1, to 8, working a miracle to
prove to the scribes, and to the people, that he, as
man, had a power on earth to forgive sin. The people
who had just denied that our Saviour had this power,
were convinced by the miracle, that he really could
as man forgive sins, and " glorified God who had
given such power to men." Jesus Christ therefore
even as man, was sent by his Father, with this power
of forgiving sins, which he also conferred on his

apostles. — Immediately after his resurrection our

E 3

54

Saviour, appeared to his apostles and said to them,
" as the Father hath sent me, I also send you.'' John
c. 20, v. 21, that is, with the same power, that I, as
Man, am sent by my Father, I also send you, as my
substitutes, as pastors of my church, and that there
might be no doubt that the power of forgiving sins
was included, he immediately "breathed upon them"
and said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you
shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins, you
shall retain, they are retained. * John c. 20, v. 22.
We then shew them, that as our Saviour, had given
this power to his apostles for the good of mankind,
during, their time, so he wished this power to con-
tinue in his church, until the end of the world for the
benefit of all future ages, being perfectly sensible that
there would be sinners in after ages, as well as in the
time of the apostles. After we have convinced the
sick of this power of forgiving sins, which our Saviour
has left in his church for the good of his creatures,
we then inform the sick, that if they are sincerely
sorry for their sins, if they will resolve to live a better
life for the future, if they forgive every one from their
heart, and will make satisfaction for their sins, as far
as is required of them, we will absolve them from
their sins by means of that power, which is not our
own power, but which Jesus Christ, has given to us
for the benefit of his creatures, and which we exercise
as his delegates or spiritual judges.(4)

(4) This doctrine with regard to confession and absolution, was
always admitted to the time of the reformation, and may be found
in the Protestant Prayer Book, even at the present day. It is
ordained in the Common Prayer Book, that when the minister
visits any sick person, the " latter should be moved to make a
special confession of his sins ; if he feels his conscience troubled
with any weighty matter ; after which confession, the priest shaM
absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort :

55

Having thus absolved, in the name of Jesus Christ,
the sick from their sins, we then proceed to administer
to them (if they are considered dangerous) what we
term Extreme Unction or the last anointing. This
Extreme Unction, or the last anointing, is pointed
out, in the plainest manner, in St. Jame's Epistles.
In that epistle, it is said c. 5, v, 14. "Is any man
sick among you ? Let him bring in the priests (or as

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to
absolve all sinners, who truly repent, and believe in him, of his
great mercy, forgive thee thi ne offences ; and by his authority com-
mitted to me, / absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen." In the
Church of England form of ordination, the bishop says to the
candidate for the priesthood, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost,
whose sins ye forgive, they are forgiven them, whose sins ye
retain, they are retained." This you see, is nothing else but
catholic doctrine, confession and absolution are so plainly pointed
out in the protestant Prayer Book, that no one can deny the fact,
but with regard to the form of ordination, some are pleased to
say, that the power that is then given, is not a judicial, but only
a declaratory power, that is, the minister receives a power
merely to declare that the penitent sinner is pardoned. Excuse
me, however, for saying, that the evasion seems to be a very
unsatisfactory one. For if it was really the case, where would be
the difference, between the layman and minister ? Any layman
without any power of that kind, may confidently declare, that
penitent sinners are pardoned. It is often objected, that man
cannot forgive sins. I candidly acknowledge, that no man by his
own power, can forgive sins. But then God can forgive sins, and
he can and has (as I have shewn) given that power to man for
the good of his fellow-creatures — If I were to tell you, that 1 had
a power to condemn people to death, you would and justly too,
deny my assertion — But if the King were to make me a judge, I
should then have a power to condemn people to death for certain
crimes —So in the same manner, man of himself has no power to
forgive sins, but still Almighty God can, and has given him that
power which he exercises in the name and with the power of
Jesus Christ, delegated to his ministers: " whose sins ye shall
forgive, they are forgiven."

ft

^our Bibles have it) the elders of the church, and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the
name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save
the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and
if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." Here
you see, the apostle orders, that the ministers, are
to pray over the sick, and to accompany their prayers
with the anointing of oil in the name of the Lord,
and he then, points out the effects of their prayer,
accompanied with the anointing of oil in the name of
the Lord. He tells us, that it will save the sick man, and
it will save him two ways, first by raising up his body
from sickness to health, if Almighty God judges the
cure to be expedient, and in the next place, by forgiving
him his sins. Now, when we are called to sick per-
sons, we anoint their different senses with oil blessed
by the bishop for that purpose, because the senses,
are often the avenues, by which sin enters the soul.
At the same time, we accompany this anointing, with
a certain form of prayer, by which we beg of Jesus
Christ, through the merits of his death and passion,
to forgive the sick person any sins, which he may
have committed, by means of any of those senses.
Either before or after, this last anointing we also ad-
minister to the sick person the Holy Communion.

Now, my dissenting brethren, can you find any
fault with what we do, on these occasions ? you see
we have the express sanction of the word of God for
it, you profess to believe that word, why then should
you condemn us, for acting according to it ? Allow
me also to ask you, why you are deprived of this last
sacrament, which Jesus Christ has instituted both for
the good of your bodies, and particularly for your
souls. When any of you are sick, you wish to have
the advice of a Doctor, and to have every corporal as-
sistance. Why then, are you not equally anxious to

67

have every spiritual assistance for your souls, and
why should you be deprived of that sacrament, or
anointing, which the apostle tells you in the plainest
manner, produces two wonderful effects, the forgive-
ness of sins, and the restoration of the body from sick-
ness to health, if Almighty God sees expedient. Oh,
ye poor (who are of different persuasions from myself,
and whom I sincerely love for the sake of my Saviour)
when I enter your hovels, where sickness, misery, and
want, meet together, and witness the scenes of dis-
tress, that are passing there. When I see a few
handfuls oi dying embers, that are calculated rather
to starve you, than afford you the necessary comforts
of warmth, when I see the bed of wretchedness on
which you cast youu wearied limbs, when I view
the tattered clothes, which scarcely cover you de-
cently, much less protect you from the inclemency
of the weather, when I behold your pale and sickly
countenances, that bespeak the poorness and scarcity
of your food, when I view your dear little children*
begging in vain, with tears of artless innocence, a mor-
sel of bread to satisfy the cravings of hunger, when I
witness scenes of this description, (which are not very
uncommon now-a-days) I think it very hard that
amidst all these hardships, you should also be depri-
ved of that salutary sacrament, which Jesus Christ* in
his infinite goodness has instituted for your good and
the good of every christian ; my feelings and commis-
eration for your sufferings, carry me back to past
ages of catholicity, and make me exclaim, that when
you lost the Catholic Church, you lost a tender and
compassionate mother, one who watched over you on
the bed of sickness, and to whom it could never be
imputed, even by her bitterest enemies, that she ever
neglected your spiritual welfare in your last moments,
and who is even so anxious for your spiritual welfare,

p

that she binds her ministers, under pain of being
excluded from her ministry, to attend you, even at the
risk of their oivn lives, in the most infectious disorders.
Such are the considerations, that often make a deep
impression on my mind and must make a deep im-
pression on the mind of every thinking person.
•Before long our course in this world will end ; the
figure of this world is rapidly passing away. Here
we are embarked in life's fragile vessel on the stormy
ocean of the world ; on one side, heaven is open to us,
with all its joys, on the other, hell, with all its tor-
ments. But before we can reach either of these two
eternal ports, we must pass two awful gulphs, death
and judgment. To which of these two eternal ports
are we directing our course ? for to one of them, we
are infallibly hastening. Our divine Saviour points
out to us, in his gospel, the rudder, that is to direct
our souls securely to the port of eternal happiness.
" Now this is eternal life, says our Saviour to his Fa-
ther, that they know thee, the only true God and Je-
sus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'' St. John c 17. v. 3.
And again, " if thou wilt enter into life keep the com-
mandments." St. Matt. c. 19. v. 17. A true knowledge
therefore of God, and of the truths which Jesus Christ
really taught, (and not what men, directed by their
private judgment, foolishly fancy our Saviour taught.)
and the keeping of the commandments are the
safe rudder, which is to steer safely the vessel of
our souls through the awful gulphs of death and
judgment, and bring them securely to the haven of
eternal salvation. That every individual should sin-
cerely seek, and really obtain this true knowledge of
God, and of the real doctrine of Jesus Christ, and
faithfully regulate his life according to that knowledge,
•and at last arrive at the haven of eternal salvation,

59

ought to be the sincere and earnest desire of every
man, who has any regard for his future state

I must now, my good friends, take my leave of
you, if I have said any thing in these pages, that
may appear harsh or severe I am sorry for it,
and most solemnly declare, that my intention was
not to wound your feelings, but merely to state fairly
the doctrines of the catholic church on the scripture,
and to vindicate my religion. Throughout the whole
of these pages, I have endeavoured to adhere to truth,
sincerity, and charity, nor have I ever to my know-
ledge swerved from them. That you, and I, and
every christian may entertain those sentiments of
religion, which truth, sincerity, and charity dictate,
and which we shall wish to have entertained during
life, when those awful moments arrive, when the
scenes of this world are fading fast away, death at
hand, judgment nigh, and eternity beginning to dawn
upon us, " in that undiscoverd country, from whose
bourne no traveller ever returns," is the sincerest and
most fervent wish of my heart.

APPENDIX.

-4-*-

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSION OF THE DUKE
OF BRUNSWICK, TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH.

Anthony Ulrick, Duke of Brunswick, was born and
educated in the Protestant religion, but he afterwards,
abjured that creed, and embraced the Catholic reli-
gion. The following is a short account extracted
from the one written by himself: —

— »►►•«•«*« —

Though for many years I had employed all the study, pains,
and diligence I was able in an inquiry after the true religion and
sanctifying faith, which I was sensible could be but one, and this
upon no other motive than a concern for my eternal welfare, and
a desire to know the truth ; I was yet in doubt, out of so many
religions and confessions, which it was that I ought to embrace.
In the mean while, upon this design, I visited several universi-
ties ; I turned over whole libraries ; I read the works of innu-
merable authors, as well Catholics as others, that treated of our
present controversies) I advised with a great many doctors
touching the diversity of sects and confessions ; I assisted at
several public disputes upon these matters; I had private con-
versations with the heads of all opinions, sects, and confessions ;
I proposed my doubts not only to Catholics, but likewise to their
adversaries ; in a word, I tried all ways and means, without
being able to find out the only thing I desired. This made me
resolve to set all other business aside, and to chuse a proper
time and place, wherein I might wholly apply myself to this
affair, as being of all others the most important, because nothing
less than an eternity of happiness or misery depended on it.
But that this inquiry might be to good effect, and carry me to the
thing I aimed at, I thought it was best to enter upon it in the
manner following.

1st. I earnestly implored the aid and grace of the Holy Ghost,
and with all my power begged the light of a true faith of God,
F

62

the Father of lights who lighteth every man that cmneth into the
world. John i. 9. For faith is a singular gift of God, whereby
man is enlightened firmly to believe all that God has revealed.

%Uy. I made a strong resolution, by the grace of God to
avoid sin, well knowing, that, Wisdom will not enter into a cor-
rupted soid, nor dwell in a Lody sulject to sin. Wisdom i. 4. And
1 am convinced, and was so then, that the reason why so many are
ignorant of the true faith, and do not embrace it, is because they
are plunged into several vices, and particularly into carnal sins.

3dly. I renounced all manner of prejudice, which inclines
men more to one religion than to another, whatever they were,
which f might unhappily have formerly espoused ; and I brought
myself to a perfect indifferency, so as to be ready to embrace
which- soever the grace of the Holy Ghost and the light of reason
should point out to me, without any regard to the advantages
and inconveniences that might attend it in this world.

In fine, \ entered upon this deliberation, and this choice in the
manner I should wish to have done it at the hour of my death,
and in a full conviction, that at the day of judgment I must give
an account to God, why I followed this religion preferable to all
the rest. Being thus disposed, I resolved absolutely to reject
any wherein I discovered the least error in points of faith. For
the Church of the living God is, and ought to be, the pillar
and ground of truth. 2 Tim. iii. 5.

Upon these principles and rule6 of prudence, I began the
following considerations, which discovered to me many convincing
motives, why I should rather choose and embrace the Roman
Catholic Faith, than any of those sects into which the christian
world stands now divided, and at last determined me absolutely
to reject them all.

(The Duke then gives fifty reasons, which induced him to
embrace the Roman Catholic religion before any other; I have
inserted only twenty, because the limits of this pamphlet would
not allow me to insert them all. The following twenty, however,
I think are sufficient to convince every sensible mind, that the
Duke did not take the step rashly and without mature
deliberation.)

Upon calling to mind those words in Deuteronomy, xxxii. 7.
Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will
te/l thee ; and those in the Proverbs, xxii. 28. Remove not the
ancient land-mark, which thy fathers have set ; I consulted the
writings of the ancient fathers, to find what they would advise me

63

to do ; whether to embrace the Roman Catholic Faith, or some of
the other persuasions. The first I met with was St. Augustin,
who of a Manichean became a Roman Catholic, and has left us
the motives of his conversion, in these words. "There are many
things which must justly hold me in the communion of the Catho-
lic Church: the agreement of people and nations holds me:
authority begun with miracles, nourished with hope, increased
with charity, confirmed by antiquity holds me : a succession of
bishops descending from the See of St. Peter, to whom Christ
after his resurrection committed his flock, to the present episco-
pacy, holds me." Contr. Ep.fund. cap. 4. The second was St.
Ireneus, more ancient than St. Augustin, who speaking of the
Roman Church, Lib. III. c. iii. says, that "to this church, by
reason of its greater power, it is necessary that all Churches have
recourse; that is the faithful on all sides. ** The third was Ter-
tulian, De prsescrip, c. xxxvi. " Happy, says he, is the church
in her state, for which the apostles poured forth all their doctrines
together with their blood." The fourth, St. Jerome; Ep. III.
cont. Ruffiu. cap. iv. " Know, says he, that the Roman faith is
warranted by Paul's authority. " And Dial, ultimo cont. Lucifer.
in another place, " To speak my opinion clear and in a few
words, it is this, that we must continue in that church which was
founded by the apostles, and remains to this day ;" where he is
speaking of the Roman Church. In fine, St. Gregory Nazianzen,
in the poem he wrote on his own life, gives this answer to my
question. " The Roman Faith was right in times past, and even
now it continues to be right, uniting in an amiable knot all that
the sun sees in bis course." Having heard these evidences, I
could not but yield to thejudgmentof those wise and holy fathers,
and so resolved to embrace the Roman Catholic Faith.

I appealed to the other saints of God, and asked them what
was the faith they lived in, and by which they arrived at eternal
bliss : and they all made answer, it was the Roman Faith. Thus
I was answered among the bishops by St. Martin, St. Nicholas,
St. Athanasius and many others ; among the religious, by St.
Dominic, St. Francis, &c. among the widows, by St. Monica, St.
Bridget, St. Elizabeth, &c; among the virgins, by St. Agatha, St.
Lucy, St. Agnes, St. Catherine, &c; from whence I drew this
conclusion : These saints, by following this faith, obtained eter-
nal gloiy ; this faith then must doubtless be the surest and safest
way to heaven : it is therefore to no purpose to seek another.
Then I turned to the holy martyrs, and inquired what faith it
F 2

64

was for the truth of which they spilt their hlood, and so patiently
endured banishments, prisons, and all the most cruel torments ?
They answered me, as with one voice, that this faith was no other
than tlie Roman Catholic. This I was assured of by thiity-three
bishops of Rome, who were crowned with martyrdom : by the
saints Cyprian, Sebastian, Laurence; by St. Agatha, St. Cecily,
St. Dorothy, St. Barbara, and an infinite number of other saints.
Then I wound up my argument in this manner : It is a natural
impossibility for that faith to be false, in defence of which such an
army of witnesses have so gloriously, so readily, and so willingly
given their lives. How could I therefore any longer doubt of
the truth of the Roman Catholic Faith ?

No man can doubt, if St. Paul's faith was truly apostolical.
Now this was no other than the Roman, as himself testifies in his
epistle to the christians of Rome. Rom. i. 11, 12. 1 long to see
you, that J may impart unto you some spiritual grace to comfort
you, that is, to be comforted together with you, by the mutual
faith both of you and me. Therefore the Roman faith was truly
the apostolical faith. That it was so in the beginning our adver-
saries very easily grant us ; but they pretend, though without
proof, that afterwards it ceased to be the true and apostolical,
which the Roman Catholics absolutely deny. For if any one ask
them, in what points, where and when the faith of the Church of
Rome decayed, they are at a loss for an answer ; and yet it lies
upon them to prove it. Indeed, did we but put the case, that a
certain family was owned by all the world to have been in ancient
times of a noble race, and that some one should now maintain
that of late it had lost its rank, which he grants it formerly pos-
sessed, would not such a man be obliged to point out the time
when, and to bring a reason why it lost its nobility ? And if he
could not prove it, would not any equitable judge condemn him as
a slanderer ?

I read over and over again, with all possible attention, several
historians, as well political, as ecclesiastical, as likewise the an-
nals of a great many nations, to find, if, before the fifteenth centu-
ry, there was any were mention made of the Lutheran or Cal-
vinist doctrine, or of the other sects of these our days. For the
same end, I likewise perused a great many ancient writings and
records of the memorable transactions that happened iu each cen-
tury, but without finding the least mark or vestige of them.
This made me conclude that these religions were all new, and con-
sequently far short of being apostolical; since they were not left
to us by our Saviour, nor by his apostles.

65

Next I took into consideration the marks of the true Church. e|
Christ, viz. that it is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolical : but not
one of them could 1 find in those reformed churches. As for unity,
their adherents are at variance upon several of the chief articles
of faith ; and even those of the same denomination run into sen-
timents and opinions directly opposite. They are no less stran-
gers to holiness, tvhichas David, Psal. xxxvii. 27- observes, directs
us to file from evil, and do the thing tlmt is good, whereas these re-
ligions are so far from teaching us to decline evil by the obser-
vance of God's commandments; that on the contrary they declare
it a thing impossible to observe them : and instead of exhorting
us to well-doing, they teach us that good works {a) are no ways
helpful towards the gaining of salvation, and, what is yet worse,
they say that good works (o) are sins. Besides that, they cannot
name so much as one person of sanctity that was of their religion.
They are equally at a loss how to prove their Church cat/wlic or
universal; for their faith has never been spread throughout the
world, as the Roman has, according to that of the apostle, Horn.
x. 18. Their sound went into all the earth, and their ivords unto
the ends of the world. Add to this, that their religion cannot be

(a) An English Protestant may perhaps think, that the Duke
charges the Protestants with opinions that they never held. For
the Duke's vindication, I have here, and in another page, insert-
ed references where these opinions may be found. I cannot help
here adding an extract from the Edinburgh Review, October
1833, p. 80. which I hope is not foreign to the purpose. A few
weeks previous to Roscoe's publishing his life and Pontificate of
t»eo X. in 1805, he writes thus to the Earl of St. Vincent : " I am
well aware that my book will give satisfaction neither to the Ca-
tholics nor Protestants ; yet of the tv/o I apprehend most the dis-

Eleasure of the latter. The former have been so accustomed to
e abused, that they will receive with patience any tolerable de-
gree of castigation, but the latter (the Protestants) who conceive
their principles and conduct to be above all censure, will be sur-
prised to find their early Leaders accused of a spirit of intolier-
ance and uncharitableness, which has continued with but little
diminution to the presentday." See Edin. review, Oct. 1833, p. 80.
in the same manner, Protestants are equally unwilling to be- ■
lieve the absurd opinions which were held by their early Leaders,
but if they would only consult the writings of these. Leaders, they
would find that these opinions were really held by them.

(b) Luther de Servo Arbitr. torn. 2. fol. 433. Si bonum opera-
rentur propter regnum obtinendum,nunquam obtinerent.

Luth. Adv. Execra, Antich. torn. 2. fol. 110. In cap. 3. ad
Gal. torn. 8. fol. 363. Condit. Ratio, torn. 2. fol. 26. De voti>,
fol. 281.

F 3

66

traced back through every age ; for before the year 1517, it was
no where spoken of. And at this day, it is not known over all the
world, it has only been introduced in some few provinces of Europe,
which is the smallest part of the universe, compared with Africa,
Asia, and America, where it is so far from being established,
that it is not so much as mentioned, excepting a few corners, where
the sectaries have gained a settlement. In fine, it cannot be
apostolical, because it was not founded by the apostles, nor is
able to shew a continual succession of its pastors, from those first
planters of the Church of Christ. On the other side, all these
marks are shewed by all manner of proofs to be inherent in the
Catholic Apostolic Roman Church. It was therefore with very
just reason that I preferred it to all others.

Then I began to consider, how so many different nations, pro-
vinces, and whole kingdoms turned from heathenism to Christi-
anity : I found it was done after an admiiable manner, and that
such a conversion could never have been effected, without the di-
vine power and assistance, by reason of the many obstacles on
the part of powerful emperors, kings and tyrants, whose cruelty
was to be undergone, and obstinacy to be surmounted ; and chief,
ly by reason that the Christian faith recommended to them things
contrary to flesh and blood, and to the maxims of the world, and
proposed to their belief sublime and hidden mysteries, which the
light of nature alone was not able to comprehend ; and all this by
preachers destitute of all human support. Upon a serious con-
templation of these prodigious conversions, I began to think what
that faith and religion was, and I soon discovered it to be the
Catholic Apostolical Roman, which wrought these wonders by
men of an apostolical spirit, sent by the chief bishops to preach
the gospel. For our very adversaries confess, thatduring the first five
ages, there was no other religion to which so many nations were
converted. Thesixth age saw England converted by St. Augustin,
a monk, sent thither by St. Gregory, Pope. In the seventh,
Germany embraced it by the preaching of St. Boniface, who
received his mission from Pope Gregory, III. St. Cyril and St.
Methodius converted Moravia in the eighth. In the ninth, Hun-
gary and Poland were converted by St. Adelbert, St. Philigrin and
others. In the tenth, Bohemia and Muscovy; and long before
this, Friezland by St. Boniface and St. Willibrord. In the eleventh,
Pomeraniaby St. Bruno. In the twelfth, Livonia by St. Meinard,
and Sweden, by Nicholas Breakspear, a native of England who was
afterwards advanced to the See of Rome. In the two last ages &

67

vast number of provinces, as well in the East and West Indies, and
a far greater tract of land than all Europe together, have been
brought to the christian faith, which is no other than the Roman
Catholic, and the number of converts thereto is daily on the in-
crease. But after the strictest search I have been able to make, I
have not found so much as one single Pagan nation, that has em-
braced Lutheranism or Calvinism, or any of our new sects. All
their proselytes, as far as I can learn, are loose and debauched
Catholics, who have not, in all appearance, any other motive for
leaving the pale of the Roman Catholic Church, than sensual plea-
sures and worldly satisfactions. From these premises the most ra-
tional conclusion Iwas abletodraw, was that the CatholicApostolic
Roman Religion ought to be chosen before any of our new sects.

The foregoing consideration carried me on to this farther re-
mark : that God bestowed on all the apostles, and on all aposto-
lical men, whom in former ages he chose and sent for the conver-
sion of countries and nations, the gift of extraordinary miracles,
according to that promise recorded by St. Matthew, x. 7, 8. Go,
said our Saviour to his disciples, preach, heal the sick, cleanse {fie
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Of which promise we
read the accomplishment, in St Mark's last words. And they
went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with
them, and confirming the word with signs following.

The master builders of our modern sects, may, as long as they
please, boast their mission from God for the reforming of his
Church ; they have never yet produced any of the aforesaid signs,
nor wrought a miracle in confirmation of their doctrine or their
mission. How then could I believe that God had sent them, es-
pecially since our Saviour has forewarned us to beivaie of false
prophets, which come in sheep's clothing, having always in their
mouths the holy scripture and the gospel, but inwardly they are
ravenous wolves, St. Matt. vii. 15. Which is still more evident
from their clashing with one another, and preaching inconsistent
doctrines, as Luther and Calvin did : it being impossible for both
of them to have taught the truth, and consequently to have re-
ceived from God a commission to reform his church, since the
one gives no better proof than the other of his commission. For
which reason 1 judged that neither of them was worthy to be
believed.

I likewise took a view of the lives and manners of these first re-
formers ; and I compared them with those apostolical men, who
from Paganism brought the Gentiles to the Roman Catholic Faith.

68

And there appeared as great a disproportion betwixt them, as there
is betwixt light and darkness, betwixt heaven and earth. Those
apostolical men were persons of eminent devotion, were closely
united to God, endued with many singular virtues, were pious,
sober, humble and chaste ; they despised the riches of the world,
fled from pleasures, and had no other view than God's glory in
the salvation of souls ; as appears from the history of their lives,
and from their writings. On the contrary, these pretended re-
formers were slaves to their passions and broached doctrines, that
flattered sense to a most shameful degree, they have written in
such a manner that their very followers are now ashamed of
them, (e)

I read several authors, who had written against the Roman
Catholic religion, and I could not but take notice, how in ell
their arguments they labour to prove, what Catholics do not deny,
but on the contrary allow without any difficulty. But they
hardly touch upon those points which Catholics hold for articles
of faith. For instance, they will bring you a multitude of texts
from scripture, to prove that God only is to be adored, and
honoured with divine worship : when Catholics are sof.tr from
denying it, that they believe it to l»e a sin of idolatry to pay
divine worship to any creature whatever. Again they cite
many places in scripture, which make honourable mention of
marriage. But what is all this to the purpose ? Catholics con-
demn not marriage; so far from it, that they place it in the number
of sacraments. Their doctrine in this particular, amounts to no
more than what St. Paul taught them, 1 Cor. vii. 38. that he that
ginr-th his virgin in marriage, doth well ; but he that giveth her
not in marriage, doth better. Again they speak much of our
Saviour's merits, and of the satisfaction he has offered for our
r.ins. Very good. But what then ? Do not Catholics likewise
teach that our Saviour's merits are of infinite value, and that his
satisfaction suffices for the sins of the whole world? Must this
hinder them from giving ear to the advice of St Peter, 2 r-.pis.

(n) Luther eont. Heg. Aflgliee torn. 3. fol. 344- Resp. ad Keg.
An^l.'ol 4#8. Advers. Kxecrak Ibl. 93, luy. Kpisc. fol. :

Calvin Tract, de Reform. Eccl. Opusc.p. 781. Euis. ad Mel in.
y 108.

Adver. Pap. 107- fol. 411. Sorui.de Matr. 1. 5. fb*. 11<>. In 1
Cor. 7. torn. 5. fol. Ill, 112.

Instit. 1.2. c. 14 n. 3. in cap. 17. Jo. v. 12. In..
Instit. I. I.e. 13. n. 9. 23, 24. 1. 2. c. 16. n. 12. 1. c. 14 n. 3.

60

i . 10. Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure by good works. Or to that of St. Paul, Horn. viii. 17. If
so be that we suffer with him, that toe may be also glorified with
him. They give us great encomiums of faith. And so do the
Catholics. But may they not believe St. James, when he says,
James ii. 24. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only : or St. Paul, when he pronounces of him-
self. 1 Cor. xiii. 2. Though 1 have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, Jam nothing. In fine,
our adversaries inveigh most bitterly against the dissolute lives
of some of the clergy. But how does this better their cause?
Catholics detest it as much as they : but then they admire in the
generality of them that angelical chastity which they preserve
both in body and soul.

I observed not only in these authors, but likewise in the ser-
mons and discourses, both public and private, of other ministers,
that their main talent lay in slandering and blackening the Roman
Catholic Church. And this alone was enough to persuade me,
they were but ill provided with arguments against her. For when
men in the. heat of their disputes fling dirt at their adversaries, it
is a certain sign their arguments want an edge. Yet this i6 the
very case of the sectaries. For instance, they will have the world
to believe, that Catholics adore the saints ; that they take the
Pope for a God ; that they put their hope and confidence more in
their own merits, and in those of the saints, than in the merits
of our Saviour Jesus Christ ; and a thousand other stories, with-
out any foundation, but pure malice, to support them. Now I
could not think it rational to ground my faith on false state-
ments ; and for that reason I resolved to inform myself ot the
truth of things ; and having happily found it, I rejected all these
new sects as unworthy of my belief.

I remember, that being once present in my youth, at a dispute
of school divinity, which was held among the Calvinists, one of
the audience, more knowing than the rest, proposed before all
the company, in the person of a Catholic, an argument which so
perplexed the professor, that it quite silenced him for a time.
Then to get clear of it, as well as he could, he told us, that,
being formerly in England, he had proposed the same difficulty
to one of their doctors, who had no other answer to give him than
that no proper solution could be made to the argument, and by
consequence that in this point no direct answer was to be given
to catholics, but the only way was to avoid the force of it, by some

70

logical evasion. This answer did not a little scandalize me : for
it is not by evasions that satisfaction can be given to any argu-
ment, nor that the knowledge of any truth can be acquired. So
that I judged the sectaries took not much to heart the tru'h of
matters, concerning articles of faith.

I observed likewise another particular, which gave me a most
violent presumption of the falsity of all the sects that have separ-
ated from the Roman Catholic Church. Though they continually
refer Catholics to the holy scripture; as for themselves, they
treat it as they think fit. Sometimes they reject whole books of
it, at other times they dress it out in a false (J) translation, and
all of them expound it to their own fancies, and make it chime to
the suggestions of their private spirit. On the contrary, the
Roman Catholics have all the game version, all make use of the
same books, which the church has used for above thirteen hun-
dred years ; and they understand them not according to their own
private lights, but according to the sense of the ancieut fathers,
and of the universal church, to which our blessed Saviour refers
us in these words, If he neglects to hear the church, let him be
unto thee as an heathen and a publican. Matt, xviii. 1 7 '.

That nothing might pass me without being examined, I atten-
tively perused Luther's little Catechism, which the Lutherans
of Hungary make use of to this day. I carefully compared it with
the Catechism of the same Luther, printed at Wittemberg, in
1567, and I found that in several articles it differed as much as
could be from the first edition of the same Catechism, printed at
Wittemberg. I should never have imagined so great an altera-
tion, had I not remarked how the pretended reformers of our
days alter, as the fancy takes them, the articles of their religion »
so that some are held iu some countries, which are denied in
others ; some stifled in this age, which were broached in the
last ; and others broached in this, which were not so much as
dreamt of in the last. If any man questions what I say concern-
ing these two Catechisms, I desire he would compare them, which
may easily be. done, since the Catechism of Wittemberg was re-
printed in 1701, at Tirnau, in Hungary. On the contrary; in
my travels through several Catholic provinces, I found no differ-
ence among them, a6 to articles of faith, but rather an exact
conformity.

(<l) Concerning false translations in the English Bible,
Book called, The true Church of Christ, part i. p. 137. And
Ward's Errata to the Protestant Bible.

71

Having therefore met with so unaccountable a variety, as to
matters of faith, among those that would be thought to follow the
Augsburg Confession, (e) I resolved to read it with all possible
attention. I procured several editions, and those of different
times, but I found them so altered and inconsistent, that I was
not able to discover which of them was the genuine ; and no won-
der, since the very professors of Lutheran universities are at
variance about the matter. J laboured under this uncertainty till
I hail the good fortune, when at Vienna, to be admitted one day
with a great many more into the emperor's library. There,
among other rarities, his Imperial Majesty's library-keeper
shewed us the very original of that Confession, which Melancthoh
in lo30, presented to Charles V. at the Diet of Augsburgh.
It is so different from the other editions, that did they not bear
the title, no man would take them for the Confession of Augsburg.
From whence I infer that the religion of our Lutherans is not that
of the Augsburg Confession, but very diffe'rent from it, and con-
sequently not worthy to be regarded. But why was I not con-
tented at least with the original itself? Because it contained a
great many palpable contradictions, as Cardinal Pazman hath
clearly proved in his learned work, called Kasauz, from page
415 to 440.

For the more perfect discovery of the truth I sought after, I re-
solved to read the most celebrated authors of both parties, that I
might be able to judge how far their doctrine agreed with that of
the holy fathers of the primitive church, and whether in all points
they agreed among themselves; and therefore I perused a great
many books wiitten by Roman Catholics of divers nations, as well
Spaniards, Italians, Flanderkins, and English ; as Germans, Po-
landcrs, and Hungarians ; and the issue of this inquiry was, that
I found a perfect harmony among them as to points of faith, and
their deference to the ancient fathers. It was a matter of admi-
ration tome that their schoolmen, who widely differed in opinion
as to other subjects, should all as with one voice profess, main-
tain, and teach the very same as to what concerns the articles of
faith. I observed the like in the writings of the ancient holy fa-
thers, though they lived and writ in times and places very dis-
tant from one another, as Ignatius and Crysostome, at Antioch ;
AthanasiusandTelesphoius, at Alexandria : Macarius and Cyril,

(e) In the year 1530, the Lutheran directors published their
profession of faith, in twenty one articles, which is called the
Confession of Augsburgh.

72

at Jerusalem ; Proclus, at Constantinople; Gregory and Basil,
in Cappadocia ; Justin, at Athens ; Dennis, at Corinth; Ephrem,
in Syria ; Cyprian, Optatus and Augustin, in Africa ; Epiphan-
nius. in Cyprus ; Ambrose, in Italy ; Irenseus, in France ; Orosi-
us and Isodore, in Spain; Bede, in England, &c. But when I
came to confront the writings of our new reformers with the doc-
trine of the ancient fathers, I found them as opposite as east and
west. In the next place I examined what harmony these sectari-
an writers kept among themselves, but I clearly discovered they
differed very much about points of faith. It is not only the Lu-
therans that quarrel with the Calvinists, and the Calvinists with
the Luthe:ans, and both of them with the Puritans, Arians, and
Anabaptists ; but even those of the same cloth are strangely at
variance about their faith. The rigid Calvinists are of one per-
suasion, and the moie moderate of another. The Remonstrants
teach one. thing, and the Anti-remonstrants teach the contrary.
The Puritans maintain and teach what the Presbyterians will not
allow ; and as for the Lutherans, some things are held to be of
faith at Witttemberg, others at Lantsberg, others in Sweden,
others in Hungary others in Brandenburg, and others in Eng-
land. Besides that the Lutherans follow in the age we now live
in, a doctrine they were strangers to in the foregcing age. They
taught and believed one thing at the beginning of Lutheranism,
and another thing in its progress. What account then should I be
able to give in the day of judgment, if to so many great lights of
the church, I preferred a handful of inconsiderable men, who have
neither their learning nor their virtue, and are over and above so
divided among themselves? I therefore judged it best to set
the*»e all aside, and to keep to the fathers.

But though the holy fathers had been all silent, the very stones
and remnants of antiquity spoke to me, attested and recommend-
ed the truth of the Roman Catholic faith. For upon taking into
consideration the old churches, elections of kings and emperors,
and the ceremonies used at their coronation, the ancient statutes
of monarchs, the laws and customs of the most ancient universi-
ties, the conversion of nations to the faith of Christ, the inscrip-
tions cut in marble, the histories and annals of all ages since the
birth of our Redeemer; all the memorable facts that have hap-
pened since the. first promulgation of the christian faith ; the
journals and calendar* wherein are marked the illustrious actions
of the saints, and the most solemn days of the year, which are
Btill in use among the sectaries themselves, as the Sundays called

73

Quadragesima, Quinquagesima, Sexagesitm, ' Septu$jjesima,
Easter, Quasimodo, Jubilate, Cantate, Rogate, &c. All these
things gave me clearly to understand that no other religion be-
•siJe» the Roman Catholic was ever firmly planted in the christian
world ; so that T had convincing reasons not to separate from an-
tiquity, nor to adhere to any of these novelties that bear so fresh
a date. , i

For the space of seventeen hundred years the Roman Catholic
Church has been attacked by Pagans and Gentiles, by cruel ty-
rants, by Mahometans, by Schismatics and innumerable heresies,
without being worsted ; and to this day she defends herself cou-
rageously and invincibly in a visible and flourishing condition.
Nay, she is daily on the increase, and extends her limits wider
and wider. On the contrary, so many heresies, and of so many
different sorts, which appeared formidable for strength and pow-
er, and extent, like so many rapid torrents, have perished, disap*
peared, and. quite vanished away, as for instance, the heresies of the
Manichees, the Donatists, the Pelagians, the Iconoclasts, and a
great many more. Now what can 1 infer from hence, but that
the Roman Catholic Church was built by Jesus Christ upon a
rock, and that it was of her our Saviour prophesied whenhesaidv
St. Matt. xvi. 18. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it :
But that all sects have been built by men upon sand, that the
rain has fallen, the rivers have overflowed, and the winds have
risen, that they came upon those sects and overturned them,
and made strange havock ? And I may add, that they destroyed
themselves, and that those of latter growth will in time meet
with the same fate, according to. that principle of our blessed
Saviour, St, Matt. xv. 13. Every plant which my heavenly Fa-
ther hath not planted, shall be rooted xtp. For these reasons I
chose rather to take shelter in the house whieli was built upon a
rock, than in that which was built oa the saud, and threatened
me with its approaching ruin.

What yet forwarded my conversion was the remark I had made,
that no Catholic ever turned Protestant in order to reform hi«
manners, and to live a better life, but merely out of a love for
worldly liberty, and that he might indulge his passions without
constraint ; for I never saw any religious man or priest apostatize;
that did not make, it his first care to procure a wife. On the other
side I observed, that those who from Protestants returned to the
Roman Catholic faith, became devoiil and fervent, zealous and
exemplary ; and that very many of them renounced the world,
G

74

on purpose to dedicate themselves entirely to God in some reli-
gious state. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit:
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. St. Matt. vii. 17.

I observed that many sectaries, who had seemed for many years
to be fixed in their persuasion, were converted toward the end of
their days, and desired to die in the Roman Catholic Faith. But
never did I meet with any Catholic that wished to die in another
religion. Now it is chiefly at the hour of death that the soul
opens its eyes into a clearer prospect of things eternal. For my
own part, 1 resolved to live, as 1 should wish to die, and for that
reason I came to a resolution to embrace immediately the Catho-
lic Faith ; because death is ascertain as its hour is uncertain.

Think not, my dear friends, that I rashly and inconsiderately
abandoned the errors of your party, to embrace the Roman Catho-
lic Religion, out of any prospect of worldly advantage. No, it
was purely out of a concern for my salvation, and after mature de-
liberation that I did it, as you may judge from these motives.

And now 1 address myself to yon, my once fellow-members in
religion, and still my dear relations, friends and countrymen,
and I conjure you by the five wounds of Jesus Christ, by his
most precious blood, the price of our redemption, and by the con-
cern you ought to have for the eternal welfare of your souls, not
to quit a certain way to heaven for an uncertain. Consider seri-
ously, what that faith was which your ancestors professed, and
which the first Christian of your nation upon leaving Paganism
embraced. Consider in what religion those, great saints lived,
whom you own for such. Weigh seriously these motives of my
conversion, whieh I oiler you with a heart that is full of a more
sincere affection. Return to the way of your fathers, to the path
of the saints, to the religion which has stood for so many ages,
and been confirmed, maintained, and watered with the blood of
so many martyrs j a religion which all the ancient fathers of the
primitive church asserted and approved : a religion, against
which, as our blessed Saviour has engaged his word, the gate* of
bell shall never prevail. Have always an eye to the salvation Of
ypur souls. For what is a )uan profited ', if he shut! gain the uhoie
world, and Jose his oxen soul f Or uhuf s/,all a tnop give in ex*
change for hit soul? St. Matt. xvi. 26.

CONVERSION

OF THE

HON. AND REV. GEORGE SPENCER,

{Son of the present Lord Spencer, and Brother of Lord Althorp.)

The following account was given by the Nobleman
himself, to the Author of this pamphlet, in a letter,
dated January 3, 1834.

DEAR AND HEV. SIR,
I was ordained Deacon in the Church of England about Christ-
mas, 1822, being satisfied at the time, that all was right in that
Church, although I had not takeu much pains, to study the
grounds and principles of its establishment. When I entered
upon active employment as a Clergyman, I was naturally led to
seek information more fully ; I often used to read and admire the
Church Liturgy, but often wondered, how such a beautiful work
could have been produced in the midst of such confusion and
wickedness, as I learned from Protestant Histories, had accom-
panied all the proceedings of the chief actors in the Reformation
of England. I had been brought up in the habit of looking on the
Catholic Church, as a mass of errors, and little did I think at that
time, that all that I admired in the Church of England (a) Li-
turgy, was merely an inconsistant abridgment of the holy and
admirable offices of the Roman Catholic Church. What first led to
an alteration of my views in regard to the soundness, and excel-
lence of the Church of England, was the intercourse, which I had
with various Dissenting Protestant Ministers. I used to seek

(a) The advocates of the established Church, often extol the
beauty and perfection of their Liturgy, but they ought, at the
same time, to be so kind as to inform the Public, that the greatest
part of their Liturgy has been borrowed from the Catholic Missal
and Ititual. Of this, any one may be convinced, who will com-
pare the prayers, lessons and gospels in the Catholic Missal and
Ritual, with those in the Book of Common Prayer. Hut though
our service has been thus borrowed, it hits not been preserved en-
tire, but stands in the Protestant prayer book, deprived of the
principal and essential worship of all the ancient Churches, the
Holy Mass, this true and propitiatory sacrifice, as it stands in all
the ancient Missals, has been reduced in the Book of Common
Prayer to a mere verbal worship in M The order for the Morning
Prayer." Hence 6ur James I. pronounced the order for the
Morning Prayer to be an ill said Mass,

76

their conversation with the hope of leading back some of them,
and their flocks to the 'Church, with which f was satisfied, and
which I did not think, they could have any good reason for leav-
ing; but every sect, with which I became acquainted, seemed to
have "something apparently reasonable to say in behalf of their
own views, and against the established Church. I knew of course
these sects could not be all right in their contradictory doctrines
and rules of practices, and I clearly saw palpable errors in their
several systems, but at the same time, I learned from their con-
versation, that 1 could not defend every part of my own system .
and I also found, that, these, ministers could bring arguments
again?t it, which I could not satisfactorily answer. At length, I
found a difficulty regarding the thirty-nine articles which made
me see, that I could not rest as I was. In signing those articles,,
my assent was required to certain declarations of doctrines, ex*
ptcssty. °n the ground, that they could be proved by most certain
warrant of the Holy Scripture, and indeed Protestants hold it as
a general principle, that the "Holy Scripture containeth. all
.things necessary for salvation, sothat.whatsoever is not contained
therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any
man, that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be
thought necessary as requisite for salvation. '' Now with the doc-
trines in question, I found no fault, but I could not draw a clear
and satisfactory demonstration of them from the Scripture alone \
in order to establish them, I found myself obliged to have re-
.course to arguments from reason, independent of the Scriptures,
or to appeal to the general consent of christians in successive ages,
in ciher words, to the tradition of the Church. I felt I could not
again sign the thirty- nine articles, unless this objection were re-
moved. I proposed it to my superiors, but, as the explanation
given by them, did not satisfy me, after what! considered a suffi-
cient pause, I declared finally my resolution of not signing them
any more. I was now the more free to seek the truth, where it
might be found, but I had then no idea, that it was in the Church of
Rome. My friends would have dissuaded me, from having any
communication with Roman Catholic Priests, but I thought they
ought not to be excluded, from the general scheme of re-union,
■which I wished to see set on foot, I used therefore to speak to
them frequently. At first I expected to find them ignorant of
true spiritual religion, mere formalists, and quite unable to de-
fend, what I thought the absurdities of their creed, but to my
surprise, every conversation with them, led me to see that I had
been deceived, I found that they both understood the tenets of

77

tfaeix- Religion well, and could explain anddefend them in a most
masterly manner, and I began to sec there was more in the Catholic
Religion, than I knew, though 1 was not convinced, I was wrong,
in being divided from it, as I still thought, it was erroneous and
unscriptural in many points. The first thing which changed ma-
terially my viewsof the Catholic faith, was a correspondence, which
I kept up with an unknown person for about half a year. This
person stated, that he had been travelling abroad, and having
frequently entered the Catholic Churches, and surprised to
see how devout and holy the services were, he was led to examine
further, and begin to entertain doubts of the wisdom of the Eng-
lish reformation. 1 thought I could soon set him right by point-*
ing out to him, what I had for some time, thought denunciations
against the Catholic Church, in the Apocalypse, and in other
paits of the Scripture. In the course of our correspondence he
forcibly opposed those ideas, and so far from allowing that they
could be proved from scripture, he treated them as the mere in-
ventions of men. I was then led to ask myself, whether I had
drawn them simply from scripture, and found, that I had never
entertained them, before some Protestant Commentators had put
them into my head. My principle was to attend to the word of
God alone, I therefore determined no longer to pay regard to
those ideas, unless I should find the scripture of itself lead me to
them. From that time, those ideas never made any impression
on me. I never knew, who this correspondent was, until I went
abroad, to prepare for my ordination, I then learned that it was a
young Lady, who was on the point of becoming a Catholic, but
who for further satisfaction, wrote to me, and to one or two other
Protestant Clergymen, to hear what we could say in defence of
our religion. You may naturally suppose, that our answers in-
stead of weakening, would rather confirm her attachment to the
Catholic faith. * .''> so: she became a Catholic, and was on
the point of being professed a Nun, in the order of the Sacred
Heart, when she died a holyand edifying death. Owing to this
correspondence, I became much more willing to give Catholics a
favourable hearing, but it was yet three years before I was led to
the further step of embracing the Catholic faith. This was
brought about in the following manner. I had made acquain-
tance about the year 1829 with Mr. Ambrose Phillipps, eldest Sou
of the Member for Leicestershire. The conversion of this young
Gentleman to the Catholic Faith, at the age of fourteen years,
(about seven years before I knew him,) had very much surprised
me, when I first heard of it. His character and conversation it*-
G 3

m

terested me, and with pleasure I accepted hi? invitation, to spend
a week at "his Father's house at Garrenden Park. 1 was in hopes,
that I should thus have an opportunity of inducing him to think
more correctly about ieligion. I had indeed no great hopes of
being able to dissuade him from the Catholic Religion altogether,
nor did I earnestly wish It, for I had been already convinced, that
men might be good Christians in that Religion. I left home
for Garrenden Park, January, 24th, 1830, on Sunday night, after
preaching two sermons, in my Protestant Church, at Brington in
Northamptonshire, of which I was Rector, and little did 1 think
then, that those two sermons would be the last, I should ever
preach in a Protestant church. All the time, at Garrenden, was
nearly devoted to religious conversation, and 1 soon found, that
instead of my being able to teach Mr. Phillipps, to think more
correctly about religion, 1 was obliged in many points, toacknow-
ledge, that I had to be a learner myself, f found him well able
to stand his ground in defence of the Catholic faith against me,
and some other more experienced Protestant Divines, who occa-
sionally joined our conversation. At last finding, that I was con-
tending with obstinacy, and not with the candour, I professed, I
made up my mind to look into the affair with a new feeling, and
With a real determination to follow the truth. This resolution
gave me immediate comfort, and the consequence of it wa6, 1 was
60on delivered from all my doubts. I had intended to have gone
home on Saturday, to resume my duty at Brington, but I first
went with Mr. Phillipps on Friday to Leicester where we dined
and spent the evening with Mr. Caestrick, an old French Missi-
onary, who had been stationed at Leicester for several years. The
kindness, and patience with which he met my objections, made
me more willing to listen to correction : his statements, and rea-
soning, came upon me with an authority and conviction, which
I felt I could not, and must not resist, arid before night, I de-
clared my submission to the Church of God.

The conversation of Mr. Caestrick had satisfied me, that, the
Roman Catholic Church, was that Church which our Saviour had
founded, and as He had promised that Hell gates should never
prevail against his Church, and that He and his Holy Spirit*
6hould remain with it for ever, teaching it all truth, and had
commanded it should be. obeyed in words so clear, " he that will
not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen and a
publican," Matt. 18. 17. I felt convinced, that in obeying it, I
was doing the will of Him, on whom I had placed my firm, and
«mly dependence for peace and salvation, and in doing this, 1

79

knew I could not be led astray. Thank God! I put aside the
thought, which first offered of going home and looking into the
affair the week after. The step which I took the next day of
professing myself a Catholic, is one on which I have never re-
flected with any thing but comfort, as I do even at the present
moment. The truth is so plain, that the Catholic Church was
founded by our Saviour, that it has all the four marks of Christ's
Church, and that it has Jesus Christ's infallible word, that it
shall continue until the end of the world. The Protestants
indeed tell us, that it was first the true Church, but that it after-
wards fell into idolatry and damnable doctrine, but they cannot
shew, how, when, and where, it fell into idolatry and damna-
ble doctrine. I thought it therefore more prudent, (and so I
now do think it,) to trust to the infallible promise of our Saviour,
than to any man's assertions, and if my resolution to become a
Catholic on this ground, was sudden, I defy any man to prove it
rash. I saw that God promised me no better opportunity than
the present, so I sent a messenger home that night, to announce
my resolution, and I made my abjuration of the Protestant faith,
in Leicester chapel, on Saturday morning the 30th of January.
I had had for a long time no thoughts, but of serving God in the
ministry of that Church, which ever it was, that I should find to
be the true one ; and so I at once offered myself to Doctor Walsh,
Catholic Bishop of the midland district, who sent me to the Eng-
lish College at Rome ; where by a happy coincidence of circum-
stances, J was ordained for the English Mission, May 26th, 1832.
St. Augustine's day, in St. Gregory's Church, the very spot, from
which St. Angustine received his mission from that holy Pope, to
undertake the conversion of England, and I humbly ask your
prayers, that I may be by his mercy an humble instrument
towards its reconversion, which I trust is not far distant, and
which it is the dearest desire of my heart in this world to see
accomplished.
JVest Bromwichf I am, Dear Sir Yours, most truly,

January 3. 1834. GEORGE SPENCER.

Such is the account given by this Nobleman of his conversion
to the Catholic faith, an account, which must be read with interest
and triumph, by every adherent of the ancient faith ; even those,
who condemn the change, must admire his singleness of purpose,
and his strength of mind The golden prospect lay before him ;
he might with confidence, look forward to some of the best, and

highest preferments in the established Church ; yet he turned his
back on them all, to accept the lowly eh;trge ol a Catholic
Priest, at West Bromwich, in Staffordshire. To many, such a
sacrifice will appear folly: hut he had studied in the school ot
him, who suffered the loss of all things and accounted them M
tJung, that he might gain Christ, (Phil. III.) and has cheerfully
renounced the riches and honours of this world, to associate him-
self in faith and worship, with those holy and illustrious memhers
of the Catholic Church, who in every age and clime, have made
it their aim, and their glory, to bring their dear but erring
brethren to this one fold of the one shepherd Jesus Christ.

The examples of the Duke of Brunswick, and of the Hon. and
llev. George Spencer, ought to teach people of every age and
condition, that, neither the concerns of this life, nor the princi-
ples of education, nor the fear of displeasing friends, nor the
shame of owning themselves to have been in the wrong, ought to
prevent them from embracing the truth, when ever God in his
mercy, is pleased to let them know it.

It is the misfortune of too many christians, to be biassed by-
one, or more of these unwarrantahle motives, in contradiction to
the dictates of reason and religion. For as our Saviour has
declared " he that will not hear his church, let him he unto thee
as a heathen and a publican," it is certainly a most urgent duty
of every person, to examine seriously, whether the communion
in which he has received his education, l)e that true Church or
not. Dismissing all worldly considerations from his mind, he
ought to reflect, and decide seriously, and conscientiously.
What will the prejudiced opinions of his fellow mortals avail him
at the trihunal of justice, at which we must all soon appear ? Will
any of them plead his cause at the bar of divine justice ? Let him
remember that the part which he now chooses, he chooses for
eternity-! Let him then act candidly, and seriously, and cow -
scientiously. Let him beg of God to give him grace to see the
truth, and let him be determined to. embrace it, in spite of every
<>p;>oMtion, and every worldly consideration.

Adieu my dear friends, we must soon, very soon all appear at
the tribunal of divine justice, ami your candour mu>t acknowledge
that this advice which I now offer, cannot but then meet with the
approbation of our awful judge.

FINIS.

C. Croshaw, IVinter, 36, Pavement, Yoik.