•>
fl.\l
^
THE
PROTESTANT,
A SERIES OF ESSAYS
PRINCIPAL POINTS OF CONTROVERSY
UK 1 WEEN THE
Cf)uvd) of iftomc
THE REFORMED.
VOL. I.
TWELFTH EDITION.
GLASGOW:
BLACKIE & SON, 38, QUEEN STREET;
5, SOUTH COLLEGE STREET, EDINBURGH;
AND 21, WARWICK SQUARE, LONDON.
■ '
in-
TO THE READER.
The Volumes of "THE PROTESTANT;" of which a nev.
edition is now offered to the Public, originated in a Newspaper
puff about the pretended holiness of the Popish Chapel, lately
erected in Glasgow. The exposure of the absurdity of the pretence
led to a defence of it by some persons of the Romish communion ;
and a number of letters on both sides were published in the Glas-
gow Chronicle, in the summer of 1818. These constitute the first
part of Volume First; and what follows is a series of Essays
published weekly, for four years, embracing the principal points of
controversy between the Church of Rome, on the one hand, and
the different communions known by the name of Protestant, on the
other. The Author made comparatively little account of the differ-
ences of opinion and practice which exist among the latter, not
because he thought them unimportant, but because he wished to
keep by the one point of exposing the errors, impositions and idolatry
of the Papal Church, which make it not only lawful, but the duty
of all Christians to separate from her communion; and thus to vin-
dicate the Protestant Churches, in the matter of their separation,
whatever mistakes any of them may have fallen into in other re«
spects. His success in this undertaking may be inferred from the
high approbation of Protestants of distinguished rank and learning,
in each of the three kingdoms ; perhaps still more from the appro-
bation of thousands, whose learning consists of little more than their
knowledge of the word of God ; and perhaps most of all from the
almost unparalleled abuse heaped upon him by those whose prin-
ciples and practices he exposed.
When his labours commenced, it was the opinion of many Protes-
tants that such a work was altogether uncalled for. It was alleged
by some, that Popery was greatly ameliorated ; and by others, that,
in the present enlightened state of society, it would soon die away
of itself; that, at least, it was impossible it should ever increase, or
gain such a footing in Britain, as to occasion any uneasiness or alarm
" The Protestant" contributed not u little to remove these nib
takes; and recent events have confirmed what he maintained from
the beginning, — that Popery is the same that ever it was, — that it is
on the increase, — and that Papists are making strenuous efforts
especially in Ireland, to recover the ascendancy which they formerly
possessed, and wliich they employed for the extirpation of all who
presumed to differ from the Church of Rome, and to believe and
worship according to the word of God. Not content with the re-
establishment of the Inquisition, and the restoration of the order ot
Jesuits, they have within the last twelve months, made pretensions
of a supernatural kind, in order to impose on the world as they did
for ages before the Reformation. They pretend that a saint has
arisen among them, possessing miraculous powers, equal to those of
any apostle or prophet. This is a German prince of the name of
Hohenlohe. It is given out that he has great interest in heaven,
particularly with the Virgin Mary and some other saints, so that he
can cure the diseases of persons whom he never saw, in any part of
the world. To Protestants this appears extremely absurd ; they
laugh at the folly, and think no more about it — believing it impossible
that the world can now be deceived by such nonsense. But the
fact is, a great part of the world is already deceived by it. These
miracles are believed as firmly as any recorded in the Bible. In all
the Newspapers in the Popish interest, and these are not few, they
are puffed off as undoubted facts. They are copied into others as
matters of curiosity ; and people soon begin to believe what is in-
cessantly repeated with unhesitating confidence. Learned doctors,
including the Popish Bishop of Kildare, are not only not ashamed
of them, but they glory in them as incontestable evidence of the
truth of their religion, and the holiness of their church. These
tricks are performed with such art and imposing solemnity, that the
ignorant and credulous of all sects arc in danger of being deceived :
and the very fat that Papists can now with such unblushing impu-
dence practise these impositions, thows that they find what is called
Chri-tendom ready to submit again to the bondage of the dark ages,
and to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the Pope of Rome.
One object which the Author kept constantly in view, was to
show that Popery has its origin and its neat in the corrupt principles
of our depraved nature. The BNBOCC of it is alienation from God
in hi- revealed character; and it operates like all other idolatry, id
the way of loving and serving the creature in pnJereuOB to tin
Creator. This, it is presumed, will be found demonstrated in the
pages of " The Protestant ;" and the consideration of this ought
to remove the surprise of those who are surprised by the increase
of Popery in this age of light. It is only a heartless assent to an
established creed, which is the same thing as indifference to all
religion, that constitutes the Protestantism of a vast proportion of
our population. These are all no better than Papists at heart.
They are under the influence of the same false views of the character
of God, and of their own state and character. While they remain
indifferent, they may be sufficiently good Protestants according to
law; but should their consciences begin to accuse them, and the
recollection of their sins make them to feel the dread of a hereafter,
they will be in great danger of embracing that religion that affords
relief at the easiest rate, — that gives a hope of escaping the wrath to
come without such a change of heart and character as would make
them hate and forsake their sins. Popery gives relief in this way ;
and all are prepared to embrace it who wish to " make their peace
with God," without being reconciled to him by faith in Christ, and
renewed to holiness of life. In an enlightened country many are
prevented from embracing it by its ridiculous fooleries; but even
these, by becoming familiar, soon become tolerable; and the plausible
representations of an artful priesthood seldom fail of success, when
brought to bear upon the perverted minds of such nominal Protes-
tants.
The only effectual antidote is the gospel of the grace of God.
This exhibits salvation absolutely free to sinners of the human race;
and those who are saved must accept the boon as the gift of divine
mercy to them as sinners deserving condemnation. Such persons are
taught to submit to the righteousness and the will of God as revealed
in the Scriptures ; to reject all other authority in matters of religion;
and thus, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they are preserved
from the errors of Popery and every other fatal delusion. To this
subject "The Protest ant" has given a prominent place in his pages;
and he is not ashamed to acknowledge, that he sometimes went a
little out of his way, that he might have the happiness of preaching
the gospel to his readers.
From his numerous mercantile and other avocations, he could not
find leisure tc bestow more care in the composition of his papers
than is usually bestowed on mere letters of business. The reader,
therefore, must not expect the graces of style in any of them. He
studied nothing higher in his composition than to be intelligible; and
he is aware that many verbal improvements might be made on a
revisal ; but the pages, being stereotyped, do not admit of alteration.
By the use of the original plates, however, the present publishers
ore enabled to issue a new edition much cheaper than if they had to
set up the whole anew.
NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.
The preceding preface was written on issuing a new and entire
edition of the Protestant by the present publishers, four years ago.
The demand for the work still continuing and extending, I have been
induced to read it carefully over, and make such improvements as
seemed necessary, though at the expense to the publishers of casting
many of the plates anew. These corrections are almost entirely of a
verbal natuie, as I scarcely found a sentiment which I wished to
alter or exchange. The increasing demand for the work is gratify-
ing to its Author on many accounts, chiefly as indicating an increas-
ing interest in the subjects of it; and it is not the least gratifying
circumstance, that it has not only yielded an ample return to the
publishers, but also enabled them fully to compensate the loss sus-
tained by the Jury Trial referred to at the end of the fourth volume,
which they have done of their own accord, for I had no claim upon
them.
W. M'GAV/N.
ClasgoiCi 20th Sept. 1687.
CONTENTS.
PART L
Subjects of the Oratorio vage 1
Paragraph in the Glasgow Chronicle 2
Letter to the Editor, animadverting on this paragraph „ _ 3
Reply hy Amicus Veritatis.. 4
Answer by A Protectant Subject of holy places discussed. A
word on Indulgences „...„ 6
Letter of Pax 8
Letter of Amicus Veritatis. Hervey quoted as an authority for re-
garding churches as holy places. Indulgences said to be granted
by Luther, &c 0
Protestant's Reply. Word Catholic, &c 12
Indulgences. That preached by Tetzel. Bull of Indulgence granted
by the present Pope to the people of Cork. Bull for exciting re-
bellion in Ireland. Indulgences from the modern French catechism.
Reflections on the subject 15
Another Letter by Pax 20
Subject of Indulgences. Tax of the Apostolic Chancery. Testimony
of Claude D'Espence. Of Dupin. Luther's alleged Indulgence 11
Anodier Letter by Amicus Veritatis 28
Protestant's Letter on the subject of Indulgences s.tid to have been
granted by Luther 31
Protestant's discussion of the subjectof Hervey and holy places. Means
by which the Popish Chapel in Glasgow was built oo
Letter by Amicus Veritatis. Denies that the Church of Rome grants
Indulgence to commit sin. Charge of Forgery against Protestants, 56
Protestant's Reply to Pax. Papists preferring the state of tilings in the
dark ages 58
Letter of Amicus Veritatis. Farther charges of forgery. A pre-
tended quotation from Luther's works. Phillips' oration on bigotry 41
Apparent amelioration of Popery as it appears in Protestant countries,
while it is still the same 45
Letter to the Readers of the Glasgow Chronicle, announcing the publi-
cation of The Protestant in weekly Numbers 48
Advertisement by Amicus Veritatis 5( I
PART IL
No. I. Reply to Pax. Indulgences granted by the Pope for thou-
sands of years. Amazing rapacity of the Priests. Douay Catechism,
on penance and indulgence 1
II. Detection of a false quotation from Luther's works by Amicus
Veritatis, and Luther vindicated. Term Catholic. Bull of the
Pope for extirpating the Waldenscs , 9
I I I. Authority and character of Popish Priests. Culpa and Poena.
Wonderful miracle 1?
vi CONTENTS.
IV. Authority and power of the Pope. His submission to Bonaparte.
Transubstaiitialion pac e 25
V. Infallibility of the Pope. Impious titles given to him. Singular ex-
communication 33
VI. Absurdity of calling the Pope Head of the Church. Monstrous
wickedness of this Head. The body cannot be pure 41
VII. How Papists prove the Pope to be infallible. Peter's alleged
supremacy 49
VIII. Peter never Bishop of Rome. Taxes and Absolutions of the
Romish Church 57
IX. A Parable. Censorship of Rooks 65
X. Censorship of Books continued. Manner of spending a day by a
Papist. Reflections on giving countenance to Popish worship 73
XI. Popery the religion of corrupt human nature. Miraculous effects
of Popish baptism. Popish persecution. Instanced in the present
state of Protestants in France 81
XII. Charge of bigotry fixed upon Papists. Singular instance of it
in the case of the Duke of Brunswick. Orthodox Journal against
reading the Bible „ 69
XIII. Intolerance of Popery. Instances of persecution. Peter Wal-
do. Shocking cruelties committed upon the Waldenses. Their
peaceful character 97
XIV. Establishment of Popery in Scotland. Some Waldenses in
England cruelly murdered. Lollards burnt in Glasgow. Patrick
Hamilton burnt at St. Andrews. Other instances of persecution in
Scotland 10.1
XV. Doctrinal Decision and intolerance of the Belgian Bishops, in
the present day. The Protestant denounced and cursed in the
Popish Chapel, Glasgow, on occasion of celebrating High Mass, on
Sabbath the 4th of October, 1818. Papists always sounding their
own praise. Pope's Bull for licensing brothels. Spotless purity of
the priests ] 13
XVI. Protestants regarding Popery with a favourable eye. Nature of
Popish Charity. Answers to several parts of Amicus Veritatis'
Letters 121
XVII. The Douay and other Catechisms compared. Their omission
or mutilation of the second Commandment. Canisius' Catechism
in Scotch 129
XVIII. The doctrine of Indulgences calculated to encourage the com-
mission of sin. The doctrine of Christ the reverse of this 137
XIX. The subject of discipline in the Church of Scotland discussed.
Cutty Stool. Discipline not punishment 145
XX. Popish discipline and Excommunication. Case of John, King
of England. The Damnation and Excommunication of Queen
Elizabeth by Pope Pius V 1 53
XXI. Excommunication of Henry VI II. The Pope's letter to the
Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, exciting them to re-
bellion against Queen Elizabeth. Indulgences granted by the Pope
to Stuckley's crucifixes. Plots of Jesuits. Excommunication of
rats, mice, &c 161
XXII. Merciful nature, and beneficial effects of church discipline pro-
perly conducted. Contrasted with die rigorous nature of Popish dis-
cipline and excommunication. Instances of cruelty 169
XXIII. Cruelty of Popish discipline illustrated in the case of Mr.
Bourke, a Popish Priest in Ireland 17'
XXIV. Form of Oath required of Papists by King James I. That
by Act of King William. That at present in force. Bu'l of pel-
CONTENTS. vii
petual indulgence to the Kings and Queens of France, to brrak
such oaths as they cannot conveniently keep 18 *
XXV. Concerning keeping faith with heretics. Lawfulness of break-
ing faith with them, proved by several authorities. By the Council
of Constance. Recognized by the Council of Trent. Oath of obe-
dience to that Council. Recent instance of a man leaving his wife
on account of heresy „ 1 9b
XXVI. The same subject continued. Farther authorities. Declara-
tion of the University of Alcala. Remarks upon it. Safe conduct
granted to John Huss, violated 201
XX. VI I. The same subject continued. Modern Papists ashamed of
the doctrine. Doctrine of not keeping faith exemplified by the In.
quisition. Lawfulnessof putting heretics to death. Modern Papists
avow their hope of subverting the present establishment. Misrepre-
sentations of the Orthodox Journal corrected 209
XXVIII. The same subject continued. Controversy between Dr.
Drummond and Bishop Hay of Edinburgh. Extract from Dr.
Porteous' Sermon. All the writers in the Church of Rome for ages
maintaining the principle 217
XXIX. Farther evidence of the doctrine of the church of Rome
with regard to breaking faith. Bishop Lanigan's five reasons for
breaking faith. Secreta Monita. Profligacy of the Jesuits. First
notice of the The Catholic Vindicator „ 225
XXX. The Church of Rome withholds the Bible from the common
people Rule of the Council of Trent, Controversy between Mr.
Scott and W. M. Presumption of the Church of Rome, in assuming
the power of permitting, or hindering the reading of the Scriptures 233
XXXI. The same subject continued. Church of Rome gradually
departs from the doctrine of the Bible. Early translations. Wick-
liffe. The Pope's Bull against him. Pope Sixtus V. His edition
of the Scriptures. Italian mutilated Bible. A correspondent of
the Orthodox Journal declares that the Editor has written a better
book than the Bible .. 241
XXXII. The same subject continued. The Rhemish Translators.
Charge of perverting the Bible answered 249
XXXIII. The same subject continued. Proposed Society in London
for reprinting and circulating the Douay Bible. Object defeated by
the Papists who had promised to further it Sentiments of a writer
in the Orthodox Journal. Story of a Dutch lady. Bull of the pre-
sent Pope against Bible Societies 257
XXXIV. The same subject continued. Inquiry, what evil the Bible
lias done? The Bible was intended for all men, and ought to be
given to all. Opposition to this by Popish Writers. Orthodox Jour-
nal against the distribution of the Bible 265
XXXV. The same subject continued. The word of God was meant
to be made known to all men by the Scriptures. Popish objections
to this answered. Decree of the Council of Trent. Dr. Milner
against the circulation of the Scriptures 273
XXXVI. The same subject continued. Affected regard for the
Scriptures. Divine command to write the Word. Cause of the ob-
scurity of some passages. Reflections on the general circulation of
the Scriptures 281
XXXVII. The same subject continued. Anecdote of a Spaniard.
Modern French intolerance. Instances in Ireland of priestly oppo-
sition to the Word of God. Effects of reading and preaching. Sen-
timents of the Popish Translators of the New Testament into French, 28()
XXXVIII The circulation of cheap tracts recommended. Farther
notice of The Catholic Vindicator and of his style. He maintains
the lawfulness of breaking faith 297
VUI CONTEXTS.
XXXIX. Introduction to the subject of Popish idolatry. Glory
of the Virgin Mary, by the Rhemish Translators. Wonderful
account of St. Ann, the mother of Mary 305
XL. Idolatry of Papists. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by
Mr. Andrews. Prayers to her. Litanies, &c 313
XLI Popish idolatry continued. Idolatrous addresses to the
Virgin Mary. Mary exalted above all. Her miracles. How
they encourage licentiousness 32]
XLI I. Short notice of The Vindicator. Early indication of
undue respect for the Mother of Jesus. Reproved by him.
Vision of Mary to St. Thomas. View of her Glory. Distinc-
tions of Popish worship. Latvia, Dulia, &c. Immense num-
ber of prayers which the virgin has to attend to, &c 329
XLIII. Idolatry of saint worship. Christian and saint the
same. Affected humility of worshipping God through the
medium of saints. Real pride. St. Wenefride 337
XLIV. St. Wenefride 345
XLV. Apology for giving so much of the nonsense of this saint.
Other works published by Mr. Andrews worthy of the dark
ages. Popish division of labour among the saints 353
XLVI. Discreet variety in objects of Popish worship. Nature
of evangelical and Popish worship contrasted. Ridiculous
multiplication of saints, &c. St. Viar. Veronica. False ideas
of the true God naturally lead to idolatry 361
XLVI I. Beatification. Canonization. How saints are known
by the smell of their bones. Farther proofs of idolatry from
Mr. Andrews' prayer to St. Wenefride. How saints know
what their votaries pray for, &c 369
XLVIII. Worship of images. Proved idolatrous. Great auth-
orities for such worship. Council of Trent. Images of the
Tri 11 i ty, &c 377
XLIX. Image worship continued. The golden calf supposed to
represent Joseph. Miraculous power ascribed to images. St-
Dominic. His character, and the worship which is paid to
him. Detection of a Popish miracle in Scotland 3So
L. Interview with two papists. Declarations of three wii-
nesses, proving the truth of the story of the man in the Wynd.
Iietiections upon it 393
THE
Protectant
PART I.
The publication of the Protestant has excited so much in-
terest, and has been so favourably received by the public, that 1
have been induced to reprint my Letters which were published in
the Glasgow Chronicle; and, that I may do my opponents all
justice, I shall also reprint theirs, in the order in which they
originally appeared before the world. I shall begin, by giving
the subjects which were performed at the Oratorio, with a trans-
lation of them into English; and also the paragraph which oc-
casioned this controversy. " Behold how great a matter a little
fire kindleth."
ORATORIO.
The Oratorio to consist of the following Selection :
PART FIRST.
Grand Symphony, composed for the occasion, by Mr. De Monti, sen (Or-
gan by Mr. C. J. A. De Monti, accompanied by the Military Band.)
Credo in unum Denm — I believe in one God Churns.
Genitum non factum — begotten, not made Contr Alto Solo.
Et incarnatus est — and hath become fle»h Quartetl.
Et resurrexit tertia die — and rose on the third day... Ch"r us.
Confiteor unum baptisms — I confess one baptism Basso Solo.
Lucis Creator optime — hest Creator of lighi Chorus.
Adeste Fideles, (or Portuguese llymnj — be present
ye faithful Chorus.
Deum de Deo — God from God — variation 1st to the
preceding Soprano Solo.
Chorus da Capo.
A
Cantet nunc lo. 2d var. — let him sing now Io Contr' Alter ?nA>
Chorus da Capo.
Ergo qui riatus, 3d var. — therefore who hath been born. Tcnore Sole.
Chorus da Capo.
PAhT SECOND.
Gloria in excelsis Deo — Glory to God among the lofty
ones Chorus Concertante
Laudamus te — We piaise thee Duett 2 Sopruni.
Domine Deus — O Lord God Tenore Solo.
Qui tollis peccata mundi — who takest away the sins
of the world Chorui.
Quoniam tu solus sanctus — since thou alone art holy... Trio.
Cum Sancto Spiritu — with the Holy Spirit Chorus.
Te Deum laudamus — We praise thee God Chorus.
Te Gloriosus Apostolorum Chorus — thee the glorious
choir of the Apostles Duett 2 Soprani.
To ad Liberandum — thou for delivering Chorus.
Te ergo quaesumus — we beseech thee therefore Tenore Solo.
Per singulos Dies — every day Quarteit.
Dignare Domine — vouchsafe, O Lord Contr' Alto Solo.
Misere nostri Domine — have mercy on us, O Lord,... .S>/>raMo Solo.
Fiat misericordia tua — let thy mercy be done Quartett.
In te Dumine speravi — upon thee, Lord, 1 have placed
my hope Chorus.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem — and lead us not
into temptation — (from the Pater Noster) Chorus.
Sed libera nos a malo — but deliver us from evil —
(from the Pater Noster) Chorus.
Domine salvum fac Regem — God save the King —
(or Prayer for the King) Chorus.
To conclude with an extempore Voluntary on the Organ, by Mr. De
Monti, sen.
" We feel pleasure in noticing the numerous and respectable
auditory which was assembled at the Oratorio on Thursday last.
The zeal and activity of the directors, the alacrity and pleasure
with which their solicitations, in behalf of a charitable and phi-
lanthropic institution, were complied with, the great respect paid
alike to the subject and the place, form a pleasing and characte-
ristic feature of the age, and mud afford an inexhaustible fund
of pleasing reflection to the contemplative Christian. May we
not hope that these reasons, and the general satisfaction afforded
Ly the performance, will induce Bishop Cameron to grant his
permission for another Oratorio at a future period. We cannot
doss the subject, without offering our mead of praise to Mr. De
Monti for his extraordinary exertions, which the shortness of the
notice required." — Glasgow Chron. May 23d, 1818.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir,
There are two or three words in your papei of last Saturday>
on which 1 beg leave to animadvert a little. They are in the para-
graph relating to the Oratorio in the Catholic Chapel: — ' The great
respect paid alike to the subject and the place* I hope that the
highly respectable company which assembled in the Catholic Cha-
pel, last Thursday, paid great respect to the subject that was said
or sung there that day. I can conceive no subject so important
and interesting to a devout mind. It embraces nothing less than
the salvation of the world by the incarnation and death of the
Son of God. I think it impossible that any Christian should
make this a subject of amusement; and it was ricdit to regard it
J t o o
with all possible respect and devotion. But it appears to me
somewhat strange, that they should have paid the like respect to
the place. Does the writer of the paragraph really believe that
the building is as much to be respected, or to be regarded with
the same kind of respect, as the most solemn passages of the
word of God? Does he in fact believe that the stones and timber
of the Catholic Chapel are more holy than the materials of its
neighbour the Town's Hospital ; or of its other neighbour the
Glass Bottle Manufactory? I know there is a Church every stone
of which is holy ; but this is neither the High Church of Glas-
gow, nor St. George's, nor the Tabernacle, nor yet the Catholic
Chapel in Clyde Street.
The Society for educating Roman Catholics is founded upon
che best principles, and is entitled to the liberal support of Pro-
testants. In teaching poor Catholics to read, we do not profess
to make them Protestants ; and it is not fair to represent us as
having become Catholics, because we patronize such an institution.
But if it be true that we paid respect alike to the subject, and the
place where the Oratorio was performed, we have embraced one
of the worst tenets of Popery — we are putting the work of a man
on a footing with the work of God.
The writer of the paragraph expresses a hope that Bishop
Cameron will grant permission to have another such exhibition.
And is it come to this, that the Protestants in Glasgow must
have the permission of a Roman Catholic Bishop to sing the
praise of their Maker; that they must use oidy such words as he
shall prescribe ; and that these words must be, to the most of
those who use them, in an unknown tongue? If it be possible
that any person should consider it as a matter of amusement, then
the permission of the Bishop is nothing less than a P.»pish indul-
gence to commit sin. I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE,
Sir,
Having perceived in your paper of Thursday, a Letter
from " A Protest A nt,'' I beg leave to remark, in very few
words, on the matter which it contains. Nor let it be understood
that it is the spirit of recrimination which makes me trespass on
the public, but a desire of exposing the weakness and futility of
censorious bigotry:
" Curst be the verse, how well soe'er it flow,
" That te.ids to make one worthy man my foe !"
I saw the paragraph which your correspondent alludes to, and
am certainly astonished at the handle which he has made of it :
paying respect to the house of God seems to have given him
very great offence, and drawn from him a question as ridiculous
as it is shameful: — " Does he (the vvriier of the paragraph) in
fact believe that the stones and timber of the Catholic Chapel are
more holy than the materials of its neighbour the Town's Hos-
pital; or of its other neighbour the Glass Bottle Manufactory?"
According to the same principle, I suppose your correspondent
would assert, that the ground whereon Moses stood, when he
beheld the burning bush, was not more holy than the Green of
Glasgow; or that the Temple of Jerusalem, which I believe was
partly composed of " stones and timber,'' was not more sacred
than the Theatre: yet we are informed, in the sacred Scriptures,
that our Saviour was so offended at the disrespect paid to his
house, that he not only reproached the buyers and sellers therein,
but even personally chastised them.
Were we to analyze all things that have been called holy, we
would find them to consist in substance of mere matter ; but the
union or combination of matter, its application to pious purposes,
and its consecration to Almighty God, certainly is not unworthy
of being " called holy," and consequently deserving of a more
sacred regard than the property of a glass-blower, or even a town's
hospital.
From the remark of your correspondent respecting Popish
indulgences, 1 was led to examine the Douay Catechism, from
which I learn that the meaning of an indulgence is entirely differ-
eut from what he would insinuate ; indeed, if it were the case
that Popish Bishops could have granted indulgences to commit sin,
Henry the Eighth would never have professed himself a Protestant.
Thank Heaven! " the phantoms raised by bigotry and by
prejudice have Hed before the Ihjht of reason ;" the darknes
which for a time overspread our horizon, is dissipating into the
more chastened ray of liberality and philanthropy ; and the insti-
tution for the education of Roman Catholics, if it still meet
with the encouragement which already has marked its progress,
will be a lasting monument to future ages of the charity of its
supporters and conductors.
I am, Sir,
Yours, &c.
AMICUS VERITATIS.
to the editor of the glasgow chronicle.
Sir,
If I were to choose the name of an opponent in contro-
versy, I would not fix on one more to my mind than Amicus
Veritatis. I see, in your paper of Thursday, a Letter under
this signature, containing; some remarks on my Letter which ap-
l 1*1
peared in your paper of the Thursday preceding ; and, presum-
ing your correspondent to be what he calls himself, I shall proceed
to reply, without the least apprehension of " making one honest
man my foe."
If I had been sure that the writer of the paragraph relating to
the Oratorio was a Catholic, I should perhaps have expressed
myself in a manner somewhat different. I should not have put
it as a question whether the writer regarded the stones and tim-
ber of his Chapel more holy than the materials of its two conspi-
cuous neighbours; 1 should have taken it for granted that he did.
But this would have made no difference in the nature of my re-
marks. The writer was speaking of a congregation, the bulk ot
whom were Protestants, and he stated that they paid great respect
alike to the place and to the subject. This I thought could be
true only on one or other of two suppositions; either that they had
abandoned their Protestantism, and become Papists; or that they
considered the subject as a mere matter of amusement, and then
they might respect the place as much as the subject- I did not
suppose that Christians could make so solemn a subject the matter
of amusement; 1 could not allow myself to believe that so many
of my friends and neighbours had all at once become Papists
and therefore I concluded that the reporter, whoever he was, had
given an unfair statement.
Amicus Veritatis comes forward to vindicate the statement,
and the sentiments implied in it, with regard to the holiness of the
place ; and he does so candidly and plainly, so as to make it
evident that he is a Catholic. He, of course, believes the Cha-
pel to be as holy as a Bishop can make it; I believe so too ;'and
yet I believe it is not more holy than the Bottle- Woik or the
Town's Hospital. Persons who believe that a Priest can create
his own Creator ; or that he can, by the use of certain words,
turn a little bread and wine into the real body and blood, soul
and divinity of Jesus Christ ; may very easily believe that a
Bishop can turn an ordinary building into a holy place ; but Pro-
testants, I mean enlightened and consistent Protestants, believe
neither the one nor the other : and what I originally found fault
with was, the statement which represented a Protestant assembly
as regarding the place with the like respect as they regarded th -
most solemn passages of the word of God.
Amicus Veritatis is perfectly right when he says, " Ac-
cording to the same principle, I suppose your Correspondent would
assert, that the ground whereon Moses stood, when he beheld the
burning bush, was not more holy than the Green of Glasgow."
I frankly confess that I regard the one as no more holy than the
other, but for the divine Presence which was manifested on the
former. Wherever the Almighty makes himself known, by vi-
sible or sensible tokens of his presence, that I should regard as a
holy place ; but I have never heard of him doing so in the Ca»
tholic Chapel, and therefore I must be excused from putting it
upon a footing with the place where Moses tood in the wilder-
ness, or with the Temple in Jerusalem, where, in a mysterious,
but sensible manner, the Almighty communed with his people
from between the cherubims, and from above the mercy-seat.
Your Correspondent forgets that these things belonged to a
dispensation which has long since passed away, and given place
to a better one. In the hour of our Saviour's crucifixion, the
vail of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The holv
place was then laid open to all the world, and it was a holy place
no longer. From that moment there was no house in the world
more holy than another ; and the words of Christ began to be
fulfilled, " Neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall
ye worship the Father : hut the hour cometh, and now is, when
the true worshippers shall worship him in spirit and in truth." 1
most earnestly recommend the consideration of this subject to
Amicus VERITATIS; and if he be indeed what his name im-
ports, I hjpe he will soon see and acknowledge the absurdity of
considering any thing holy which is made by human bauds.
It is an assembly of Christians, not the place in which they
meet, that is the house, or a house of God ; and such a bouse
I believe to be holy, because Christ is present with them, though
they be but two or three in number ; and because they are holy
fiersons, saved by his grace, and sanctified by his Spirit. This
louse is not the work of man, it is a " building of God."
A word or two on the subject of indulgences. My remarks, it
stems, led Amicus Vekitatis to look into the Douay Catechism
to see what an indulgence is. I wish he hud indulged me with t>
quotation, to assist my understanding with regard to the vicdern
meanincr of the word ; for I am not so rich as to possess a Douay
Catechism. But I do not need any modern writing to inform me
that the Pope claimed and exercised the power of dispensing with
the law of God, and granting permission to commit tin : for
instance, he professed to relieve individuals, and whole nations,
from the obligation of an oath. He claimed farther the power
of granting to individuals and families a full remission of all their
sins, past and future, which probably would operate as an encou-
ragement to commit sin, seeing the persons knew beforehand
that they had got a full pardon. I am assured by a Reverend
Gentleman of this city, that he has seen a bull of the Pope,
granted as a special mark of his favour to the head of the ancient
family of Kilravack. It is signed by the then Pope's own hand,
and grants the most pleasing remission of all their sins, to nil the
branches of that family, from the time of granting the bull to a
period of which there are about sixty years yet to run.
I am not at present disposed to turn over books of history,
else, I doubt not, 1 could easily show, that it was no unwilling-
ness on the part of the Pope to grant indulgence to commit sm,
which prevented him from iudulging Henry the Eighth in his
wicked project. It is nor fair to call that man a Protestant who
did little more than transfer the headship of the Church from the
Pope to himself.
It is gratifying to be informed that the Catholic Schools are
flourishing: but it ought not to be forgotten, that they originated
with, and are chiefly supported by, Protestants. While the Ca-
tholics were lavishing ihousands of pounds on the decorations of
what they foolishly call the House of God, (while a plain building
might have served their purpose,) they were suffering their poor
to grow up, and to perish in ignorance ; and it might have beeu
so still but for Protestant benevolence.
It is amusing to hear a Catholic charging his Protestant neigh-
bour with bigotry; and thanking Heaven that "the darkness
which for a time overspread our horizon is dissipating into the
more chastened ray of liberality and philanthropy." 1 suppose
the time here referred to, is that which has elapsed since the Re-
formation ; and, of course, the light which is now about to arise is
that of the dark ages!
I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHROXICLE.
Sib,
It was not my intention to have noticed your Correspondent's
letter, signed " A Protestant," containing remarks on a para-
graph which appeared immediately after the Oratorio ; and I am
sorry that Amicus Veritatis has done so, hecause it Iris brought
forth from him a second letter, in your Paper of Saturday last,
which 1 am compelled to answer. I will quarrel with no man for his
religious opinions, whatever they may be ; and I respect his feel-
ings too much to turn them into ridicule. My purpose is not to
enter into a controversy with your Correspondent on the subject be-
tween him and Amicus Veritatis; but to repel principles false-
ly attributed to others, and endeavour to make him feel, if pos-
sible, the injustice of his uncharitable remark at the conclusion
of his letter. Your Correspondent seems to assume the privi-
lege of determining what another body of Christians understand
by the word indulgence, and that the Catholic must abide by
his definition ; and brings forth the report of a Rev. Gentleman,
who assures him he has seen a bull of the Pope, granting the
pleasing remission of all the sins of the ancient house of Kilra-
vack, for sixty years yet unexpired. Really, Mr. Editor, it is a
very unpleasant task to convict any man of committing a mis-
take, and still more galling to see a whole body of people
charged unjustly with professing principles as repugnant to their
feelings as to common sense. Your Correspondent may have
been informed of this ; the Rev. Gentleman may have seen some
old Latin scrip, or even a bull; yet I will defy him or any one
to produce it, or prove its existence, with the contents as-
cribed to it, — or that by an indulgence is meant the remission of
sins. It is at best a gross misinterpretation. Bulls and indul-
gences are so mingled by your Correspondent, that he pretends
not to know the meaning of either, nor will he be troubled to
turn over the leaves of history to ascertain it ; but receives the
interpretations of these words from the enemies of the Catholic
religion, and thus grounds his charge.
A spirit of irony so prevails throughout your Correspondent's
letters, that I conceive him to be solely actuated by prejudice,
or else why those epithets of Papists, Popish, Wafer, &c. ? which
originated in derision, and were fostered by bigotry. A quarto edi-
tion of a Dictionary, lying before me, says, " Papist, an odious
term made use of by Protestants when they speak of Catholics."
The Catholics do not admit of these appellations ; our houses of
Parliament do not make use of them: why then, if he wishes
not " to make one honest man his foe," does he use derision to
insult them.
Your Correspondent's observations on the Catholic Schools
ought never to have been penned, when penned never to have
been printed. They breathe a spirit in direct opposition to the
principles of its supporters, who act from motives of pure charity
and philanthropy, and, by their generosiiy and candour, win the
grateful hearts of their fellow- creatures. ' He, by reproaches, tries
to unsheath the sword ; but it has long since rusted in its seab-
oard, and will not yield to the ungenerous tug. A little while
and it shall be found rooted to the hilt.
Your Correspondent may trouble the public with a reply as I
have done ; but were he to write till the indulgence granted to
the house of Kilravack is expired, on religious opinions, to pro-
voke a controversy, I would be silent ; but you shall ever find
me ready to crush prejudice by stating the truth.
PAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
SlK,
I have perceived in your Paper of Saturday, a second at-
tack upon the writer of the paragraph relative to the Oratorio, to-
gether with some animadversions on my letter of Thursday.
Your Correspondent very ingeniously endeavours to refute what
I said regarding that respect which ought to be paid to places
appropriated for the celebration of the praise of our Creator, and
so far does he proceed upon the principle he has laid down, as to
assert, that all " enlightened and consistent Protestants," regard a
church with as little respect as they would pay to a place of com-
mon amusement. I must necessarily suppose, when your Cor-
respondent made this assertion he was not aware that many
" enlightened and consistent Protestants" do not agree with him ;
among the rest the celebrated Mr. Hervey, whose authority
gives a zest to all I have advanced on this subject. This " en-
lightened" Protestant Divine writes thus in the commencement
of his " Meditations among the Tombs :" he is walking to a
church in the county of Cornwall, when he describes " the doors,
like the heaven to which they lead, were wide open, and readi-
ly admitted an unworthy stranger. Pleased with the opportunity,
I resolved to spend a few minutes under the sacred roof." He
is even more exp'icit; he calls places of worship " our Creator's
courts," and " the place where his honour dwelleth."
Here, then, is an authority which your Correspondent will not
10
surely call in question, breathing the very same sentiments which
were the spirit of what I formerly advanced on the subject. I
presume when Mr. Hervey termed places of worship "sacred"
it was far from his intention to suppose the materials of which
they were composed were holy, but only in relation to that Al-
mighty Being to whose service they were dedicated ; indeed there
is an innate principle in man, which, when his soul is elevated
by piety and devotion, instinctively prompts him to regard with
veneration, " the place where his honour dwelleth."
Were we to erect a house for the glory of our Creator, why
should it not, as much as possible, resemble the majesty of that
God to whose service it is to be dedicated ? " The treasures
of nature and of art are ransacked to adorn the palaces of earthly
kings, and shall we not employ them to build a house to the
King of kings and Lord of lords ?" " It must grieve," says
Mr. Hervey, " an ingenuous mind, and be a reproach to any
people, to have their own houses wainscotted with cedar, and
painted with Vermillion, while the temple of the Lord of hosts
is destitute of every decent ornament." I think your Correspon-
dent might have been more sparing in his reproaches against the
Catholics of Glasgow, for the manifestation of their piety and
public spirit ; and for raising a building which, for ages to come,
will adorn and ornament our city.
With respect to indulgences, I beg leave to inform your Cor-
respondent that it never was the doctrine of the Catholic Church,
that a Pope or Bishop could grant an indulgence to commit sin ;
and whatever he may say with regard to the ancient or modern
meaning of the word, I say, without danger of contradiction,
she ever has maintained the utmost abhorrence against all such
abominable transactions. As he mentions a Pope having granted
an indulgence (which in all likelihood is a forgery,) to " the
ancient family of Kilravack," I hope he will have the goodness
to accept in return one or two Protestant indulgences. The first
was published by the pious Luther, and contains a perpetual in-
dulgence for the commission of adultery in certain circumstances.
That it may be concealed from the eye of the profane, I will de-
cline giving the quotation, but refer your Correspondent to 119
snd 123 pages Fifth Volume of the Works of Luther, edited at
Wirtemberg. The second was an indulgence granted by Luther
and seven other Divines to Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, to hare
two wives at the same time. For the edification of the public, I
shall extract a few passages translated into English. The Bull
itself may be seen in the original Latin in Bossuet's Varia-
tions, L. vi. In his declaration to Luther and Melancthon, the
Landgrave had informed them that he had never loved his wife ,
that he had not been faithful to her more than three weeks ; and
11
that he could not abandon the dissolute state of lite in which he
lived. For these reasons, he begs a dispensation to have two
wives. In their answer, after some preliminary observations, they
proceed thus: — " But if your Highness do not abstain from an
impure life, because you say it is impossible for you to do so, we
should wish that your Highness were in a better state before God.
But if your Highness be fully resolved to take another wife,
we judfre that it ought to be done secretlv as we have said abovo
with respect to the dispensation ; that is to say, that none but the
lady herself, and a few trusty persons obliged to secrecy under
the seal of confession, know any thing of the matter. Hence it
will not be attended with any important contradiction or scandal.
For it is not unusual for princes to keep mistresses ; and though
the vulvar should be scandalized, the more prudent would un-
derstand this moderate method of life, and prefer it to adultery,
or other brutal and foul actions. There is no need of being
much concerned for what men will say, provided all go right with
conscience Your Highness hath, therefore, not only the
approbation of us all, in a case of necessity, but also the considera-
tions which we have made thereupon We are most ready
to serve your Highness. Dated at Wirtemberg, the Wednesday
after the feast of St. Nicholas, 1538. — Signed Martin Luther,
Philip Melancthon, Martin Bacer, Anthony Corvan, Adam John
Liuingue, Justus Wintforte, Dionysius Melanther."
I have often considered it as an extraordinary phenomenon in
the history of the human mind, that, in Great Britain, Catholics
are not allowed the faculty of understanding their own belief. Of
the myriads of declaimers against Popery, with which this king-
dom abounds, from the unlettered female who reads theological
lectures to her pupils in the nursery, to the Right Reverend Di
vine who instructs his brethren the Clergy of the Diocese, there
is not one who does not appear to claim a more accurate know-
ledge of the Catholic doctrine than the very Catholics themselves.
Their decisions are more infallible than those of the Roman
Pontiff. It is in vain that Catholics disclaim the odious tenets
which are imputed to them ; in vain that they appeal to their
professions of faith, and the canons of their councils: their com-
pl.iints are disregarded, and their protestations treated with con-
tempt: the obstinacy of their adversaries will neither yield to ar-
gument nor authority. Objections which have been a thousand
times. refuted, are confidently brought forward as demonstrations
of their folly and impiety; and the misrepresentations of prejudice
are eagerly received with the veneration due to simple unvarnished
truth.
Your Correspondent may reply; but as I do not perceive an\
good which can be produced to the institution, by maintaining a
12
controversy, I hope I shall be excused if I decline troubling you
with any more of my remarks.
I am, Sir,
Yours, &c.
AMICUS VERITATIS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir,
I observe two letters in your Paper of yesterday, in reply
to mine in that of Saturday last, the one signed Pax, the other by
my former opponent, Amicus Veritatis. It is a sad thing fur
me, Sir, to have both Peace and Truth against me ; but as I am
not conscious of having provoked either of them, and as I am
sure neither of them can hurt me, I cau cheerfully meet them with
open face. Both of them write in a temperate style. The former,
indeed, seems a little angry; but the latter appears to be in very
good humour: and, so far as I can judge of my own temper, I
think there is nothing inconsistent with- a state of good humour
in any thing that I have yet written on this subject. It is my
wish to preserve the same state of mind, in replying to the formi-
dable host which is now mustered against me.
Pax says, he was compelled to answer my last letter; and
I shall not be sorry if he feels himself also compelled to an-
swer this one, if it should be at the period when the bull in be-
half of the Kilravack family has expired; until which period he
declares he will not answer me, for, by that time, he will be a
pretty old man, although he should be only a stripling now: and
surely he cannot say I wish him ill, because I wish he may live
to a great age.
He accuses me of writing in " a spirit of irony;" and this is
a part of his letter which I do not controvert. There are some
things so extremely absurd, as to defy all serious argument ; on
which, "to be grave, exceeds all power of face;'' and the so-
lemn parade about the holiness of the Popish Chapel, appeared
to me to be one of these things! The claim seemed to me so ex-
tremely ludicrous, that it was difficult to treat it in a serious
manner. Yet, believing the pages of your Paper, notwithstanding
the nonsense that sometimes appears in them, to be as holy as the
said Chapel, I did introduce some very serious matters, which I
recommended to the serious consideration of Amicus Verita-
tis; and I am sorry to say, I see no evidence of his having con-
sidered them,
13
I say now the Popish, not the Catholic Chapel, because I see
Pax attaches great importance to the distinction, and feels of-
fended bv my use of the former word. I must maintain that his
offence on this account is very unreasonable ; and that it is un-
reasonable to expect that Protestants should give up the question
which they have been contesting with Papists for three hundred
years, which they must do, if they yield to them the exclusive pro-
perty of the word Catholic. Every Christian is a Catholic, in
the legitimate sense of the word. We profess to believe in the
" Holy Catholic Church," that is, in the existence of a holy and
spiritual assembly, separated from the world which lieth in wick-
edness. This assembly consists of all the saints in heaven, and
all on earth who are saved by the grace, and sanctified by the
Spirit of God. This, however, is a very different Church from
the Church of Rome, though I do not doubt that members of
the Church of Rome belong to it. Now, to grant to the Pa-
pist the exclusive property of the word Catholic, is to concede to
him what, indeed he arrogantly claims, but to which he has no
just right — the exclusive title to be a member of the true
Church.
On what other ground does Pax consider the word Papist
a term of reproach ? or on what other ground does he insist up-
on us calling him and his brethren Catholics, but that we may
concede to them the point that they only are Christians, and that
all we are heretics? But I will not yield that point to him, or
any body else. Papist is the distinctive name of those who be-
lieve in the sovereign and supreme authority of the Pope in reli-
gious matters. Those who hold certain points of doctrine are
called Calvinists, though they never professed to believe in Cal-
vin, or to embrace all his dogmas ; and why should those who
do profess to believe in the divine authority and infallibility of the
Pope, think it a reproach to be called after his name ? Let every
sect be called after the name of its god, and Papists will be found
the proper name of Pax and his brethren.
That the word Catholic, and not Papist, is used in both
Houses of Parliament, is a proof of the courtesy and good na-
ture of noblemen and gentlemen, who do not much trouble
themselves about religious distinctions; but it is one among ma-
ny evidences of a growing indifference to the great questions at
issue between Protestants and Papists. While the two words
are used indifferently, it is, perhaps, of little importance ; but
whenever the exclusive right to the word Catholic shall be gene-
rally conceded to the Church of Rome and its members, Pro-
testants will have gone far to shake hands with the Pope, if not
to kiss his great toe.
14
This gentleman accuses me of using another term of re-
proach, to wit, Wafer. This appears to me a very soft and harm-
less word. I did not know that there was any evil in it : But the
fact is, there is no such word in my letcer. I used the common
words hread and wine : and I did mean it to be understood, that
a Papist believes that his priest can, by the use of certain words,
turn these into the real body and blood, soul and divinity, of Je-
sus Christ ; that is, that he can create his own Creator ! and, as
neither of my opponents controvert this part of my letter, it must
be understood that they acquiesce in it.
I am next blamed for so mingling bulls and indulgences, as not
to pretend to know the meaning of either. The word bull oc-
curs only twice in my long letter ; and the word indulgence stands
at such a respectful distance, that it does not appear how they
are mingled : but it is of more importance to attend to the sub-
ject than the mingling of words ; and here I have to remark, be-
fore I proceed, that your compositor mistook a word in my ma-
nuscript, which was written without much care. You printed
' pleasing remission," instead of " plenary remission." Pax quotes
'he erroneous reading, and then he triumphantly defies me, " or
any one to produce it, (i. e. the bull,) or prove its existence, with
the contents ascribed to it ; or that by an indulgence is meant the
remission of sin." Now, I dare say it could not he produced
with that word in it ; but of its existence and authenticity I have
not a doubt. It is esteemed such a precious relick by the head
of the family that possesses it, (merely, however, I believe, as a
piece of curiosity and antiquity), that he refused to let it out of
his possession, when urgently requested to permit its publication.
For farther information on this point, I shall refer to the Rev.
Gentleman who actually saw it, who is, I am told, at present
from home ; but who will, I doubt not, on his return answer for
himself.
It seems, Mr. Editor, you are, art and part, guilty in one of
my transgressions. My " observations on the Catholic Schools
ought never to have been penned, and when penned ought never
to have been printed." My only observations with regard to
these Schools were, — it was gratifying to be informed that they
were flourishing; and that they originated with, and were chiefly
supported by, Protestants. Where is the great evil of these ob-
Bervations? The latter is notoriously true ; and the former I be-
lieve to be true on the testimony of Amicus Veritatis. I
believe it is an observation of mine which immediately follows,
that has offended Pax, and makes him feel so sore. M While he
and his friends were lavishing thousands of pounds on the deco-
rations of what they foolishly call the House of God, they were
suffering their pom to grow up and perish in ignorance. Now,
15
this is a fact which deserves to be printed every day, and it should
be sounded in the ears of Papists, till they be convinced of their
sin, and make confession. When this is done, I shall gladly let
the subject drop for ever.
The subject of indulgences shall have a prominent place in
my next letter; and, in those which follow, I intend to go over and
answer every objectionable sentiment advanced by your two Cor-
respondents. It is by no means a difficult task which I have un-
dertaken. To use an expression of one of your late Correspon-
dents, on another subject, — there is so much " tempting matter,"
that it is difficult to let it alone. I must request you to indulge
me with a little space in your Paper for a few days, when you
have nothing more important to fill it up.
Meantime, I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
Glasgow, 12th June, 1818.
to the editor of the glasgow chboxtcle.
Sir,
In my first letter on this controversy, I said that, if the sub-
jects of the late Oratorio could be considered as matter of amuse-
ment, then the permission of the Bishop was nothing less than a
Popish indulgence to commit sin. Amicus Veritatis s«y9
that the Douay Catechism gives a different meaning to the word
indulgence than that which I insinuate. I have called upon him
to give the modern meaning of the term, according to the Cate-
chism, but this he has not done, nor yet his coadjutor Pax.
Both of them tell me it is not what I suppose it to be; but nei-
ther of them will tell me what it is. Now, what is the meaning
of this concealment, this mystery about the meaning of a wonlr1
Is it because, modified as it may be by modern refinement, it is
still too bad to bear the light of a Protestant hemisphere?
My first assertion did not go into the niceties of its ancient o°
modern meaning. The truth of what I said seems self-evident.
If it be a sin to make the word of God a subject of amusement,
then the Bishop's permission to do so is a Popish indulgence to
commit sin, else Bishop Cameron is not a Popish Bishop. My
strongest assertion on this subject was, that " the Pope claimed
and exercised the power of granting permission to commit sin,
for instance, he professed to relieve individuals, and whole nations.
from the obligation of an oath." This is not denied Ly either
of my opponents; and I maintain, whatever the ecclesiastical
16
meaning of the word may be, that tin's is nothing less, in the
plain sense of the English words, than an indulgence, or permis-
sion, to commit sin. This, indeed, they may call a dispensation,
not an indulgence ; hut it does not alter the nature of the thing.
1 did not expect that your Correspondents would have commit-
ted themselves so far as to have asserted, " that by an indulgence
is not meant the remission of sins;" or, that it never was the
doctrine of the Catholic Church, that a Pope or Bishop could
grant an indulgence to commit sin.'' It will be recollected, by
some of your readers, that a Reverend Gentleman of that commu-
nion, a few years ago, publicly maintained, that it never was a
principle of his Church to withhold the Scriptures from the com-
mon people; and that, when the authority of the Council of Trent
was quoted against him, he was then indeed Pax! that is, hush!
not a woid more! Papists have, of late, received so much coun-
tenance, and even flattery, from Protestants, that perhaps they are
bolder, now they think the ball is at their foot ; and they expect
to get Britain back to the communion of the Holy See. I do not
therefore expect that they will acquiesce so quietly in the state-
ments which I am now about to make, and the authorities which
1 am going to quote.
The following is a translation of the bull, or, if it be more
agreeable to my opponents, the indulgence, or absolution, which
was preached and circulated by Tetzel, under the authority of the
Pope ; and which was so instrumental in helping forward the Re-
formation. " May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thee,
and absolve thee by his most holy passion ; and I, by his autho-
rity, and that of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the
most holy Pope, granted and committed to me in these parts, do
absolve thee, first, from all ecclesiastical censures, in whatever man-
ner thev have been incurred; and, then, from all thy sins, trans-
gressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they may be : even
from such as are reserved for the cognizance of the Holy See;
and as far as the keys of the holy Church extend, I remit to you
all punishment which you deserve in Purgatory on their account,
and I restore you to the holy sacraments of the Church, to the
unity of the faithful, and to that innocence and purity which you
possessed at baptism ; so that, when you die, the gates of pu-
nishment shall be shut, and the gates of the Paradise of de-
light shall be opened ; and if you shall not die at present, this
grace shall remain in lull force when you are at the point of death.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." This was enforced by the preaching of Tttzel, who
declared, that if any man purchased letters of indulgence, his
soul might rest secure with respect to salvation. Will Pax, or
17
his brother, after reading this, assert, that " by an indulgence is
not meant the remission of sins ?"
I have before me an English version of another letter of in-
dulgence, which was granted by the present Pope to the good
people of Cork ' Pius VII. by divine Providence, Pope,
grants unto each, and every one of the faithful in Christ, who,
after assisting, at least eight times, at the holy exercise of the
mission (in the new Cathedral of Cork), shall confess his or her
6ins, with true contrition, and approach unto the holy commu-
nion, shall devoutly visit the said Cathedral Chapel, and then
offer up to God, for some space of time, pious and fervent prayers,
for the propagation of the Catholic faith, and to the intention or
our holy father, a plenary indulgence applicable to the souls in
purgatory, by way of suffrage, and this in form of a jubilee."
Now, let any man figure to himself the good zealous Papists of
Cork, after having washed away all their own sins, by assisting at
least eight times at the holy exercise of the mission, by true con-
trition, by pious and fervent prayers offered up to God for some
space of time, receiving a plenary indulgence in the form of a
jubilee ; let any one witness this jubilee, and reflect that it is
granted by the special favour of the Pope, and let him say, if it be
not true that the Pope does, even to this day, grant indulgence
to commit sin.
I shall indulge your readers with another bull of the Pope re-
lating to Ireland. It was produced in the Court of King's
Bench on the trial of Connor, Lord Macquire, Feb. 10th, 1644,
— Stale Trials, vol. I. p. 464 : —
Ad futuram Rei Memoriam Urbanus Octavus, S^c. It re-
cites, " that having taken into his serious consideration the great
zeal of the Irish towards the propagating of the Catholic faith; which
kingdom (for their .singular fervency in the true worship of God)
was of old called the Land of Saints : And having certain no-
tice, that, in imitation of their godly and worthy ancestors, they
endeavoured by force of arms to deliver their thralled nation from
the oppressions of the heretics, and to extirpate those workers of
iniquity, who had infected the mass of Catholic purity with the
pestiferous leaven of their heretical contagion, by virtue of his
power of binding and loosing, which God hath conferred upon
him ; to all and every the aforesaid Christians in the kingdom of
Ireland, so long as they should militate against the said heretics
and other enemies of the Catholic faith, he did grant a full and
plenary indulgence, and absolute remission of all their sins, de-
siring all of them to be partakers of this precious treasure ; dated
from the Vatican, or St. Peter's Palace in Rome, May 25th,
1 643, and in the twentieth year of his pontificate." Under this
plenary indulgence, the Papists of Ireland murdered many thou-
C
18
sands of their Protestant neighbours. After reading this, will your
Correspondents assert, that by an indulgence is not meant tho
remission of sin, or that it never was the practice of the Pope to
grant permission to commit sin ? If they will still assert this, then
they must admit that it is no sin to murder Protestants.
I have not been able to procure a Douay Catechism : and, as
Amicus Veritatis will not inform me what meaning is given
by it to the word Indulgence, I must find it out from another
quarter. I have before me " A Catechism for the use of all the
Churches in the French Empire, to which are prefixed the Pope's
Bull, and the Archbishop's Mandamus. Translated from the
original, with an Introduction and Notes, by David Bogue.': For
the edification of your readers, I shall transcribe Lesson xxi. It
has all the authority and infallibility that the Pope can give it,
as I suppose the Douay Catechism also has : it cannot therefore
be materially different, for it is impossible that two things on the
Bame doctrine, materially different, can proceed from an infallible
6ource.
" Of Indulgences. Q. What does faith teach us concern-
ing indulgences ? A. That the church has received from Jesus
Christ the power of granting them, and that the use of them is
very salutary to Christians. — Q. Why are indulgences so salu-
tary ? A. Because they are established to moderate the rigours of
the temporal pains due to sin. — Q. Is it necessary to know pre-
cisely how this rigour is moderated? A. No: it is sufficient to
believe that a good mother, like the church, gives nothing to her
children, but what really serves to relieve them in this world and
in the next. — Q. Is it the intention of the church to free us by
indulgences from the obligation of God ? A. No : the mind of
the church is, on the contrary, to grant indulgences, only to those
who attend to the duty of satisfying, on their part, divine justice.
— Q. Of what use are indulgences ? A. They are of much use to
us in every way, since we have always reason to believe that we
are very far from having satisfied according to our obligations. —
Q. What follows from hence? A. That we should be our own
enemies, if we had not recourse to the graces and indulgences of
the church. — Q. What then, in a word, is the intention of the
church, in the dispensation of indulgences ? A. It is to assist
well-meaning Christians to clear themselves in regard to God, and
make up their infirmity. — Q. What does she intend by that ? A.
To excite more and more in the heart, piety and love to God,
conformably to the word of our Lord, — he to whom much is given,
ought also to love much. — Q. What is the best disposition to
obtain indulgences? A. Doing, in the best manner we can, what
is prescribed to obtain them, and wait the effect of them from the
mercy of God, who alone knows the secrets of the heart.—
19
Q. On what are indulgences founded? A. On the satisfaction of
Jesus Christ and of the saints Q. Why do you add the satis-
faction of the saints to that of Jesus Christ ? A. Because of the
goodness of God, who is willing, on the behalf of his most pious
servants, to forgive the others Q. Why besides ? A. Because
the satisfaction of the saints are united to that of Jesus Christ,
whence they derive all their value. — Q. Who has a right to give
indulgences? A. The Pope in the whole church, and the bishops
in their dioceses, with the limitations appointed by the church."
Such is the precious doctrine of the infallible Church respect-
ing indulgences. I would appeal to your types, if they were ca-
pable of receiving an appeal, whether they were ever employed in
putting together such a jumble of impiety and nonsense? From
this document I am enabled to take higher ground. I maintain
now, not only that the Pope, and the Church of which he is the
head, grant indulgence to commit sin, but that they actually
command it. They make it the duty of a Papist to commit sin.
I rest this very heavy charge on the answer to the fourth question
above quoted : — " The mind of the church is, to grant indul-
gences only to those who attend to the duty of satisfying, on
their part, divine justice? Perhaps some of your Protestants
readers will not, at first sight, perceive the enormous wickedness
of this ; but I appeal to every serious and enlightened Christian,
whether he can imagine greater wickedness than an attempt to do
what God has declared that it is impossible that a creature can
do; and what he declares to be already perfectly accomplished,
not by a mere creature, but by his own Son ? The revelation of
divine mercy by Jesus Christ, and the command to believe in
him, is virtually a command to cease from every attempt to satis-
fy divine justice for ourselves, or to make our peace with God :
but the Church of Rome sets its miserable votaries to a work
which it is not only impossible for them to do, but the very at-
tempt to do which is an act of rebellion against God. To sa-
tisfy divine justice ! The man who attempts to do this, or who
thinks he can do it, must have as low ideas of the divine
Being, as the man who sees and worships his God in a stock or
a stone, or any other work of his own hands. Hence the con-
nexion of this doctrine of indulgences with the worship of saints
and images, and the uniting the merit of the saints with that oi
the Saviour, which shows that the poor Papist looks upon God
as such a one as himself. Christ has satisfied divine justice by
the sacrifice of himself once for all ; and every man that believes
in him becomes interested in that sacrifice ; the justice of God is
satisfied with regard to him ; the anger of God is turned away
from him ; he needs no other sacrifice or satisfaction ; and instead
of attempting to satisfy divine justice by his own penances, orihe
20
divine law hy his own doings, he is taught, from a principle of
love and gratitude, as a saved sinner, to live a life of humility and
obedience to his heavenly Father. This is the true Catholic;
this is a member of the church universal, which unites the earth
to heaven.
But the Papist is taught by his church to satisfy divine justice
f y r himself; and, if he cannot make it entirely out, he gets the
grace and indulgences of the church, and the merits of the saints,
to hslp him ; and, if all should be too little, he has a corps de
reserve in the merits of Christ, to which, however, he will not
likely apply if he can do better. This subject is too serious for
ridicule; it is delusion and imposition all over, and the effect of
it is to ruin the souls of men. He that rejects the sacrifice of
Christ, or who places any confidence whatever in his own merits,
or the merits of any creature, refuses the only remedy which di-
vine mercy has provided for the salvation of our fallen race ; and
by disbelieving the divine testimony concerning the Saviour, he
is guilty of the dreadful wickedness of calling the God of truth a
liar. Many Protestants, I am afraid, are guilty of the same thing;
but it is of the nature of Popery to make men do so; and the
Romish Church authoritatively not only indulges, but commands
the commission of sin.
In my next letter I shall discuss this subject a little further,
and then advert to the indulgences granted by Luther and the
other Reformers.
I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT. -
Glasgow, 15th June, 1818.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir,
When I concluded my last letter, and declined answer-
ing your Correspondent, I did so with the conviction that no ad-
ditional provocation would emanate from his pen until he had
settled the previous question ; but, as Addison observes, " it is
indeed impossible to kill the weed, the soil has a natural inclina-
tion to produce." I feel myself forcibly called upon to notice
his letter of Saturday last, which, if I had no other, is a con-
vincing proof of the truth of my remarks. He argues, as yet,
on mere supposition, unsupported by a single fact, and is silent
on those truths opposed to his fallacious assertions.
21
I will strictly adhere to my first principle of avoiding a contro-
versy on the differences of religious opinions. My object is not tc
throw my gauntlet in the face of every man who does not think
as I do ; but to crush prejudices by opposing truth to error, and
the olive branch to the spirit of persecution. Who can blame me,
in thfs enlightened country, where men are allowed the full free-
dom of conscience, and where, I hope, these sparks of prejudice
are only emitting the faint light of an expiring fire ?
Every impartial observer must have been struck with the very
feeble resistance made by your Correspondent in his last letter,
whereby he occupies twenty- four lines of your columns in com-
paring his own temper with that of his opponent, and calculating
how old I shall be when the Kilravack Bull expires. This is not
to the purpose : I defied him to produce the Bull, tvith the mean-
ing he ascribes to it, even allowing the benefit of the errata he
claims; and it may not be irrelevant here to observe, that it is
rather unfortunate for your Correspondent, that the proprietors
(perhaps the manufacturers)of the Bull will not allow the publication
of it, which might be effected easily without dispossessing them-
selves of it, and that the Rev. Gentleman who is reported to have
seen it should be out of town. 1 also defied him to prove, that
by an indulgence was meant the remission of sins, (for a person
in sin cannot derive the benefit of an indulgence,) to which 'he
replies, by a long letter, remarkable only for its cobweb texture,
and a deficiency of that courtesy and good nature he blames in
the members of our constitution.
Is there not apparent, in your Correspondent's writing, a spark
of that spirit which Protestants themselves blame in the first Re-
formers? Luther enacted many things, according to his own as-
sertion, solely to spite the Church of Rome ; hence, I suppose,
the reiterated use of those epithets he knows are only used in de-
rision and contempt ; hence, he assures us, the repetition of that
part of a former letter which he finds gave ofFe nee : and let me
here observe, the Catholics of Glasgow never withheld the ac-
knowledgement and thanks to their brethren Protestants, for hav-
ing suggested, and with them framed, an institution which has
drawn forth the admiration of a sister kingdom, and the patro-
nage of one of our Monarch's sons. No, Sir, it was the con-
cluding part that should never have been penned or printed, and
which truth itself could not palliate. He denies Catholics even
the appellation of Catholic ; because, he says, the name is arro-
gantly assumed. I again refer to our House of Parliament, where
some enlightened Protestants, in a debate connected with the
Catholic question, objected to the word Catholic being used ex-
clusively to denote the Church of Rome; they did not substitute
Rapist or Papists, they knew it was an odious expression, and
22
that mockery blunts the edge of serious reasoning ; they used the
term Roman Catholic.
The principles of the Catholic Church do not emanate from a
Pope, but from the great Founder of the Christian faith, and if
a Pope were to preach tenets contrary to those contained in the
Testament, he would be deposed, and a successor appointed,
and the followers of the Ex-Pope would then, and only then, be
called Papists. Before I conclude, let me beg of those who are
not tainted with the venom of prejudice, not to receive as truths
those allegations ungenerously charged on Catholics, because they
remain unanswered. There are, in every Christian, some points
of faith so delicately refined, so hallowed, so sacredly planted in
their bosoms, that to encourage a discussion on them, with those
whose boast it is to treat every sentiment and opinion not their own
with contempt, would to me appear a sinful provocation.
Had your Correspondent taxed the Catholics with any one
principle which they profess, I would gladly have acknowledged
it ; but he proceeds in the same unheeded course, and deals out
misrepresentations with an unsparing hand. He asserts the Ca-
tholics believe the Pope to be infallible. They believe him to be
the head of the church ; but they know him to be a man, and
not their God, as he contemptuously asserts. But, if by such ab-
surd sophistry he means to prove his first assertion, I must ac-
knowledge they are fit pillars to support the unholy edifice he has
raised with his own hand, at the expense of his neighbour's nicest
feelings, his own integrity as a writer, and his charity as a Chris-
tian.
My pursuits and my absence will prevent me troubling you for
sometime; and, as I hope your Correspondent will be silent
when I return, I hope I shall not be tempted to take up my pen
again, which, if it were to raise one angry frown from me, would
be my greatest regret.
Yours, &c.
PAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE,
Sib,
I know that Papists maintain that indulgences are meant only
to relieve sinners from the temporal puni&hmenl which their sins
deserve, or at most from the pains of purgatory ; but this is dis-
I>roved by the Catechism, of which I quoted so largely in my last
ctter. We are there told, that the Church, a6 a good mother,
when she grants indulgences, " gives nothing to her children
23
but what serves to relieve them in this world, and in the ntxt."
Indulgences, therefore, serve to relieve Papists from the punish-
ment which their sins deserve in the world to come. To this, let
me add the declaration of the divine, angelic, and seraphic doc-
tor, St. Thomas, a pillar of the Popish Church. " There
actually exists," says he, " an immense treasure of merit, com-
posed of the pious deeds and virtuous actions which the saints
have performed, beyond what is necessary for their own salvation,
and which are therefore applicable to the benefit of others ; the
guardian and dispenser of this precious treasure is the Roman
Pontiff, and, of consequence, he is empowered to assign to such
as he thinks proper, a portion of this inexhaustible source of
merit, suitable to their respective guilt, and sufficient to deliver
them from the punishment due to their crimes." Here then is
a plenary remission of all their crimes, and of all the punishment
which they deserve, whether in this world or the next. It is not
said to those who can afford to pay for it ; but the practice of
the Romish Church showed that they knew how to supply the
ellipsis. The merits of Christ are out of the question here. No-
thing is necessary but the merits of fellow-creatures, who it seems
had done more good works than were necessary for their own sal-
vation, while the man who takes his religion from the Bible
knows, that though all the good works of all the men in the
world, since the fall of Adam, were put into one common stock,
they would not be sufficient to merit one breath of air.
It was the practice of the Romish Church to enjoin certain
penances for certain transgressions. By and by they began to
relax in the severity of their discipline. Dupin, a Popish histo-
rian, writing of the ]2th century, says, " The practice of pub-
lic penance for public sins was not yet entirely abolished, but it
was become very rare, because the remission of sins was to be
obtained by other ways, and chiefly by the crusade and pilgrimages.
They began to reserve the remission of certain sins to the
Pope and the Bishops." So far as appears, nobody then
doubted that it was in the power of the Church, and of the Pope
as her head, to allow certain sins to be committed, without sub-
jecting the individual to the usual penances ; and, when the per-
mission was signified in writing, the document alone, or the fact
and the document taken together, constitute what, in the primary
sense of the term, was called an indulgence. But the matter did
not remain long in this situation. An additional import was
given to the word ; the practice was extended ; and the remission
of penances prepared the way for the remission of sins. If the
individual was freed from all penitentiary inflictions in the former
case, in the latter he was freed from all punishment whatever ;
and if the indulgence was plenary, he might transgress with iin-
24
pimity every statute of the decalogue, and every ordinance of the
Church. To this favoured individual, purgatory, and even hell
itself, were divested of their terrors; in the prospect of the last
judgment, he was already acquitted. Edin. Ency. Vol. VIIE
p. 316.
On this subject, Dupin speaks with great tenderness. He
had mentioned the origin of indulgences in the 12th century;
and, when writing of the 15th century, he informs us, in few
words, that " indulgences granted by the Popes were more
common than ever: they had become a kind of traffic." This is
as much as could be expected from a Papist ; but it shows
that the wickedness of the holy Church had by this time risen to
a great height. It will amuse your readers to see the nature of
this traffic, and the prices which were paid for indulgence to com-
mit certain sins. A book was published at Rome, entitled, " The
Tax of the Apostolic Chancery," in which the price of absolution
for every vice that the Pope professed to pardon, was fixed. I
will not pollute your pages by many extracts, but mention two
or three things, to show your readers in what estimation Papists
held the privilege of committing certain crimes, and how the
crimes themselves were estimated: — For a layman murdering a
layman, a sum equal to about 7*. 6d.; for him that killeth his
father or mother, wife or sister, 10s. 6d. ; for laying violent
hands on a clergyman, so it be not to the effusion of blood,
10s. 6d. Thus, it seems, to strike a clergyman, though it did
not break his skin, was as great a crime as killing one's own pa-
rents. For a priest to marry, was a crime for which no sum
could atone, at least I find nothing for this in the list ; but for a
priest to keep a concubine, was only 105. 6d. For licence to
eat flesh in Lent, 10s. 6d.; for a queen to adopt a child, E.300.
This book has been often printed, both in Popish and Protestant
countries ; and the Protestant princes inserted it among the
causes of their rejecting the Council of Trent. When Papists
saw what use the Protestants made of it, they put it into the list
of prohibited books, upon the pretence of its having been cor-
rupted by the Protestants ; but the many editions of it which
have been published in Popish countries, and which the Papists
themselves could not, and did not disown, (though perhaps they
will disown it now,) were more than sufficient to justify the re-
proaches of Protestants, and to cover Rome with confusion, if she
were capable of it. It was printed at Rome, 1514; at Cologne,
1515; at Paris, 1520, 1515, and 1625. See Free Thoughts
on the Toleration of Popery, by Calvimis Minor, (the late Rev.
Archd. Bruce of Whitburn,) a book which contains a great mass
of information on the subject of Popery, with the most ample
25
authorities. See also the Morning Exercise against Poperg, with
the authorities cited, quarto, page 489.
But the following authority alone, I should think enough
Claude D'Espence, a Parisian Divine of great note in the Ro-
mish Church in the 16th century, bears the following testimony
to this dreadful abuse : — " Provided money can be extorted,
every thing prohibited is permitted. There is almost nothing
forbidden that is not dispensed with for money ; so that, as Ho-
race said of his age, the greatest crime that a person can com-
mit is to be poor. Shameful to relate ! they give permission to
priests to have concubines, and to live with their harlots who
have children by them, upon paying an annual tribute. And, in
some places, they oblige priests to pay this tax, saying, that they
may keep a concubine if they please. There is a printed book
which has been publicly sold for a considerable time, entitled,
The Taxes of the Apostolical Chancery, from which one may learn
more enormities and crimes, than from all the books of the Sum-
mists. And of these crimes there are some which persons may
have liberty to commit for money, while absolution from all ot
them, after they have been committed, may be bought. I refrain
from repeating the words, which are enough to strike one with
horror." Claudius Espenceus Comment, ad cap. I. Epist. ad
Tit um, degress. II.
For the existence of the famous Kilravack Bull, and that it is
such a one as I represented, I am authorised to refer your Cor-
respondents to the head of that house, Col. Rose of Kilravack,
near Nairn, to the Rev. Mr. Cormack of Stow, near Edinburgh,
and to Dr. Brewster of Edinburgh ; but why should modern
Papists doubt of such a thing? It is a mere trifle to some that
might be mentioned. In the treasure of indulgences published
by the Franciscans at Roan, 1614-, were the following words: —
" For every day until the nativity of our Lady, there are 862,000
years and 100 days of pardon and remission of tu.e third part of
sins granted." See Free Thoughts* &c. Some, however, went
a great deal farther than this, and gave a full pardon of all sins,
and a third part of sins besides. (Ibid.) 1 think the reverend
author ought to have acquitted the Pope of this Bull : for it
bears internal evidence of having been made in Ireland.
As Dupin informs us, it was only against the abuse of indul
gences that Luther began to preach ; — " he did not yet directly
attack the indulgences, nor the power of the Church, but main-
tained that the Pope could only forgive the penalties he imposed
himself; that, therefore, indulgences were only a relaxation of
canonical punishments ; that they only regarded the living; that
those in purgatory could receive no benefit by them; that at most
they could only be useful by way of suffrages," &c. Such was
D
26
the erroneous opinion of Luther, when he had only hegun to see
the errors of Popery ; and he was answered hy the Pope him-
self as Dupin relates: — " When these things were doing in Ger-
many, Pope Leo X. thinking by his decision to put a stop to
the disputes that might arise against indulgences, set forth a
Brief, on the 9th of Nov. 151.5, by which he declared that the
Successor of St. Peter, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth,
had power to forgive, by virtue of the keys, the guilt and pu-
nishment of actual sins, viz. the guilt by the sacrament of pe-
nance, and the temporal punishment by the indulgences which
he could grant to believers for just reasons, as well to those who
were alive as to those who were in purgatory ; and that those in-
dulgences were founded upon the superabundance of the merits
of Jesus Christ and the saints, of whose treasure the Pope is the
dispenser, and this as well by form of absolution as by suffrage;
that the dead and the living who truly obtain indulgences, are so
far delivered from the punishment due to their actual sins, accord-
ing to divine justice, as the indulgence granted and obtained is
worth." Dupin, vol. IV. p. 17- I allow that the language of
this Brief is extremely equivocal ; and I cannot help thinking it
was made so of purpose, that it might mean any thing, or no-
thing, just as the Church or her clergy should please, in all time
coming. One thing is, however, plainly asserted in it, that the
Pope, by virtue of the keys, has power to forgive the guilt of ac-
tual sin by the sacrament of penance. Now, when the guilt is
removed, what right has he to hold the punishment in his own
hands ; and to remit that only so far as the indulgence granted
and obtained is worth ; that is, I suppose, according to what ha?
been paid for it ?
After all the evidence that I have produced from the writings
of Papists themselves, will Pax still maintain that by an indul-
gence is not meant the remission of sin ? I expect he will ; and
he will get out by a quibble : — an indulgence is not the remission
of sin, — it is merely the Letter or Bull that contains it! I do not
see how Amicus Veritatis can get out so easily. He said,
" with respect to indulgences, I beg leave to inform vour Cor-
respondent, that it never was the doctrine of the Catholic Church,
that a Pope or Bishop could grant an indulgence to commit sin ;
and whatever he may say with regard to the ancient or modern
meaning of the word, I say, without danger of contradiction, she
ever has maintained the utmost abhorrence against all such abo-
minable transactions." There is one part of this statement which
he will certainly confess to be erroneous, — he has been " contra-
dicted." It has been proved that this Church, or her Head, grant-
ed permission to commit the grossest sins for half-a-guinea ; and
when was it known, that her constitutional organs, whether Popes
27
or Councils, expressed any abhorrence about the matter, or
took any steps to put a stop to the evil ?
With regard to Luther and the other Reformers, admitting it
to be all true that A. V. asserts, I am not answerable for it. If
I profess to believe in Luther ; if I maintained that he was in-
fallible in doctrine and practice, then, no doubt, I should
reckon myself bound to defend all his doctrines and all his do-
ings. But I know Luther was a fallible man like myself; and
his authority goes no farther with me than that of the Pope. I
respect, indeed, the truths which he was honoured to maintain
;i gainst the Church of Rome; and I respect the memory of the
man who, with so much intrepidity, maintained them : but I re-
spect them not as his truths, but as the truths of the Bible.
A man who had just emerged from the thick darkness of
Popery, was like one brought out of a dungeon into the light of
day. He could not for a time see objects distinctly. This was
precisely the case of Luther. Accordingly, as might have been
expected, he made many mistakes. His consubstantiation, for
instance, was little better than the Pope's transubstantiation. He
had been so long accustomod to the quibbling casuistry of the
schoolmen, that his perceptions of right and wrong, with regard
to some points, may have been very indistinct. A good deal of
the filth of Rome, no doubt, adhered to him after he came out
of it ; as would probably have been the case with any other man
in similar circumstances.
With regard to the indulgence said to have been granted by
him and his brethren, allowing the Landgrave of Hesse to have
two wives at one time, the fact has been denied on grounds
which appeared satisfactory to some credible historians; and Pa-
pists of the 17th century were as capable of forging a Bull as any
person about Kilravack. It was at one time confidently affirmed,
and circulated as a fact through great part of Christendom, that the
devil had run away with Luther, soul and body. This would
probably have been believed by all good Papists to this day, had
not Luther, in propria persona, contradicted the fact. The most
monstrous calumnies were circulated against Luther throughout
all Europe, just as against John Knox in Scotland ; and Bos-
suet, being an enemy of the German Reformer, would gladly
catch at any thing that would go down with his readers ; and put
it into his book, with all its aggravations. Let A. V. bring from
Protestant writers as much that is disgraceful to Luther and the
Reformation, as I have brought from Popish writers, and Po-
pish Bulls, to the disgrace of Popery, and he will have done
something.
But suppose I admit (which I am rather inclined to do) that
the whole i* true as Bossuet had stated, and A. V. has quoted it,
28
what then? Why, it goes to prove what I have maintained in
this and my last Letter. The Landgrave of Hesse would not
have applied for an indulgence or dispensation to keep two wives,
unless he had known that the Church was in the practice of
granting such indulgence. Such princes as he is represented to
he, looked upon the Reformation as an opposition shop set jp
for spiritual traffic. They had long dealt with Rome, but her
wares had become rather too common and unfashionable for
princes, since she had begun to sell indulgences so low as two-
pence a piece, as was done by Tetzel. The Landgrave, there-
fore, wished to deal with this new comer ; and when he applied
for this indulgence, it is likely he would inform Luther and his
friends, that if they did not grant what he wanted, he knew
where to get it; and the Reformers, fearful of losing such a
protector, while surrounded by powerful enemies, yielded to the
temptation, and did what was unworthy of their cause. More of
this in my next.
I am glad to see by your Paper of yesterday, that Pax has
taken his word, and written something in reply to my Letter of
the 12th instant. I am glad of this, not because I have plea-
sure in tormenting him ; but because he has divulged some more
of the errors of his system, which I will attempt to expose when
I am at leisure. In the mean time, I shall proceed right forward
in the route I have prescribed to myself, in answering his former
Letter, and that of Amicus Veritatis.
I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
June 1 9th, 1818.
to the editor of the glasgow chronicle.
Sir,
When I first addressed you, it was far from my intention
to enter upon religious controversy, but only a desire of puttino
bigotry to the blush, and of advocating the cause of truth. With
the same intention I again address you, and endeavour to reply to
your Correspondent, " A Protestant."
Before I proceed, I may recall to your recollection the remark
of Demosthenes, the orator, " such is the natural disposition
of mankind, that invective and accusation are heard with pleasure,
while they who speak their own praises are heard with impa-
tience;" from which I would infer, that during our controvc t>\,
your Correspondent has greatly the advantage, and more paiti-
29
cularly so, as he assumed a signature that will very generally in-
sure him of being received with approbation.
In the commerioement of his last Letter, your Correspondent
says, " if the subjects of the late Oratorio could be considered
as matter of amusement, then the permission of the Bishop was
nothing less than a Popish indulgence tc commit sin." Now,
Sir, I am really astonished to see him trifling thus. Does he
not know that the Catholic Chapel was asked for a charitable
purpose? Does he not know that charity is the essence of reli-
gion ? Consequently the Chapel was granted for a religious pur-
pose, not for the purpose of amusement.
As your Correspondent has taken up the subject of indulgen-
ces, I shall endeavour to follow him through the most of his
course, and to make good my former assertion, " that it never
was the doctrine of the Catholic Church, that a Pope or Bishop
could grant an indulgence to commit sin;" but if, in replying to
your Correspondent, I should unknowingly touch the feelings of
any of my Protestant brethren, 1 hope they will not attribute it to
the spirit of recrimination, but to my necessity of disclosing the
truth. I hope they will also recollect who was the cause of this
dispute : and that
" The blood will follow where the knife is driven —
" The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear."
Before I proceed to quote the authority of the Douay Cate-
chism, respecting the word Indulgence, I shall just remark that
this is a work which is approved by the whole body of the Ca-
tholic Church ; and which is put into the hands of every child
that is learning its Christian doctrine. In the 71st page of the said
Catechism is asked, " Questior, What is an indulgence r An-
swer, Not leave to commit sin, or a pardon for sins to come, as
some slander the Church ; but only a releasing of the temporal
punishment due to such sins as are already forgiven us by the sa-
crament of penance." Now, Sir, I would ask any honest impar-
tial man, posseseed of Christian candour, could he infer from this
answer that an indulgence is a " permission to commit sin?" No,
Sir, the idea is absurd, and 1 am astonished that your Correspon-
dent, who gives his writing publicly to the world, should so far
forget himself as to draw inferences so unchristian and unreason-
able as he has done. But, Sir, I will not content myself with
barely stating the approved doctrine of the Catholic Church. I
will go farther. I shall recall to your recollection that Catholics
abjure as antichristian those principles imputed to them by your
Correspondent, especially with regard to a liberty of committing
sin, or that the Pope is infallible. That I may be found correct,
I shall refer to Act 33. Geo. III. cap. 44. This is a document
30
which is approved by the Pope and all the Catholic Bishops in
the three kingdoms; it is also received and accredited by the Bri-
tish Government, as containing the principles of Catholics. Here,
then, I take my stand ; and now again boldly repeat, " that it never
was the doctrine of the Catholic Church that a Pope or Bishop
could grant an indulgence to commit sin." With what a face of
effrontery can your Correspondent come forward and declare to
the public that such are the principles of a body of men who have
been celebrated for every Christian virtue; and who publicly abjure,
upon their most solemn oaths, the abominable principles imputed
to them ?
I shall next ask your Correspondent, Did not the Protestant
Church exercise the power of granting indulgences ? If he would
deny this, I would recall to his recollection the notorious Cutty
Stool, whereon, if a person was condemned to stand for a certain
great crime, he might, and often was exempted from undergoing
that punishment, by paying a certain sum of money. Is not this
an indulgence ? Is not this a remission of the temporal punishment
due to sin ?
In your Correspondent's last letter I noticed an allusion to a
Rev. Gentleman which was certainly characteristic of the author.
Every minister of the Gospel should be a minister of Peace; and
it was unfair to suppose, that because the Rev. Gentleman
here alluded to, did not reply, it was either from a conviction of
the validity or correctness of what might have been advanced
against him. I myself am confident, and I do not commit my-
selfwhen I say so, that your Correspondent cannot produce any
decree of the Council of Trent, absolutely forbidding the reading
of the Scriptures. The Council of Trent, and the Church, mere-
ly command her children not to read any edition of the Scriptures
but that which is approved by the Church; and, consequently, can-
not be said to forbid the reading of the Scriptures, any more than
the Bible Society, who will not permit the circulation of any edi-
tion of the Scriptures but their approved version, although many
other different editions exist.
It would be almost endless, Mr. Editor, to answer all the
charges which your Correspondent may bring against Catholics, as
the fertility of his genius appears to be very little inferior to the
original declaimers against Popery. I shall, however, in my next,
animadvert a little upon any thing worthy of notice, especially
those proofs which he has brought forward to substantiate his
former assertions. I suppose your Correspondent was not aware
that the doctrines of Tetzel were condemned by the Pope's
Nuncio.
Meantime, I am, Sir, yours, &c.
AMICUS VERITATIS
20th June, 1818.
31
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir,
I find that some of my late Letters were too long to ad«
mit of immediate insertion in your Papers; and I have been told
they were too long to command the attention of superficial and
coffee-room readers. Henceforth, therefore, I shall deal out
what I have to say in smaller portions.
In my last, I said I was inclined to admit the truth of the
statement of Amicus Veritatis respecting the indulgence
granted by Luther and his colleagues to the Landgrave of Hesse.
Instead of justifying, I am as ready to condemn their conduct in
this matter as he can be. But it is worthy of remark, that this is
only a single and solitary instance, set in opposition to thousands
which mi^ht be shown to have been granted by the Pope and
Popish Bishops. The very eagerness with which such an in-
stance is seized, the triumph with which it is brought forward by
the advocates of the Papacy, and the surprise which it excites in
the breasts of Protestants, who have not previously known of
it, is perhaps the best answer to any objection to the Reformation
which mi^ht be made on this ground. It shows, that in the
opinion of both foes and friends, such facts are rare exceptions to
the manner in which the cause of the Reformation was carried on,
and altogether unlike the conduct of the Reformers. What Lu-
ther and his colleagues did on this occasion, was only to express
their opinion or judgment as to the lawfulness of a particular
proposed measure. Highly improper and condemnahle as this
opinion was, there is a wide difference between it and a power
claimed and arrogated by an individual, or class, to set men free
from what they allowed to be sinful, and contrary to the law of
God — a claim which had been set up and exerted in innumerable
instances, to gratify the ambition and avarice of priests, at the ex-
pense of all moral obligations. You will observe I am not de-
fending the Reformers, for I think in this matter their conduct
was quite indefensible ; but, for the information of your readers,
I shall cite a high example, which, if the Reformers had yet any
regard for the authority of the Pope, which some of them had
after they had declared for the Reformation, was calculated to
lead them astray. Pope Clement VIII. had, only a few years
before the affair' of the Landgrave of Hesse happened, offered
to grant permission to Henry VIII. of England to have two wives,
although he was restrained by fear of the Emperor from divorcing
his sister. This is stated in a letter, dated 18th Sept. 1530, from
Gregory Cassalis, Henry's agent at the Court of Rome; which
letter is published from the original by Lord Herbert, in his
History of the Life and Reign of Henry VIII. p. 330. The
following is an extract and translation : — " Superioribus diebus,
Pontifex, secreto, veluti rem quam magni faceret, mihi propo-
suit conditionem hujusmodi, concedi posse vestrce Majestati ut
duas uxores habeas ;" that is, " His Holiness, a few days ago,
secretly (because he considered the affair to be one of very high
importance) submitted to me the following accommodation, viz.
that an indulgence may be granted to your Majesty to have two
wives." Here is the Pope not only claiming the power of grant-
ing indulgence to commit sin, but actually suggesting a wicked
project to the King of England, who needed no prompter to acts
of wickedness. In his first Letter, Amicus Veritatis as-
berted, — " If it were the case that Popish Bishops could have
granted indulgence to commit sin, Henry VIII. would never
have professed himself a Protestant." I now appeal to A. V.
himself, whether such a proposal made by the most holy Head of
the infallible Church, was not enough to make every honest man
forsake Rome, whether he became Protestant or not ?
With respect to the first indulgence which A. V. ascribes to
Luther, viz. " a perpetual indulgence for the commission of
adultery in certain circumstances," I am not disposed to admit
the truth of it without farther evidence. He says, " that it may
be concealed from the eye of the profane, I will decline giving
*he quotation, but refer your Correspondent to 119 and 123
pages, 5th vol. of the Works of Luther, edited at Wirtemberg."
Now, I ask A. V. whether he has actually seen and read any thing
in the works of Luther, that, by fair construction, can bear the
above meaning? I ask this because I am sceptical on that point.
In plain English, I do not believe that Luther gave it as his de-
liberate opinion that it was lawful to commit the sin mentioned in
certain circumstances, or that he gave a perpetual indulgence to
any one for that purpose. I have no access to the book referred
to ; but if A. V. has it, I call upon him to leave it with you, for
an hour or Iwo, that I may consult the passage : or if he does not
choose to do this, let him send me, through you, an extract au-
thenticated by his own signature. I will not be satisfied with his
translation, nor by any quotation, or extract, or translation from
any other book. I must have the ipsissima verba of Luther's
acknowledged publication ; and if I do find that it contains what
A. V. ascribes to it, I will publish the fact, and confess that Lu-
ther held more errors than I was aware of. I suggest the mode
of Bending me this extract through you that he may not have to
plead his determination not to answer my Letters ; but if he
33
chooses to five the extract to the public in a Letter fro:n himself,
so much the better.
Dreadfully corrupt as the Church of Rome was about the
time of the Reformation and long before it, there were some
honest men in her communion, who saw and deplored her cor-
ruptions ; and did not, like modern Papists, gloss them over,
and by sheer impudence deny their existence. Such was Claude
D'Espence, whom I quoted in my last. Such was also Wesselus,
a man highly esteemed in the Church of Rome. He argues like
a Protestant against indulgences ; but his arguing proves clearly
what I have been maintaining all along, that the Pope claimed
and exercised the power of granting them. " No Pope," says
he, " can grant indulgences even for an hour ; and it is ridiculous
to imagine that, for doing the same thing, an indulgence should
be granted, sometimes for seven years, sometimes for 700 or
7000, and sometimes for ever, by a plenary indulgence. There
is not the least foundation in Scripture for the distinction of re-
mitting the fault and the punishment, upon which the doctrine of
indulgence is grounded. Covetousness was the cause of their
introduction at first; and though the Pope once swore to the
French Ambassador that he did not know the corruption of the
sellers of indulgences, jet, when he knew, he permitted them,
and they became more extensive." See M'Culloch's Popery
Condemned, p. 182.
In my next, I shall take up the subject of Hervey and holy
places.
I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
Sir,
In my Letter which appeared in your Paper of the 6th
instant, I said, " Persons who believe that a priest can create his
own Creator, — that he can, by the use of certain words, turn a
iltle bread and wine into the real body and blood, soul and di-
vinity, of Jesus Christ, may very easily believe that a bishop can
turn an ordinary building into a holy place ; but Protestants, I
mean consistent and enlightened Protestants, believe neither the
one nor the other." Amicus Veritatis replies, that I must
not have been aware that many enlightened and consistent Pro-
testants do not agree with me ; and then he cites Mr. Hervey,
author of the Meditations, whose authority, he says, gives a
zest to all he has advanced on this subject.
E
34
It is true, Hervey does speak of parish churches in language
sufficiently high and bombastic ; but IIekvey is no higher authori-
ty with me than A. V. himself. In his youth he was far from be-
ing an enlightened, and, so long as he spoke of material buildings
as sacred places, he was not a consistent, Protestant. " The Bible
— the Bible alone — is the religion of Protestants.'' Whatever,
therefore, a man may be in other respects, if there be any thing
in his religion which is not derived from the Bible, he is not a
consistent Protestant. Now, I maintain, that we have no authori-
ty from the Bible to regard one house or building more holy than
another. It is needless to refer me to the tabernacle and the
temple among the Jews ; because these things had no relation to
the New Testament state of the church, but as types or shadows
of spiritual things which were afterwards to be enjoyed ; and it was
ordained that the shadows should pass away when the substance
should have come, which took place when Christ had fulfilled all
that was typified of him in the law of Moses by the sacrifice of
himself. If, therefore, we take the tabernacle and the temple as
examples for calling our places of worship holy, we must have all
the furniture and all the services of the temple. We must have
the symbols of the Divine Presence — we must have the altar of
burnt-offering, and the altar of incense, and a high priest, and a
numerous retinue of priests, killing cattle and offering sacrifices
every day. Some of these things, indeed, the Church of Rome
does exhibit, which is a proof, among many others that might be
mentioned, that she sets her authority against that of God ; for it
is not more true that these things were divinely appointed for a
time, than that they were divinely appointed to cease when Christ
oame to accomplish what was signified by them. Christ regard-
ed the temple as a holy place, and he chastised those who profan-
ed it; because it was not till his death that the system of .'evish
worship was aoofished. It is from his Apostles, and tiom the
churches which they gathered, that we take our example.
Now, they do not appear to have regarded one place more holy
than another, with the exception of some Jewish converts, per-
haps, who could not all at once divest themselves of the venera-
tion with which they had been accustomed to regard the place
where their fathers worshipped. The Apostles preached in the
temple, because it was the place of public resort, just as they
preached any where else, when they could get people to hear
them. We find them meeting in private houses, in a school-room,
by the sea-side, and, what would be reckoned very indecorous
now a-days, preaching in the open street ; but no hint of their re-
garding one place more holy than another. Be he who he will,
therefore, who ascribes holiness to buildings, inherently or rela-
tival^, he is not a consistent Protestant.
35
But Hehvey, especially towards the end of his days was an en-
lightened Protestant. I am glad that A. V. has been reading his
works; but let him not stop at the productions of his youth — let
him peruse and study the works of his mature age, especially his
Theron and Aspasio, and his defence of that work against the
exceptions of John Wesley. There he will find the Papist doc-
trine of human merit cut up by the roots. Let him study these
works, and recommend them to all his brethren.
Amicus Veritatis says, " your Correspondent might ha\e
been more sparing in his reproaches against the Catholics of Glas-
gow, for the manifestation of their piety and public spirit ; and for
raising a building which for ages to come will adorn and ornament
our city." I have no objection that our city be ornamented with
stately buildings by those who can afford to do it ; but I would
rather that all the houses in Glasgow were as plain as they were a
hundred years ago, than that our poor population should be depriv-
ed of one necessary of life, in order to build palaces. I acquit my-
self of having reproached the Papists on this subject. I stated
plain fact, that while they were lavishing thousands of pounds on
the decorations of what they foolishly call the house of God, they
were suffering their poor to grow up and perish in ignorance. If
they feel themselves reproached by this, it is the fact that does it,
not I.
Idolatry in every form is cruel. That Popery is idolatry, is
clearly proved by Mr. Cunningham of Lainshaw, in a late publi-
cation, which I strongly recommend to such of your readers as
wish to know what that system really is. A. V. has discovered
the spirit of idolatry in the Letter which I am at present answer-
ing. He says, " Were we to erect a house for the glory of oui
Creator, why should it not, as much as possible, resemble the ma-
jesty of that God to whose service it was to be dedicated ?" Nov/,
what must that God be, to whose majesty any material building can
be a resemblance ? Certainly not that God who dwelleth not in tem-
ples made with hands, and whose glory fills the universe. It
must be an idol of A. V.'s own fanc.v.
3fi
I see from your Paper of yesterday, that A. V. has also taken
his word, and carved out more work for
A PROTESTANT
June 26th, 18] 8.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir,
If frequency of repetition could give to misrepresentation the
substance of truth, an indulgence would be of all scandalous
things the most scandalous. Your Correspondent seems to have
adopted this principle; he conceives he may justly assume the pri-
vilege of saying what has been said by hundreds before him; and,
therefore, without hesitation, condemns the practice of indul-
gences, in terms the most pointed and severe. But I am not to be
intimidated by a sourness of aspect : the shafts of ridicule will not
in the least discompose me, and I can despise the meanness of
sophistical reasoning, whilst I pity the prostitution of talent.
In my last I endeavoured to prove " that it never was the doc-
trine of the Catholic Church that a Pope or Bishop could grant
an indulgence to commit sin ;" and I promised that, in my next, I
would take some notice of those proofs which your Correspondent
had advanced in opposition to this. I shall commence with his
Letter of 18th of June. The first in rotation is a bull or indul-
gence, " which," he says, " was preached and circulated by
Tetzel, under the authority of the Pope, and which was so instru-
mental in helping forward the Reformation." The second was an
indulgence, " which was granted by the present Pope to the good
people of Cork." The third was an indulgence granted by Pope
Urban the VIII. to the people of Ireland. And, lastly, he very
gravely proceeds to quote the authority of a French catechism,
which was translated and edited by a Protestant, a known enemy
of the Catholic Church.
In the first place, Mr. Editor, I shall merely remark, that the
doctrines or theses of Tetzel were publicly condemned by the
Pope's nuncio, Miltitz, and consequently cannot be Catholic doc-
trine. Your Correspondent should have known this, and he real-
ly should make himself better acquainted with history, that he
may not so palpably commit himself. An error of ibis nature is
eery inexcusable in a writer who addresses the public, especially
when brought forward with an air of triumph, to affect the interest
of those he imputes it to. He will find me correct respecting the
condemnation of Tetzcl's doctrines, by consulting Mosheim by
Machine, Plain's Continuation, Maimbourg, and the historians
37
<
of the period in general, who represent him to have died of cha-
grin, in consequence of his treatment. The second of his proofs
requires hardly to be noticed. Indeed I do not recollect of ever
seeing any thing so palpably misapplied ; there is not a single
word in it applicable to the subject in question, and yet, he asserts
that it is an " indulgence to commit sin !" Really, Mr. Editor,
it is amusing to see the puny efforts of bigotry and credulity; when
a person is determined to withstand the truth, they evince them-
selves on almost every occasion. " Truth is one : it is the centre
of the circle : recede from it, and you may wander to any point of
the circumference." Respecting the bull of Pope Urban VIII.
the style and language in which it is couched assure me that it
must be a forgery. Its very date increases my suspicion. A
period when the sword of persecution was unsheathed from its
scabbard — when the flames of intolerance raged with destructive
violence — when the storms of passion, like a hurricane upon the
deep, overwhelmed the miserable victims of their fury — when the
demon of falsehood spread her malignant influence over the hearts
and sensibilities of men, and prompted them to invent the most
wicked calumnies for the destruction of their Catholic brethren.
Who would take a review, from the year 1577 to the year 1684,
that would not shudder at the horrific scenes that were the conse-
quences of accumulated forgeries? It was this detestable habit of
fabrication and lies, in your chief reformers, which drew from the
pen of the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, a Protestant divine, the following
remarkable confession : — " Forgery," says he, " appears to have
been the peculiar disease of Protestantism; originally coming forth
as a kind of leprosy upon the brow of Presbyterianism in Scotland,
it was conveyed, by the intercourses of vice, to the profligate head
of the Church of England." — Whitaker, vol. III. p. 49. I am
not astonished that Bogue's Catechism was the one which your
Correspondent has selected for his purposes. This is a work
which was translated from the original French, by a Protestant,
merely for the purpose of exercising his talent of ridicule) and it
was natural to suppose that your Correspondent would apply to
such a valuable source of misrepresentation. But it is rather un-
fortunate for him, however, that, of the 41 lines he has quoted,
there is not a single passage which says that an indulgence " is a
permission to commit sin." Not one; yet he proceeds, and as-
serts that from this document he is enabled to maintain, " not on-
ly that the Pope, and the Church of which he is the head, grant
indulgence to commit sin ; but that they actually command it."
Judge, O Public ! on what this defamer of his neighbour's cha-
racter grounds his very heavy charge. On the answer to the
fourth question quoted, " the mind of the Church is to grant in-
dulgences only to those who attend to the duty of satisfying, on
38
their part, divine justice." Is there any sensible person who
could draw such an inference from the answer I have above quot-
ed ? None, I expect. Yet your Correspondent, by a manner of
reasoning almost peculiar to himself, endeavours to establish his
charge. Like Luther before him, with one dash of his pen, he
magnanimously abolishes the obligation of good works, and opens
the gates of heaven to every man who can only boast the gift of
an all-saving faith. This Solidifian tenet, it must be acknowledg-
ed, with the Church of England, in her articles, is " a most whole-
some doctrine, and very full of comfort." The restraints of re-
ligion are too unpleasant to the passions of men :
" "Tis prudence to reform her into ease,
And put her in undress, to make her please:
A lively faith will bear aloft the mind,
And leave the luggage of good works behind."
" On this head," says a writer of the present day, " we have un-
doubtedly great obligations to Luther. Our blessed Redeemer
died for us, and still left the way to happiness straight and rugged ;
the new apostle rushed to the arms of his faithful Catherine, and
made it spacious and commodious. After Christ it was still so
uninviting, that, as he declared, few would choose to walk in it:
after Luther, it was cleared of the thorns of virtue, and might
with ease be trodden by thousands. His disciples, however, have
gradually learned to blush at the extravagance of their master: in
the course of time they have silently abandoned his school, and
have returned, on this point at least, nearer to the doctrine of the
Scripture and common sense. But the unnatural portrait which
their <*reat patriarch had drawn of the Catholic doctrine, they still
cherish with filial respect, and consider as an invaluable legacy."
In my next, I shall take up your Correspondent's Letter of 23d
inst. 1 shall produce my quotations from Luther in their proper
place.
Meantime, I am, Sir, yours, &c.
AMICUS VERITATIS.
Glasgow, 25th June. 1818.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sin,
Pax undertook to make me feel, if possible, the injustice of
my uncharitable remark at the conclusion of my Letter, which ap-
pealed in your Taper of the 6th of June. 1 was replying to that
39
part of A. V. s Letter, which spoke of the darkness passing away,
and giving place to the chastened ray of liberality and philanthro-
py ; and my remark was, that I supposed the time of this dark-
less was that which had elapsed since the Reformation: and that
the light which was now about to arise was that of the dark ages.
Now, where is the injustice and uncharitableness of this ? Is it
not the opinion of all good Papists that the Reformation was the
darkest and most melancholy dispensation the Church ever expe-
rienced ? Is it not the custom of preachers in Popish churches,
especially in that in Glasgow, to declaim against the Reformation,
ai.d against Luther, and all others who had a hand in that great
schism ? Is it not the desire and prayer of every member of the
Romish Church, that things were restored to the state in which
they were before Luther was born ? Is it not most desirable that
the PoDe and his army of priests had, as formerly, the key of every
man's heart and conscience throughout almost all Europe ?
Would it not be a happy thing if the Church had still the power
of settling all controversies, and silencing all objectors to her in-
fallibility, by sending them to the stake or the gibbet ? I ask
Mr. Pax, if he would not rejoice if all these things were to happen ?
In short, if he would not rejoice if our light were that of the dark
ages? And well he might: he would then be a luminary of the
first magnitude, for a little light goes a great way in the dark.
To show that these surmises are not uncharitable, I refer Pax
to an enlightened historian of his own communion. Dupin speaks
with great complacency of the state of things in the tenth century,
which, for its darkness and the sottish ignorance of both priests
and people, has been called the age of lead. " In this century,"
says he, " there was no controversy relating to the doctrine of
faith, or points of divinity, because there were no heretics, or per-
sons who refined upon matters of religion, and dived into our
mysteries. However, there were some clergymen in England, who
would needs maintain that the bread and wine upon the altar con-
tinued in the same nature after the consecration, and that they
were only the figure of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This
error was refuted by a miracle wrought by Odo, Archbishop of
Canterbury, who made the body of Jesus Christ appear visibly in
the celebration of the holy mysteries, and made some drops of
blood flow out of the consecrated bread when it was broken. St.
Dunstan likewise refuted that error very strenuously in his discours-
es In fine, there was no council held in this century that
disputed any point of doctrine or discipline; which shows us that
there was no error of faith that was of any consequence, or made
any noise in the Church." — Dupin, cent. X. Happy state of the
Church, when her Bishops could refute error by a miracle! and
when nobody was troubled with common sense, but some clergy ^
men in that peiverse country, England.
4-0
Fax accuses me of trying, by reproaches, " to unsheath tlie
sword; but it has long since rusted in its scabbard, and will not
yield to the ungenerous tug." And he prophesies, that in " a
little it will be found rotted to the hilt." What sword does ho
mean? If it be the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
I hope it will never be sheathed, that it will never rot. and that it
will never cease to be wielded by the friends of truth, so long as
error exists in the world. If he mean the sword of persecution,
and that I try to unsheath it, he slanders his neighbour, and lays
himself open to more severe reproof than I choose to administer.
I have no hostility against him; I pity him as the unhappy vic-
tim of error and imposition ; and the worst thing I wish him is,
that he would be convinced of his errors, and renounce them. But
I declare the most determined hostility against the whole system
of Popery; not against Papists, but against their errors, which are
their own greatest enemies. Like Mr. Cunningham of Lainshaw,
to whose work on this subject I referred in my last, I believe it is
not in the power of the devil to invent such another system of de-
lusion, and wickedness, and opposition to the religion of Christ.
This was the mightiest effort of the wicked one to deprive the
world of the benefit of Christ's incarnation and death, and to keep
the human race in bondage to himself. He has been deplorably
successful ; and the ruin of millions of souls, has been the conse-
quence. It is because I wish well to the persons of Papists — it is
because I wish nothing less than their present and everlasting hap-
piness, that I wish them delivered from the bondage of error, and
the dominion of their priests — and that the priests themselves
were delivered from the slavery of the prince of darkness.
But persecution is not the way to accomplish this. If there be
one thing in Popery which I abhor more than another, it is its per-
secuting spirit. It has always persecuted when it had the power.
It made it a meritorious act to extirpate heretics. Most of the
reformed churches brought a portion of this spirit from Rome
with them; and it is one of the last rags of Popery which some of
them are inclined to throw away. I consider every species of civil
disability and disqualification, on a religious account, persecution ;
and I am sorry that, in this otherwise free and happy country, so
many are subjected to it, and Papists among the rest.* Persecu-
tion is disgraceful to those who inflict, but honourable to those
* I think it right to let this remain as originally written, and printed
in all the former editions, though I found it my duty, in a subsequent
part of my work, to qualify the opinion here expressed. I am now
convinced that the exclusion of papists from political power in our pro-
testant stale is not persecution, hut a necessary measure of self-defence;
not, however, on account of the errors of their faith, hut because of their
subjection to the Pope of Home, — a power hostile to every protestant
government,
41
who suffer it. It throws around them the charm and glory of a
relationship to apostles and prophets, and men of whom the world
was not worthy. Popery is not worthy of such honour. I would
never persecute Papists.
Nobody can hinder them from continuing Papists if they please,
and, even in this case, I wish to do them good. I wish to see them
all well educated, and respectable members of society. I have,
therefore, been a subscriber to their schools, and intend to remain
so. Whatever creed they shall profess, it is better to have a read -
ing, well-informed, than an ignorant population.
A PROTESTANT-
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE.
Sir, — In " A Protestant's" Letter of the 23d June, he exultingly
exclaims, " I do not see how Amicus Veritatis can get out so
easily." He then quotes my assertion, which I dwelt upon in my
Letter of 25th, and continues, " there is one part of this statement
which he will certainly confess to be erroneous : he has been contra-
dicted.'' It does not however follow, Mr Editor, that because
a man has been contradicted, he must necessarily be in error. The
apostle Paul was often contradicted, but that was no proof he was
in error ; and, notwithstanding all the precaution and penetration
of my opponent, strange to relate, he has himself opened the door
to me, and proved that I was not in error. In the commence-
ment of his Letter, he says, " I know that Papists maintain that
indulgences are meant only to relieve sinners from the temporal
punishment which their sins deserve, or, at most, from the pains
of purgatory." Now, surely, Sir, what Catholics maintain consti-
tutes their tenets ; and it does not require an uncommon degree
of reasoning to understand, that if it be the belief of Catholics
that indulgences are meant only to relieve sinners from temporal
punishment, they cannot mean, at the same time, a permission or
liberty to commit sin. Here the candid reader will acknowledge
that your Correspondent has only contradicted himself, and not
convicted me of error. But he says, that this is disproved by the
Catechism, of which he quoted so largely : however, he should
have been candid enough to have explained that a Protestant, a
professed enemy of the Catholic Church, was the editor of that
Catechism. Then every unprejudiced person would have acknow-
ledged that the information which he imparted was devoid of one
essential means of real information, viz. impartiality and fidelity of
translation. I must acknowledge, however, that David Bogue is
much more candid than your Correspondent, for he defines in the
publication from which your Correspondent quotes so largely, (and
on which he reasons so justly as to condemn the laws of every
church and of every civil government on earth), that the virtue
42
of indulgences in the Catholic Church " only consists in mitigating
the rigour of the temporal punishment due to sin." This is not
surely a liberty to commit sin, any more than it is a liberty to com-
mit sin to commute the punishment of the Cutty Stool for a fine
of a few shillings or a few pounds.
Even allowing the quotation from St Thomas to be correct
(which I deny), there is not one word in it which so much as hints
at a liberty to commit sin, which is what your Correspondent en-
deavours to establish. Even he himself acknowledges that it would
mean only " a plenary remission of all their crimes, and of all the
punishment which they deserve." Now, surely, your Corre-
spondent would not be impious enough to assert, that when the
Almighty, in the sacred Scriptures, promises to give to the truly
penitent, a plenary remission of his sins, and of all the punishment
which they deserve, he means at the same time to grant him per-
mission or an indulgence to commit sin. The quotations from
Dupin are of the same stamp : not one word is said of a liberty to
commit sin : they are entirely confined to public penances.
Your Correspondent proceeds to quote the Edinburgh Encyclo-
pedia : as well might he quote to me his own authority. The
quotations from the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, as well as that
which he produces in his next paragraph, "The Tax of the Apos-
tolic Chancery, " are downright forgeries. I do not, however,
assert that the individuals to whom he refers were the forgers ; I
only mean to say that they copied the forgeries from other books,
in which they might have been circulated as real facts. Your
Correspondent himself acknowledges that the publication to which
he alludes is among the number of prohibited books ; and as no
book is prohibited, but such as contain doctrine contrary to the
tenets of the Catholic faith, he thereby acknowledges that what he
wishes his readers to believe Catholic doctrine, is, on the contrary,
condemned by all the authority of the Catholic Church. To such
gross and palpable forgeries, a denial is all that can be expected ;
and though he asserts that the book entitled " The Tax of the
Apostolic Chancery," was printed at Rome, 1518, at Paris, 1520,
&c. it is quite a mistake. Every person knows that it was very
easy to date a book at Rome, though printed at Wirtemberg.
Amsterdam, or London. If opportunity will permit, however, I
intend to enter more fully upon this subject hereafter. When he
refers to "Free Thoughts," <vc. he refers to antiquated calumnies,
to enemies of the Catholic Church, as a proof of her tenets; and
it would be just as candid to refer to the French Moniteur, when
under the thraldom of Bonaparte, for the character of the British
government.
In treating of Protestant indulgences, which he is unable to
justify, your Correspondent seems to think that Catholics were as
capable of forging calumnies on their Protestant brethren, as some
43
Protestants were ready enough to forge against them. He surely
will not refuse to submit to the decision of a very learned Pro-
testant writer, I mean the Rev. Mr Whitaker. " Forgery," says
he, " I blush for the honour of Protestantism while I write it,
Keems to have been peculiar to the reformed. I look in vain for
one of those accursed outrages of imposition among the disciple*
of Popery." Whitaker, vol. III. p. 2.
In his Letter of the 25th ult. your Correspondent appears "seep
tical" with regard to the existence of an indulgence which I for-
merly said was to be found in Luther's Works. He requests me
to give him the quotations. But before I do this, I may express
my surprise, that a man who would pretend to discuss the religious
opinions of others, should not only be unacquainted with them,
but ignorant of the great father of his own. That Luther did
preach the doctrines in question, is certain. He tells us, that
whilst he continued a Catholic monk, he "observed chastity, obe-
dience, and poverty, and that being free from worldly cares, he
gave himself up to fasting, watching, and prayer ;" whereas, after
he became reformer, he describes himself as raging with the most
violent concupiscence : to satisfy which, he broke through his
solemn vow of continency, in direct opposition to his former doc-
trine, by marrying a religious woman, who was under the same
obligation. He then proceeded to teach the shameful lessons we
have seen above ; and others still more licentious, such as the per-
mission, in certain cases, of concubinage and polygamy. Milners
Letters, pp. 158, 159. The ipsissima verba of Luther's acknow-
ledged publication are : — " Ut non est in meis viribus situm, ut vir
non sim, tain non est etiain mei juris, ut absque muliere sim.
Rursum ut in tua manu non est, ut fucmina non sis, sic nee in te
est, ut absque viro degas Tertia ratio divortii est, ubi alter alteri
se subduxerit, ut debitam benevolentiam persolvere nolit, aut
habitare cum eo renuerit — hie opportunium est, ut maritus dicat :
Si tu nolueris, altera volet : Si domina nolit, adveniat ancilla."
Oper. Luth. Ed. Wirt. torn. V. ful. 119, 1-JO. The Works of
Luther are preserved in the Library of the University of Glasgow,
where your Correspondent may examine if my quotations are cor-
rect, and 1 expect that he will be as good as his word.
Your Correspondent says that those indulgences of Luther
which I adduced were solitary cases, I now ask him in short
words : — Did not Luther issue more bulls than one, to absolve the
Germans from their obedience to Charles V. ? Did not Calvin
and Beza require the Huguenots to rebel against their sovereigns ?
Did not Knox, and the Presbyterian Clergy of Scotland in general,
with thundering anathemas impel their followers to shake off the
dominion of the Queen Regent, and afterwards that of the
unfortunate Mary ? What else were the sermons and writings of
Cranmer, Ridley, Jewel, Povnet, and other fathers of the new
44
religion at home, in the reign of Queen Mary, but so many decrees
in favour of rebellion, and so many absolutions from the duty of
allegiance ? Did not a new set of Protestant doctors, proceeding,
however, upon the fundamental principle of the former, that of
private judgment in the interpretation of Scripture, and in all matter
of religion, preach up, on the- alleged authority of God's word, the
justice and necessity of deposing and murdering their king, the
gallant Charles I., and subverting the constitution? Did not the
same doctors, on the same pretended sacred authority, absolve the
prisoners of war who were released to them at Brentford, from the
oaths they had severally taken of not serving again in the repub-
lican army ? Did not the most famous prelates and divines of the
establishment, a few years before, pretend to absolve the king
himself from his sworn duty to his subjects, and the very law of
nature, by deciding that he was at liberty to send his favourite
minister, Strafford, to the scaffold, notwithstanding he himself was
conscientiously persuaded of the Earl's innocence ? He will not
now have to complain that I depend upon one or two solitary
cases : let him answer these, and I can furnish him with more.
Now, Sir, after ah which has been disproved, will your Cor-
respondent again come forward and endeavour to enforce his odi-
ous calumnies ? Will he again spout out the noxious venom of
religious intolerance and bigotry ? O how shameful and obstinate
a thing is bigotry ! " To what end," says Mr Philips, " is argument
with the bigot ? No philosopher can contrive — no humanity can
melt — no miracles can convert — no religion can reclaim him.
In his hands the gospel is a murderer, and God a demon. He
has no pity, for he cannot feel ; he has no piety, for he cannot
forgive ; his prayers are curses — his communion death — his ven-
geance is eternity. Red with the fires of hell — reeking with
massacres of earth — and righteous with the blasphemies of heaven,
he erects his cannibal divinity upon a throne of skulls : an 1 true
to the primeval archetype, feeds even with a brother's blood the
impious flame of his rejected altar."
When your Correspondent remains silent, I intend, if time and
opportunity will permit, to reply to the challenge which he madt
in his Letter of 23d ult. but, in the mean time, shall proceed to
take notice of his Letter, dated 24th June, &c.
I am Sir, Yours, &c.
AMICUS VERITATIS.
Glasgow, 3d July, 1818.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLASGOW CHRONICLE
Sie, AMICUS VERITATIS has " often considered it as an
extraordinary phenomenon in the history of the human mind, that
in Groat Britain, Catholics are not allowed the faculty of understand-
45
ing their own belief." If ever they possessed this faculty, I should
like to know who has deprived them of it. I believe, however,
few of them ever possessed it; and I question if A. V. himself
does so. Does he understand transubstantiation, or does he not
believe in it? Does he understand how the real body of Christ
can be in a thousand places at the same time, and eaten whole
by thousands of individuals, perhaps a thousand times in their
lives ? If he does possess the faculty of understanding this, he is
a greater man than I took him for.
But I suppose he means that we do not allow Papists to know
what their belief is. " Of the myriads of declaimers against
Popery," says he "with which this kingdom abounds, from th
unlettered female who reads theological lectures to her pupils in the
nursery, to the right reverend divine who instructs his brethren
the clergy of his diocese, there is not one who does not appear to
claim more accurate knowledge of the Catholic doctrine than the
very Catholics themselves." Now there appears to me nothing
wonderful in this. If the Papists, like other sects, professed to think
for themselves, and to believe what was the result of their own
investigation and reflection, it would be unjust to charge them with
any thing but what they professed at the time. If any man, or
any class of men, tell us plainly what their faith is, we ought to give
them credit for what they profess, and no more. But if any man
tell me that he belongs to a church whose authorized standard of
faith is before the world, and whose practice is well known to the
world ; that he adheres to that standard, and approves that practice,
then I am not bound to take his word for the faith or practice of
his church. I judge from her standard and general practice ; and if
his private judgment be different, I tell him he is a dissenter, he has
forsaken the faith of his church. The faith of the church of Scot-
land, for instance, is as well defined in her standards as perhaps any
thing of the kind can be ; her practice also is known to the world;
and it is very possible that an Episcopalian, or an Independent,
may know what is the faith and practice of Scottish Presbyterians,
better than many of the very Presbyterians do themselves.
Papists do not profess to exercise their own judgment in matters
of faith, or to believe any thing different from what their Church
believes ; and as this Church is infallible either in her body, or
arms, or head, it is not certain which ; as she believes now what
she always did, and ever will believe, I am not obliged to take the
report of her faith from any modern Papist, who may feel himseh
ashamed of some of the frailties of his old mother, and wish to
conceal or deny them. I go to their authentic records. I appeal
to their own historians, their own divines, whom they hold in great
veneration, their own Popes, who are generally by Papists believed
infallible. From these sources, and from the allowed practices of
the Church, any man is capable of acquiring as "accurate knowledge
46
of the Catholic doctrine as the very Catholics themselves." Nay,
I could bring young females from the nursery, not " unlettered
ones, indeed, who really have more accurate knowledge of this
subject, than perhaps nine-tenths of the Papists in Glasgow. I do
not say they know more than A. V. ; for I believe he knows more
than he chooses to make known.
Let the Papists in Scotland, in the present day, come honestly
forward, and tell us what is their own belief, without respect to any
other authority. Let them confess that the Church of Rome had
become very corrupt both in doctrine and practice, as is perfectly
evident from all authentic history ; but that they are not answer,
able for such corruption ; that they renounce all that is really cor.
rupt in the system, and are determined to think and act for
themselves according to what they find in the Bible ; — let them do
this, and then we will not judge of them by what we find clearly
established against the Church of Rome, but according to their
own professions, and their own practice. Then we will not call
them Papists, or even Roman Catholics ; but give them any name
which they may choose for themselves as dissenters from the Church
of Rome. If, however, they will cling to Rome as their dear and only
mother ; if they will maintain that this is the only true Church ;
that she never was, and never can be wrong : — then we are entitled
to draw the veil from the bloated face of the mother of harlots, to
show her to the world as she is ; and those who maintain that
she is innocent, and holy, and infallible, have no right to complain,
if we accuse them of consenting to all her abominations.
Every word of this applies to A. V., and Pax, and their fellow
Papists. They find themselves in a situation in which it is im-
possible to maintain and practise Popery in all the grossness of it.
The atmosphere in which they move is too bright for their works
of darkness. They cannot prescribe to their penitents a certain
number of stripes on the bare back as an atonement for their
sins. They cannot set their fine ladies, or even their poor old
women, to walk nine times a day round the Chapel in Clyde Street,
over the hard stones upon their bare knees, in order to procure the
release of some soul from purgatory. They cannot send their
secret agents in the dead hour of night to snatch away from his
family some person whom they suspect of heresy, to be cast into
a dungeon, never to be heard of more ; — though some lines quoted
by A. V. in his letter of the 25th June, about the knife driving,
the blood flowing, the pincers tearing, and the flesh quivering,
make me more than suspect that he was thinking of the Inquisition,
and wishing that he had me in it. I say they cannot do these
things in Scotland. They are obliged therefore to assume the
appearance of humanity, and moderation, and common sense ; but
while they maintain that they are of the Church of Rome, and
that this Church is the same that ever it was, we do them no
injustice when we say that they would be what Papists formerly
were, if they had the power.
Some people have an idea that the Popery of the present age
is not so bad as the Popery of a former age ; and this is reckoned
a charitable and liberal view of the matter ; but Papists themselves
do not receive this as a concession in their favour, or thank those
who make it. They will not admit that their religion has changed
in any point whatever. They would gladly have us believe that
it was always as harmless as it now appears in Glasgow ; and for
this purpose they deny that ever it was what all history represents it
to have been. They deny facts as clearly established, even by their
own historians, as any fact of history can be ; and with the most
unblushing effrontery affect to wonder that we will not take their
word in opposition to all other evidence. Besides the history of
past ages, we know from the present state of Popery in those
countries where it reigns in all its glory, that the human mind is
enslaved as much by it as ever. The Pope is still looked up to
as their God upon earth. His authority is supreme in matters of
religion and morality. As if the law of God were not sufficiently
strict ; as if men were not wicked enough by the violation of its
precepts, he can actually create sins and then forgive them ; he
makes that sinful which was not so, and then he can grant pardon for
money. He can grant indulgence, for instance, to marry within
the forbidden degrees ; and it is difficult to say what he cannot do.
He has prohibited the formation of societies for circulating the
Bible. He has restored the Inquisition, and the order of Jesuits;
and has, in short, done every thing in his power to bring Europe
again under subjection to his dark dominion. I ask Amicus Verita-
tis, if his religion be not the very same that prevails in Spain,
Portugal, and Italy ? If any person in any of these countries were
to write or speak as freely against Popery as he does against Luther
and the Reformation, would it not be at the risk of his life? His
is the same religion that opposes heresy by force: he must approve of
this, because such is the will of the holy church which cannot err, and
though he cannot oppose error here by torture and the Inquisition, it
is not unfair to presume that he would do so if he could. His system
at least leads to this : and if his own humanity would not suffer him to
do such a thing, it must be because he is not so bad as his religion.
A. V. says further, that " objections which have been a thousand
times refuted, are confidently brought forward," &c. I challenge
him to show that any one of the objections which I have brought
forward has ever been once refuted. It certainly "is in vain thai
Catholics disclaim the odious tenets which have been imputed to
them ; in vain that they appeal to their professions of faith, and the
canons of their councils." All this certainly is in vain, while
they avowedly adhere to a system, the iniquity of which is known
to all the world.
48
I hope Pax is come home by this time, as I intend a little more
plain dealing with him ; after which I shall attend to A. V. who,
in two letters, has laid himself open to such an exposure as he will
not like. I am glad, however, that he is writing ; because it leads
him to divulge what his own sentiments are on the subjects o.
religion. He has plainly avowed some of the grossest errors of
Popery : and it makes the work much easier to me, when I get
this directly from himself, than to be obliged to seek for it in tin
Bulls of Popes, and the Canons of Councils. I am, &c.
July 2d, 1818. A PROTESTANT.
TO THE READERS OF THE GLASGOJF CHRONICLE.
As the controversy between me and the advocates of Popery is likely to
take a more extensive range than was at first contemplated: and as it is
not likely tliat the Editor of a public Newspaper will be able to afford
room for all that will be written on the subject, consistently with due
attention to other matter, I have resolved to give my sentiments to the
public in another form. While I express my thanks to the Editor, for
his ready admission of free discussion on this, as on every other suhject,
which would not likely have been done by any other in the city, I have
often had occasion to regret that he could not print fast enough, and
that my Letters sometimes lay in his hands a whole week before they
were given to the public.
I had a Letter prepared for the Chronicle of this day, containing a
variety of matter on the subject of indulgences, with extracts and animad-
versions on the Douay Catechism, which some unknown friend was so
kind as to send me through the Chronicle Office: but as the Editor must
delay printing it, and as, from the pressure of other matter, I can never
be certain when I shall come before the public in a newspaper, which
must be open to all the world as well as to me, I have resolved to
publish what I have to say farther upon the subject, in the form of weekly
numbers under the title of" The Protestant. "
I have also to express my thanks to some unknown Correspondents,
who have written me very friendly and complimentary Letters. One of
them, who subscribes himself Pillsem, offers to substantiate a fact, with
regard to indulgences granted in Scotland in the present day; but, before
I can make public use of his communication, it is necessary that he favour
me with his name and address, with liberty to refer to him in case the
fact be contradicted.
The first Number of The Protestant, containing the Letter intended
for the Glasgow Chronicle of this day, will be published on Saturday first,
and may be had of all the Booksellers. The price will not be more
than to cover the expense ; and it is particularly recommended to the
attention of Papists.
July 14th, 1818. A PROTESTANT
Advertisement which appeared in the Glasgow Chronicle.
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC.
If answers have not appeared to all the Letters published in the Glasgow Chromcl;',
tinder the signature of '• A Protestant," it is not because Amicus Veritatis was
silenced by the absurd reasoning and the calumnious imputations against the most
numerous and most respectable body of Christians in the world; (absurd, indeed, when
Pope Clement VIII. was represented to have granted a dispensation to Henry VIII. six
years bet, .re he was born, anil sixty-i years before he was Pope, 1 but because the
Letters of A. V. have been refused insertion in the Glasgow Chronicle, under pretence
that the other party had withdrawn. AMICUS Veritatis, therefore, leaves the public
to judge how tar it was consistent with impartiality to srive insertion to aspersions
agmnst Catholics, and to refuse insertion to the refutation of those aspersions.
Glasgow, Uith July. 1SK
THE
^votzgtmt,
No. I.
SATURDAY, JULY \m, 1618.
j\1y controversy with the Papists originated in a paragraph,
supposed to be written by one of them, in the Glasgow Chro-
nicle, relating to an Oratorio, which had been performed in
their Chapel, for the benefit of the Catholic Schools. A few
remarks made on that paragraph brought forth a reply from
Amicus Veritaiis; and another Letter from me produced a
second from a person, under the same signature, and one by
another Papist, under the Signature of Pax. The controversy
was continued in the Glasgow Chronicle, till it began to assume
a shape, and take an extent of range, such as to render it impos-
sible that the Editor of a public journal could give place to the
discussion with any degree of regularity. I have, therefore,
determined to publish a Paper every Saturday, under the above
title ; and if I am favoured by the countenance of the public, I
may continue to do so for some considerable time.
I intend to follow my opponents through all their windings —
to refute what they assert, and confirm what they deny ; for
their letters hitherto consist of little more than bare assertion,
and bare denial, with a good deal of abuse, in which it has been
my study not to imitate them ; for though I have written, and
may still write, with great severity, against the system of Popery,
and the wickedness of its abettors in general, I hare abstained
from attacking individuals by name, whether ancient or modern,
while they (at least one of them) have poured a torrent of abuse
against the persons of men, to whom the world is indebted for
all that it enjoys this day of civil and religious liberty.
The present Paper is published in the form in which it was
intended for the Glasgow Chronicle of last Tuesday.
A
2
Sir,
I now sit down to answer the Letter of your
Correspondent, Pax, which appeared in your Paper of June 18th.
He has a quotation from Addison, which I do not profess to un-
derstand, in its connexion with other matter. He talks of my
fallacious assertions — my prejudices — venom of prejudice — my
spirit of persecution — my absurd sophistry — the unholy edifice
which I have reared with my own hands, at the expense of my
neighbours' nicest feelings — of my own integrity as a writer,
and my charity as a Christian. I do not profess to answer this.
I never studied at Billingsgate college; and have little skill in the
art of calling names. 1 am quite deaf to the cry of bigotry which
is reiterated in every Letter of my opponents. The continued
outcry by Papists against bigotry, reminds me of the thief who
was the first and the loudest to cry " Catch thief!" that he might
remove suspicion from himself, and escape in the crowd.
He accuses me of arguing upon mere suspicion, without the
support of a single fact ; and being silent upon those truths which
are opposed to my fallacious assertions. Pax was here cutting
before the point. The Letter which he was answering, was pro-
fessedly an introduction to a series of Letters, in which I pro-
mised to go over, and answer, all the objectionable matter contain-
ed in his Letter, and that of his friend, A. V. It was rather too
much to expect that the introduction should contain all that the
work was meant to contain : yet such seems to have been the ex-
pectation of Mr. Pax. I hope he will read over all the Letters
which I have since written on the subject, and if he does not con-
fess, I think he ought to confess, that I have given of facts quan-
tum wjficit.
He seems to enjoy his triumph very heartily ; and far should I
be from depriving him of any enjoyment which he may have in this
controversy. It seems " every impartial observer must have been
struck with the very feeble resistance" which I had made in my
former Letter. He defied me to produce the Kilravack Bull,
with the meaning I had ascribed to it. This would have been
very fair, if I had said the Bull was in my possession, or in the
possession of any person to whom I had immediate access. All
that I asserted was, that a Rev. Gentleman had assured me he had
seen it, and that such were its contents. This gentleman is will-
ing to meet with Pax any day, and maintain his assertion, and to
bring other witnesses to vouch for the fact. In short, the docu-
ment has been seen by hundreds ; and Pax may see it himself, if
ne shall please to make a pilgrimage to Kilravack. I venture to
s
assure him, he will find it as good for his soul as a pilgrimage to
Our Lady of Loretta, and far less expensive.
He makes some insinuations here, which ought not to be pass-
ed over slightly. He speaks as if he took me for a Jesuit, who
could shuffle, and quibble, and say the thing which is not ; in
short, he means it to be understood that I had asserted what I
could not make good concerning this Bull ; and that I had re-
course to the mean subterfuge of slurring over the matter with an
apology on account of the absence of my witness. I think Pax
would not, on such slight grounds, have made this uncandid insi-
nuation, if he had not been habituated to the quibbling, shuffling
arts to which Papists always have recourse, in the defence of their
system. It is not easy for an honest man to suspect his neigh-
bour of dishonesty ; but a rogue suspects all who are about him.
If Pax be an honest man, he will confess that he has wronged his
neighbour, and I shall not insist on his doing penance : at least,
he shall not, if I can help it, be obliged to walk round his chapel
on his bare knees, as some of his brethren and sisters in Ireland
do, till the blood flow from the flesh stuck full of small stones.
He also defied me to prove, that by an indulgence is meant the
remission of sin. Without quibbling about the Popish meaning
of the word indulgence, I have proved from a variety of docu-
ments, to which I refer him, that the Pope and his Bishops
claimed and exercised the power of granting the remission of sins to
those who paid them for it. I have proved that an indulgence, or
permission to commit the grossest sins, might have been procured
for half-a-guinea. I have proved, in the words of a celebrated
Divine of the Romish Church (see your Paper of June 23d,) that
of the greatest crimes, there were some that persons might have
liberty to commit for money, while absolution from all of them,
after they had been committed, might be bought. This fact, and
the existence of the book which contained the price of pardon for
certain sins, are asserted by Claude D'Espence ; and A. V. slurs
this over without any remark, while he is calling all my other do-
cuments forgeries. If Pax be able to look a heretic in the face,
I invite him to call on me, and I will show him such a list of
pardons proclaimed, and of course granted, to all who would pur-
chase them, as perhaps he never saw in his life. For instance,
" Pope Sextus hath given and granted to every brother and sister
that shall visit the said altar (that is, the great altar of St. Hilary)
upon the 2d day of June, and the 16th day of July, every year,
for every of the said days, a plenary remission of all their sins." —
*' Pope Innocent hath granted to the said brothers and sisters,
upon Easter-day, and eight days following, four thousand years
of quarantains, and remission of the third part of all their sins.
Item, he hath granted to Twelfth-day, and the octaves thereof,
five thousand years : to the day of the nativity of our Lady, and
the octaves of it, thirty thousand years of true pardon." — " Pope
Sextus IV. hath granted to the said brothers and sisters that shall
visit the said altar in the church of St. Hilary, on which the
blessed sacrament of the altar standeth, upon any of the festivals
oi' our Lady, from the first vespers to the second, plenary pardon
of all their sins. Imprimis, The first day of Lent, three thousand
years of true pardon, and plenary remission of his sins, over
and above. Thursday, ten thousand years. Friday, ten thousand
years. The first Sunday in Lent, eighteen thousand years of par-
don, and remission of all his sins to boot. Monday, ten thou-
sand years, and a plenary indulgence. Tuesday, twenty- eight
thousand years, and as many quarantains (or periods of forty days,)
and the remission of the third part of their sins, and the delivery
of one soul out of purgatory," &c. &c. &c. See Eccles. Hist.
France, 4to. p. 222 — 224. There are several quarto pages of
such matter : the above is extracted merely as a sample.
Who would not imagine from this, that the Pope possessed an
infinite fulness of grace and mercy ? This, indeed, is what he
wished to be understood. He placed himself in the seat of
God, showing himself as God — able to open and shut the gates
of heaven at his pleasure. But when any poor sinner came to
claim the benefit of that grace which the Pope possessed in such
abundance, he found there was no grace for him, unless he could
pay for it, which made it in fact no grace at all. — Christ invites
the chief of sinners to come to him, and receive all the blessings
of salvation, without money and without price ; but the Pope in
this, as in every other part of his system, is Antichrist, that is,
opposed to Christ, — there is no pardon, no blessing of any
kind, to be obtained from him, except in some rare instances,
without money. Such is the cruelty of the system — such is the
hard-heartedness of the whole priesthood, that, though they pro-
fess to have the power of releasing souls from the pains of purga-
tory, they will not do it without payment. Not to speak of
Christian principle, no man of ordinary humanity would suffer his
neighbour to remain one hour under the pain of the tooth-ache,
if he could afford relief; but thousands of souls may lie wallow-
ing in the fiery lake for thousands of years ; and though the
priests have the power, not one will move a finger to release
them, till he be paid for it. There is no need of colouring here ;
the monstrous deformity of the system appears on its very front.
The only apology that can be made for the priests is> that they
ik) not themselves believe in purgatory. If this apology be sus-
tained, then they are guilty of robbing the poor people who con-
fide in them, by moans of lies and imposition. It they do be-
lieve in purgatory, and that the souls in it suffer greater misery
5
than any creature can suffer in this world ; and if, beiieving this,
they will not grant the relief which they can grant, till some poor
relative has parted with his last shilling as a price for it, then the
priests stand convicted of a cruelty of disposition, which will
scarcely find a parallel among the most barbarous savages.
In the above quotations, there are so many thousand years oi
true pardon granted to those who shall visit the altar; but it is
well known, that the visiting of the altar was nothing but for the
gift that was left at the altar. The expression true pardon, too,
which is often repeated, seems to intimate that there was such a
thing as false pardon, or pardon falsely granted, which is perhaps
the only true thing which the poor people were taught to be-
lieve.
Pax, in a parenthesis, gives us a piece of very important infor-
mation : — " A person in sin cannot derive the benefit of an indul-
gence." It is well known that indulgences have been given to
thousands. Is it then to be understood, that all the persons to
whom they were granted, were in a state of sinless purity ? Cer-
tainly ; otherwise, according to Pax's own showing, the indul-
gence was of no use ; and those who bought such favours were
swindled out of their money. From this plain avowal of the
Popish doctrine, we are led to the conclusion, that every person
to whom an indulgence is granted, is, in the esteem of the church,
a sinless person. He was brought into this state by means of
the sacrament of penance, and the absolution of the priest : he
is taught to believe that the priest really can grant such absolu-
tion ; and that there is a virtue in the sacrament of penance fully
adequate to cancel all his guilt. Now, suppose it possible that
persons so absolved and purified are still sinners, notwithstanding
the mysterious process which they have undergone — a supposi-
tion by no means irrelevant ; and supposing they should die in this
state, they are undone for ever : and the church has swindled them
not only out of their money, but out of their everlasting happi-
ness. It was foretold of this church, that her traffic would be in
" the souls of men ;" and who can tell how many millions of
souls she has sold to perdition !
To direct a sinner to any thing but the merits of Christ for
the pardon of sin, is to deceive hirn ; and if he be so simple as
to believe what he is told, he is utterly undone. The Church of
Rome stands convicted of thus deceiving and ruining those that
confide in her. Some unknown friend has sent me, through the
Chronicle Office, a Douay Catechism, from which I abstract the
following, on the subject of penance. " Q. What is penance ?
A. A sacrament, by which the sins we fall into, after baptism, are
forgiven us. Q. When did Christ ordain this sacrament ? A«
After his rising from the dead, when he breathed on his disciples,
saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins ye shall forgive,
they are forgiven ; and whose sins ye shall retain, they are re-
tained. John xx. 23. Q. What is the matter of this sacra-
ment ? A. The sins of the penitent, accompanied by contri-
tion and satisfaction. Q. What is the form of it ? A.I ab-
solve thee from thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Q. What are the effects of it?
A. It reconciles us to God, and either restores or increases
grace. Q. How many parts has it, as it concerns the penitent ?
A. Three ; contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Q. What is
contrition ? A. A hearty sorrow for, and detestation of> our
sins, by which we have offended so good a God ; with a firm
purpose of amendment. Q. What is confession ? A. A full
and sincere declaring of all our sins to our ghostly father. Q.
What is satisfaction ? A. A faithful performance of the prayers
or good works enjoined us by the priest, to whom we confess.
Q. What is required to a good confession ? A. 1. That we se-
riously examine our consciences ; 2. Be heartily sorry for all our
sins, with a firm purpose to amend, taking care and time to make
an act of contrition ; and, 3. Confess them faithfully to the
priest. Q. What is a firm purpose of amendment ? A. It is a
resolution, by the grace of God, not only to avoid sin, but also
the occasion of it. Q. What if a man knowingly leave out
one mortal sin ? A. He commits a great sacrilege, by lying to
the Holy Ghost, and makes his whole confession nothing worth.
Q. What is an indulgence ? A. Not leave to commit sin, or a
pardon for sins to come, as some slander the church ; but only a
releasing of temporal punishment due to such sins as are already
forgiven us, by the sacrament of penance."
Such are the principles of the Douay Catechism, on the sub-
ject of penance and indulgence. Your readers will see they are
not very different from those of the French Catechism, which I
quoted in a former Letter ; except that, instead of giving indul-
gence the honour of a section by itself, they attach it to the end
of the section on penance. The Catechism before me, indeed, is
only an abstract, and does not go so much into detail as the
French one ; but the ground-work and leading principles, so far
as I have compared them, are substantially the same.
Let any intelligent person consider the extract which I have
made from the acknowledged standard of the Church of Rome,
as it exists in Britain, and say, if it be not a mass of error and
corruption throughout. Here the priest is every thing, and
Christ is little or nothing. In fact Christ is nothing at all in
the Popish system, afte- he had delegated his authority to the
priests. Most absurdly they apply to themselves what Christ
6aid to his inspired apostles ; and then they take the whole work
of Christ into their own haR(ls, as if he had left the entire charge
of his church to them. The priest administers the sacrament o-f
penance ; this takes away all the sins committed after baptism
(the sins before baptism were taken away by that rite :) the priest
absolves from all sin ; this sacrament reconciles the sinner to God :
there is no occasion to confess sin to God ; it is enough that the
sinner confess to his ghostly father : there is no need of the
atonement of Christ ; a faithful performance of the prayers and
good works enjoined by the priest is sufficient satisfaction : and if
the sinner, in confessing to the priest, should knowingly omit one
mortal sin, it is the same as lying to the Holy Ghost, so that
the authority of the Holy Ghost and of the priest are the same.
In short, the principle of the system is, that poor perishing sin-
ners must commit themselves implicitly to the care of their ghostly
fathers ; and, instead of trusting in God, in whom alone salvation
is to be found, incur the curse of trusting in man, in whom there
is no help.
I should not much object to the definition of the word contri-
tion, as above quoted from the Catechism, if it stood connected
with the animating principle which alone can produce genuine re-
pentance or contrition. It has, however, no such connexion,
though it seems to relate to an act of the sinner's own, which he
must take " care and time to make ;" that is. an " act of contri-
tion" which stands in the front of the Catechism, as follows : —
•' O Sovereign Lord, because I love thee above all things, I am
heartily sorry that ever I offended thee ; I hate and detest all my
sins, because they are displeasing to thee, my good God ; and I
tirmly purpose and resolve, through thy grace, never more to of-
fend thee. Amen." Such is the act which all Papists are taught
by their church to make ; and with regard to most of them, I
am afraid, it commences by telling their Maker a lie to his face.
How few are there who can truly say they love the Lord above
all things !
It is not my intention to reply to A. V.'s late Letters, till I
have done with some previous matter ; but I cannot deny myself
the pleasure of informing him, that, in his Letter in your Paper
of the 11th instant, he has given his system a wound, which he
will not soon be able to cure. Speaking of the book which con-
tained the Tax of the Apostolic Chancery, which was put in the
list of prohibited books by the Council of Trent, he says, " No
hook is prohibited, but such as contains doctrine contrary to the
tenets of the Catholic faith." Now it is a fact, that the same
Council of Trent put the Bible, as well as the Tax of the Apos-
tolic Chancery, in the list of prohibited books. The Bible,
therefore, by A. V.'s own acknowledgment, contains doctrine
contrary to the Catholic faith, and is of course condemned by
8
the authority of the Church But perhaps he will call the Bible
forgery, like almost every thing else that contains a word against
his infallible Church.
In a future Letter, I shall quote the authority of the Council
of Trent at length on this subject. In the meantime, your read-
ers may rest assured of the fact, that the Bible is under the
fourth rule concerning prohibited books, and not to be read in
the vulgar tongue, without special permission of a priest, granted
in writing, under the heaviest penalty known to a Papist — that
of not receiving the pardon of his sins ; and the rule proceeds
upon this very certain ground, that if the Holy Bible be per-
mitted to be read every where without difference, in the vulgar
tongue, it does more harm than good, through the rashness of
men. — I am, &c.
A PROTESTANT.
July 13th, 1818-
THE
-Protectant,
No. II.
SATURDAY, JULY <25th, 1818.
A.T the conclusion of my last, I convicted Amicus Veri-
tatis of admitting that the Bible contained " doctrines con-
trary to the tenets of the Catholic faith." I believe I might very
honourably terminate the controversy here ; for persons who
make the above admission, and still adhere to the Church of
Rome, are not to be reasoned with as Christians. For the sake
of society, however, if not for their own sakcs, it is necessary to
continue the controversy, in order to expose the impositions
which such men practise upon the public ; that, if they cannot be
put to silence by fair argument, the world may be convinced that
their testimony is not to be believed.
I shall deviate a little farther from my plan, in order to remove
as soon as possible the impression that may have been made on
the mind of some readers, by A. V.'s assertions with regard to
the character and doctrine of Luther. That I may do A. V. no
injustice, I shall begin by quoting the whole passage. He as-
serted that a certain passage in Luther's works " contains a per-
petual indulgence to commit adultery, in certain circumstances."
He now repeats, " that Luther did preach the doctrine in ques-
tion is certain. He tells us, that whilst he continued a Catholic
monk, he observed chastity, obedience, and poverty, and that
being free from worldly cares, he gave himself up to fasting,
watching, and prayer; whereas, after he became a Reformer, he de-
scribes himself as raging with the most violent concupiscence ; to
satisfy which, he broke through his solemn vow of continency, in
direct opposition to his former doctrine, by marrying a religious
10
woman who was under the same obligation. He then proceeded
to teach the shameful lessons we have seen above, and others
still more licentious, such as the permission, in certain cases, of
concubinage and polygamy. Milners Letters, pp. 158, 159. The
ipsissima verba of Luther's acknowledged publication are, — • Ut
non est in meis viribus situm, ut vir non siin, tam uon est etiam
mei juris, ut absque muliere sim. Rursum ut in tua manu non
est, ut fcamina non sis, sic nee in te est, ut absque viro degas. —
Tertia ratio divortii est ubi alter alteri se subduxerit, ut debitam
benevolentiam persolvere nolit, aut habit are cum eo renuerit. Hie
opportunium est, ut maritus dicat : Si tu nolueris, altera volit :
Si domina nolit, adveniat ancilla.' Oper. Lutlu Ed. Wirt. Tom.
V. fol. 119, 12:3. The Works of Luther are preserved in the
Library of the University of Glasgow, where your Correspondent
may examine if my quotations are correct, and I expect he will
be as good as his word."
My word was, that if I found, upon examining Luther's own
words, he really held and taught the doctrines imputed to him
by A. V., I should publish the fact, and confess that Luther held
more errors than I was aware of. Certainly I should do so, if
I found the fact to be as A. V. states it ; for I have no interest
in defending the errors of Luther or of any other man ; but the fact
is, Luther taught no such errors ; and A. Ws pretended extract
from his Works is a piece of as barefaced imposition as ever w
palmed upon the public.
I have to thank the Librarian of the University here, who, at
the expense of some inconvenience to himself, the Library being
shut at this season, gave me an opportunity of inspecting Luther's
Works, which consist of seven immense folio volumes. The words
are correctly given by A. V. as far as the word ancella, which
ought to be ancilla; this, however, is of little consequence, as
it may be a mistake of the Printer. After ancilla, Luther has a
comma, and then he proceeds to explain the necessary steps to be
raken before a man can lawfully put away his wife, and take ano-
ther. I shall give the whole sentence as it stands in Luther, that
the reader may see how much he has been abused by modern
Papists. " Si domina nolit, adveniat ancilla, ita tamen ut antea
iterum et tertium uxorem admoneat maritus, et coram aliis ejus
etiam pertinaciam detegat, ut publice et ante conspectum Ecdesias
duritia ejus et agnoscatur et reprehendatur." This is a part of
Luther's third reason of divorce. He is maintaining that in cer-
tain circumstances it is lawful for a man to put away his wife and
take another, — " yet so that before this, the husband admonish
his wife, not once only, but a second, and a third time, and al-
so expose her obstinacy before others, that publicly, and in
presence of the church, her obstinacy may be known and rcpre-
11
nended." But A. V. stops at the word ancilla : for a comma he
substitutes a period, and omits all the rest of the sentence, which
makes Luther appear to teach, that, without ceremony, a man
may take his handmaid instead of his wife. In this way, A. V.
will prove the Psalmist to be an atheist. His very words, in the
fourteenth Psalm, are, " There is no God."
If not quite hardened, A. V. must blush when he sees his
wickedness thus exposed. This is the man who makes such
an outcry against the Protestants for forgery, and who main-
tains, on the authority of Whitaker, that no such practice was
to be found among Papists. I wish Whitaker were alive ; I
should tell him of a Papist who commits forgery ; for, to garble
a man's words, aud make him say what he does not mean to say,
is as really forgery as to put a man's name to a document which
he never saw. I advise A. V. to beware of such tricks, lest some
worse thing befall him than the lash of a Protestant.
Some of my friends accused me of want of charity, when I
said, in one of my Letters in the Glasgow Chronicle, " I believe
A. V. knows more than he chooses to make known." I fee! my-
self quite justified in making the assertion. He must know very
well that the passage in Luther, when fairly quoted, gives not the
least countenance to the abominable charge which he unblushingly
brought against the Reformer ; but he did not choose to make
this known. The doctrine of Luther is substantially the same
that is taught by the soundest casuists, and which is laid down
from the Apostolic writings, in the Westminster Confession
Chap. XXIV. §. 6. Luther, indeed, does not speak with so
much delicacy on a delicate subject, as a modern divine would
do ; but that fault was common to him, with most writers of his
time, and for two hundred years afterwards. Our own Queen
Mary, one of the idols of Papists, did not always write in such
language as would become a young lady in the present day.
The extract given by A. V. with the necessary addition which
I have made to it from Luther's works, consists of two uncon-
nected passages, of which I need not give a literal translation, as
I confess the expression is somewhat coarse. But I appeal to
better scholars than myself, whether the following be not the
meaning which a liberal translator would give it, expressing the
same ideas in modern language. Luther is speaking of man and
woman, and of their being made for one another. Speaking in
name of the former, he says, it was not of himself that he was
made so ; then, as addressing the latter, he says the same or
her ; and the inference which he draws with regard to both is,
that the one ought not to be without the other. Is not this per-
fectly consistent with the declaration of the Creator concerning
Adam, while in a state of innocency, — " It is not good that man
12
should be alone." The third reason of divorce is, when one
party withdraws from the other, and will not perform due bene-
volence, or refuses to dwell with the other : in this case, a hus-
oand may tell his wife that he will take another, but not private-
ly, or on his own authority ; but repeated admonition must be
given to her before the church, as Luther's words are literally
translated at the bottom of the second page : that is, she must be
divorced before the husband is warranted to put her awav, — or, in
other words, that a regular process of divorce must be led, before
he can marry another. I see nothing in this contrary to the word
of God ; and I believe it is perfectly consistent with the law, both
in England and Scotland.
The Papists were never able to fix the smallest charge of any
thing bordering upon unchastity upon Luther, except that he
married a wife. It is utterly false that " he describes himself as
raging with the most violent concupiscence," &c. Whatever such
men as A- V. or Milner may say, regardless of their character,
or confident of escaping detection, the advocates of Popery, in
former days, were too well informed of the truth, and too con-
scious that they would be exposed, to hazard any such assertion.
All that the bishop of Meaux, when speaking of the strong lan-
guage which Luther used on the necessity of marriage as a re-
medy against unchastity, says, is, " I cannot think how he will
be able to reconcile this with the life which, according to his own
account, he led in the most spotless maimer, during all the time
of his celibacy, and till he was forty-five years of age." Hist, de
Variations, lib. o., num. 49. All the world know that Luther
was apt to use strong, and even unguarded language ; but no-
thing but ignorant or malevolent effrontery could induce any one
to accuse him of such actions and sentiments as A. V. lays to
his charge. So far from making the confession alleged, in a
letter to his friend AmsdorfF, written at the time of his marriage,
he says: " Ego enim nee amo, nee a?stuo, sed diligo uxorem ;"
and he assigns as the principal reason for his marrying, that he
might, by his own example, trample upon an iniquitous law.
which was the source of so much immorality and flagitiousness.
Scckendorf. Hist. Lidheranismi, lib. 2., pp. 16, 19. In fact,
Luther speaks with great indifference of marriage, so far as re-
garded himself, but, knowing the monstrous wickedness which the
celibacy of the priests occasioned, he strongly recommended mar-
riage to others, and in doing so he was supported by the authority
i>f the word of God.
A. V. expresses his " surprise, that a man who would pretend
to disciitS the religious opinions of others, should not only be
unacquainted with, but ignorant of the opinions of the great fa-
ther of his own." Luther is not the father of my religion. It
13
would be a sad thing for Protestants, if their religion were deriv-
ed from a book which is to be seen, perhaps, no where in the
kingdom, but within the walls of the Glasgow University. Though
1 claim no relation to Luther more than to any other Christian,
I am happy that I have it in my power to vindicate his character
from the aspersions of an anonymous libeller, who abuses the
liberty which he enjoys in a free country, for the vilest purposes
of defamation. I never thought highly of the morality of Pa-
pists ; but A. V. has made me think more meanly of it than ever.
He abuses other venerable names besides that of Luther : but as
his charges against them are not of so gross a nature, nor supported
by such apparent evidence, I shall not take up their cause at
present, but proceed in my reply to Pax, from which I have been
diverted, by a desire of making a speedy exposure of A. V.'s false-
hood and impudence.
Pax seems very much offended by my continued use of the
word Papist ; and because I do not use the term Roman Ca-
tholic, like some of our Senators, who were enlightened enough to
see that it was improper to use the word Catholic exclusively to
denote the Church of Rome. I confess, I am not so easily
satisfied on this point as rfiese worthy Senators must have been.
I do not call the members of the Church of Rome, Papists, be-
cause it is a term of reproach, but because they have not furnish-
ed me with another term which does not imply, on my part, the
concession of some important principle. I have already given my
reasons. for not calling them Catholics; and for nearly the same
reasons, I cannot call them Roman Catholics. The word Ca-
tholic signifies universal. In the nature of the thing, there can-
not be more than one universal Church ; that is, the whole body
of believers in Christ throughout the wor'd, together with (hose
who have gone to heaven. This is very different from any vi-
sible organized church; and certainly it is not the Church of
Rome. To use the term of Roman Catholic, is to admit that the
Church of Rome is in some sense universal, which it never was ;
or that it is the only true Church, for there cannot be two univer-
sal churches. I say the Church of Rome never was catholic, or
universal. It never prevailed over the whole world. It was ne-
ver universal, even in what is called Christendom ; for, not to
speak of the Greek Church, which remains to this day a separate
communion, it never prevailed universally in the West of Europe.
The Culdees in our own country, for instance, maintained a long
and a noble struggle against the errors and the encroachments of
Rome ; and they continued to do so, till the Waldenses had
thrown off her galling yoke. The melody of a simple and spi-
ritual worship did not ccv.sa to ascend from the glens and moun-
14
tains of Scotland, till it began to be heard in the vallies of Pied
mont ; and till the inhabitants of the rocky Alps had learned to
sing the praises of their Redeemer.
The true Church of Christ was driven into the wilderness ; but
Jt was not in the power of Home to destroy her altogether. The
Culdees were not finally overcome till the twelfth century ; and,
in that same century, the Waldenses had become a great eye-sore
to Rome. " In Scotland," says the Edinburgh Encyclopedia,
" the Culdean doctrine had taken deeper root ; and, although
equally offensive to the votaries of Rome, it kept its ground for
several centuries. The Popish writers themselves celebrate the
piety, the purity, and the humility, and even the learning, of the
Culdees : but while they were displeased with the simplicity, of
what they deemed the barbarism, of their worship, they charged
them with various deviations from the faith of the Catholic
Church. It was not the least of these that they did not observe
Easter at the proper time. They did not acknowledge auricular
confession; they rejected penance and authoritative absolution ;
they made no use of chrism* in baptism; confirmation was un-
known ; they opposed the doctrine of the real presence ; they
withstood the idolatrous worship of saints and angels, dedicating
ill their churches to the Holy Trinity ; they denied the doctrine
of works of supererogation ; they were enemies to the celibacy of
the clergy, themselves living in the married state. One sweeping
charge brought against them is, that they preferred their own
opinions to the statutes of the holy fathers. The Scots, having
received the Christian faith by the labours of the Culdees, long
withstood the errors and usurpations of Rome."
This information respecting our ancestors will, I hope, be in-
teresting to my readers ; and it may lead some to conclude, that
the effect of the simple mode of worship practised by the Culdees*
in all their churches, is visible in Scotland to this day.
Rome having succeeded at last in extinguishing the light in
Scotland, it broke out with greater brightness on the Continent.
" Of all the sects that arose in this century," says Mosheim,
11 none was more distinguished by the reputation it acquired, Ly
the multitude of its votaries, and the testimony which its bitterest
enemies bore to the probity and innocence of its members, than
that of the Waldenses, so called from their parent and founder
Peter Waldus." " They complained that the Roman Churcj
had degenerated, under Constantine the Great, from its primitive
purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the Romar
Pontiff. They maintained that the power of delivering sin
ners from the guilt and punishment of their offences, belonged to
• A mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated by a Popish Bishop, to be
used in baptism, confirmation, .S:e.
IS
God alone : and that indulgences, of consequence, were the
criminal inventions of sordid avarice. They looked upon the
prayers, and other ceremonies that were instituted in behalf of the
dead, as vain, useless, and absurd; and denied the existence of
departed souls in an intermediate state of purification, affirming
*diat they were immediately, upon their separation from the bodv,
received into heaven, or thrust down to hell."
In short, the same doctrines which were taught by Luthir
and the other Reformers were maintained by greater or smaller
numbers of Christians, in different parts of the world, even in
the darkest ages. The translator of Mosheim says very properly
" When the Papists ask us, Where our religion was before
Luther ? we generally answer, In the Bible ; and we answer well.
But to gratify their taste for tradition and human authority, we
may add to this answer, — and in the rallies of Piedmont •" * to
which I mav add, — and on the mountains of Scotland.
* Perhaps no body of Christians, since the days of the Roman Empe-
rors, suffered more severe persecution than the Waldenses did, at the in-
stigation of the Roman Pontiff. As a specimen of the Popish method of
converting heretics, I shall give a few extracts from a bull of Pope Inno-
cent VIII. in which he requires the Archdeacon of Cremona to extirpate
that simple and harmless people. This was thirty years before the Re-
formation. " We have heard," says the Pope, " and it has come to our
knowledge, not without much displeasure, that certain sons of iniquity,
followers of that abominable and pernicious sect of malignant men, called
the poor of Lyons, or Waldenses, who have long endeavoured, in Pied-
mont and other places, to ensnare the sheep belonging to God, to the
perdition of their souls, having damnably risen up, under a feigned pre-
tence of holiness — being given up to a reprobate sense, and made to err
greatly from the way of truth — committing things contrary to the ortho-
dox faith, offensive to the eyes of the divine Majesty, and which occasion
a great hazard of souls." He then declares that he has constituted Al-
bert his Nuncio, Commissioner, " to die end that you should induce the
followers of the most wicked sect of the Waldenses, and all others polluted
with heretical pravity, to abjure their errors. And, calling to your assist-
ance all Archbishops and Bishops seated in the said Duchy (of Savoy)
whom the Most High hath called to share with us in our cares, with the
Inquisitor, the Ordinaries of the Place, their Vicars, &c. you proceed to
the execution thereof against the foresaid Waldenses, and all other here-
tics whatever, to rise up in arms against them, and, by joint communica
tion of processes, to tread them under foot as venomous adders; diligently
providing that the people committed to their charge do persevere in the
profession of the true faith — bending all your endeavours, and bestowing
all your care, towards so holy and so necessary an extermination of the same
heretics." " Thou, therefore, my beloved son, taking upon thee, with a
devout mind, the burden of so meritorious a work, show thyself, in the
execution thereof, so careful in word and deed, and so diligent and studi-
ous, that the much wished-for fruits may, through the grace of God, re-
dound unto thee from thy labours, and that thou mayest not only obtain
the crown of glory, which is bestowed as a reward to those that prosecute
pious causes, but that thou mayest also ensure the approbation of us, and of
the Apostolic See. Given at Rome, at St Peter's, 27th A p. 1487, and
3d of our Popedom." Jones' Hist. Wuld. 1st ed. pp. 466 — 468.
16
The Church of Rome, therefore, never was universal, or ca-
tholic ; and I cannot consistently call her members Roman Ca
tholics ; but I have no objection to call them Romists, if that
.shall please them better than Papists. Under one or other ac
these terms they must be content to be called after their head,
like other sects, and with more propriety than most other sects,
for they own the Pope to be the head of their Church, whereas,
few other Christian sects acknowledge any head upon earth.
I see, in the Glasgow Chronicle of Saturday last, an advertise-
ment by A. V. in which I am apprized of a small mistake with
regard to the Pope, who offered to indulge Henry VIII. with
two wives. It seems I had given the Pope an I too much, and
had written Clement VIII. instead of Clement VII. This trif-
ling error occasions great triumph to A, V. who makes out from
it that all my arguments are absurd indeed. From this I infer,
that, in the esteem of A. V. himself, this is the greatest matter he
could find against rne, as he blazons it forth in the middle of his
short advertisement. Now this error is actually nothing at all with
regard to my argument. The fact is, that the Pope of the day
made the above proposal to the King of England. The thing was
done — it matters not what was the number of the name of the
beast that did it.
I intend, as soon as I can make it convenient, to publish,
from the Glasgow Chronicle, my Letters from the commence-
ment, in a separate form.
I HE
^Protestant,
No. III.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1st, 181s.
a Ax tells us, that " the principles of the Catholic Church do not
emanate from a Pope, hut from the great Founder of the Christian
faith." This is true of the really Catholic, or universal Church,
but not true of the Romish Church. Some of the fundamental
principles of Christianity, such as the Trinity, and the divinity of
Christ, are indeed admitted in the Popish system ; hut they are
so hlended with human errors, as to be in a great measure neu-
tralized, and rendered inefficient for the purpose of saving sin-
ners. From the divinity of Christ, we infer the sufficiency and
the virtue of his atonement, and his supreme and exclusive au-
thority in matters of faith and Christian practice. But the bene-
fit of this is lost in the Church of Rome, by setting up her own
authority and that of her priests, as sufficient in matters of failh ;
and bv directing sinners to satisfy divine justice for themselves.
Hear the Douay Catechism, which A. V. says is approved by the
whole Church, and put into the hands of all their children for
their religious instruction. " Q. Is any great honour due to
priests and ghostly (i. e. spiritual) fathers? A. Yes: for thev
are God's anointed, represent the person of Christ, and are the
fathers and feeders of our souls. Q. In what are we bound to
believe and obey them ? A. In all things belonging to faith and
the government of our souls." This is, in language sufficiently
plain, setting aside the authority of Christ altogether. Papists
are taught implicitly to believe all things belonging to faith,
which a priest may tell them — that is all things believable ; an I
13
though it may seem strange to persons who think and reason
upon principles of common sense, Papists are taught hy their
priests to believe a great deal more than what is believable.
Now, who are these priests in whom the poor people are com-
manded to put such confidence ? They are merely men like
themselves. They were never taken into the council of the Al-
mighty, that they should know more of his will than other men.
They were never favoured with a revelation from heaven in their
private ear. No heavenly messenger was ever sent to them, to
teach them what others could not know. They may, indeed,
pretend to converse with angels, and to have communications
from heaven; but I defy the whole prieslhood to exhibit one
evidence of this. Grant, then, for a moment, that all the priests
of the Romish Church, in ail ages, were as decent and sober as
those in Scotland are, in the present day, not one of them, nor
all of them together, could be worthy of being obeyed in any one
article of faith, or of being implicitly believed in any one matter of
religion.
How much more, when the prevailing character of the priests
was the opposite of what I have supposed ? Is it possible, that,
while living in all sorts of wickedness, the Almighty should speak
to men by their mouth ? The truth which God has revealed for
the salvation of sinners has a purifying influence, and its moral
effects are invariably seen in those who believe it. It is certain,
the greater part of the priests themselves did not believe it, else
they would not have lived such profligate lives. Were they then
to be implicitly believed in a matter in which they did not believe
themselves ? If they taught what they did believe, it must have
been error and falsehood, and those who trusted in them, must
have been deceived and ruined. Upon the supposition, that the
priests are not now such grossly wicked men, as they once were,
(and it cannot be denied, that the Reformation has had a happy
influence even upon the Popish priesthood, especially in Protes-
tant countries;) upon the supposition, that they are even good
men, they are liable to err like all others, and ought not to be
believed in any matter of faith whatever, unless they can produce
divine authority for what they say; and then it is not the priest
that is believed, but God himself. Whatever maybe the charac-
ter of the individual trusted in, the Bible declares the misery of
the man that trusteth in man.
With regard to the atonement of Christ, on which alone the
hopes of a sinner can safely rest for pardon and peace, the
Church of Home makes it of no value, by virtually denying its
sufficiency; which they do, by teaching men to add the merits of
saints, and their own merits to it. Nothing can be more dis-
honourable to Christ than this. It is, in fact, reducing him to
19
the rank of a mere creature, who died for sin in vain, if the sit>
tier must yet make atonement, in who'? or in part, for himself, or
if he must have recourse to the merits cf other creatures to help
him. Christ said upon the cross, " It is finished;" and how im-
oious and presumptuous is it to attempt to add to his finished
work ! As well might a worm add to the magnitude and bright-
ness of the sun.
The doctrine of indulgences certainly did not emanate from
the great Founder of the Christain faith. A good deal has been
said on this subject already. I leave it to the reader to judge
whether I have not proved all that I asserted of it ; and 1 have
abundance of materials in reserre, to prove the unparalleled wick-
edness of the Church of Rome, in this single branch of her traf-
fic. But at present I shall not have recourse to any other docu-
ment, than that to which A. V. refers me. The Douay Cate-
chism, he tells me, is approved by the whole Church. I confess
Popery appears in it considerably softened down, and divested
of much of its grossness. I have no evidence, however, of this
Catechism being approved by the whole Church of Rome ; for
that Church has not met in general council fur nearly three hun-
dred years ; and this Catechism does not profess to have been
approved by the council of Trent, or any other council. It is
not authenticated by any authority whatever ; there is no name to
vouch for it, but that of the printer ; whereas the French Cate-
chism is sanctioned by the authority of the Pope, and the Arch-
bishop of Paris. Unauthenticated as the Douay Catechism is, it
may be either admitted or denied by Papists, to contain the faith of
their Church. Amicus Veritatis, however, cannot have this
advantage ; for 1 find the Catechism before me contains the verv
words which he quoted from it in one of his letters, on the doc-
trine of indulgence. It is therefore sufficiently authentic for every
purpose of my controversy with him.
Now, I intend to show that, modified as it is, the doctrine of
indulgence is not one that emanates from the great Founder of
Christianity ; but that it is directly opposed to Christianity. I shall
give the precise words of the Catechism. " What is an indul-
gence ?" " Not leave to commit sin, or a pardon for sins to come,
as some slander the Church, but only a releasing of temporal
punishment due to such sins as are already forgiven us by the
sacrament of penance."
Here it seems the Church of Rome teaches, that sin may be
forgiven, and yet the person who committed it be liable to pun-
ishment. This is inconsistent with the whole tenor of Scripture.
When God pardons the sins of his people, he is said to remem-
ber them no more. Not that the knowledge of thesn can escape
out of his mind ; but he does not remember them so as to exact
20
the penalty, or punishment of them. He exacted the whole pen-
alty of his own Son, when he stood in the place of the guilty:
it was exacted of him, and he answered; he paid the whole debt ;
he made complete atonement, when he gave himself up to God
a sacrifice for sin. He that believes in Christ, is justified
from all things, from which he could not be justified by the
law of Moses. He is justified from the guilt, and released
from the punishment, which his sins deserved. There is a neces-
sary connexion between guilt and punishment; when the former is
taken away, the latter cannot, with justice, be inflicted.
I know that Popish writers distinguish between the culpa and
the poena, that is, the guilt and the punishment, and certainly
they are different and distinguishable things: but it is quite con-
trarv to Scripture, to say, that the one can be taken away, and the
other remain. It is of no consequence that it is only temporal
punishment that is said to be released by an indulgence. I
could easily show, from Popish writers, that the church affected
to release sinners from both the culpa and the pcenn, not for
time only, but for ever. But I am arguing at present from the
Douay Catechism, which ascribes to an indulgence the power of
releasing from temporal punishment only. But if it be admitted
that punishment of any kind is due, then the guilt cannot have
been taken away. Punishment, in this world, is as really an ex-
pression of divine wrath against sin, as punishment in the next
world. But when God pardons a sinner, his wrath is turned
away from him: he accepts the satisfaction made by Christ in his
death, as sufficient punishment for all the sins of all his people ;
but to suppose punishment, either temporal or eternal, still due to
a believer, is to set aside the atonement ot Christ
Papists, and perhaps some Protestants, will reply to this, that
believers, real Christians, suffer much in this world in consequence
of their sins; and that it must be very desirable to have an indul-
gence, or to be exempted from such sufferings- It is true, be-
lievers do often suffer much in consequence of their sins. Though
we maintain that they are perfectly justified before God, on ac-
count of Christ's righteousness, we do not consider them to be
personally without sin, as Papists consider those who have had
their sins forgiven by the sacrament of penance. Consistent Pro-
testants know nothing of sinless perfection in this world. They
do not pretend to it, and the less they do the better. While in
the world, therefore, they must suffer affliction, because sin, the
cause of all suffering, adheres to them. But the afflictions ot
Christians do not paitake of the nature of punishment, — they are
not penal, but salutary; they are the necessary and merciful disci-
pline of our heavenly Bather, who, when he does chasten his peo-
ple, it is for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holt-
21
ness. If they have the Spirit of Christ, who dwells in all Christians
they would not wish exemption from this, much less wou!d
they purchase exemption in the form of an indulgence. They
are taught tobelieve, that though no affliction for the present be
joyous but grievous, yet afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits
of righteousness in them that are exercised thereby.
But Papists profess to grant exemption from the temporal
punishment due on account of sins which have been forgiven. If
such punishment be due, then the atonement of Christ is set
aside as unavailing. If it be granted that the work of Christ is
sufficient, and fully available, for the justification of the ungodly;
but that the Church grants indulgence, or exemption from the af-
flictions with which God is pleased to visit his people, for the
purpose of their sanctification, then the Church sets herself up to
counteract arid oppose the work of Christ in his people, by pro-
fessing to exempt them from what. He declares to be good for
them, and which they must not be without. Take either part of
the dilemma, and there is no avoiding both, and the Church of
Rome is proved to oppose herseif, both to the authority of Christ,
and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, then, it is not true, that the principles, of the Romish
Church emanate from the great Founder of Christianity, as Pax
asserts. They emanate from human ignorance and error ; and
even when Papists profess to hold, in words, some of the funda-
mental doctrines of the Gospel, they make them void by their
own traditions. To add any thing to the authority, or to the
atonement of Christ, is as bad as to renounce both. On this
ground the Church of Rome stands convicted of being the Anti-
christ spoken of by the apostle Paul, as the " man of sin and
son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth
in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
It is, indeed, of little use to argue with Papists from the
Bible. This is an authority to which they pay little regard, un-
less it happen to be backed by the authority of their priests ; and
some of the priests themselves know little of what it contains.
I could direct the reader to an individual of this holy order, —
one who " is to be believed and obeyed in all things belonging to
faith and the government of our souls," — not one in some dark
country like Spain, but one in our own enlightened country,
who, when he was referred to the prophecy of Jeremiah in sup-
port of an argument, and the Bible put into his hand, that he
might read the passage, really did not know where to find thi
book of Jeremiah ! If the blind lead the blind, we know what
shall be the consequence ; and there is no blindness so fatal as
that of having the eyes shut against the light of God's word.
22
Papists shut their eyes against this light upon principle ; and
prefer the darkness which emanates from their priests and ghostly
fathers. One of the orators in the Council of Trent maintained,
that " the Scriptures had hecome useless, since the schoolmen
had established the truth of all doctrines; and that they ought
not to be made a study, because the Lutherans onl) gained those
that read them." This was not the opinion of a mere individual,
but of the Council, with the Pope at its head, whose decrees
were professedly given under the authority of the Holy Ghost, as
is evident by their canon upon the subject. I did not say, that
the principles of Popery emanated from the Pope; the Pope him-
self emanated from the spirit of error and ambition, which began
to work in the churches at a very early period, and which has
continued to this day.
" If a Pope," says Pax, " were to preach tenets contrary to
those contained in the Testament, he would be deposed, and a
successor appointed." I believe a Pope is seldom guilty of preach-
ing any thing; and it may be true, in one sense, that he does not
teach any thing contrary to the Testament ; that is, contrary to
what the New Testament says he would teach. " Now the
Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared
as with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and commanding to ab-
stain from meats which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them who believe and know the truth." " That
wicked one, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with
all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivable-
ness of unrighteousness in them that peris''."
My opponents do not profess to know much about the Bible,
or what Pax calls the Testament. They seem better acquainted
with profane poetry, and the ridiculous bombast of Counsellor
Phillips; but I shall suppose them sitting down to make a com-
mentary on the above extract from the New Testament. They
would likely find, in the first place, that the latter times meant
the period of the Reformation ; and, secondly, That those who
gave heed to seducing spirits were Luther and his colleagues.
But how could they find Luther forbidding to marry, when one
of the greatest crimes of which they accuse him is, that he did
marry? How could they find the Reformers commanding to ab-
stain from meats, when they accuse them (at least Luther) of
ceasing to give himself up to fasting, watching, and prayer?
The truth is, and it is vain to deny it, the above extract from
the New Testament, dictated by the Spirit of prophecy, points
out with historical accuracy, the character and practice of the
Church of Rome. She departed from the faith when she !et go
23
the sole and exclusive authority of Christ in matters of faith, and
took for her rule the traditions and authority of men. She gave
heed to seducing spirits, when she received for infallible truth
the absurd reveries of wild and senseless children, under the name
of Fathers and Saints. She gave heed to doctrines of devils,
that is, concerning demons or departed spirits, when she taught
'he worship of saints, as the heathens worshipped their depart-
ed heroes. She forbade her priests to marry, but gave them
permission to live in all manner of lewdness. In this article alone
the wickedness of the Church of Rome appears great beyond ex-
oression. She makes that unlawful which God has declared to
be lawful and honourable ; and she gives permission to her
priests, who ought to be examples to the people, of sobriety and
purity, to live in open violation of one of the precepts of the
decalogue. The same remark applies to her commanding to ab-
stain from meats. God has provided suitable food for all his crea-
tures, and he gives men permission to eat of whatever is fit to be
eaten ; but Papists, affecting to be more holy than is required
of them, and pretending to imitate Christ's fast of forty days,
abstain from eating flesh in Lent. They imitate Christ in nothing
that is imitable; and they profess to imitate him in that which is
inimitable.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy, with signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, are prominent
features of that system which practised all the arts of jugglery to
deceive the people, and keep them in subjection to their ghostly
fathers. I shall conclude this paper with a specimen of their
lying wonders; and let the reader judge if it be possible that a
system, supported by means of such absurdity and impiety, can
be any thing but the very opposite of Christianity.
" The Sovereign Queen of Heaven," says one of their books
of devotion, " not only cherishes affectionately her servants ;
ennobles them with singular prerogatives ; succours them in their
necessities, and espouses their causes ; but she also saves them
by her prayers from deserved punishment, and introduces them
into the kingdom of heaven. Of all these prerogatives, this
last appears to be the most singular and worthy of admiration ;
for it is a thing very strange, that, according to the common opi-
nion of doctors, none of those who live and die her servants
can, by any means whatever, be damned. Yea, even many of
them who are wicked and abandoned, as daily experience shows,
have miraculously obtained mercy and eternal life."
1 can easily believe, that many of the devoted servants of the
Virgin Mary might be found, by daily experience, to be wicked
and abandoned ; but it does not appear so clearly, how daily ex-
perience could show, that many of these had, by her means, oh-
24
taincd mercy and eternal life. It is not likely that such cases as
the following occurred every day : —
" St. Anselm records, that a famous robber entered one morn-
ing into the cottage of a poor widow with an intention of robbing
her: but, judging her unworthy of his rapine, he began to accost
her in a familiar and merry strain: — And have you breakfasted yet
my good woman ? I breakfast, Sir ! said she ; God forbid that I
should so violate the vow I have made to fast every Saturday of
the year. Every Saturday ! and why that ? replied he. Be-
cause, answered the widow, I Kave heard from a preacher, very
famous in doctrine, and still more so from the sanctity of his life,
that whoever fasts on Saturday, in honour of our Lady, cannot
die without confession. The robber, at these words, felt com-
punction, fell down on his knees, and promised and swore tk,
the Queen of Angels to fast every Saturday too ; which promise
he kept inviolably ever after. But, as he still continued his rob-
beries, he was one day surprised by some travellers, who, by a
stroke of a sword, separated his head from his body. His execu-
tioners, thinking they had done his business sufficiently, withdrew
from him a few steps : when lo ! the head of him that was killed
fell a crying, Confession, masters, I beg that at least I may have
confession. After they had a little recovered from the astonish-
ment and panic, which such a prodigy caused, they ran to the next
village to advertise the curate, who immediately came, accom-
panied by a great number of his parishioners, desirous of behold-
ing the miracle ; and, having joinod the head of the robber to his
body, gave him confession as he desired. That being done, the
penitent having thanked him for his good office, said to him, with
a voice so distinct and high as to be easily heard by all present,
Masters, I never did any good thing in all my lifetime, except
my having fasted every Saturday, in honour of the Mother of
God. In the very instant I received the deadly blow, a frightful
troop of devils surrounded me, for to seize my soul: but the
Blessed Virgin coming to my aid, she drove these forthwith far
from me by her divine presence, and would not suffer my soul to
leave my body till I should be sufficiently contrite, and make con-
fession of my sins. He spoke thus, and having entreated the at-
tendants to pray for him, he passed from this life into one more
happy and glorious." See Free Thoughts, fyc.luith the autho-
rities cited. Such, it seems, is the religion of those who make
an outcry against the doctrine of salvation by faith, without good
works ; that they can save the greatest criminals without either
faith or works, if they will only fast on Saturday in honour of the
Blessed Virgin.
THE
protcstant,
No. IV
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8th, 1818.
" If," says Pax, " a Pope were to preacli tenets contrary to
those contained in the Testament, he would he deposed, and
a successor appointed, and the followers of the Ex-Pope would
then, and only then, be called Papists." In my last number I
have shown that the Church of Rome taught many things con-
trary to what is contained in the New Testament; and supposing
the Pope to preach any thing at all, we may suppose he will
preach the doctrines of his Church. For instance, the New Tes-
tament affirms, that marriage is honourable in all; but no, says
the Pope, it is not honourable in all, — it is not even lawful in the
clergy. We are taught in the New Testament that none can
forgive sins but God, agreeably to his own declaration in the Old
Testament : — " I, even J, am he that pardoncth thine iniquities
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins any more :"
hut the Pope teaches that this is not true; he says he can for-
give sins himself, and that all his Priests can do the same.
Why then is he not deposed? If what Pax says were true, there
never would have been a Pope; for there never was one who did
not teach doctrines contrary to the New Testament. Nay, his
very existence as a ruler over the Church is in direct opposition
to the New Testament. While he pretends to be the successor
of Peter, and to sit in the chair of Peter, his whole administra-
tion is opposed to the injunctions of that Apostle, who, in the
name of his divine Master, charges all the ministers of Christ
not to assume authority over their brethren. " Feed the flock
of God," says he, " that is among you, taking the oversight
D
26
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, bin
of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over Gods heritage,
but being ensamples to the flock." 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. The Spi-
rit of God foresaw what should happen, and he put in this caveat
against it. If there be anv thing in the history of human de-
pravity, contrary to the will God, as revealed in the Scrip-
tures, it is the authority assumed, and the power exercised bv
the Pope of Rome. Blinded, indeed, must that man be who
does not see this; and he must be ignorant indeed who can
maintain, that if such were the case the Pope would be deposed.
Will Pax tell me who could depose him? All the authority
in the Church of Rome has centered in him for hundreds of
years. There is, indeed, no authority in the Church but his.
The Pope told King Richard, that u he held the place of God
upon earth ; and, without distinction of persons, he would punish
the men and the nations that presume to oppose his commands."
Martin V., in the instructions given to a Nuncio sent to Con-
stantinople, assumes to himself the following blasphemous title :
" The most Holy and most Blessed, who is invested with Hea-
venly power, who is Lord on earth, the successor of Peter, the
Christ or anointed of the Lord, the Lord of the Universe, the
Father of Kings, the Light of the World, the Sovereign Pon-
tiff, Pope Martin." The Pope does not indeed talk in such
language now; but his claims are still sufficiently high, and the
submission yielded to him is such, that to speak of his being de-
posed, is as absurd as to speak of the head cutting itself off.
He was, at one time, indeed, and very lately, not far from be-
ing cut off or deposed; not however, by his own authority, or
bv the authority of the Church, but by the power of the French
Emperor. Then, he who affects to have all power in heaven
and earth (as the Popes blasphemously do), was content to held
his station and authority at the will of an Upstart and a Usurper.
He was even mean enough to become the tool of that Usurper,
and to yield the sanction of his then little authority to his nefari-
ous deeds.
The following is the doctrine which was taught throughout all
France by his authority: — " Q. What are the duties of Chris-
tians towards the Princes who govern them ; and what are our
duties towards our Emperor, Napoleon the First? A. Christians
owe to the Princes who govern them, and we owe in particular
to our Emperor, Napoleon the First, love, respect, obedience,
fidelity, military service, the contributions required for the pre-
servation and defence of the Empire and of his throne ; we,
moreover, owe to him our fervent prayers for his welfare, and
for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the State." In an-
swer to another question it is said of this Emperor: — " It is he
27
whom God raised up in difficult circumstances to re-establish thfe
public worship of the religion of our forefathers, and to be its
protector. He has restored and preserved public order by his
profound and active wisdom; he defends the state by his mighty
arm ; he has become the anointed of the Lord by the consecra-
tion which he received from the Sovereign Pontiff, the Head of the
Universal Church." " Q. What are we to think of those who
violate their duty towards our Emperor? A. According to the
Apostle Paul, they would resist the order established by God
himself, and render themselves worthy of eternal damnation."
Catechism for the use of the French Church.
Papists, and Amicus Veritatis in particular, rail against
the Reformers for disloyalty ; but, allowing all they say on that
subject to be true, which is by no means the case, it is not to
be compared with the conduct of the present Pope towards Bo-
naparte. Believing, as Papists in general do, the divine indefei-
sible right of Kings, and particularly of the Bourbons, the Pope
was guilty of rebellion against that divine authority, when he
crowned the Usurper, and blessed him as his beloved Son. It is
needless to tell me that he whipt himself heartily for this after-
wards. Such a crime required greater satisfaction than a few-
stripes inflicted by his own hand.
Papists will plead the necessity of the case; they will say the
Holy Father was compelled to do as he did ; and it is one of the
evils of the Popish system, that it accommodates itself to circum-
stances, and times, and places : thus Papists in Great Britain
submit to many things, and profess many things, which they
would not do if they were living in Spain or Italy. They will
profess, or deny, or do any thing that will serve the purpose of
preserving or promoting the interests of the Holy See. Thus
the Pope found it necessary to submit to Bonaparte, and to do
as he bade him. The thing was wrong to be sure, but the ne-
cessity of the case made it right. If this principle were univer-
sally acted upon, there would be no such thing as morality in the
world; there would be nothing to oppose that which is evil.
Real Christianity teaches a different lesson — that it is not lawful
on an-j account to do evil ; and it is not in the power of any
creature, or of all creatures together, to compel a man to do evil.
But Popery in this, as in every thing else, is opposed to Chris-
tianity. Real Christians will rather die than commit sin, at least
it is the will of God that they should do so ; but the head of the
Romish Church can not only permit evil to be done, but he sets
the example by doing it himself.
Pax affirms, that " there are, in every Christian, some points
of faith so delicately refined, so hallowed, so sacredly planted in
tbeir bosoms, that to encourage a discussion on them, with thosi.
28
whose boast it is to treat every sentiment and opinion not their
own with contempt, would appear to me a sinful provocation."
The latter part of this sentence does not apply to ma, though, I
suppose, Pax means it so. It is not, — it never was my prac-
tice, much less my boast, to treat every sentiment and opinion
not my own with contempt. In matters of religion I profess no
opinions that are properly my own ; and if Pax, or any body
else, shall convict me of sporting my own opinions, or any opi-
nions but what are clearly derived from the Word of God, 1 shall
thank him for his pains, and give him liberty to treat said opini-
ons with as much contempt as he pleases.
That " there are in every Christian some points of faith so
delicately refined, so hallowed, so sacredly planted in their bo-
soms," as not to be fit subjects of discussion, is what I cannot
admit. Pax is not commissioned to speak in name of every
Christian more than I am. It may be true of Papists, that they
have such secret and sacred points of faith as must not be told to
every body, — as must not be the subject of discussion, or even
of defence when they are impugned. But this is not the case
with the faith of a Christian. He lias nothing so delicately re-
fined, or so sacredly planted in his bosom, that he may not tell
it to all tire world; nay, ho is commanded by the Author and
Finisher of his faith to proclaim it, if he have opportunity, upon
the house-tops — to make it known to every creature.
The faith of a Christian is, That God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life ; that Christ died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures ; that he was buried, and
rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures; that we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our
sins, according to the riches of his grace. The sum of the whole
is, that we are sinners; that Christ came into the world to save
sinners ; that he gave his life a ransom for many ; that he is able
to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him; and
that he that believeth on him shall be saved. This possesses all
the pathos and sublimity of divine truth ; but it is not a delicate-
ly refined sentiment planted in the human breast, for the purpose
of being concealed there. Christians are commanded to be rea-
dy to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the
hope that is in them ; and to profess their faith before the world.
There must be something wrong — there must be some radical
error in that system of faith that is so refined, and so hallowed,
and so sacredly planted in the bosom, as to be locked up in it,
and to be unfit for discussion.
I am aware that Pax is referring to the doctrine of transub-
stantiation. I have cftener than once accused Papists of main-
29
taining the monstrous absurdity, that a priest can create his own
Creator; that is, that he can, by the use of certain words, turn a
little bread and wine i»to the real body and blood, soul and divi-
nity of Jesus Christ. This is the point of faith so delicately
refined, planted in his bosom, that to encourage a discussion of
it would be sinful provocation. Accordingly, neither he nor his
friend A. V. has made any reply to the above charge. They
have attempted to answer many things of far less importance ;
but while they do not deny that they maintain this absurd doc-
trine, they have not the candour to confess that they do maintain
it. I must, therefore, have recourse again to the Douay Cate-
chism, which A. V. acknowledges to be of supreme authority,
being approved by the whole church.
" Q. What is the blessed Eucharist? A. It is the body and
blood of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, under the forms
and appearances of bread and wine — Q. What is there under the
form of bread? A. There is not only the body, but also the blood
of Christ. — Q. Is the body of Christ also under the form of
wine? Yes. — Q. What else? A. There are also under each form
the soul and divinity of Christ ; so that under the form of bread
there are the body and blood, the soul and divinity, of Jesus
Christ, wholly and entirely, and the same under the form of
wine — Q. In what manner is Christ present in the Eucha-
rist? A. By the true and real presence of his divine and hu-
man nature, and not in figure only, as heretics would have it
Q. How prove you that? A. Because when Christ ordained it at
his last supper, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to
his disciples, saying, This is my body; and he also blessed the
cup, saying, This is my blood of the. Neiv Testament, which
shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins. Mat. xxvi
28. — Q. By what means is that which was before bread changed
into the body of Christ, and that which was wine changed into
the blood of Christ? A. By the divine power, which as easily
changes one substance into another, as he made the world out of
nothing, and works the miraculous effect which the Catholic
Church calls transubstantiation, by the ministry of the priest; in
the same manner as when by Moses the rivers were changed into
blood, and water into wine by our Saviour Christ. — Q. Is the
body of Christ hurt or broken when we divide or break the sa-
crament? A. No, it is not; for Christ is now immortal and im-
passible, he cannot die or surfer any more. Rom. vi. 9. — Q. How
can the same thing be in many places at once? A. By the om-
nipotence of God, to whom nothing is impossible; who is in all
and every one of his creatures at one and the same time, and
daily works such wonders even in nature as surpass our under-
standing Q. What is the matte- of this sacrament? A. Wheaten
30
bread, and wine of the grape — Q. What is the form of it?
A. This is my body, this is my blood. — Q. What disposition is
required in him that receives the blessed Eucharist? A. That he
be in the state of grace, free from all mortal sin : for he that eat-
eth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself. 1 Cor. xi. 29 Q. Is it lawful or profitable to receive
under one kind ? A. Yes, because under one kind we receive
both body and blood Q. Did not Christ command all to re-
ceive under both kinds? A. No; for at the last supper, when
he bid all present then drink of the cup, none were thpre but the
Apostles. And, when in St. John, c. vi. he seems to command
the receiving under both kinds, he immediately takes away the diffi-
culty, by promising everlasting life to him that receives under the
form of bread alone. He that eats this bread shall live for ever,
v. 58 Q. What are the effects of this sacrament ? A. It increases
grace, and nourishes our souls in spiritual life. He that eats of
this bread shall live for ever, John vi. 58. — Q. Is the Eucharist
a sacrament only ? A. No ; it is also a sacrifice." The Cate-
chism then proceeds to illustrate the doctrine contained in this
answer, the sacrifice of the mass, &c. to which I may advert in a
future Number.
The doctrine clearly maintained in the above extract is, that
bread and wine are, by the power of God, and by the ministry of
the priest, changed into the real body and blood, soul and divi-
nity, of Jesus Christ. My readers will probably think the state-
ment here is sufficiently gross : yet the Douay Catechism does
not go the full length of absurdity that some others do. I should
say my copy ; for I have been informed there are different ver-
sions of the Douay Catechism, intended for different parts of the
world, adapted to the different degrees of knowledge or ignorance
that may exist among the people. Other catechisms, therefore,
may be still more absurd than my version of the Douay one. I
have before me two volumes of a catechism in French, entitled,
" Instructions generates en forme de Catechisme ; imprimees
par ordre de Messire Charles Joachim Colbert, Eveque de
Montpellier, 1719." This Catechism asserts, that the bread
and wine are not bread and wine after the consecration. They
retain nothing but the appearance, to wit, the colour, the fi-
gure, and the taste. " II ny a plus ni pain ni vin ; il nen
reste que les apparences ; scavoir, la couleur, la figure, et la
gout. La substance du pain est changee en la substance du
corps de Jesus Christ, et la substance du vin est changee en la
substance du sang de Jesus Christ."
With intelligent persons the mere statement of such a doctrine
is sufficient confutation ; but as Papists profess to give scripture
authority for it, a few observations may be allowed. Their prin-
31
cipal argument is derived from the words of Christ, at the insti-
tution of the Lord:s supper, which they call the Eucharist, or
thanksgiving. The words of the Vulgate, which with Papists is
ef equal authority with the original Greek, are, hoc est corpus
meum, this is my hody. Plain common sense can see in this
nothing more than this represents, or signifies my body; as when
Christ figuratively speaks of himself as " the door," " the true
vine," &c. nobody supposes that he was really transformed, or
transubstantiated into a door or a vine. But the words of the
Vulgate are not the words of Christ, for he did not speak in the
Latin language. " Had he spoken in Latin," says Dr. Clarke,
" following the idiom of the Vulgate, he would have said panis
hie corpus meum significat ; or, symbolum est corporis mei —
hoc poculum sanguinem meum representat ; or, symbolum est
sanguinis mei : this bread signifies my body ; this cup represents
my blood. But let it be observed, that in the Hebrew, Chaldee,
and Chaldeo-Syriac languages, there is no term which expresses to
mean, signify, denote, though both the Greek and Latin abound
with them : hence the Hebrews use a figure, and say, it is, for it
signifies. So Gen. xli. 26, 27. The seven kine are (i. e. re-
present) seven years. And, following the Hebrew idiom, though
the work is written in Greek, we find in Rev. i. 20, " the seven
stars are (represent) the angels of the seven churches ; and the
seven candlesticks are (represent) the seven churches." — Dis-
course on the Nature, Design, and Institution of the Eucha-
rist, p. 51. What absurdities one should make the Bible speak,
if every passage in which the substantive verb is used were to be
understood as Papists affect to understand " this is my body !"
The transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, is compared to the miracle of Moses, when he
changed the rivers into blood ; and that of Christ, when he
changed the water into wine. But the cases are by no means
parallel. The change produced by these miracles was evident to
the senses of those who witnessed them. They did not change
the substance, and retain the same appearance as before. After
the water was changed into blood in the one case, and into
wine in the other, the colour and the taste were not those
of water ; but the change which is pretended to be made by the
ministry of the priest, when he uses certain words, leaves every
thing as it was. The acutest sense, whether of seeing, handling,
tasting, or smelling, can perceive no difference : yet the people
are taught to believe that a mysterious change of the whole sub-
stance has taken place ; that what they know was bread a few se-
conds before, and what they see to be bread still, is not bread,
but the real body of Christ, which they are told at the same time
is in heaven. The tendencyof this monstrous absurdity is to se'
32
the evidence of miracles altogether; for the senses of men
were always called to judge of a miracle ; but transubstantiation
completely sets aside the evidence of sense ; and if this doctrine
were true, we have no certainty of any thing that Christ and his
Apostles did in order to convince men that the power of God
was with them. If the senses of thousands be deceived every
time the Eucharist is celebrated, they may have been deceived
also with regard to every miracle recorded in Scripture.*
But the wickedness of the doctrine does not terminate here.
Along with the body and blood, there is also the soul and divi-
nity of Jesus Christ, wholly and entirely under the form of bread,
and the same under the form of wine. The priest professes to
change a little gross matter into an object of worship — into the
divinity, as well as into the soul and body of the Saviour ; then
he falls down and worships the work of his own hands; he holds
it up to be adored by the whole congregation ; and having wor-
Shipped the idol they eat it up ! The grossest heathenism is
scarcely to be compared with this. This is Popery as it exists
and is practised at this day, amidst all the light of science, and all
the light which the Word of God has shed upon our Christian
population ! One should think this a subject too serious for bur-
lesque, and yet Papists themselves can burlesque it. " I had a
mind to see," says Bishop Burnet, " a picture that, as I was
told, is over one of the Popish altars in Worms, which one would
think was invented by the enemies of transubstantiation, to make
it appear ridiculous. There is a wind-mill, and the Virgin
throws Christ into the hopper, and he comes out at the eye of
the mill all in wafers, which some priests take up to give to the
people." — Letters, &c. let. 5th, quoted in Free Thoughts, &c.
p. .'587.
Much has been said about the priests withholding the wine
from the people, and taking it all to themselves. I think the
people would sustain no loss though the bread were also with-
held, and though the priests ate and drank the whole idol. The
service is a piece of profane mummery — an impious imitation
of a holy ordinance; and the less it is made to resemble the di
vine original the better.
* Set; Mr, Burns' excellent Letter to Dr, Chalmers.
THE
No. V.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 5th, 1818.
A AX says, if I had taxed the Catholics with any one principle
which they profess, he would gladly have acknowledged it. I
have taxed them with many things which they profess, if their own
words and their own Catechism express their profession ; and I
hear of no acknowledgment coming from Pax or any of his bre-
ihren. I taxed them plainly with transubstantiation. This is
certainly a doctrine which Papists profess; yet Pax does not ac-
knowledge it. It is a point of " faith so delicately refined, so hal-
lowed, so sacredly planted" in his bosom, that he must not say any
thing about it to provoke discussion.
" He (the Protestant) asserts," says Pax, " the Catho-
lics believe the Pope to be infallible ; they believe him to be the
head of the Church ; but they know him to be a man, and not
their God, as he contemptuously asserts." Perhaps Pax means
it to be understood, by this sentence, that he does not believe in
the Pope's infallibility; but he does not say so. He represents
me as asserting that Catholics believe it ; and Protestants may
understand that he repels this charge ; but if any thorough-bred
Papist should find fault with him for denying the Pope's infalli-
bility, he can say he did not deny it ; he only said that the Pro-
testant asserted that Catholics believed it, which is certainlj
true.
Pax must know very well that this assertion is strictly correct.
Papists do believe the Pope to be infallible. I do not say that
all Papists believe it ; for I know that while the Romish Church
lias for many centuries maintained the doctrine of infallibility, her
S4
members were never agreed with regard to the seat of it. Some
held that it was in a general council; some ascribed it to the Pope;
and others to the Pope and a general council together; which led
Dean Swift to remark, that the church might as well be without
an infallible head, as not to know where to find him in a time ot
necessity.
If there can be any thing rational in absurdity and impiety, I
should maintain that the opinion of those who believe the Pope
to be infallible, is the most rational of the three. A general
council is composed of hundreds of individuals, who are all al-
lowed to oe fallible men when taken separately; and it is impos-
sible to conceive that a hundred fallible men can make an infalli-
ble body; as well might we suppose that a hundred lies will make
one truth. To add the Pope to a general council, and make the
two together infallible, is little better ; it is still a compound of
fallible materials ; and amidst the jarring opinions of many fallible
individuals, it is scarcely possible to come to any decision, without
appealing to one as the ultimate judge. In point of fact, this one
was the Pope; and whatever persons might maintain as a specu-
lative opinion, with regard to the seat of infallibility, which all
believed to be somewhere in the church, for all practical purposes
it was generally understood to rest with the Pope.
And if it be true that the Pope is the successor of Peter, and
the vicar of Christ ; that he has all the authority with which
Christ invested Peter as one of his accredited ambassadors ; nay
more, if it be true that he is the head of the Church (as Pax
asserts), which Peter never pretended to be; — then, without all
doubt, if he be not infallible, he ought to be so; and he ought
to be omniscient too ; he ought to be able to search the reins
and the heart, that he may give to every man according to his
works. In short, it is a very cruel thing to make any man
the head of the church, if he be not infallible, for without this he
will commit great mistakes, which will issue in the ruin of him-
self and others.
I shall now proceed to give the opinion of Popish writers on
the subject of the Pope's infallibility. It is maintained, in the
decretals, that the Pope can be judged by none — that his judg-
ment, whether respecting faith, manners, or discipline, ought to
be preferred to all things, (not excepting even the Bible, it seems);
" that nothing is true except what he approves, and every thing
which he condemns is false." " We can believe nothing," says
Lewis Capsensis, " unless we believe, with a divine faith, that the
Pope is the successor of St. Peter, and infallible." " It de-
pends upon the Pope," says Baronius, " to ratify decrees, and
to alter them when ratified." " The Pope," says Bellarmine,
" is absolutely above the Catholic Church, and above a general
3.5
council; so that he has no judge 3bove him on earth." — See
M'CuHoch's Popery Condemned, "with the references, p. 150,
151.
Bellarmine teaches, " that the Pope, when he instructs the
whole church in things concerning faith, cannot possibly err; and.
whether he be heretic himself or not, he can by no means de-
fine any thing heretical to be believed by the whole church."
Another writer on this subject says, " The very doubt whether
a council be greater than the Pope ceems to be absurd, because
it would involve a contradiction, namely, that the supreme Pon-
tiff is not supreme." — " He cannot err, he cannot be deceived, "
savs another, " it must be conceived concerning him, that he
knows all things." " O Rome," exclaims Cornelius Mu6sit«,
bishop of Bitonto, " to whom shall we go for divine counsels,
unless to those persons to whose trust the dispensation cf the
divine mysteries has been committed? We are therefore to hear
him who is to us instead of God, in things that concern God, as
God himself. For my part, I freely confess, in things that be-
long to the mysteries of faith, I had rather believe one Pope than
a thousand Augustines, Jeromes, Gregories, not to speak of Ri-
chards, Scotuses, and Williamses : for I believe and k?ioiv tha/
the Pope cannot err in matters of faith, because the authority ar.d
right of determining whatever relates to faith resides in the Pope."
The Assembly of Cardinals, Prelates, and Clergy of France,
1625, declare, " that his Holiness is above the reach of calum-
ny, and his faith out of the reach of error." In the theses of the
Jesuits, in the College of Claremont, it was maintained, " that
Christ hath so committed the government of his church to tlie
Popes, that he hath conferred on them the same infallibility which
he had himself, as often as they speak ex cathedra ; and there-
fore there is in the Church of Home an infallible judge of con-
troversies of faith, even without a general council, whether in
matters of right or fact." The learned writer of " Free Thoughts,"
from whose notes these extracts are taken, and who gives a host
of authorities, asserts that the above has been the general doc-
trine of the Jesuits, though violently opposed by the Jansenists,
and a great part of the Gallican Church. Three or four councils
have ascribed infallibility to the Pope, particularly that of Flo-
rence, under Pope Eugene, in opposition to the decisions of tha
council of Basil. The last council of Lateran, and that of Trent,
may also, with good reason, be reckoned to have acknowledged
this. But at the time of the last of these, the Pope declared, that
e would rather shed his blood than part with his rights, which
had been established upon the doctrine of the Church, and the
hlood of martyrs: and the legates were charged not to allow the
council to make any decision on the poiut of infallibility, and
56
they accordingly avowed they would rather lose their life than
allow a thing so certain to be called in question. The bishop oi
Grenada maintained before the council, that the Pope was a God
on earth, and therefore he was not subject to a council." Free
Noughts, p. 200. Pax will see from this, that I was not
mistaken when I called the Pope the god of Papists.
I do not suppose that Ravaillac, the assassin of Hcnrv IV.
was a divine of high authority in the Church of Rome; but he
possessed the genuine spirit of a bigotted Papist. He believed
it lawful for any private person to kill the king, because he was
too favourable to the heretics, and because he had been told that
he intended to make war on the Pope; '* and to make icar agaimt
the Pope" said Ravaillac to his judges, " is to make war against
God, seeing ike Pope is God, and God is the Pope." Such
language as this was encouraged in the Church of Rome, at least
no fault was found with it ; the Church itself, therefore, is impli-
cated in the crime ; for every church ought to be held responsible
for the opinions and practices of her members, when they are not
publicly disapproved or disavowed.
Bellarmine is allowed by Papists themselves, to be a standard
authority in their Church. What gives his testimony doub'e
force is, that he was a counsellor of the court of Rome, wrote
under the Pope's eye, and taught controversy publicly in his uni-
versity ; and his books were published in Rome itself, and dedi-
cated to the reigning Pope ; and instead of meeting with the
smallest censure from that court, they were received with the
highest approbation, and the dignity of cardinal conferred on him
as a reward of his merit. Now, such was the devotion of this
Bellarmine to the Church of Rome, and such were his ideas of
the infallibility of the Pope, that he taught as follows: "He
thinks not rightly of the Church of Christ, who admits nothing
but what he finds to be written, or done, in the ancient church ;
as if the church in latter times either ceased to be the church, or
had not a power of explaining and deciaring, appointing, and
even commanding whatever relates to faith and manners." — " It
may be affirmed, in a good sense," says he, "that Christ gave to
Peter the power of making sin to be no sin, and that which is no
sin to be sin." And again, " If the Pope should command
vice, and prohibit virtue, the Church would be bound to believe
vice to be good, and virtue to be evil, unless she should sin against
conscience." The canons, with their glossaries, teach that the
Pope " hath a heavenly power, cceleste arbilrium, and therefore
ehanges the nature of things, applying the essential attributes of
he one to the other; that he can make something of nothing
and in those things that he wills, his will is instead of reason ;
uor is there any one that can say to him, What dost thou? 0»i be
37
ran dispense with law ; he can make justice injustice, bv chang-
ing and correcting laws ; and, in a word, that he hath a pleni-
tude of power.
The Popes have often been accused of putting themselves on
a footing with Jesus Christ, as of equal authority with him ; but
this, impious as it is, comes short of the truth. The Pope ac-
tually exalts himself above all that is called God. He assumes
greater power; and his minions, such --ts Bellarmine, ascribe to
him greater power than ever was ascrioed to Jesus Christ. It
was never said of the Saviour that he did, or that he could make
that which is sin to be no sin, or that he could make that to be
no sin which is sin. The law of God, the eternal and immuta-
ble law of righteousness, was in his heart. He obeyed every pre-
cept of it himself; and he made atonement for every transgres-
sion in the room of all his people. But had it been possible for
any power in heaven or on earth to make that which is sin to be
no sin, there was no occasion for either the obedience or the
atonement of Christ. When I speak of what divine power cannot
do, I must, of course, be understood as speaking of those things
which are contrary to the infinite holiness of God. It derogates
nothing from any of the divine perfections, nay, it is the glorv of
the character of God, that he cannot lie, that he cannot look upon
iniquity. He cannot, therefore, make that which is sin to be no
sin. But Bellarmine, an approved doctor in the Romish Church,
says the Pope can do so. This accounts for the fact of my op-
ponents pertinaciously maintaining that it never was a principle of
their Church, that a Pope would grant indulgence or permission
to commit sin, for that cannot be sin, be it murder or any thin"
else, which the Pope grants permission to do.
It was quite usual with Popish writers to address the Pope as a
God; and instead of finding fault with any of them for this im-
piety, he received their adulation as the sweetest incense. An-
gelus Politianus thus addresses Alexander VI. " We rejoice to
see you raised above all human things, and exalted even to di-
vinity itself, seeing there is nothing, except God, which is not
put under you." And Clement VII., with his cardinals of
Avignon, writing to King Charles VI. says, " As there is but one
God in the heavens, so there cannot, nor ought to be of righi
hut one God on earth." Troisard, torn. 3. fol. 147. " It is evi-
dent," says the canon law, " that the Pope who was called
God by Constantine, can neither be bound nor loosed by any
secular power; for it is manifest that a God cannot be judged by
men." See Free Thoughts, fyc. with the references, p. 32,
33.
One should think it scarcely possible to go farther in impiety
and blasphemy i yet, the following seems to exceed any thing of the
38
kind which I have seen. The devil hath passed so far iu this
mystery of iniquity, that one disputed in the schools a little be-
fore Luther came, and somewhat after, whether the Pope parti-
cipated not in both natures, the divine and human, with Jesus
Christ." Page 275, Du Pcessis, who refers, on the margin, to
Erasmus, in Epist. Id Tim. cap. 1. The Church of Rome
lias, perhaps, to thank the Reformation, and the light which ac-
companied it, for checking this error, so that it went no furthei
than the schools. But for this, it would very likely have found
its way into some of the public standards of the Church ; and
the Pope, frail and mortal as he was, would have accepted the
compliment of possessing the divine as well as the human na-
ture.
It is well known that the Pope claimed authority, not only
over the Church, but also over all the civil powers in Christen-
dom ; nay, he pretended that the property of the whole globe
was vested in him, so that he could dispose of islands and con-
tinents at his pleasure. It is said, that some of the Papists in
Ireland have of late begun to doubt his infallibility, because he
gave that kingdom to England ; but if he could by any means
give England to Ireland, I doubt not he would be, in the esteem
DC? '
of Irish Papists, as infallible as ever. " It is a thing most ma-
nifest," says a Popish writer, " that his Holiness hath universal
power over all, not only in his own states, and over his own vas-
sals, but also in those of other princes, and in all the world ; but
as to the laity, the jurisdiction is of two sorts, spiritual and tem-
poral ; as to the spiritual, every one grants that he hath su-
preme power as head. Considering, therefore, those things
that are of positive institution fdejure positivoj, his Holiness can
not only interpret, and dispense with them, but he can revoke
them entirely. It is not quite the same with such as are objure
divino ; these he cannot revoke, he can only explain." Tesoro
Politico, con licenza de superiori, 1602. p. 20. Bellarmine
teaches that " the Pope has the chief power of disposing of the
temporal affairs of all Christians, in order to their spiritual good."
Lib. V. cap. 6. " And on account of the wickedness of the times,
not only usefully, but even necessarily, some temporal principa-
lities are granted to the Pope and to the other bishops." Lid. V.
cap. 9. '' It would be altogether expedient, if it could be
1 rought to pass without injustice and warlike strife, that all the
provinces of the world were ruled, even in political matters, by
one chief king." Lib. I. cap. 9. " It is not repugnant to the
gospel, if in any manner it might be, that the same should be
high priest of the whole world, and also emperor of the whule
world." Lib. V. cap. 10. It would seem as if the Pope had nothing
'ess than this in view, and that he was actually grasping at the
39
empire of the whole world, when his hand was paralyzed by the
Reformation.
I could easily show from a work above quoted ( Tesoro Poli-
ico) numerous authentic instances of princes holding their do-
minions under the Pope, wbo claimed a right to dispose of them
at his pleasure. Indeed, to deny that the Pope had such power,
was declared to be heresy. Thus Boniface addresses a letter
to Philip le Bel, in these terms, " Boniface, Bishop, and ser-
vant of the servants of God, to Philip, king of France ; fear
God and keep his commandments : we would have you to know
that vou are subject to us, both in things spiritual and temporal,
•And we declare all those to be heretics who believe the contrary.
Given at our palace of Lateran, the 5th of December, the 7th
year of our Pontificate." In another to the same, he says,
" God hath established us over kings and kingdoms, to pluck
up, to overthrow, to destroy, to scatter, to build, and to plant,
iu his name, and by his doctrine. Do not allow yourself to be
persuaded that you have not a superior, and that you are not
subject to the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy ; he that
thinks thus is a fool ; and he that obstinately maintains it is an
infidel, separated from the flock of the good Shepherd."
The Pope thus being acknowledged to have all power on
earth, was not yet content. He must have power in heaven too ;
he professed to open and shut its gates at his pleasure ; and he
impiously pretended to have the heavenly powers at his command,
though only for the purpose of gratifying his own avarice and re-
venge. The Pope was the proprietor of some alum works ; for
the holy father, it seems, could condescend to be a chemist
and a manufacturer. One of the workmen made his elopement,
came to Britain, and revealed the secrets of the trade. The Pope
sent after him the following curses in the form of an excommuni-
ation, which my readers may contrast with the doctrines of
Jesus Christ. Bless and curse not.
" By the authority of God Almighty, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost ; and of the holy canons; and of the immaculate
Virgin Mary, the mother and patroness of our Saviour ; and of
ail the celestial virtues, angels, archangels, thrones, dominions,
powers, cherubims, and seraphims ; and of all the holy patri-
archs and prophets; and of all the apostles and evangelists;
and of the holy innocents, who, in the sight of the Holy
Lamb, are found worthy to sing the new song ; of the holy
martyrs and holy confessors ; and of the holy virgins, and of
nil the saints, together with all the holy elect of God, we ex-
communicate and anathematize this thief, or this malefactor,
N : and from the thresholds of the holy church of Al-
mighty God, we sequester him, that he may be tormented, dis-
posed, and delivered over, with Dathan and Abiram, and with
40
those who say unto the Lord God, Depart from us, for we de«
sire not the knowledge of thy ways \ and as fire is quenched
with water, so let his fight be put out for ever, unless he shall
repent and make satisfaction. Amen.
" May God the Father, who created man, curse him. May
God the Son, who suffered for us, curse him. May the Holy
Ghost, who was given to us in baptism, curse him. May the
holy cross, which Christ for our salvation triumphantly ascended,
Curse him. May the holy and eternal Virgin Mary curse him.
May St. Michael, the advocate of holy souls, curse him. May
St. John, the chief forerunner and baptist of Christ, curse him.
May St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Andrew, and all the other
apostles of Christ, together with the rest of his disciples, and the
four evangelists, curse him. May the holy and wonderful com-
pany of martyrs ard confessors, who, by their holy works, are
found pleasing to God, curse him. May the holy choir of the
holy virgins, who, for the honour of Christ, have despised the
things of this world, curse him. May all the saints, who, from
the beginning of the world to everlasting ages, are found to be the
beloved of God, curse him. May the heaven and the earth, and
all things therein remaining, curse him. May he be cursed where-
ever he may be, whether in the house or in the field, in the high-
way or in the path, in the wood or in the water, or in the
church. May he be cursed in living, in dying, in eating, in
drinking, in being hungry, in being thirsty, in fasting, in sleep-
ing, in slumbering, in waking, in walking, in standing, in sit-
ting, in lying, in working, in resting," — [I must omit some
words, for the Pope is far more gross than Luther, see No. II.]
— " and in blood-letting. May he be cursed in all the powers of his
body. May he be cursed within and without. May he be cursed in
the hair of his head. Maybe be cursed in his brain. May he be curs-
ed in the crown of his head, in his temples, in his forehead, in his
ears, in his eye-brows, in his cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in his nos-
trils, in his fore-teeth and grinders, in his lips, in his throat, in
his shoulders, in his wrists, in his arms, in his hands, in his breast,
and in all the interior parts of the very stomach., in his reins, in
his groin, in his thighs," •' in his hips, in his knees,
in his legs, in his feet, in his joints, and in his nails. May he be
cursed in the whole structure of his members. From the crown
of his head to the sole of his foot, may there be no soundness in
oim. May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of his
majesty, curse him. And may heaven and all the powers that
move therein, rise against him to damn him, unless he repent
and make full satisfaction. Amen. Amen Amen." Ledger Book
of the Church of' Rochester, and Sir Henry Spclman's Gios-
sart/j p. 206. Quoted by both Bruce and M'Culloch
THE
No. VI.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22rf, 1818.
Jt is impossible to enumerate, in one Paper or two, the absurdi-
ties involved in this article of the Popish creed, — " We believe
the Pope to be the Head of the Church." It is absurd and im-
pious enouoh for a man to profess to be head of any Chris-
tian church, though it be so small as to be actually within the
sphere of his personal oversight. It is worse to pretend to be
head of the Church in a whole diocese, or nation, to which one
man cannot possibly do the duty of a bishop or overseer ; but
to pretend to be head of the Catholic or Universal Church, is,
beyond expression, impious and absurd. Such, however, is
the avowed belief of Pax ; and he speaks for his brethren as well
as himself, for he says, " they believe him (i. e. the Pope) to be
the head of the Church;" and it is of the Catholic, or Universal
Church, that he is speaking.
In my last Number, I gave a sketch of the Pope's claims to in-
fallibility, and universal authority over all things, and all persons,
with regard to both spiritual and temporal matters; and if he
were really the head of the Christian Church, such authority and
power would not be too much for him ; he would require it all,
in order to conduct the affairs of the Church, and to defend her
against her enemies. Nay more, as the greatest enemies of the
Church are not fellow-creatures, but principalities, and powers,
and the rulers of the darkness of this world, if the Pope were
the head of the Church, he would require to have greater power
than these, else the Church would soon be overcome, — the gates
of hell would soon prevail against it. The real head of the
Church has such power ; and because he has it, we rest assured
of the safety of the Church throughout all ages. Christ says
42
tnily, and, he only can say it, " All power is given to me in
heaven and in earth." God " raised hiin from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all
might, and dominion, and principality, and power, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be head over all things to the Church, which is his body, tho-
fulness of him that filleth all in all."
The head of the Church is represented as sitting upon a throne
of glory; thousands of holy angels minister to him, and ten thou-
sand times ten thousand stand before him ; he employs them in the
service of his Church ; they are ministering spirits sent forth to
minister to them who are the heirs of salvation ; and they acknow-
ledge themselves to be the fellow servants, and the brethren of
them who have the testimony of Jesus. Nay, they are a consti-
tuent part of the Church of Christ; not that part, indeed, which
.■Je purchased with his own blood ; but they are a part of that
great assembly which surround the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple.
With all this power Jesus Christ is invested ; and it is all ne-
cessary to his being the head of the Church. But who was ever
the Pope that possessed such power, or that could exhibit such
glory ? The Pope, indeed, pretends to it ; but the pretence is as
vain and impious as was the pretence of Baal to be the God of
Israel ; and the priests of the one idol may very justly be compared
with those of the other, as zealous supporters of that system of
idolatrous worship, which is as much opposed to Christianity, as
was the worship of Baal, or of the golden calves, to the worship
of the true God.
The Pope affects to be like Jesus Christ. He has also his
throne, and his attending worshippers, who fall down before him,
and kiss his feet*. He cannot, indeed, make the winds his mes-
sengers. He cannot send lightnings that they may go, nor do
they say unto him, Here we are. But he has his Bulls, which he
sends throughout the world, and his legates, a latere, who stand
at his elbow, waiting his commands, and who go forth from his
presence to do his will throughout all his dominion, — to rule the
hearts and consciences of men ; to order all their spiritual concerns;
to pardon or retain their sins ; to save or condemn their souls ;
' It is recorded, as an instance of singular humility in one of the Popes,
that he h:id a cess embroidered on his slipper, that it might appear to
b* the cross, and not his foot, that was worshipped by the prostrate de-
votee.
4-3
or, to use his own language, " to pluck up, to overthrow, ta
destroy, to scatter, to build, and to plant." All this is pretended
by a poor dying worm. — While it is unspeakably impious, it is
•fifinitely more ridiculous than children playing at kings and
queens. It is a creature affecting the style, and majesty, and au-
thority, and power, of the Creator.
I shall be told, perhaps, that it is only the Church on earth
of which the Pope is the head, and that, as it is composed of mere
men and women, there is nothing more unreasonable in one man
being constituted the head of such a body, than in one man be-
ing constituted the head of a state or nation. The cases are bv
no means parallel. Human laws and human government are
proper and necessary for human creatures : a mere creature, like
ourselves, may be constituted the head of a kingdom ; and his au-
thority and power may be sufficient for all the purposes of the
constitution. But the Church, even in this world, is a congre-
gation of faithful men, that is, believing men, who, as such, are
renewed in the spirit of their minds, are united to Jesus Christ in
the most intimate relation*, and to the saints in heaven, so as to
form, with them, one body, of which Christ is the head. I use
the word congregation, not as denoting a visible assembly, for this
Church never can come together in this world ; but though not
visibly, they are really gathered together as one in Christ.
This is a society of spiritual men. They are separated from
the world for spiritual purposes. When companies of them come
together as a visible organized Church, be they ever so few, or
ever so many, it is for the purpose of serving God in the way
which he has appointed, in which he has promised to accept their
service, — to promote the edification of themselves and one ano-
ther,— and to propagate the gospel in the world. This society rs
divine in its ow'gin, in its constitution, in its laws, and these laws
are administered under the sanction of divine authority.
No mere creature is capable of being the head of such a bodv,
because he is incapable of taking cognizance of the spiritual con-
cerns of the members, even upon the smallest scale on which we
can suppose a church to exist ; how much more of all the mem-
bers throughout the world. The head must know the heart of
every member, must be acquainted with all its wanderings, its
errors, and its sorrows, that he may know how to correct, to re-
• It is not said that every member of a visible Church stands in tbk
gracious relation, because there are many who have intruded themselves
into the Church, who have not observed the appointed order of firrt com-
ing to Chri'-,! and believing in him.
44
store, and to comfort. The Pope, indeed, affects to outain thi's
knowledge of the hearts of his subjects, by means of confession ,
but supposing such knowledge to be actually obtained by all his
priests, not one in a million of the sins so confessed can ever
each the ears of the Pope ; and supposing one sin in a millior.
to reach him, and supposing he enjoins the necessary discipline,
oe must, in many instances, be unable to apply it ; the sinner may
Jive at the distance of thousands of miles ; he cannot reach him
.vitli the rapidity of thought ; he must send some corporeal mes-
senger with a Bull in his pocket: but the poor sinner may be in
the other world long before the messenger reach the spot. If it
be answered, that every priest has the power of granting absolu-
tion, as well as of enjoining penance, then the priest is doin^ what
belongs only to the head to do ; the Pope is ignorant of the in-
dividual case; and, in so far, he is not the head of the Church
The real head of the Church knows every thought of the heart of
every member ; and this is necessary to his being head of the
Church. He walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks,
that is, in the midst of the Churches. His eyes are like a flame
of nre, searching the reins and the heart ; and he will oive to
every man according to his works.
Perhaps, some Protestants will not go all the length with me in
rejecting human authority in the Church. If so, I cannot help it.
It is my decided conviction that there never was, and never will
be, any authority lawfully exercised in the Church of God, but the
authority of God himself. The Church is the kingdom of hea-
ven,— the kingdom of God, — the kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ ; and why should not he be the sovereign, and lawgiver,
and judge, in his own kingdom ? He never delegated his sovereign
authority to a creature ; he never appointed a creature to be the
head of his body ; the pretensions of the Pope, therefore, are di-
rect treason against the authority of Christ, as really as it would
be treason in Pax to give himself out as the King of Great Bri-
tain.
I would maintain this principle though there never had been
a Pope of an immoral life. 1 maintain that no creature, not
even a holy angel, is capable of being head of the Church,
and that God never appointed a creature to fill that station.
But many of the Popes were men of the most prohVate lives,
they were fit successors of the worst of the Cesars : the Vatican,
for all manner of wickedness, will bear a comparison with any
heathen temple. Can any man suppose it possible that Christ
would delegate his authority to such men ? that he would con-
stitute such the head of his Church, which is called to be holy, even
as he is holy? The head and the body, in all cases, must partake
if the some character. Thus the Church of Christ is a hoW
45
community. It consists of sinful creatures, indeed; but thev are
sinners, " washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of tire
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;'' — not personally free
from sin while in this world ; but their perfectly holy Head is
carrying them forward to a state of sinless perfection. That
Church, then, of which the Pope is the head, must be of the same
character with himself. The head and the members must be,
in some measure, like one another; and such, in point of fact, it
has always been. While the head was practising all manner of
wickedness, the Church was represented as " the mother of har-
lots and abominations of the earth."
" It is known by every body," says a writer of the 17th
century, " that the celibacy of that wretched clergy is among
them the source of a universal and loathsome impurity ; and
that the least crimes committed by those of that order are for-
nications and adulteries.'' — " It is also known that the Pope
authorizes and protects public stews, in order to draw a con-
siderable revenue from them; but it is not so universally known,
that to advance the reputation of that crime, (which, indeed, is
not accounted any by the Court of Rome,) the Popes will not
suffer any women to prostitute themselves, unless they be Chris-
tians ; and, therefore, by order of his Holiness, Jewish, Pagan,
and Mahometan women, who have a mind to set up that trade at
Rome, must first be baptized." Philosophical Library for ^Iaij,
1818, /;. 81. What must Mahometans and Pagans think of that
religion, initiation into which is a necessary qualification for the
commission of wickedness ?
The Church of Rome had gone such a length in wickedness,
that her reformation became impossible ; the vital principle had
long been extinct. Real Christianity was unknown within her
pale, except by some solitary individuals here and there, who were
of no consideration in the Church. It was, therefore, as impossi-
ble for her to reform herself, as for a dead body to raise itself to
life. " When, at the era of the Reformation," says Mr. Cunning-
ham, p. 1 4> I , " Pope Adrian the Sixth, a well-meaning pontiii)
wished to introduce a reform into the Court of Rome itself, he
was dissuaded from it by Cardinal Francis Soderini, Bishop of
Preneste, who, among other reasons, used the following: — ' That
there was no hope of confounding or destroying the Lutherans,
by a reformation of the Court of Rome. That, on the contrary,
it was the true way to give them more credit ; for if the people,
who always judge by the event, were to see a reformation begun,
they would suppose that since there had been good cause to op-
pose some abuses, there was room for believing that the other
novelties proposed by Luther were well founded.' — ' That in
reading the history of past ajjes* it may be seen that theheretics
46
who had rehellcd against the authority of the Church of Rome,
had always founded their arguments upon the corrupt manners of
the Papal court. Still, however, the Popes had never thought it
would he of any use to introduce a reform, hut had satisfied
themselves, after employing exhortations and remonstrances, with
entwing princes to protect the Church.' — ' That heresies had
never been put an end to by reformation, but by crusades, and
by exciting sovereigns and nations to extirpate them. That it
was by those means that Innocent the Third happily extinguished
that of the Albigenses in Languedoc ; and his successors had em-
ployed no others against the Waldenses, the Picards,' &c. —
That it would be impossible to effect any reform without di-
minishing considerably the ecclesiastical revenues, which were de-
rived from four sources : the one temporal, viz. the domains of
the state; the three others spiritual, namely, indulgences, dispen-
sations, and the collation of benefices; and that none of these
could be dried up without occasioning to the Holy See a loss of
a fourth of its revenues.' " The above is extracted from the work
of a Catholic writer of great authority. — Histoire du Cuncile de
Trente. Par Fra. Pauli Sarpi, tome I. p. 42, 43.
Mr. Cunningham then gives an extract from the Tax of the
Apostolic Chancery, containing the expense of committing cer-
tain sins, which see part first, p. 24, of my Letters republished
from the Glasgow Chronicle ; and then proceeds : — " Pope
Leo X. having, in the year 1517, published a sale of plenary
indulgences, made a grant of the revenue to arise therefrom,
within the Electorate of Saxony, to his sister Magdalen, mar-
ried to Cibo, natural son of Pope Innocent VIII. who in con-
sequence of that marriage, had made Leo a Cardinal at four-
teen years of age. Magdalen, anxious to make her brothers'
gift as profitable as possible, appointed Aremboldi, then a lay-
man, but subsequently created Archbishop of Milan, to manage
the business for her, who intrusted the collection of the indul-
gences to the highest bidders. These collectors, says Fra.. Paoli
Sarpi, the Catholic historian already quoted, caused much scan-
dal by their immoral lives and debaucheries, spending in ta-
verns and elsewhere, in gaming, and other things not Jit io be
mentioned, what the people saved from their necessary expenses
to purchase indulgences"
These were the holy fathers who could sell the plenary re-
mission of sins to whole nations, that their bastard children
mifdit be endowed with princely revenues. Very fit and proper
heads thev were of a Church which was confessedly so corrupt as
to be beyond the possibility of reformation; for the argument o(
Cardinal Soderini must remain in full force while the Church
ol ItOiUO exists. She cannot reform, for that would be to admit
47
that she needed reformation, which would justify the complaints
of the heretics, and destroy her own infallibility. She must
therefore go on from evil to worse, till she be ripe for destruction,
which will overtake her at the time appointed.
It is a pretty generally received opinion that the Church of
Rome is not so wicked now as she was in former ages. I confess
I am of a different opinion. I believe her wickedness is greater
now than ever it was, and that it will continue to increase to the
end. It is true, she does not now exhibit, in general, such gross
immoralities as we read of in her history. We do not hear, for
instance, that the present Pope farms out indulgences, as a pro-
vision for his own, or his predecessor's natural children. The
knowledge that is now diffused over Europe will not permit
things to be done, which were openly practised in the days of
darkness. But the existence of this knowledge aggravates the
wickedness of those who shut their eyes against it ; and what are
apparently less enormities committed in the present day, may be
greater sins than greater enormities were in former days ; for sins
committed against knowledge are greater than sins of ignorance.
Christ tells the Scribes and Pharisees, that if he had not spoken to
them they had not had sin : they had been comparatively guiltless ;
they would not have had the sin of rejecting him, which was the
greatest of which they could be guilty.
This applies to the members of the Church of Rome, especial.
iv such of them as live in Protestant countries. Some apology
may be made for those who lived in the darker ages, and even tor
those who live at this day in the heart of Spain, where the dense
atmosphere of a cruel superstition will not allow one ray of hea-
venly light to reach the benighted understanding. What can poor
sinners do in these circumstances, but trust implicitly to their
ghostly fathers, whose interest it is to keep them in darkness ?
They are sinners, no doubt ; and they must perish in their sins,
unless divine mercy shall find them out, in spite of their priests,
and discover to them the way of salvation. But the wickedness
of these is not to be compared with the wickedness of those who
live within the sphere of divine illumination, and who shut their
eyes against the light.
Rome itself cannot altogether exclude the light that now
shines in our hemisphere. But Rome will not come to the light,
lest her deeds should be reproved. Rome loves the darkness,
and not the light, because her deeds are evil. Light has come,
light is shining all around ; but Rome will not have it ; she prefers
the darkness ; her language is, " Depart from us, we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways." Accordingly, the Pope has prohibited
the formation of Bible Societies, and the circulation of the Word
4-8
of God. This is greater wickedness :n nim, .han it would have
been in the Popes of the dark ages ; because the dispensations o
divine Providence, and the enlightened state of the public mind,
should have taught him better. Maintaining the old superstitions
and idolatries, while the light of divine truth is shining around,
while the gospel of the grace of God is urged upon them, the
Papists of the present day are more wicked than their fathers ; the
Church of Rome is filling up the measure of her iniquities, unti'
the wrath come upon her to the uttermost.
I know that Pax and Amicus Veritatis will call this bigo-
try, and uncharitableness, and what not. A bigot let me be, if I
shall be the means of convincing them of their error, of showing
them that they are in the way of destruction, of leading them to
renounce all dependance upon fellow-creatures, and to trust in
Christ alone for the salvation of their souls. Why will they trust
in their priest, who is a sinner like themselves ? Why will they
trust in the Virgin Mary, or any of the saints, when Jesus Christ,
the only Saviour, presents himself for their acceptance ; and makes
them welcome to come to him directly and immediately as the on-
ly refuge from the storm of divine wrath which must fall upon
the heads of the ungodly ? What interest can they have, unless
they are priests, in propping up the crazy fabric of Romish super-
stition, which is well known to be an enemy to every social and
personal comfort ? It is a system that holds both the souls and
bodies of men in bondage ; and wherever it prevails, thick darkness
rovers the people. They must see that in Glasgow, and over the
whole kingdom, the state of society is more comfortable, the in-
tellectual and moral condition of the people more respectable, than
m Popish countries. To what is this owing, but to the general
diffusion of knowledge ? Popery is hostile to this. He, therefore,
who supports the Popish system, is an enemy to the temporal aa
veil as the eternal welfare of his fellow-creatures ; and he brinrs
iie displeasure of God upon himself.
THE
No. VII.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 2<jth, 1818.
A T first view, one is apt to think that such a fabric as that of'
Popish infallibility and supremacy must have some solid ground
to stand upon. This, however, is by no means the case; and,
indeed, for the purposes of error and superstition, the slighter
the foundation on which the structure is built, the better. There
is then greater scope for the exercise of human ingenuity, and
the imagination is in less danger of being obstructed in its career
by any troublesome truth.
In some of my late Numbers I have, I think, proved the fact,
that the infallibility of the Pope is a doctrine generally held by
the Church of Rome; and that the Pope claimed supremacy
over persons and kingdoms in all matters, temporal as well as
spiritual. In the present Number, I shall consider the argu-
ments by which Papists maintain this infallibility and supremacy.
By the kindness of a friend, I am favoured with the use of the
llhemish translation of the New Testament into English, Fulke's
edition, 1601, with the then authorized English version-in parallel
columns, with marginal notes and annotations. This, I believe,
is the first version, in the mother tongue, which the Church of
Rome gave to her members in England; and it is given pro-
fessedly as an antidote to the poison of other translations, which
they could not prevent being made into English: not that they
by any means thought it necessary, or even proper, in all cases,
for the common people to have the word of God in their own
language. And they took very good care that this translation
of theirs should be rendered as useless to common people as
possible; for, besides making it a large and expensive volume,
they have perverted, and even smothered the sacred text by their
notes and annotations.
G
50
They deduce the infallibility of the Pope from Luke xxif. 30,
SI. which, in their translation, is as follows: " And the Lord
said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath required to have you,
for to sift as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not: and thou once converted confirm thy brethren."
One would think it is not easy to find the Pope at all in this
passage, not to say his infallibility. Our Saviour, who knew the
hearts of all men, saw the secret working of self-confidence in
the mind of his disciple. He foresaw the melancholy fall to
which this would lead him ; and, as an antidote against that
despair which might be the natural consequence of such guilt.
and which should actually overwhelm another disciple, he tokl
Peter that he had prayed for him, that Satan should not finally
prevail against him, — that though his faith might be shaken, or
even suspended for an hour in its exercise, the divine principle
should not be destroyed. Peter was quite ignorant, at the time,
of what Christ referred to, as is evident from the confident reply
which he made : of course the words of his Lord could be no
encouragement to the commission of the sin of which he was
afterwards guilty. But when he found himself guilty of denying
his Lord and Master, in the hour of darkness, — when overwhelmed
with a sense of his crime ; instead of being driven to despair, he
would remember the kindness of his Master, who had prayed for
him, — he would believe and trust in him anew.
See, now, how the Ilhemists find the infallibility of the Pope
in this passage: — " Simon, Simon."] Lastly, to put them out of
doubt, he calleth Peter twice by name, and telling him the devil's
desire to sift and try them all to the uttermost (as he did that
night), saith that he hath especially prayed for him, to this end
that his faith should never fail, and that he, being once converted,
should after that for ever confirm, establish, or uphold the rest in
their faith. Which is to say, that Peter is that man whom he
would make superior over them and the whole Church. Whereby
we may learn, that it was thought fit, in the providence of God,
that he who should be the head of the Church should nave a
special privilege, by Christ's prayer and promise, never to fail in
faith, and that none other Apostle, Bishop, or Priest, may clial-
lenge any such singular or special prerogative, either of his office
or person, otherwise than joining in faith with Peter, and bv
holding of him. ' The danger (saith St. Leo) was common to all
the Apostles, but our Lord took special care of Peter, that the
state of all the rest might be more sure, if the head were invin-
cible: God so dispensing the aid of his grace that the assurance
a nd strength which Christ gave to Peter, might redound by Peter
I o the rest of the Apostles.' St. Augustine also: ' Christ praying
for Peterf prayed for the rest, because, in the pastor and prelate,
51
the people is corrected or commended.' And St. Ambrose
writeth, that Peter, after his tentation, was made Pastor of the
Church, because it was said to him, Thou being converted,
confirm thy brethren. Neither was this privilege of St. Peter's
person, but of his office, that he should not fail in faith, but
ever confirm all others in their faith. For the Church, for whose
sake that privilege was thought necessary in Peter, the head
thereof, was to be preserved no less afterward than in the
Apostle's time. Whereupon all the fathers apply this privilege
of not failing, and of confirming others in faith, to the Roman
Church, and Peter's successors in the same. ' To which (saith St.
Cyprian) infidelity or false faith cannot come.' And St. Bernard
saith, writing to Innocentius, Pope, against Abailardus the heretic,
' We must refer to your Apostleship all the scandals and perils
which may fall, in matters of faith specially. For there the
defects of faith must be holpen, where faith cannot fail. For to
what other See was it ever said, / have frayed for thee, Peter,
that thy faith do not Jail?' So say the Fathers, not meaning
that none of Peter's seat can err in person, understanding, private
doctrine, or writings; but that they cannot, nor shall not, ever
judicially conclude or give definitive sentence for falsehood or
heresy against the Catholic faith, in their consistories, courts,
councils, decrees, deliberations, or consultations, kept for decision
and determination of such controversies, doubts, or questions of
faith, as shall be proposed unto them : because Christ's prayer
and promise protect them therein for confirmation of their
brethren. And no marvel that our Master would have his Vicar's
consistory and seat infallible, seeing even in the old law the high
priesthood and chair of Moses wanted not great, privilege in
this case, though nothing like the Church's and Peter's prero-
gative. But, in both, any man of sense may see the difference
between the person and the office, as well in doctrine as life.
Liberius in persecution might yield ; Marcellinus for fear might
commit idolatry; Honorius might fall to heresy; and, more than
all this, some Judas might creep into the office : and yet all this
without prejudice to the office and seat, in which (saith St.
Augustine) our Lord hath set the doctrine of truth. Caiaphas,
by privilege of his office, prophesied right of Christ, but, according
to his own knowledge and faith, knew not Christ. The evan-
gelists and other penmen of holy writ, for the execution of that
function had the assistance of God, and so far could not possibly
eif; but that Luke, Mark, Solomon, or the rest, might not err
in their other and private writings, that we say not. It was not
the personal wisdom, virtue, learning, or faith of Christ's Vicars
that made St. Bernard seek to Innocentius the Third ; St. Au-
gustine, and the Bishops of Africa, to Innocentius the First, and
52
to Celestmus, ch. 90, 92, 95. ; St. Chrysostom to the said Inno-
centius; St. Basil to the Pope in his time, ch. 52.; St. Hierom
to Damasiis, ch. 57, 80.; but it was the prerogative of their
office and higher degree of unction, and Christ's ordinance, thai
would have all Apostles and Pastors in the world, for their
confirmation in faith and ecclesiastical regimen, depend on Peter.
The lack of knowledge, and humble acceptation of which God's
providence, that is, that one is not honoured and obeyed of all
the brotherhood, is the cause of all schisms, and heresies, saith St.
Cyprian. A point of such importance, that all the twelve beiiif
in apostleship, like Christ, would yet, for the better keeping of
unity and truth, have one to be head of them all, that a head
being once appointed, occasion of schism may be taken awa\,
saith St. Hierom, lib. I. adv. Jovinian, c. W."
Fulke has a long note upon this annotation, in which he goes
over and refutes the errors and absurdities contained in it; but
it appears to me that any reader of common sense may refute it
for himself, if he will be at the pains to read the passar;e in the
gospel of Luke, in connexion with the history of Christ's suf-
ferings, and the defection of Peter. They must be doctors of
more than ordinary acuteness who can find in the words addressed
to that Apostle, in reference to his fall, a proof that he was infal-
lible ; and it must require still more acuteness to find, in these
words a proof of the infallibility of the Pope, who, they say, sits
in the chair of Peter.
That Peter was infallible in all that he preached and wrote, as
an Apostle of Christ, is not denied, but firmly maintained. He
was not, however, more so than the other Apostles; and Paul
who was afterwards added to their number, speaks of himself
as not a whit behind Peter, or any of them. He certainly
did not hold his faith of Peter. The gospel which he preached,
he received not from man, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ; and, as if to set aside any claim of superiority over
the other Apostles, which might be made on behalf of Peter,
he was suffered to fall into some great mistakes, in his per-
sonal private intercourse with the believers in Antioch. He
was himself by this time instructed with regard to Christian
liberty. He knew that there was no sin in eating, or holding
familiar intercourse, with believing Gentiles, and he had freely
maintained such intercourse, Gal. ii. 11 — 14-.; but when some
Jews came from James (I suppose from Jerusalem), he was
afraid that they would find fault with him for his condescension
to the Gentile converts; and, instead of labouring to remove
their Jewish prejudices, and not thinking how much the Gentiles
would be atHicted by the circumstance, he withdrew, and sepa-
roftetl himself from them, fearing them of the circumcision.
53
Barnabas, and other believing Jews, were seduced by his example,
and great mischief was likely to have followed, when Paui
maintained the cause of truth, and righteousness, and Christiar
liberty, at the expense of what must have been painful to
himself, withstanding Peter to the face, because he was to be
blamed.
The Rhemish translators render the 11th verse, — u And
when Cephas was come to Antioch, I resisted him in face, be-
cause he was reprehensible." They have a long annotation upon
the humility of Peter, in condescending to be reprehended by an
inferior, such as Paul, as they say a good priest, or any virtuous
person, may even tell the Pope his faults; and then, upon the word
reprehensible they have the following : — " The heretics hereof again
infer, that Peter then did err in faith, and therefore the Popes may
fail therein also. To which we answer, that howsoever other Popes
may err in their private teachings or writings, whereof we have
treated before in the annotation upon these words, That thy faith
jail not, it is certain, that St. Peter did not here fail in faith, or
err in doctrine or knowledge, for it was conversationis non pre-
dicationis vilium, as Tertullian saith, de prescript, nu. 7. It was
a default in conversation, life, or regiment, which may be commit-
ted by any man, be he never so holy, and not in doctrine. St.
Augustine, and whosoever make most of it, think no otherwise
of it. But St. Hierom, and many other holy fathers, deem it
to have been no fault at all, nor any other thing than St. Pain
himself did upon the like occasion : and that this whole combat
was a set thing agreed upon between them. It is a school point
much debated betwixt St. Hierom and St. Augustine, ch. 9, 11,
19. apud August."
So, it seems, according to these fathers, Peter and Paul, like
two mountebanks, agreed upon a sham dispute or combat, to amuse
the people of Antioch, cr to pick their pockets! Very much, in-
deed, like the tricks of Romish priests, but most remote from the
whole conduct and character of the Apostles.
Many a plain text is strained and tortured to make it appear
that Peter was appointed head of the college of Apostles, and uni-
versal Bishop. They make him out to have been Bishop of Rome,
without any authority from the New Testament whatever, except
that he dates his first epistle from Babylon. — " The church that
is at Babylon saluteth you." "The ancient fathers," say the
Rhemists, "namely, St. Hierom, and many more, agree that Rome
is meant here by the word Babylon, as also in thexvith and xviith
of the Apocalypse." So, rt seems, rather than lose the honour
and advantage of Peter's having been at Rome, they are content
;o assume the name which certainly was given to her by the
Spirit of prophecy, as expressive of her unparalleled wicked-
54
ncss, — " Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots and abomina-
tions of the earth." And what though Peter had visited Rome,
and though he had written his first epistle there? It does not follow
from this that he was Bishop of Rome. But suppose for a moment
that he was so; what then? Why, then, all the Bishops of Rome,
ever since, must have had the same authority and infallibility that
Peter had; and as Peter was head over all the other Apostles and
of the whole church, so the Bishop or Pope of Rome is head of
the church, and supreme over all her clergy!
The first thing to be established is, that our Lord appointed
Peter to be head or prince of the Apostles. This is proved by
the Rhemists from John xvi. 17. " Feed my sheep." They
give as many quotations from saints and fathers to prove Peter's
supremacy from this passage, as would fill half my sheet. The
substance of the argument is in the words of the translators:
" And that Christ maketh a difference betwixt Peter and the rest,
and giveth him some greater pre-eminence and regimen than the
rest, it is plain, by that he asked whether he loved our Lord more
than the other Apostles do: where, for equal charge, no difference
of love had been required." Thus Peter is proved to be the
prnce of the Apostles!
Next, his supremacy over the whole church is to be proved.
This is done from Luke v. 2, 3. which in their translation is, —
" And he saw two ships standing by the lake: and the fishers
were gone down and washed their nets. And he, going up into
one ship that was Simon's, desired him to bring it back a little
from the land. And sitting, he taught the multitudes out of the
ship." Annotation: " One ship, Simon's.'] It is purposely
expressed that there were two ships, and that one of them was
Peter's, and that Christ went into that one, and sat down in it,
and that sitting, he taught out ot that ship, no doubt to signify the
Church resembled by Peter's ship, and that in it is the chair of
Christ, and only true preaching." Thus the Church of Rome is
proved to be nothing less than the ship of Peter; and who can
deny that he ought to be sole commander in his own ship?
There remains to be proved that Peter was Bishop of Rome.
This is not so easily done from the New Testament. That Peter
ever was in Rome, is by no means certain; though the people in
that city, within these few years, affected to give ocular demonstra-
tion of the fact: " A principal design of Peter's coming to Rome
was to oppose Simon Magus, who, by his juggling tricks, had pro-
cured the favour of both the emperor and the people. At their
first interview, the magician engaged to ascend into the air, in the
presence of him and the whole city. With the help of the devil,
he accordingly performed his promise; but Peter invoking the
name of Jesus, the devil was so terrified, that he left Simon Ma-
bo
gus to shift for himself; and the consequence was, that his bcdy
having a much greater predilection for the earth than heaven, made
such haste downward as to break both his legs. Were any per-
son to question the truth of this narration at Rome, the impres-
sion of the Apostle's knees in the very stone upon which he kneel-
ed on this occasion, would be shown him, and another stone still
tinged with the blood of the magician." MiCulloch, p. 14.
Allowing this to be sufficient proof of Peter's having been at
Rome, where is the proof of his having been Bishop of that See?
There is in fact not a shadow of evidence for any such thing in the
whole New Testament. Peter was the Apostle of the circumci-
sion. He received a commission, like the other Apostles, to go
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; but he
laboured principally for the conversion of sinners of his own na-
tion, while Paul laboured chiefly among the Gentiles. Paul cer-
tainly was at Rome ; but it was not consistent with the commis-
sion which he, or any of the Apostles, had received, that they
should be permanently fixed as Bishops over one church. They
appointed Bishops, or Elders, to be ordained in every church •
they took the oversight of these, because they were divinely inspired
to set in order all things in the churches, and to prescribe the du-
ty of the office-bearers, as well as of the private members. The
Apostles were Christ's ambassadors extraordinary and plenipoten-
tiary ; and they were fully qualified for this office by the Holy
Spirit, who was in them, not only as he is in all believers, for their
instruction, sanctification, and comfort, but also by the extraordi-
nary gift of inspiration.
Peter was not, and from the nature of his office as an Apostle,
could not be, Bishop of Rome: yet the whole system of Popery
rests upon the assumption of this as a fact. The Pope claims all
his power and authority as the successor of Peter in the See of
Rome. It would be easy to show that Peter had no successor
at Rome, or any where else; for the gifts of inspiration were not
meant to descend from father to son, or from one Bishop to ano-
ther. The office of apostlcship terminated with the lives of the
Apostles ; and none can lawfully pretend to be their successors,
unless they can show themselves possessed of the same power of
working miracles, and of the other extraordinary gifts of the Holy
Ghosi. But, independently of this, as Peter never was Bishop of
Home, the Pope's pretence of being his successor is a piece of
gross imposition upon the credulity of his deluded adherents.
His whole system rests upon a falsehood: and as is the founda-
tion, so is the superstructure; it is lies and imposition throughout.
I would not be doing the Church of Rome justice, if I were to
overlook one principal argument which they derive from the New
Testament, to wit, from Matth. xvi. 18. 19. which the Rhemists
56
render nearly as in our own version. " And I say unto thee, that
thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will huild my church, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt
bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in the heavens. And what-
ever thou shalt loose in earth, shalt be loosed also in the heavens."
On this passage they have copious annotations, intended to prove that
Peter is the rock upon which the church is built; they maintain,
on the authority of St. Hierom, that this rock is not Peter's per-
son only, but his successors and his chair. " I join myself," says
he, " to the communion of Peter's chair, upon that rock I know
the Church was built. And that same apostolic chair, saith St.
Augustine, that same is the rock which the proud gates of hell do
not overcome." On similar authority they find that the keys of
the kingdom of heaven were given to Peter and his successors; —
" that is," say they, " the authority or chair of doctrine, knowledge,
judgment, and discretion, between true and false doctrine: tht
heights of government, the power of making laws, of calling coun-
cils, of the principal voice in them, of confirming them, of making
canons and wholesome decrees, of abrogating the contrary, of or-
daining Bishops and Pastors, of deposing and suspending them;
finally, the power to dispense the goods of the Church both spi-
ritual and temporal." In short, the power granted by the gift 01
the keys to the Pope, as Peter's successor, is called, " in compari-
son of the power granted to other Apostles, Bishops, and Pastors,
plenitudo potestatis, fulness of power. Under the words bind-
ing and loosing, they seem to give to the Pope and his pastors all
possible power in earth and heaven, with regard to the temporal
and eternal state of men.
I allow that, in the words quoted from the with of Matthew, our
Lord did confer singular honour upon Peter; but what is all this
to the Church of Home, or to the Pope? The Church of Rome,
in its best days, had no more connexion with Peter, than the Church
of Antioch, — perhaps not so much. Suppose it were not the truth
which Peter confessed, (thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God) but the person of Peter on which the Church is built, (a very
absurd supposition) what is this to the Pope of Rome? What
though Christ did give the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter,
and honour him to be the instrument of opening the door of the New
Testament Church, by being the first to preach the good news of the
glory of Christ to both Jews and Gentiles? What, 1 say, is this to
the Pope? Me has never proved his natural or ecclesiastical descent
from Peter; it is impossible that he even can prove it; and all the
elaborate arguments of saints and fathers, to prove the supremacy
of the Pope from this passage, go for nothing.
THE
Protectant,
No. VIII.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER, 5th, 1818.
In my last number, I said it was very uncertain whether the
apostle Peter had ever been at Rome. 1 do not say it is certain
ne never was there; for I admit there is a very early tradition of
his having been in that city. It is, however, merely tradition; and
no man is under any obligation to believe it. If it had even the
authority of authentic history, — if it were a fact as well establish-
ed as the murder of Julius Caesar by Brutus, which it is not, it
would still be a matter of mere history, and not the subject of faith,
in a religious sense. I should believe it just as I believe the fact
of Cresar's murder; but rest no religious principle or practice
upon it.
The Bible is sufficient for every purpose of Christian faith and
practice; and what I find not written in the sacred Volume, how-
ever true it may be as a matter of history, or however plausible as
a speculative opinion, I hold it of no account whatever in deter-
mining any point in religion. The Rhemish translators are ex-
tremely angry with the Protestants for disbelieving Peter's havin<x
been at Rome, while I suppose most of them neither believe nor
disbelieve it. It is a matter that cannot be ascertained; and if
it could, it would be of little consequence. I shall give the Rhe-
mists' account of the matter, with this remark, that they are gene-
rally most positive when they have the slightest ground to go
upon: " Never sect-masters made more foul or hard shifts to
prove or defend falsehood, than the Protestants: but on two
points, about St. Peter specially, they pass even themselves in im-
pudencie. The first is, that they hold he was not preferred be-
fore the other Apostles, which is against all Scripture most evi-
dently. The second is, that he was never at Rome, which is
against all the ecclesiastical histories, all the fathers, Greek and
H
58
Latin, against the very sense and sight of the monuments of his
seat, sepulchre, doctrine, life, and death, there. Greater evidence,
tertes, there is thereof, and more weighty testimony than of Ro-
mulus', Numas', Caesar's, or Cicero's being there : yet were he a
very brutish man that would deny this to the discredit of so many
writers and the whole world. Much more monstrous it is to hear
any deny the other." They then give the opinions and assertions
of many fathers on the subject, all of whom, however, derived their
knowledge of the fact from a vague tradition; and they are by no
means agreed about the time of his coming there, or how long he
stayed, or when, and what death, he died. As for the proof of his
being there, derived from his sepulchre, this is about as good as the
story of his contest with Simon Magus, as related in my last Num-
ber; for the half of his body is at St. Peter's, in Rome, the other half
at St. Paul's; he has, besides, another head at St. John's, Lateran;
his under jaw, with the beard upon it, is at Poictiers, in France;
many of his bones are at Trieirs; and part of his brain at Geneva,
or rather was so before the days of Calvin ; for he, or some other
heretic, found out that this was only a pumice stone. This pre-
cious relick is now at Rome, having been brought thither by order
of the Pope, after Geneva had, by her apostasy and heresy, become
unworthy to retain it. It stands in the catalogue of relicks thus: —
" The brains of St. Peter, from Geneva. — Note. These are the
individual brains which that arch-heretic Calvin declared were a
mere pumice stone, sinning against God, the holy Apostle, and
his own soul." Pliilos. Lib. for June, 1818.
The above may be considered supplementary to my last Num-
ber, in which I had not room for it. It is my earnest desire to
do my opponents no injustice, which they would accuse me of
doing, if I were to omit their strongest arguments in support of the
fact of Peter's having been at Rome. As for his being at any
time bishop of Rome, that is what I most confidently deny, and I
defy the whole Church of Rome to prove it from any authentic
iiistory. Nay, I defy them to show who were the first, second,
and third bishops of that See. Suppose it were admitted that
Peter was the first, no one can tell who succeeded him. There
is a blank in the Pope's genealogy which all the world cannot fill
up.
The following short sketch of the rise and progress of the papal
supremacy may be interesting to the reader. It is taken from the
Philosophical Library of June last: — " The apostles and bishops
of Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople, and Rome, for preaching
Christ crucified, were so occupied for the space of the first three
hundred years, that they had no leisure to dream of supremacy :
after which time, (as rest breeds ru-t) by little and little they grew
ambitious, and now and then o«e bishop or other would affect
5S
priority: sc that, about the end of the next three hundred years,
they began to desire primacy but not supremacy; as Polycarpe,
bishop of .Jerusalem, challenged the first place, 426 years after
Christ. Gelacius, bishop of Rome, after him, about 44-5.
Justin, emperor of Home, made Misda bishop of Rome,
patriarch, about 520. About the same time, John, bishop of
Constantinople, was called universal bishop." — " Pelagics,
bishop of Rome, was the first that challenged the primacy by
Scripture. John, bishop of Constantinople, called himself uni-
versal bishop; 582. Gregory the great, bishop of Rome, first
of that name reproved John of Constantinople, for calling him-
self universal bishop, 591." His words are, — " I do confidently
affirm, that whosoever dcth call himself universal bishop, or de-
sire to be so called, is the forerunner of Antichrist in his pride."
— " Before him, John the third, bishop of Rome, declared that
none should be called summits sacerdos, or universal bishop,
about 562.
" All this while not one thought of a Pope, or of Peter's suc-
cessor in Rome.
" Now Phocas, servant to Mauritius, the emperor, killed his
master, the empress, and children most cruelly: at this time Bo-
niface the third, bishop of Rome, obtained of this butcher the
title to be called universal bishop, anno 607- Therefore, the pri-
macy of the bishop of Rome was first established by a murderer
and a traitor, who died afterwards most miserably ; for, in 612 ol
Christ, he was slain by the soldiers of his guard."
Thus we see that six centuries of the Christian era elapsed be-
fore the bishop of Rome rose so high as to be called universal
bishop. Where was the chair and the supremacy of Peter all
this while? and who was the man that so much as imagined that
the bishop of Rome was the successor of Peter, and, as such, the
head of the Catholic Church ? It was not till after the light of
knowledge had been almost extinguished in Europe, — when art-
ful priests-could teach the people any thing they pleased without
fear of being contradicted, — when they began to collect and
teach, as infallible truths, the traditions, and opinions, and even
the conjectures, of their predecessors, whom they honoured with
the titles ot saints and fathers: It was not, in short, till they
found the people in a state of the most sottish ignorance, and
prepared to believe any thing, that they began to put forward the
claim of the bisliop of Rome to be the successor of Peter, the
vicar of Christ, and the head of the Church.
The Papists lay great stress on the evidence of antiquity; but
the evidence of real antiquity proves the Pope to be no more the
successor of Peter, than of Judas Iscariot ; and if the proof aris-
ing from similarity of character be of any weight, the Popes will he
60
found to have been worthy successors of the last named Apostle.
But, as I have said already, the whole system of Popery rests upon
the assumed fact of the Pope being the successor of Peter in the
See of Rome. As this, then, is not a fact, — as Peter never was
bishop of Rome, and as he never had a successor in office, — the
monstrous fabric of Popish superstition and domination is le£ with-
out so much as a stone to stand upon.
I have said much more on this subject than was necessary in
merely replying to the letter of Pax; but, as I had my hand in
the work, I thought a few hours could not be employed to better
purpose than in giving a short sketch of the arrogant claims of the
Romish Church, and of the arguments by which they are sup-
ported. This is a subject deeply interesting at the present time ;
and, I am sorry to say, it has been much neglected, even by the
reading part of the community. Papists have been long working
their way under ground, in order to regain the footing which
they once possessed in this country. From the extreme liberali-
ty of the age, it has been reckoned a cruel thing to say a word
against them ; we were all willing to view Popery as now quite
harmless, whatever it might have been in former ages. Papists
have therefore become more bold. From the indulgence and
countenance which they have received from Protestants, thev can
now speak, and write, and publish, the grossest calumnies against
the persons and religion of Protestants, expecting that they, poor
simpletons! either cannot or will not be at the pains to answer
them. I have partly shown already, and I hope yet farther to
show, that the Popish system is as bad as ever it was, — that it re-
tains all its malignity and opposition to the gospel of Christ, and
to the best interests of men ; and that, therefore, while I main-
tain that it would be unlawful to injure Papists in their persons
or property, I hold it to be the duty of every Christian to main-
tain an unceasing opposition to their whole system of false reli-
gion,— the opposition of calm and sober argument, drawn from
the word of God, which ultimately will prevail.
It does not at present occur to me that I have any more to sav
in reply to Pax. I think I have answered every thing in his
letters that required an answer, that is, almost every sentence of
them. I have, however, a great deal of work before me in per-
ibrming the like duty towards Amicus Veritatis, whose let-
ters, in the Glasgow Chronicle, are almost as full of errors and mis-
representations as of sentences. I expect these letters, along with
my own, will be republished in a few days, after which the reader
will have it in his power to form a better judgment of my reply.
In the mean time, I shall indulge myself and the reader with a little
miscellaneous matter.
61
[The miscellaneous matter mentioned in the preceding para-
graph, and which extended from this page to page 77, having
been the subject of a jury trial, and found injurious to private
character, the proprietors have judged proper to omit in the
present edition. Their only object in republishing, as they
know it was Mr M' Gavin's, in originally writing the work, being
the sincere wish to serve the Protestant cause, by diffusing the
knowledge of the truth, and by a faithful exposition of Roman
Catholic errors ; and as the errors of that church are not only
flagrant, but substantiated by her avowed standards, there is no
need of departing from them to deal in personalities or fasten
odium on individuals. The passages, therefore, above referred
to, are suppressed, and the blank filled up with matter of a
general nature.]
The following extracts, from unquestionable documents
(quoted from Dr Brownlee's " Letters on the Roman Catholic
Controversy: New York, 1834,") show the infamous resources
of money-raising to which Popery addresses herself, wholly for
secular, sensual, or pious uses, so called ; together with the
immoralities to which that church lends the sanction of her
authority, and that, too, very obviously for the purpose of
driving a better trade, in the matters of expurgation, confession,
and absolution : —
" TAX.B CANCELLABLE APOSTOLIC*:; ET TAX* SACK* PENITE.NTI ARI.E ,
THE POPE'S BANK, OR CHANCERY TAX BOOK.
" I have before me these taxse in two different editions ; first
taxffi from the archives of the ' Roman Chancery,' in the British
museum, Nos. 1650, 1651, 1652. The money is marked in
Grossi ; it is in the original Latin. — Second, an edition in the
original Latin, with a French translation ; having the text as
copied and corrected by Antoine du Pinet, Lord of Noroy, in
Franchecomte. Rivet drew the exact copy of his edition from
the Paris edition of the Chancery Book of A. D. 1520.
Voetius also exhibits the ancient editions ; and Bayle, in his
Diet., article Banck. Claud D'Espence, a popish doctor, men-
tions 'Les Taxes de la Chancellarie Apostolique,' as a book
well known in his day, and holds it up to odium ; see his Digr.
ii. ad Epist. ad Titum. cap. 1. There were three editions of
the Taxae at Paris ; one is dated 1523 ; two at Cologne, one
dated in 1532; two at Venice; one at Wirtemberg, dated
1538. The copy from which I take my extracts is printed
from that of Pinet of 1564. It bears date of 1744. Several
editions were published by Protestant doctors in the 17th cen-
tury; they were carefully printed from the early Roman Catholic
editions. No literary man now denies the authority of this
62
genuine Romish work. I refer to the edition now before me,
and the statements of Ur Drelincourt, and Mons. Bayle, in
defence of its authenticity. The following is offered as a
specimen, in addition to what is given page 24 ; the pages
marked are of the edition of Pinet, which I use.
" ' Absolutio, &c. Absolution, in form, for a dying person,
the tax is fourteen carlins.' See p. 73. ' Absolution for a
confraternity, or a societus, fifty carl.,' p. 74. ' Absolution of a
priest for celebrating a clandestine marriage, seven carl.,' p. 88.
' Absolution of a priest for keeping a concubine, and a dispen-
sation for his irregularities, &c, seven carlins,' p. 89. ' Abso-
lution of a layman for keeping a concubine, eight carlins,' p. 89.
(It is one carlin more wicked in him than in a ' holy priest!')
" ' Absolutio pro eo qui matrem, sororem, aut aliam consan-
guinem, aut commatrem, carnaliter cognovit, taxatur ad 5 car-
linos,' p. 89. ■ Absolutio pro eo qui virginem defloravit, 6
carlins,' p. 89. ' For forging apostolical dispensations, seven-
teen carlins,' p. 94. ' For simony, six carlins,' p. 90. ' A
layman killing any ecclesiastic less than a bishop, provided he
present himself at the apostolical seat, is taxed at seven, or
eight, or nine carlins,' p. 94. ' For a layman killing a layman,
five carlins,' p. 96.
" From Titulo XX. I copy tne following. ' Absolution for
him who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, sister,
wife, or other relative, tax is five carlins, provided he be a lay-
man ; if any of them be of clerical rank, he must, besides that
fine, visit the apostolical seat,' p. 97, 9S. In Titulo XXI.,
entitled ' Additions of Absolutions,' this crime is taxed at ' one
ducat, five carlins,' p. 102. ' For striking one's wife, and caus-
ing a miscarriage, eight carlins,' p. 98. ' For a woman to use
poisons to cause abortion, tax five carlins,' p. 99. In Titulo
XXI., p. 103, the female doing this 'is taxed one ducat, six
carlins.' ' For pushing oneself into holy orders without the
bishop's license, tax two ducats,' p. 102. * For a priest who
strikes another priest after mass, three ducats,' p. 103. 'But
if he beat him before he celebrated the mass, the tax is two
ducats,' p. 103. (In the first case, the wafer-god is in him ; in
the last, it is not!)
" ' Absolution and permission to bury a suicide in holy
ground, one ducat, nine carlins,' p. 104. ' For a priest entering
holy orders by simony, four ducats, four carlins,' p. iOo. ' For
an abbot or bishop killing a man, his tax is fifty tournois, twelve
ducats, six carlins,' p. 123. ' For killing a bishop, or abbot, or
any superior prelate, the tax is thirty-six tournois, nine ducats,'
p. 136. These are among ' the additional taxes.'
" In Titulo XXXII. and XXXI II. I find the following:—
' Absolution for a man killing a wife, the same as killing a father
63
or mother, four toumois, one ducat, eight carlins,' p. 139.
' Dispensation to the man who has killed his wife, to marry
another wife, the tax is eight toumois, nine carlins,' p. 139.
' For killing an infant, four tournois, one ducat, nine carlins,'
p. 139.
" ' Absolution for theft, sacrilege, burning houses, rapine,
perjury, thirty-six tour., nine ducats,' p. 145. 'Absolution of
a priest for the most licentious deeds, thirty-six tour., three
ducats,' p. 1 54. ' Absolution and dispensation for a priest
keeping a concubine, twenty-one tour., five ducats, six carlins.'
' Absolution of a nun for fornication, thirty-six tourn., five
ducats,' p. 155. ' Absolution of an adulterer, four tourn.'
' Absolution of a layman for any act of uncleanness, six tourn.,
two ducats,' p. 1 56.
" This is a specimen of the Pope's Chancery Book, which was
ordered, by papal authority, to be denied, and held up by all
priests, 'as a wicked forgery of the Protestants' But editions
still exist in Europe that were printed in 1520. Of course it
could not have been invented by them. Besides, as we have
hinted already, Romish doctors of more pure morals have de-
claimed against it, as a regular, authorized book. And it is an
historical fact, that this denial was not given out until it was
discovered by the Papists that the book had fallen into the Pro-
testants' hands! But why deny the book of tariff, when every
one who goes to confession does pay ; and every friend of souls
in purgatory must pay, for masses to bring them out !
" I beg leave to add one curious quotation. At the end of
the chapter of ' Absolutions to marry within a certain degree,'
and ' in case of divorces,' it is added, — ' Note well : graces and
dispensations of this hind are not conceded to the poor : because
they have no means, therefore they cannot be comforted!' See
folio XXIII., edit. 1520; and p. 208, edit, of 1625; also folio
CXXX., edit, of 1545 ; and p. 19 of the edition which I use.
" It appears that in each country the priests adapted the
tax to the current money of the realm, and to the poorer or
richer circumstances of the knaves who applied for relief, an<J
a good bargain in this popish ' traffic of human souls.' — See
Revel, xviii. 13.
U GROSS IMPURITY ENJOINED BT POPES AND COUNCILS.
" In the Decretals of Gratian, Dist. 39, we have the following
canon from the council of Toledo : — ■' Qui non habet uxorem,
loco illius concubinam habere debet. He who has not a wife
ought, in the place of one, to have a concubine.'
" In the seventeenth canon of that council it was enacted, —
' Christiano habere licituin est unain tantum aut uxorem, aut
C4
certe loco uxoris concubinam. It is lawful for a Christian to
have only one wife, or certainly, in the place of a wife, a con-
cubine.' Pithou Corpus Jur. canon, p. 47, Paris edit., 1687.
Binius, Concil. Tom. i. p. 73 7, 739, 740, states the same;
and adds, that the canons of this council were confirmed by
Pope Leo. Edgar's Var. of Popery, p. 503. This permission,
says Gianon, extends to the clergy and laity ; Hist, of Naples,
xi. 7.
" Behold the imposing claims of sanctity admirably demon-
strated ! And we are not copying the doctrines and practices
of the dark ages. Popery never changes to the better !
This is the immutable law of its nature! And no well informed
man, nor any who has travelled in popish countries, needs to be
told this. Men who read not on this subject, and who think
less, and those who have none of the genuine Roman Catholic
books, but who draw some superficial views from some of their
amiable and liberal Catholic neighbours and friends, are seen to
labour under fatal mistakes in this matter. They believe the
Romish sect to be improved and reformed! My humble prayer
to God is, that he would open their eyes, and convince them of
their error. I declare with deep solemnity, and I appeal to
ancient and modern history for evidence, — that the popery of
Rome never has altered, never can alter for the better, without
being destroyed and annihilated. The Romish church claims
immutability and infallibility. She appeals to God, and says
she never has erred, never committed deadly sins, never ha»
changed, never has reformed, nor has ever needed reformation!
" Every man who has been in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, in
Switzerland, in South America, and Mexico, has seen this in-
scription on the fronts of the various churches, even to this day,
' Plenary indulgences sold here,' at such and such prices.
Again — ' The bishop of sells indulgences here,' at —
such and such low prices. ' An English gentleman,' said my
friend Dr Avery, 'was with me at Naples, and on reading the
sign over the Indulgence shop, he went in and gravely pur-
chased, for a small sum, an indulgence to do any sin for one
hundred days!
" I would beg those men who think so favourably of modern
Popery to read Dr Moore's ' Tour in Europe,9 and Graham's
' Rome in the Nineteenth Century.' I refer to ' Rome as it Is,
a Tour in Italy, by Miss Morton:' she finds and pronounces
Italy a large nation of atheists ! Also Lady Morgan's ' Rome
in the Nineteenth Century.' "
THE
t
No. IX.
A PARABLE.
The following vigorously-written parable is extracted from
the Rev. Dr Brownlee's " Letters on the Roman Catholic
Controversy," published at New York in 1833-4.
Once upon a time, the good St Peter was sitting, in the
cool of the morning, under a rich clustering vine in the lovely
green vale of Jehosaphat, and in earnest discourse with a friend.
The holy apostle, and he, had retired from the dust and heat
of Jerusalem ; and they were discussing an important question,
in a grave and solemn manner befitting such men. The apos-
tle's friend was a chief priest ; a noted man, and a bosom friend
to Nicodemus. His faith had been shaken in the Jewish sys-
tem ; and he was devoutly inquiring how he should arrive
fully at the truth and be saved. He had discovered with no
small degree of alarm, that the truth was no longer in the Jew-
ish system and church. The pure word of God the Jewish
doctors had impiously displaced, and rendered void by the
fatal traditions of their fathers. The pure system of Moses
was no longer honoured and received by them ; and with a
singular inconsistency, what was abolished in the ceremonial
law, they now clung to with great obstinacy. The high priest
and his associates in despotism, had usurped power over the
souls and consciences of men ; they set no bounds to their
avarice, pride, and luxury. They traded " in the souls of men ;"
they even professed to open heaven and shut the gates of hell,
at the ecclesiastical chancery prices ! They sold pardons and
permissions to sin at all rates ; from Judas's sum of thirty
shekels up to the talent of silver, and the lordly talent of gold !
" The temple is converted into a house of merchandise, —
my dear Peter," said the chief priest, as he fanned his burning
I
66
brow with his snow-white turban, — " In the midst of this
universal corruption, the kingdom of God I cannot find. Now
inasmuch as he declared to our father Abraham, that his
church should never fail, and repeated it to David, and all the
prophets, and it would be mockery to look for it amid the
universal corruptions of our high priest, and our chief priests,
and rulers of the synagogue ; it must be found somewhere
else, it must be found in the new upstart, Christian church just
organized ; or is it not to be found even there ?"
St Peter opened up to him the Scriptures, and went on com-
paring the Old Testament doctrine with those of Christ, in
order to show him that this new reformed upstart church, the
Christian church alone held the whole and only genuine truths
of God. And he was patiently bringing home to his heart,
with many prayers, these apostolical instructions ; and instruct-
ing him in the right way of the Lord God of his fathers ; while
he kept a strict eye on a singular, suspicious, and ill-looking
stranger, who had entered the arbour, and had placed himself
not far from them. He was bedecked in a fantastic dress, of
many colours, neither exactly Jewish, nor altogether Gentile
in its shape ; and there was a wildness in his looks and antic
gestures, which indicated the phrenzy of a madman, or to say
the least, the air of a designing knave !
St Peter went on discoursing of the trinity, the incarnation,
the atonement, faith and repentance ; and the justification of a
sinner by faith in Christ without the deeds of the law ; and
thence the absolute necessity of good works and a holy life.
He was very particular in showing him that God only is the
supreme Lord of the conscience ; that no human or ghostly
power on earth, should be permitted by any who calls himself
a man, and not a dumb brute, to usurp power over the con-
science, or dictate a form of religion to it. " Think, read,
judge, decide for yourself. None of the Jewish priests, nor
any priest under these heavens, can dare to prescribe to your
conscience ; go to God's law, and word, and his inspired apos-
tles. God speaks : listen, obey ; and count that man an
emissary of the devil, fresh from the burning lake, who would
dare to lord it over your conscience ; to offer to appease God
for you ; or to pardon your sins for a few Jerusalem coppers !
He is the arch-impostor — the antichrist ; of which our beloved
brother John will tell you more fully.
Here the singular stranger grew so impatient, that he could
no longer contain himself ; and he rudely cut short the apos-
tle's discourse, by abruptly crying out — " Do you call me the
impostor or the antichrist?" Then addressing himself to the
chief priest, for he was evidently a stranger to St Peter, — he
besought him not to give heed to one word uttered by that
67
" hoary-headed deceiver ;" for the holy order of the high priest,
and the chief priests have the entire keeping of men's con-
sciences. And they negotiate with Heaven the whole of man's
salvation for a moderate consideration But I am forgetting
myself. To give divine efficacy to my words, and confound
all heretics, I must have in my soul the intention ; and on my
body the consecrated apostolical raiment, such as St Peter
the prince and pope ; were he present, — would laud and
bless ;" and upon that he applied himself to the work.
He rose up and made certain genuflections, and prostrations
to the east and west ; he then decked himself out in party-
coloured patches and rags, of red, purple, and white, and
green ; and putting on a thing resembling three crowns on his
head; he went to an adjoining thicket, and cut a tall rod, the
top of which he twisted into a shepherd's crook. And coming
gravely up ; he stood with a solemn, demure, half-crying
countenance, for a few moments ; then whispered — " Now I
have got the unction of holy intention ; now for the grace-pro-
curing gestures and genuflections." And with that he applied
himself gravely to a succession of bodily exercises, forty-five
in number ; sometimes he bowed ; then he kneeled ; then he
elevated his arms aloft. And having counted his forty-fifth,
he sat down quite out of breath. "Now," said he, " what I
am going to say, no one dare gainsay, under peril of salutary
cold steel and the hot fir-e, — to wit, heading and burning!
This crown, the emblem of power, and this sceptre, the symbol
of pastoral qualification and care, God Almighty made with
his own hands ; and with his own hands he placed on my head,
and in these hands !"
The apostle would have interrupted him ; — but he silenced
him with an outrageous clamour ; and he went on engrossing
the whole conversation to himself. "I am God's vice-god
upon earth ; I am supreme ; by me kings and priests reign
and act ; I am the lord of the human conscience : God has
put this ghostly power in my unworthy hands, who am a ser-
vant of servants." — And while the words of humility were on
his lips, he tossed his sceptre ; and waved his lordly triple
crown on high,— then he went on ; — ** The revelation which
God has given to the Hebrews and the Christians, derives all
its authority and all its evidence from me ; it is the word of
God if I say it ; it is not if I say nay : I add to it and I take
away, and who shall set bounds to this spiritual sceptre ! I
have the keys of hell and death ! I open heaven ; and I open
hell ! I shut them both as I will !• Through me alone God
speaks ! Through me alone men shall apply to God. I am
on earth what the Almighty is in heaven ! Hence I have
power to alter what Christ did establish : I can add to his doc
68
trines, when it caii be made profitable to bring in much gold.
I can add as many sacraments as I please to his humble and plain
two. For this is also profitable, — if not for doctrine, at least
for establishing my supreme power over the souls of my slaves
and minions, and they also bring much silver and gold to our
coffers ; then gold brings might ; and might, according to sound
ghostly policy, always makes right! These are the maxims of
my court !"
Here the wrath of St Peter was kindled fiercely against
him. He had hitherto set him down in his own mind as stark
mad, and he had viewed him with pity. But as he went on
in detail, he saw that he was a knave, possessed with a legion
of raving devils ! " Who is he?" said he to his host, " Verily
1 know him not ;" — said the horror-stricken chief priest, " I
took him for some of your friends ; then in my mind I thought
him a poor demoniac, humbly following in order to get the
devil cast out of himself; he frequently, I thought, mentioned
your name and your authority. I suspect he was a noted
companion of Judas Iscariot !" " Who are you ? who sent
you, sirrah ?" cried St Peter, addressing him in terms of strong
indignation, and unsubduable zeal for God's glory.
"Who am I?" replied he, slowly and solemnly: — "lam
the spouse of the church ; and the church is my chaste and
beautiful spouse ; — God's vicegerent, and the infallible vicar of
Christ ; I am come from holy St Peter, the prince of the
apostles."
" Your proof, sirrah !" said St Peter. " There is my proof !"
said he gravely ; and he held out a roll of parchment: " I
certify this roll to be the true and genuine roll, and deed of
right and power, conveyed to me, through lord pope St Peter,
from God !"
"Very well, sir, impostor," said Peter, — "you certify for
that rolls authenticity ; then, pray, who certifies for you ?"
" Why, look you here, — my pity on your weakness, old man ;
only inspect this roll, and it will tell all about me, and fully
certify that I am the only legal claimant."
" And what then, sir knave, will you do, if we ridicule this
ludicrous reasoning in a circle?" said Peter. " Why, I'll tell
thee, hoary-headed doubter, if any one expresses a doubt,
I have the sword, the axe, the fire, and the stake ! like the
sword of earthly kings, this is my holy spiritual weapon ; my
ulthnu ratio '. my unanswerable argument !
" What is your object," replied St Peter ; " for you are a
creature I never to my knowledge saw before, — is it your ob-
ject to save men's souls?" "That is & secondary object."
" What is your primary object then? You may suppose me
to be your St Peter, and tell me." " You St Peter ! — you a
GO
jilain fisherman, St Peter ! — why, St Peter wore his red and
purple, and fine white robes, and his golden mitre ! Christ
made him Prince of the Apostolical College !" " Thou art
stark mad, I tell thee," said St Peter ; "but go on — dost
thou set up thy kingdom solely to save men ?" " Yes ; I save
them in the way of making a good job of it." " But now, I
pray thee, go on."
" Why, heaven is a great way off, and the way is very
steep, and my flock are not very steady, or moral sometimes."
" Very well," said St Peter ; " you lead them to the fountain
of the Redeemer's blood, I hope." " It is far easier, I tell thee,
ignorant man, to lead them to a basin of holy water." " Holy
water !" cried St Peter ; "I do not know that thing ; and
never heard of it before — but do you not teach the holy atone-
ment to be the only sacrifice for the sins of man?" " No,
no ; we are inventing a thing called the ynass, though it will
take centuries to get men so well taught, as to leave me all
the right of thinking for them ; and then take my bare word
for everything ; to call black white, and the Devil Christ, if I
only say it !" " The mass !" said St Peter ; " that is per-
fectly new to me : the Master never said a word of it ; he
appointed the holy supper to commemorate his death, and his
one real and perfect atonement.
" You know nothing at all," cried the wild man ; " We need
not the atonement of Christ ; we offer up in the mass daily, a
sacrifice for the quick and dead, to appease God !" " Hold in
silence thy blaspheming lips," cried St Peter; "thou must be
the Antichrist ! But what said you about getting your people
near the far distant heaven ?" " Why, we make a sacrifice
for them ; and what is defective in that we make up by putting
the deceased souls into purgatory ; and there a smart burning
of well applied flames, consumes in a salutary manner all their
sins and follies." " Well, that we know is taken from the
abominable heathen ; but you do not mean to say, that it has
anything to do with us Christians ? I never taught it ; and the
Master never spoke of it ; this he said, — ' The blood of Jesus
washes all sins away.' That is God's only purgatory that I
ever heard of ; for there is no other Saviour than Jesus. But
what get you for all this ? Are your holy water, and masses,
and purgatory, a free job ?"
" Oh I no ; we save souls in the way of making gold and
silver, and building up our power ! If we condescend to spare
the time from our luxuries and pleasures, souls should be very
thankful, and pay their fees with less grumbling !" " And as
you have added Jive new sacraments," said St Peter ; " do you
bestow grace through them free to all, and gratis f" Oh no ;
there is no divine efficacy in one of them, unless the Church's
70
dues be paid ; it is the Church's dues ; it is St Peter's pence !''
" So, then, this marvellous and newly invented system is all
adapted to make gain — these shepherds shear the sheep, and
flay them, and take all the milk to themselves ! I thought
that our Master said — ' Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come
drink ; come without money, and without price ;' God's word
says this." " That may be," said the demon, "but times shall
be changed : these were Christ's laws ; but I speak now of our
Holiness s laws." " Why, the Master had his children mainly
among the poor," said St Peter ; " and to the poor is the
gospel preached." " No, no ; our infallibles declare, that the
rich can buy pardons for any space, — limited only by the limit
of money ; where that stops short, reprobation begins ! Know
ye not, that the streets of heaven are paved with gold. As
we have the laying out of the city, and, of course, all th-e
paving, how can we have the paving of gold ready in every
street, unless the people give us their gold!" " Marvellously
said," whispered St Peter ; "now do I see whither we have get ;
but repeat what thou saidst about a certain St Peter." " Why,
St Peter was the Prince of the Apostles, infallible, and'' —
"Ah!" cried the Apostle, interrupting him, " where gottest
thou that novelty ?" — "Aye, Prince he musthavebeen, because
he was a blundering, forward man !" " Infallible too !" added the
humble Apostle, with deep sorrow ; " they have got me to be
what I never heard of from the Master : — infallible, verily !
Ah ! this mockery is offered because I did deny my Lord !
I am humbled and mortified," continued he ; " they call me
infallible, and Prince, I suppose, because Paul sternly rebuked
me, and showed himself justly my superior ! But, go on,''
added he aloud ; " after this ebullition, what shall we hear next,
I wonder?" " Why, we select St Peter to be the foundation
of our Church." " The blessed Master keep me out of such
a Church, with such a rotten foundation," exclaimed St Peter,
with holy indignation. " Give me, O my blessed God, give
me grace to belong to that Church that is built on the Rock
of eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ ! That is the Christian
Church,", cried St Peter : " And that is the only pure, and im-
mutable Church, which I also long to be a member of," said
the pious chief priest ; " but, go on ; let us hear all !" " You
know nothing," cried the demoniac in reply; "did I not lay
hold of holy intention ? Do I not stand up in my sanctified
robes ? Am I not, therefore, infallible ? If you doubt, you
shall he damned by me ! I will cast you into purgatory ; and
none of my holy priests shall pray you out, unless for a ruin-
ous sum from your heirs.'
Here, the Apostle eyeing the motley buffoon from head to
foot, burst into a loud laughter ; but suddenly recollecting
71
himself, he said — " I am determined to hear the possessed
madman out. Go on ; I will not interrupt thy extravagance :
the pagan kings claim power over sun, moon, and stars ; but
thou art the wild beast whose tail sweeps the third part of the
stars from heaven ; and with thy paws thou throwest men into
sheol ! Go on, I pray thee."
" Having laid my foundation of empire on St Peter, I shall
go forth to subdue all nations, kingdoms, tongues, and coun-
tries. My power extends to all the world, and all heaven, and
all hell."
Here the Apostle sprang up from his seat ; he could not
stand if. " Nay, then, Sir Gascon, have done at last; I see who
thou art. Our sovereign and blessed Master, Jesus Christ,
warned us of the great Western maniac prince, who would be
intoxicated with the blood of the saints. The system was
conceived and plotted in hell ; and thou art the demon let
loose for a season, and charged with the execution of it ! Al-
ready, I see, art thou wandering to and fro through the earth,
and hatching thy diabolical plots. Now, hear me, I am St
Peter ! and had not the Master drawn the veil over thy mind,
thou mightest have known me." Then, by a holy impulse,
he laid the glorious system of the truth of Christ, as opposed
to the system of Antichrist, before the vigorous intellect of the
mischievous demon. It shone brilliantly, as a polished steel
mirror of the daughters of Judah ; the truth beamed from it
with unutterable brightness, and flashed over his guilty con-
science and heart.
The demon, who is the soul and spirit of Antichrist, cast his
small, sunk, and twinkling eyes, first on St Peter, with fear
and terror ; and then on all the objects around him, exclaiming —
" Art thou come, then, to betray in thy Apostolical writings,
and those of thy associates, the secret of our kingdom, which
I have thoughtlessly blabbed out ! Art thou come to torment
me and mine before the time ?" Then, with a hollow scream,
he fainted away under the beams of truth ; and a sweeping
whirlwind, and vivid flashes of fire, and roaring of thunder —
the symbol of heaven's irresistible vengeance — swept him away
down the vale into the dead sea !
72
CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS.
The censorship of books originated with the Roman Catholic
priesthood. The council of Lateran extended the censure to
all kinds of books ; the council of Trent confirmed this decree ;
the Index Expurgatorius is accordingly the catalogue of the
works which are proscribed, and which are every where taken
from the faithful, and given up to the inquisition.
Dr Doyle, in a pamphlet, entitled "A Vindication of the
Religious and Civil Privileges of the Irish Catholics, by I. K.
L.," makes the following false statement: — "A committee of
the council (that is of Trent,) was appointed to consider and
report to the council of the books then in circulation, and what
regulation ought to be adopted with regard to them. The
report of the committee was not made till the last day of the
last or second session ; and as the synod could not then discuss
the subject of the report, they referred it to the pope. The
Index, therefore, or list of books to be prohibited, with the rules
annexed, was not sanctioned by the council of Trent, and that
which was afterwards published by the pope, and which included
such translations of the sacred Scriptures as were not approved
of by the proper authorities has not the force of a church law,
irailess in those countries where it has been published and
received."
The reply to this is brief and simple. The council delegated
its power to the committee, the committee delegated its power
to the pope, and both that pope and his successors, confirming
the decision, have exercised that power accordingly.
Let it be noted that the very first book in this list is, " Bacon
de Augmentis Scientiarum!" the " Paradise Lost " of Milton,
and Locke on the " Human Understanding," fallow.
Locke is prohibited by the inquisition, " because the doctrines
contained therein destroy the true notions of moral good and
evil, leaving men in the state as depicted by Hobbes, Espinosa,
and other impious characters, and tend to naturalism and
atheism."*
The inquisition likewise prohibited the last six volumes of
Condillac's Cours d'Etudes pour l'Instruction du Prince de
Parme, "because it contains heretical propositions, scandalous
ones, tending to disturb public peace, injurious to the high pon-
tiffs and the supreme secular powers, especially to our catholic
kings and lords.
* Edict of the Inquisition of Seville, 26th Feb. 1S04.
THE
No. X.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER \Qth, 1818.
At the close of the last number it was stated that the censorship
of books originated with the Roman Catholic priesthood. " The
inveterate enmity," says Mr White, "of a sincere Roman catho-
lic against books which directly or indirectly dissent from his
church, is unconquerable. There is a family in England who,
having inherited a copious library under circumstances which
make it a kind of heirloom, have torn out every leaf of the pro-
testant works, leaving nothing in the shelves but the covers.
This fact I know from the most unquestionable authority.
" This, however, will not for a moment appear wonderful to
those who consider that all men are without the pale of popery
who presume to exercise their reason in matters of religion.
Bossuet says, ' The heretic is he who has an opinion, for such is
the meaning of that word. But what are we to understand by
having an opinion ? It is the following of our own fancy and
particular sentiment. But the catholic is — catholic ; that is
universal, who, without maintaining any particular sentiment,
hesitates not to follow the doctrine of the church.'
" This indeed he does most blindly, (and this is fortunate for
his ease and quiet ;) for popery, which refuses him the bible in
his vernacular tongue, presents to him the vulgate, which is
notoriously erroneous ; and though the editions of Sixtus V. and
Clement VIII. are full of contradictory translations, both were
ordered to be received by these popes respectively — both are
enjoined under a curse.
" Cardinal Toletus asserts ' that if a rustic believes his bishop
proposing an heretical tenet for an article of faith, such belief is
meritorious.' Cardinal Cusanus tells us, * that irrational obe-
dience is the most consummate and perfect obedience, when we
ubey without attending to reason, as a beast obeys his driver.
K
74
The same cardinal further asserts, that ' tliere are no precepts of
Christianity but those that are received as such by the church
[of Rome.] When the church changes her judgment, God
changes his judgment likewise.'
" Popery, however, hesitates not to approve, even in the name
of God and the whole heavenly host, of any work calculated to
promote its interests. Accordingly, the life of Veronica of Bu-
rasco by F. Joan Freire, was licensed by the Definidor in Por-
tugal, as a book deserving to be printed, because it had been
inspected and reinspected by angels, and approved of by God,
(ja visto e revisto pellos anjos, e aprovado pc*r dios.)
" But it would be endless," says Mr White, " to trace all the
links, of which the inquisition has formed the chain that binds
and weighs down the human mind among us. Acquiescence in
the voluminous and multifarious creed of the Roman church is
by no means sufficient for safety. A man who closes his work
with the O. S. C. S. R. E. {Omnia sub correctione Sancta: Ro-
mance Ecclesice) may yet rue the moment when he took pen in
hand. Heterodoxy may be easily avoided in writing ; but who
can be sure that none of his periods smacks of heresy (sapiens
hseresim) — none of his sentences are of that uncouth species
which is apt to grate pious ears (piarum aurium offensas) ?
Who then will venture upon the path of knowledge, where it
leads straight to the inquisition '<"
" To expect," continues Mr White, "a rational system of educa-
tion where the inquisition is constantly on the watch to keep the
human mind within the boundaries which the church of Rome,
with respect to divines, has set to its progress, would show a
perfect ignorance of the character of our religion.
" Popery has debased the fine imagination of Italy. Popery has
banished the chivalry of Spain, with the science of her Arab
conquerors. Popery has thrown its portion of Germany behind
Protestant Germany, as many centuries as Ireland is behind
England. Such also has been the case with the respective por-
tions of other countries — of the popish countries of Switzerland
compared with the protestant ones, of Savoy compared with
Geneva, &c. Popery has moreover bound its iron chain around
the hearts of the Irish peasantry, and made them the slaves of
an artful and disloyal priesthood.
" In fine, the result of this hatred to knowledge is, that, with
the exception of France, every popish state will be found to be
behind every protestant state in civilization. — And why is France
thus an exception ? For this single reason, that the French
naturally are by no means a religious people; and that, in that
country, religion is an affair only of state or of fashion. The
condition of Italy is lower, because notwithstanding the greater
natural talent of Italians crushed only by internal division, and
75
their seeing the papal system so close as to contemn it, still the
mass of the people are more popish than the French. The con-
dition of Spain and Portugal is lowest, because they are the
slaves of Popery.
Can any one wonder at the uncivilized — the debased state of
Popish countries, when he is informed by an excellent observer,
that the following is the day of a popish gentleman.
"Every church," says Mr White, "may be compared to a great
school or establishment for religious education. I will represent
to you a pupil of that school, that you may infer what is taught
in it, and I will draw the picture from various Roman catholics
whom I have intimately known.
" Imagine my Romanist friend retiring to his bed in the
night. — The walls of the room are covered with pictures of all
sizes. Upon a table there is a wooden or brass figure of our
Saviour nailed to the cross, with two wax candles, ready to be
lighted at each side. Our Romanist carefully locks the door ;
lights up the candles, kneels before the cross, and beats his
breast with his clenched right hand, till it rings again in a hoi-
low sound.
" It is probably a Friday, a day of penance : the good man
looks pale and weak, I know the reason — he has made but one
meal on that day, and that on fish ; had he tasted meat, he
feels assured 4ie should have subjected his soul to the pains of
hell!
" But the mortifications of the day are not over. — He unlocks
a small cupboard, and takes out a skull, which he kisses and
places on the table at the foot of the crucifix. He then strips
off part of his clothes, and with a scourge, composed of small
twisted ropes hardened with wax, lays stoutly to the right and
left, till his bare skin is ready to burst with accumulated blood.
" The discipline, as it is called, being over, he mutters several
prayers, turning to every picture in the room.
" He then rises to go to bed ; but, before he ventures into
it, he puts his finger into a little cup which hangs at a short dis-
tance over his pillow, and sprinkles with the fluid it contains, the
bed and the room in various directions, and finally moistens his
forehead in the form of a cross. The cup, you must know, con-
tains holy water, water in which a priest has put some salt,
making over it the sign of the cross several times, and Baying
some prayers, which the church of Home has; .inserted for this
purpose in the mass book.
" The use of that water, as our Roman Cainolic has been
taught to believe, is to prevent the devil from approaching the
places and things which have been recently sprinkled with it ;
and he does not feel himself safe in his bed without the precau-
tion which I have described. The holy water has, besides, an
76
internal and spiritual power of washing away venial sins — thor.e
slight sins, 1 mean, which, according to Romanists, if unrepented,
or unwashed away by holy water, or a sign of a cross made by
the hand of a bishop, or some other five or six methods, which
I will not trouble you with, will keep the venial sinner in purga-
tory for a certain time.
" The operations of the devout Roman Catholic are probably
not yet done. — On the other side of the holy water cup there
hangs a frame holding a large cake of wax, with figures raised
by a mould, not unlike a large butter pat. It is an Agnus Dei,
blessed by the pope, which is not to be had except it can be
imported from Rome. I believe the wax is kneaded with some
earth from the place where the bones of the supposed martyrs
are dug up. Whoever possesses one of these spiritual treasures,
enjoys the benefit of a great number of indulgences ; for, each
kiss impressed on the wax gives him the whole value of fifty or
one hundred days employed in doing penance and good works ,
the amount of which is to be struck off the debt which he has
to pay in purgatory.
" I should not wonder if our good man, before laying himself
to sleep, were to feel about his neck for his rosary or beads, per-
haps he has one of a particular value, and like that which I was
made to wear next my skin, when a boy. A priest had brought
it from Rome, where it had been made, if we believe the certifi-
cates, of bits of the stones with which the first martyr, Stephen,
was put to death.
" Being satisfied that the rosary hangs still on his neck, he
arranges its companion, the scapulary, formed of two square
pieces of the stuff which is exclusively worn by some religious
order. By means of the scapulary, he is assured either that
the virgin Mary will not allow him to remain in purgatory be-
yond the Saturday next to the day of his death ; or he is made
partaker of all the penances and good works performed by the
religious of the order to which the scapulary belongs.
" At last, having said a prayer to the angel who, he believes,
keeps a constant guard over him, the devout Romanist composes
himself to sleep, touching his forehead, his breast, and the two
shoulders, to form the figure of a cross.
" The prayer and ceremonies of the morning are not unlike
hose of the night.
" Armed with the sprinkling of holy water, he proceeds to
mass. If it happen to be one of the privileged days in which
souls may be delivered out of purgatory, you will see him saying
a certain number of prayers at different altars. He will repeat
his rosary in honour of the virgin Mary, dropping through his
fingers cither fifty-five or seventy-seven beads, which are strung
in the form of a necklace.
77
" There may be a blessing with the sacrament, which the
good catholic will not lose, for the sake of the plenary indulgence
which the pope grants to such as are present. On that occa-
sion, you would see him kneeling and beating his breast, while
the priest, in a splendid cloak of silk and gold, in the midst of
lighted candles and the smoke of frankincense, makes the sign
of the cross with a consecrated wafer, enclosed between two
pieces of glass set in gold.
" It would, indeed, be an endless task were I to enumerate
all the methods and contrivances of this kind recommended by
the church of Rome to all her members, and practised by all
who are not careless of their spiritual concerns.
" These are facts which no honest Roman Catholic will venture
to deny. I therefore ask, whether, since revelation is the only
means we have of distinguishing between religion and supersti-
tion— between things and acts which really can influence our
manner of being when we shall be removed to the invisible
world, and fanciful contrivances which there is no reason to sup-
pose connected with our spiritual welfare — I ask whether the
whole system of the church of Rome, for the attainment of
christian virtue, is not a chain of superstitious practices calcu-
lated to accustom the mind to imaginary fear, and fly to the
church for fanciful remedies."
If Popery were Christianity, I should rejoice in its propaga-
tion. If the Priests of Rome were employed in showing men
the way of salvation by free grace, through the righteousness of
a crucified Saviour ; — if they were labouring to instruct and edify
those who believe in him ; — if they were themselves examples
of being dead to the things of this world, and alive to those of
another ; — if they were, in short, like the Apostles of Christ,
whose successors they profess to be, I would contemplate no
danger, but much benefit to society, from the increase of their
number. But every one acquainted with the subject knows, that
the reverse of this is the case. Popery is not Christianity, but
the counterfeit of it. It is Antichrist ; that is, against Christian-
ity. The priests of that religion are not employed in preaching
salvation by free grace, but by the merit of men's own doings :
they are not labouring to instruct the people, but to keep them
in ignorance ; and instead of being, like the apostles, dead to this
world, and alive to another, their greatest efforts are directed to
the things of this world : how they may extort money from their
deluded adherents, and how they may promote the reign of
ignorance and error. The propagation of this religion, there-
fore, and the multiplication of its priests, are evils to be depre-
73
cated as much as the introduction of the plague into the
country. They are the pests* of human society ; and wherever
they shall obtain a footing, farewell to every social and domestic
comfort.
But how, it will be asked, can we prevent the increase of
Popery ? I confess I know no way but that of promoting the
knowledge of real Christianity among the people; and forbearing
to give any countenance or encouragement to Popish ceremonies
and worship. Some will perhaps be surprised that I should
speak of promoting the knowledge of real Christianity among the
people of a Christian country ; but their surprise would cease, if
they would consider the real state of the people in general, with
regard to religious knowledge. They are not all Christians who
are called Christians ; and those who are Christians only in
name, are in the greatest danger of taking up with any counter-
feit of Christianity that may be artfully imposed upon them, or
that may soothe and quiet their consciences, while they continue
to live in sin. Popery is exactly such a religion as persons of
this description are prepared to embrace.
Without going further from home, I shall suppose one to
make the following experiment : Let him go to the Green of
Glasgow, on a Sabbath evening : among the hundreds of men
and women whom he will see there, he will not find one in ten
who can give him a proper answer to the simple question — What
is real Christianity? or, what is the gospel of Christ? Yet these
are all Christians in their own esteem, and would be affronted
should any one refuse them the name. Let him make a more
extensive survey : let him go through all the parishes in Scot-
land : let him even make his inquiries of the people whom he
meets coming from church on a Sabbath-day : he will, no doubt,
find among the church-going people more religious knowledge
than among those who spend their Sabbath evenings on our Green ;
but still he will be obliged to come to the conclusion, that the
proportion is but small that can tell him what real Christianity
is ; or, what is the gospel of Christ.
I shall suppose an artful, well-informed Papist, (and many of
them are such,) going to our Green on a Sabbath evening, and
entering freely into conversation with all he meets : I could
venture to assure him, that he would not find one in a hundred
who could tell why he is a Protestant, or make any sensible
* Perhaps some will consider this the language of ahuse. It is, however,
no more than plain truth : and so far as regards the Jesuits, my assi
is confirmed by all the Courts in Europe, who procured the suppression of
the order about the middle of the last century. The present Pope has,
however, restored it ; and the mischievous effects that shall follow, will,
no doubt, engage the attention of future historians.
reply to his arguments in support of Popery. Nay more, that I
may not be charged with drawing my conclusion from the state
of knowledge among the lower classes of society, I shall suppose
one going into our coffee-room in the busiest hour of the day,
and putting the same questions — What is real Christianity ?
What is the gospel of Christ? Why are you a Protestant?
And I question if one in ten would give a sensible answer, unless
it were, that he could not tell.
The melancholy fact is, that a large proportion of our popula-
tion, of all ranks, are not Protestants from a conviction of those
truths on which the Protestant religion rests, as opposed to that
of Rome : shall I say, not Christians, from a belief of that truth
on which the Church of Christ is built? Now, with regard to
such, they are prepared to go over to Rome, whenever her
religion shall become respectable and popular.
I said I know no way of preventing this, but, first, by pro-
moting the knowledge of real Christianity, Let the number of
evangelical preachers, be increased; let them be encouraged and
supported in preaching the gospel in all parts of the country.
Every obstruction thrown in the way of this belongs to Anti-
christ, and subserves the cause of Popery. The sooner, there-
fore, it is removed the better. Christ says, " Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;" and who is that
servant of Christ who dares to say, Ye shall not preach the
gospel in my parish ? The preaching of the gospel is the
divinely appointed means of turning men from idols to serve the
living God : it is, therefore, the means which God has appoint-
ed to turn men from Popery, or to preserve them from being
deceived by it. The success of some eminent ministers of the
Church of Scotland, and of some zealous Dissenters, in preaching
the gospel of late years in the Highlands, shows what might be
expected from the united exertions of all Christian ministers,
accompanied by the divine blessing, which the divine promise
warrants them to expect. This, with the circulation of the Holy-
Scriptures, and the establishment of schools, is the legitimate
way of opposing the progress of Popery, and it would ultimately
prove effectual.
The second part of my proposal is, to give no countenance or
encouragement to Popish ceremonies and worship. Much evil
has been done in Glasgow, by the attendance of many of the
respectable inhabitants, on Lord's days, in the Popish Chapel.
It has, indeed, become a fashionable lounge for a Sabbath fore-
noon. Heads of families can without scruple go there, and take
their children with them. If one has a friend on a visit from
the country, and who must see all that is to be seen in Glasgow,
he must of course attend worship in the Popish Chapel. If
persons are entire strangers, they cannot go to one of our own
80
churches, unless they know beforehand where to get a seat, lest
they be allowed to stand in the passage : but, in the Popish
Chapel, they receive the most polite attention, and are instantly
shown into the best seats in the house, especially if they have
given silver into the plate.
It is true, many persons go out of mere curiosity, and some
of them have told me that they were disgusted with the mum-
mery which they saw, and the nonsense which they heard ; but
they did not tell this to the people or to the priest. Their
presence was taken as a compliment ; their money went to sup-
port the idolatrous system ; and some who would give only a
halfpenny to the poor at the door of the parish church, would,
for the honour of the thing, give sixpence or a shilling, on
entering so fine a house as the Chapel. The consequence of
this has been that the Papists here have become more bold in
declaring against our religion ; and have become more sanguine
in their hopes of soon seeing their own prevail. A few years
ago, not one of them would have had the effrontery to publish
such things against Protestants and the Reformation, as Amicus
Veritatis has done in the Glasgow Chronicle. If Protestants
be reviled and insulted by their Popish neighbours, they have
themselves to blame. They ought not to have given them such
flattering encouragement.
Besides, as Papists look upon theirs as the best of all possible
modes of divine worship ; — as they adore their own manner
of performing divine service, they flatter themselves that all
"ho witness it must also approve, — that they will in due time
become admirers, and at last conform to it. Every Protestant,
therefore, who honours them by his presence, contributes to
confirm them in their delusion ; and cherishes in them a hope
that, by and by, we shall all return to the communion of the
Church of Rome.
But more seriously, I do not know how any Christian can
justify himself to his own conscience, after having spent part
of the Sabbath in witnessing the mummery of the Popish service.
We are taught to pray, "lead us not into temptation ;" and to
be delivered from the counsel that causes to err from the way of
knowledge. But he that voluntarily puts himself in the way of
hearing error, cannot, without gross hypocrisy, offer such a prayer
to Him who searches the heart.
THE
No. XI.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th, 1818.
I opery is the religion of depraved human nature. What Top-
lady said of Arminianism is applicable to it. Every man is born
a Papist. He is born not only in a state of alienation from God,
but with an innate propensity to trust in himself, or in something
done by himself, or by fellow-creatures, to obtain the favour, or
remove the displeasure, of God. Christianity reveals a Saviour,
who has obeyed and suffered in the room of the guilty; who has,
in short, done every thing that was necessary to reconcile sinners
to their offended Creator: and every sinner who believes in him
is so reconciled. This reconciliation, however, is necessarily and
invariably accompanied by a radical change in the character, as
•.veil as the state of the individual. He becomes a new creature.
He commences a ncxv nnd spiritual life ; — or, to use the emphati-
cal words of our Saviour, he is bom again : and without this no
man can see the kingdom of God. The future life of such a
person is characterized by a hatred of sin, and a daily opposition
to it, in all its motions and operations in his own heart, together
with a love of righteousness, and an earnest desire to please and
serve God. It requires nothing less than the power of the Holy
Spirit to produce this change : and nothing short of this will be
recognized by the righteous Judge as real Christianity.
But Popery can do very well without any change in either the
state or character of persons who submit to the discipline of their
ghostly fathers. By the sacrament of baptism, a priest can re-
generate a sinner. This is all the change he is taught to seek ;
Ij
82
he is told that by baptism all his sins arc taken away, and he ia
reconciled to God*. By the sacrament of penance, all the sins
committed after baptism are forgiven ; and by extreme unction,
when he comes to die, he is assured of everlasting happiness f ;
or that, at the worst, he will only be detained some time in purga-
tory, which will be made as short as possible, if he bequeath
a handsome sura to the priests, or if his surviving friend shall
pay them for their prayers and masses. All the time, from his
baptism till his death, the person is unconscious of any change
/laving taken place in the state of his heart towards God, or holi-
ness. His affections are carnal ; he ic in love with sin ; and he
continues to live in it, flattering himself that his soul is safe, be-
cause he observes all the prescribed forms of his religion.
It will be granted, that his life is much more miserable than
that of the Christian who hates, and is daily striving, against sin.
He lives in perpetual bondage, under the discipline of his ghostlj
fathers, who prescribe fastings, and penances, and pilorrima<*es.
and who never cease their pecuniary exactions. Notwithstanding
that his sins are forgiven by baptism and penance, he is taught
that he must still do something, or suffer something, to merit
heaven, unless he shall pay for indulgences, or for the transference
of the good works of the saints to his account.
Miserable, however, as is the condition of such a man, it is
that which the carnal mind will prefer to the salvation which the
gospel reveals ; because it is consistent with the love and practice
of sin ; it does not require the universal mortification of natural
* "Quest. What are the effects of baptism ? Ans. A total remission
of original and actual sin, with the pains due to them. Hence no satisfac-
tion is appointed, when adults are baptized. Again, all spiritual and su-
pernatural gifts are given at the same time. It is an entire regeneration,
or new life ; it gives a right to all the other sacraments ; it opens the gates
to heaven ; it gives a character, and cannot be reiterated. All diese points
are defined by the Council of Trent — Quest. Is it lawful to receive bap-
tism twice ? Ans. No ; it is not lawful, on any account, more than once,
Heb. vi. ver. 4 — 6. ; and the reason is, because it imprints a spiritual cha-
racter in the soul, which will remain for ever, either to our great joy in
heaven, or our confusion in hell." — Let my Baptist friends look to then
own safety, if Popery shall ever prevail. " Quest. What are the penalties
of rebaptizing? Ans. By the old civil law, it was death : and now, by the
canons of the church, it is irregularity, and otherwise punishable." The
real Principles of Catholics : or a Catechism for the Adult, Dublin, 1750,
p. 199.
f •' Quest. What are the effects of this sacrament?" (extreme unction)
" Ans. 1st, It remits all venial sins and mortal sins forgotten; 2dly, It
remits something of the debt of punishment due to past sins ; 5dly, It
heals the soul of her infirmity and weakness, and a certain propension to
tin, contracted by former sins," &c. It does other wonderful things, for
which I have not room : see the same book, p. '254.
83
corrupt passions, nor the submission of the heart to the righte-
ousness of God, which is by faith in Christ crucified.
It is on this account, that I am concerned for many who are
called Protestants. While they do not submit to the plainly re-
vealed way of salvation, by Jesus Christ; while they are trusting
for salvation to any thing, or nothing, or are not thinking about
the matter, and living in the practice of sin, they are ready to be-
come a prey to the agents of that religion which professes to
save sinners, while yet they continue in their hearts without love
to God, and without hatred of sin. The sinner has many misgiv-
inos of heart, when he thinks of death and judgment, and he will
catch hold of any thing that will afford him relief, and soothe his
conscience, without requiring a change of heart and conduct.
Popery is exactly suited to his wishes ; and he will submit to all
its impositions and exactions, for the sake of the peace which it
affords him. It is, however, a false peace ; and it issues in the
ruin of all who suffer themselves to be deceived by it.
Who can think of this, and not contemplate danger from the
encouragement given to Popery, and the imposing attitude which
that religion now assumes among us? I shall be told, perhaps,
that the Protestants I have referred to, are men of no religion at
all ; and that their becoming Papists will not make them worse
than they are. It will not make them worse, perhaps, with re-
gard to their state before God, and their prospects for eternity :
but it will make them worse members of society, and more dan
gerous neighbours. Popery is a stern, exclusive, persecuting re-
ligion. It will suffer no other to exist, if it has the power of
putting it down. Every addition, therefore, made to their com-
munion, I should consider an accession of strength to the enemies
of our civil and religious liberties.
I quote the following from a Popish writer of the present day,
to prove that the sentiments of that body, on the subject of per-
secution, are the same that ever they were ; and though it may
seem strange, I make the quotation from a passage which contains,
in words, a strong, affected disavowal and condemnation of per-
secution, on account of religion. " For my own part," says this
writer, " knowing that the doctrines of my religion teach me to
practise brotherly love towards all my fellow creatures ; — know-
ing that the structure of the Catholic Church is grounded upon
the most sublime principles of charity and truth ; — knowing that
the formation of her constitution is so foreign to despotism, as to
become a model for that established form of civil government
under which we live; — knowing that religious persecution was
scarcely ever practised, in this or other Christian countries, until
it was introduced by Protestants, at the period of the pretended
Reformation, with all the refined cruelty which the ingenuity of
84
passion and malice could invent; — knowing, that the most bar-
barous and sanguinary code of laws against the professors of the
Catholic faith, which ever disgraced the annals of a Christian
country, was invented and enacted by Protestants, and is to be
found in the statute books of England and Ireland, &c." — Or-
thodox Journal, or Catholic Monthly Intelligencer, for De-
cember, 1815.
I infer, that the sentiments of Papists, with regard to persecu-
tion, are the same that ever they were, from these words, —
'' Knowing that religious persecution was scarcely ever prac
tised in this or other Christian countries, until it was intro-
duced by Protestants, at the period of the pretended Reforma-
tion'' If I knew any means by which it were possible to make a
Jesuit speak the truth, I would appeal to the writer of the above
passage, Whether it be not his opinion, that violence done to
heretics is not persecution ? It cannot be his meaning, that
violence was not done to persons on a religious account, by the
agents of the Church of Rome, long before the Reformation..
He must know, that those who professed to think differently from
his Church, on religious subjects, were slaughtered by thousands
and ten thousands, long before the word Protestant was heard of.
But this was not persecution. It was a righteous and meritori-
ous work, highly pleasing to the head of the Romish Church ; in
evidence of which, see the Pope's own words in my Second
Number, page 7*. The assertion of this writer, who, I believe,
is the Editor of the above Journal, and who, I doubt not, speaks
the sentiments of his brethren, as well as of himself, can be true
only on the principle, that persecution is that which is done against
the adherents of Rome, — not that which is done against Pro-
testants \. Indeed, they consider it a merciful thing to torture
heretics out of their errors, for they believe it is impossible that
* What was formerly a meritorious work, in tlie ef-teem of the Church
of Rome, must he so still, for she is incapable of change ; and, notwith-
standing the above apparent disavowal of persecuting principles, and the
profession of being taught by their religion to do good to all their fellow
creatures, it will still be found a righteous thing to drive heretics from
their errors, and into the true Church, by force.
f The Rhenish translators of the New Testament, speak the mind ot
their Church very plainly on this subject. They tell us honestly and
openly, that putting heretics, that is, Protestants, to death, is not worst
than putting to death thieves, man-killers, and other malefactors. In
their note on Rev. xvii. 6. " drunken with tlie blood of taints* they say,
" Protestants foolishly expound it of Rome, for that there they put
heretics to death, and allow of their punishment in other countries : but
tbeir blood is not called the blood of saints, no more than the blood ol
thieves man-killers, and other malefactors; for the shedding of which, by
order of justice, no commonwealth shall answer."
85
any can be saved, but within the pale of their Church. Papists
of the present day will, with one voice, condemn persecution for
conscience sake; but they mean only persecution of the Catholic
faith ; and whenever they become so numerous as to gain the
ascendency, wo be to the Protestants who shall be within their
reach, or subject to their dominion ! Who can think of this, and
not contemplate danger from the encouragement given to Popery
in this country, and particularly in this city ?
" Every false or corrupt religion is a sanguinary and persecut-
ing religion. It was so with the religion of heathenism ; as the
character of the heathen wars before Christianity, and of the
heathen persecutions after its introduction, sufficiently testifies.
Now, such has been remarkably the case with the Romish reli-
gion, which, from its earliest period, has been a religion of blood-
shed and of bigotry : in proof of which fact, its whole history
might be cited, but the present space will only permit the enu-
meration of a few instances ; such as the Papal wars in Italy,
fomented and perpetuated by the pretended successors of the
Prince of Peace. The civil wars in France, which lasted a whole
century, and which are so ably recorded by Davila. The conti-
nental wars of Germany, Prance, and Flanders, as recorded by
De Thou. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, in Paris and the
provinces, for which the Pope of that day solemnly returned pub-
lic thanks to Almighty God, in the Cathedral of St. Peter. The
Sicilian vespers. The cruelties of the Duke of Alva, and of
the Jesuits, in the Low Countries. The horrors which followed
the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, by that splended scourge of
Europe, Louis XIV. The abominable cruelties of the Inquisi-
tion in Spain, Portugal, and elsewhere, from the earliest period of
its establishment. The martyrdoms of England, in the reign ot
Philip and Mary. The appalling conspiracy of the 5th Novem-
ber, and the other sanguinary plots of the reigns of Elizabeth and
James I. The atrocious and extensive massacre of the Protes-
tants in Ireland, in the reign of Charles I., as recorded by Sir
John Temple; and the Irish rebellion, in 1798, whose main ob-
ject was the extinction of Protestantism, and which was fomented
and conducted by the Romish priests, as authenticated by Sir
Richard Musgrave. In all these abominable cruelties, the mys-
tical woman of the Apocalypse has trodden in the tract of her
heathen precursor ; and, in either case, their footsteps have been
marked with blood. If modern Rome has not caused her
children, like the ancient idolaters, to pass through the fire to
Moloch, she has not, on that account, slain fewer in other ways:
and sanguinary rites of the ancient superstition have only given
place to the immolation of human victims in another form, though
86
not on a less extensive scale." — Preface to the Letters by Tgno-
tus. — From the Times.
It may be interesting to the reader to know, how the matter
stands at present in France, with regard to toleration. If Papists
were capable of learning moderation and tenderness, on the sub-
ject of religious difference, one should think the kindness which
thousands of them received in this country, when driven from
their own, would induce them, if not to think well of our reli"-ion,
at least to tolerate those who profess it. But such is not the
case. It seems that this very summer, our Protestant brethren, in
France, are exposed to persecution; they are harassed, and
brought to trial, and fined, because they will not decorate their
houses in honour of the consecrated host that is carried, on cer-
tain days, through their streets ; that is, because they will not do
honour to an idol. They know that the host is an object of
worship ; they see their deluded neighbours falling down before
it ; and they believe, that if they were to pay any respect whatever
to this idol, they would be guilty of consenting to idolatry ; yet
they must do so, notwithstanding the constitutional charter which
professes to allow perfect freedom, with regard to religious wor-
ship, or they must be dragged as criminals before their courts of
justice, and fined, as an example to others, and as an earnest of
what they may further expect, if they persist in their contumacy.
The following information, on this subject, is extracted from the
Philanthropic Gazette, of the 9th instant, which, I am "lad to
see, has been published also in the Glasgow Chronicle, as I wish
the facts to be as extensively known as possible : —
" Persecution of Protestants at Bourdeaux On Sunday,
May 3 1st, being Corpus Christ i Day, the several parishes of the
city of Bourdeaux went in procession through the streets, pre-
ceded by the public crier, who proclaimed the orders of the Major
to all the citizens, to line the front of their houses, without any
regard to the difference of religion. No arrcte of the municipal
authority, no proclamation whatever, was posted or inserted in tSe
public papers. The citizens, of a religion different from the Ro-
man Catholic, believed, that without a manifest violation of the
constitutional charter, they could not be compelled to an act of
outward homage, which offered violence to their religious senti-
ments. From these considerations, several Israelites and Calvin-
ists did not hang out cloth in the front of their houses. The
Commissary of Police of that division, in person, ordered several of
them to obey. Two of them answered, that, though such an
order offered violence to their conscience, and infringed on the
Ii!ierty of their religious opinions, if he gave them an order,
signed by himself, they would submit. This he refused to do,
and at the same time noted their disobedience.
87
" All tho citizens who had not complied with the order of lin-
ing the front of their houses, were cited to appear, June 12th,
before the tribunal of ordinary police : some obeyed the mandate,
and others neglected. Those that were present denied the lega-
lity of the citation.
" 1st. They alleged that no existing and known law prescribed
such an obligation : that the municipal authority had not publish-
ed, by means of the public prints, any arrete, or ordonnance, rela-
tive to the subject ; and that they were ignorant of what had been
published by the crier.
" 2d. That they were by profession Calvinists, or Israelites, and
that they were forbidden, by their religion, to render any external
homage to a religion not their own.
" 3d. That the third article of the charter gave equal liberty to
all religions, and granted the same protection to every form of
worship ; and that every individual was perfectly free, in regard to
his religious duties, nor was obliged to any act contrary to his
conscience. The defendants, therefore, demanded to be released
from the accusation, asking, at the same time, that their defence
should be registered, together with the judgment pronounced, re-
serving to themselves the right of protesting, &c.
" The commissary of Police, on the side of the prosecution,
answered by reading a decision of the Court of Cassation, by
which the appeal of a Protestant lady had been rejected. This
lady was condemned to pay a fine of six francs, for having refused
to line, according to a printed order of the Mayor of Puylanrent.
He maintained, that the Mayor of Bourdeaux had given sufficient
notice to his constituents, by the crier, and that no one could
justly pretend ignorance. He argued from the ordonnances of the
Jurats, in 1759, from ancient edicts of the police of Paris, of a
date still more remote, and from an article of the law of 7th of
August, 1790. Thus, without any reference to the present code,
he condemned the defendants to a fine of six francs for those
who were present, and fifteen francs for the absentees, with costs.
" It may be proper also to state, that, on the 12th of June,
four persons, Israelites, waited on the Mayor again, to request
that the procedure might be discontinued. The Mayor refused,
stating, that he did not intend to offer violence to the rights of
conscience, but that he would abide by the decision of the Court
of Cassation. It was answered, that notwithstanding the respect
due to the decisions of that Court, the persons who requested his
interference would address a petition to the Chamber of Deputies
next Session, that the Legislative Body might pronounce on so
important a subject, which, as from its nature it belonged to the
political, and not to the administrative, was not to be determined
ss
by the Court of Cassation. In the name of many citizens of
Bourdeaux. — (Signed) LaNGB."
Such, it seems, is the state of religious toleration in France, in
the year 1818. If a Jew or a Protestant refuse to violate the
law of God, that is, if he shall refuse to do honour to an idol, he
must pay a fine. It matters not that the fine is a very small sum,
six francs being only five shillings sterling, since the principle is
admitted, that it is a crime in law not to do honour to the conse-
crated bread : that is, what they call the real body of Christ,
which is carried in solemn procession through the streets on Cor-
pus Christi, that is, the Body of Christ Day ; — since, I say, the
principle is acted upon, that this is a crime, the punishment will
not be long continued upon so low a scale, as a fine of five shil-
lings. We shall soon hear of imprisonment, and banishment,
and perhaps death, inflicted upon our Protestant brethren, who
refuse to do homage to the Popish idol.
The Papists in this country enjoy as much liberty of con-
science as other Dissenters. There are no obstructions whatever
thrown in the way of their worship. They are not required to
conform to any part of the established religion. They enjoy the
most ample protection of their persons and property ; and any
person injuring them wsuld be amenable to our laws, the same as
if he had injured any other subject; yet we are told, by the Ed-
tor of their Orthodox Journal, that the most sanguinary and bar-
barous code of laws, against the professors of the Catholic faith,
which ever disgraced the annals of a Christian country, is to be
found in the statute books of England and Ireland ! Certainly
then they are in the statute books only, and not to be found any
where else, at least, they are not to be found in the practice of
Protestants towards Papists; whereas, in France, the law is in fa-
vour of religious freedom, but the practice is against it. Besides,
the principal laws against Papists in England and Ireland have
been repealed during his present Majesty's reign ; but it did not
suit the purpose of the Orthodox Journalist to teil this. He
wishes the world to believe that his brethren are objects of san-
guinary persecution.
I have received several interesting communications, since the
commencement of my labours, particularly this week, to which, at
present, I can only give this general answer: — My kind and un-
known Correspondents are requested to accept my best thanks,
and to rest assured, that I will, in due time, make the best use I
can of their hints. I am particularly indebted to those who have
sent me scarce books, on the subject of this controversy.
THE
protest ant t
No. XII.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER Sd, 1818.
I r is time to return to Amicus Veritatis, who writes to ths
Editor of the Glasgow Chronicle thus: — " When I first ad-
dressed you, it was far from my intention to enter upon religious
controversy, but only a desire of putting bigotry to the blush, and
of advocating the cause of truth." Prot. Part I. p. 28. Bigot
is a name which Papists are very fond of applying to their Pro-
testant neighbours, while they consider themselves injured when
they are called Papists. Amicus Veritatis trespassed, he
says, upon the Public, merely from " a desire of exposing the
weakness and futility of censorious bigotry." He " thanks
Heaven, the phantoms raised by bigotry and by prejudice have
fled before the light of reason." Part I. p. 4. He asks the
Protestant — " Will he again spout out the noxious venom
of religious intolerance and bigotry ? O how shameful and ob-
stinate a thing is bigotry ! To what end, says Philips, is an argu-
ment with the bigot ?" &c. Part I. p. 44.
It is easy calling names, when one is at a loss for arguments.
Amicus Veritatis knows, that a bigot is an odious thing ;
and he cannot but know, that it has been pretty generally attached
to his own communion. He does, therefore, what he can, to
throw it upon the Protestants, and to make it attach to me in
particular ; thinking, perhaps, that in this way he will get quit
of it.
That the reader may be able to judge to whom this word is
most applicable, I shall give the definition of it by Dr. Johnson :
90
i — «' Bigotry ; prejudice ; — unreasonable warmth fn favoe*
of party opinions. Bigotted ; blindly prepossessed in favou?
of something; irrationally zealous." Bigotry, it is evident from
this, is not warmth and zeal in any thing ; or rather, zeal and
warmth, and prepossession, are not bigotry ; but unreasonable
warmth, — blind prepossession, — irrational zeal, are bigotry. I
shall not disavow either warmth, or zeal, or prepossession. I
confess that my mind was prepossessed, or pre-occupied by cer-
tain truths, before I entered upon this controversy. It was pre-
possessed by a conviction that the word of God is true ; that
this word is contained in the holy Scriptures ; and that these
contain all that God has to say to us, till the day of judgment,
But this is not bigotry, because it is not blind prepossession.—
The Bible proves itself to be the word of God, and there can be
nothing more reasonable than to believe, that what He says is
true. Neither shall I acquit myself of zeal, but rather confess
that I have not enough of it ; but zeal is not bigotry, ur.iess it be
irrational. I must also plead guilty to the charge of occasional
warmth ; but this is not bigotry, unless it be unreasonable. It
would ill become me to say I am entirely free from prejudice ;
but it would be unfair to charge me with it, unless 1 have advanced
something for which I cannot give a satisfactory reason, of which
nobody has yet convicted me. As for party opinions, if this is
meant for principles founded upon the word of God, I do not
disavow being prepossessed in favour of them. In matters of reli-
gion, there are, properly speaking, only two parties in the world ;
and I hope I shall always be found ready to advocate the opin-
ions, or rather the principles, of that party which is on the side
of real Christianity, against those of Antichrist ; but neither is
this bigotry, unless it be done with unreasonable warmth.
But it would be no difficult matter to show that, with regard
to every part of the definition, a true Papist is a bigot. He is so
full of prejudice, that, without reasoning or enquiry, he believes all
that his church teaches; and holds it undoubted, that whatever
is not taught by his church, must be heresy. This would be
reasonable, if it were the result of conviction, from the considera-
tion of sufficient evidence. But with Papists this is not the case.
They hold and teach many things, for which no man on earth
can give a satisfactory reason. They are, therefore, bigotted in
the strongest sense of the word. Their religion is founded upon
prejudice, not upon evidence. They are blindly prepossessed in
favour of it ; they are irrationally zealous in its support and pro-
pagation ; they are unreasonably warm in their anathemas against
those who expose their errors, and who propagate the truth.
Papists, undoubtedly, are bigots.
9i
They are extremely zealous, for instance, in maintaining, thai
Peter was Bishop of Rome, and that the Pope is his successor.
This is blind prepossession ; it is a mere prejudice ; for, as I have
shown in my Seventh and Eighth Numbers, Peter never was
Bishop of Rome ; and I defy the whole world to produce the
shadow of evidence of the fact, from any authentic history. Yet
they will part with any thing sooner, than give up this point.
They are so blindly prepossessed in favour of it, that rather than
renounce it, they would deny the evidence of their own senses. I
have before me what is publicly sold in Italy for the Bible. It
is a collection of stories, taken from the historical books of the
Old and New Testament, and the Apocrypha, with what are
called moral reflections. This is all the Bible that is generally
circulated among the Italians, in their own language ; at least,
that the gentleman whose copy is in my possession, could get to
buy when lately in that country ; and great care has been taken
that nothing should be contained in it, that is dangerous to the
Romish religion ; that is, in short, nothing that can teach a sin-
ner the way of salvation, by Jesus Christ alone, without the aid
of a priest. In this work, they profess to give the genealogy of
the Popes, from Jesus Christ downward, to the present day, as if
that were a matter as certainly known as the genealogy of Christ
from Abraham. For the amusement of the reader, I shall give
the first century : —
Anni
] Gesu Cristo Pontifice etemo, secundo Tordine di Melchise-
dech, mori l'anno 4 della sua predicazione, e nel S3 con
3 mesi di sua era : elesse per sua successor*, e Vicario
San Pietro Principe degli Appostoli.
34. S. Pietro Galileo Appostoli - - 1
66. S. Lino Toscano - • 2
€7. S. Clemente Romana - - 3
77. S. Clero Romano - - 4
83. Anaclcto tFAtene, Greco - 5
96. S. Everisto di Betlemme - 6
Thus Jesus Christ is set at the head of the list of Popes ; he is
said to have chosen, as his successor and vicar, St. Peter, Prince
of the Apostles ; and Peter began his reign in the 34th year of
the Christian aera ; that is, in the very year that Christ was cruci-
fied. Now, this is downright imposition. Peter is made Bishop
of Rome, before there was a Christian in Rome ; Linus is made
his immediate successor, and Clement follows Linus; all which
is mere fancv; yet, it is held forth, by the Church of Rome, as
certain ; her members believe it without evidence, and so far as
relates to Peter, against the direct evidence of the Apostle Paul,
•who tells us, that he went to Jerusalem to see Peter three years
92
after his return from Arabia to Damascus ; and fourteen yearo
after that, he found Peter at Jerusalem, with James and John,
which must hare been above the fiftieth year of the Christian a?ra.
I know it is pleaded, that Peter was occasionally absent from Rome,
and particularly, that he went to Jerusalem, to be present at the
first general council ; but it is unfortunate for the argument, that
we read so much of Peter being in other places ; but not so much
as once within the bounds of his own See. The non-residence
of Bishops certainly was not practised so earlv in the Christian
church. It is, in short, not true that Peter was Bishop of
Rome ; it is not true that he had a successor in office, in Rome,
or any where else ; yet Papists must believe this ; they maintain
it most zealously and pertinaciously, for their whole system de-
pends upon it. It is nothing but prejudice, — blind prepossession.
Papists then, above all others, are the bigots.
Nothing can be more irrational than transubstantiation, yet
they are warm and zealous in maintaining this doctrine, in spite
of the evidence of their own senses. What can be greater
bigotry ?
During nine centuries of the Christian £era, priests were al-
lowed to marry like honest men. It required a miracle to per-
suade those in England, that it was unlawful for them to have
wives*; this miracle is now believed to have been an imposition ;
• " In this time the celibacy of the clergy was violently urged, and
married Priests thrust from their livings ; which raised great stirs in the
Church, but the particulars are not recorded, nor the broils which thereon
ensued. I read in the Antiquities of the Britannic Church, that, in the
vear 977, a Council was gathered at Calne, in Wiltshire, for that business,
to which Beornaixus, a Bishop of Scotland, was called by Alfritha, the
widow of King Edgar, who favoured the cause of married Priests. This
Bishop, a man of great learning and eloquence, is said to have defended
the conjugal life of Priests, by solid reasons, taken out of Scripture, and
to have put all the opposites to silence. But Duxstan, the Archbishop,
who presided in that Council, when he saw that reason could not bear out
tlve errand, fell a threatening, and said, that, notwithstanding all their
arguments, they should not carry away the victory ; which he had no
sooner spoken, than the beams of the house, wherein they sat at Council,
bursting asunder, all were overturned, and fell headlong to the ground ;
many were bruised, and some killed with the fall : Dunstan himself only
escaped without harm ; the beam whereon he stood remaining whole and
entire. Such as favoured the cause of Monks did interpret this accident
to be a sentence given by God on their side; others said that Dunstan
had wrought this mischief by sorcery, for many supposed him to be a
magician. However it was, the married Priests (ihough repining) were
forced, indeed, to yield and submit themselves. What became of Beor-
kallus, I read not; nor whether he returned to his own country."
Archbishop Spotsu'ood's History of the Church of Scotland, folio, p. 27. I
believe the above accident may be easily accounted for, without either
sorcery or a miracle ; but it served the purpose of answering the powerful
arguments of the Scottish Bishop; and the Priests were compelled to put
awav their wires.
93
yet do Papists most zealously maintain the doctrine pretended to
have been proved by it ; and if any clergyman were to take a
wife, he would be rendered incapable of any clerical function ;—
he would be held guilty of a greater crime than if he had violated ah
the ten commandments. What foolish prejudice ! What bigotry !
The following is an instance of bigotry such as we may look for
in vain among Protestants. One of the Dukes of Brunswick took
it in his head, in his old age, to forsake the religion in which he
had been educated, and to become Papist. He wrote a book to
justify his conversion, entitled, " The Duke of Brunswick's
Fifty Reasons for preferring the Roman Catholic Religion to
all other Sects." This book has lately been reprinted in Man-
chester, and is strongly recommended to all who wish to find the
true faith. The Duke writes with all the sophistry of a Jesuit ;
and, having given forty-nine reasons for changing his religion, he
gives the following as the last and crowning one. " I observed,
that many sectaries, who had seemed for many years to be fixed
in their persuasion, were converted towards the end of their days,
and desired to die in the Roman Cathwlic faith. But never did
I meet with a Catholic who 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, I re-
solved to live as I should wish to die, and for that reason 1 came
to a resolution to embrace immediately the Catholic faith ; be-
cause death is as certain, as its hour is uncertain. Besides that,
the Catholics to whom I spoke concerning my conversion,
assured me, that if 1 were to be damned for embracing the
Catholic faith, they were ready to answer for meat the day of
Judgment, and to take my damnation upon themselves, an as-
surance I could never extort from the ministers of any sect, in
case I should live and die in their religion. Whence, I infer-
red, that the Roman Catholic faith was built upon a belter
foundation than any of those sects that have divided from it"
Here isblind prepossession, prejudice, bigotry, with a witness! Here
is a man who trusts his salvation on the word of his fellow-crea-
tures, and seems content if they shall be damned in his stead ; and,
this book is earnestly recommended by Papists of the present day i
I might go over every doctrine and rite of the Romish Church,
and on every one of them I could convict her members of bigo-
try; but, in few words, I ask Amicus Veritatis, if he would
not rather that all the Popish children in Glasgow, should live
and die in ignorance, than that they should be taught by a Pro-
testant school-master ? Is not this prejudice, blind, irrational pre-
possession ? Is not this bigotry ?
This is the man who had no view in writing, but to put bigo-
try to the blush, and to advocate the cause of truth : and, poo2
94
Protestants must sit down quietly blushing, and ashamed of
their religion. In a tone of great self-sufficiency, he assumes it
as indisputable, that the principles of Protestants are " phantoms
raised by bigotry and prejudice." This is quite in the style of
other Popish writers in the present day. Those of the Ortho-
dox Journal, for instance, assume a lofty tone: they write as if
their religion were indisputably the religion of England and Ire-
land, and as if they considered the Protestants as a sect of mere
intruders.
It seems I must submit to the charge of intolerance as well as
bigotry. Amicus Veritatis asks, if I will " again spout out
the noxious venom" of religious intolerance and bigotry?" I may
fairly ask him, What sentiment, bordering on intolerance, has been
published by the Protestant? On this point I have made a great-
er concession in favour of Papists than many of my Protestant
brethren will thank me for, and such as no Papist, so far as I
know, ever made in favour of Protestants. See Part I. p. 40.
In fact, I know neither toleration nor intolerance. Neither of
the words belongs to the gospel of Christ. Popery, I believe to
be in its own nature intolerable, by which I mean, that it ought
not to receive any positive encouragement from Christians, any
more than the rites of Bacchus, or any other idol. But no man
can reasonably infer from this, that I would persecute the votaries
of Bacchus, or of Rome. I pity the poor man who wastes his
strength andhis substance in drunkenness ; but still, if his drunken-
ness does not extend to riot; if he is not guilty of a breach of the
peace, I should not think him a fit subject of punishment. I pity
also the poor man who worships the Pope, or the Virgin Mary,
or any of the saints, or who worships the work of his own hands
in the consecrated wafer ; but still, if he is not guilty of a breach
of the public peace, if he does no ill to his neighbour, I should not
think him a proper subject of punishment by his fellow creatures.
In short I think no weapon can be lawfully used against heretics,
or even against the grossest idolaters, but that of persuasion. It
belongs to idolatry and to Popery, as such, to use violent means for
the conversion of heretics, and for the propagation of their re-
ligion.
In my last Number, I gave proof of this by numerous instances
of wholesale murder, at the instigation of the Church of Rome, or
the Pope as her head, for the purpose of extirpating heretics. I
gave the opinion of the learned Doctors of Rheims, who trans-
lated the New Testament into English, that putting heretics to
death was no worse than shedding the blood of thieves and man-
killers. I shall now give the sentiments of modern Papists on
the subject of persecution. In my last Number, I quoted a pas-
sage from the Orthodox Journal, in which, persecutio.i for con*
95
science sake was strongly disavowed ; and I gave reasons for be«
lieving, that the writer meant only the persecution of his own sect
This is confirmed by the same Journal, in the passage which I am
now about to quote. I know it will be objected, that the Ortho-
dox Journal is not the Catholic Church ; and, therefore, Papists
are not responsible for its errors. I shall not, therefore, give it as
the doctrine of the Church ; but as the opinion of modern Pa-
pists ; for bad as it is, it is not by any means so sanguinary as the
doctrine and practice of the Church in former times.
Speaking of the right of every man to read the Scriptures, and
judge for himself, as to the meaning of their contents, the writer,
who subscribes himself Catholicus Romanus, proceeds: —
" Never did the Church of England commit a greater error, than
when it promulgated this absurd tenet. She then struck a dagger
in her own heart, which must in the end destroy her. Thousands,
every year, are leaving her communion : we find none embracing
it. H the Scripture alone is the rule of faith, and every man of
common sense a sufficient judge of its meaning, where will fanati-
cism end ? It is yet in its infancy. When the Lancasterian sys-
tem has taught the nation to read, and every man is equipped
and furnished with his Bible, then will there come forth a swan;,
of sectaries, preaching new, and, as yet, unheard of doctrines. It
has hitherto been a good speculation, where there was all to gain
and nothing to lose. A good appearance, and an easy flow of
words, is all that is required to make a fortune; whatever doctrine
he chooses to preach, it is of little consequence, provided he proves
it by a text ; either side out, like a smuggler's coat, to delude his
followers. Hence, we daily see so many spruce blackcoats, who,
the other day, had not a shoe to their feet. It may ill become a
Catholic to prop up by his advice the Protestant establishment,
otherwise, I should certainly advise them to call in all their Bibles-
Would not, Mr. Editor, some cunning financier do well, if
he took advantage, of this rage for Bibles, and laid a smart
tax upon the reading of it ? Permitting none to read it, with-
out first taking out a licence. And vcliy not tax this as well
as other nostrums ? Or might it not serve as a commutation for
the window-tax? For, if they are determined that the light of
Heaven shall be thus obscured by so many contradictory doctrines,
we might at least have a little more terrestrial light to illuminate
our darkness." Orth. Journ. Feb. 1814.
There is a long series of letters in the same style, in which the
Bible Society, and those who support it, are abused as a parcel
of fools and knaves ; and, as such sentiments pass unreproved by
the Editor, and without animadversion by any other correspon-
dent, so far as I have seen, they are not to be viewed as merely
the sentiments of an individual Papist, but as those of the gene-
96
ral body in England, of which this Journal seems to be the organ.
But the present subject is the persecution which is here recom-
mended against all who shall presume to read the Bible. It is
suggested to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to lay a smart tax,
or, which in this case would be the same thing, impose a severe
fine upon all who shall read the word of God. There could not
be more direct persecution for conscience' sake ; and, with regard
to the poor, it would be no less than depriving them of the bread
of life, and starving their souls by law. What a hue and cry
would be raised among Papists, if it were proposed to lay a tax
upon their holy water ! What dreadful persecution would this
be ! and yet they gravely propose a tax upon the water of life !
The reluctance of popery to commit the bible freely into the
hands of the people, is rendered manifest by its recent acts.
Two papal briefs, issued by Tope Pius VII. ; the first to Ignatius,
archbishop of Gnezn, primate of Poland, dated 29th of June,
1816 ; the other to Stanislaus, archbishop of Mohileff, in Russia,
dated 3rd of September, 1816; are directed against Bible
Societies in those countries. The first says, — " We have been
truly shocked at this most crafty device, by which the very
foundations of religion are undermined." — To remedy this " pes-
tilence . . . this defilement of the faith, most dangerous to souls
... we again and again exhort you, that whatever you can
achieve by power, provide for by counsel, or effect by authority,
you will daily execute with the utmost earnestness."
The other brief is to the same purpose.
The encyclical letter, however, of Pope Leo XII., on his
accession to the pontificate, is still more remarkable. " You are
aware," he says, "venerable brethren, that a certain society,
commonly called the Bible Society, strolls with effrontery
throughout the world ; which society, contemning the traditions
of the holy fathers, and contrary to the well-known decree of the
council of Trent, labours with all its might, and by every means.,
to translate — or rather to pervert — the holy bible, into the vulgar
languages of every nation ; from which proceeding it is greatly
to be feared, that what is ascertained to have happened as to
some passages, may occur with regard to others ; to wit, ' that,
by a perverse interpretation, the gospel of Christ be turned into
a human gospel, or, what is still worse, into the gospel of the
devil.'"
THE
i^rotegtattt.
No. XIII.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10//i, 1818
Amicus Veritatis accuses me of both bigotry and intolerance.
In my last Number, I endeavoured to show, that such terms be-
long more properly to the adherents of Romo. I convicted them
of bigotry, inasmuch as they are blindly prepossessed in favour
of a system, and irrationally zealous in maintaining it, not only with-
out evidence, but against the evidence of the word of God, and
of their own senses. With equal ease, I can convict them of in-
tolerance. Popery is, and always has been, a persecuting system :
and though it cannot be denied, that some Protestants have also
been persecutors, yet it can easily be shown, that they learned to
be so from Rome, and continued to be so, because they had not
renounced the whole of Rome's abominations.
I intend, in the present Number, to prove the Church ot
Rome guilty of intolerance and persecution, notwithstanding the
assertion of the Orthodox Journal, that persecution for conscience
sake was scarcely known in any Christian country, till it was in-
troduced by Protestants ; and I shall take the word "persecution
in the sense in which it is commonly understood in this country ;
.iot in the sense in which it is now used by Papists, who use it
only to denote what is done against themselves.
Early in the twelfth century, a great number of persons in
Lyons, and other parts in the south of France, had their eyes
opened to perceive the idolatry and absurdity of the Romish wor-
ship. They laboured for a long time under many disadvan
tages. The Vulgate Latin Bible was the only edition of the
N
98
Scriptures at that time in Europe ; and very few of the people
were capable of reading it. We may well suppose, then, that
their knowledge of divine things was very scanty ; but nobody can
tell how small the degree of knowledge is, by which a sinner may
be caved, if it be but the knowledge of Christ. Multitudes, who
were called the poor men of Lyons, had obtained that knowledge,
and were enabled to maintain the truth, at the expense of being
hated and persecuted by their neighbours.
Providence raised up one among them, who was highly honour-
ed as an instrument of extensively propagating those truths which
were, three hundred years after, embraced by Luther and his col
leagues, at the time of the Reformation. This was Petek
Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, from whom it is supposed,
the Waldenses took their name. Having had a better education
than most of his neighbours, he was able to teach the people the
text of the New Testament, in their mother tongue. Here he
saw clearly the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, and found
peace and comfort to himself. He was desirous of communicating
to others the knowledge of that truth which he found to be to his
own salvation. He abandoned his mercantile pursuits, distributed
his wealth to the poor, as occasion required ; and, while the latter
flocked to him, to partake of his alms, he laboured to engage
their attention to the things which belonged to their everlasting
peace. He either translated, or procured to be translated, the
four Gospels into French ; and had the honour of being the first
who gave the word of God in any modern language of Europe. —
See this subject, more in detail, in Jones' History of the Wnl-
denses, l2d Ed. chap. v. §. 1.
Waldo laboured incessantly in propagating the truth, and in
demonstrating the great difference there was between the Christi-
anity of the Bible, and that of the Church of Rome. " The
Archbishop of Lyons heard of these proceedings, and became
indignant. Their tendency was obvious ; the honour of the
Church was involved in them ; and in perfect consistency with
the usual mode of silencing objectors among the Catholic party,
he forbade the new Reformer to teach any more, on pain of ex-
communication, and of being proceeded against as an heretic." —
Waldo replied, " that though a layman, he could not be silent
in a matter which concerned the salvation of his fellow crea-
tures." " Information of these things was then conveyed to
Pope Alexander III. who no sooner heard of such heretical pro-
ceedings, than he anathematized the Reformer and his adherents,
commanding the Archbishop to proceed against them with the
utmost rigour." He was now compelled to leave Lyons, and
afterwards, " persecuted from place to placj he retired into
Picardy, where also success attended his labours. Driven from
99
thence, he proceeded to Germany, carrying along with him the glad
tidings of salvation ; and, according to the testimony of Thuauus,
a very authentic French historian, he at length settled in Bohe
mia, where he finished his course, in the year 1179, after a
ministry of nearly twenty years." Hist. Wald. vol. ii. p. 1 2.
Attend now to the intolerant spirit of the Popish religion, and
the cruelties exercised upon the followers of Peter Waldo ; —
The doctrines which he had taught, which were evidently those
of the Gospel, spread extensively in Alsace, along the Rhine,
and in many other places. " Persecutions ensued — thirty- five
citizens of Mentz were burned in one fire, at the city of Bin-
gen, and eighteen in Mentz itself. The bishops of both Mentz
and Strasburgh breathed nothing but vengeance and slaughter
against them; and, in the latter city, where Waldo himself is
said to have narrowly escaped apprehension, eighty persons were
committed to the flames. In the treatment and in the behaviour
of the Waldenses, were renewed the scenes of martyrdom of the
second century. Multitudes died praising God, and in the con-
fident hope of a blessed resurrection." Ibid. p. 13.
That these cruelties were inflicted, not on the mere authority
of individual bishops, but on the authority and at the instigation
of the Pope of Rome, as head of the Church, appears by a de-
cree of Pope Lucius III. against heretics, A. D. 1181, which
commences thus : — " To abolish the malignity of diverse heresies,
which are lately sprung up in most parts of the world, it is but
fitting that the power committed to the Church should be awak-
ened, that, by the concurring assistance of the imperial strength,
both the insolence and mal-pertness of the heretics, in their false
designs, may be crushed, and the truth of Catholic simplicity
shining forth in the holy Church, may demonstrate her pure and
free from the execrableness of their false doctrines. Wherefore
we, being supported by the presence and power of our most dear
son, Frederick, the most illustrious Emperor of the Romans,
always increaser of the empire, with the common advice and
counsel of our brethren, and other patriarchs, archbishops, and
many princes, who, from several parts of the world, are met to-
gether, do set themselves against these heretics, who have got dif-
ferent names from the several false doctrines which they profess,
by the sanction of this present decree, and by our apostolical au-
thority, according to the tenor of these presents, we condemn all
manner of heresy, by what name soever it may be denominated.
" More particularly, we declare all Catharists, Patorines, and
those who call themselves the Poor of Lyons ; the Passagines,
Josephites, Arnoldists, to be under a perpetual anathema. And
because some, under a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof, as the Apostle saith, assume to themselves the authority
100
of preaching ; whereas the same Apostle saith, " How shall they
preach, except they be sent?" — we therefore conclude, under
the same sentence of a perpetual anathema, all those who either
being forbid, or not sent, do notwithstanding presume to preach
publicly or privately, without any authority received from the
Apostolic See, or from the bishops of their respective dioceses,"
&c. &c. Thus, by authority of the holy father, the Emperor of
the Romans, and many princes from different parts of the world,
any man who shall tell his neighbour about salvation by Jesus
Christ, however privately, is subjected to a perpetual curse: and
the decree proceeds: — " As for any layman, who shall be found
guilty, either publicly or privately, of any of the aforesaid crimes,
(that is,preaching, or speaking improperly of the sacraments,) un-
less by abjuring his heresy, and making satisfaction, he immedi-
ately return to the orthodox faith, we decree him to be left to the
sentence of the secular judge, to receive condign punishment, ac-
cording to the quality of the offence." Hist. Wald. vol. ii. p.
15, 16. This of giving over to the secular judge, was well under-
stood to infer certain death, often accompanied by the most oruel
tortures that the ingenuity of men could invent.
Ildefonsus, King of Arragon, followed up this decree of the
Pope, by one of his own, in 1194, in which he ordains that all
heretics, found in his dominions, " be condemned and persecuted
every where ;" that any persons who should receive any of them
into their houses, or " be present at their pernicious sermons,"
shall " be punished, as if they were actually guilty of high trea-
son." The Emperor Frederick II. published a similar edict,
with regard to those in his dominions. " The care of the impe-
rial government," says his Majesty, " committed to us from hea-
ven, and over which we preside, demands the material sword,
which is given to us separately from the priesthood, against the
enemies of the faith, and for the extirpation of heretical pravrty,
that we should pursue with judgment and justice, those vipers and
perfidious children, who insult the Lord and his Church, as if
they would tear out the very bowels of their mother. We shall
not suffer these wretches to live, who infect the world by their se-
ducing doctrines, and who, being themselves corrupted, more
grievously taint the flock of the faithful.'* In another edict, the
Emperor accuses them of savage cruelty to themselves; " since,
Desides the loss of their immortal souls, they expose their bodies
to a cruel death, being prodigal of their lives, and fearless of de-
struction, which, by acknowledging the true faith they might escape,
:ind, which is horrible to express, their survivors are not terri-
fied by their example. Against such enemies to God and man,
we cannot contain our indignation, nor refuse to punish them
with the sword of just vengeance, but shall pursue them with so
101
much the greater vigour, as they appear to spread wider the crimes
of their superstition, to the most evident injury of the Christian
faith, and of the Church of Rome, which is adjudged to be the
head of all churches." Page 94—97, 2d vol. Jones, •whore-
fers to the first vol. of Limborch's History of the Inquisition
•where the edicts are to be found entire.
The whole power of the Romish Church, clerical and laical,
was mustered against these unoffending people, whose only crimes
were presuming to read and understand the word of God for
themselves, and refusing to believe all the nonsense which was
taught by the Romish priests. The latter were constantly em-
ployed in preaching up crusades against them. Their favourite
text was Psalm xciv. 16. " Who will rise up for me against
the evil doers ? or who will stand up for me against the workers
of iniquity ?" and the application of their sermons usually ran in
the following strain : — " You see, most dear brethren, how great
the wickedness of the heretics is, and how much mischief they do
in the world. You see, also, how tenderly, and by how many
pious methods, the Church labours to reclaim them. But with
them they all prove ineffectual, and they fly to the secular power
for their defence. Therefore, our Holy Mother, the Church,
though with great reluctance and grief, calls together against them
the Christian army. If then you have any zeal for the faith ; if
you are touched with any concern for the glory of God ; if you
would reap the benefit of this great indulgence, come and receive
the sign of the cross, and join yourselves to the army of the cru-
cified Saviour." The Pope had despatched preachers throughout
all Europe, to entice men to engage in this holy warfare. He
promised paradise, and the remission of all their sins, to those who
should serve forty days, which, I suppose, is what is meant by
the " great indulgence" mentioned above. After telling them
that " they were not to keep faith with those who do not keep
faith with God," he thus proceeds : — " We exhort you, that
you would endeavour to destroy the wicked heresy of the Albigenses,
and do this with more rigour than you would towards the Saracens
themselves ; persecute them with a strong hand ; deprive them of
their lands and possessions ; banish them, and put Catholics in
their room." I shall not torture my readers with the horrible de-
tails into which this subject would lead me. It is enough to say,
that, by fire and sword, the armies employed by Pope Innocent
III. murdered above two hundred thousand, in the short space of
a few months.
For many years, the work of extirpating heretics was continued,
at the instigation of the Pope, who commanded the princes who
were subject to him, that is, all the princes in Christendom, to
kill, to destroy, and cause to perish, all who presumed to differ,
102
in any point of religion, from the doctrine of the Church of Rome.
To Louis, King of France, he says, — " ' Tis the command of
God, who says : — ' If thou shalt hear say in any one of thy cities,
which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known, thou
shalt smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword.'
Although you are under many obligations already to God, for the
great benefits hitherto received from him, from whom comes every
good and perfect gift, yet you ought to reckon yourself more
especially obliged courageously to exert yourself for him, against
the subvertors of the faith, by whom he is blasphemed, and man-
fully to defend the Catholic purity, which many, in those parts,
adhering to the doctrines of devils, are known to have cast ofF."
Louis was very ready to obey the command of his ghostly fa-
ther, by raising an army to destroy the heretics ; but he was afraid
the King of England would invade his territory, while he was era-
ployed in so godly a work. The Pope, therefore, endeavours
to keep the English monarch at home, by writing to him as fol-
lows : — " Make no war, either by yourself, or your brother, or
any other person on the said king, so long as he is engaged in
the affair of the faith and service of Jesus Christ, lest by your ob-
structing the matter, which God forbid you should do, the king,
with his prelates and barons of France, should be forced to turn
their arms from the extirpation of heretics, to their own defence."
In short, it seems as if the whole soul of the Pope, and of all
his clergy, and of all the princes under his control, had been di-
rected to this one object : — the murdering of those who received
their religion directly from the word of God. The Waldenses
and Albigenses were a simple harmless people ; they professed
no principles, and were convicted of no practices, hostile to the
good order of society. Their very enemies bear ample testimony
on behalf of their manner of life, as being more moral than that of
those who persecuted them. Even an inquisitor, who wrote
against them, says, — H These heretics are known by their manners
and conversation ; for they are orderly and modest in their behaviour
and deportment. They avoid all appearance of pride in their
dress, they neither indulge in finery of attire, nor are they remark-
able for being mean or ragged. They avoid commerce, that they
may be free from deceit and falsehood. They get their livelihood
by manual industry, as day labourers or mechanics, and their
teachers are weavers or tailors. They are not anxious about
amassing riches, but content themselves with the necessaries of
life. They are chaste, temperate, and sober. They abstain from
anger. Even when they work, they either learn or teach. In like
manner also, their women are very modest ; avoiding backbiting,
foolish jesting, and levity of speech, especially abstaining from lies
103
or swearing, not so much as making use of the common assevera-
tions, " in truth," " for certain," or the like ; because they regard
these as oaths — contenting themselves with simply answering,
" yes," or "no."
Claudius Seisselius, Archbishop of Turin, says, " that,
their heresy excepted, they generally live a purer life than other
Christians." — " In their lives and morals," says he, w they are per-
fect, irreprehensible, and without reproach among men, addicting
themselves, with all their might, to the service of God." Yet this
prelate wrote against them, and joined in persecuting them, be-
cause they would not submit to all the absurdities and impieties
of Rome.
Lielententius, a Dominican, speaking of the Waldenses of
Bohemia, says, — " I say, that in morals and life they are good,
true in words, unanimous in brotherly love ; but their faith is in-
corrigible and vile, as I have shewn in my treatise. Samuel
de Cassini, a Franciscan friar, speaking of them in his " Vic-
toria Triotifale" explicitly owns in what respect their faith was
incorrigible and vile, when he says, " that all the errors of
these Waldenses consisted in this, that they denied the Church
of Rome to be the Holy Mother Church, and would not obey her
traditions."
In the time of a great persecution of the Waldenses of Merindol
and Provence, a certain monk was deputed by the Bishop of Ca-
vaillon, to hold a conference with them, that they might be
convinced of their errors, and the effusion of blood prevented.
But the monk returned in confusion, owning that in his whole life
he had never known so much of the Scriptures as he had learned
during those few days that he had been conversing with the here-
tics. The Bishop, however, sent among them a number of doc-
tors— young men, who had lately come from the Sorbonne, which,
at that time, was the very centre of theological subtilty at Paris.
One of these publicly owned, that he had understood more of
the doctrine of salvation, from the answers of the children in their
catechisms, than by all the disputations that he had ever before heard.
Such was the character of those who professed the doctrines of
the Reformation, long before the Reformation took place ; and
this is the character which their enemies gave them. Undoubted-
ly, then, they were the Church of Christ, — they were the followers
of the Lamb, — they were the saints of God ; and the Church of
Rome became drunk with their blood — intoxicated with rage
against them, and by success in destroying them. The details of
the murderous warfare which was carried on against them, for
more than three centuries, are the most horrible that can be ima-
gined. I shall give only one instance of the manner in which they
were treated. It is by no means the worst, but, I believe, it is as
bad as any of my readers will be able to bear : —
104-
" About the year 1100, a violent outrage was committed upon
the Waldenses, wtio inhabited the valley of Pragella, in Piedmont,
by the Catholic party resident in that neighbourhood. The at-
tack, which seems to have been of the most furious kind, was
made towards the end of the month of December, when the moun-
tains were covered with snow, and thereby rendered of difficult
access, that the peaceable inhabitants of the valleys were wholly
unapprized that any such attempt was meditated ; and the perse-
cutors were in actual possession of their caves, ere the former seem
to have been apprized of any hostile designs against them. In
this pitiable plight, they had recourse to the only alternative which
remained for saving their lives — they fled to one of the highest
mountains of the Alps, with their wives and children, the unhappy
mothers carrying the cradle in one hand, and in the other leading
such of their offspring as were able to walk. Their inhuman in-
vaders, whose feet were swift to shed blood, pursued them in
their flight, until night came on, and slew great numbers of them,
before they could reach the mountains. Those who escaped
were, however, reserved to experience a fate not more enviable.
Overtaken by the shades of night, they wandered up and down
the mountains, covered with snow, destitute of the means of shel-
ter from the inclemencies of the weather, or of supporting them-
selves under it by any of the comforts which Providence has destin-
ed for that purpose : benumbed with cold, they fell an easy prey to
the severity of the climate, and when the night had passed away,
there were found in their cradles, or lying upon the snow, foursqore
of their infants deprived of life, many of the mothers also lying
dead by their sides, and others just upon the point of expiring."
This was the work of the holy Roman Church, and a thou-
sand such things she has done. It was done by authority of the
head of the Church, with the concurrence of his prelates and pa-
triarchs, and by the agency of kings and princes, who degraded
themselves, by becoming the common executioners of the ghostly
father of Rome. I should not bring such things against Papists
of the present day, if they would honestly say, that they condemn
the conduct of the head of the Church, for such barbarous pro-
ceedings. But they will do no such thing. I never heard of one
of them who would say that the Pope had done wrong, in com-
manding the slaughter of so many thousands of men, women, and
children, for the sake of religion. I hold them all, therefore,
guilty of consenting to the bloody work of their fathers ; and it
is not unfair to infer that, if they were placed in the same circum-
stances, and had the same power over heretics, their conduct
would be the same.
THH
sProte<5tant,
No. XIV.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER \lth, 1818.
It was not till towards the end of the eleventh century, that the
Church of Scotland was brought into full conformity with that of
Rome. The simplicity of the Culdean mode of worship was prefer-
red by our fathers for ages after other countries in Europe, not ex-
cepting England, had submitted to the superstitious and ridiculous
mummery of the Romish Church. This simplicity of worship was
called barbarism, by the Popish writers of those days ; as, I be-
lieve, our mode of worship is esteemed barbarous still, by those
who prefer the Popish ritual. Margaret, Queen of Malcolm
Canmore, who has been canonized as the patroness of Scotland,
was the instrument of bringing the Church to a nearer conformity
with Rome, both in doctrine and worship. She was an Anglo-
Saxon princess, and having been educated on the Continent,
where she had been accustomed to witness the same pompous
rites, she was much offended by u certain erroneous practices,"
which prevailed in the Scottish Church. She was at great pains
to annihilate those barbarous rites which were contrary to the
universal practice of the Church. Her arguments at length pre-
vailed. The people were persuaded to keep Lent at the proper
time, to celebrate Mass in the proper manner, and, I suppose, to
become in every respect good Christians, according to the will of
the Queen. It would appear, however, that, after her death, many
relapsed to their former " beastly rites," as a Popish saint was
pleased to denominate the simple- worship of the Culdees.
O
106
In the twelfth century, it is affirmed, hy Popish writers, there
were Waldenses to be found both in England and Scotland, so
that the thick darkness of Popery did not rest long upon our
highly favoured country, without being relieved by a few rays of
heavenly light. " In the year 1160, some real Christians sought
in Britain an asylum from the persecutions of Germany. But,
alas! they found only a premature grave. Regarding them as
contemptible heretics, the writers of these times record their his-
tory in a way so cursory and confused, that it is difficult to ascer-
tain facts. It is, however, confessed that the leader of these re-
fugees, whose name was Gerard, was neither ignorant nor illite-
rate, though we are told his followers were, because, it seems.,
they made no other reply to the cavils of their enemies, than, " we
believe as we are taught in the word of God." These simple
people received such treatment from the Popish rulers in England,
as their brethren did in Germany and France. A council was
called by the king, to meet at Oxford, to try these heretics, whose
number, it seems, amounted to no more than thirty. They were
not likely to meet with either mercy or justice, from an assembly
of haughty prelates. They were condemned — branded on the
forehead — publicly whipt out of the town — and, being turned into
the fields, in the depth of winter, when all were forbidden to re-
lieve them, they perished. Even their enemies allow, that they
behaved with great calmness and moderation ; and when the in-
human sentence was executed upon them, they sang;, " Blessed
are ye when men shall hate you, and persecute you." Warner
justly observes, that " their conduct was worthy of the best and
most righteous cause, and would incline one to think favourably
of their doctrine." These were probably the first martvrs in Bri-
tain, for pure Christianity ; at least, the first that suffered from the
Church of Rome. What now shall we think of the assertion of
modern Papists, that persecution was scarcely known in any
Christian country, till it was practised by Protestants? The fact
is, wherever there appeared the smallest symptom of any person
being about to form his own judgment on matters of religion,
from the word of God, he was considered a fit subject for the
fire, and such is the hardening influence of Popery, upon the
hearts of people otherwise humane, that it renders them perfectly
insensible of the miseries of fellow creatures; it makes them even
delight in inflicting tortures, if it be only for the sake of the faith.
England, in the twelfth century, was not a country of savages.
Considerable progress had been made in civilization ; but it was a
land of Papists; and, therefore, thirty poor strangers, who sought
an asylum among them, and who were guilty of no crime, but
professing to believe what they were taught in the word of God,
were branded, and whipt, and with their bodies thus lacerated
107
they were driven from the abodes of men, and left to perish of
hunger and cold, in the depth of winter ! The above fact is re-
lated by Bogue and Bennet, who refer to Warner's Ecc. Hist. —
Petries' Ecc. Hist, and Gillies' Collections."
The Popish writers affirm not only that the Waldenses were
found in England and Scotland, but they mention Wickliffe as
one of their followers ; and every reader of history knows what
he and those who embraced pure Christianity suffered from their
Popish rulers. Through the powerful influence of John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Wickliffe was indeed saved from the
fury of his persecutors, and suffered to die a natural death ; but
the Council of Constance, which burned John Huss, condemned
Wickliffe as a heretic ; and by its order his bones were dug up
and burnt, and the ashes thrown into a neighbouring brook.
This deed of impotent rage was the deed of the holy church in
council assembled ; and is therefore chargeable upon the church
herself, and not upon any individual bishop or king.
At Glasgow, in the year 14-22, James Iletby was burnt for
denying that the Pope was Christ's Vicar. I have no doubt
tnany suffered before this date ; but Retby is the first that remains
on record, and he is mentioned by Knox, whose History com-
mences at this year ; and begins with remarkable extracts from the
records of ' Glasgow. The historian observes " that it was by
the merciful providence of God that such things, as are after-men-
tioned, were kept even by the enemies of truth, in their registers,
to show that God preserved, in this realm, some sparks of his
light, even in the time of the greatest darkness." In 1431, Paul
Craw, a Bohemian, apprehended in the Universky of St. An-
drews, suffered death there. His enemies put a ball of brass in
his mouth, that what he said for the truth, might not instruct the
people. Wickliffe is said to have received the knowledge of the
truth from one Lollard ; hence, those who embraced the same senti-
ments were called Lollards, and they appear to have been numerous
in both parts of the island, before the end of the fifteenth century.
In the year 14-94-, thirty persons of those called the Lollards of
Kyle, (that is, part of Ayrshire) were accused before Blackadder,
Archbishop of Glasgow, of about thirty-four articles contrary to
Popish errors. Among these Lollards were George Campbell of
Cesnock, Adam Reid of Bars-Kimming, John Campbell of New
Mills, Andrew Shaw of Polkennet, Helen Chamber Lady Po-
kellie, and Isabel Chamber Lady Stair. Archbishop Spotsv/ood
informs us what sort of errors were held by those Lollards of
Kyle, of which the following are a specimen : — That images
ought not to be made or worshipped ; — that the relicks of saints
ought not to be adored ; — that it is not lawful to fight for the
feith ; — that after the consecration of the mass there remained)
108
bread, and that the natural body of Christ is not there ; that
every faithful man and woman is a priest ; — that the Pope is not
the successor of Peter, except in that which our Saviour spoke to
him, " Go behind me, Satan ;" — that the Pope deceives the
people with his bulls and indulgences ; — that the mass profiteth
not the souls in purgatory ; — that the Pope exalts himself above
God, and against God ; — that priests may have wives, &c. The
Archbishop of Glasgow laying these things to the charge of the
above persons, they answered all with such confidence, that it was
thought best to demit them, with an admonition to take heed
of new doctrines, and content themselves with the faith of the
Church. The Archbishop's accusation is said to have been very
grievous, yet God so assisted his servants, partly by inclining the
King's heart to gentleness, for several of them were his familiar
friends, and partly by enabling them to give bold and godly answers
to their accusers; so that, in the end, the enemies were frustrate
in their purpose. Adam Reid, in particular, gave such answers as
turned the cause of the persecutors into ridicule, in the presence
of the court where the King presided." — See Spctswood and
Gillies Hist. Coll.
Those worthy persons of Ayrshire thus escaped the fury of
their persecutors; but no thanks to the Archbishop of Glasgow,
or to the Church of Rome, who would gladly have had them all
at the stake. Considering the articles laid to their charge, one is
astonished that they should have acquired so much spiritual light
in an age of darkness, while yet the Bible had not been printed in
their language, and Wickliffe's translation in manuscript must
have been possessed by few of them.
Blackadder was not the only Archbishop of Glasgow, who dis-
tinguished himself as a persecutor. Spotswood remarks of Beaton,
who was translated to St. Andrews, " that herein he was most
unfortunate, that, under the shadow of his authority, many good
men were put to death for the cause of religion, though himself
was neither violently set, nor much solicitous (as it was thought)
how matters went in the Church." I cannot sustain this apology
0 f the Scottish Protestant Primate on behalf of his Popish prede-
c essor. If good men were put to death under his authority, he
was undoubtedly their murderer ; and that he was not solicitou s
how matters went in the church, only presents his character in a
light so much the worse. He was a Papist, however, and I be-
lieve not worse than the average of Popish bishops, — he would
rather have seen half the nation brought to the stake and burnt
than that one man should be allowed to read the Bible, and form
his own judgment of its contents.
It is not my intention to write an ecclesiastical history ; nor do
1 intend to narrate all that our fathers suffered, on account of re
109
ligion from Papists, and men popishly inclined. If such were my
intention, I could not flatter myself, or my readers, with the pro-
spect of a termination of my labours in less than seven years. 1
must be indulged, however, in relating one or two instances, to
show the true spirit of Popery, and what may be expected if that
system shall again obtain the ascendency.
Of the " many good men" that suffered death under Arch-
bishop Beaton, Archbishop Spotswood says, — " The first that
was called in question, was Mr. Patrick Hamilton, Abbot of
Ferm, a man nobly descended, for he was nephew to the Earl of
Arran, by his father, and to the Duke of Albany, by his
mother, and not much past twenty-three years of age. This
young man had travelled in Germany, and falling in familiarity
with Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Francis Lambert, and
other learned men, was by them instructed in the knowledge of
true religion, in the profession whereof he was so zealous, as he
was resolved to come back into his country, and communicate the
light he had received, unto others. At his return, wheresoever he
came, he spared not to lay open the corruptions of the Roman
Church, and to show the errors crept into Christian religion ;
whereunto many gave ear, and a great following he had both for
his learning and courteous behaviour to all sorts of people. The
clergy grudging at this, under colour of conference, enticed him
to the city of St. Andrews; and when he came thither, appointed
friar Alexander Campbell, to keep company with him, and to use
the best persuasions he could to divert him from his opinions.
Sundry conferences they had, wherein the friar, acknowledging that
many things in the Church did need to be reformed, and applaud-
ing his judgment in most of the points, his mind was rather con-
firmed than in any sort weakened. Thus having stayed some few
days in the city, whilst he suspected no violence to be used, un-
der night he was apprehended, being in bed, and carried prisoner
to the castle ; the next day he was presented before the Bishop,
accused of maintaining the articles following." — These are sub-
stantially the doctrines of the Reformation. Confessing that he
held some of them as undoubted, and others as disputable, he
was put to trial, — condemned as a heretic, and delivered over to
the secular judge. " The same day, (for the execution was hasten-
ed, lest the King, who was gone at that time in pilgrimage to St.
Duthac, in Ross, should impede the proceeding,) he was con-
demned by the secular judge, and, in the afternoon led to his
place of suffering, which was appointed to be at the gate of St.
Salrator's college. Being come to the place, he put off his gown,
and gave it, with his bonnet, coat, and other apparel to his ser-
vant, saying, this stuff will not help in the fire, yet will do thee
some good; I have no more to leave thee but the ensample of my
110
death, which I pray thee keep in mind. For albeit the same be
bitter, and painful in man's judgment, yet is it the entrance to
everlasting life, which none can inherit, who denieth Christ before
this congregation. Then was he tied to the stake; about it a
great quantity of coal, wood, and other combustible matter was
heaped, whereof he seemed to have no fear, but seriously com-
mending his soul into the hands of God, held his eyes fixed to-
wards heaven. The executioner firing the powder that was laid
to kindle the wood, his left hand and the side of his face were a
little scorched therewith, yet the fire did not kindle. Whereupon
some were sent to the castle to bring more powder; whilst this
was bringing, he uttered divers comfortable speeches to them that
stood by : the friars all that time molesting him with their cries,
bidding him convert, pray to our lady, and say Salve Regina ;
amongst them none was more troublesome than friar Alexander
Campbell, who, as we said, kept company with him, at his first
coming to the city. Often he besought him to depart, and not to
vex him; but when he would not cease his crying, he said, wick-
ed man, thou knowest that I am not a heretic, and that it is the
truth of God for which I now suffer; so much thou didst confess
to me in private, and, therefore, I appeal thee to answer before
the judgment-seat of Christ.
" The powder by this time was brought, and the fire kindled,
after which, with a loud voice he was heard to say, how long, O
Lord, shall darkness oppress this realm? how long wilt thou suf-
fer this tyranny of men ? and then closed his speeches with these
words, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. His body was quickly con-
sumed, for the fire was vehement, but the patience and constancy
he showed in his dying stirred up such compassion in the be-
holders, as many of them doubted not to say that he suffered an
innocent, and was indeed a martyr of Christ."
It became, however, a capital crime to say that Patrick Hamil-
ton died a martyr, and some suffered death for it. According to
Spotswood, " one Henry Forrest was delated for saying that
Mr. Patrick Hamilton died a martyr, and thereupon was brought
to St. Andrew's; but, because the probation was not clear enough,
friar Walter Lainge, was appointed to confess him. The simple
man that feared no harm, being asked by the friar, what was his
judgment of Mr. Patrick, answered, that he esteemed him to be
a good man, and that the articles for which he was condemned,
might well be defended. This confession, revealed by the friar.
was taken for sufficient evidence, and the poor man was condemn-
ed to be burnt as a heretic. As he was leading out to be de-
graded, he complained grievously of the friar who had betrayed
him, crying out, fie on falsehood, fie on false friars, revealers of
confession. Never let any man trust them after me. They are
Ill
despisers of God, and deceivers of men. And whan they were
taking from him his orders, (for he was of the order of Bennet
and Collet, as they used then to speak) he cried aloud, take not
only your orders from me, but your baptism also. So being car*
ried to the place of execution, (which was appointed to be at the
north stile of the Abbey, to the end the heretics of Angus might
see the fire) he suffered death most constantly. Whilst they were
consulting upon the manner of his execution, one John Lindsay,
a plain and simple man who attended the Bishop, gave advice to
burn him in some hollow cellar ; for the smoke, saith he, of Mr.
Patrick Hamilton hath infected all those on whom it blew.
" Yet the persecution still proceeding, divers were cited to ap-
pear at Hulirudhouse, by James Hay, Bishop of Ross, who sat
as commissioner for the Archbishop of St. Andrews; amongst
others, James Hamilton of Livingston, brother-german to Master
Patrick, with Catherine Hamilton, his sister. The gentleman was
advised by the King, secretly, (for he loved the man) not to ap-
pear, and was for his contumacy condemned. His sister appear-
ing, and questioned upon the point of justification by works,
answered simply, that she believed no person could be saved by
their works. Master John Spence, the lawyer, held a long dis-
course with her about that purpose, telling her that there were dif-
ferent sorts of works, works of congruity, and works of condignity;
in the application whereof, he consumed a long time. The wo-
man growing thereupon into a chafe, cried out, • work here,
work there, what kind of working is all this? I know perfectly,
that no works can save me but the work of Christ my Saviour.'
The king was present all the time, and laughed heartily at the
answer, yet, taking the gentlewoman aside, he moved her to recant
her opinions, and by her example divers others at the same time
abjured their profession." How honourably would this lady have
appeared in history, had she been burnt at the stake as her bro-
ther was, instead of being prevailed upon by the king to make
shipwreck of the faith.
I shall, at present, give only one instance more of Popish
cruelty and intolerance. It happened in our own city, in 1538:
" This year, in Glasgow," says Spotswood, " Hieronymus Russel,
of the order of Grey Friars, and one Kennedy, a young man of
Ayr, not past eighteen years of age, were accused likewise of
heresy, but because the Archbishop, Mr. Gavin Dumbar, was
esteemed somewhat cold in these businesses, Master John Law-
der, Master Andrew Oliphant, and Friar Maltman, were sest
from Edinburgh to assist in the trial." " The friar reasoned long
and learnedly against his accusers, and, being answered only with
railings and bitter speeches, said, ' This is your hour and power
of darkness; now you sit as judges, and we stand wrongfully con-
us
demned, but the clay cometh which will show our innocency, and
you shall see your own blindness, to your everlasting confusion ;
go on, and fulfil the measure of your iniquity.' At which words
the Archbishop was greatly moved, affirming that these rigorous
executions did hurt the cause of the Church more than could well
be thought of, and therefore he declared that, in his opinion, it
should be best to save the lives of the men, and take some other
course with them: but these others, who were sent to assist, told
him expressly, that, if he followed any milder course than that
which had been kept at Edinburgh, they could not esteem him
the Church's friend; whereupon he was compelled to give way to
their cruelty, and thus these innocents were condemned to be
burnt alive." " When they were brought to the place of their
suffering, they used not many words, but, commending their souls
to God, after they were tied to the stake, endured the fire con-
stantly, without expressing any token of fear or amazement."'
I could give a much more detailed account of the preaching
and sufferings of Hamilton and others, from other historians; but I
prefer giving that of Archbishop Spotswood, Lord Primate of
all Scotland, because his word will go farther with Papists than
that of a meaner man, especially as he was, as his title page bears,
" Privy Counsellor to King Charles the First, that most religi-
ous and blessed Prince.'*
After saying so much of the severity of Popish persecutions,
it may be interesting to know something of the manner in which
Protestants persecute Papists. One instance, at present, shall
suffice. It is reported of a late Popish priest, in a neighbour-
ing town, that he complained much of being persecuted. The
good people, his neighbours, could not think what he meant,
fur he seemed to be living in as much peace and comfort as any
of themselves. On inquiry, it turned out that, when he had gone
into a cotton mill, to inquire about some of his people, the chil
dren whispered to one another, that is the Popish priest. This
was his persecution !
If it be objected, that this is only an instance which has occur-
red in modern times, while my instances of Popish persecution
are of an old date, I answer, that the older a doctrine or
practice is, Papists like it the better; that Popery is always the
same; that the practice of their Church in former days is her prac-
tice still, wherever she has the power and the opportunity of doing
what she formerly did ; whereas Protestants acknowledge their
"ormer imperfections, are thankful for any improvement they have
made, and they hope to improve still farther.
THE
Protectant,
No. XV
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24th, 1818.
1 hope the facts given in my two last Numbers will be consider-
ed by my readers as sufficient to fix the charge of intolerance upon
Papists themselves. Popery is avowedly an exclusive system. I
have shown that it was so in ages past ; and I have now to show
that it is so still. In doing this, I shall not rest my proof on the
recent persecutions in France, but on a document published in
the Orthodox Journal of last month.
It is the misfortune of the King of the Netherlands, that, in the
greater part of his kingdom, the Romish religion prevails, while
he is a Protestant, and is desirous that all his subjects should en-
joy equal liberty. The constitution of the kingdom, indeed, pro-
vides for unlimited freedom in religious worship, by all denomina-
tions who shall live peaceably ; nay, more, " all the subjects of
the King, without distinction of religious belief, enjoy the same
civil and political rights, and are eligible to all dignities and em-
ployments whatsoever." On this very account, the new consti-
tution is condemned by the Popish bishops; and they refuse
taking the oath prescribed by law. They declare, in effect, that
Jesus Christ has given to each of them a certain portion of the
surface of the globe, which is called a diocese. " The power,"
they say, " which bishops have to watch over the teaching of
Christian faith and morality, through the whole extent of their
dioceses, like that of fulfilling all the other functions of the minis-
try, emanates from the will and authority of Jesus Christ." Hence,
they will not allow the sovereign so much as the power of regulat-
p
114
ing public instruction in the schools; and they will not suffer
that any faith but that of Rome shall be taught or professed in
those parts of the globe which Christ has given them. 1 should
give the document entire were it not too long. It is entitled,
" doctrinal decision of the bishops of the kingdom of the
Netherlands, on the oath prescribed by the new constitution"
After stating the duties of bishops as guardians and deposits o
the faith and morality of the gospel, they say, " It is to them ,
therefore, that are particularly addressed these words of the Ho)
Ghost: — Even unto death fight for justice ; and God will over-
throw thy enemies for thee." These, by the by, are no more the
words of the Holy Ghost, than those of the Orthodox Journal
are, but merely those of an apocryphal writer, ( Ecclesiasticus
iv. 28. which the bishops quote, Eccl. iv. 33.; which, with an ig-
norant reader, may pass for the acknowledged canonical book,
Ecclesiastes. These bishops declare that they cannot take the
prescribed oaths, because, say they, " In fact, they bind them-
selves by the said oaths to observe and maintain all the articles of
the new constitution, and, consequently, those which are opposed
to the spirit and maxims of the Catholic religion, or which evi-
dently tend to oppress and enslave the Church of Jesus Christ.
Now, such are the following articles : — Article 190. Liberty of
religious opinions is guaranteed to all. Article 191. Equal pro-
tection is granted to all the religious communions which exist in
the kingdom. Article 192. All the subjects of the king, with-
out distinction of religious belief, enjoy the same civil and politi-
cal rights, and are eligible to all dignities and employments what-
soever. Article 193. The public exercise of any form of wor-
ship cannot be prevented, except it be liable to trouble the public
order and tranquillity. Article 196. The king takes care that all
worships keep themselves within the obedience due to the laws of
the state."
Such are the laws in the new kingdom of the Netherlands,
with regard to religious freedom, and it is difficult to conceive any
thing more liberal, where there are laws about religion, and, in-
deed, the House of Orange have been for ages distinguished as
the friends of religious liberty. But the Romish bishops will not
consent to such articles: they abhor such liberal ideas. As to
Article 190 and 191, they say: — " 1st. To swear to maintain the
liberty of religious opinions, and the equal protection granted to
all forms of worship, what else is it but to swear to maintain to
protect error as well as truth ; to favour the progress of anticatholic
doctrines ; to sow, as much as in us lies, the tares and poison
which are to infect the present and future generations ; to contri-
bute thus, and it cannot be done more effectually, to extinguish
gradually, in these fine countries, the torch of the true fiitl ?
115
The Catholic Church which has ever rejected error and heresy
from her bosom, could not regard as her true children, those who
would dare to swear to maintain that which she has never ceased
to condemn."
" Article 192. — 2. To swear to maintain the observance of
a law, which renders all the subjects of the king, of whatsoever
religious belief they may be, capable of maintaining all dignities
und employments whatsoever, would be to justify beforehand and
to sanction the measures which may be taken to confide the in-
Jerests of our holy religion, in these provinces so eminently Ca-
tholic, to Protestant functionaries."
I have not been an opposer to what is called Catholic eman-
cipation, on the liberal ground of emancipating all dissenters alike,
and putting them all, if good subjects, upon an equal footing with
regard to civil privileges ; but, supposing I were an opposer, I
could not use a stronger argument than that furnished by these
Belgian bishops. If all the subjects of the king are eligible to
public offices, then they contemplate great danger to their holy
religion, from the appointment of Protestant functionaries in their
provinces so eminently Catholic. I am sure, the argument applies
with double force to our country, so eminently Protestant; — if all
shall be equally eligible to public offices — if we shall thereby come
under the government of Popish functionaries, there will be more
danger to Protestantism in Britain, than to Popery in Belgium, in
proportion as Papists are more zealous than Protestants, in propa-
gating their peculiar tenets.
The declaration of these Belgian bishops is given in the Or-
thodox Journal, without animadversion, and, I believe, with appro-
bation, as it seems to accord with the general spirit of the Editor
and his Correspondents. With what face then can they cry out
against our government for refusing them here, what they will not
grant to Protestants in the Netherlands ? They are continually
railing against the British government for refusing them their just
rights, — their undoubted rights, — their unalienable rights, of
which, they say, they have been unjustly deprived by the intoler-
ance of the British government. Will they grant that the rights
of Protestants in the Netherlands, and in Spain, are as just, and
undoubted, and unalienable, as theirs are in Britain and Ireland ?
I am sure they will not; and if they possessed a particle of mo-
desty or discretion, they would forbear making such an outcry
about their deprivations, and their rights, till they had prevailed
with their ghostly father at Rome, to command their dear sons, the
kings of Spain and Portugal, and the Belgian bishops, to grant
as much liberty to Protestants in their dominions and dioceses, as
Papists already have in Britain and Ireland. They cannot rea-
116
sonably complain, if they receive as much as they would give; and
they have received a great deal more.
But, let any one ask Papists to say plainly what they mean by
their just rights? and, if they are candid, they will answer, the en-
tire possession of the kingdom, and all things in it. This, they
say, they formerly possessed, and they complain of having been
unjustly deprived of it, by the violence of Knox and others, at the
Reformation. Let things be restored to the condition in which
they stood before that period, and they will have obtained their
just rights; then, if any Protestants shall remain in the country,
they may have the choice which Henry VIII. gave to his hereti-
cal subjects, " turn or burn."
To come nearer our own door, Popery is proved to be intoler-
ant by a furious philippic against The Protestant, in the
Chapel in Clyde Street, on Sabbath, the 4th of this present
month. The unhappy individual, who writes these pages, was as
good as excommunicated, after the solemn pantomime of high
mass, in the presence of a vast congregation of Protestants and
Papists. I do not say that his excommunication was accompanied
by the usual solemnities ; it was not done from the altar, but only
from the pulpit, and the lights were not extinguished; but he was
declared to be no Christian, which was putting him without the
pale of the Church ; and his person and publications were con-
signed to everlasting infamy. As the person principally concerned
was not present, he cannot give a particular account of the mat-
ter; but, from some reports which have reached his ear, he be-
lieves he was loaded with nearly as many curses, as the Pope pro-
nounced upon the poor alum-maker, for which see my fifth
Number. This violence of the priest was merely the raging of the
tyger in his cage; but it showed what he would do, if he were un-
der no restraint. By one summary and Jlaming argument, he
would refute, and for ever silence, the enemy of the true faith.
Having occupied about three numbers and a half, in replying
to one sentence of Amicus Veritatis, about bigotry and
intolerance, I must now endeavour to get over the ground a little
faster. Part First, page 28, this Gentleman says, "Before I
proceed, I may recall to your recollection the remark of Demos-
thenes, the orator, " such is the natural disposition of mankind,
that invective and accusation are heard with pleasure, while they
who speak their own praises are heard with impatience." Ami-
cus Veritatis did right to inform us that it was Demosthenes,
the orator, who said this, lest we should have ascribed it to some
other Demosthenes ; and certainly there is not much in the
sentence that would make any admirer of the orator contend for
it. If it is meant to be ■ reflection on the natural disposition of
mankind, that " they who speak their own praises are heard with
117
impatience," I would very cheerfully vindicate this trait in the
character of my fellow creatures. A much greater than Demos-
thenes said, " Let another praise thee, and not thine own lips."
In fact, the Papists are incessantly praising themselves and their
church ; and I am not surprised that they should find people
who hear this very impatiently. Amicus Veritatis speaks of
his brethren as " a body of men who have been celebrated fur
every Christian virtue." (Part I. page 30.) And, in the short
advertisement published at the end of Part I. from' the Glasgow
Chronicle, he calls them " the most numerous and respectable
body of Christians in the world." Now, it is very probable that
if he talks this way of his brethren and of himself, in company, he
will be heard with impatience, as he deserves to be. I have no
quarrel with my private Popish neighbours, who are living peace-
ably, and following their lawful occupations : I have no wish to
diminish their respectability ; and if they are the most respectable
body of Christians in the world, it is the better for themselves.
My controversy is with their priest, and with others who deceive
them, and who flatter them with their goodness, and their virtues,
and respectability, instead of directing them, as poor sinners, as
all men are, to Christ, the only refuge of the guilty.
A leading subject in the sermons of Popish priests is, I am
informed, the praise of their own church. She is an apostolical
church, — she is a catholic church, — a perpetually visible church,
— an infallible church, — but, above all, she is a holy church. Now,
I do not wonder that this should be heard with impatience. My
astonishment is, that so many citizens of Glasgow, otherwise men
of sense, should be able to sit with patience, and hear such non-
sense. The Church of Rome is neither apostolical, nor catholic,
nor infallible : that she has been perpetually visible for many
hundred years, aye, and tangible too, has been experienced by
thousands of men, women, and children, who have felt the
weight of her arm ; but it is not so clear that she is a holy
church. In the common acceptation of the word, holy is to be
free from sin — to be separated from the world, in its principles
and practices — to be like Jesus Christ, who was holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separated from sinners. Those who believe in
Christ, are made, in this respect, somewhat like him ; very imper-
fectly, indeed, while in this world ; but they possess a resem-
blance. They will not live in sin : they will not knowingly com-
mit sin ; or, if they do, they will have no rest till they obtain
pardon and peace through the blood of atonement. Contrast this
with the character of the Church of Rome, as given by a divine
of her own, which I repeat from Part I. page 25. " Provided
money can be extorted, every thing prohibited is permitted.
There is almost nothing forbidden that is not dispensed with for
118
money ; so that, as Horace said of his age, the greatest crime that
a man can commit, is to be poor. Shameful to relate ; they give
permission to priests to have concubines, and to live with their
harlots, who havo children by them, upon paying an annual
tribute. And in some places they oblige priests to pay this tax,
saying that they may keep a concubine if they please. There is
a printed book, which has been publicly sold for a considerable
time, entitled, The Taxes of the Apostolic Chancery, from which
ono may learn more enormities and crimes, than from all the books
of the Summists. And of these crimes, there are some which
persons may have liberty to commit for money, while absolution
from all of them, after they have been committed, may be bought.
I refrain from repeating the words, which are enough to strike one
with horror." Such is the testimony of Claude D'Espence, a
Parisian divine, of great note in the Romish church.
If the Church of Rome be a holy church, it will, of course, be
holiest at the head. Be it known, then, that Pope Paul III. in
the third year of his Papacy, granted a bull for publicly licensing
brothels : and gave an indulgence for the commission of lewdness,
provided the man paid a certain fine to the holy see, and the
woman a yearly sum for her license, and entered her name in the
public register. In the days of this Pope, there are said to have
been forty-five thousand such women in Rome; and, besides the
amount of the annual license which each took out for the privi-
lege of prostitution, the Church received a part of their weekly
income. Each brothel had an iron chest fixed into the wall, into
which every man put bis offering ; and three agents of the holy
see went round weekly to open the chests, and divide what was
found in them ; — one third part went to the house, one third to
the women, and one third to the holy church, for the purpose, it
was pretended, of redeeming captives of the Romish religion from
the Turks. If any man chose to be wicked, in a more private
manner, and went to a person, or a house, unlicensed, he was, on
discovery, to be excommunicated, or to pay seven times the price
which his sin would have cost in a lawful way.
Such was the holy church at its very head, and it would be
easy to trace the same character through all its members. I do
not mean individual members, for there were some individuals
who knew, acknowledged, and deplored, the wickedness of their
church ; such as the Parisian divine whom I have quoted ; but I
mean the different parts of the church, as it appeared in different
countries, in its brotherhoods, and sisterhoods, and monastic
stablishments, resembling so many brothels. On this subject
much might be said, but I shall not pollute my pages by being
more particular. Their very catechisms and books of devotion
arc full of the poison of impurity. The questions asked at con<
119
fession, according to a small manual in my possession, are dis-
gusting in the extreme, and must inevitably pollute the minds
of young persons who submit to be catechised privately by a
priest.
In short, it is one of the worst characters of that church, that
rjal holiness is no way necessary to the enjoyment of all its privi-
leges and honours. If one will but implicitly submit to all its
impositions, he may live as wickedly as he pleases, and be assured
of heaven at last. Of this we have a striking instance in our own
King Charles II. Papists strongly maintain that he died in the
faith of Rome ; and I have by me two documents which are
understood to prove the fact. They are certified by his brother,
King James II. to have been found, in Charles' own hand-writing,
after his death. Now we all know what sort of life Charles lived
till the very last ; we never had any evidence of his repentance; yet
the church of Rome eagerly claims him as one of her children,
which led the historians of the English dissenters to say, " That
must indeed be a holy mother church which contends for the
honour of having such a son as Charles the Second."
Among Papists it is as common to call their church holy, as to
call the Pope his Holiness, or the King his Majesty; and they are
continually praising their holy church. I find in general that the
more of man and the less of God there is in any church, the
more it is praised by its members; and the reason is, people aro
always ready to praise what is their own. Whenever we hear
the terms, holy church, or apostolical church, or incomparable
church, we may be sure there is something wrong. The real
church of Christ, like the virtuous woman, does not make a talk
of her holiness or virtue, but lets her works praise her in the gates.
The Orthodox Journal follows up the praise of its own church
with the praise of its members. The Editor speaks as if it were
universally admitted that his brethren are more decent and moral
than their Protestant neighbours. He tells us that it was the
laxity of morals, encouraged by the Reformers in the time ot
Henry VIII. that made so many forsake the Church of Rome ;
and he predicts that, if the veto is conceded, and the Catholic
priest taught to depend upon the ministry for promotion, " he
will neglect to practise the duties of his office, his flock will
become indifferent to religion, and, in the course of a few years,
Catholics will not be distinguished from the rest of their country-
men for the infidelity of their opinions, and the looseness of their
morals." From this we are led to believe, if we can believe it,
that the state of morals is much better among Papists than among
ourselves, and that Papists are in danger of becoming depraved in
their morals by contact with us.
The Orthodox Journalist tells us further, still speaking the praise
120
of himself and his brethren, " The only chain which binds the ar-
dent attachment of the Irish laity to the clergy, is the spotless pur'ly
of their character, and the knowledge which they have, that they
derive their functions from the Holy Ghost." This is speaking
their own praise with a witness. The spotless purity of the char-
acter of the Irish priests ! We had verv lately an opportunity of
judging of this, in the person of one of them, who, in the Chapel
in Clyde Street, for nearly an hour together, poured forth a
rhapsody of scurrilous abuse, and downright lies, about John
Knox and the Reformation ; — barefaced impudent lies, — known
to be such by every person then present,, who professed a mode-
rate knowledge of history. But I believe, lies are not considered
spots in the character of a Popish priest, if they be lies for the
advancement of the true faith. The Jesuit Missionaries in China,
finding the people despise Christianity, because its founder was
crucified, denied the fact of the crucifixion, and told the Chinese
that it was a falsehood invented by the Jews to discredit the
gospel. I have no doubt the Jesuits in Clyde Street would do
the same, if they thought it would increase their popularity, or
bring more money into their chest. And, indeed, to deny the fact
of the crucifixion of Christ, is not worse than to deny the suffi-
ciency of his atonement, which is done by them every day, when
they direct sinners to satisfy divine justice for themselves, or to
rely on the merit of saints.
If we would judge truly of the moral character of a sect, we
must see them not where they are few and despised, but where
their system is predominant. Attend, therefore, to the testimony
of all travellers who have lately visited France, where Popery is
the established religion, and it will be found that there the state
of morals is most deplorable. I need not go into details, for the
fact is well known to every one who has conversed with such travel-
lers, or perused their writings. I am not, by any means, disposed
to praise the national morality of Protestants, though I am sure it
would not shrink from a comparison with that of Papists ; but I
know that the tendency of Protestant doctrines is to produce true
morality, and that such is their invariable effect, wherever they are
cordially embraced ; whereas, he who embraces the doctrines of
Rome, has positive encouragement to live in all manner of vice,
knowing that, for a little money, he can procure pardon at any time:
and that, should he even die unpardoned, a small legacy to the
church will procure his release from purgatory, and his admission
into heaven. Besides, the priests have actually a motive to en-
courage the commission of sin, for they would have no trade with-
out it — no income but from the pardons which thty grant ; as some
excisemen are said to wink at smuggling, for the sake of the seizures
and the fines.
1HE
Protectant,
No. XVI.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3Ut, 1818.
i\.Micus Veritatis writes as if he laboured under great disad-
vantage in this controversy. The " Protestant," he says, " has
greatly the advantage, and more particularly so, as he assumed
a signature that will very generally ensure him of being teceived
with approbation." This Gentleman chose a signature which
signifies a " Friend of Truth." How justly he is entitled to this
name, my readers are now able to judge. Let them think of his
falsehood with regard to Luther, and many other falsehoods in
his writings, and say whether I may not with justice prefix a
syllable to his name, and call him Inimicus Veritatis?
It is really not worth while to descend to personalities of this
kind ; but since I have undertaken to answer all that my Popish
adversaries have written, I must not overlook even this trifle.
He means it to be understood, I suppose, that my signature
will co farther than his; and that a Protestant has a better chance
of being favourably received, write what he may, than a Friend
of Truth, who writes nothing but the truth. This is about as
good as his other assertions and insinuations. Papists are con-
tinually boasting of the truth, as if the truth lived with them,
and would die with them ; whereas their whole system is built
upon falsehood, and is supported by lies; which I have, I think,
proved already, and may prove again before I have done.
When he asserted that my signature, " A Protestant,"
would very generally ensure my being received with approbation,
he said more than he knew to be true, and I believe more than
was warranted by truth, at the time. I have the satisfaction to
know, that now, and for some weeks past, my Papers have
Q
122
been received with approbation, in different parts of the country,
and their circulation is much beyond any thing that I contem-
plated : in so much, that some of the Numbers have been printed
a second and a third time. For this I express my gratitude to a
numerous class of readers ; and I am encouraged by it to per-
severe in labours which would sometimes be irksome, if they
were not relieved by a persuasion that they may be useful to my
fellow Protestants, and that, at least, they can do no harm to my
fellow creatures of the Romish communion, many of whom, I
am informed, read what I write ; and I shall not have written in
?ain, if any one of them shall be led to read the Bible, and
j udge for himself, whether or not the things which I have written
are true.
But I cannot allow myself to forget that, at the time when
Amicus Veritatis wrote the sentence which I have quoted,
and for some time afterwards, there were many Protestants from
whom I received no encouragement. There were some from whom
I received hints, directly and indirectly, that they thought I had
engaged in a very unnecessary and invidious undertaking, and
who blamed me for writing against the " Roman Catholics," as if
that were now a thing quite inconsistent with liberality and
Christian charity. I know that this proceeded from ignorance,
and I was neither surprised nor offended by it. Most people
had forgotten, and the younger part of our population did not
know, what Popery was. It appeared among us a very harmless
thing. Great pains were taken to make us believe that it never
was, at any time, or in any country, worse than we have seen
it in Glasgow for twenty years past ; and I believe the general
impression upon the community, especially upon the young and
the sentimental of both sexes, has been in favour of that system,
over since so many of their priests sought and found an asylum
in this country from the miseries that threatened them, at the time
of the French Revolution. At that time the sympathies of the
people in general were awakened on their behalf. The support
of the Popish exiles became identified with the preservation of
social order ; our ministers ceased to pray for the downfal of the
Man of Sin ; they ceased to instruct their people with regard to
t he nature of Popery, or to warn them of their danger from it.
I believe most of them did so, in the simplicity of their hearts,
not contemplating the possibility of danger from a system which
seemed to be overthrown while Bonaparte was sovereign of con-
tinental Europe. From these circumstances, great ignorance with
regard to Popery prevailed all over Britain ; and the labours 01
the Protestant were at first received very coolly, except by
Christians of the old school, who could not forget what their
fathers had suffered from the cruelty of the Antichristian Beast.
123
It does not become me to say that my writings have produced
any important change in this respect ; but it is certain that they
are now received with more favour, and read with more avidity,
than they were at first. Many have confessed to me that they
did not know what Popery was till they read my Papers ; and
from the noise which has been made about them at different times
in their own Chapel, I am led to believe that Papists themselves
feel the truth of what I have written.
I had said, in my first Letter in the Glasgow Chronicle, if the
subjects of the late Oratorio could be considered as matter ol
amusement, then the permission of the Bishop was nothing less
than a Popish indulgence to commit sin. Amicus Veritatis
replies, (see Part I. p. 29.) " I am really astonished to see him
trifling thus. Does he not know that the Catholic Chapel was
asked for a charitable purpose ? Does he not know that charity
is the essence of religion ? Consequently the Chapel was granted
for a religious purpose, not for the purpose of amusement."
My remark did not regard the charitable object of the Oratorio,
but the feeling of those present with regard to the subjects of it.
(For the subjects, see Part I. pp. 1, 2.) They embrace some of the
most important doctrines of the word of God. I do not think it
lawful, in any case whatever, to make these the subjects of amuse-
ment. Amicus Veritatis disclaims the idea of their being so.
Then the Oratorio is admitted to have been an act of solemn
worship. I know, however, that it was not at the time held out as
such ; if it had, there would not, perhaps, have been so many
Protestants present, especially as the whole service was conducted
in Latin, in which no person could possibly worship, but those
who understood the language. Of those Protestants who attended
the Popish Chapel on that day, I am persuaded not one went for
the purpose of divine worship ; but the Papists understand them
to have done so.
Amicus Veritatis asks, if I do not know that charity is the
essence of religion? I do know it, if it be the charity of the
Bible ; that is, love of God and of our fellow creatures. This
is undoubtedly the essence of religion. The end of the com-
mandment is charity, or love; but I do not know that giving
and receiving money is the essence of religion, though I believe
it is the best part of Popery. I think I am giving weekly evi-
dence of my charity towards Papists, in my labours on their behalf.
I do not know how I can show this better than by endeavouring
to open their eyes to their own true interests, both for time and
eternity. Their priests are deceiving them by means of lies and
imposition ; whether they profess to regenerate them by baptism,
or establish them in Christianity by confirmation, or pardon their
124-
sins by the sacrament of penance, or clear their way to heaven
by extreme unetion, or deliver the souls of their friends from
Purgatory, on being paid for it, — all is downright imposition.
And I have such charity for all the Papists in the world, that I
wish every one of them was convinced of the truth ; I wish that
they would forsake their priests ; or, what would be still better,
they would all come to Christ, and bring their priests with them,
not by force, but by means of persuasion — by convincing them
of the truth.
Christ is exhibited in the Bible for the salvation of sinners ; and
he makes all sinners, without exception, welcome to come to him
directly and immediately, promising, " him that cometh unto me,
I will in no wise cast out." What is the use of going to a priest
for the pardon of sin ? Priests are sinful fellow creatures ; they
need pardon as much as those whom they profess to pardon.
Christ alone had power on earth to forgive sin ; and he is exalted
to heaven for the very purpose — a Prince and a Saviour, to give
repentance and the remission of sins. I request my readers, es-
pecially those of the Romish communion, not to take this on my
word, but to read the Bible for themselves, and see if it be not
so, that Christ bids them come to himself at once ; and that a
priest can no more save them, than they can save themselves. Charity
requires me thus to tell them what 1 know to be true ; and seeing
so many of them do me the favour to read my writings, I hope
none of them will be the worse, but that they will be the better, in
consequence of what they read.
" Charity is the essence of religion." Then, why is it that my
Popish opponents have no charity for me ? They profess to be-
lieve that I am in error ; and, I suppose, thev think my error is a
deadly one. Why, then, do they not use means to convince and
reclaim me ? I have invited Mr. Scott to write against me, and
to show where I am in error ; I have even offered to print what
he shall write without expense to him ; but I cannot get a word
from him. My other opponents are equally silent. It is evident,
therefore, that they have no charity for the Protestant — no wish
to reclaim him from his errors. They brought a Dublin priest,
indeed, to their pulpit to curse him, as Balak, king of Moab,
brought Balaam to curse the children of Israel ; and the modern
false prophet was not like the ancient one, for he did curse most
bitterly, without one word of blessing, or even of compassion for
the object of his malediction. This, it seems, is their charity
This is the essence of their religion. They know no way of con-
vincing a heretic but that of burning him, if they have the power,
or of cursing him, if they have not.
Charity, I have said, in the Bible sense of the word, is love —
(he love which springs from the belief of the gospel ; and it leads
125
nim who possesses it, not to curse, but to bless his fellow creatures
But it is evident, that Amicus Veritatis considers the word
only as relating to the giving and receiving of money ; and, lest
ray readers of the Romish communion should suppose that my
charity for them is of the same nature, and that I am at all this
pains to enlighten them by my writings, for the sake of the profits
which I derive from them, 1 hereby assure them that I have not
pocketed a single farthing by all that I have written ; and that I
am determined not to receive any emolument whatever from this
work. The price was fixed so low as not to afford a prospect
of any profit ; but the circulation of my Numbers has of late
become so great, that my Printers give me reason to hope there
will be something over, after defraying all expenses. This, what-
ever it may be, shall be cheerfully applied to promote the
education of poor persons belonging to the Church of Rome, if it
shall be accepted for that purpose. I invite, therefore, persons
belonging to that communion to buy and read The Protestant;
and in doing so, they will contribute to the welfare of themselves
and their children.
Amicus Veritatis lays down a somewhat curious principle,
in the passage which furnishes the text of the present Number-
" The Catholic Chapel was asked for a charitable purpose ;
charity is the essence of religion ; — consequently the Chapel
was granted for a religious purpose, not for the purpose of
amusement." I believe there are few charities better entitled to
the support of the benevolent than our Royal Infirmary. I
believe also that stage -players, and mountebanks, and Indian
jugglers, and incombustible ladies, have most, or all of them,
performed for the benefit of this and other charities. Does it
follow that their performances assumed a religious character when
the profits were thus appropriated ? Were the Theatre, and the
Circus, and the Trades' Hall, not places of amusement, but of
religious worship, on these occasions? Certainly, if the goodness or
charitable nature of the object sanctified the means of promoting
it ; which seems to be the meaning of Amicus Veritatis, and
which is, I believe, an acknowledged tenet of Popery.
Amicus Veritatis repeats his assertion, " that it never was
a doctrine of the Catholic Church, that a Pope or Bishop could
grant indulgence to commit sin." I have, I think, refuted this
assertion already, and I may take up the subject again, when I
eome to vindicate my evidences against his exceptions to their
validity. In the meantime, I see plainly that he conceals a quib-
ble under the words doctrine and sin. When any thing of this
kind bears particularly hard upon Papists, they deny it to be a doc-
trine of their church. To be a doctrine, it is not enough that it has
126
been practised without opposition for hundreds of years by Popes
and Bishops, and even sanctioned by general councils. Much
less than this, indeed, will make any thing a doctrine, if it be not
controverted — if it be not a thing which Papists find it convenient
to deny : but if it be any thing that happens to be odious or
unpopular at the time, or in the country where it is spoken of,
though it has been sanctioned by ever so many councils, and
practised by the Pope for ever so long ; Papists will deny it to be
a doctrine of their church.
They sometimes maintain that a doctrine of the church is that
which has had the unanimous consent of the whole church, in all
ages ; and, upon this principle, they can deny whatever they please;
for I believe there is no doctrine or practice known to exist,
which has not, at one time or other, been impugned by some of
their doctors and saints. We have doctors against doctors, coun-
cils against councils, and Popes against Popes ; so that, upon this
principle, there is nothing that can be brought home to the Church
of Rome, but what the individual we are dealing with may be
pleased to admit at the time, though it may be denied by all his
brethren, and even by himself the next day. Yet this is the infal-
lible church, which was never wrong or mistaken in any point
whatever !
But I did not say that it was a doctrine of the Church of
Rome, that the Pope or a Bishop would grant an indulgence or
permission to commit sin. I spoke of their practice ; — their
avowed and long continued practice, of which the history of
Europe, for the last six hundred years, famishes abundant evi-
dence. I know that Papists also conceal a quibble under the
word siyu I have shown, in a former Number, from Bellarmine,
that the Pope claimed the power of making that which is sin to
be no sin ; so that that was not sin which he granted permission
to do. In short, there is no reasoning with Papists with regard t •
any principle, or even fact, which it is possible they can evade by
quibbling or lying. Their system is supported by all deceiv-
ableness of unrighteousness.
Amicus Veritatis affects great tenderness, and moderation,
and fear of giving offence. " If," says he, (Part I. p. 29.) M in
replying to your Correspondent, I should unknowingly touch the
feelings of any of my Protestant brethren, I hope they will not
attribute it to the spirit of recrimination, but to my necessity of
disclosing the truth. I hope they will also recollect who was
the cause of this dispute : and that
" The blood wiU follow where the knife is driven,
The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear."
In order to pet, as soon as possible, out of the way of the knife
127
and the pincers, those instruments of torture with which my
opponent seems so familiar, I shall answer the last part of the
quotation first. And all that I have to say is, that I know no-
thing of such weapons, in conducting an argument. I never applied
them to any creature, for the purpose of conviction, or for any
nther purpose ; though it is probable he may have done so, and
perhaps he is familiar with those effects which he describes in so
feeling a manner. The pen is the only weapon in my armoury ;
and I assure him I would not break his skin with it, though I
confess I wish to make him feel ashamed of his misrepresentations
and other delinquencies.
I do not know who was the cause of this dispute, but I know
it was the person who wrote the paragraph in the Glasgow
Chronicle, which represented the Protestant "worshippers at the
Oratorio, as paying the like respect to the place, as to the solemn
passages of the word of God, which were sung on that occasion.
This certainly was not the PROTESTANT; and if this controversy has
disturbed the peace of the Popish part of the community he is not
to blame for it.
Amicus Veritatis, it seems, did not write with a view to
touch the feelings of his Protestant brethren, or from a spirit of
recrimination, but from a " necessity of disclosing the truth."
What truth has he disclosed ? I have again looked over his
Letters, and I can see nothing of importance that bears the smal-
lest resemblance to truth, except what he says about the Cutty
Stool, to which I shall pay all due respect when I come to that
subject. But truth is a good thing ; and by professing to main-
tain it, though he should do so by falsehood, he tries to deceive
those who confide in him.
From whom did Amicus Veritatis learn to use the ex-
pression, " my Protestant brethren ?" Certainly not from Rome,
or from the ancient practice of his holy and infallible church.
Does he not know that the Pope called all those who separated
from the Church of Rome, " venomous adders,'' who were
without mercy to be trodden under foot ? ( See his Bull for the
destruction of the Waldenses, in my second Number.) Did not
the holy father declare all who presumed to preach Christ without
his consent, or that of his bishops, to be under a perpetual ana-
thema or curse ? Did not the king of Arragon, at the instiga-
tion of the Pope, declare all separatists to be " vipers and
perfidious children ?" Did he not declare that he would not
suffer such wretches to live ? and that against such enemies of
God and man he would not contain his indignation, or refuse to
punish them with the sword of just vengeance ? (See No. XIII.)
Did not the Pope declare Wickliffe, and those who learned the
128
doctrines of the gospel from him, to be men " run into a kind
of detestable wickedness, not onlv for openly publishing, but
also for vomiting out of the filthy dungeon of their breasts,
diverse professions, false and erroneous conclusions, and most
wicked and damnable heresies?'' This is plain language, and
I believe it is so far honest that the Pope meant what he said ;
but Amicus Veritatis, a Papist, holding the Pope as his
holy father, whence comes he to speak of these " adders and
vipers," and detestable heretics, as his Protestant brethren ? It is
not because he believes the Pope to have been wrong ; it is
not because Popery has become more moderate, for it is incapa-
ble of change ; it is not because the Protestant religion is
viewed by Papists more favourably than before ; — but it is because
Papists, in the situation of this writer, study to make themselves
popular by using " good words and fair speeches." This, in
my opinion, is more offensive than the hardest words of the
Pope.
The reader will see that I have got over a good deal of ground
in the present Number. I am afraid that I shall be accused, and
perhaps convicted, of egotism ; a thing which nobody likes worse
than I do : but, in case I should add to the crime by apologies, I
merely request the reader to remember that it is usual with peri-
odical writers to speak of themselves, and that I have not offend-
ed in this respect so much as most of my predecessors.
THE
Protectant,
No. XVII.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1th, 1818.
Amicus Veritatis tells us (See Part I. p. 29.) that the
Doiiay Catechism " is approved hy the whole body of the Ca-
tholic Church ; and is put into the hands of every child that is
learning its Christian doctrine." Alas, for the children who have
no better means of instruction than that furnished by this Cate-
chism !
This assertion, that it " is approved by the whole body of the
Catholic Church," like most of his other assertions, will not bear
examination. When was this approbation expressed ? When was
it possible that it could be expressed ? There has been no meet-
ing of the Catholic Church by its delegates, or otherwise, since
the Council of Trent ; and I have before me, a Catechism
founded upon the decrees of that Council, which differs very ma-
terially from the Douay one, as we shall see presently. The
Douay Catechism itself does not profess to have the honour of
general or universal approbation in the Catholic Church. It has,
in short, no voucher whatever. It presents itself with as little
ceremony, or introduction, as it were merely a collection of those
" excellent new songs," which have been hawked about the
country for a hundred years.
I have consulted a number of their Catechisms, several of
which are much larger than the Douay one, and are, besides,
formally authenticated by the Pope, or some other dignitary of the
Church. For instance, " Catechismus ad Parochos ex decreto
Concilii Tredentini editus," is published by authority of Pope
R
130
Pius V. " Instructions generates en forme de Catechisme,"
is printed by order of Charles Joachim Colbert, bishop
of Montpellier ; and the " Catechism for the use of all the
Churches in the French Empire," is sanctioned by the present
Pope, and the Archbishop of Paris. I find none of those ori-
ginally published in English, or that are in present use in this
country, so well authenticated.
In one of my late Numbers, I said there were different versions
of the Douay Catechism, or rather, perhaps, different Catechisms,
intended for different parts of the world, according to the degree
of knowledge or ignorance, which is supposed to exist among the
people. I have examined a version that is in common use in Ire-
land, and another which is used among the Papists in the High
lands of Scotland ; and, from this examination, I am confirmed
in the idea above expressed. The Douay Catechism, recommend-
ed by Amicus Veritatis, with all its errors and imperfections,
is the least gross, and the least exceptionable. The Papists,
therefore, have shown their wisdom in adopting this version to be
used in Glasgow, as any thing extremely gross would more
readily be detected here than in either the Highlands or Ireland.
The Douay Catechism, for instance, gives the second com-
mandment at full length, which is not done by any other of those
which I have mentioned. This seems to have been omitted in
most of their Catechisms, for the purpose, no doubt, of conceal-
ing the divine prohibition of making and worshipping images.
But, as Papists do not publicly worship images in Glasgow, they
have not this motive for concealing the commandment ; and
Amicus Veritatis would have us believe it is the same all
over the world, and, therefore, he tells us, that this Catechism
is approved by the whole body of the Catholic Church.
The version used in Ireland has not a word of the second
commandment. That in the Highlands has the first and second,
as follows : — " The first commandment is, I am the Lord thy
God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the
house of bondage, thou shalt have no strange gods before me, &c*."
" The second commandment is, thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain." Thus we see the whole of the
second is omitted ; but, should any of our acute countrymen in
the North, by intercourse with his Southern neighbours, come to
learn that he has been robbed of one of the commandments, his
• Wherever what we call the second commandment, or any part of it,
is given in their Catechisms it is attached to the first; then our third is
their second, and so on to their ninth, which is divided to mske up the
131
priest can save his credit, by telling him that it lies all under the
comprehensive et cetera.
This mode of announcing a divine law has, however, the sanc-
tion of high authority, — not less than that of the Council of
Trent, at least of the " Catechismus ad Parochos," founded on
their decrees, in which we read as follows ; — " Primum prascepturo
decalogi. Ego sum Dominus Deus tuus qui eduxi te de terra
./Egypti, de domo servitutis. Non habebis Deos alienos coram
me, non facies tibi sculptile, &c." (page 310.) This gives four
words of the second commandment, forbidding the making of
images ; but, as if afraid to venture any farther, lest they should
divulge too much of the will of God, which is decidedly against
the worship of images, they slur over all the rest with an fyc.
The Montpellier Catechism, an elaborate work in three volumes,
ventures a little farther. To the first commandment they add the
following words of the second, — " Vous ne vous ferez point
d'idole, ni d'image taillee en aucune figure pour les adorer, ni
pour les servir." (Tom. ii. p. 153.) Here, there is no &c. and
what is given must stand for the whole commandment.
A large work in English, entitled " The Real Principles of Ca-
tholics; or, a Catechism for the Adult," (page 121.) gives a few
words more of the same commandment, but not nearly the whole:
and the Catechism for the use of all the Churches in the French
Empire, does not give a word of it. It gives what is meant for
both the first and second, in five words : — " Thou shalt worship
one God;" (page 75.) and then, after a few questions and an-
swers, it proceeds to a direct contradiction of the divine law, as
follows : — " Q. Does this commandment forbid honouring the
saints as the Church does? A. No : because the Church does
not render to the saints the same honour as to God ; but only
honours the saints as the friends of God. Q. Is it forbidden to
honour the images of Jesus Christ or of the saints? A. No : be-
cause they are honoured only in remembrance of Jesus Christ or
of the saints, and the honour paid to the images relates to the objects
which they represent. Q. What say vou of the honour shown to
the relicks of the saints ? A. They are likewise honoured in re-
membrance of the saints." The Douay Catechism gives the same
doctrine in a more guarded manner : — " Q. Is it lawful to honour
the images of Christ and his saints? A. Yes, if rightly under-
stood ; because the honour given them is referred to the things
they represent ; so that by the images or crosses, which we kiss,
and before which we kneel, we honour and adore Christ himself.
Q. Do Catholics pray to images? A. No, by no means: we
pray before them, indeed, to keep us from distraction, but not
to them ; for we know they can neither see, nor hear, nor help
us. Q. What benefit have we then by them ? A. They moving
132
ly represent to us the mysteries of our Saviour's passion, and the
martyrdom of his saints." (pp. 45, 46.) There is here evidently
a strong hankering after the worship of images, or which is sub-
stantially the same, the worship of God by images ; and, if our
Glasgow Papists had their will, they would have the image of a
saint, or of the cross, at the corner of every street.
This sufficiently accounts for the omission of the second com-
mandment in most of their Catechisms, and it required no small
assurance in the Douayists to give it entire ; which says expressly,
not only thou shalt not worship, but thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image. It forbids the worshipping of God by
means of any resemblance of any thing in heaven or in earth.
But the Church of Rome teaches the very reverse. They per-
mit the worship of images just as the heathen did, who did not
profess to worship the image itself, but the god whom it repre-
sented. My present subject, however, is not the idolatry of the
Church of Rome, but their jugglery, in suppressing the div'ne
command which convicts them of idol worship. On the subject
of their idolatry itself, I cannot too strongly recommend the ex-
cellent work of Mr. Cunninghame of Lainshaw.
This Gentleman convicts the Douay Catechism of a mistransla-
tion in the second commandment, which serves to cover the
Romish practice of doing honour to images, so that they be not
adored. Their words are, " Thou shalt not adore nor worship
them ;" whereas, the words are literally rendered, " thou shalt
not bovo thyself to them, and shalt not serve them," which ex-
pressly condemns their kneeling and worshipping before images,
as much as the worshipping of the images themselves.
As I am upon the subject of Catechisms, I shall occupy the
remainder of this Number, by extracts from one which will show
the doctrine in which our fathers were instructed. For this I am
indebted to a friend who has been at great pains to copy the very
orthography of the work. It is certainly a curiosity; and, as
some late publications have acquired great popularity, for little
other reason, that I can think of, than the mixture of broad
Scotch in their composition, I expect that what follows will be a
recommendation of my work, especially as it is not the vulgar
Scotch of the present day, but the classical Scotch of the six-
teenth century. It is entitled " Ane Catechism or Schort In-
struction, &c. be Father Peter Canisius, Doctour in Theologie."
This Catechism of Canisius was held in the very highest reputa-
tion by the Papists of the sixteenth century, and translated into
all the modern languages. The following translation was made
by a zealous Scotch Papist, for the instruction of his countrymen.
It has no date, but the table of moveable feasts begins with the
year 1587 ;
133
" Quhat expresses ye nynt articl, (i. e. of the Creed) I be-
lieve the Halie Kirk Catholixe, the communion of sancts ? —
First, vat it is simple, ane, and soundlie agreing in faith — under
hir one head Christ, and under his lieutena, the heighe bisch-
ope. To men out of this blessit communion of sancts (as to
yam quha war out of the arke of Noe) deathe certainlie is ap-
tiointit; and none hope of salvation, quhether they be lew or
Ethnikes, quha never receved the faith of the Kirk, or haeretichis,
quha has either forsaken ye faith that thay receaivit, or corruptit
ye same, or the schismatiches quha has forsaken the peace and uni-
tie of the Kirk, doubtless may not be participant of the grace of
God, and eternal salvation, except they be recocilit and restorit
agane to the Kirk — for ye reul of Sanct Cyprian and Sanct Au-
gustine is maist suir, he sal nocht haiv God to his Father quha
will nocht haiv the Kirk to his mother." page 12.
The first commandment runs thus, " Thou sal haiv no un-
kouth gods befoir me; thou sal nocht mak to thyself ony graven
idol to adore it," — the remaining part is omitted altogether; and
what we call the tenth is as usual divided thus: — Ninth, " Thou
sal nocht covet thy nybour's wyfTe." Tenth, " Nor his hous,
nor ma, nor his maden, nor his ox, nor his asse, nor zet ony
thing yat is his."
" The ancient Fathers' testimonies of the Virgin Marie. Sanct
Ireneus, lib. V. com. hor. 8. As Eaive was seducit to flee frome
God, so was Marie inducit to obey God, that the wergine Marie
mycht be advocat for the wergine Eaive, and as mankind war
bound unto deathe by ane wergine, so it mycht be lykwise lowsit
by an wergine, the unequall ballance of an wergine's disobedience
being maid equal by a wergine's obedience." page 26. A great
part of the Popish books of devotion, in modern English, run in
the same strain. In fact, the Virgin Mary is held forth as the
Saviour and the goddess of Papists.
Hear St. Chrysostom in Liturgia: " How worthy and rycht
hing is it to glorifie ye mother off God, quha ever is most bless.'t,
altogether unspotted. Mother of God, mair honourabill nor the
cherubims, and mair glorious without comparison thane the se-
raphims, quha without all kinds of corruptions has borne God,
we magnifie the truelie quha is the mother of God, Marie full
of grace, the Lord is with the, blessit art thou amonges al wimen,
and blessit is the fruiet of thy wombe, because thou hes brocht
furthe the Salviour of our saulles." page 26.
" Sanct Ambros, lib. 2. de Virginibus. Let the virginitie and
lyffe of the blessit wergine Marie be as it war in an image let
furthe to us fra quliome, as out off a glass, schoinnes brichtlie the
patrone of ch?stitie and forme off all vertucs. — Marie was so per.
1-34
fyte that the lyffe of hir alon may be ane reul off lciving to all
others." page 26.
" Sanct Gregorio, — O Mother, blessit of wergines, 6 thou
light quha dwelles in ye tempill of heaven, maist bright, being
free fra the filthe of our mortalitie, and now clothed with the
robe of immortalitie, to my word, fra heaven incline thine ear,
and my prayers, I beseech the, 6 wergine, thow heir." page 27.
" Sanct Augustin. — Mary, succour the miserabl, help ye dis-
comfortit, comfort the woful, pray for the pepol, mak interces-
sion for the clargie, and pray for the deivotc womankynd, let all
feil thy relieffquha celebrats thy name." ibid.
u Quhat is the Kirk? — The Kirk is the hail nummer of all
me professing the feath and doctrine of Christ, quhilk the Prince
of pastours, Christ, committet baitb to the Apostle, St. Peter,
and to his successoures, to be fed and governit, quhairfoir hcere-
tiques and schismatiques deserve nocht to be includit in ye name
of the Kirk, but falselie throw arrogace usurps the same; quha,
albeit they appear to profes the word and doctrine of God, ne-
vertheless, they refuse to be the scheep of the principal pastour
and bischops quham Christ iu his stead lies maid reuler of his
fauld the Kirk, and be perpetual successione in the Romane Kirk
hes alwais been keepit." page 48.
" Quhat is to be thocht of evill priests? — It is God's ordi-
nance quhilk can nocht be abolishit, that nocht onlie good priests,
but also evill, suld be honoured in his kirk. For he will be ac-
knowledged, bond., and halden in reverce in his ministers."
page 110. Very comfortable doctrine this for the priests. Bad
as well as good, it seems, are God's ordinance; and the one as
well as the other are to be honoured in the Church.
" Is matrimonie permitted unto all men ? — Nocht sa, (not so)
for we are taught be ye Apostles' tradition, as S. Epiphanius
witnesses, yat it is sinne to revolt to marriage, after that virginitie
be promised and voued. Thairfoir, this place of ye Apostle, —
It is better to many than to burn, pertaines (as S. Ambrose docs
plainlie pronounce) to hir yat hes nocht zet receaved the vail,
Bot she quha promised herself to God, and hes receaved the
holy vail is already married, she is coupled to an immortal hus-
band, and gif she will now marrie after the common law of mar-
riage, she committes adultry, and is maid the handmaid of death.
Now, the self same reason, and ye same judgement is to be given
of monks, and yam yat is in holy orders, for they have damna-
tion, gft' they give ye bridle to the bodilye lusts, they falsifie yair
former faith. — No man laying his hand to the plonghe, and look-
ing bak again, is meit for yc kingdom of God." page 117.
" Compells the Kirk then certain persons to live single and un-
married?— Treulie, our godly and circumspect mother, the Kirk,
135
coiupells nocht thairunto, quhilk burdens na man with continence
or single lyfe without marriage, but requires of yam, yat they
willingly reeeve yar law, (as befor said) that they violat nocht
thair religion, neither cotemne or brak ye promeis ad godlie band
quhilk they haiv with Christ and his Kirk." page 119.
" Venial sinn is actual also, hot zet sic a ane as maks nocht
ane man God's, enemie, and for the quhilk the faithfull easily ob-
teins pardon of God." — What can strike more directly at the root
of all holiness than this doctrine? Any sin to which a man may
be addicted, will be, in his esteem, a venial one ; and here he is
taught that such does not make him God's enemy, and that he
will easily obtain pardon^ for it !
" A guid vif (wife) is praise worthie, hot a godlie virgin is fai
to be preferred. The one is under the law, the uther is under
grace. Marriage is guid, quhairbe is had posteritie, and succes-
sion of mankind, hot virginitie is better, quhairbe is gotten the
inheritance of the kingdom of heave, and the succession of hea-
venlie merits ar found. Be a woman cair cam in, bot be a virgin
salvation is comme." page 202.
I intend, in a future Number, to give a particular account of
one of the best of these godly virgins, of whose life and mira-
cles I have got a genuine history. I say miracles, as well as life;
for though she died about a thousand years ago, she still con-
tinues to perform miracles, if we may believe the Rev. Dr.
Milner, one of the Vicars Apostolic in England. My readers
will then be able to judge how far these idle drones of godly
virgins are to be preferred to their own thrifty good wives. But
I must at present proceed with my Catechism : —
" Quhat is to be thought in few words of the evangelical
counsels. That thay ar certaine motives and verray commodious
supports and helps to give armour to the vaik agains the plea-
sours of the varld and the flesh, to further guid men's endeavour
in the course of trew godliness to the obtaining of better things;
and mai rover, profitable as I have schawen to get the reward of
eternal lyf and mair plenteous glorie in heaven." page 204.
" Of the remedie of original sin. — The onlie Mediator, the
Lord Jesus Christ, quhas merit is applied to all men, zoung
and awld, be the sacrament of baptisme dewlie administered ac-
cording to the form of the Kirk. Quhasaever ze be that ar
baptized ye have put on Christ, quhairfor they are *. quha
denies that children new borne suld be baptized, howbeit they
be the children of baptized parets." page 216. " In the bap-
tized, all that quilk has the proper and trew nature of sin is
clean takken away ; and not onlie hid or not imputit, for God
haites nothing in the regenerat. So thair is na damnation to
• I cannot make out the word, but I doubt not it means something
very bad.
136
thame quha arc buried with Christ be baptism in his death."
Page 218.
" Sinnes agains the first commandment. 1st, To doute of any
article of the Catholique faith. 2d, Over curiously to reason or
searche out things of faith. 3d, To favour hereticks to the hurt
of the Catholique kirk. 4th, To put oureselves in danger to crab
God, that is nocht to flee the occasion quhilk may cause us sinne."
** Sinners agains the third commandment, (i. e. what we call the
fourth.) 1st, To worke on halie days. 3d, Not to fast at times
comadet. 4th, To eat fleshe or ony forbidden meat on days of
fasting or abstinence."
This Catechism furnishes prayers to the Virgin Mary, to the
halie angels, to our guid angel, and to all the sancts in heaven.
There are several other curious passages which it is not conveni-
ent at present to transcribe.
In this, as in all their Catechisms, the true Christian doctrine
of salvation by Christ alone, and by faith in him, is kept out of
view; and what makes the system worse than downright infidelity
is, that it effectually denies the Saviour, while it professes to ho-
nour him. For instance, in one of the last quotations, he is
called the only Mediator, whose merit is applied to all men,
voung and old ; yet it is applied only in such a way as that the
priest shall have the doing of it. It is by the sacrament of bap-
tism duly administered according to the form of the kirk. No
man can do this but a priest : so that, without his aid, all that
Christ has done, in working out a righteousness for the justifica-
tion of the ungodly, and all that he does by his word and Spirit,
go for nothing. Thus the priest actually gives himself out as the
Saviour; for it is by the application of water, and salt, and spittle,
by his fingers, that the regeneration of a sinner is effected. I re-
quest my readers, of the Romish communion, to reflect on this.
They are not behind their neighbours in point of common sense ;
and, I am sure, if they will think seriously on the subject, and ap-
ply to it the principles of common sense, not to say of Scripture,
they will soon be convinced of the folly of ascribing such powers
to a creature like themselves.
Christ died for the ungodly. The gospel is the divine testi-
mony concerning him. When the Holy Spirit opens the heart
of a sinner to receive that testimony, he is born again. This is
the work of God. A priest can have no more hand in it than in
creating the world. Yet any man who shall make known the truth
to his neighbour, may be honoured as the instrument of saving him.
This is what I most earnestly desire as the fruit of my labours;
but I know it will not — it cannot happen, but through the in-
fluence of the Divine Spirit.
No. XVIII.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER \Uh, 1818.
In ray last Number, 1 examined the assertion of Amicus Ve-
hitatis, — " The Douay Catechism is approved by the whole
body of the Catholic Church ;" and I showed that there are se-
veral other Catechisms of apparently higher authority in the
Church, which differ materially from the Douay one, particularly with
regard to the omission and mutilation of the second command-
ment. He quotes the Douay Catechism on the subject of in-
dulgences; and he wishes to have it believed, that his Church
holds no other doctrine than this : — An indulgence is " not leave
to commit sin, or a pardon for sins to come, as some slander the
Church ; but only a releasing of the temporal punishment due to
such sins as are already forgiven us by the sacrament of penance."
I could show that other Catechisms differ on this point, as
well as on the second commandment. The Pope will be allowed,
I suppose, to be higher authority than the Douay College ; and
be declares, " that the dead as well as the living, who truly ob-
tain indulgences, are so far delivered from the punishment due to
their actual sins, according to divine justice, as the indulgence
granted and obtained is worth." (See his Brief, Part 1. p. 26.
quoted from Dupin, IV. 17.) I cannot suppose the Pope to be
guilty of such an absurdity as to speak of delivering the dead from
the temporal punishment due to their sins, for the dead have done
with temporal things. He countenances, therefore, the doctrine
of the French Catechism, that indulgences free from punishment,
both in this world and the next. He says, indeed, expressly in
S
138
the same brief, that the benefit of indulgences was granted to those
who were alive, as to those who were in Purgatory. Perhaps,
however, he will call Purgatory a temporal thing, though, from the
hundreds ot thousands of years, for which some are said to remain
in it, Mid for which indulgences are granted to others, we should
imagine it must remain after all temporal things have come to an
ead.
I shall, however, take the subject of indulgences as the Douay
Catechism gives it, and answer Amicus Veritatis' challenge,
which is : — " Now, Sir, I would ask any honest impartial man,
possessed of Christian candour, could he infer from this answer,
that an indulgence is a permission to commit sin ? No, Sir, the
idea is absurd ; and I am astonished that your Correspondent,
who gives his writing publicly to the world, should so far forget
himself, as to draw inferences so unchristian and unreasonable as
he has done." (Part I. p. 29.)
It is not likely that this Gentleman will allow the Protestant to
be " an honest impartial man." Be that as it may, he will
endeavour to make good his position out of this most softened
and modified definition of an indulgence. I said, (Part I. p. 7.)
that the Pope claimed and exercised the power of dispensing with
the law of God, and granting permission to commit sin ; that he
claimed, farther, the power of granting to individuals and families,
a full remission of all their sins past and future, which would pro-
bably operate as an encouragement to commit sin, seeing the
persons knew beforehand, that they had got a full pardon. 1
think I have already established all this by a number of facts and
documents ; but I proceed now to show, that encouragement to
commit sin rises naturally out of the doctrine of indulgences, as
given even by the Douay Catechism. It is " a releasing of the
temporal punishment due to such sins as are already forgiven
us by the sacrament of penance." Indulgences stand immedi -
ately connected with penance. By this sacrament, a priest grants
full absolution. He declares the sinner to be relieved from the
guilt of all his sins, and reconciled to God, but that he ought
to make some remuneration for so great a favour, — that he should
suffer something in his body as a punishment for his sins thus for-
given ; and the design of our indulgence is to release him from
such suffering, which is usually done for an adequate considera-
tion.
Now, I shall not ask every impartial honest man, hut I ask
every intelligent Christian, whether such doctrine does not na-
turally lead to all the evil of which I have accused the Popish
practice of granting indulgences ? Every one whose religion is
derived from the Bible, knows that human nature is corrupted
and depraved ; that every man in his natural state is an enemy to
139
God, and a hater of his holy law ; that he is in love with sin ;
and that he is, in one way or another, under the dominion of cor-
rupt passions, which maintain a constant opposition to the law of
God. There are, however, many restraints which prevent indi-
viduals from running to all the excess to which their passions
would lead them. One of these restraints is, the fear of future
punishment. The doctrine, therefore, which takes away this re-
straint, without imparting a new nature to the sinner, is justly
chargeable with all the evil that shall result from it. Such is the
Popish doctrine of indulgences connected with penance.
A person guilty of the greatest crimes, receives the sacrament
of penance on the usual terms. He must, indeed, make a form
of confession before a priest ; he must profess contrition ; he
must promise amendment : but all this is mere form and mere
words. His heart remains as hard as it was ; he is as much in
love with sin as ever. When, therefore, the sacrament of penance
is over, he is told that he must do some good work, or suffer
some punishment for all his great sins which he has confessed ;
but, that he may have an indulgence ; that is, he may be released
from such suffering, for a certain sum, which he cheerfully pays : —
he sets off to plunge anew into the stream of wickedness, like the
profligate seductress in the seventh of Proverbs : "I have peace-
offerings with me ; this day have I paid my vows ; — come let us
take our fill of pleasures."
That this is no overwrought picture, is sadly verified by the
history of the Church of Rome, and of those nations which
have submitted to her yoke. Independently of history and ex-
perience, an accurate knowledge of human nature would infer
this result from the doctrine in question. Wicked men are often
very superstitious. They stand in awe of they know not what.
There is a judgment upon them. There is a tribunal in their
own breast that condemns them. They know not well what it is;
but they are taught to believe that it is something from which a
priest can deliver them. Wherever, therefore, an opportunity
of crime presents itself to a man of this character, whether it
be to gratify his revenge, or avarice, or lust, he enters into it with
all his heart, knowing beforehand that the priest can pardon his
guilt; and, that if he should be ordained to make some satisfac-
tion for his crimes, he can have that also remitted for a small
sum by an indulgence. The prospect of a divine tribunal, and
of a righteous Judge, is concealed from his view. He seeks no
pardon but that which the priest can give; and he is not taught
to believe that any other is necessary. As corrupt human nature
is constituted, such a doctrine must always operate as an encour-
agement to commit sin.
I might corroborate this reasoning by innumprahle facts from
140
history; but the following quotation from Bellarmine, the great
champion of the Popish cause, is worth many facts, because it is
a plain testimony of the actual state of things in the Church, as
known to himself; and he speaks as if the same were known to
all: — " We cannot deny," says he, M but that some are bound
by the penitential canons to some thousands of years' penance;
for, if to every deadly sin there be due by the canons so many
years' penance, as to some three, to some seven, &c. then he
that hath accustomed himself to perjury and blasphemy almost
every moment, and most frequently commits murders, thefts, sa-
crileges, adulteries, without doubt the Popes had respect to such
as these, when they gave indulgences for ten or twenty thousand
years." Bellar. de Indulg. lib. J. cap. 9. p. 25, as quoted
in Morning Exercise, p. 49 1.
Thus we see, in point of fact, on the testimony of Bellarmine,
that the greatest criminals, who were guilty of perjury and blas-
phemy every moment of their lives, yet received pardon from the
Pope and his clergy, and received indulgences too for thousands
of years. Is it necessary to say more to prove that the Popish
practice of indulgences is the fruitful parent of all wickedness;
and that it operates as an encouragement, and even as a permis-
sion, to commit sin?
Suppose it to be so that an indulgence is no more than a re-
leasing of the temporal punishment due for sin already pardoned,
its consequences must be extremely pernicious. Sinners are most
impressed by sensible and visible things. Temporal punishment
is much more an object of dread than eternal punishment. From
the natural atheism and unbelief of the human heart, men think
very little of what shall happen after death; they do not believe
that God will be strict to mark their sins against them, or that
he will be so cruel as to punish them very severely for their faults
and infirmities; in plain English, they do not believe what the
Bible declares concerning sin, and the eternal punishment which it
incurs. This appears very plainly in the case of those, for instance,
who read in the third commandment, that " the Lord will not
hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain," and who will
yet rather take their chance of standing as guilty before God, and
suffering all the consequences, than deny tbemselves the trifling
gratification of mouthing or even mincing an oath. We cannot
wonder, therefore, that those who are under the influence of un-
controllable passion, should seek to gratify that passion, fearless
of consequences in the other world, if they can escape that which
is very painful in the present. Any thing like the misery of the
other world they have never seen ; of its nature they have no dis-
tinct ideas; of its reality they have no abiding conviction. This
has, therefore, little influence in deterring them from the c< minis-
141
sion of sin. But the subject of present suffering they do under-
stand. They can comprehend the misery of being immured for years
in a dungeon; they can imagine how painful it would be to tear
the flesh from their bones, by a whip judiciously applied by their
own hands; they could even shrink from the idea of being obliged
to subsist on bread and water for six months together; and I
doubt not they could have a very lively feeling of the hardship of
being obliged to stand before a large congregation, in a white
sheet, confessing their sins. Now, by an indulgence, the fear of
incurring all, or any of these, is effectually removed. The only
thing, therefore, that can operate with any degree of force upon
the mind of an abandoned sinner, as a preventive of crime, is
taken out of the way ; and he is encouraged by the Church to
indulge himself in all manner of wickedness.
In short, men may speculate as they please about the moral
influence of any religious system; but, while human nature re-
mains as it is, it will be found by experience, that the doctrine
which holds out to men the certainty of obtaining pardon, and an
indulgence whenever they please to ask and pay for it, must ope-
rate, and will operate, as an encouragement to commit sin.
I am aware that an objection like this is urged against the gos-
pel itself, by unbelievers of the Protestant name, and of every
other name. We are told that the doctrine which holds out the
prospect of pardon and salvation to the chief of sinners, through
the merits of Christ, without any merits of their own, opens a
door to all manner of licentiousness, and that it operates as an
indulgence to commit sin. I claim this objection against the
gospel of Christ as an auxiliary to my argument. It declares
that the natural feeling, and the experience of mankind, are in my
favour. I am speaking of men in their natural state, but who
possess a portion of v/hat is called common sense, and who know
something of human nature. They speak what they know and
what they feel. Ignorant of the divine influence which accom
panies the belief of the gospel, and which renews the sinner to
holiness, they cannot but come to the conclusion, that the doc-
trine which holds out salvation to the vilest of the human race,
without merit on their part, must operate as an encouragement to
sin. Now, the Popish mode of granting pardon and indulgence
possesses no such divine influence ;nor makes provision for re-
newing the sir>r>er to holiness; with them there is no regeneration
but that whi*.h is effected by baptism; the pardoned and in-
dulged sinner remains as great a sinner as ever ; and his pardon
and indulgence, so easily obtained, must without doubt operate
as an encouragement, and have all the effect of a permission to
commit sin.
Amicus Veiutatis alludes to the pardon of sin which the
142
^ImigUy promises in Scripture; and takes advantage of this in
order to justify the Popish practice of granting indulgences, even
though they were to extend to the plenary remission of all the
crimes of the sinner, and of all the punishment which they de-
serve. " Now," says he, (Part I. p. 4-2.) surely your Corres-
pondent would not he impious enough to assert, that when the
Almighty, in the sacred Scriptures, promises to give the truly peni-
tent a plenary remission of his sins, and of all the punishment
which they deserve, he means to grant him permission or indul-
gence to commit sin." Indeed, I would not hesitate to assert,
that this would operate as a permission to commit sin, if the Al-
mighty promised and granted pardon as the Papists do. If the
Almighty were to promise and grant pardon of sin, without refer-
ence to the great atonement, and without making adequate pro-
vision for the future holy life of the sinner, it would appear to
the whole universe that he thought lightly of the evil of sin; and
such is the depravity of human nature, that such procedure
would be considered as a connivance at sin, and an encourage-
ment to live in all manner of wickedness. Nay, such is the de-
pravity of human nature, that could we suppose it possible that
a man were truly penitent to-day, and that he had received the
full pardon of all his sins, if he did not receive at the same time a
new heart and a right spirit, he would before to-morrow be plunged
as deep in the mire of iniquity as ever.
Now, when a Popish priest pardons sin by the sacrament of
penance, according to the Douay Catechism, there is no reference
whatever to the great atonement, or satisfaction for sin by the
death of Christ. In answer to the question, " What is satisfac-
tion ?" we have for answer, " A faithful performance of the
prayers or good works enjoined us by the priest to whom we con-
fess." And, as for any radical change of heart and character, any
provision for the future holy life of the pardoned sinner, Popery
knows nothing of the matter : it would be held heretical to speak
of any regeneration but what takes place at baptism. Without
doubt, then, the Popish system of pardon and indulgence is in
ciFect nothing less than an indulgence to commit sin.
The matter comes shortly to this issue; — Popery professes to
grant pardon of sin, and to release from the punishment which it
deserves, while men are yet in love with sin, and thirsting for the
commission of it; while they are, as Bellarmine says, accustomed
to perjury and blasphemy almost every moment of their lives, and
in the practice of committing every crime. Pardons and indul-
gences granted to such, and while they continue such, must be
an encouragement to wickedness. But the gospel of Christ pro-
fesses to grant pardon to the chief of sinners along with a new
heart — along with a hatred of sin, and a love of righteousness,
143
with the continual presence of the Holy Spirit to lead them in
the way of holiness. This cannot he an indulgence to commit
sin ; it is a doctrine according to godliness. The grace of God,
which bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sober-
ly and righteously in this present evil world. (See Titus ii. 11,
12.) The gospel performs all that it promises. It produces
therefore real holiness of life. He that receives it is created after
Christ Jesus unto good works, (Eph. ii. 10.) Let not Papists
therefore lay the pernicious consequences of their own errors at
the door of divine mercy. The salvation of the gospel is salva-
tion from sin as well as from punishment: this is worthy of
God. The indulgence of the Papist professes to release from
punishment men who are full of all iniquity, and who cannot
cease from sin : this is the delusion of the devil.
The language of divine mercy to sinners is, — and it is verified in
all who believe in Christ, — " Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your hlthiness, and
from all your idols 1 will cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and
do them." — " I will save you from all your un cleannesses." —
" Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings
that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations.'' (Ezek.
xxxvi. 25 — 31.) " This is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel, after those days saith the Lord ; I will put my
laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will he
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they
shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord : for all shall know me from the
least even to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their un
righteousness, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no
more." (Heb. viii. 10 — 12.)
In these divine promises it is provided that he whose sins are
pardoned shall be truly penitent. He shall loathe himself m his
own sight : that he shall be cleansed from the pollution, as well
as saved from the guilt, of sin. — He shall be sprinkled with clean
water, and shall be clean ; that is, he shall enjoy the sanctifying
influence of the Holy Spirit : that the law of God shall be written
in his heart, and he shall be enabled in some measure to keep it :
that, in short, a new heart and a right spirit being given to him,
he shall live the rest of his life in the fear of God. Such a dis-
144
pensation of grace and holiness can never operate as an indul-
gence to commit sin.
But the popish system possesses none of these qualities. Let
my popish readers, therefore, who seek no other pardon than
that which their priests can give, seriously consider, whether it will
be such as will acquit them before the Judge of the whole world,
when none will be accepted but those who have fled for refuge
to the blood of atonement, and who have been born again, —
born of water and of the Spirit ; that is, made subjects of the
gracious sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost.
Indulgences which were not merely remissions of sin for the
living, but releases from purgatory for the dead, were, it seems,
devised by Urban II. as recompenses for crusaders to the holy
land. They were afterwards granted to all who gave money for
other popish purposes. The sums so got, however, were often
applied to other uses than those avowed. John XXII. reduced
this traffic into a system ; Leo X. tried it on a still larger scale
as the means of replenishing his treasury.
Leo published that general sale of indulgences, which more
immediately led to such important consequences. The papal
briefs for this purpose were expedited in 1514 and 1515; but the
sale did not commence till 1516 and 1517.
" Leo," says Guicciardini, " following the advice of Cardinal
Pucci, had spread throughout the world the amplest indulgences,
not only for the benefit of the living, but also with power to
loose the souls of the dead from purgatory : which tilings having
in themselves neither probability nor authority, (it being
notorious that they were granted solely to extort money from
those who had more simplicity than prudence,) and being,
besides, exercised most impudently by the commissioners deputed
to this exaction, (the greatest part of whom purchased from the
court the power of exercising them,) had excited in many places
great indignation and scandal, especially in Germany, where
faculties for liberating the souls of the dead from purgatory were
sold at a trifling price, or made the stakes of gambling in taverns.
On this occasion, the reason avowed was the expense of the war
igainst the Turks, and of finishing the church of St Peter. "The
money, however," says Mr Bower, in his Life of Luther, "went
to neither purpose, but was lavished in gratifying the luxury of
the court of Rome, and of its dependents." A more productive
scheme of fraud never was devised. Throughout Europe, these
indulgences were so eagerly sought for by the previously blinded
and bigoted people, that even popish kings and governments
complained bitterly that the popes drained their kingdoms of
money.
THE
Protectant,
No. XIX.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2lst, 1818.
I N my last Number I endeavoured to show that the doctrine of
indulgences, as taught by the Douay Catechism, has a natural
tendency to encourage the commission of sin. I proceed now
to answer the question of Amicus Veritatis, with regard to
indulgences, which, he says, are granted by Protestant Churches,
and particularly by the Church of Scotland, as I understand him
to mean in the following passage: — " I shall next ask your Cor-
respondent, Did not the Protestant Church exercise the power
of granting indulgences? If he would deny this, I would recall
his recollection to the notorious cutty stool, whereon, if a person
was condemned to starad for a certain great crime, he might be, and
often was, exempted from undergoing that punishment, by paying
a certain sum of money. Is not this an indulgence? Is not this
a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin ?"
If I were to argue like a Papist, I would say, that it never was
a doctrine of the Church of Scotland, that a sum of money should
be received from a sinner as a commutation for the necessary dis-
cipline of the Church. It is certain that I have not been able to
find such a doctrine in any of her public standards. I might,
therefore, dismiss the subject with a broad denial; and maintain
that there was no such thing. But I could not conceal from my-
self, or from the world, the plain fact, that facts are against me ; and
T
14-6
my Popish opponents might bring, perhaps, five hundred credible
witnesses to testify that their pockets had suffered, that their
persons might escape the shame of a public exposure. Now,
whatever a Papist, who does not value his reputation, might say
on such an occasion, I frankly confess that I could not endure
the shame of denying what is well known to be true; and though
the same could not be a doctrine of the Church of Scotland, if
it has become a pretty general practice, I must hold it as good
as a doctrine ; and whether the thing be right or wrong, its ex-
istence will not be denied.
I admit, therefore, that of late years, a practice has crept into
this church which resembles that of the Church of Rome ; or
which at least resembles that in which indulgences originated.
Up to the twelfth century, it appears from Dupin, that public
penance was enjoined for public sins. During this century it
became rare, because the remission of sins was to be obtained by
other ways, chiefly by the crusade and pilgrimages: and writing
of the fifteenth century, he says indulgences granted by the
Pope were more common than ever, — they had become a kind
of traffic, meaning that they could be had for money. The
reader will observe it is the remission of sins of which Dupin
speaks, and not the temporal punishment due to sins already
forgiven, as the Douay Catechism has it; and Dupin, a Popish
historian of great note, must have known the doctrine of his
church, at least as well as the Douay doctors. Now, in this re-
spect, there is nothing in the practice of the Church of Scotland
which in the least resembles that of Rome. The former never
professed to forgive sins for money, though they do hold and declare
the evangelical doctrine of forgiveness of sins, through the blood of
Christ, to all who really repent, and absolve from church cen-
sures those who have come under them, and have given evidence
of their repentance. It is on the point of public penance, as it
is called, and of releasing the sinner from this, in consideration
of something else, that I think there is a resemblance of that in
which the Popish indulgences originated. The mode of censure
enjoined for a certain sin in Scotland, is to be rebuked by the
minister, in the presence of the congregation ; but I believe, in
most cases, the sinner is now exempted from this on paying a sum
of money to the poor.
I do not know whence it comes, that only one species of sin is
generally understood to incur the above sentence. In former
limes, any gross immorality subjected the sinner to the same dis-
cipline. In the early days of the Church of Scotland, to give
countenance to Popery was considered a gross immorality, and
incurred the public censure of the church. " The Countess of
Argyle," for instance, " being cited to appear before the
147
(General) Assembly, for assisting the baptism of the King,
(James VI.) and giving her presence at the Papistical rites then
used, did submit herself to censure, and was ordained to make
public satisfaction in the chapel of Stirling, where the offence was
committed, upon a Sunday after sermon, in such manner, and
at such time, as the Superintendant of Lothian should appoint."
Spotstvood, page 214.
I should like to see such members of the Church of Scotland,
in the present day, as have given countenance to Popish worship
in Clyde Street, brought to a state of mind like that of the
worthy Countess; and make public satisfaction before their re-
spective congregations.
But to return to the proper subject of this Number; admitting
it to be as Amicus Vekitatis asserts, I am not account-
able for it. My work was not undertaken with the view of
defending the Church of Scotland, or any other church. I
took my stand upon the true Protestant doctrine of the Bible,
and the Bible alone, as the foundation of my religion; and what
I find not authorised by the Bible, if it should be in the church
of which I am a member, or any other, I am ready to disavow
it as antichristian. Popery had taken so fast a hold of the hu-
man mind throughout all Europe; it had insinuated itself so
much into all the feelings, and principles, and practices, of the
people ; its influence has so descended from one generation to ano-
ther; and it has become so interwoven with our modes of thinking,
and speaking, and acting, that I question if there be any visible
organized church in the world that does not possess less or
more of the antichristian leaven. When the cry shall be made,
" Babylon the great is fallen! is fallen!" there will be found, per-
haps, some in every church, " crying, alas! alas!" for something
that they have lost.
But with regard to the point in hand, I am not guilty of self-
commendation when I say, that I consider the Church of Scot-
land to be, in constitution and doctrine, nearer the divine pat-
tern exhibited in the Bible, than any other established church
in the world. And, perhaps, I may say it to the praise of this
church, that I am sure I give no offence to any of her members
when I say, that I do not look upon her as perfect or infallible.
Neither will it be offensive to the candid and enlightened part of
that body, that I give my opinion against that part of her prac-
tice, the commuting of public censure for a pecuniary mulct ;
that I consider this antichristian; that, in short, it came from Rome,
and the sooner it is sent back the better.
I do not object to the imposition of a fine. The sin to which
this discussion refers, is a crime against the state, as it is sub-
versive of the good order and happiness of civil society. It is,
148
therefore, a proper subject of punishment by the civil magistrate,
either by fine or otherwise. It seems to have been so understood,
in the reign of James VI. when the following severe law was made
against it : —
" All persons who commit the filthy vice of fornication, and
are convicted thereof, shall be punished in manner following : foi
the first fault, the man, as well as the woman, shall pay the sum
of forty pounds (Scotch, I suppose), otherwise both shall be im-
prisoned for the space of eight days, and be fed on bread and
small drink, and afterwards shall be presented at the market-place
of the town or parish bare headed, and there stand fastened for
the space of two hours: For the second fault, they shall pay the
sum of an hundred merks, otherwise the days of their imprison-
ment shall be doubled, and their food shall be bread and water
allenarly ; and in the end they shall be presented at the market-
place, and the heads of both shall be shaven : For the third fault,
they shall pay an hundred pounds, or else their imprisonment
shall be tripled, and their food be bread and water allenarly ; and
in the end they shall be taken to the deepest and foulest pool of
water of the town or parish, and be there thrice dowked, and
afterwards banished the town or parish for ever. The pecunial
pains which shall be received, shall be keeped in a close box, and
converted ad pios usus in the parts where the crime was commit-
ted." James VI. 1567, 1649-12.
" All laws and acts of Parliament against fornication and un-
cleanness renewed and confirmed." W. and M. 1690.
" All laws and acts of Parliament against fornication and pro-
faneness again revived and ratified, and persons guilty of it
ordained to be prosecuted, and the fines imposed to be instantly
paid to the parish collectors for the poor, or the party to be im-
prisoned till sufficient caution be found for the payment of them ;
and no pretence of different persuasions in matters of religion,
shall screen the delinquent from being censured and punished
for such immoralities." W. 1696, Oct. 9th. — Purdivan, p.
22 1; edit. 1802.
Thus the crime was viewed in a civil light, and civil pains and
penalties were imposed. Whether the penalties were in all in-
stances worthy of the dignity of legal enactment, is another ques-
tion. By sundry Acts of the General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland, as referred to by Purdivan, especially those of
1707, I find that swearing, cursing, profaning the Lord's day, and
drunkenness, arc mentioned, as well as fornication, as incurring
church censures. Persons guilty of such crimes were to be pub-
licly rebuked. It was not absolutely necessary that the guilty
person should be advanced to a scat of peculiar eminence, though
in most churches there was a seat for the purpose, and, perhaps,
149
in most instances, it was occupied on such occasions ; yet it was
declared to be sufficient, if there were satisfactory evidences of re-
pentance, that the persons should profess the same, and receive
the rebuke, in the seat in which he ordinarily heard the word
preached. Purd. p. 191.
Now so far as the church was concerned in dealing with sin-
ners on account of scandal, I can find nothing that authorises the
modern practice of accepting a fine in lieu of public rebuke. The
doctrine of the church is founded on the words of the Apostle,
" Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear,"
(1 Tim. v. 20.) Neither the Church of Scotland, nor the Apos-
tle, on whose authority they proceeded, thought of restricting this
rule to one species of sin: and I believe as little did they think
that a profession of repentance, on account of any sin, should be
dispensed with for money. *
A Popish indulgence releases the temporal punishment due to
sin, and it is granted for money. A Papist now accuses the Church
of Scotland of doing the same, because for money persons are re-
leased from public censure, which is understood to be a temporal
punishment for sin; and I am sorry, that Papists should see any
thing in Protestant churches, that bears the smallest resemblance to
their own corruptions.
As I am afraid great mistakes prevail on this subject, among
various denominations of Christians, I shall take the liberty of
stating what I think may be gathered from the word of God, in
relation to it. I am, of course, as liable to be mistaken as any
body else, and I wish to speak with diffidence. The subject is
important, and I shall not have written in vain, if I shall be
the means of drawing to it the attention of enlightened Protestants.
I think the church of Christ has nothing to do with the punish-
ment of any man whatever. I use the word punishment, in the
sense of Dr Johnson, — " Any infliction or pain imposed in ven-
geance of a crime:" and such at least is its meaning among Pa-
pists, in relation to indulgences. The reign of Christ in his
church, is the reign of grace and mercy. He has, indeed, in his
hand a rod of iron ; but that is to rule in the midst of his enemies,
and he will break them in pieces like a potter's vessel, (Ps. ii.)
But his reign in the church possesses a character of benignity and
loving kindness. No such thing, as punishment properly so call-
ed, can emanate from the throne of mercy.
Christ has appointed a government, or rule in his church, to
be administered by his servants in his name. The character of
this government must correspond with that of the reign of grace,
* The General Assembly, August, 1573, decreed that great or rich men,
being guilty of crimes, should be censured even alike as poor men; and
that no dispensation should be granted them for money, though adjiioi
usu." Pelrics' Ch. Hist, part 8d.
150
for it is virtually the government of Christ himself by his word.
Those who rule in the church according to this word, must ex-
hibit the compassion and the gentleness of Christ. While they
maintain great firmness, and even boldness, in opposing the enemies
of truth and godliness, not for their hurt or punishment, but for
their good also, they must be particularly careful that they admi-
nister nothing of the nature of punishment to those whom they
acknowledge as their Master's friends.
Through infirmity and temptation, Christians often fall into sin,
and thereby dishonour the cause of truth which they maintain.
If it be a sin which is followed by scandal, or by occasion of which
true religion suffers reproach, Christ has ordained that the sinner
should be told his fault faithfully and plainly. If it be known
only to a few, these few are authorised to forgive him, if they see
such evidences of repentance as make them believe that God has
forgiven him. If the sin be known to the church or congregation,
then the evidence of the sinner's repentance ought also to be known
to the church, — he ought to be admonished or reproved by the
minister in their presence, and exhorted to beware, in future, lest
he fall into sin, which is his own greatest enemy. If he does not
profess sorrow for his sin, — if he gives no evidence of repentance
after repeated admonition, and exhortation, and prayer on his be-
half, the church has nothing farther to do but to put him away.
In this there is nothing of the nature of punishment. It is a
process of kindness and brotherly love. It is a precept as old as
the law of Moses, " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy brother,
and not suffer sin upon him." (Lev. xix. 17.) The Psalmist
speaks of such discipline as an excellent oil that would not hurt
him. He calls it even a kindness done to him ; and such it truly
is to all who need it, and to whom it is affectionately administered.
It is the ordinance of Christ intended for the gracious purpose of
showing his people the great evil of sin, and deterring them from
the commission of it. Like every other divine ordinance, it is
profitable for the purpose intended by it. How many have had
occasion to thank God for such expressions of his kindness, and
the kindness of his people to themselves, or to others of whose
penitence and restoration they have been witnesses ! That there
is nothing of punishment in this, is decidedly the opinion of the
Church of Scotland, as her discipline is expounded by Stuart
of Purdivan. " A public rebuke," says he, " ought to be
so managed, that there be no ground given for constructing it a
penance, punishment, or mark of reproach, but the minister is to
carry therein, as one much affected and afflicted with the sin." —
In short, the whole process, if conducted according to the word of
God, and the mind of the Church of Scotland as above declared,
is an expression of the kindness of the Head of the church towards
his people, in order to recover them from sin, and preserve them
151
from falling into it. But to dispense with this, and make a man
pay for the dispensation, is to injure him, not so much by the
fine, as by depriving him of the merciful discipline which Christ
appointed for his spiritual benefit.
If it be objected, that most persons would rather pay the fine
than submit to the discipline and reproof, I answer, this indicates
a bad state of mind in such persons. I should doubt that they
had not repented of their sin. I should be afraid that they did
not really belong to the kingdom of Him, of whose gracious reign
I have been speaking. It would then serve no good purpose to
deal with them according to the laws of that kingdom, farther than
to set before them plainly and faithfully their guilt and danger; and
if after all, they did not repent, to put them away from the commu-
nion of the church of which they show themselves to be unworthy.
Most people would conceive this to be punishment; but in rea-
lity it is no such thing. Excommunication in the Church of
Rome is indeed a dreadful engine employed for the punishment
of those who offend the Holy See; and I am afraid that many
Protestants have derived their ideas of excommunication from
Rome. I do not say, it is not a dreadful thing, as administered ac-
cording to the word of God, because it really is so; but all that
is dreadful in it arises from the state of mind of the individual who
incurs the sentence, not from the sentence itself. It is never law-
fully executed, but in cases of obstinate perseverance in wicked-
ness, and refusing to repent. Nothing can be imagined more
dreadful than this. Such rebellion against the authority of God,
shows that one is not fit for the kingdom of God; and put-
ting him out of the church is doing him no injury; it is no pu-
nishment; it is indeed all the benefit which the church can confer
upon him; it is calculated to convince him of his sin, and it pre-
vents him from committing greater sin, by continuing to profane
divine ordinances. In short, there is nothing in it that affects the
person or the property of the individual. His personal and civil
rights remain untouched. He is deprived of nothing but the fel-
lowship of saints, a thing for which he has no value, a thing
which, indeed, he despises, else he would not prefer the pleasures
of sin.
I am aware that on this subject the apostle Paul uses strong
language. He speaks of excommunication as a delivering over to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh (1 Cor. v. 5.) ; from which
there is a vulgar idea prevalent, that the church claims the power
of delivering individuals into the hands of the devil, to be torment-
ed ; but the words really mean no more than turning persons over
to that society or class of men to which they belong. There are
only two kingdoms on earth; — the kingdom of Christ, and the
kingdom of Satan. The former is the church, the latter is the
152
world. The members of the former are gathered out of the lat-
ter; they are separated from the world, and added to the Church
by the faith of the gospel. Many, by false pretences, have been
joined to the Church; but when this is discovered, as it is by
their committing sin, and obstinately refusing to repent, then, by
the authority of Christ, declared by his Apostle, such persons are
to be delivered over to that kingdom from which they came, from
which they were never truly separated, and to which they are still
cordially attached, as is evident by their love of sin : this is giving
them over to Satan, their own master, the god of this world, who
ruleth in the children of disobedience. This is precisely the view
of the passage entertained by the Church of Scotland, as appears
by the following extract from PuRDIVAK, Art. Excom. 6. 10.
u Why the Apostle (1 Cor. v. 5.) expresses excommunication by
delivering unto Satan, may be for this, among other reasons, that
Satan is called the god of this world, as world is taken in opposition
to the church of God; so that delivering to him, implies no more
than that (Matth. xviii. 17.) " if he neglect to hear the Church, let
him be unto thee as a heathen man and publican,'' thereby letting
us know how dreadful a thing it is to be shut out from the ordinary
means of grace and salvation, and exposed to the temptations of
our grand adversary the devil." Still there is nothing here of
the nature of punishment properly so called, — nothing done in
vengeance of a crime; and one cannot be said to be shut out from
the ordinary means of grace and salvation, unless he shall volun-
tarily withdraw from hearing the gospel preached, from which he
is by no means excluded by excommunication.
I am aware, also, that the word punishment is used by our trans-
lators in reference to excommunication, 2 Cor. ii. 6. but it is used
only in that limited sense which signifies rebuke or chastisement.
It does not mean any thing that is penal, or inflicted in vengeance
of a crime. The original word i~ir//j,ia is indeed rendered rebuke
in all the other English translations to which at present I have ac-
cess. The authorised version of Queen Elizabeth is, — " It is
sufficient unto the same man that he was rebuked of many." The
Rhemish translation is, — " To him that is such a one, this rebuke
sufficeth that is given of many."
THE
Protectant,
No. XX.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29th, 1818.
An indulgence, acoordingto the Douay Catechism, is a releasing of
the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. From this it
is evident that the Church of Rome claims the power of inflicting
temporal punishment ; and that she has often done so is proved
by her history. In my last Number I endeavoured to show
that the Church of Christ has nothing to do with the punish-
ment of any man whatever; and that there is nothing of the na-
ture of punishment in any part of her administration, even with
regard to offenders. I believe I might even take higher ground
and maintain that in days of primitive purity, the discipline of the
church, and public rebuke, when the occasion required it, were
considered privileges. When a person had been left to fall in-
to sin, and to give offence to his brethern, he had no peace in
his own mind till the offence was removed. He came, therefore,
to the church begging that he might be allowed, by public pro-
fession of his sorrow, to do away, as much as possible, the of-
fence which he had given; and to have refused him this favour,
not the granting of it, would have been a punishment. In
short, the whole discipline of the church, even when it extends to
the excommunication of a member, is a process of mercy and
kindness to the individual, and to the church. If this be a fair
exhibition of the law of Christ, as I think it will be found to be
on a careful examination of the New Testament, then whatever
is opposed to this must be antichristian, and of this I am again
about to convict the Church of Rome.
Excommunication is simply to separate from communion. The
members of the Church of Christ have a mutual participation of
certain privileges which are common to them all, as Christians,
u
154.
and of which none but Christians can participate. I use the
word Christian in the New Testament sense, as denoting separa-
tion from the world, and union to Christ by the faith of the gos-
pel. Such persons only can have communion with Christ, and
with one another, in a spiritual sense, as members of his body.
When one has professed to be a Christian, and has been ad-
mitted to the communion of Christians, but afterwards makes it
evident, by sinful conduct, and refusing to be reclaimed, that he
is not what he professed to be, he is put away, as one who can-
not possibly enjoy Christian communion, but who under the
semblance of it, must injure himself, and mar the comfort of the
church. This I take to be all that is meant by excommunica-
tion.
But the Church of Rome makes use of this as an engine of
cruelty r.nd oppression, and for the purpose of extending and
maintaining her dominion over the kings and kingdoms of this
world. This of itself is antichristian. Christ, when on earth,
did not claim authority in temporal matters. He gave no com-
mission to his Apostles to do so ; nay, he positively forbade
them; and told them that his kingdom was not of this world.
But the Church of Rome, or rather the Pope as her head,
claims dominion over the whole earth, and all things in it. Though
this authority were exercised ever so mildly, and ever so much
for the good of the human race, the very claim is antichristian,
because it is opposed to the plain command of Christ.
I do not suppose it possible that an authority usurped con-
trary to the will of God, can be exercised for the glory of God
or the good of men ; but as a mere speculation, let us suppose
for a moment that it were so. Let us imagine to ourselves the
Head of the Romish Church deeply interested for the happiness
of the human race, and exercising his unlimited powers to pro-
mote good order, and peace, and civilization, throughout the
world ; and that the only instrument he made use of for this
purpose was excommunication. We should then find him
restraining ambition, regulating the government of princes,
and compelling them to rule for the good of their subjects.
No one would dare to oppress the weak, to make war upon
his neighbour, or shed the blood of his own subjects, under
pain of being excommunicated, and overwhelmed by the anathe-
mas which the Pope held in his hand for the correction or de-
struction of his rebellious children.
Now, the very reverse of this has been the practice of the
Holy Father of Rome, as is demonstrated by the history of
Europe for more than a thousand years. He professed to
have the keys of heaven and hell in his own hands, to open and
6hut at his pleasure. But when was it known that he shut the
gates of heaven, or opened those of hell, to any individual how-
155
ever wicked, though stained with every crime that man could
commit, if he were but submissive to the Holy See? The fact
is, men might murder their nearest relatives, — might lay waste
whole provinces of unoffending neighbours by fire and sword,
and live in the habitual practice of all possible wickedness, and
yet enjoy full communion with the Church of Rome in all her
sacraments, in all her privileges and honours, and in all her pros-
pects of future happiness. But if any man called in question
one iota of the Pope's authority, he was visited by all the terrors
of excommunication ; — and if the offender was a king, the whole
nation suffered with him.
I might fill a volume with examples, but at present I shall
give only that of England, in the reign of John, in the thirteenth
century, as related by Hume, vol. 2d. chap. 4th. A king more
wicked than John perhaps never sat on the throne of England.
He disgusted the whole nation by his cruelties and debaucheries.
It was not the least of his crimes, and perhaps not the greatest,
that he murdered his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, with
his own hand, for which he was detested by his subjects. There
was, however, nothing in this, or in his other crimes, which gave
any offence to the Holy See, — nothing that rendered him un-
worthy of her communion, or called forth the disapprobation of
the Pope.
But on the occasion of a disputed election to the See of
Canterbury, the Pope thought proper to nominate a creature of
his own to that high office; and because the king would not con-
sent to this, he let loose upon him, and upon the kingdom, all
the terrors of an interdict and excommunication. It is amusing
to observe how the Pope tried to cajole the king into compliance
before he threatened him; he tried the cunning of the serpent
before he had recourse to the roaring of the lion. " Innocent,"
for such was the name of the Pope, " sensible that this flagrant
usurpation would be highly resented by the court of England,
wrote John a mollifying letter; sent him four golden rings, set
with precious stones; and endeavoured to enhance the value 01
the present by informing him of the many mysteries implied in it.
He begged him to consider seriously the form of the rings,
their number, their matter-, and their colour. Their form, he
said, being round, shadowed out eternity, which had neither be-
ginning nor end ; and he ought thence to learn his duty of as-
piring from earthly objects to heavenly, from things temporal to
things eternal. The number four, being a square, denoted stea-
diness of mind, not to be subverted either by adversity or pros-
perity, fixed forever on the firm basis of the four cardinal virtues,
(iold, which is the matter, being the most precious of metals,
signified wisdom, which is the most valuable of all accomplish-
ments, and justly preferred by Solomon to riches, power, and a!!
156
exterior attainments. The blue colour of the sapphire represent-
ed Faith; the verdure of the emerald, Hope; the redness of the
ruby, Charity ; and the splendor of the topaz, Good Works.
By these conceits, Innocent endeavoured to repay John for
one of the most important prerogatives of his crown which he
had ravished from him."
John, instead of being mollified, was transported with rage ;
and refusing to yield to the will of his ghostly father, the
dreadful sentence was pronounced against him. " The sentence
of interdict was at that time the great instrument of vengeance
and policy employed by the court of Rome ; was denounced
against sovereigns for the lightest offences ; and made the guilt of
one person involve the ruin of millions, even in their spiritual
and eternal welfare. The execution of it was calculated, in the
highest degree, to strike the senses, and to operate with irresisti-
ble force on the minds of the people. The nation was of a sud-
den deprived of all exterior exercise of its religion. The altars
were despoiled of their ornaments : the crosses, the relicks, the
images, the statues of the saints, were laid on the ground ; and
as if the air itself were profaned, and might pollute them by its
contact, the priests carefully covered them up, even from their
own approach and veneration. The use of bells entirely ceased
in all the churches: the bells themselves were removed from the
steeples, and laid on the ground, with other sacred utensils.
Mass was celebrated with shut doors, and none but the priests
were admitted to that holy institution. The laity partook of no
religious rite, except baptism to new born infants, and the com-
munion of the dying. The dead were not interred in consecrated
ground: they were thrown into ditches, or buried in common
fields; and their obsequies were not attended with prayers or any
hallowed ceremony. Marriage was celebrated in the church-
yards; and that every action in life might bear the marks of this
dreadful situation, the people were prohibited the use of meat, as
in lent, or times of the highest penance ; were debarred from all
pleasures and entertainments ; and were forbidden even to salute
each other, or so much as to shave their beards, and give any de-
cent attention to their person and apparel. Every circumstance
carried symptoms of the deepest distress, and of the most im-
mediate apprehension of divine vengeance and indignation.
" The king that he might oppose his temporal to their spiri-
tual terrors, immediately, from his own authority, confiscated
the estates of all the clergy who obeyed the interdict." — " And,
in order to distress the clergy in the tenderest point, and at the
same time expose them to reproach and ridicule, he threw
into prison all their concubines, and required high fines as the
price of their liberty."
This state of things continued for some years; for though
157
the people hated their king, it does not appear that they were
in love with the Pope, or that they wished his plans of am-
bition to succeed so as to enslave their country. The inter-
dict, therefore, not producing the desired effect upon England,
the Pope at last issued the sentence of excommunication. Then,
indeed, John began to feel the misery of his situation. No
civil or military officer would serve under an excommunicated
king. Bishops and barons left the kingdom ; and the wretch-
ed monarch was left without support. Still, however, he kept
his place ; and the Pope had recourse to the next step in the
gradation of papal penances, " which was to absolve his
subjects from their oaths of fidelity and allegiance, and to
declare every one excommunicated who had any commerce
with him in public or in private, at his table, in his council,
or even in private conversation. And this sentence was accord-
ingly, with all imaginable solemnity, pronounced against him.''
Here is a striking instance of the Pope not only granting permis-
sion to commit sin, but actually commanding it. He required the
people of England to violate their oaths of allegiance, not be-
cause the king had violated his oath to them, but because he
refused to surrender his independence to the Pope, who had
no just right to such a surrender.
" But as John still persevered in his contumacy, there re-
mained nothing but the sentence of deposition; which, though
intimately connected with the former, had been distinguished from
it by the artifice of the Court of Rome ; and Innocent deter-
mined to dart this last thunderbolt against the refractory monarch.
But as a sentence of this kind required an armed force to execute
it, the Pontiff, casting his eyes around, fixed at last on Philip,
king of France, as the person into whose powerful hand he
could most properly intrust that weapon, the ultimate resource
of his ghostly authority. And he offered the monarch, besides
the remission of all his sins, and endless spiritual benefits, the
property and possession of the kingdom of England as the re-
ward of his labours."
And, truly, these fine promises were all the reward that Philip
got; for after raising a great army, and collecting 1700 vessels,
at a monstrous expense, for the invasion of England, John,
reduced to despair, was moved at last to make his submission,
and to deliver up his kingdom into the hands of his ghostly
father, to be for ever after at his disposal. Then the Pope by
his legate, told Philip to dismiss his army, and let England
alone, because John " had now come to a just sense of his
guilt; had returned to obedience under the Apostolic See, and
even consented to do homage to the Pope for his dominions;
and having thus made his kingdom a part of St. Peter's patri-
mony had rendered it impossible for any Christian prince, with
15B
out the most manifest and most flagrant impiety, to attack him.'*
Thus the Pope swindled kings out of their wealth, and king-
doms out of their independence, by means of his sentence of
excommunication.
The following is the form of this sentence, as used on ordi-
nary occasions. The original Latin may be seen in the Edin-
burgh Encyclopedia, Art. Excom. (t In name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of our blessed
and most holy Lady Mary ; also by the power of the Angels,
Archangels, &c. We separate M. and N. from the bosom of
the holy mother church, and condemn them with the anathema
of a perpetual malediction. And may they be cursed in the
city, cursed in the field, cursed be their barn, and cursed be their
store, cursed be the fruit of their womb and the fruit of their
land, cursed be their coming in and going out. Let them be
cursed in the house, and fugitives in the field : and let all the
curses come upon them which the Lord by Moses threatened to
bring on the people who forsook the divine law; and let them
be anathema maranatha, that is, let them perish at the second
coming of the Lord. Let no Christian say an Ave to them.
Let no priest presume to celebrate mass with them, or give them
the holy communion. Let them be buried with the burial of an
ass, and be dung upon the face of the earth. And as these lights
are this day cast out of our hands and extinguished, so let their
light be put out for ever, unless they repent, and by amendment
and condign penance, make satisfaction to the church of God
which they have injured."
There were, however, extraordinary occasions, and extraordi-
nary offenders, who required extraordinary forms of cursing. I
believe the most masterly piece of the kind extant, is that which
is given in my fifth Number. Queen Elizabeth of England was
a great eye-sore to the Pope, insomuch that he made a special
act of cursing and excommunication on her account, which is as
follows: —
" The damnation and excommunication of Elizabeth, Queen
of England, and her adherents, with an addition of other pun-
ishments. Pius, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, ad
perpetuam rei memoriam.
" He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in
heaven and in earth, committed one holy Catholic and Aposto-
lic Church (out of which there is no salvation) to one alone up-
on earth, namely, to Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and to
Peter's successor, the bishop of Rome, to be governed in ful-
ness of power. Him alone he made prince over all people, and
all kingdoms, to pluck up, to destroy, scatter, consume, plant,
;iud build, that he may contain the faithful that arc knit together
159
with the band of charity in the unity of the Spirit, and present
them spotless and unblameable to their Saviour.
" § 1. In discharge of which function, we, which are by
God's goodness called to the government of the said church,
do spare no pains, labouring with all earnestness, that unity, and
the Catholic religion (which the Author thereof hath, for the
trial of his children's faith, and for our amendment, suffered to
be punished with so great afflictions), might be preserved uncor-
rupt. But the number of the ungodly hath gotten such power,
there is now no place left in the whole world which they have
not essayed to corrupt with their most wicked doctrines; amongst
others, Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England, a slave
of wickedness, lending thereunto her helping hand, with whom,
as in a sanctuary, the most pernicious of all men have found a
refuge. This very woman, having seized on the kingdom, and
monstrously usurping the place of supreme head of the church
in all England, and the chief authority and jurisdiction thereof,
hath again brought back the said kingdom into miserable des-
truction, which was then newly reduced to the Catholic faith
and good fruits.
" § 2. For having by strong hand inhibited the exercise of the
true religion, which Mary, lawful queen, of famous memory,
had by the help of this See restored, after it had been formerly
overthrown by Henry the Eighth, a revolter therefrom; and
following and embracing the errors of heretics, she hath removed
the royal council, consisting of the English nobility, and filled it
with obscure men being heretics; oppressed the embracers ot
the Catholic faith ; placed impious preachers, ministers of iniquity ;
abolished the sacrifice of the mass, prayers, fastings, choice of
meats, unmarried life, and the Catholic rites and ceremonies;
commanded books to be read in the whole realm, containing
manifest heresy; and impious mysteries and institutions by her-
self entertained, and observed according to the prescript of Cal-
vin, to be likewise observed by her subjects ; presuming to throw
bishops, parsons of churches, and other Catholic priests, out of
their churches and benefices, and to bestow them and other
church livings upon heretics, and to determine of church causes;
prohibited the prelates, clergy, and people to acknowledge the
Church of Rome, or obey the precepts and canonical sanctions
thereof; compelled most of them to condescend to her wicked
laws, and to abjure the authority and obedience of the bishop of
Rome, and to acknowledge her to be sole lady in temporal and
spiritual matters, and this by oath; imposed penalties and punish-
ments upon those who obeyed not, and exacted them of those
who persevered in the unity of the faith and obedience aforesaid
cast the Catholic prelates and rectors of churches in prison, where
many of them being spent with long languishing and sorrow
160
miserably ended their lives. All which things, seeing they are
manifest and notorious to all nations, and by the gravest testi-
mony of very many so substantially proved, that there is no place
at all left for excuse, defence, or evasion.
" § 3. We, seeing that impieties and wicked actions are multi-
plied one upon another; and moreover, that the persecution of
the faithful, and affliction for religion, groweth every day heavier
and heavier, through the instigation and means of the said
Elizabeth; because we understand her mind to be so harden-
ed and indurate, that she hath not only condemned the godly re-
quests and admonitions of Catholic princes, concerning her healing
and conversion, but also hath not so much as permitted the nun-
cios of this See, to cross the seas unto England ; are strained of
necessity to betake ourselves to the weapons of justice against her,
not being able to mitigate our sorrow, that we are drawn to take
punishment upon one, to whose ancestors the whole state of
Christendom hath been so much bounden. Being therefore sup-
ported by his authority, whose pleasure it was to place us,
(though unable for so great a burden) in this supreme throne of
justice, we do, out of the fulness of our Apostolic power, declare
the foresaid Elizabeth, being a heretic, and a favourer of here-
tics, and her adherents in the matters aforesaid, to have incurred
the sentence of anathema, and to be cut off* from the unity of the
body of Christ.
" § 4-. And, moreover, we do declare her to be deprived of her
pretended title to the kingdom aforesaid, and of all dominion,
dignity, and privilege whatsoever.
" § 5. And also the nobility, subjects, and people of the said
kingdom, and all others, who have in any sort sworn unto her,
to be for ever absolved from any such oath, and all manner of
duty, of dominion, allegiance, and obedience; as we also do, by
authority of these presents, absolve them, and to deprive the
same Elizabeth of her pretended title to the kingdom, and
all other things abovesaid. And we do command and interdict
all and every the noblemen, subjects, people, and others aforesaid,
that they presume not to obey her monitions, mandates, and laws:
And those who do the contrary, we do innodate with the like
sentence of anathema."
§ 6. Regards merely the publication of this Bull, for which
I have not room. It is dated at Rome, at St. Peter's, May 5th,
1570, and the fifth year of Pope Pius V. The Bull itself in Latin
and English, with a commentary by Bishop Barlow, forms a quar-
to volume, entitled " Brutum Fulmen."
THE
Protectant,
No. xxr.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5th, 1818.
JVIy last Number concluded with the " Damnation and Ex-
communication"' of Queen Elizabeth, by Pope Pius V. One of
the first things that will strike the reader, on perusing this docu-
ment, is the unparalleled insolence of the ghostly father. Eliza-
beth and her kingdom did not choose to have any thing to do
with him ; and what right had he to issue his anathemas against
them? King John had, indeed, made a gift of the kingdom to
the Pope about two hundred and fifty years before. But as John
had presumed to give away what was not his own, (for even, at
that early period, the people of England understood and main-
tained the principle, that the king was made for the people, not
the people for the king;) and as the Pope had obtained the
gift by means of imposition, it was in course of time lawfully
wrested from him. In short, Pius V. had no more right to
curse Queen Elizabeth, than Pius VII. has to curse King
George the Third.
The enlightened part of the English population were, in a
great measure, prepared for a change in the public profession ot
religion, before King Henry VIII. was prepared to lead the way.
The doctrines of the word of God, as taught by Wickliffe and
the Lollards, a century before, were extensively propagated, and
many thousands in England believed them; so that when Henry
himself became Reformer, he found little difficulty, except with
X
162
some of the clergy and nobility, in getting the people to go
along with him. Indeed, his chief difficulty arose from the for-
wardness of the people, who were disposed to reform faster, and
more thoroughly, than he chose to allow them, and to go farther
from Rome than he chose to go. He did, however, go far
enough to incur the anger of the Pope, whose predecessor had
created him Defender of the Faith; not being able, with all his
infallibility, to foresee that Henry would soon renounce the faith,
and that this fine title should be borne for three hundred years by
a race of heretical princes ; and the Pope, whose misfortune it
was to hear of the defection of Henry, assailed him with all the
terrors of the Holy See, by means of a Bull which is before me,
and which fills fifteen quarto pages of closely printed Latin, un-
der the title of Damnatio et Excommunicatio Henrici VIII.
Regis Anglice. The Pope was evidently very angry with the
king. He declared him, by this Bull, to be a heretic, and his
crime was greatly aggravated by the consideration of his having
been stiled Defender of the Faith. He excommunicated and de-
posed him. He commanded all Christian princes to take up arms
against him. He gave the soldiers who should engage in so
godly a work, all the goods of the heretics, wherever they could
find them. The king, notwithstanding, maintained his ground,
and maintained the Reformation too, so far as he chose to carry
it ; and had he carried it a great deal farther, he should have had
not only the support but the gratitude of the people.
By Elizabeth's time, it was carried a little farther forward ;
and the great bulk of the nation were decidedly Protestants, that
is, decided in their separation from Rome, and in attachment
to Elizabeth and her government. The interference of the
Pope, therefore, was no better than the attempt of an incendiarv
to sow discord, and excite war and bloodshed, in a great and pros-
perous nation. Me persevered in such attempts for many years,
both openly and secretly, and employed numerous agents for car-
rying into effect his insidious and cruel designs. In short, it is
difficult to imagine a fiend of darkness more obstinately set upon
promoting measures of wickedness and cruelty than this holy fa-
ther of the Romish church; and yet I believe he was not worse
than the average of Popes for a thousand years.
He took other measures, besides denouncing the Queen, for
subverting the government of England. He wrote a letter to the
Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, exciting them to
rebellion against their sovereign. This letter, of which an En-
glish translation is given in " Free Thoughts," page 401, is writ-
ten in the most insidious and flattering style. He addresses the
two Earls as " men dear to us and eminent, as well by the study
)t catholic piety, as by nobleness of birth." He praises their.
163
for having determined " to renew and confirm the ancient union
of the Roman church with that kingdom," — " delivered from
the vile servitude of a woman's lust, to the ancient obedience of
the holy Roman See." He assures them " that the omnipotent
God, whose works are perfect, and who hath excited you to de-
serve well of the Catholic faith in that kingdom, will be assisting
to you. But if, in asserting the Catholic faith, and the authority
of this holy See, you should suffer death, and your blood be
spilt, it would be much better, for the confession of God, to fly,
by the compendium of a glorious death, to life eternal, than,
living basely and ignominiously, to serve the lust of an impotent
woman, with the loss of your souls." It is worthy of remark,
that this letter is dated Feb. 20th, 1570, that is, about three
months previous to the issuing of the Bull against the Queen.
This was giving the rebel Earls time to collect their forces, that
they might be ready to strike the blow, and dethrone the Queen,
when the Bull should arrive, and when all the superstitious and
Popish part of the nation should be afraid to serve an excom-
municated sovereign. The rebellion, however, had broken out
prematurely, perhaps before the Pope's Bull arrived, and it was
soon suppressed.
Some years after, the Pope excited Sir Thomas Stuckley to
raise rebellion in Ireland. Stuckley engaged to conquer this
kingdom for the Pope; and the holy father furnished him with a
number of crucifixes, by selling which he was to make his own for-
tune. The following indulgences were granted to these crucifixes,
which were evidently meant to excite the subjects of Elizabeth to
rebel against her.
" 1st. Whoso beholdeth, with reverence and devotion, one of
these crosses, as oft as he doth it getteth fifty days of indulgence.
As oft as he prayeth upon or before it, for the good and pros-
perous state of the holy Catholic church, and for the increase
and exaltation of the holy Catholic faith, and for the preservation
and delivery of Mary Queen of Scotland, and for the extirpation
of heretics, he shall have fitty days of indulgence, and, upon fes
tival days, one hundred.
" 2d. In going to any conflict or feat of arms, against the
enemies of our holy faith, he shall obtain seven years and seven
(juarantains of indulgence. And if he die there, at least being
confessed and houseled at the beginning of the war, with contri-
tion of his sins, and calling upon the name of Jesus with mouth
or heart, he shall obtain full indulgence and remission of all his
sins.
" 3d. As oft as he shall be confessed and houseled, making
his prayers by word or mind, before the most holy crucifix, arid
praying for the prosperous state of the holy chinch, and
164<
for the chief Bishop; and for the delivery and preservation of the
aforesaid Mary Queen of Scots, and for reducing of the afore-
said realms of England and Scotland, he shall ohtain all the in-
dulgences that are granted for visiting all the holy places that are
both within and without the gates of Rome.
" 4th. Any night or evening that he shall examine his own
conscience, with repentance of sins, and intend to amend the same,
saying the general confession, and bowing or kneeling before the
holy crucifix, saying three times Jesus, obtains a year and a
quaiantain of indulgence.
u 5th. Whoso shall use and accustom to behold it with devotion
to the cross, saying five Paternosters, five Aves, and some other
prayers to our Saviour, or to our Lady, for the exaltation of the holy
church, for the preservation of Mary Queen of Scotland, and
for the reducing of the aforesaid realms, he shall obtain once
in his life full indulgence of all his sins, besides the other in-
dulgence of fifty days for each time that he prayeth.
" 6th. Moreover, in the pain and peril of death, what person
soever being confessed and contrite, or giving signs of contrition,
and shall kiss the feet of the most blessed crucifix, saying,
Jesu with heart, not being able to say it with mouth, shall ob-
tain full indulgence and remission of all his sins.
" 7th, Item. One day in the year, named and appointed by
them that shall have one of the said crucifixes, with the license of
the ordinary of the place, it may be put in any church, or chapel,
or oratory; and whosoever shall come to visit with devotion the
said holy crucifix, in the said church, chapel, or oratory, sayino
five Paternosters, and five Aves, praying for the prosperous state
of our church, and for the preservation of Mary Queen of
Scots, and for the reducing of the aforesaid realms, shall obtain
free indulgence of all their sins, being confessed, or having the
mind and purpose to be confessed in due time or place, and to
amend their former lives and sins.
" 8th, Item. That every Friday that mass is said, or caused
to be said, upon any altar where one of these crucifixes is set,
one soul shall be released out of purgatory.
" Item. That those indulgences cannot be revoked by any
high bishop, except express mention be made of the same."
Stripe's Annals, Vol. II. 1724. page 535.
Such were the artifices of the See of Rome for subverting the
English government. The Pope excommunicated and deposed
the Queen ; relieved her subjects from their oaths of allegiance ;
stirred up the disaffected by flattering promises; and sent a num-
ber of little idols in the form of crucifixes throughout Ireland, to
cherish among the people the superstitious belief, that if they
should die in so good a cause as attempting to dethrone a here-
165
tical queen, and deliver a Popish one, they should receive thp
free pardon of all their sins. These efforts were powerfully
seconded by a host of Jesuit priests, who spread themselves all
over the kingdom, and who never ceased to plot the destruction
of the Queen, insomuch that it is truly astonishing that she escap
ed the fate of some other monarchs of that age, from the hands
of these incendiaries.
" The reign of Elizabeth," says the Reviewer of * A Brief
Account of the Jesuits,' in the Christian Observer for March,
1815, " displays a rapid succession of plots against her life, either
designed or executed by Jesuits, and from which nothing but
the peculiar protection of Providence could have delivered the
Queen and the country." The following is an extract from the
Brief Account : — " Elizabeth wrote with her own hand to Henry
III. of France, after the conspiracy against her life, informing
him that the Jesuits had contrived it, • who,' says she, ' hold it
meritorious to kill a sovereign whom the Pope has deposed ; and
she then warns him against them ; and he would have done well
if he had observed her caution. In 1591, the Queen published
a declaration against the society ; in which, after describing at
length the designs of Spain and Rome, she says, that she has
the most undoubted information, that the Jesuits form the nests
ami lurking-places of those who are in rebellion against her per-
son and government; that their general had himself been to Spain,
and armed its king against her; that Parsons, who taught among
them, and was the general of the English seminary at Rome, had
done the same ; and that the Jesuits, as a society, had been the
life and soul of the armies which had been raised against Eng-
land." p. 22.
Now, let the reader reflect what sort of a religion that must
be which has been uniformly employed for purposes of mischief;
and which has scarcely ever made itself known in the world, but as
the instrument of promoting some mischievous design. The re-
ligion of Jesus Christ has a direct tendency to promote the true
happiness of the human race in this world as well as in the next.
His appearing in this world was announced by an angel from
heaven, as the commencement of a dispensation which should, in
an eminent degree, produce glory to God in the highest ; and on
earth peace, and good will to men. This religion, wherever
cordially embraced, has produced the promised effects. It brings
peace to the conscience and heart of every sinner who believes it;
and it teaches such a one to live in peace with all his neighbours.
Congregations of such men are churches of Christ ; and, while
they are studying to edify and promote the happiness of one
another, they look with a benign aspect upon the whole human
r,nc. Every such society creates around it a moral atmosphere,
166
which ameliorates the condition of all who are within its reach ,
and brings into operation the spirit of that religion which is di-
vinely destined to banish discord and war from the earth, and
promote the reign of universal peace.
Every thing that has an opposite tendency must be antichristian,
that is, contrary to the religion of Christ. On this principle
alone, I am willing to meet any advocate of the Romish church ;
and I engage to prove that her whole administration, as related
in history, for twelve centuries, has been subversive of the peace
and comfort of mankind; that, in fact, all the cunning, and arti-
fice, and power, and wealth, and learning cf those who conducted
the affairs of the Church of Rome, have been devoted to pur-
poses of deceit, and cruelty, and wholesale murder, either in the
way of exciting princes to make war upon one another, or to
exterminate heretics, or in the way of sowing the seeds of se-
dition and rebellion among people, against such princes as the
Pope chose to denounce and excommunicate. He who believes
this to be the true religion cannot have learned of Him who was
meek and lowly in heart, and who came to proclaim peace on
earth, and good will to men; but must have been brought up at
the feet of some demon who delights in the misery of men, and
whose altars are ever stained with the blood of human sacrifices.
Papists of the present day assume airs of humanity and mode-
ration, and affect an abhorrence of such scenes as I have been
describing; but they do so with a very ill grace, when they do it
at the expense of denying almost every historical fact, and by
asserting downright falsehood, as is done by the Editor cf their
Orthodox Journal, when he says that persecution was scarcely
known in any Christian country, till Protestants set the example;
and when he maintains, as he does in his Number for October
last, that Popery is more conducive to civil liberty than Protes-
tantism, for which purpose he distorts, and turns upside down
many facts of history, to impose upon his credulous readers. If
modern Papists would honestly confess the truth, and deplore,
and condemn, the conduct of the Church of Rome in former
times, when she made it her business to excite war and massa-
cre throughout all Europe, I should give them credit for posses-
sing more humane and generous sentiments than their forefathers
did; but while they rest the defence of their church upon the
denial of well known facts, I must take them for liars as their
fathers were ; and I cannot help coming to the conclusion, that
they would do just as their fathers did, if they were in similar
circumstances, and possessed the same power.
1 have before me a list of about sixty emperors, kings, and
princes, who have been excommunicated, deposed, &c. by aboul
forty different Pope . (See Free Thoughts, p. 51.) What an
167
inconceivable mass of misery must have been occasioned by this,
and by the wars which ensued, to the millions of subjects, who
were all less or more affected by the fate of their superiors !
Why is it that the present Pope does not excommunicate and de-
nounce the king of Great Britain and the Prince Regent? It
is simply because he knows that it would not serve any profitable
purpose ; and that it might be attended by some inconvenience to
himself, if he were to denounce them by name. But, if ever the
time shall come when the subjects of the Pope shall have the
ascendency here, the ghostly father will feel little reluctance in
serving British princes as he did their predecessors. And, in
fact, they are excommunicated already, though not by name, but
by their well known designation of heretics. This is done annu-
ally at Rome, on holy Thursday, as by the following account in
Hurd's History, p. 217: — " The next ceremony is that of
excommunicating and giving over to the devil, all Protestants
throughout the world, who, at Rome, and among Roman Ca-
tholics, are known by the name of heretics. The Pope is then
clothed in red, and stands upon a high throne, the better to be
seen by the people. The sub-deacons, who stand at the left
hand of his Holiness, read the bull, and, in the mean time, the
candles are lighted, and each of them takes one in his hand.
When the excommunication is pronounced, the Pope and Car-
dinals put out their candles, and throw them among the crowd,
after which, the black cloth that covered the pulpit is taken away."
I have deviated a great way from the straight road through the
Letters of Amicus Veritatis, for the purpose of contrasting
the discipline and excommunication appointed by Christ in his
church, with that exercised in the Church of Rome, by the
Pope and his clergy ; and I hope it will appear from what I have
written on this subject alone, that the Church of Rome is anti-
christ,— that malignant power that maintains a perpetual opposi-
tion to the kingdom of Christ in the world.
I shall conclude this Number with another example of excom-
munication, as it is practised in the Church of Rome. It is dif-
ficult to understand what sort of communion the church held
with vermin ; but certainly some sort of relation must have sub-
sisted between them and the church, seeing they were liable to
be excommunicated.
" But the Church of Rome does not confine her excommu-
nications, or censures, entirely to men and women ; for even ani-
mals and reptiles must be subject in their turn. When it hap-
pens that much of the fruits of the earth are damaged by rats,
mice, locusts, or caterpillars, then the church censures become
iiecessary. The priest is obliged to transmit to the bishop an
account of the damage done by these creatures, and then the
1G8
bishop orders the priest to repair to an eminence in his parish,
where he is to put on his surplice, and sprinkle himself and his
clerks with holy water. Having repeated some prayers prescrib-
ed by the bishop, the priest walks over the adjacent fields, and
sprinkles them with holy water, in form of a cross. He com-
mands the caterpillars, locusts, &c. to depart from the place im-
mediately, otherwise they are to be excommunicated and ac-
cursed.
" Of this species of superstition we have a most striking in-
stance in the Miscellanies of the Marquis D'Argens, who tells
us, that, in the year 1738, Provence, in France, was much in-
fested with locusts. Application was made to the Pope, who
sent his bull to the bishop, ordering them to be all excommuni-
cated. The bishop obeyed the order, but the locusts refused to
comply, which gave no small uneasiness to the farmers ; it sur-
prised them much to find that the locusts refused to comply
with the apostolical order ; but one more sagacious than the
others observed, that the bishop was a Jansenist.
" An account of this was transmitted to the Pope, who, from
the whole of his conduct, seems not to have been a fool, for he
sent an injunction to a bishop, who was orthodox in the faith,
(a Jesuit perhaps) to let the locusts alone till the beginning of
November, and then to go out with his priests and excommuni-
cate them. Here the Pope acted a very wise part, for locusts
seldom survive the first week in November; whereas, had he ex-
communicated them sooner, the ceremony would not have had
its proper effect. This, however, was considered as a miracle,
because it served to point out that the Jansenists are not to ex-
pect the divine blessing upon their works; whereas all those who
are orthodox, are certain that God will hear them whenever they
call upon him, and that he will in the most signal manner grant
their requests." — Hurd's Histoty, p. 229.
TiJE
Protectant,
No. XXII.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER \2lh, J818.
I have been endeavouring, in some of my late Numbers, to re-
present tbe church of Christ and the Church of Rome, by way
of contrast, particularly in the matters of discipline and excom-
munication. These, in the church of Christ, are a process of kind-
ness and mercy; — in the Church of Rome, a system of cruelty
and oppression. The utmost that the church of Christ can do
with an offending and irreclaimable member, is to put him away ;
but this, even when represented by the apostle Paul, under the
strong language of delivering unto Satan, is a process of mercy:
it is declared to be " for the destruction of the flesh." This
last expression, " the flesh," signifies the evil propensities of
the human heart, the corrupt desires and passions, which, in a
man, are the source of all his misery in this world; and which, if
not destroyed, must issue in misery everlasting. That which ef-
fects such destruction is a process of mercy. It was effectual in
the instance of the person of whom the apostle speaks, 1 Cor.
v. and 2 Cor. ii. His being turned over to the world, which
is the kingdom of Satan, and thus declared to be unworthy of
the fellowship of the church, made him reflect on his own cha-
racter and condition. Finding himself an outcast from the king-
dom of Christ on earth, because of his wickedness, he could
have no hope of seeing the kingdom of Christ in heaven, bnf
must have been overwhelmed by a fearful apprehension of being
sent away into everlasting punishment with the devil and his au-
Y
no
gels. This effected the destruction of his flesh, he wa6 brought
to genuine repentance, restored to the fellowship of the church ;
and, persevering to the end, his spirit would be saved in the day
of the Lord Jesus.
The same apostle, 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. speaks of some who
had made shipwreck of the faith and of a good conscience; they
had abandoned some important truth, and embraced some fatal
error. This, in the view of the Apostle and the church, so far
as regarded Christian fellowship, was as bad as gross immorality.
The Apostle, therefore, under the direction of the Holy Spirit,
delivered such persons to Satan that they might learn not to
blaspheme. Though not favoured with the personal presence of
the Apostle, any church, by authority of his writings, is war-
ranted to do the same thing; that is, to excommunicate blasphe-
mers and persons who deny the faith of the gospel. But this
is not to punish them. Every society has a right to see that its
members be agreed about the fundamental principles of their as-
sociation. If there be any who reject such fundamental princi-
ples they have no right to be in it ; and putting them away
is doing them no wrong. It is, indeed, doing them a favour;
for, if error and blasphemy be ruinous to their souls, the measure
of putting them away, as unworthy of Christian fellowship, is
calculated to impress them with a sense of their sin and danger,
and by this means to save their souls.
Now, there is reason to expect that the laws of Christ, faithfully
administered for the correction of immorality or error, will pro-
duce the effect intended by them ; for he has promised to be with
his people always to the end of the world ; to give efficacy to his
word, and bless the administration of his laws. The design of
Christ, by all that is done in the church in his name, is to pro-
mote the salvation of lost sinners : — By the preaching of the gos-
pel, to turn them from the power of Satan unto God ; and, by
the same means, together with the discipline of his church, to re-
cover those who, after professing the faith, have fallen into sin.
It is this that makes the whole a process of mercy ; and which
manifests the discipline of the church to be a privilege rather than
a punishment.
This reasoning might be corroborated by the history of every
church in which discipline has been faithfully administered. I
shall mention only one fact, which is of recent occurrence,
which has been certified to me by the reverend Gentleman under
whose administration it happened; and which shows the good ef-
fects which result from an honest adherence to the divine rule of
letting a sinner know explicitly the condition in which sin places
him, with regard to the church; and that he cannot enjoy her
fellowship without repentance.
171
A woman who had once and again been guilty of a Gin which
incurred the censure of the church, in the way of public rebuke,
presented herself before the parish session, that she might b<?
taken under discipline, expecting as a thing of course, that she
would have to stand in the church, and that then she would be
restored to church privileges. But appearing to the minister and
elders to be a person who had no just sense of the evil of her sin,
and exhibiting no signs of repentance, she was told that she
could not be admitted to the privilege of the discipline and cen-
sure, which could be properly applied only to the penitent, and
could be of no use to the hardened and insensible, such as she
appeared to be. She went away greatly disappointed, because
she was not to be rebuked as she expected. She was in effect,
though not in form, excommunicated.
But the matter did not rest here. The sinner could find no
peace in her own conscience. The idea haunted her by night and
hy day. She began to reflect on her own character and conduct.
She thought she must be a wicked creature indeed, seeing she
was not reckoned worthy, so much as to give public satisfaction
for her sin. She was, in short, brought to serious consideration,
and deep repentance : on evidence of which, she was restored to
church communion ; and she maintained a good character all the
rest of her life. When she applied to the session, she was very
ignorant, and could not read, but when awakened to a sense of
her guilt, she immediately learned to read, so as to be able to
peruse her Bible, and made it appear that she had profited by the
merciful discipline of the church.
The contrast which I have been endeavouring to draw, may
be expressed in one sentence, — the design and tendency of Chris-
tianity is not to destroy men's lives, but to save them; the design
and tendency of Popery is not to save men's lives, but to destroy
them.
When I speak of the design of Popery, I must be under-
stood as looking beyond human agents ; for I am taught by the
word of God, that this system originated with the enemy of all
righteousness ; and I have no doubt his design by it was to op-
pose the benign influence of the gospel ; and, by presenting to
die world a counterfeit, instead of real Christianity, to prevent
the salvation, and actually to destroy and ruin the souls of men
The apostle Paul gives a lively description of the system, 2
Thess. ii. S — 12, and tells us that its "coming is after the
working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that pe-
rish." As for Papists themselves, I cannot allow myself to doubt
that they believe their religion to be the only true one, and the
only safe one ; and I believe they are not aware of the design of
172
its author. We are told by the Apostle, in the passage
above referred to, that when men did not receive the love
of the truth, that they might be saved, God sent them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. What was fore-
told of this system has been awfully verified. It was from not
liking the simple truth of the gospel, that many who professed to
receive it, began to corrupt it by human inventions. They were,
in righteous judgment, abandoned to believe their own errors.
Thence arose that monstrous fabric of superstition, and spiritual
domination, which has oppressed Europe for many hundred
years.
It was the design of the Author of Christianity to save men's
lives, that is, to save their souls; the Son of Man came to seek and
save that which was lost. But it was the design of the author
of Popery to ruin the souls of men by a system of error and de-
lusion; and he has carried his plan into effect, by enticing men
to become the dupes, and the agents, and then the victims of
that delusion.
That the tendency of Popery corresponds with its design, is
evident by its whole history, and by the principles which it incul-
cates. We learn from the word of God, that there is no sal-
vation for a sinner, but in the way of depending solely and en-
tirely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ, but Popery re-
jects this as the sole ground of dependence, and directs its de-
luded adherents to depend less or more upon their own merit,
and the merits of some whom they call saints ; who are, how-
ever, mere creatures like themselves, and many of them of very
doubtful character. This part of the system does not make such a
figure in history as the wars and bloody persecutions which
Popery has excited, because from the very nature of the thing,
it is not capable of being made the subject of history. It is
the subject of individual experience in that most important
hour, to every man, when he must appear before the judgment-
seat of Christ : and if it be true, as it most certainly is, thai
only he that believeth shall be saved, and he that beheveth not
shall be condemned, then that system of religion which flat-
ters men with the idea of being saved by some other way than be-
lieving on Christ, stands chargeable with this unavoidable con-
sequence,— it tends not to save men's souls but to destroy
them. With regard to the destruction of men's bodies, wc
know from history that Popery has slain its thousands and ten
thousands ; but with regard to the ruin of souls, from this fatal
error, no man can tell the millions who have been by Popery de-
ceived to their everlasting destruction.
I am aware that I am here treading on delicate ground, and
that manv who take themselves for Protestants, will accuse me o^
173
uncharitableness, but I care not while I know that I am upon
sure ground, as I consider myself to be, while I proceed upon
the plain declarations of the word of God. There is no name
under heaven, given among men, by which a sinner can be
saved, but that of Jesus Christ, and there is no way of being
saved, even by him, but in the divinely appointed way of be-
lieving on him. Popery holds out another way, namely, that
of believing in the Church, — receiving implicitly the dogmas of
fallible men; praying to, and trusting in saints and angels; and
doing whatever the Church prescribes. Now, without pretending
to ascertain the condition of individuals of ancient or modern
times, I am guilty of no uncharitableness, and no presumption,
when I say, that this is the direct road to everlasting perdition,
and that he who travels in it to the end must perish, and that for
ever.
I shall, however, be better understood by some of my read-
ers, and I shall perhaps make a deeper impression on their
minds, by returning to the tendency of Popery, with regard to
the bodies and the property of men. Here, most evidently,
its tendency is not to save but to destroy. I have partly proved
this already, by showing its insidious and incessant interference
with the affairs of kings and kingdoms, and exciting war and
persecution. I shall now give some instances of a more private
nature, but which are well calculated to show the spirit of the
system, and its tendency to destroy men's lives, as well as to
rob them of their property.
The Popish sentence of excommunication was used as an in-
strument of oppression and destruction against private and ob-
scure individuals, as well as against princes; and this use of it
continues to the present day. The following is the form of
" excommunication pronounced by Philip Dunn, a Popish
bishop in Ireland, against Francis Freeman, who embraced the
Protestant religion in 1765; — found among the bishop's papers,
in his house in the county of Wicklow :
II By the authority of God the Father Almighty, and the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and St. Peter and St. Paul, and all the
holv saints, we excommunicate Francis Freeman, late of the
county of Dublin, but now of Tuck-mill, in the county of
Wicklow, that, in spite of God and St. Peter, and in spite of
all the holy saints, and in spite of our most holy father the
Pope, (God's vicar on earth), and in spite of our right reverend
father in God, Philip Dunn, our diocesan, and worshipful ca-
nons, who serve God daily, hath apostatized to a most damnable
religion, full of heresy and blasphemy; excommunicated let him
be, and delivered over to the devil, as a perpetual malefactor,
and schismatic ; accursed let him be, in all cities, and in all
towns, in fields, in ways, in yards, in houses, and in all othei
174
places, whither lying or rising, walking or running, leaning 01
standing, waking or sleeping, ertting or drinking, or whatsoever
thing he does; besides, we separate him from the threshold and
all good prayers of the church ; from the participation of the holy
Jesus; from all sacraments, chapels, and altars; from the holy
bread, and holy water ; from all the merit of God's holy priest?
:ind religious men, and from their cloysters, and all pardons, pri-
vileges, grants, and immunities, which all the holy Popes have
granted them ; and we give him over utterly to the fiend ; and
let him quench his soul, when dead, in the pains of hell fire,
as this candle is quenched and put out. And let us pray to God,
our Lady, and St. Peter, and St. Paul, that all the senses of his
body may fail, as now the light of this candle is gone; except he
come, on sight hereof, and openly confess his damnable heresy
and blasphemy, and, by repentance, make amends, as much as in
him lies, to God, our Lady, St. Peter, and the worshipful com-
pany of this church; and as the staff of this holy cross now falls
down, so may he, except he recants and repents. Signed,
Philip Dunn." Free Thoughts, p. 422.
This is in the true spirit of Popery. Here there is nothing
of mercy ; of course, nothing like the discipline of the church
of Christ. All is vengeance, fire, and fury, against the man,
whose only crime is, that he has presumed to think for himself
on the subject of religion, and become a Protestant. When a
member of the church of Christ falls into sin or error, and if it
is even necessary to excommunicate him, he has still the benefit
of the church's prayers for his recovery; but, in the Church of
Rome, the excommunicated person is declared to be separated
from all good prayers of the Church; and, with a fiendlike malice,
he is utterly given over to the fiend, that he may quench his soul,
when dead, in the pains of hell fire. Among a superstitious
people, such a sentence must unavoidably affect the property and
even the life of the person subjected to it, so that the tendency of
Popish excommunication is to destroy men's lives.
This will appear farther from the following fact of still more
recent occurrence ; — It was a case tried, a few years ago, before
the Hon. Mr. Justice Day, and a special Jury, at the Cork
Assizes. " A baker of the name of Donovan brought an action
against the Rev. Mr. O'Brien, vicar general to Dr. Coppingcr,
titular Bifhop of Cork, and Roman Catholic parish priest 01
Clonakilty. The damages were laid at L.500. It appeared on
the trial, that a subscription had been set on foot by the priest,
for the purpose of building a Roman Catholic Cliapel. Donovan
was ordered to pay, as his affixed quota, the sum of 1 65. 3d.,
which he accordingly did. He was afterwards called upon to
pay 9s., this sum he likewise paid; but observed, that he was very
17 J
poor, and that he could not afford it. A third demand was
made of him, by the priest, of 16s., which Donovan refused to
comply with. On Donovan's going to mass, the following Sun-
day, he was asked by the priest, whether he would pay the 16s
or not ? He answered, that he was not able. The priest re-
joined, ' I will settle you.' Terrified at this observation, Dono-
van sent, by his wife, 16s. to the house of the priest, who refused
then to take less than two guineas. On the following Sunday,
the priest cursed from the altar all those who had not paid their
demands towards building the Chapel. Donovan went, on next
holiday, to mass, and was formally excommunicated, and the
people denounced as cursed and contaminated, if they should
deal or hold any communication with him. This threat was so
effectual, that no one of the country people would sell a sod ot
turf to Donovan to heat his oven ; and he could not even sell,
in his own name, such flour or stock as lay on his hands. Re-
duced almost to despair, the baker went, in a white sheet, to the
Chapel, as a voluntary penance, and asked pardon of God and
the priest for his disobedience; and was there, by the priest, desired
to attend him to his house, where he again demanded from him
the two guineas, which Donovan assured him he could not pos-
sibly make up. The excommunication was, therefore, continued
in full force against him, and he was consequently obliged to shut
up his house. The above facts were incontrovertibly proved by
two unwilling witnesses. The Jury, after a very able charge
from the learned Judge, found a verdict for the plaintiff of ^.50
damages."
Many of my readers will recollect having read the above in
the public Papers about four years ago ; and I believe it is as au-
thentic as any reported law case which we find in the Newspapers
It shows the cruel and vengeful spirit of the Popish religion,
which grinds the faces of the poor, and would wring the very blood
from their veins. It shows also in what way the spiritual authority
of the priests is used for the destruction of men's lives, or, which
tends to the same thing, depriving them of their means of sub-
sistence.
Candour, however, requires me to say, that the Editor ot the
Orthodox Journal endeavours to palliate, and almost to deny the
fact, though it must have been proved in open Court. He says
!?' I was well convinced that the vohole of the account was a
complete tissue of falsehood, except the fact that such a case
was tried." I believe he knows also the other fact, that the priest
was convicted, by a verdict of a Jury, and ordained to pay £.50
in name of damages. He gives a long letter from Mr O'Brien,
addressed to the Editor of the Times, and complains grievously
of the partiality of that Gentleman, for declining to publish it in
his paper; though it would certainly be hard upon Editors, if
176
they were obliged to print all that convicted persons might please
to write against the juries who convicted them.
But, from the priest's own showing, I am convinced that the
facts were proved against him. He admits that money was levied
of the people to build his Chapel ; the better sort were expected
to pay a guinea; the second three crowns, which is 16s. 3d.
Irish; and the third class, half-a-guinea : from the poor, he says,
nothing was expected. He maintains, indeed, that the payment
was voluntary; but I know the same thing is pleaded on behalf
of the priest in Glasgow, while 1 can prove that, in some cases
at least, it was so much otherwise, that he made application to
masters to retain in their own hands, for the use of his Chapel,
part of the wages of servants, which he thought they would not
pay voluntarily. O'Brien admits, that, after the Chapel was erect'
ed, considerable debts remained to be liquidated ; that he had
threatened with an ecclesiastical censure, those who did not pay
their quota: that " Donovan was the only one who contuma-
ciously resisted the regulations of the subscribers, and the autho-
rity of his pastor. The congregation witnessed his audacity, and
resented it, by withdrawing themselves, in some measure, from
his communion." He rests his defence partly on the bad char-
acter of one of the witnesses, who, he says, was suborned to
swear that he had excommunicated the baker, and every one that
should deal with him ; but there was another witness against whom
he states no objection. In short, his whole letter m a piece of
downright Popish shuffling, and can have no weight with any
impartial man, in opposition to the verdict of a jury. He says,
the deluded woman, on whose testimony this decision was found-
ed, died soon after, a deplorable victim of remorse and despair ;
but he knows that the decision was not founded on her testimony
alone ; and he does not deny the fact, that the poor man was
utterly ruined in his business, by means of an ecclesiastical cen-
sure, threatened or inflicted by him. Now, this was the only
fact with which the jury had to do, — a fact which was clearly
proved, and which, notwithstanding all his quibbling, the priest'
does not deny.
I should not have troubled my readers with this defence which
the priest makes for himself, had I not thought it but fair, since
I was giving the story, to give also the fact that a vindication
had been attempted. Besides, the style and manner of this
defence afford another evidence that there can be no dependence
upon a Popish representation of any fact, not even with regard to
what takes place in our own times, much less with regard to any
fact of ancient history. The above trial is stated, by the priest,
to have taken place as far back as 1805; and, for any thing I
know, this part of his statement is true.
THE
$rote£tantt
No. XXIII.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19/A, 1818.
I am afraid that Amicus Veritatis will think that I have
lost sight of him altogether; and perhaps he will think that I con-
sider the remaining parts of his letters unanswerable, seeing I have
taken so little notice of them in my three last Numbers. He
may keep himself easy on that score. I have no intention of
slurring over any part of the controversy ; and I shall pay all due
respect to the subjects which he has brought into view in my own
time, and in my own way.
His charge against the Church of Scotland on the matter of
indulgences, has led me to digress farther than I at first intended,
on the subject of church discipline in general, and excommunica-
tion in particular. In the course of this digression, I stated some
strong facts with regard to excommunication in Ireland, even in
ihe present day, and as I have fallen upon some more matter re-
lative to clerical management, and the oppression of our fellow
subjects in the sister Island, I shall lay it before my readers be-
fore I proceed to any thing else.
The Reverend Charles Bourke, a Romish priest in Ireland, has
lately published a pamphlet, entitled, " Popish Episcopal Tyranny
exposed," which makes such an exposure as I did not expect
to see in the present day. Mr. Bourke, it seems, had some how
fallen under the displeasure of his Bishop, the Right Reverend
Doctor Waldron of Killala; and his Lordship, without rhyme
Z
178
or reason, so far as appears, proceeded to deprive, depose, and
excommunicate the unhappy priest, notwithstanding the following
strong testimonies on his behalf.
Copy of a memorial that accompanied a letter from Mr. Bourke
to his Lordship, dated May 12th, 1815. " To the Right
Reverend Doctor Waldron. The memorial of the clergy of this
diocese of Killala, humbly exposes to your Lordship, that we,
the under mentioned parish priests and dignitaries of this diocese,
do express our sorrowful feelings for the Rev. Charles Bourke
being deprived of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the diocese, and
from the exercise of any ecclesiastical function, by your Lordship.
These sorrowful sentiments press the harder on us, as we know
him to be a good priest ; and a virtuous, amiable, moral, learned
one. We hope from your Lordship's goodness, that you will be
pleased to revoke the verbal sentence of suspension you passed
on him ; or at least give him leave to say mass; or, in fine, his
exeat for some other diocese. The different flocks, or parishes,
that he attended, speak highly in his behalf; and the gentlemen
of the country, the most respectable, give him a fair character.
(Signed)
James Haran, Castleconor, I Thomas Magee, Ardagh,
Dan. M'Namara, Easky, Pat. Flanegan, Kilbride,
John Burne, Templeboy, I Thomas Monelly, Ihinfeeny,
John Kelly, Drumard, James Kilboy, Mvigaunagh,
William Kelly, Screen, I John Magee, Lackin."
" Copy of a Memorial of the Parishioners of the Parish of
Kilbelfad, to the Right Reverend Doctor Waldron.
*' We, the under-mentioned Parishioners of the Parish of Kil-
belfad, unanimously complained of the want of the administration
of the sacraments, neglect of duty, oppression and extortion of
the Rev. Francis Mangan ; who, after many applications, permit-
ted several to die without the extreme unction, and others withou t
baptism. It was a common practice with him, to charge, even
the poorest person, the price of a bottle of wine, when he called
on duty. He kept a chaplain, who charged tenpence to each
family ; and, after he collected his oats himself, the chaplain
made a second collection. This done, he used to discharge the
chaplain, and bring in a third to make his collection also. There
wis no use in expostulations : his whip was the only law for our
conduct ; and God only knows how we felt his severity ! W a
made repeated complaints to Doctor Bellew, and latterly to the
Rev. James Haran, who sent us the Rev. Charles Bourke,
the only clergyman who gave us any spiritual consolation these
fifteen years back. — We hope, in your Lordship's goodness, th it
you will keep Mr. Mangan from us ; and that your Lordship will
179
continue Mr. Bourke to us, for he is an exemplary good priest,
who feeds his flock in the sweetest pastures. And, as in duty
bound, we will ever pray," &c. p. 8.
Here, with great simplicity, we are told in what manner some
priests rule over, and oppress the poor people in Ireland. Let
it be remembered, this is the testimony of the parishioners, in
a memorial to their Bishop. I suppose they did not expect
it was to appear in print ; and that it was destined to grace the
pages of " The Protestant." Had they thought of this,
perhaps the fear of the Rev. Mr. Mangan's WHIP would have
deterred them from speaking so plainly.
It seems his " illustrious" Lordship did not like to have so
good a priest within his jurisdiction. He accuses him of se-
veral immoralities, particularly of drunkenness, but he does
not trouble himself with evidence ; and Mr. Bourke seems very
triumphantly to repel the charge ; and he more than insinuates,
that the Bishop's dislike to him, arose from his not being a
man who could be content with things as they are; and wink
at gross negligence and immorality on the part of his clerical
brethren. He appealed to the Pope against the sentence of
his diocesan ; and there, I suppose, the appeal lies to this day,
for he is too poor to go to Rome to prosecute his cause ; and
the Bishop has refused to answer the appeal, or give the rea-
sons of his conduct, till he receive an extract from Rome.
Bourke very feelingly describes the effect of the excommu-
nication upon himself. His ghostly father, that is, the Bishop,
meant, he says, " to kill his son, both temporally and spiritually ;
temporally, as far as he has endeavoured to starve him to death
by means of a major excommunication ; and this excommuni-
cation was to be read in all the chapels of the diocese, by each
priest to his respective flock ; — that no means of support, conso-
lation, or sustenance should be left him, but to die like a dog
in a ditch, if the priest or man, on whom the attack was made,
should be so weak as to become the dupe of such ill-timed
fulminations.
" By a major excommunication, one is deprived of all the
goods of the church, and even of Christian burial, of assisting
at mass, or divine service, or office of any kind, at the prayers
of the church ! ! It depxives a man of receiving the sacraments,
of the functions of holy orders, of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
and of all the suffrages of the church ; in such manner that those
who have incurred the censure, have no part in the affairs of the
church, unless they may have a legitimate excuse. For a greatf
clearing of this matter, I will reduce to five classes, the goods of
which a man is deprived by a major excommunication. They
are contained in this verse :
I HO
Ox, orare, vale, community mensa negatur.
" The word Ox, signifies that the faithful should not speak
to an excommunicated person. Orare, that they should not
pray in his company. Vale, that they should not bid him the
iime of day, nor show him any mark of civility or respect. Com-
munio, shews that they should not live in the same house, nor
under the same roof, negotiate, work, nor have any intercourse
with him. Mensa negatur, signifies, that the faithful should
not eat, or drink, or sleep, with an excommunicated person.
When denounced, all the faithful are forbidden, under pain of a
minor excommunication, to commune, in any respect, with an
excommunicated person; but before this denunciation, the faith-
ful may commune with them, and give them what is not forbidden
in the divine, or natural law.
" By the above we see, that, after the denunciation, the faith-
ful are obliged to avoid the excommunicated person, under pain
of incurring a minor excommunication; which, even they do not
incur, if any of the five following reasons may be alleged to ex-
cuse them:
" Utile, lex, humile, res ignorata, necesse."
Mr. Bourke illustrates these five reasons at length. The sub-
stance of them is; — that a person, by intercourse with one ex-
communicated, does not incur minor excommunication, if he can
plead manifest utility; the marriage relation; the connexion of
children, or domestics; ignorance of the case; or urgent neces-
sity.
" Though the above motives," says he, " excuse the ex-
communicated person as well as the faithful, from a major ex-
communication, or from incurring a minor excommunication;
yet few there are who know it, except those who have had a
long course of theological studies. Besides, the clergy never
explain to their flocks the reasons that excuse from a major ex-
communication; it is not their interest to do it. They only in-
stil into them, that by tea excommunication they are on the brink
of destruction, and just ready to fall into the fiery furnace of
hell!! This they do to keep them in awe, and to spread the veil
of ignorance over their eyes, in order that they m?y be subject
to themselves; and to themselves alone, upon all occasions!!!
" Many, besides, of the clergy never had a regular course of
studies, and therefore are insufficient to instruct, or do away the
cloud of ignorance that hangs over the poor, in this manner,
t^e poor, (God help them,) are kept in the dark; and this is
181
the interest of their clergy, who tyrannize over them more than
the Indian chiefs do over the savages who inhabit the most un-
cultivated regions of the earth. It is but too well known that it is
the want of preaching the gospel, and inculcating its evangelical
principles, in imitation of the maxims taught by Christ, by exam-
ple and word, that make Roman Catholics so stupid and luke-
warm in their duty to God and their neighbour : and when they
see their instructors give a bad example themselves, in the viola-
tion of the principles that bind and link society together, what
wonder that they, the lower orders, should be led out of the
oath, and commit the excesses we see daily by woeful experience,
which too frequently bring them to condign punishment ? And
all this, owing to their clergy keeping them in ignorance, with
the oppression, extortion, and the tyranny of their curses and ex
communications ; which are always ready, even on the most in-
significant and trivial occasions." p. 38.
Let it be remembered that this account of the character and
conduct of the Popish priests in Ireland is given by one of them-
selves, and one who knows them well. The following shows
how much some of the Papists in Ireland are opposed to the in-
struction of the people; and with what a jealous eye they regard
the operation of the Hibernian Society, whose object it is to teach
the Irish to read : —
" His Lordship, (Bishop Waldron,) in opposition to the Lon-
don Hibernian Society, said, he would establish Catholic Schools
in the two parishes, and appoint schoolmasters for that purpose,
with salaries of twenty pounds per annum. Full of this expecta-
tion,'John Tympany (who had a wife and a houseful of very
helpless children, and was in possession of twenty guineas a-year
by teaching one of the charity schools established for the benefit
of the poor,) was deprived of the means of supporting his wife
and helpless family. Relying on the veracity of his Lordship's
word of honour, he was drawn from his allegiance to the society,
and lost a year's salary of twenty guineas. This poor man now
has no alternative but that of going to beg ! It is true the Bishop
gave him a black suit of clothes ; and so transformed him from
Shane-bane to Shane- dough. The poor man was known by
the name of Shane-bane which signifies White John. Shane-
dough, is Black John, into which he was transformed by wear-
ing the Bishop's black suit of second-hand clothes; which stands
the poor man in twenty guineas, but reduces him to the extremity
of going to beg ! He is indeed an honest, well-meaning man,
who knows the Irish language well, and whose instructions to
the. Irish youth would be of great utility. I have seen very few
who know the Irish better." p. 42.
This man, it seems, was seduced by the Bishop, under false
promises, to give up t lie service of the Hibernian Society ; and
182
was reduced to poverty, because it was the desire of his Lordship
that his people should not learn to read their own language. The
following gives a farther development of the manner in which
religious matters are at this day conducted by the Romish clergy
in Ireland: —
" Dr. Waldron, on his arrival to his diocese of Killala, to
prove his firmness in discharge of his apostolic mission, assem-
bled all his clergy, and preached the necessity of holding fast the
principles of the most ancient religion from the time of Christ and
his Apostles, down to the present epoch ; that, 10 holdfast to it,
and not be turned about with every wind of doctrine, it would
be necessary to begin and fix the Bishop on a permanent footing:
that this could only be done by paying in to him all the money
collected by all and each of his Clergy, since the decease of the
Right Rev. Dr. Bellew, to his commencement of assuming the
reins of his Episcopal government. By giving him this money,
extorted from the poor without pity or remorse, to be employed
in defraying the exorbitant expenses, indispensibly (he said) an-
nexed to the bringing the Archbishop of Dublin to Tuam, in
order to impose hands on Dr. Waldron, and also to defray that
of assembling troops to keep peace in Tuam during the august
ceremony of consecration, the gift would become laudable ! it
would be a most pious work of charity to dignify the Episcopal
character, by the oppression of many, and the extortion from
several who had not perhaps salt to eat with their potatoes. That
no one may beat a loss to know where this extortion lies, — it is
the Bishop's exacting half-a-guinea, instead of half-a-crown, for
the dispensation of banns, — making, at a very moderate average,
of this merchantable commodity, from five to six hundred pounds
a-year, by allowing from twenty to forty marriages in each parish.
Formerly, the dispensation of banns was but half-a-crown: now it
is a half-a-guinea; having no right, authority, or law, for this aug-
mentation. Baptism is raised from an English shilling to an
English half-crown: legacy, on every corpse, from an English
crown to ten shillings; which, if the priest does not get immedi-
ately, he will take away the pot, the wheel, or the blanket. I
have known a certain priest, where the above furniture was want-
ing, to take the hens from the roost! This legacy they must get,
(though they were sure the miserable individual who survives,
had not a bit to put in his mouth that night,) or some article pro-
portionable in value. The distribution of the holy oils is raised.
The priests are allowed to get, and force, a large measure of oats
annually from the poorest creature in the parish ; the poorest
widow not excepted! This collection the priest is allowed to
make, provided that, of the collected oats, he sends a sack to the
Bishop annually." pp. 42. 43.
"At Christmas and Easter, it is the rule with every parish
183
priest, on Sunday, to publish his weekly stations through the ■
villages ; on Monday, for example, at such a man's house, all the l
villagers are to attend, men, women, married, and unmarried.
Should, however, any one absent himself, this day, for the want
of money, or any other cause, however legitimate, the priest '
sends the vestments to his house, the following day, as a punish-
ment upon the miserable man. The poor individual is then
obliged, should he pawn his blanket, to prepare a dinner for the
priest, — with tea and sugar, bread, beef, mutton, fowl, hay, and
oats, and plenty of whisky ; although it may be for the want o\
a shilling to pay the priest's dues that the unfortunate wretch ab-
sentedhimself the day before, which he could not pay at the pe-
riodical season of the priest's dues!!!
" On Tuesday, the same at some other man's house, in some
other village; and so on, until all the confessions are heard in all
the parishes of this diocese. Easter comes on, and the same
line of conduct is observed by the priest as at Christmas.
" At a moderate average, one or two guineas in breau, tea
and sugar, beef, mutton, fowl, and whisky, hay, and oats, will
not defray the expense of the priest, who has a right to invite all
his friends to the feast! Any one who wishes to be exempt from
these heavy charges, must be on the alert, and very cautious to
send butter, eggs, chickens ; in a word, he must ingratiate him-
self well by means of these little perquisites into the priest's favour,
a little before the return of these periodical seasons of Christmas
and Easter.
" Now, before these confessions begin, the priest tells them
it is intended to do penance for their sins, which is best done bv
fasting and prayer ; but which is quite opposite to the grand feast
that the priest not only expects, but must necessarily have, though
he was sure the miserable creature should go and beg the next
day. I leave the world to judge what kind of penance this is. !
Some priests will not drink whisky: they must have rum, brandy,
or wine, by which they get basely drunk, before they leave the
poor man's house ; and, in return for his civilities, they insult
him with the most gross and ignominious language.
" The good usage which the priest has got, and the extrava-
gant expenses which he has occasioned, are no protection to the
poor man against abuse and insult. I have known a priest, (Mr.
M. at Backs) to charge the man of the house for a bottle of
wine, when he did not, on these occasions, get it to drink, though
the man had a bottle of rum for him. In Templeboy parish,
through vengeance and an old grudge, a certain priest, Mr. B ,
went to a poor widow's house to hear confessions. This poor
widow had but a small cock of hay for the use of a little' heifer.
The hay she sold to be able to procure a dinner for the priest.
Her means did not allow her to buy any whisky. The priest told
184
lier, she owed him halt'- 1 crown for confessions. This half-crown
she retained off the price of the hay to pay the priest. Accord-
ingly, when dinner was served up, she said to the priest, I have
no spirits for you, nor any means to get it but this half crown you
say I owe yon, and which I retained off the price of my little cock
of hay; will you take it in lieu of the debt, or shall I send it for
spirits ? The priest took the half-crown, put it in his pocket,
drank water at that dinner, and replied, he might soon have a
call to some other place where he would get enough to drink.
" I could make up a volume, were I to recapitulate all the
abuses of this nature I know; but, for brevity's sake, I omit them
for the present. Every head of a family must pay an English
shilling at Christmas and Easter, and every woman a hank of
yarn : the unmarried sixpence halfpenny. No exceptions of
widows, orphans, servants, male or female; and, if any remit-
tance is made, it is to the rich. It is made to those who are not
real objects of charity. Innumerable are the examples of extor-
tions that I could detail."/*/;. 44, 45.
Mr. Bourke proceeds to state some shameful abuses in the
manner of hearing confession, which the priests, in that diocese,
are in the habit of hearing in private rooms, instead of doing
so in the church as the law requires. He says, indeed, in his
preface, " that the lives of the Roman Catholic clergy, at this
day, in Ireland, as well as on the Continent, are not much more
correct than those of the clergy at the time of the Reformation,
when Luther inveighed against them, is a melancholy truth,
which cannot be denied." When the Editor of the Orthodox
Journal spoke of spotless purity of the character of the Irish
priests, (See No. XV. page 120.) I suspected there was some-
thing wrong; but I did not know they were so bad as is here
represented by one of themselves: —
" The mistresses and children of Rev. Gentlemen can be shown,
whenever they may choose to put it to the trial. Many induce-
ments occur to me, to mention their names, but I restrain myself
for a more seasonable opportunity. They themselves know that
I can prove this assertion incontestibly."jt>. 45. '-They have the
care of souls, and, like the blind leading the blind, they will both
inevitably fall into the ditch. These are they of whom I can
enumerate eleven (nearly one half of the number in the diocese.)
who, with uncontrollable dominion, tyrannize over the imbeci-
lity and weakness of their poor adherents; and whom the Bishop
is said to hold in great esteem, and high honour for his own private
views. Is not this the strongest reason, motive, and incentive,
to make them, with so much obstinacy, resist the veto, for fear
that, in any respect whatever, their clerical dominion should
suffer the smallest diminution." />. 46.
THE
rotegtaut,
No. XXIV.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26tn, 1818.
1 return now to the Letter of Amicus Veritatis, who
writes as follows : (See Part I. p. 19.) <: But, Sir, I will not con-
tent myself with barely stating the doctrine of the Catholic
Church. I will go farther. I shall recall to your recollection,
that Catholics abjure, as antichristian, those principles imputed to
them by your Correspondent, especially with regard to a liberty
of committing sin, or that the Pope is infallible. That I may
be found correct, I shall refer to Act 33. Geo. III. cap. 44.
This is a document which is approved by the Pope and all the
Catholic Bishops in the three kingdoms; it is also received and
accredited by the British government, as containing the principles
of Cathclics. Here, then, I take my stand; and now again bold-
ly repeat, ' that it never was the doctrine of the Catholic Church,
that a Pope or a Bishop could grant an indulgence to commit
sin.' With what a face of effrontery can your Correspondent
come forward and declare to the public, that such are the princi-
ples of a body of men who have been celebrated for every Chris-
tian virtue; and who publicly abjure, upon their most solemn
oaths, the abominable principles imputed to them."
One should imagine, from the above strong assertions, that the
statute referred to contained a very ample exposition of the Ro-
mish faith, " especially with regard to the liberty of committing
sin," and the infallibility of the Pope; that the principles of the
Homish Church were fixed by an act of the British Legislature;
A a
I8G
and that " never" any thing was a doctrine of the Church of
Rome but what is contained in the Act 33. Geo. III. cap. 44.
Now, it will perhaps surprise some of my readers to be informed
of the simple truth, with regard to this matter: — the Act docs
not contain a word about indulgence to commit sin, or the infalli-
bility of the Pope; and as little does it declare, concerning and
point whatever, that it never was a " doctrine of the Catholic
Church." In short, as an answer to what I had written on the
subject of indulgences, and the Pope's infallibility, Amicus
Veritatis might as well have referred to the Alcoran of Ma-
homet.
If I had accused my Popish neighbours of disloyalty to King
George III. or of maintaining that faith is not to be kept with
heretics; or that they believed the Pope could release them from
their oaths of allegiance; then, so far as an Act of Parliament,
and their own solemn oaths, could refute such accusations, they
should have been refuted. But these were not the subjects of
which I had been treating, and which Amicus Veritatis was
professing to answer. I did, indeed, say (Part I. p. 7.) " that
the Pope claimed and exercised the power of dispensing with the
law of God, and granting permission to commit sin." I say so
still; and the Act of Parliament says nothing to the contrary. I
said further, in the same sentence, — " he professed to re-
lieve individuals and whole nations from the obligation of an
oath," and I say so still; notwithstanding the Act of Parlia-
ment, which does not say a word about what the Pope professed
to do, but merely ordains that Papists in this country, who wish
the benefit of that Act, must swear that they do not allow the
Pope to have such power over them. In short, the Act pre-
scribes an oath of allegiance, expressed in very strong language;
but, instead of defining the principles of the Romish Church, it
expressly repeals an Act of King William, in which the leading
principles of Popery were expressed, and Papists, under certain
pains, were required upon oath to renounce them. With regard
to the matter of not keeping faith with heretics, though Papists
in this country choose to disavow it on their solemn oaths, there
is perhaps no peculiar doctrine of the Romish Church which
rests upon higher authority, as I hope to show in my next Num-
ber ; and those who disavow this doctrine, and yet adhere to
the Church of Rome, only contradict themselves.
I intend, in this Number, to give the form of the oath which
Papists are now by law required to take; but, for the informa-
tion of such of my readers as have not access to many books on
the subject, I shall give the forms which were prescribed by law,
in former times. The following is " The oath of allegiance ap-
pointed by King James I. of England." It is said to have been
187
drawn up with great care by the king himself; and it seems to
have furnished a model for all that have followed. " It was,
(says the Author of Free Thoughts, p. 234-,) such a favourite
measure of his, that he laboured mightily, with his royal pen, to
promote its success; thinking the Gordian knot so fast tied,
that no wit of man could loose it, and that if Roman Catholics
couid be once caught herein, they must be for ever tied firmly to
his throne."
" I, A. B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify,
and declare in my conscience, before God and the world, that our
Sovereigne Lord King James is lawful and rightful King in this
realme, and of all other his Majesty's dominions, and countreyes,
and that the Pope, neither of himself, or by any authority by the
Church and See of Rome, or by any other meanes, with any
other, hath any power or authority to depose the King, or to dis-
pose of any of his Majesty's dominions or kingdoms, or to au-
thorize any foreigne prince to invade or annoy him or his coun-
treyes, or to discharge any of his subjects of their allegiance and
obedience to his Majesty, or to give license, or leave, to any of
them to bear arms, raise tumults, or to offer any violence or hurt
to his Majesty's royal person, state, or government, or to any of
his Majesty's subjects within his Majesty's dominions.
" Also I do swear from my heart, that, notwithstanding any
declaration or sentence of excommunication or deprivation made
or granted, or to be made or granted, by the Pope or his succes-
sors, or by any authority derived, or pretended to be derived,
from him or his See, against the said King, his aires or successors,
or any absolution of the saids subjects from their obedience ; I will
bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, his aires and succes-
sors, and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power,
against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever, which shall be
made against his, or their persones, their crowne and dignity, be
reason, or colour of any such sentence, and declaration, or other-
wise; and will do my best endeavour to disclose and make known
unto his Majesty, his aires and successors, all treasons, or trai-
tours, or conspiracies, which I shall know or hear of, to be against
him or any of them. And I do furder swear, that 1 do from
my he?rt abhore, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical,
this damnable position and doctrine, that princes which be ex-
communicated or deprived by the Pope, may be deposed or mur-
dered by their subjects or any other whatsomever. And I do be-
lieve, and in conscience am resolved, that neither the Pope, nor
any person whatsomever, hath power to absolve me of this oath, or
any part thereof, which I acknowledge, by good and lawful au-
thority, to be lawfully ministered to me; and do renounce all
pardons and dispensations to the contrary. And all these things
188
J do plainly and sincerely acknowledge, and swear according to
these express words by me spoken, and according to the plane
and common sense and understanding of the same words, without
any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever.
And I do make this recognition and acknowledgment heartily,
willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. So help
me God."
The latter part of this oath is founded upon the well known
casuistry of Papists, countenanced by some of their high doctri-
nal authorities, that it was lawful to say one thing and think ano-
ther, even when upon oath, if it was to serve any important pur-
pose; * and the whole shews the great jealousy with which
Papists were regarded. It did not, however, serve the purpose
intended by it. " How egregiously was the king deceived, not
considering the persons and the religion he had to do with? His
boasted Kingcraft was overmatched and outwitted by Jesuitical
priestcraft. If they bad not art enough to untie the knot, they
had a spiritual sword ready to cut it. Accordingly, they derided
his folly (and not altogether unjustly) for imagining that the con-
sciences of Catholics were to be bound with such ropes of straw,
or caught and held by such cobwebs. Let us hear the words of
Paschenius, who, as well as Bellarmine, wrote against the king,
and in condemnation of the oath; and they are words which de
serve the particular attention of our present legislators: — ' Sedvide
in tanta astutia, quanta sit simplicitas ! &c. See, in so great
craft, what great simplicity doth bewray itself. When he had
placed all his security in that oath, he thought he had found
such a manner of oath, knit with so many circumstances, that it
could not, with safety of conscience, by any means, be dissolved
by any man. But he could not see, that, if the Pope did dis-
solve that oath, all the tyings of it, whether of performing fidelity
to the king, or of admitting no dispensation, would be dissolved
together. Yea, I will say another thing which is more admirable.
You know, 1 suppose, that an unjust oath, if it be evidently
known, or openly declared to be such, bindeth no man, but is
ipso facto null. That the king's oath is unjust, hath been suffi-
ciently declared by the Pastor of the Church himself (i. e. the
Pope). You see, therefore, that the obligation of it is vanished
* " One may swear that he lias not done a thing, although in fact !i<;
may have done it, by understanding, in his own mind, that he did not do it
on a certain day, or before he was born, or any similar circumstance, without;
the words which he uses having any sense that would let it be known.
And this is very convenient in many situations, and is always very jus?, when
it is necessary, or useful for health, honour, or property."' Sanchez, Op.
Mor. as quoted from Pascal's Provinci ■! Letters by Mr Carlisle oi' 1 I
189
into smoke : so that the bond, which by so many wise men, was
thought to be of iron, is become less than straw." Free
Thoughts, p. 234. The author refers to B. P. Epist. J. R.
Bishop Usher's Sermon before the Commons, 1620.
So, it seems, if the Pope should declare an oath which has
been taken by a Papist to a Protestant Sovereign, to be unlaw-
ful, it is ipso facto null, and of no obligation. Such is the
doctrine of a grave Popish writer; so far as appears it was the
popular doctrine of the day; and the Pope acted upon it when
he relieved subjects from their oaths of allegiance.
The following is the oath imposed by the Act of King William,
which is more severe than that of King James, as it implies an
express renunciation of many of the doctrinal tenets of the
Church of Rome.
" The formula, or oath of purgation, appointed by the Act of
King William to be taken by Papists in Scotland.
" I, A. B. do sincerely from my heart profess, and declare be-
fore God, who searcheth the heart, That I do deity, disown,
and abhore these tenets and doctrines of the Papal Romish Church,
viz. the supremacy of the Pope and Bishops of Rome over all
Pastors of the Catholic Church ; His power and authority over
Kings, Princes, and States ; The infallibility that he pretends to,
either without, or with a general council; His power of dispensing
and pardoning ; The doctrine of transubstantiation, and the cor-
poreal presence, with the communion without the cup in the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; The adoration and sacrifice
professed and practised by the Popish Church in the mass; The
invocation of angels and saints; The worshipping of images,
crosses, and relicks; The doctrine of supererogation, indulgences,
and purgatory ; and the service and worship in an unknown tongue:
All which tenets and doctrines of the said Church, I believe to
be contrary to, and inconsistent with the written word of God.
And I do from my heart deny, disown, and disclaim the said
doctrines and tenets of the Church of Rome, as in the presence
of God, without any equivocation, or mental reservation, but ac-
cording to the plain meaning of the words as to me offered and
proposed. So help me God." Free Thoughts, p. 388.
The above was required under an Act intituled, An Act to p re -
vent the growth of Popery, which imposed certain penalties and
disabilities on those who should refuse to make a solemn renuncia-
tion of Popery in the above terms. This Act is repealed by " An
Act for requiring a certain form of oath or abjuration, from his
Majesty's subjects professing the Roman Catholic religion, in
that part of Great Britain called Scotland, 3d June, 1793."
In the preamble of this Act, it is declared that, " the foresaid
formula, (that of King William,) contains only a renunciation of
190
speculative and dogmatical opinions, but imports no positive assu-
rance of the submission and attachment of persons making the
same to the laws and constitution of the realm, or to the person
of his most sacred Majesty." It is then enacted, " that from
henceforth, all persons professing the Roman Catholic religion,
within that part of Great Britain called Scotland, who shall take
and subscribe the oath, abjuration, and declaration hereinafter
expressed, and in the manner hereby directed and required, shall
be exempted and relieved from all the pains, penalties, and disa-
bilities imposed, enacted, revived, ratified, and confirmed by the
before mentioned Act of the eighth and ninth Session of the first
Parliament of King William the Third, as fully and effectually,
to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as if such persons had ac-
tually made the renunciation of Popery thereby ordained, accord-
ing to the formula thereunto subjoined.
" II. And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that the Oath, Abjuration, and Declaration to be so taken and
subscribed, shall be in the words following, (that is to say)
'* I, A. B. do hereby declare, That 1 do profess the Roman
Catholic Religion: I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, that
I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty, King George
the Third, and him will defend, to the utmost of my power, against
all conspiracies and attempts whatever, that shall be made against his
person, crown, or dignity ; and I will do my utmost endeavour
to disclose, and make known to his Majesty, his heirs and suc-
cessors, all treasons, and traitorous conspiracies which may be
formed against him or them: And I do faithfully promise to
maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of my power, the
succession of the crown, which succession, by an Act, (intituled,
An Act for the further limitation of the crown, and better
securing the rights and liberties of the subjects) is, and stands
limited to the Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager
of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants;
hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any obedience or allegi-
ance unto any other person, claiming or pretending a right to
the orown of these realms: And I do swear, that I do reject and
tletest, as an unchristian and impious position, that it is lawful
to murder or destroy any person or persons whatsoever, for, or
under pretence of their being hereticks or infidels; and also that
unchristian and impious principle, that faith is not to be kept
with hereticks or infidels: And I further declare, that it is not
an article of my faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure
the opinion, that princes excommunicated by the Pope and
council, or any authority of the See of Rome, or by any other
authority whatsoever, may be deposed or murdered by their sub-
jects, or any person whatsoever: And I do promise, that I will
191
not hold, maintain, or abet any such opinion, or any other opi-
nion contrary to what is expressed in this Declaration: And I do
declare, that I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any
other foreign Prince, Prelate, State, or Potentate, hath, or ou^ht
to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or
pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm: And I
do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and de-
clare, that I do make this declaration and every part thereof, in
the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without
any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever, and
without any dispensation already granted by the Pope, or any
authority of the See of Rome, or 3ny person whatever, and with-
out thinking that I am, or can be acquitted before God or man,
or absolved of this Declaration, or any part thereof, although
the Pope, or any other person or authority whatsoever, shall
dispense with, or annul the same, and declare that it was null or
void. So help me God.''
" This document," according to Amicus Veritatis, " is
approved by the Pope, and all the Catholic Bishops in the three
kingdoms; it is also received, and accredited by the British
Government, as containing the principles of Catholics.'* It is
certainly very natural that the British Government should receive
and accredit one of its own statutes for all the purposes expressed
by it; but the statute referred to, does not declare the principles
of Catholics, as any one may see that reads it. It calls these
principles " speculative and dogmatical opinions," with which it
professes to have nothing to do, farther than to repeal an act,
which made it a crime to hold such opinions. That it is approv-
ed by " the Pope, and all the Catholic Bishops in the three
kingdoms," is a matter of very little importance, — it is the manner
of such dignitaries, to approve of any thing that serves their pre-
sent purpose. We know that the Pope approved of the usurpa-
tion of Bonaparte, so far as to crown him, and bless him as his
dear son in the faith, because he could not help it. Neither can
he help his adherents in Britain, or procure for them the privi-
leges which they desire, without their taking the oath of allegiance,
which the law requires; he therefore approves of their taking it.
But as he has never by any public act that I know of, renounced
Jtis right to dispense with the oaths of his adherents, we have no
security that he will not do what was often done by his predeces-
sors, whenever he shall think proper; especially when he finds
that it will promote the interest of the Holy See.
On this Act, Amicus Veuitatis takes his stand; and he
may stand there lone enough before he will get the act to speak
<vhat he ascribes to it, — that it never was a doctrine of the Cathc.-
192
lie Church, that a Pope or a Bishop could grant an indulgence
to commit sin.
In addition to several documents which 1 have produced on
this subject in former Numbers, I shall subjoin one which speaks
plainly to the point. It is " An Indulgence, granted by
Pope Clement VI. to John and Joan, King and Queen of France,
and to their successors for ever.
u Clement, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our
most dear son and daughter in Christ, the illustrious John and
Joan, King and Queen of France, greeting, and our apostolic
benediction. Your desires we willingly approve of, and especially
those, wherein may God graciously give you that peace and re-
pose of soul you piously seek after; hence it is, that we, ready
to answer your humble request, do, by our apostolic authority, grant
by these presents, an indulgence for ever hereafter, to you and your
successors, that for the time being, shall be Kings and Queens of
France ; ar.d to every of you and them: That such confessor, regular
or secular, you and they sJiall choose, may commute, for such vows
as you may have already made; or which by you or your succes-
sors may be hereafter made; (vows touching the holy land, the bless-
ed apostles Peter and Paul, and of chastity and continence only ex-
cepted) and also such oaths by you taken, and by you and them
to be taken, in all times coming, that you and they cannot pro-
fitably keep : By other works of piety, as to him shall seem ex-
pedient towards God, and for the peace of your and their souls.
Be it, therefore, utterly unlawful to any upon earth, to annul this
our grant, or by any act of temerity to controvert the same.
And be it known to any one, that presumptuously attempts so to
do, that he forthwith incurs the wrath of Almighty God, and of
his blessed apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Avignon, 1 2
Calend. Maii, ann. 1347." See Dacherius, Spicileg. miscelh
Epistolar, Tom. 4. p. 275. quoted iu Protestant Catechism ,
Glasgow, 1779.
THE
Protestant,
No. XXV.
SATURDAY, JANUARY '2d, 1819.
W ith what a face of effrontery,'' says Amicus Veritatis,
'* can your Correspondent come forward and declare to the public,
that such are the principles of a body of men, who have been
celebrated for every Christian virtue, and who publicly abjure, up-
on their most solemn oaths, the abominable, principles imputed
to them ?" In my last Number, I gave the words of the solemn
oath, or abjuration, which Papists in this country are required by
law to make, from which my readers will see that they abjure
none of the principles which I had imputed to them ; that it is
merely an oath of civil allegiance, an abjuration of any claim of ci-
vil authority which the Pope, or any foreign prince, may claim in
this country, and a disavowal of one speculative, or rather practi-
cal principle of their church, — that faith is not to be kept with
heretics. I had not, in any of the letters which my opponent was an-
swering, brought this charge against his church: but I bring it now.
I am aware that I am entering upon an odious part of my sub-
ject, the very mention of which will excite displeasure in the
minds of my Popish readers. It is, however, by no means my
intention to displease them ; and if they should feel themselves
hurt by what follows, they ought to ascribe it to the subject, and
not to the author, whose duty it is to expose all that he knows to
be antichristian, and inimical to the happiness of society, in that
church which ruled long over the kings of the earth ; which is
again assuming an imposing attitude in our own country ; and
Bb
194
which can gain the ascendency only upon the ruins ni* civil and
religious liberty.
In argument, Papists sustain many disadvantages ; but they are
disadvantages of their own choosing, and from which they might
free themselves, if they would occupy the independent ground
which belongs to them as rational and accountable creatures, — that
of forming theii own judgment on all matters of faith and reli-
gious practice, without respect to the opinions of any man, or
class of men, of ancient or modern times. I should find it im-
possible to defend the Protestant religion, if I were not at full li-
berty to form and express my own opinion of whatever was done
by individuals or councils in the reformed churches. I do not
know of one individual since the Apostles' days, or of one eccle-
siastical council, to whose acts and canons I would implicitly sub-
scribe. I am as free to form an opinion, and have as good a right to
publish it, as Luther or Calvin, or as the synods of Dort or West-
minster. If I have the happiness to agree with these in matters
of Christian doctrine, it is not from any authority which I acknow-
ledge in them, but because I see such doctrine taught in the
word of God.
I am, therefore, not under the necessity of concealing or deny-
ing any thing which I believe to have been wrong in the doctrine
or discipline of any reformed church. If, for instance, a Papist
should tell me, that Protestant churches maintained intolerant
principles , I am not obliged, for the sake of consistency, to tell a
falsehood, and say, it never was so. I can readily acknowledge
that the subject of religious liberty was ill understood by most of
the reformed churches for more than a century after the Refor-
mation; I can join in condemning persecution, for conscience sake,
by whomsoever practised, and rejoice that it is now disapproved
of by Protestants in general.
But when I say to a Papist, Your church maintains the prin-
ciple that faith is not to be kept with heretics, he is not at liberty
to admit the truth of this, or of any thing that is dishonourable to
his church at any period of her existence. He dares not say,
I am sorry to acknowledge that it was so at one period, but
such a doctrine is now disavowed; because this would be to ad-
mit that his church had been wrong, which he considers impos-
sible. He is driven, therefore, to the miserable expedient of
denying the fact, however well attested, and of boldly asserting that
it never was so ; and the only argument which he has to oppose
to the evidence of history is, that he and his brethren abjure
upon their most solemn oaths the abominable principle imputed
to them.
It is true that Papists in Britain declare upon their solemn
oaths, that they do not hold the doctrine that faith is not to be
195
kept with heretics. This is well so far as regards them; and it
would be utterly unwarrantable to accuse them of believing what
they swear they do not believe; but then they ought to be can-
did, and confess that in so fat they are dissenters from the faith
of their church; or that the church herself has departed from
the faith explicitly avowed by many of her divines, and con-
firmed by the highest ecclesiastical authority. This they
will not do, for the church was never wrong, and can never
change. They are placed in the most pitiable condition imagin-
able,— between the well known fact that such a doctrine was held
by their church, their own abjuration of it, and the principle
that the church is infallible and unchangeable.
I believe the doctrine in question is generally disavowed by
the Church of Rome, in the present day; because it is one that
cannot bear the light of the age.
The late Mr. Pitt, while directing his mind to the subject of
what is called Catholic emancipation, addressed certain queries to
six of the principal universities belonging to the Church of Rome,
viz. Louvain, Doway, Alcala, Valladolid, Sala-
manca, and Paris. His object was to obtain accurate know-
ledge of the principles professed by these bodies, with regard to
the power which the Pope is understood to have over civil gov-
ernors, and the subjects of states ; and how far he has a right to
influence the conduct of subjects towards their governors. All
these bodies, of course, reply in a conciliating style. Their reli-
gion was always a very harmless thing, and it never interfered
with the civil government of any country ; in proof of which, one
quotes the authority of Christ, to give unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar's, and the doctrine of Paul, Romans xiiith chap-
ter, on submission to the powers that be.
One of the questions addressed to them all, is as follows: —
" Is there any principle in the articles of the Catholic faith, by
which Catholics are justified in breaking faith with heretics, or
others, who differ from them in religious opinions?" The uni-
versities, with one voice, answer in the negative. Some content
themselves by declaring there is no such principle maintained by
the church; others declare that it never was a doctrine of the
Catholic church; and one of the universities, (Louvain) is struck
with astonishment that such a question should, at the end of the
18th century, be proposed to any learned body by the inhabitants
of a kingdom that glories in the talents and discernment of its
natives. Proceeding to a more direct answer to the above ques-
tion, they say, " The said faculty of divinity (in perfect wonder that
such a question should be proposed to her) most positively and
unequivocally answers, that there is not, and that there never has
been, among Catholics, or in the doctrines of the Church ol
196
Rome, any law, or principle, which makes it lawful for Catholics
to break their faith with heretics, or others of a different per-
suasion from themselves, in matters of religion, either in public
or private concerns."
Perhaps some of my readers will be " struck with astonish-
ment," and " perfect wonder," at the effrontery of this learned
body of divines. I cannot suppose them ignorant of the fact, that
the principle which they disavow was publicly maintained and
acted upon in numerous instances, by those who directed the
affairs of their church; and therefore their affected astonishment at
the proposal of the question, is only a piece of artifice to give the
more effect to their declaration, and for commending their re-
ligion, and those who profess it, to the good opinion of the
British government.
In my last Number, I gave the bull, or indulgence, granted by
Pope Clement VI. to the king and queen of France, by which
he gave them liberty to break any vow, with certain excep-
tions, which they might have made, and which they did not find
it profitable to keep, provided their confessor was willing to
commute it for something else. This privilege was granted not
to the king and queen only, but to all their successors, and is in
full force at the present day; and as none of the exceptions re-
gard vows or oaths to heretics, the sovereigns of France have
full liberty to break faith with heretics, though bound by oath,
whenever they shall find it not profitable to keep such oaths.
I do not say that his Most Christian Majesty will ever do any
such thing; but I do say he has the leave of the Head of the
church to do so whenever he pleases. In short, it is declared
to be lawful for him to break faith with heretics, or any body else,
provided he has the consent of his confessor, who is authorised
to prescribe some good work as a compensation for the violation
of his vow.
Gregory VII. made a decree prohibiting all to keep faith
with excommunicated persons, until they made satisfaction.
Martin V. in an epistle to Alexander, Duke of Lithuania,
says, " Be assured thou sinnest mortally if thou keep thy faith
with heretics." This is more than making it lawful to break
faith with heretics, — it is making it sinful to keep faith with them.
Gregory IX. makes the following law: " Be it known to all
who are under the jurisdiction of those who have openly fallen
into heresy, that they are free from the obligation of fidelity, do-
minion, and every kind of obedience to them, by whatever means
or bond they are tied to them, and how securely soever they may
l>e bound." On which, Bishop Simanca gives this comment:
" Governors of forts, and all kinds o! vassals, are, by this constitu-
tion, freed from the bond of the oath wherebv they had promised
197
fidelity to their lords and masters. Moreover, a Catholic wife is
not obliged to perform the marriage contract with a heretical hus-
band. If faith is not to be kept with tyrants, pirates, and other
public robbers who kill the body, much less with obstinate here-
tics who kill the soul. Aye, but it is a sad thing to break
faith. But, as saith Merius Salomonius, faith promised against
Christ, if kept, is verily perfidy. Justly, therefore, were some
heretics burnt by the most solemn judgment of the council of
Constance, although they had been promised security. And
St. Thomas also is of opinion, that a Catholic might deliver over
an intractable heretic to the judges, notwithstanding he had
pleged his faith to him, and even confirmed it by the solemnity
of an oath." Free Thoughts, p. 119. with the authorities.
" Contracts," saith Bonacina, " made against the canon law
are invalid, though confirmed by oath : and a man is not bound
to stand to his promise, though he had sworn to it." Pope In-
nocent, in his bull against the Waldenses in 1487, by his apos-
tolical authority declares, that " all those who had been bound
and obliged by contract, or any way whatever, to grant or pay
any thing to them, should not be under any manner of obliga-
tion to do so, for the time to come." Pope Pius V. by his le-
gate, Commendone, endeavoured to persuade the Emperor, necji-
dem aut sacramentum infideli esse servandum ; that " no faith
nor oaths were to be kept with an infidel." And through his
persuasion, Maximilian was induced to revoke the permission he
had granted for the Lutherans to preach in Austria. Charles
V. having given his promise and safe conduct to Luther to pre-
vail on him to come to Worms, was afterwards urged to violate
it, by arresting Luther, on this ground, that " he was a man of that
character to whom he was not obliged to keep his word :" to
which he replied, " When good faith may be banished from all
the earth, it ought to be found with an emperor." Ibid.
But that I may not rest on the authority of individual divines,
however high in estimation, or the decrees of mere Popes,
though generally considered infallible by their adherents ; I shall
go to the highest possible authority in the Church of Rome,
that of a general council, and one of the very greatest general
councils, — that of Constance ; at which were assembled from all
quarters, 346 archbishops and bishops, 564 abbots and doc
tors, and 450 prostitutes, with a sufficient number of barbers,
musicians, cooks, jesters, &c. &c. of which a very particular ac-
count is given by Fox, the Martyrologist. The council has at
least as good a title to infallibility as any general council that ever
assembled. It met to judge, and did judge and depose a Pope,
and appoint another. It established, as an unalterable law of the
church, that the laity should not partake of the cup of the Lord's
\98
supper; and this law has been universally obeyed in the Church of
Rome to the present day. The same council established and
exemplified this other tenet, that faith is not to be kept with
heretics, which never having been repealed, remains to this day as
much a law of the church, as communion without the cup;
though it is too odious to be openly avowed in the present state
of society. The following is the council's doctrine on this sub-
ject:—
" The holy synod of Constance declares concerning every
safe conduct granted by the emperor, kings and other temporal
princes, to heretics, or persons accused of heresy, in hopes of re-
claiming them, that it ought not be of any prejudice to the Ca-
tholic faith, or ecclesiastical jurisdiction, nor to hinder but that
such persons may and ought to be examined, judged, and pun-
ished, according as justice shall require, if those heretics shall re-
fuse to revoke their errors, although they shall have come to the
place of judgment relying on their safe conduct, and without
which they would not have come thither: and the person who
shall have promised them security, shall not, in this case, be ob-
liged to keep his promise, by whatever tie he may have been
engaged, when he has done all that is in his power to do." Ibid.
p. 120.
The council having established this as a doctrine of the
church, proceeded to practise it with savage and ostentatious
triumph in the face of all Europe. The case is well known.
John Huss, of Bohemia, was summoned to the council to an-
swer a charge of heresy. His friends, fearing something like what
actually took place, procured for him, from the highest secular
authority, the emperor Sigismund, letters of safe conduct to the
seat of the council, and back to the place of his residence. These
letters were given with due solemnity; and the emperor, in effect,
pledged his honour for the safety of the Bohemian. Ke came to
the council, — was soon led to speak on matters of faith; and being
found a heretic, was, as a thing of course, condemned to the
stake. The emperor (at whose request the council had been
called) interposed, pleaded his safe conduct to Huss, and plighted
faith to transmit him home in safety: but the ghostly fathers taught
him that faith plighted to heretics was not binding to the detri-
ment of ecclesiastical discipline. Sigismund yielded ; and Huss
was committed to the flames.
Now, I challenge all the universities in Europe to produce
higher authority for any doctrine or principle of the Church of
Rome; and this must be the doctrine of the church still, not-
withstanding the solemn abjuration of British Papists, unless she
has undergone a change, which, in their opinion, is impossible.
The last general council was that of Trent. This body dis-
199
cinctly recognised the canon of Constance with regard to not
keeping faith with heretics; and as there has been no general
council since, it is impossible that such a doctrine can have been
struck out of the Popish creed by any competent authority. The
universities may declare what they please ; and they may deceive
the British ministry by a false representation of their principles ;
but the Universities are not the church. Papists will not be
bound by their canons or declarations, while every Popish priest
is bound by a solemn oath to adhere to all the canons of a ge-
neral council, particularly that of Trent.*
This council was held subsequent to the Reformation, and partly
with the design of discussing certain points at issue between the
Church of Rome and the Reformers, and for healing the great
schism. Protestants were invited to come to the council to an-
swer for themselves, and give their reasons for leaving the church;
but they, knowing what had taken place at Constance more than
a hundred years before, and that it had been declared by that
council that faith was not to be kept with heretics, did not choose to
venture their lives in the hands of the ghostly fathers at Trent.
This was the time to have disavowed the obnoxious doctrine, if it
had not really been a doctrine of the church ; and if it had not
been a doctrine which the holy fathers of Trent approved, they
might, by the high authority with which they were invested, have
expunged it from their creed. But they did no such thing; and
since that time there has been no authority in the church that
could do it. So far from declaring that the Protestants were
mistaken, and that there was no such principle of their church, as
that faith plighted to heretics might lawfully be violated, they
virtually admitted the principle ; and by a solemn act, after long
discussion, they agreed to exempt the Protestants on that occa-
sion from the application of it ; which they did in the following
terms. " Moreover, all fraud and guile apart, the synod faith-
fully and truly promises, that she will neither openly nor secret-
ly search for any pretence, nor use, nor suffer any person to make
use of any authority, power, law, statute, privilege of laws, or
canons, or of councils, particularly that of Constance or Siena,
* The following is the form of the Declaration, which every popish
priest is required to make upon oath. — " I do acknowledge the Holy Ca-
tholic and Apostolic Roman Church, to be the mother and mistress of all
churches ; and I do promise and swear true obedience to the bishop of
Rome, the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and the vicar
of Jesus Christ. I do undoubtedly receive and profess all other thing?
which have been delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred canons,
and oecumenical councils, and especially by the holy synod of Trent; and
all tilings contrary thereunto, and all heresies condemned, rejected, and
anathematized by the church; I do likewise condemn, reject, and anathe-
matize." Free Thoughts, p. 220.
200
in whatever form of words expressed, to the prejudice of this public
faith, full security, public and free audience, which is granted by
the synod, from all which it derogates in this instance. [Free
Thoughts, p. 120 with the authorities.) The reader will observe,
that the council passed from the law or canon (call it what you
will) of Constance in this instance; but of course reserved the
power of applying it in every other instance as it might be agree-
able to themselves, or those who should execute the laws of the
churcb in all time coming.
I shall probably pursue this subject farther in my next Num-
ber. In the mean time I shall give an example of the practical in-
fluence of the doctrine of not keeping faith with heretics, in our
own city, in humble life, in the present day. A Papist who
lived in one of the wynds, had a wife who is a Protestant. He
used every effort to persuade her to change her religion; but she
remaining inflexible in her heresy, he did not think it necessary to
keep faith with her ; and for the violation of the marriage con-
tract, he had no less an authority than that of Pope Gregory the
Ninth, which is given in a preceding page of this Number. He
left her with a view to go to Ireland, for no other reason, as he
himself declared, than because she refused to renounce her heresy.
He was immediately taken ill, and died in a few days. His wife,
notwithstanding his cruel and unjust behaviour, brought his body
home, and had it decently interred. On his person was found the
following letter, the original of which is before me. " Glasgow,
December 5th, 1818. Dear Margaret, this comes to let you
know that I am left this place, and gone to Ireland. You have
yourself to blame in this, for if ever I was determined to go to
the devil for any woman living, I would do it for your sake.
Dear Margaret, I am very sorry you stand so much in your own
light, as not till agree to my principles, for you said you would not
never turn from your ways of thinking, so by that means you and
I shall never agree. So therefore I bid you adieu, dear Margaret,
for evermore across the main you need never look for me in
Scotland again. As I said before, 1 will never send my soul to the
devil for you or any other woman. I sincerely give my blessing
to your son James. No more at present, but farewell for ever."
The letter appears to have been unfinished. Perhaps he in -
tended to add something to it, and send it from Ireland; but he
was arrested by death while following out his wicked design of
abandoning his wife and child. I hope this will be a warning to
Protestant women to beware how they connect themselves with
Papists.
THE
ilrotegtant.
No. XXVI.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9th, 1819.
1 am about to discuss a little farther that doctrine of the Church
of Rome, that it is lawful to break faith with heretics. This
seems to have been for ages undisputed by the doctors of the
church. Heretics were considered such a race of beings, as to
have no title to be dealt with as fellow creatures; and all the laws
of a state were understood to be lawfully dispensed with, so far
as regarded those who were convicted, or even suspected, of here-
tical pravity. We have many high authorities for this, in Lim-
borch's History of the Inquisition; and these authorities are chief-
ly or entirely Romish, as the author did not choose to rest upon
the testimony of Protestant writers, but rather to convict and con-
demn Papists out of their own mouths.
Thus it is laid down as a rule which was universally understood,
that " Subjects, when a prince or magistrate is a heretic, are freed
from their obedience." This is proved by a reference to history;
and no one acquainted with history will deny that the fact is es-
tablished. " Thus," says the author, " ft has often happened,
that kings pronounced heretics by the Pope, have, with all their
posterity, been deprived of all their dignities, jurisdictions, and
rights, their subjects absolved from their oaths of allegiance and
fidelity, and their dominions given as a prey to others.
" And, finally, they are deprived of that power, which is intro-
duced by the law of nations, whereby they lose all property in
every thing they have. Cap. cum secundum leges de Hceret. I. 6.
C u
202
insomuch, that every one is at once wholly freed from every ob-
ligation he can he under, to persons fallen into manifest heresy.
Cap. absolutos, de Hceret. Let all know that they are freed
from the debt of fidelity, dominion, and all service, to manifest
heretics, how strong soever the obligations may be which they
are under. These things are thus inferred : First, if a heretic
deposits any of his effects with any person, such person is not ob-
liged to restore them to the heretic, after his heresy is manifest,
but to the treasury. Farther, a catholic wife is not obliged to any
duty to her heretical husband, because hy the husband's heresy she
is freed from her duty. In like manner, a catholic husband is freed
from all duty to his wife, if she be a heretic. Nevertheless, they
cannot marry with others, because the bond of matrimony is not
dissolved. A husband cannot be forced to cohabit with his wife,
if she is fallen into heresy, even though she is reconciled ; nor is
he bound to maintain her, because her dowry is confiscated by
heresy; and as she is stripped of her dowry by her own fault, the
husband is not obliged to maintain an unendowed wife. Zan-
chinus Ugolinus explains this matter more largely. The very
children, brothers, and sisters, ought to forsake them. Yea, the
very bond of matrimony with such, is dissolved. For, if one de-
parts from the orthodox faith, and falls into heresy, his wife is
not obliged to cohabit with him, but may seek to be separated
from him by the judgment of the church ; such separation from
the bed being as reasonable on account of spiritual fornication,
as for carnal." — " Finally, all vassals whatsoever are, ipso jure,
freed from every obligation to their lords, though such obligation
shall have been confirmed by an oath." — These are maxims taught
by several high authorities in the Church of Rome, whose name9
are given by Limborch on the margin of his work, vol. II. pp. 21,
22. ; and they point out what was understood to be the doctrine
of the Church of Rome, as plainly as any divine of the present
day, in this country, can point out any doctrine of the Church of
Scotland.
" Hence," continues the author, " proceeds the maxim, that
faith is not to be kept with heretics, which some are not afraid
openly to teach, (that is, as lately as 1692, when the work was
published;) although those who are more wise, in Germany, France,
and the Low Countries, endeavour to wipe off this spot from their
church. But the Spaniards, though they cannot be duly charged
with this perfidiousness, because they have none whom they call
heretics living amongst them, yet assert it in plain and open words,
without dissembling, and are not ashamed to defend and confirm
it, by the practice of the Council of Constance. See amongst
others, Simanca's Cathol. Instil. Tit. 46. § 52, 53, 54%
Thus it appears, thai little more than a hundred years ago.
203
the doctrine — that faith is not to be kept with heretics, — was
taught openly, and in plain words, without dissembling, by reve-
rend doctors in Spain, who had none whom they called heretics liv-
ing amongst them ; and they maintained the doctrine upon the
authority of the Council of Constance ; though in Germany, France,
and the Low Countries, in which there were many heretics, the
Papists began to wipe off this spot from their church, merely,
I suppose, because they were ashamed of it, and could not decent-
ly maintain it, in the presence of those heretics, who had, by this
time, made it manifest that they were of some use in the world,
and not unworthy of having faith kept with them.
It is a curious fact, that though the doctrine in question was
publicly maintained in Spain, in plain words, after other Popish
nations began to be ashamed of it, it is now more indignantly dis-
avowed by one of the Spanish Universities, than by most of the
others ; and this University (that of Alcala) condescends to enter
into a long discussion of the subject, in which they attempt to
vindicate the Council of Constance, with regard to their treatment
of John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. For the amusement of
my readers, I shall give the whole passage, which affords as fine
a specimen of Jesuitical reasoning as is any where to be found : —
" Answers to the third Question ; (Among the articles of the
Catholic faith, is there any which teaches, that Catholics are not
bound to keep faith with heretics, or with persons of any other
description, who dissent from them in matters of religion ?) So
persuaded is the University, that a doctrine which would exempt
Catholics from the obligation of keeping faith with heretics, or any
other persons who may dissent from them in matters of religion,
instead of being an article of the Catholic faith, is entirely repug-
nant to its tenets ; that she could not have believed it possible
there should exist any person, who should dare to impute to Ca-
tholics any thing so iniquitous, had she not learnt, from the things
which are written in the sacred Scriptures for our instruction, that
the same Pharisees who had openly heard our Lord deliver this
injunction, " Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," — af-
terwards laid this crime to his charge, — " We have found this
man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Cae-
sar." But the devil who had put this into their hearts, and mov-
ed their tongues to the uttering of such falsehoods, as could in-
duce the Jewish multitude, who considered Christ a prophet, to
cry out with a loud voice, " Crucify him, crucify him," has never
since desisted from perverting others, in like manner.
" It was alleged every where against the Apostles, that they
were seditious men, introducers of innovations, and both by their
doctrine and conduct, aiming at the subversion of all legal autho-
rity. On this account, as St. John Chrisostom observes, the
204
Apostle of the Gentiles treat so often of keeping faith with princes,
masters, friends, enemies, just and unjust; and frequently incul-
cates, that we must give them no cause of offence, but must do
them every friendly office ; and the same has been perpetually
taught by the Catholic Church, in her writings, by her words,
and her actions.
" Still the father of lies has persisted in the same attempt.
England is not ignorant of the calumnies vented against Catholics
by the apostate Oats. The assertions likewise are well known,
which maintained, with so much industry and art, the art of de-
ceiving and lying, in which he so much excels. He was crafty
enough to persuade some persons, that a canon was framed, in
the sixth general council, by which Catholics are freed from any
obligation to keep faith with heretics, or any other persons who
may dissent from their religious tenets; and that a similar canon
was published by the Council of Constance, by virtue of which, he
affirmed, that faith was not kept with John Huss and Jerome
of Prague.
" But the first of these canons is not of the sixth general coun-
cil, nor is it of any authority; on the contrary, it has been con-
demned by the church. As to the Council of Constance, no-
thing was there defined concerning breach of faith. If we were
to determine the question from the acts of that synod, we should
be forced to draw a contrary conclusion. For the fathers of the
council declared, that therefore they were at liberty to examine
the doctrines of Huss, because they had not granted him a safe
conduct.
" A safe conduct had, indeed, been granted him, by the Empe-
ror Sigismund, who nevertheless, afterwards, ordered him to be
burnt, but still without any breach of faith. For he had given him
safe conduct only in the ordinary form, toz. against lawless vio-
lence, and with the condition annexed to it, that if he fled he
should forfeit his life. Huss fled, in violation of his engagement.
" To Jerome of Prague, a safe conduct was granted by the
council itself, not including any special immunities, not authoriz-
ing any daring attempts which he should afterwards make, but
upon this condition, that the course of justice should not be im-
peded. He was present in the council, abjured his heresies, and
was exposed to no molestation. But when afterwards, contrary
to his promises, he had taken himself to flight, and began to
spread abroad among the vulgar, that he had consented to false-
hood, in agreeing to the condemnation of Wickliff and John
Huss; that he could find no errors in their doctrine; that Wick-
liff was an evangelical preacher; and when at length he obstinate-
ly maintained these assertions before the fathers of the council,
Sigismund judged that such behaviour was not to be tolerated
205
in one who had hrokcn his faith ; and surely, what man in his
senses would assert, that any one ought to be suffered, with im-
punity, to utter against God and man absurdities and blasphemies
like the following: 1st. God ought to obey the devil. 2d. No
man is a civil ruler, no man is a prelate, no man is a bishop,
while he is in a state of mortal sin. 3d. That the multitude have
a right to punish, at their pleasure, the crimes of the rulers.
4th. Oaths which are taken to confirm contracts, or civil negocia-
tions, are unlawful. So much for those canons by which they have
endeavoured to spirit up envy and odium against Catholics.
" Catholics have been taught by St. James, the apostle, that
their speech must be Yea, yea; No, no: Guided by this wisdom,
the Catholic church has ever reprobated falsehood. .But to
swear or promise any thing, without performing it, is falsehood.
The Catholic church is not so devoid of judgment as to have
enacted a law, or promulgated a decree, which would banish
from the Catholic world excellent virtues, truth, fidelity, and
justice, without which, there could be no happiness for individuals,
no civil societies, nor intercourse among men. What Catholic
ever taught that it was lawful to lie, to deceive, or to violate any
natural right? Our religion, on the contrary, teaches that faith
must be kept with all men, whatever be their religion, or though
they be of no religion, without a single exception, in every pro-
mise, which of its own nature is lawful and valid, whether in
peace or in war, in the concerns of religion, in matrimony, in
safe conducts, in civil commerce with friends, with enemies.
" These being our sentiments, as may be evinced likewise by
what has been said relative to the first and second questions, that
the doctrine of the Catholic church may be clearly and distinctly
understood by all the world; we shall only add, that no obliga-
tion arising from the laws of nature, or of nations, or of men,
which is founded in natural reason, has been altered or weakened
by our Redeemer; but that every such obligation has been
rather heightened and exalted to greater perfection; has been
strengthened by his doctrine and example ; and by the addition
of other moral precepts and councils ; that the order of nature
might be preserved in all human things, and that his grace might
assist men to discharge their natural duties. This is the excellent
philosophy which he brought from heaven, and introduced into
the world, that he might form men to be useful and beneficial one
to another, and obedient to the commands of the Divine Being.
" These are the unanimous decisions of this University, after a
wature deliberation, in a full assembly of the doctors, the 17th
day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1789." — Parliamentary
Reports, vol. II. p. 529, 530, 531.
206
I have thus given the answer of the University of Alcala at
full length, because it enters more into the merits of the ques-
tion than any of the others; and because, I suppose, their
answer embraces the substance of all that Papists have to say for
their church, on the subject of not keeping faith with heretics.
It is not doubted that the apostle of the Gentiles taught that
Christians ought to maintain good faith with all men. It is not
denied that the apostle James taught, " Let your conversation
be Yea, yea, and Nay, nay;" and nobody teaches, so far as I know-
that any law of nature, for the good of civil society, has been
weakened by our Redeemer. All these things are irrelevant.
The question proposed by Mr. Pitt, was not, what Christ and
his apostles taught. He had no occasion to send to Spain
for information on that subject. It was, what has the Church of
Rome taught or practised? Is there among the articles of the
Romish faith, any which teaches that Catholics are not bound
to keep faith with heretics? This was the point; and the grave
doctors should have kept by it. In dealing with a Protestant
government, they had no right to assume, or take for granted,
that their principles were the very same that the apostles taught;
yet this is what is done by them, and some of the other Univer-
sities, who seem to think they have given a sufficient answer to
the questions, when they cite passages from Scripture, which re-
quire the maintaining of good faith, and obedience to rulers and
magistrates. If their principles and practices were founded upon
the word of God, and regulated by it, we should have no dis-
pute with them. It is because the Church of Rome was known
to have professed and acted upon very different principles, that
the Universities were called upon to give an account of what they
really held. These bodies were, doubtless, competent to declare
what was their own faith and practice ; but when they take upon
them to declare for the whole church, what never has been,
we do them no injustice when we bring them to the test of his-
tory, to the writings of doctors, and the canons of councils,
which are as accessible to us as to them; and had Mr. Pitt
gone to these sources of information, instead of trusting to the
representations of men, who were interested in making their re-
ligion appear to advantage in the eyes of the British government,
he should not have been so liable to be deceived.
But to return to the Alcalian doctors, — they do not content
themselves with giving a simple answer in the negative, like some
of their brethren, but condescend to argue the point; and they
endeavour to make it appear, that the people of England are
under the influence of the devil, and the father of lies, as the
Pharisees were of old, because they believe that Papists hold the
doctrine, that it is lawful to break faith with heretics. They do
207
not, however, condescend to prove any thing that they assert,
with regard to historical facts. They refer to no authority either
Popish or Protestant. All must be taken on the credit of their
own bare assertion ; and I have learned enough of Papists, to cre-
dit not what they assert, but what they prove.
Oats, it seems, had said, that " a canon was framed in the
sixth general council, by which Catholics are freed from any
obligation to keep faith with heretics-" The doctors reply, that
this canon is not of the sixth general council, — that it is of no
authority, and that it has been condemned by the church. This
is pretty plainly admitting that something of the kind had been
publicly taught, if not decreed, by some council, though not the
sixth; and to say merely, it has been condemned by the church,
is extremely vague. It is certain, the principle was maintained
and practised by the Council of Constance. Let the doctors of
Alcala, or somebody for them in Britain, say when, and by what
competent authority, it was condemned. Though an infallible
and unchangeable church has no right to such a concession,
let it be proved, that the doctrine maintained at Constance, has
since been condemned by equal authority, and I shall give up
the point. I shall then do the Church of Rome more honour
than any Papist will do. I will say she is better than she was.
The assertions of these grave doctors, with regard to the coun-
cil of Constance and John Huss, are so clumsily put together,
and so easily seen through, that I have the charity to think the
authors had not been accustomed to deal in falsehood. It is
said to be an honourable thing to be awkward at making a lie ;
and this honour I cheerfully yield to the Faculty of Alcala. At
Constance, they say, nothing was defined concerning breach of
faith ; and " if we were to determine the question from the Acts
of that Synod, we should be forced to draw a contrary conclu-
sion." The Acts of that Synod were to condemn Huss as a
heretic, — to move the emperor to break faith with him, and to
burn him to death, notwithstanding they knew that he had pro-
mised him protection. The fathers declared that they were at
liberty to examine the doctrines of Huss, because they had not
given him a safe conduct, though the emperor had. Most cer-
tainly they had a right to examine his doctrines; but what right
had they to burn his person, when he came before them, trust-
ing in a solemn promise, that no ill should befall him? The
doctors admit that the emperor had granted him a safe conduct;
that is, had promised him protection ; and yet he ordered him to
be burnt to death without any breach of faith ! Surely this is
the language of the beast that is not, and yet is.
It is pretended that the emperor's safe conduct was only
against " lawless violence." But from whom was this dreaded'
208
Not surely from the grave fathers of the council. If it was f'rom
rohbers by the way, a guard of soldiers would have been mere
likely to serve the purpose, than a slip of paper, or even parch-
ment. It is absurd to speak of protection against lawless vio-
lence, in any other way than by force ; for men in a lawless state
would pay no regard to the signature of the emperor, or any body
else in lawful authority. In short, it was not danger from ban-
ditti that Huss and his friends were thinking of; it was danger
from the council, not lawless, but under form of law; and it was
for security against this that they got the solemn promise of the
emperor, who pledged himself for the safety of Huss to Con-
stance, ivhile there, and back to his home. " Aller s'arreter,
demeurer, et retourner," says L'Enfant. And Dupin, a Popish
historian, asserts, that Huss had liberty promised, not only in go-
ing to the council, but also in returning from it, which must im-
ply safety while there. — " Venir librement, et d'en revenir," are
his words.
It is added, by the doctors of Alcala, that there was a condi-
tion annexed, that if he fled, he should forfeit his life; and that
he fled, in violation of his engagement. There is, however, no such
condition in the document itself; and I take the whole allega-
tion to be a fabrication of the learned fathers, or of their fathers
before them.
With regard to Jerome of Prague, it is admitted that he had
a safe conduct from the council itself; and he also was burnt to
death. He did not, at first, possess the firmness of Huss.
He was induced to make a recantation ; but he did not long con-
tinue in this state of defection. Confessing his sin, in denying
the truth, and making an open profession of those doctrines which
were afterwards the basis of the Reformation, he was, as a thing
of course, ordered to the flames, which he endured with great for-
titude. The doctors accuse him of holding some monstrous
opinions, and they seem to think this was a sufficient reason why
he should not be suffered to live ; but if he did hold all the
opinions which they ascribe to him, he was more fit for bedlam
than the stake. Here, however, we have the authority of the
renowned University of Alcala for burning persons to death for
mere opinions; and while they hold this doctrine, it is not worth
their while to disavow the kindred one, that it is lawful to break
faith with heretics.
More of this subject in my next.
THR
2|rote£tant,
No. XXVII.
SATURDAY, JANUARY \6th, 1819.
I know that my two last Numbers have given great offence to
my Popish neighbours ; and I must again declare, that it was not
my intention to offend them, but to expose the wickedness of the
church to which they obstinately adhere. They do not like to
be accused of maintaining the doctrine, that it is lawful to break
faith with heretics. I have the charity to believe, that some of
them are not conscious of maintaining it : nay, suppose I were to
take them one by one, and examine them judicially upon oath, I
should find them all disavowing the abominable principle imput-
ed to them. " Why, then," it will be asked, " do you persist in
fixing such a stigma upon them?" I do so, because it is the doc-
trine of their church : I have shown it to be so by the most indu-
bitable evidence, notwithstanding the disavowal of six universities;
and because no Papist is at liberty to form an opinion of his own,
but must receive implicitly whatever his church has decreed. It
rests, therefore, with them to reconcile the doctrine of the church
with their own solemn oaths. If they will adhere to their church,
their oaths will prove them schismatics ; — if they believe what they
swear, they have abandoned the faith of the church, and have be-
come separatists. Let them make their election. It will be well for
them, if their choice shall fall upon the latter, and if they will, in
reality, separate themselves from the kingdom of Antichrist, and,
by believing in Christ, join themselves to the church of God.
It is, I think, a hopeful circumstance, that modern Papists are
ashamed of the doctrine, that it is lawful to break faith with here-
tics. I have hope, however, only of those who are unacquainted
with the controversy, and ignorant of their church history ; for if
there be any who are acquainted with these matters, and who yet
maintain that such is not, and never was a doctrine of the Church
of Rome, I hold them guilty of much worse than a mere error
in judgment. I cannot acquit them of wilful misrepresentation
and perversion of the truth. I am persuaded that the great body
of Papists in Scotland, are really ignorant of the facts recorded in
history, some of which I have brought into view. For the sake
of such, as well as for the sake of Protestants, I shall proceed to
Dd
210
narrate the practice of the Church of Rome, agreeably to the dec-
trine of not keeping faith with heretics, as exemplified by the In-
quisition,— a court which is established upon the pure principles of
Popery, and whose sentences all proceed upon the supreme au
thoritv of the holy church.
It is the grand object of this tribunal to find out and to punish
heresy. Persons suspected of this worst of all crimes, when
brought before the court, were usually tempted to accuse them-
selves, by promises that if they made a candid confession, they
should be kindly or mercifully dealt with. The faith of the holy
office was thus pledged to every merely suspected person who was
brought before the court: and if such person was really a heretic;
if he had really learned to believe as he was taught by the word
of God ; and if he honestly confessed what he believed, — the plight-
ed faith of the court was broken as a thing of course: if he would
not renounce his opinions, he was condemned to torture and
death ; and if he even did renounce them, he was condemned to
suffer shame, and imprisonment, and penance, the remotest possi-
ble from the mercy and kindness which he had been promised.
When a person suspected of heresy is brought before the In-
quisitor,— " Sometimes he speaks kindly to him; pretends that
he pities his misfortune; advises him to speak the truth, which he
gives him to understand he is acquainted with; and intimates to
him some hope of favour and freedom if he confesses : because the
holy office of the Inquisition uses to show mercy to such who vo-
luntarily confess their crimes, how grievous and heinous soever
they may be, and, in a friendly manner, speaks to him thus : —
' Don't be afraid openly to confess, if you did happen to believe
these sort of persons, who taught such and such things, to be
good men. You believed them, and willingly heard them, and
gave them somewhat of your substance, or received them some-
times into your house, or made confession to them; because you
were a simple man, and loved them, thinking them to be good
men, and knowing no evil of them. The same thing might have
happened to persons much wiser than you, and so they might have
been deceived. I have pity on you, and see your own simplicity
hath deceived you, and though you are in some measure faulty,
yet they are more so who have instructed you. Tell me, therefore,
the truth, for you see I know the whole matter, that I may im-
mediately free you, and show you favour.' " After this he inter-
rogates him, not so much concerning the fact, as the circumstances
of it, that the person may believe he knows the fact already.
In this manner, the Inquisitor endeavours to persuade persons
to tell him all that is in their hearts. Those who are simple, and
who cannot believe that there is so much wickedness concealed
tinder the mask of kindness, are in general prevailed upon to tell
all they know, if it should be against themselves, — if it should be
211
even that they have given a piece of bread, or a cup of water, to a
person suspected of heresy, f* If the person accused by this
means, prays for favour, and confesses his error, the Inquisitor
answers, You shall have much greater favour than you asked ; but
promises it only in general terms, for he thinks he fulfils his
promise, in showing the least kindness to him afterwards. And
when they promise to show favour, it is understood only of those
punishments which are left to their own power, viz. several peni-
tential punishments, because they cannot remit those which are
appointed by law. They farther teach, that notwithstanding the
promise of such grace, they may inflict penitential and arbitrary
punishments; because, if after a longtime, continual admonitions,
and sometimes after the torture, criminals confess their offence
upon the promise of such grace, the Inquisitors may legally and
justly inflict more grievous penitential punishments, if they omit
the lesser; for if one or other be remitted, they think they abun-
dantly satisfy their promise.
" And by these flattering assurances they sometimes overcome
the minds of more unwary persons, and when they have obtained
the designed end, immediately Jbrget them all. Of this Gon-
salvius gives us a remarkable instance. In the first fire that was
blown up at Seville, anno 1558 or 1559, (I suppose he means
the first burning for heresy in that city) amongst many others who
were taken up, there was a certain pious matron, with her two
virgin daughters, and her niece by her sister, who was married.
As they endured those tortures, of all kinds, with a truly manly
constancy, by which they endeavoured to make them perfidiously
betray their brethren in Christ, and especially to accuse one another,
the Inquisitor at length commanded one of the daughters to be
sent for to audience. There he discoursed with her alone for a
considerable time, in order to comfort her, as indeed she needed
it. When the discourse was ended, the girl was remanded to
prison. Some days after he acted tbe same part again, causing
her to be brought before him several days toward the evening, de-
taining her for a considerable while, sometimes telling her how
much he was grieved for her afflictions, and then intermixing, fa-
miliarly enough, other pleasant and agreeable things. All this,
as the event showed, had only this tendency, that after he had
persuaded the poor simple girl, that he was really, and with a fa-
therly affection, concerned for her calamity, and would consult as
a father what might be for her benefit and salvation, and that of
her mother and sisters, she might wholly throw herself into his
protection. After some days spent in such familiar discourses,
during which he pretended to mourn with her over her calamity,
and to show himself affected with her miseries, and to give her all
the proofs of his good will, in order, as far as he could, to re-
move them ; when he knew that he had deceived the girl, he
212
begins to persuade her to discover what she knew of herself, her
mother, sisters, and aunts, who were not yet apprehended,
promising, upon oath, that if she would faithfully discover to him
ali that she knew of that affair, he would find out a method to
relieve her from all her misfortunes, and to send them all back
again to their houses. The girl, who had no great penetration,
being thus allured by the promises and persuasions of the father
of the faith, begins to tell him some things relating to the holy
doctrine she had been taught, and about which they used to con-
fer with one another. When the Inquisitor had now got hold of
the thread, he dexterously endeavoured to find his way through-
out the whole labyrinth, oftentimes calling the girl to audience,
that what she had deposed might be taken down in a legal man-
ner, always persuading her this would be the only just means to
put an end to all her evils. In the last audience, he renews to
her all his promises, by which he had before assured her of her
liberty, and the like. But when the poor girl expected the per-
formance of them, the said Inquisitor, with his followers, find-
ing the success of his craftiness, by which he had in part drawn
out of the girl, what before they could not extort from her by tor-
ments, determined to put her to the torture again, to force out of
her what they thought she had yet concealed. Accordingly, she
was made to suffer the most cruel part of it, even the rack, and
the torture by water; till at last they had squeezed out of her, as
with a press, both the heresies and accusations of persons they
had been hunting after. For, through the extremity of her torture,
she accused her mother and sisters, and several others, who were
afterwards taken up and tortured, and burnt alive in the same fire
with the girl." — Limborch's History of the Inquisition, vol.
II. pp. 156, 157, 158.
The above is given as a specimen, taken almost at random, of
the manner in which those who were suspected of heresy were
treated by the Inquisition. It would be easy to fill a volume
with such cases. The Inquisition, wherever established, was the
constitutional organ of the Church of Rome. It acted under
the sanction of the highest authority, and its acts are therefore
those of the church herself; for, during the interval of general
councils, the administration of the affairs of the church was
vested entirely in the Pope ; and he, by his supreme and in-
fallible authority, invested the Inquisition with all its powers over
the consciences and the persons of men. The systematical de-
ception practised by the holy office, upon those who were so
unhappy as to be brought before it, shows, in the clearest light,
the doctrine of the church, that it was not only lawful, but even
laudable, to break faith with heretics. It was the usual practice
of Inquisitors to promise mercy to their prisoners, and to con-
firm these promises by their solemn oaths, in order to extort
213
something that should militate against the prisoners themselves
or against their friends, and then to violate these oaths and
promises in (he most open manner. This was not the fault of
an individual or two, who might be accused of having ex-
ceeded their commission, and whose crimes cannot be laid to
the door of the church. It was the general practice of the
whole body ; and as the church has never condemned sucb
practice, that I have heard of, she herself must bear the whole
burden, and be content to have it fixed upon her, that she holds
it lawful, if not meritorious, to break faith with heretics.
There is nothing in this that ought to surprise any one who
knows the character of the Romish Church. Popery is a do-
mineering and exclusive system. The Pope claims to have his
authority from Jesus Christ, and all his priests derive their
authority from the same source, through the medium of the
Pope. What they are pleased to teach, therefore, they hold to
be infallible and incontrovertible. Should a few individuals rise
up in any country, in which their authority is generally recognized,
and presume to think for themselves in matters of religion, they
are immediately marked out as beings not fit to breathe the vital
air. They are held in much greater abhorrence than thieves and
robbers; and it is judged lawful to cut them off by all means, or
by any means. Cutting them off is considered a most acceptable
service done to the church, and of course to Christ. If one has
given a promise or an oath to such miscreants, it is considered a
promise against Christ, which may lawfully be broken ; nay,
which it is unlawful to keep. This was precisely the state of
public feeling in the Romish Church at the time of the Council
of Constance, and for two hundred years after. By and by,
as Protestants began to multiply, and as whole states and
kingdoms professed the Reformed faith, and were able to make
a bold stand against Rome, and all her vassal states, Papists
began to find that it was necessary to enter into negociations and
treaties with heretics, upon equal terms. It would not now have
been prudent to avow the doctrine, that it was lawful to break
faith with such persons or states, because Protestants were able
to compel them to stand to their treaties, and keep their faith,
whether it was agreeable to them or not. Accordingly, we find
the doctrine was first disavowed in Germany, France, and the
Low Countries, where it was most necessary to stand on good
terms with Protestants; and was longest maintained in Spain,
where there was not so much intercourse with them.
This doctrine was nearly connected with that of the lawfulness
of putting heretics to death; and, like it, was understood to be
lawfully put in practice where heretics were few, but might be
suspended where they were numerous. " They are so far from
being guilty of murder," saith Urban III. " that kill any who
are excommunicate, that they arc bound to exterminate heretics*
214
as they would be esteemed Christians themselves." And the
learned Cardinal Bella rmine, one of the greatest oracles
of the Church of Rome, teaches, " that heretics are to be de-
stroyed, root and branch, if it can possibly be done ; but if it
appear that the Catholics are so few, that they cannot convenient-
ly * with their own safety, attempt such a thing, then it is
best, in such a case, to be quiet, lest, upon opposition made by
the heretics, the Catholics should be worsted." De Laicis,
lib. 3. cap. 22. quoted by John Smith, in his Narrative re-
lating to the Popish Plot, p. 3.
The same doctrine was maintained by a Popish bishop in
Scotland, in our own day. After attempting to justify the practice
of the Church of Rome in the excommunication of heretics, and
the laws which exist in Popish countries for the punishment of
such, he says, " Here we must carefully remark, that these very
laws subsist only where the Roman Catholic religion is the
universally received religion of the country, and when a new
heresy appears among them, and has not yet taken root; for
when, through the disposition of Divine Providence, any new
system of religion prevails, and is established, these laws have no
more place : the Roman Catholics cease to exert even their
spiritual jurisdiction against it, and by their principles, in order
to restore religion, are obliged to return to preaching and suf-
ferings." Letter of G. H. (Bishop Hay of Edinburgh) to W.
A. D. p. 40. In reply to this singular passage, W. A. D.
(Bishop Drummond of the Scotch Episcopal Church in Edin-
burgh) remarks: — " This, I think, amounts just to this, that
Papists will persecute, or violate their faith to heretics, as long as
they dare, that is, while they have the upper hand; but that
whenever their adversaries get the better of them, they will gra-
ciously behave with more discretion. And is not this great
condescension to accursed heretics, that Papists will not oppress
them any longer than they are able ?" Second Letter to Mr.
G. H. p. 32.
The sentiments of leading men among the Papists in this
country, I believe, are perfectly in unison with those of Bishop
Hay; and it is not concealed by those who have the candour to
6peak plainly out. They profess great moderation ; they declare
their loyalty to the present Royal Family upon their solemn oaths.
As their religion is not the established one, they have been
" obliged," as the Bishop says, " to return to preaching ;"
meaning, I suppose, that if they were established, they would
have something else to do; they would have to hunt out and
extirpate heretics. And does any one think, that if this period
should arrive, — that if they should become the majority in the
• I suppose tin' ward should be consutsntli/.
215
eountry, and have it in their power to establish themselves, that
ihey would think themselves bound to keep faith with the few
Protestants that might remain? That they would not, seems
very evident from the following declaration of one of themselves.
It is in the words of Dr. Drumgoole, in his celebrated speech at
the Catholic Board, on the 8th December, 1813; the only man
among them who had the courage and sincerity to speak the
truth. Let this man's words be engraven on our hearts; for
they unquestionably contain the genuine sentiments of every
Roman Catholic in the kingdom. Speaking of our Protest-
ant establishment, civil and religious, he says: — " In vain shall
statesmen put their heads together, — in vain shall parliaments,
in mockery of omnipotence, declare that it is permanent and
inviolate, — in vain shall the lazy churchman cry from the
sanctuary to the watchman on the tower, that danger is ;it
hand, — it shall fall, for it is human; and nothing, but the
memory of the mischiefs it has created shall survive! Al-
ready the marks of approaching ruin are upon it; it has had its
time upon the earth, a date nearly as long as any other novelty ;
and, token the time arrives, shall Catholics be called, by the
sacred bond of an oath, to uphold a system which they believe
will be one day rejected by the whole earth? Can they be
induced to swear that they would oppose even the present
Protestants in England, if, ceasing to be truants, they thought
fit to return to their ancient worship, and have a Catholic King
and a Catholic Parliament?" A British Protestant's Let-
ter to the Inhabitants of Belfast, Dec. 2d, 1818.
1 shall leave it to Papicts to point out, at their leisure, the
mischiefs which have been created by our civil and religious
establishment; while I believe that greater social and domestic
happiness has been enjoyed under it, than under any other
government in the world. I shall not dispute the doctrine, that
every thing human shall have an end ; but woe to our coun-
try, if things human shall give way to things diabolical, as will
be the case, if our Protestant establishment shall be superseded
by a Popish one!
I intend to return to the same subject in my next Number;
and, in the meantime, I shall mention a species of breaking faith
with heretics, which is very common among Papists in the present
day. I allude to their practice of distorting and misrepresenting
facts of history, for which their writers are most notorious, and
particularly the Editor of the Orthodox Journal. If a person
shall profess to give facts, and if, instead of these, he shall give
falsehoods, he breaks faith with his readers; and the said Editor
must know, that now some of his readers are what he will call
heretics. I said in my Twenty-first Number, page 166, that in
order to make it appear that Popery was more favourable to civil
liberty than Protestantism, he had distorted and turned upside down
'216
a number of historical facts. I come now to establish this by one
instance, which I give merely as a specimen :
" Next," says he, " came a lady, who is best known by the
name of Bloody Queen Mary, from her attachment to Popery,
and the sacrifice she made of some Protestant Traitors and
Rebels, who wore the garb of prelates and parsons, in the latte;
part of her reign." Volume for 1818, page 366. Who would
not suppose from this statement, that very few persons suffered
under the government of this Queen, and that these few suffered
for treason and rebellion, and not for religion ? No man could
assert this without presuming greatly upon the ignorance and cre-
dulity of his readers, because there are few subjects of history,
with regard to which it is so easy to detect his misrepresentation.
No fewer than 277 suffered during the short reign of that cruel
and superstitious princess ; and they were neither tried nor
punished as traitors. Nay, indeed, two of the number, who
might have been brought to trial on that charge, were, on the con-
trary, examined only respecting the real presence, and other Po-
pish absurdities. To many pardon was offered, not upon disco-
very of their accomplices, or acknowledgment of guilt, but if thev
would recant, — if they would go to mass. Besides, not one of
these 277 suffered the death of a traitor, which is to be hung,
drawn, and quartered. They were all burnt alive, which is the
regular punishment of heretics in the Church of Rome. Nor were
these some prelates and parsons only. There were five bishops,
Hooper, Ridley, Latimer, Ferar, and Cranmer; twenty-one clergy-
men ; and the remainder, two hundred and fifty-one, were private
persons, men, women, and children. It indeed becomes neces-
sary, ever and anon, to repeat these truths, — these tremendous
proofs of Popish intolerance, — and the cruel dispositions of idola-
ters, lest the hardy assertions of equivocating Jesuits, and their
disciples, being uncontradicted, should, at last, be admitted as fact.
We will, therefore, detail one or two instances of this persecution.
On the 1 5th of May, 1556, Laverock, a cripple, aged 68, and
J. Apprice, a blind man, were burnt at Stratford together; and
in the same month, another blind man was burnt at Gloucester.
Was the Queen afraid of a rebellion conducted by the blind and
the lame? On the 27th of June, at Stratford, just over Bow
Bridge, were eleven men, and two women, burnt all together.
Sixteen were intended, but Cardinal Pool contrived to save three.
In July the same year, at Guernsey, were burnt in the same fire,
a mother and her two daughters, one of whom being pregnant,
was prematurely delivered in the midst of the flames of a boy,
which some of the spectators endeavoured to save, but by the Po-
pish dean and the executioner, it was thrown back into the
flames to the wretched mother. — Enough, surely, of these horri-
ble details. See Antijacobin Jicviriv for Nov. last, page 274.
THE
$rote£tantt
No. XXVIII.
SATURDAY, JANUARY Wil, 1819.
JVIy three last Numbers have been occupied with that doctrine of
the Church of Rome, that it is lawful to break faith with heretics.
This is a subject on which Papists feel themselves more hurt than
on almost any other which can be mentioned; and I have given
it more attention than I have bestowed upon some olher matters,
which appear to me of less importance. The doctrine has been
disavowed with so much confidence by Papists in this country,
even upon their solemn oaths, that I believe the opinion began to
prevail, that it was not a doctrine of the Church of Rome ; and
that those who brought this accusation against her, were guilty of
uncharitableness and injustice. It is, indeed, a doctrine that can-
not bear the light. Those who maintain it, are not worthy of be-
ing trusted, with regard to any thing in which persons whom they
call heretics, are interested. I think however, it will appear, from
the evidence which I have adduced, that such was the doctrine of
the church, as established by the Council of Constance; as ex-
pounded by several of her great canonical authorities; and as ex-
emplified by the fathers of the Inquisition : and if it tvas the doc-
trine of the Church of Rome, it is the doctrine of that Church, for
she is unchangeable and infallible.
Yet the very mention of it will put modern Papists out of tem-
per. They have not the wisdom or discretion to admit what is
undeniable ; to ascribe it to the ignorance or error of the dark
ages; and to plead that they are now under the influence of more
enlightened principles. If they did so, we would give the same
Ee
218
credit that we give to other sects, who acknowledge and disavow
the errors and mistakes of their forefathers, and who desire to be
judged only upon the ground of what they themselves profess.
But Papists will not admit that there ever was a dark age in their
church. That which we look upon as a period of great darkness
and ignorance, was actually their golden age : it was the period of
their church's glory, when she reigned over the kings of the earth,
and when sovereign princes, even emperors, were obliged to exe-
cute her decrees. It is clearly established, that in that state of glory
she maintained the doctrine in question ; and from the acknowledg-
ed principle of her infallibility, it is no less clear, that it is, and
must be her doctrine still.
About forty years ago, this controversy was agitated, and con-
ducted with great warmth in our Scottish metropolis. The late
Principal Campbell, of Aberdeen, a man who possessed as little
of a sectarian spirit as perhaps any man of his age, in a Synod
Sermon, happened to make some allusion to the Popish doctrine,
" that it is not contrary to the will of Heaven, to lie, betray, or to
murder, when the supposed interest of the church requires it."
The then Popish priest in Edinburgh, G. H. afterwards, if not
then, Bishop Hay, was pleased to come forward with a pamphlet,
entitled, " A Detection of the Dangerous Tendency of Dr. Camp-
bell's Sermon." He accused the Doctor, of diabolical calumny,
and damnable detraction; and challenged him, in the face of the
world, " to produce any one approved divine, of the Roman Ca-
tholic communion, that either holds, approves, or even insinuates,
the damnable doctrine which he lays to their charge." Nay, he
says, he was " willing to venture the whole issue of his cause up-
on it, that the Doctor could produce no such authority."
This was bringing the question to a point which could easily
be decided; and it showed the great confidence which the Bishop
had in his cause, when he accused the worthy Principal of the
Marischal College, of diabolical calumny, and damnable detrac-
tion. Let it be observed, these are the words of a reverend
Bishop of the Romish Church ; and I request that such of my
readers as cannot endure to hear bad things called by their
own names, will decide the question, to whom the charge of
scurrility properly belongs. The Bishop challenged the Doctor,
in the face of the world, to produce one approved divine of his
church, who held, approved, or even insinuated, the doctrine,
that it was not contrary to the will of Heaven, to lie, &c. when
the supposed interest of the church required it; that is, that it was
lawful to break faith with heretics: and he ventured the whole is-
sue of his cause upon this point.
I do not know whether Dr. Campbell ever accepted the chal-
lenge; but it was accepted by a reverend gentleman in Edinburgh,
219
Dr. W. A. Drummond, afterwards a Bishop in the Scottish Epis-
copal Church. This gentleman addressed a letter to Bishop Hay,
in which he produced the most ample evidence, that the Church
of Rome did maintain the doctrine, that it is lawful to break faith
with heretics. He cited a number of passages from the decretals,
from the works of eminent divines, &c. some of which are given
in my twenty-fifth Number, and many more to the same purpose,
together with the canon of the Council of Constance, in precisely
the same words as I gave it from Free Thoughts ; and, that he
might put the sincerity of the Popish priest to the test, he address-
ed to him publicly the following challenge: —
u And to bring the matter to a speedy period, I beg you may
meet me any Tuesday or Thursday you please, between the hours
of eleven and one, before dinner, in the Advocates' Library, when
the College Library is also open, in case we have occasion to have
recourse to it; and that you may take along with you three or
four gentlemen of learning, honour, and probity, who, like pious
Job, will abhor to speak wickedly even for God, or to talk de-
ceitfully for him; and I shall bring as many of the same charac-
ter, who, together with those on your side, may be judges between
us; and the new converts to Popery in this place may be wit-
nesses if they please.
" What I propose to prove is this, that, by the rescripts of
Popes, the opinion of approved divines, and even the practice, I
might say, the decree of one at least, if not more general councils
of the Romish communion, it is lawful on some occasions to break
faith, especially with heretics; and consequently to lie, to betray,
and even to murder too, whenever the interest of the church re-
quires it."
One should think a public character like Bishop Hay, who
had publicly challenged Dr. Campbell, in the face of the whole
world, to produce the evidence of any one approved divine of the
Romish Church, who held the doctrine above mentioned, could
not, with propriety, refuse the challenge addressed to him, to come,
with three or four witnesses, to the Advocates' Library, and see,
with his own eyes, the abundant evidence which that library con-
tained, that such doctrine was indeed held and taught by approved
divines of his church; nay, that it was most undoubtedly the doc-
trine of the church, as declared by the highest authorities. The
reverend gentleman, however, did decline the challenge, though
repeatedly made. He did not choose to look at the original do-
cuments, which proved his church to maintain doctrines which he
declared to be " damnable" and " diabolical," and which, ac-
cording to his own words, none but " execrable wretches" could
maintain. He declined the interview, says Dr.Drummond in his
preface, " on this pretence, that he will publish his answer to my
letter."
220
He did publish what was meant fur an answer, in a large pam-
phlet of 150 pages, containing a great deal of matter a thousand
miles from the point, and which seemed intended for no other
purpose, than to raise such a dust about the subject, that nobody
should see it distinctly. This seems to be one of the arts to which
all modern Papists have recourse in their writings; and they seem
to wish their readers to believe, that they have proved what they as-
sert, when they have written a great many pages about it, or about
something that is like it, in the mere sound of the words, however
different in meaning.
Hay labours to show that the divines whom Drummond cites,
and whose works are preserved in the Advocates' Library, were of
no authority in the church ; and asserts, that he had not so much
as heard of some of their names. Of Simanca, for instance, whose
words are quoted in my former Numbers, and whose exposition
of the canon law contains clear proof that, in his time, it was
a doctrine of the church, that it was lawful to break faith with he-
retics, Hay asserts, " that he was not a divine at all, but-an obscure
Spanish pettifogger, who published his Institutions on some
branches of the law, perhaps to make a penny by it, and gives it
the pompous name of Catholic Institutions, like many other
authors now-a-days, who give their silly productions a grand
frontispiece, to make them pass with the better grace."
This shows the dilemma to which Hay was reduced. He
could not deny, that the words quoted by Drummond were
those of Simanca; and these words point out what was the
doctrine of the Church of Rome, as clearly as Erskine's In-
stitutes, or other books of equal authority, point out what is the
law of Scotland. He is reduced, therefore, to the necessity of
making Simanca a poor pettifogger, who wrote books lor his
subsistence. But what is the fact? Let the reader judge from
the following quotation from Collier's Dictionary, as given by
Dr. Drummond, in his second letter, page 19. " James
Simanca, Bishop of Bajadox, was a Spaniard, and professed
.he Civil and Canon Law in the University of Salamanca.
He was one of the King's Council in Valladolid, and after-
wards preferred, for his merit, to the Bishoprick of Bajadox,
8)~c. He was a very good divine (fort savant dans la Theolo-
gie, says Moreri) and lawyer, and wrote a great deal in both
faculties." Ainoi g his works are the " Catholic Institutions,"
from which Limborch, in his History of the Inquisition, has
quoted largely, as well as the author of Free Thoughts, and
from his work the point in question is clearly established.
There are, besides, many other authorities with which I shall
not trouble mv readers. The above is a specimen of the manner
in which Popish writers of the present day, attempt to wipe off
221
the stain of not keeping faith, from their church ; but they may
as well attempt to wash the blackamoor white. Such of my
readers as have access to the pamphlets on the controversy be-
tween the two Edinburgh Bishops, will find them highly in-
teresting. For sophistry and subtlety, Hay far excels any living
Popish author that I know of; but he is absolutely overwhelmed
by the strong arguments, and the mass of evidence which Drum-
mond brings against him. He had not, however, the grace to yield
the point, though he had ventured the whole issue of his cause
upon it. He challenged Dr. Campbell to produce evidence that
such was a doctrine of the Church of Rome; and his challenge
implied, that if this was proved, he would give up the cause. Ac-
cording to his own declaration, none but " execrable wretches"
could hold such a doctrine. To accuse his church of this, was
" diabolical calumny, and damnable detraction." Dr. Drum-
mond accepted the challenge, and proved all this against the
Church of Rome. He proved from the most explicit declara-
tions of her own divines, and the canons of her own councils,
that it was a doctrine of the Church of Rome, that it was lawful
to break faith with heretics ; and Bishop Hay himself lent the
sanction of his little name to confirm the doctrine, for instead of
giving up the cause of Popery, as he had virtually promised,
when this was proved, he chose to continue a Papist still.
It being thus clearly proved, that this was a doctrine of the
Romish Church, it follows that it is so still. To use the language
of a late divine of our own city, (Dr. Porteous, in his Sermon on
Toleration, 1778), " This wonderful pretence," (that of in-
fallibility,) " gives uniformity and permanency to her doctrines ;
for what was infallibly true yesterday, might be equally true to-
day, and for ever ; no distance of time, nor change of circum-
stances can produce the smallest variation, even in things not
revealed. This church, according to her own principles, must
continue always, and in all respects the same. As the authorities
to be appealed to on this occasion have the Popish stamp of
infallibility, it must no doubt add greatly to the weight of their
evidence. They cannot indeed be disrespected by Papists, while
their claim to infallibility subsists." p. 18.
In short, it appears clearly established that every divine who
wrote on the subject during several centuries, maintained it to be
a doctrine of the Church of Rome, that it was lawful to break
faith with heretics, or to break faith with any person, when, by
doing so, the interest of the holy church was promoted ; and
that this opinion of grave divines was founded upon the solemn
decree of at least one oecumenical or general council.
Modern Papists endeavour to set aside the authority of all
these divines, though their great oracle, Bellarmine, be among
222
the number. Bishop Hay challenged Dr. Campbell to pro-
duce the authority of any approved divine of the Romish
Church, who maintained the obnoxious doctrine. Dr. Drum-
mond produces the authority of many such divines. Hay
then attempts to depreciate their character, and to make them
appear men of no account; but in point of fact, they appear to
have been all, and the only divines, who wrote on the subject for
hundreds of years; and surely there is no other evidence neces-
sary to prove what was the doctrine of the church, as understood
by them, and as universally understood in their time. Let
modern Papists produce, if they can, the authority of other
divines, or the decrees of any of their councils in opposition to
the doctrine in question. If it were not the acknowleged doc-
trine of the church, that it was lawful to break faith with heretics,
whence was it, that, for hundreds of years, nobody wrote against
it, while great divines were maintaining it? The Pope was
always sufficiently watchful that no heresy should obtain a footing
in the church; general councils were always ready to condemn
any doctrine that did not seem consistent with the honour and
prosperity of the church; and even in the darkest ages, there
were to be found some learned men to write in defence of the
church, and who would not suffer any person to calumniate her
without attempting her vindication; — if then it had been a heresy
that it was lawful to break faith with heretics, and seeing this
heresy was publicly taught by many great divines, whence was it
that no divine, or canonist, or pope, or council, should have
uttered a word against it ? Whence was it that Bishop
Simanca, and others in expounding the doctrine of the Church
of Rome, openly declared it to be a doctrine of the church, that
no obligation under which one was bound to a heretic, was bind-
ing upon him? Whence, I say, was this maintained publicly and
without contradiction, but from the simple fact, that it was univer-
sally acknowledged to be a doctrine of the church ?
In illustration of this argument, I shall take a case from the his-
tory of our own national church. About thirty years ago, a di-
vine in Ayrshire published a book in which he insinuated certain
principles, which are known by the name Socinianism. Had
this work passed unnoticed, — had other divines of the same church
published similar sentiments, and had they also been unnoticed,
it would appear to succeeding ages, that, notwithstanding the Cal-
vinistic tenor of her standards, towards the close of the eighteenth
century, the Church of Scotland had become Socinian in her doc-
trines; and it would be sufficient evidence of the fact, to adduce the
works of learned divines, even doctors of divinity, who unequivo-
cally taught Socinianism, and to have it to add, that no other divine
of the church, or any author of that country, at that time, had oh-
223
jected to the principles taught in those books. It so happened,
that legions of writers, if I may use the expression, many of them
divines of great note, declared their abhorrence of the sentiments
of the Socinian divine; many books were published, which are
likely to live at least as long as his ; and his doctrine was condemn-
ed by an ecclesiastical council, namely, the Synod of Glasgow and
Ayr, before which, in the town of Ayr, the said divine professed
to recant his errors. While the knowledge of these facts shall re-
main, it will be evident to the whole world, that, in the eighteenth
century, the Church of Scotland did not approve the doctrine of
Socinus ; but had the Socinian Doctor, and his adherents, been
suffered to pass unnoticed, while they published their sentiments
to the world, those who should live two hundred years after, would
be justified in fixing the charge of Socinianism on the Church of
Scotland, at the period referred to; and they might challenge the
whole world to prove the contrary.
This argument applies directly to the case in hand. All the
divines of the Romish Church, who wrote on the subject, during
several centuries, maintained that it was lawful to break faith with
heretics, or with others, when the interest of the church might re-
quire such a measure; they taught this doctrine on the authority
of the Decretals as they are called, — the standing laws of the
church, — the authority of several Popes, and, lastly, on the high
and infallible authority of the Council of Constance. This was
so universally understood to be the doctrine of the church, that
nobody controverted it. While Bishop Hay, and others, endea-
voured to set aside the authority of those who publicly taught the
doctrine, as being men of no consequence, they have not produced
the name of any person, high or low, in the same ages, who op-
posed the doctrine, or so much as insinuated that it was not main-
tained by the church. Upon every principle of fair reasoning
then, it was a doctrine of the Church of Rome, at the time of
the Council of Constance, and for centuries thereafter; and if it
ivas so then, it is so still, notwithstanding the solemn oaths of
British Papists; for we must never lose sight of this fundamental
principle of Popery, that it is unchangeable, and therefore incapa-
ble of improvement.
I suppose the late Mr. Pitt was no great adept in religious
controversy; and, I suppose, his numerous admirers 7/ill not con-
sider this assertion as derogating from the character of that great
statesman. Since, however, Providence had placed him in a si-
tuation which admitted, and even required, a certain degree of in-
terference in mitters of religion, it would have been well if he had
fully understood the subject. The interference of the Pope in
the affairs of independent kingdoms, and the doctrine that it was
lawful to break faith with heretics, seemed an insuperable bar to
224
the admission of Papists to the privileges of the British constitu-
tion, or of any Protestant constitution. They had the art, how-
ever, to persuade the British government that they held no such
principles; they got the universities to disavow them, and to ar-
gue against them. This took place in 1789; and in 1793, the
Act was passed which Papists take their stand upon, as contain-
ing the charter of their privileges. By this Act, they, taking the
oath, of which the form is given in my twenty-fourth Number,
are admitted to the free exercise of their religion, the same as
other dissenters, and freed from the rigorous penalties of some
former Acts, which, however severe and even persecuting they
may appear to us, were, I doubt not, considered at the time they
were passed, absolutely necessary in order to preserve the Protestant
government from the incessant and insidious attempts of Jesuitical
incendiaries, in whose esteem no work was so meritorious as the
subversion of Protestant governments, and the dethroning of here-
tical princes.*
I am far from condemning the Act of 1793, or from wishing
its repeal. But so far as the declaration of the Popish universi-
ties, and the representations of modern Papists, with respect to
the doctrine of not keeping faith with heretics, had any influence
upon the mind of Mr. Pitt and his colleagues, in carrying that
measure, I do not hesitate to say, it was produced by means of
misrepresentation and imposition: for it is a doctrine of the Church
of Rome, that it is lawful to break faith with heretics; and let all
statesmen consider, how it is possible to bind men who hold such
a. doctrine.
* It is the daily practice of Popish writers to hold out the government
of this country, and the Protestant establishment, as persecuting and san-
guinary in their conduct towards Papists. They glory in quoting old
Acts of Parliament, which certainly do bear an intolerant aspect, and
which every Protestant is ready to condemn. But Pcpish writers take
care not to inform their readers that these intolerant principles were de-
rived from Rome; and that our Protestant ancestors brought them from
rhence, with some other errors. Besides they were never so conspicuous
in the practice of Protestants as upon the Statute book. There were many
of our reformers who maintained, as a speculative opinion, the lawfulness of
putting idolaters to death, (and among idolaters they very properly includ-
ed Papists) but who never imbrued their hands in the blood of a fellow
rreature, or consented to the death of any man on account of Iris opinions.
Their speculative opinion was undoubtedly wrong, but they learned it
from the Church of Rome; the farther they removed from the Mother of
abominations, they became less intolerant; and these persecuting laws
have bees repealed, though Popish writers wish to conceal this from tlnir
readers, and endeavour to make our constitution and government as odi-
ous as possible.
lilt
rotcjstantt
No. XXIX.
SATURDAY, JANUARY HOtli, 1819.
i^EFORE I leave the subject of not keeping faith, I shall produce
one document more. It is one of modern date ; and it shows
clearly, that, when Papists have the candour to speak their minds
plainly, they hold the very same sentiments which were held by their
lathers four hundred years ago- A Romish clergyman in Ireland,
I believe a bishop, had promised to subscribe certain Addresses,
with respect to the concession of the veto. Having refused to
perform bis promise, and being publicly accused of breach of faith,
he published the following, in vindication of himself. See Libe-
rator's Letter to an English Nobleman, 1817, page 302.
" An advertisement appeared in the Leinster Journal, of last
Saturday, signed George Bryan, in which I am charged with the
breach of a solemn promise. A public attack of this kind, neces-
sarily calls on any man to justify his conduct, if in his power. A
plain narrative of the facts, as they happened, and an explanation
of the motives on which I acted, will complete this justification,
I hope, in the eyes of any impartial man.
" 1st, I acknowledge that I promised, to some gentlemen of
the Committee, that I would sign these Addresses, when some
lines, to which I objected, would be expunged ; — but I utterly
deny having made any solemn promise, if by a solemn promise,
Mr. Bryan means any thing more than a serious promise ; for no-
thing, in actions, expressions, or writing, was superadded to the
verbal declaration I made of signing the Addresses, when correct-
ed. The nature of the case did not at all require a solemn pro-
mise ; and the gentlemen who presented the Addresses to me, bad
too much sagacity and judgment to alarm my suspicions, by such
a proposal ; for the consequence would probably be, a rejection
of the Addresses on the spot.
" 2dly, Some days elapsed, before the corrected Addresses
were again brought to me to be signed. In this interval, many
of the clergy and laity of this city came to me, and remonstrated
against my signing these Addresses. They urged, that these Ad-
dresses were calculated to pass an indirect censure on the proceed-
ings of the Prelates in Dublin, and to diminish the respect due
to their late Resolutions ; that they were preparatory steps to the
toncesssion of a veto to the government, in the nomination of the
Ff
226
Catholic Prelates of Ireland; and that a general dislike and dis-
approbation of these Addresses prevailed, among the great majori-
ty of the priests and Catholic laity of the city. When 1 ascertain-
ed this last fact, I resolved not to sign the Addresses, and was, at
tho same time, persuaded that I was guilty of no sin or crime, by
such refusal.
" I am convinced, that a serious, sincere, and voluntary pro-
mise, binds a man who makes it, under the pain of sin, to fulfil
it. But I am likewise convinced, that the obligation, arising from
a promise, ceases, in the following cases : —
44 1st, If a man promises a thing impossible. For no one can
be bound to do a thing impossible to be done.
" 2dly, If a man promises to do any thing sinful or unlawful.
For no promise, though confirmed by an oath, can bind a man
to commit sin.
" 3dly, When a person, in whose favour a promise is made,
releases the promiser from the promise he has made.
" 4thly, When a man promises a thing pernicious or useless If
the person in whose favour the promise is made.
44 5thly, When before the promise is fulfilled, the circumstances
become so changed, that the person promising, had he foreseen
these circumstances, would never have made the promise.
" On this I rest my justification. For had I foreseen, or
known, that my signing these Addresses would produce such alarm
and consternation, such dislike and disapprobation, as I afterwards
found they would, in the minds of the great majority of the Ca-
tholic priests and laity of this city, 1 would, by no means, have
consented to sign them. — St. Thomas saith, ' That a man is not
guilty of an untruth, in such a case ; because, when he promised,
he intended to perform his promise: nor is he unfaithful to his
promise, because the circumstances are changed.' This is not on-
ly the opinion of St. Thomas, but is also the opinion of all the
Theologians and Canonists I ever saw or read.
" James Lanigan.
14 Kilkenny, Nov. 8, 1808."
I expect to be favoured with the unanimous thanks of my read-
ers, for making them acquainted with this precious specimen of
Popish morality. Here it is plainly admitted, that a man may
give a promise, and a serious promise too, and yet lawfully break
it, if it was not a solemn promise. And allowing it to be a pro-
mise ever so solemn, serious, sincere, and voluntary, there are
yet five cases in which he is not bound to keep it.
From the first of these cases, we learn, that, if a man should
give his promissory note, binding himself to pay a hundred pounds,
by a certain day, if he finds it impossible to raise the money, he is
freed from his obligation. " The obligation arising from the pro-
mise ceases," and the debt is cancelled. I admit, that no promise.
X
227
or oath, can bind a man to do what is sinful ; but I maintain, at
the same time, that no man ought ever to make such a promise.
With Papists, however, this is a light matter; they can promise
and swear any thing, and get a dispensation, like the kings and
queens of France, to break such oaths as they cannot profita-
bly keep. Promises to heretics are considered sinful, and, there-
fore, it is not lawful to keep them. On this principle the empe-
ror was moved to put John Huss to death, and we find the prin-
ciple approved and defended by a dignified priest in Ireland, as
lately as 1808.
The fifth case releases a man from the obligation of his promise,
on a change of circumstances. Thus, if I order from Dublin a
quantity of linen, and promise to accept my correspondent's bill,
for the amount, if the linen trade in Glasgow should become dull
before my goods arrive, I am freed from the obligation of my pro-
mise,— the circumstances are changed ; and because I intended
to fulfil my promise, when I made it, I am guilty of no untruth,
though I should now break it. This is the opinion of St. Tho-
mas, who is of almost equal authority, in the Church of Rome,
with St. Peter, and at least equal to St. Paul. And it is not
the opinion of that divine only, but the opinion of all the Theolo-
gians and Canonists that were ever seen or read by the Reverend
James Lanigan.
How different is this from the morality of the Bible ? The
righteous man st;.nds to his engagement, though it should be to
his own hurt or disadvantage. Psalm xv. 4.
The church that admits the principle of breaking faith with he-
retics, or with others, on any occasion, or on any account, teaches
that it is lawful to falsify and deceive. And to fix this charge on
the Church of Rome, nothing more is necessary than to adduce
the principles and practices of the Jesuits. I have not seen any
Bull of the Pope, by which he authorised this body to deceive the
world, by means of cunning and falsehood, as he authorised the
kings and queens of France to break any oath which they could
not profitably keep; but I see, by the history of the Jesuits, that
they acted as if they had had such authority; and that, instead of
incurring the displeasure of the Holy Father, on that account,
they became his distinguished favourites. Their principles and
conduct are justly chargeable upon the Church of Rome, during
the period in which they existed as an organized body ; for they
were never condemned by any Council of the Church, or by any
Pope, till they became such an insufferable nuisance, in every
country in Europe, Popish as well as Protestant, that the order
was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV. who, for his many good
qualities, has been called the Protestant Pope.
Still, however, the Jesuits are the favourites of the Holy See.
The present Pope has restored the order : and Popish writers^
228
such as the Editor of the Orthodox Journal, labour to re-
commend them to the world, as examples of every thing that is
great, and noble, and useful, in Christianity. But if, as I hope
to show, their main instrument, in carrying on their operations,
was falsehood, it will follow, that the church which contains, ap-
proves, and commends such an order, holds it lawful to falsify and
deceive.
By the kindness of a friend, at a distance, I am favoured with
a copy of Secreta Monita Societatis Jesu ; or the Secret Instruc-
tion of the Jesuits, in the original Latin, with an English trans-
lation. This work was not intended ever to meet the eye of Pro-
testants ; and it was meant for only such members of their own
Society as could be fully depended upon. " John Schipper, a
bookseller, at Amsterdam, bought one of them at Antwerp,
among other books, and afterwards reprinted it. The Jesuits,
being informed that he had purchased this book, demanded it
back from him ; but he had then sent it to Holland. One of the
Society, who lived at Amsterdam, hearing it said soon after to
(by) a Catholic bookseller, by name Van Eyk, that Schipper was
printing a book, which concerned the Jesuits, replied, that if it
was only the Rules of the Society, he would not be under any
concern; but desired he would inform himself what it was. Being
told by the bookseller, that it was the Secret Instructions of the
Society, the good father, shrugging up his shoulders, and knit-
ting his brow, said, that he saw no remedy but denying that this
piece came from the Society. The reverend fathers, however,
thought it more advisable to purchase the whole edition, which
they soon after did, some few copies excepted ; from one of these
it was afterwards reprinted, with this account prefixed ; which is
said to be taken from two Roman Catholics, men of credit."
Adv. to the Reader.
The preface to the work itself inculcates, " that the greatest
care imaginable must be taken, that these instructions do not fall
into the hands of strangers, for fear, out of envy to our order,
they should give them a sinister interpretation ; but if this (which
God forbid !) should happen, let it be positively denied that
these are the principles of the Society, and such denial be confirm-
ed by those of our members, tvhich ive are sure know nothing
of them ; by this means, and by confronting these with our
public instructions, printed or written, our credibility will be esta-
blished beyond opposition. Let the superiors also carefully and
warily inquire, whether discovery has been made of these in-
structions, by any of our members to strangers ; and let none
transcribe, or suffer them to be transcribed, either for himself, or
others, without the consent of the General or Provincial : and
if any one be suspected of incapacity to keep such important
secrets, acquaint him not of your suspicion, but dismiss him."
229
Perhaps, at some future period, I may treat my readers with
the whole of these secret instructions, which would not occupy
ahove three or four numbers of my work. They exhibit such a
system of deceit and falsehood, that I know no word sufficiently
strong to express their true character, but that of Jesuitism. At
present I shall give only a specimen, extracted from chapters vi.
and vii.
" Of the proper method for inducing rich tvidotvs to be
liberal to our Society. I. For the managing of this affair, let
such members only be chosen as are advanced in age, of a lively
complexion, and agreeable conversation ; let these frequently
visit such widows, and the minute they begin to shew any affec-
tion towards our order, then is the time to lay before them,
the good works and merits of the Society : if they seem kindly
to give ear to this, and begin to visit our churches, we must, by
all means, take care to provide them confessors, by whom they
may be well admonished, especially to a constant perseverance in
a state of widowhood, — and this, by enumerating, and praising
the advantages and felicity of a single life ; and let them pawn
their faiths, and themselves too, as a security, that a firm con-
tinuance, in such a pious resolution, will infallibly purchase an
eternal merit, and prove a most effectual means of escaping the
otherwise certain pains of purgatory.
" IV. Care must be taken to remove such servants, particu-
larly, as do not keep a good understanding with the Society ;
but let this be done by little and little ; and when we have
managed so to work them out, let such be recommended as
already are, or willingly would become our creatures ; thus shall
we dive into every secret, and have a finger in every affair trans-
acted in the family.
" V. The confessor must manage his matters so, that the
widow may have such faith in him as not to do the least thine
without his advice, and his only ; which he may occasionally
insinuate to be the only basis of her spiritual edification.
" VI. She must be advised to the frequent use and cele-
bration of the sacraments, but especially that of penance, because
in that she freely makes a discovery of her most secret thoughts,
and every temptation.
" VIII. Discourses must be made to her concerning the ad-
pantages of a state of widowhood, the inconveniences of wedlock,
especially when it is repeated, and the dangers to which mankind
expose themselves by it ; but above all, such as more particularly
affect her.
" IX. It will be proper, every now and then, cunningly to
propose to her some match ; but such a one, be sure, as you
know she has an aversion to : and if it be thought she has a
kindness for any one, let his vices and failings be represented to
230
her in a proper light, that she may abhor the thoughts of alter-
ing her condition with any person whatsoever.
" X. When, therefore, it is manifest that she is well disposed
to continue a widow, it will then be time to recommend to her
a spiritual life, but not a recluse one, the inconveniences of which
must be magnified to her; but such a one as Paulas or Eustochius,
&c. and let the confessor, having as soon as possible prevailed
with her to make a vow of chastity, for two or three years at
least, take due care to oppose ali tendencies to a second marri-
age ; and then, all conversation with men, and diversions, even
with her near relations and kinsfolks, must be forbid her, under
pretence of entering into a stricter union with God. As for the
ecclesiastics, who either visit the widow, or receive visits from her,
if they all cannot be worked out, yet let none be admitted, but
what are either recommended by some of our Society, or are
dependants upon them.
" XI. When we have thus far gained our point, the widow
must be, by little and little, excited to the performance of good
works, especially those of charity ; which, however, she must by
no means be suffered to do, without the direction of her ghostly
father, since it is of the last importance to her soul, that her
talent be laid out, with a prospect of obtaining spiritual interest ;
And since charity, ill applied, often proves the cause and incite-
ment to sins, which effaces the merit and reward that might
otherwise attend it."
By such a course of persevering cunning and deceit, the So-
ciety of Jesuits have, no doubt, gained over many rich widows, to
be subservient to their purpose. The title of the seventh chap-
ter is, " How such widoivs are to be secured, and in vohat
manner their effects are to be disposed of." They must let
" no week pass, in which they do not, of their own accord, lay
somewhat apart, out of their abundance, for the honour of
Christ, the blessed Virgin, or their patron saint ; and let them
dispose of it, in relief of the poor, or in beautifying of churches :
till they are entirely stript of their superfluous stores, and unne-
cessary riches." — " If they have made a vow of chastity, let them,
according to our custom, renew it twice a year; and let the day
wherein this is done, be set apart for innocent recreations, with
the members of our Society." — " Let them be frequently visited,
and entertained, in an agreeable manner, with spiritual stories ;
and also diverted with pleasant discourses, according to their
particular humours and inclinations." — " They must not be treated
with too much severity, in confession, lest we make them morose,
and ill-tempered ; unless their favour be so far engaged by others,
that there is danger of not regaining it ; and in this case, great
discretion is to be used, in forming a judgment of the natural
inconstancy o{ women."
2S1
" Let women that are young, and descended from rich and
noble parents, be placed with those widows, that they may, by
degrees, become subject to our directions, and accustomed to
our mode of living." — " That the widow may dispose of what she
has in favour of the Society, set, as a pattern to her, the perfect
state of holy men, who have renounced the world, and forsaken
their parents, and all that they had, with great resignation and
cheerfulness of mind, devoted themselves to the service of God."
— " Let several instances of widows be brought, who thus, in a
short time, became saints, in hopes of being canonized, if they
continue such to the end. And let them be apprized, that our
Society will not fail to use their interest with the court of Rome,
for the obtaining of such a favour." — " If a widow does not
in her lifetime, make over her whole estate to the Society,
whenever opportunity offers, but especially when she is seized
with sickness, or in danger of life, let some take care to repre-
sent to her the poverty of the greatest number of our colleges,
whereof many, just erected, have hardly as yet any foundation ;
engage her by a winning behaviour, and inducing arguments, to
such a liberality, as (you must persuade her) will lay a certain
foundation for her eternal happiness."
Such are a few of the secret rules of that Society, which the
Pope has lately restored, — which has obtained a rich establish-
ment in the very heart of England ; and which will, very proba-
bly, soon establish itself in our own city. Let every lover of his
country, of his friends, and fellow creatures, consider whether
it were not better for us to be invaded by a host of locusts and
caterpillars, than by such incendiaries, who will insinuate them-
selves into our houses, and worm themselves, by fair speeches,
into the confidence of the simple and unwary, until they have
got the entire direction of our domestic affairs, the command of
our property, and perhaps the disposal of our lives.
Before entering upon a new subject of discussion, I beg leave
to congratulate my readers on the appearance of a reply to The
Protestant ; and that by no less a personage than Wm.
Eusebius Andrews, Editor of what he calls The Ortho-
dox Journal, — the great champion of the Popish cause for
England, and now, also for Scotland. I dare say his friends
think I ought to have noticed his publication sooner; but I did
not choose to break the connexion of more important matter ;
and I was willing to let him have his own way for a time, without
interruption. He has now published six numbers in Glasgow,
under the title of The Catholic Vindicator. The work is
both written and printed in London. I suppose nobody, able
and willing, could be found nearer Glasgow ; and the Author
calls for the assistance of the whole Catholic body, in his ardu-
ous undertaking;.
232
I do not intend to enter upon a formal refutation of this writer,
till I have dono with Amicus Veritatis ; hut I shall simply
.State, for the information of my readers, that, in so far as it is
my object to expose the errors of Popery, I look upon Mr.
Andrews rather as an auxiliary, than an adversary. He tells
us plainly, and I believe honestly, what his own faith is; and he
assures us, that, in the Church of Rome, the faith of one is the
faith of all. For the advantage which he has thus given me, I
am content to bear all his abuse ; all his real or affected misap-
prehension of the meaning of my words, which he exhibits in
numerous instances; and all his insinuations, with regard to the
badness of my principles and motives.
The poor man is seriously of opinion, that he must satisfy
divine justice for himself. He expresses no small degree of won-
der at the Protestant doctrine, — that Christ alone has made sa-
tisfaction. He is absolutely overwhelmed by astonishment, at an
assertion of The Protestant, that " there is no salvation for
a sinner, but in the way of depending, solely and entirely, on the
finished work of Christ;" and he prints some of these words in
great capitals, to show the magnitude of the mistake into which
he supposes I have fallen. He knows nothing of the place which
good works hold in the method of salvation, but as meriting sal-
vation. In short, according to his doctrine, sinners must both
satisfy divine justice for themselves, and merit their own salvation.
I must do my opponent the justice to say, that this is not a cor-
ruption of Christianity. It is a totally different religion. It is as
much opposed to the doctrine of Christ, as I hope to show in due
time, as the worship of Juggernaut is to that of the true God.
While the " Catholic Vindicator" takes his stand upon
the ground of satisfying divine justice, and meriting salvation for
himself, he is not to be reasoned with as a Christian. If the
faith of one be the faith of all, as he tells us, then, instead of
beinor the most numerous and respectable body of Christians in
the world, as Papists proudly assert, they are not Christians at
all. To dispute about the mode and form of such a religion as
theirs, is as idle as to wrangle about the colour and shape of the
broad cloth that covers the shoulders of the great idol of Orissa.
As my papers are often written in great haste, amidst nume-
rous avocations of a public and private nature, without the as-
sistance of any other pen whatever, it would not be surprising if
I had made some mistakes, with regard to the dates of facts, the
names of authors, and other unimportant matters ; but, hitherto,
The Vindicator has detected nothing of the kind. In short,
he has not invalidated a single fact, in any of my statements ; and
has not pointed out a single sentence in " The Protestant,"
which I would wish to alter, if it were to be written again.
THE
No. XXX.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 1819.
1 come now to the subject of withholding the Bible from the
people, of which the Church of Rome has been accused. This
subject, like that of not keeping faith with heretics, has become
a little troublesome to modern Papists, especially to those who
live anions Protestants. About five years ago, the Rev. Andrew
Scott published the following declaration in the Glasgow News-
papers. " If it really was a principle of the Roman Catholic
Church to deprive her members of the use of the divine word, by
forbidding them to read and search the Scriptures, she would
indeed be cruel and unjust. But I can publicly declare (without
danger of being contradicted by my brethren, or censured by my
superiors,) that it is not at present — that it never was — a prin-
ciple of the Catholic Church, that the Scriptures should be
withheld from the laity; and there never was any law enacted bv
the supreme legislative authority in the Catholic Church, by
which the reading of the Scriptures was prohibited." Lettc-
dated February 1 \th, 1814-., in most of the Glasgow News-
papers.
In the same month a letter appeared in the Glasgow Chronicle,
under the signature of W. M. from which I extract the following.
" What is it that constitutes a principle of the Catholic Church ?
Are the decrees of general councils, sanctioned by the Pope of
Rome, recognized as such ? Then I request that the Reverend
Mr. Scott would consider the following decision of the Council oi
Trent : (Regula IV. list of prohibited books) seeing it is
manifest, by experience, that if the Holy Bible be permitted to
be read every where, without difference, in the vulgar tongue,
more harm than good results thence, through the rashness of
men ; let it, therefore, be at the pleasure of the bishop or inqui-
sitor, with the advice of the parish clerk or confessor, to grant
the reading of the Bible, translated by Catholic authors, to those
who, in their opinion, will thereby receive an increase of faith
and piefy. This license let them have in writing; and whoever
Gg
234-
shall presume, without permission, to read or possess such Bible.;,
may not receive the ablution of his sins till he has returned
them to the ordinary." *
" What is this but denying the use of the Bible to the com-
mon people ? None were to read it, or have it, but those who
had licence from the bishop or inquisitor ; and these officers were
authorized to give licence only to those who, they thought, would
make a good use of it. That this was reckoned a very just
limitation at the time, will appear from the speech of Biehard
Du Mans, in the same council. He said, ' That the Scriptures
had become useless, since the schoolmen had established the
truth of all doctrines; and though they were formerly read in the
church, for the instruction of the people, and still read in the
service, yet they ought not to be made a study, because the
Lutherans only gained those ivho read them.'
" If the above does not establish it as a principle, that the
Scriptures were to be withheld from the people at large, 1 ask
again, What is it that constitutes a principle of the Catholic
Church ?
" Besides, was it not the uniform practice of that church, for
at least a thousand years, to withhold the Scriptures from the
people? Was not their religious service conducted in an unknown
tongue ? Was it ever known that they gave the common people,
in any country, a translation of the Bible in their own language,
till a long period after the Reformation? Nay, is it not well known,
that all the influence of the Catholic clergy wa3 exerted to pre-
vent the people from reading the Scriptures after Wickliffe and
Luther had given them translations?" — " Mr. Scott says in his
* W. M. gave only an extract in English. The following are the
express words of the whole canon : — " Cum experimento manifestum sit, si
Sacra Biblia vulgari lingua passim sine discrimine permittantur, plus, inde,
ob hominum temeritate, detrimenti, quam utilitatis oriri, hac in parti
judicio Episeopi aut Inquisitorisstetur: ut cum concilio Parochi, vel Con-
fessorii, Biblorum a Catholicis Auctoribus versorum lectionem in vulgari
lingua cis concedcre possint, quos intelleserint ex hujusmodi lectione, non
damnum sed lidei atque pietatis augmentum capere posse : quam facul-
tatem in scriptis habeant Qui autetn absque tali facultati ea legere sen
habere prtesumpserit, nisi prius Bibliis Ordinario redditis, peccatonam ab-
solutionem persipere non possit Bibliopola? vero, qui praedictam facul-
tatetn non habenti Biblia idiomate vulgari conscripta vendidcrint, vel alio
quovis modo concesserint, librorum pretium, in usos pios ab Episcopo
convertendum, amitlant, aliisq; pnenis pro delicti qualitati ejusdem Epis-
eopi arbitriosubjaceant. Regulares vero nun nisi facilitate a Prwiatis sui
habita, ea legere, aut etnere possint." De Libris prohibitis, Reguia IV.
The following is the latter part of the canon, in English : — But all the
Booksellers, who may sell, or in any other manner supply. Bibles, written in
die vulgar dialect, to any person not possessed of the aforesaid license
shall forfeit tin- price of the book-., to be applied to sacred purposes by the
Bishop, and submit to other punishments at the will of the said Bishop,
according to the nature and degree of their fault : but let no one buy or
tead these Bibles, without the permission el' their T'nstois.
235
letter, 'If it really was a principle of the Roman Catholic Church
to deprive her memhers of the use of the divine word, by forbid-
ding them to read and search the Scriptures, she would indeed be
cruel and unjust.' Well, then, by his own verdict, his church is
convicted of cruelty and injustice , for they so far withheld the
Scriptures from the people, that they did not give them when it
was in their power ; and when the people were receiving that in-
valuable treasure from another quarter, they did their utmost to
prevent it ; they not only refused to give the blessing themselves,
but persecuted and murdered those who did." A sensible letter
on the same subject appeared about the same time, in the Glasgow
Courier.
Mr. Scott, did not choose to reply to either of these letters ;
but whether his silence arose from a conviction that he was mis-
taken, or from some other cause, I cannot tell. I have no
hesitation in saying that he ought to 'nave replied, and answered
the question, what he meant by a " principle of the Catholic
Church?" and how far he acknowledged the authority of the
Council of Trent ? If it be replied on bis behalf, that he was not
at liberty to make any exception against the authority of that
council, seeing he had bound himself by solemn oath to helieve
every doctrine, and ohey every canon declared by it, then 1
reply, he ought to have taken care what doctrine he published,
so as not to have contradicted the holy council, whose doctrines
he had sworn to maintain.
In one of my letters in the Glasgow Chronicle, (see Part I. p.
16.) I alluded to the controversy between Mr. Scott, and W. M.
and mentioned his silence when the authority of the Council cf
Trent was quoted against him. In reply to this, Amicus Veri-
tatis says, (P. I. p. 30.) " In your correspondent's last letter,
I noticed an allusion to a Rev. Gentleman, which was certainly
characteristic of the author. Every minister of the gospel should
be a minister of peace ; and it was unfair to suppose, that be-
cause the Rev. Gentleman here alluded to did not reply, it was
either from a conviction of the validity or correctness of what
might have been advanced against him. I myself am confident,
and I do not commit myself when I say so, that your corres-
pondent cannot produce any decree of the Council of Trent
absolutely forbidding the reading of the Scriptures. The Council
of Trent, and the church, merely command her children not to
read any edition of the Scriptures but that which is approved by
the church ; and consequently, cannot be said to forbid the read-
ing of the Scriptures, any more than the Bible Society, who
will not permit the circulation of any edition of the Scriptures
but their approved version, although many other different editions
exist."
There arc many strange things in this paragraph which requ
2S(i
a particular reply. The last is the first that I shall notice. The
Bible Society, it seems, according to the assertion of Amicus
Veritatis, " will not permit the circulation of any edition
of the Scriptures but their approved version." The British and
Foreign Bible Society has been accused of many things by
Papists, and by Protestants popishly inclined ; but I believe
Amicus Veritatis is the first, and the only writer, who
has accused it of not permitting the circulation of more
than one version of the Scriptures. The fact is, the Bible
Society never presumed either to permit or prevent the circulation
of the word of God, in any version or edition whatever. The
Society was formed for the purpose of distributing the Scriptures
gratuitously, or at a small price, in order that the poor might
have free access to the words of eternal life : and the Society
made it a rule, which they had a right to do, that the version
which they would print and circulate in our own language,
should be the authorized one. But this is very different from
not permitting the circulation of any other version. If I choose
to give to a few poor families in the city a comfortable dinner
from the stall of my own flesher, does this imply that I will not
permit any family in Glasgow to procure a dinner from any other
quarter? This is the amount of my opponent's assertion. The
Bible Society profess to give away only one version in English ;
ergo, they will not permit the circulation of any other. A child
would be ashamed of such logic.
But there is more in this than at first meets the eye. Amicus
Veritatis wishes it to be understood, that, with regard to the
circulation of the Scriptures, his church acts upon the same
principle with the Bible Society. He knows that this Society
is popular. He knows that they confine their distribution of the
English Scriptures to the authorized version ; and, taking it for
granted that this is the same as not permitting the circulation
of any other, he brings his church under the protection of this
respectable Society, and hopes that all the friends of the latter
will respect the former, for she does not permit her children " to
read any edition of the Scriptures but what is approved by the
church."
1 am persuaded none but a Papist could have used the language
of Amicus Veritatis, at least no enlightened Protestant
would speak of either permitting, or nut permitting, the circulation
of the Scriptures, except it were in reference to the practice of the
Church of Rome. From my opponent's own words, I hope to prove
that his church is guilty of antichristian presumption, and rebellion
against God. He falsely asserts, that the Bible Society will not
permit the circulation of any but the authorized version of the
Scriptures ; and he represents this as the same that is done by his
truirch, that will not permit the circulation of any version but
237
such as she approves. The plain meaning of his words is, the
Church of Rome permits the reading of some versions of the
Scriptures, and does not permit the circulation or reading of
other versions. I appeal to himself if this be not a correct
statement of his sentiments; and I appeal to every reader, whether
this be not representing the Church of Rome in the most favour,
able light, with regard to the subject in hand. Now, what I am
to prove is, that the assumption of a power to permit the reading
of the Scriptures, is antichristian presumption, and rebellion
against God. I expect Mr. Andrews will be overwhelmed by
astonishment, and perfect wonder, when he reads this sentence;
and he will likely reprint it in large capitals to excite the amaze-
ment of his readers. No matter, I am perfectly serious in bring-
ing this charge against his church, and I hope to make it good.
The Scriptures contain the word of God, which is addressed to
every human creature under heaven. They contain a complete
revelation of his will for the salvation of our fallen race. They
inform us how our race became fallen and ruined, and of the pro-
vision which God has made for the recovery and salvation of mi-
serable sinners, by the incarnation, obedience, and death of his
own Son. That part of the Bible which is properly called the
gospel, is purely a revelation of the mercy of God to sinners. It
is a proclamation of grace and pardon to the very chief of sinners,
upon the footing of what Christ has done in the stead of the guil-
ty, when he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even
the death of the cross. The Bible informs us, how guilty and mi-
serable creatures become interested in what Christ has done and
suffered in the room of the ungodly ; — that it is in the way of be-
lieving in him; for God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life, (John iii. 16.) This is good news, — it
is glad tidings of great joy to all people, (Luke ii. 10. ); and by
the commandment of the everlasting God, it is to be made known
to all people, (Rom. xvi. 26.) Christ gave commandment to his
Apostles, to go into all the world and preach the gospel, that is,
publish the good news to every creature, (Mark xvi. 15.) And he
gave them a promise to be with them always to the end of the
world, insomuch that their speaking was his speaking, — their words
were his words, — he that heard them heard him. The words
spoken by Apostles, therefore, and the words which they wrote,
have all the authority of a voice from heaven. Christ is with his
Apostles still, and he will be with them to the end of the world,
to give power and efficacy to their words, because they are his
own words; and whether they are published in the way of reading,
or in the way of preaching, he gives them a spirit and a power
which effectually subdues the objects of his mercy, and turns them
to himself. The preaching, or in any way, the publication of the
238
gospel, is the means of divine appointment for the conversion and
salvation of sinners.
In short, the Bible is the word of God addressed to his own
creatures; and who are they that presume to permit the Almighty
to speak to his creatures? The Church of Rome does so, ac
cording to the testimony of modern Papists; and it is understood
to be great condescension in the church to grant such permission;
for this is the same thing as granting permission to creatures to
hear what the Almighty speaks to them. The reader will observe,
it is spoken in the way of boasting, at least in the way of vindi-
cating the Church of Rome, that she does not absolutely prohi-
bit, but in certain circumstances she permits, the reading of the
Scriptures; that is, she permits fallen and miserable creatures to
hear what their Creator says to them, which is the same thing as
permitting the Almighty to speak to them.
Where was there ever greater arrogance and presumption ? Is
it possible to imagine greater contempt of divine authority, and
more direct rebellion against the Majesty of heaven, than this affect-
ed condescension of the Romish Church ? She does not abso-
lutely forbid the Almighty to speak to his creatures, — she permits
it in certain circumstances.
In the Bible, the Almighty addresses us as by a voice from
heaven, " Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth,
for I am God and there is none else," (Isa. xliv. 22.) The
Church of Rome stands by, and presumes to decide who shall,
and who shall not, hear these words of the Almighty Saviour ;
and if any person at all hear them, it is by her permission. Sure-
ly, then, this Church of Rome is that Antichrist, that opposing
power that exalts itself above all that is called God, or that is wor-
shipped. To assume the power of permitting creatures to hear
what God shall speak, is assuming a power and authority at least
equal to that of God, and a right to controul, or at least to regu-
luie the manner of his communicating his will to his own creatures.
I shall suppose a case, which I hope is level to the capacity of
all my readers. I shall suppose there were some traitors in our
city, or in the neighbourhood, and, suppose the Prince Regent,
acting in name and on behalf of his Majesty, extremely averse
from persecuting these traitors so as to affect their lives, issued a
proclamation, promising a free pardon to all who would submit
themselves to the authority of the laws: — Now, suppose that our
Lord Provost and Magistrates were to call a council, and make it a
matter of consideration, whether or not they would permit the
said proclamation to be published in Glasgow; and if they should
even come to the decision that they would permit it, would not
they themselves be held as traitors, merely for presuming to put
their authority on a footing with that of the sovereign, and pre-
suming to permit his proclamation to he published.
239
This is precisely the case with the Church of Rome, upon the
most partial view of her conduct, as given by her own friends.
The gospel of Christ is a proclamation of mercy to rebels and
traitors. It is contained in the Bible. And as the Church of
Rome claims the power of granting permission, only in certain
circumstances, to read the Bible, she places her authority, at least,
upon an equality with the authority of God, by determining whe-
ther or not the said proclamation of mercy shall be published, —
who shall, and who shall not be allowed to hear it.
Thus, the very condescension of the Church of Rome, — her
permitting the reading of the Scriptures in certain circumstances,
of which her friends make a boast, — is proved to be impious pre-
sumption, and rebellion against God. It is arrogating an autho-
rity which belongs to no creature, nor to any assembly of crea-
tures, to decide when and to whom the Almighty shall address
his overtures of mercy and grace; and who shall hear that gospel
which he commanded to be preached to every creature.
I have hitherto been arguing on the most favourable view of
the conduct of the Church of Rome, — that she does permit the
reading of the Scriptures in certain circumstances. The claim
of an authority to permit, indicates her antichristian temper; and
this very claim implies an authority to prevent the reading of the
Scriptures, whenever it shall happen that prevention is more agree-
able to her than permission. This in general has been the case:
and if her assumed authority of permitting, proves her to be the
Antichrist, much more will her assumed authority of preventing,
hx that character upon her.
Amicus Veritatis says, that I cannot produce any autho-
rity of the Council of Trent absolutely forbidding the reading or
the Scriptures. This is admitting that the reading of them is for-
bidden, but not absolutely ; and this is precisely the import of the
canon of the said council. The reading of the Bible is forbidden
generally; but there are exceptions. It is not forbidden to cler-
gymen. It is not even forbidden to such discreet laymen as are
otherwise secured from being hurt by it, provided they read only
such translations as have been made by Catholic authors; but to
the great body of the people it is forbidden. The bishops and
inquisitors are constituted sole judges, who are and who are not
fit to be trusted with the word of God, even after it has been neu-
tralized by the corrupt glosses of translators and commentators :
and if any poor layman should be detected with a Bible in his
possession, though it should be one of those which have been fenc-
ed by Popish annotations, he is considered guilty of so great a
crime, that he cannot receive the ablution, — the pardon, or wash-
ing from his sins, till he has sent away the Bible from his house.
This is the express law of the Church of Rome, as it was decreed
by the Council of Trent, and as it stands at this day; for every
240
Popish priest is taken bound by solemn oath to adhere to all the
doctrines and canons of that council.
The Almighty addresses his word to every child of Adam: but
the Church of Rome forbids any of its members to hear or to read
it, but a favoured few, who must have a license for the purpose !
This is directly setting up her authority against the authority of
God. He calls upon all men to hear him. His voice is to the
sons of men. It is addressed to all ranks and classes of the hu-
man race without exception. But the Church of Rome will not
suffer all men to hear the voice of God in his word. She allows
it to be addressed only to such as will receive thereby an increase
of faith and piety ; that is, to persons who are already faithful
and pious in some degree. God addresses his gospel to sinners,
as such, in order that, hearing and believing it, sinners may be
saved. But the Church of Rome exercises her authority to pre-
vent, as far as she is able, the word of God from reaching the ears
of sinners. Thus, she proves herself to be in league with Satan, for
the purpose of keeping men under the bondage of sin, to the ever-
lasting ruin of their souls.
Amicus Vkritatis tells us, in plain words, without dissem-
bling, that the church commands her children not to read any edi-
tion of the Scriptures but that which she approves; and he says,
the Council of Trent and the church merely do this, as if it were
a small matter; but in fact, this was an absolute prohibition of
reading the Bible, to at least nine- tenths of the people, for the
only edition or version that was approved by the Church, for many
centuries, was the Latin Vulgate, which none but the learned
could read. Commanding her children, therefore, to read no
other, was an absolute prohibition to the unlearned. It does not
appear that even the original Hebrew and Greek, the very words
which were written by Prophets and Apostles, were approved by
the Church of Rome. At least, in order to discourage the study
of the Scriptures in the original tongues, the Council of Trent
declared the Vulgate to be of equal authority, which is the doc-
trine of the Church on this subject.
I begin to think that my work is rising in public esteem, and that it is
exciting great attention; seeing the Socinians have begun to make use of
the Title, for the purpose of giving currency to their nostrums. I can con-
ceive no other object which a " layman" could have in view, in his Six-
penny Letter to the Protestant, which was published on Wednesday last.
This I think, is all the reply that such a publication requires from the
Protestant, who is not so idle as to take up the Socinian controversy
immediately after it has been so ably handled by Mr. Waudlaw.
THE
;Protej5tantt
No. XXXI.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13th, 1819.
Amicus Veritatis tells me, that I " cannot produce any
decree of the Council of Trent, absolutely forbidding the reading
of the Scriptures." Then he informs me that " the Council of
Trent, and the Church, merely command her children not to
read any edition of the Scriptures, but that which is approved by
the Church." I shewed, in my last Number, that this mere com-
mand was, for several centuries, the same thing as an absolute
prohibition; for the only version approved by the Church was
the Latin Vulgate; and the command of the Church to read no
other, was really a command to the unlearned not to read the
Scriptures at all. I shewed also, that the assumption of a power
to grant permission to read the Bible, was no less than assuming
a power to permit the Almighty to speak to his creatures, which
is antichristian arrogance and presumption.
It is no better, whatever worse, to assume the power of 'pre-
venting the reading of the Bible. Of this the Church of Rome
is notoriously guilty ; and Amicus Veritatis virtually ad-
mits the fact, by asserting that she merely commanded her
children not to read any version but such as she approved ; that
is, only the Latin Vulgate. Suppose the people were eagerly
desiring instruction ; suppose they were hungering for the bread
of life, that is, desiring to possess and know the word of God, the
Church of Rome presents it to them in Latin, — a language which
they do not understand, — and commands them not to receive it
in any other language. What is this but giving the people a
stone instead of bread ? What is it but saying to the poor, be
thou warmed, be thou clothed, and yet not giving them the
things which are needful for these purposes? The apostle
James has taught us how to estimate such pretensions to charity.
The word of God was given to the Church in Rome, as it was
given to other churches, for the instruction and edification of her
members, and for the rule of their conduct. I say the Church
in Rome; for the Bible knows nothing of the Church of Rome,
but as the Antichrist, the grand apostacy that should arise in the
latter days. The Church in Rome was a company of believers
in the saving truths of the gospel, who made a public and ex-
plicit profession of their faith in Christ, and who remained stead-
fast in the faith, notwithstanding the opposition which they had to
encounter ; insomuch, that their faith was spoken of throughout
H h
242
the whole world. This Chmch claimed no authority over any
other church. It was content to bold communion with the
Church in Jerusalem, and with every other church of Christ,
upon a footing of perfect equality. It was favoured hy a letter
from the apostle Paul, and hy his personal ministry for a time ;
not hy the ministry of Peter, for it has not yet been proved that
the latter apostle was ever in Rome.
There is no reason to doubt that while the Church in Rome con-
tinued to hold the faith of the gospel, they would hold hy the Scrip-
tures of the Old Testament, and also of the New Testament, as
they were communicated to them ; and they would consider it the
duty of every member to read, and hear, and understand what God
said to him, in the holy writings. By reading and understanding
these, they would become wise unto salvation; and they would
endeavour to communicate the knowledge of them to all around.
But in process of time, a deplorable change took place. The
Church in Rome became the Church of Rome. The society 01
believers in that city was superseded by a motley group of per-
sons of the city, — of mere worldly men, — who soon began to
mould the Church according to the maxims of the world. By
the time of Constantine the Great, it had become a worldly
society: he took it into union with the state, became its
patron, and virtually its head and governor.
Christianity now became popular and fashionable. Multitudes
of heathens flocked into the Church and they were cordially re-
ceived, without any evidence of their having embraced the faith
of Christ, and thereby become new creatures. They were old
men under a new name, — still heathens, under the name of
Christians. Such persons could not submit to the simplicity of
the gospel. It was necessary to introduce into Christian worship
a number of heathen rites, to please the heathen converts ; and
thus, in a short time, what was called Christianity was little
better than the old Roman idolatry.
In this state of things, it became necessary to keep the Bible
out of the view of the common people. Christianity, as repre-
sented in that book, was quite a different thing from the system
maintained by the Romish priests. They gave themselves out
as the only channels through which the blessings of Heaven were
dispensed to men. The influences of the Holy Ghost, as they
taught, could he communicated only through them. Originally,
a church meant a society of believers: now the priests claimed
the title to themselves; and they gave out their decrees as having
infallihle authority. In such circumstances, they had no use
for the Bible. Infallible bodies, as general councils professed
to be, could not be subject to any authority but their own.
The original Scriptures were suffered to be neglected. Happily
there was a translation made into Latin, before the Church had
reached the summit of corruption ; and this Latin version, called
the Vulgate, was no doubt the means of preserving and com-
243
municating the knowledge of real Christianity to many indivi-
duals during the dark ages. But the Latin became a dead
language, and was not understood by the common people in
any country. It was the interest of the priests to keep the
sacred word thus locked up from the sight of vulgar eyes;
and, for several centuries, there was no attempt made by the
Church of Rome to give a version of it, in the vulgar tongue
of any nation. Thus, practically, the Church was guilty of
withholding the Bible from the people; and, therefore, guilty
of cruelty and injustice, according to the declaration of the
Rev. Andrew Scott, as quoted in my last Number.
There were, however, some individuals, whose names ought to
be held in everlasting remembrance, who having derived the
knowledge of salvation from the Latin Bible, desired to commu-
nicate the contents of the blessed book to their countrymen,
in their own language. Among these, John Wicklifl'e, of
England, holds a distinguished place. Wickliffe found in the
Bible a purer Christianity than that which he saw every where
professed ; and he could not rest till he had given his country-
men a version of the word of God, in their vulgar tongue.
Now, what was the consequence ? The Church of Rome took
the alarm. Of all the dreadful things in the world, the Bible
was most to be dreaded. When Wickliffe published his transla-
tion, Pope Gregory sent a bull to the university of Oxford, in
1378, in which the translator, who was a Professor of Divinity
in that university, was described as " run into a kind of detesta-
ble wickedness, not only for openly publishing, but also vomiting,
out of the filthy dungeon of his breast, diverse professions, false
and erroneous conclusions, and most wicked and damnable here-
sies." The object of this bull was to excite a persecution against
Wickliffe, for having translated the Scriptures ; and although he
was preserved from it, during his lifetime, yet the malice of his
persecutors continued, and they were not satisfied until they had
dug up his bones and burnt them, many years after his death.
" Afterwards, when a new translation wa9 made, and printed
by Tindal, a proclamation was set forth, in 1546, by the king
for the abolishing of English books, published under pretence of ex-
pounding and declaring the truth of God's Scripture ; and it was
directed, that, from henceforth, no man, woman, or person, of
what estate, condition, or degree soever he be, or they be, shall,
after the last day of August next ensuing, receive or have, take
or keep, in his possession, the text of the New Testament, of
Tindal or Coverdale's translation into English." See Mr.
Fox's Account of the Proceedings oj the Lancastrian School
Society in Glasgow, pp. 69, 70.
" When Luther had commenced the glorious work of reforma-
tion on the Continent, and printed the Scriptures in the German
language, Pope Leo X. issued a bull against him, couched in
the most violent nnd opprobrious terms* and, after flaring called
'244-
upon the Lord to rise up, and the apostles Peter and Paul t«
rise up, against the foxes which had risen up, seeking to destroy
the vineyard, lest these heresies should further increase, and these
foxes gather strength against us, he adds, ' Finally, let the whole
universal church of God's saints and doctors rise up, whose true
expounding of holy Scriptures being rejected, certain persons,
(whose hearts the father of lies hath blinded,) wise in their own
conceits, (as the manner of heretics is,) do expound the Scriptures
otherwise than the Holy Ghost doth require, following only their
own sense of ambition and vain-glory, yea, rather do wrest and
adulterate the Scriptures. So that, as Hierome saith, now they
make it not the gospel of Christ, but of man ; or, which is worse,
of the devil. Let all the holy church, I say, rise up, and, with
the blessed apostles together, make intercession to Almighty God,
that the errors of all schismatics being rooted and stocked up, his
holy church may be continued in peace and unity.'
" This bull farther condemned all persons who did not surrender
Luther's books, and it was the forerunner of one of the most
bloody persecutions which ever fell upon the earth. The time
would fail me to record the histories of those of whom the world
was not worthy, who were slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held ; but I wish to produce two examples: —
In 1514-, Richard Hunne, of London, who was murdered in his
prison, was charged with various religious offences, one of which
was, ' that he had, in his keeping, divers English books, prohibited
and damned by the law; as, the Apocalypse, in English, Epistles
and Gospels, in English,' &c. and he was further charged, that ' he
defendeth the translation of the Bible and holy Scriptures into
the English tongue, which is prohibited by the laws of our
holy mother church.' " See Mr. Fox's Pamphlet, as above.
From these facts it is perfectly evident, that it was understood
to be a law of the Church of Rome, that the Bible was, by all
means, to be withheld from the common people. The Scrip-
tures in English, and, of course, the Scriptures in the vulgar
tongue of any nation, were prohibited, in most cases, absolutely
prohibited, ' by the laws of our holy mother church.'
I grant, that, after the Reformation, the Church of Rome be-
gan to permit the translation of the Scriptures into modern
languages, by Popish translators; and generally with notes and1
annotations, to guard the faithful from the danger that might arise
from reading the simple unadulterated word of truth. Vet even
this was considered as a dangerous experiment ; and i'. w.ia
judged best not to give the people the Bible, in their own language,
except when there was danger of their receiving it from Protes-
tants. The Rhemish translators, as we shall see by and by, plainly
avow this as the motive of their undertaking.
It is worthy of remark, that, in one instance at least, the Pope
wis more forward in granting the Bible to the people, in their own
language, than most of his clergy were. It is recorded of Pone
24-5
Sixtus V. {See his Life, 8vo. p. 562.)—" He had caused
the Vulgate Latin edition of the Bible to be published, the last
year, which occasioned a good deal of clamour in the world ; but
nothing like what there was this year. (1589,) upon his printing
an Italian version of it. This set all the Roman Catholic part of
Christendom in an uproar. Count Olivarez, and some of the
Cardinals, ventured to expostulate with him pretty freely upon it,
and said, it was a scandalous, as well as a dangerous thing, and
bordered very nearly upon heresy. But he treated them with
contempt, and only said, we do it for the benefit of you that
doiit understand Latin. The most zealous of the Cardinals
wrote to the King of Spain, intreating him to interpose, and
think of some remedy for this evil, as he was more interested in
it than any one else, with regard to the kingdoms of Naples and
Sicily, and the Duchy of Milan; for, if the Bible should come
to be publicly read there, in the vulgar tongue, it might raise
scruples and uneasinesses in the consciences of those people: as
it was, besides, one of the first principles of heretics to read the
Scriptures in the common tongue.
" Philip, who was a furious bigot, ordered his ambassador to
use his utmost endeavours with the Pope to suppress this edition,
as it would give infinite offence; and said, if he did not, he
should be obliged to make use of such means to prevent its being
read, in his kingdoms, as his zeal for true religion suggested, and
the Almighty had put into his hands. Olivarez, having received
these orders, immediately demanded an audience of the Pope, and
represented to him, with much warmth, how disagreeable this new
version was to his master, and what scandal it gave to his whole
court. Sixtus suffered him to harangue, with great vehemence,
for above an hour, and when he was come to the end of his career,
made no answer. Upon which the Count said, * Won't your
Holiness be pleased to let me know your thoughts upon this
matter?' * I am thinking,' says Sixtus, 'to have you thrown
out of the window, to teach other people how to behave, when
they address themselves to the Pontiff;' and immediately made
haste out of the apartment. The poor ambassador, who was
sufficiently acquainted with the temper of Sixtus, made haste out
of the Vatican, expecting he would have been as good as his
word; and when he got home, and had recovered his spirits a
little, said, ' Thank God, I have had a great escape to day.'"
This shows the manner in which the Pope could speak to the
ambassador of the greatest monarchs in Europe. And it shows
clearly th?t the feeling of the Church, and of the Cardinals, and
the King of Spain, in particular, was so decidedly against giving
the Bible to the people, in their own language, that the very
Head of the Church incurred some danger, at least great opposi-
tion, when he was determined to publish an Italian version, fot
the use of his own countrymen. Sixtus was extremely arbi-
trary in his administration, and sometimes whimsical in his actions:
21G
Of the latter, I suppose, his Italian version of the Bible, will be
considered an evidence. It does not appear, from his history,
that he cared much for the doctrine of the Bible, or for any thing
else, human or divine, but as it might serve to promote the pur-
poses of his own vanity and ambition. I believe his version of
the Scriptures, in Italian, was not extensively circulated. It is
probable, his successors would take care to have it suppressed.
More lately, it was judged proper to give the Italians some-
thing that should pass for a Bible, in their own language. This
was done under the title of Storia del Vecchio e Nuovo
Testimento, SfC. This is a collection of stories taken from the
historical parts of Scripture, with what are called moral reflections;
and the book is that which is, at this day, presented to a stranger
in Italy, when he inquires for a Bible. The following translation
of a part of the preface will shew that, in the opinion of the
editor, who no doubt spoke what he understood to be the doc-
trine of the Church, the whole Bible was not to be given to the
people, in their own language. After complaining of the evil of
reading comedies, romances, &c. he says, " I believe that some
excuse so pernicious an abuse with the vain pretext of the necessity
of diverting themselves with the reading of delightful books, they
not being permitted to find this entertainment in the historical
books of the sacred Scriptures, because they do not understand
the Latin language; and for just reasons, the vulgar being
forbidden them by the Church, think themselves constrained to
have recourse to profane books.
" There is nothing more established by common consent of
all the holy fathers, than the respect that Christians are bound to
have for the word of God, and the care with which they ought to
seek the rule of good living for salvation. And as these saints
perfectly knew the profundity of the sacred Scripture, which is filled
with mysteries, veiled under various figures and parables, they have
made some distinction in this work, although divine, which although
it is all equally holy, is not therefore equally intelligible. Therefore,
they have thought that the historical books, which represent the lives
of the patriarchs, and of the admirable men who had an apostolical
charity, so many ages before the apostles, were more proper
than others to instruct with example, proportioned to the light
which the unlearned faithful usually have. St. Basilius, when
reflecting upon this, says, that the Scriptures, in describing the
lives of these early saints, place before us so many living and
animated pictures for our rule and regulation.
" You will find there admirable examples for kings, for
princes, for those who govern states, for ministers of the church,
lor virgins consecrated to God, and finally for all those who desire
to live Christianly in the world, and in the matrimonial state, with
which the lives of the saints of the Old Testament have greater
agreement ; because then, they knew almost no other chastity,
excepting the conjugal, and of widowhood ; the state of virginity
24-7
being reserved for the new law. Therefore, as Pope St. Gregor*
says, the ancient patriarchs were astonished at any other virtue,
Abel, says he, taught innocence; Enoch, purity of heart ; Noah,
perseverance in justice ; Abraham, perfection of obedience; Isaac,
chastity in marriage ; Jacob, constancy in labour ; Joseph, the
forgetting of injuries ; Moses, mildness towards persons the most
contumacious ; in fine, Job, invincible patience under a load of
iifflictioiis."
With such arguments, the compiler of stories from the Old
and New Testament endeavours to satisfy his Italian readers, that
such a compilation is much better for them than the real and entire
Bible, as it was given by God himself, by the ministry of pro-
phets and apostles. We are told that, for just reasons, the
Bible, in the vulgar tongue is forbidden by the Church. We
are told that the saints, who drew up such stories, " perfectly
knew the profundity of sacred Scripture ;" and, I suppose, they
knew also the capacity of every layman s understanding, and how
much he was able to receive of the truths contained in the Bible
As I mentioned in a former Number, thev took great care that
nothing should appear in these stories, or the moral reflections
upon them, that could injure the holy mother Church, or teach a
sinner the way of salvation by Christ alone, without the aid of a
priest. While the book continues to be circulated under the
authority of the Church, especially while it is sold as the Bible\
it will furnish the clearest evidence that the Church of Rome does
not generally permit the reading of the holy Scriptures: that, in
fact, she withholds the word of God from the people, and, there-
fore, is both cruel and unjust.
With regard to the translation of the Scriptures into English,
we have seen how violently the Pope was enraged against Wick-
liffe for his undertaking such a work. Had the Pope had his will,
the translator and his version of the Bible would have been
burnt in the same fire; and, indeed, it was no uncommon thing,
previous to Luther's Reformation, to burn heretics with the Bible
about their neck. The reading of the Bible was understood al-
most invariably to produce heresy ; and there were many who
suffered death for no other crime.
I was about to tjuote the doctrine of the Rhemish translators,
on the subject of giving and withholding the Bible from the com-
mon people ; but lest it should be thought disrespectful to these
doctors to bring them in at the end of a Number, I shall fill up
what remains of this sheet with something more modern, though
perhaps less venerable.
My great opponent, W. E. Andrews, has a correspondent
who writes four long letters, in derision of the Bible Society, and
against the plan of distributing Bibles, which he declares to be
absolutely useless, if not extremely pernicious. He winds up the
subject, in his fourth letter, in the following words : — " I would,
therefore, suggest to the Bible-men, in order to render their work
248
complete, to give the Book, when they distribute it, a new title,
viz. * Every man his own parson.* For, as the general distri-
bution of the Bible must infallibly expose that sacred volume to
contempt, abuse, and profanation, in meeting with its tattsred
contents on the public stall, or in the trunk, I would much rather
find it exhibiting the above title, than calling itself the word of
God. Our Catholic favourers of the Bible-scheme, I would ad-
vise to turn their donations to real charity; and one truly con-
sistent with the principles which they profess, the gratuitous
distribution among the poor of your excellent School Book, one
single reading of which will convey to the minds of the ignorant
a knowledge of religion, with which a whole life spent in the read-
ing of the Bible would never furnish them. I mean not to flatter
you, Mr. Editor, but I epeak from experience and conviction; and
I hesitate not to assert, that, if you had published nothing else
but your school book, you would be deserving of the praise and
encouragement of every member of the true Church of Christ."
O. J. Vol. ii. p. 142.
Thus Mr. Andrews is declared by one of his correspondents to have
composed a book much better than the Bible. It imparts, at a single
reading, more knowledge of religion than one will gather from the Bible
in a whole life. Anxious to see this wonderful book, I sent to London,
and procured a copy from the shop of Mr. Andrews himself, for the
small and easy charge of eighteen pence. On opening the book, the
following was among the first things that caught my eye : — " Chapter
XII. Of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. One of the last means which
1 assign, but also one of the most effectual, for acquiring virtue in youth,
is, devotion to the Blessed Virgin. It is infallible to such who assidu-
ously employ it ; because it affords, at the same time, the most powerful
intercession, in the sight of God, for obtaining his favour, and the most
perfect model for our imitation. Next to God, and the most adorable
humanity of his Son, Jesus Christ, is she whom we must chiefly honour
and love, by reason of that most sublime and excellent dignity of Mother
of God, which raises her above all creatures that God has ever created.
By her we may receive all the assistance which is necessary for us. She
is most powerful with God, to obtain from him all that she shall ask of
him." &c. &c. There are rive pages of such matter; pp. 151 — 155.
Such are the sentiments of the book composed by Mr. Andrews, which
is said to be so much more useful than the Bible. If religion consist- in
devotion to the Virgin Mary, no doubt, wc may seek in the Bible all our
lives, and not find it; but in this book composed by Mr. Andrews, (tuk
Catholic Vindicator,) wc shall find it in live minutes.
It is vain to expect that Mr. Andrews will argue upon Scriptural prin-
ciples, since, according to the testimony of one of his correspondents, which
lie prints with great satisfaction, no doubt, in his own Journal, he has com-
posed a book so much better than the Bible, as to render the use of it
quite unnecessary. To add weight to the testimony of the above corres-
pondent, tin. Rev. Dr. Milnkk, Vicar Apostolic, declares, in a letter of
recommendation prefixed to the work, that it is by far the most complete
and valuable work of iis kind in our language, and eminently entitled
to the patronage of the Catholic public.
THE
Protectant,
No. XXXII.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20th, 1819.
At the conclusion of my last number, I quoted the words of a
modern Papist, who declares that Mr. Andrews, the Catholic
Vindicator, and Editor of the Orthodox Journal, had written a
book much better than the Bible; a book, one reading of which,
he says, will impart more knowledge of religion than could be
gathered from the Bible in a whole life : and the author himself
seems to acquiesce in the opinion of his correspondent, as he
prints the panegyric in his Journal, without so much as a modest
hii.t, that his friend had praised his work too highly.
In the opinion of modern Papists, the Bible is a very useless,
and a very dangerous book. Some of them endeavoured to con-
ceal, but others very plainly avow this opinion. Of the latter, is
the correspondent of the Orthodox Journal, above referred to,
and so far as appears, of the Journalist himself. On this sub-
ject, it must be allowed, they have deviated less from the doctrine
of their fathers than on some other points. I must not be un-
derstood to mean that they have in any respect, deviated from the
ancient doctrine of their church ; but merely that their language
with regard to the Bible, and the danger of reading it, is more
like the language of their fathers, than their modern professions
are with regard to other doctrines, such as the lawfulness of break-
ing faith with heretics, which, though generally held at one time,
is now generally disavowed. In short, n seems to have been a
doctrine universally maintained in the church for ages, and it is
still publicly maintained by Papists, that the reading of the Bible,
by the people indiscriminately, is to be deprecated as a most dan-
gerous thing.
Under this impression the Rhemish translators went to work.
They were grieved to see that Protestant translators were giving
the people in England the Bible in their own language, some of
thein without note or comment. They, being mostly English
Papists, who were obliged to leave the country in the reign of
Elizabeth, settled at Rheims: and there they undertook to give
an English version of the Scriptures for the use of their
2 i
250
countrymen, with such a load of notes and annotations, as would
both make it a costly book, and prevent as much as possible the
people from gathering any thing like heresy out of it. They
begin their preface in the following manner. Let it be observed,
it is only of the New Testament they are speaking, for they say
they had not the means of printing the whole Bible, though the
whole would have been published at less expense by itself alone,
than their New Testament with its cumberous notes.
" The Holy Bible, long since translated by us into English,
and the Old Testament lying by us for lack of good means to
publish the whole, in such sort as a work of so great charge and
importance requireth : we have yet, through God's goodness, at
length fully finished for thee (most Christian reader,) all the
NEW testament, which is the principal, most profitable, and
comfortable piece of holy writ: and as well for all other in-
stitutions of life and doctrine, as especially for deciding the doubts
of the^e days, more proper and pregnant, than the other part not
yet printed.
" Which translation we do not, for all that, publish upon erro-
neous opinion of necessity, that the holy Scriptures should always
be in our mother tongue, or that they ought, or were ordained of
God, to be read indifferently of all, or could be easily understood
of every one that readeth or heareth them in a known language :
pernicious and much hurtful to many: or that we generally and
absolutely deemed it more convenient in itself, and more agree-
able to God's word and honour, or edification of the faithful, to
have them turned into vulgar tongues, than to be kept and studied
only in the ecclesiastical learned languages: not for these, nor
any such like causes, do we translate this sacred book, but upon
special consideration of the present time, state, and condition of
our country, unto which divers things are either necessary, or
profitable and medicinable now, that, otherwise, in the peace of
the church, were neither much requisite, nor perchance wholly
tolerable."
If we translate this into plain modern English, the meaning
will be found to be, that it is not necessary to have the Bible in
the mother tongue of any country; that it was not ordained by
God to be read by the vulgar; that the reading of it is often very
hurtful; that it was not requisite, or even tolerable to have the
Bible in the vulgar tongue during the time of the church's peace,
that is, before the Retormation; and the grave doctors consent
to give a version in English now, merely because, if they will
not, some other will; and if they do not give a version well
fenced with notes and annotations, the people will be in danger
of getting it without any such safeguard. The doctors proceed : —
" In this matter, to mark only the wisdom and moderation of
hnly church and the governors thereof on the one side, ami the
251
indiscreet zeal of the popular and their factious leaders, on the
other, is a high point of prudence. These latter, partly of sim-
plicity, partly of curiosity, and specially of pride and disobe-
dience, have made claim in this case for the common people,
with plausible pretences many, but good reasons none at all. The
other, to whom Christ hath given charge of our souls, the dis-
pensing of God's mysteries and treasures, (among which holy
Scripture is no small store) and the feeding his family in season
with food fit for every sort, have neither of old, nor of late, ever
wholly condemned all vulgar versions of Scripture, nor have at
any time generally forbidden the faithful to read the same ; yet
they have not by public authority prescribed, commanded, or
authentically ever recommended, any such interpretation to be in-
differently used of all men."
Here we learn that those who plead on behalf of the people,
that they may have the word of God in their own language, do
it of simplicity, curiosity, and specially of pride and disobedience;
and though they make many plausible pretences, can give no
good reasons at all why the people should be allowed to read the
word of God. We learn farther, that the church did not con-
demn all vulgar versions, or forbid the faithful to read the same ;
that is, she did not condemn, or forbid the people to read what
did not exist: and it is admitted, that the church never so much
as recommended the Scriptures to be read generally by the people.
It would be more like the truth to say, that she did not think it
proper, or consistent with her own safety, to give the people a
translation of the Scriptures. In the following paragraph the
learned doctors speak more plainly: —
" Now since Luther's revolt also, divers learned Catholics, for
the more speedy abolishing a number of false and impious trans-
lations put forth by sundry sects, and for the better preservation
or reclaim of many good sou's endangered thereby, have pub-
lished the Bible in the several languages of almost all the princi-
pal provinces of the Latin church : no other books in the world
being so pernicious as heretical translations of the Scriptures,
poisoning the people under colour of divine authority, and not
many other remedies being more sovereign against the same (if it
be used in order, discretion, and humility) than the true, faithful,
and sincere interpretation opposed thereunto."
The translators cite the authority of the Council of Trent, and
regret that in their days the law, as ordained by that council, could
not in all cases be observed ; that is, they found it impossible to
enforce the law against perverse and presumptuous readers of the
Bible. They speak with exultation of those happy times when
" the scholar taught not his master the sheep controuled not the
252
husbandman, artificer, prentice, boys, girls, mystress, maid, man :"
— Then the holy Scriptures were not " sung, played, alledged,
of every tinker, taverner, rhymer, minstrel;" " they were not for
table talk, for ale-benches, for boats and barges, and for every
profane person and company. No ; in those better times men
were neither so ill, nor so curious of themselves, so to abuse the
blessed book of Christ : neither was there such easy means, be-
fore printing was invented, to disperse the copies into the hand
of every man, as there is now." See the Pre/ace to the lllie-
miih Translation of the New Testament.
Certainly, in Popish estimation, these must have been happy
limes, when the priests held the key of knowledge in their own
hands; and when nobody, without their permission, durst look
into the word of God. When there was little danger of the
people falling iivto heresy, the priests taught and did what they
pleased ; and this would probablv have been the case to this
day, had not such men as Wickliffe and Luther, by trans-
lating the Bible into the language of the common people, gener-
ously put the key into their hands, that they might search the
Scriptures and judge for themselves.
When the Rhemish doctors were giving a translation of the
Bible into English, and speaking so strongly of the great evil and
danger of its being universally read, one is apt to wonder what
comment ihey would give on such passages as these: " Search the
Scriptures," (John v. 39.) and " these were more noble than
those of Thessalonica, for they searched the Scriptures daily," &c.
(Acts xvii. 11.) On John v. 39. they have the following mar-
ginal note : — " Catholics search the Scriptures, and find there
Peter's and his successors' primacy, the real presence, priests
power to forgive sins, justification by faith and good works, vir-
ginity preferred before matrimony, breach of the vow of conti-
nency damnable, voluntary poverty, penance, alms, and good
deeds meritorious, divers rewards in heaven according to divers
merits, and such like." And upon the same verse they have the
following annotation: — " He reprehendeth the Jews, that reading
daily the Scriptures, and acknowledging that in them they should
find life and salvation, they yet looked over them so superficially
that they could not find therein him to be Christ, their King,
Lord, Life, and Saviour. For the special masters and scribes of
the Jews then, were like unto our heretics now, who be ever talk-
ing, and turning, and shuffling the Scriptures, but are of all men
most ignorant of the deep knowledge thereof. And, therefore,
our Master referreth them not to the reading only, or learning
them without book, or having the sentences thereof gloriously
painted or written in their temple, houses, or cotes; but to the
deep search of the meaning and mysteries of the Scriptures,
which are not so easily to be seen in the letter." By such unin-
253
telligible jargon the grave doctors attempt to set aside the divine
command to search the Scriptures.
They are not more successful in their annotation on Acts xvii.
11. They say, " The heretics use this place to prove that the
hearers must try and judge by the Scriptures, whether their teach-
ers and preachers' doctrine be true, and so reject what they find
not in the Scriptures, as though here the sheep were made judges
of their pastors, the people of their priests, and men and women
of all sorts, even of St. Paul's doctrine itself; which were the
most foolish doctrine in the world." It may appear to Popish
priests a very foolish thing, that the people should judge of their
doctrine, and try it by the standard of Scripture; but the inspired
writer of the Acts of the Apostles has left on record an honour-
able testimony on behalf of the Bereans, that they did the very
thing which the priests would reckon so foolish and disorderly;
and however much the teachers of error may dread the practice
of trying their doctrine by the Bible, I can imagine nothing more
delightful to a teacher of the truth, than to know that his hearers
can, and that they do make it their business to examine and prove
all that he inculcates, by that unerring standard. Faithful mi-
nisters have nothing of their own to inculcate. Their business
is to publish the very truth which they find in the Bible, and no-
thing else ; and should they, at any time, mistake the meaning of
a passage, a circumstance which may happen with persons who
lay no claim to infallibility, instead of being offended, they
would be much indebted to any one of their flock who might set
them right. Popish priests look upon the common people as
the dust beneath their feet, to whom no degree of respect or con-
sideration is due, but the evangelical pastor of a Christian con-
gregation looks upon his people as his brethren and his equals,
who, though they have not the official oversight of the flock with
which he is honoured, and may not have had the same advantages
of education, yet, having the word of God in their hands, and
daily access to the throne of grace, by prayer, for the understand-
ing of it, may, by the divine blessing, come to such a knowledge
of its contents, as to be able, in some cases, to instruct their teach-
ers, especially such of them as are young, and have but recently
entered upon the work of the ministry. In point of fact, I
know that this has been the case; and what minister of Christ
would not glory in having such persons among his flock, instead
of complaining of them as an insufferable nuisance? This is
however, incomprehensible by a Papist. With him the priest is
every thing, and the people are nothing. The priest mav utter
from the pulpit the grossest nonsense ; and the people dare not
judge of it, or call in question the truth of what they hear.
This would involve the absurdity of the sheep judging their
pastor: and the use of this similitude, which is brought forward
oftener than once by the Rhemish translators, seems intended
25+
to impress upon the people the idea that they are as much infe-
rior to their priests as sheep are to their shepherds.
In short, it seems to have heen the design of these translators,
even when they were presenting to their countrymen the New
Testament in English, to impress them with an idea that they
would have been much safer without it: and that they would act
the part of wise men by meddling as little with it as possible.
The translators cannot conceal their apprehension that the word
of God in English will do mischief; but they have done every
thing in their power to prevent this, by mixing up with it a co-
pious quantity of their own stuff, in the form of notes and an-
notations, which are calculated, as much as the traditions of the
elders were, to make the word of God of none effect. Indeed,
these Rhemish doctors have proved themselves genuine descend-
ants of the Jewish priests, of whom the Lord by his prophet
complained, that instead of dispensing his word as living water,
pure from the source, they had rendered it muddy by their cor-
rupt mixtures. " Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have
eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your
feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep
waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet ? And as
for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet;
and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet." Ezek.
xxxiv. 18, 19.
Now, as I said at the beginning of this Number, there is less
difference between the language of ancient and modern Papists
on this subject than on some others. Whatever Mr. Scott, who
resides in Glasgow, where it would be very unpopular to speak
against the circulation of the Bible, may please to say or write
upon the subject, his brethren in other places, at this very day,
write amu'nst the circulation of the Scriptures as plainly as any
Papist could have done four hundred years ago ; and the Pope lately
issued a bull against Bible Societies, of which I may give a copy
in my next Number. The following is the doctrine of the Or-
thodox Journal, as declared by a correspondent, and not objected
to by the Editor, or any other correspondent; from which 1 infer
it is the doctrine of English Papists in general, especially as the
Editor tells me, that in his church, the faith of one is the faith of
all. (See Catholic Vindicator,^. 1.)
The writer says, I shall " conclude my present (letter) with
lamenting that the characteristic spirit of my country, a spirit of
charity and benevolence, should evaporate in such airy schemes,
as the attempt to propagate Christianity by the mere distributing
of the Bible among people, of whom not one half can read at
all, and of those who can read, each is to be allowed to twist the
sacred letter to whatever sense or nonsense he pleases. Time was,
Mr. Editor, but it was when the genuine form of Christianity, as
introduced by its first Apostles, flourished in the land, when the
255
charity of our truly pious ancestors, receiving its proper direction
from religion, excited the admiration of surrounding nations by the
magnificent and heaven-inspiring edifices which it erected for the
celebration of the worship of the Most High, by the countless
foundations which it instituted for the promotion of piety, and by
its innumerable receptacles for the distressed of all conditions,
which, while- they afforded relief to the body, provided much more
effectually for the soul the kind aids and comforts of religion, to
prepare her for future bliss. May heaven grant those days may
yet return ?" 0. J. Vol. II. p. 98.
I invite this writer to come to Glasgow, and he will witness the
accomplishment of his prayer. Such days have actually returned
in our city. Papists have expended, it is said, fifteen thousand
pounds in erecting a " heaven-inspiring" edifice ; and I question
if ever they expended fifteen hundred pence in distributing the
Bible. Their charity has not evaporated in such " airy schemes,'
as giving the people the word of God. In the New Testament,
we read nothing of " heaven-inspiring edifices," nor of any sort of
material buildings, as at all connected with the glory of the gos-
pel church; but in the opinion of Papists, whose religion is not
derived from the New Testament, but from ancient Heathenism, the
building of splendid edifices is looked upon as a much more
pious work than the distribution of the holy Scriptures. Let it
be observed, this is not merely the opinion of ancient doctors of
the church ; it is publicly avowed in the Orthodox Journal as
lately as 181 4.
The writer ought to have known, that it is no part of the Bible
Society's plan to give the holy Scriptures to those who cannot
read; but only to those who can ; and though it is no part of its
plan, as a society, to promote the education of the poor in the art
of reading, yet, in point of fact, most of its members have become
in one way or other extremely active in the work of education.
The necessity of distributing the Bible for the salvation of sin-
ners, suggested the necessity of teaching the poor to read ; and
societies upon an extensive scale have been formed for the pur-
pose. These, so far as they relate to the teaching of poor Papists
are as great an eye-sore to Popish writers as the Bible Society it-
self, of which I have abundant evidence before me, in some viru-
lent letters in the Orthodox Journal, against the Hibernian
Society, whose object it is to teach the art of reading to all the
poor in Ireland.
To the insinuation of the correspondent of the Orthodox
Journal, that each of those who read the Bible is " allowed to
twist the sacred letter to what ever sense or nonsense he pleases,"
I have only to reply that I know no power on earth that has a
right to hinder him, if he be so wickedly inclined. The word of
God is addressed to sinners with sufficient evidence, and sufficient
plainness; and if, through prejudice, or any corrupt bias of the
258
heart, men choose to pervert it, and twist it to a meaning which it
does not convey, they must answer for their wickedness, not to man,
but to God. He reserves the judgment in this case to himself;
and though he authorizes all his churches to put away from them
those who so pervert his word, if any such should arise amoncr
them, yet he has given no man, or body of men on earth, the
power either to allow or prevent the free exercise of pi ivate judg-
ment. If persons would bring to the perusal of the Bible an un-
biassed mind, they would find it the plainest book in the world.
Every thing that relates to the way of salvation, that is, every thincr
of primary importance, is perfectly level to the capacity of a child ;
and if persons will pervert, and twist to a false meaning, what is
so plain and simple, they must answer to God for their folly.
Fellow creatures have no right to hinder them. Christians pity
them, and pray for them, and would gladly reclaim them, even at
the expense of suffering the scorn and contempt of the objects of
their pity ; but they have no right to use coercion.
If it were not so that all men, in this free country, were allowed
the exerci-e of private judgment ; if they were not even allowed
to twist the sacred letter to whatever sense or nonsense they pleased,
Papists would not be allowed to hold, much less to publish their
nonsense ; for of all the sects in existence, none exhibit such a
monstrous mass of nonsense as the Church of Rome does ; and it
is nonsense founded partly upon the twisting and perversion of
many plain texts of Scripture, of which numerous examples could
be given from the Rhemish notes and annotations.
From this writer, however, I learn that if his party had the
upper hand in this country, they would not allow persons to twist
and turn the letter of Scripture to any sense or nonsense they
pleased : that is, in plain English, they would not allow the right
of private judgment. They would withhold the Bible altogether,
as their fathers did, if they could, and if they could not, they would
give it with an authoritative interpretation, with a command, under
severe penalties, not to derive any other meaning from the sacred
word than what they chose to impose upon it. This is not the doc-
trine of any one writer ; it pervades the writings of all Papists an-
cient and modern. Even Amicus Veritatis (see Part I. p. 44.)
speaks of " private judgment in the interpretation of the Scrip-
tures, and in all matters of religion," as if it were the fruitful
source of anarchy, rebellion, and every evil ; from which it is plain,
that it he had the power in his hands, he would allow none to
believe but as the church believed.
THE
^rotegtant,
No. XXXIII.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 1819.
Xhe circulation of the holy Scriptures has, of late years, en-
gaged a great deal of puhlic attention. Since the formation of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, the subject has become popu-
lar. Christians of all denominations have been aroused from their
lethargy ; and they have begun to wonder at the supineness of
their fathers, and of themselves, with regard to an object to which
the heart of every Christian ought to be feelingly alive. If the
Bible be the word of God, addressed to sinners, for the purpose
of showing sinners the way of salvation, every Christian who re-
flected on the subject, must have felt ashamed that he had made
no effort, at least that he had done so little, in order to promote
the circulation of the divine word throughout the world. When
the subject was brought distinctly before the eyes of our Christian
population, all seemed to be impressed by a sense of its importance ;
and the voluntary contributions of thousands showed that the im-
pression had not been made in vain.
But how did the Popish part of our population feel on this
occasion ? It has been proved that, according to the ancient doc-
trine of their church, it was not proper or safe to allow the uni-
versal circulation, and indiscriminate reading, of the word of God :
it has been shewn, that the holy council of Trent solemnly de-
clared that it was manifest by experience, that this did more harm
than good. How then could those priests of the Romish church,
who had sworn to adhere to all the canons of that council, fall in
with the current of public opinion, and consent to the free circula-
tion of the Scriptures among their people ? Indeed this was a
difficult and a delicate matter. Mr. Scott, however, attempted to
get over the difficulty, by publicly declaring, that it never was a
doctrine or principle of the Church of Rome, to withhold the Bible
from the laity ; and I must do him the justice to say, that he ap-
plied for, and received from the Society, a number of English
Bibles, to be distributed among the poor of his communion.
Several Protestant gentlemen in London had formed a plan
for printing and dispersing the holy Scriptures in those
Kk
25a
English versions which are approved by the Church of Rome ;
and they were encouraged by the Rev. Peter Gandolphy, a
Romish priest in that city, who declared, on behalf of himself and
brethren, that they would be ready to circulate the Bible in Eng-
lish among their people, if any society would give them their own
version. Papists make many unreasonable objections to our
authorized version of the Scriptures ; and they accuse our transla-
tors of wilful perversion of the meaning of many passages, while,
in point of fact, there is no great difference between their transla-
tion and ours, of those passages which relate most immediately to
the way of salvation. Their own Douay Bible, and Rhemish
Testament, both of which I have been consulting, declare very
explicitly the way of salvation by Jesus Christ ; and I think they
would not lead to any fatal error *, were they disencumbered of the
absurd notes and annotation?, which are hung as a dead weight
upon them.
The following are the words of the priest above referred to, in a
letter to the Rev. Dr. Marsh : « If any of the Bible Societies
feel disposed to try our esteem for the Bible, by presenting us
some copies of a Catholic version, with or without notes, we will
gratefully accept, and faithfully distribute them."
A sum of money was subscribed, and plans were taken into
consideration, for printing and circulating gratuitously, or at a small
price, those Bibles in English which the priests professed to ap-
prove ; and the gentlemen associated for the purpose were so
simple as to expect that the priests would concur with them, see-
ing it had been publicly declared, that they would gratefully ac-
cept, and faithfully distribute copies of their own version, if any of
the Bible Societies would put it in their power. The event, how-
ever, showed that they would do no such thing. When the pro-
posal was made by a body of Protestants, to supply the poor of
the Romish Church with their own version of the Bible, "without
notes, the very priest who had publicly declared his readiness to
further the plan, resisted the execution of it.
This led to a long correspondence, which has been printed, and
very extensively circulated, under the title of " Correspondence
on the formation, objects, and plan, of the Roman Catholic Bible
Society," &c. 1813. I need not give large extracts from this
work, as it is pretty generally known. It shows clearly, that the
Reverend Gentleman, though he wished to make a parade of his
regard for the Bible, and his willingness to assist in dispersing it,
while the subject was popular, had yet no real intention of doing
so. When his offer was embraced, and Protestants were about to
• I must be understood to except their translation of Heb. xi. 21. which
represents Jacob as an idolater at the hour of his death. lie "adored the
top of his rod," say the Uhemists ; — lie "worshipped the top of his rod,"
say the Douay doctors ; meaning, as they say in a note, the top of Joseph's
sceptre, as to a figure of Christ's sceptre and" kingdom,
259
give him copies of the New Testament, in his own approved ver-
sion, he found out, or " he feared it would oppose a principle of
his church, if Catholics were to print the Scriptures in the vulgar
tongue without notes ; and that they could not allow the English
Bible without them, because ignorant persons would misinterpret
certain important texts, unaccompanied by explanations."
Mr. Gandolphy was asked, " whether the New Testament,
which Protestants meant to reprint without notes, provided it were
done faithfully from the Rhemish version, would be generally ac-
ceptable to the Catholic people ? He answered, that himself and
several other clergymen would put some copies in circulation ;
though he could not say they would be universally acceptable, as
it was not a Catholic principle to recommend the Scriptures with-
out such explanations. Moreover, the English Catholic Board
did not now intend to disperse gratuitously, even their own
stereotype edition, with notes ; for they could not go about to de-
sire people to receive Testaments, ' because the Catholics did
not in any wise consider the Scriptures necessary.'' He said,
they learnt and taught their religion by means of catechisms and
elementary tracts."/;/). 12, 13.
" Mr. Gandolphy was positive that the Catholic clergy would not
relax a single principle which had always been in exercise to
this time ; that they would never put the English Scriptures into
the hands of the poor and ignorant ; nor yet give the Bible gra-
tuitously, even with notes, to every body who applied for it, but
only under the direction and at the will of their superiors." p. 14-.
Thus it appears very plainly, that Popish priests in England, at
this very day, dare not trust their common people with the word
of God, even as translated into English by themselves, without
safeguards of their own creation, to prevent the people from find-
ing in it a meaning unfavourable to their fundamental principles.
It would be a libel upon the work of any human author, to say
that he had written so equivocally, and expressed himself so un-
happily, upon subjects interesting in the highest degree to every
man and woman, that no one could read his work without great
danger, and almost a certainty of imbibing fatal errors. Yet, in
this manner do Papists every day libel the book of God. In short,
they cannot trust the Almighty with direct communication with
his own creatures. While He speaks in his word, they stand by,
and claim to have at least word about with him, lest, without their
interference, his word would do mischief. Nay, such is the awful
presumption and impiety of these priests, that when the Almighty
is about to speak to sinners by the Bible, they step forward and
say, " Hear us first." Nothing less than this is implied in their
guarding and fencing the Bible, by their pernicious prefaces, notes,
and annotations, especially as they will not suffer it to speak with-
out these safeguards.
This, of itself, ought to convince the reader that there is, with
:he Romish priests, a consciousness that the Bible is against these-
260
The Bible is an impartial witness for the truth. The priests
will not allow it to speak but through them; the inference is un-
avoidable,— they arc afraid it would speak against them.
Popish writers speak with great reverence of the Bible, as it is
locked up in the learned languages, but when it appears in the vul-
gar language of any country, and when it becomes the study of
the common people, then they speak of it as the most pernicious
book in the world. Their affected respect for the word of God,
and their real abhorrence of it, are more offensive than the sneers
of the grossest infidels, just as the "Hail Master!" of Judas
was more disgusting than the " Away with him — crucify him!"
of the Pharisees and the profane rabble.
The following are the sentiments of another modern Papist on
this subject: — " If the promiscuous reading of the Scriptures be
calculated to produce any effect, it is to scatter the seeds of reli-
gious discord and frenzy, to give birth to new species of
Methodists, and to fill the world with scriptural maniacs. Were
the sacred volumes clear and intelligible to every one ; were it im-
possible to mistake their meaning, the Rev. and Right Rev.
Patrons of Bible Societies would merit well of Christianity. But
as long as they are difficult to be understood ; as long as they
treat of subjects which do not lie within the sphere of limited
capacities, the sacred text will be wrested by the vulvar
to their own perdition, unless a pillar of light go before
them to direct their steps through the dark mazes of Biblical
erudition. Ignorance is generally self-sufficient ; and we cannot
be surprized, that the most illiterate plebeian should imagine
himself capable of understanding the sacred writings. Let him
but once form this notion (and what Dissenter has not already
formed it ?) and then farewell to the tenets of the Established
Church. I have somewhere read a story of a Dutch Calvinist,
who, like an English Protestant, thought herself capable of un-
derstanding the word of God contained in her Bible. It happened
that this Biblical Lady was in company with an English priest,
and the conversation turning on religion, she grew warm. During
the course of their polemical disquisitions, the priest asserted
the insufficiency of Scripture, as a rule of faith : his female
antagonist, anxious for the integrity of her fundamental prin-
ciple, boldly asserted the contrary; and, with more zeal perhaps than
prudence, defied her sacerdotal adversary to point out a passage
which she could not expound. To try her scriptural abilities, he
fixed on the 11th verse of the xlii. chapter of Ecclesiasticus, "Better
is the iniquity of a man, than the good ivorks of a ivoman," and
desired her to explain it. After waiting sometime, in hopes of beino
visited by the Holy Spirit, she found it impossible to solve the
difficulty. At length growing impatient of defeat, and ashamed
of being unable to defend herself and her sex, from the apparently
harsh and ungenteel reflection of the sacred penman, she threw
herself headlong into the canal, and it was with considerable
261
difficulty that the watermen rescued her ladyship from an untimely
grave." Orthodox Journal, Vol. III. p. 355.
The above, I suppose, is intended to exhibit a specimen of
Popish wit, at the expense of the Bible, which is said to treat of
" subjects which do not lie within the sphere of limited capaci-
ties," and which, it is taken for granted, are not clear and in-
telligible to every one. But if the Bible contains only matter
which does not lie within the sphere of limited capacities, it must
be as much beyond the capacity of the priest as of the plebeian,
for the priests have not yet proved that their capacities are un-
limited ; and if the Bible be not clear and intelligible to every
one, it is not so to any one ; and therefore the Popish argument
goes to set aside the authority of the Bible altogether. Papists
would act more like honest men, by avowing this to be their ob-
ject, than by affecting great respect for the Bible, while they are
labouring to undermine its authority.
As for the story of the Dutch lady, I shall not call it a for-
gery, though many things, a thousand times better authenticated,
are called forgeries by my Popish opponents. Supposing it to
be a true story, I am far from praising her boldness, and confi-
dence in her own theological knowledge ; for while I maintain
that such parts of the Bible as relate directly to the salvation of
sinners are level to the capacity of a child, I must allow that
there are some things not easily understood, particularly prophe-
cies not yet accomplished, and of which the priests are as igno-
rant as the meanest of their people. But it is unfortunate for the
argument of the writer on whose letter I am animadverting, that
the passage of which he made choice to try the lady's knowledge
of the Bible, is not in the Bible ; and it is also a little unfavour-
able to the credit of his story, that the lady should not have
known this. There is certainly no such assertion in the Bible,
and there is nothing in sentiment that borders upon it, that the
" iniquity of a man is better than the good works of a woman ;"
and I cannot imagine any object which the writer could have in
view, but to bring the Bible into contempt, by palming such a sen-
timent upon it. The Apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, in a
religious point of view, has no more authority than the Orthodox
Journal ; and therefore I have nothing to do with the sentiments
contained in it ; yet, if the reader will look into the passage as in
our English version, he will see that it does not express the mean-
ing above ascribed to it.
In short, it is now, as it has always been, that Papists hate the
Bible ; they look upon it as their enemy, and they cannot con-
ceal their hostility against it. That this is the case, not merelv
with a few obscure individuals, but with the very Head of the
church himself, will appear by the following Bull issued by the
present Pope against Bible Societies, in which, it will be seen, he
refers to the authority of the council of Trent, and pleads this as
a reason for refusing the people in general the Bible in their own
262
language, except cinder such limitations as would effectually de-
prive the people of the free use of the sacred volume.
Translation of the Bull against Bible Societies. Issued June
29th, 1816, by Pope Pius VII. to the Archbishop of Gnesn,
Primate of Poland. Pius P. P. VII.
" Venerable Brother, — Health and apostolic benediction.
" In our last letter to you we promised, very soon, to return an
answer to yours ; in which you have appealed to this Holy See,
in the name of the other Bishops of Poland, respecting what are
called Bible Societies, and have earnestly inquired of us what
you ought to do in this affair. We long since, indeed, wished to
comply with your request ; but an incredible variety of weighty
concerns have so pressed upon us, on every side, that, till this
day, we could not yield to your solicitation.
" We have been truly shocked at this most crafty device, by
which the very foundations of religion are undermined ; and hav-
ing, because of the great importance of the subject, conferred in
Council with our venerable Brethren, the Cardinals of the Holy
Boman Church, we have, with the utmost care and attention, de-
liberated upon the measures proper to be adopted by our Ponti-
fical authority, in order to remedy and abolish this pestilence, as
far as possible. In the meantime, we heartily congratulate you,
venerable Brother, and we commend you again and again in the
Lord, as it is fit we should, upon the singular zeal you have dis-
played under circumstances so dangerous to Christianity, in hav-
ing denounced to the Apostolic See, this defilement of the faith,
so imminently dangerous to souls. And although we perceive
that it is not at all necessary to excite him to activity who is
making haste, since of your own accord you have already shown
an ardent desire to detect and overthrow the impious machina-
tions of these innovators ; yet, in conformity with our office, we
again and again exhort you, that whatever you can achieve by
power, provide for by counsel, or effect by authority, you will
daily execute with the utmost earnestness, placing yourself as a
wall for the house of Israel.
" With this view, we issue the present Brief, viz. that we ma\
convey to you a signal testimony of our approbation of your ex-
cellent conduct, and also may endeavour therein still more and
more to excite your pastoral solicitude and diligence. For the
general good imperiously requires you to combine all your means
and energies to frustrate the plans, which are prepared by its
enemies for the destruction of our most holy religion ; whence
it becomes an Episcopal duty, that you first of all expose the
wickedness of this nefarious scheme, as you have already done
so admirably, to the view ol the faithful, and openly publish tha
same, according to the rules prescribed by the Church, with all
the erudition and wisdom which you possess; namely, " that the
Bible printed by heretics is to be numbered among olher pro-
2G3
liibited books, conformably to the Rules of the Index (§. Nos,
2 and 3.) ; for it is evident, from experience, that the holy Scrip-
tures, when circulated in the vulgar tongue, have, through the
temerity of men, produced more harm than benefit," (Rule IV.)
And this is the more to be dreaded in times so depraved, when
our holy religion is assailed from every quarter with great cun-
ning and effort, and the most grievous wounds are inflicted on the
Church. It is, therefore, necessary to adhere to the salutary
Decree of the Congregation of the Index (June 13th, 1757,)
that no versions of the Bible in the vulgar tongue be permitted,
except such as are approved by the Apostolic See, or published
with Annotations extracted from the Writings of holy fathers of
the Church.
" We confidently hope that, in these turbulent circumstances,
the Poles will give the clearest proofs of their attachment to the
religion of their ancestors ; and, by your care, as well as that of
the other Prelates of this kingdom, whom, on account of the
stand they have wonderfully made for the depository of the Faith,
we congratulate in the Lord, trusting that they all may very abun-
dantly justify the opinion we have entertained of them.
" It is moreover necessary that you should transmit to us, as
soon as possible, the Bible which Jacob Wulek published in the
Polish language with a commentary, as well as a copy of the
edition of it lately put forth without those annotations, taken from
the writings of the holy fathers of our Church, or other learned
Catholics, with your opinion upon it ; that thus, from collating
them together, it may be ascertained, after mature investigation,
that certain errors lie insidiously concealed therein, and that we
may pronounce our judgment on this affair, for the preservation
of the true faith.
" Continue, therefore, venerable Brother, to pursue this truly
pious course upon which you have entered ; viz. diligently to
fight the battles of the Lord for the sound doctrine, and warn
the people intrusted to your care, that they fall not into the
snares which are prepared for their everlasting ruin. The Church
demands this from you, as well as from the other Bishops, whom
our rescript equally concerns ; and we most anxiously expect it,
that the deep sorrow we feel on account of this new species of
tares, which an adversary has so abundantly sown, may, by this
cheering hope, be somewhat alleviated : and, we always very
heartily invoke the choicest blessings upon yourself and your fel-
low Bishops, for the good of the Lord's flock, which we impart
to you and them by our Apostolic benediction.
Given at Rome, at St. Mary the Greater, June 29, 1816, the
17th year of our Pontificate. PIUS P. P. VII."
It will be observed that this Bull relates to Poland, a country
still enveloped by the grossest darkness of Popery. Attempts
had been made to introduce the word of God into that benighted
region, by means of a Bible Society ; and I believe the attempt
261-
has partly succeeded, under the auspices of the Emperor of
Russia ; but the above shows how much the supreme authority
of the Church of Rome was opposed to the measure. As a late
writer has observed, a council of bats and owls will naturally vote
against the light, so it seems the supreme head of the Romish
church, with his cardinals and clergy, are decidedly against the
people in Poland receiving the holy Scriptures, which are a h'trlit
to the feet, and a lamp to the path of all that read and believe
what they contain, unless this light shall be allowed to shine only
through the dense atmosphere which they would throw around it.
" No versions of the Bible in the vulgar tongue," says his
Holiness, " must be permitted, except such as are approved by
the Apostolic See, or published with Annotations extracted from
the writings of holy fathers of the church."
Now, the Bible stands by divine appointment as a witness for
God, between the people and those who profess to teach them.
" To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isa. viii. 20.
This was a rule which God gave to his people, by which they
might try those who professed to have even the gift of prophecv :
by this rule the people of Berea tried the preachincr of the
Apostles, and they are praised by the inspired penman for what
they did. By this rule, therefore, every man is authorised, nay,
he is commanded to try the doctrine of any church, or of any
individual, who may address him on subjects of divine revelation.
To the law and to the testimony ; — does this doctrine agree with
the word of God ? Is it according to the testimony of the faith-
ful Witness?
Persons conscious of innocence and integrity, if brought to
trial before any tribunal, wish above all things to have the plain
unbiassed testimony of faithful honest witnesses. But. if I saw
a person bronght to trial before a court of justice, who would not
allow a witness to speak in his own plain way, but would insist
on his testimony being received, through the medium of himself,
or his counsel, with such glosses and explanations as they chose
to give ; I would form a verdict in my own mind, which would
be confirmed by any jury in the kingdom, that the pannel was
guilty of something which he wished to conceal.
This is precisely the predicament in which the Church of
Rou/e is placed. She is brought to the trial of public opinion.
The Bible is the witness by whose testimony she must stand or
fall. But bhs will not sufler the witness to speak, except through
the medium of herself; she will not allow the words of the wit-
ness to have any meaning but such as she chooses to give them.
She is therefore without further evidence convicted; — she has
departed from the doctrine of the Bible, and set up her own au-
thority, in opposition to the authority of God.
THE
Protestant,
No. XXXIV.
SATURDAY, MARCH 6lh, 1819.
I wish some Popish author would inform me what evil the Bihle
has done. The Council of Trent has solemnly declared, that if
it be permitted to be read every where, or by all, it does more
harm than good ; and this, they say, is manifest by experience.
The present Pope, in the bull which I gave in my last Number,
quotes the words of the said Council, and upon this high autho-
rity, he condemns Bible Societies, and prohibits the circulation of
the Scriptures among the common people in their own language,
because it is manifest by experience, that the reading of the Bible,
by all indiscriminately, does more harm than good. Both the
Pope and the Council, however, satisfy themselves with a general
sweeping sentence of condemnation. They enter into no parti-
culars. They do not mention the nature or extent of the evil.
The Bible must by all means be proscribed ; but the Romish
priests are as silent as the enemies of Christ were, when it was
asked, " Why, what evil hath he done ?"
Experience is generally allowed to be a competent, a credible,
and an intelligible witness. If, then, the holy Council of Trent,
or his Holiness the present Pope, had brought forward this wit-
ness, and allowed him to speak for himself ; in other w>rds, had
they produced a series of undoubted, or well authenticated, his-
torical facts to substantiate their accusation of the Bible, we
would have been able to form a better judgment with regard to
the truth of their unqualified assertion. But nothing of the
kind is attempted. Neither the Pope nor the Council have facts
to show, — at least that they choose to show.
The apostle Paul tells us, that all Scripture is given by inspir-
ation of God ; and that it is able to make the man of God per-
fect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work ; nay, he says,
it is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is
in Christ Jesus. All the inspired penmen, — more properly the
Holy Spirit, who guided the pen of every one of them, — bear
witness that the word of God contained in the Bible, is calculated
to give understanding to the simple, to impart knowledge, life,
2fifi
and salvation to the most wretched of the human race. But,
no, says the present Pope of Rome ; no, say the holy fathers of
the Council of Trent ; it is manifest by experience, that the Bible
does more harm than good, if it be permitted to be read every
where without difference.
Let the Church of Rome be tried upon this ground alone,
and she will be found to be the Antichrist that was foretold by
prophets and apostles ; — that malignant, idolatrous power that
should exalt itself above the authority of God. It was the will
of God, when he gave his word to men by the ministry of his
servants, that it should be made known to all the world ; but the
Church of Rome, having, by means of cunning and falsehood,
obtained an ascendency over other churches, and having prevailed
upon them to submit to her usurpation, laid hold of the sacred
word, by which this usurpation, and her other tricks, were un-
equivocally condemned, and locked it up from the view of vulvar
eyes. Thenceforward, it was to be seen and read only by the
initiated ; that is, by those who had acquired an interest in its
concealment ; and who readily joined in the conspiracy of their
predecessors to keep it from the view of all the world besides.
Thus the word of God was concealed. The light was put under
a bushel. Countries in which the light of the gospel had shone
for a time, became, no less than the heathen world, a land of
darkness and of the shadow of death, and where even the licdit
was as darkness.
I knew that the Church of Rome endeavours to clear herself
of this wickedness, by openly maintaining, that the Scriptures
were not meant to be given to all men in their own language,
but only to the church ; and, by a strange perversion of language,
they make the word church to signify the clergy. The priests
thus place themselves between God and the common people.
They say, they alone are commissioned to tell the people, by word
of mouth, what God tells them in the Bible. They say, the
church (still meaning the clergy,) has power and authority to de-
clare what is the true meaning of the divine word ; that Christ
has promised to be with his church (that is, the clergy) to the
end of the world ; that therefore they cannot err in their exposi-
tion of Scripture : whereas the people themselves would almost
certainly imbibe error, if they were to read the Bible without the
glosses of such infallible interpreters. This doctrine is plainly
avowed by Popish writers of the present day, particularly by the
Editor of the Orthodox Journal and his correspondents ; and by
the Rev. Peter Gandolphy, a Popish priest in London. Though,
therefore, they should deny every historical fact, and call every
quotation from every ancient book a forgery, I am ready to meet
them, and to prove them antichristian out of their own mouths,
and by their own pens. Though every intelligent reader knows
ili it all history is against the Church of Rome on this point ; that
i lie writings of fathers, and the canons of councils, prove her
267
guilty ; yet I am willing to give up all these in the present in-
stance ; and I engage to show from the testimony of living Pa-
pists, that their religion is hostile to the free circulation of the
word of God ; and is, therefore, opposed to the authority of God.
The first thing to be established is, that God requires his word,
as contained in the Bible, to be universally published, and uni-
versally read. I am not called at present to prove the divine
authority of the holy Scriptures, or any part of them. I am not
reasoning with professed infidels ; but with persons who profess
to receive every part of the inspired canon. They very foolishly,
indeed, profess to receive as inspired some Apocryphal books,
upon no higher authority than the Council of Trent;* but so
far as I know, they reject none of the inspired writings acknow-
ledged by Protestants. From the writings, therefore, which they
themselves acknowledge, but which they have studiously concealed
from the vulgar, I endeavour to prove that God requires his word
to be published to the whole world.
I rest my argument on the first section of the seventy-eighth
Psalm ; and that my Popish readers may have no apology for
rejecting its authority, I shall give it in their own Douay trans-
lation. I know that they would reject our Protestant translation,
though there was not a shade of difference in the meaning. Fol-
lowing the Vulgate, they call it Psalm lxxvii. though it is added,
the same line, Heb. lxxviii. Verses 1 — 8. are as follow: —
" Attend, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the
words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables : I will
utter propositions from the beginning. How great things have
we heard and known, and our fathers have told us. They have
not been hid from their children, in another generation. Declar-
ing the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders
which he hath done. And he set up a testimony in Jacob, and
ir.adj a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fa-
thers, that they should make the same known to their children :
that another generation might know them. The children that
should be born, and should rise up, and declare them to their
children. That they may put their hope in God, and may not
forget the works of God ; and may seek his commandments.
That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and ex
asperating generation. A generation that set not their heart
right ; and whose spiiit was not faithful to God." They have
no annotations on this passage, except one on verse second, which
is as follows : — " Propositions. Deep and mysterious sayings.
By this it appears that the historical facts of ancient times, com-
memorated in this Psalm, were deep and mysterious ; as being
figures of great truths appertaining to the time of the New Tes-
tament."
* The reader will find some interesting information on the subject of
the Apocryphal books, in the two first Numbers of the Edinburgh Chris-
tum Instructor for the present year.
268
Now this Psalm bears on the very face of it, to be an address
by the God of Israel to his people. It is not a private message
to the priests ; but a public proclamation to the whole nation, or
church of Israel, introduced with a solemn note of attention ; — ■
" Attend, O my people !" This proclamation sets forth the fol-
lowing important facts, that God set up a testimony in Jacob, and
made a law in Israel ; that he commanded the fathers to make the
same known to their children ; and they again to their children,
throughout all generations. The testimony and the law, denote
the whole of divine revelation, particularly the Scriptures of the
Old Testament, (Isa. viii. 16, and 20.) It is not merely the
system of legal observances, ordained according to the law of
Moses, but the divine testimony concerning the Saviour promised
of old, whose work of atoning and sanctifying, was shadowed
forth, or typically represented, by the Mosaic rites. This is evi-
dent from what is declared to be the design of setting up the tes-
timony in Jacob, and making the law in Israel, which was, that
they might put their hope in God ; which no sinner was ever re-
quired to do upon the footing of the law, but solely upon the
ground of that righteousness, which was the subject of the testimony.
Now, the command of God is distinct and explicit, that this
testimony and law should be made known by the fathers to their
children ; and not to their children only, but also to the strangers
or foreigners who should reside among them, (see Num. xv. CZQ.
Dent. xxix. 11. Isa. lvi. 3, 6.) There is no exception made on
account of the dulness of the apprehension of children, or the
prejudices of strangers. Call the subjects of the testimony and
of the law, " propositions," or " deep mysteries," or what you
will, they are evidently things which fathers could teach, and which
children could learn. They are things with which both parents
and children were required to be so familiar, that they should talk
of them when they lay down, and when they rose up, when they
sat in the house, and when they walked by the way, (Dent. vi. 7.)
It is no less evident that the Scriptures of the New Testament
were ordained to be published to all the world. These declare
the accomplishment of what was predicted and typically represented
in the Old Testament ; and what is thus accomplished, is, by the
commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. Still there is no account made of the
weakness of the minds of children, or of the prejudices of educa-
tion, or of the danger of misinterpreting the word of God. It is
declared of Timothy, that from a child he had known the holy
Scriptures ; those of the Old Testament are no doubt meant;
he had learned them from the reading of his mother and grand-
mother ; and Christ himself declares, concerning the things of
liis kingdom, that is, the subjects contained in the New Tcsta-
iiidit, that, though hid from the wise and prudent, they were re-
viv.lt d unto babes. They were subjects level to the capacity of
children j and t<> such they were actually made known.
269
In short, there is nothing that appears more clearly in the Bi-
ble, than that it is addressed to all, and that it ought to be ac-
cessible to all. The command of God was to Jacob or Israel,
(for the words are used indifferently for the church of God,) to
make known the testimony and the law ; that is, not only to pub-
lish it, but to teach it diligently. Every father in Israel was
commanded to teach it to his children. This supposes that every
amily had access to it, in a language which they understood.
The same thing applies to the Scriptures of the New Testament,
for they were written for the purpose of being made publicly
known. We read much of the benefit which results from a know-
ledge of the word of God, — of its dwelling in us richly, — of
being filled with the knowledge of his will, and of making the
holy Scriptures the subject of our daily meditation. But no
where do we read in the Bible, that the word of God does mis-
chief; that the reading of it is dangerous ; and that it ought to
be kept from the common people.
Thus, I think, it appears evidently the will of God, that the
Bible should be published to all the world ; and that it should be
accessible to all men. But the Council of Trent has decreed
otherwise, as the Council of Thoulouse did before it. These bodies
were in effect the same as the Church of Rome. They acted in
name of the whole church ; and with the Pope at their head,
they gave forth their decrees as the infallible dictates of the Holy
Ghost. Modern Papists do not deny the doctrine ; nay, they
publicly maintain what was solemnly decreed by the said councils,
particularly that of Trentj that the indiscriminate reading of the
word of God does more harm than good. Thus they prove
themselves in opposition to the will of God, and to belong to
that Antichrist who opposeth and exalt eth himself above all that
is called God, or that is worshipped.
I engaged to prove the point from the writings of living
Papists. Take, therefore, the following from the Orthodox
Journal. " It must be acknowledged, Mr. Editor, that such a
plan for propagating Christianity, (that is, by distributing the Bible)
was totally unknown to past ages, and had escaped the notice of
Him who was Wisdom itself, the co-eternal Son of God, the
Author and Founder of Christianity. For, we no where find it
recorded, that the Son of God, before he ascended into heaven,
either wrote down, or commanded to be written, the doctrines
which he delivered for the instruction of mankind. He adopted
the plain and simple method of verbal instruction ; and, when
about to leave this world, charged a chosen few, whom he had
selected from his followers, to pursue the same plan, and preach,
by word of mouth, the truths which they had received from him,
no mention being made of distributing Bibles. Accordingly, we
find the Apostles, in obedience to this divine commission, imme-
diately after the descent of the Holy Ghost, boldly announcing
to mankind, by word of mouth, tho truths of religion.
270
" Such was the method hy which the Christian religion was
first established and propagated, at least if Scripture and church
histcry speak the truth. Our Bible-men of the 19th century,
may, perhaps, think that it would have been much more wise, in
the Founder of Christianity, to have furnished each of the Apos-
tles, before his setting out upon his mission, with a knapsack well
rilled with Bibles, to be distributed among the towns and villages
through which they were to pass. It must be confessed, that the
Bible-distributing scheme, if it addedto the burthens, would have
considerably lessened the labours of the Apostles, and would cer-
tainly have freed them from one care, that of providing themselves
with successors, as in this scheme none were likely to be wanting.
However, from the most authentic monuments, it is clear that no
such plan for the propagation of Christianity was then adopted,
but the plain simple method above mentioned, of appointing a set
of men to deliver the truths of the Christian religion, by word of
mouth, with an injunction upon the rest of mankind of hearing
and receiving the truths thus delivered.
" Indeed, Mr. Editor, our Bible-men ought to know that the
books composing the New Testament, which is the part of Scrip-
ture which chiefly regards us Christians, were not all written till
nearly a century after Christianity had been announced to the
world. What then, (I put this question to the Bible-men) what
was the guide to faith, or the rule of faith, during that period ?
Not the Old Testament, for this would have left Christians in the
dark, as to the very first and most important articles of their be-
lief. Not the New Testament, for this was not yet composed,
nor consequently known, but in part, and that to a very small por-
tion of believers. Most undoubtedly, Sir, the only rule of faith
then known and universally received, was the preaching of the
Apostles and their lawful successors. Every doctrine conforma-
ble to their preaching, was acknowledged to be of divine authority ;
while every doctrine, whether written or unwritten, contrary to their
preaching, was rejected as spurious. When a dispute arose
among the faithful, respecting the obligation of observing the
Mosaic law, was either the Bible or any other written authority re-
ferred to, as the rule of faith ? No : the living voice of the pas-
tors of the church was consulted ; the Apostles assembled in
council at Jerusalem ; and the affair was terminated by the decision
of those who were, by divine institution, the teachers and guardian-
of the faith. It is by a similar appeal to the living tribunal of the
pastors of the church, that, in every succeeding age, " the doc-
trines once delivered to the saints," have been preserved from all
mixture of error and human invention. This is the only rule
of (kith which the Scriptures themselves hold out to us, and to
which they enjoin implicit obedience, under pain of exclusion from
the kingdom of heaven, with heathens and publicans, in case o(
disobedience.
" Reason itself, Mr. Editor, tells us, that the Scriptures, left to
271
private inte-rpretation, cannot possibly form an unerring rule oi
faith and morals. To assert that the Almighty has left us his sa-
cred word to be our sole guide in matters of religion, and, at the
same time, giving authority to every individual to put upon this
word whatever interpretation his private judgment, or want of
iudinnent, su°-<rests, is to convert the God of truth into a God of
JO 7 D& 7 - . __ . ...
contradiction and falsehood, and to make the Deity responsible
for all the errors, blasphemies, and absurdities of every heretic and
fanatic, from the days of Ebion and Cerenthus, to Ann Lee, the
shaker, and Johanna Southcott, the raving prophetess of the pre-
sent day. What then is the conclusion to be drawn from the
above observations? Clearly this, that the Bible-distributing
scheme was not the method appointed by Christ for the propaga-
tion of Christianity, and, consequently, that the Bible Societies
are preferring the folly of man before the wisdom of God." 0. J-
Vol. U.pp. 15—17.
Perhaps some apology is due to my readers for putting so much
blasphemy and nonsense in my pages ; but I did not know any
other way by which I could so effectually expose the hatred with
which modern Papists regard the Bible, and their opposition to
the general circulation of the word of God. There is no occasion
to go to the bulls of Popes and the canons of councils to prove
that Papists are hostile to the free circulation of the Scriptures ;
their writings in the present day convict them. They do, there-
fore, prove themselves to be opposed to the authority of God,
who has commanded his word to be made known to every crea-
ture.
If it shall be alleged, that the Editor of the Orthodox Journal
is too contemptible to be cited as an authority in this, or any mat-
ter connected with religion ; I answer, that this will readily be ad-
mitted by every Protestant who reads his writings : but he is by
no means a contemptible person in the esteem of his own sect.
He is praised in a high degree by most of his correspondents, who
are unceasingly commending his excellent work. It will be re-
collected, that the very correspondent from whose letters I have
quoted so largely in this Number, puffs him off as a man who un-
derstands the subject of religion, better than prophets and apos-
tles did ; and knows much better how to teach it ; for which see
the conclusion of my thirty-first Number. In fact, he is the
champion, if not the oracle, of modern Papists, especially of those
who resist the veto ; and his writings are highly commended by
the Bishop of Castabala, the Vicar Apostolic of the midland dis-
trict.
Now, this said Editor and his correspondents, have set them-
selves down, to revile those who are labouring to give the poor the
word of God ; and they do not scruple to vilify the Bible itself.
It is quite fair to consider them as expressing the sentiments oi
their brethren in general, unless some other writer of equal autho-
rity with bishop Milner, and Mr. Gandolphy, and the other cor<
272
respondents of the Orthodox Journal, shall come forward and
publicly disavow such sentiments. Such disavowal has not been
made by any Popish writer in England or Ireland, so far as I know ;
and as they arc well known to be in general hostile to the circu-
lation of the Bible alone, they may be presumed to hold the same
sentiments wiih the writer above quoted.
This writerasserts, that the Scripturesalone, that is, simply as they
were given by the Almighty, cannot possibly be an unerring rule
of faith and morals ; which is asserting plainly, that the word of
God cannot accomplish the object intended by it, without human
aid. Nay, from what follows, it is insinuated, that it will do in-
calculable mischief, if left to be privately interpreted ; and the
writer has the presumption to say, that this mischief will be
chargeable against God himself, if he shall permit his word to be
generally read, and to be at the mercy of ignorant and perverse in-
terpreters. No Protestant ever taught that the Almighty has
given authority to every man, or to any man, to put upon his
word whatever interpretation he pleases. He has given a revela-
tion of his will sufficiently intelligible for the salvation of the guilty,
and the instruction of the simple ; and persons to whom this
revelation is made known by reading the Bible, are in no danger
of misunderstanding it, if they really desire to understand it, and
pray for divine instruction ; for God has promised his Spirit to
guide into all truth. The words of God are all plain to him that
understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. Such a
knowledge of them as is connected with salvation, is the fruit of
divine teaching. Under such teaching, the poor and illiterate, by
means of the Bible, are made wise unto salvation. Without Such
teaching, the Holy Father of Borne, with all his army of cardinals,
priests, and doctors, are no better than mere fools who hate know-
ledge. " How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? and
the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: Behold I will pour out my Spirit upon
you ; I will make known my words unto you." (Prov. i. 22, 23.)
This is a public proclamation of the Author of the Bible. He
requires it to be made known to all, without any consideration of
the danger of misunderstanding it ; and he will secure against
such danger by giving his Spirit, and making known his word,
to all who apply their hearts to such knowledge.
I shall resume this subject in my next Number. In the mean-
time, I request my Popish readers to read the Bible. Let thern
see what it is which their priests are so anxious to conceal from
them. If they find it unintelligible at first, let them read on, and
they will find what is difficult or obscure in one passage made quite
plain in another. The Bible contains the words of eternal life.
Christ is in the Bible ; and he that finds him, finds life, and
shall obtain favour of the Lord.
THE
IJvotcstant,
No. XXXV.
SATURDAY, MARCH loth, 1S19.
Papists tell us that publishing and distributing the holy Scrip-
tures is not the way which Christ appointed for the propagation
of Christianity. They triumphantly maintain what nobody de-
nies, that Christ commanded his apostles to teach all nations;
that " accordingly we find the apostles, immediately after the
descent of the Holy Ghost, boldly announcing to mankind, by
toord of mouth, the truths of religion." This, I say, is what no
Protestant denies: but the Popish writer in the Orthodox Journal,
on whose letter I am animadverting, adds some words which are
not in the commission which Christ gave to the apostles; and of
which the Apostles themselves were entirely ignorant. These
words, and the doctrine founded upon them, are entirely of
Popish origin. After the apostles, he slips in their lawful suc-
cessors; and these, he says, are the pastors of the church in every
succeeding age. He has not the hardihood to assert, though he
evidently means it to be understood, that every priest or pastor of
the church is a successor of the apostles; that he is equally com-
missioned by Christ to declare the " truths of religion by word
of mouth ;" and that he is equally infallible, or incapable of error
in what he shall declare; at least, that this is the case when these
pastors sit in council. If his words have not this meaning, I
cannot see that they have any meaning at all. " When a dis-
pute," says he, " arose among the faithful respecting the obliga-
tion of observing the Mosaic law, was either the Bible, or any
other written authority, referred to, as the rule of faith? No: the
living voice of the pastors of the church was consulted ; the
apostles assembled in council at Jerusalem, and the affair was
terminated by the decision of those who were by divine institu-
tion the teachers and guardians of the faith. It is by a similar
appeal to the living tribunal of the pastors of the church, that, in
every succeeding age, the doctrines once delivered to the saints
have been preserved from all mixture of error and human inven-
tion. This is the only rule of faith which the Scriptures them-
selves hold out to us, and to which they enjoin implicit obedience
under pain of exclusion from the kingdom of heaven, with hea-
thens and publicans, in case of disobedience?
M m
274
This, it will be allowed, is speaking plainly. Here the autho-
rity of the Bible is completely set ;:side ; ami, though it may
seem a paradox, it is set aside by i'.s own authority. " 'J he
Scriptures themselves hold out" no other rule of faith but the
living voice of the pastors of the church ! The bare word of a
Romish priest, therefore, is the only rule of faith ! Du Mans
then said truly, in the Council of Trent, " the Bible is become
useless !" The Bible, according to the Orthodox Journal, has
denuded itself of all its authority in favour of the priests. With
Protestants the mere statement of such absurdity and impiety is a
sufficient refutation ; and it would be utterly in vain to attempt to
convince the writer by any scriptural argument, because, in his
opinion the Bible has surrendered its authority to he pastors of
the church; and because the Editor, whom he addresses, has,
written a much better book! Papists would act more like hones;
men, if they would openly avow themselves infidels, than by con-
tinuing to assume the name of Christians, while they vilify and
reject the authority of the Christian revelation.
The writer, on whom I am animadverting, fays, " we no where
find it recorded that the Son of God, before he ascended into
heaven, either wrote down, or commanded to be written, the doc-
trines which he delivered for the instruction of mankind." From
this we are left to infer that the writing of what Christ taught,
was unauthorized by him; that the Apostles and Evangelists ex-
ceeded their commission when they wrote the New Testament ;
and then it follows, of course, that such writings have no authority
when put in competition with the living voice of the pastors r f
the church, who are the successors of the apostles, who were not
commanded by Christ to write his word, but to teach it by word
of mouth. Thus Papists invest their pastors with supreme au-
thority in religious matters, and ascribe no authority to the Bible,
but such as the pastors choose to allow, and no meaning, but
such as they choose to give it. Certainly the priests would have
had much easier work to keep the people in ignorance, if the
apostles had written nothing; it is evident (hat they owe them no
good will for what they have done, and for the trouble which is
daily given them by their writings.
Whether Christ commanded his word to be written or not, is
*>{ no consequence to us, seeing the apostles, guided by the Holy
Spirit did write it. Their writing of it was according to the will
of Christ. He promised to send the Spirit to lead his apottles
into all truth. Seeing, then, the Spirit led or directed the apos-
tles to the measure of writing the New Testament, it follows that
this was a part of the work which Christ appointed them to per-
form.
Besides, we find that Christ did command at least part of the
New Testament to be written. " I was," says John, " in the
Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as
275
of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, tvrke in a book, and
send to the seven churches which are in Asia," &c. Again,
" I am the first and the last ; and am alive, and was dead ; and
behold I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death
and hell. Write therefore the things which thou hast seen, and
which are, and which must be done hereafter." Rev. i. 10, 11,
17 — 19. Douay Version. And we know that Christ did such
honour to the written word of the Old Covenant, as to appeal to
it as a witness for the truth of what he personally taught. Surely
after the disciples believed that he was the Christ, the Son of the
living God, especially after they were witnesses of his resurrection
from the dead, they would consider his own simple testimony
sufficient to confirm the truth of all that he said. Yet, in fact,
he did not rest, nor call them to rest, upon his own simple testi-
mony, though that was undoubtedly true ; but he gave an exam-
ple by which the apostles, and his followers, in all time coming,
should try every doctrine by the tvritten word. " And he said
unto them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I
was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are
written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the
Psalms, concerning me. Then he opened their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is tvrilten, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise again from the dead the third day : and that penance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Luke xxiv. 44 — 47. Douay
Version. This, of itself, was enough to show the apostles, that
their Lord and Master approved of the word written ; and unless
he had given them a special command not to write ; they would
consider themselves authorized to write down what thev had seen,
and heard, for the instruction of the church in all ages.
Further, it does not appear from the commission which Christ
gave to his apostles, that their labours were to be confined to mere
speaking " by word of mouth." Go, teach all nations ; — Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, are
the words of the commission ; and the meaning of them evidently
is, that the apostles were commanded to make known the gospel,
— to publish it to every creature. They were not limited with
regard to the means ; but left at liberty to speak or write as they
had opportunity.
My Popish Letter-writer depreciates the written word of tne
New Testament, and pleads on behalf of the pastors of the
church, the lawful successors of the apostles, that we should rather
hear them, because they are commissioned, in all succeeding ages,
to teach mankind, byword of mouth, the truths of religion. This
argument would have applied with much more force in our Sa-
viour's time on earth, for there had been a regular succession of
priesthood from the days of Moses ; and there were many tiadi-
276
tions taught by the scribes and doctors of the law, which had at
least as good authority as any Popish tradition , and yet we know
that Christ spoke of such traditions, and such word-of-mouth
teaching, only to condemn them, as making void the law, and se-
ducing souls to their ruin.
I know that the preaching of the gospel — the declaration of
divine truth by the living voice, is an ordinance of God, and an
ordinance which he has been pleased to honour in a singular man-
ner for the conversion of sinners ; but it is only when preachers
publish the doctrine contained in the written word, that such a
blessed effect follows. I might defy the world to produce a cre-
dible instance of conversion to God by any other sort of preach-
ing than that of the truth contained in the Scripture.
Popish writers always proceed upon the presumption that their
priests are successors of the apostles; and that, of course, they
have equal authority, individually or collectively, to decide 01
matters of faith. If they could prove this, the question would
be at rest. If they could prove that they are inspired by the
Holy Ghost, as the apostles were, in all that they preached and
wrote, and when they assembled in council at Jerusalem to give
forth their decree respecting the freedom of Gentile Christians
from the obligation of the law of Moses ; — if, I say, they could
prove themselves possessed of the same supernatural and miracu-
lous endowments, we would regard them as successors of the
apostles, and infallible teachers of Christianity : but, until they
prove this by some sensible sign, we must be excused while we
regard them as of no authority whatever in' matters of religion ;
nay, while we consider them as impostors and deceivers, who are
employed as the agents of the prince of darkness, to accomplish
the everlasting perdition of the souls of those who confide in
them.
The truth is, the apostles never had any successors ; and if
they had, we would never look for them among such characters
as the Romish priests. Christ gave to his church apostles first ;
that is, men divinely inspired for the extraordinary work to which
they were called, as witnesses for Him, of what they had seen and
heard : but, for the permanent edification of the church, and for
preaching the gospel, in after ages, he gave pastors and teachers,
men whose business it is not to publish any new doctrine, but
merely to preach and make known what is already published in
the Scriptures. I might illustrate this subject at great length ;
but I believe it is sufficiently intelligible to my Protestant readers ;
and as for my Popish readers, I know that all I might write
upon it, would be no better than beating the air, for their minds
are preoccupied by the idea that the Bible is not a rule of faith,
any farther than it has the consent of their priests, who have set
up their authority as equal to it, and above it.
If, however^ I can show that modern as well as ancient Papists
277
are directly opposed to the word of God, and the free circula-
tion of it, I shall have proved, to the satisfaction of every one
who regards the Bible as of infallible authority, that Popery is
Antichrist, and that it ought to be abhorred by every Christian.
In addition to the evidence already adduced, I shall now bring
forward that of a dignitary and renowned champion of the Popish
faith. This is no less a personage than Dr. Milner, Bishop of
Castabala, and Vicar Apostolic of 'the midland district of England,
of whom it is declared, by Mr. Andrews, the Catholic Vindi-
cator, that he is " the great and unanswerable living historical
and theological disputant, Dr. Milner, than whom a firmer or
more orthodox divine never breathed." (C. V. Ao. X.) This
great, unanswerable, and incomparable divine writes as follows,
in his pastoral charge to his clergy, dated 30th March, 1813: —
" Of late years, you know that numerous societies have been
formed, and incredible sums of money raised, throughout the
united kingdom, among Christians of other communions, for the
purpose of distributing Bibles gratis, to all poor people who are
willing to accept of them. In acting thus, they act conformably
to the fundamental principles of their religion, which teach that
the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation, and that it
is easy to be understood by every person of common sense. But
who could have imagined that Catholics, grounded upon quite
opposite principles, should nevertheless show a disposition to fol-
low the example of Protestants in this particular, by forming them-
selves also into Bible Societies, and contributing their money for
putting the mysterious letter of God's word into the hand of the
illiterate poor, instead of educating clergymen, even in the present
distressing scarcity of clergy, to expound that word to them?"
The Bishop then proceeds to make some observations upon what
he calls " the ■prevailing Biblio-mania," (Bible madness) which,
he says, he hopes his clergy " will not fail to impress upon the
minds of their people."
The first remark is, that " when our Saviour Christ sent his
apostles to convert the world, he did not say to them, Go and
distribute volumes of the Scriptures among the nations of the world;
but, Go into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
" 2d. It is notorious that not one of the nations converted by
the apostles or their successors, nor any part of a nation, was con-
verted by reading the Scriptures. No: they were converted in
the way appointed by Christ, that of preaching the gospel, as is
seen in the Acts of the Apostles, Bede's History, &c.
" 3d. The promiscuous reading of the Bible is not calculated,
nor intended, by God, as the means of conveying religious in-
struction to the bulk of mankind : for the bulk of mankind can-
not read at all; and we do not find any divine commandment as
to their being obliged tc study letters.
278
" In a word, it is evidently a much more rational plan to put
the statutes at large into the hands of the illiterate vulgar, telling
tfiem to become their own lawyers, than it is to put the text itself
of the mysterious Bible into their hands, for enabling them to
hammer their religion and morality out of it.
" In conclusion, then, " says the Bishop, " my dearly beloved
brethren, I am confident you will not encourage or countenance
the distribution of Bibles or Testaments, among the very illiterate
persons of your respective congregations, as proper initiatory books
of instruction for them."
The following are extracts of a letter from the same unanswer-
able and incomparable divine, than whom a more orthodox
never breathed, to the Editor of the Orthodox Journal, and printed
in that work for October, 1813. "I described a Catholic Bible
Society as a novel and portentous institution ; unknown to the
Fathers and Doctors of past ages ; at variance with the third rule
concerning the use of holy Scripture, laid down by a com-
mittee of the Council of Trent ; giving into the policy of Protes-
tants, and of course injurious to the religion of Catholics, as also
to the authority of their Pastors ; it being the exclusive business
of the latter to instruct all ranks of people, by expounding to them,
viva voce, both Scripture and tradition."
Again, says this most orthodox divine, " The Tridentine Fa-
thers make no distinction between Bibles, in the vulgar tongue,
with notes, and those without notes ; and it is evidently impossi-
ble to add any notes whatever to the sacred text, which will make
it a safe and proper elementary hook of instruction for the
illiterate poor." That is, in plain English, the Bible is so
thoroughly and incorrigibly a bad and a dangerous book, that
all the safeguards which man can plant around it are insufficient
to prevent it from doing mischief to those who shall read it, and
form their own judgment of its contents !
" The Catholic Pastors," continues the Right Rev. Prelate,
11 can instruct, and do instruct their people, at the present day, in
the manner they have instructed them in all days since those of
Christ, much better than these Lay-Evangelists can teach them,
with the help of Bibles, though they stereotyped all the linen in
Ireland into Bibles; and the labouring poor in Ireland, without
a single Bible in a village, know more of the revealed truths of
the gospel, and can give a more rational, as well as more detailed
account of them, than the same class of people can in this coun-
try, which the Bibliomaniacs boastingly call the I and of Bibles.
I am, &c. John Milner, D. D."
This is corroborated by the other writer in the Orthodox
Journal, from whose letters I have made liberal extracts, and who
puffs off the Editor's school book as so much better than the
Bible , or, perhaps, the writer is the same, for the signature is M.
and the style and sentiment very much resemble those of the
27£>
venerable Vicar Apostolic. This writer, be he who he may, writes
as follows : — " We, of theold school, shall continue to think as
the whole body of Christians thought for fifteen hundred years,
and as nine out of ten of that body still think, that, as Christianity
was first taught and established before that part of the Bible which
contains the distinguishing doctrines of its Divine Founder was
ever written, so it might have hen propagated and continued to
the end of the world, had the Bible never made its appearance
among Christians. O. J. April, 1814, p. 140.
Most unhappily, however, for the church of Home, the Bible
has " made its appearance among Christians ;" and it is more
from the want of power than the want of will, that the priests do
not conjure the apparition to the bottom of the Bed Sea.
I find in the writings of modern Papists, in general, especially
of those in the Orthodox Journal, a deep-rooted abhorrence of the
Bible as a book of general instruction in matters of religion.
There is indeed an affectation of respect for it, as it is locked up
in the cloister, or to be found only in the hand of learned and
discreet persons ; but to put it into the hands of the common peo-
ple, is considered as a step toward the subversion of all religion, and
even of social order. It is with the Bible as with reason ; people
are not against it, unless it be against them. I leave it to the
reader to judge whether I have not proved by the writings of
living Papists, that they are against the Bible ; that, of course, the
Bible is against them; and, therefore, God, who is the Author
of the Bible, is against them. Let them think how they will
answer to Him for their contempt of his word and opposition
to it.
The following decree of the Council of Trent, relating to the
holy Scriptures, shall conclude the present Number. Some
farther reflections on the subject may be expected in my next.
" Decree concerning the edition and use of the Sacred Books.
" Moreover, the same holy Synod considering that much
benefit might accrue to the Church of God, if among all the Latin
versions of the Sacred Books, that are in circulation, any one
should be reckoned authentic : Maketh known, appoints, and de-
clares, that the old and common edition which has been approved
for so many centuries in the Church, and in public readings, dis-
putations, preachings, and expositions, be reckoned authentic : and
that no man dare or presume to reject it, on any pretence what-
ever.
" Besides, for restraining petulant wits, it decrees, that no man,
leaning to his own understanding, in matters of faith and morals
pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine, — twisting the
holy Scripture to their own sense; dare to interpret the holy
Scriptures contrary to the sense that the holy mother Church (to
280
whom it belongs to judge of the true sense of the holy Scrip-
tures) hath holden and does hold ; or even contrary to the unani-
mous consent of the Fathers ; though these interpretations be
never intended to be published. Those who contravene this
statute shall be reported by the Ordinary, and punished by the
pains ordained by law.
" But, being also willing to place a limit to printers, in this
matter, as is right, who now, without any rule, thinking it right for
them to do what they please, without license of their Ecclesiastical
Superiors, print these books of holy Scripture, along with anno-
tations and expositions of any sort indifferently, often without the
printer's name, and often even under a fictitious name, and, which
is worse, without the name of the author, and have such printed
books sold elsewhere : it decrees and ordains, that henceforth the
holy Scriptures, even this ancient and Vulgate edition, shall be
printed in the most correct manner, and that it shall be lawful to
none to print, or cause print, any book on sacred subjects, with-
out the name of the author, nor in future to sell, or even to keep
by them, unless first examined and approved by the Ordinary, un-
der pain of excommunication, and the fine set on this offence by
the last Council of Lateran. And if they are regulars, besides
examination and probation of this sort, they are also bound to ob-
tain a license from their superiors, the books being acknowledged
by them according to the form of their ordination.
" They also who communicate to others, or publish by writing,
unless it be first examined and proved, shall be liable to the same
punishment as printers. And those who have them in their pos-
session, or read them, shall be held as the authors, unless they give
up the real authors.
" And the approbation of books of this sort is to be given in
writing, so that it may appear in front of the written or printed
book. And the whole of this examination and approbation is to
be done gratis, that what is good may be approved, and what is bad
rejected."
Here the arrogance and intolerance of the church of Rome appear, in
binding all men down to one translation of the Bible. Even their own
translations into modem languages, by the index of Pius IV. arc forbid-
den books; and it is an unpardonable sin to read them without license
from a Bishop or Inquisitor. And, as if this were too great a privilege,
in the after edition of Clement IV. it is declared "that all power of grant-
ing such license is taken away." But the chief thing to be observed in the
above decree, is an absolute prohibition of the exercise of private judgment
in reading the Scriptures ; which is as bad as a prohibition of reading them.
It is made a very dangerous thing to read the Bible ; for if one should find
a meaning in a passage different from what the church gives it, he is u
be punished by the puns ordained by her, and in point of fact many have
suffered death for no greater crime.
THE
No. XXXVI.
SATURDAY, MARCH 20th, 1819.
In my two last Numbers, I endeavoured to establish the fact,
that living popish writers are hostile to the general distribution
of the Bible ; and that they consider it as not intended by God
as the means of conveying religious instruction to mankind.
This is the avowed opinion of that most " unanswerable" and
" orthodox" divine, Bishop Milner, whose words are quoted in
my last Number, and who gives this as a reason for withholding
the sacred word from the bulk of mankind, that " the bulk of
mankind cannot read at all ; and we do not find any divine com-
mandment as to their being obliged to study letters."
Here is a wonderful exhibition of love and respect for the
Holy Scriptures. Here is such tenderness of conscience, in a Right
Reverend Prelate, that he will consider nothing lawful or expe-
dient, but what is commanded, in so many words, in the Bible;
and as he does not find it commanded that all mankind should
learn to read, he will have no hand in furnishing them with Bi-
bles, or in enabling them to peruse them.
It is undoubtedly true, there is not in the Bible, so far as I
recollect, a direct commandment, requiring all men to go to
school and learn the letters: and a Right Reverend Vicar Apos-
tolic, that is, one who stands in the place of an apostle, and
has all the authority of an apostle over English Papists, pleads
the want of such a command, as an argument that the word of
God was not intended by its Author for general circulation.
Had such an argument been advanced by some poor layman,
it would, perhaps, have called forth no answer but a smile of
pitv. But it is brought forward by the highest popish authority
in the kingdom; — by a man, who, to his official weight as a
Bishop, and Vicar Apostolic, adds that of wonderful personal
endowments, being unanswerable, both as a historian and a theo-
logian, and as orthodox a divine as ever breathed. I must be
excused if I feel a little elated, when 1 enter the lists with such a
man ; and the reader must have patience with me, while I attempt
to answer the argument, not so much for its own sake, as for
the sake of its dignified author.
I reply, then, that the Bible was not given for the purpose of
instructing us in those things of a secular nature which are with-
N n
282
in the reach of our own natural understanding. The word of
God is conversant about things spiritual and eternal. It makes
kmwn what we could never have discovered by our own efforts.
It declares the eternal love of God, the Father, to our ruined
world, so that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world,
that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life. He gave commandment that this truth should
he published to nil the world, that sinners, coming to the know-
ledge of it, and believing it, might be saved. But he did not
think it necessary to prescribe the precise mode of its publication
in every instance. He did, indeed, command it to be preached ;
this implied a command to the people to hear it. He command-
ed John to write to the seven churches in Asia; this implied a
command to the churches to read what was written to them.
Speaking of the spreading of the gospel throughout the world,
and the calamities that should come upon the Jewish people,
Christ says, Mat. xxiv. 15. " Whoso readeth let him under-
stand." This implies that the persons addressed should be able
to read ; and there was no occasion for a specific command that
they should go to school, or have a tutor at home, or learn from
their parents. This was a matter belonging to the common-sense
business of every family, and for which no divine revelation was
necessary.
When Jesus Christ spoke to the apostle John from heaven,
and said " what thou seest write in a book," he did not instruct
the apostle to provide himself with pen, ink, and parchment.
This was a matter that would occur to himself, without a divine
revelation, as absolutely necessary to his obeying the divine com-
mand. In all such matters, if I may use the expression, Christ
trusts to the discretion and common sense of his people. When
he gives a commandment, and the means of obeying are such as
will occur to an enlightened understanding, he does not make
such means the subject of a special revelation ; yet, if necessary
to the end, they are as really commanded as the end itself.
We are commanded to " search the Scriptures." Every one
who hears such a command, must see that it requires, on the part
of the hearer, ability to read, unless there be some natural impe-
diment, such as the want of sight. Christ commanded the apos-
tles to teach all nations what they had seen and learned of him.
This they did by word of mouth, as far as they were able; but, as
theii living voice could not reach the millions of men scattered
over the face of the whole earth, they committed the word to
writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who guided their
pens, as he did their tongues, to declare the whole truth of God
tor the salvation of sinners, and the edification of those who, by
means of it, should be saved from their sins.
The word of God, thus written, they threw upon the world,
and the providence of Him who gave it, to supply the place of
283
their voice, after they should be dead. The apostle Peter,
plainly declares this to be the design of his writing. '* More-
over," says he, " I will endeavour, that you may be able, after
my decease, to have these things always in remembrance." 2
Epist. i. 15. This he did, not by the appointment of a suc-
cessor, to repeat them by word of mouth, but by writing one
epistle and then another, and by commending the writings of
his beloved brother, Paul, in which, though he says there are
some things hard to be understood,* yet the simple fact of his
recommending them to Christians in general, shews that, in his
• " And account that the long-suffering of our God is salvation; even
as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you ; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
those things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they
that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures,
to their own destruction." 2 Pet. iii. 15, 1 G. This passage is often re-
ferred to by Papists, to confirm their doctrine, that the Bible is not in •
tended for general reading, and that the unlearned are in danger of being
injured by it. But Paul himself, writing to the same people, to wit,
Christians who were Jews by birth, lets us know the reason why some
things which he taught were hard to be understood. It was not because
the things themselves were unintelligible; but because the people were
dull of apprehension. (See Heb. v. 11.) They had been so long ac-
customed to look upon the shadows of the Mosaic law as of perpetual du-
ration, that they could not clearly see the substance when it had come,
and when the shadows were superseded by it. To minds thus preoccupied,
very plain things appeared very mysterious. It is so with persons of die
Romish communion at this day. The most liberal and intelligent among
them, have their minds so prepossessed and bewildered with die ideas of
a visible, universal, infallible church; with a visible head and apostolic
succession ; with the merit of good works, penances, pilgrimages, purga-
tory, &c. that the plainest passages in the word of God appear to them
quite unintelligible. Most of the errors taught by their church they look
upon as infallible truths, and first principles, which must not be called in
question. Coming to the Bible with minds thus preoccupied, they must
find many things mysterious and inexplicable, because it is impossible to
make them bend to what they have already fixed in their minds as the
truth. In this unhappy condition, they generally find it most comfortable
to let the Bible alone, and acquiesce in the infallible teaching of the
church.
Arguing from the passage in 2 Pet. above quoted, Papists always pro-
ceed upon the principle that the bulk of Christians must be unlearned ;
and it will be allowed that the Church of Rome has always been success-
ful in keeping the bulk of its members in that condition. But this is not
a Christian state of things. Peter speaks of being unlearned as a sinful
state, the same as being unstable. Every Christian, therefore, is required
to be learned in the things which relate to the salvation of his soul, that
is, to be learned in the Scriptures. Paul exhorts the Ephesian Christians
to "be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
(Epist. v. 17.) And he speaks of Christians in a prosperous state of
mind, as being " filled with the knowledge of his will." Every evange-
lical Protestant pastor labours and prays that this may be the condition of
his people. But the nature and effect of popish teaching appear by the
following answer, wl ich a poor Papist gave lately to some questions of a
religious nature. " Please your Honour, we leave all these things to
Ood and the priest."
284
esteem, or rather of the Holy Ghost who inspired him, they
were fit for general reading, and able to teach all mankind the
way of salvation, through the long — suffering and tender mercy
of God. Both these apostles, and all the others whose writings
were given to the world, testify the good news of the glory of
Christ. They declare that the same Jesus who was crucified,
is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and the for-
giveness of sins. By their writings, the Apostles are still speak-
ing to the world ; and by writing, as well as by word of mouth
they obeyed the command of their master, — teach, preach, pub-
lish, make known the good news to every creature.
The New Testament, thus thrown upon the world, fell, in the
first instance, into the hands of Christians, who knew its value;
and it became their duty to publish and make known its contents
to all around them. There was no occasion for a divine com-
mand to learn to read, or to teach all men to read; for the com-
mand to search the Scriptures necessarily implied this, as much
as the command to the apostle John to write, implied that he
should be furnished with the necessary materials. Follow out
this principle, and it will be found to afford a sufficient warrant
for printing and circulating the Bible; for establishing schools to
teach the art of reading ; and every other means which Christian
prudence and benevolence may devise, for communicating to the
world the knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom he hath sent.
The whole world might have been enlightened by the know-
ledge of this truth many centuries ago, had Christians of the se-
cond and following ages possessed the spirit of Christians of the
first age. Had the impulse which was given by the preaching
and writing of apostles and evangelists continued through sub-
sequent ages, every Christian church would have had a company
of zealous and faithful missionaries employed in distributing the
word of God, and declaring its contents, to the heathen all
around them. Daily inroads would thus have been made upon the
kingdom of Satan. The reign of idolatry and superstition would
have given place to the reign of righteousness and peace. The
earth would have been filled with a holy seed, and heaven with
an innumerable company, out of all kindreds, and tongues and
people, and nations.
The time is approaching when this shall be realized, as we are
assured by Old and New Testament prophecy; and it will he so,
when Christians and Christian Churches shall have returned to the
principles which were abandoned at so early a period ; and shall
be animated by the same spirit of love and zeal which marked
the character and the conduct of those of the first age. Nothing
remains to be done, but what ought to have been done seventeen
hundred years ago ; and which was prevented only by the false
principles and corrupt practices which began to prevail even before
the close of the first century. All the churches, without excep-
285
tion, and the Church of Rome, in particular, neglected the im-
portant duty of giving the word of God, and publishing the gos-
pel to the whole world. Nay, the Church of Rome having gotten
possession of it, locked it up from the sight of all but a chosen
few. She, therefore, is justly chargeable with the guilt of slay-
ing the many millions who have perished for lack of knowledge.
Other churches cannot plead innocent, considering how little
they have actually done for promoting Christianity; but the Church
of Rome herself must sustain the greatly aggravated guilt of po-
sitively withholding the means of promoting it, by prohibiting
the translation and distribution of the Holy Scriptures.
Bishop Milner tells us that " the bulk of mankind cannot read
at all ; and we do not find any divine commandment as to their
being obliged to study letters." This shows us the low esteem
in which the common people are held by priests of the Romish
communion. It is not considered a duty to promote their men-
tal improvement, because there is no divine commandment as to
their being obliged to study letters. Christianity teaches us to
promote, in every possible way, the mental improvement as well
as the eternal salvation of our fellow creatures. This is implied
in the comprehensive commandment, " Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bour as thyself." This, however, has no place in the popish sys-
tem. If the priests find the people ignorant, they will keep them
so. They will instruct them only in such things as will give
them an awful and distant respect for their ghostly authority : but
they will take care to prevent, as far as they are able, the people
from having access to the source of knowledge, lest they should
think and judge for themselves. Though there were nothing else
objectionable in the popish system, this alone would mark it out
as not of divine origin, because it is hostile to the improvement
and civilization of the human race.
Having thus paid my respects to the avowed writings of the
Rioht Reverend the Bishop of Castabala, I return to the Corres-
pondent of the Orthodox Journal, who subscribes himself M.
who, if not Dr. Milner himself, expresses the same sentiments,
as the reader will see by turning to my thirty-fourth Number,
in which I gave large extracts from his letters. In pnge 270, I
quoted his words, which are as follows: — " Our Bible-men of
the 19th century may, perhaps, think that it would have been
much more wise, in the Founder of Christianity, to have furnish-
ed each of the Apostles, before his setting out upon his mission,
with a knapsack well filled with Bibles, to be distributed among
the towns and villages through which they were to pass."
I have the charity to think that the writer considered himself
as addressing only persons of his own communion, — persons who
were studiously kept in ignorance, and who were left to suppose
that matters, in our Saviour's time on earth, with regard to the
publication of books, were precisely the same as they are now.
Papists in our day, even though they cannot read, see tbat what is
286
called the Bible is comprised in a small volume that any man
may carry in his pocket, and of which one might carry twenty in
a knapsack. The writer takes for granted that it was the same
at the time when the Apostles received their commission; and, by
this assumption, he attempts to delude his readers into the idea
that the distribution of Bibles is not approved by Christ. If the
writer did not know the real state of matters, in this respect, he
was guilty of great presumption in attempting to write upon it ;
if he did know it, then he is guilty of wilfully misleading and
deceiving those who confide in him.
My Protestant readers must bear with me while I state a fact,
of which they do not need to be informed; but which I take to
be necessary for the information of my readers of the Romish
communion, — that, in the time of the apostles, a single copy of
the Old Testament, written upon skins, was as much as a man
could carry ; that those who could write copies of it correctly
were comparatively few ; and that, had the Apostles been set to
the work of writing them with their own hands, it was not possi-
ble that they could attend to the work of preaching. It does not
appear that the apostles curried Bibles about with them. Their
minds were familiar with the contents of the Old Testament, on
which they were enabled, by the Holy Spirit, to draw at all times.
Whenever they came to a synagogue of Jews, or a church of
Christians, they would find a copy to which they could refer ;
and when they addressed either Jews or Gentiles, there was a
power in their preaching, accompanied by the miracles which
they wrought, that made it manifest that God was with them.
The gift of miracles accompanied that of inspired preaching.
Those who possess not the former, can lay no just claim to the
latter; and, therefore, no man has a right to demand, for his word-
of-inouth teaching, the respect and obedience which were yielded
to apostles, unless he can show himself possessed of the same
miraculous endowments.
The mode of teaching which the apostles adopted, in the first
instance, was that of declaring the divine message by word of
mouth. Afterwards they committed it to writing; their writings
completed the revelation of God to men ; and, together with
those of the Old Testament, they form a divine and infallible
standard of faith and practice. Notwithstanding the labour and
expense of multiplying copies before the invention of printing,
copies were multiplied, and translated into various languages at
a very early period. It was the duty of Christians to multiply
them; and had they continued to do so, and had they given at-
tention to their contents, they might have been preserved from the
flood of error and superstition, which so soon overwhelmed them.
Should any of my popish adversaries reply, that had it been
the will of Christ to propagate Christianity by the distribution of
Bibles, he would have enabled mankind to invent the art of
printing in the apostolic age, I.have only to answer, that it does
287
not appear to have been a part of his plan, as a teacher coma
from God, to instruct men in any thing which they were capable
of learning or discovering by their own ingenuity; and that the
art of writing, tedious as it is in comparison of printing, was
sufficient to multiply copies of the Scriptures for all needful pur-
poses, had men but devoted themselves to the work with a diligence
in any degree proportioned to its magnitude and importance.
Our Orthodox Letter-writer informs us, that the books of the
New Testament were not all written till nearly a century after
Christianity had been announced to the world. If by this he
means the period when the Apostles received their commission,
or when the Holy Ghost came upon them, on the day of Pente-
cost, he states what is not the fact ; for the greater part of the
New Testament was written within half a century of that period,
and during the life of those who were witnesses of the events re-
corded in it. I have before me an interesting work of Pere
Lamy, a divine of the Romish Church, and one who pays a
thousand times more respect to the Bible than our modern Papists
do. The work is entitled, " An Introduction to the Holy Scrip-
tures." Speaking of the period in which the books of the New
Testament were written, he says, Matthew wrote his gospel only
six years after the crucifixion : Mark wrote his ten years, and
Luke his twenty-three years thereafter ; and that the Acts of the
Apostles, and all the Epistles of Paul, together with those of
Peter, were written within thirty-three years of the same period.
He does not pretend to fix the dates of the Epistles of James
and Jude ; but he brings the latest writings of John within sixty-
five years of Christ's death ; and there is no part of the inspired
writings even pretended to be of later date than those of John.
Lamy states these facts on evidence that satisfied him, though
absolute certainty is, perhaps, not to be obtained in a matter of
this kind. Then it is not true that a century elapsed after
Christianity was announced to the world, before the greater part of
the New Testament was written. The binding obligation of the
law of Moses remained in every respect until Christ said upon
the cross, "It is finished." It was but a few years after that
period, when the Scriptures of the New Testament were written ;
and, in the interval, the church was favoured with the personal pre-
sence of the apostles, whose living voice supplied a rule of faith of
equal authority with that of Christ ; for, according to his own
declaration, they that heard them heard him.
These things may appear at first view of small importance, but
they are really of great importance in the popish question. It is
with the Church of Rome a fundamental point to get her clergy
acknowledged as successors of the apostles ; and to have the
same authority and power with which Christ endowed these his
extraordinary ambassadors. It would help very much to the at*
tainment of this end, if it were allowed that a hundred years
elapsed between the expiring of the old dispensation and the
288
writing of the New Testament ; because it is well known tliat
the Apostles did not live so long ; and the Church of Rome
would shove in, behind them, their lawful successors, whose living
voice was to be the only rule of faith, as that of the apostles
had been. But the fact of the matter, plainly stated, overthrows
the whole system. The apostles left their writings, which
were divinely inspired, as their only successors ; and, until these
writings were completed, some of them remained alive to give
instruction, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with regard
to every doctrine and practice, respecting which a question might
be agitated in any of the churches. When they had not per-
sonal access to any of the apostles, they consulted them by
writing to them, and received an answer in writing. The
seventh chapter of first Corinthians is evidently an answer to a
letter which Paul had received from the church in Corinth. —
Since the death of the apostles, the Scriptures have been the
church's only guide. They will be so till the end of the world ;
and there is no need of any other, for they are able to make us
wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
My opponents complain that I take my representations of
Popery from the writing of enemies, and not from their own
approved authors. The complaint, however, is unfounded, as
the reader will see by this and some of my preceding Numbers :
for, independently of the Council of Trent, whose authority is
supreme in the Church of Rome, I have quoted largely from the
very works of my opponents themselves, which 1 hope they will
admit to be approved writings. Besides quoting and replying to
the Orthodox Journal, I have presumed to attempt an answer to
the most " unanswerable" and most " orthodox" Dr. Milner.
Both he and Mr. Andrews, indeed, are unanswerable on some
points ; not from the truth and accuracy, but from the extreme
absurdity, of their statements.
If a man should come boldly forward, and deny that two and three
make five, I presume most persons would think him unanswerable, at
least unworthy of a serious answer. Yet the proposition that two and
three make five, is not more evident to those who understand the terms,
than the proposition, that, if the Bible be the word of God, it will do good,
and not evil ; and that all ought to read it, is evident to every mind under
the influence of Christianity. Yet this proposition is solemnly denied by
the Council of Trent, and by all the Popish authorities of the present
day. There is really, therefore, no arguing with Papists upon the prin-
ciples either of Christianity or common sense. There is no common
ground on which we can meet them. Through the influence of a dark
and unci superstition, their minds are unsusceptible of impressions from
moral evidence ; and this is not surprising, seeing they actually refuse tin
evidence of their own senses.
Mr. Andrews is much offended with Luther for comparing the Papists
of his day to asses. I am aware that my Taper will not rise in dignity
by descending to use the language of the Reformer in this instance; but
really I cannot help thinking the asses are dishonoured by the comparison ;
for I defy the Church of Rome to produce an ass that will refuse die evi-
dence of his own senses — that will be so stupid as to mistake a bundle of
hay for a human body; yet such stupidity is exemplified by Papists every
day, in their sacrifice of the mass, and their doctrine of transubstantiatior.
THE
Protectant,
No. XXXVII.
SATURDAY. MARCH 27th, 1819.
X dare say I have written more than enough to convince every
reader, that the Church cf Rome is hostile to the circulation and
the reading of the Holy Scriptures. The avowed doctrine of
that Church, as laid down by the last of her general councils, a
late Bull of the Pope, and the writings of modern Papists, as
quoted in my late Numbers, all go to establish the fact, that the
Church of Rome is against the word of God. It follows, as a
thing of course, that the word of God, and God himself, is
against the Church of Rome ; and that, though she may maintain
her ground for a while, like the heathen parts of the kingdom
of Satan, she must ultimately be consumed by the Spirit of his
mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming.
The subject of withholding the word of God, has occupied
seven Numbers of my work. I hope my Protestant readers will
not think I have given it more space than the importance of the
subject required, for it is really a fundamental point ; and having
convicted the Church of Rome of direct hostility against the di-
vine testimony, I hope it will he allowed that I have succeeded
in proving her to be the Antichrist that was spoken of by the
Apostles of Christ, as to arise in the latter days; and if there be
any persons at present within the pale of that church, who regard
the salvation of their souls, the command of God to such is, to
come out of her, that they be not partakers of her sins, and that
they receive not of her plagues.
I have not the vanity to think, that what I have written will
make much impression on the minds of such persons as Dr.
Milner, and Mr. Andrews, and the other writers of the present
day, who oppose the circulation of the Holy Scriptures. My la-
bour, however, will not have been in vain, if I have put the pub-
lic in general upon their guard against the pretensions of those
men, who advocate the cause of the Church of Rome, and who
endeavour to soften down all the monstrosities of the system ;
but who, while they oppose the circulation and the reading of
the Bible, show enough of the cloven foot to make it manifest
that the authority under which they act, is that of the prince of
darkness. I hope I have shown also what we may expect when-
ever Papists shall acquire power and authority among us : the
Bible will be prohibited ; and those who presume to read it, will
be punished according to the decree of the holy Council of Trent.
I believe it is usual, in writing upon religious subjects, as well
290
is in preaching, to connect doctrine with practice : following
what I take to be a very good rule, I shall now proceed to the
practical improvement of my subject, that is, to adduce certain
instances of the actual practice of Papists, even in the present
day, of withholding the word of God from the people in general,
and making it a crime to have it in possession, or to read it, or
even to acquire the art of reading, so as to have access to it.
In the Library of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
is a Spanish New Testament, printed at Venice, in 1556.
It had no doubt been printed without the knowledge of tlie
church, or holy Inquisition ; as there is no record of their having
granted permission for such an undertaking. On the title page
is written " Granville Sharp," and a remarkable memorandum
is prefixed with his own hand, as follows : — " Mem. Several
years ago, I presented this Castilian Testament to an eminent
Spaniard, a merchant of Bilboa, who was delighted with it dur-
ing his temporary abode in London ; but, just before his depar-
ture for Spain, he returned the book, being afraid to carry it
with him, lest it should be discovered by the searchers of his
baggage, and occasion the forfeiture of all his goods, G. S."
Correspondence, SfC between Messrs. Gandolphy, Blair, §c. p. 87-
Such was the hostility known to exist by this Spaniard among
his countrymen, against the word of God, that he durst not carrv
home a copy in his own language. What must be the state of
things in Spain, with regard to religion, when a respectable indi-
vidual of that country is led to make such a humiliating declara-
tion ? In Spain Popery is to be seen in its trtie character. There
it has received no softening from Protestant influence, and it is
as it appears there that we ought to judge of it ; for the apparent
amelioration of the system in this country, is merely accidental ;
and if the causes which have produced such amelioration were
removed, it would appear in Britain as bad as it is in Spain.
From the open declarations of Bishop Milner, and the Orthodox
Journalist, against the Bible, and their incessant outcry about
the danger of reading it, there cannot be a doubt that they
would, if they were able, prohibit the book and the reading of it,
under a penally, perhaps heavier than the confiscation of goods.
The following extract of a letter from Paris, of date the 25th
ultimo, which appeared in the London Star of the 1st of the pre-
sent month, will show the hostility which exists among certain
clergy of that country against education and reading the Bible: — -
" Wo have, with some difficulty, procured M. Durand's Lent Man-
dement or Homily: he is the capitulary Vicar General of Besancon.
Mi Durand warns every one to avoid penetrating into the mys-
teries of the gospel ; and he triumphantly a^ks, who would be-
lieve in God if it were necessary to comprehend him? In his
holy zeal the vicar general declares the Lancasterian schools an
invention of the devil; and cautions all his flock to beware of
sending their children to them. If th^y do, they will incur ex-
Cumuiunication here, and damnation hereafter. He invites, with
Moloch ferocity, his diocese to exterminate the heretics, (that
291
is the Protestants.) It is, he says, a mark of grace ; its omission
is a mortal sin."
There are many thousands of Papists, chiefly Irish, who re-
side in St. Giles', and the neighbouring parishes in London,
whose children are suffered to grow up in the grossest ignorance
and vice. A few years ago, some benevolent individuals esta-
blished schools for the gratuitous education of such children, in
the arts of reading, writing, &c: that no alarm might be excited
in the minds of the parents, or their priests, it was expressly sti-
pulated, that no catechism should be used in the schools, and
no means used to make the children Protestants; that, in short,
nothing should be admitted on the subject of religion, but the
plain simple letter of the English Bible. But this benevolent
plan met with the most determined opposition from the priests,
some of whom plainly declared before the Committee of the
House of Commons, that it was much better for the children
not to be able to read, than to learn this art, without learning, at
the same time, their Popish catechism. See proof of this, at great
length, in the Report of the Committee, printed in 1816.
The last Report of the Hibernian Society furnishes numerous
instances of the opposition of the priests in Ireland to the read-
ing of the Scriptures, and even the instruction of the children in
the art of reading, when it is understood that the Bible is used
in the schools. One of the teachers writes as follows: — " Janu-
ary 10th, 1818. I herewith send you the protest of two priests
against the use of the Scriptures in the schools. It is taken ver-
batim from the book, which lies on the table for the remarks of
the visiting committee. The priests continue exceedingly angry
with the parents who persist, at least many of them, to send their
children to the schools, notwithstanding all that they have said
and threatened." The following is the protest of the said priests:
— " Having observed that the children of our communion are
obliged to read the Protestant version of the New Testament, we
protest against the introduction of any version; and we are de-
termined to withdraw the children from the school, by every
means in our power, unless the rule which prescribes a portion
of the Holy Scriptures to be daily read be annulled. Signed,
J. P. J. R. A true copy, T. G." Report for 1 8 1 8, page 40.
Another teacher writes as follows: — " June 23d, 1817. Some
time ago, I apprehended much injury would be done to the So-
ciety's schools under my care, in consequence of the Catholic
priest opening a free school in his chapel, and charging his flock
to send their children to it, or else they would be finally ruined.
He publicly lectured on this subject for three successive sabbaths;
notwithstanding which, only one of my pupils left me. This
child had been very sick for some time, and its parents were
made to believe, that it was a judgment sent on the child, for
being at the Society's school. Since then, as a child at the
priest's free school was reading in a Testament which he took
with him to the school, the master struck the child a violent blow,
took the Testament from him cursed the child, and asked if he
292
was going to turn a heretic. The child told this to his parents;
upon which they withdrew him and his sister from the priest s
school, and put them hoth to mine ; at which they would learn to
read the word of God." page 72. This is the way in which tne
people ought to treat their priests, and every body else who would
hinder them or their children from reading the Bible. It is gra-
tifying to see the manifestation of such a spirit ; there are not a
few instances of it now in Ireland: and if it shall become general,
as I hope it will by and by, Ireland will be prepared for a much
more important emancipation, than that which Papists are think-
ing of, and demanding with so much clamour; — she will be
emancipated from the slavery of superstition and error, raised to
the enjoyment of rational liberty ; and every hamlet and cabin
will be accessible to the word of God, and the salvation which
it reveals.
In these reflections, I am happy to have the concurrence of
some of the Irish of the Romish communion. One of the Socie-
ty's inspectors of schools writes as follows : — " May 25th, 1817.
The few days I have been in this neighbourhood, I have had
frequent conversations with many of the Catholics, who exclaim
greatly against their clergy, for prohibiting the reading of the
Scriptures. One man, in particular, said that, if all mankind were
of his opinion, superstition, idolatry, and the fear of man, would
soon cease, and Scripture knowledge would prevail and flourish
gloriously in the world." The same inspector gives the follow-
ing account of one of the schools, and of its teacher : — " Visited
F — >s school at R. — He had 88 pupils assembled; 16 of whom
read the 2d of Ephesians, and gave pertinent answers to ques-
tions from it. I am glad to say, that both masters and pupils,
in this country, are progressively advancing in the knowledge of
the Scriptures: and I perceive that when the pupils are enlight-
ened with this knowledge, the masters of such are much affected
with the necessity and importance of it. I greatly rejoiced to
hear Mr. F — (whom I knew to have been brought up in the
Church of Rome,) explain, from the Scriptures, the gospel very
clearly. He said, I bless the day that Mr. B — gave me a
Bible, and advice how to read it. He added, I brought it home,
but did not dare to read it, except in private, lest my friends or
the parish-priest should hear of it : but, in the course of some
time, I lost the fear of man ; and now I can say, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth. I acknowledge to all
around me, that the Scriptures are the true word of God. This
declaration made me many enemies in the country; and even my
nearest friends and acquaintance were against me ; but especially
the priest of the parish, who used every exertion to prevent and
stop me." pp. 4-7, 4-8.
The Report before me contains many such instances of priestly
opposition to the Bible, and of the determination of the people not
to submit to the controul of their ghostly guides. One priest,
besides a heavy penance, laid a Poor woman " under an obliga-
293
lion, on pain of inevitable destruction, never to open a Bible, 01
converse with a Protestant on the subject of religion. All this,
however, did not do ; for though, while terrified and intimidat-
ed by the threats and injunctions of her confessor, she had un-
willingly promised obedience, she relapsed in a few days, and re-
turned to her Bible." p. 22. I do not expect that my work
will speedily reach the remote parts of Ireland, which are held
in bondage by these priests of the god of darkness, else I would
entreat the people who have access to schools and to the Bible,
diligently to improve the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge
of that blessed book, which they may rest assured will do them
no hurt, and which may be the instrument of conveying to them
the knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he
hath sent, which is eternal life.
Though I have not access to the benighted parts of Ireland, I
am happy that many Irishmen and other Romanists in this coun-
try read my Papers. Let me entreat such to read the Bible. I
propose to myself no higher aim than this. I will be glad if my
work is laid aside, and never thought of again, if it shall only be
the means of exciting my readers to read and study the word of
God. Let me entreat, also, that those who can read, will ad-
vise those of their acquaintance who cannot, to avail themselves
of the opportunities afforded for acquiring that most necessary
art. There are many schools now established in Glasgow, for
educating the old as well as the young; and both old and young
are made welcome to receive, without money and without price,
the benefits of education, as well as the blessings of religion.
I believe an idea prevails very generally among Protestants,
that the reading of the Scriptures is not so much calculated to
convert sinners, as the preaching of the gospel ; and I doubt
not the experience of past ages will be found to confirm the doc-
tiine of the Westminister Divines, that " the Spirit of God
maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word,
an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners." But
I stay not at present to inquire, whether this arises from some-
thing in the nature of preaching more than in that of reading?
whether there be any scriptural ground to expect more from the
one than from the other ? or whether it be not enough to ac-
count for the fact, that the experiment, with regard to giving the
Scriptures and reading them, has never yet been so extensively
made as that of preaching has been ? It is enough to know
that conversion is the work of God ; and that, in ordinary cases,
he effects it by means of his word, revealed to the heart and un-
derstanding, through the medium of hearing or reading. Of the
blessed effects of the latter we have many recent instances, of
which the following is a specimen : — " Dr. Carey, in one of his
letters, speaking of 19 natives who had come to him to request
Christian baptism, mentions, that 18 of them had become converts
to Christianity, by reading of the Bible alone, having never
heard the missionaries preach : their acquaintance with Chris-
tian truth and doctrine was derived entirely from the solitary and
294-
unaided perusal of the Scriptures." See Third Report of the
Calton and Bridgelon Association for Religious Purposes,
p. 71.
I recommend to my readers of the Romish communion the
perusal of the Bible, with the more confidence of being attended
to, seeing I have the concurrence of some of the greatest of
their own saints and fathers. The Council of Trent, the pre-
sent Pope, and all the modern authorities, down to Dr. Milner,
have actually departed from the ancient doctrine of their own
church. This I will prove by reference to St. Augustine, St.
Gregory, and others, who spake of the Bible as if they had been
English Protestants.
1 translate the words of these saints from the preface to a transla-
tion of the New Testament into French, by the Faculty of
Theology of Louvain, printed at Mons, in 1667. The transla-
tors themselves seem to have been of a different spirit from Pa-
pists of the present day, as they not only gave their countrymen
a version of the New Testament in their own language, but
strongly recommended it to the perusal of all classes of the peo-
ple.* The following are the words of the translators rendered
into English, and those of the fathers will appear as quoted by
them : —
" Now if God heretofore commanded his people to read un-
ceasingly in the law, and has given it for their meditation day and
night ; and if the orders of religious believe themselves bound to
read every day the Rule which they have received from their
founder, how can we neglect to read the law of Jesus Christ,
whose words are spirit and life ; and being entered, by baptism,
into the Catholic and Universal Religion, of which Jesus Christ
is the founder, we ought to look on the "gospel as our Rule,
which makes known to us his will, confirms his promises, which
is our light in this world, and which will one day be our judge
in that which is to come. The word that I speak unto you
shall judge you at the last day. This is that which made St.
Cesaire, Bishop of Aries, say, that those who cannot read are
not excusable, on that account, to be ignorant of what may be
learned by the reading of the gospel ; for, if the plainest and most
homely persons, not only in the cities, but also in the villages,
find means (saith this Saint) to read and learn profane and world-
ly songs, how can they, after this, excuse themselves for their
ignorance, in having learned nothing of the gospel? You have
• It is a fact, that more liberty of reading the Scriptures has been al-
lowed to all classes of the people in France, for a hundred years past,
than is allowed by the Fopish priests in England and Ireland to their
people, at the present day Charles Butler, Esq. who is said to be one of
the most liberal and enlightened of the Romish communion in Britain,
declares as follows, in his examination before the Committee of the
House of Commons, June 13th, 1316: — " In point of fact," says lie,
" (here has not, for the last century, been in France, (as I have inform-
ed myself from good authority) any objection to reading the Old or New
Testament in the French tongue, or without notes, by any age. or an,
description of people."
295
plenty of invention, adds he, to learn to read what the devil
teaches you for your destruction, hut not enough to learn what
you are taught from the mouth of Jesus Christ, — the truth which
should save you."
The translators proceed: — " It would be an endless task to
relate all that the holy fathers have said of the excellence of the
gospel. All their works are full of the marks of respect which
they have, not only for the sacred history of the life of Jesus
Christ, but also for the other books which compose the New
Testament." — Again, " Not to say that it is not a very useful
labour to gather from the writings of the fathers, who are the
true interpreters of this holy book, explanations and notes which
will aid us very much in the understanding its divine truths and
holy instructions : but we conceive this a work altogether dif-
ferent, and of another kind from that, and though useful in it-
self, does not prevent a simple translation, like the present, from
being useful to believers : for we hope, that not only the more
enlightened minds, but the more simple, may find that which is
necessary for their instruction, whilst they read, in an entire sim-
plicity of heart, approaching humbly to the Son of God, and
saying, with St. Peter, Lord to whom shall we go, &c. ; and it
is thou alone who can teach us. We must come to him like
those of whom it is said in the gospel, that they come to hear
him and be healed of their diseases : for " curiosity," according
to St. Augustine, " is one of the diseases of the soul, insomuch
the more dangerous that it is the more hid ; and if we think o!
nothing but to satisfy it, in reading the word of the Lord, this
would be to nourish our disorders hy the very remedy which
ought to cure them. He who seeks nothing in the Scriptures
but his own salvation, will find it there, and that knowledge
which he did not seek."
" Holy Scripture," says St. Gregory, " is like a great flood
which has run, and will always run, to the end of the world. The
great and the little, the strong and the weak, find there that liv-
ing water which springs up to heaven ; it offers itself to all, it
proportions itself to all; it has a simplicity which stoops even to
the souls of the most simple, and a height which gives exercise
and elevation to those who are highest. All may draw indif-
ferently, and so far from being able to empty it, in filling our-
selves, we will always leave depths of knowledge and wisdom,
where we may adore without being able to comprehend."
" But what ought to comfort us, under this obscurity, is that,"
according to St. Augustine, " Holy Scripture proposes to us, in an
easy and intelligible manner, all that is necessarv for our conduct
in life, that it explains and clears up itself in revealing clearly to
us in some places what has been said obscurely in others, and
that this obscurity has its use, if we view it with the eye of faith
and piety."
Speaking of charity or love, St. Augustine says, " This :'s
the root, and all the other truths are the branches and the fruits.
If you cannot," saith he " comprehend all those branches which
296
are of so vast extent, satisfy yourselves with the root, which in-
cludes the whole. He who loves, knows all, because he pos-
sesses the end to which all tends. Say not then you cannot un-
derstand the Scripture ; love God, and there is nothing which
you shall not he able to understand. When the Scripture is
clear, it clearly marks the divine love ; and when obscure, it
marks its obscurity. He, then, knows the clear and obscure in
the Scripture who knows the love of God, and who regulates his
life by that love."
The translators conclude their preface as follows : — " The
New Testament is the treasure of the church, hence a transla-
tion is a common good. There is, therefore, ground to hope,
that all will take part in what is useful to all, and that humble
souls will seek nothing but their own edification in this work ;
praying God for those who have engaged in it, that he would
not impute rashness to this service which they have attempted to
render to the church, without sufficiently considering that it was
above their strength ; that he would cover and repair the faults
in the execution, in their not having laboured with all the res-
pect, and all the attention, and all the piety, that they ought ;
that he would accompany it with the blessing of his Spirit ; and
that he would not permit any thing strange or human to be mix-
ed, that might turn or change in any manner this impression
which the words of grace, truth, and life, ought to have on men's
souls."
Thus, it appears, that not only the reverend translators, but
the principal saints and fathers of the Church of Rome were
Protestants in sentiment, with regard to the reading of the Bible.
St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, St. Dennis, and
St. Gregory, all of whom are cited as authorities on this sub-
ject, speak very much like the fathers of the Church of England,
who composed the Homily, on reading the Scriptures. Had
the ancient fathers lived in the time of Luther, and found the
church so incorrigibly corrupt as she was in his time, they would
most probably have joined the Reformation; and had they lived
in the present day, they would have joined the Bible Society ;
for, to use the language of Dr. Milner, they were all infected
with the Bible madness, and they spake like downright enthusiasts
of the advantage of reading and knowing the Holy Scriptures.
Papists are continually boasting of the antiquity of their re-
ligion; but real antiquity is all against them. I wish them to go
farther back than any of the saints whose names I have mention-
ed ; I wish them to go as far back as Peter and Paul, and the
other Apostles ; but if they should even stop short of this, and
take up with St. Augustine, or St. Gregory, I venture to assure
tnem, they will then find it their duty to abandon the Council
of Trent, and the Pope, and the church which makes it a crimo
to obey God by rrading his word.
THE
Protectant,
No. XXXVIII.
SATURDAY, APRIL 3d, 1819.
i- HE celebrated Dean Swift having preached a sermon against
sleeping in the church, began his application in this manner, — .
" These arguments may have weight with men awake ; but what
shall we say of the sleeper ? By what means shall we arouse him
to a sense of his sin and danger ?" A reflection like this has oc-
curred to The Protestant, on looking over what he has written
on the subject of the Bible, and the duty of reading it : these
arguments, he hopes, will have weight with persons who are
awake to the subject ; but what shall he say to the Papist, who is
asleep, and worse than asleep ; and who will not allow his mind to
open to the consideration of what is infinitely interesting to him-
self, but which he spurns away from him, as being the business,
not of him, but of his priest? If ever the minds of such shall
be opened, it will be the work of God and not of man.
Yet this work may be accomplished by human instrumentality.
We know the means by which the priests shut the hearts of the
people, and keep them shut, against the light of God's word.
Along with the terror of their persons and office, which they
hang over the heads of the people, it is by means of such argu-
ments as I have detailed in s^me of my late Numbers, taken
from the writings of Bishop Milner and others, against the Bible
Society, and the circulation of the Scriptures. I believe the
best answer to such arguments is to give the Bible itself to those
who can read ; but perhaps much good might be done among
our Popish population by the distribution of cheap Tracts, re-
commending the Bible, giving copious extracts from it, and, in
a lively summary way, exposing the absurdity of the reasons
which the priests give for withholding it from the people. It
will be objected, that this would appear like an attempt to make
proselytes, and thereby excite alarm among both the people and
their priests. What then ? Is it not the desire of every Pro-
testant Christian to win his brother from error and superstition ?
We have too much delicacy with regard to our fellow creatures
who are living in fatal error, and who, while they continue to re-
ject the gospel of Christ, are in the broad way of destruction.
298
Would we win them secretly, and by stealth ? This would not
be honourable in itself, and certainly not like the example set by
the Apostles. They told unbelievers plainly, that they were un-
believers ; and idolaters, that they were idolaters ; and they told
them this for the avowed purpose of turning them from vain
idols to serve the living God. In this manner should we deal
with our Popish neighbours; and if we do so with kindness and
affection ; if, while we point out the cruelty and wickedness ot
the priests, who rob the people of the bread of life, we make
it manifest that it is not hatred but love to their souls that
prompts us, our endeavours will, through the divine blessing,
tell upon the conscience and heart of some, perhaps of many
individuals, and lead them to renounce the Pope, and the
Priest, and all their idols, and embrace the Saviour of sinners.
The distribution of cheap Tracts has been very useful in in-
structing and awakening ignorant Protestants: and why should
not Papists have a similar benefit extended to them, in the form of
Tracts, calculated to engage their attention, and to remove their
prejudices against the Bible and the gospel which it reveals?
They have access, indeed, to all the Tracts that are in circula-
tion, if they please to read them ; but then there are few, if any
of them, calculated for their meridian, or suited to their modes
of thinking. The plainest evangelical Tracts take much for
granted which Papists require to be taught ; and none of them
that I have seen contain the necessary exposure of the folly of
what is taught by their priests. I am aware no Bible Society
can properly adopt this mode of promoting Christianity, because
their business is to distribute the Bible alone; but there are
Tract Societies, and education societies of various names, by
whom this hint may be improved ; and if, by any means, we can
persuade the adherents of Rome seriously to read the Bible, the
reign of superstition and priestcraft will not long maintain its
ground before the light of the divine word, which shines in every
page of the Bible.
Having finished what I had to say on this subject, I shall
now indulge the reader and myself with a few pages of lighter
matter.
I feel much gratified in being able to inform my readers, that,
through their kind and persevering support, I have been enabled
to give fifty pounds for charitable purposes, being profits of The
Protestant up to the twentieth Number inclusive. This sum
was tendered to the Committee of the Society for the support of
Catholic Schools, in Glasgow ; but being by them refused,
I disponed of it in donations to three Societies, which are emi-
nently entitled to public support, viz. the Hibernian Societv,
and the Sunday School Society for Ireland, L.20 each ; and
L.10 to a Sabbath School Society in Glasgow.
I take this opportunity of replying to such of my correspondents
as hive complained of the high price of The PROTESTANT; ar.d
2 99
{ hope they will be satisfied when I inform them that, when the
bllowance to booksellers and other retailers is deducted, together
with the expense of distribution, advertising, collecting a great
number of small sums from different quarters, postages and par-
cels from the country, &c, all paid by the publishers, the nett
proceeds of each Number is a fraction less than a penny farthing.
This is all that remains for paper, printing, and profit ; it is out
of this small sum that the L.50 has been realized ; and if I had
sold my Numbers for three half-pence, there would have been
a considerable loss. By using coarser paper and a larger type,
I might perhaps afford to sell them at the last mentioned price ;
but I do not think this would be generally agreeable to rny read-
ers. It is right to add that I believe those who complain, do
it solely from a wish that my work might be more extensively
circulated, by being more accessible to the poor. This also is
my wis.h, but I cannot accomplish it without reducing the qua-
lity of the paper, and giving less matter in the page, which I
would be sorry to do. My readers in general, I hope, will par-
don me for introducing so much of the merchant into The Pro-
testant.
I am often asked how is The Catholic Vindicator coming
on ? and it may be proper to give a short answer to this ques-
tion, especially as many who read his earlier Numbers have
given him up from mere disgust. That the Protestants in this
country were very willing to hear a defence of the Church of
Rome, if conducted upon the principles of fair reasoning, is
abundantly evident, from the ready sale of the first and second
Numbers of The Vindicator; but when they found that there
was neither truth nor reason in him, most of them thought proper
to leave him to those to whom the opposite might be acceptable.
As a general answer to the question, how is he coming on ?
let it suffice, that the poor man is extremely angry : that he is
even swearing with passion ; for which, see his seventh Number,
column 108, in which he begins a sentence with an oath: that great
part of his work has little relation to the facts and arguments of
the Protestant, but exhibits a ludicrous combat with phantoms
of his own raising : that, with all his folly, he has sense enough
to see that I am aiming at the vitals of his system ; and, there-
fore, he uses every species of provoking and insulting language
and accuses me of many bad things, in order to divert me from
my purpose, and set me upon my own defence, or engage me
in a contest about miserably distorted scraps of history. Though
I avowedly take my stand upon the Bible alone, and am the ad-
vocate of no sect or party, he will have it, that I am responsible
for all the errors and crimes which he chooses to say have beer,
committed in Protestant countries, by parliaments, armies, thief-
catchers, and others, though they were persons who had no re-
ligion at all ; and when he has dilated at sufficient length upon
these subjects he thinks he has repelled every charge against
300
his own church, by whatever evidence it has been established.
His work, with all its faults, seems to be in great favour with
persons of his own sect here, from the industry with which they
pufFit off by means of hand-bills, which, every week, deface the
corners of our streets, and the gates of our churches,* headed by
great capitals, announcing The Catholic Vindicator, with
its contents for the week ; which contents, by the bye, usually
contain more than the work itself; for they announce the refu-
; tation of this, and the refutation of that, whereas, in the book,
there is nothing refuted. The deplorable state of intellect and of
taste which must exist among the admirers of such a work, excites,
I hope, in the breast of every Protestant, a feeling of gratitude
for the blessings of the Reformation; yet Mr. Andrews will be
as much astonished at my want of intellect and of taste in dis-
paraging his style of writing, as any Hottentot beauty would be,
on finding her charms disparaged by some barbarous European.
A blundering officer in a camp will sometimes very effectually,
though unconsciously, serve the cause of his enemy. In this
way I still hail Mr. Andrews as an auxiliary; for, with all his
boasting and bluster, he lays open, from time to time, the vul-
nerable parts of the cause which he undertakes to defend, in
such a way as will make my work easy when I come to reply to
his declamations.
He has laboured hard to vindicate his church against the ac-
cusation of holding it lawful to break faith with heretics. Yet
the matter stands just as I left it, as any one may see who will
take the pains to read carefully and compare what has been
written on both sides. This, it must be allowed, he has
rendered somewhat difficult by an immense mass of irrelevant
matter, which serves, in a great measure, to cover and conceal the
real question at issue. Yet if any of my readers find it possi-
ble to muster up as much patience as to make the comparison
Detween my evidences and his replies, I am very well assured
they will find the charge established. To this subject I intend
to address myself, at some future period; but I will not gratify
Mr. Andrews so far as to deviate from my own plan to reply to
him, farther than what he will find in this Number.
Whatever may be the public avowed doctrine of the Church
of Rome, it is evident that Mr. Andrews himself holds, in
substance, that of which I accused his church, namely, the
• Mr. Andrews tells us, in his Orthodox Journal for October last, pn"-e
S74, '■ th.it civil liberty is not the offspring of Protestantism, nor has she
even been permitted to abide wherever the light of the Reformation has
dawned." lie uses ihe words, ■" light of the Reformation," in derision.
Now I would ask him, what would be the consequence, if The Pko-
v.rANT were to publish Ida work in Spain, and have the contents of it
stuck up on the church gates every Sunday morning, to insult the de-
vout worshippers of die Virgin Mary ? Let him answer this question, and
t;.y where the balance in favour of liberty would lie.
301
lawfulness of breaking promises, and, by a little stretch of the
principle, the lawfulness of violating oaths ; for promises and
oaths are only different degrees of the same thing. The pro-
mise of an honest man is as binding as his oath. He feels it so;
and when he is lawfully called to confirm his word with an oath,
he does it for the satisfaction of others, not for the purpose of
binding himself more firmly.
Now The Vindicator actually pleads the lawfulness of break-
ing promises, that is, breaking faith, in at least five different
cases, for which see his twelfth and thirteenth Numbers, in
which he justifies and defends the immoral principles of Bi-
shop Lanigan, contained in his letter, quoted in my twenty-
ninth Number. The doctrine there laid down appears to him
a thing so indisputable, that he presumes Protestants to
hold the same. Now, though nobody denies, what he ht-
bours through many a long page to prove, — that many wick-
ed men, called Protestants, have broken their promises; yet
I maintain, and I am sure every honest man will agree with me,
that it is not lawful, in any case whatever, for a man to break a
promise voluntarily made, if it does not bind him to commit sin.
And, even in this case, he ought not to break it lightly or hastily;
but on solemn consideration, and deep repentance before God,
for having made such a promise, together with adequate com-
pensation if any person came innocently to be injured by it.
But Dr. Lanigan lays it down as a principle, or doctrine taught
by great divines and saints of the Church of Rome, with St.
Thomas Aquinas at their head, that it is lawful to break
promises in all the different cases which he has stated : particu-
larly, that it is lawful to do so on a change of circumstances; no
matter what loss may be sustained by the person to whom the
promise is made ; his interest is out of the question ; the pro-
miser is the sole judge with regard to the change of circumstances,
and what is best for his own interest. If it be alleged, that it
is understood that the promiser shall have the consent of the
other party, I answer, it is no such thing ; for that forms a case
by itself, and is the third upon the Bishop's list : but, in the
fifth case, on a change of circumstances, the promiser acts for
himself alone, and sets the other party at defiance, as Lanigan
did in his own case, upon the authority of the rule laid down by
St. Thomas and other canonists.*
* It seems the most redoubted and most orthodox Dr. Milner had a
hand in this promise-breaking ; and Mr. Andrews, no doubt, finds him-
self obliged to defend any thing in which his oracle and idol is concerned.
" Dr. Lanigan had promised to sign for the concession of the veto ; but,
in consequence of Dr. Wilner's influence and instructions, he retracted,
and published his celebrated apology, in which he gave five reasons why
a promise might be broken : and that, at all events, the promise he made,
though a serious, was not a solemn one ; and, therefore, accoiding to hia
maxims, not binding." History of the Jesuits, <J-c. 1816. vul. I. p. 13s.
302
Now Mr. Andrews seriously defends this principle ; and he
maintains that The Protestant would act upon it too, if he
found it for his interest. See Cath. Find. col. 203. In short it seems
to him incomprehensible that any man should act otherwise,
which shows that he has no distinct ideas of common honesty.
As if conscious of nothing but obliquity in his own mind, he
has no conception of rectitude in the mind of another. He
supposes a case of an agent sending a man such goods as he
has not ordered; and he pleads this as a case in which the
person who gave the order might lawfully break his promise,
and refuse to accept his correspondent's bill ; and, by thus shuf-
fling from one thing to another, he attempts to evade the natu-
ral consequence of which I had convicted his principle, of break-
ing a promise, in relation to goods which a man had ordered.
This is a disingenuous trick, quite worthy of a man who writes
not to instruct but to deceive his readers ; and I suppose the
Popish part of them are so blind as not to see through it. If
they did, they would not identify themselves with him, as they
do by applauding and circulating his work. It is painful to
think that the Papists in this country, in general, hold the same
standard of moral obligation that is held by their organ and ad-
vocate ; and yet I see not how they can acquit themselves, but by
publicly disavowing him and his work.
Again Bishop Lanigan teaches, on the same high authority,
that the obligation arising from a promise ceases, " when a man
promises a thing pernicious or useless to the person in whose
favour the promise is made." Here, as in the other case, the
promiser is the sole judge of what would be pernicious or useless.
Suppose a Papist to have received a great sum of money in trust,
under a promise to make it over to a certain young man, on his
coming of age; and finding that the possession of a large for-
tune would be pernicious to the young man, he might lawfully
break his promise, and apply the money to build a monastery,
or do whatever he pleased with it. Those who are acquainted
with the practices of the Jesuits, will not consider this an ex-
travagant supposition, or improbable case.
It was, no doubt, on some such principle that the Rev. Peter
Gandolphy satisfied his conscience. He promised publicly, and
in print, that if any Society would furnish him and his brethren
with copies of the Bible in their own English version, with or
ivithout notes, they would receive and distribute them. The
said Priest, however, broke his promise almost as publicly as he
had made it ; finding, perhaps, upon reflection, as he actually
maintained in argument, that the distribution of the Bible tvith-
out notes, that is, the keeping of his promise, would be perni-
cious to those on whose behalf it was made.
These principles, publicly taught from the Episcopal chair in
Ireland, and defended by the organ of English Papists in Lon-
don, have done more to show me the danger of admitting
i apists to places of power and trust, than all that I ever read
against what is called Catholic emancipation. I request my
readers not to take their opinion of these principles from my
commentary, but from the very words of Bishop Lanigan him-
self, and of Mr. Andrews, their defender ; let them take the
words as they stand, — let them study their import, — let them re-
flect that, in four of the five cases, the man who has made a pro-
mise is the sole judge of the propriety of breaking it ; and let
them say whether the principles thus distinctly avowed and de-
fended are not subversive of all the laws of moral obligation.
Suppose a few Papists were returned members of Parliament,
a thing that would soon happen, if emancipation were granted to
them. They would have to swear, indeed, to support and de-
fend our Protestant Constitution ; but when they had got pos-
session of their seats, they would find the " circumstances" com-
pletely " changed ;" they would find themselves now a part of the
Constitution ; they would find it lawful to break their oaths, for
breaking oaths and breaking promises are only different degrees
of the same thing; and they would find themselves bound, by
every possible means, to promote the interest of their church,
whatever might become of our Protestant Constitution.
These kleas are confirmed by the weekly and monthly publica-
tions of The Catholic Vindicator. No Westminster dema-
gogue can write with more asperity against the measures of govern-
ment, or declaim with greater volubility about the miserable and
enslaved state of our country. It is no part of my business, in a
controversy about religion, either to approve, or to condemn
political measures ; and it would be no part of his business, if
he would confine himself to the question ot religion: but he can-
not forbear abusing our Protestant government.- He speaks of
the Stuarts, particularly Charles I. as if they were the most ami-
able and tolerant princes that ever reigned. He speaks with the
greatest abhorrence of those who opposed the arbitrary measures
of that infatuated family. He does not, in plain words, condemn
the Revolution of 1688, and the Hanoverian succession; but he
condemns the principles on which they are founded; and, in the
Orthodox Journal, he labours, at great length, to show that the
kingdom was much more free and happy before that event, than
it has been since. Nay, he tells us pretty plainly, that matters
will not be right until all that was done at the Revolution be un-
done, together with all that has been done since. In his Jour-
nal for October last, p. 376, he quotes from a declaration of the
Birmingham Hampden club, which " loudly demands a return
to the ancient practice of the Constitution," that is, " in Catholic
times," as Mr. Andrews is pleased to inform us. From this it
is evident that if such men as he were in parliament, they would
labour to restore the ancient state of things. Then farewell to
our Protestant Constitution, and the Hanoverian succession
No matter though these men had sworn to support and defend
the Constitution as it is. They are taught by the casuistry of
St. Thomas Aquinas, and Bishc p Lanigan, with the appruba-
30*
tion of Mr. Andrews himself, that it is lawful to hreak a pro-
mise, and, by a little extension of the same principle, an oath,
when circumstances arc changed, and when the keeping of the
promise or oath would be pernicious or useless; and what can be
so pernicious in the eye of a Papist, as to support a government
that is opposed to the establishment of the " Catholic faith?"
My readers know that I have meddled very little with the poli-
tical question of what is called Catholic emancipation ; and I
would not likely have touched upon it now, in this general re-
ference to the writings of my opponent, were not he incessantly
obtruding it upon his readers, and railing against our govern-
ment for withholding from Papists a place in that Constitution,
which, he says, was framed by their ancestors; insinuating pretty
plainly, that the kingdom is theirs in point of right, and that
they will not be satisfied till they have it in possession. Some-
thing of thisappears here and there in The Vindicator, but not
nearly so .much as the same writer exhibits in his Orthodox
Journal, in which, with singular effrontery, he abuses our go-
vernment under its own eye, in the very pages in which he is
endeavouring to prove that Popery is more favourable to liberty
than the religion of Protestants.
There are few things which I abhor so much as accusing
persons of sedition and treason, on account of their religion.
This was the practice of the enemies of Christ and his Apostles.
It was the practice of heathen Rome ; and it has been the prac-
tice of Papal Rome, from the time of the Waldenses down to the
days of Eusebius Andrews, who deals out, with an unsparing
hand, accusations of treason and sedition against men of whom
the world was not worthy, — who were really the best friends cf
their king and of their country, — to whom we are indebted for
both our civil and rcligiousliberty, and to whom TheVindicatoR
himself is indebted for the liberty of railing against the govern-
ment of his country. This, he will say, is mere assertion. Be
it so : it is at least as good as his assertion to the contrary ; and it
will be proved, without difficulty, when I enter seriously upon
the subject.
No man can justly accuse him of sedition or treason, on account
of religion; for it does not appear that he possesses any thing
worthy of the name. His declamations are almost entirely of a
political character. What he demands for the adherents of the
Pope, is not freedom of religious worship, but political power;
and while, in doing so, he explicitly avows principles that are
subversive of those laws of moral obligation which bind society
together; while he abuses our established government, and the
principles on which it is founded ; and while he acts as the or-
gan of thousands of discontented and intriguing Papists in
Britain and Ireland, I do him no injustice when I point out the
tendency of his writings; and when I warn my countrymen of
what they may expect, if persons holding such principles shall
come to have power and authority in this Protestant country.
THE
rotegtant,
No. XXXIX.
SATURDAY, APRIL 10th, 1819.
Jn discussing the subject of the Church of Rome withholding
ihe Bible from the people, I find I m3(le a mistake which I
hasten to rectify. I proceeded upon the idea that it was a prin-
ciple admitted on both sides, that the Bible was the word of
God. This fundamental principle I took for granted, not aware
that it would be denied by modern Papists. I find, however, it
is in effect denied by their organ, The Catholic Vindica-
tor ; and I have no reason to think that he does not speak the
sentiments of the general body. In his fifteenth Number, which
I did not see till after my last was in the Printers' hands, he
speaks as if he were surprised that I should unhesitatingly assure
my readers " that the Scriptures contain the word of God,
which is addressed to every human creature under heaven ; that
they contain a complete revelation of his will, for the salvation of
our fallen race ; that, in short, the Bible IS the word of God
addressed to his own creatures." I acknowledge that I did say
all this ; and The Vindicator lays it down to be controvert-
ed, though he has not yet said much in the way of refutation,
further than challenging me to say how I came to the knowledge
of the above truth. Towards the conclusion of the same Num-
ber, he repeats part of the above, together with a further decla-
ration of The Protestant, that that part of the Bible which
is called the gospel, is a proclamation of grace and pardon to
the very chief of sinners ; which declaration surprises him so
much, that he exclaims, " What nonsense !"
I am glad that I have driven my opponent off the sacred
ground of divine revelation, and compelled him to avow his in-
fidelity. I would have rejoiced much more if I had succeeded in
brincringhirn to submit to the word and the righteousness of God
for his own salvation ; but since he does reject, and declare to be
nonsense, the gospel of Christ as a proclamation of grace and
pardon to the very chief of sinners, he acts more like an honest
Q q
30b
man by rejecting the Bible, than by professing to believe it.
Now, therefore, I consider him, and those who adhere to him
and admire his writings, in the light of mere heathens and idol-
aters. I shall proceed to discuss the subject of their idolatry, and
to show its conformity with ancient heathenism, from which it
was undoubtedly derived.
It is a first principle of Christianity, that there is one only liv-
ing and true God ; and that HE alone is the proper object of
religious worship. The language of Jehovah, the God of Israel,
to his people is, " I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt worship
only me." Divine worship, therefore, offered to any other, is
direct rebellion against him. It is marked by the prophet Jere-
miah, as one of the grossest instances of the idolatry of the chil-
dren of Israel, in imitation of their heathen neighbours, that they
worshipped an idol whom they called the queen of heaven,
(Jer. vii. 18. xliv. 17 — 19.) Now this is actually a title which
is given by the Church of Rome to one of her principal idols,
namely, the Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There can be no doubt that the mother of our Lord, accord-
ing to the flesh, was blessed among women. From all that is
recorded of her, however, it is evident that her blessedness arose
not only or chiefly from the mere circumstance of her being the
mother of Jesus, but from her being a partaker of that grace
which is extended to all Christians alike. Mary makes no great
figure in the evangelical history ; and when she is brought into
view, it seems intended rather to repress than to cherish any
idea of her being preferred before other followers of Christ. In-
deed, when she is brought into view, one is apt to wonder that
so little account is made of her ; but the Spirit of God, no doubt
foreseeing that she would be made an object of idolatrous wor-
ship, so ordered matters, that nothing should be done to her, or
said of her, that should give the smallest countenance to such
impiety.
In the Church of Rome, however, she is as really an object
of worship, as Diana was in Ephesus, or Venus in Paphos, or
any other god or goddess in any heathen nation in the world. I
hope to prove this at great length, before I finish this part of my
subject ; but, as an introduction to it, I shall quote the history
of this idol as given by the Rhemish translators of the New
Testament, who, no doubt, give the true doctrine of the church
on the subject.
Annotation on Acts i. 14. " Mary the mother of Jesus.]
This is the last mention that is made in Scripture of our lady ;
for though she was full of all divine wisdom, and opened (no
doubt) unto the Evangelists and other writers of holy Scrip-
tures, divers of Christ's actions, speeches, and mysteries, where-
307
of she had both experimental and revealed knowledge : yet, for
that she was a woman, and the humblest creature living, and
the pattern of all order and obedience, it pleased not God that
there should be any farther note of her life, doings, or death, in
the Scriptures. She lived the rest of her time with the Chris-
tians (as here is peculiarly noted and named among them), and
specially with S. John the Apostle, to whom our Lord recom-
mended her, who provided for her all necessaries ; her spouse,
Joseph (as may be thought) being deceased before. The com-
mon opinion is, that she lived 63 years in all. At the time of
her death, (as S. Dennis first, and after him S. Damascene,
de dormit Deipara writeth) all the Apostles, then dispersed
into diverse nations to preach the gospel, were miraculously
brought together (saving S. Thomas, who came the third day
after) to Jerusalem, to honour her divine departure and funeral,
as the said S. Dennis witnesseth, who saith that himself, S.
Timothy, and S. Hierotheus were present, testifying also of his own
hearing, that both before her death, and after for three days, not
only the Apostles and other holy men present, but the angels
also, and powers of heaven, did sing most melodious hymns.
They buried her sacred body in Gethsemane ; but, for S. Tho-
mas's sake, who desired to see and reverence it, they opened the
sepulchre the third day, and finding it void of the holy body,
but exceedingly fragrant, they returned, assuredly deeming that
her body was assumpted into heaven, as the church of God
holdeth, being most agreeable to the singular privilege of the
mother of God, and, therefore, celebrated most solemnly the
day of her assumption. And this is consonant not only to the
said S. Dennis, and S. Damascene, but to holy Athanasius
also, who avoucheth the same, Sertu. in Evang. de Deipara ; of
which assumption of her body S. Bernard also wrote five notable
sermons extant in his works."
Here is laid the foundation of the idolatrous worship of the
Virgin Mary, a poor mortal creature, who owed her own salva-
tion to free grace, like any other sinner who believed in the
Saviour. The inventive fancy of some early fathers, found out
that all the Apostles were miraculously assembled to witness her
death, except Thomas, who, it seems, had a practice of being
out of the way. Mary having been buried, arose again the
third day, and was assumpted, that is, taken up into heaven, as
Christ had been ; from which it was inferred, that she is raised
to the same glory with him, and that she is to be worshipped :
this, at least, is the practical inference which has been drawn
from the doctrine, for many hundred years. The Rhemish doc-
tors proceed as follows, to censure and condemn the Protestants,
who will not fall down and worship the idol which the Church
of Rome has set up : —
308
" But neither these holy fathers, nor the church's tradition
and testimony, do hear any sway now-a-days with the Protes-
tants, that have abolished this her greatest feast of her assumption ;
who of reason should, at the least, celebrate it as the day of her
death, as they do of other saints. For though they believe not
that her body is assumpted, yet they will not (we trow) deny
that she is dead, and her soul in glory ; neither can they ask
Scripture for that, no more than they require for the deaths of
Peter, Paul, John, and others, which be not mentioned in Scrip-
tures, and yet are still celebrated by the Protestants. But concern-
ing the blessed Virgin Mary, they have blotted out, also, both
her nativity and conception ; so that it may be thought the devil
beareth a special malice to this woman, whose seed broke his
head. For as for the other two days of her purification and
annunciation, they be not proper to our lady, but the one to
Christ's conception, the other to his presentation ; so that she, by
this means, shall have no festival at all.
" But, contrariwise, to consider how the ancient church and
fathers esteemed, spake, and wrote of this excellent vessel of
grace, may make us detest these men's impiety, that cannot abide
the praises of her whom all generations shall call blessed, and
that esteem her honours a derogation to her Son. Some of
their speeches we will set down, that all men may see that we
neither praise her, nor pray to her, more amply than they did.
S. Athanasius, in the place alleged, after he had declared how
all the angelic spirits, and every order of them, honoured and
praised her with the Ave, wherewith S. Gabriel saluted her :
' we also,' saith he, ' of all degrees upon the earth, extol thee, with
loud voice, saying, Ave, gratia plena, See. Hail, full of grace,
our Lord is with thee, pray for us, O mistress, and lady, and
queen, and mother of God.' Most holy and ancient Ephrem,
also, in a special oration made in praise of our lady, saith thus,
in divers places thereof, ' Intemerata Deipara, &c. Mother of
Cod, undefiled, queen of all, the hope of them that despair, my
Udy most glorious, higher than the heavenly spirits, more hon-
ourable than the cherubims, holier than the seraphims, and
without comparison more glorious than the supernal hosts,
the hope of the fathers, the glory of the prophets, the praise
of the Apostles.' And a little after, ' Virgo ante portion, in
partu, el post partum, by thee we are reconciled to Christ my
God, thy Son : thou art the helper of sinners, thou the haven
of them that are tossed with storms, the solace of the world,
the deliverer of the imprisoned, the helper of orphans, the re-
demption of captives.' And afterwards, ' Vouchsafe me, thy ser-
vant, to praise thee. Hail, Mary, full of grace ; hail virgin, most
blessed among women.' And much more in that sense, which
were too long to repeat.
309
" S. Cyril hath the like wonderful speeches of her honour,
Hum. 6. contra Nestorium. ' Praise and glory be to thee, O
Holy Trinity : to thee also be praise, O mother of God ; for
thou art the precious pearl of the world ; thou the candle of un-
quenchable light ; the crown of virginity; the sceptre of the ca-
tholic faith. By thee the Trinity is glorified and adored in all
the world ; by thee heaven rejoiceth, angels and archangels are
glad, devils are put to flight, and man is called again to heaven,
and every creature that was held with the errors of idols, is
turned to the knowledge of the truth : by thee churches are
founded through the world ; thee being their helper, the gentiles
come to penance ;' and much more which "we omit. Likewise
the Greek liturgies, or masses of S. James, S. Basil, and S.
Chrysostom, make most honourable mention of our blessed lady,
praying unto her, saluting her with the angelic hymn, Ave, Maria,
and using these speeches: ' Most holy, undefiled, blessed above
all, our queen, our lady, the mother of God, Mary, n virgin
for ever, the sacred ark of Christ's incarnation, broader than the
heavens that didst bear thy Creator : holy mother, of unspeak-
able light, we magnify thee with angelic hymns. All things pass
understanding ; all things are glorious in thee, O mother of
God. By thee the mystery before unknown to the angels is
made manifest and revealed on the earth. Thou art more hon-
ourable than the cherubims, and more glorious than the sera-
phims. To thee, O full of grace, all creatures, both men and
anoels, do gratulate and rejoice. Glory be to thee, which art a
sanctified temple, a spiritual paradise, the glory of virgins, of
whom God took flesh, and made thy womb his throne, &c* "
There is another long paragraph to the same purpose, con-
taining the words of St. Augustine, or of St. Fulgentius, for
the translators arc not sure which ; then of St. Damascene, and
St. Ireneus, all puffing off the Virgin Mary as above the celes-
tial hosts, as being the special hope of sinners, &c. &c. Fulke
endeavours to show that some of the saints above named never
wrote any thing like what is ascribed to them, but that these
things were forged in their names, hundreds of years after their
death ; and I have no doubt this is the fact, for the worship of
creatures, that is of idols, was by no means general in the church
for a long time after the death of some of the fathers, who are
here cited as recommending and practising the worship of the
Virgin Mary. Be that as it may, the Popish fathers of Rheims,
who were the first to give their brethren in England a version of
the New Testament, in their own language, gave it with a strong
recommendation of the Virgin Mary as an object of worship, as
the hope of the guilty, as the refuge of the atHicted, and as a
powerful intercessor with her Son for obtaining every blessing,
310
If the subject were not shocking for its impiety, it would bo
amusing to observe the shifts to which the reverend fathers arc-
reduced, in order to support the credit of their idol. They ad-
mit that it pleased not God to give any further account of the
history of Mary in the Scriptures, than what we have there re
corded. Christians would rest in such information as it pleased
God to give; but this is not the case with our Rhemish trans-
lators. It has pleased them to relate what God did not think
proper to make known ; and for what they have related, they
have no authority whatever, but the ravings of distempered ima-
ginations of idle monks, who amused themselves in their solitude
by composing such wild reveries, and imposing them upon the
world as revelations from heaven. Such reveries, however, are
received by our English Papists as the dictates of infallible truch,
and the Virgin Mary is worshipped with greater devotion than
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This I will
prove before I leave the subject, by giving the prayers which are
actually addressed to her, from some of their books of devotion.
In the meantime, I shall give some account of another idol not
so generally known, that is, the mother of the Virgin Mary.
I give the following extracts from " An Abridgement of the
Prerogatives of St. Ann, mother of the Mother of God " which
has the approbation of the doctors (of the Sorbonne) at Paris,
London 1688. If my readers should feel shocked by the gross-
ness and impiety of it, I can truly say that I sympathize with
them; and that, though I feel it my duty to expose the abomi-
nable wickedness of Popery, I have no pleasure in making such
an exposure as the following: —
" Chap. 2d. She (St. Ann) was the mother of the mother
of God, and the grandmother of God himself. Figure to your-
self, chaste spouse of Jesus Christ, a royal eagle flies from
mountain to mountain, to choose a tree which may serve the de-
sign, to feed there and breed her young ones. Imagine now
that God is this eagle, who, running over with his eyes, as it
were, so many beautiful trees, all the women who were to be
from the first to the last, perceived not any one so worthy to re-
ceive the glorious Virgin, who was to be the little nut of the
heavenly eaglet, who is the Word incarnate, as St. Ann, in
whom he rested himself as in the tree of paradise, which he knew
to be the tallest in devotion, the deepest in humility, the larges*
in charity, and of the most pleasant odour in sanctity. So if, in
one word, you would know the price of that crown which St.
Ann bore on earth and in heaven, it must be said, and this is
to say all, that her treasure and her crown was the giving being
to Iter who gave it to God; which is to be crowned with the
merits of Mary, like the tree with its flowers and fruit.
311
" Whence it is to be concluded, that the dignity, the grace,
and the holiness of this only, and only perfect daughter, ought
to reflect back on her mother, even to a point. That she ren-
dered her incomparable in sanctity, as she was in her dignity ;
for of two things, one must of necessity happen, either that this
holy Virgin had not the power, or that having the power, she
communicated to her whatever we can fancy greater in grace.
Her paps have too much credit and access with the Word, her
Son, not to have the power, who being, in the terms of Clement
of Alexandria, the pap of his heavenly Father, which gave fecun-
dity to all nature, would also as he had been the principle of
the universe, by being mamelle de son Pere, the Virgin should
be his, (but yet not without proportion) and a force to establish
a world of grace, to make saints, and to make them worthy
of glory. So that it is true, in some sort, and good divinity
to say, that the felicity of the saints is derived from Mary, and
that there is nobody who is not obliged to her for the foitifica-
tion of his patience, for the victory over his temptations, for
preservation from falls, for augmentation of his merits, for his
final grace, and finally for his glory.
" This principle supposed, who will doubt that St. Ann was
not the masterpiece of Mary's workmanship, and that the power
of this last was not the measure of the excellence of the former?
And it is one of the greatest miracles of mysteries of our religion,
that the children give life to their parents, and those who are
not yet, give admirable advantage to those who already are.
Thus Jesus is the son of Adam according to nature, and his
father according to grace; — the Virgin is the mother of the Sa-
viour, by the shadowing of the Holy Spirit; and is likewise the
eldest daughter to the Redeemer. Thus, St, Ann is in the state
of grace, the daughter of her daughter, the holy Virgin, by a
plenitude of grace which she from her received. Which ought
not to be thought strange by him who has tasted the sense and
universal consent of the fathers, who assert, that what was given
in plenitude to Christ, ought in proportion to be attributed to
the holy Virgin.
11 The glory of Jesus Christ, the fourth reason of the prero
gatives of St. Ann, requires, that St. Ann should be such, to
be his worthy grandmother. St. Ann having been chosen in
the ideas of eternal predestination to be the grandmother of
Jesus Christ ; ought not this step to comprehend as many excel-
lences as demonstrate the sublimeness of this saint's perfection?
There need be used only the dignity of her name, as grand-
mother of Jesus Christ. An argument which the Apostle uses
to prove the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ above the angelic na-
tures, for that he was the Son of God. The dignity, therefore
312
of St. Ann, that having entered by the conception and nativity
of the Virgin, into the economy of the incarnation, and into the
6tate of the hypostatical union, she was by this her daughter
exalted into so dazzling a throne of glory, that there is only above
it, the Trinity of uncreated persons, the humanity of Jesus
Christ, and the holiness of her daughter, Mother of God
In our indigences and our needs, we must address ourselves
by St. Ann to the Virgin, and by the Virgin to Jesus Christ,
and by Jesus Christ to God the Father, who can refuse nothing
to his Son, no more than He can to his Mother, or she to
her's, who is St. Ann."
Then follows a prayer addressed to the said St. Ann, which
will be introduced with more propriety when I come to give spe-
cimens of the style of devotion used in the Church of Rome, in
the worship of her idols. The work from which the above ex-
tracts are made, has the approbation of the doctors in divinity in
the faculty in Paris, who declare that they think it worthy to be
published ; and a certificate to this effect is signed at Paris, the
10th July, 164-3, by " Vincent Jude, C. Bourbon."
As an introduction to what I have to write on the subject of
the idolatry of the Church of Rome, I thought it proper to give
this short history of their principal idol, and of her mother, in
the very words of their own writers ; and if it shall be said that
this account is too much like what heathen authors have written
about the genealogy of their gods and goddesses, I have only to
reply, that I cannot help it. They have chosen such idols for
themselves, and such is the account which their authors give of
ihem.
I had marked off for insertion here, Mr. Andrews' account
of the Virgin Mary ; but as I have not room for the whole, and
as it would not be doing him justice to cut it through the mid-
dle, I reserve it for my next ; and conclude the present Num-
ber with the following anecdote, which came to my knowledge
since 1 finished what I had to say on the subject of withholding
the Bible from the people.
An English officer, who was lately in Valenciennes, states the
following fact, which came under his own observation. A num-
ber of Bibles, in French, had been sent from England to the
above city, for sale or distribution. Many of the people received
them with gratitude, and read them with avidity ; but the priests
getting information of the matter, ordered all the Bibles to be
returned. The English officer, who was acquainted with him,
asked the reason of this : to which he gave this truly Catholic
reply ; — " / teach the people every thing that is necessary for
them to know."
THE
No. XL.
SATURDAY, APRIL nth, 1819.
Amicus Veritatis tells us that " it would be almost end-
less to answer all the charges which The Protestant may
bring against Catholics, as the fertility of his genius appears to be
very little inferior to the original declaimers against Popery."
(Part I. p. 30.) I suppose the writer refers to Luther, Calvin,
and Knox, as the original declaimers against Popery; and, when
he compares The Protestant to such men, he probably in-
tends it as a compliment; and as such, no doubt, it ought to be
received with all due acknowledgment.
In point of fact, however, there is »io subject with regard to
which fertility of genius is less necessary. It scarcely admits of
imagination at all. The only faculty that is necessary for the in-
vestigation of such a subject, is patience. The materials, by
which the Church of Rome is convicted of all the bad things
which I have laid to her charge, are so abundant, that there is no
"oom for invention, or the exercise of imagination. If I am so
happy as to possess this faculty, I suppose my readers will not
easily find it out from any thing that I have written; but if they
knew the quantity of blasphemous and impure matter which I am
obliged to turn over, in exploring the writings of Romish saints
and fathers, in order to exhibit the true character of Popery,
they would, I am sure, give me credit for some degree of pa-
tience. , It would be easy to find enough to fill some ponderous
folios : the difficulty is to select and condense such matter as
will engage general attention, in this age of light and superficial
reading.
I have undertaken to prove the Church of Rome guilty of
idolatry; and so far from being at a loss for matter, — so far from
being obliged to have recourse to the fertility of genius, I feel
that, amidst the variety of subjects which claim attention, it is dif-
ficult to decide which to present to my readers first. In my last
Number, I gave a particular account of two of Rome's female
idols: namely, the Virgin Mary, upon the authority of the learn-
ed doctors of Rheims; and the mother of the said Mary, from a
work approved by the doctors of the Sorbonne, at Paris: but, lest
R r
314
it should be pleaded, that these authorities are obsolete, and
that more rational sentiments are now entertained, (for Papists
can change their sentiments often enough, and disavow the senti-
ments of their fathers, when they have a purpose to serve,) I
shall give the doctrine of the Church of Rome, as held in the
present day, in the words of Mr. Andrews, in his school book,
which has the high apostolical sanction and recommendation of
Bishop Milner, " than whom a firmer or more orthodox divine
never breathed."
" Of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
' One of the last means which I assign, but also one of the
most effectual, for acquiring virtue in youth, is devotion to the
blessed Virgin. It is infallible to such who assiduously employ
it, because it affords, at the same time, the most powerful inter-
cession in the sight of God for obtaining his favour, and the most
perfect model for our imitation.
" Next to God, and the most adorable humanity of his Son
Jesus Christ, it is she whom we must chiefly honour and
love, by reason of that most sublime and excellent dignity of
mother of God, which raises her above all creatures that God
ever created.
" By her we may receive all the assistance which is necessary
for us. She is most powerful with God, to obtain from him all
that she shall ask of him. She is all goodness in regard of us,
by applying to God for us. Being mother of God, he cannot
refuse her request : being our mother, she cannot deny us her
intercession, when we have recourse to her. Our miseries move
her; our necessities urge her ; the prayers we offer her for our
salvation bring to us all that we desire : and St. Bernard is not
afraid to say, * That never any person invoked that mother
of mercy, in his necessities, who has not been sensible of the ef-
fects of her assistance.'
" Although the blessed Virgin extends her goodness to all men,
yet we may say she has a particular regard for young people,
whose frailty she knows to be the greatest, and necessities the
most urgent, especially for the preservation of chastity, which is
most assaulted in that age, and of which she is a singular pre*
tectress. History is full of examples of saints who have pre-
served this great virtue in their youth, by the assistance of this
queen of virgins, and experience affords daily examples of those
who have gained great victories, by the recourse they have had
to her intercession, and who have happily advanced themselves in
virtue, under the protection, and by the graces she obtains of
God for them.
" Be therefore devout to the blessed Virgin, dear Theotime ;
but let it not be the devotion of many, who think themselves so,
in offering some prayer to her, more by custom than devotion ;
and on the other side exceedingly displease her by a life full of
315
mortal sin, which they commit without remorse. What devo-
tion is this, to desire to please the mother, and daily crucify the
Son, trampling his blood under their feet, and contemning his
grace and favour ? Is not this to be an enemy both to Son and
mother ?
" O dear Theotime, your devotion to the blessed Virgin must
not be like that, it must be more generous and more holy; and
to speak plainly, if you will be a true child, and a sincere ser-
vant of the blessed Virgin, you must be careful to perform four
things :
" 1. Have a great apprehension of displeasing her by mortal
sin, and of afflicting her motherly heart by dishonouring her Son,
and destroying your soul ; and if you chance to fall into that mis-
fortune, have recourse readily to her, that she may be your in-
tercessor, in reconciling you to her Son, whom you have extreme-
ly provoked. ' She is the refuge of sinners as well as of the
just, on condition they have recourse to her with a true desire of
converting themselves,' as St. Bernard says.
" 2. Love and imitate her virtues, principally her humility and
chastity. These two virtues among others rendered her most
pleasing to God ; she loves them particularly in children, and is
pleased to assist with her prayers those whom she finds particu-
larly inclined to those virtues, according to the same saint.
" 3. Have recourse to her in all your spiritual necessities: and
for thai end offer to her daily some particular prayers, say your
beads, or the little office sometimes in the week, perform some-
thing in her honour on every Saturday, whether prayer, absti-
nence, or alms; honour particularly her feasts, by confession and
communion.
" 4. Be mindful to invoke her in temptations, and in the dan-
gers you find yourselves in of offending God. You cannot show
your respect better than by applying yourself to her in these ur-
gent necessities, and you can find no succour more ready and
favourable than hers. It is the counsel of St. Bernard, ' If the
winds of temptations be raised against you, if you run upon the
rocks of adversity, lift up your eyes towards that star, invoke the
blessed Virgin. In dangers, in extremities, in doubtful affairs,
think upon the blessed Virgin, let her not depart from your
mouth, nor from your heart ; and that you may obtain the as-
sistance of her intercession, be sure to follow her example.'
" If you perform this, you will have a true devotion to the
blessed Virgin, you will be of the number of her real children,
and she will be your mother, under whose protection you shall
never perish. Remember well that excellent sentence of St.
Anselm, who presumed to say, * That as he must unavoidably
perish who has no affection to the blessed Virgin Mary, and
who forsakes her ; so it is impossible he should perish who has
recourse to her, and whom she regards with the eyes of mercy.'
316
" I shall conclude with an excellent exarnplo which I shall pro-
duce for a proof of this truth. St. Bridget had a son who fol-
lowed the profession of a soldier, and died in the wars. Hear-
ing the news of his death, she was much concerned for the sal-
vation of her son, dead in so dangerous a condition : and as she
was often favoured hy God with revelations of which she has
composed a book, she was assured of the salvation of her son bv
two subsequent revelations. In the first, the blessed Virgin re-
vealed to her, that she had assisted her son with a particular
protection at the hour of death, having strengthened him against
temptations, and obtained all necessary graces for him to make
a holy and happy end. In the following, she declared the cause
of that singular assistance she gave her son, and said, it was in
recompense of his great and sincere devotion he had testified to
her during his life, wherein he had loved her with a very ardent
affection, and had endeavoured to please her in all things.
" This, Theotime, is what real devotion to the blessed Virgin
did merit for this young man, and for many others : she will be
as powerful in your behalf if you have a devotion to her ; if you
love and honour the blessed Virgin in the manner we have men-
tioned."
Such is the doctrine of my opponent, The Catholic Vindi-
cator; and such, we may presume, is the doctrine of modern
Papists, not only in Spain, but in enlightened England, and even
in enlightened Glasgow. Such is the doctrine which, by the
authority and recommendation of a Bishop and Vicar Apostolic,
is taught in the " Catholic schools" in England, for the purpose
of training up the rising generation, not to the knowledge of
Christ and his gospel, but to the worship of a vain idol: for let
it be remembered that this school book is declared, in the
author's Orthodox Journal, to be so excellent, that one will learn
T».ore of religion from it, at a single reading, than he will derive
iom the Bible, in a whole life.
Now I defy all the heathens in the whole world, to produce from
the writings of their poets or priests, a piece of more direct idol wor-
ship than that furnished by Mr. Andrews, which is recommended
by Bishop Milner, and inculcated upon the infant minds of those
who are taught to read, in the schools of English Papists. The
religion of such is unquestionably that of heathenism and idola-
try; for it is the knowledge of religion which this hook is said to
be eminently calculated to impart ; and this religion is the wor-
ship of a fellow creature. It is to no purpose to reply that, in
the same book, the existence of a supreme Deity is admitted, and
that he also is to be worshipped. Idolatry consists not so much
in denying this truth, as in giving to a creature that worship which
is due to God alone.
Mr. Andrews invests this idol with the attributes of a deity.
The Virgin Mary must be omniscient: she must see and know
the heai is and thoughts of all that worship her; she must know
317
the particular temptation to which every young man and woman
ii exposed, that she may provide a remedy to preserve them from
sin. She must be omnipresent, to hear the prayers, and answer
the requests of all that call upon her ; and she must be omnino-
tent, to preserve the lives of those who trust in her; or, if she
should not choose to do this, on all occasions, she must have
power over all the spirits of darkness, so that not one of them
shall touch the soul of one that dies calling upon her, in any part
of the world. Common sense tells us that one, to whom prayer
is addressed by millions of needy creatures, with a belief that
such prayers are heard, and will be answered, must be present
every where, must know all things, and must have almighty
power, to do all that his worshippers call on him for. Such
knowledge and power belong to the living and true God, and to
him alone. To ascribe such perfection to a creature, and to
worship a creature, is that very idolatry, and opposition to the
authority of the true God, of which the Almighty declares his
abhorrence throughout the Bible, for which he sent his ancient
church into captivity in Babylon; and for which he has not only
sent the Cnurch of Home into a worse captivity, but has made
her the antitype of that very Babylon itself, and the oppressor of
the true church of God.
To trust in God for salvation, or for any spiritual blessing, is
one of the hightest acts of religious worship. He positively
challenges tnis for himself; and pronounces a curse upon the
man that trusts in any other. " Thus saith the Lord, Cursed
be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm,
and whose heart departeth from the Lord : for he shall be like
the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh ;
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt
land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man who trusteth in
the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is," &c. Jer. xvii. 5 — 8.
But Mr. Andrews urgently advises his young pupils to trust in
a woman, not only for the preservation of their chastity, but also
as a sure refuge to which they may fly in a dying hour.
If it shall be said, that this is rather implied than plainly ex-
pressed by Mr. Andrews, I shall proceed to cite other authori-
ties, in which it is expressed plainly enough. The following short
prayer to the Virgin Mary is extracted from a book of devotion,
entitled, the " Garden of the Soul," which is, I believe, ascrib-
ed to the late Dr. Challoner, a Bishop and Vicar Apostolic in
England. " Holy Mary, succour the miserable, help the faint-
hearted, comfort the afflicted, pray for the people, intercede for
the clergy, make supplication for the devout female sex: let all
be sensible of thy help, who celebrate thy holy commemoration.
V. Pray for us, O holy mother of God. R. That we may be
made worthy of the promises of Christ. Let ns pray. Grant,
we beseech thee, O Lord God, that we thy servants may en,.'jy
318
perpetual health of mind and body, and, by the glorious interces-
sion of blessed Mary, ever virgin, may be delivered from pre-
sent sorrows, and come to eternal joys, through our Lord Jesus
Christ." Though the latter part of the above professes to be a
prayer to God, and though Mary stands only as an intercessor,
the first part is a direct prayer to Mary herself; and she is so-
licited to grant such things as God alone can grant. It is He
alone that can hear the prayer of the miserable and afflicted
throughout the world, and grant succour and comfort. The
following is from the same " Garden of the Soul."
" HYMN TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN.
" Ave Maris Stella.
" Hail thou resplendent str.r, | " Exert the mother's care,
Which shinest o'er the mail:; And us thy children own;
Blest mother of our God, I To him convey our prayer,
And ever virgin queen. vVho chose to he thy Son.
" Hail happy gate of bliss, j " O pure, O spotless maid,
Greeted by Gabriel's tongue, Whose meekness all exccll'd,
Negociate our peace, O make us chaste and mild,
And cancel Eva's wrong. And all our passions quell.
" Loosen the sinners' bands; " Preserve our lives unstained,
All evils drive away: And guard us in our way;
Bring light unto the blind, Until we come to thee,
And for all graces pray. To joys that ne'er decay.
" Praise to the Father be,
With Christ his only Son,
And to the Holy Ghost,
Thrice blessed three in one. Amen."
Here the Virgin Mary is plainly invoked as the Saviour of
sinners. To " negociate our peace, and cancel Eva's wrong,"
is nothing less than to make reconciliation with God, and do
away the effects of the fall of our first parents. She is also in-
treated to do the work of the Holy Ghost ; that is, to loose the
bands of sinners, and give light to the blind. She is presumed
able to quell all the corrupt passions of the human heart, and to
impart mildness and purity. Every Christian knows that this is
the work of God alone ; but the poor deluded Romanists ask it
of a fellow creature. The priests cause the people to err, and
they who are led by them are destroyed.
I have before me another manual of devotion, which seems to
he still more modern than Dr. Challoner's " Garden of the Soul."
It is entitled, " A Manual of devout prayers and other Christian
devotions: fitted for all persons and occasions, and corrected
from the errors of former editions. To which are added, Ves-
pers for Sundays and Complin." Printed in Preston, 1785. —
This work is evident!) intended for Papists in England, for it
fixes the times of plenary indulgences in the London and the
three other districts. 1 extract from ii the following: —
S19
" A Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
" O blessed Virgin Mary, immaculate mother of our Lorii
and Saviour Jesus Christ, recommend, we beseech thee, these
our imperfect prayers to the mercy of thy glorious Son, and of-
fer him thy own most acceptable intercession for us ; that he
would be pleased to pardon our sins past, and deliver us from
future temptations, and protect us in all our ways, with the
assistance of his grace.
" O blessed Virgin, by that unspeakable gladness, which fillei.
and overflowed thy spirit, when the angel declared to thee (he
adorable mystery of our Saviour's incarnation, and by that perfect
resignation of thyself to the will of God, when thou humbly an-
sweredst, Behold the handmaid of our Lord, Jet it be done unto
me' according to thy "word, we beseech thee obtain for us the
graces of a lively faith, a discreet humility, and a cheerful submis-
sion to the divine will in all things.
" O admirable mother, by the tender love, and continual ser-
vice of the blessed Jesus, in his infancy, and by that incompar-
able happiness thou afterwards enjoyedst in his heavenly doc-
trine and miraculous life, we beseech thee to obtain for us a dili-
gent devotion, and a constant perseverance in our duty to God,
that our delight may be in his law, and our confidence in his holy
protection.
" O mother of pity aiad compassion, by those sharp sorrows
which pierced thy heart, when thou wast a sad witness of thy
Son's sufferings, and beheldest him in that bitter agony, all torn
with cruel scourges, and bleeding on the cross, forsaken of his
friends, and dying in the midst of his enemies, we beseech thee
to obtain for us compassion towards the affliction of others, and
patience in our own, and also a faithful correspondence to the
great love of our Redeemer.
" O glorious Virgin, by those excessive joys wherewith thy
soul wholly ravished at the victorious resurrection of thy Son,
and his triumphant ascension above the highest heavens, we be-
seech thee to obtain for us the blessings of a virtuous life, and
holy death, and a happy resurrection, that we may ever rejoice in
the presence of God, and admire his glory, and praise his good-
ness, through the same Jesus Christ; who, with the Father and
the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, one God, world without
end."
The following is given, both in this work, in the cc Garden of
the Soul," and in most of the books of devotion that I liave
seen in Latin, French, and English :
"The short Litany of the Blessed Virgin.
Lord, have mercy on us. O God the Son, Redeemer of
Christ, have mercy on us. mankind, have me^cy on ws.
Lord, have mercy on us. O God the Holy Ghost, Perfect-
Jesus, receive our prayers. er of the elect, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, grant our petitions. O holy Trinity, one God, hci'M
O God the Father, Creator of the mercy o?ttis.
world, have mercy on us.
32C
Mirror of modesty, silence, and re-
tirement,
Mirror of wisdom, devotion, p.nd
sanctity,
Mirror of faith, hope, and charity,
Mirror of all virtues,
Refuge of sinners,
Comfort of the afflicted,
Advocate of all Christians,
Queen of angels,
Queen of patriarchs and prophets,
Queen of apostles and martyrs,
Queen of confessors and virgins,
Queen of saints, pray for us.
Lamb of God, that takest away the
sins of the world, spare us, 0
Lord.
Lamb of God, that takest away the
sins of the world, Hear us, 0
Lord.
Lamb of God, that takest away the
sinsof the world, kavemercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father, $c.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of Virgins,
Daughter of the eternal Father,
Mother of the eternal Son,
Spouse of the eternal Spirit,
Tabernacle of the glorious Trinity,
Mother of Jesus,
Mother of the Messiahs,
Mother of the desired of -all nations,
Mother of the Prince of Peace,
Mother of the King of heaven.
Mother of our Creator,
Mother and Virgin,
Virgin most chaste and spotless,
Virgin most mild and merciful,
Virgin most prudent and faithful,
Virgin most miraculously fruitful,
Ever- Virgin,
Root of the Tree of Life,
Source of the Fountain of Grace,
Orient of the Son of glory,
Blessed among women,
Blessed among the children of men,
Blessed throughout all generations,
Mirror of humility and obedience,
Mirror of patience and resignation,
The Antiphon.
Wonderful art thou, O God, in all thy saints, but incomparably more
in the mother of thy Son; who remaining a virgin, brought forth the
Saviour of the world; and living humbly on this our low earth, is now
exalted above the highest seraphims.
Vers. Rejoice, O my soul, in the glory of the blessed virgin mother.
Alldujah.
Resp. By the fruit of whose womb we are regenerated to eternal life.
Attelujah.
Vers. O Lord, hear my prayer.
Resp. And let my supplication come unto thee."
I dare say most of my Protestant readers would imagine that
I was writing of the dark ages, or of Popish worship in the
heart of Spain or Italy, if I had not told them that the above
is extracted from hooks of devotion used in England at this very
day. I have a great deal worse to exhibit for the dark ages. I
can produce prayers in which Mary is actually exalted above
Jesus Christ, and in which she is intreated to command her Son
to grant what the worshipper desires of him; nay, in which she
is represented as saving those whom Christ would reject; and I
can show that, with regard to the moral character of those on
whom she bestowed her favours, she was not more nice than
the ancient Venus was with regard to the character of her wor-
th)! pcrs.
THE
Protectant,
No. XLI.
SATURDAY, APRIL 24th, 1819.
Ik my last Number, I convicted modern Papists of idolatry,
upon the authority of their own organ and vindicator. Mr.
Andrews cannot say that I rest my accusation upon the authority
of authors disapproved and condemned by the Church of Rome;
for he has not been honoured by such condemnation. He stands
as the approved advocate of Popery in Britain ; he is supported
and recommended by Dr. Milner, a Bishop, and Vicar Apos-
tolic; and, under this high authority, he teaches all the youth of
the Romish communion in England to worship the Virgin Mary,
as the medium by which they will receive all blessings in life, and
at death. I request my readers to reflect on this subject; let
them carefully peruse the chapter " on devotion to the Blessed
Virgin," which I gave in my last Number, and say whether it be
possible that such doctrine could proceed from a Christian, or
from any man but a downright idolater?
To convict an individual Papist of idolatry would be com-
paratively a small matter, — to find a poor ignorant devotee of the
Virgin Mary bowing down and worshipping before her image,
would excite, perhaps, no more than a feeling of compassion for
the deluded votary of the idol, and an effort to remove the de-
lusion, by telling him of the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom he hath sent; but, when we find such idolatrous principles
taught under Episcopal authority, — when we read a certificate,
under the hand of an English Vicar Apostolic, that the book
which contains them is " the most complete and valuable work
of its kind in our language, and eminently entitled to the patron-
age of the Catholic public ;" that, " as such," he " shall not fail
to recommend it in those places of education over which" he has
" any authority or influence;" — we are led not only to contem-
plate the Popish part of our population as idolaters, in the grossest
sense of the word, but to compassionate the state of their help-
less offspring, for whom an idolatrous education is thus systema-
tically provided; as if Satan, aware of the efforts which Christians
are making for the subversion of his kingdom, were endeavouring
to provide an army for his defence, by engaging all the youth of
the Romish communion to devote themselves to an idol, which
Ss
322
he knows well is the same thing as devotion to himself. No
matter though that idol he the mother of Jesus according to the
flesh, — to worship her is no hetter than to worship the devil ;
for to worship any creature whatever is to obey the devjl, who
was the inventor, and who is the patron of creature worship If
Mr. Andrews shall be pleased to controvert this sentiment, and
to defend his doctrine " of devotion to the Blessed Virgin," I
will give hiin all the advantage of laying it down broadly and
plainly, as a doctrine held by The Protestant, that to wor-
ship, in a religious sense, the highest creature that God ever
made, is no better than to worship the devil.
Here let me remark, in passing, that I consider as grosslv
blasphemous the title of " Mother of God," which is usually
given to the Virgin Mary, in all Popish books of devotion.
In the New Testament, she is called the mother of Jesus, but
this relates only to his human nature; and the expression cannot
without impiety be used in relation to him as God.
I proceed now to give some specimens of the style in which
this idol was addressed, and the estimation in which she was held
by her worshippers in former times. There is a great deal of mat-
ter more gross than any thing which we find in Mr. Andrews'
school book, or " the Garden of the Soul;" but if it be at all
admitted, that a creature, such as Mary, is a proper object of
religious worship, it is of little consequence how extravagant the
language of such worship may be. Nay, as we can never speak
too highly of the true and proper object of worship, if this were
Mary, the more highly her worshippers praised her the better.
" In the contemplations of the life and glory of Holy Mary, the
Mother of Jesus, published anno 1685, Permissu Superiorum,
it is said, ' the Blessed Virgin is the empress of seraphims, — the
most exact original of practical perfection which the omnipotence
of God ever drew ; and, by innumerable titles, she claims the
utmost duty of every Christian, as a proper homage to her great-
ness.' " M'Culloch Pop. co?id. p. 334.
" O Mother of God," says St. Germain, " your defence is
immortal; your intercession is life; your protection is security;
if you do not teach us the way, none can become spiritual, nor
adore God in spirit. O most holy Virgin, none can have the
knowledge of God, but by you : O Mother of God, none can
be saved, but by you : O Virgin Mother, none can be delivered
from dangers, but by you: O favoured of God, none can obtain
any gift or grace, but by you." Verit. Devot. de Crasset. p. 31.
quoted by M'Culloch, p. 335.
" From the time," says St. Bernardine, " that the Virgin
Mother conceived in her womb the word of God, she obtained,
as I may say, a certain jurisdiction and authority over all the
temporal processions of the Holy Ghost; so that no creature has
received any grace or virtue from God, but according to the dis-
pensation of his Holy Mother." Crasset. p. 37. Ibid.
323
" Approach," says the Abbot of Celles, " with a devout
contemplation of spirit, toward the Blessed Virgin; because
through her, and with her, and in her, and from her, the world
both has, and will have, all that is good. — She is our advocate
with the Son, as the Son is with the Father. She solicits for
us, both the Father and the Son. Often those whom the
justice of the Son might condemn, the mercy of the mother
delivers. In short, as our Saviour once said that none could
come to him while he was on earth, unless the Father drew him,
so dare I, in some sort affirm that none comes now to thy
glorified Son, unless thou draiv him by thy holy assistance. y'
Ibid. pp. 33, 34-. Ibid. 336.
Archbishop Usher, in his answer to a challenge made by a
Jesuit in Ireland, 4to. page 479, furnishes me with the follow-
ing quotations from Popish authors, with whose works he seems
to have been very familiar. He gives the Latin original in the
margin, but I shall content myself with the English: — "That
because she is the mother of the Son of God who doth produce
the Holy Ghost, therefore all the gifts, virtues, and graces of the
Holy Ghost are by her hands administered to whom shepleaseth,
when she pleaseth, how she pleaseth, and as muoh as 6hc
pleaseth. Bernardine, Senens. Serm. 61. Artie. 1. cap. 8.
That she hath singularly obtained of God this office from
eternity, as herself doth testify, Prov. viii. 23. ' I was ordained
from everlasting,' namely, a dispenser of celestial graces; and
that in this respect, Cantic. vii. 4. It is said of her, ' thy neck
is a tower of ivory;' because that as by the neck the vital spirits
do descend from the head to the body ; so by the Virgin the
vital graces are transmitted from Christ the head into his mystical
body : the fulness of grace being in him, as in the head from
whence the influence cometh, and in her as in the neck through
which it is transfused unto us: so that take away the patronage
of the Virgin, you stop as it were the sinner's breath, that he is
not able to live any longer.'' Bernardine, fyc. Artie. 3. cap.
3. and other authorities cited.
Tlie Archbishop continues: — " Then men stuck not to teach,
that unto her all power was given in heaven and in earth. So
that for heaven, when our Saviour ascended thither, this might
be assigned for one reason (ainong others) why he left his mother
behind him ; lest, perhaps, the court of heaven might have been
in doubt whom they should rather go to meet, their lord or
their lady: and for earth, she may rightly apply unto herself
that in the first of Ezra, ' all the kingdoms of the earth hath
the Lord given unto me.' And we may say unto her again, that
in Tobit 13th, ' thy kingdom endureth for all ages:' and in the
144th or 145th Psalm, ' thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages.'
That howsoever she was the noblest person that was, or ever
should be in the world, and of so great perfection, that, although
the had not been the Mother of God, she ought nevertheless
324
to have been the lady of the world." — Again : " Whence
Luke ii. 51. it is written of the Virgin and glorious Joseph,
he ' was subject unto them' that as this proposition is true, —
all things are subject to God's command, even the Virgin
herself; so this again is true also, — all things are subject to
the command of the Virgin, even God himself: that consi-
dering the Blessed Virgin is the mother of God, and God is
her son, ana every son is naturally inferior to his mother, and
subject unto her, and the mother hath pre-eminence and is
superior to her son; it therefore followeth that the Blessed
Virgin is superior to God, and God himself is subject unto her,
in respect of the manhood which he assumed from her: that
howsoever she be subject unto God, in as much as she is his
creature, yet is she said to be superior, and preferred before him,
in as much as she is his mother." Usher gives in the margin,
pp. 480-482, the very words of the authors who speak such
blasphemies, and refers to the particular discourses from which
he quotes.
I am heartily sick of such abominable stuff; but justice to my
subject requires me to go on. Some of my readers will have
heard of the famous Psalter of Bonaventure, of which the design
was to apply to the Virgin, all the addresses made to God in
the psalms and hymns of the Church. This book was printed
with license and commendation, as a piece ' which was profitable
to be printed, and very piously and commendably to be recited
by all men in their private prayers, to the honour of the Blessed
Virgin.' The author of it, also, has been canonized by the
church, and worshipped among others of the same fraternity;
which certainly implies that his works were tolerably meritorious.
A few quotations will discover what exercises are permitted in
the Romish Church. " Come unto Mary, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden; and she shall refresh your souls. Come unto
her in your temptations ; and the serenity of her contenance shall
establish you. O lady, in thee do I put my trust; deliver my
soul from mine enemies. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is
good. O give thanks unto his Mother, for her mercy endureth
for ever." M'Culloch, Pop. Cond. pp. 337, 338.
' Usher gives several quarto pages of extracts from this Popish
version of the Psalms, in the original Latin, with a translation.
Here the Virgin Mary is the Alpha and the Omega. The most
sublime ascriptions of praise to the Creator and Preserver of all
things, are addressed to Mary, under the title of " our Lady."
The last psalm is made to begin with " Praise our Lady in
her saints; praise her in her virtues and miracles;" and it con-
cludes thus, " Onuiis spiritus laudet Dominum nostram; —
let every spirit (or every thing that has breath) praise our Lady."
Ushers Ans. &;c. p. 493. "
Connected with this, the Archbishop gives us the words of
Bemardinus dc Busti, which exceed even Bonaventure in bias-
325
phemy : — " But thou, O most grateful Virgin, didst not thou
something to God? Didst not thou make him any recompense?
Truly (if it be lawful to speak it) thou in some respect did
greater things to God, than God himself did to thee and to all
mankind. I will therefore speak that, which thou out of thy
humility hast past in silence. For thou only didst sing, ' He that
is mighty hath done to me great things:' but I do sing and say,
that thou hast done greater things to him that is mighty." Ibid,
p. 4-94.
To show that Mary is exalted above Jesus Christ; and to
give her greater interest in the affections of her deluded worship-
pers, the same Bernardine relates a vision, which he says was
shown to St. Francis, or (as some would have it) to his com-
panion Friar Leon. He saw " two ladders that reached from
earth to heaven ; the one red upon which Christ leaned, from
which many fell back and could not ascend : the other white upon
which the holy Virgin leaned, the help whereof such as used,
were by her received with a cheerful countenance, and so with
felicity ascended into heaven." Ibid. p. 495. " More present
relief," says St. Anselm, and after him other authors ; " More
present relief is sometimes found, by commemorating the name
of Mary, than by calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, her only Son." Which one of your Jesuits is so far from
being ashamed to defend, that he dareth to extend it farther to
the mediation of other saints also, telling us very peremptorily,
that as our Lord Jesus worketh greater miracles by his saints,
than by himself, (John xiv. 12.) so often he showeth the force
of their intercession more than of his own. Ibid. p. 495. The
author refers on the margin to Henry Fitzsimon, of the Mass,
lib. 2. part 2. cap. 3.
" If Popish tales be true," says M'Culloch, page 33S, " the
Romish Church is under very strong obligations to pay all this
homage, and a great deal more to the Virgin. There is scarcely
any favour which she has withheld from her devout worshippers.
She has delivered them from sickness, restored their eye-sight,
preserved them from dangers, saved them from the gallows, and
even raised them from the dead ; and, what must peculiarly tend
to the consolation of Papists, she is not at all squeamish as to the
choice of her votaries. • Sinners,' says Crasset, ' being her sub-
jects, make up her crown and glory; and it is for that she loves
them with the tenderness and sweet compassion of a mother, let
them be ever so wicked.' ' Know thou,' said the Virgin herself
to St. Bridget, ' my dearest child, that there is no man in the
world so lewd and accursed of God, that he is entirely forsaken
of him while he lives; no sinner so desperate, but he may return
and find mercy with him, provided he have recourse to me.'
Brig. Revela. lib. 6. cap. 10."
Crasset has given many proofs of her extensive benevolence to
the chief of ainners; but this benevolence is not exercised in the
326
way of saving them from tlieir sins, but merely from the punish-
ment which they deserve; or in preserving them during a life of
sin, so that they shall not die without an opportunity of makina
confession at their last moments, which is understood to make
all right. See an illustration of this at the conclusion of my
third Number; and, in addition, take the following: —
" A certain young Gascon soldier, having spent his fortune,
afterwards, for particular reasons, sold himself to the devil, and
renounced the Saviour. No temptation, however, could induce
him to sacrifice his interest in the Virgin; and this confidence in
her mercy secured him protection from his old acquaintance, Sa-
tan, who began to be troublesome, notwithstanding their former
friendship. On prostrating himself before an image of the Vir-
gin with Christ in her arms, he was greatly comforted by the
following dialogue between the two idols: — ' O my sweet son,
have mercy on this man.' ' Why, mother, what would you
have me to do with this wretch who has renounced me?' The
Virgin on this prostrated herself before her son, and again de-
manded his pardon. This was irresistible. The little image
raised the large one from the ground, and replied, ' I never yet
refused my mother any thing that she asked : I grant it, for your
sake, and for yours alone.' Crassel, page 90, quoted by
M'Culloch, page 3^0. Should any incredulous reader inquire
how the images could hold such a conversation, or how a little
image in the arms of a large one could raise it from the ground,
and embrace it, let him recollect that this is the least marvellous
part of the adventure."
Palbert of Tameswaer relates the following extraordinary in-
stance of the power of the Virgin : — " A certain wicked villain
fell into the Danube, and remained under water for three days.
In ordinary cases, there certainly would have been some danger
of drowning; but, to the rogue's great surprise, he was greeted in
this new element with the following address, • Thou well de-
servest, base rascal, to lose thy life, and be condemned for ever,
for thy sins; but because thou art a servant of the Virgin Mary,
thou shalt be delivered from this danger, that thou mayest go
and be confessed.' Up he came accordingly, and made the above
declaration to the priest Palbert himself. Crasset {p. 130.) refers
to this story of Palbert, and informs us that the works of this
priest were dedicated to the Pope, from which we may infer, if
we please, that the story is worthy of all credit." See M'Culloc/i,
p. 3*1.
Idolatrous worship was usually accompanied by scenes of
lewdness, and every species of wickedness; and the Church of
Rome, following the footsteps of their heathen ancestors, have
made an idol that without scruple indulges those who worship
her, in such practices as were reckoned most acceptable to the
idol of Paphos. In short, the Virgin Mary is represented as
little better than a pander i>f lewdness. I have been obliged to
327
read several stories of her, that would not be believed, if related
of any virtuous woman. She has appeared to many grave monks
and fathers, and caressed them just as a mother would do her
infant child. It is related of several nuns who were warmly de-
voted to her service, that when they happened to have what in
Scotland is called a misfortune, the Virgin has miraculously con-
veyed them out of the way, and assumed the exact appearance 01
their persons, till it was convenient for them to return to their
places; and not one of the sisterhood knew that they had been
absent. It is said that a certain Abbess, who happened to have
a misfortune, had her place supplied by the Virgin, and the
duties of her office performed so punctually, that though she
was absent for a long time, none of the sisterhood so much as
suspected the fact, or that they had the holy Virgin presiding
among them, instead of their own spiritual mother. I do not
choose to enlarge on this subject. Let the following story suffice
as a specimen of the manner in which the Virgin Mary is re-
presented as favouring the most vicious persons, if they be only
devoted to her: —
" We read, in Martial le Grand, of a woman very much given
to lascivious and impure practices; but, amidst all her imperfec-
tions, she had such a great love and affection for the Virgin, that
she never let a day pass without making her seven devout obey-
ances, accompanied with an Ave Marin. Yet that woman was
a common and mercenary prostitute, particularly to one of chief
note in the place, who had a spouse very devout and virtuous,
who, impatient of such an affront, every day prayed the Virgin
to avenge her of that strumpet. One day falling down before her
image, she said to her, O my dearest lady, mirror of all purity,
how can you suffer that harlot to insult me, — to rob me of my
honour: — punish, punish her, I pray you, and take such ex-
emplary vengeance as may deter all from like practices. — But
the image, (O strange power of a prayer rightly made), the image,
animated by miracle, answered her, My well beloved, it is not
possible for me to satisfy your desire, not as if I knew not very
well the justice of your complaint, and of the resentment of the
outrage which that hussey does you: but the honour and respect
tvJiich she still bears to me, amidst all her disorders, tie up my
hands, and forbid the chastisement which you desire. But that
you may not be altogether unsuccessful in your suit, I shall try,
for your comfort, to obtain of my Son for her a perfect com-
punction of heart, and an entire retreat from such a detestable
life; which she accordingly did." Free Thoughts, p. 99.
From these things it appears that men and women may live
in the habitual practice of all manner of wickedness, and yet
their devotion will be extremely acceptable to the Virgin Mary.
Let them be as wicked as it is possible for them to be, if they
will but pay due respect to this idol, — if they will make so many
obeyances to her, and say so many Aves every day, she will take
328
care that they shall not perish in their sins, or die without con-
fession. It is impossible that any species of heathenism can have
a worse effect upon the moral character of the people than this?
Popery is corruption and abomination all over. It is the very
dregs of the filth of the idolatry of ancient nations, — so much the
more loathsome, that it professes to be of divine origin, and to
be the religion of Him who was holy, harmless, undefiled; and
who came to save his people from their sins; and to create them
anew after his own image, in righteousness and true holiness.
I have given some stories relating to the Virgin Mary, as they
are related by grave authors and saints of the Romish Church. It
is needless to say that I do not believe one of them to be true.
I take them all to be mere fables; but they are fables which were
invented for the purpose of deceiving the people, and keeping
them in bondage to an idol. They must have been very gene-
rally believed at the time they were published; I suppose they
are believed in Popish countries to this day; and it is from the
subjects of popular belief that we estimate the intellectual state of
the people in any country. How deporable, therefore, must be
the condition of the people in every country where Popery is
predominant; and how much to be dreaded its influence among
ourselves. The Virgin Mary is held up as an object of worship,
in all the schools in Britain, over which Bishop Milner has any
authority or influence. A story is recorded of her attention to a
dying soldier, in recompense of the sincere devotion he had tes-
tified to her during his life, — a story as ahsurd as any of those
which I have given in this Number, from the writings of Papists
in darker ages; but which Mr. Andrews gives as a solemn truth,
for which see his own words in my last Number; and it is given
evidently with the design of filling the minds of children in Popish
schools with such a high notion of the power of the Virgin Mary,
as that they may make her an object of worship and confidence;
and by this means to train them up to all the idolatry, and of
course, to all the superstition, vice, and wretchedness, of the
dark ages.
At the conclusion of my thirty-first Number, I quoted a
sentence or two from Mr. Andrews' chapter " on devotion to
the Blessed Virgin." In language pretty plain, I represented
him as teaching idolatry; or, which is the same thing, making
religion to consist in devotion to the Virgin Mary. He has al-
luded to this part of my work once or twice, but he has made
no reply. He has not so much as attempted to vindicate himself
and his brethren from the accusation, that they consider religion
to consist in devotion to a creature. This, therefore, may be
held as admitted. Papists are proved to be idolaters, from their
own writings; and the Catholic Vindicator tacitly ad-
mits it. I intend to make a particular use of this admission in
the beginning of my next Number
THE
J)rotc£tant>
No. XLII.
SATURDAY, MAY 1st, 1819.
Xhe Spectator has compared the writer of a periodical pa-
per to the runner of a stage coach, who must send it off at the
time appointed, if he should run it empty. It must always he
an unpleasant thing to run a coach without passengers; but the
mortification arising from this will be sometimes equalled by the
regret that the capacity of his vehicle is so limited, when more per-
sons apply than can be accommodated.
A circumstance resembling the latter often excites the regret
of The Protestant. He finds it difficult to condense just
as much matter as will make a complete whole within itself, and,
at the same time, fill eight pages of letter-press, and no more.
He has often the mortification to have part of his manuscript re-
turned along with the proof-sheet, because it cannot be compris-
ed within the allotted space; and this extra matter is frequently
condemned as useless, because what may be suitable to conclude
one Number, may not be suitable to begin its successor.
I am led into these reflections by the conclusion of my last
Number, which was a little abrupt. I convicted Mr. Andrews
of tacitly admitting that Papists were idolaters, because he pass-
ed over my accusation to that effect without any reply. I had
written some paragraphs to show that this inference was made
according to his own mode of arguing ; but I had not room for
them in my last sheet; and, therefore, though contrary to my
usual practice, I begin the present Number with what was in-
tended for the conclusion of my last. I said " Papists are
proved to be idolaters from their own writings, and The Ca-
tholic Vindicator tacitly admits it."
He cannot reasonably object to this mode of drawing an in-
ference from silence. He has repeatedly accused me of forgery;
and, because I have not replied to the accusation, he holds me
convicted. This would have been fair enough, had I been
writing in my own defence, or answering his numerous accusa-
tions. He has affected to find me guilty of innumerable contra-
dictions; and he might as well maintain that I admit all these,
Tt
330
because I have made no reply. But the fact is, I do not admit
one of them. He has not detected one real contradiction in all
that I have written; though, by misconstruction and misrepre-
sentation, he has made out many apparent ones. This I intend
to point out in due time. But 1 have more important work in
hand, than replying to his accusations. He labours to make my
character appear as black as possible; expecting, no doubt, that,
by this means, he will make his church appear pure and white
as snow. I read his bitterest reproaches and accusations with-
out emotion, being perfectly conscious that not one of them ap-
plies to me : and as for the charge of forgery, which he has re-
peated so often, and about which he makes such a hue and cry,
I am in no haste to reply to it ; though I am ready to prove by
credible witnesses, that the story (that is, of the man who left
his wife, because she would not become Papist) is true as I gave
it, in every material point. Mr. Andrews' correspondents here
know it to be true in substance; and, I doubt not, they know
also what means have been used to persuade the widow to destroy
the letter which she found upon the person, or in the clothes of
her deceased husband. This letter is extant, and is verbatim as
I gave it in my twenty-fifth Number. Mr. Scott is reported
(though I cannot vouch for the fact) to have declared it from the
pulpit to be a forgery. If so, it must have been the work of
one of his own people, who had smuggled it into the pocket of
the dying man ; for it was among Papists that he was taken
ill, and Papists were about him during his illness. In short, if
any of my readers, Protestant or Popish, doubt the truth of the
story, or join with Mr. Andrews in calling it a forgery, I shall
be ready, whenever required, to furnish them with sufficient evi-
dence of the truth of my statement. In fact I did not relate the
tenth part of the cruelty of the man to his wife, solely because
she would not become Papist; nor the means which were used,
both foul and fair, to persuade her to renounce her heresy.
Mr. Andrews writes as if the whole merits of the question be-
tween Protestants and Papists depended upon the truth or false-
hood of this story. The thing in itself is of no consequence at
all to the general argument; but by reiterating his charge of for-
gery, he hopes to divert me from exposing the vital errors of his
system, and to engage me in a personal controversy. But I will
not be so diverted. He may accuse me of all the crimes that
were ever heard of in Newgate; but I can assure hiin this will
not establish the credit of his church, or make her holy and in-
fallible, or set aside the proofs of her idolatry which I have given,
and which I intend to give farther in my future Numbers.
I have not yet professed to enter upon my own defence, or to
make a formal reply to any part of The Vindicator. It is quite
unfair, therefore, to infer from my silence that I admit the truth
if any thing that he has written. But he has avowedly engaged
331
to defend his church against my accusations. He promised to
follow me through them all; and to refute them all. It is quite
fair, therefore, to infer that he admits what he has passed over in
silence. His church is convicted of all those things which I laid
to her charge, to which he has made no reply. This embraces
almost every thing contained between the third and eighteenth
Numbers of the Protestant. For instance, I denied that Peter
was ever Bishop of Rome. I defied the whole church to prove
that Peter was ever in that city. To this he makes no reply.
Upon the principle, therefore, of inferring conviction from silence,
the Church of Rome is convicted of imposition, in giving herself
out as the See of Peter; the Popes are convicted of imposition
in giving themselves out as his successors; and the whole fabric
of the Romish hierarchy, not having a stone to stand upon, must
fall to the ground.
In my thirty-sixth Number, I accused Papists of being more
stupid than the beasts of the field, for believing in transubstan-
tiation. Mr. Andrews alludes to this with much feeling of in-
dignation; but he makes no reply to the charge. Upon his
principle of inferring conviction from silence, Papists are con-
victed of such stupidity. Mr. Andrews need not feel so indig-
nant at the comparison I made, and which was suggested by
himself, in his reference to Luther. The comparison is by no
means new. " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his mas-
ter's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consi-
der." Isa. i. 3. It was a very great degree of stupidity, which
led the inspired Prophet to make such a comparison; but not
greater than the stupidity of Papists, in believing a piece of bread
to be the real body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ.
Until Mr. Andrews answers this, and all the other matters con-
tained in my work which he has passed over, I shall, agreeably
to his own principles, hold him convicted of maintaining the
errors which 1 have laid to the charge of his infallible church.
I now come to the proper subject of the present Number.
I have reason to think that I am now heartily abhorred by all
good Papists, for the disrespectful manner in which they must
suppose I have spoken of their great idol, the Virgin Mary. I
assure them, however, that I do not regard her with disrespect.
It was only the idol and the image to which Papists have given
the name that called forth the strictures contained in my last
Number. I believe Baal, the most ancient of idols, was an
image of the sun. When the prophet Elijah mocked both the
god and his priests, it is not to be supposed that he spoke dis-
respectfully of the bright luminary which enlightens the world.
Neither must I be understood to detract from the honour of the
mother of Jesus, when I expose the folly and impiety of giving
to her that worship and honour which is due to God alone. I
nm persuaded that were she on earth, she would be the first to
332
condemn the idolatrous addresses to her, of which I gave srpecJ.
mens in my two last Numbers. She would disclaim, with abhor-
rence, the lowest degree of religious worship ; how much more
those blasphemous adorations in which she is exalted as equal,
and even superior, to the Saviour of the world ?
It cannot be denied there was a very early indication of undue
respect for the mother of Jesus, which was instantly checked
and reproved by Jesus himself. A certain woman, who had been
listening to his heavenly discourse, cried out, " Blessed is the
womb that bare thee and the breasts which thou hast sucked :
But he said, yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of
God and keep it." Luke xi. 27, 28. It does not appear that
the person who addressed Jesus had any acquaintance with Mary,
or any undue respect for her personally; but being astonished by
his manner of teashing, and by the divine dignity of all that he
said and did, she expressed her feelings by exclaiming, what a
blessed mother to have such a son! By his reply, he instructed
all who heard him, and by the same he is instructing us, that to
hear and obey the word of God, is greater blessedness than that
which arises from the circumstance of being his mother. As a
believer in Christ, Mary stood upon a footing of perfect equality
with every other Christian; and every Christian, in virtue of his
relation to Christ, is greater and more blessed than Mary was,
considered merely as his mother. In the most emphatic manner
Jesus refused to acknowledge any superiority on the part of his
relations according to the flesh ; nor would he suffer them to
interfere in any part of his public ministry. On one occasion,
when closely engaged in his work of teaching, " there came then
his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto
him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they
said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek
for thee. And he answered them saying, Who is my mother,
or my brethren? And he looked round about upon them which
sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother,
and my sister, and mother." Mark hi. 31 — 35.
Though it appears evident from the whole evangelical history
that Christ never intended that Mary should be honoured above
others of his followers: or that the circumstance of her being his
mother according to the flesh, should ever be mentioned as the
foundation of regarding her with any thing like divine honour, the
Church of Rome has found means to exalt her above all the
heavenly hosts, and to make her the principal object of the ado
ration of her devout members.
It is related that Mary herself appeared once to Thomas a
Becket, and spoke as follows: (for the original, see Bcrnardin.
de Bust. Muni, part. 10. Serm. 2d. sect. ult. as quoted by
Usher, p. 1ST.) — " ' Rejoice, and be glad, and be joyful with mo,'
339
said the Virgin Mary, ' because my glory cloth excell the digni-
ty of all the saints, and all the blessed spirits; and I alone have
greater glory than all the angels and saints together. Rejoice,
because that as the sun doth enlighten the day and the world, so
my brightness doth enlighten the whole celestial world. Rejoice,
because the whole host of heaven obeyeth me, reverenceth and
honoureth me. Rejoice, because my Son is always obedient to
me, and my will and my prayers he always heareth. Or, as
others do relate it, the will of the blessed Trinity, and mine is
the same ; and whatsoever doth please me, the whole Trinity with
unspeakable favour doth give consent unto. Rejoice, because
God doth always at my pleasure reward my servitors in this world,
and in the world to come. Rejoice, because I sit next to the
holy Trinity, and am clothed with my body glorified. Rejoice,
because I am certain and sure that these my joys shall always
stand, and never be finished or fail. And whosoever, by rejoic-
ing with these spiritual joys, shall worship me in this world, at
the time of the departure of his soul out of the body, he shall
obtain my presence; and I will deliver his soul from the malig-
nant enemies, and present it in the sight of my Son, that it may
possess joys with me.' They tell us that many (multce mere-
trices, for example, that would not sin on Saturday, for the re-
verence of the Virgin, whatsoever they did on the Lord's day)
seem to have the blessed Virgin in greater veneration than Christ
her Son; moved thereunto out of simplicity more than out of
knowledge. Yet that the Son of God doth bear with the sim-
plicity of those men and women; because he is not ignorant, that
the honour of the mother doth redound to the child. Prov.
xvii. 6. They argue farther, that if a Cardinal have this privi-
lege, that if he put his cap upon the head of one that is led
unto justice, he is freed thereby: then, by an argument drawn
from the stronger, the cloak of the Blessed Virgin is able to de-
liver us from all evil: her mercy being so large, that if she should
see any man who did devoutly make her crown (that is to say,
repeat the rosary or chaplet of prayers made for her worship) to
be drawn unto punishment in the midst of a thousand devils,
she would presently rescue him; and not permit that any one
should have an evil end, who did study reverently to make her
crown. They add, moreover, that for every of these crowns,
a man shall obtain two hundred and seventy- three thousand,
seven hundred and fifty-eight days of indulgence: and that Pope
Sixtus IV. granted an indulgence of twelve thousand years, for
every time that a man in a state of grace should repeat this short
orison or salutation of the Virgin, which by many is inserted into
her crown; ' Hail most holy Mary, the mother of God, the
queen of heaven, the gate of paradise, the lady of the world.
Thou art a singular and pure Virgin : thou didst bear Christ
without sin; thou didst bear the Creator and Saviour of the
33+
world, in whom I do not doubt. Deliver me from all evil, and
pray for my sins. Amen.'
" In the crown composed by Bonaventnre, this is one of the
orisons that is prescribed to be said. ' O Empress and our most
kind Lady, by the authority of a mother, command thy beloved
Son. our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would vouchsafe to lift up
our minds from the love of earthly things, unto heavenly desires:
which is suitable unto that versicle which we read in the 35th
Psalm of his Lady's Psalter: — • Incline the countenance of God
upon us; and compel him to have mercy upon sinners:' the
harshness whereof our Romanists have a little qualified in some
of their editions, reading thus: — ' Incline the countenance of
thy Son upon us; compel him by thy prayers to have mercy up-
on sinners.' The Psalms of this Psalter do all of them begin
as David's do; but with this main difference, that where the Pro-
phet in the one aimeth at the advancement of the honour of our
Lord, the Friar in the other applieth all to the magnifying of
the power and goodness of our Lady." Usher's Answer, see
pp. 486 — 192, in which there are numerous quotations from
this saint's Psalm book, by which all glory and power in heaven
and earth are ascribed to the Virgin Mary.
When Papists are pushed hard upon this subject, they use
many shifts and evasions. They are very much offended when
we call them idolaters; and they will maintain broadly in the face
of the sun, that when they pray to the Virgin Mary, they mean
only to ask the benefit of her prayers, as one Christian friend
asks the prayers of another; and that when they worship her,
they intend only such a degree of civil respect as an inferior gives
to a superior whom he addresses as right worshipful. They
maintain " that there is no more danger of robbing God of his
honour, by worshipping his angels and saints, than of robbing a
king of his honour, by reverencing his peers and nobles, accord-
ing to their several dignities and capacities." Manual of Contro-
versies clearly demonstrating the truth of the Catholic religion,
p. 285. They have accordingly different words, for expressing
their different degrees of worship. Latria, they say, signifies
divine worship which they give to God alone: Dulia signifies
that inferior sort of worship which is due to angels and saints :
and they have their Hyperdulia^ which signifies that superior
kind of inferior worship which is due to a creature so exalted as
the Virgin Mary. But these distinctions are of no use to the
great bull: of the people, who do not understand Greek; and
who being incessantly urged to worship the saints, especially the
Virgin Mary, fail not to give her the highest degree of devotion
and worship of which they are capable. Besides, those who are
acquainted with Greek know that the words Latria and Dulia
are used indifferently to express divine worship; and that when
-lie latter is used for civil respect, it is so connected with other
335
words as to fix its meaning without clanger of leading to ido-
latry.
If it were true that Popish prayers to saints were no more than
asking them to pray for us, as one Christian friend requests the
prayers of another, it would require to be explained how persons
in this world can communicate their requests to persons in the
other world. Christians on earth can express their desires to one
another by word or writing; and they do enjoy the benefit of one
another's prayers. But how can a Papist make a saint in heaven
acquainted with his necessities, or request his prayers? A glori-
fied saint is but a finite creature. He cannot be in more than
one place at one time, any more than a sinner on earth can be.
How then can he attend to the prayers that are addressed to
him from all parts of the world? Persons who excel in devotion
to the Virgin Mary are represented as saying five Ave Marias
for one Paternoster. Papists boast that there are six millions
of their communion in Britain and Ireland ; and supposing each
to say his prayers only once a-day, the Virgin Mary would re-
quire to give daily attention to thirty millions of prayers coming
from the British Islands alone, not to speak of the countless
millions that must be sent up every day from Spain, Portugal,
Italy, and all the other countries of the world, in which Popery
has obtained a footing. Religion out of the question, common
sense assures us that it is impossible for any creature to do what
Mary is here supposed to do; and if Papists are desirous of hav-
ing credit for common sense, they will never offer another prayer
to a creature, or so much as say, " Holy Mary, pray for us."
But it is not true that their addresses to the Virgin Mary
merely request the benefit of her prayers. Let any man read the
language of their authorised books of devotion, of which I have
given copious extracts in this and my two preceding Numbers,
and let him say if it be possible to use language of more direct
address, in the form of prayer, to the divine Being himself, than
is addressed to the Virgin Mary. She is declared to be worthy
of the " utmost duty" of every Christian, which is as much as
can be said of what is due to God. Mr. Andrews himself holds
her up as an object of devotion; and that he means it in a re-
ligious sense is evident from the blessings which, he says, this
devotion will obtain. One of the most effectual means, " for
acquiring virtue in youth," is, according to him, " devotion to
the Blessed Virgin." Nay, Mr. Andrews says expressly, " the
prayers we offer her for our salvation bring to us all that we de-
sire;" and he quotes St. Bernard as saying, " That never any
person invoked that mother of mercy, in his necessities, who has
not been sensible of the effect of her assistance." See the whole
chapter in my fortieth Number, pp. 314 — 316.
The most cop'ous book of devotion that has come in my way,
is intitled " Hcures, imprinters par Vardre de Monseigneur le
33G
Cardinal De Noailles, Archevesque de Paris." I could fill
many sheets with prayers to Mary and other saints from this
book; but I shall satisfy myself at present with the following
translation from pages 395, 396 : —
" Give us access to thy Son, Mary, who hast found grace be-
fore the Lord, who art blessed among women, who hast brought
life into the world and art the mother of salvation. Let him
who hath been given us by thee, receive us by thee. Let
thy purity excuse to him our corruption; let thy humility which
bath been so agreeable to God, obtain pardon of our vanity; let
the abundance of thy charity cover the multitude of our sins; and
thy glorious fruitfulness shed on us a happy fruitfulncss of merits
and good works. Thou art our Queen, our Mediator, our Ad-
vocate. Reconcile us with thy Son; recommend us to thy Son;
present us to thy Son," &c. See again : " We come to thee, fruit-
ful mother, mother without spot; to whom God, the mas-
ter of the universe, who dwelleth spiritually in the other saints,
hath also dwelt in thee bodily," &c. &c.
Though the style of this prayer is not so gross as some others
which I have given, the sentiment is equally abominable and idola-
trous, Christ alone brought life and salvation into the world ; but
here this honour is ascribed to Mary. No man can obtain the
pardon of sin but through the merits or righteousness of Christ;
but the deluded votary of the Virgin Mary is taught by his
church to ask this blessing for the sake of a mere creature. The
purity, the humility, and the abundant charity of Mary, are suppos-
ed to be so meritorious as to make up for the want of these quali-
ties in her devout worshippers. This is the great comprehensive sin
of Popery. It is trusting in a creature, instead of trusting in the
living God, and this, according to the word of God, brings down
a curse instead of a blessing.
In short, Popish devotion consists, according to their approved
liturgies, in little else than calling upon the Virgin Mary and
other saints; that is, invoking and praying to mere creatures,
which is downright idolatry. We are taught in the Scriptures,
" whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved;"
and then it is asked, " how shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed?" Rom. x. 13, 14. From this it is evident
that there can be no acceptable worship without faith in the ob-
ject of worship. Those, therefore, who call upon the Virgin
Mary, must believe in her; and unless they can show, from the
word of God, some authority and warrant for believing in a mere
creature, they must stand in the awful predicament of those who
believe a lie, and who receive not the love of the truth that they
may be saved.
THE
No. XLIII.
SA T TJEDA Y, MA Y Sf.h, 1819.
No part of the word of God is more plain and explicit than
the command to abstain from the worship of creatines. The
Almighty himself spoke these words from Mount Sinai, " I am
the Lord thy God; — thou shalt have no other gods before me."
And when the devil tempted Jesus Christ to commit idolatry
by worshipping him, he replied, in allusion to the above, " It
is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve." When, through mistake, the Apostle John
fell down before an angel to worship him, the heavenly messen-
ger instantly rejected the proffered homage: — " See thou do it
not; — I am thy fellow servant: — worship God." Rev. xix. 10.
If the fact of being a fellow servant was an argument in the
mouth of an angel, that he should not be worshipped ; how
much more forcible would it be in the mouth of those who are
fellow creatures, as well as fellow servants? This is the condition
of all the saints in heaven, who are mere fellow servants, and
fellow creatures with the saints on earth ; that is, with all Chris-
tians: for to apply the title of saint to some Christians and not
to others, is a Popish error, and one that has been retained too
long in some Protestant churches. The si? ner who believed in
Jesus Christ yesterday, for the first time, is as really a saint as
Paul, or Peter, or even the Virgin Mary. He is " washed, and
sanctified (that is, made a saint), and justified, in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;" 1 Cor. vi. 11. In
times of primitive purity, the words Christian and saint were syno-
nymous; and, to use the words of an acute writer, it was not
till after the churches had begun to depart from the faith and
practice of apostles and evangelists, that, to make amends, they
knighted these servants of God, and called them saints, ty way of
eminence and distinction. I am aware that the passages of Scrip-
ture, to which I have here referred, will be of no weight with my
Popish readers, because they do not submit to the authority of the
Bible alone; but I am sure my Protestant readers will be con-
vinced by such authority, that I do the Church of Rome no in-
justice, when I charge her with both idolatry and absurdity.
U u
338
For what can be more absurd, than fellow creat ires and fellow
servants worshipping one another? What can be more impious,
as well as absurd, than praying to fellow creatures, and requesting
them to intercede and mediate with God for us, when we are
assured by the word of God, that there is " one Mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus?" What can be more im-
pious than to call on the name of a mere creature to save us,
when we are assured that besides Jesus Christ, there is no other
name by wkich we can be saved? The Church of Rome is guilty
of all this impiety, by teaching her deluded adherents to worship
and call upon mere creatures.
I grant that those members of the Church of Rome, and of
every other church, who are not Christians, are not saints. Let
men call themselves by what name they please, if they are not
subjects of that gracious and radical change, which is effected by
the Holy Spirit upon all who are led by his divine influence to
believe in Christ, and trust in him for the salvation of their own
souls, they are not Christians. There is, therefore, an infinite
distance between them and those who are properly called saints.
They are sinners. This is their distinctive appellation. But as
sinners, Christ makes them welcome to come to himself, directly
and immediately, for the pardon of their sins, and the salvation
of their souls. " Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise
cast out," is the language of the gracious and almighty Saviour ;
but he never required or encouraged any sinner to go first to
Mary, or to any of the saints.
It was false humility that led men first to think of approaching
to God through the medium of mere creatures. They profess-
ed to believe him too great, and themselves too unworthy, to ad-
mit of direct intercourse. This would have been true, if he had
not, of his infinite mercy, provided and revealed to us a medium
of intercourse, and declared that his throne of mercy was acces-
sible to any sinner of the human race who should come to him
in the name of Christ. Having this revealed to us in the Scrip-
tures, it is both our privilege and duty to come to him, in obe-
dience to his invitation. He knows best what is suitable to his
own glory, and to our circumstances; and as it is his glory to
show mercy to the chief of sinners, they cannot honour him more
than by coming to him as sinners, submitting to his righteous-
ness, and accepting his overtures of mercy.
It is not humility, but pride, that prevents sinners from coming to
God in the way which he has appointed. True humility would
lead them to him in his revealed way; but pride will come only
in its own way. Affecting to think themselves so very unworthy,
and to believe God too great to regard them, Papists have devised
a wav of their own, by which alone they will come to Him, that
is, through the medium of creatures, whom they call saints. For
ihis thev have not the shadow of a warrant from the word of
339
God ; but being a way of their own devising, they adhere to it
most pertinaciously : rather than not come to God in this way,
they will not come at all ; and as he never promised to accept any
who came in this way, thev can have no ground to hope that
they will be accepted.
In my late Numbers, I have shown that the Virgin Mary is
regarded by Papists as the principal medium of intercourse with
God; but there are innumerable others whom they regard as
objects of worship, to whom they address their prayers, and who
are supposed to have such interest in the court of heaven, that
they can obtain whatever their votaries ask of them. Thus the
Church of Rome is proved to be the Antichrist that should arise
in the latter days, that should " depart from the faith, giving heed
to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ;" 1 Tim. iv. ].
The words which our translators have rendered " doctrines of
devils," are, in the original, bidaey.uXiaig hcci^oviuv, doctrines of
demons, or concerning demons. Devil is the English word for
diaQoXog, not for cia//xwv. The word here rendered devils, is the
same that in Acts xvii. 18. is rendered gods. Oi ds' Bevm
dai/AOu'ojv ho%i7%arayy0.i\jc, iivur " Others said, He seemeth to be
a setter forth of strange gods ; that is, because he preached Jesus
and the resurrection." The Athenians supposed these to be two
new deities whom Paul wished them to place among their other
objects of worship. Our translators saw the impropriety of ren-
dering the passage, " He seemeth to be a setter forth oi strange
devils" and they deviated accordingly from their usual way of
rendering the word &ui(jt,ovitov. Suppose them to have translated
1 Tim. iv. 1. the same way, it would have been "doctrines of,
or concerning gods," * that is, inferior deities, objects of religious
* I make these remarks without intending the least disrespect to the
memory of our translators, or wishing to detract from the merit of their
labours. They did not give themselves out as infallible. They took ad-
vantage of the degree of knowledge which they possessed, to improve upon
their predecessors; and they left their successors at liberty to improve upon
them. It is worthy of remark, however, that in those passages of the
Bible which relate directly to the way of salvation, — that is, those which
are of vital interest and importance, — the fidelity and correctness of our
authorised version stand unimpeached. That they have, in some instances,
mistaken the meaning of a Greek or Hebrew word, — that they have trans-
lated l*i,u»viav, devils, or any thing of a like nature, is comparatively of
very little importance, seeing they have giren us the gospel of salvation
pure, and unadulterated by any inventions of their own.
" Mr. Andrews, in some of his late Vindicators," says an anonymous
Correspondent, " musters up a long list of passages from Protestant
translations of the Bible, and takes it for granted that they are, and must
be, errors, because they differ from the same passages, as translated by
Catholics. Good honest soul! it never occurred to him, I suppose, Uiat
this kind of proof would be quite thrown away upon ns. A Catholic w
the last person in the world, whose word we woidd take for what is, and
for what is vol, in the Bible. But it is needless to waste time in address-
ing 'i'nt: Vindicator upon this topic. The twc lists of passages which
340
worship, which are yet allowed to be mere creatures. This was
the error of the heathen, who deified the spirits of departed
heroes and lawgivers, and made them objects of idolatrous wor-
ship, though still considered to be inferior to the supreme deity.
In this respect, Popery is nothing else than the ancient hea-
thenism under a new name. Their saints occupy the very place
in their worship that demons, or inferior deities, did in that of
ancient Rome; and as every country, and almost every city, had
its own tutelar deity, so, in Popish countries, every city or pro-
vince has its patron saint.
" The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is
the Pantheon, or Rotunda ; which, as the inscription over the
portico informs us, having been impiously dedicated of old by
Agrippa to Jove and all the gods, was piously consecrated by
Pope Boniface IV. to the Blessed Virgin and all the saints.
With this single alteration, it serves as exactly for all the purposes
of the Popish, as it did for the Pagan worship, for which it wa8
built. For as, in the old temple, every one might find the god
of his country, and address himself to that deity, whose religion
he was most devoted to; so it is the same thing now: every one
chooses the patron whom he likes best; and one may see here
different services going on at the same time, at different altars,
he contrasts may all be mistranslations, for any thing he seems to know
about the matter. But although we admit that the passages he has quot-
ed from Protestant translations are all and every one of them errors, the
admission will be of little service to the Popish cause. Still we say that
a translation of a book like the Bible, in which all classes are vitally in-
terested, although it have many faults, is better than no translation. We
mio-ht say that a perfect or faultless translation of any one book is nowhere
to be found: we do say that a perfect or faultless translation of the Bible,
now is, and probably will continue to be, a desideratum. We have no
right to expect such a translation, because we have no right to expect
that the same blessed Spirit who dictated the originals will ever be im-
parted to any translator, or body of translators, so as to make them in-
fallible. In plain language, Papists are hostile to all translations of the
Scriptures, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. They are offended
with ours, not because we have missed the meaning in a few passages,
but because we have found it in all but a few; not because we have
thrown too little light upon the Bible, but because we have thrown toft
much light upon it. It is the Bihle, — the Bible they are against, and
not the errors of our translations of it; and for this very good reason, the
Bible is against them. But it will be replied, as indeed it has been, ' that
Papists cannot be hostile to all translations of the Bible into modern lan-
guages, for they have made and published such translations themselves.
Yes, indeed, they have; but such translations as literally tantalize the un-
learned reader. He takes up one of them: he goes on a little way, and
begins to feel interested; when lo! and behold! he comes to a passage,
which, if properly translated, would expose some Popish dogma, or soma
Popish ceremony. To prevent the exposure, the prudent t'anslatoi
either retains one or more of the original words, or accompanies his
translation of them by a note, which, to the insulted, abused render
.vrests th» whole passage, or envelope it in impenetrable mystery ".
341
with distinct congregations around them, just as the inclination!
of the people lead them, to the worship of this or that particular
saint." Middlelons Letter from Rome, 4:th ed. p. 161.
" And what better title can the new demigods show to the
adoration now paid to them, than the old ones, whose shrines
(hey have usurped? or how comes it to be less criminal to wor-
ship images erected by the Pope, than those which Agrippa of
Nebuchadnezzar set up? If there be any real difference, most
people, I dare say, will be apt to determine in favour of the old
possessors: for those heroes of antiquity were raised up into gods,
and received divine honours, for some signal benefits of which
they had been the authors to mankind ; or the invention of arts
and sciences; or of something highly useful and necessary to
life: whereas of the Romish saints, it is certain, that many of
them were never heard of but in their own legends and fabulous
histories; and many more, instead of any service done to man-
kind, owe all the honours now paid them, to their vices or their
errors; whose merit, like that of Demetrius in the Acts, was their
skill of raising rebellions in defence of an idol, and throwing
kingdoms into convulsions, for the sake of some gainful impos-
ture.
" And as it is in the Pantheon, it is just the same in all other
heathen temples that still remain in Rome; they have only pulled
down one idol to set up another, changing rather the name than
the object of their worship. Thus the little temple of Vesta,
near the Tiber, mentioned by Horace, is now possessed by the
Madonna of the sun; that of Fortuna Virilis, by Mary the
Egyptian; that of Saturn, where the public treasure was anciently
kept, by St. Adrian; that of Romulus and Remus, in the via
sacra, by two other brothers, Cosmus and Damianus; that of
Antonine the godly, by Laurence the saint: but, for my part, I
had sooner be tempted to prostrate myself before the statue of a
Romulus or an Antonine, than that of a Laurence or a Damian;
and give divine honours rather, with Pagan Rome, to the founders
of empires, than, with Popish Rome, to the founders of monas-
teries." Ibid. pp. 162 — 164-.
Having adverted to these things in general, I shall proceed to
give a particular account of one of these demons, or inferior
deities, which are worshipped by Papists in our own island, and
which is firmly believed by them to work miracles at the present
day: at least the most unanswerable and most orthodox Dr.
Milner, Bishop of Castabala, and Vicar Apostolic, says so; and
even certifies one of her miracles under his own hand. This is
the tutelar deity of Wales; for, like the ancient heathens, Papists
have their gods of the mountains, as well as their gods of the
vallies. Her name is St. Wenefride ; and my great opponent,
The Catholic Vindicator, has lately published an account
of her life and miracles* with a recommendatory preface. The
342
thing in itself is not of much importance. The story is in gene-
ral extremely ridiculous; but Mr. Andrews, who seems in-
clined to make his shop the receptacle of all the literary filth
of the dark ages, has republished it, with a fine portrait of
the holy saint. I give an abridgment of the story, not for the
■edification of my readers, but as a specimen of Popish literature,
and of what will be generally read by our Masters and Misses,
after Popery shall be re-established among us.
The work is entitled, " The life and miracles of St. Wene-
fride. Virgin, Martyr, and Abbess, Patroness of Wales. To
which are added, the Litanies of the holy saint. Printed bv
W. E. Andrews, 1817." It has for a motto, " God is won-
derful in his saints," Psalm lxvii. 36. The editor begins his
preface, or address to the reader, as follows ; — " The following
excellent little volume, printed in the year 1712, was, as the
preface informs us, translated from the life of St. Wenefride,
written by Robert of Shrewsbury." " The work itself," he says,
" is written in a style of such sweet and amiable simplicity, and
possesses so much of that unction, which is best known by its
effects upon the soul of the reader, but is incapable of being de-
scribed, that the editor of the present edition has been careful to
make no other alteration than the correction of a few inaccuracies
of grammar, and some obsolete or quaint expressions. Many
miraculous events are recorded in this volume, which the pious
reader will know how to turn to proper advantage. The miracles
of which we read in the lives of St. Wenefride, and other saints,
are not to be rejected merely because they are miraculous, and
out of the ordinary course of nature. Upon this ground, the
holy Scriptures, which, as to the historical part of them, are one
continued series of miracles, might be rejected as incredible, or
as fabulous.
<; To the miracles which happened at the translation of the
relics of St. Wenefride, in the year 1138, Robert of Salop was
an eye-witness. The great veneration of our ancestors for this
saint, is a proof of her eminent sanctity, and past ages are unani-
mous in their testimony of the extraordinary favours granted to
those who have invoked her intercession. Some of these are
faithfully recorded in the latter part of this little volume; and the
pious reader will find that, even in this our age, Almighty God
still honours the memory of the glorious St. Wenefride, and
verifies the truth of the address, which, in imitation of our pious
ancestors, we make to her, in the litany of intercession for England,
* Holy St. Wenefride, even in this unbelieving generation, still
miraculous, pray for us.' "
Thus Mr. Andrews holds up St. Wenefride, as well as the
Virgin Mary, as a deity to be invoked; and I suppose she is,
at this day, most devoutly worshipped by every good Papist in
Wales. This is one of the idle drones of godly virgins, of
whom, in my seventeenth Number, I promised to give some ac-
343
count; and an idle drone this saint must have been, even accord-
ing to the account of her devoted admirers; for it does not ap-
pear from her history that she was of any real use to her own
acre; and her example could not profit the ages which followed,
but must have been extremely pernicious, if it be true that such
a person ever existed: —
" In the seventh age after man's redemption, flourished many
saints of both sexes. I shall only mention those chiefly concern-
ed in this short history. St. Beuno, the glorious instrument of
St. Wenefnde's second life and sanctity, • was born of noble pa-
rents in Montgomery shire, at the fall of the river Rhyw into the
Severn ; therefore called Aberhyw. His father, Binsi, descended
lineally from Caddel, prince of Glesiwig, and his mother derived
her pedigree from Anna, (who was married to the king of the
Picts) sister to the mighty and renowned King Arthur, who de-
parted happily this life, and was interred at Glastonbury, in the
vear 542. His grandfather was St. Gundeleius, and he wa»
nearly related to several eminent saints; amongst the rest he was
cousin-german to St. Kentigern, bishop of Glasgow, who, forced
from Scotland, founded the bishoprick of St. Asaph, from his
disciple of that name, whom he left to govern that church."
St. Wenefrides Life, pp. 20, 21. It would appear that as
far back as the sixth century, bishops and saints were no favour-
ites in Scotland, seeing such a holy man as St. Kentigern was
forced out of it. It is not said whether the Scots of that clay,
who were guilty of this outrage, were Pagans or Presbyterians;
but as for the good citizens of Glasgow, they must have been
very different from those of the present day, if they were guilty
of any incivility to the holy saint, if he was willing to live and
let live. But to proceed: —
" This zealous monk (St. Beuno) having finished his monas-
tery at Clynoc Vaws, in Carnarvonshire, found himself powerfully
inspired to visit his relations in Flintshire. It is true, he had
longbefore bid adieu to all ties of flesh and blood ; but he under-
stood this call as a voice from heaven. A rich and potent lord,
in that part of North Wales where now Holywell is, had mar-
ried the virtuous and noble lady Wenlo, sister to St. Beuno.
His name was Thewith, some write it Trebwith; but a manu-
script now before me of one of the most learned antiquaries of
the last age, says his name was Tyvid. These parents of St.
Wenefride, by an exemplary and truly Christian life, surpassed
their high extraction. They reckoned solid virtue as the most
distinguishing quality, and they pitied vicious potentates, who
are contemptible in the eyes of the King of kings. Saint Wen-
efride, the glory of West Britain, was born in the troublesome
reign of King Cadwallawn ; and St. Beuno made his visit to his
brother-in-law's house, in the reign of King Eluith, the second
of that name. The venerable monk, having much humility and
3*4
great modesty, made himself known, told them that he was sent
by Almighty God. to honour him there, as he had done in
other places; and that he neither expected nor craved any other
favour, than a small parcel of his large territories, sufficient to
build a church on; where others, with myself, said he, will daily
pray for your safety and happiness.
" Thewith (I shall stile him so for the future) was not in the
miserable catalogue of those thoughtless, blind worldlings, who
are prodigal in vanity and ostentation, but start and frown at the
first proposal of parting with small matters for the advantage of
their souls. No, he looked forward with other eyes, toward a
more permanent being, than here upon sordid earth; therefore
returned he the following answer : — • \\ ith good reason, holy
father, I am obliged to give you part of the lands I now possess,
for His sake and service who bestowed them all on me. You
hare pleasured me in asking this charity, which is more advan-
tageous to me than to you who propose it. Therefore, from this
very day, I do absolutely alienate from myself, and my posterity,
this manor I now live in, and with joy I do surrender unto you
all my right and title, and I put you into possession. 1 humbly
beg a favour, that having one only child, a tender virgin, who
is my special comfort, you will instruct her in heavenly docu-
ments, that her life and conversation may be holy, pleasing to
God, and joyful to her parents.' After this generous settlement,
the nobleman made choice of a dwelling seat, not far distant from
the place he had given to St. Beuno ; where, on a hill, he could
see the church, where the servants of God praised their Maker.
" As Constantine the Great, at the building of St. Peter's
Basilick, divested himself of his imperial robes, took up the
spade, broke ground, and carried twelve baskets of earth, in
honour of the twelve apostles, to cast into the foundation, in
testimony of his devotion to the primitive princes of Christianity ;
*o, in imitation of this heroic pattern, the noble lord, Thewith, set
aside state and birth, many times putting his own hands to the
holy work. This he did to encourage others, and to contribute
in some sort to the finishing of the fabrick. The church being
made fit to offer in it the divine sacrifice, he and his spouse, with
their only child, were daily present at holy mass. They had this
pious custom, to place their daughter at the saint's feet, at the
time of his exhortations to the people, advising her to give atten-
tion to his excellent doctrine. This was not necessary, although
religiously suggested by pious parents ; for she was so much trans-
ported with a holy delight in hearing him preach, that she fre-
quently visited him alone, to discourse of self-knowledge, and
Christian performances." Ibid, jyp. 22 — 26.
For want of room I must defer the miraculous part of the i
whi.h will appear in my i.e.v.
THE
i^rote£tant>
No. XLIV.
SATURDAY, MAY \5th, 1819.
1 proceed in the present Number to give some farther account
of St. Wenefride, whom I shall not describe as one who lived in
a certain age of the world; but as one who lived in the world
many years after her death.
" It was her parents' intention to marry her to some nobleman
of the country, and to bestow on her a most plentiful fortune ;
but her ever blessed Redeemer, in those tender years, was dis-
posing her sweetly for his service. By saint Beuno's frequent
discourses, she understood, how great, how good, and how glo-
rious, the Heavenly Spouse was ; that voluntary virgins are like
angels upon earth ; that they follow the Lamb, wherever he goes.
(Apoc. xiv.) That the honours of the world are vain, and its
pleasures short lived ; so that the very thought of an earthly hus-
band became hateful unto her. Wherefore she resolved to keep
herself undefiled, and to consecrate her pure virginity to the
Lord of heaven and earth. One main difficulty occurred, how
to render her parents favourable to this heavenly call. She burn-
ed with the love of God, and at the same time she resolved to
fulfil the commandment of honouring father and mother. In this
struggle betwixt divine vocation and Christian duty, the Bestower
of all Lights put her into a method, how to prepare the way to-
wards her happiness, by making use of St. Beuno, as a glorious
instrument.
" This holy man was honoured as a saint by her parents, and
by consequence she knew very well, that he had great power and
authority with them, and they would not reject any reasonuble
request made by him, such as she took hers to be. Impatient of
losing time, for completing her design, having found him one
day alone, and at liberty, she acquainted him with the holy fruits
of his moving discourses, and after a very pathetic manner, hum-
bly petitioned for his sealons concurrence, in preserving the rich
X x
34 0'
treasure of her virginity, which she resolved never to part with,
for ail the offers the flattering world could make her. Saint Beu-
no was agreeably surprised at this most welcome news: for, as
St. Paul, he desired all to be like unto himself. (1 Cor. xi. 1.)
He had unshaken confidence in God's power and goodness, that
he who had begun the work, would give it the finishing stroke.
Moreover, being no stranger to the singular piety of those he
was to treat with, he cheerfully undertook the task, to the unex-
pressible satisfaction of the expecting virgin.
" We cannot read without flowing tears, how faithful Abra-
ham, in obedience to God's command, had his hand lifted up
to sacrifice his son Isaac, his only begotten son, whom he loved:
(Gen. xxii. 2.) not so much as demurring at the first intimation
of the Omnipotent ; perhaps it may move to devotion, by a seri-
ous consideration, how the lord Thewith entertained this unex-
pected petition of his dear child. Besides the internal gifts of
grace, the apparent virtues, which charmed her devout parents,
her stature was well proportioned, her face was matchless, her
modesty equalled her beauty, qualifications much admired by
mankind. She was the agreeable object of their eyes, the sup-
port of their family, and the prospect of their happiness upon
earth. Yet no sooner had saint Beuno delivered his sentiments,
as to the nature of the offering; that it was a sort of holocaust
to sacrifice their affections, and to bequeath to their God the
dearest creature in the world, whom they loved more than they
did themselves : with other persuasive reasons to the same effect,
the holy man, I say, had no sooner ended his discourse, than
contrary to the weakness of other fond parents, tears of joy
came trickling down lord Thewith's cheeks, who with his spouse,
broke out into the praises of Jesus Christ, for so highly favour-
ing their only child. They then called for their daughter, and
gave her full and free leave to forsake the world, wishing her a
happy progress in the way of perfection. They likewise declared,
that the Heavenly Spouse having made choice of her, they in-
tended to make him heir of what they designed for her dowry,
by disposing of the same, to his great honour, in pious and re-
ligious uses. They drew also this advantage to themselves, of
renouncing the world, so far as was consistent with persons in
their station. They entered into a firm resolution of giving to
the poor great part of their princely wealth, of retiring from
worldly noise and hurry, that with an undepending freedom, they
might be more absolute masters of short time, to provide, and
send before them, never ending treasures to heaven.
" The pious virgin receiving this coveted grant, concluded that
she could never return sufficient thanks to God for the favour.
She watched whole nights in the church, either kneeling or pros-
trate before the altar, where she imagined to herself, that she was
in her immortal Spouse's presence chamber. Contemplation
raised her up into admiration of his infinite perfections; so that
347
to hear Jesus Christ only named, brought joyful tears into he?
eyes from a naming heart. Pure delights overflowed her soul ;
and looking towards heaven, the world appeared base and con-
temptible. To add fuel to this pleasing fire she procured a little
oratory near unto saint Beuno's cell, to visit him with greater
ease in the day- time, and in silent night to practise her master's
spiritual lessons."
The virtue of this holy virgin was, it seems, assaulted by a
cruel Welch Prince named Cradocus, who found her at home,
and alone, one day when the rest of the family were at church.
My readers must excuse me from giving the particulars of the
temptation with which she was assailed. I expect that Mr.
Andrews will find me guilty of many bad things for not giving
the very words of this part of the book which he recommends so
warmly; but if the very words must be given, he is welcome to
do it ; and I had rather that they should appear in his pages than
mine. Suffice it to say, that by means of something very like a
lie, at least a false pretext, the holy saint escaped out of his
hands, and made the best of her way to the church; but Cra-
docus overtaking her, with sword in hand, renewed his wicked
proposal, and gave her the choice of submission or death. I
give the sequel of this part of the history in the words of the
author: —
" As it happens sometimes, that despised carnal love turns
into rage, so it fared with barbarous Cradocus, who seeing him-
self scorned, (as he thought) gave such a deadly blow to the
virgin's neck, that the first stroke severed the head from the
body: which falling upon the descent of the hill, rolled down
to the church, where the congregation were kneeling before the
altar. As they were terrified with the bloody object of her head,
so they were astonished, to behold a clear and rapid spring, gush-
ing out of that spot of ground, her head had first fallen upon,
which to this very day, is visited from all parts, by devout pil-
grims.* The place of her martyrdom, had before her death, the
name of the Dry Valley, or Barren Bottom, which was changed
into the title of Finhon, which, in old Welch, signifies a foun-
tain or well. 'Twas also observed, that the stones of the well,
were tinctured with drops, as it were of blood, to perpetuate the
memory of what she had shed for the love of Christ, and in pro-
cess of time, it was taken notice of, that the moss growing round
* I suppose Mr. Andrews does not know that there is a similar story
related of a French saint. Perhaps the one story is a mere echo of the
other: '* A holy woman named, Reine, suffered martyrdom about Alise,
a little village near Flavigny. When she was beheaded, at the very place
where the head lighted on the ground, a spring bubbled up at that very
instant, for a perpetual miracle, in witness of God's approbation of the
confession of faith made by his handmaid." This spring is also remarkable
for its healing qualities ; and the monks of St. Francis have a cliapel beside
it, as St. Wenefride had for agon ath^r hdy veil. See Frauds of Eomish
Monks and Priests, ><>/■ l . y. 4.
the well, had a very fragrant smell, as an emblem of the odou?
of her angelical virtues.
" To close the last act, of this inhuman tragedy, and to relate
the dreadful stroke of divine justice, on the cruel tyrant, we are
to premise with brevity; that the just grief of the holy virgin's
parents, is not to be expressed, seeing their dear child, so villan-
ously butchered almost before their eyes. St. Deuno's virtue was
also put to the test, to bear with true resignation the loss of so
devout a creature. Tears came trickling down his cheeks, at the
sight of the horrid murder. The afflicted people with united
voices, called upon Heaven for speedy execution against him,
who had committed that heinous outrage. Indignation accom-
panied compassion, when they beheld the unrelenting assassin,
wiping his bloody sword upon the grass, and glorying in the
detestable fact, without any fear of God or man. Saint Beuno
was preparing to offer the unbloody sacrifice of our redemption ;
but being inspired by him, who declared, revenge to me, and J
will repay it: (Deut. xxxii. 35.) he left the altar, and taking the
blessed martyr's head in his trembling hands, he mounted the
ascent towards Cradocus. He feared not such a blow as was
given to the tender virgin ; on the same account for the love of
Christ, he would have bid it welcome. Faithful servants of God
dread nothing, sin only excepted. Being come up to him, he
said: Thou wicked man! who without any regard to inno-
cence, or beauty, has massacred a princely virgin, no less nobly
born than thyself. Nor dost thou repent, or seem sorry, as thou
oughtest to do, for this horrid sacrilege. I here beseech my
heavenly Lord, that for an example to others, he will please
to execute his divine judgment against thee, who has murdered
his spouse, troubled his people, violated his sabbath, and be-
sprinkled this holy house with blood, which 1 consecrated to his
service.' As the earth swallowed up rebellious and perverse
Corah, so some affirm, that at saint Beuno's last words, Cra-
docus not only dropped down dead; but also that the earth
opened, to give passage to the luxurious body to sink towards
his monstrous soul, or that the master whom he had served, the
devil carried it off; for it is certain, that the carcass of the crue!
murderer never afterwards appeared.
" The faithful glorified God in his justice, but could not curb
their grief. Saint Beuno earnestly exhorted the parents and peo-
ple to turn from lamentations, and to address the Creator of
souls, and raiser up of dead bodies, that as he commanded back
Lazarus to life, rotting in his monument, so, to his greater ho-
nour and glory, and for the comfort of the sorrowful parents,
who had so generously dedicated this darling child to his service,
he would graciously vouchsafe to restore her to life. He then
joined the sacred head to the pale body, covering both with his
cloak ; after which, he offered up the holy sacrifice of our sal-
vation.
349
" After mass was ended, he lifting up his hands to heaven,
made the following prayer. ' O, Lord Jesus Christ! for whose
sake, this holy virgin contemned the world, and languished after
thee; by the tender bowels of thy mercy, love, and bounty, be
graciously pleased to grant us the effect of our vows and prayers,
humbly offered unto thee. We are fully persuaded, that this
godly virgin, who lived holily, and died for thee with great con-
stancy, is now highly exalted, aud wants no more the society of
us mortal and miserable creatures. Yet to manifest thy omnipo-
tence and supreme dominion, which thou hast over our souls
and bodies, which are never dead to thy power of reuniting
them ; as also to multiply the merits of that soul, whose body
lies here before us: we crave a second life for her; to the end,
that after a long and plentiful harvest, laden and enriched with
new merits, she may return unto thee, her eternal Spouse, and
the beloved of her heart; who with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, rulest on earth, and reignest in heaven, for ever and
ever." The pious people, drowned in tears, having with sighs
and moving sobs, answered devoutly, Amen; the virgin arose as
newly awaked from sleep. She wiped her eyes and face, to clear
away that glorious dust, which had settled on her lovely head,
when it tumbled towards her dear saint Beuno. The decolla-
tion of saint Wenefride is celebrated on the 22d of June.
" Contemplate here, dear reader, the joy and admiration,
which then transported all present, at this wonderful miracle.
Tears burst out more plentifully, but flowing from a different
cause. They magnified and blessed the boundless goodness of
her great God, every one resolving to rise with the 6aint, to a
newness of reforming their past lives. One particular in this
surprising resuscitation is very remarkable, viz. When her pa-
rents, and others, fixed their eyes upon her neck, they observed
a pure white circle, no larger than a small thread, quite round
it, denoting the place, where the separation had been made ;
which always after remained. From this, the great veneration of
the people for her, changed her name, which was Brewa, into
that of Wenefride. Wen in the old British tongue signifies
White, and other letters were by an alteration added to this syl-
lable, to render more agreeable the sound of the new name.
In the many apparitions after her second death, when she showed
herself to her devout clients, they always took special notice of
the aforesaid white circle, which intimated to them the indelible
mark of her spouse's affection, for suffering that mortal wound
so courageously for his sake."
We have next a few pages of what are meant for pious reflec-
tions: and certainly many of the words are such as are used in
pious discourses; but considering that they are used for promo-
ting the worship of an idol, they are nauseous as were the frantic
devotions of the worshippers of the golden calf, when they said,
350
These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt :' —
" Whatever this incredulous age may think of this great mira-
cle of our saint's return to life; it appeared so evident to the
West Britons, and redounded so much to the honour of God's
church, St. Beuno's sanctity, and the power he had with his
Creator, that many pagan people, remaining in those parts, came
to hear the holy man's instructions in the Catholic faith, and to
receive baptism.
" St. Wenefride, according to her former practice, like Mary
at the feet of Christ, sat on a low seat before him. She was
never satiated with the heavenly manna, which fell from his an-
gelical tongue. She counted as nothing what she had already
done, or suffered, and restless to be more strictly united to her
beloved Spouse, she aspired to the height of perfection. Where-
fore she most humbly begged upon her knees, to be solemnly
veiled (according to the custom of the primitive ages) that by en-
tering into a religious course of life, she might put hell to great
confusion, which had fiercely attempted to dishonour God and
herself: but mostly, that she might pour forth her soul in the
presence of her eternal Spouse, with a flaming and disengaged
heart, entirely his, and say; Behold I have left all things and
have followed thee. (St. Matt. xix. 27.)
" St. Beuno, with tears of joy, complied with this religious
request, and performed the ceremony in a numerous assembly.
He knew to what a degree of sanctity the spirit of God would
raise her, for his own glory, and the improvement of others ;
therefore he spent whole days in cultivating her soul, in what
regarded a religious state. She, as an apt scholor, took in so
fast the frequent lessons, and put them in practice so punctually
that it struck her master into admiration. He finding her so far
advanced in an interior life, that she was even able to direct and
govern others in the way of perfection ; one day called for her
parents, and after the following manner delivered unto them his
sentiments and resolutions.
" As you (said he) have most liberally bestowed a church and
house for the service of God, and for the help and benefit of the
faithful, so his Divine Majesty has more than sufficiently requited
your charity, by conferring on you spiritual favours, but more
especially on your child, whom for the time to come, you may
follow as a safe guide, in our blessed Redeemer's service. I am
called on by heaven, to another place; and I leave you to the
grace and goodness of God, and to the rare example of your
daughter." Then turning to saint Wenefride, he said, " cur
Lord, dear child, has appointed you to succeed in my labours.
March on in the way of virtue u I have taught you, and guide
others in the road to eternal life. Gather in this very place, for
your heavenly spouse, many pure and devout virgins; but know
withal, that here you shall not end your days; for after the tern)
of seven years spent by you in prayer and austerities, for youi
own merits, and edification of others, our gracious Lord will
summon you to another place, that strangers may be instructed
by you, and come to the true knowledge and service of him, for
whose sake you fell a victim of purity.'
" When the ancients of Ephesus had heard saint Paul declare
unto them, that they should see no more his face, (Acts xx. 25.)
they fell upon his neck, and there was great weeping. In like
manner, when saint Wenefride was acquainted by her admired
master, that she should not see him any more in this world, a
lawful ffrief seemed to overwhelm her. To comfort her in such
deep affliction, saint Beuno took her by the hand, and led her
to the chrystalline fountain, the place of her martyrdom ; where
they sitting together on a stone, bearing to this day, the name of
saint Beuno's stone, and which lieth now in the outward well ;
4 you see (said he) the monument here of your sufferings. Be-
hold also the stones, as tinctured with your blood, which was
shed for the glory of your heavenly Spouse. Be you therefore
attentive, and mindful of what I do foret-el you, concerning three
special favours, whereby your glorious spouse, Jesus Christ, will
hereafter honour yourself, and by your prayers, benefit others.
The first is, that these bloody spots shall never be washed off
from the said stones, but ever remain, as triumphant signs of
your blood, spilt in defence of your chastity. The second is,
that any person who shall devoutly ask temporal blessings, or
freedom from spiritual or corporeal distresses, to be obtained by
your merits and intercession, the same shall compass his request,
if it be to the honour and glory of God, by paying their devo-
tions three times at this well. If what he petitions for be not for
the advantage of his soul, and therefore is not granted ; at his
death by your prayers he shall reap more ample fruit, and in the
next world everlasting blessings. The third, that after my de-
parture into a more remote part of this island, God will give me
a cell near unto the sea shore; so that whenever you send any
letters or tokens to me, as I entreat you to do at least once every
year, only cast them into the stream of this fountain, and they
will come safe unto me. Which wonders will be gloriously di<
vulged of you, to the end of the world.'
" He then conducted her back to the church; where he added:
' Behold this church and buildings round it, which have been
raised bv the munificence of your parents; these I leave unto you
to be converted into a monastery of chaste and holy virgins, who
moved by your pious instructions and exemplary life, may put in
practice those divine lessons, which I have often delivered unto
you : that is, the contempt of the world, and an entire abnega-
tion of themselves; which are the foundation of religious perfec-
tion. Strive therefore, dear child, in all things to exhibit your-
self as a lively pattern of virtue. As to my poor self, I will go
whither the Spirit of God shall direct me, and shall ever retuir
352
hi my heart and soul, a most fatherly and loving memory of yon."
'* It must not then seem strange, that the tender heart of this
doleful virgin, was ready to split asunder with grief, at the last
adieu in this world. The more he attempted to sweeten this
bitter separation, his charming words caused her swelling sorrow
to float higher; insomuch, that when she saw him, with his staff
in his hand, ready to depart, she rated the approaching loss, as
the heaviest cross upon earth, and could not forbear expressing
thus herself unto him; " Now, holy father, I am to be left
alone, as a poor orphan child without a nurse, or as a silly iheep
amongst ravenous wolves, without a pastor to defend me. I was
always safe with you, always joyful in your presence, always in-
structed by your exhortations, and edified by your example."
These words attended with flowing tears, so much oppressed
saint Beuno's heart, that not being able to utter any answer, he
blessed her with his hand, and hastened his pace in the beginning
of his journey.
" Nothing now could comfort her, save only the fresh remem-
brance of all his pious instructions, and an earnest desire of exe-
cuting obediently his commands. Accordingly, in a short time
she associated to herself many noble and devout virgins, who ob-
served such rules as she established for them. She ordered no-
thing but what first she practised herself, and miracles were not
wanting to increase her authority and the opinion of her sanctity.
Their love and respect towards her, caused each of them to con-
tend who should be most forward in the imitation of her rare
perfections. They nauseated sordid pleasures, they undervalued
wealth and honours, and they seemed to be inhabitants of a ter-
restrial paradise, in loving and serving their heavenly spouse, the
Son of God. She governed her subjects with endearing com-
mands, so that they obeyed with equal merit and content. She
eased them in their difficulties and temptations, insomuch that
they observing her rigid mortification, her angelical purity, and
knowing the strict union she had with God in prayer, whatever
she declared unto them was received as an oracle from heaven.
" The spreading fame of saint Wenefride was wonderfully di-
lated by miraculous cures of deceased persons. They were fre-
quent and apparent, and divulged through other parts of Wales.
Many flocked from distant places to hear her discourse and to
receive instructions, whom she sent away with flaming hearts and
ardent desires to be faithful and fervent in the service of their
God. They regretted a return to their respective habitations :
And as the queen of Sheba stood astonished at Solomon's singu-
lar wisdom, so these admiring strangers magnified the constant
happiness of the virgins she governed, and blessed those who al-
ways stood before her (3 Kin. x. 8.) they having such a secnrs
mistress, and so lender a mother."
THE
rotcstant,
No. XLV.
SATURDAY. MAY 22d, 1819.
I am afraid my readers will think they are entitled to an apo-
loqy from me for occupying so many of my pages with the ridi-
culous history of the idol and saint of Wales. I am ready to
allow, that the story is both ridiculous and impious, as it is in-
tended to promote the worship of a creature, and to encourage
the diseased and the miserable to trust in her for relief. If we
b-dieve the author and the editor of this work, she has perform-
ed more miracles than Christ and his apostles did; and as she is
represented as still continuing to work miracles, (a thing which
apjstles did not pretend to after their death,) the tendency of the
work evidently is, to divert the minds of the people from the doc-
trine of Christ as declared by his inspired messengers, — to lead
them away from Chri&t himself, as the hope of the miserable,
and to encourage them to trust in a creature ; and for any thing
they know, the mere creature of a monkish imagination ; for her
worshippers have little better evidence that such a person ever
existed, than the heathen have of the existence of their idols.
Having undertaken to exhibit the true character of Popery
from the writings of Papists themselves, it is necessary that I
give pretty large extracts from such writings. Some of these
extracts are, indeed, disgusting for their impurity, and shocking
for their impiety; but this I cannot help. To get acquainted
with any thing, people must see it as it is. I know that many
of my readers were quite ignorant of the true character of Popery.
I have undertaken to show it to them. I have, I trust, been in
some degree successful, so far as I have gone. There are many
Protestants that did not believe Popery to be so bad as it is.
They had a general idea that it was, during the dark ages, a sys-
tem of cruelty, superstition, and idolatry; but they did not be-
lieve it to be so in the present day. Now it is my object to
Yy
354-
convince thein that it is what it has always been. In establishing
this point, considered abstractly, I have the concurrence of Po-
pish writers themselves. They maintain that their religion is
infallible and unchangeable. It cannot therefore be improved.
There are many Protestants who charitably and liberally maintain
that Popery is not so bad as it was; but Papists themselves spurn
the compliment; and it argues a great degree of simplicity and
good nature in Protestants, to persist in representing the Church
of Rome as better than she wishes to be represented.
Notwithstanding all the evidence which is before the world,
Papists maintain broadly that their church never was idolatrous,
which is a piece of as barefaced effrontery as to maintain that
she nevei was guilty of persecution. They believe things con-
trary to the evidence of their own senses; and they expect us to
do the same. They believe, for instance, that what they see to
be a round piece of bread in the form of a wafer, is the real
body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ; and as such
they worship it with divine honour: yet they say this is not idol-
atry, for the priest has changed the wafer into God, though they
see, and feel, and taste it to be a wafer still. This is not merely
an error of the dark ages. It is taught as plainly in their modern
catechisms, and believed as firmly at this day, as it was in the
tenth century, when St. Dunstan preached it, and when Odo,
Archbishop of Canterbury, confirmed it by a miracle. (See
Pivrt I. page 39.) Now as Papists give up their senses when
they believe this, we must give up our senses when we believe
them not to be idolaters.
In like manner they maintain that the worship of saints is not
idolatry, upon no better authority, that I know of, than that the
Pope has raised them to be gods and goddesses. But while we
know that they are creatures; when we read the prayers and sup-
plications that are addressed to them ; and when we find that
Papists actually trust and hope in them, we must give up, not
our senses only, but our reason too, before we can believe that
they are not guilty of idolatry. I confess it would be extremely
convenient for the cause of Popery if Protestants would be per-
suaded to make such a surrender; — if every one would give up
his reason, and his senses, and his conscience, to the direction
of holy church, Popery would soon appear among us in all its
glory, that is, the solemn gloom of midnight darkness.
The Church of Rome in the darkest ages had its literature,
such as it was. It has been held in contempt in England gene-
rally for two hundred yeais; but contemptible as it is, it has be-
gun to revive. I have givui extracts from the Life of St. \\ ene-
fride, for the double purpose of proving Papists to be idolaters,
and affording a specimen of their literature. We are indebted to
Mr. Andrews for this; and from the advertisements on the cover
355
of his Orthodox Journal, * I see he has published some other
works calculated for the midnight meridian of Popery; and it
will not he his fault if these works do not soon become as popu-
lar as their Scotch cousin, " Old Mortality," in " Tales of my
Landlord."
But leaving all these things for the present, I request the at-
tention of my readers to some farther particulars relating to the
idol of Wales, the far famed St. Wenefride. It will be recol-
lected by the readers of my last Number, that she and St. Beuno
before they parted, had agreed upon a method of corresponding
with each other, such as, I believe, never occurred to any two
lovers whose adventures are recorded in either profane history or
pious romance. When she had a letter, or any thing else to
send to her beloved saint, she had only to throw it into the well,
and it would reach him in safety, and free of postage, in what-
ever part of the world he might be at the time. Take the fol-
lowing proof of the fact. —
" Gratitude for received favours is not only a moral virtue, but
the eternal employ of cherubims and seraphims, who are now
adoring and offering never ending thanks to the infinite goodness
of their omnipotent Creator, who commanded them out of the
* On the cover of his last Number are the following advertisements.
I will do Mr. Andrews the favour of giving them more extensive publi-
city, without expense to him, which I question if any other editor in tlte
kingdom would do.
" A new edition of Bona Mors; or, the art of dying happily, in tlic
congregation of Jesus Christ crucified, and of his condoling Mother.
To which is added, the Rosart of our Blessed Lady. Price Tenpence,
bound in sheep." From the title of this work, we learn that the " Con-
gregation," that is the Church of Rome, is equally the property of Christ
and the Virgin Mary.
" A half length Portrait of the Right Rev. Dr. Milner. Engraved
in the line manner. Proofs on India Paper, Two Guineas. Prints, One
Guinea.
" Two beautiful small Prints of our Blessed Saviour and {the Virgin
Mary. Proofs 5s. the pair. Prints 3s.
" A very fine head of Our Blessed Saviour, crowned with thorns.
12^ inches by 16 do. — Proofs 15s. Prints 95."
It would not perhaps be fair to infer that the prices which Mr. Andrews
sets upon these respective heads, indicate the comparative value of the
onginals in his esteem ; but one thing is certain, that Dr. Milner appears,
in the Orthodox Journal, to be by far the most important personage of
the three. I hope Mr. Andrews will thank me for this hint, as it will
furnish him with matter for declamation about my want of candour, for
two or three Numbers of The Vindicator. This will be of the more
value to him, as he must be at a loss for matter if he does not choose to
answer me on the subjects of transubstantiation, and idol worship.
As I am in the way of bestowing favours on Mr. Andrews, I will in-
form him that I have made one real contradiction in this Number of
The Protestant, which I hope he will be able to find out, seeing he is
to quick-sighted as to find many contradictions where there are none.
356
chaos of nothing. St. Wenefride had a most grateful soul ; she
honoured St. Beuno as an eminent servant of God ; she loved
liim as a father; she respected him as a master; and could never
sufficiently acknowledge her duty to her greatest benefaclor, after
him who had made her. Saint Beuno delivered to her the first
rudiments of perfection; he incited her to embrace a religious
state; he obtained for her by his prayers a second life, and po-
lished her interior, that she was amiable in the sight of God and
men. To make some small return, she sent him every year a
token, after the manner he had prescribed. In the beginning of
May, almost a year after his departure, with the help of her re-
ligious sisters, she finished a curious embroidered vestment; and
wrapping the same in a woollen cloth, she went down with her
religious and others, to the well side, and casting the bundle
into the water, she said, " Holy father, according to your com-
mand and my promise, I send unto you this small token of my
love." To the great astonishment of numerous beholders, it
passed down the stream into the river, then into the sea, and it
landed near the monastery where saint Beuno then dwelt, many
miles distant from the holy fountain.
" The holy man was then walking on the sea shore, and won-
dered what that bundle should be; but opening it, he remem-
bered the charge he had given to saint Wenefride, and that, as
he had foretold, it came miraculously to him, without the least sign
nf wet or moisture. This vestment he preserved with great care
in the church, for the celebration of holy mass. He likewise
received fresher lights of her present and future sanctity; how
much Almighty God would be honoured by her, not oidy at
Finhon, but in other places whither Divine Providence should
direct her to go. The virgin never intermitted to send him a
yearly present, till his most happy death was revealed unto her,
and the glorious reward he was crowned with in heaven. This
last passage may appear to incredulous persons the most surpris-
ing of all others in the history of St. Wenefride's life. Therefore
Divine Providence thought fit to authenticate the memory of it
to this very day, and after this manner. In Carnarvonshire,
eight miles distant from the town of Carnarvon, there is a little
creek where the sea runs up, called in Welsh, Porthy Casseg
(corruptedly, as I could instance in other appellations) for Porthy
Cassul, or the Port of the Vestment. Here the first present of
our saint miraculously landed; and the place retains the name to
this day. Near unto this inlet there stands a large parish church
called Clynnog, in which saint Beuno was buried, his last found-
ed monastery being there. His tomb is yet extant, and is had
in great veneration by the inhabitants. The history of St. Wene-
fride's life was curiously represented in the glass windows of Clyn-
nog church; but has been so defaced, that little now appears.
357
What can be more persuasive to obtain credit to this miracle,
than so ancient and so certain a tradition, even to those who use
their utmost efforts to destroy the memory of miracles. The
Fort of the Vestment solves the objection from the year 660 to
this of 1712. As apostolical tradition is the unwritten word of
God, and by it we receive the holy Scriptures, and the sacred
interpretation and true sense of them, as what regards infant
baptism, &c. let it be lawful for me to say, that, as to human
faith, uninterrupted tradition from father to son for so many cen-
turies, is a clearer attestation of fact, than if it had been recorded
in written history."
If any of my readers should demur to the assertion of the au-
thor, that " uninterrupted tradition from father to son for so
many centuries, is a clearer attestation of fact, than if it had been
recorded in written history," I must refer them to Mr. Andrews
for satisfaction. He entertains, no doubt, great veneration for
oral tradition, and it is evident that he believes all that is here
recorded of the holy saint. He may therefore be able to satisfy
others with regard to the ground of his belief, though The Pro-
testant should plainly avow his infidelity.
St. Wenefride is declared to have done wonderful things at the
place of her martyrdom; but what were they? I believe this is
more than any body can tell. She is represented as having col-
lected a number of young women : — as having become their go-
verness; as teaching them the way of perfection; and as acquir-
ing such a degree of merit in the sight of God, as to be enabled
to work miraculous cures : but still the question will recur, what
was it that she did? and the answer must be, Nothing. Her
perfection seems to have consisted in downright inanity, and in
teaching other young women to be as idle as herself. " What
are you doing there, Jack?" " Nothing, Master." " And, Tom,
what are you doing?" " I am helping Jack, Master." This
seems to express the whole history of those godly virgins, who
were associated under the government of the holy saint. These
young women would have been much more profitably employed
in their fathers' houses; assisting their parents in the business of
their respective families; in taking husbands, and rearing fami-
lies of their own, than in devoting themselves to celibacy and
idleness to gratify the humour of a wandering monk. I say this
upon the supposition that the story is authentic; but whether it
be so or not, the revival and republication of it by Mr. Andrews,
seems intended to revive the monastic spirit among our country-
men, and to encourage young women to devote themselves to a
single life, by representing this as more holy and more pleasing
to God than the state of marriage, which is contrary to common
sense, the law of nature, and the express declaration of the word
of God.
35S
St. Wenefride, as was predicted by St. Beuno, left the place
of her birth and martyrdom, and set out a-wandering, she knew
not whither, which would not, in our degenerate days, be reckon-
ed very honourable in a young lady of noble birth; but these
saints, it will be said, may do any thing. She settled at last
in a place called Guitherin, where there was a monastery, where
she surprised all by her wonderful knowledge of heavenly mys-
teries, and her extraordinary sanctity; yet after reading her his-
tory, nobody can tell wherein her knowledge or her sanctity
consisted. Yet she was a person of uncommon merit in the
sight of God, insomuch that while living, and after death, she
could procure by her prayers whatever she asked of him. This
is the bane and the poison of those books which Mr. Andrews
is reprinting for the instruction, I should rather say the destruc-
tion, of the rising generation. They are not only calculated to
conceal the truth of God's word from the mind of the reader, but
by making use of certain expressions borrowed from the word of
God, they convey sentiments directly opposed to it. They exalt
the merits of a creature ; they put an idol in the place of the
Saviour ; and then they pervert and prostitute his own word to
give credit to the imposture.
My readers must excuse me for occupying so much of their
time with such stuff as St. Wenefride. Had I found her history
in some old musty volume, which was not likely ever to be
reprinted, I would have made shorter extracts, and have dis-
missed her with little ceremony, under an apprehension, perhaps,
that the world would never hear of her again ; but since the
organ of English Papists in London, has reprinted the work
in a cheap form ; seeing it has the sanction of Dr. Milner,
Bishop, and Vicar Apostolic, so far as to allow his name to
be used as a voucher for a miracle lately performed by the holy
saint, who died for the second time above eleven hundred years
ago ; seeing this work is strongly recommended bv the editor,
and is likely to obtain extensive circulation among English Pa-
pists, and perhaps Protestants, I think it of importance to my
readers to be acquainted with the nature of the work, and the
doctrines which it inculcates, which are throughout impious and
idolatrous, yet expressed in language that wears an air of piety,
and therefore more likely to deceive the simple and unwary.
This is the sort of reading which Papists are providing for the
many thousands of their children, who, at the expense of Protes-
tants, are learning to read ; and unless they are furnished with
something better ; unless the Bible is put into their hands, it
may turn out that all our efforts to educate the Popish youth will
have the effect of making them more subtle and confirmed idolaters.
I could tell how the bones of this saint were dug up and
transported to Shrewsbury, some hundreds of years after her
359
death; — of the miracles which these bones performed at the time
of their translation, of which Robertus Salopiensis was an eye-
witness ; but I must pass over these trivial matters, and come to
things of more importance.
Christians, whose religion is derived from the Bible, believe
that saints who have departed this life, are at rest with their Sa-
viour in heaven, and that they have done with worldly cares.
They believe that Christ himself has all power in heaven and
earth, that he alone is intrusted with the management of his
church, and that he takes a particular interest in the happiness
of every individual member. But the poor slaves of Rome can-
not look so high for protection and comfort. They are taught
to trust in some fellow creature of a saint, or in a company of
saints, whose souls are supposed to be still ready to go about any
business which their worshippers have in heaven: and their
bodies, even to the least of their bones, nay their very clothes,
and even the thongs which have tied their shoes, can perforin
wonderful cures on earth.
But as no one saint, except the Virgin Mary, can do every
thing, and be in all places at the same time, the Church of Rome
has made a very convenient distribution, and as distinct a divi-
sion of labour among the saints in heaven, as any manufacturer
on earth can make among his artificers. By this imaginary dis-
tribution, they first divide their saints into countries. St. James
is appointed to take care of Spain : St. Sebastin has the charge
of Portugal : St. Denis of Fiance : St. Mark of the Venetians :
St. Nicholas of the Moscovites : St. Ambrose of Milan : the
three Kings of the electorate of Cologne : St. Barbara of Ger-
many, &c. Before the Reformation, St. George had the charge
of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Patrick of Ireland.
Secondly, they subdivide the employment of the saints in these
and other countries, after the several sorts of trades and pro-
fessions of the people. St. Nicholas and St. Christopher have
the oversight of seamen ; St. Catherine is over the scholars ; St.
Austin takes care of the divines : St. Luke of the painters ; St.
Ivo of the lawyers ; St. Eustachius of the hunters ; St. Crispin
of the shoemakers ; St. Magdalene and St. Afra have the charge
of those unhappy women who are no better than they should be.
Some are even put to the most vile and degrading services ; for
instance, St. Anthony has the charge of swine ; St. Pelagius of
cows; St. Eulogius of horses; St. Vendeline and St. Gallus have
the care cf both sheep and geese. What mean ideas must the
poor Papists have of heaven, when they suppose the saints would
leave it to drudge after such matters?
The division of labour among the saints which is appointed
by the Church of Rome, is very much like that of the servants
hi a great house or palace, such for instance, as Holyrood house
360
m Edinburgh, where one servant is not allowed to show the
whole building to a stranger ; but where different persons are m
waiting, with the keys of their respective appartments ; one shows
you a suite of rooms, receives his fee, and turns you over to
another, who shows you the great gallery of paintings ; he having
received his fee, turns you over to an old woman, who shows
you the ruins of the chapel, and the shank-bone of Darnly, and
she also must have her fee ; — such at least was the practice
twenty years ago ; and such is the canonical practice of Romish
saints in all ages. Non omnia possumus omnes, — one cannot do
all, says one of their learned men ; (Gab. Biel. in can. lect. 32.)
and therefore they will sometimes direct clients to other saints ;
as once St. Peter sent a woman to a sacrist he had at Rome, for
the cure of her palsy ; and it is upon this ground, that devout
persons are directed to several saints for their several exigencies,
to the end that every saint may have his share in the worship.
This they call a discreet variety, honourable to the church and
advantageous to her poor members. One prays to St. Peter for
the gift of submission: to St. Agnes for continency: to our
Lady St. Ann for wealth : to St. Margarite for child-bearing : to
St. Rochus against the plague: to St. Petronilla against the ague;
to St. Apollonia against the toothach : to St. Liberius against
the stone : and so to every saint for the help that is in his way.
Bachelors must not go to St. Peter, because he was a married
man; nor married men to St. John, because he was a bachelor:
but let every one go to a saint of his own tribe ; a widow to a
widow saint, and a soldier to one of his trade, for this is the
humour of Romish saints, to favour their own companions.
According to this economy, there is not one Romanist but
may pretend to march under the colours of several saints. For
example, a native of Paris has as fair a title as Rome can give
to the protection of St. Michael, St. Denis, and our Lady, who
are understood to rule that kingdom : of St. Genevieve, that more
especially looks to Paris; of St. Germain, or St. Thomas, or
St. Sulpice, if he either be born or reside in these parishes : of
St. Cosmus, and St. Damian, if he practice physic : of St.
Ottilia and St. Lucia, when his ears and eyes trouble him ; and
of St. Maihurin also, if he be troubled with fully. Over and
above these, he may be sure of other saints, St. Dominick, St
Celestin, St. Francis, and twenty more, by matriculatiug his
name into their confraternities, which he may do for a small
matter. See Del. de Sanct. Beati. — Gab. Biel. — Salmero
1 ad 27w. — Salazar, Prov. cap. 8. v. 18. fyc §c. as referred
to by Brevini in Saul and Samuel at Endor. pp. 72 — 74-
THE
rotestantt
No. XLVI.
SATURDAY, MAY 29th, 1819.
What the Church of Rome calls a discreet variety in her
objects of worship, could produce nothing but confusion and
distraction in the minds of those who know what real religious
worship is. It is the glory of Christianity, as opposed to all
idolatry, that it teaches the worship of one living and true God,
and that it makes known to the guilty children of men the way ot
access to him, by one Mediator, who has made atonement for
the sins of his people; who is worthy to stand between an of-
fended God and his offending creatures, — to make intercession
for the latter, and to bring them into the blessed state of recon-
ciliation with their Creator. Christ having made peace by the
blood of his cross, came and preached peace to the Gentiles who
Mere far off, as well as to the Jews who were nigh ; for through
him, both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit unto the
Father, Eph. ii. 17, 18. Those who believe in Christ, that is,
those who are really Christians, are brought into this state of
peace and reconciliation with God. They trust in God, and
hope in him. They are instructed, in every thing, by prayers
and supplications, to make their requests known unto God,
Phil. iv. 6. Nay, they are invited to come boldly to the throne
of grace, that they may obtain mercy and find grace to help
them in time of need, Heb. iv. 16. They possess a confidence
and steadfast reliance upon him as their Almighty Saviour, and
all-sufficient portion. Their confidence is that of children in a
father whom they love, and whom they know loves them. To
send them to a creature for help, be that creature ever so ex-
alted, would be to seduce them from their allegiance to their
God and Father; — a crime that can find a parallel only in the
X. ■
362
successful attempt of the Devil against our first parents; and a
crime in which the Church of Rome has been deplorably success-
ful, to the ruin of millions of immortal souls.
Popish worship is not the affectionate approach of a child to
a gracious father, but the sullen averted look of a slave, who
dares not approach his master but through the medium of some
fellow creature, who, he supposes, stands higher in favour than
himself, and whose good word, he thinks, will promote his interest
with his master. I need not tell those who understand the
Bible, that this is not the worship of the true God at all. To
say that God is too great to admit of direct approach in the name
of Christ, and that he is accessible to sinners through the medium
of mere creatures, is a false representation of him; and to wor-
ship the true God under a false character is as really idolatry a9
to worship a false God. Of this the Church of Rome is noto-
riously guilty; and this is not merely a human error grafted upon
a divine religion, as some of their fooleries are supposed to be.
It is a radical and fundamental error, which declares Popery to
be quite a different, and an opposite religion; — to be, in short,
that Antichrist that should come into the world.
In lieu of that spiritual divine worship which is enjoined by
the word of God, Papists are taught to worship they know not
what; and they are so madly set upon their idols, that they have
multiplied to themselves gods, more than the heathen whom they
have supplanted. Not satisfied with those who are known to
have been saints on earth, and who we believe are now glorified
in heaven, such as the Apostles of Christ, they have added mul-
titudes of names whose saintship and whose very existence is
doubtful : to these they address their idolatrous prayers and sup-
plications; and in these they put their trust for preservation from
evil, and for obtaining both temporal and spiritual benefits.
That Papists are taught to worship they know not what, is
evident from their worshipping certain saints of whose existence
there is not the shadow of evidence, which comes directly under
the Apostle Paul's description of an idol, — that it is nothing in
the world.
•' The Spaniards, it seems, have a saint held in great reve-
lence, in some parts of Spain, called Viar ; for the farther en-
couragement of whose worship, they solicited the Pope to grant
nonie special indulgences to his altars; and upon the Pope's de-
siring to be better acquainted first with his character, and the
proofs which they had of his saintship, they produced a stone
with these antique letters S. Viar which the antiquaries readily
saw to be a small fragment of some old Roman inscription in
memory of one who had beer. PrefeduS Via Run?, or overseei
A the highways." Middlct(v\< Tetters, p. 173.
363
This St. Viar, or Viarius, was, notwithstanding, worshipped
for I do not know how many ages. " Over the bishop's sepul-
chre is a table of stone, upon which the mass was wont to be
sacrificed in honour of his saintship, whom they call Viarius; n<J
hither came all persons who were pained about the loins, and
were invariably cured. When Ressendius, who designed to
publish his life along with those of the other saints, visited the
spot with a view to pick up information, he enquired of tht
priests if they possessed any records or inscriptions respecting
St. Viarius. Upon this he was directed to the table over his
sepulchre; which was inscribed with a Latin epitaph of consider-
able length. But Ressendius, who happened to be better ac-
quainted with Latin inscriptions than the priests, soon discovered
that the celebrated tomb of St. Viarius contained only the hea-
thenish carcases of two menders of Roman highways. Informa-
tion was immediately sent to Cardinal Alphonsus, at that time
Bishop of Evora, who ordered the place to be 6hut up, to the
great discontent of all the simple faithful who were pained about
the loins." MlCulloch Pop. ConcL p. 345. " Such legendary
lore drew from a learned man of the Romish Church the follow-
ing complaint. ' There is also another error not unfrequcnt,
that the common people; neglecting in a manner the ancient and
known saints, worship more ardently the new and unknown, of
whose holiness we have but little assurance, and of whom we
know some only by revelations; so that it is justly doubted 01
several, that they never existed at all.' " Cassand. Consult, p.
971. quoted by M'Culloch, p. 346. This is an important
concession by a Popish writer. He speaks as if it were univer-
sally admitted that the ancient and known saints should be wor-
shipped ; he finds fault only with the prevailing practice of wor-
shipping those upstart saints who were unknown, and of whose
existence theie was no evidence.
" We have in England," says Middleton, p. 174, " an in-
stance still more ridiculous, of a fictitious saintship, in the case of
a certain saint called Amphibolus; who, according to monkish
historians, was bishop of the Isle of Man, and fellow martyr
and disciple of St. Alban : yet the learned Bishop Usher has
given good reasons to convince us, that he owes the honour of his
saintship to a mistaken passage in old acts or legends of St.
Alban: where the Amphibolus mentioned, and since reverenced
as a saint and martyr, was nothing more than a cloak, which
Alban happened to have, at the time of his execution ; being a
word derived from the Greek, and signifying a rough shaggy
cloak, which ecclesiastical persons usually wore in that age."
Middleton p. 174.
" They pretend to show here at Rome," says the same an-
364
thor, " two original impressions of our Saviour's face, on two
different handkerchiefs; the one, sent a present by himself to
Agbarus, Prince of Edessa, who by letter had desired a picture
of him; the other, given by him at the time of his execution,
to a saint or holy woman named Veronica, upon a handkerchief
which she had lent him to wipe his face on that occasion: both
which handkerchiefs are still preserved, as they affirm, and now
kept with much reverence; the first in St. Sylvester's church;
the second in St. Peter's; where in honour of this sacred relic,
there is a fine altar, built by Pope Urban VIII. with a statue of
Veronica herself."* " But, notwithstanding the authority of the
Pope, and his inscription, this Veronica, as one of their best
authors has shown, like Amphibolus before mentioned, was not
any real person, but the name given to the picture itself, by the
old writers who mention it; being formed by blundering and
confounding the words Vera Icon, or true image, the title
inscribed, perhaps, or given originally to the handkerchief, by
the first contrivers of the imposture." page 176.
Thus, in their rage for multiplying objects of worship, Papists
have set up some that never had any real existence. This is no
less impious and absurd than the conduct of the grossest idola-
ters among savage tribes, who worship a piece of wood or a piece
of stone. These worship the works which their own hands have
made; Papists worship the creatures which their own imagina-
tions have formed: and there is this difference in favour of the
savages, that they have not the means of knowing better ; while
the Papists continue their idolatries notwithstanding the enlight-
ened state of Europe, and the repeated exposure which has been
made of their absurdities and impieties.
But I cannot allow Papists even the small advantage of being
more intellectual in their idolatries than the untutored savage ;
for they do worship wood, and stone, and paste, which their
own hands have made. They have not only set up idols which
they call saints, but they have set up images of these saints, and
they fall down and worship before them. Nay, so far do they
degrade themselves, that they worship " cast clouts and old
rotten rags," if they can persuade themselves that these were
part of the clothing, or had touched the body of any of their
idols. But as the subject of worshipping images and relics de-
• There is a Latin inscription which it is unnecessary to quote here.
The following is a note by the author. — " There is a prayer in their
books of offices, ordered by die rubric, to be addressed to this sacred and
miraculous picture, in the following terms. — ' Conduct us, O thou bles
vd figure, to our proper home, where we may behold the pure face of
Christ' "
365
serves the honour of a Paper by itself, I shall not enter upon it
here.
I have just said that to worship the true God under a false
character, is as really idolatry as to worship a false god; and I
intend to dilate a little on this subject, as it is one of great im-
portance; and as I am afraid many, who are not Papists, will be
convicted of this error.
All true and acceptable worship proceeds from the true know-
ledge of the object of worship. He that cometh to God must
not. only believe in his existence, but must believe that of him
which he has been pleased to reveal in his word ; he must know
his true character as it is there exhibited ; and if any man profess
to approach to him without this knowledge and belief, he is not
approaching to the true God, but to an idol of his own fancy.
He may form in his own mind an idea of that great Being to
whom he addresses himself; but if his idea of God be not that
which is declared by his own word, — that which is exhibited in
such endearing characters in the gospel of Christ, it is not
the God of the Bible whom he is worshipping; and as there is
no other living and true God, he is worshipping an idol, — a thing
that has no existence.
It is only in the gospel of Christ that God is represented in
such characters as to warrant and encourage us to approach to
him, and to worship him with the hope of being accepted. We
must not forget that we are estranged from God, and enemies to
him; and that he is justly offended with us. In this state of
estranoement there can be no friendly intercourse between heaven
and earth. We cannot approach to him as holy angels, who
never offended him, do; nor will he accept of the homage or
worship of enemies and rebels. This is the state in which the
gospel finds the whole human race: and this message of mercy
makes known the expedient devised by infinite wisdom for effect-
ing our reconciliation. This was no less than the gift of his own
Son; he gave him up to the death to make reconciliation for
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Every man
who believes this on the authority of the divine record, and sub-
mits to the righteousness of God, has his sins forgiven ; he is
reconciled; he receives a new heart and a right spirit; and in the
exercise of faith and cordial repentance on account of his many
transgressions, he is enabled, by divine grace, to worship God in
simplicity and godly sincerity. Such worship is graciously ac-
cepted. Jesus Christ is the only medium of it. He is the one
Mediator between God and man. His righteousness alone is
the footing on which our persons and services are accepted ; and
his intercession alone is available to our spiritual advantage.
366
I am aware that every Papist, and many a nominal Protestant,
will cry out against this as cant and nonsense. No matter: II
is just what the plain truth of divine revelation has been from the
beginning of the world, in the esteem of those who did not like
to worship God in the way which he himself had prescribed ;
who in fact did not like to retain God in their knowledge, in
those characters of infinite holiness and righteousness, under
which he had revealed himself, and which would not admit the
approach of any of the race of Adam, but by confession of guilt
ever a sacrifice of atonement.
Sinners, as such, never did like this view of the divine charac-
ter; and yet if they profess to worship God under any other
character, they are worshipping an idol, and not the true God.
Cain seems to have been the first avowed idolater ; and his ido-
latry consisted in presenting an offering to the true God under a
false character. The divine appointment of worship by sacrifice,
was a sufficiently plain intimation, that God was so offended
with men on account of sin, that no man should ever approach
to him but upon the footing of an atonement. But Cain did
not believe that God was so offended with him, that he might
not come to him as a friend, without a sacrifice, — without a
reconciliation. It was not therefore the true God that Cain was
thinking of; it was an idol of his own imagination; and this I
take to be the origin of all the idolatry that has been in the
world.
It was long, perhaps, before the impression of the revelation
which God made of himself to the first family, and before the
religion of that family, were so completely forgotten, that ido-
latry acquired the grossness of avowed creature worship; yet we
know that in process of time the earth was filled with it. So
after God was manifest in the flesh ; after the great atonement
had been made; after all men were invited to confess their sins,
and come to God for pardon upon the footing of that sacrifice ;
and after many churches had been gathered by the preaching of
Apostles, built upon the foundation of the truth which they
preached, and professing to worship God in the name of Jesus
Christ; it was some time, I say, after this, before idolatry began
to appear in the grossness of creature worship. It soon appeared
in its more refined and intellectual form, when some Jewish con-
verts began to make an idol of their conformity to the law of
Moses, and when others became ashamed of the doctrine of
Christ, and began to corrupt it by inventions and traditions of
men. This, though perceptible at first only to the keen spiritual
discernment of inspired men, became by degrees palpable enough;
and in the course of a few ages, it issued in the gross idolatries
of the Church of Rome, and the scarcely less gross superstitions
of the Eastern churches.
367
There is in the mind of every real Christian a representation of
the true God in his revealed characters of goodness and truth,
justice and mercy. This is produced by the gospel which he
believes; and, continuing in the faith of it, this representation, or
image of the living God remains within him. But there are
many who receive the gospel only in theory, not in the love of
it, and without any experience of its power and sanctifying in-
fluence; and there are many, called Christians, who do not know
the gospel even in theory. In the minds of both these classes
of persons there is an image of something else than the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : it is the image of an idol
which they have set up in their own hearts; and all the worship
of such persons is no better than idolatry. For instance, if a
man shall imagine that God will accept him upon the footing of
his own merits; that God is too good to be strict in marking his
failings and imperfections; that he will kindly pass over these,
without putting him to the disagreeable necessity of confessing
and forsaking his sins, and imploring mercy in the name of
Christ ; — such a man is thinking of an idol ; his heart is as far
removed from the true God as that of the deluded Papist, who
worships a fragment of the handkerchief of the Virgin Mary,
or the poor Hindoo, who falls down before the image of Jugger-
naut.
I have a good deal to say on the conformity of Popery with
heathen idolatry ; but the design of the present reflections is to
show its conformity with the state of the carnal mind ; and that
it rises out of that alienation of the heart from the true God, and
dislike of his revealed character, which exists in the heart of
every man until he is converted to God by the power of the
Holy Spirit, and the instrumentality of the gospel.
But when persons have obtained the name of Christian, they
do not like to give it up. In countries where Christianity is not
persecuted, especially where it is the prevailing and established
religion, men may depart from the faith of Christ, and still be
called by his name. They call themselves Christians, and their
children will be called Christians, though not united to Christ
by the faith of the gospel. The living image of Christ is want-
ing in the hearts of such persons, and they must have something
external and visible to supply its place ; such, for instance, as a
dead image of him which they set up in their churches. They
abandon the doctrine of the cross of Christ ; but they find a
substitute in the timber or image of the cross. Not aware of
the necessity of the influence of the Holy Spirit, to regenerate
and sanctify them, they rest satisfied with the act of baptism and
the application of holy water. Not receiving Christ by faith in
he ordinance which commemorates his death, they are content
368
to receive an image of him in the form of a wafer. The light of
the divine word no longer shining from their pulpits, they supply
its place by a number of wax candles, even in the face of the
sun ; and the priests, no longer exhibiting the character of hea-
venly purity, they clothe themselves with an image of it in the
form of a robe of white linen. In this way the doctrines and ordi-
nances of Christ were not merely corrupted, but totally sup-
planted, by a system of idolatries, and superstitions, and will-
worship, which continues to this day to obstruct the progress of
the gospel, and to enslave the minds of many millions of the
human race.
Now I wish to be understood as distinctly maintaining that
there is a tendency to these things in the minds of all who are
Christians in name, and not in reality. Where the living spirit
of Christianity is a-wanting, men will take up with a dead image
of it. If they receive not the gospel in its heavenly simplicity,
they will be led away by some earthly representation of it. If
they receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved,
they may be abandoned to the fatal delusion of believing a lie.
The first speculative error may appear small and trifling, but
nobody can tell how far it may lead one astray. One degree of
obliquity extended, will lead to an infinite distance from the right
line. Rome was not built in a day. Admit but the principle,
that any thing beside what is contained in the word of God, is
to be a rule in religious matters, and this, in the course of time,
will lead the minds of men entirely away from the word of God,
as it did in the Church of Rome, and issue in a system of direct
opposition to the divine record.
Let such of my readers as are alarmed for the growth of Po-
pery attend to the root of the evil. It lies in the opposition of
the carnal mind to the holy and humbling doctrine of Christ
crucified. It is highly probable that if Popery shall regain the
ascendency among us, and become the fashionable religion, the
worldly part of the community will fall into it ; because the fun-
damental principles of Popery and mere nominal Christianity are
the same. If any of my readers ask how the growth of Popery
is to be prevented; I confess I know no proper means of preven-
tion, but by every one receiving and holding fast the truth of the
divine word ; and by communicating the knowledge of it to all
around him. It is only by the word of truth, and the armom'
of righteousness, on the right hand and on the left, that Chris-
tians can effectually oppose the progress of error; and such op-
position, by the blessing of God, will ultimately be successful,
even if Popery should gain the ascendency for a time.
THE
Protectant,
No. XLVII.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5th, 1819.
* Beatification," says Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary, " is
an acknowledgment made by the Pope, that the person beatified
is in heaven, and therefore may be reverenced as blessed ; but is
not a concession of the honours due to saints which are conferred
by canonization." If this be a correct definition of the word,
which I have no reason to doubt, it appears that the Pope pro-
fesses to have the faculty of knowing who are in heaven, and
who are not, which must excite as great a degree of astonish-
ment, as that of the village rustics at their learned schoolmaster,
'■ That one small head could carry all he knew." It appears
farther, that every saint in heaven may be reverenced as blessed,
that is, honoured with an inferior degree of worship; but that to
those whom the Pope has canonized a higher degree of worship
is due. It is not then a matter of mere choice ; it is a matter of
obligation ; it is the bounden duty of every good papist to wor-
ship the idols which the Pope has set up; that is, the saints to
whom he has given places of distinction in heaven. Mr. An-
drews very earnestly inculcates this duty in his school book, as
it regards the Virgin Mary; and in his edition of St. Wenefride's
life and miracles, he is little less earnest in recommending devo-
tion to her. At least he holds her up as an object of religious
worship; as one that is able to bestow the greatest temporal
blessings, such as the cure of diseases which no human skill can
cure ; and he furnishes suitable prayers for the use of her devout
worshippers, on whom she has not bestowed the ability to make
prayers for themselves.
Those who have marked the correspondence that there is be-
tween heathenism and popery, have been struck with the resem-
blance of Popish canonization to heathen deification. " The
ancient priests, in order to the credit of their system, felt i«
3 A
370
necessary to persuade the people, that certain characters, many
of whom had, however, been the most ambitious and sensual
of mankind, were honoured by the special favour of heaven ;
were deep in its mysteries, and even worthy of being placed
among the gods themselves: in consequence of which, their
public deification took place with all the pomp and circumstance
so well calculated to impose upon a gross and idolatrous people.
In order, however, to this ceremony, some miraculous intimation
of the favour and will of Heaven, as to the individual in ques-
tion, was required to be duly attested as necessary to the cere-
mony. Thus in the case of Romulus, one Julius Proculus took
a solemn oath, • That Romulus himself appeared to him, and
ordered him to inform the senate of his being called up to the
assembly of the gods, under the name of Quirinus.' Plut. in
Vit. Rom. Dioniss. Halicar. 1. ii. p. 124. and in the deification
of the Cassars, some cf whom were little less than monsters, the
established proof of their divinity was an eagle flying out of the
funeral pile towards heaven, which was supposed to convey the
soul of the deceased, and was also required to be duly attested."
Dio. Cass. p. 598, 842. The Papists, in imitation of '.his
Pagan original, consider it necessary to their credit, to canonize
or beatify certain individuals of their communion, some of whom
have, like their heathen prototypes, been of infamous and scan-
dalous lives; and in order to this act, they also introduce the
machinery of miracles, although with some difference as to the
mode of its operation. In this case, the miracles are alledged
to have been performed by the saints themselves, and there is as
little difficulty in procuring the necessary attestations in modern
as in ancient Rome. The creation of saints has in consequence
become almost as common as the creation of cardinals, there
having rarely been a Pope who did not enrich the calendar with
some fresh specimens. Benedict XIII. canonized eight in one
summer, and his successor Clement XII. four more. Innocent
XIII., who succeeded him, beatified Andrew Conti, a member
of his own family: and this is another main source of saintship,
when, to gratify the ambition of the reigning Pope, this honour
is conferred on some of his name or family. The present Pope
has canonized five saints, all of whose banners are at this mo-
ment waving in one of the chapels of St. Peter's. The Papists
consider this rite as so essential a part of their religion, that they
nave even perverted the sacred Scriptures for the purpose of
giving sanction to the practice, having translated the passage in
St. James, v. 11, not as it ought to be : ' Behold we count
:hem happy who endure,' but ' Behold how we beatify those
who have suffered with constancy;' in like manner as, in order
to give a sanction to their religious processions with the host and
with relics, &c. they translate the passage in Heb. xi. 30, ' The
'Tails of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven
lays,' ' after a procession of seven days.'
371
" It costs an immense sum to be made a saint, but pious
relatives are sometimes content to bear it. Proofs of the miracles
wrought by the deceased must be adduced in due form, in a ju-
dicial way. Witnesses are examined, and in order that full jus-
tice may be done, counsel are appointed on both sides, one un-
dertaking to establish the miracles, and the other combating
them; and thus the matter is solemnly argued dans les formes,
et selon les regies, and not determined until after a long and
expensive process. It is farther remarkable, that some miracle
must have been performed by the deceased after his death, as
well as during his life; one of these, by the way, being quite as
easy to the saint as the other, and each being equally capable of
proof. It is unnecessary to observe, that these judicial inquiries
invariably terminate in favour of the saint and his family ; since
the Pope and his council are equally interested in the successful
issue of the suit: indeed, as an atheistical Pope once observed,
' What a profitable fable has that of Jesus Christ been to us!'"
Ignotus, Letter V. originally published in the Times Neivs-
pnper. Whence is it that Mr. Andrews has not tried his hand
in answering this able writer, who has made such an exposure
of the wickedness of Popery, and its dangerous tendency, under
his own eye?
One of the most usual miracles which saints are said to per-
form after their death, is to impart to their carcases a good smell ;
and it is so much the better if they can preserve this for ages, so
that on opening their graves all present should be sensible of it.
I have before me a number of particulars of the life and miracles
of St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, whose Bull of canonization
" begins not without good reason," as the author says, " with
that incorruption and good odour of her body which continues
to this day." It is easy to imagine how a parcel of artful
monks, by the use of perfumes, might deceive the simple, and
impart fragrance to the body of one recently deceased, and even
to a chestful of dry bones; and thus it was in their power to lay
a foundation for the canonization of any person they pleased.
The following is one of the miracles which procured this honoui
for the idol of Pazzi : — " Then, when her virgin body was aftei
her death exposed in the church, there was a concourse of peo-
ple of all ages, sexes, and qualities to see it, touch it, and pay
veneration to it. Among others, a young man of an irregular
and licentious life, advanced towards the body to touch it. The
saint, as if she had been alive, had a horror of that dunghill,
and turned her head on the other side. This action touched the
young tnan so to the quick, that he made a firm resolution to
amend. This miracle was attested by a reverend Jesuit, who
was an eye-witness of it, with many others." I dare not give
more particulars of this saint, lest my readers should throw my
Paper aside with disgust. Suffice it to sav that the story is
much more gross than St. Wenefride. St. Miry Magdalene
372
of Pazzi, however, has a distinguished place among the idols of
Papal Rome; and I have received from an intelligent correspon-
dent, an impression of a little image of her, such as her devotees
wear about their neck.
I related in my last Number how St. Viar was unsainted
when it was discovered that he had been no better than a men-
der of roads, though I believe few of the saints were so honour-
ably and usefully employed. I shall now give an account of one
who was in danger of being deprived, and struck from the ca-
lendar, had the credit of his saintship not been established by
the smell of his bones. The relation is given by one who was
an eye-witness of this, and of innumerable other Popish tricks to
deceive the people, and who afterwards was so convinced of the
iniquity of the system that he renounced it and embraced the Pro-
testant faith. This, of course, will overthrow his credit with
every good Papist, and every fact of his will be called a forgery,
though he relates nothing worse than what can be proved by a
hundred other witnesses. It is a rule with writers of controversy
on the Popish side that nothing is to be believed that is written
by a Protestant, unless he be such a one as Heylen, the com-
panion of Laud, who was more than three-fourths a Papist.
" I can give you on this subject," says the writer in a letter
to a friend, " the result of a conference, at which I was present
myself, sometime ago, at Blois in France, upon occasion of seve-
ral relics kept in the parish of St. Victor, two leagues distant
trom that city. These relics were much out of order, in old
wooden cases, all worm eaten and rotten with age, which hin-
dered them from being carried in procession, and exposed to
public view. The concern, therefore, was to have them more
modishly accommodated, and transported into new cases. To
this end the Bishop of Chartres was petitioned to perform the
translation, who presently sent his order to the Archdeacon of
Blois for that purpose; who assembled several of the clergy to
consult with the curates and priests of St. Victor about the pre-
cautions to be observed in that translation. The resolution was,
that to avoid the scandal that might happen, if nothing should
chance to be found in the old cases, and to prevent the declining
of the good opinion and devotion of the people, in case only
some few bones should be found in them, the transportation of
them into the new ones should not be done in pHblic, but as
private as possibly might be, in the presence of only some pru-
dent persons, who might be ready to remedy all sorts of acci-
dents upon occasion : 1 was desired by some friends of the Arch-
deacon, to be present with them; and I can assure you, sir,
that the resolution was taken, if it should chance that nothing
were found in the cases, to maintain peremptorily that the bodies
yf the saints were there whole and entire. And to allay
somewhat the scruples that might start by occasion of this pro-
ceeding, a Canon of St. Saviour's church of Blois, a man re-
373
solute and of a small conscience, maintained in the face of the
assembly, that no difficulty ought to be made of asserting such a
thing, though altogether false: that in a case where the interest
of the church was concerned, all manner of respects and sen-
timents whatsoever were to be given up; that the mysteries
of the Catholics were not to be exposed to the raillery of the
hereticks, (so they call the Protestants) who would not fail to
mock at them, as soon as they should understand that noth-
ing had been found in the cases of St. Victor, which for so
long a time had been the object of the people's adoration ; be-
sides, that the devotion of laics, in assisting the clergy, was
already so far cooled, that scarce any thing now was to be got
from them, but by some pious fraud or holy artifice. The
Archdeacon heard all his discourse without contradicting him in
the least; and the curate of the parish, as being the person most
concerned in the case, very officiously returned him his most
hearty thanks. This done, they proceeded to the opening of
the cases; and the truth is, bones either of saints or no-saints
were found in them. In the mean time, a monk of the Abbey
of St. Lomer in Blois, who was present, cried out at the very
instant, that he felt a very sweet odour which proceeded from
them, wherewith he was so strongly seized, that it was like to
overcome him. A young religious, (his companion) seconded
him immediately, and some country people of the parish pro-
tested the very same thing. The Archdeacon, and the rest of
the company freely declared, that they smelt nothing: yet foras-
much as it might be, that those persons having some more par-
ticular merit before God, he might think them worthy of receiv-
ing the like favours; it was ordered that their attestation should
be received, and set ill the margin of the verbal process which
was then making of that translation, the original of which was
to be shut up with the relics in the new cases. I had the curi-
osity some weeks after, in the time of vintage, to examine some
of these persons about the odour they pretended to have smelt,
of what kind it was; whereupon some of them said it was the
scent of a rose, others of jessamin, and others of violet : but
finding that they faultered in their expressions, and smiled withal,
I took occasion to press them more seriously, so that at the
upshot they confessed, that the good opinion they had of the
two monks, which first started the matter, had drawn them in,
and in a manner forced their imagination to believe, that they
smelt that which they never had smelt indeed." Frauds of
Romish Monks and Priests, vol. I. p. 8 — 10.
The author has a round about way of telling his story, on
which account I will give the sequel in my own way. He got
the young monk to confess that he had smelt nothing of the
miraculous odour ; but being ashamed to be supposed less gifted
with heavenly favours than his brother, he had pretended to be
sensible of it. He acknowledged, (being a young unexperienced
374
man) that he had had some qualms of conscience on account of
what he had done, that he had consulted his superiors about the
matter, and that they told him the rule in such cases was, to
consider whether the thing was for the glory of God, and the
advantage of the order to which he belonged. They did not
hesitate to affirm " that it was not against the glory of God to
advance the honour of one of his saints, especially when some
circumstances that were both glorious and profitable to that order,
engaged the doing of it ; and that all the evil that could be
supposed in the case, came but to this, to say, that God had
done what he might have done, and which he hath done on
many other occasions ; which at the highest could be no more
than a small venial sin ; as, they say, all lies are, that do not
infringe justice, that is to say, that do nobody any harm." It
was impossible, however, to make the old monk depart from his
first declaration. He persisted in maintaining that the odour had
not only been smelled by him at the opening of the chest, but
that it had followed him every where so long as a particle of the
dust of the relics remained upon his clothes. Thus St Victor's
saintship was confirmed; and he remains in the calendar an
object of worship to all the simple faithful who cannot raise their
minds to a higher object.
I give the following as a specimen of the process of canoniza-
tion. I could produce a number of such cases; but let this one
suffice. " On the 12th of May, 1707, a general congregation to
confer upon the rights of the church, having been summoned by
the Pope's order, wherein Cardinal Pamphilio required their ap-
probation of the miracles wrought by Andrew Avellino, of the
order of the Theatines. These miracles were eight in number ;
of which, after a full and serious disquisition, the three following
were solemnly ratified by the general consent and concurrent
votes of the whole congregation, viz. The third, which was the
first in order, being a cure performed on the person of Jacob
Giovio, who was miraculously restored to the entire use of his
limbs by the said Andrew Avellino, though his sinews had been
shrunk, and a deadly palsy had seized one side of his body
The next was the fourth in order, namely, the healing a danger-
ous wound John Battista Corrizo had received in his head; and
that without the appearance of the least mark or scar. The last
was the restoring Scipio Arleo's child to health, by curing it of
a great bruise in its forehead, and of a wry neck.
II As these miracles were the fruits of his most exemplary
piety, and heroic virtues, the holy assembly being authorised to
it by the consent and directions of His Holiness, declared, that
in conformity to the customs of the holy Roman Church, and
by the authority of the same, the forenanied Andrew Avellino
might and ought to be deemed a saint, and be canonized accord-
ingly." Romish Ecclesiastical History of late years, p. 6.
This Andrew Avellino was accordingly canonized, along with
375
several others, with much pomp and ceremony; and became of
course an object of that religious'worship which is due to those
idols which the Pope has set up. It is, indeed, only that sort
of worship which they call dulia; but as I have shown in a for-
mer Number, the distinction between this and latria is absolutely
unintelligible to the unlearned, and perhaps also the learned
themselves. Let them say what they will in theory, this is prac-
tically the adoration of a creature; it is trust or confidence in a
creature, which is, in scripture, condemned as a departing from
the living God. Let a person go into one of their great churches,
where there are a number of altars: before one altar he will see
a group of prostrate worshippers praying, Holy Jesus, have
mercy upon us; before another altar, a group, praying, Holy
Mary, have mercy upon us; before a third altar, the prayer is,
Holy St. Peter have mercy upon us; and so on, before all the
altars that are dedicated to all the saints : nay, the same indivi-
dual will pay his devotions at several altars the same day, not
sure that he will succeed in his suit at any one altar, or by ad-
dressing one saint ; he makes it as sure as possible by addressing
as many as he can, or as many as he can afford to pay, for no
one must approach an altar without a gift. Now when the same
words are addressed to the different objects of worship, with the
same apparent devotion, who is able to distinguish between
latria, dulia, and hyperdulia ? Nay, let any man consider the
following extract from a prayer which Mr. Andrews has pro-
vided for the devout worshippers of St. Wcnefride, and say if
stronger words can be used in addressing the supreme Deity.
" O blessed St. Wcnefride, hear the prayers and receive the
humble supplications of thy devout pilgrims, and obtain, that by
thy pious intercession, God of his infinite mercy will be pleased
to grant us a full pardon and remission of our sins, and a bless-
ing to this our pilgrimage ; and that we may increase and per-
severe in God's grace, and enjoy him eternally in heaven. This
•we beg of thee, 0 blessed virgin and martyr, for Jesus Christ
our Lord and Saviour's sake. Amen." In the beginning of
this extract, the saint is addressed as mediator with God, to pro-
cure blessings by her pious intercession ; at the close of the
prayer, Jesus Christ is represented as mediator with her, and
she is intreated to grant the blessings for his sake, which is ac-
tually putting her in the place of God the Father. My readers,
I am afraid, will scarcely believe that such impiety exists in the
present day, but I assure them that the above are the concluding
words of a book printed in 1817, and strongly recommended by
W. Eusebius Andrews.
I have met with no Popish writer who can explain to me how
they get their prayers conveyed to the saints in heaven, or how
they know that they reach that place. As I conferred several
favours on Mr. Andrews in my last Number but one, I request
of him the favour of a Paper or two on this subject. I must
376
suppose, that he very piously makes use of the prayers which lie
has composed for the worshippers of his favourite idol, St. Wene-
fride ; and he must know that a number of pilgrims are every
day paying their devotions at her holy well: now I ask him seri-
ously, how she can attend to all the prayers of these pilgrims in
Wales, and at the same time hear his prayers in Drake Street,
Red Lion Square, London? Or, supposing her to be in heaven,
how she can attend to either the one or the other? If Mr. An-
drews shall make this intelligible and credible, he will show him-
self to be as great a man as the unanswerable Dr. Milner him-
self.
For want of Popish authority on this subject, I take the fol-
lowing from The Protestant Advocate, in the Anti-
Jacobin Review, for April last. " 1st, The saints know the
prayers of men by the agency of angels, who are always passing
backwards and forwards. 2d, The saints themselves are always
passing backwards and forwards. 3d, The saints view all things
in God from the moment of their beatitude. 4th, That this is
not the case, but our prayers are then only revealed to them by
God when they are made. The first two have lived their day,
and although they once blinded the minds of the weak, they are
now generally allowed to be nonsense. The third fast approaches
the same fate; for the expression, view all things in God, be-
gins to be regarded as words without meaning." — " Hence, the
last, is the one at present depended upon."
My readers will agree with me that this is not a proper subject
of levity; and yet it is difficult to treat it with becoming rever-
ence. It is no doubt possible with God to communicate to the
saints in heaven the prayers of their friends on earth ; but it may
be asked for what conceivable purpose ? The grossest idolater
will not say in plain words that the saints are upon a footing of
equality with God, and that he must consult them whether it be
proper to grant all or any of the petitions which he is supposed
to communicate to them ; or that he must suspend the granting
of such petitions as he approves till the saints express their ap-
probation. I know it is alledged that God grants the petitions
that are addressed to the saints, and which he makes known to
them, in consideration of the singular merits of the saints; but
this only leads to other, and equally fatal errors: it is putting the
merits of mere creatures in the place of Christ's righteousness ;
while, in point of fact, there is not a particle of merit to be found
among all the saints in heaven. Their unceasing acknowledg
mcnt, in common with that of the saints on earth, is, ' not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renew
ing of the Holy Ghost.' Tit. iii- 5.
THE
No. XLVIII.
SATURDAY, JUNE 12th, 1819.
A writer in the Anti-Jacobin Review for April last, informs
us, that " a native of India, lately in London, very much cen-
sured the want of images in our churches; he said, the worship-
pers had nothing upon which they could fix their attention, and
hence they were often gazing at each other, and often at mere
inanity. We, says he, have in our temples an image of the
Deity to look at, with large eyes, huge ears, great hands, and
long feet. Not that we believe this very image to be the Deity,
but we use it only to fix our attention, and to remind us that the
Being which it represents, can see every thing, hear every thing,'
&c. I make use of this anecdote as an introduction to what I
have to say on the subject of worshipping images, as practised ii\
the Church of Rome.
There can be nothing mare explicit than the divine command,
" Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any like-
ness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not
bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them." In my seven-
teenth Number, I convicted the Church of Rome of mutilating
the ten commandments, by leaving out the whole of the second
To make up the number, they divided what we call the tenth into
two; but this reduced them to a difficulty which required some cun-
ning to get over. In the second edition of the commandments,
in the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy, the arrangement of the tenth
is different from that of Exodus xx. The one is, Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
wife ; the other is, Thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's wife,
neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house. Thus, according
to the Popish arrangement, what was the ninth commandment in
the one passage, would be the tenth in the other. It required
no less than the wisdom of the Council of Trent to remedy this
evil, which they did by uniting the two ; and thus it stands in
the Douay Catechism to this day: — " The ninth and tenth com-
mandments. Say the ninth and tenth. A. Thou shalt not co-
vet thy neighbour's wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
3 B
378
goods." From Deut. x. 4. we are sure that the words or com-
mandments were ten. Nothing can appear more natural than
the Protestant division of them ; and it is evident that the Popish
division cannot be the right one, seeing it requires them to
blend what they call two into one.
" This inversion," says Mr. Cunninghame, " of the two first
clauses of the tenth commandment, has, as will be seen after-
wards, been providentially the means of detecting the fraud of thr
Romish Church, in blending the two first commandments toge-
ther, for the purpose of subtracting the second, and then dividing
the tenth into two, to make up the complete number. If, in the
catechisms of that church, it had been usual to insert the com-
mandments at full length, no end could have been served by
blending together the first and second commandments, and the
fraud would probably never have been attempted; but when it is
known that it was customary only to insert, in the public formu-
laries of instruction, the first sentence of each commandment, the
reason will at once appear, for uniting the first precept of the
decalogue with the second; for by this expedient, and by insert-
ing only the first sentence of the two united commandments, the
Romish Church has, in many of her catechisms, got rid of the
commandment against image worship altogether, and effectually
concealed the knowledge of its existence from the minds of the
ignorant common people." Apostacy of the Church of
Rome, p. 60. I wish Mr. Andrews, or some other Papist,
would undertake to answer this book. Until something of the
kind be done, I shall continue to believe that Papists themselves
consider it unanswerable.
Mr. Cunninghame might have said that the divine command-
ments were thus mutilated, not in many, but in all the cate-
chisms of the Romish Church, until they were shamed out of
their villany by the light of the Reformation : and indeed he has
said that this mutilated copy of the commandments, which he
gives in pages 61, 62, was the only one to be found in the Ma-
nuals of the Romish Church, before the Reformation, and even
at a later period ; and he quotes Dr. Stillingfleet, as challenging
a Papist, as lately as 1658, to tell him in what public office of
their church the second commandment was to be found.
Indeed, when the priests had made up their minds to deceive
the people, it was necessary that they should have recourse to
fraud. It was not possible to reduce men and women altogether
to the rank of brute beasts, though it was determined to rule
them as such. The thinking and reasoning faculty was not
quite extinct in the darkest ages. The priests could not inscribe
on the wall behind the altar, " Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of any thing in heaven above,
or in the earth beneath," and then lay down upon the altar an
image, or crucifix, to be worshipped. They could not insert the
same words in any of their catechisms for the instruction of the
people, and then exhort them to come and pay their devotion?
379
before an image of the Virgin Mary. In short, it was quite ne-
cessary that they should give up the worship of images, or con-
ceal the divine command which forbids it. They chose to do the
latter ; and thus, by suppressing a part of the divine law, they
took upon themselves the condemnation of all those who, through
ignorance, should be guilty of breaking it.
The priests, however, have not yet been entirely shamed out
of this piece of fraud and imposition ; for the second command-
ment is still omitted in such of their catechisms as are used in
Ireland, and other unenlightened parts of Europe. They have
restored it to its place in the catechism which is used in Glas-
gow, because they have not the face to conceal it, where every
child might detect the imposture. See this subject more fully
discussed in my seventeenth Number.
Image worship is not publicly practised by Papists in Glas-
gow, therefore they have restored the commandment to its
place ; but where the practice exists, the commandment is con-
cealed. This is an unequivocal admission, on the part of the
priests, that the practice and the commandment cannot stand to-
gether; and they have presumed to exercise the dispensing power,
in its highest possible degree, by setting aside an entire precept
of the law, which God himself pronounced upon mount Sinai, in
the hearing of the whole congregation of Israel.
I proceed now to give the high authorities which sanction
image worship in the Church of Rome; and I appeal to every
reader, whether they do not, though there was nothing else
against her, clearly convict that church of the grossest idolatiy.
The following constitution was established by Thomas Arundell,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in his provincial council, held at Ox-
ford, in the year 1408; and if Popery were restored in England,
this would be found the law of the church there, as really as it
was in the fifteenth century. I have the Latin original before
me, but I will content myself with Archbishop Usher's transla-
tion:— " From henceforth let it be taught commonly, and preach-
ed by all, that the cross and the image of the crucifix, and the
rest of the images of the saints, in memory and honour of them
whom they figure, as also their places and relicts, ought to be
worshipped with processions, bendings of the knee, bowings of the
body, incensings, kissings, offerings, lighting of candles, and pil-
grimages; together with all other manners and forms whatsoever,
as hath been accustomed to be done in our, or our predecessors'
times."
The following authority is higher than that of any one branch
of the Romish Church. In the Roman catechism, authorised
by the Council of Trent, the parish priest is required to instruct
the people as follows: — 'v Not only that it is lawful to have
images in the church, and to give honour and worship unto
them, (forasmuch as the honour which is done unto them, is re-
ferred unto the things which they represent,) but also that this
hath still been done to the great good of the faithful ; and tb&t
380
the images of saints are put in churches, as well that they may
he worshipped, as that we, being admonished by their example,
might conform ourselves to their life and manners."
With regard to the nature of the worship which is offered to
images, we are taught that " it must not only be confessed that
the faithful in the church do adore before the images, (as some
peradventure would cautelously speak,) but also adore the image
itself, without what scruple you will: yea, they do reverence it
with the same worship wherewith they do the thing that is re-
presented thereby. Wherefore, if that ought to be adored with
latria, or divine worship, this also is to be adored with latria ;
if with dulia or hyperdulia, this likewise is to be adored with
the same kind of worship. And so we see that St. Thomas
Aquinas doth directly conclude, that the same reverence is to be
given to the image of Christ, and Christ himself; and, by conse-
quence, seeing Christ is adored with the adoration of latria, or
divine worship, that his image is to be adored with the adoration
of latria" Usher*s Answer, p. 497, 4-98. with the Latin ori-
ginals, as quoted by him.
Let it be remembered that St. Thomas Aquinas is one of the
highest authorities in the Church of Rome. He is called
the Angelic Doctor, because, in his theological speculations,
he rose above the rank of ordinary men, and was understood to
approximate that of angels ; and Pedro de Cabrero, a great di-
vine in Spain, has declared that " the doctrine delivered by St.
Thomas — that the image, and the sampler represented by it, are to
be worshipped with the same act of adoration, is most true, most
pious, and very consonant to the decrees of faith. This, he
saith, is the doctrine, not only of St. Thomas, and of his dis-
ciples, but also of all the old schoolmen almost." Ibid. 499.
It was then the doctrine of almost all these great divines that ar
image of Christ was to be worshipped with the same adoration as
Christ himself; and as Papists were impious enough to make
images of God the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, it follows, oi
course, that these images were all to be worshipped with the
same degree of adoration, as that which was offered to the God
and Father of all.
I could fill this sheet with the testimonies of other great di-
vines, all to the same purpose ; but that I may not rest on the
authority of mere individuals, however great and renowned in the
Church of Rome, I proceed to give the solemn authentic canon
of the Council of Trent: — ° Sess. 25th. That the images of
Christ, and of the blessed Virgin Mother of God, and other
saints, are to be kept and reserved, especially in churches, and
due honour and veneration to be given to them; not for that any
divinity or virtue is believed to be in them, for which they are to
be worshipped, or that any thing is to be asked of them, or any
confidence to be placed in them, as was anciently clone by the
heathens, who put their trust in idols, but because the honour
whidi is exhibited to images, is referred to the prototype, or
381
thing represented by them : so that by the image which we kiss,
and before which we kneel, or put off our hats, we adore Christ,
and reverence his saints, whom the said images represent."
Such is the solemn decision and authentic canon of the las,t
general council that was held in the Romish church. To the
decrees of this council every Popish priest is bound by solemn
oath to conform in every respect; and if it were not that a cer-
tain priest does not keep his oath, " the images of Christ, and
of the blessed Virgin-mother of God, and other saints," would
be set up and worshipped, even in our own city, so truly Pres-
byterian, and so distinguished for its opposition to the abomina-
tions of Rome, ever since it received the light of the Reforma-
tion. Justice, however, requires me to say, that the Pope has
the power of dispensing with such oaths as cannot be conven-
iently kept; and, therefore, the priest above referred to, may
have received a dispensation, freeing him from the obligation of
setting up images in his church, until he shall have brought our
good citizens to a more exact conformity with Rome.
The grave council enacts it as a law of the church, that " due
honour and veneration is to be given to them,'' (i. e. the images.)
Now those who are acquainted with human nature, especially
those who have studied the human character as it appears in a
state of gross ignorance, know, that the due honour and venera-
tion here enjoined to be paid to images, will be the highest
veneration and honour of which they are capable ; that, in short,
all the worship which they have to give, will be given to the
images which the church has set up. To say that no divinity or
virtue is in the image, or that nothing is to be asked of it, is
saying no more than the heathen would say of their images.
They did not regard the block of wood or stone as God, any
more than the Papists do. The Hindoo mentioned at the be-
ginning of the present Number, did not regard the great image
as the deity, but only as reminding him of the deity ; and I sup-
pose there are few Papists so extremely stupid as to mistake a
block of wood, or a piece of stucco, for the real Virgin Mary.
though they are guilty of equal stupidity in believing a piece of
bread to be really their Saviour. When, therefore, they give due
honour to an image, as representing Christ or the Virgin Mary,
they are guilty of the very same idolatry as the Pagans were,
who honoured the images of their gods, on account of that which
they represented.
In short, Papists cannot use a word in defence of their image
worship, which was not used by the heathens before them. The
heathen declared that the worship of their images was merely
relative; and that it had respect to the being whom the image
represented. For instance, they worshipped, in ons place, Jupiter
Capitolinus; in another, Jupiter Olympius; and they understood
these to be merely different representations of the same god,
not that the image itself was the god. They never could imagine
that the sculptor made the god who made himself. This ab~
382
surdity was left for the darker ages of counterfeit Christianity; but
t ley supposed the divinity used the image as an occasioned place
°t abode, and they invoked it as residing there. In short, the
image worship of the Romanists is as idolatrous as the calf-
worship of the Israelites, and the worship of Venus by Horace
and the old Romans. See Antijacobin Revieiv for April last,
p. 71.
In Deut. iv. 15, 16. we read as follows: " Take good heed to
yourselves, for ys saw no manner of similitude in the day that
God spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of fire ; lest ye cor-
rupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any
figure, the likeness of male or female." Here the making of any
figure as a representation of the God that spoke to them, is de-
clared to be a corrupting of themselves; and a reason is given,
namely, that God did not appear to them under any similitude.
When he spoke to them out of the midst of the fire, they saw no
resemblance of any thing in heaven, or in the earth, or in the sea.
Any figure, therefore, which they could make, would be a crea-
ture of their own fancy, and, according to their gross and carnal
conceptions, would have been dishonouring to that God who is a
Spirit, invisible, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. To attempt
to make an image, or any resemblance, of the eternal and invisible
God, indicates a state of mind the most grossly estranged from the
knowledge of the true God ; yet this state of mind actually exists
among our Glasgow Papists ; and it is avowed by Amicus
Veritatis, who speaks of the material building called the Ca-
tholic Chapel, as resembling the majesty of that God to whose
service it is dedicated. He means this to be understood of the
true God ; but it is evident he was thinking of an idol, and of a
material one too, seeing it could find a resemblance in timber and
stone, cut into figures as ridiculous as any which our Pagan an-
cestors worshipped in the valleys or upon the mountains.
The image by which Papistswould represent God the Father,
is that of an old man, to denote wisdom and eternity ; * though
to represent eternity by the utmost period of mortal life, is a thou-
sand times more absurd than to represent the ocean by a drop of
water; and as for the greatest wisdom of the aged among men,
it is as far from that of God, as a few years are from eternity.
The image of Christ is usually that of a human body extended
upon a cross: and they represent the Holy Spirit under the
• " That church," soys Mr. Cunninghame, page 71. "is chargeable
with the toleration of images even of the first person of the Godhead, the
Eternal Father. I myself saw a picture of this kind in one of the churches
of Antwerp, about twenty-five years ago ; and the existence of such abo-
minations is acknowledged in an Abridgement of Sacred History by
L'Abbe Fleury, which is in my possession. ' The images.' says he. ' which
represent the divine persons are tlrairn from the sacred Scriptures. God
has sometimes appeared to his prophets under the form of a venerable
old man, to signify his eternity.' " Mr. C. justly remarks on the words
!>i inted in italics, " This is one of those instances of daring falsehood,
Whereby the Romish church deceives the people."
383
image of a dove, from a mistaken apprehension, I suppose, of
the meaning of those passages in the gospel history which describe
the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Jesus Christ. It is said,
John i. 32. " I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and it abode upon him." God was pleased to point out
the Saviour to John the Baptist, by a sign from heaven. This
sign was the descent of the Holy Ghost, in a bodily or visible
form, as in Luke iii. 22. But we are not told what that form
was. It descended like a dove, that is, as a dove descends,
slowly hovering over the object on which it is about to alight.
If to represent the Holy Gho6t under the figure of a dove be a
Popish error, candour requires me to admit, that it is one in
which they have been followed by most of those Protestants who
carnalize the Bible by the unnecessary accompaniment of pic-
tures.
It is evident that Jesus Christ never intended that his people
should have any picture, or visible representation, even of his
human body, for no means were used either by himself or by
his disciples to preserve the likeness; much less could it be his
intention that they should have a visible representation of the
divine nature, as subsisting in Father, Son, or Holy Spirit ;
yet Papists have gone to such a length in impiety as to make
an image of the Trinity, in the form of a man with three faces.
It would appear that the Church of Rome cannot put her
hand to any religious matter without corrupting it. Though
they have given the second commandment in the Douay Cate-
chism, blending it with the first, yet they have mistranslated one
phrase in it, so as to conceal the prohibition of their practice of
prostration before images. Their translation is, " Thou shalt
not adore nor worship them," which ought strictly to be ren-
dered, " Thou shalt not bow thyself to them, and shalt not
serve them." The commandment, as given in the Douay Cate-
chism, therefore, does not prohibit the kneeling before images, or
any other mark of worship, provided it be not adoration, or
worship, in the highest sense. One of their questions on the
commandment is as follows: — " Is it lawful to honour the images
of Christ and his saints? A. Yes, if rightly understood; because
the honour given them, is referred to the things they represent ;
so that by the images, or crosses, which we kiss, and before
which we kneel, we honour and adore Christ himself." This is
precisely such an answer as an ancient Roman would have given,
had he been interrogated as to his worshipping the image of
Jupiter.
Now we shall see that the words bowing and kissing are the
very terms used in Scripture to denote divine worship : and the
giving of which to any creature or image is declared to be idolatry.
In the 72d Psalm, the worship which shaH be paid to Messiah
himself is expressed by the words, — " They that dwell in the wil-
derness shall bow be/ore him;" and, in the 95th Psalm, it is said,
" Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." " In both these
384
passages, bowing before, and kneeling before God and Christ,
are expressive of the worship paid to thenj. In like manner,"
continues Mr. Cunninghame, p. 70. " the worship to be paid
to the Son of God, by the kings of the earth, is expressed in
Psalm ii. 12. by the words " Kiss the Son;" and the seven
thousand in Israel, who had not been partakers of the sin of
idolatry, are designated as all the knees ivho had not bowed to
Baal, and the mouths which had not kissed him. But this
very worship, so far as the external acts are concerned, the
Papists pay to the images of saints. Therefore they do thereby
grossly and palpably violate the commandment which forbids the
worship of images."
The strong language of Job (chap. xxxi. 26 — 28.) is decisive
on this point. If he had looked upon the sun or the moon,
and merely kissed his own hand, in token of respect, he says this
would have been denying the God that is above. In Hosea
xiii. 2. to kiss the calves, the golden calves of Dan and Bethel,
is represented as the most heinous idolatry ; and yet Papists are
taught by the Douay Catechism to kiss and bow down before
images of wood and stone. I have been told that the great toe
of the image of Peter in Rome has been actually kissed away, by
devout citizens and strangers, in the course of ages. It would
require some skill in calculation to say how many kisses would
consume two or three inches of marble or bronze.
I shall conclude this Number with the prayer used in the con-
secration of images, as it is found in the Rituale Romanum, au-
thorised by Pope Urban VIII. " Grant, O God, that whoso-
ever before this image, shall diligently and humbly, upon his
knees, worship and honour thy only begotten Son, or the blessed
Virgin (according as the image is that is consecrating) or this
glorious Apostle, or Martyr, or Confessor, or Virgin, that he
may obtain, by his or her merits, and intercession, grace in this
present life, and eternal glory hereafter." " Now," says Mr.
Cunninghame, from whom I quote, " if this be not gross idolatry
let the Church of Rome show wherein the worship of Jupiter
and Apollo was idolatry."
I expect to finish, in my next Number, this subject, and that
of worshipping relics. My fiftieth Number will conclude the
first volume of The Protestant, when an Index will be given.
I intend, in that Number, to insert the declarations of three credi-
ble witnesses, which completely prove the story which Mr. An-
drews has so often called a forgery. These declarations were
taken down by a Notary Public, and are offered to be verified by
oath. Two Papists were present during part of the examination
of my first witness; and they were invited to wait and hear the
whole, and cross-examine them all, which, however, they did
not do.
I HE
Protectant,
No. XLIX.
SATURDAY, JUXE \9th, 1819.
I believe it is generally supposed, that the children of Israel
took the idea of making and worshipping the image of a calf,
from the Egyptian Apis; but it is not so generally understood,
that Apis was probably no more than the image which the E-
gyptians made, and afterwards worshipped, in honour of Joseph,
their great preserver. I learn from Pere Lamy, who, upon the
authority of Jewish Antiquities, gives the banners, or standards
of the twelve tribes, that that of Ephraim as constituted the head
of the house of Joseph, was the figure of an ox. Perhaps it is
in allusion to this banner of the tribe, exhibited in the midst of
the congregation, that Moses says concerning Joseph, Dent,
xxxiii. 17. " His glory is like the firstlings of his bullock," &c.
denoting the strength and vivacity of that tribe.
Considering the general prevalence of idolatry, it was not to
be wondered at that the Egyptians should give divine honours
to Joseph after his death ; and Julius Firmicus tells us expressly
that they did so. " The Egyptians," says he, " after his death,
according to the appointment of their country, built temples to
him. And again, this man is worshipped in Egypt, he is ador-
ed, &c." St. Augustine, or whoever else was the author of
that book which bears his name, De Mirabilibus Scriptitrcr,
was of the same opinion, as also Ruffinus. /. 2. Hist. Eccles.
c. 23. They say that the Egyptians " set up the symbol of an
ox over the sepulchre of Joseph, in memory of their deliverance;"
and these writers, together with Suidas, add, that " his statue
was set up with a bushel upon his head, to denote the plenty o'l
corn which he provided for them." See Discourse concerning
Idolatry, anon. p. 2<v
To this let me add, as a conjecture of my own, that the idea
of representing Joseph under the figure of an ox, might have
been taken from the fat and lean kine which were the subjects o'i
Pharaoh's dream, the interpretation of which suggested the mea-
sures which A'ere taken for the preservation of the whole nation,
3 C
386
Be this as it may, if there be any truth in the opinion expressed
by the above writers, it accounts for the readiness with which
the children of Israel fell into the sin of worshipping the calf or
young bullock. Joseph had been the preserver of their nation
as well as of the Egyptians; and such was the grossness of their
conceptions, that they expected, perhaps, that he would preserve
them again, when they thought Moses had left them ; or perhaps
they looked for deliverance from God through the intercession
of Joseph, for they had not altogether disowned the true God,
any more tnau Papists do when they worship images. They
vailed the feast of the calf, a feast to the Lord ; and they might
consider him as somehow dwelling in the image of their great
patriarch, who, as a Papist would say, had such great merit be-
fore God, that he could procure from him what he pleased; for
they said, " These be thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt." It is worthy of remark too, that
Jeroboam, who set up the golden calves of Dan and Bethel, was
descended from Joseph by Ephraim, which may account for his
preference of this idol.
From the time that Jeroboam set up these calves, the ten
tribes, to use a vulgar expression, had not a day to do well.
Every thing went wrong with them. They were made to suffer
all the calamities of war and famine, and every species of misery
that can affect the human race, in the present life. This was
because they had set up idols, a crime of which God had de-
clared his abhorrence, and against which he had pronounced the
heaviest judgments.
What was declared to be so great a crime under the Old Tes-
tament, cannot be considered less, but rather more heinous
under the New Testament. To make an image of the Virgin
Mary, or any saint, and set it up even as a representation of
some object of worship, cannot be less offensive to the true God
now than the making the golden calves, or the image of Baal
was in former times. Throughout the Old Testament history
we find that God never forgot, and never ceased to remind tlu
people, of the sin of Jeroboam, wherewith he made Israel to
sin; and can we suppose that he overlooks the gross idolatries
of the Church of Home? He does not send Prophets to reprove
them as he did to Jeroboam; but he has given the complete
volume of his woid, which declares his abhorrence of idolatry,
and that it shall not go unpunished. Neither does he, in Euch a
visible and sensible manner, connect the punishment with the sm,
as he did in the case of Israel; but the punishment is not on
that account the less certain; and it will be so much the more
dreadful that it has been long delayed.
Deceit and falsehood are necessary accompaniments of image-
worship. The system is founded on lies, and supported by all d&
*eirableness of unrighteousness. This Las impressed a character
387
upon the general body, which appears in almost every thing that
thev say and write on the subject of their religion and worship.
Nay, some of their great casuists have declared a lie to be no
sin, or only what they call a venial one, if it be to promote the
glory of God, or one's own advantage. This system of false-
hood and deceit appears in nothing more than in the lying won
ders which they relate concerning their images. Every one
knows what foolish stories are related of the miraculous house 01
Loretta, and of the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, which
is the idol of the place. Middleton tells us " that in the high
ktreet of Loretta which leads to the holy house, the shops are
filled with beads, crucifixes, Agnus Deis, and all the trinkets of
Popish manufacture; where I observed printed certificates, or
testimonials, affixed to each shop, declaring all their toys to
have been touched by the blessed image : which certificates are
provided for no other purpose, but to humour the general per-
suasion, both of the buyer and the seller, that some virtue is
communicated by that touch, from a power residing in the
image." " For what else," says he, " can we say of those mi-
raculous images, as they are called in every great town of Italy,
but that some divinity and power is universally believed to reside
in them? Are not all their people persuaded, and do not all
their hooks testify, that these images have sometimes moved
themselves from one place to another; have wept, talked, and
wrought many miracles; and does not this necessarily imply an
extraordinary power residing in them?" Preface, page xxvii.
" In one of the churches of Lucca, they show an image of the
Virgin, with the child Jesus in her arms, of which they relate
this story. That a blaspheming gamester, in a rage of despair,
took up a stone and threw it at the infant; but the Virgin, to
preserve him from the blow which was levelled at his head,
shifted him instantly from her right arm into the left, in which
he is now held ; while the blasphemer was swallowed up by the
earth upon the spot, where the hole, which they declare to be
unfathomable, is still kept open, and inclosed only with a grate,
just before the altar of the image. The Virgin, however, re-
ceived the blow upon her shoulder, whence the blood presently
issued, which is preserved in a chrystal, and produced with the
greatest ceremony, by the priest in his vestments, with tapers
lighted, while all the company kiss the sacred relic on their
knees." Wright's travels at Luccci, quoted by Middleton,
mef. xxviii : on which the Doctor justly remarks- " Now, does
not the attestation of this miracle naturally tend to persuade peo-
ple, that there is an actual power residing in the image, which
can defend itself from injuries, and inflict vengeance on all who
dare to insult it ?"
St. Dominic, it is well known, was the founder of the Ii!!] = ii-
fcition ; and he has been# of course, a great favourite with the hi.-,b
388
authorities in the Romish church. " One of the most celebrated
images in Italy," says Dr. Middleton, " is that of St. Dominic,
of Surriano in Calabria, which, as their histories testify, was
brought down from heaven about two centuries ago, by the Virgin
Mary in person, accompanied by Mary Magdalene and St. Ca-
therine. Before this glorious picture, as they affirm, great num-
bers of the dead have been restored to life, and hundreds from
the agonies of death ; the dumb, the blind, the deaf, the lame,
nave been cured, and all sorts of diseases and mortal wounds
have been healed : all which facts are attested by public notaries ;
and confirmed by the relations of Cardinals, Prelates, Generals,
and Priors of that order ; and the certainty of them so generally
believed, that from the 9th of July to the 9th of August, the
anniversary festival of the saint, they have always counted above
a hundred thousand pilgrims, and many of them of the highest
quality, who come from different parts of Europe, to pay their
devotions, and make their offerings at this picture." La vie St.
Dominic, p. 599, \to. a Paris, 1647, as quoted by Middleton.
Aringhus, touching upon the subject, in his elaborate ac-
count of subterraneous Rome, observes, ' that the images of
the blessed Virgin shine out continually by new and daily mira-
cles, to the comfort of their votaries, and the confusion of all
gamsayers. Withm these few years, says he, under every Pope,
successively, some or other of our sacred images, especially of
the more ancient, have made themselves illustrious, and acquired
a peculiar worship and veneration by the exhibition of fresh
signs ; as it is notorious to all who dwell in this city. But how
can I pass over in silence the image of St. Dominic ; so con-
spicuous at this day for its never ceasing miracles ; which attract
the resort and admiration of the whole Christian world. This
picture, which as pious tradition informs us, was brought down
from heaven, about the year of our redemption, 1530, is a
most solid bulwark of the Church of Christ, and a noble monu-
ment of the pure faith of Christians, against all the impious
opposers of image worship. ■ The venerable image is drawn
indeed but rudely, without the help of art or pencil ; sketched
out by a celestial hand ; with a book in its right and a lily in its
left hand ; of a moderate stature, but of a grave and comely as-
pect ; with a robe reaching down to the heels. Those who have
written its history, assert, that the painters, in their attempts to
copy it, have not always been able to take similar copies : be-
cause it frequently assumes a different air, and rays of light have
been seen by some to issue from its countenance ; and it has
more than once removed itself from one place to another. The
worship, therefore, of this picture is become so famous through
all Christendom, that multitudes of people, to the number of a
hundred thousand and upwards, flock annually to pay their de-
votions to it, on the festival of the saint : and though it he
389
strange, which I have now related, jet what I am going to say
is still stranger, that not only the original picture, made not by
human but by heavenly hands, is celebrated by its daily miracles,
but even the copy of it, which is piously preserved in this city,
in the monastery called St. Mary's, above the Minerva, is
famous also, in these our days, for its perpetual signs and won-
ders, as the numberless votive offerings hanging around it, and
the bracelets and jewels which adorn it, testify.'' Mid. pref. p.
xxxi. fyc.
If Papists are pleased to believe all this, I cannot help it ; but
I hope few arguments are necessary to convince every Protestant
reader that the whole story is made up of lies and imposition.
It is a curious fact, that those who are trained to lying, as Pa-
pists are, are the most inclined to believe lies, which is account-
ed for from their being given up to strong delusion. No doubt,
then, they believe very firmly all that their priest tell them about
these miraculous images, and that miraculous picture, which,
though they say it was made in heaven, is yet such a daub that
no artist on earth would own with it. The circumstance, how-
ever, of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims coming to it; accounts
for its popularity. It is a gainful imposture, and therefore the
priests use all their art, and forge many fine stories to keep up
the credit of it.
The worship thus paid to the image of St. Dominic, is, I
think, one of the worst features in the character of modern
Rome. The characters of men may be known from the object
of their worship, or from the qualities which are supposed to
reside in that object. Thus the worshippers of Bacchus and Ve-
nus were notorious for all manner of licentiousness ; the wor-
shippers of Moloch caused their children to pass through the
fire in honour of their idol. Dominic was the Moloch of the
Church of Rome ; and the adorations paid to him at this day,
show the bloody intolerant character of modern Papists ; that, in
fact, they are what they have always been, whenever they have
t lie opportunity of exhibiting their true character.
Dominic was appointed the first Inquisitor, by Alexander III.
he bloodiest of all the Popes. I give the following account of
him from Limborch, who quotes from Popish writers as his autho-
rities, as indeed he generally does. Then Dominic had received
the Pope's letters, appointing him to the holy office of Inquisitor,
" Upon a certain day, in the midst of a great concourse of peo-
ple, he declared openly, in his sermon, in the church of St.
Pruillian, that he was raised to a new office by the Pope ; add-
ing, that he was resolved to defend, with his utmost vigour, the
doctrines of the faith ; and that if the spiritual and ecclesiastical
arms were not sufficient for this end, 'ixvas his fixed purpose to
rait in the assistance of the secular, to excite and compel the Ca-
tholic princes t" ukc arms against heretics, that (he very memorv
390
of them might be entirely destroyed." The history of the
thirteenth century shows how horribly faithful he was to his pro-
mise. That he was a bloody and a cruel man, is confessed by
writers of his own order: thus, for instance, Camillus Campe-
gius, a Dominican, and also an Inquisitor, having recited cer-
tain letters of his founder, says, " I have the more willingly an-
nexed to this treatise of punishments, these letters of St. Do-
minic, our father, who first exercised the office of Inquisitor,
that all may be able to make a comparison between the ancient
severity made use of to stop the progress of these crimes, and
the present moderation and tenderness of this holy tribunal."
What must the Inquisition, in the thirteenth century, have been,
when that of the sixteenth was declared to be, in comparison of
it, moderation and tenderness ! St. Dominic's " mother, before
she conceived him, is said to have dreamed, that she was with
child of a whelp, carrying in his mouth a lighted torch ; and
that after he was born, he put the world in an uproar by his
fierce barkings, and set it on fire by the torch which he carried
in his mouth. His followers interpret this dream of his doc-
trine, by which he enlightened the world ; whereas others, if
dreams presage any thing, think that the torch was an emblem
of that fire and faggot, by which an infinite number of men were
burnt to ashes*" Limb. Hist. Inq. cap. X. The standard of
the Inquisition at Goa, has, under a portrait of the saint, this
figure of a dog, with a torch in his mouth, setting fire to a figure
of the globe.
Now the devotions which Papists pay to the image, and to
the memory of such a man, make it evident that his character
and conduct are not only approved, but applauded by them.
What, therefore, are we to expect from Papists any where, but
the imitation of his conduct, whenever providential restraints are
removed ? The late atrocities in the south of France, and dur-
ing the Irish rebellion, arc no more than what might naturally bt
expected of persons who worship such a fiend as St. Dominic.
The great business of his life was extirpation. His favourite em-
ployment was to persuade and compel princes to tread under
foot, and destroy heretics, as venomous adders, who ought not
to be suffered to live on the earth ; and he was much more of an
honest man than modern Papists, for he did not affect to con-
ceal, but openly avowed what his object was ; whereas his fol-
lowers, of the present day, insidiously conceal and deny what their
own principles would necessarily lead them to, if they had the
secular power in their hands. Their venomous hatred of here*
tics is not the least abated; and it. would be childish to expect
that where such a principle exists, it would not show itself by
actual violence, whenever it could do so with impunity.
I have been led away a little from the subject of image wor-
ship, but these i !6 will be unconnected with
39!
it ; fur it may be received as a general principle, that according
to the representation of an object of worship, in the mind of a
worshipper, such v/ill be the character of the worshipper him-
self. It is no objection to this general principle, that some oi'
the objects of Popish worship were really saints, — holy men
and women ; for it is not their character of gospel holiness
that has a representation in their minds, or that is the founda-
tion of their worship. It is not, for instance, Peter as a zeal-
ous and affectionate preacher of the gospel of the grace of God,
but Peter, the Prince of Apostles, and the first of the Popes,
whose image they worship in Rome. It is not Mary, the hum-
ble follower of Jesus, but an idol, who, they suppose, can pro-
tect them from evil, and who will connive at their crimes, that
they worship under the title of the blessed Virgin: but when
they worship such a one as St. Dominic, they do it under his
true character, of which there is a resemblance in themselves.
I hope it will appear, from what I have said on this subject,
that the Church of Rome is convicted of the gross idolatry of
ima<*e-worship. It was my intention to have followed up this
immediately with an account of their doctrine concerning relics,
and the worship which is given to them ; but I must leave this
till the commencement of my second volume, as the next, which
is intended to be the concluding Number of the present volume,
will be taken up with some curious private matter relating to the
conduct of our Papists at home. I shall fill up the remainder
of the present sheet with an account of the mode of imposi-
tion practised in our own country, in former times, in order to
support the credit of an image, and how an imposture was de-
tected. I am indebted for it to Scott's History of the Lives of
the Protestant Reformers in Scotland: Life of John Row.
" About the year 1549, a poor friendless boy, of whose
birth probably his parents had been ashamed, tended the sheep
belonging to the nuns of Scienna, or Sciennes, about a quarter
of a mile south from Edinburgh. It was one of his childish amuse-
ments to turn up the white of his eyes, and, in doing it, he
succeeded so well, as to be able, at his pleasure, to make him-
self appear perfectly blind. The nuns observed him in his
amusement, and spoke of it to some priests and friars who were
their visitors. It immediately occurred to them, that if proper
care was taken of this young person, he might, in course of time,
become the fit subject of a miracle.
" The innocent child was secreted from public view, it has
been said, seven or eight years, and mostly in one of the cells,
or some retired apartment in the convent. At the end of that
number of years, his stature and features were so much altered,
as that he could not easily be recollected by the very few persons
who formerly had known him. He was now judged to be of a
proper age to be sent forth as a blind mendicant, and to receive
392
instructions how lie should behave. A person was hired to
conduct him, who believed him to have been born blind, and to
have been hitherto supported chiefly by charitable contributions
from the ladies of Sienna.
" The simple young man, who scarcely knew any other peo-
ple in the world than those under whose tuition he had been
held, readily promised to obey their injunctions. They bound
him by a solemn, but rash vow, to affect blindness, and to beg
alms, till they should advertise him to the contrary. He kept
his promise, and, for a considerable space of time, was led
through the country, receiving such alms as benevolent people
were pleased to give him.
" At last the period arrived when those priests and friars who
were in the secret of his not being really blind, thought it ex-
pedient that he should be relieved from his hard condition." —
" At the east end of the village of Musselburgh, in Mid-
Lothian, was a celebrated chapel, dedicated to the honour of
the Virgin Mary. Its proper name was Loretta, but it was
vulgarly called Alareit, or Lawreit. There was also a chapel of
the same name in Perth ; and many credulous people in the
Lothians, and at Perth, as well as the people of Loretta, in
Italy, believed that their chapel contained within it the identical
small brick built house in which the blessed Mother of our Lord
had dwelt when at Nazareth ; and that it had been miraculously
conveyed and upheld entire, from its original seat, by the ministry
of angels." —
It was in the well frequented chapel at Musselburgh, " and
where miracles were most commonly expected to be seen, that
the pupil of the nuns was to receive his sight. Public intima-
tion, of the miracle to be performed, was given in Edinburgh, and
in the neighbouring parts, and on the day appointed, a pro-
digious number of people were assembled. They found that
there was a stage erected on the outside of the chapel. Having
waited a little while, they beheld, led forward upon this stage,
the seemingly blind young man, whom many of them knew, and
whose blindness they had probably often pitied. He was by
priests and friars, and, no doubt, also by Thomas, the Hermit,
(a famous worker of miracles,) if he was then alive. After some
time spent in the use of prayers and ceremonies, his eyes, to
the satisfaction of the multitude, appeared to be perfectly re-
stored. The young man, who had long been restricted from
employing honest means for his subsistence, now sincerely re-
joiced. He returned thanks to the priests and friars ; and
when he came down from the stage, was carressad and congra-
tulated by the people, and some of whom gave him money.
A Protestant gentleman who svas present, detected the cheat.
«nd took the young man into his service.
THE
Protestant,
No. L
SATURDAY, JUNE 26th, 1819.
On the 2d of June, I was waited upon by two gentlemen of
the Romish Church, and one Protestant, " in pursuance," as
was stated in a card from one of them, " of the requisition con-
tained in the 24-th Number of The Catholic Vindicator."
Relating to the story of the man in the Wynd, I had said, in my
42d Number, " If any of .ny readers, Protestant or Popish,
doubt the truth of the story, or join with Mr. Andrews in calling
it a forgery, I shall be ready, whenever required, to furnish them
with sufficient evidence of the truth of my statement." Mr. An-
drews quotes these words, partly in great capitals, to show his
admiration of my boldness; and he adds, " Well, then, I have no
doubt but The Protestant has many readers, both Popish
and Protestant, who doubt his tale, I most earnestly request
that some of them will call upon my adversary, and require to be
furnished with that satisfactory evidence which he has pledged
himself to furnish them with."
The hour having been fixed the day before, I had three wo-
men in waiting when the gentlemen called, ready t<> give their
evidence upon oath, and a Notary Public to take it down. To
my surprise, however, I found they did not want the evidence
of witnesses, but that they came on purpose to examine me : and
they presented me a string of questions, most of which, so far as
I recollect, I could have answered ; but I declined submitting
to be interrogated, while I did not see what end it could serve,
or to what discussions it might lead. I had a friend or two
present, who, as well as myself, endeavoured to convince them
of the absurdity of their demand. They professed the utmost
respect for my character as a gentleman, and declared their
willingness to receive my testimony, but as for my witnesses they
would not believe them. Mr. Simeon, who appeared to be the
principal person of the party, made some unhandsome and cruel
a D
394
insinuations against the character of my witnesses, of which I
shall say more hereafter; and positively declined hearing their
evidence, but insisted on receiving from me answers to their
written interrogatories. This appeared one of the most marvel-
lous things I had ever seen. I had been repeatedly, and by
hand-bills posted on the corners of the streets, accused of for-
gery, and of fabricating a certain story. I had publicly pledged
myself to prove, by sufficient evidence, that the story was true.
The gentlemen came to me on purpose to receive this evidence,
or they did not come for the purpose of receiving what I had
promised to furnish, and what they themselves professed to seek;
but they would take no evidence but my oivn word, while my
own veracity was the very point in question. The Protestant
gentleman who came along with them was a stranger to me, but
I learned that he was a respectable lawyer, who fills a civil office
under the Sheriff. This rendered the procedure more surprising,
as he could not but know what ought to be received as evidence,
and what not. I intend, however, no reflection against him.
He managed the business with the utmost politeness, and with
as much liberality as was consistent with the part he had to per-
form ; and I am persuaded he was not acquainted with the real
state of the case. Had he known that the only point to be
proved was, that, in a certain matter referred to, I had stated
the truth, he would not have supposed that my bare word would
be considered evidence; because, if persons would not believe
what I had written, how could they believe what I should say?
Finding that they persisted in demanding of me answers to
their questions, I protested before the whole company, in which
were only two friends of my own, besides the Notary and his
clerk, that I was ready to do all that I had promised to do; that
is, that I would prove, by these three witnesses, that the story
which Mr. Andrews called a forgery, was true in every material
point; and I told the gentlemen who came to receive the evi-
lence which I had promised to furnish, that I would proceed in
taking the declarations of my witnesses : that I would be glad il
they would stay, and hear, and cross-examine them ; but that
if they would not hear, they might read, as I would publish
the whole matter.
They then consented to hear what the witnesses had to say,
but they would have no hand in examining them, or so much as
allow their names to be taken down, as present at, or parties
concerned in the examination. It was not convenient at the
time and place to get a Justice of the Peace, but supposing the
professional gentleman who came as the legal adviser of the other
uvo, from the office he holds, to be qualified to administer an
oath, I requested him to swear the first witness, which he de-
clined. She was therefore admonished to speak, as upon oath.
395
as she would probably be required to repeat her declaration, and
swear before a Magistrate.
At Glasgow, the second day of June, Eighteen Hundred and
Nineteen years, compeared the following persons, and freely
avid voluntarily emitted the following declarations, viz: —
Margaret King, alias M'Murray, wife of the deceased John
M'Murray, late labourer in Glasgow, a Protestant, — Declares,
That she was married about thirteen years ago, to the said John
M'Murray, who was a Catholic, by one of the Justices of the
Peace of Glasgow, whom she supposes to be a Mr. Menzies ;
but she is possessed of a certificate to that effect, which she can
produce : That her husband and she lived in the utmost friend-
ship, except upon the point of religion, and that her husband
continued for many years before his death urging her to become
a Catholic, which she always declined : That her said husband
has repeatedly threatened her with death and destruction, and
sworn by the Holy Trinity that he would do so unless she
became Catholic ; and for the same purpose upon one occa-
sion offered her money, which she resisted and refused: That
her said husband left her for the purpose of going to Ireland,
as he said, about three weeks before his death, although he con-
tinued to lurk in Glasgow: That he sent for her the day before
he died, at the foot of the Saltmarket, in a friend's house, who
kept lodgings, but the name of the person she does not know,
but that he is a Catholic, and a brother-in-law of Patrick
Thornton, a member of the Roman Catholic Chapel in Glas-
gow ; from which house she had her husband removed to the
house of Elizabeth King, a cousin of the declarant's : That
when her said husband was so removed as aforesaid, to her
cousin's house, he declared his sorrow for having deserted her,
but that it was by the advice of his priest, who had advised him,
as he said he could not live with a woman with whom he could
not associate on account of her religion, and being a heretic :
That, when her husband died in the declarant's cousin's house,
he was removed to her own house ; and that after his death, the
Letter quoted in the twenty-fifth Number of the Protestant, for
January the second, 1819, was found in his pocket, and that it
is fairly quoted in the said Number of the Protestant : That
the said Letter is not wrote by her husband, as he could not
write, but that she believes it was written by some person for
him, at his request, and that it contains what she believes to be
the real sentiments of her said husband at the time it was written,
as it contains the sentiments she had repeatedly heard him utter
in her presence : That her said husband was buried in the
High Church-yard at the public expense. That, previous to her
husband's death, she never knew who the author of The Protes-
tant was, or that such * work ever existed. That she believes
396
her husband knew nothing of the author of that work: That;
to her knowledge, there was no person of the Protestant religior
in attendance upon her husband on his death bed, who could
forge the letter above-mentioned without her knowledge : That
the said letter was found in her husband's coat pocket, in the
Catholic lodging house above-mentioned, and that it was the
coat he usually went to church with, and that he was not in the
daily habit of wearing : That when the said letter was found as
aforesaid, the following persons were present, viz. Elizabeth
King, her cousin before-mentioned, and Mary Watson, tam-
bourer in Glasgow, now residing in Greenock. Six words
scored and one interlined before signing, and all this she declares
to be truth, and that she cannot write; and that she is willing
to attest the above on oath, if required.
" Mary M'Millan, wife of Archibald M'Donald, residing in
Glasgow, who being examined, declares, That she knew the
deceased John M' Murray referred to in the preceding declara-
tion, as well as his wife, also before-mentioned : That the said
John M'Murray and his said wife, lived together as married
persons, in the declarant's immediate neighbourhood, for the space
of twelve years; and that the said Margaret King lived in her
neighbourhood as aforesaid, as the reputed wife of the said John
M'Murray, although he was absent for some years : That she
knows that the said John M'Murray, when at home, repeatedly
maltreated and abused his said wife, on account of her religion,
and used threats against her to make her become a Catholic,
and said that her kind would all go to hell. And all this she
declares to be truth, and that she cannot write, and she is willing
to attest the above on oath, if required.
" Elizabeth King, tambourer in Glasgow, cousin of the first
declarant, declares, That John M'Murray mentioned in the pre-
ceding declarations, died in her house, and that she was present
in the Catholic lodging house, when the letter mentioned in the
twenty-fifth Number of the Protestant was found in his pocket,
when she went to get his clothes, and that the said letter is
correctly copied into the said 25th Number of the Protestant,
which she has now read over and compared with the original
letter now shown to her. And all this is truth, and declares she
cannot write.
" Compeared the preceding witness, Elizabeth King, who being
further interrogated, declares, That John M'Murray before-men-
tioned, was in the declarant's house with his wife the day before
he died, when the declarant heard him beg pardon of his wife,
lor his cruel conduct towards her in deserting her, but that he
laid the entire blame upon his priest. Farther declares, That
the said John M'Murray and Margaret King, were publicly
known to reside together as married Persons, and that she has
397
known them for about thirteen years, during which time she al-
ways considered them to be man and wife, although the said John
M'Murray was at one time absent from his wife for some years;
and farther declares, That she has seen, what she was told to be,
a certificate of the said John M'Murray and spouse's marriage,
which was in the possession of the latter, and which she once
heard read over, but does not recollect who it was signed by.
Farther declares, That she heard the said John M'Murray, on the
morning of the day on which he died, and in bed, again ask
pardon of his wife for his conduct towards her, and that she then,
sitting by the bed-side weeping, freely forgave him, and wished
that her Saviour might also forgive him ; and, that after this
happened, M'Murray died in the course of a few hours. (One
word interlined.) And all this she declares to be the truth, and
that she will attest what she has declared upon oath, if required."
When the first witness had proceeded about half way in her
declaration, the three gentlemen remarked that her examination
was likely to occupy a long time, and that as it was not neces-
sary that they should hear it all, they would withdraw. They
requested, however, a meeting in the evening that they might
hear what the two others had to say, which was agreed to, and
they went away. Margaret King's declaration did indeed occupy
a long time; and detailed many particulars of her husband's
conduct towards her, on account of her heresy, and the hand
which he said the priest had in it, but not bearing directly upon
the point which I had to establish, they were not taken down.
The whole story would occupy a large space in The Protes-
tant; and she told it with such an appearance of sincerity, as left
not a doubt of its truth in the mind of any gentleman who heard
it to the end. The following certificate of her character, which
is in my possession, is subscribed by a gentleman well known
in this city, and whose word will go as far as that of any man
in it. It is in the form of a letter addressed to myself. " Sir,
I have known the bearer, Margaret King, about four years, and
have every reason to believe, that she is an upright, simple
Christian, and would abide by the truth. I remain, &c. June
4th, 1819." I have other certificates of the good character of
my other witnesses, such as will convince any impartial person
that their testimony would be received in any court in the king-
dom ; but, from motives of delicacy, I do not choose to thrust
forward upon the public, the names of respectable individuals,
in a controversy in which they have no personal interest, which
might involve them in some degree of trouble, and expose them
to a portion of that hatred with which our Papists regard The
Protestant. Those who were willing to take my own word
as a proof of my own veracity, will not perhaps believe that I
have such certificates. I will not promise to satisfy such per-
398
6ons, but I am ready to satisfy every body else. I do no> knpw
that my visitors had any specific objection to the two other wit-
nesses, except that they took them, I suppose, for Protestants ,
and Margaret King having maintained for years a good char-
acter among her neighbours, I would not have thought of pro-
curing any other evidence on her behalf, had not Mr. Simeon
attempted to traduce her character. Thus, it seems, Papists
are doomed to the fatality of contributing by every step they
take to their own exposure, and the confirmation of my state-
ments. The gentleman who certifies the character of Margaret
King, assures me that he was well acquainted with her and her
late husband ; that he was often in their house within the last
four years; that he endeavoured to persuade M'Murray to allow
his wife the exercise of her religion, and that he was equally
urgent in exhorting her not to hinder him in the exercise of his.
He authorises me to say farther, that M'Murray frankly con-
fessed to him one day, that Margaret was a much better wife
since she became religious. From his conduct, however, it did
not appear that he liked her the better for her religion. Every
Christian knows that true religion makes the best husbands and
the best wives ; and since it is proved that she has behaved as a
Christian since she gave evidence of being one, though our Pa-
pists could prove that she was not so good a wife before, it would
not invalidate her present testimony.
The two last declarations were taken down immediately after
the first, because it was found the women could not conveniently
return in the evening. When the gentlemen called at the hour
appointed, they were informed of this, and another meeting pro-
mised, if they wished to cross-examine them. The declarations
were exhibited, which they looked at, but they expressed no de-
sire to see or cross-examine the witnesses.
Now, I leave it to every impartial reader to say whether m\
case is not fully made out ; that is, whether 1 have not proved
the truth of my story in every material point. The man used
every means in his power to persuade his wife to become Papist.
Because she would not comply, he left her, with a view to go
to Ireland. He was taken ill, I said immediately, and it turns
out to have been within three weeks of his leaving his wife, that
he died. I did not say that this took place in Glasgow, but I
said nothing contrary to it; and the use of the word " imme-
diately," implied, that he could not be far off. His wife had
him removed from the house where he was taken ill, to the
house of a cousin of her own, where she could more convenient-
ly attend to him; and in this house he died. I did not men-
tion this circumstance before, but I said nothing inconsistent
with it. I did not say that his wife nursed him in Ins last
hours; — that he confessed and deplored his cruel conduct tovardg
399
her, especially in leaving her ; that almost his last words were
to crave pardon of her, and to lay the hlame of his cruelty upon
his priest, who, he said, had advised it. I did not say this,
for which I hope Mr. Simeon and his friends will forgive me.
The omission was not inconsistent with my other statements, and
I am sure it was not injurious to their cause. I said his wife
brought his body home and had it decently interred. This also
is true, though I did not say she did it with her own hands, or
that she had not the assistance which the public provides for
persons in her circumstances. The letter, of which I gave an
exact copy, is proved to have been found in the coat pocket of
the deceased, and in such circumstances as to render improbable,
if not impossible, that I had any hand in putting it there. It
turns out that this letter was not of his own hand-writing, for -he
could not write; but happily for me, I did not say that he tvrote
it; though if I had said so, it would not have been an error, ac-
cording to the common understanding of men on such a subject.
A man is said to do that which another does for him at his
request. I suppose nobody would think he told an untruth by
saying that Paul wrote an epistle to the Romans; and yet we
know that the epistle was not written by Paul, but by Tertius
in his name ; chap. xvi. 22. The original letter was exhibited ;
it was identified, and proved to have been found in the coat
pocket of the deceased, when his wife went to get his clothes in
the " Catholic lodging house." I used an expression which, in
ordinary conversation, would be considered synonymous, — found
on his person. In the present case, there is a considerable cir-
cumstantial difference, because the person and the pocket were
in different places. This, however, does not in the least affect
the truth of the story. Nay, it rather goes to confirm it ; for
had it been a fabrication, the author of it could easily have
managed to have had the person and the clothes in the same
place.
In short, the sum and substance of my statement was, that the
man left his wife, because she would not renounce her religion,
and embrace his; and that in a letter addressed to her, he avow-
ed this to be the cause, and the only cause of his leaving her.
This fact is clearly proved by the preceding declarations, which,
I think, would be esteemed sufficient to establish a thing of far
more importance.
The witnesses are ready to depone to their declarations when-
ever called upon ; but really I do not think the matter is worthy
of the solemnity of an oath. It regards neither life, limb, nor
property. I have put myself and some friends to the trouble o5
witnessing, and taking down the preceding evidence, in conse-
quence of the idle and incessant clamour of a poor creature in
London, who has undertaken to defend the cause of Popery,
400
and of another creature here, who puts himself forward at his
instigation ; both of whom seem to be " gnawing their tongues
with pain," because they find their system of superstition and
idolatry, exposed to just abhorrence and contempt ; and have
not the power of defending, or of withdrawing the public mind
from the contemplation of its deformity, but by raising an outcry
and endeavouring to fix public attention upon a private anec-
dote, which is of no importance whatever in relation to the
general question at issue between the Church of Rome and the
Protestant.
Though I was willing to examine my witnesses upon oath,
merely to satisfy those who came to demand the evidence which
I had promised to furnish them with, since they would not make
themselves parties to such examination, or even submit to hear
the whole of it, I think the subsequent interposition of an oath
would be improper, because unnecessary. My Papists may sa-
tisfy themselves in any way they please, since they refused the
evidence which I offered to give them; and it was not twenty-four
hours till I learned that they did attempt to satisfy themselves with
the most false and unfounded accounts of the interview which was
had with me. They had obtained, they said, a complete triumph.
The Protestant could not maintain his ground. They had
frightened him almost out of his wits, &c. I would easily disprove
all this, and have disproved it partly alreadv, but it is needless to
exhibit truth to persons who are trained to lying, and to the belief
of lies. I am ashamed of such language, it is so like their own;
but it is sometimes proper to answer a fool according to his fol-
ly. My little experience in dealing with Papists has confirmed
what a friend, who knows them well, said to me at an early pe-
riod of this controversy. " You will make nothing of them; for
though you should convict them of a hundred lies in a day, they
would, with the most hardened effrontery, assert them all oyer
again."
Agreeably to their request, a meeting was held with the same
gentlemen in the evening, when they again insisted upon putting
questions to me ; and their legal adviser presented the following
in writing, with a formal demand of an answer, which he was ready
to take down. " Mr. M'Hardy represented that he and the
other gentlemen who accompanied him, waited upon Mr. M'Ga-
vin, in terms of an appointment, for the avowed purpose of put-
ling certain questions to Jiim, in relation to the letter and state-
ment therewith connected, published in the 25th Number of The
Protestant, and to be furnished with sujjicioit evidence of the
truth of the averments therein published. Mr. M'Hardy stated
his readiness to put the interrogatories which beheld in his hand,
and now called upon Mr. M'Gavin to answer."
This paper, though presented by a Protestant, was evidently
die fruit of Popish cunning. I believe no Jesuit ; perhaps not
401
even the father of Popery himself could have contrived a more
artful snare to entrap the poor Protestant. If they haa
got me, by surprise, or by any other means, to admit that the
meeting was appointed for the avowed purpose of putting cer~
tain questions to me, they would have had good cause of triumph
in my refusing to answer their questions. They would then have
maintained, and published to all the world, through their organ,
Mr. Andrews, that I had refused them the evidence which I had
promised to give ; though it would have rested with them to say
what evidence my word could be in my own cause. But it is
not true that the meeting wa3 appointed for the avowed purpose
of putting certain questions to me. No such purpose was ever
avowed by me, or avowed to me, till after we had met. The
words of Mr. Simeon's letter to me are, — " Sir, I take the liberty
of informing you, that in pursuance of the requisition contained
in the 24th No. of The Catholic Vindicator, a Protestant
Gentleman, another Catholic, and myself, will wait upon you this
day between the hours of 3 and 4, p. M. Should this hour prove
inconvenient to you, be pleased give me early information what
other would suit you better. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. St. A. Si-
meon." Having to go out of town that day, I fixed the same
nour of the day following. But I quote (this letter to show that
the proposed meeting was not for the purpose of putting ques-
tions to me. If Mr. Simeon intended this, he did not avow it ■
it was, he says, " in pursuance of the requisition contained in the
24th No. of The Catholic Vindicator." Now the words of
this requisition are, " I most earnestly request that some of them
(my readers) will call upon my adversary, and require to be furnished
with that satisfactory evidence, which he has pledged himselj
to furnish them with" No. 24, col. 375. I do not believe
that it ever occurred to Mr. Andrews himself, that this satis-
factory evidence was to be nothing but my own word, or mv
answers to certain questions; but this it seems, was all that my
Popish gentlemen wanted. For the word sufficient, in my offer
of evidence, Mr. Andrews substitutes satisfactory, well know-
ing that no evidence, however sufficient, will satisfy those who
are determined not to be satisfied.
Though they would not allow themselves to be entered upon
the sederunt as present at the examination of my witnesses, or a^
at all parties concerned in it, they did, with singular inconsistency,
demand an extract, or copy of the declarations, and were instant
ly promised it. I had nothing to conceal ; I had no trick prepar-
ed to ensnare them. I did not require that they should constitute
themselves parties concerned in the examination, before they hau
a right to demand an extract of it ; but I believe that, virtually
by their demand, and my compliance with it, they have made them
selves parties ; and their not complying with my request to cms*
3 E
402
examine my witnesses, proves that they had no hope of setting
aside the force of their evidence.
They waited upon me, they said, in terms of an appointment,
for the avowed purpose of putting certain questions to me. Now,
they might as well have said that they came to hear me say that
a piece of bread is the Saviour of the world. Had they handed
me this in writing, and all joined in asserting, that I had profes-
sed my belief in transubstantiation, at 4 o'clock that day, it would
have been as true as the assertion which they persisted in mak-
ing with regard to the avowed purpose of our meeting.
Papists deal much in double meanings, and mental reserva-
tions. They have a sort of double oath, half of which they ex-
press outwardly by the voice; the other half they express in-
wardly to themselves; and the latter is usually considered the
best half, oi that which is most binding. Now, I doubt not, my
Papists have a private meaning of their own attached to the
words, " avowed purpose," which will render the expression li-
terally-true ; that is, it was avowed to one another, and perhaps
also to their lawyer. But when they connect the expression
with that of " in terms of an appointment," and give out that
this appointment was made by me, or with me, the words ex-
press a downright falsehood. I use no ceremony with the
agents and correspondents of Mr. Andrews, who has many
rimes applied the last word of the last sentence to me. I
know it is wrong to render railing for railing; but I know also,
it is right to call things by their own names.
I declared that I would have nothing to do with any paper
that contained such an assertion ; but I dictated the following to
Mr. M'Hardy, which he took down. " Mr. M'Gavin stated,
that if any person, Protestant or Popish, doubt the truth of the
story, or join with Mr. Andrews in calling it a forgery, I shall
be ready, whenever required, to furnish them with sufficient evi-
dence of the truth of my statement." (This was all I had promised
to do.) " And I have now done so in the declarations of
Margaret King, Mary Macmillan, and Elizabeth King, all
therein designed, now exhibited, which declarations were begun
in presence of Mr. Simeon, &c; but these Gentlemen declined
cross-questioning them, and left the room before the first was
finished ; of which declarations a copy will be furnished by my
man of business. I do not admit the relevancy of any ques-
tions asked of me, and will answer none, but simply that ques-
tion, ' Where is your evidence of the truth of your statement in
The Protestant regarding the story of the man in the Wynd ?'
To which the above, with the documents referred to, is my answer
and I do not consider that the present conference was under-
stood to be for the purpose of putting any other question to
me ; and that it was not the purpose avowed in the requisition,
403
but merely for taking the evidence which I had to produce.
— (Signed) W. M'G." In the copy furnished me by Mr.
M'Hardy, the word for is introduced in the last sentence, which
makes the sense different from my meaning. I have omitted
that word, and said what I did say, that it (viz. the putting of
questions to me,) was not the purpose avowed in the requisition.
He has it, not for the purpose, &c. which does not make sense;
but whether the error be in my dictating, his writing, or his
clerk copying, I cannot say.
On receiving my answer, as above, Mr. M'Hardy read the first
of the following memorandums, with a short preamble as fol-
lows : " Upon Mr. M'Gavin's answer, and his refusal to answer
any questions, Mr. M'Hardy for himself, and in behalf of those
who accompanied him, represented, 1st, That in receiving from
Mr. M'Gavin any written documents, which he might think pro-
per to furnish, they did so without in any shape admitting the
correctness of these proceedings, and particularly of the paper
called Declarations : against which they have many good objec-
tions in respect of the admissibility and credibility of the persons
by whom these declarations are said to have been emitted, as
well as the form and shape in which they have been taken. 2d,
Mr. M'Gavin is now waited upon in consequence of the call
he gave to Protestants and Catholics, doubting his statements
in the Forty-second Number of The Protestant. The hour
of meeting is his own fixing; and the public will judge of Mr.
M'Gavin's candour, in refusing to answer any questions, and
of the respect and credit due to what he is pleased to call the
evidence of the truth of his statement."
Certainly the public will judge of my candour in refusing to
put myself forward as a sufficient, and as the only evidence in
my own cause. I shall suppose that I had been so simple as
to be caught in the snare ; that I had dismissed my witnesses,
and honestly answered all the questions put to me ; and Mr.
Simeon had sent off my answers to Mr. Andrews, as sufficient
evidence to rebut his accusation of forgery, and to prove my
own innocence, we should have had some whole pages of capi-
tal letters, and notes of admiration, exclaiming against
the effrontery of the " charlatan," one of the polite names which
Mr. Andrews gives me, who could suppose that his word
would be taken in. proof of his innocence, after the Vindi-
cator had convicted, and proved him guilty of false-
hood, forgery, and I do not know how many crimes.
The paper last quoted seems to be intended for a protes*
against their being considered parties in the examination of my
witnesses ; but they would have acted more consistently by not
asking, or declining to receive, an extract. They say " they have
many good objections against the admissibility and credibility o>
404
<he persons by whom these declarations are said to have been
emitted." So far as appeared, they did not know any of the
persons, except the widow of their late zealous and worthy brother
in the faith of Rome ; and I learned by some hints, and halt
sentences, that their objection to her was, that she was not really
M'Murray's wife. " What would you think," said Mr. Simeon,
in the first conversation, ** of a woman who should live so many
years in adultery with a man who had a wife and a family in
Ireland? What credit would you give to her testimony?" " I
would," said I, " consider her innocent, if she was ignorant of the
fact ; but I would regard the husband as a very wicked man in-
deed, and not worthy to be a member of any church."
I learned by this, that our Papists were going to rest the de-
fence of their church, at least of their late brother, and perhaps
of their priest, on the alleged illegality of the marriage of the
parties, and of course, in their opinion, its invalidity: but it is
by no means the business of The Protestant to enter into s
controversy on this point, though every body knows that, in Scot-
land, such a marriage is as valid as if Mr. Scott had made a
sacrament of it. It is enough that I have proved by two wit-
nesses, besides the widow's own declaration, that she and the
deceased were known and acknowledged for many years in Glas-
gow as man and wife; that, during the years of his absence, she
lived as his wife, and that when he returned, she received him as
her husband. She declares that she never knew of his having
another wife. If he had one, which she does not believe, it
proves nothing but his own wretched depravity; and my Papists
must not only prove that he had a wife living when he married
Margaret King, but that she knew the fact, before they can in-
validate her testimony on the plea of adultery. And though they
could prove this fact, which I am persuaded they cannot, I
would as soon receive her testimony as that of a man who came
to assert in my face what I knew to be a falsehood, — who could
say, and persist in saying, that he came for a certain avowed
nurpose, when I knew that no such purpose had been avowed.
If Papists attempt to invalidate the testimony of a witness on the
vague suspicion of a crime, they may find the testimony of some
others invalidated on the conviction of a crime ; for I hold that
a violation of the ninth commandment will go at least as far to
set aside the credibility of a man's testimony, as a violation of
the seventh commandment; nay, without regarding the latter
crime as a light matter, I am persuaded there are many guilty of
it, who would scorn to tell a deliberate lie, and whose testimony
would go farther than that of another man who had once been
convicted of an untruth.
But with regard to the case in hand, I have ample testimony
on behalf of my witness, that she ic a person of Christian char-
405
acter, whose word may be believed ; and if any one attempt tc
injure her, either in her person or good name, she will receive
the protection which the poorest individual enjoys by the laws of
this country, which happily are not administered by Papists.
It will be a work truly worthy of Mr. Simeon and his friends,
to persecute an industrious woman ; to exaggerate, and even to
invent, stories to her prejudice. I doubt not, while I am writ-
ing this, they are engaged in what Papists will consider the ho-
nourable work; and Mr. Andrews will give the story all the
effect which capitals and notes of admiration can give it. There
are, however, some stubborn facts proved by my witnesses, which
neither our Glasgow Papists, nor their organ, The Vindica-
tor, will be able to set aside by all their quibbling.
It was some days after my conference with Mr. Simeon and
his friends, before I could imagine what could be their design in
cominc to pose me with a series of questions; but when I recol-
lected that the Inquisition had lately been revived, it occurred to
me that they wished to make an experiment to ascertain whether
the establishment of the holy office might not be attempted in
Glasgow. In that tribunal, as every one knows, the accused
person is usually made the principal witness against himself; and
by flattery and cunning, they can bring the most innocent man
in the world to say something which they can distort into the
confession of a crime. This seemed to be the object of my In-
quisitors. They tried flattery first : They had the utmost confi-
dence, they said, in Mr. M'Gavin, as a gentleman, and would
believe what he would say, though the very point in question
was my own veracity. Afterwards, by cunning, they wished me
to acknowledge, that I had concurred in the appointment of a
meeting for the avowed purpose of being put to the inquisition,
that is, to answer questions relating to charges against myself.
Had I been seduced by their flattery, or ensnared by their cunning,
to submit to their interrogatories, from want of experience in
dealing with serpents, I might have been bitten ; I might have
said something which, however honestly meant, would have been
turned to my disadvantage.
I never considered the story of the man in the wynd as worth
a farthing in support of my general argument. I gave it merely
as a recent anecdote to illustrate the Popish character. I be-
lieved it to be true from the credibility of the persons through
whom it came to me, for I did not go to seek for it ; and it is
now proved to be true by credible witnesses. But from the
clamour which Mr. Andrews and his friends have made about it,
they seem to consider it the most important point in the whole
controversy; and they have used every species of abuse in order
to bring me to a discussion of it, with a view to divert me from
exposing the idolatry and wickedness of their religion. They
406
have at last succeeded so far as to get me to devote a number
of pages to the subject ; but they will find they have gained
nothing by it, as I shall return, in the commencement of my
second volume, to lay open more and more of Rome's abomi-
nations.
I request my readers to remember that the controversy is be-
tween Popery and real Christianity; not between the persona!
characters of Mr. Andrews and myself. Mr. Andrews has la-
boured through many a tiresome page to bring it to a mere per-
sonal matter; and no doubt those who read only his papers will
consider it such, because he has carefully avoided entering upon
the more vital parts of the question. Now the personal character
of parties is a matter of no consideration in a controversy about
historical facts, and publicly avowed principles. If I professed
to have come from Spain or Ireland, and to describe what I saw
and heard of the wickedness of Popery, then, no doubt, the
credibility of my testimony, so far as not corroborated by other
evidence, would rest upon my personal character. But this is
not the nature of my work. I speak not of what I have seen
and heard, but of what I read; and I usually refer to the volume
and page of my authorities, that every reader may judge for
himself. Supposing I were as bad a man as Mr. Andrews re-
presents me to be, it would not be the less true that he teaches
his readers to worship the Virgin Mary, and St. Wenefride ;
and that he and his correspondents consider his " Catholic School
book" as so much better than the Bible, that it will impart more
knowledge of religion by one reading, than the Bible will do in
the course of a whole life. If I gave this upon my own sole
authority, and declared that I heard Mr. Andrews say so, per-
haps some people would not believe me ; but when I give the
very words which he has printed, and the pages in which they
stand, every man may prove the truth of the matter for himself.
When he charges me with falsehood and forgery in numerous
instances, he does it for the avowed purpose of telling his readers
that what I write is not to be believed. Now though I were
guilty of these things, it would not in the least affect the truth
of what I have quoted from saints, and fathers, and Dr. Milner,
and Mr. Andrews, and a host of Popish writers equally respec-
table.
I could easily rebut all his charges of falsehood, as I have
done that of forgery ; but I must defer this till I have gone
through the remaining parts of the system, which will take a
long time. But I give the following, in the meantime, as a spe-
cimen, to show how easily his charges are repelled. In his
19th Number, column 300, he says, " I now charge him (The
Protestant) with asserting in his last Number a palpable
falsehood, in accusing me of swearing in column 108, 7th
407
Number of The Vindicator. I challenge him to produce one
word, or all of them together in that column, of my writing,
which either he or his admirers, can twist or turn into an oath,
and I refer my own readers to that Number, to satisfy them of
the turpitude of this evangelical writer." In relation to this, the
hand-bill on the corners of the streets contained these words,
" The Protestant charged with falsehood in his 38th
Number." Now let the reader judge of the truth of this accu-
sation, and of the Vindicator's impudence in making it. I
referred to the following sentence, which begins with an oath,
and shows that the poor man must have been writing in a pas-
sion; " Faith, I do not wonder this writer looks so far as
to perceive something more than human agency on her side;" &c
All that I have to do with this at present is with the first word ;
and if there be any of my readers who do not think that it stands
as an oath, and a great one too, I refer them to the words ol
Jesus Christ, Mat. v. 33—37. and xxiii. 16—22. « He that
sweareth by the temple sweareth by it, and him that dwelleth
therein," &c. The meaning of our Lord's words evidently is,
that he that swears by any thing, swears by all that is implied in
it. Faith, therefore, is the greatest oath by which a man can
swear, unless he be an atheist. It is to swear by all that he be-
lieves ; and it is a greater oath in the mouth of Mr. Andrews
than in that of a Protestant; for besides believing in one God,
which he at least professes, he believes in the Virgin Mary, and
St. Wenefride.
The reader will see that I attach very little importance to the
accusations of this writer, seeing I have delayed for weeks and
months the easy task of repelling them. I know his object is
merely to divert me, as seamen are said to throw out a tub to
the whale. This artifice indicates a conviction in his own mind
that his cause cannot be maintained by fair argument. I can
repeat with confidence, what I wrote some months ago, that he
has not invalidated a single fact in any of my statements ; has not
pointed out one real contradiction, or detected a single sentence
which I would wish to alter if it were to be written again. He
vaunts incessantly of the great things which he has done, and of
the pain which he supposes he has made me feel. I need not
tell him that his boasting is vain; but I can assure my readers
that his " lashes," as he calls them, have had no more effect
upon me than those of Sancho Panzo had upon him, when he
applied his whip to the trees instead of his own back. The fact
is, Mr. Andrews overdoes his part. He throws out his abuse
in such quantities, and so thick, that none of it will stick. It
is known in a very extensive circle that I am not the monster
of wickedness which he represents me to be; and people knowing
that his abuse is unmerited, are the less disposed to attend to
any thing that he writes.
GLASGOW:
W <;. lll.ACKIE AND CO.,
CONTENTS
VOLUME SECOND.
No. LI. Introductory observations. Subjects that remain to be dis-
cussed. The controversy between the Church of Rome and the
Reformed involves the important question, Who is the Saviour of
sinners ? Papists trust in their own works. The Popish argu-
ment of antiquity and universality answered • ••• 1
LI I. Popish relics. Use that is made of them, and the worship
that is paid to them. Curious catalogue of relics. Impositions
practised with regard to them • 9
LIII. Popery a system of lying and imposition throughout. Mira-
cles ascribed to relics. Catalogue of relics that belonged to Glas-
gow Cathedral. Farther impositions. Respect paid to the bones
of the prophet, 2 Kings xxiii., and to the bones of Joseph, no ar-
gument for the worship of relics _•••• 17
LI V. Letter from Havannah, with an account of Popish ceremonies
practised there. Superstitions practised by Irish Papists, at their
holy wells "- ; 25
LV. Anecdote of Lord Derwentwater. Transubstantiation. The
doctrine as defined by the Council of Trent. Hocus-pocus a cor-
ruption of hoc est corjms. Criticism, by Dr. Clarke, on the
original words translated " this is my body." Doctrine of the
French Catechism •;••• 33
LVI. The subject continued. Exposition of Christ's words on in-
stituting the Lord's Supper. Transubstantiation a most perni-
cious doctrine. He that professes to believe it, not to be believed
in any thing that he says 41
LVI I. The subject continued. Pretended antiquity of transub-
stantiation discussed. Proved to be a novelty • 49
LVIII. The subject continued. Ingenious method of putting the
faith of a Priest to the test, by a lady. Absurdity of the doc-
trine farther exposed. The use of the senses, in judging of mira-
cles. Extract from letters of Philopatris, in the Morning Post.. 57
LIX. The believer in transubstantiation in danger of committing
fatal mistakes. The bloodshed which has been occasioned by en-
forcing the belief of the doctrine. Respect paid by the British Am-
bassador in Paris to the host. Remarkable speech of Earl Grey, in
the House of Lords, on transubstantiation. Remarks upon it... 65
LX. Transubstantiation continued. Anecdote of Queen Elizabeth.
Various forms of worship paid to the sacrament. Anecdote by
George Buchanan "3
LXI. Idolatrous worship of the host. Respect paid to the host by
beasts and insects. On withholding the cup from the laity 81
LXII. Sacrifice of the mass. Doctrine of the mass, as laid down
by the Douay Catechism, — by the French Catechism. Nature of
the mass sacrifice, by Father Pacificus Baker. Decree of the
Council of Trent relative to the mass. Fundamental errors of the
mass doctrine 89
LXIIL Scripture doctrine of sacrifice and atonement stated and il-
lustrated Popish doctrine sets aside the atonement of Christ 97
n CONTENTS.
LXIV. Examination of the alleged Scripture authorities for tho
mass sacrifice. Priesthood of Melchisedec. Consideration of
Bishop Hay's arguments from Scripture 105
LXV. Farther consideration of Melchisedec's priesthood. Nothing
in his offering to Abraham that resembled the mass sacrifice. In-
dex cxpurgatoriu.i. No dependence on what Popish authors give
as quotations from the ancient Fathers. Misrepresentation of the
apostle Paul by the Rhemish translators J 13
LXVI. Popish Priests pretend to be mediators between God and
man. Impiety and absurdity of this pointed out. Letter from
Dublin, with four receipts for money paid to procure masses for
the dead. Remarks thereon 121
LXVII. Description of the sacred vestments used in celebrating
mass. The robes of the Jewish high priest no pattern for the
dress of Christian ministers. What is to be done, when the con-
secrated wafer corrupts and breeds worms. Story of a dog swal-
lowing the consecrated wafer, and wThat was the consequence... 129
LXVII I. Conformity of Popish idolatry with that of heathenism. .
Extracts from Dr. Middleton's letters from Rome 137
LXIX. The same subject. Extract from letters by Ignotus. St.
Patrick's Purgatory 145
LXX. Letter to The Protestant, by W. D., a Papist. Remarks
upon it 153
LXXL Further remarks on W. D's. letter. Case of a Popish hus-
band not keeping faith with his Protestant wife, in a letter to the
Protestant, by the Rev. R. Cameron. Remarks upon it. Case
of a Popish husband maltreating his Protestant wife, exposed in
Glasgow police office 161
LXXII. The evil and danger of Protestants marrying Papists.
Anecdote of a lady governess. Case of a poor widow being
obliged to pay money for baptism to her child, in a letter from
Mr. Syme, clerk to the Town's Hospital. The money returned.
Remarks thereon. Immense sums levied of the Papists in Ire-
land, from the Sun newspaper 169
LXXIII. Lively description of the ceremony of baptizing bells in
Canada, in a letter by J. M. D. Reference to a similar custom
at Naples. Account of nunneries in Montreal 177
LXXIV. Superstitions in Ireland, by A. O. Superstitions in the
Highlands, by A Constant Reader. A proposal by a writer in
the Orthodox Journal, that all the Papists in Britain and Ireland
emigrate to Spain 185
LXXV. The subject of Purgatory introduced. Purgatory bridge.
Extract from the Douay Catechism. Remarks thereon. Extract
from "The Grounds of Catholic Doctrine, by Pope Pius IV."
from Gother's Papist Misrepresented and Represented. Decree
concerning Purgatory, by the Council of Trent. The sin that shall
not be forgiven, &c. furnishes no argument in favour of Purgatory 1 j>3
LXXVI. Purgatory continued. Not a place where sins are remit-
ted, but where they are punished. Purgatory a doctrine of great
antiquity. Derived from ancient heathens. Short history of it.
Doctrine of Christ contrasted with the Popish Purgatory 201
LXXVI I. Purgatory continued. Purgatorian Society in Dublin,
from the Rev. James Carlisle's pamphlet. Mr. Carlisle's re-
marks thereon. A similar Society in London. Curious particu-
lars relating to Purgatory, from Mr. Gavin's Master Key to Popery 209
LXXVI 1 1. Purgatory continued. Use of the different apartments
in it. Anecdote of the King of Spain. Souls delivered out of
Purgatory appear in the likeness of crabs, dressed in black velvet.
Souls in purgatory appear as lights flitting about graves. The
CONTENTS.
vU
l'.te Queen of Spain lying in state at Rome, ftioney bequeathed
in Ireland for masses •'••» 217
LXXIX. The subject of Purgatory taken up more seriously. No
evidence of it in the Bible. Scriptures adduced by Papists in
support of the doctrine, shown to have no bearing upon the subject.
Proof from Apocryphal books considered 225
LXXX. Purgatory continued. Canting the corpse, as practised in
Ireland, in order to obtain money to relieve the soul from Purga-
tory, in a letter to The Protbstant. Society of St. John, in Dub-
lin. Account of the demise of the notorious Catholic Vindi-
cator———" « 235
XXXI. A new bull of the Pope against the Bible and Bible
schools. Letter from the Rev. Mr. Graham, with part of his
translation of Buchanan's Franciscan. Remarkson the said bull,
and the Popish Archbishop of Tuam's letter to his clergy. Ex-
tract from a Report of the Hibernian Society 2-11
XXXII. Charge by Dr. Kelly, Popish Archbishop of Tuam,
addressed to his clergy, against schools and the Bible. Remarks
thereon. Irish Papists' appeal to the Pope against their own go-
vernment. Exposure of their falsehood and impudence, by Mr.
Thorpe 249
LXXXIII. The Popish Archbishop of Tuam's letter further dis-
cussed. Extract from the Rev. Mr. Thorpe's pamphlet Law
fulness of tampering with persons living in ignorance and erro^
in order to gain them to the knowledge of the truth 257
LXXXIV. Further remarks on Dr. Kelly's letter. Irish Papists*
abuse of the British government, and of their own advocates.
Mystery of iniquity, and the mystery of holiness, contrasted, by
Dr. Kelly. Influence over the people claimed by Popish priests. 26"5
LXXXV. Letter to The Protestant, by a Papist. R'emarksthereon.
Letter by a gentleman in Ireland to The Protestant. General
remarks with regard to the manner in which Popery is treated by
lukewarm Protestants 273
LXXXVI. Auricular confession introduced. Another extract from
the Rev. Mr. Graham's translation of the Franciscan. Short
notice of penance. The duty of auricular confession, according
to Gother. Venial sins, impiety of the doctrine 281
LXXXVII. Auricular confession. Capital sins, and sins which
are not capital or mortal. According to the Jesuits, there is
scarcely any sin mortal. Pascal's representation of their errors
and impieties on this subject 288
LXXX VIII. The doctrine of the Jesuits relieves men from the ob-
ligation of loving their neighbours, as well as frem the obligation
of loving God. The immoral tendency of their doctrine shown
in a number of particulars 297
LXXXIX. Letter of the Rev. Patrick Bradley, a Presbyterian
minister, giving an account of his conversion from Popery 305
XC. Continuation of Mr. Bradley's Letter. Auricular confession
resumed. Instructions and devotions for confession, from the
Garden of the Soul — 313
XCI. Good resolutions. Vanity of them. Method of confession,
from the Garden of the Soul. The divine revelation of mercy,
for the salvation of sinners, according to the Scriptures. The only
way of salvation revealed to men from the beginning of the world 321
X C 1 1. The pernicious effects of auricular confession upon the minds
»f priests- Account of Mr. Gordon, a Scotch gentleman, con-
verted from Popery. His testimony of the wickedness of priests,
in the matter of confession. Testimony of Gavin, a Spaniard,
'"' CONTENTS.
convened from Popery, to the same effect. Children's Confes-
sion turned into a farce S29
XCIII. Testimony of Da Costa, a Portuguese Gentleman, of the
wickedness connected with confession. Bull of Pope Paul IV.
against Sjlicitants. Horrible exposure of the wickedness of priests,
which this occasioned. Consideration of the passages of Scrip-
ture adduced in favour of auricular confession 337
XCI V. The Popish doctrine, with regard to satisfaction for sin, ex-
posed. Extract from Gother, and remarks upon it. To satisfy
Divine justice required a sacrifice of infinite value S45
XCV. Another letter from a Papist, with remarks upon it. Dr.
Copinger's Address to the Popish clergy of his diocese 353
XCVI. Resolutions by the Popish clergy of Cloyne and Ross,
against the reading of the Bible in schools. Remarks thereon.
Counsellor O'Connell's speech against the use of the Bible in
schools. Remarks thereon 361
XCVII. The subject continued, with remarks on Bishop Copin-
ger's Address. Examples of absurd interpretation of Scripture,
by Popish divines. Note, by a correspondent, relating to the
worship- of each person in the blessed Trinity 369
XCVII I. Further remarks on O'Connell's speech against the use of
the Bible in schools. Letters to The Protestant, on this subject,
by an Irishman, and by J. S. 377
XCIX. Letter to The Protestant, on the subject of Peter's supre-
macy. Critique on the words, " Thou art Peter," &c. Mat. xvi.
18. General exposure of the pretended supremacy of the Pope 385
C. Peter's supremacy farther discussed. No evidence of his being
appointed president or head of the apostolic college, or prince of
the apostles. To whom did Christ commit the keys of the king-
dom of heaven ? 393
CI. The subject continued. Table of St. Peter, by the Rhemish
translators. No evidence of Peter ever having been at Rome.
Was not Bishop of Rome. No certainty with regard to the place
or manner of his death 401
CI I. The subject continued. Answers to Bishop Hay's arguments
for Peter's supremacy. The Catholic or universal church of
Christ, has no visible head on earth. The claim of the Pope to
supremacy obstructs the conversion of Mahometan and heathen
princes, from Lord Clarendon's " Religion and Policy." Peter's
supposed successors, from Dupin 409
CHI. Absurdity of the Pope pretending to derive his dignity from
Peter. Strange conceit of Papists, aboirt the state of the church
in Rome, in primitive times. Extract from Lord Clarendon,
showing that there is nothing certainly known of the first ages of
the church, except what we have in the New Testament. No
evidence of the church or bishop of Rome exercising jurisdiction
over other churches. The idolatry of Pope Marcellinus. The
emperor becomes Christian, and give3 the Pope a rich crown. Re-
marks thereon 417
CIV. The Popes increase their power. Pope Gregory the Great,
lie condemns the title of universal bishop. Treason of Phocas
countenanced by Pope Gregory. Phocas procures the title of
universal bishop to be transferred from the Patriarch of Constanti-
nople to the Pope of Rome. The Pope, by the help of king
Pepin of France, becomes a temporal prince— 42 J
THE
No. LI.
SATURDAY, JULY 3d, 1819.
On entering upon a second volume, I may be permitted tc
{ake a short retrospect of what is past, and to glance at what
may be expected to follow. I find that I am engaged in a
greater undertaking than I at first contemplated. Originally, I
had no object in view but to expose the misrepresentation con-
tained in a single paragraph in the Glasgow Chronicle, supposed
lo be written by one of our Papists. The defence of that para-
graph by two writers of the Romish communion, led me to enter
more fully into the subject than I at first intended ; and the
attack made by one of them upon the principles of the Reforma-
tion, and the character of the Reformers, determined me to
devote a part of my time to the investigation of a subject, which
I considered of great importance, and which I knew to have
been much neglected by all classes of the community for the last
thirty years.
I thought I would be able to accomplish my object in the
course of a few months, by a series of weekly Papers; and I
touched at first but slightly on certain prominent parts of the
Popish system, having, at the time, little more in view than to
expose the errors and misrepresentations of my Newspaper an-
tagonists. This will account for the very cursory manner in
which I passed over some very important matters, such as the
doctrine of transubstantiation, the supremacy of Peter, the term
Catholic, as claimed by the Church of Rome 5 and the bloody
wars and persecutions which have been excited by that church,
within the last fifteen hundred years.
Finding, from the high degree of approbation with which mv
Pipers were received, that the public were willing to receive sucl
\
information on the subject as I was able to give, I formed the
idea of taking a more extensive range ; and of writing a treatise
on every one of the points by which the Church of Rome is dis-
tinguished from the true Church of Christ. I have not yet dis-
cussed more than four of these points ; namely, church discipline,
commencing with my nineteenth Number; the lawfulness of
breaking faith with heretics, commencing with my twenty-fourth,
withholding the Scriptures from the people, which is discussed in
Numbers thirty to thirty-eight inclusive; and the idolatry of the
Romish Church, which I have not yet finished. While discus-
sing the first of these four points, The Catholic Vindica-
tor made his appearance; and, as he seemed to attach to my
work the importance of a national concern, I was induced to
enter still more fully into the subjects of difference between the
Church of Rome and the Reformed.
The subjects slightly touched upon in my earlier Numbers
will probably come again under review ; and besides these, there
are some which I have not yet touched upon at all, which will
furnish matter, I hope, for a volume at least as large as the first.
These are, the idolatry of the mass, Purgatory, prayers for the
dead, auricular confession, clerical celibacy, extreme unction,
cruelty of the Inquisition, villany of the Jesuits, &c. &c. to-
gether with doctrinal errors, such as justification by works, merits
of saints, works of supererogation, &c. &c. When I have gone
over these subjects, which I do not promise to do in the order
here enumerated, I will, Deo volente, take some notice of The
Catholic Vindicator ; and prove, from his writings, that the
very worst features of Popery are exhibited to view in the present
day ; I shall endeavour to vindicate our Reformers from the as-
persions of this writer, and Amicus Veritatis ; and last of
all, as of least importance, I shall vindicate myself and my writ-
ings from the numerous misrepresentations of The Catholic
Vindicator.
There is one thing which I desire not to lose sight of, and
which I wish my readers to keep always in remembrance; it is,
that the foundation of the controversy lies deeper than any thing
that meets the eye in the external fooleries and superstitions of
the Church of Rome. The grand fundamental question at issue
is no less than, Who is the Saviour of sinners? I call the Church
of Rome the Antichrist, because she is opposed to Christ on
this fundamental point. There is no truth more clearly, revealed
in the word of God, than that Christ alone is the Saviour ; that
our salvation is entirely of him, without the assistance or co-
operation of any creature whatever; that our justification before
God proceeds entirely upon the ground of his merit, or, what is a
more expressive word, his righteousness, to the absolute exch'
3
3ion of all merit or righteousness whatever on the part of crea
lures. This is so distinctly laid down in the holy Scriptures
especially in Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, thar
I hold it as a first principle of divine revelation, that Christ is to
a sinner, a whole Saviour, or he is not his Saviour at all ; that
if we do not trust in him alone for salvation, we do not trust ir
him at all ; and that if a sinner put the smallest degree of trust
in any thing else, be it what it may, though he should still pro-
fess to put greater trust in Christ, he is in fact completely turned
away from Christ, and he is making a saviour of that something
else in which he places his little trust.
Now Papists openly and avowedly trust, at least in part, in theil
own merit, and the merit of saints ; and though they profess ala-
to trust in Christ, or perhaps to put greater trust in him, yej
they do most effectually renounce him, by dividing their confi-
dence between him, and themselves, and other creatures. What
Papists consider their own merit, consists in some fancied con-
formity to the whole, or to some part of the divine law. Now
the Apostle tells us plainly, that if righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain, Gal. ii. 21.; a most horrible
supposition ; but it is realized in the mind of every man who
expects to contribute in the smallest degree to his own salvation,
by his obedience to the law, that is, by his fancied righteousness »•
and the same Apostle tells us, Gal. v. 4. that whosoever is justi
fied by the law, he is fallen from grace. The very attempt to
seek justification in this way, is to renounce Jesus Christ as th«
Saviour, and to make a saviour of their own merit ; and hence
it is that I maintain that my controversy with the Papists involves
no less than this fundamental question, — Who is the Saviour ot
sinners ?
I do not intend to enter at present upon a discussion of this
subject, but I allude to it, in order to remind my readers of what
I consider the root and origin of all the errors of Popery. It is
the self-righteous bias of the human heart, and its deep-rooted
hatred of the grace of the gospel. From this proceeds all the
idolatry which I have been describing, and intend yet farther to
describe ; for creature confidence leads as naturally to creature
worship, as confidence in God leads to worship him : and though
we could persuade Papists to give up transubstantiation, and all
their mummery and nonsense, they would stand upon no better
footing with regard to a future life, unless they gave up also
their fundamental doctrine of human merit,* and were led to
trust in that of Christ alone for the salvation of their souls.
* The following epitaph is inscribed upon a monument in one of theii ^
chapels, in the city of Cork: — " I. H. S. Sacred to die memory of the
It was the glory of tlie Reformation and of the Reformers,
that notwithstanding their imperfections and mistakes on some
points of order and discipline, they clearly apprehended, and
publicly taught, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, upon
the footing of Christ's perfect righteousness ; that is, that mer.
are justified and saved not by what they have done, or can do
but by what Christ has done and suffered in their stead ; and
that they become interested in this by faith ; that is, by believ-
ing the testimony of God in the Scriptures concerning his Son
On this point Luther, and Calvin, and other leaders of the
Reformation, were entirely of one mind, though they differed on
some subordinate articles; and the German Reformer had such
a deep conviction of the fundamental importance of this truth,
that he called it the article, by holding or rejecting which, a
church would stand or fall. It was some time before Luther
could reconcile the doctrine so clearly taught by Paul, with that
of James in his Epistle, which led him to doubt the divine in-
spiration of the latter; but as his mind opened to the under-
standing of divine truth, he perceived, what every Christian
peasant now perceives, that the doctrine of the one Apostle is
perfectly consistent ,vith that of the other.
But the Scripture doctrine respecting justification, or, which
is the same thing, the way by which alone a sinner can be saved,
is absolutely unintelligible to our Papists. They will rather go
without salvation than accept of it in the way of divine appoint-
ment. Like the Jews, in the days of the Apostles, they will not
submit to the righteousness of God ; that is, they will not receive
salvation as a free gift through the righteousness of Christ ; and
their masses, their pilgrimages, their penances, are nothing else
than a going about to establish their own righteousness, as the
Jews did by their ceremonial observances.
Now it is a great mistake to speak of this as if it were merely
one of the many modifications of the Christian religion ; for, be-
sides the error of representing the Christian religion as having
many modifications, which it has not, the system of seeking
salvation by human merit, is not only not of Christianity, but is
absolutely inconsistent with it. It has no more to do with the
religion of Christ, than darkness has with light; than the service
of Baal with that of the true God.
benevolent Edward Molloy, the friend of humanity, and father of the
poor; he employed the wealth of this world only to secure die riches of
the next; and leaving a balance of merit on the book of life, he made
heaven debtor to mercy. He died 17th Oct., 1818, aged 90. It. I. 1'.'
Philanthropic Gazette, June 16th, 1819. This is the 1'opery of the 19tb
century. The Editor justly condemns the daring Impiety of making the
Creator debtor to his creature; but this is inseparable from the doctrine
of human merit
I know it is fashionable in certain Protestant circles to speak of
Rome as a true church, nay, as the mother church, from which
it was, indeed, lawful to separate, on account of her many cor-
ruptions. Nay, if the public journals give a fair report of the
speeches of some of our senators on a late discussion of what are
called the Catholic claims, it was distinctly maintained, that, un-
less the religion of Rome were admitted to be a true religion, we
could not maintain the truth of our own. It is the design of my
present remarks, to show that this is a great and a dangerous
error. If our own religion be, that we can contribute to our
own salvation by our own merit, then, indeed, it is the same
as that of Rome ; but if our religion be that which Christ and
his Apostles taught, — " By grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; not of works,
lest any man should boast," Eph. ii. 8, 9. ; then our religion is
not the same, but the very opposite of that of Rome. It is the
very opposite, not merely in modes of worship, and subordinate
points of doctrine ; it is radically and fundamentally another re-
ligion ; and that of Rome is as much opposed to that of Christ,
as any system of heathen idolatry practised in ancient or modern
times.
It is time to have done with that spurious liberality that con-
founds right and wrong, in matters of divine revelation. Let
not our Protestant population, especially let not our Protestant
senators, halt between two opinions. If Baal be God, serve him.
If Popery be Christianity, let them go over to it. If it be not
Christianity, let it be regarded as it ought, as a system of delu-
sion, invented by the Devil, for the purpose of counteracting
and opposing the religion of Christ, which gives the most glori-
ous display of divine mercy for the recovery of a ruined world.
One main argument which Papists use to show that theirs is
the true religion, is, that if it were not so, God would not have
allowed it to prevail so extensively, and to continue so long ;
and this argument has some weight with our Protestant politi
cians. They suppose that surely that must be Christianity, which
alone appeared in the world as such, for more than a thousand
years ; and they are seduced by the vague use of the word
Christendom, a term which will be found to have no meaning,
if we attempt to explain it upon Christian principles.
But there is a fallacy in the argument, which might be detected
by any child who reads his Bible. How does it appear that
God would not suffer a system of error to prevail extensively,
and continue for hundreds of years? Has he ever promised to
force the human mind, so that those who love error shall not be
allowed to embrace it ? Certainly there is no promise to this
effect in the word of God ; but there is a threatening that the
very contrary shall take place. " This is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world ; and men loved darkness rather
than light, hecause their deeds are evil." John iii. 19. The
light of the gospel shone in Rome for a time, as well as in many
other places. The first believers there were distinguished foi
the steadfastness of their faith, which was spoken of throughout
the whole world. Rom. i. 8. These were either murdered by
their heathen persecutors, or died a natural death. The same
happened to their immediate successors ; and, after two or three
generations, the Christians in Ro-me, like those in other places,
began to depart from the faith and the holy practice of their fathers.
This arose from the corrupt bias of their hearts. It was because
they loved darkness rather than the light. They made their choice
of error, and God left them to the influence of that which they
had chosen. Now this is precisely what he said he would do
in such a case, and what he would do to the Church of Rome,
for it is evident that the passage applies to her almost as clearly as
if she had been mentioned by name: — " Let no man deceive you
by any means: for that day" (the day of Christ's second coming)
" shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped ; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that be is God. Remember ye not that while
I was yet with you, I told you these things ? And now ye know
what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work ; only he that now
letteth (or preventeth) will prevent, until he be taken out of the
way :" — that is, the Pagan imperial power must be removed, ere
the papal antichristian power can be established. " And then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the bright-
ness of his coming : Even him whose coming is after the work-
ing of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ;
because they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong de-
lusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be
condemned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in un-
righteousness." 2 Thess. ii. 3 — 12. They were first guilty of
the wickedness of not receiving the love of the truth. The ex-
pression implies positive hatred of the truth ; that is, of the
gospel. It was a positive dislike of God's method of salvation
by Christ alone, without regard to merit on their part. This is
the most heinous wickedness ; but having chosen this fatal error
and refusing to be reclaimed, God inflicted the righteous punish
merit of leaving them to the influence of the father of lies, who
seduced them to believe one delusion after another, till he brought
the Church of Rome to that monstrous height of wickedness
which she exhibited to .enslaved Europe, at the period of the
Reformation ; and which she still exhibits in every country in
which the spirit of delusion has room to operate at his pleasure.
Thus we see, that instead of promising security against such
an apostacy as that which is justly ascribed to the Church of
Rome, it was declared by the inspired Apostle, that such should
be the consequence of certain errors which began to be broached
in his own time, but which were more extensively propagated
after the death of all the Apostles ; which so m affected all the
churches, and prepared the way for that man of sin, and son of
perdition, who established his dominion, not only over the
churches, but also over the kings of the earth.
The fallacy of the argument, if argument it may be called,
may be shown in another way. It is urged, that if the Romish
religion were not the true one, God would not have suffered it
to prevail so extensively, and continue so long. But the same
argument will apply to the religion of Mahomet, which has ex-
isted nearly as long, and been as widely diffused as that of
Rome. I believe there are more Mahometans than Papists in
the world ; and though Popery appeared a little sooner, the two
systems were perfected nearly about the same time. A Mussul-
man, therefore, may argue, that if my religion were not the true
one, it would not have been so extensively propagated, or so
long maintained in the world.
But both must give way to pure heathenism. She has a
better claim to antiquity and universality, than either Mahomet
or the Pope. These are mere upstarts in comparison of Fohi
and Zoroaster, and the other fathers of Pagan worship ; and as
for the number of their adherents, I am persuaded Rome cannot
muster one to ten of the heathen. Rome boasts of holding the
catholic, or universal religion ; and she holds forth this as a
proof of her being the true church ; but heathenism has ten
times a better right to the term catholic ; because it was for many
ages the religion of the whole world, with the exception of a
small country, not so large as Scotland ; and because it is at
this day the religion of at least three-fourths of the human race.
A heathen, therefore, might use the argument which I am com-
bating, with much more force than any one else : — ' If my religion
were not the true one, God would not have suffered it to prevail
over the whole world, and continue for four or five thousand
years.' Our modern Papists, and their Protestant advocates, will,
I hope, answer this heathen argument, before they again attemp*
to defend Popery on the ground of its antiquity and universality
I shall ascend a step higher, in order to expose the folly ol
this Popish argument. It is known that the whole world lieth
in wickedness. All flesh hath corrupted its way. Wickedness
prevails universally in the earth, and has done so ever since
there was a race of men upon it. The sect of sinners, if I
may use the expression, is more ancient than even heathenism,
ind also more extensive, as they are to be found in every other
sect, not excepting the Protestant part of the world. If, there-
fore, antiquity and universality will prove the truth of a system,
*he wicked of all nations and sects have a better plea than the
Church of* Rome.
It will be replied, that Christ has promised to preserve his
church from fatal error, and final apostacy ; that he has given
no such promise to Mahometans or heathens ; and therefore that
his church having this promise, can appeal to it, as well as tc
the fact of her existence for many ages, in proof of her divine
origin. It is true, Christ has promised to preserve his church,
and to be present with her to the end of the world; but this is
not the Church of Rome, nor the church of any other city or
nation, nor all the churches in the world put together, unless
they hold by Christ as the Head, and do what he has com-
manded. Any company, however great, or however small, is
his church, if they hold fast the confidence, (or faith in him,'
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, Heb. iii. 6, 14
There is a promise, that Christ shall have a seed to- serve him
in all generations. These he will keep by his mighty power
through faith unto salvation. But there is no promise of per-
petuity to the Church of Rome, or any other church known by
an earthly name. Nay, we know in point of fact, that churches
which were planted by Apostles, and favoured by their personal
ministry, have perished from the earth; and we find in the New
Testament, that the standing of any church is connected with
their holding the faith of the gospel, which, if they let go, Christ
will fulfil his word by leaving them to all the consequences of
their apostacy. It was to the Church in Rome that the Apos-
tle Paul said, " Thou standest by faith; be not high-mind-
ed, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches (the
church of the Jews), take heed lest he also spare not thee."
Rome did become high-minded, and has been long, not only
cut off from the spiritual body of Christ, but has actually become
the enemy of Christ, and has a name given her by divine au-
thority, " Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots, and abo-
minations of the earth."
Having occupied this entire Number with introductory matter,
I shall proceed, in my next, to that branch of Popish idolatn
that consists in worshipping relics.
THE
3$vott$tant>
No. LII.
SATURDAY, JULY 10th, 1819.
.L he Protestant has not the privilege of being, like the man
with the short face who wrote the Spectator, entirely unknown
by person. He has, however, sometimes been placed in situa-
tions in which he could hear what people said of him, without
being known to be present. He was much gratified one evening,
in the shop of his publishers, by hearing a decent looking man
tell the shopman, that he was so much taken with The Pro-
testant, that he had given up the use of tobacco that he might
be able to buy it, for he could not afford to indulge himself
with both.
On entering into conversation with this man, I found he was
well acquainted both with Popery and Papists ; and to use his
own expression, he was " unco chief wi' some o' them." He
told me that one day he looked into their chapel in a neighbour-
ing town, which had recently been opened; that the Beadle very
kindly showed him all the excellences of the sacred building;
and feeling, no doubt, the importance attached to his own person,
while he had the charge of the holy place, he said " We have all
things very complete here, except one thing which we want, that
is relics, — we have no relics." This officer, no doubt, spoke the
mind of his superiors ; and from this we learn the important
truth, that relics are considered necessary to the completeness,
or perfection, of a Popish chapel. How near Mr. Scott has
brought his to perfection I cannot tell.
By relics we are to understand certain remains of the bodies,
or of the dress or furniture of persons who were renowned in
Vol. II. B
10
their day; and also of some who were renowned only after thei:
death. It is not easy to define the precise degree of worship
which devout Papists give to relics. The objects themselves are
so multifarious, and the degree of value which is attached to each,
depends so much upon the fancy of the worshipper, that it can
scarcely be reduced to a system. As my friend Mr. M'CuIloch
observes, " a great deal must be left to the judgment of the
simple faithful. Thus, for example," says he, " there must be
some difference in the worship offered to the pairings of St
Edmund's toes, and that given to the coals which roasted St
Laurence, or to the stones preserved among the Glastonbury
relics, as the identical stones which the Devil tempted Christ to
turn into bread. Some we know are to receive divine worship ,
for, says Acquinas, ' if we speak of the very cross upon which
Christ was crucified, it is to be worshipped with divine worship ;
both as it represents Christ, and touched the members of his
body, and was sprinkled with his blood : And for these reasons,
we both speak to the cross, and pray to it, as if it were Christ
crucified upon it.' P. 3. Qu. c25. Art. 4. But others, intend-
ed merely to terrify the witches, cure the diseases of cattle, kill
vermin, and serve other little necessary purposes, must receive
a veneration suited to the nature of their uses." Page 368.
There is no part of Popery that depends so much upon down-
right lying and imposition, as that upon which I am now enter-
ing ; and there is no part of the system that gives such an hum-
bling view of the beastly prostration of human intellect. When
the prophet Ezekiel saw in vision, (chap, viii.) the idolatrous
Jews worshipping " every form of creeping things, and abomi-
nable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel," he saw
little more than what is practised every day in Popish countries,
where the wretched and deluded people pay their devotions to
rotten rags, to the decayed bones of human carcases, and to all
manner of mistiness, the very mention of which would fill with
loathing the mind of every human being that is not brutified by
an abominable superstition.
I have before me a catalogue of some hundreds of relics, which
are objects of Popish devotion in several churches, in France,
Spain, and Italy. Many of ' them are too gross to appear in a
modern publication, though the Editors of a periodical work
(The Philosophical Library), have lately polluted some pages of
very fine paper, by inserting several articles, which, for decency's
sake, they might have omitted. The least offensive, are the
arms, fingers, legs, and toes of certain saints ; and some of them
must have had as many limbs as a centipede ; for in Flanders,
Spain, and France, there are no fewer than eight arms of St
Matthew, which would of course produce forty fingers, anc
11
these would enrich as many churches. The author of one cata-
logue in my possession, assures his readers, that he himself had
seen three arms of St. Luke ; and he could not tell how many
St. Thomas a Becket had.
Such relics are considered the treasure of the churches to
which they helong ; and in fact they bring no small gain to the
church, as great sums are received annually from devout pilgrims,
who come hundreds of miles to feast their eyes and warm their
devotion by looking upon those limbs, which would have been
more honoured by being allowed to rest quietly in the earth.
They have, however, many things besides fragments of human
bodies ; and some articles are of great antiquity, which one would
think could not possibly be in existence, or find their way into
what is called Christendom ; but when the Pope has said that
they are what they are called, the simple faithful have nothing to
do or say, but to believe what they are told. For instance, they
have in the church of Lateran, in Rome, the Ark of the Lord
which Moses made in the wilderness, together with the rod of
Moses ; and they profess to show in the same church, the iden-
tical table on which our Lord ate the last supper with his dis-
ciples. Though this table is shown entire in Rome, there are
pieces of it in both Spain and Flanders. I suppose no Papist
doubts that a thing may be entirely in one place, and partly, or
even wholly, in another at the same time. For instance, they
believe that the whole body of Christ is in every place where the
mass is celebrated, and in every particle of every consecrated
wafer, though it were broken into a thousand pieces, and scat-
tered to the winds. There is, therefore, nothing incredible in
the story of the miraculous table, which has done many wonder-
ful things, if we may believe the Jesuits.
Upon the high altar in the said Lateran church, there stand
the heads of the Apostles Peter and Paul ; and whenever these
are shown to the people, there are so many pardons and indul-
gences granted. Though the heads be in Uoine, there is a
great piece of the skull of Peter in the possession of the Augus-
tines in Bilboa, and of that of Paul in the possession of the
Franciscans in the same city ; and I believe Peter has an entire
head somewhere else.
It is by no means my intention to disgust my readers with a
complete catalogue of the trumpery in which the wealth of many
a church consists. I shall merely mention a few of the most
harmless, and then proceed to describe the use which is made of
them. The Augustine friars in Burgos are said to have the
Virgin Mary's chamber-pot, which they regard as a very precious
relic; but whether they honour it with hypcrdulia, that is, the
same degree of adoration as they give to the Virgin herself, I
12
cannot say. In St. Peter's church they have the cross of the
good thief, somewhat worm-eaten ; Judas' s lantern, a littlo
scorched; the dice the soldiers played with, when they cast lots
for our Saviour's garment ; the tail of Balaam's ass ; St. Joseph's
axe, saw, and hammer, and a few nails he had not driven ; St
Anthony's mill-stone, on which he sailed to Muscovy. These
are taken from a catalogue dated 1753 ; and I presume the arti-
cles remain there still, though I cannot prove the fact. The
same catalogue contains the following, among hundreds more,
which enrich different churches; part of the wood of the cross
a little decayed ; and a nail of the same. There are said to be
as many pieces of the timber of the true cross in different parts
of Europe, as would supply a town with fuel for a winter. Part
of 'the manna in the wilderness; and some blossoms of Aaron's
rod. The arm of St. Simeon, ill kept. The image of the
blessed Virgin drawn by St. Luke, the features all visible; one
of her combs ; and twelve combs of the twelve Apostles all very
little used. Some relics of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The
arm and some part of the body of Lazarus ; ill kept, and smells.
A part of the body of St. Mark ; and a part of his Gospel, of his
own hand-writing, almost legible. A finger and an arm of St.
Ann, the blessed Virgin's mother. A piece of the Virgin's veil,
as good as new. The staff delivered bv our Lord to St. Patrick,
with which he drove all the venomous creatures out of Ireland.
Some of St. Joseph's breath, which an angel inclosed in a phial,
as he was cleaving wood violently ; which was so long adored in
France, and since brought to Venice, and from Venice to Rome.
The head of St. Dennis, which he carried two miles, after it
was cut off, under his arm, from Montmartre to St. Dennis.
A piece of the rope Judas hanged himself with. Large parcels
of the blessed Virgin's hair. Great quantities of her milk ; some
butter, and a small cheese made of it, which never decays, &c
&c. Phil. Lib., June, 1818.
These precious relics are solemnly certified to be what they
are said to be ; and many of them have proved themselves ge-
nuine by most stupendous miracles; all which is piously believed
by their devout worshippers. I appeal to every man of common
sense, whether he can imagine a system of more palpable and
abominable falsehood than that which is here exhibited ? It is
impossible that any one of the articles which I have enumerated
can be verified or proved to be what it is called. There is not
one of them entitled even to the credit of probability, few of them
to that of possibility ; and yet the priests of the churches in which
they are deposited, 'x{\\ assert their authenticity with more confi-
dence than they will maintain any article of divine revelation
and the Pope himself is not ashamed to lend the sanction of his
13
pretended divine authority to support and recommend the im-
posture.
The great matter with the Pope, and his army of priests, is,
to get the poor deluded people to hclieve that some miraculous
virtue resides in the relics which, on certain occasions, are ex-
hibited to their view ; to get them to come and pay their devo-
tions to these relics, and pay their money for the sight of them ;
for, as I have often said, and proved, there is no blessing to be
had from the Church of Rome without money.
After all, to let my readers into a secret, it is not necessary
that the bones A'hich are actually worshipped as the relics of any
particular saint, should really have belonged to that saint. It is
enough that the worshipper has an intention of honouring the
saint whose bones he supposes them to be ; and though they
should not be really his, yet if they were dug out of the ground
in which he was buried, all the merit which his body possessed
is communicated to them. I quote the following from a work
entitled, " Observations on a Journey to Naples." It is by the
author of " The Frauds of Romish Monks and Priests," who
was himself, at one time, a good Papist, and who relates what
he knew from personal observation.
" To speak the truth, these are the very reasonings which the
gentlemen of Rome, I mean the Pope and cardinals, make
use of every day, with regard to the holy bodies which they
fetch out of the catacombs, and which they send so boldly, and
so frequently, to places of their communion to be worshipped
there. These catacombs, in the sense they take them in, are
subterranean places, where believers assembled themselves in the
times of persecution, and where they buried the corpses of their
martyrs ; but they also indifferently buried there the bodies of
all Christians ; so that as these places served them for temples, or
places to meet in, so they served them also as church-yards to
bury their dead. The Popes having, in these last ages, taken
into mature consideration, the great gain they reaped from the
bones of their saints, had recourse to these places, as to inex-
haustible mines, and indifferently seized all the bones they met
with there. Yea, their avarice lasht out to that degree, that
cither not knowing, or net being able to distinguish, the true
catacombs, they have gone to search for dead bodies in the com-
mon sewers, or subterranean vaults, which were the sinks to
carry off the filth of the city, and where, in ancient times, they
were used to fling the bodies of malefactors, after their execu-
tion. True it is, that amongst them were found the bodies of
martyrs, which escaped the knowledge of Christians. The Popes
not having the power to distinguish the one from the other, and
to spare themselves a trouble, which besides would bave beet
14
pure labour lost, by the power of God himself, which they pro-
fessed themselves to have, metamorphosed them all, dictum fac-
tum, into saints. The heathens had also caves and vaults, where
they caused themselves to be interred with their whole families;
and the greatest part of all these bones are now upon the altars
of the Papists, under the name of saints, taken up out of the
L-atacomhs. And forasmuch as the Popes are ignorant of their
names, they baptize them anew, and give them a name as best
pleascth them, which is the cause of so many contests and trials
between the priests and the monks, who all pretend, in good
time, to be the sole possessors of the primitive saint, of this or
the other name. These trials are to be determined at Rome, by
means of money, which still inflames the Popes with a greater
zeal to send as many as they can of these saints into all parts,
which ono day or other will not fail to furnish them with matter
for trials so gainful to them ; yea, we may affirm, that there he
blmost as many trials at Rome, about relics, as about beneficial
matters. Now the doctrine which serves to quiet the conscien-
ces of the Romanists, from the checks that might torment them,
for having exposed, and still daily exposing, such abominable fil-
thinesses upon their altars, is this, that they believe that what
St. Paul saith, that the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the be-
lieving husband, ought also to be understood of their relics,
forasmuch as all the bones, which are found in one vault, are
sanctified by their neighbourhood with those of one saint. Or
at least, if this wont do, they betake themselves to their last shift,
which is this, that a good intention is an abundant excuse for all
these petty irregularities in those who continue in the bosom of
the Church of Rome ; so that is enough, according to them, to
have a right intention of honouring such a he saint, or she saint,
and to receive with reverence and obedience the instruments pro-
posed to them, for to honour them.
" Now the use that the priests and monks of the Church of
Rome do make of these principles, is this, that there are no
bones whatsoever, no, not the bones of an ass, or horse, but they
may make relics of them ; they need only break a piece of them,
and tell you that it is a relic of one of the eleven thousand vir-
gins that suffered martyrdom at Collen, or else one of the soldiers
of the Theban legion, who were all cut in pieces at the passage
of the Alps, for refusing to sacrifice to Mars, the traveller. They
may show you the rib of a sucking pig, and tell you it is a relic
of one of the little innocents, who were massacred at our Saviour's
birth ; or, lastly, tell you that it is the bone of a saint taken out
of the catacombs."
" I was once in the Abbey of the Trinity at Vandome, in
France, when they exposed their treasury of relics. They showed
15
us among other things, a jaw-bone, which the monks told m vw?9
hat of St. Magdalene ; and a very able physician, who was pre-
sent at the same time, was ready to maintain to their face, and
would forfeit his head, if he did not prove to them, by the tex-
ture, scaling, and largeness of the bone, that it never belonged to
a human body, but it was a piece of the jaw-bone of some beast
or other. But the fathers were so far from desiring him to
disabuse them in the case, that they presently pop'd up another
relic, to put him by his displeasing discourse. This relic was
that they call the holy tear, which is so famous in that country.
The tradition they pretend to have concerning it runs thus, that
when our Saviour wept over Lazarus, an angel gathered up his
tears, in a small chrystal phial, and that having preserved them a
long time, he gave them to St. Mary Magdalene, who was then
doing penance at a place which is called La Sainte Baume, near to
Marseilles ; that, in process of time, this relic was carried to
Constantinople, where it continued during the reign of the Greek
emperor; and being afterwards fallen, together with all the riches
of that great city, into the hands of the Turks, a Turkish Em-
peror presented it to Godfrey, Earl of Vendome, who deposited
it in this Abbey. It seems by this tradition, that it took many
turns before it came thither, and above all, that which I consider
is, that it passsd through the hands of infidels and enemies to
the name of Christ. But for all this the Roman Catholics, and,
above all, the monks of that Abbey, have not the least doubt or
scruple concerning it; but bestow upon it the worship of latria,
even the same they give to Jesus Christ himself." " We viewed
this chrystal very attentively, holding it up against the light, and
afterwards took a view of it at the light of a wax taper, but we
could discover nothing of what they were pleased to tell us. They
have recourse to this relic in all maladies of the eyes, and upon
this account, it brings a vast income to these fathers.
'• If all the false relics, which at present are adored in the
Church of Rome, had voices and could speak, what strange
stories should we hear ! Some would say, we are the bones of
heathens, or of malefactors ; others of horses, asses, dogs, &c.
And yet I question, after all this, if they would quit them. They
would say, " It is like that these voices were only the illusions and
artifices of the devil, who is envious at the glory that is bestowed
on the saints ; and that their church being infallible, having pro-
posed these relics to believers to be worshipped, she can neither
err in matter of right, or in matter of fact.
" Many English Roman Catholics cannot endure to hear that
they bestow adorations upon things that are so very vile, and
contemptible ; but it is only by reason of their ignorance of what
passeth in those countries where Popery is rampant ; for there
xt Jxwse . xahz iaat. wrings of urns, «£ aS
: ... '. — " '■-' - - - " - * " "" :
f_--. .;- r .;.-.:,- i-: : -..--; v-.; .:-- i;:- u :':--■. ^
-~ \ — _ - -i , _ . r - : : 1 i~^~ - — ----- -- -- — ^
-
- - ' -
_:_. _; :„ -: — -_. : r :: .: ?~ i. ;~t -H' ~-~ . '.
:__--_ zzi .~_~~i. -Z:~ .r:-~i::.J - - r i.:._^j :— .-_-". _ '.
... : _.-;-- ~ f - :~ --.-r z ;-= :: .
_- — 7- ' : i-"i :.- - ~ : : - "r~_
"j.- :" ; _~_= izz '. ~--L "J
7: 7 ■:-.-- ' — - -::-" :: :: " -—i. ::
- - ■ :- --..-"-* -
of onr Smsrxur. « Beacid fie Lamfc ct Gcd
£e anis at" itte voce
_:.j. .:-: -~~ .- ~ " . ; - -7i
: _ - - : :-:-:::..--. .it" .._--- .:
■ -
:--; :- --.-sz. :r : ..:_•. : T::: ~c : _: : : r ■■-.:
_
- * "' _ 7 _ . T' - - -
■
-- "
:-
" -->
Protestant.
; Li : :
:_' r . ij: ~
v.; ••• : : _ .:.._: • •::.•; .:.: : .:..:.. l. ; : : : ■ _- : v :,.
.".:'.;. . v.i. c. .1. .it'..-. ' : .."'-.:..-: BHB V.n ■■ . " s. _•; : "..-""
>. '.:'. ~.'t ".- '.I U": ~.'.i' 'a', r .... '. '■■'- v;.; .'.I'. '.'■■: '..it . ".. * ; ui_-a
v.: :r v : .:.;:_• v— .-.::: ^ -..,t .:,-* v.-..,: >. i mummi .:._ I
::;i..il *i;i"
:: : -.a; : .-.: :_.:;...:".. : ..; ..;; .iifnadba l:: :nv .:.„ . ;.. -.um
'. :: :..=r.i:-; ;• a: .". "J .-~ ".: ; a:<; •"' " : .. ; ::.f
jmmibu k n T sin :i. .
* : ~. . *": .: " 7 71' "Hi: ": * ~! -lit 1'. .i-i." "". . " !.-..'- " 1 V ', .;*
*tl T : ;• ; >" i; .;*■ I.-. ' n T . v" . ; . ■ .. ; . * a~tl v . ; ..".....; ;ii
.
n ?,. ~.K<. ~ :■- : ' Zi..-it:'.i:r.ii. a:c ..-. :: tu.t. : :•■.:..: . :u
;.: : -„..,i : . :>. .:..:.'.■. . ;. : . n: si ■ JtM ki n : ;t
. .:•; . : . .-. : . :..-■; v :::.;-; l -■. r-~~
:M' ".■;-..
■ .:...: ::i£ ■ ":..".•:
' . : ::s ... : -~ ~ .:.u. :~ ;i; :s.: : ; ■ ..: r ~.„: .. ~n ai
■ ■
:r t*i:it ono nnjissniac-
■
-
18
must that Church be whose Head practises such an abominable
■j
vice
In my last Number, I gave some account of Popish relics, o(
the honour or worship which is given to them, and of the man-
ner in which some of them were procured. I proceed now to
speak of the wonderful things which they are said to have done.
" Prince Christopher, of the family of the Dukes of Radzecil,
having gone a pilgrimage to Home, to kiss his Holiness' toe, re-
ceived, as a reward of his piety, a box of very precious relics.
These, on his return home, became the consolation of the afflict-
ed, and the terror of the devil. Even the most stubborn of those
evil spirits, over whom ordinary relics possessed no influence,
acknowledged their virtue in bellowings of submission.
" Scarcely had a few months illustrated their power, when
some monks, with humble entreaty, requested the use of them for
the benefit of a man into whom the devil had entered. As the
foul fiend stuck to his new habitation with the utmost stubborn-
ness, and disregarded their most potent conjurations, the prince
readily complied ; and no sooner were they applied to the body of
the demoniac, than the devil was forced to decamp. The spec-
tators exclaimed, A miracle ! a miracle ! and the prince lifted up
his hands and heart in pious gratitude to God, for bestowing upon
him such a holy and powerful treasure.
" Some time after, when the prince was relating to his friends
this wonderful deliverance, and extolling the virtues of his relics,
one gentleman, who had been in his retinue at Rome, discovered
uncommon incredulity. Being posed to account for his rejecting
such plain evidence as attended this transaction, he told him, that,
in returning from Rome, he had unluckily lost the box of relics,
which had been intrusted to his care. To screen himself, there-
fore, from his resentment, he had provided another exactly simi-
lar, and filled it with bones and little trinkets ; and this was the
identical box which had wrought such wonders.
" Next morning, the prince sent for the monks, and asked, if
they knew any other demoniac who needed his relics. A person
of this description was easily found ; for the devil, in Popish
countries, is particularly remarkable for his spirit of opposition,
and is generally to be found nestling in the neighbourhood of
relics. When the monks produced the demoniac, the prince
caused him to be exorcised in his presence, but without effect.
The devil kept his birth with all the obstinacy of a mule, and
would neither be moved by threats nor coaxing. The prince
then ordered the monks to withdraw, and delivered the demoniac
to some Tartars, whom he kept about his stable, with orders
to give the devil his due. At first the devil thought to terrify
them by his horrible gestures and grimaces ; but these Tartars
19
used their whips with such faithfulness, as the devil never wit-
nessed before. Having never dreamed of such a mode of exor-
cising, he found himself taken on the weak side ; and, therefore,
without the use of either relics, hard words, or holy water, he be-
gan to cry for quarter, and confessed that the monks had hired
him to personate a character which he was ill qualified to sustain.
" The prince again requested the presence of the monks, and
produced to them the man, who threw himself at his feet, and
acknowledged the imposture. They at first declared this to be
only an artifice of the devil, who employed the organs of this
man to propagate such a falsehood, to the discredit of religion.
But when the prince told them, how necessary it was to exorcise
the father of lies out of them also, they began to repent, and
acknowledged that they had been guilty of this imposition, with
a view to stop the progress of Lutheranism, and save the souls
of all good Papists in that country. He then dismissed them,
at the same time telling them, that such pious frauds were mere
diabolical inventions, and that he would no longer trust his sal-
vation to men who used such means to support their religion.
He accordingly began to turn his attention to the Scriptures ;
and, notwithstanding their obscurity, he understood as much of
their meaning as showed him the absurdity of Popish principles,
and induced him to make an open profession of the Reformed
religion.
u The reader may perhaps be curious to know what the Pope
had put into this wonderful box. But the loss of it has for ever
deprived us of this important piece of information. For his
satisfaction, however, I can give him an abstract of the catalogue
of images and relics which formerly belonged to the cathedral of
Glasgow. At the Reformation, there were treasured up there,
an image of our Saviour in gold, the twelve Apostles in silver,
and two silver crosses, enriched with precious stones, and small
portions of the wood of the true cross. There were, likewise,
five silver caskets, containing the following articles of adoration :
1. Some hair of the blessed Virgin; 2. A piece of the hairy
garment worn by St. Kentigern, a part of the scourge with which
he flogged himself, and a part of the scourge used by St.
Thomas a Becket ; 3. A piece of St. Bartholomew's skin ; 4.
A bone of St. Ninian ; 5. A piece of the girdle worn by the
Virgin Mary. In a crystal case was found a bone of St. Mag-
dalene. There were also four crystal phials, containing a part
of the Virgin Mary's milk ; a piece of the manger in which
Christ was laid ; a red liquor which formerly flowed from the
tomb of St. Kentigern ; some bones of St. Eugene and St.
Blaise ; and a part of the tomb of St. Catherine. There were
six hides containing very precious relics : such as, a piece of St,
20
Martin's cloak, part of the bodies of St. Kentigern and St.
Thomas a Bccket, &c. Two linen bags were filled with saint's
bones ; and a vast assemblage of small relics were lodged in a
wooden chest." (Beauties of Scotland, vol. 3. p. 217, 218.)
" When the Reformation rendered images and relics useless
in Scotland, the Archbishop of Glasgow retired to France, and
carried along with him this precious treasure. With such a host
of friendly intercessors, he could not fail to enjoy a cordial re-
ception from the church. The most mortified ecclesiastic in
France could scarcely behold a golden Saviour, and silver Apos-
tles, without welcome greetings, and feeling his demure visage
relaxing into smiles of complacency.
" Though I cannot at present give the reader a view of all
the uses of relics in religion, there is one, which it would be
doing injustice to the subject to omit. Like oral tradition, they
have been found of vast use for explaining obscure passages of
Scripture. Of this many edifying illustrations might be pro-
duced ; but one will serve as a specimen of the whole. Five
devout pilgrims, happening to meet on their return from Rome,
loaded with these excellent helps to religion, each began to extol
his acquisitions. After much conversation, highly characteristic
of their faithful simplicity, they produced their riches ; and, lo,
to their great amazement, each was honoured with a foot of the
very ass upon which Christ rode to Jerusalem. Now, the
reader may recollect, that the Scriptures do not even tell us that
this ass had a foot, but here is decisive proof of the existence of
five; and if five were collected by five pilgrims only, let him
conceive how many must be travelling through other parts of the
church, to assist the simple faithful in their exercises of devotion.
The Romish church is extremely lucky, in picking up this relic
before the existence of the Antiquarian Society. The discovery
of an ass with five feet would have rendered them frantic with
joy, and completely marred the devotions of the whole congre-
gation of the simple. Rather than see such a precious ass de-
prived of one hoof, they would permit every member of the
church to remain in ignorance for ever.
" Such idle fooleries has the Church of Rome palmed upon
the world, under pretence of religion. A view of their influence
upon our ancestors is snfficient to show their opposition to the
spirit of the gospel. In proportion as our progenitors were ac-
tuated by this gloomy superstition, we find them destitute of
practical piety and every social virtue. They spent that time and
property in idle pilgrimage, in hunting after relics, and other
nonsensical acts of devotion, which ought to have been employed
for the benefit of mankind ; and multitudes at last beggared their
families, to perpetuate these delusions. So prevalent was this
21
evil in England, that the statute of mortmain was found neces-
sary to prevent the whole landed property of the nation from
hecoming the plunder of the church.
" When the Church of Rome maintains the usefulness of
images and relics as means of devotion, it is merely a cloak to
conceal the most selfish views. — Wherever these appendages of
superstition have abounded, they have always been connected
with swarms of monks, remarkable only for their vices, and for
impoverishing the bigotted and the ignorant. Mistaken views of
religion introduced them at first into the church ; and afterwards
they have been used to render mankind subservient to the grati-
fication of the clergy. The advice given to Pope Julius III. by
the Bishops assembled at Bononia, discovers the light in which
the crafty ecclesiastics of the Romish church view the relics of
the saints. ' When any Bishop,' said they, ' sets himself to
officiate in any divine service with pomp and solemnity, he ought
to have many ornaments to distinguish him from ordinary priests;
such as, the bones and relics of some dead man. Do you com-
mand him to hang a whole leg, arm, or head of some saint
about his neck, by a good thick cord ; for that will contribute
very much to increase the religious astonishment of all who be-
hold it. The truth is, these ceremonies were all invented and
continued by Popes; you, therefore, who are a Pope, may, if
you please, augment them." M'Culloch, Pop. Cond. pp. 368,
376.
I make no apology for quoting so largely from so lively a
writer as Mr. M'Culloch, whose interesting work is not known
in this country, except by a few individuals. This gentleman,
who is a minister in Nova Scotia, in connexion with the Asso-
ciate Antiburgher Synod, has most ably exposed the errors of
Popery, and the quibbling, shuffling practices of its advocates in
that part of the world, who are truly worthy of being the brethren,
ind of the same body, with those in this country.
Relics have commonly been used for the vilest purposes of
avarice and imposition. It was not enough to excite the devo-
tion of the people, to have the most splendid and richly adorned
buildings for the celebration of their idolatrous rites, unless they
had them enriched by the bones of some saint ; and these bones
themselves could not be expected to excite much reverence, un-
less some extraordinary virtue were ascribed to them, such as the
healing of diseases ; that is, unless divine power were supposed
to reside in them. It was easy for the priests to say that such
power resided in the bones of any deceased man or woman,
which they taught the people to worship. It was a lie to be
sure ; but that was a matter of no consideration, if it brought
multitudes of pilgrims to pay their money, and feast their eyes
with the sacred relics. In order to maintain the credit of such
22
relics, it was necessary to maintain a succession of miracles. AFl
the art and cunning of a numerous host of monks and priests
was called into activity. It became their sole business to tel)
lies, and to deceive the people, by means of false miracles,
which they pretended to perform by the touch of their relics, or
by getting the diseased person to pray before the altar on which
they were laid. They hired persons for the purpose of counter-
feiting blindness, lameness, madness, and in short all the diseases
incident to men; and then they pretended to cure them by touch-
ing them with some dry bone, or by some old rotten rag. They
had such power over the minds of the people, that few doubted
the reality of what they told them ; and as for those whom they
had hired to personate the blind and the lame, they had them
bound by a solemn oath not to divulge the truth ; they would
promise them heaven, if they kept the secret ; and threaten them
with hell, if they told it ; and during a period of general ignorance
and superstition, there were few indeed who had the courage to
despise such threats and such promises. I could give some
curious instances of absurd and false miracles said to have been
performed by the relics of St. Wenefricle, when her rotten car-
cass was removed to Shrewsbury; but some of my readers were
so nauseated by former extracts from that " excellent little vo-
lume," as Mr. Andrews calls it, that I dare not venture to quote
any more from it.
It is well known that the authority of Scripture goes a very
little way with Papists, if it be opposed to any of their traditions
and superstitions : yet if they can find a passage in which the
words, detached from their connexion, or taken in a perverted
sense, seem to countenance any doctrine or practice of theirs,
they gladly avail themselves of it. Thus they do profess to find,
in Scripture, a warrant for worshipping dead men's bones, &c.
" The pious Josiah," says the American opponent of Mr.
M'Culloch, " respected the bones of the prophet, who foretold the
destruction of Bethel, 4 b. of Kings xxiii. 18. and Moses
himself returning from Egypt, took with him the bones of the
great patriarch Joseph."
It would be well, if those who make use of these passages to
prove the propriety of worshipping dry bones, or any thing be-
sides the one living and true God, would read them in connexion
with the context, and those parts of the sacred history to which
they refer. Let them, for instance, read what is said of Josiah and
the bones of the prophet, which in our Bibles is 2 Kings xxiii.
i — 20. Let them compare this with what is related in the xiii.
•.napter of the same book, and they will find, that the prophet
denounced the destruction of Bethel, because they presumed to
give divine honour to a creature, or to worship God by images.
It is true, Josiah did respect the bones of the tiue prophet, and
23
also of the lying prophet, who was buried beside him, so as not
to burn them, when he was burning those of the idolatrous
priests. Though acting under a divine commission, Josiah did
not profess, like the Pope of Rome, to be able to distinguish the
bones of the saint from those of the sinner, seeing they were
blended together in one grave, and therefore he respected both.
But how was this respect shown ? Not by giving an arm to
one priest, and a leg to another, to hang round their necks, when
they performed divine service ; not by sending fragments of their
ribs and skulls to the temple at Jerusalem, to be adored by the
many thousands of Israel, when they came to their great festi-
vals. This is exactly what Papists would have done ; but Josiah
knew that this would have brought as heavy a punishment on
Jerusalem as that which he was the instrument of inflicting upon
Bethel. He respected their bones, as those of every saint ought
to be respected ; that is, he allowed them to rest quietly in their
graves. " Let them alone," said Josiab, " let no man move his
bones ; so they let his bones alone."
When Joseph was a dying, he spoke of the departure of the
children of Israel out of Egypt, and gave commandment con-
cerning his bones, Heb. xi. 22. This it is said he did by faith.
This was a testimony to the children of Israel, that though he
had lived almost a century in the court of Egypt, he died in the
faith of the promise of the God of Israel. During the dreary
period of the bondage of the people, the fact, known by them
all, that the body of Joseph was kept in a state capable of being
removed, was calculated to confirm the faith of believing Israelites,
and to encourage them to hope for deliverance. Moses also tes-
tified his faith in the promise of the God of Israel, when he took
the body of Joseph out of Egypt, and carried it along with the
congregation, during all their wanderings in the wilderness. But
let it be remembered, the body was put in a coffin in Egypt ;
and we have no hint that ever it was seen again by human eyes ;
and it was carried out of Egypt, through the desart, not that it
might be worshipped, but that it might be buried. It was his
dying command, that his body should rest with those of his
fathers in the land of promise ; believing, no doubt, that as he
slept with them, so he would be raised up together with them, to
the enjoyment of the everlasting inheritance.
The American Papist is not more successful in his appeal to
the instance of the brazen serpent, as a Scriptural authority for
worshipping relics. " We know," says he, " the veneration
which was conceived for the brazen serpent, on which whoever
looked, when bit by the fiery serpents, were instantly healed."
"And we know, likewise," says Mr. M'Culloch, "that when
Israel treated it with Popish honours, Hezekiah, a pretended Re-
former, sprung up in the church, and afforded an example which
24
im been duly imitated by his Protestant successors. ' He re«
moved the high places and brake the images, and cut down the
groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had
made ; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense
unto it.' " Papists will no doubt execrate such conduct ; — it is
so like that of John Knox, who brake down tbe altars and
images in many a church, at least if his enemies say the truth.
No matter : we are assured, upon divine authority, that what
Hezekiah did was right in the sight of the Lord, 2 Kings
xviii. 3, 4.
It is argued further, that " God wrought special miracles by
the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the
sick, handkerchiefs, or aprons, and the diseases departed from
them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Acts xix. 11, 12.
But Paul was alive, and these articles were not his relics ; nor is
it said that the handkerchiefs and aprons had any hand in work-
ing the cures which are mentioned. It was God who wrought
special miracles by the hands of Paul ; and it is admitted that,
for the confirmation of the truth which was preached by his in-
spired Apostles, he wrought many miracles. In this instance,
he made the articles of dress which are mentioned, a sign to
connect the miracle, in the minds of the people, with the person
of his inspired ambassador; but the articles themselves are thrown
aside, and never mentioned again, as being of any use in re-
lation to religious worship, though they would be as good as
ever as aprons and handkerchiefs ; but none but an idolater
would have thought of preserving them as objects of worship.
In the 5th chapter of the Acts, ver. 15. we are told that the
people brought out their sick into the streets, that the shadow of
Peter might overshadow them, in order to their being healed.
Now, it is a fact, that I have not been able to find, in any cata-
logue of relics, the identical shadow of the Apostle, though it
might have been catched almost as easily as Joseph's breath,
which Papists profess to have preserved in a phial. The fact is,
God wrought such miracles as pleased him by the instrumentality
of his Apostles. These were for the purpose of silencing adver-
saries, and for the confirmation of the truth ; they were open to the
inspection of enemies ; and they were always well authenticated.
But the miracles of Popish relics are all done in the dark, or in
the presence of such only as are willing to believe them, and not
one of them is supported by credible testimony. To the man
who boasted that be had made a leap of ten yards, in Rhodes,
it was answered, " Make such a leap here, and we will believe
you." So, to our Papists I would say, " Show the power of
your relics here, and we will believe you."
THE
i^rotegtarrtt
No. LIV.
SATURDAY, JULY 24th, 1819.
It will be gratifying to my Protestant readers to know that my
work is known, and spoken of, in the remote dominions of the
King of Spain. I know nothing that can form a better conclusion
to my dissertation on the worship of images and relics, than the
following letter, from a gentleman in the Havannah, island of
Cuba, to his friend in Baltimore, which has kindly been handed
to me by a gentleman of this city, who received it from a cor-
respondent in the western world. I did not previously know,
or even suspect, that The Protestant was known in the
Island of Cuba : —
" Havannah, 9th April, 1819 — I address you, my deai
B , from a place where the Church of Rome may be seen
in all her glory. On every hand are indications of her supre-
macy. Altars, shrines, and consecrated relics meet your view
in every direction ; while the long-robed priest, bearing the in-
signia of his office, crosses your path at every step. The im-
mense piles of buildings attached to each of the churches, show
very distinctly that they who minister therein, know where to
lay their heads.
" The churches are generally very large, and being built of a
grey stone, have a very venerable appearance. The interior is
finished in rather a coarse manner ; and the style of architecture
not very commendable. Between the columns, in the recesses,
are placed sundry virgins of wax, and saints of stone; the former
usually enclosed in a glass case, and arrayed in the style of dress
which prevailed in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Here and
Vol. II. D
26
there may be seen fonts of holy water, and little figures of Christ
upon the cross. The appearance of the whole is very paltry;
and naturally brings to mind a child's play house upon a large
scale. At all hours of the day, you may observe the miserable
dupes of this mummery kneeling, crossing themselves, or mut-
tering their prayers before the image of their favourite patron
saint, or confessing in some corner to one of their jugglers.
" Yesterday commenced the ceremonies attending the celebra-
tion of the death, burial, and resurrection. In this kind of
farce, the machinery and scenery employed are very similar to
those we have upon the theatre, except that they are formed
upon a cheaper plan, and are far inferior in point of execution.
About 3 o'clock, p. m. a figure intended to represent our Sa-
viour, was produced at the cathedral, and nailed to a cross pre-
viously erected. After the side had been pierced, &c. it was
taken down and carried to a private dwelling ; and there laid out
as for burial. In the course of my evening ramble with an ac-
quaintance, we came to this house, and went in. Had " The
Protestant" been here, he would certainly have given us a
Number upon the scene which presented itself. At one end of
a large room was erected a stage, on which was placed this
sorry representation of a corpse, arrayed in a great deal of
finery. In the rear was a large cross, and on each side a trio
of hideous angels, each bearing a candlestick, behind which was
placed a candle, so as to appear, from a particular position, to be
in it. As this position had reference to but one candle at a
time, the arrangement was so clumsy, that it cannot with pro-
priety be called a deception. On the extremes, and facing each
other, were figures to represent the Virgin and Joseph. The
former was equipt with a richly wrought petticoat, hoop, stays,
high-heeled shoes, and lace head dress ; and the latter with a
purple military coat covered with lace, brown breeches, buckles,
silk stockings, ruffles, and a well dressed powdered peruke, sur-
mounted by a cocked hat. Rays of glory, executed in gilt wood,
formed a finishing decoration to both figures.
" The room was crowded with persons of all ages, sexes,
colours, and conditions. They kneeled for a few moments, and
then made way for others. I took my position on one side
of the room, and eyed this scene with emotions which I will
not attempt to describe. I could have laughed at the ridi-
culous display which was before me ; but when I reflected to
what an event it was referred ; when I cast my eyes upon those
who kneeled around me, and compared their conduct with that
reverence which a rational creature should pay to his God, my
heart sickened within me. But I must leave reflection for a
more fit occasion, and content myself with description.
27
" This afternoon, the burial was performed. The aforesaid
representation of a corpse was carried from one church, through
three or four of the principal streets, to another church, where
it is to remain till that resurrection, which takes place to-morrou.
I had a view of the whole from the gallery of a friend's house.
A file of soldiers, music, several priests and attendants bearing
badges, the standard of the cross, soldiers, priests, the body
upon a kind of stage, soldiers, officers civil and military, priests,
soldiers, the Virgin and Joseph, priests and soldiers, horse,
foot, and artillery, the whole flanked by citizens in single file,
each bearing a wax taper of five feet in length, formed the ca-
valcade. The introduction of artillery has taken place, since the
present governor came into office. The reason he alleges for
this innovation is certainly more rational than the ceremony :
' A Spanish general is entitled to one piece at his funeral, and
certainly Jesus Christ should have two.' "
" Saturday, 10th April, 1819 — As the ceremonies of this
morning took place very early, I did not attend them, but I will
give you a brief account of what I was told of it.
" The figure, which had been deposited in a grave yesterday,
is brought forth repainted, &c. in order to represent animation ;
and sallying forth upon the shoulders of several negroes, and
accompanied by an immense crowd, meets the Virgin and Jo-
seph, (borne with like ceremony) at the intersection of two
streets. The former proceedings you will, no doubt, -suppose
ridiculous enough. Those which take place here, ' out-Herod
Herod.' The Virgin, who, by the by is understood to be
seeking her dead Son, thus unexpectedly meeting the living one,
is, as might be looked for, surprised, — pauses, trembles, par-
tially turns, and finally flies away in terror. These various emo-
tions are performed by mere motions of the wooden stages upon
which the characters are borne. The shouts and congratulations
of the pious crowd now undeceive the Virgin, whose fears being
removed, she countermarches. A happy meeting takes place ;
and the several figures, having thus faithfully performed their
allotted duties, are, with all due reverence, carried to their re*
spective quarters, and safely deposited, until their services shall
be again required.
" About one-fourth of the people's time is spent in this man-
ner. Scarce a week passes, but some saint or other is borne
through the streets. There is yet some hope for this benighted
land. 1 find that among the upper classes of society, these
things are not looked upon with much regard, farther than as
they are calculated to keep the vulgar in order. The dissolute
lives which the priests lead must eventually open the eyes of all
classes to the corruptions of the Church of Rome. Oh ye
28
that possess the gospel unadulterated, ye know not the extent
of the blessing! When I see the little children crossing them-
selves before some figure or image, I think of the Sunday
schools, and thank God that my country is possessed of them."
What must that religion be which encourages, nay, which, in
a great measure, consists in the exhibition of such disgusting and
profane farces, as that above described! My readers, I suppose,
would expect to hear of no better in a Spanish island ; but what
will they think, when I show them that practices equally ridicu-
lous and wicked are exhibited by Papists every year in Ireland,
notwithstanding the light of knowledge which shines all around
them. With a description of what takes place in that country,
1 shall occupy the remainder of this sheet. — On the 28th of
June, every year, at Waterford, the stone coffin of St. Dagland
is emptied of such human bones as have been placed in it, (which
bones are replenished every year, it is said, by a miracle), and
borne away as precious relics, and preservatives against various
afflictions.
In the county of Tipperary, the earth which covers the grave
of father Sheely, boiled in milk, cures a variety of diseases. In
the year 1763, this priest was convicted of treason, on the clearest
evidence, and hanged. He is now, it is said, about to be can-
onized at Rome ; and this no doubt will be a stimulus to other
priests, to practise his treason, when they shall have an opportu-
nity. Phil. Gaz. June 30th, 1818.
But there are some practices in Ireland, which not only equal
those which I have related as taking place in Cuba, in absurdity
and impiety, but which far excel them in wickedness and cruelty ;
as will appear by the following interesting letter, which I copy
from the Hull Rockingham Newspaper, of May 18th, 1816,
omitting a few sentences for want of room. It is, indeed, anony-
mous, but it is not to be supposed the Editor would make him-
self responsible, without knowing the author, and knowing that
he was worthy of credit. I am, indeed, in possession of a written
account of similar superstitions, by a minister in this country,
who was an eye witness of them, at a holy well near Sligo, but
who does not go so much into detail as the writer of the follow-
ing. I connect this with the worship of relics, because it is the
same principle that leads to venerate holy wells and to adore holy
bones : —
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ROCKINGHAM.
Sir,
At a time when the attention of this country is almost entirely
devoted to the frivolities, and vices, and imbecilities, and suffer-
29
ings of the French nation ; it may not be impertinent to re«
mind the people of our own country that there are subjects, yet
more nearly connected with us, who are sunk in deeper shades
of ignorance and barbarism than the French, the Italians, or
even the miserable Spaniards.
I shall, for the present, confine myself to giving you an ac-
count of an annual festival, which is held in some particular
places in different parts of Ireland, on every midsummer's eve,
and the extravagancies which I witnessed, together with a few
English friends, at some celebrated wells of St. Patrick, in the
county of Down, in order that you may judge how far the state-
ment of honourable members of the House of Commons are to
be relied on, which would encourage a belief that, as to the
general diffusion of knowledge and education, the lower Irish
have greatly the advantage of the same class of people in our
favoured island.
When or how the custom which I shall describe originated, I
know not, nor is it necessary to enquire ; but, every midsummer's
eve, thousands of Roman Catholics, many from distant parts of
the country, resort to these celebrated holy wells, to cleanse their
souls from sin, and clear their mortal bodies of diseases. The
influx of people of different ranks, for some nights before the one
in which alone, during the whole year, these wells possess this
power, (for on all other days and nights in the year they rank
not above common draw-wells,) is prodigious; and their attend-
ants, hordes of beggars, whose ragged garments, if once taken off,
could not be put on again by the ingenuity of man, infest the streets
and lanes, and choose their lodgings in the highways and hedges.
Having been previously informed of the approach of this miraculous
night, and having made ourselves acquainted with the locality of the
wells, early in the evening we repaired to the spot: we had been told
that we should see something quite new to us, and we met with
what scarcely was credible on ocular evidence. The spot, on
which this scene of superstitious folly was exhibited, was admira-
bly adapted to heighten every attendant circumstance of it; the
wonderful wells, of which there are four, being situated in a
square or patch of ground, surrounded by steep rocks, which re-
verberated every sound, and redoubled all the confusion. The
coup d'ceil of the square, on our approach, presented a floating
mass of various coloured heads, and our ears were astonished
with confused and mingled sounds of mirth and sorrow, of fran-
tic, enthusiastic joy, and deep desponding ravings. On descend-
ing into the square, we found ourselves immediately in the midst
of innumerable groups of these fanatics, running in all directions,
confusedly, in appearance, but methodically, as we afterwords
found, in reality — the men and the women were barefooted, and
80
the heads of all were bound round with handkerchiefs. Some'
were running in circles, some were kneeling in groups, some were
singing in wild concert, some were jumping about like maniacs,
at the end of an old building, which, we were told, was the ruins
of a chapel erected, with several adjacent buildings, in one miracu-
lous midsummer's night, by the tutelar saint of the wells, of whose
talent as a mason they give, it must be confessed, no very exalted
opinion. When we had somewhat recovered from the first sur-
prise which the (to us) unaccountably fantastic actions of the
crowd had given us, we endeavoured to trace the progress of
some of these deluded votaries through all the mazes of their
mystic penance. The first object of them all appeared to be the
ascent of the steepest and most rugged part of the rock, up which
both men and women crawled their painful way, on their hands
and bare knees. The men's clothes were all made so as to ac-
commodate their knees with all the sharpness of the pointed
rock ; and the poor women, many of them young and beautiful,
took incredible pains to prevent their petticoats from affording
any defence against its torturing asperities. Covered with dust
and perspiration, and blood, they at last reached the summit
of the rock, where, in a rude sort of chair, hewn out of the stone,
sat an old man, probably one of their priesthood, who seemed to
be the representative of St. Patrick, and the high-priest of this
religious frenzy. In his hat each of the penitents deposited a
halfpenny, after which he turned them round a certain number
of times, listened to the long catalogue of their offences, and dic-
tated to them the penance they were to undergo or perform.
They then descended the rock by another path, but in the same
manner and posture, equally careful to be cut by the flints, and
to suffer as much as possible : this was, perhaps, more painful
travelling than the ascent had been — the suffering knees were
rubbed another way — every step threatened a tumble ; and if any
thing could have been lively there, the ridiculous attitudes of
these descenders would have made us so. When they gained
the foot of the hill, they (most of them) bestowed a small dona-
tion of charity on some miserable groups of supplicants, who
were stationed there. One beggar, a cripple, 6at on the ground,
at one moment addressing the crowd behind him. and swearing
that all the Protestants ought to be burnt out of the country, and,
in the same breath, begging the penitents to give him one half-
penny for the love of " sivate blessed Jasus." The penitents
now returned to the use of their feet, and commenced a running
sort of Irish jiggish walk round several cairns, or heaps of stones,
erected at different spaces : this lasted for some time. Suddenly
they would prostrate themselves before the cairn, and ejaculate
some hasty prayers; as suddenly they would rise, and re-
31
sume their mill-horse circumrotation. Their eyes were fixed ;
their looks spoke anxiety, almost despair; and the operations of
theii faculties seemed totally suspended. They then proceeded
to one end of the old chapel, and seemed to believe that there
was a virtue, unknown to us heretics, in one particular stone of
the building, which every one was careful to touch with the right
hand ; those who were tall did it easily ; those who were less left
no mode of jumping unpractised to accomplish it. But the
most remarkable, and doubtless the most efficient of the ceremo-
nies, was reserved for the last ; and surely nothing was ever devis-
ed by man, which more forcibly evinced how low our nature can
descend. Around the largest of the wells, which was in a build-
ing very much, to common eyes, like a stable, all those who had
performed their penances were assembled, some dressing, some
undressing, many stark naked. A certain number of them were
admitted at a time into this holy well, and there men and women,
of every age, bathed promiscuously, without any covering. They
undressed before bathing, and performed the whole business of
the toilet afterwards in the open air, in the midst of the crowd,
without appearing sensible of the observations of lookers-on,
perfectly regardless of decency, perfectly dead to all natural sen-
sations. This was a strange sight, but so nearly resembling the
feast of lunatics, that even the voluptuary would have beheld it
without any emotions but those of dejection. The penance hav-
ing terminated in this marvellous ablution, the penitents then ad-
journed, either to booths and tents to drink, or join their friends.
The air then rang with musical monotonous singing, which be-
came louder with every glass of whiskey, finishing in frolicsome
debauch, and laying, in all probability, the foundation for future
penances and more thorough ablutions. No pen can describe
all the confusion ; no description can give a just idea of the noise
and disorder which filled this hallowed square, this theatre of
fanaticism, this temple of superstition, of which the rites rival all
that we are told of in the East. The minor parts of the spectacle
were filled up with credulous mothers half drowning their poor
children to cure their sore eyes; with cripples, who exhibited
every thing that has yet been discovered in deformity, expecting
to be washed straight, and to walk away nimble and comely.
The experience of years had not shaken their faith ; and, though
nobody was cured, nobody went away doubting. Shouting and
howling, and swearing and carousings, filled up every pause, and
• threw o'er this spot of earth the air of hell.'
" I was never more shocked and struck with horror ; and per-
ceiving many of them intoxicated with religious fervour and all-
potent whiskey, and warming into violence, before mid-night, at
which time the distraction was at its climax, I left this scene of
32
human degradation, in a state of mind not easily to be described.
The whole road from the wells to the neighbouring town was
crowded with such supplicants as preferred mortal halfpence to
holy penance. The country around was illuminated with watch-
fires ; the demons of discord and fear were abroad in the air ;
the pursuits of the world, and occupations of the peaceful, ap-
peared put a stop to, by the performance of ceremonies, disgrace^
ful when applied to propitiate an all-compassionate Divinity,
whom these religionists were determined, and taught, to consider
jgalous rather than merciful.
" I wish it were in my power, without insincerity, to pay a com-
pliment to the Irish Catholic clergy, whom Mr. Plunkett lately
designated, to the astonishment of every body, as • that most re-
spectable fraternity.' I wish I could bear witness to their mild-
ness and purity of character ; their admonitory attentions to their
illiterate flocks; their liberality, and their disposition to conciliate.
So greatly the contrary is the truth, that I have only the alterna-
tive of passing them over in silence, or of stigmatizing them, with
a few exceptions, as a low-lived, intriguing, violent set of men,
whose power is almost unlimited ; whose unrestrained abuse of that
power, and shameless want of dignity in the performance of their
functions, do more towards inflaming the minds of the lower
orders than any other causes : they are altogether a lower order
of beings than the clergymen of the same persuasion in England.
On this occasion, they were the mad priests of these Baccha-
nalian orgies ; the fomenters of fury ; the setters on to strife ; the
mischievous ministers of the debasement of their people, lending
their aid to plunge their credulous congregations in ceremonious
horrors: perhaps the better to secure to themselves the undis-
puted enjoyment of the exercise of that tyranny, which is so gen-
erally practised in other Catholic countries, and which has
embryo admiring Inquisitors enough in Ireland to pray for its
establishment.
11 I have trespassed much longer on your attention than I de
signed when I began this letter. This is but a single page of a
book of enormities; it will, I doubt not, supply you with various
reflections and interesting speculations on a people so energetic,
yet so lost; so determined, yet so mistaken; so capable of the
grandest impressions, such sad victims of the tyranny of super-
stition. Perhaps, hereafter, if your publication of this may be
considered as an intimation that you think an exposition of such
things useful, I may transmit some further particulars concern-
ing that unfortunate country.
VoLERO."
THE
^trotegtant,
No. LV.
SATURDAY, JULY 3\st, 1819.
It is a common trick of Popish writers to represent the read-
in" of the Bible as the fruitful source of sedition and treason.
Yet it so happens, that in Scotland, the most Bible-reading
country in the world, there have been only two instances of re-
bellion since the happy Revolution of 1688; and both of these
were headed and promoted by Papists, who are hostile to the
general reading of the Bible. It is well known that the rising
in 1715, and also that in 1745, had nothing less for their
object than the restoration of the Popish house of Stuart, and
with them the Popish religion itself. One of the great instiga-
tors of the former insurrection was the Earl of Derwentwater,
who, as a reward of his treason, was beheaded in London, in
the year 1716. This nobleman was so zealous a Papist, that
when the absurdities of some things which are held sacred by
the Church of Rome were mentioned to him, he replied, " That
for every tenet of that church, repugnant to reason, in which
she requires an implicit belief, he wished there were twenty,
that he might thereby have a nobler opportunity of exercising
and displaying his faith."
Without stopping to expose the impiety of wishing any thing
to be a matter of faith, or more things to be matters of faith,
than God has been pleased to reveal, 1 refer to this anecdote
merely to introduce the subject of this Paper, and to show how
tenacious Papists are of things repugnant to reason ; and how
much they even prefer such things before those which are plain
and indisputable. It is reasonable to believe what God has said,
though we cannot comprehend it, or understand how it should
Vol. II. E
24
be; but it is certain that he has not called us to believe any
thing that is unreasonable or impossible, for no such things are
contained in the revelation which he has given us ; and yet the
very impossibility and unreasonableness of a thing is, with such
Papists as the nobleman above mentioned, a reason for his be-
lieving it. " Do you believe in transubstantiation ?" said a Pro-
testant to a Papist. " Yes, I do," was the reply. " Why,"
said the other, " the thing is impossible." " And I," said the
Papist, " believe it, because it is impossible '"
I am now about to enter upon that branch of the idolatry ot
the Church of Rome, which consists in their sacrifice of the
mass, adoration of the host, &c. ; but as this is connected with
the monstrous absurdity of transubstantiation, I must be allowed
to bestow some attention upon this doctrine, which is one of the
main pillars of their idolatrous temple. I merely touched upon
it in my fourth Number; but I shall now present the subject
more fully to the view of the reader.
That very night in which Christ was betrayed, he instituted
an ordinance, which he appointed to be observed by his disciples
to the end of the world. It is of the nature of a feast; and, from
the hour of the day in which it was first observed, it is called
" The Lord's Supper." It is called, by some, a sacrament,
which signifies an oath, or sacred pledge ; by others the eucharist,
or thanksgiving. Without entering upon a discussion with re-
gard to the propriety of these terms, I think I shall proceed upon
the most sure ground, when I use the language of the Apostle
Paul, who gave it no other name than the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor.
xi. 20. The materials of the feast are simply bread and wine ;
but these are used to represent spiritual blessings : hence the
same Apostle says, 1 Cor. x. 16. " The cup of blessing which
we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the
bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ ?" From this it is evident, that the symbols which were
used by the Apostles, in order to represent the spiritual blessings
which are derived from the breaking of the body, and the shed-
ding of the blood, of Christ, were plain bread and wine, and
nothing else. Ry eating the bread, and drinking the wine, his
people, in their social capacity, according to his appointment,
show forth his death ; and in the exercise of faith over the sym-
bols of his broken body and shed blood, they really enjoy the
benefit of his death, in the assurance of pardon, and the enjoy-
ment of peace of mind and heart, imparted by the Holy Spirit,
as the fruit of Christ's atoning sacrifice.
Bui this doctrine was too simple and too spiritual for the Church
of Rome, when she began to give heed to seducing spirits, and
when she became herself the great seductress of the world
called Christian. Having lost sight of the design of comme-
morating the death of Christ by the elements of bread and wine,
35
nothing less would satisfy her than the turning of the elements
into the very body and blood of Christ himself; nor did she stop
here : by degrees she rose to the climax of absurdity, and main-
tained that the whole substance of the bread, after the priest had
pronounced the words of consecration, was converted, not only
into the body and blood, but also into the soul and divinity, of
Jesus Christ; and the same with regard to the wine. This is
the doctrine of the Council of Trent, of the Douay Catechism,
and of all the Popish Catechisms in Latin, French, and English,
which have come in my way ; and these are not few. As the
authors of these Catechisms rest the doctrine upon the supreme
authority of the Council of Trent, I shall state here what the
said holy council have authentically decreed upon the subject :
"' Since Christ, our Redeemer, has said that that was truly his
own body which he offered under the appearance of bread, it has
therefore been always believed in the Church of God, and it is
now again declared by this holy council — that, by the consecra-
tion of the bread and wine, there is effected a conversion of the
whole substance of the bread, into the substance of the body of
Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine, into
the substance of his blood : which conversion is fitly and properly
termed, by the holy Catholic Church, transubstantiation." Con-
di. Trid. Less. xiii. cap. iv.
" If any one shall deny that, in the most holy sacrament of
the Eucharist, there are contained, truly, really, and substan-
tially, the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ ; or say
that he is in it only as a sign, or figure, or by his influence, — he
is accursed.
" If any one shall say that, in the sacrament oi the Eucharist,
the substance of the bread and wine remains together with the
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, (this is the consub-
stantiation of the Lutheran church) and shall deny the wonderful
and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into
his body, and the whole substance of the wine into his blood,
the appearances only of bread and wine remaining, which con-
version the Catholic Church most properly terms transubstan-
tiation,— he is accursed.
" If any one shall deny that, in the adorable sacrament of the
Eucharist, a separation being made, the whole Christ is con-
tained in each element or species, in the separate parts of each
element or species, — he is accursed !" Ibid. cap. viii. Fletcher's
Lectures, pp. 14-2 — 1 14. I think it unnecessary to give the
Latin original, which the author gives in a note, and it may
easily be seen and consulted by any person who understands the
language.
Every genuine Papist firmly believes, at least professes to
believe, the doctrine of transubstantiation, as laid down by the
36
Council of Trent ; and every Popish priest not only professes,
but swears to the belief of it. Yet I believe our Glasgow Pa-
pists are heartily ashamed of it, and blush to avow it. In the
Glasgow Chronicle, more than a year ago, Mr. Pax, alias St.
Ange Simeon, declared as follows : — " Had your correspondent
taxed the Catholics with one principle which they profess, J
would gladly have acknowledged it." I have taxed them again
and again, with professing and maintaining this monstrous ab-
surdity ; but there is no acknowledgment forthcoming from Mr.
Pax. There is no more truth in his promises than in his as-
sertions ; and I hope to show, by and by, that it would be absurd
to expect to find truth in any man who really believes in transub-
stantiation.
The doctrine of the holy Council of Trent, which every Po-
pish priest is sworn to believe, and which every man must be-
lieve, or be held as accursed (anathema), is simply this : — that
what are seen to be bread and wine upon the altar, after the
priest has pronounced these words, Hoc est corpus meum, &c.
(This is my body, &c.) are no longer bread and wine, but the
real body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ. The
priest is understood to possess the miraculous power, by the use
of the above words, to convert a piece of bread, in the form of
a wafer, into the real body of Jesus Christ, which was born of
Mary, which was crucified, was buried, rose again on the third
day, and ascended into heaven ; and to convert this piece of
bread, not only into the body and blood, but also into the soul
and divinity, of Jesus Christ. This wonderful conversion is pro-
duced by the use of these words, Hoc est corpus meum ; and
this, as Archbishop Tillotson has shown, led certain jugglers to
call their sleight-of-hand tricks hocus-pocus, which is nothing
but a corruption of the priest's hoc est corpus, by means of
which he commands the whole substance of bread to be gone,
and the real body of Christ to assume its place.
Among Protestants, and I may say among persons of common
sense, it is not generally reckoned necessary to oppose the ab-
surdity of transubstantiation by serious argument. The bare
statement of it is enough to refute it, to the satisfaction of every
person whose senses have any authority with his understanding ;
but Papists are multiplying among us: they are as tenacious as
ever of their favourite dogma, that what they see to be bread is
not bread, but the God whom they worship ; it therefore becomes
necessary to treat the subject with some degree of seriousness,
lest they should boast that we have no serious objection to the
whcaten idol which they make and adore as the Saviour of the
world.
The divines of the holy Council of Trent, who were under-
stood to represent the whole Catholic Church, as the Church
of Rome is falsely styled, build their transubstantiation upon
37
these words of Christ, which are literally rendered in English,
" This is my body." Every person, acquainted with the style
of the inspired penmen, knows that the substantive verb is used
in numerous instances, in which it cannot mean the identity oi
one thing with another, but only resemblance or representation.
The fact is, as I have shown by reference to Dr. Clarke, a
living Oriental critic, whose words I gave in my fourth Number,
— " in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Chaldeo-Syriac languages,
there is no term which expresses to mean, signify, denote" —
" hence the Hebrews use a figure, and say it is, for it signifies ;
— thus the seven kine are (i. e. represent) seven years." The
attentive reader of the Bible will recollect numerous instances of
the same nature, the meaning of which it is impossible to mis-
take, without violating every rule of criticism, and giving up all
pretensions to common sense.
It is admitted that, in the Greek language, in which the New
Testament was written, there are words which express what we
mean in English by signify, denote, represent, &c. But it is
well known to have been a common thing with the Apostles to
write Greek according to the Hebrew idiom, or the Chaldaic,
which was their vernacular, or conversation language. Thus
the Apostle John, Rev. i. 20. uses the substantive verb as the
Hebrews did, — " The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches : and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches."
Who would imagine from this that the very substance of seven
stars, and seven candlesticks, was converted into the very sub-
stance of the seven churches in Asia, and of their seven mi-
nisters, as I suppose the word angel to mean ? Yet it must be
so, upon the principle laid down by the Council of Trent, and
maintained by all good Papists, upon the perversion of the words,
" This is my body."
" That our Lord neither spoke in Greek nor Latin, on this
occasion, needs no proof. It was, most probably, in what was
formerly called the Chaldaic, now the Syriac, (hat our Lord
conversed with his disciples. Through the providence of God,
we have complete versions of the Gospels in this language ; and
in them, it is likely, we have the precise words spoken by our
Lord on this occasion. In Matth. xxvi. 26, 27- the words in
the Syriac version are, honau pagree, this is my body ; henau
Demee, this is my blood; of which forms of speech the Greek
is a verbal translation ; nor would any man, even in the present
day, speaking in the same language, use, among the people to
whom it was vernacular, other terms than the above to express,
This represents my body, and this represents my blood," Dr.
Clarice on the Eucharist, p. 53.
" But this form of speech is common, even in our own lan-
guage, though we have terms enow to fill up the ellipsis. Suppose
a man entering into a museum, enriched with the remains of ancient
38
Greek sculpture ; his eyes are attracted by a number of curi-
ous busts; and, on enquiring what they are, he learns, this is So-
crates, that Plato, &c. Is he deceived by this information ?
Not at all : he knows well that the busts he sees are not the
identical persons of these ancient philosophers, poets, orators,
historians, and emperors, but only representations of their per-
sons in sculpture, between which and the originals there is as
essential a difference as between a human body, instinct with all
the principles of rational vitality, and a block of marble. When,
therefore, Christ took up a piece ot bread, brake it, and said,
This is my body, who but the most stupid of mortals could im-
agine that he was, at the same time, handling and breaking his
own body ? Would not any person, of plain common sense,
see as great a difference between the man Christ Jesus and
apiece of bread, as between the block of marble and the philo-
sopher it represented, in the case referred to above ? The truth
is, there is scarcely a more common form of speech, in any lan-
guage, than, this is, for, this represents, or signifies. And as
our Lord refers, in the whole of this transaction, to the ordi-
nance of the Passover, we may consider him as saying, ' This
bread is now my body, in that sense in which the Pascal lamb
was my body hitherto; and this cup is my blood of the New
Testament, in the same sense as the blood of bulls and goats has
been my blood under the Old ; Exod. xxiv. Heb. ix. i. e
the pascal lamb, and the sprinkling of blood, represented my
sacrifice to the present time ; this bread and this wine shall re-
present my body and blood through all future ages : therefore, do
this in remembrance of me.' " ibid. p. 53, 54.
There are certain persons of extreme liberality, who are dis-
posed to think the best of every system that is opposed to divine
revelation, and to stigmatize as narrow-minded persons, those
who will concede nothing which they conceive to rest upon di-
vine authority. Such liberates will affect to consider transub-
stantiation as a mere obsolete dogma of the dark ages ; very ab-
surd, to be sure, but a thing that no liberal-minded man would
lay to the charge of " enlightened Catholics" of the present day.
It is, indeed, nearly three hundred years since the Council of
Trent ordained the canon, which I have given in this Number :
I do not know how long it is since the Douay Doctors compos-
ed their catechism, of which I gave the section on transubstan-
tiation in my fourth Number : and I admit the possibility of
persons, in an enlightened age, renouncing, in effect, the non-
sense of a dark age, while they swear to the very words by which
such nonsense is expressed. • But our modern Papists have no
right to avail themselves of this admission ; for every priest among
them not only swears to maintain every doctrine of the Council
of Trent, but, in the most recent summaries of religion published
by authority in the Church of Rome> the doctrine of transubstan-
39
tiation is maintained in all the grossness of the darkest ages
To prove this, I shall transcribe the eighth lesson of the " Cate-
chism for the use of all the Churches in the French empire,"
published in 1806, by the authority of Napoleon Buona-
parte, with the bull of the Pope, and the mandamus of the
Archbishop of Paris.
" Q. What is the sacrament of the Eucharist ? A. The
Eucharist is a sacrament which contains really and substayitially
the body, blood, soul, and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ,
under the forms or appearance of bread and wine. Q. What is
at first put on the altar, and in the chalice ? Is it not bread and
wine? A. Yes: and it continues to be bread and wine till the
priest pronounces the ivords of consecration. Q. What influ-
ence have these words? A. The bread is changed into the
body, and the wine into the blood, of our Lord. Q. Does no-
thing of the bread and wine remain ? A. Nothing of them re-
mains except the forms. Q. What do you call the forms of the
bread and wine? A. That which appears to our senses; as,
colour, figure, and taste. Q. Is there nothing under the form
of bread, except the body of our Lord ? A. Besides his body,
there is his blood, his soul, and divinity ; because all these are
inseparable. Q. And under the form of wine? A. Jesus
Christ is there as entire as under the form of bread. Q. When
the forms of the bread and wine are divided, is Jesus Christ di-
vided? A. No: Jesus Christ remains entire under each part
of the form divided. Q. Say, in a word, what Jesus Christ
gives us under each form ? A. All that he is ; that is, perfect
God, and perfect man. Q. Does Jesus Christ leave heaven to
come into the Eucharist ? A. No : he always continues at the
right hand of God, his Father, till he shall come at the end of
the world, with great glory, to judge the living and the dead.
Q. How then can he be present at the altar? A. By the al-
mighty power of God. Q. Then it is not man that works this
miracle? A. No: it is Jesus Christ, whose word is employed
in the sacrament. Q. Then it is Jesus Christ who consecrates?
A. It is Jesus Christ who consecrates; the priest is only his
minister. Q. Must we worship the body and blood of Jesus
Christ in the Eucharist ? A. Yes, undoubtedly; for this body,
and this blood, are inseparably united to his divinity."
Such is the doctrine of the Church of Rome in the nineteenth
century, concerning the conversion of the bread and wine, in the
Lord's Supper, into the real body, and blood, soul and divi-
nity, of Jesus Christ ; and the reader will see that it is not a
whit modified, or divested of any of the absurdities which at-
tached to it in the dark ages. To this very day, whenever the
" Eucharist" is celebrated in the Church of Rome, the priest
having, by the words of consecration, turned the piece of bread
into his God, adores it ; and holds it up to be adored by the
40
people. He does the same with the cup, which, in the language
of the mass hook, is called " this excellent chalice ;" and, in the
said mass book, we have the following " Divine office for the use
of the laity:" — " The person who is to communicate, is ordered
to go up to the rails, kneel down, and say the confiteor (con-
fession), with true sorrow and compunction for his sins. After
the priest has prayed that God may have mercy upon him, and
pardon all his sins, he takes the sacred host (i. e. the conse-
crated wafer) into his hand, and again turns about, and savs,
Behold the Lamb of God ! Behold him who taketh away the
sin of the world ! Than he and the communicant repeat thrice,
' Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof;
speak, therefore, but the word, and my soul shall be healed ;'
the communicant striking his breast, in token of his unworthi-
ness. Then, says the directory, " having the towel raised above
your breast, jour eyes modestly closed, your head likewise raised
up, and your mouth conveniently opened, receive the holy sa-
crament on your tongue, resting on yoar under lip ; then close
your mouth, and say in your heart, Amen : I believe it to be
the body of Christ, and I pray it may preserve my soul to eter-
nal life." Ordinary of the Mass, page xxxiii. from Clarke on
the Eucharist, pages 57, 58.
As there are some things so plain and self-evident, that it is
difficult to prove them by argument ; so there are some things
so extremely absurd and ridiculous that it is difficult to expose
them, or make serious argument to bear upon them. Transub-
stantiation is an absurdity of this sort. It is more absurd than
to assert that the full moon is an Ayrshire cheese ; and I sup-
pose it would be difficult to undeceive a man who should make
this assertion, by means of serious argument. There are some
plausible reasons which he could give for his belief; for instance,
he might assert, and appeal to the senses of every man for the
truth of it, that the full moon is precisely the size, and shape,
and colour, of a good rich Ayrshire cheese ; and that, when she
is in the meridian, she is right in the direction of Ayrshire from
Glasgow. Now, I defy all the Papists in the world to give so
many good reasons for believing that a piece of bread, in the
form of a wafer, or small biscuit, is not bread, but a real human
body. I intend, however, to argue the matter seriously, in my
lext Number, unless I find it impossible.
THE
-protectant,
No. LVl.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1th, 1819.
I he doctrine of the Church of Rome, on the subject of the
Lord's Supper, is, that after the priest has pronounced the words
of consecration, " This is my body," the bread R'hich stood
before him upon the altar, or which he held in his hand, is no
longer bread, but the real body and blood, soul and divinity, of
Jesus Christ ; and that a similar change takes place with regard
to the wine in the cup, after the priest has pronounced the words,
" This ia my blood, &c." This, says the Council of Trent, has
always been believed in the Church of God; and "this conver-
sion is fitly and properly termed, by the holy Catholic Church,
transubstantiation."
I showed in my last Number, that there is no foundation for
this doctrine in the words of Christ ; and that the use of the
substantive verb in the words, " This is my body," according to
the idiom of the language in which they were spoken, could
express no more than this signifies, or represents my body ; yet
it is upon the use of the substantive verb, that the Church of
Rome has built the monstrous fabric of transubstantiation, adora-
tion of the host, and the propitiatory sacrifice of the mass.
Let us now attend to the words of Christ, and consider in
what sense they were understood by his disciples. " And as they
were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave
to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. And he
took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink
ye all of it : for this is my blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for many for the remission of sins." Mat. xxvi. 26 — 28.
if the reader will take the trouble to compare this extract with the
"assage as it stands in his Bible, he will find, that I have omitted
Vou II. F
42
t Tie pronoun it which is introduced several times by the translators,
distinguished, however, as their supplements usually are, by
being printed in italics. They no doubt understood that the word
blessed referred to the bread which our Lord took in his hand ;
and if this were the meaning, their supplement would be correct ;
but I apprehend this is a mistake ; and a mistake which has led
many Protestants to suppose that some mysterious change takes
place ; or that some holiness is imparted to the bread and wine in
the Lord's supper, which they had not before the blessing was
pronounced. The ordinance undoubtedly is holy. Christ sanc-
tifies it by his presence wherever it is observed according to his
appointment ; and the believing communicant really partakes, in
a spiritual manner, of the benefits of his death. But in order to
this it is not necessary that the elements of bread and wine should
be in any respect different from what they were before.
In the original Greek there is no word corresponding to the
pronoun it, which our translators have supplied. The original
in the 26th verse is iuXoyr,sas, which more properly signifies
" blessed God." " He took bread, and blessed God;" that is
he gave thanks, which is the literal meaning of the word
iv^aPi(!Tr,ffac in the 27th verse which is used in reference to the
cup. I think there can be no doubt that the meaning of our
Lord in reference to both elements was the same. It was the
practice of pious Jews to have a short prayer both before the meat
and the drink which they used at their tables, a practice which is
observed by religious families where wine is used after dinner, at
this day. In conformity with a laudable and religious custom ;
and also as an example to his people, not only in the observance
of this ordinance, but in the use of their ordinary meals, which
are to be sanctified by the word of God and prayer, Christ blessed
God, or gave thanks to God, on taking the bread, and also on
taking the cup.
That Christ blessed God, and not the bread, is farther evident
from the word which both Luke and Paul make use of to express
what he did on that occasion. It is s-j'/a^err^ac, the very same
word which Matthew uses in relation to the cup, and which sig-
nifies save thanks ; and so our translators have rendered it, Luke
xxii. 19. " And he took bread, and gave thanks ;" and 1 Cor.
xi. 23, 24. he " took bread, and when he had given thanks, he
brake it, and said," &c. Here the pronoun it is properly sup-
plied, because the action of breaking refers to the bread alone.
I conclude, therefore, that the words blessing and giving thanks
are expressions of precisely the same import, and that God is
the object of both.
Christ took bread, into his hands, no doubt, and brake it, and
said, This is my body. The disciples were witnesses of the action,
>vs
and they heard his words. Now let us suppose how we would
have understood him, had we been in the place of the disciples
They were men of the same feelings and perceptions with our-
selves ; and as we would have felt and thought, they must have
thought and felt. Unless we admit this, we set aside the credi-
bility of the Apostles' testimony altogether. If we say they were
men of other feelings and perceptions than we are, then we can-
not judge of their testimony according to those rules of evidence
which are applied to the " witness of men? They saw their
Lord reclining at table, and taking bread in his hands ; they
saw him break the bread, they received the broken pieces into
their own hands, and they ate them. They heard him say, This
is my body; but they expressed no surprise, which they would
have done, had they seen him break his body in pieces, with his
own hands, and give the fragments to them to be eaten. We
know that such an unexpected operation would overwhelm us with
astonishment and dismay ; and it would have done the same to
the disciples had it actually taken place. Tbey would have
been, if possible, still more surprised, if after having eaten his
body, they still saw him reclining where he was, taking a cup into
his hands, and telling them that this was his blood which they
were now to drink. Viewing the matter as it really was, that the
bread and the wine represented his body and his blood, which
were about to be broken and shed, every thing is plain and in-
telligible ; but viewing it in any other light, the thing is absurd
and impossible. Had the disciples ate the body of Christ, that
which appeared and spoke to them afterwards, must have been
a mere phantom. It must have been a phantom that was cruci-
fied, and not a real crucifixion. Then there was no real sacrifice
offered to God upon the cross ; no real atonement for sin ; then
a propitiatory sacrifice is still necessary; and the Church of Rome
professes to have one to offer every day, that is the mass, which
they call a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead.
Thus we see that transubstantiation is not a mere harmless
absurdity to be laughed at. It strikes at the root of the Christian
religion. It subverts the doctrine of the cross of Christ ; and
removes the only foundation on which a sinner can hope for the
pardon of his sins, and the salvation of his soul. Some senators
are reported lately to have said, that it hurt the feelings of certain
Protestants to be obliged, in order to admission into certain offices,
to make the declaration which the law requires against transub-
stantiation. I am persuaded that these tender-hearted Protestants,
and the senators who pleaded for them, do not know what tran-
suiistantiation is, else they would use much stronger language
in condemning it than the law requires ; and certainly persons
ought to know what it is which they declare against, as well ss
what they declare for.
44
If it were true that the elements in the Lord's Supper were
changed into something which they were not before, we would
expect to find the inspired writers speaking of them after :'it'
change by the name of the thing into which they were changed
or transubstantiated. For instance, in 1 Cor. xi. 26 — 28, we
should read, " For as often as ye eat this body, and drink this
blood, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore
whosoever shall eat this body, and drink this blood, unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a
man examine himself, and so let him eat of that body and drink
of that blood." Such would be a true Popish reading ; but to
show that the Apostle had no idea of transubstantiation, he calls
the elements plain bread and wine to the end of the sentence. —
By a figure of speech, indeed, he uses the word cup for the wine
which was in it ; but upon the Popish principle of interpretation,
there was no wine at all, and no need of any; the cup itself liter-
ally must be taken for the blood of Christ.
The bread is understood to have become the real body of Christ
before it is broken, else it would not be the breaking of his body.
The change takes place on pronouncing the words, Hoc est cor-
pus meum, which is done before breaking. But the Apostle
speaks of it as still bread after the blessing, that is, after what
are called the words of consecration ; nay, he calls it bread after
it has been broken. " The cup of blessing which we bless, (that
is, for which we bless God, or give thanks) is it not the com-
munion of the blood of Christ? the bread (not the body) which
we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For
we being many are one bread and one body : for we are all par-
takers of that one bread.'" 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. The last expres-
sion might indeed be rendered one loaf, which shows the unity
of the church or body of Christ ; and upon the Popish mode of
interpretation, the many members of the church in Corinth were
transubstantiated into one loaf, and at the same time, really and
literally, into one human body, or into one individual person,
for if it be a living body, we must suppose it to have a soul
And the Church of Rome is not satisfied with representing the
bread as changed into the body of Christ, but also into his soul
and divinity, for these are inseparable ; then, I say, upon this
principle, when Paul used these words, " We being many arc
one body," not only the church in Corinth, but he himself, and
all the Christians in the world, were instantly converted into
a single individual. This is very absurd; but it is not so absurd
as the Popish doctrine of transubstantiation. It is easier to sup-
pose a number of creatures converted into one, than to suppose
a piece of bread converted into the living God.
The advocates of transubstantiation affect to have scripturJ
45
authority for tlie doctrine in the words of Christ, John vi. 50, 51.
" This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a
man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which
came down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread he shall
live for ever ; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world." To the same purpose,
verses 53 — 55, " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day ; for my flesh is meat indeed, and
my blood is drink indeed." This is very plain and easy to be
understood by those whose faith rests upon the word of God.
Christ was addressing a crowd of people who were anxious about
a meal of meat. They had seen him, in a miraculous manner,
feed many thousands by a few loaves and fishes. Some of them
had eaten of the food thus provided ; and they followed him
to the other side of the lake, as appears, with no higher motive
than to get another meal, without working or paying for it.
Jesus knew, and reproved their sordid and selfish disposition*
" Ye seek me," says he, " not because ye saw the miracles; but
because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." He tells
them that thev ought to bo more concerned to obtain heavenly
blessings, than even their necessary food. " Labour not for
the meat which perisheth : but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which tlie Son of man will give unto you."
verses 26, 27. This heavenly food was the doctrine concerning
himself, as devoted, and about to offer himself to God, a sa-
crifice for the sins of the world ; and it was to be enjoyed by
believing in him, or coming to him, for these are expressions
of precisely the same import. *; Jesus said unto them, (ver. 35.)
1 am the bread of life : he that cometh unto me shall never
hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Here
the words coming and believing, are what are called convertible
terms ; the one mav be used for the other, in the two clauses of
the sentence, and the meaning will be precisely the same. Now,
coming and believing, or, say believing itself, in relation to
hunger and thirst, must be something else than literally eating
and drinking, especially as it relates to the flesh and blood of a
living person. In short, the doctrine of Christ crucified is pro-
posed for the acceptance and belief of sinners of the human race;
and he that believes it shall be saved. " This," says Jesus,
(ver. 4-0.) " is the will of him that sent me, that every one who
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life."
Believing in Christ is as necessary to the life of the soul, as eat-
ing and drinking are to that of the body. As the eagerness of
the people to obtain food, led him to direct their minds to that
46
which is spiritual and eternal ; and as they reminded him of what
Moses had done in giving manna to their fathers in the wilder-
ness, he takes occasion to tell them that it was not Moses, but
his Father who gave the manna to their fathers ; that his Father
now gave the true bread from heaven, that of which the manna,
was only a type or shadow, and that by believing in him theii
souls should live, as by eating the manna the people lived in the
wilderness.
Rut the Church of Rome will have it, that Christ here speaks
of literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which is the
very mistake of the carnal Jews. They " strove among them-
selves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat ?"
This was a very natural question, supposing him to speak of
literally eating his body. It was a kind of food to which the
Jews had not been accustomed, and for the eating of which
ihere was no warrant in their law. They " said this is a hard
saying, who can hear it ?" and from that day many who were
called disciples, as having professed to be for a time his followers,
went back, and walked no more with him. Now the Church of
Rome really holds and teaches at this day, the very doctrine for
which the carnal Jews were condemned. Papists maintain that,
literally, Christ gives his body to be eaten, and his blood to be
drunk. The Jews, mistaking his meaning, understood him to
teach this doctrine, and therefore they rejected both it and him,
because the thing was absurd and impious ; and the Papists, mis-
taking his meaning, have adopted the construction of the carnal
Jews, and they maintain it most pertinaciously, though it be ab-
surd and impious.
Those who partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily, are
said, 1 Cor. xi. 29, to " eat and drink judgment to themselves,
not discerning the Lord's body," from which some Popish writers
triumphantly exclaim, " How can they discern the Lord's body it
it be not there?" To this it may be enough to reply, that it is
there under the symbolical representation of the elements of bread
and wine, which he appointed to represent his body in that holy
ordinance. The believing Israelite discerned the Lord's body in
the Pascal Lamb, which prefigured the sacrifice of Christ ; but I
suppose no Jew ever imagined that the Lamb was the real Mes-
siah ; so every one who eats the Lord's Supper in faith, discerns
the Lord's body in the symbols which represent and commemo-
rate his death ; but it was reserved for the Church of Rome to
excel ir. impiety and absurdity all that had been foolishly main-
tained by the Jews in times of the greatest apostacy and ido-
latry, by teaching that the symbols which represent the Saviour
are really the Saviour himself.
It is reported of a plain common ^ense nun, that when some-
4-7
body denied that there wa3 such a tiling as motion, he thought
it a sufficient reply to rise up and walk : So to any person who
maintains that a piece of bread is the real body of Christ, it
might be a sufficient answer to hold it up before his eyes. Our
sight is the most perfect of all our senses. We cannot properly
be said to believe, but rather to know a thing to be what we see
it to be. But the thing in question is not subject to the evi-
dence of one sense only. The touch, the taste, and the smell,
as well as the sight, unite in bearing testimony to the identity
of the thing consecrated with what it was before consecration.
What were bread and wine, we see, and feel, and taste, and
smell, to be bread and wine still ; and though an angel were to
come from heaven and tell us that these are not bread and
wine, but the real natural body of Jesus Christ which was born
of Mary, we would not be bound to believe him. The Al-
mighty deals with us as with rational creatures. He never called
us to believe any thing that is unreasonable, or impossible, or
contrary to the evidence of our senses ; and when he condescend-
ed to work a miracle by the instrumentality of any of his servant,
the senses of men were appealed to, and were actually the judges
of the reality of the miracle. No Prophet or Apostle ever had
the effrontery to tell the people that he had wrought a miracle,
when the people saw nothing done; but this downright insulting
impudence is practised by Romish priests every day.
If the doctrine of transubstantiation were true, we could not
be sure of the truth of anv thing else. It is, says Dean Swift,
a " doctrine, the belief oi which makes every thing else unbe-
lievable." " Supposing," says Archbishop Tillotson, " Sup-
posing this doctrine had been delivered in Scripture, in the very
same words that it is decreed in th« Council of Trent, by what
clearer evidence could any man prove to me that such words
were in the Bible, than I can prove to him that bread and
wine after consecration, are bread and wine still? He could but
appeal to my eyes to prove such words to be in the Bible ; and
with the same reason and justice might I appeal to several of
his senses, to prove to him that the bread and wine after conse-
cration are bread and wine still." Discourse on Transubstan-
tiation, Sermons, folio, p. 278.
If a man were to tell me that he really believes this doctrine,
I should hesitate before I would believe any thing that he should
say ; in short I would not take the bare word of such a man,
or even his oath, in order to verify any fact whatever. His
mind must have become familiar with deceit and falsehood.
Every time he attends mass, or receives the sacrament, he hears
the priest tell a lie, when he declares the bread and wine to be
the real body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ, and
when as such he holds them up to be adored. Now the com-
48
municant either knows this to be a lie, or he discredits the tes-
timony of his own senses. Take it either way, it will make his
testimony unworthy of credit, and his word ought not to be
believed without some corroborating evidence.
Take it thus: — When the priest has pronounced the words
Hoc est corpus meum, and when he affirms that what was bread
'he moment before, is not bread now, but the real body and
blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, — the receiver of the
sacrament knows it to be a lie. I say, if this be the case, such
a person is not worthy to be believed in any matter whatever ;
because he who gives his countenance to a lie in one case, will
do it in another : and by the daily habit of witnessing, and pro-
fessing his belief in a lie, he becomes callous to all right feeling
with regard to truth and falsehood. This I take to be one
reason why it is impossible to find Papists adhering to truth
when engaged in controversy about their religion.
Or take it thus: — He believes what the priest tells him, —
that the bread upon the altar is, on pronouncing the words of
consecration, instantly converted into the real natural body of
Christ, &c. and of course he disbelieves his own senses. Then
I say this man ought not to be believed in any thing else. His
eye-sight deceives him in one case, and why not in another ?
He sees a thing to be plain bread, but he believes it to be the
person of the living Saviour. I would not take this man's word
for the identity of any person or thing in the world. He him-
self cannot be sure of any thing. Suppose him brought to give
evidence in a court of justice, he can give no credible evidence.
Suppose he appears as a witness against, or in favour of a cri-
minal, he cannot be sure that the person at the bar is the same
man whom he had seen ccgnmit a certain action, or that he is
the same man who had lived many years, and behaved well in
his neighbourhood. It is much more likely that by a mistake in
his vision, he should take one man for another, than that he
should take a piece of bread for a man. But he does the latter
every day, therefore, he may do the former at any time. If he
is so much deceived by all the senses of seeing, feeling, smelling,
and tasting, how can he depend upon the single sense of hearing?
I would not believe such a man's report of any words which he
had heard. Words are mere sounds, which being conveyed by
the medium of the air fall upon the ear, and produce the effect
ivhich we call hearing. We cannot be so sure of what reaches
the mind through this sense, as of that which we see with our
eyes. A man, therefore, who is every day deceived in the sense
of seeing, is more likely to be deceived in that of hearing; and
I would not take tli.it niHn's word, or even his oath, for any
thing that be professed to have heard or seen.
THE
Protectant,
No. LVII.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 14th, 1819.
Holy Councils can tell lies with as little scruple as any Pope
of Rome, or any vender of old clothes in the Saltmarket. The
worthy associate of Messrs. Simeon and M'Hardy * will under-
stand the allusion, and he will be pleased to see that I have not
overlooked him altogether. But the falsehood to which I at
present refer, is a broad and barefaced one asserted by the holv
* These gentlemen have, I see, been aiding Mr. Andrews again. In
the 33d Number of The Catholic Vindicator, they give what they call,
" Farther Remarks by the Deputation on the 50th Number of The Pro-
testant," in which there is so much shuffling and misrepresentation,
that I am strongly tempted to address a second Letter to Mr. M'Hardy;
and indeed I would do so forthwith, were 1 not afraid it would not br-
reckoned Christian-like to imitate the heathen king of whom it is sung,
that " thrice he slew the slain." As for Mr. Simeon, lie is by his own
confession, hors de combat. He has done every thing in his power to
uphold the credit of his infallible church, and of her spotless children ;
and seeing he can do no more, he tells the world by an advertisement in
the Glasgow Chronicle of July 27th, that he leaves " all to the retribu-
tive dispensations of Providence." While The Vindicator is pleading
his cause, he disavows The Vindicator; and speaks of the foul attempts
made to injure his character and his interest, which I suppose he means
to apply to me ; but as if his pen had known better, it has so arranged
the words as to speak the truth against his will, and make his accusations
apply to The Vindicator alone; for it would not appear from the ad-
vertisement that there is such a work as The Protestant. Aware that
his character and interest would be affected by being supposed to have a
hand in such a work as The Vindicator, he declares that he is not the
author of any thing that ever appeared in its columns, or of any adver-
tisement relating to it. Mr. M'Hardy. therefore, must bear the whole
burden of the work of " the Deputation ;" unless indeed he make H
appear that Mr. M'Corry can write, and then he may divide the honoui
with him.
Vol. II. G
50
Council of Trent. Speaking of transubstantiation, they say, it
has always been believed in the Church of God. Now the fact
is, it was never believed in the Church of God ; and I shall
proceed to prove that it was not always believed in the Church
of Rome.
j The Bible contains the whole belief of the Church of God,
;and as we find nothing of transubstantiation there, we mi^ht
satisfy ourselves with giving the assertion of the holy fathers
of the Council a broad denial. Some of the greatest writers
and divines, even of the Romish church, admit that the doctrine
cannot be proved from the Bible. Scotus himself, the great
oracle and schoolman, is represented by Bellarmine and others,
as having said, that the doctrine of transubstantiation cannot
evidently be proved from Scripture ; and Bellarmine himself
grants that this is not improbable. Suarez and Valasquez ac-
knowledge Durandus to have said as much; and Ocham, another
famous schoolman, says expressly, that " the doctrine which holds
the substance of the bread and wine to remain after consecration,
is neither repugnant to reason nor Scripture." Petrus ab Alliaco,
Cardinal or Cambray, says plainly, " that the doctrine of the
substance of bread and wine remaining after consecration, is
more easy and free from absurdity, more rational, and noways
repugnant to the authority of Scripture." Nay, he says expressly,
that for the other doctrine, that is, transubstantiation, " there is
no evidence in Scripture." Gabriel Biel, another great school-
man and divine of their church, freely declares, " that as to any
thing expressed in the canon of Scripture, a man may believe
that the substance of bread and wine doth remain atter consecra-
tion :" And therefore he resolves the belief of transubstantiation
into some other revelation, besides Scripture, which he supposes
the church had about it. Cardinal Cajetan confesses " that the
gospel doth nowhere express that the bread is changed into the
body of Christ ; that we have this from the authority of the
church :" Nay, he goes farther, " that there is nothing in the
gospel which enforceth any man to understand these words of
Christ, ' This is my body,' in a proper and not in a metaphorical
sense ; but the church having understood them in a proper
sense, they are to be so explained." Fisher, Bishop of Ro-
chester, who is ranked by the Church of Rome among her
martyrs, candidly admits, that there is not one word in Scripture
" from whence the true presence of the flesh and blood of Christ
in our mass can be proved." Most of these divines were firm
believers in the doctrine ; but they had honesty enough to con-
fess that they did not derive it from the Bible, but only from
some other revelation which they supposed the church to have
had about it. Some of them, indeed, seem to rest it upon the
51
mere authority of the church ; but whether she had it by a reve-
lation in her private ear, or invented it, they do not inquire*
The above extracts are quoted from a Discourse on Transubstan-
tiation, by Archbishop Tillotson, who refers in the margin to the
books and chapters from which they are taken.
Here then we have the admission of many great divines of the
Romish church, that transubstantiation is not a doctrine of the
Bible. It is not therefore a doctrine believed by the Church of
God at any time ; and I shall now proceed to prove that it was
not always believed even by the Church of Rome. I shall take
the same Discourse of Tillotson for my guide. I shall some-
times use his words, and sometimes my own ; but to prevent
confusion, I shall give only the words which he quotes from
ancient writers with marks of quotation. I request the reader
to observe, that the present discussion is merely about an historical
fact, of which these writers were competent witnesses. I do not
appeal to their authcrity, or to that of Tillotson, in support of
any Christian doctrine. I admit no authority in religion, but
that of the word of God ; but I admit the authority of certain
ancient writers as to the matter of fact, whether such a doctrine
was held by them, or generally believed in their time. The
Fathers have a way of speaking about the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper, which is far enough from Scripture simplicity, and which
of course I cannot approve ; but all that I have to do with them
at present is, to prove by their own words that they had no idea
of the bread and wine being converted into the real body and
blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ ; or that they were con-
verted into any thing which they were not betore, unless it were
into the substance of the bodies of the persons who ate and
drank them.
I begin with Justin Martyr, who expressly says that " our
blood and flesh are nourished by the conversion of that food
which we receive in the Eucharist." Apol. 2. p. 98. edit. Paris,
1636. I believe it formed no part of our Lord's design, in in-
stituting this ordinance, to make provision for the support of
our bodies. The bread and wine were not intended to be used
in such quantities as to make a meal ; yet so far as they were
used, they are represented by the above author as having the
same effect as our ordinary food. It was, therefore, far from his
thoughts to represent them as the real body and blood of his
Saviour ; and no man, I suppose, will say that these are converted
into the nourishment of our bodies.
The second is Irenasus, who, speaking of this sacrament, says,
(Lib. 4. c. 34.) " The bread which is from the earth, receiving
the divine invocation, is now no longer common bread, but the
Eucharist, consisting of two things, the one earthly, the other
52
heavenly." He says it is no longer common dread, because it is
set apart for a heavenly use ; but the expression implies that it ic
still bread, and nothing else. He says farther, (Lib. 5. c. 21.)
" When, therefore, the cup that is mixed, (that is, of wine and
water) and the bread that is broken, receives the word of God,
it becomes the Eucharist of the body and blood of Christ, of
which the substance of our flesh is increased and consists." It
is therefore plain bread and wine ; and so far as it goes, has the
same effect upon our bodies as the same substances have when
eaten or drank on other occasions.
Tertullian, Advers. Marchionem, (Lib. 4. p. 571. edit. Paris,
1634.) writes as follows : — " The bread which our Saviour took,
and distributed to his disciples, he made his own body, saying,
This is my body, that is, the figure or image of my body."
This is the very thing for which we contend, which clearly proves
that the Christian writers of the early ages of the church had no
idea uf transubstantiation. Arguing against the sceptics, who
denied the certainty of sense, he used this argument : That if
we question our senses we may doubt whether our blessed Sa-
viour was not deceived in what he heard, and saw, and touched.
" He might," says he, " be deceived in the voice from heaven,
in the smell of the ointment with which he was anointed against
his burial, and in the taste of the wine which he consecrated in
remembrance of his blood." Here Tertullian plainly intimates
that our senses are to be regarded, even in the matter of a sacra-
ment ; and therefore he knew nothing of transubstantiation.
Origen, in his commentary on Matthew xvth, speaking of the
sacrament, says : — " That food which is sanctified by the word
of God and prayer, as to that of it which is material, goeth
into the belly, and is cast out into the draught ;" and he adds, by
way of explication, — " It is not the matter of the bread, but the
words which are spoken over it, which profiteth him that wor-
thily eateth the Lord ; and this (he says) he had spoken con-
cerning the typical and symbolical body." I grant that such ex-
pressions as eating the Lord are fanciful and incorrect. It is
evident that Origen meant no more than eating figuratively ; but
his successors perverted such figurative language, and spake of
literally eating the Lord, which prepared the way for transub-
stantiation. Notwithstanding the figurative language of this Fa-
ther, his words are so plainly against a':v thing but a figure of
our Lord being in the Eucharist, that Cardinal Perron rejects
his testimony, because he was accused of heresy by some of the
Fathers, and he says he talks like a heretic in this place.
That the wine in the cup merely represented the blood of
Christ, was evidently the doctrine of St. Cyprian, and of Chris-
tians in his time. He wrote an epistle against those who gave
53
the communion in water only, without wine mingled with it ; and
his main argument against them is this, that " the blood of
Christ with which we are redeemed and quickened, cannot seem
to be in the cup when there is no wine in the cup by which the
blood of Christ is represented." Epist. 65.
I suppose there are few of the Fathers in more esteem in the
Church of Rome than St. Austin, who lived in the fourth cen-
tury of the Christian era; and he was undoubtedly a man of
singular endowments ; but on many important subjects, he spoke
more like a Protestant than a Papist. Popery, indeed, scarcely
appeared in the world in a visible form till some ages after his
time ; and though many errors and corruptions had then crept
into the churches, it would be easy to show that St. Austin's
doctrine was more like that of Luther, than like that of the
Council of Trent. With regard to the point in hand, his senti-
ments were evidently those of the Reformation. " Our Lord,"
says he, " did not doubt to say, This is my body, when he gave
the sign of his body:' Tom. 6. p. 187J Edit. Basil, 1596.
" He commended and delivered to the disciples the figure of
his body." Tom. 8. p. 16. ; language which would now be
condemned by the Church of Rome for heresy. Austin was
never accused of heresy, as Cardinal Perron says Origen was ;
but he talks as like one as Origen himself. Speaking of the
offence which some disciples took at the saying of our Saviour,
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,"
&c. he brings in our Saviour (Tom. 9. p. 1105.) as speaking
thus to them ; " Ye must understand spiritually what I have
said unto you ; ye are not to eat this body which ye see, and to
drink that blood which shall be shed by those who shall crucify
me. I have commanded a certain sacrament to you, which, being
•spiritually understood, will give you life." I do not pledge myself
for the accuracy of the saint's exposition of our Lord's words as
relating to a sacrament ; but his language certainly is not that of
a man who believed in transubstantiation, Tillotson has a folio
page of extracts from the same Father, all to the same purpose ;
trom which it appears that he had more Protestant-like views of
the Lord's Supper than even Luther had, and approached nearer
to the sentiments afterwards maintained by Calvin and Knox,
and which are held by most Protestant churches at this day.
It is true that in the fifth century there were some heretics
who taught something like transubstantiation ; but then the high
authorities of the church, and even the Pope of that day, was
against them. Thus Pope Gelasius writes against the Euty-
chians, (Biblioth. Pat. Tom. 4.) " Surely the sacraments which
we receive of the body and blood of our Lord are a divine thing,
so that by them we are made partakers of a divine nature, and
vet it ceaseth not to be the substance or nature of bread and
54
mine ; and certainly the image or resemblance of Christ's boify
unci blood are celebrated in the action of the mysteries." Here
is tho infallible authority of a Pope against transubstantiation.
Facundus, an African Bishop of the sixth century writes,
{page 144. edit. Par. 1676.) " And the sacrament of adop-
tion may be called adoption, as the sacrament of his body and
blood which is in the consecrated bread and cup, is by us called
his body and blood : not that the bread is properly his body,
and the cup his blood, but because they contain in them tlie
mysteries of his body and blood ; hence our Lord himself called
the blessed bread and cup which he gave to the disciples his
body and blood." Can any man believe after this, that it was
then, and had ever been, the universal and received doctrine of
the Christian church, that the bread and wine in the sacrament
are substantially changed into the proper and natural body and
blood of Christ ?
These extracts, I hope, will be considered enough to show
that transubstantiation was not always the doctrine of the Church
of Rome. Scotus himself acknowledges that it was not always
thought necessary to be believed ; but that the necessity of be-
lieving it was consequent to that declaration of the church made
in the Council of Lateran, under Pope Innocent III. (In sent.
I. 4. Dist. 11. Q. 3.) that is, in plain English, the grave divine,
Duns Scotus, did not believe the doctrine to rest on any higher
authority than that of the said Lateran council, which was held,
1 believe, in the thirteenth century. And Durandus, another
great authority in the Romish church, freely discovers his incli-
nation " to have believed the contrary (of transubstantiation) if
the church had not by that determination obliged men to be-
lieve it." {In sent. I. 4. Dist. 11. Q. 1. n. 15.) Tonstal,
Bishop of Durham, also confesses, that " before the Lateran
Council men were at liberty as to the manner of Christ's presence
in the sacrament." (De Euchar. I. 1. p. 146.) Erasmus, who
lived and died in the communion of the Church of Rome, than
whom no man was better read in the ancient Fathers, confesses
that it was " late before the church defined transubstantiation,"
which was " unknown to the ancients both name and thing."
In 1 Cor. c. 7.
Attend now to the particular time and occasion of the coming
in of this doctrine ; and by what steps and degrees it grew up,
and was advanced into an article of faith in the Church of Rome.
The doctrine of the corporeal presence of Christ was first started
upon occasion of the dispute about the worship of images, in
opposition to which the Synod of Constantinople about the year
750, argued thus: " That our Lord having left us no other
imago of himself but the sacrament, in which the substance of
bread is the image of his body, we ought to make no other
55
image of our Lord." In answer to this argument, the second
council of Nice, in the year 787, did declare, that the sacra-
ment, after consecration, is not the image and antitype of Christ s
body and blood, but is properly his body and blood. So that
the corporeal presence of the body of Christ in the sacrament,
was first brought in to support the stupid worship of images :
and indeed it could never have come in Upon a more proper
occasion, or have been applied to a fitter purpose. Tillotson,
p. 276.
The above refers to the introduction of the doctrine of the real
presence into the Greek church ; and in the Latin or Roman
church, it was first broached by the monk, Paschasius, afterwards
abbot of Corbey, in the year 818. In reference to whom, Bellar-
mine writes, (De Seriptor Eccles.) " This author was the first
who hath seriously and copiously written concerning the truth of
Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist." Thus, by the confes-
sion of the great and learned Cardinal, it was about 800 years af-
ter Christ, before any author wrote seriously and copiously about
the real presence. This must have been because, before that
period, no author seriously believed it, or ever thought of ft \
for long before that period there were many voluminous authors
upon every subject connected with religion.
But the doctrine was not generally received for a long period
after it was broached. Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mentz,
about the year 8<t7> reciting the very words of Paschasius,
wherein he delivered the doctrine of the real presence, says con-
cerning the novelty of it; — " Some, of late, not having a right
opinion concerning the sacrament of the body and blood of our
Lord, have said, that this is the body and blood of our Lord,
which was born of the Virgin Mary, and in which our Lord
suffered upon the cross, and rose from the dead ; which error
we have opposed with all our might." (Epist. ad Heribaldum,
c. 33.)
In the year 1059, great opposition was made to the doctrine
in France and Germany, by Berengarius ; who was compelled to
recant his opposition, and profess his faith, in these words : —
" That the bread and wine which are set upon the altar, after the
consecration, are not only the sacrament, but the true body and
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; and are sensibly, not only in
the sacrament, but in truth, handled and broken by the hands of
the priest, and ground or bruised by the teeth of the faithful."
But it seems the Pope and his council were not then skilful
enough to express themselves rightly in this matter; for the gloss
upon the canon law says expressly, " That unless we understand
these words of Berengarius, (that is, the words which the Pope
and his council compelled him to speak,) in a sound sense, we
shall fall into a greater heresy than that of Berengarius; for we
5b
do not make parts of ihe body of Christ." The meaning of
which gloss, says my author, I cannot imagine, unless it be this,
that the body of Christ, though it be in truth broken, yet it is
not broken into parts, but into tvholes. Now, this new way of
breaking a body, not into parts, but into wholes (which in good
earnest is the doctrine of the Church of Rome), though to them
that are able to believe transubstantation, it may, for any thing
I know, appear to be sound sense, yet to us who cannot believe
so, it appears to be solid nonsense.
About twenty years after, in the year 1079, Pope Gregory VII.
began to be sensible of this absurdity ; and therefore in another
council at Rome, made Berengarius to recant in another form,
viz. That the bread and wine which are placed upon the altar, are
substantially changed into the true, and proper, and quickening,
flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, after consecration,
are the true body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin, and
which being offered for the salvation of the world, did hang upon
the cross, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
So that, from the first starting of this doctrine in the second
council of Nice, in the year 787, till the council under Pope
Gregory VII. in 1079, it was almost three hundred years that
this doctrine was contested, and before the mis-shapen monster of
transubstantiation could be licked into that form in which it is
now settled and established in the Church of Rome. Here,
then, is a plain account of the first rise of this doctrine, and of
the several steps whereby it was advanced by the Church of
Rome into an article of htith.
I recommend the whole discourse of the worthy Primate to all
who have access to it. It contains the best exposure of the doctrine
of transubstantiation, and the most condensed history of it, that
has come in my way. He and his colleagues, Chillingworth and
Stillingfleet, were such great literary and controversial giants, as to
make all the mighty men of Rome appear as mere children when
they came into contact with them. If the Church of England
in the present day, possessed many such worthies, I should have
fewer fears of her falling away towards Rome : But where shall
we find champions equal to this Jirst three?
I hope it will appear from the preceding, that I have proved
the point with which I set out in the present Number, that the
holy Council of Trent were guilty of a barefaced falsehood, in
asserting that transubstantiation was always believed in the church.
It is, in fact, a mere mushroom novelty of the dark ages, which
would never have taken root, or grown to maturity, but in a rank
and filthy soil, on which the light of truth was not permitted to
shine.
THE
Protectant,
No. LVIII.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21s/, 1819.
When Christ spoke of his flesh being " meat indeed, and hig
blood drink indeed," he evidently meant the doctrine concerning
his death as an atoning sacrifice for sin. Some of his followers,
affecting to understand him to speak of literally eating his flesh,
were offended by it ; and he, knowing that they had taken of-
fence, and the cause of their doing so, condescended to explain
his meaning. " It is the Spirit," said he, " that quickeneth, the
flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit and they are life." John vi. 63. Thus he told the
people plainly, that he was not speaking of his flesh literally ; it
was not this which they were to pat ; it could not profit them as
food ; but it was his words, that is, his doctrine, which by the
divine Spirit was made instrumental in giving life to the soul of
every one that believed it. But the Church of Rome will have
it, that Christ meant what he declared he did not mean. They
deny the spiritual meaning of his words ; and they profess really
and literally to eat his flesh, and drink his blood, into which,
they say, the bread and wine upon the altar are converted, when
the priest pronounces the words of consecration.
This conversion, they say, is so entire, that nothing whatever
of the substance of bread and wine remains after pronouncing
the mysterious words. The form and appearance, they admit,
remain as before, but the whole substance is converted into the
body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ. Therefore,
whatever may have been mixed up with the bread and the wine
b'tore consecration, however deleterious in itself, can do no
harm to him that receives it. The following anecdote, which
many of my readers may have seen in the publk: journals, will
illustrate what I mean.
Vol. II. 11
58
" A Protestant lady entered the matrimonial state with a Ro-
man Catholic gentleman, on condition he would never use any
attempts, in his intercourse with her, to induce her to embrace
his religion. Accordingly, after their marriage, he abstained
from conversing with her on those religious topics which he knew
would be disagreeable to her. He employed the Romish priest,
however, who often visited the family, to use his influence to
instil his popish notions into her mind. But she remained un-
moved, particularly on the doctrine of transubstantiation. At
length the husband fell ill, and, during his affliction, was re-
commended by the priest to receive the Holy Sacrament. The
wife was requested to prepare bread and wine for the solemnity,
by the next day. She did so ; and on presenting them to the
priest, said, " These, Sir, you wish me to understand, will be
changed into the real body and blood of Christ, after you have
consecrated them." " Most certainly," he replied. " Then,
Sir," she rejoined, it will not be possible, after the consecration,
for them to do any harm to the worthy partakers; for, says our
Lord, " my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed ;"
and " he that eateth me shall live by me." " Assuredly," an-
swered the priest, " they cannot do harm to the worthy receivers.
but must communicate great good." The ceremony was pro-
ceeded in, and the bread and wine were consecrated ; the priest
was about to take and eat the bread ; but the lady begged par-
don for interrupting him, adding, " I mixed a little arsenic with
the bread, Sir, but as it is now changed into the real body of
Christ, it cannot of course do you any harm." The principles
of the priest, however, were not sufficiently firm to enable him
to eat it. Confused, ashamed, and irritated, he left the house,
and never more ventured to enforce on the lady the absurd
doctrine of transubstantiation."
Whether this anecdote be literally true, in all its circumstances,
or not, is of little importance to the argument. It may be rea-
lized by any person, at any time ; and it may be used very fairly
to put any Papist to the test as to his belief in transubstantiation.
I have no wish to get rid of any of my opponents, else I would
advise them to make the experiment. If the priest's words
Hoc est corpus tneum, should have the power of expelling the
arsenic, as well as the flour and water, from the consecrated wafer,
I will acknowledge a miracle ; and perhaps some worthy Papist
may have the courage to run the risk of being poisoned, for the
sake of converting such a heretic. But I would not trust a
Papist with the making of the wafer; I would have it made by
such a Protestant as the Lady above mentioned.
The entire substance of the wine being converted into the sub-
stance of the blood of Christ, it follows, of course, that nothing
of an intoxicating quality remains; but as the priest takes the
59
whole to himself, and drinks it off, every time he gives the sacra-
ment, though it were fifty times in a day, there is some risk of
the wine letting out the secret of its own substance, by its effects
upon the brain of the priest ; and this would no doubt often be
the case, were it not well diluted with water.
When the priest, by the mysterious words, has produced what
the Council of Trent calls the wonderful conversion of the whole
substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ, the
first thingtobedone is, to fall down and worship. To worship what ?
Any man who trusts his senses, I had almost said, any man in his sen-
ses, would answer, The wafer, or bit of bread, which the priest holds
up for the purpose of being adored ; and this leads unavoidably
to the conclusion, that such worshippers are guilty of direct and
gross idolatry. But Papists consider themselves greatly injured,
misrepresented, and insulted, when they are accused of this ; and
they are incessantly accusing Protestants of bigotry and illiber-
ality, because we will not renounce the evidence of our senses
as they do theirs, and because we will not grant them, that what
we see to be a wafer is the God that made us.
They maintain that God alone is the object that they worship ;
but they do not deny that he appears to their eyes in the form
of a wafer. This is the image by which they represent their
God ; but they spurn at the idea of his being what he appears to
be. I shall give here, in their own words, the doctrine which
they disavow, together with that which they do avow. I quote
from the work entitled, " The Papist misrepresented and repre-
sented," by G other, which is a work of high authority, and in
great esteem among English Papists, having been republished
by the late Dr. Challoner, Bishop of Debra, and Vicar Aposto-
lic in the London district.
" Of the Eucharist. — The Papist misrepresented, believes it
lawful to commit idolatry, and makes it his daily practice to wor-
ship and adore a breaden God, giving divine honour to those poor,
empty elements of bread and wine. Of these he asks pardon for his
sins ; of these he desires grace and salvation ; these he acknow-
ledges to have been his Redeemer and Saviour, and hopes foi
no good but what is to come to him by means of these household
gods. And then for his apology, he alleges such gross contra-
dictions, so contrary to all sense and reason, that whosoever will
be a Papist, must be no man : fondly believing, that what he
adores is no bread or wine, but Christ really present under these
appearances ; and thus makes as many Christs, as many Re-
deemers, as there are churches, altars, or priests. When, ac-
cording to God's infallible word, there is but one Christ, and he
not on earth, but at the right hand of his Father in heaven.
" The Papist truly represented, believes it abominable to com-
mit any kind of idolatry; and most damnable to worship or adore
60
a breaden god, or to give divine honour to the elements of bread
and wine. He worships only one God, who made heaven and
earth, and his only Son Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who being
in all things equal to his Father in truth and omnipotency, he
believes made his words good, pronounced at his last supper ;
really giving his body and blood to his Apostles ; the substance
of bread and wine being by his powerful words changed into his
own body and blood, the species or appearances of bread and
wine remaining as before. The same he believes of the most
holy sacrament of the Eucharist, consecrated now by priests ; that
it really contains the body of Christ, which was delivered for us ;
and his blood, which was shed for the remission of our sins : which
being there united with the divinity, he confesses whole Christ to be
present. And him he adores and acknowledges his Redeemer, and
not any bread and wine. And for the believing of this mystery, he
does not at all think it meet for any Christian to appeal from Christ's
words to his own senses or reason, for the examining the truth of
what he has said, but rather to submit his senses and reason to
Christ's words, in the obsequiousness of faith : and that, being the
son of Abraham, it is more becoming him to believe as Abraham
did, promptly, with a faith superior to all sense or reason, and
whether these could never lead him," &c. — the author then goes
on to argue the matter at great length ; endeavouring to show
that it is with this faith that we believe every mystery of religion,
as the Trinity, incarnation, &c. ; but the above is the substance
of his faith M truly represented" in opposition to " the Papist
misrepresented."
Now, let any one carefully examine both the misrepresentation
and the representation, and he will find them substantially the
same. The misrepresenter gives the truth according to the evi-
dence of his own senses. He sees a Papist paying divine honour
to what he sees and knows to be nothing but a piece of bread.
He calls this idolatry ; and he does so truly, according to the
evidence of his own senses, and the authority of the Bible, which
declares idolatry to be the giving of divine worship to any thing
that is not God. He knows that the bread is a mere creature,
the workmanship of human hands ; and therefore he does, and
cannot but consider the adoration paid to it 3s the grossest idol-
atry. The representer, after disclaiming idolatry as abominable
and damnable, proceeds to tell us, that Papists do the very
thing of which we accuse them ; but then it is not idolatry,
because the bread and wine are not bread and wine, but the real
body and blood of Christ, united to his divinity ; and him they
worship under the appearances of bread and wine. Now, every
one who does not believe that thp bread and wine are really con-
verted into the body and blood of Christ, does, and cannot,
without renouncing his own senses and reason, do otherwise than
61
consider the Papists as worshipping the " empty elements." as
Gother calls them. In short, let them say what they will, we
must take them for downright idolaters, unless we make them a
surrender of our senses and reason, which I would he loath to
do, at least till they have learned to make a better use of their
own.
The argument from the faith of Abraham is nothing to the
purpose. It is not said that he believed any thing contrary to
his reason or his senses. He did indeed believe the word of
God in relation to a thing which was out of the ordinary course
of nature, as all miracles were. But the effect of divine power
was made palpable to his senses at the time it was promised to
be ; whereas, " the Papist truly represented," believes a thing that
never was, and never can be palpable, but is directly contrary to
his senses.
Besides, it is not true that transubstantiation rests upon the
same evidence as the real mysteries of our religion ; such as the
doctrine of the Trinity, the incarnation, &c. These are plainly
revealed in the word of God, which transubstantiation is not ; and
there can be nothing more reasonable than to believe what God
has said, though we cannot understand how it should be. In
point of fact, however, God has said nothing that is contrary to
our reason, or to the evidence of our senses. The Bible contains
all that he has to say to human creatures till the day of judgment ;
and I defy the world to prove that it contains any thing contrary
to sense and reason. It does, indeed, make known things which
human reason cannot reach, and things which cannot be subjected
to the scrutiny of human senses : but on this very account it is
impossible to show that such things are contrary to reason and
sense. We must have the perfect understanding of a thing before
we can pronounce it contrary to sense and reason ; but we have
not such understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity ; we can-
not say it is unreasonable ; and we have nothing to do but to
believe what God has revealed on the subject. But transubstan-
tiation does come within the sphere of our senses. They are as
capable of judging of it as of any thing which we see, or hear,
or touch, or taste, or smell ; and since by the evidence of four
of these five senses, we know bread to be bread, and wine to ba
wine, it is impossible for us to believe that they are any thing else
Papists, having made a god of a little flour and water, and
having adored the work of their hands, the next step in the pro-
cess of absurdity and impiety is to eat the idol. This, it must
be allowed, has no parallel among the most savage heathen tribes.
" How many gods are there?" said a Popish missionary to a
young heathen convert. " None," replied the youth. "None!
you fool, what do you mean ?" " I mean," said the raw Papist,
" that there is no God, for you told me that there was only one, and
I ate him yesterday." It is painful to be obliged to speak with an
62
air of levity on such a subject : but the believers and advocates
of the monstrous absurdity of transubstantiation must answer for
it. I believe it is as lawful to ridicule the breaden god of the
Papists, as it was for the prophet Elijah to mock the god of
Jezebel and the idolatrous Israelites.
Dr. Middleton, who has traced many of the Popish rites up
to their heathen original, frankly confesses that he can find
nothing in heathenism equal to the Popish adoration of the host
and their subsequent eating of it. " As to that celebrated act of
Popish idolatry," says he, " the adoration of the host, I must
confess that I cannot find the least resemblance of it in any part ot
the pagan worship: and as oft as I have been standing at Mass, and
seen the whole congregation prostrate on the ground, in the hum-
blest posture of adoring, at the elevation of this consecrated piece of
bread ; I could not help reflecting on a passage of Tully, where,
speaking of the absurdity of the heathens in the choice of their
gods, he says " Was any man ever so mad, as to take that
which he feeds upon for a god?" (Cic. de nat. Deor. 3. J This
was an extravagance left for Popery alone ; and what an old Ro-
man could not but think too gross, even for Egyptian idolatry to
swallow, is now become the principal part of worship, and the
distinguished article of faith, in the creed of modern Rome."
page 179.
The above sentence from Cicero, (Ecquem tarn amentem
esse putas, qui Mud, quo vescatur, Deum credat esse ?J is
taken as a motto by a spirited writer of soma letters in the
Morning Post, under the signature of Philopatris. With the
following extracts from which I shall conclude the present Number.
" Sir, The great and enlightened moralist, who made the
observation which I have prefixed to this, and two former letters,
could never have become a Christian on the terms of Popery. If
he had lived in Papal Rome, instead of Pagan Rome, he must
have suffered at the stake (as Lord Cobham, Latimer, Cranmer,
Ridley, and other pious and good men did in Papal Britain)
lor denying the doctrine of transubstantiation. What a revolu-
tion in the history of human intellect is such a declension from
Pagan light to Christian darkness in the same capital ! But in-
deed I ought not to call it Christian darkness; because the doc-
trine of transubstantiation is no part of Christianity.
u It is, nevertheless, one of the most distinguishing tenets of
the Romish church. In Queen Mary's days, it was a test of
heresy. In a Protestant church, it is a test of Popery. It is
the spear of Ithuriel that unmasks all disguises. A declaration
against the doctrine of'transubstantiation, is a much surer decla-
ration against Popery, than a simple renunciation of the term
Papist ; or than any verbal acknowledgment of the king's supre-
macy.
" The declaration against transubstantiation pronounces the
63
doctrine to be idolatrous ; and so our statute and ecclesiastical
law declare it. It is the language of a Protestant country. But
some liberal and charitable minds object to this language, because
they say, it hurts the moral feelings of the Roman Catholics.
But must we sacrifice our principles to feeling, our faith to
charity, our Protestant character to liberality ? Do we find in
the writings of Gandolphy, or Dr. Milner, or Dr. Drumgold, or
of the Irish Bishops, or of the present Pope, any such tenderness
for Protestants — especially the Protestants of the church of
England?"— Morning Post of June 1th, 1819.
" Sir, 1 cannot yet part with my motto, it says so much and
so well, in so small a compass. Besides, the judgment of an
ancient Roman upon the idolatry of modern Hume, in taking
that for God, which is not God, is such a coincidence — such an
instance of almost prophetic anticipation — as may have a provi-
dential influence on the minds of Roman Catholics, which are at
all open to the dictates of right reason.
" In a political point of view, the most decisive objections to
Lord Grey's bill, for the repeal of the declaration against tran-
substantiation and Popery, appear to be these. In theirs* place,
the subject has been, in effect, already decided in both houses of
Pailiament, in the present session. For, when Parliament decid-
ed against the eligibility of Roman Catholics to a seat in the
Legislature, it, in effect, decided against the repeal of securities
which alone keep them out of Parliament.
" In the next place, the Act of Union with Scotland has
guaranteed the perpetuity of the Protestant religion, as by law
established, that is, as established by those securities which
Lord Grey's bill proposes to abrogate. Those securities can-
not, I conceive, be repealed without the consent of the church of
Scotland. And the church of Scotland having no representa-
tives in either house of Parliament, and therefore taking no share
in the discussion of the subject, is a distinct party, and deeply in-
terested, whose consent ought to be obtained, before the securi-
ties for the maintenance of the Protestant religion ought to be
abrogated. The church of Scotland has already petitioned (in
1813) against innovating upon the laws which uphold our
Protestant constitution."
The reader will see that Philopatris is going more into the
political question of " Catholic emancipation" than I choose to
go; but these extracts contain some information on the subject
which may be useful. " As to the religious view of the
subject," says this writer, " it is alleged that the oaths and de-
claration related to mere speculative doctrines, and dogmatical
opinions. The merely speculative character of the doctrines
protested against in the declaration, does not lessen their impor-
tance, as a test of Popery. They are essential articles of the
64
Papal creed, and ars its most distinguishing tenets; and, as such,
the fittest that could have been chosen to distinguish Papists
from Protestants.
" But it is objected, that some Protestants do not believe the
doctrines to be idolatrous, which are the subject of the declara-
tion (i. e. transubstantiation and the invocation of saints.) To
this it may be answered, that, so far as they do not consider the
said doctrines to be idolatrous, they dissent from the principles
of the Reformation, and are, so far, not Protestants. If they do
not sec the idolatry of the doctrines, it must be for want of in-
quiry. What says the light of nature ? Do you think that any
oneis so insane as to believe that which he eats is a God?
What says the honest conviction of our own reason ? That an
Infinite Being cannot be circumscribed, whole and entire, within
the compass of a wafer. What says the word of God? It says
nothing that, in the smallest degree, warrants the doctrine, that
a priest has the miraculous power of converting bread into an
immaterial being ; or that any thing which he can make with the
breath of his mouth, can be a proper object of divine worship.
Transubstantiation, therefore, is, as the declaration pronounces it
to be, an idolatrous doctrine. And so it is declared to be by all
the great lights of the Reformation, from Wickliffe to
Jewell, especially by those holy men who died for their protest
against it." Morning Post, June 9th, 1819.
The same writer gives, in the Morning Post of June 10th, the
following curious document : it is part of an address by the
Parliament to King James I. " From these causes, as bitter
roots, we humbly offer to your Majesty, that we foresee and fear
there will necessarily follow very dangerous effects both to church
and state. For (1) The Popish religion is incompatible with
ours in respect to their positions. (2) It draweth with it an un-
avoidable dependency on foreign princes. (3) It openeth too
wide a gap for popularity to any who shall draw too great a party.
(1) It has a restless spirit, and will strive by these gradations ;
if it once get but a connivance, it will press for a toleration ; if
that should be obtained, they must have an equality ; from
thence they will aspire to superiority ; and will never rest till
they get a subversion of true religion."
From the above, the reader will perceive, that the Parliament
of King James knew the true character of Popery much better
than some of our present senators do ; and it is pretty evident,
that Papists, having now for a long time enjoyed the most liberal
toleration, are aiming at an equality, and a place in the Legis-
lature, only as a stepping-stone to that superiority which they all
nave in their eye, and which, when thev have obtained, they will
employ for the extirpation of all heretics.
THE
Protectant,
No. LIX.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28th, 1819.
It often happens that I receive interesting letters from cor-
respondents, on subjects which I have just handled, and which
would have furnished useful hints, had I received them before
entering upon the discussion, or even in the course of it ; but
when 1 have finished what I intended to write on a particular
topic, it is not always convenient to return to it, even when
new and useful matter has been suggested.
The concluding paragraph of my 56th Number, in which
I observed that I would not take the word of a believer in
transubstantiation for the identity of any person or thing in the
world, has led a gentleman who subscribes himself " Armiger
Olim," but who has also given me his real name, to address
me a letter, of which I shall extract only that part which relate."
to transubstantiation, as I have not yet done with that subject.
" Before I finish this short note," says he, " I shall detail the
preached sentiments of a very respectable dignitary of the Ro-
mish church in this kingdom, whom I heard preach upon the
subject, within these six months. From the service of the day
read at the altar, he was led to address the congregation on
the subject of transubstantiation. After treating the immortal
Luther, at least, with no great respect, he strongly put the
question to the separatists as to the blessing of the priest not
turning the bread and wine into the very body and blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, thus : — 'Are they sure their senses do not
deceive them in this respect?'" meaning, 1 suppose, that it may
be a defect in the senses of Protestants, which disables them
from seeing the real body, &c. in the elements ; at least the
Vol. II. I
66
question is put as if it were possible that our senses may be so
deceived. " Upon stating this to a friend," says my correspon-
dent, " he observed, ' Then I may shoot a man, and maintain
that my senses impressed me with an idea that a grouse was before
me. It would be a curious circumstance, if such a case were
to come before the Lord Justice-Clerk of Scotland, or any other
;udge ; and if the pannel were to plead such an excuse for his
conduct. We may easily imagine how any virtuous and upright
judge would be affected by such a plea; what abhorrence n
would excite in the whole court ; and in what a light transub-
stantiation would appear, when it was found to open a door for
tr-e commission of the greatest crimes. If men suffer their
senses so to deceive them, what confidence could they have in
a signature to a bill, the deposition of a witness in any case,
civil or criminal, the purchase of an estate, or the solemn act
of infeftment, or its record, well known in the Scotch law, as
matters of the highest importance to the security of our lives
and property ?' "
A writer, whom I quoted in my last Number, has justly re-
marked, that transubstantiation is one of the most distinguishing
tenets of the Church of Rome. Among Papists, it is a test of
heresy, for none but a heretic would refuse to swallow it ; and
among Protestants, it is a test of Popery, for no true Papist will
renounce or disavow it. They will quibble about many other
points, and even deny some things that really belong to their
church ; but they hold most tenaciously the most absurd and
wicked of them all ; for I can imagine nothing more absurd
and wicked than the doctrine in question, and its necessary
consequences. If, therefore, it be necessary to have a test, in
order to know who are Papists and who are not, there seems to
he nothing so fit for the purpose as transubstantiation. To try
them on this point is to bring them to the test.
Absurd and wicked as the doctrine is, there is nobody in this
country allowed to molest them on account of it. They are al-
lowed to hold and teach it as freely as any man is allowed to
hold and teach the plainest truths of the gospel. But how
stands the matter in Popish countries, with regard to those who
do not believe in transubstantiation ? This is a proof of heresy,
and nothing more is necessary to send a man to the flames.
It was so in England in Queen Mary's time, and there can be
no doubt it will be so again, if ever Papists shall obtain the
power and ascendency which they are aiming at.
Speaking of transubstantiation, Dr. Tillotson remarks: — " It
is scandalous also, on account of the cruel and bloody conse-
quences of this doctrine ; so contrary to the plain laws of Chris-
tianity, and to one great end and design of this sacrament, which
67
is to unite Christians in the most perfect love and charity towards
one another : Whereas this doctrine has been the occasion of
the most barbarous and bloody tragedies that ever were acted
in the world. For this has been, in the Church of Rome, the
great burning article ; and as absurd and unreasonable as it is,
more Christians have been murdered for the denial of it, than
perhaps for all the other articles of their religion. And I think
it may generally pass for a true observation, that all sects are
commonly most hot and furious for those things for which there
is least reason ; for what men want of reason for their opinions,
they usually supply and make up with rage." — " O blessed
Saviour! thou best friend and greatest lover of mankind, who
can imagine that thou didst ever intend that men should kill one
another for not being able to believe contrary to their senses ;
for being unwilling to think that thou shouldst make one of the
most horrid and barbarous things that can be imagined, a main
duty and principal mystery of thy religion ; for not flattering the
pride and presumption of the priest who says he can make God,
and for not complying with the folly and stupidity of the people
who are made to believe that they can eat him ?" Sermons, folio,
page 277.
It is true, we do not hear of any persons having been put to
death of late, under form of law, in Popish countries, for deny-
ing transubstantiation ; but the reason is, that in countries
thoroughly Popish, there are no persons to be found so coura-
geous as to deny it. Let any one be so bold as to make the
trial in Spain, within reach of the Inquisition, and we shall see
what will be the consequence.
One thing is certain, that, of late years, the Protestants in
France have suffered not a little, because they will not acknow-
ledge the real presence of Christ in the consecrated wafer, and
worship it as their Saviour. In all Popish countries it is the
practice to carry the consecrated host in procession through the
streets, in order to be administered to sick or dying persons in
their own houses ; and whoever happens to meet it must fall
down on his knees and worship. If, in some instances, English-
men are exempted, it is because they are Englishmen, not
because they are Protestants ; and even they are expected to
show some mark of reverence, such as touching the hat, in
honour of the idol.
On Corpus Christi day, it is the custom to carry the host
about in solemn procession in great pomp ; and though France
be not so thoroughly Popish as Spain, Portugal, and Italy, yet
all those who reside in the streets, through which the procession
is to pass, are compelled to decorate their houses, in honour of
the idol that is passing by. Now this is nothing less than to
63
compel persons to be guilty of idolatry ; for whatever Papists
themselves may think and believe upon the subject, those who
are not Papists believe that what they are commanded to honour
is not God, but a piece of bread; and to compel them to violate
their consciences, by honouring in the smallest degree such an
idol, is such direct persecution, that were Papists in this country
subjected to the tenth part of the hardship, our own Protestant
population would cry out against it, and they would justly do so,
as a proceeding unknown and unwarranted by any principle of
genuine Christianity,
I am aware, that by the constitutional charter, Protestants in
France are relieved from the obligation of this idolatrous com-
pliance ; but many have been compelled to it notwithstanding ;
and others, on their refusal, have been exposed to vexations and
sufferings innumerable.
It was lately stated, in some of the public papers, that the
British Minister in Paris, had his house finely decorated on the
octave of Corpus Christi day, in honour of the procession, that
is, in honour of the great Popish idol.*' This, if true, must
have been a voluntary thing on his part; and no doubt some of
our very liberal Protestants will consider it no more than a
decent mark of respect for the established religion of the country
in which he happened to reside ; but for my part, I consider it
no less than an act of gross idolatry ; and as the person said to
have been guilty of it, was a public character, and the represen-
tative of the Sovereign of Britain, I consider it no less than an
act of national idolatry ; and I shall continue to do so, until it
be disclaimed by authority, and the guilty individual severely
censured for his conduct.
I know there is a popular feeling in favour of small compli-
ances with the religious practice of others, though not precisely
• The following is the paragraph extracted from the Glasgow Chro-
nicle of June 29th, copied, I presume, from some of the London
papers : — " On Sunday, being the octave of Corpus Christi day, the
processions of the host were repeated in various districts of Pans ; and
Monsieur, Madame, and the Dukes of Angouleme and Berry, again
appeared in the train of the faithful. The English Ambassador's Hotel
was decorated with rich and magnificent tapestry on this occasion, a
circumstance, which, according to the Parisian Journalists, excited
general interest and delight There was a period in our history when
such a mark of respect by any of our representatives at foreign courts,
to one of the most absurd and ridiculous descriptions of idolatry ever
invented, would have called for serious animadversion on the part of
the British Government. It cannot be supposed that he acted under
compulsion ; and his voluntary compliance cannot but prove truly dis-
heartening to the French Protestants, many of whom Ir.ive so recently
remonstrated against their being subjected to this superstitious homage,
.is a violation of the rights of conscience, and an infringement of the
i (institutional charter."
69
what we would habitually practise ourselves. But, in matters of
divine worship, there cannot be a small compliance, if it relate to
any thing that diverts the mind from the only true God as the
sole object of worship. Idolatry, in every form, is pointed out
in the Bible as the object of divine displeasure and abhorrence ;
and it is not enough that a Christian should forbear the external
practice of it : he must also regard it with abhorrence ; he must
not be seen in an idol's temple; he must not taste or touch
what has been offered to an idol ; much less must he show
positive respect to an idol, which has been the sin of Britain,
in the person of their representative : I mean if the fact be true,
and I have never seen it contradicted.
What must the Protestants in France have thought of such a
compliance on the part of the ambassador of a Protestant nation?
Some of them were suffering the loss of all things rather than
show the smallest respect to what they knew to be an idol.
They considered Englishmen as their friends and their brethren,
who, being of the same faith, would sympathise with them in
their sufferings, and encourage them to be stedfast in their ad-
herence to the truths of the Reformation, and in opposition to
all idolatry. But here is the representative of a great, nay of
the greatest Protestant power in the world, symbolizing with
Popery in that very article, for non-compliance with which they
suffered such persecution ! Certainly this was calculated to
depress them, and to encourage their persecutors to exercise
greater severity. It furnished the persecutors with this strong
argument, which they will not fail to make use of: — " It is
nothing but unreasonable obstinacy on the part of you Protes-
tants, that you will not do honour to the consecrated host ; for
seeing the British Ambassador does it, it cannot be contrary to
the tenets of the Protestant religion." Thus, one Protestant
may have given a deeper wound to the cause of true religion in
France, than a thousand Papists could have done. There are
doubtless many in that country, as there are in our own,
who, though called Protestants, are not well grounded in the
Protestant faith. Such will be encouraged to embrace Popery,
when they see that a Protestant ambassador can voluntarily
give his countenance to what they had been taught to consider
idolatrous, and inconsistent with the Protestant religion. Those
who are really Christians, and confirmed in the Protestant faith,
will reason more correctly; but we ought to remember, that
though every Papist is really what he professes to be, there are
thousands of Protestants who are such only in name, and who
are therefore ready to adopt any system that may suit their in-
terest, or their convenience.
The followina extract will show that there are Protestants
70
who make very light of the difference between themselves aiid
Papists, even on the point of transubstantiation, and who, if
they were to become Papists, would not have made a great
transition. It is part of the speech of Earl Grey, in the House
of Lords, on the 10th of June last, on the subject of repealing
the act which requires of those admitted into office, a declaration
against transubstantiation, and the invocation of saints. 1 quote
from the Orthodox Journal for June, and the Editor professes
to have taken it from the British Press newspaper: —
" But, my Lords, on a due examination of these declarations,
are you ready to say, that the doctrines thus reviled, are idola-
trous and superstitious? Do you know what is meant, in the
Church of Rome, by the invocation of saints, or the adoration
of the Virgin Mary? Are noble lords ready to point out those
decisive reasons which led them to look on the sacrifice of the
mass, and the doctrine of transubstantiation, as worthy of the
vile epithets of idolatrous and superstitious? I believe most
firmly, that some of those who have signed this test would not
be competent to assign any reasons for holding the opinion
which the test supposes to exist in the mind of the person
agreeing to it. If there were no other cause, this calls on your
Lordships to examine the nature of these tests. Can the doc-
trine of transubstantiation be, in any sense, idolatrous? What
does the Roman Catholic believe, what does he adore? He
believes the Deity to be transferred to the sacrament — and he
adores, not an image, but what he believes to be the real presence
of that Deity, to whom all adoration is due. — Can this worship
be described as idolatrous? Or is it so widely different from the
principles of our own church, that it must be contemned? Or
is the text of Scripture, on which it is founded, so clear, that
we must censure it as wrong? We may believe it wrong, but we
ought to recollect, that the faith of the Roman Catholic is
derived from the same source from which we have drawn our
own, and its truth or error only one Being, all-wise, and all-
perfect, can decide. This is of the more importance to be con-
sidered, because it is a point most difficult to decide. Let us
look to the nature of the sacraments in which the Roman Catho-
lic believes. He believes, as I have already stated, in transub-
stantiation,— he is convinced that he receives the body of God
in the sacrament. The Lutheran believes the same thing, but
in another form — what he terms consubstantiation. The Calvin-
ist believes this doctrine also; but he, too, has his own modifi-
cation— he believes that he receives the body and blood of Christ
in some mysterious sense, which it is impossible to explain."
(I wish his Lordship had said where he got his views of Calvin-
ism.) " Your Lordships, we of the Protestant church, un-
71
doubtedly condemn the doctrine of transubstantiation ; but we
believe that the body and blood of Christ is indeed perfectly
taken by the faithful in the Lord's Supper. In all the churches
I have mentioned, this doctrine is admitted : Queen Elizabeth
undoubtedly believed in it — that the same doctrine was held by
Archbishop Laud is indisputable — and many members of what
is called the High Church, avowed a similar belief. What 1
wish to call your Lordships' attention to, is this — whether, on a
point of such a nature, too high for the weakness of hu man
nature to decide on, it is not too much for us to arrogate to
ourselves the intentions of the Deity, and state what is the true
or the false principle? In other words, declare that which can be
known to Him, and to Him alone, from whom the gospel is
derived? We may act on our own belief — we may act piously
and even ardently on it, but we ought still to conduct ourselves
with charity to all those who hold different opinions. It is
surely most improper in us to use terms of reproach to the
Roman Catholics, with respect to a point on which a great
diversity of opinions prevails amongst Christians."
I believe there are several sentiments in the above extract
which will surprise my readers as coming from a Protestant
nobleman. He puts the question, " Are you ready to say that
the doctrines thus reviled are idolatrous and superstitious?" Most
certainly, every Protestant would reply, if he had examined and
understood the subject; and agreeably to an opinion expressed
by a writer whom I quoted in my last, I believe that he who
hesitates about the matter, be he what he may, is no Protestant.
If there be any who have signed the test, or declaration against
transubstantiation, and cannot assign a reason for it, it is the
more shame ; and it only shows that there are Protestants who
do not know why they are so; and who are ready to go over to
Rome, whenever it may serve a purpose.
It is not my intention to go over, and expose, all the absurdity
which is contained in the above extract. It exposes itself to
every one who understands the subject; and it is indeed so very
absurd, that I am inclined to think it is not precisely the same
as was spoken by the nobleman whose name it bears; but that
it must have received a tinge of Popery from the medium through
which it has passed ; for, if I am not mistaken, " The British
Press" is one of the London Journals which are in the interest
of Rome, of which there are said to be at least half a dozen.
If the extract do express the genuine sentiments of Earl Grey,
I must consider him as teaching, that there is not, and that there
never was, such a thing as idolatry in the world. " Can the
doctrine of transubstantiation be, in any sense, idolatrous? What
does the Roman Catholic believe, what does he adore? He
72
believes the Deity to be transferred to the sacrament, and lie
sdores, not an image, but what he believes, to be the real presence
of the Deity, to whom all adoration is due." I shall not stay
to expose the absurdity and impiety of the idea of Deity being
" transferred ;" but I wish to mark and reprobate the principle
laid down by the speaker or his reporter, that if a person does not
believe his worship to be idolatry, it is therefore not idolatry,
though it be the adoration of a piece of bread. Upon this
principle, I say, there never was such a thing as idolatry in the
world; for where was the man that ever worshipped an idol,
believing it to be an idol ? It was because the Divinity was sup-
posed to reside in an image, that the ancient heathen worshipped
images ; and it is because Papists believe that the Deity is trans-
ferred to a piece of bread, or to speak more correctly, that a
piece of bread is converted into the Deity, that they worship it.
And he that will say this is not idolatry, will acquit the children
of Israel of idolatry, when they made and worshipped the golden
calf; for they did not worship it as an idol, but because they
supposed the Deity to reside in it. " These," said they, " be
thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt ;" and the feast which they made on the occasion, they
declared to be a feast, not to the calf, but to the Lord. But
after all, it is neither the bread nor the Deity whom the noble
speaker represents as the object of Popish worship. The Papist,
he says, " adores not an image, but what he believes to be the
real presence of the Deity." He worships the real presence ;
but what that is he does not say. If he worship the bread, be-
cause the Deity is present, he may as well worship every crea-
ture in the heavens, and in the earth, and in the waters under
the earth.
I shall only add, that if it be the opinion of his Lordship, that
it is a thing too high for human reason to decide, whether that
which we see to be bread and wine, be really bread and wine,
or whether they be not the God that made us, then he has a
much lower ooinion of human reason than any Calvin ist 1 ever
met with : And if his Lordship had the advantage of being ac-
quainted with persons of this sect, he would find that they had
no difficulty in explaining in what sense Christ is present, and
received, in the sacrament.
THE
^rote^taut,
No. LX.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 1819.
In the days of bloody Queen Mary of England, there was no
greater crime than to disbelieve the doctrine of transubstantiation.
People were not secure although they were silent upon the sub-
ject, and lived at peace with their neighbours, without meddling
with religion. They were often interrogated by authority with
regard to their belief, and if this was found defective, they were
instantly sent to the stake. The Queen hated her sister Eliza-
beth, and wished if possible to get her cut off; but her conduct
was so uniformly correct that nothing of a criminal nature could
be found against her. At last she was put to the test upon the
" burning article", as Tillotson calls it ; but she escaped the snare
that was laid for her life in a very ingenious manner. " The
common net at that time," says Sir Richard Baker, "for catching of
Protestants, was the real presence ; and this net was used to catch
the lady Elizabeth : for being asked one time, what she thought
of the words of Christ, this is my body, whether she thought it
the true body of Christ that was in the sacrament? It is said,
that after some pausing, she thus answered .
Christ was the word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it ;
And what that word did make it,
That I believe and take it.
Which, though it may seem but a slight expression, yet hath it
more solidness than at first sight appears ; at least it served her
turn at that time to escape the net, which by a direct answer she
could not have done." Humes Hist. Eng. vol. 6. chap. 7.
But there were many who had neither their wits nor their
rhymes so ready as the princess, afterwards Queen Elizabeth; and
Vol. II. K
74
who being caught in Mary's net, were doomed to the flames.
More than a hundred years before this period, Wickliffe had
taught the scriptural doctrine relating to the Lord's supper, and
he offered publicly to defend it against every opponent. Great
multitudes in different parts of England embraced his doctrine ;
and down to the period of the Reformation there continued not
a few who disbelieved transubstantiation. The number was no
doubt greatly increased by the time of Mary, so that when she
cast her net in order to catch subjects for the fire, she seldom
drew it back empty.
Before leaving this part of the subject, I shall show the means
which were used in England to uphold the credit of the doctrine
after it began to be shaken. " No intelligent reader of ecclesias-
tical history," says a writer in the Dublin Christian Instructor
for July 1819, " needs to be informed of the frauds and lying
expedients, to which the enemies of the truth and of its defenders
resorted, to support the dominant corruptions and confirm the
people in delusion. It may not be wholly useless, however, to
relate one instance from many. After the condemnation of the
doctrines of Wickliffe by the council mentioned above, (that is, a
council which had been called by Courtney, Archbishop of Can-
terbury,) a sermon was preached at the church of Grey Friars, by
a John Cunningham, a distinguished adversary of Wickliffe. At
this sermon was present a Knight, named Cornelius Cloune, a
great favourer of the doctrines of Wickliffe then condemned.
To Wickliffe s doctrine concerning the sacrament, (says the legend,
especially,) he was a devoted convert. The next day he went to
the same church to hear mass, when, lo ! at the breaking of the
host, upon casting his eye towards the friar who happened to
celebrate the mass, he saw his hands full of flesh, raw and bloody!!
Amazed he called his squire to seethe prodigy; but, lo ! the
squire, who had been a good catholic, and whose faith, therefore,
needed no such miraculous confirmation, saw nothing more than
usual. But wonderful still more, he saw in the middle of the
third piece which was to be put into the chalice, the name Jesus
Christ, written in letters of flesh, raw and bloody ! The friar
preached at Paul's Cross next day, told the story to the assembly,
and the knight offered to attest the truth of it, by fighting any
one who should question it."
The absurdity of transubstantiation might be enough of itself
to expose it to the derision of the whole world ; but its wickedness
consists chiefly in the idolatry of which it is the foundation. The
Church of Rome teaches her children to worship the consecrated
bread, because they say it is converted into the body and blood,
soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. In other words, they believe
the bread to be converted into God ; and as such they worship it
with divine honour; hut if the bread be not God, but a mere
lifeless creature, as every man who trusts to the evidence of his
senses takes it to be, the Papist's believing it to be God, can nei-
ther make it God, nor save him from the charge of gross idolatry.
When speaking of the idolatry of worshipping the Virgin
Mary, I gave some examples of the style of devotion in which she
is addressed ; and I shall now give some examples or specimens
of prayers addressed to the holy sacrament. The following is
from the Manual of Godly Prayers. — Missal. Bom in solemn,
corporis Christi. " O God, which under the admirable sacra-
ment, hast left unto us the memory of thy passion, grant, we be-
seech thee, that we may so worship the sacred mysteries of thy
body and blood, that continually we may feel in us the fruit of
thy redemption." This it will be allowed is not a prayer to the
sacrament, but a prayer to God that he would enable them to
worship the sacrament.
In the office of the " venerable sacrament," printed at Colen,
1591, are the following words, " O God, who wouldst have the
glorious mystery of thy body and blood to remain with us ; grant,
we pray thee, that we may so worship thy corporal presence on
farth, that we may be worthy to enjoy the vision of it in heaven."
I suppose the reporter of Lord Grey's speech, of which I gave an
extract in my last Number, must have been thinking of such a
prayer as the above, when he made his lordship represent Papists
as worshipping the presence of the deity. This prayer lets us
into the secret of what Papists expect from the object of their
worship in answer to their prayers : it is not pardon and salvation
for the sake of Christ, who alone is worthy ; but that they them-
selves may be made "worthy to enjoy the vision of God in hea-
ven : and this worthiness is to be acquired by worshipping his
corporal presence on earth. Though there were nothing else
than cherishing this notion of self-worthiness, or self-righteous-
ness to be objected against Popery, this alone would prove the
system to be opposed to the whole doctrine of Christ.
The same work contains the following : — " O God, who in me-
mory of thy passion didst wonderfully change bread and wine into
thy body and blood ; mercifully grant, that we who believe thy cor-
poral presence in the venerable sacrament, may be brought to the
beholding the appearance of thy highness."
The Roman Missal contains the following, by St. Thomas
Aquinas, in Latin rhyme: I shall give only a few lines of the ori-
ginal, to shew the structure of the verse.
Adoro te devote latens deltas,
Quae sub his figuris vere latitas
Tibi se cor meum totum vubjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit, &C>
76
" I devoutly adore thee, O latent Deity,
Who under these figures truly liest hid.
My heart submits itself wholly to thee,
For when it contemplates thee, it wholly fails me.
Sight, taste, and touch, is deceived in thee,
Hearing alone a man may safely trust.
Whatsoever the Son of God said, I believe.
Nothing is truer than this word of truth.
The Deity only on the cross was hid,
Here the humanity also is concealed :
But both believing, and confessing both,
I ask what the repenting thief desired.
I do not see, as Thomas did, thy wounds,
Yet I acknowledge thee to be my God.
O make me still more to believe in thee,
On dice to place my hope, and thee to love.
O thou memorial of my dying Lord,
Thou living bread, and giving life to men,
Grant that my soul, on thee may ever live,
And thou to it mayst always sweetly taste.
The same angelic doctor writes of the sacrament as follows.
U is a hymn for the feast of Corpus Christi.
Docti Sacris institutes,
Fanem vinum in salutis
Consecramus hostiam
Dogma datur Christianis,
Quod in carnem transit panis.
Et vinum in sanguinem, &c.
" Being taught by holy lessons, we consecrate bread and wine for
a saving host. It is a maxim to Christians, that bread is changed
into flesh, and wine into blood. What thou dost not compre-
hend, or see, a strong faith confirms, besides the order of nature.
Precious things lie hid under different species, which are signs
only, not things. The flesh is meat, and the blood drink, yet
Christ remains whole under each kind. Uncut, unbroken, un-
divided, he is received whole by him that takes him. When a
thousand take him, one takes as much as they; nor is he con-
sumed in taking. The good and the bad both take him, but
DO '
their lot is unequal in life and death. He is death to the bad,
and life to the good; behold an unlike end of a like thing.
When the sacrament is broken, be not staggered, but remember,
there is as much in a particle as the whole covers. Here is no
division of the thing, only a breaking of the sign; whereby nei-
ther the state nor stature of the thing signified is diminished."
To those who would inquire how this can be ? the following
answer is furnished, in another hymn for Corpus Christi day*
" What never yet was understood,
Nor ever seen by any creature,
A confident belief makes good,
Though cross to all the laws of nature*
1 1
" Though sense will not be brought to allow it,
A heart sincere may be secure,
And, waving all its scruples, sure,
Since faith alone's enough to do it;
For faith supplies the senses' want,
And makes good measure where that's scant."
In the Manual of Godly Prayers, there is another hymn by the
same saint, which is in English as follows:
" At his last supper made by night
He with his brethren takes his seajp
And having kept the ancient rite,
Using the laws prescribed meat,
His twelve disciples doth invite,
From his own hands himself to eat.
The word made flesh, to words imparts
Such strength, that bread himself is made,
He wine into his blood converts :
And if our sense here fail and fade,
To satisfy religious hearts
Faith only can the truth persuade.
Then to this sacrament so high,
Low reverence let us now direct;-
Old rites must yield in dignity
To this, with such great graces deckt ;
And faith will all those wants supply, .
Wherein the senses feel defect."
Again:
" O saving host, that open'st heaven's door
Th' arms of our foes do us inclose,
Thy strength we need ; O help with speed,
We humbly thee implore."
Such arc the prayers of Papists to a piece of bread, the work of
the baker.*
* The following is translated from a satirical Poem of George Buchanan.
A Baker and a Painter once contended which of them could produce
the best specimen of his art ; — whether the former would excel with his
oven, or the latter with his colours. The Painter boasted, that he had made
a god ; the Baker replied, it is I who make the true body of God, thou
only canst produce an image or representation of it. The Painter said
thy god is always consumed by men's teeth ; thine, rejoined the Baker,
is corroded by worms. The Painter affirmed, that one of his making
would endure entire for many years, while an innumerable quantity of
the Baker's would be often devoured in an hour. But you, said the Ba-
ker can scarcely paint one god in a year, while I can produce ten thou-
sand in an hour.
Stop, said a Priest, and contend no more with words to no purpose,
neither of your gods can do any thing without me ; and seeing it is I that
make each of them a god, both shall be subservient to me: for the picture
shall beg for me, and the bread be eaten by me.
78
There was published at Paris, with the approbation of three
doctors of the faculty there, in 1669, a little book in French,
called, " Practique pour adorer le tres saint Sacrament de
1' Autel:" Or, a Form for the adoration of the most holy sacra-
ment of the altar; which begins thus : Praised and adored be
the most holy sacrament of the altar; and then adds:
" Whosoever shall say these holy words, (Praised be the most
holy sacrament of the altar), sball gain a hundred days of in-
dulgences ; and he that does reverence, hearing them repeated,
as much. He that, being confessed, and having communicated,
shall say the above-said words, shall gain a plenary indulgence ;
and the first five times that he shall say them, after his having
confessed and communicated, he shall deliver five of his friends'
souls, whom he pleases, out of Purgatory."
Then follows the form for honouring the holy sacrament, con-
sisting of two prayers, as follow : (I give the English only.)
The first of them has this rubric before it, in the hours of
Salisbury. " Our holy Father, Pope John XXII., hath granted
to all them that devoutly say this prayer, after the elevation of
our Lord Jesus Christ, three thousand days of pardon for deadly
sins."
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me. *
Water of Christ's side, wash me.
Passion of Christ, comfort me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from thee.
From the malicious enemy defend me.
In the hour of death call me ;
And command me to come to thee,
That with thy saints I may praise thee
For evermore! Amen.
At the elevation of the Mass.
All hail, true body, born of the blessed Virgin Mary;
Truly suffered, and offered upon the cro>s for mankind :
Whose side, pierced with a spear, yielded water and blood.
Vouchsafe to be received of us in the hour of death.
O good, O Jesu, Son of the blessed Virgin, have mercy on me.
Let it be observed, all this is addressed to the bread upon the
altar, which the Papist is taught to believe is really his Saviour.
After the abow, the French form adds what follows : ■
" These two good prayers were found in the sepulchre of our
Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem ; and whosoever carries them
It seems thej wish the substance of the wii c to remain ;itV i 1 .
79
about with him with devotion, and in honour of our Lord Jesus
Christ, shall be delivered from the devil and from sudden death,
and shall not die an ill death. He shall be preserved from
pestilence, and all infectious diseases. No sorcery, or sorcerer,
shall be able to hurt him or her that has these two good prayers
about them. The fire from heaven shall not fall upon the house
where these prayers are rehearsed with devotion. A woman
with child saying them devoutly, shall he brought to bed, without
any danger of her own, or her child's death. Lightnings and
thunders shall not fall upon the houses where these prayers are
rehearsed with devotion. Such a one shall not die without
confession, and God will give him grace to repent of his sins."
It is easy to see the pernicious tendency of such doctrine, not
only as cherishing idolatry and superstition, but encouraging
men to live in all the wickedness to which their hearts may be
inclined ; seeing they are assured, that by the use of a few
words, now and then, they shall not die without grace to repent
of their sins.
I shall conclude these specimens of Popish devotion with
the Litany of the holy sacrament, from the Manual of Godly
Prayers : —
Living bread that didst descend from liea\ en
God hidden and my Saviour
Bread corn of the elect
Wine budding from virgins
Fat bread, and the delight of kings
Continual sacrifice
Pure oblation
Lamb without spot
Most pure table
Food of angels
Hidden manna
Memorial of God's wonderful works
Supersubstantial bread
Word made flesh and dwelling in us
Holy host
Chalice of benediction
Mystery of faitli
Most high and venerable sacrament
Sacrifice of all other most holy
Truly propitiatory for the quick and dead
Heavenly antidote whereby we are preserved from sin
Miracle above all others astonishing
Most sacred commemoration of our Lord's death
Gift surpassing all fulness
Chief memorial of divine love
Abundance of divine bounty
Holy and most majestical mystery
Medicine of immortality
Dreadfid and life-giving sacrament
Bread by the words omnipotence made flesh
> 3
r >.*
r v<
80
Unbloody sacrifice
Meat and guest
Most sweet banquet, whereat the ministering angels attend
Sacrament of piety
Bond of charity
Offerer and oblation
Spiritual sweetness tasted in its proper fountain j £
Reflection of holy souls I -
Viaticum of those who die in the Lord J c
Fledge of future glory J
It must be allowed that there is a great deal of apparent
fervour here. Papists seem really in earnest in devotion to the'ir
idol, which they call the holy sacrament; but it is the earnestness
and fervour of a nurse, who labours to silence a petulant and
peevish child, by giving it many fine names without much
meaning.
I am indebted for most of these extracts, and some of the
remarks, to a work intitled, " The Popish Doctrine concerning
the Sacraments refuted," in volume second of the " Preservative
from Popery," title vii, by Dr. Stillingfleet, and other eminent
divines of the seventeenth century. I shall conclude the present
Number, with an extract from title vii. chap. v. of this work,
which shows the practice of the Church of Rome as it corres-
uonds with their doctrine.
" Having considered the adoration of the host as it is taught
in the Church of Rome, I shall now consider the practice of it,
which is more plain and evident, and notorious to all the world;
however they would palliate and disguise their doctrine. Ac-
cording to their Missal, which is wholly different in this, as
well as other things, from the old liturgy, and eucharistic forms,
as I shall show by and by, — the priest in every mass, as soon as
he has consecrated the bread and wine, with bended knees, he
adores the sacrament ; that which he has consecrated, that very
thing which is before him, upon the patine, and in the chalice ;
and gives the same worship and subjection, both of body and
mind to it, as he could to God or Christ himself: for, with his
head and his soul, bowing towards it, and his eyes and thoughts
fixed upon it, and directed to it, he prays to it, as to Christ
himself; • Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us, grant us peace,' and the like ; then the
priest rising up after he has thus adored it himself, he lifts it up
as high as conveniently he can, above his head, and with eyes
fixed upon it, he shows it to be devoutly adored by the people,
who having notice also by ringing the mass bell, as soon as they
sec it, fall down in the humblest adorations to it, as if it were
the very appearance of God himself."
The remainder of the passage will be given in my next.
THK
^rotegtaitt,
No. LXI.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER Uih, 1819.
1 he reader is requested to connect what is contained in tliis
and the following page, with the conclusion of the last Numher: —
" If Christ were visibly present before them, they could not
show more acts of reverence, and devotion, and worship, to him,
than they do to the host. They pray to it, and use the very
forms of petition and invocation to that, as to Christ himself;
such as these, — ' O saving host, or blessed sacrament, which
openest the door of heaven, give me strength and power against
dangers, and against all my enemies. Make me always more
to believe, to hope in thee, to love thee : grant that my soul
may always live upon thee, and that thou mayest always taste
sweet unto it.'
" Thus both the priest and the people are several times to
adore and worship both the host and the cup in the celebration
of the eucharist ; and they will not disown, nor cannot, their
directing and terminating their devotions and prayers upon the
sacrament, which is before them. Prayers they call them to the
eucharist, and it is become a common form of doxology amongst
them, instead of saying, ' Praise be given to God,' to say
' Praise be given to the most holy sacrament.' Sanders, in his
book of the Supper of the Lord, instead of ' Glory be to the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' turns it thus, • To the body
and blood of our Saviour, under the species of bread and wine,
be all honour and praise, and thanksgiving for evermore :' as if it
were another person of the blessed Godhead.
" This adoration is not only in the time of communion, when
it is properly the Lord's Supper and sacrament ; but at other
Vol. 11. L
82
times, out ot it, whenever it is set upon the altar with the
candles hurning, and the incense smoking before it ; or hung up
in its rich shrine and tabernacle, with a canopy of state over it.
And not only in the church, which is sanctified, they say, by
this sacrament, as by the presence of God himself, but when it is
carried through the streets in a solemn and pompous procession ;
as it is before the Pope, when he goes abroad, just as the
Persian fire was before the emperor, merely by way of state, or
for a superstitious end, that he may the better be guarded and
defended by the company of his God. In all these times it is
to be worshipped and adored by all persons as it passeth by, as
if it were the glory of God which passeth by. They are, like
Moses, to make haste, and bow their heads to the earth and
worship ; but above all on that high day, which they have
dedicated to this sacrament, as if it were some new deity, the
festum Dei, as they call it, the feast of God, or the jestum
corporis Christi, the feast of the body of Christ; for to call the
sacrament God, is a general expression among them, as when
they have received the sacrament, to say, ' I have received my
Maker to-day ;' and the person, who, in great churches, is to
carry the sacrament to the numerous communicants, is called,
Bajulus Dei, ' the porter or carrier of God ;' and they always
account it, and so always reverence it, as Boileau falsely says
the ancients did, as a present Numen and Deity. This feast
was appointed by Pope Urban IV. about the middle of the
] 2th century ; and again by Clement V. in the beginning of
the 13th, as is owned by themselves, upon the occasion of a
vision to one Juliana, who saw a crack in the moon, that signi-
fied, it seems, a great defect in the church, for want of this
solemnity. Such was the rise of this great festival, and so late
was its institution in the Roman church ; in which, and in no
other Christian church in the world, is it observed to this day.
And that the whole practice of the adoration of the host is novel,
and unknown to the primitive church and to ancient writers,
I shall endeavour to make evident against the bold and impu-
dent canon of the Council of Trent, which is the first council
that commanded it, in these words : — ' If any one shall say that
the sacrament is not to be worshipped by a peculiar festival,
nor to be solemnly carried about in processions according to
the laudable and universal manner and custom of the holy
church ; nor to be publicly proposed to the people, that it may
be adored by them, and that the worshippers are idolaters: let
him be accursed.' " — The author gives in the margin the most
ample authorities for his statements, from saints and fathers of
the Romish church ; and he generally gives their very words in
the original Latin.
83
Thus I have shown that Papists address prayers and hymns
to the sacrament, as if it were the living God. They profess
to believe not only that God is in it, but that it is God. As
such they pray to it, and trust in it. To honour it, they
believe, is to honour God ; and to contemn it, is to contemn
Him. In their esteem there is no impiety equal to that of
slighting the consecrated wafer ; and no punishment too great
for those who are guilty of it.
I shall illustrate this by a number of examples, all of a mi-
raculous nature, and as well attested as things of the kind can
be. We shall see, indeed, if we can believe the facts which I
am going to relate, that the consecrated wafer has received the
honour which was predicted of Christ in the viiith Psalm, and
which is applied to him by the Apostle, in the iid chapter of the
Epistle to the Hebrews: that under him should be put all beasts
of the field, fowls of the air, fishes of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the path of the sea. I have before me a vast
collection of instances of the consecrated wafer being worship-
ped and adored by all sorts of creatures, from insects up to
horses, asses, and oxen. This collection was originally made
by Father Toussain Bridoul, a Jesuit ; and from his work it is
transferred by Mr. Gavin, into the third volume of his Master
Key to Popery, from which the following are extracted. The
Jesuit, in his preface, represents heretics, conducted, no doubt,
by the devil, as conspiring to extirpate the holy sacrament, and
so to destroy souls more easily ; who cannot, he says, " subsist
long in grace without the participation of this divine and celes-
tial food. " Wherefore," he adds, " without troubling myself to
confute these hair brained people, who turn a deaf ear to all
that the holy Fathers have said about it ; and having renounced
their reason, I have resolved to send them to the school of the
beasts, who have shown a particular inclination (not without
superior conduct) for the honour and defence of this truth."
The chapter of the work from which I quote, is entitled, " A
Collection of Miracles of the consecrated wafer, grounded upon
the respects and acknowledgments which beasts, birds, and in-
sects, on several occasions, have rendered to the holy wafer."
I am afraid my intelligent readers will reckon this a very trifling
Number ; but I request they will bear with it, as I feel it some-
times necessary to descend very low, in order to expose the
idolatry and superstition of the Church of Rome : —
" Petrus Cluniac, lib. 1. cap. 1. reports, That a certain
peasant of Auvergne, a province in France, perceiving that his
bees were likely to die, to prevent this misfortune, was advised,
after he had received the communion, to keep the host, and to
blow it into one of his hives; and, on a sudden, all the bees
34
capw forth out of their hives, and ranking themselves in good
order, lifted the host up from the ground, and carrying it in
upon their wings, placed it among the comhs. After this the
man went out about his business, and at his return, found that
this advice had succeeded contrary to his expectation, for all
his bees were dead. Nay, when he lifted up the hive, he saw
that the host was turned into a fair child among the honey
combs ; and being much astonished at this change, and seeing
that this infant seemed to be dead, he took it in his hands,
intending to bury it privately in the church, but when he came
to do it, he found nothing in his hands ; for the infant was
vanished away. This thing happened in the county of Clermont,
which, for this irreverence, was, a while after, chastised by divers
calamities, which so dispeopled those parts, that they became
like a wilderness. From which it appears, that bees honour
the holy host divers ways, by lifting it from the earth, and carry-
ing it into their hives, as it were in procession." Let the reader
remember, it was the God whom Papists worship, that was in-
debted to the bees for shelter in their hive.
" Cantiprat, lib. 2. cap. 40. sect. 1. writeth, That a certain
poor man going to visit his bees, perceived them to make a
sweet harmony : he stood ravished a while with it, not knowing
what it meant. The night following, as he went about some
business, and casting his eyes towards his bees, he perceived
them to rejoice, and sport themselves, making an admirable
melody. First, he informed his curate of it, and afterwards
broke up his hive, where he found a box made of wax, but of
such admirable whiteness, that it looked like ivory ; and within
it the holy sacrament adored by the bees, who ranged themselves
into two choirs, and sang the praises of their Creator. The
Bishop ordered a procession to carry back the holy host of the
church ; and in that place was erected a sumptuous chapel,
which became a place of refuge for the sick and the afflicted.
When nobody knew from whence, and by whom, that host had
been brought there, two thieves of their own accord discovered
themselves, and confessed, that having stolen a box, they had
thrown the host against the hives. By which miracle we see
that the bees adore the holy host, and sing the divine praises,
dividing themselves into two choirs."
" Caesarius, lib. 9. cap. 8. reports, That a certain woman,
having received the communion unworthily, carried the host to
her hives, for to enrich the stock of bees : and afterwards
coming again to see the success, she perceived that the bees,
acknowledging their God in the sacrament, had, with admirable
artifice, erected to him a chapel of wax, with its doors, win-
dows, bells, and vestry; and within it a chalice v here they laid
85
the luily body of Jesus Christ. She could no longer conceal
this wonder. The priest being advertised of it, came thither
in procession, and he himself heard harmonious music, which
the bees made, flying round about the sacrament ; and having
taken it out, he brought it back to the church full of comfort,
certifying, that he had seen and heard our Lord acknowledged
and praised by those little creatures."
The same author relates, lib. 4. cap. 99. " That an old
and simple priest, of the parish of St. Colen, carrying the holy
sacrament out of town to a sick person, and going up a very
rough hill, met some loaded asses descending towards the town ;
and the way being very narrow, and the priest not being able to
get past them, and fearing to be overturned by those beasts, he
spoke to them according to his simplicity in this manner : My
asses ! what do you mean ? Do ye not see him whom I carry ?
Go aside, and stop to make room for your Creator, which I
command you in his name. O admirable obedience ! Those
asses, which used not to stir but when they were beaten, presently
went to one side, where the hill was more steep, without appre-
hending any danger or letting fall their load. The town of
Colen remembers this wonder to this day, and mentioneth it
with astonishment."
" P. Orlandi, in his History of the Society, torn. 1. lib. 2-
No. 27. says, That, in the 16th century, within the Venetian
territories, a priest carrying the holy host, without pomp or
train, to a sick person, he met, out of the town, asses going to
their pasture ; who, perceiving by a certain sentiment, what it
was which the priest carried, they divided themselves into two
companies on each side of the way, and fell on their knees.
Whereupon the priest, with his clerk, all amazed, passed be-
tween those peaceable beasts, which then rose up, as if they
would make a pompous show in honour of their Creator ; fol-
lowed the priest as far as the sick man's house, where they
waited at the door till the priest came out from it, and did not
leave him till he had given them his blessing. Father Simon
Rodriguez, one of the first companions of St. Ignatius, who
then travelled in Italy, informed himself carefully of this matter,
which happened a little while before our first Fathers came into
Italy, and found that all had happened as has been told."
" Nicholas de Laghi, in his book of the miracles of the
holy sacrament, says, that a Jew blaspheming the holy sacra-
ment, dared to say, that if the Christians would give it to his
dog, he would eat it up, without showing any regard to theii
God. The Christians being very angry at this outrageous speech,
and trusting in the Divine Providence, had a mind to bring it
to a trial : so, spreading a napkin on the table, they laid on
86
it many hosts, among which one only was consecrated. Tie
hungry dog heing put upon the same table, began to eat tliein
all, but coming to that which had been consecrated, without
touching it, he kneeled down before it, and afterwards fell with
ra<re upon his master, catching him so closely by the nose, that
lie took it quite away with his teeth." — " The same which St.
Matthew warns such like blasphemers, saying, < Give not that
which is holy unto dogs, lest they turn again and rend you.' "
" St. Anthony of Padua, disputing one day with one of the
most obstinate heretics that denied the truth of the holy sacra-
ment, drove him to such a plunge, that he desired the saint to
prove this truth by some miracle. St. Anthony accepted the
condition, and said he would work it upon his mule. Upon
this the heretic kept her three days without eating and drinking ;
and the third day, the saint, having said mass, took up the
host, and made him bring forth the hungry mule, to whom he
spoke thus : — In the name of the Lord, I command thee to
come and do reverence to thy Creator, and confound the malice
of heretics. While the saint made this discourse to the mule,
the heretic sifted out oats to make the mule eat ; but the beast
having more understanding than his master, kneeled before the
host, adoring it as its Creator and Lord. This miracle com-
forted all the faithful, and enraged the heretics; except him
that disputed with the saint, who was converted to the Catholic
faith."
In the catalogue before me, there are seventy-three such
stories, all certified by some great saint or father ; but I presume
I have given enough of such matter to put it beyond a doubt
that the prevailing belief of Papists is, that the wafer which they
receive in the sacrament, is the God that made heaven and
earth, and that the prevailing practice among them, is to adore
it as such. The works of many Popish saints consist in little
else than such stories as the above ; and if they do not prove
the Church of Rome to be guilty of suffering idolatry, and even
encouraging the practice of it, it is not possible to prove any
thing.
Before entering upon the discussion of what is called the
Sacrifice of the Mass, 1 shall advert shortly to another peculiarity
of the Church of Home, in relation to the Lord's Supper ; that
is, communion in one kind, or withholding the cup from the
laity. This rose out of transubstautiation, and is intimately con-
nected with it ; for the practice cannot be defended but upon
the principle of transubstautiation.
In the words of institution, both as spoken by our Lord, and
recited l>_\ the Apostle Paul, it seems perfectly evident, that both
87
bread and wine were to be given and received in the Lord's
Supper. These were appointed to represent his body broken
and his blood shed for the sins of his people. " With respect
to the bread, Christ had said, Luke xxii. 19, 20. ' Take, eat,
lliis is my body :' but concerning the cup, he says, ' Drink ye
all of this;' for as this pointed out the very essence of the 'n-
stitntion ; to wit, the blood of atonement, it was necessary thai
each should have a particular application of it : therefore, he says,
' Drink ye all of this.' By this we are taught, that the cup
is essential to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so that they
who deny the cup to the people, sin against God's institution ;
and they who receive not the cup, are not partakers of the body
and blood of Christ. If either could without mortal preju dice
be omitted, it might be the bread ; but the cup, as pointing out
the blood poured out, that is the life, by which alone the great
sacrificial act is performed, and remission of sins procured, is
absolutely indispensable. On this ground it is demonstrable,
that there is not a Popish priest under heaven, who denies the
cup to the people (and they all do this), that can be said to
celebrate the Lord's Supper at all; nor is there one of their vo-
taries that ever received the holy sacrament. All pretension to
this is an absolute farce, so long as the cup, the emblem of the
atoning blood, is denied. How strange is it, that the very men,
who plead so much for the bare literal meaning of this is my
body, in the preceding verse, should deny all meaning to drink
ye all of this cup, in this verse! And though Christ has in the
most positive manner enjoined it, they will not permit one of the
laity to taste it ! O what a thing is man ! a constant contradiction
to reason and himself. The conclusion therefore is unavoidable.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not celebrated in the
Church of Rome." Clarke on the Eucharist, p. 60, 61.
If the concluding remark of this learned writer be correct,
and I think it cannot be denied by any Protestant, it would ap-
pear that the priests would do the people no harm, though they
withheld the bread as well as the cup from them. Christ in-
stituted the ordinance of the Supper for the purpose of keeping
alive in the minds of his people the remembrance of his death,
until he should come again ; but the observance of the ordi-
nance can be of no use to persons who do not understand its
meaning, which it is evident Papists do not ; for instead of re-
membering Christ as absent, with respect to his body, as his
words, " until I come," undoubtedly signify, they consider his
body present in every consecrated wafer. The idea, therefore,
of remembering him has no place in their minds, for the word
remember does not apply to a thing that is present. It follows
as a necessary consequence, that no believer in transubstantiation,
that is, no true Papist, can obey our Lord's dying com maud,
88
' Do this in remembrance of me;' and il were better to let tlie
sacrament alone altogether, than to do something else under the
pretext of observing it.
I know that the priests withhold the cup from the laity, because,
they say, in giving them the consecrated wafer, they give the true
body of Christ, which being a living body, contains the blood ;
but if this were the case, the priests, as well as the people, would
receive the whole Christ in receiving the bread, and there would
be no occasion for wine at all ; yet it is well known that they use
plenty of wine, which, being consecrated, they say is the real blood
of Christ, and the priests take it all to themselves ; which is
making a distinction between the clergy and the laity, that is quite
unwarranted by the word of God, and the practice of the primi-
tive churches. In short, as transubstantiation itself was not,
strictly speaking, an article of faith in the Roman church, till it
was made so in 1215, by the Lateran Council ; so communion
in one kind was not a general or authorised practice in that
church, till it was ordained by the Council of Constance^ about
two hundred years after.
To deny the cup to the laity; to give them nothing but a piece
of bread in the form of a wafer, and to call it the Lord's supper ;
is most certainly a piece of barefaced imposition : But though
they gave the wine along with the wafer, it would not mend the
matter, or profit the souls of them who receive it, while they
teach them to attach a false and idolatrous meaning to the service;
and to consider it, not as a commemoration of the sacrifice of
Christ, as an atonement for the sins of his people, but as in itself
a real propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead.
This is their doctrine concerning the sacrifice of the mass, which
I intend to take up in my next Number ; and while they attach
such an absurdity to the ordinance of the Lord's supper, they
make it not the Lord's supper: it is an impious invention of their
own ; and in a Christian point of view, it is a matter of no im-
portance, whether idolaters use bread and wine, or bread and
cheese, or bread alone, in the service of their idol.
I have travelled through many a dense folio page, full of learn-
ing and of argument, on the subject of withholding the cup from
the laity ; and have admired the patience of really eminent di-
vines, who could enter so fully and minutely into the discussion
of a question which appears to me so unimportant. For those
who know what the ordinance of the Lord's supper means, and
believe the truth to which it relates, will never think of observing
it without both bread and wine; and those who do not know
what it means, and do not believe the truth, will not observe it,
whether they use one or both of the elements.
THE
i^rote^taut
No. LXII.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th, 1819.
" Xhe sacrifice of the mass," says a late learned author, " is
the most considerable part of worship in the Roman church.
It is their juge sacrificiiun, their daily and continual offering,
and the principal thing in which their religion does consist. It
is, they tell us, of the greatest profit and advantage to all persons,
and I am sure their priests make it so to themselves ; for by this
alone, a great number of them get their livings, by making mer-
chandise of the holy sacrament, and by selling the blood of
Christ at a dearer rate than Judas did. The saying of masses
keeps the Church of Rome more priests in pay, than any prince
in Christendom can maintain soldiers; and it has raised more
money by them, than the richest bank or exchequer in the world
was ever owner of. It is indeed the truest patrimony of their
church, and has enriched it more than any thing else. It was
that which founded their greatest monasteries, and their richest
abbeys ; and it had well nigh brought all the estates in this
kingdom into the church, had not the statute of mortmain put
a check to it. The donation of Constantine, were it ever so
true, and the grants of Charles and Pepin, were they ever so
large, and the gifts of all their benefactors put together, are
nfinitely out-done by it. The gain of it has been so manifestly
great, that one cannot, but on that account, a little suspect its
godliness." — Discourse of the Sacrifice of the Mass, by Mr.
Payne, late Prebendary of Westminster, page 1.
Before entering on a discussion of this subject, it will be right
to tell what it is. I shall, therefore, give the doctrine as it is
Vol. II. M
90
laid duwn by the Douay Catechism, which Amicus Veiutatis
says is approved by the whole church : —
" Q. Is the Eucharist a sacrament only ? A. No, it is also a
eacrifice. Q. What is a sacrifice ? A. It is a supreme act of
religion, due to Almighty God. Q. How is this performed ?
A. By offerings made to him, in testimony of his being the
sovereign Lord of all things. Q. In what did the sacrifices of
the old law consist? A. Chiefly in bloody sacrifices of beasts,
which the priests offered in the temple, as figures of Christ's
sacrifice on the cross, which was then to come. Q. In what
consists the sacrifice of the new law? A. In the voluntary and
bloody oblation which Christ made to his eternal Father, by
dying on the cross for our redemption. Q. But this is past,
how have we now any sacrifice in the new law? A. By the
standing memorial and continuance of it in the blessed Eucharist.
Q. Why do you say that the Eucharist is a standing memorial
of Christ's sacrifice on the cross? A. Because Christ, at his last
supper, commanded it should be offered as a remembrance of his
passion to the end of the world ; and this is what is performed
in the sacrifice of the mass. Q. Why is it a continuance of
Christ's sacrifice? A. Because Jesus Christ, who is a priest for
ever, according to the order of Melchisedec, having offered
himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, con-
tinues daily to offer himself, by the ministry of his priests, in an
unbloody manner, under the form of bread and wine. So that
the sacrifice offered on the cross, and the sacrifice of the mass,
are one and the same, as to the chief priest who offers it, and
the thing which is offered ; and differ only in the manner of
offering. Q. What therefore is the mass ? A. It is the sacrifice
of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, under the form of bread
and wine, in memory of his death and passion for the remission
of our sins. Q. Who said the first mass? A. Jesus Christ.
Q. When did he say it? A. At his last supper, when he insti-
tuted the holy Eucharist. Q. To whom is the sacrifice of the
mass offered? A. To God only. Q. Is it not sometimes offered
to the saints ? A. No, masses are sometimes said in honour and
memory of the saints, in thanksgiving to God for the benefits he
has been pleased to bestow upon them ; and that they, joining
their prayers to ours, may intercede for us in heaven, whose
memory we celebrate here on earth, Q. What benefit receive
we by this sacrifice? A. It is a daily application of the merits
of Christ, for the relief of our necessities, by laying before the
eternal Father, the infinite value of his Son's bitter passion.
Q. What are the benefits the living receive by it? A. They are
many; 1. It applies the merits of our Saviour's passion for the
remission of our sins. 2. It procures new graces and blessings
91
for us, by virtue of the said passion. 3. It is the most accept-
able offering we can make to Almighty God, in thanksgiving
for all his benefits. Q. Does it avail the faithful departed? A. Is
is not to be doubted, but as St. Augustine, Serm. 26. de verbis
Apostoli, cap. 2. says, by this wholesome sacrifice, which is
offered for them, they are so far helped, as to be treated with
more mercy than their sins deserve. Q. Is it not a prejudice
to the faithful, that the mass is said in an Unknown language ?
A. No ; for the mass contains only these prayers which the
priest alone is commanded to say, as the mediator between God
and his people. Neither are the people ignorant of what is said,
since they have the mass expounded and Englished in their ordi-
nary prayer books."
From this long extract, the reader will see what is the most
modified and moderate view which Papists give of this great act
of their worship. The Douay Catechism, being calculated for
the meridian of Scotland, is much less gross, both in sentiment
and expression, than most others that are issued by the Church
of Rome. It does not, for instance, say in plain words, that
the mass is a real propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the
dead, though as much is implied in the words which represent
it as the very same sacrifice that Christ offered on the cross, and
in the words which it ascribes to St. Augustine, that the dead
are so far helped by it, " as to be treated with more mercy than
their sins deserve;" from which last expression, I remark, in
passing, that it seems to be a doctrine held by Papists that their
sins deserve some mercy. The mass only helps them to more
than they would otherwise deserve. All the world is acquainted
with the Popish doctrine of the merit of good works ; but I
suppose this will be the first time the world has been informed
that they ascribe some merit to their sins; and that these deserve
mercy, though but in a small degree, without the additional
merit of the mass.
The Catechism, for the use of all the churches in the French
empire, more explicitly declares the mass to be a sacrifice of
propitiation. Speaking of the souls of the dead, it is asked
and answered, " Are these souls any wise relieved by this sacri-
fice ? A. Yes: they are very much relieved. Q. Why? A.
Because in it Jesus Christ is offered as the common propitiation
for all mankind." The thing is asserted still more plainly in
" The grounds of Catholic doctrine, contained in the profession
of faith, published by Pope Pius IV." in which we read as
follows : — " Q. What is the Catholic doctrine as to the mass ?
A. That in the mass, there is offered unto God, a true, proper,
and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. Q. What
do you mean by the mass? A. The consecration and oblation
V2
of the body and blood of Christ, tinder the sacramental veils or
appearances of bread and wine : So that the mass was instituted
by Christ himself at his last supper : Christ himself said the first
mass ; and ordained that his Apostles and their successors should
do the like. Do this in remembrance of me. Luke xxii. 19.
Q. What do you mean by & propitiatory sacrifice? A. A sacri-
fice for obtaining mercy, or by which God is moved to mercy."
There is an error in the last expression, which I have marked by
Italics, distinct from the error of the mass sacrifice, though con-
nected with it, and which I shall expose by and by; but, at
present, I wish to give a full view of the subject as it is set down
by Popish authors.
The following is from a work entitled, " Holy Altar and
Sacrifice explained," by the Rev. Father Pacificus Baker, of the
order of St. Francis: — " Many are the spiritual graces and bene-
fits which the devout Christian gains by seriously attending to,
and assisting at, this holy sacrifice. First, By the sacrifice of
the mass, the fruits of Christ's bloody sacrifice of himself on the
altar of his cross, are applied to our souls. This sacrifice of
the mass being the same with that on the cross, differing only
in the manner. On the cross Christ offered himself in a bloody
manner, shedding every drop of his sacred blood, as a sacrifice
of redemption for mankind. In the mass he offers himself by
the ministry of the priest, in an unbloody manner. Hence the
mass is called by the holy Fathers, an incruental, or unbloody
sacrifice; for, as the Council of Trent declares, Sess. xxii. 6. 2.
It is one and the same host (or body), and the same offerer,
now by the ministry of the priest, who offered himself on the
cross, differing only in the manner of offering, the fruits of
which unbloody oblation are here most plentifully received.
Secondly, The Mass is latreutical, that is, a holocaust, or
oblation, offered to God in acknowledgment of his supreme ma-
jesty and dominion over us ; worshipping him herein with divine
worship, due to him alone and not to any creature, how excellent
and perfect soever. Thirdly, It is a eucharistic sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving for, as well as commemoration of, the
inestimable benefit of Christ's passion, and of praise and thanks-
wiving for all the blessings we have received, spiritual and tein-
poral. Fourthly, It is an impetratory sacrifice, by which we
may obtain whatever we ask, if we ask as we ought, according
to what our Saviour says; " Ask and you shall receive," John xvi.
For the Father will not deny what we ask in his Son's name.
much less when we ask by his Son, who is here offered to him.
With him he has given us all things. With him he will refuse
us nothing. Fifthly, It is a propitiatory sacrifice, by which
we may obtain patdon of our sins, our daily failings and offences
93
against God, by the merits of Christ's passion, here renewed and
offered up for us."
I believe no real sacrifice ever made on earth contained so
many things as are here ascribed to the mass, not even the sa-
crifice of Christ upon the cross. This certainly was not un-
bloody, or incruental, as the reverend father says that of the mass
is : and I would question very much the propriety of calling the
sacrifice of Christ eucharistical. If the mass, then, have two
ingredients which the sacrifice of Christ had not, it is absurd to
call it the very same sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ was un-
doubtedly propitiatory ; and the principal error of the Church of
Rome, on this subject, consists in ascribing the same character
to their mass.
When Papists are pushed upon such a subject as this, they
will not admit the authority of individual authors, however great,
or even of such Catechisms as are recommended by their priests,
and in general and daily use. The Douay Catechism, as I have
said, does not use the word propitiatory ; and, therefore, a
Scottish Papist, when assailed by a Protestant, may disavow the
doctrine as not in his Catechism. On the other hand, should
he be accused by one of his own brethren, of not holding that
fundamental doctrine of his church, that the mass is a real pro-
pitiatory sacrifice, he will get out by referring to his Catechism,
i n which the mass is declared to be the very same sacrifice which
Christ offered on the cross, which is allowed on all hands to be
propitiatory.
But that none of my Popish readers may have it in their
power to evade the question, or deny that their church holds
this doctrine, on account of any defect in my authorities, I
shall now cite the highest authority known in their church,
that is, the Council of Trent, which may justly be said to be
higher with them than the Bible itself; for that Council not only
decreed many things contrary to the Bible, but actually added
to it a number of books, whose authors never dreamed that they
wrote under divine inspiration, or that their works should be ex-
alted to an equality with the word of God.
The holy Council has decreed thus : — " If any shall say,
that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to
Crod, let him be accursed. If any shall say in those words (Do
his in remembrance of me), Christ did not institute his Apostles
to be priests, or that he did not ordain that they and other
priests should offer his body and blood, let him be accursed."
" If any shall say, the sacrifice of the mass is only of praise and
thankscrivinsf, or a bare commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ
upon the cross^ and not a propitiatory sacrifice ; or that it pro-
fits him alone that takes it, and ought not to be offered for
quick and dead, for sins, punishments, and satisfactions, and
94
other necessities, let him be accursed." Concil. Trid. Sess. c22
de Sacrific. Misses, can. 1, 2, 3.
This is the doctrine of the Church of Rome distinctly laid
down. Every Popish priest takes a solemn oath to abide by it,
and all that the Council of Trent has decreed ; and we see by
the above, that a solemn curse is pronounced against all who
say that the mass is not a propitiatory sacrifice ; and that it ought
not to be offered for the quick and dead, for sins, punishments,
and satisfactions. I consider myself, therefore, as standing un-
der the curse of the most holy and infallible church ; but while
advocating the truth of God, 1 can, without anxiety about the
matter, use the words of the Psalmist : — " Let them curse, but
bless thou."
One of the worst features of modern Popery, is the af-
fected liberality of Papists. Their fawning and flattering of
their Protestant brethren, as they now condescend to call us,
are infinitely more disgusting than their cursing and wrath.
The wolf is never so dangerous as when he appears in a sheep s
coat. Modern Papists affect all the meekness of the lamb, be-
cause they want what they call emancipation, that is, nothing
less than a place in the legislature and government of the king-
dom. But they know that they look upon Protestants as here-
tics accursed. They will not tell us so just now, though all
their priests have sworn to it, and all the faithful must believe
as their priests bid them. They speak in very mild language, at
present, because they want something which Protestants have
in their power to deny them. They condescend even so far as
to use the phrase, " our dissenting brethren," hoping that Dis-
senters will be flattered by their condescension, that they will be
induced to forward their cause, and help them to places of power,
and to that ascendency which is their ultimate object. But their
soft words and fair speeches can deceive only the hearts of the
simple. Their affected moderation is gross hypocrisy, while they
carry, under the cloak, all the cursing and bitterness of their fa-
thers against those who will not fall down and worship their mass
idol. If it be not so, let them renounce the Council of Trent,
and withdraw their solemn curses against those who deny their
mass sacrifice, and trust in the sacrifice of Christ alone. I have
no doubt many of them will even do this to serve a purpose;
but when the purpose is gained, they will find out that they
•■vcre incompetent to make the renunciation. Though the Pope
cimsclf were to withdraw these curses, and though he were to
j^rant leave to all the Papists in Britain and Ireland to disavow
them, it would be found, when they had attained the object
which they have in view, that the Pope was incompetent to set
aside a solemn decree of a general council, confirmed by the
JV>pe of the day. Those who shall live to witness Popish as-
95
cendency in this country, will have a better underslandiiig of
this than my present readers have. The curses which have been
accumulating for ages upon the heads of all who deny that the
mass is a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the living and the
dead, will break forth with dreadful fury upon all who shall re-
fuse to bow the knee to the idol which the Church of Rome
has set up. In the days of the Council of Trent, curses were
not empty sounds. The Church of Rome boasts of being un-
changed and unchangeable ; and this is almost the only true
thing which she utters amidst her thousands of lies. She will
therefore be what she was in the days of that Council, whenever
she has the opportunity and the power.
But to return to the mass itself, — it is said to be a propitiatory
sacrifice. Such the Council of Trent declares it to be ; and
the expression refers to that which reconciles sinners to their
offended Creator. This is expressly asserted in the New Testa-
ment of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. " Him hath God
set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood." Rom.
iii. 25. And " God was in Christ reconciling the world to him-
self," &c. 2 Cor. v. 19. I shall show, by and by, that this is
true of the sacrifice of Christ, and that it cannot be true of any
thing else ; but, in the meantime, I shall expose the error tc
which I adverted in a preceding page of this Number. After
having declared the mass to be a propitiatory sacrifice, it is as-
serted in " The grounds of Catholic doctrine," that a propitia-
tory sacrifice is that " by which God is moved to mercy ;n
and in the mass, such a sacrifice is offered. Now this is as-
cribing more to the mass than can be justly ascribed to the sa-
crifice of Christ himself, and to all that he did and suffered, while
on earth.
The minds of Papists are so estranged from the knowledge ol
the true God, that when they do speak of him, they speak of
him as if he were an idol. They look upon God the Father as
if he were a cruel and austere Being, not of himself inclined to
be merciful ; and they consider that the intercession of Christ,
and of the Virgin Mary, and other saints, and the sacrifice of
the mass, are all necessary to move him to mercy. With such
a false idea of God in their minds, they cannot worship him
otherwise, or from any other motive, than that from which the
American Indians worship the devil — that he may not hurt them.
It is not true, even of the sacrifice of Christ, that it moved
God to mercy, or that it was necessary for that purpose. Christ
did not come into the world, and lay down his life, to purchase
or procure the mercy of God for sinners. Such an idea is quite
inconsistent with his own explicit testimony, in which he de-
clares his work of saving sinners, to be the work which his Fa-
ther had given him to do. So far from requiring to be moved
96
to mercy, by the intervention of any agent, divine or human,
God is in himself infinitely merciful ; and it was in the mercy
of God the Father that the salvation of sinners originated.
Christ does not tell his disciples, that he came into the world
in order to move his Father to be merciful to them. He as-
cribes the sending of himself, and all the blessings which he
brought with him, to the mercy of his Father. " God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John iii. 16. " When the fulness of the time was come, God
sentjbrth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that
he might redeem them that were under the law." Gal. iv. 4, 5.
" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John
iv. 10. And those who are saved by faith in Christ, are taught
to trace up their salvation to the mercy of God the Father.
" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again
to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead." 1 Pet. i. 3. From such passages as these, and there are
many such in the Bible, it is evident that God is not moved to
mercy by the consideration of any thing done, or to be done,
in heaven or in earth. The Popish doctrine, therefore, is most
erroneous. It presents a false view of the divine character ; and
from such a view of it, nothing but false or idolatrous worship
can proceed.
Christ came into the world to do his Father's will. This was
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting
righteousness ; — to accomplish the salvation of sinners, by giving
his life a ransom for them. This was not to procure the mercy
of God ; but to satisfy his justice, without which, mercy could
have no place ; for mercy, at the expense of justice, would be
inconsistent with all that the Bible makes known to us of the
divine character. The justice of God is as essential, and as
amiable an attribute as his mercy ; and the law of God is as
holy, and as amiable as his gospel. Christ magnified the one
which we had broken, and satisfied the other which we had
olH-ndad. He " put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." By
giving himself up to the death, he made a full and sufficient
atonement for sin ; so that our salvation is ascribed to him
alone, who hath redeemed us to God by his own blood. The
pretended sacrifice of the mass is an impious attempt to rob him
of the glory that is his due. It diverts the minds of men from
the work of Christ, to the work of a fellow creature of a priest,
who pretends to offer up daily a propitiatory sacrifice, while ha
has no more power to do so, than he has to create a world.
THE
Protestant,
No. LXIII.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25t1u, 1819.
JVIy last Number contains the doctrine of the Church of Rome,
on the subject of the Mass, as laid down by the Douay and
other Catechisms, and by the supreme authority of the Council
of Trent. The Mass is declared to be a real propitiatory
sacrifice, for the living and the dead ; and if any man shall say
otherwise, " let him be accursed." It is the object of the present
Number to show that this is a great and fundamental error;
that it sets aside the sacrifice of Christ ; and that it implies no
less than a rejection of Christ himself, as the Saviour of the
world ; for as there is no other name, so there is no other
sacrifice than that of Christ, in virtue of which, a sinner can be
saved. If a man trust in the mass-sacrifice for propitiation, he
is trusting in something else than the righteousness of Christ ;
and this is the same thing as to trust ill another Saviour.
A propitiatory sacrifice is that on account of which God's
anger is turned away from sinners, — that for the sake of which
he pardons their sins, receives them into a state of friendly in-
tercourse, and gives them everlasting life. As sinners, we can
have no friendly intercourse with our Creator, any more than a
band of rebels could have with their sovereign. If it were so
that convicted traitors enjoyed the countenance and favour ot
the King, it would appear to every good subject, that he had
compromised the honour of his crown and government ; and
that, in fact, he encouraged rebellion against his own authority.
Sin places mankind in the state here supposed, in relation U
the Creator and Sovereign of heaven Mid earth. As trans-
Vol. II. N
98
gressors of his law, we are rebels against his authority ; and to
Suppose friendly intercourse to exist — to suppose rebels to enjoy
his favour, and to have access to him as friends, would appear
to all other intelligent creatures, as indeed it would appear to
the rebels themselves, a departure from the strictness of his law,
a relaxation of the rules of his government, and an encourage-
ment to continue in disobedience. There is no way, therefore,
by which it is possible that sinners, such as we all are, by nature
and by practice, can be brought to the enjoyment of the divine
favour, or into a state of friendship with God, but in the way
of a propitiatory sacrifice, offered by one adequate to the un-
dertaking, and accepted by Him whom we had offended by our
transgressions.
Such a sacrifice Christ offered upon the cross. " He loved
us," says an Apostle, " and gave himself for us, an offering and a
sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour." This sacrifice was
fully adequate. As such it was accepted. It derived infinite
value from the dignity of Him who offered it ; and the fact of
such a sacrifice being necessary, in order to the restoration of
sinners to favour and friendship with God, shows, in the most
striking manner, the evil of sin, the divine abhorrence of it, and
that disorder and disobedience cannot be suffered with impunity,
under the divine administration.
The sacrifice of Christ consisted in giving himself up to
death, and that by the shedding of his blood upon the cross.
This was not the mere surrender of natural life. His death
contained all that was implied in the sentence of death denounced
against the first transgression : — " In the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die." This death consisted in the loss of the
image and favour of God, and the effects of his displeasure,
which, to immortal creatures, must necessarily be eternal, unless
reparation be made equal to the eternal punishment of creatures.
This was done in the sufferings of Christ, when he made his
soul an offering for sin ; — when he bare the sins of his people in
his own body on the tree; — when God laid upon him the ini-
quities of them all ; when he poured out his soul unto death,
bearing the sins of many, and making intercession for the trans-
gressors. Then God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses to thein : that is, when
Christ offered himself in sacrifice to God upon the cross, God
was in him, by that sacrifice, making reconciliation, or taking
away the grounds of difference, which ^tood between him and
sinners of the human race. In the work of obedience and suf-
fering, of which his death was the consummation, Christ satisfied
the justice of God, magnified his law; and showed both his
law and justice in characters more glorious, than could have
99
been exhibited by the obedience and the suffering of all creatures
put together.
In the sacrifice of Christ, therefore, a ground is laid for the
salvation of sinners, consistently with the character of justice,
which is as essential in Deity as that of mercy. Nay, if we can
use, with propriety, the language of comparison on such a subject,
we may say it is more so ; for we can conceive of Deity without
mercy, at least without the exercise of mercy ; for there was no
occasion for this until sin and misery entered into the universe
but it is impossible to have rational conceptions of Deity, withou
the attribute of justice. A ground being thus laid for the salva-
tion of sinners, by the sacrifice of Christ, it is effectual to the
salvation of every one who believer the divine testimony con-
cerning it ; for he that believes this, acknowledges himself to be
a sinner, and to deserve eternal punishment ; he is brought to
cordial repentance for his sins ; he comes to Christ as a needy
suppliant; he trusts in Him alone for pardon and deliverance
from sin, as well as from its punishment ; and Christ has said,
" Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."
The offering which Christ made of himself to God as a pro-
pitiatory or atoning sacrifice, was so excellent, as to supersede-
all other sacrifice. From the time that mercy was revealed to
our first parents, and a Saviour promised to come of the seed
of the woman, until this Saviour did come, God was worship-
ped by sacrifices. Animals were slain by divine appointment ;
and the believing worshipper, confessing his sins over the head
of the bleeding victim, was taught to look for pardon, not for
the sake of the blood that was shed by his hands, but through
the blood of the Saviour, who was typified and represented by
the lamb, or other animal, offered in sacrifice. The sacrifice of
Christ availed for the salvation of those who believed the promise
of his coming, and professed this belief by the offering of beasts,
as really as it avails for the salvation of those who believe that he
has come according to the promise, and that he has put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. " Him hath God set forth to be a
propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteous-
ness, for the remission of sins that are past, through the for-
nearance of God ; to declare at this time his righteousness ; that
he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus."
Rom. iii. 25, 26. Thus we find that sins which were past, or
committed before the coming of Christ, were remitted on account
of the propitiation, or sacrifice which Christ made of himself;
and that God is just in granting the pardon of sin to them who
believe in Christ.
Now, this sacrifice of propitiation being mode, there is no
need of any other ; and we are explicitly taught, in the New
100
Testament, that all others are superseded by it. The sacrifices
which were offered according to the law of Moses, as well as
those of the patriarchal state, were mere shadows, or typical re-
presentations, of the sacrifice of Christ, and could be of no use
after the substance, or thing signified, was come. They never
were of any use in themselves, but merely as pointing or direct-
ing the mind of the worshipper to Christ and his sacrifice ; and
now they are of no use at all ; nay, so far from being useful, the
repeating of them would be nothing less than rebellion against
God, and a rejecting of the sacrifice which he has provided.
I believe there is nothing laid down in the word of God more
plainly than this. It was the principal design of the writer o
the Epistle to the Hebrews to prove to Christians, who were
Jews by birth, that the ceremonial part of the law of Moses was
abrogated ; and he is particularly explicit upon the subject of
sacrifice. It is scarcely possible to use words to express more
strongly the fact of every divinely appointed sacrifice having
terminated in that of Christ, than the Apostle uses in the xth
chapter of this epistle. He says " that the law could not, with
those sacrifices which were offered year by year continually, make
the comers thereunto perfect" — " that it was not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats could take away sin." " If such sa-
crifices could have effected this, they would not have ceased to be
offered ;" in which words it is implied that they have ceased to be
offered. And we shall see, by and bv, that this applies not only
to the bloody sacrifices under the law, but to every thing that
can be named, or thought of, that is of the nature of a pro-
pitiatory sacrifice. Such sacrifices have ceased to be offered ;
and therefore there is no such thing as that which Papists call
the sacrifice of the mass.
The Apostle declares that the sacrifices which the priests of-
fered daily, could never take away sins ; " but this man," speaking
of Christ, " after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever
sat down at the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool ; for by one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," verses 12 — 14.
Here every thing that a propitiatory sacrifice could accomplish,
s declared to be accomplished by the one offering or sacrifice of
Christ. They who are sanctified by the will of God, through
he offering of the body of Christ once, are declared to be per-
fected for ever; that is, they have a perfect standing before God,
as justified persons, on the footing of what Christ has done for
them ; for the Apostle cites the words of God by Jeremiah, —
" Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more ;" and then
he draws this unavoidable inference, " Where remission of these
is, there is no more offering Jbr sin," verses 17, 18. Again
101
ilic Apostle declares, in the same chapter, " If we sin wilfully
after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remain-
eth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries." That is, if persons will continue to live in sin,
after they are told of an atoning sacrifice, and of the mercy of
God ready to pardon, and to give a new heart to serve him, they
must abide the consequence. They must suffer not only the
punishment of their former sins, but also the fearful punishment
of that greatest of all sins — despising and rejecting the blood
of Christ, which made atonement for sin : For those who re-
ject this sacrifice shall never have another. But the Church of
Rome professes to have a sacrifice to offer for sins every day ; —
a sacrifice, which, they say, profits both the living and the dead,
which helps them to mercy, and moves God to mercy, and re-
lieves them, less or more, from the punishment which their
sins deserve. There are no words in human language that can
express the diabolical wickedness of such a doctrine. It is
directly opposed to the plain declaration of God himself, in the
words which I have just cited ; and it goes to set aside all the
faithful threatenings and warnings which are contained in the
Bible. Men may live in sin, and die in sin, and yet have the
benefit of a propitiatory sacrifice to relieve them from the pu-
nishment which they deserve ! The church that teaches this is
guilty of the murder of all the souls that perish in the delusion.
The great and fundamental error of the Church of Rome, on
the subject of the mass-sacrifice, appears in this, that it neces-
sarily implies a rejection of the one sacrifice of Christ upon the
cross. The sacrifice of Christ was a sufficient atonement for
sin, or it was not. Those who say that it was not, plainly re-
ject the gospel testimony, and are not to be reasoned with as
Christians ; but ought at once to be classed with avowed infidels.
Those who say that the sacrifice of Christ was a sufficient atone
ment for sin, and yet plead the necessity of another sacrifice —
of a sacrifice daily repeated, in order to move God to mercy,
contradict themselves, and without the honesty of the avowed
infidel, they put themselves upon the same footing, and equally
with him reject the sacrifice of Christ.
To say that a propitiatory sacrifice is still necessary, and that
the church offers one every day, is, in plain language, to say
that Christ has not done what he professes to have done, and
what all his inspired messengers declare that he has done ; name-
ly, that he bare the sins of his people in his own body on the
tree — that he gave his life for them — and that he is the Lamb
of God, who hath taken away the sins of the world. If any
other sacrifice be necessary, this is not true; and as the Church
102
of Rome puts forth her sacrifice of the mass as a necessary part
of her daily worship, she is guilty of denying Christ and his sa-
crifice. She says, in effect, Christ has not taken away sin hy
the sacrifice of himself, for sin still requires to be taken away,
and the priest must do it hy the sacrifice of the mass. If this be
not to set aside the sacrifice of Christ altogether, words have no
meaning.
The Apostle argues, Heb. x. that by the repetition of sacri-
fices there was a remembrance of sin made every year. The
very circumstance of repetition proved the fact, that such sacrifices
could not take away sin. The one sacrifice of Christ is of such
efficacy, that, in virtue of it, sin is remembered no more. The
transgressions of those who have interest in this sacrifice, are
blotted out as a cloud, and their sins as a thick cloud. But the
Church of Rome professes to have a sacrifice daily repeated.
This, according to the Apostle's reasoning, must be a sacrifice
that cannot take away sin ; but which serves only to bring sin
daily to remembrance. Instead of being a sacrifice on account
of which God will remember sin no more, and on the ground
of which the sinner enjoys peace and pardon, it serves no pur-
pose but to bring sin perpetually to view, and to keep the sin-
ner in continual bondage and uncertainty. It will not mend the
matter to say, that the mass is the very same sacrifice which
Christ offered upon the cross ; for, according to the reasoning of
the Apostle, if it be a sacrifice that requires to be repeated, it
cannot take away sin.
The Church of Rome calls the mass an unbloody, as well as
a propitiatory sacrifice. Now, these two characters cannot pos-
sibly belong to any one sacrifice. There are eucharistical sa-
crifices which are not bloody ; such, for instance, as the Apos-
tle speaks of, Heb. xiii. 15. "Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to his name." In such passages the word sacrifice is used
in a figurative, and not strictly proper sense ; but where a sa-
crifice is said to be propitiatory, it necessarily implies the shed-
ding of blood, that is, the death of the victim ; for the Apostle
tells us plainly, Heb. ix. 22, " Without shedding of blood there
is no remission." Remission, or pardon of sin, is the fruit of
a propitiatory sacrifice ; but if there be no remission, there has
been no propitiation, for the latter being made, the former is
granted as the just reward of it ; and there is neither the one
nor the other without shedding of blood. Those, therefore,
who call the mass an unbloody sacrifice, (and this is the lan-
guage of most Popish catechisms and books of devotion ) virtually
give up the doctrine of its being propitiatory, and thus contra-
dict both themselves and the Council of Trent.
103
By the use of the term unbloody, as applied to the sacrifice
of the mass, Papists endeavour to evade the charge of cruelty
and barbarity, which Protectants bring against them, upon the
supposition, that the real body and blood of Christ are offered
to God in this sacrifice. It is admitted that Christ, id offering
himself to God in sacrifice, suffered inexpressible agony. He
suffered not only from the hands of men, but also from the
powers of darkness ; and, above all, from the wrath of his Fa-
ther, on account of the sins of his people, which were laid to
his account, and which he assumed as his own, in order that he
might make atonement for them, by the shedding of his blood.
In this sacrifice of himself he bare the sins of his people in his
own body, and suffered the punishment that was due to them.
Now, if the mass be the very same sacrifice — if in it Christ
be offering himself every day, he must every day undergo the
same suffering — he must be every day bearing the sins of his
people, and every day enduring their punishment. I know th«
Church of Rome will not say this. They say, indeed, plainly
enough, that the sacrifice of the mass is not a suffering or
bloody one. Then I say that it cannot be a sacrifice or offering
of Chris: at all ; for his offering of himself, and his suffering,
are represented in Scripture as precisely the same thing.
See what the Apostle says, Heb. ix. 24 — 26. " For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are
the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place
once every year, with blood of others; for then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world ; but now once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin, by
the sacrifice of himself." From this the Apostle evidently means
to assert, that had Christ been often offered, he must often
have suffered. In his mind, the ideas of offering and suffering,
in relation to Christ, were the same thing. Now, since the
Church of Rome professes to make an offering and sacrifice of
Christ every day, they must put him to death every day, else
their notions of sacrifice and offering are quite different from
what the word of God teaches.
Besides, the Apostle evidently lays great stress on the fact of
Christ offering himself once, and only once, as his words imply ;
for he puts a strong negative upon his offering himself often, as
a thing that was not to be supposed possible, or at all consistent
with the perfection of his sacrifice.
If Christ is to be often offered to God as a propitiatory sa-
crifice, then it follows, that no one offering of his has yet made
propitiation, or atonement for sin. The Bible tells us that he
104.
hath made reconciliation by the blood of his cross — that in him
we receive the atonement, or reconciliation ; but, according to
the Church of Rome, this is not true, for the propitiatory sa-
crifice requires still to be offered. In the Bible we learn that
Christ made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in ever-
lasting righteousness ; and that the Lord is well pleased for his
righteousness' sake, because he hath magnified the law and made
it honourable. This assures us, that in the sacrifice of Christ,
the justice of God was satisfied, else he would not have been
well pleased with it; and if divine justice was satisfied by the
sufferings of Christ once, or, which is the same thing, by his
one sacrifice, it would be unjust to require the repetition of it ;
but the Church of Rome is guilty of the impiety of charging
the Almighty with injustice, by requiring the daily repetition of
the sacrifice, by which, when it was offered on the cross, his
justice was satisfied, and his law magnified.
The sacrifice of Christ has, farther, this glorious peculiarity,
that all the benefits of it are bestowed for nothing ; whereas, the
Church of Rome makes her members pay immense sums for her
mass-sacrifice. It is an old Popish proverb, " No pay no pa-
ter noster ;" and it is equally true of the benefits of their propi-
tiatory sacrifice — No pay no pardon. The priest professes to
offer the body and blood of Christ in sacrifice every day ; but no
sinner shall receive the benefit of it without money. There is
a sordidness and a carnality here, that is absolutely inconsistent
with a spiritual and divine religion. Popery is not of God, but
of Mammon ; and though they have not the image of this idol
among their other images, it is evident that he has a greater hold
of their hearts than any one of them.
The blessings which flow from the sacrifice of Christ are
figuratively compared to the riches of Canaan, as wine, and
milk; and pure water ; and the needy are invited freely to par-
take of them. Such is the language of divine liberality. " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath
no money : come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and
milk without money and without price." Isa. lv. 1. Again,
«' The Spirit and the Bride say, come. And let him that
heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. xxii.
17. This is in the true character of kindness and mercy, snl
is therefore worthy of God ; but to set up spiritual blessings to
sale, and to extort money for them, is worthy of the devil.
TUF.
Protectant,
No. LXiV.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER Id, 1819.
Absurd and impious as the Popish doctrine of the mass
sacrifice is, the Douay, and some other catechisms, allege
scripture authority for it. I endeavoured in my last Number
to show that the Bible knows nothing of any real propitiatory
sacrifice but that of Christ : that by the one offering of himself,
he accomplished all the purposes of such a sacrifice ; that no
other is needed, or ever will be offered ; and that to trust in any
other, or in the pretended repetition of this, implies no less than
a rejection of Christ and his sacrifice of atonement. I proceed,
in the present Number, to answer the arguments from scripture,
which some Papists use in support of their doctrine ; but it must
be allowed, that the more wise and candid among them choose
to rest it upon the foundation of tradition, and church authority
rather than upon the authority of the Bible.
Great stress is laid upon the fact of Christ being a priest
according to the order of Melchisedec. In the Douay catechism,
in answer to the question, " Why is it (the mass) a continuance
of Christ's sacrifice ?" it is answered, " Because Jesus Christ,
who is a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedec,
having offered himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the
cross, continues daily to offer himself, by the ministry of his
priests, in an unbloody manner, under the form of bread and
wine." And in the " Sincere Christian Instructed in the Faith
of Christ, from the written word," a work ascribed to the late
Bishop Hay of Edinburgh, we read as follows: — " The second
proof from the New Testament is taken from the seventh
Vol. II. O
106
chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where St. Paul, citing
this prophecy of David, ' The Lord hath sworn and will not
repent. Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of
Melchisedec,' urges it to show the excellency of the priesthood
of Christ above that of Aaron, and to prove that his priest-
hood shall never end : whereas, that of Aaron being only a
figure of his, was of necessity abolished when he came. Now
the same Apostle assures us, that every high priest ' is appointed
to offer up gifts arid sacrifices for sins,' Heb. v. 1. and he re-
peats it, Heb. viii. 3. and adds as a consequence of this essential
office of a priest, ' Wherefore it is of necessity that he should
have something to offer.' Seeing, therefore, that the order of
Melchisedec consisted in offering bread and wine, and that the
great victim offered by Christ, is his own precious body and
blood, it is only by offering this under the appearances of bread
and wine, by the external ministry of his priest, that he continues
a priest for ever of this order."
Here there are some things of which I must take a cursory
notice, before I enter upon the exposure of the weakness of the
argument drawn from the case of Melchisedec. I object to the
expression, Christ offering " himself by the ministry of his
priests." I have no objection to the word priest, as used to
denote the ministers of the gospel, if it be understood merely
as a contraction of the word presbyter, which signifies elder ; but
when the term priest is used, and connected with the act of
sacrifice, there is nothing in the New Testament that authorises
the use of it, except that all Christians, whether Jew or Gentile,
male or female, are declared to be made kings and priests unto
God, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, holy, and acceptable, by
Jesus Christ. The New Testament knows nothing of an order
of men set apart for the purpose of offering sacrifices, as the
sons of Aaron were. — Christ alone is the High Priest of our
profession ; and his servants in the gospel are ordained, not to
offer a sacrifice for sin, but to preach and declare to the world,
that the great sacrifice of atonement has been made by Christ
himself; and to lead the worship of his churches, by dispensing
he ordinances which he has appointed to be observed till his
second coming. If the Romish clergy can find in the New
Testament any authority for calling themselves priests, in the
sense of being sacrificers, otherwise than all Christians are, let
them produce it ; and it will be well for them if they can make
it appear that they are entitled to the appellation, even in the
sense in which it is justly applied to the poorest and most
illiterate Christian in the world.
I observe, farther, that there is a great fallacy in the argument
of the Bishop, on the subject of priests and sacrifices. He say»
10?
indeed truiy, that the " Apostle assures us, that every high
priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." The
Apostle is evidently speaking of the priesthood of Aaron, which
he declares to have been abolished, or superseded by that of
Christ ; but our Scottish Bishop would have it understood, that
this is a priesthood in the Christian church, continued to the
present day, and to be continued to the end of the world ; and
he will have it, that it is only by the offering of the body and
hlood of Christ, " under the appearances of bread and wine, by
the ministry of his priest, that he continues to be a priest for
ever of this order ;" which is a mere gratuitous assumption ; and
it proves nothing but that according to the doctrine of this pre-
late, it must depend upon the good pleasure of such men as
himself, whether or not Christ shall continue a priest for ever ;
for if all the priests should take it into their heads to become
Protestants, and cease to offer up Christ under the appearances
of bread and wine, Christ would be a priest no longer ; for it is
only by this, (that is, being offered by the external ministry of
his priests), that Christ continues a priest for ever, of the order
of Melchisedec. Thus, not the Pope of Rome only, but every
pedant of a priest, will be found guilty of exalting himself above
all that is called God, and that is worshipped.
Who Melchisedec was, I do not pretend with certainty to say,
but from his being both a king and a priest, and his name signi-
fying king of righteousness and king of peace, he was an eminent
type of Christ, who is a priest upon his throne. Some learned
men have been of opinion, that this king of Salem, and priest
of the Most High God, was no other than Shem, the eldest
son of Noah. From Genesis xi. 11. we learn by the incidental
mention of Shem's age, that he must have been alive at the time
when Abraham was met by Melchisedec, on returning from the
slaughter of the kings, Gen. xiv. and for more than half a cen-
tury after. We can scarcely then suppose a man to have been
in the world, more venerable, and of greater dignity than Shem,
who had been an inhabitant of the old world, a cotemporary with
Methuselah, who was contemporary with Adam. He had been
miraculously preserved with his father and brothers when God
destroyed the world by a flood ; he was by the time of Abraham
the father of many great nations, and he was Abraham's own
progenitor. Iu the patriarchial state, the privilege of the first
born, was to be both king and priest in the family or tribe. It
was this which rendered so valuable that birth-right which was
despised by Esau, and forfeited by Reuben. Shem, as the
eldest son of Noah, would, of course, inherit the birth -right of
the whole human race, but more particularly of his own family
and descendants, after the other families and tribes were dispersed
108
on the confusion of tongues at Babel; and we are sure that
God honoured him in the same manner as he honoured Abra-
ham, when, he allowed himself to be called the Lord God of
Shem. Gen. ix. 26. which expression implies that he was, like
Abraham, the friend of God. Though, therefore, it would be
presumptuous to speak positively on a subject on which the Bible
is silent ; yet, as matter of conjecture, 1 think there is no other
individual mentioned in the book of Genesis, to whom the de-
scription of Melchisedec can be so properly applied.
I see no serious objection to this opinion in the account which
the Apostle gives of Melchisedec, Heb. vii. 3. " Without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of
days, nor end of life ;" for this is spoken of him, not personally,
but officially ; it is not said of him as a man, but as a priest ; and
in contrasting his priesthood with that of the order of Aaron, the
meaning will more plainly appear. The priests of the order of
Aaron were subject to certain laws which were peculiar to that
order. It was necessary that they should be of the line of Aaron,
therefore, he was their father. There was a law with regard to
the marriage of the priests, which was, in effect, a law with re-
gard to their mothers, and their descent. The priests had the
beginning of their official days at thirty years of age, and the end
of their official life at fifty. All this was peculiar to the order of
Aaron ; but Melchisedec was not subject to such laws. He did
not receire his priesthood, or transmit it like the sons of Aaron ;
but appears a priest continually, without any record of the com-
mencement or termination of his office, or any law with regard to
the one or the other ; and he is, therefore, a lively type of Him
who continueth a priest for ever, not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
I hope this will not appear an idle digression, when it is con-
sidered that the church of Rome rests almost the whole weight of
her mass sacrifice, so far as regards scripture authority; upon the
recorded fact of Melchisedec having been a priest ; of Christ be-
ing declared a priest of this order ; and the assumption, that
Melchisedec made a sacrifice of bread and wine when he met
Abraham comitig from the slaughter of the kings. It is argued
that if Christ be not offering himself daily, under the forms of
bread and wine, he cannot be a priest of the order of Melchise-
dec ; and therefore the sacrifice of the mass is a necessary part of
the work of Christ as a priest of this order.
The argument, if it can be called an argument, is founded on
the words in Genesis xiv. 18, " And Melchisedec, King of Salem,
orought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most
high God." Plain common sense can see no more here than
that this venerable priest, knowing that Abraham and his ser-
109
vants, who had heen engaged in a very arduous work, were pro-
bably both hungry and thirsty, brought out refreshments to
them, and blessed him who was their leader, knowing, no doubt,
that he had been favoured by God by a revelation from Him,
and a promise that the Messiah should come of his seed. From
the context we learn that Abraham, on the other hand, was ap-
prised of the office and dignity of him who honoured him with
the interview ; and he gave him the tithe, or tenth of the spoils
which he had taken, which seems to have been understood as
the proportion which God, by some intimation of his will, re-
quired to be devoted to his service; as we find afterwards, that
Jacob, on making a vow to God, Gen. xxviii. 22, promised that
of all that he should give him, he would give the tenth to Him in re-
turn, which was probably founded upon some known law, or ap-
proved practice among the worshippers of God in those days.
Overlooking the true meaning of the passage, the church of
Rome fixes her eyes upon the words relating to Melchisedec,
" He brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest, (or
as the Douay Bible has it, for he was the priest) of the Most
High God, " they argue as if, being a priest, he could have
nothing to do with bread and wine, but to make a sacrifice of them ;
and they infer from this, that Christ, being a priest of his order,
must continue for ever to offer sacrifice as he did.
Now I think any person who will be at the pains to read the
whole passage, will see that there is not a word of sacrifice in it ;
and the fact of Melchisedec being called a priest does not neces-
sarily infer that he made a sacrifice ; for he exercised the priestly
function in " blessing him that had the promises ;" and this circum-
stance is enough to account for the inspired historian's being so par-
ticular, as to give him his designation of priest of the Most High
God. But supposing that Melchisedec did make a sacrifice of
his bread and wine, what is it to the purpose ? It could not be a
true figure of the sacrifice of the mass with which Papists compare
it ; for, according to their own doctrine, Christ never offered
bread and wine in sacrifice to God ; and the priests at this day
do not offer bread and wine, but the real body and blood of
Christ. This could have no resemblance in the bread and wine
of Melchisedec, for it does not appear that either he or Abraham
took them for any thing but bread and wine.
" Wherever," says Mr. Payne, late Prebendary of Westmin-
ster, " they meet with bread and wine, which are things of great
antiquity, they resolve to make a sacrifice of them ; especially if
there be but a priest by, who has the power of consecrating ; for
they suppose he must presently fall to his office, and put on his
habit, if bread and wine be before him ; and that he cannot like
\>ther men, eat and drink them as his ordinary food, or entertain
no
his friends and others with them, except he not only religiously
bless them by prayer and thanksgiving, which every good
man ought to do, and it was the custom even of the heathens to
do this before they did eat, but they must sacrifice and offer them
up to God. This they will needs have Melchisedec to do in the
:;iv of Genesis, verse 18th. What is there here to shew that
Melchisedec oHered bread to God? the very word, in their own
vulgar Latin, answering to the Hebrew, is protulit, he brought
forth, not obtulit, he offered; and were it the latter, could not he
offer bread and wine to Abraham and his company upon a table,
but must it necessarily be to God upon an altar." " Bellarmine,
indeed, as if he had been by at the entertainment, and had been
one of Abraham's soldiers, tells us, they had eaten and drank
very well before, and, therefore, desires Melchisedec to excuse them,
for they had no need of his bread and wine at that time. Bellarm.
deMiss. 1. I.e. 6." " Why Bellarmine should cite any farther for
his opinion, I cannot imagine, since the oldest of them are so
much later, I suppose, and at so great a distance, from the time
of Melchisedec, that they could know no more what Melchisedec
did at that time than we can now, and they are very improper
witnesses of a matter of fact that was so long ago, which nothing
but the scripture history can give us any account of." Discourse
concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass, page 60. That such a
great author as Bellarmine should be reduced to the necessity of
using such a contemptible argument, in support of the mass sacri-
fice, shews, pretty clearly, that no good argument was to be found
in the Bible.
Bishop Hay, in his Sincere Christian Instructed, seems to think
that he has a strong argument for the sacrifice of the mass, in these
words of God to the Jewish priests by the Prophet Malachi : —
" I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will
not receive a gift at your hand; for, from the rising of the sun
even to his going down, my name is great among the Gentiles ;
and in every place there is a sacrifice, and there is offered to my
name a clean offering ; for my name is great among the Gentiles,
saith the Lord of hosts. Mai. i. 10. " In this glorious prophecy,"
says the Bishop, " three things are to be remarked, (1.) That
the sacrifices of the Jews were rejected, — ' I will not receive a gilt
at your hand.' (2.) That in their place a pure offering was to be
instituted; and (3.) that this clean offering and sacrifice should
be offered among the Gentiles in every place, from the rising of
the sun to the going down of the same, throughout the whole
world. All which points to us the holy and pure sacrifice of the
mass in the strongest light.''
This argument of the grave prelate proves nothing but that
what was very weak in itself appeared in a strong light to him.
Ill
There were many reasons why God should reject the sacrifices of
the carnal Jews. They offered the blind and the lame, which
would not have been accepted by their governors ; but the grand
defect in their offerings was, that they had lost sight of their spiri-
tual meaning and design ; and supposing the mass sacrifice to be
a divinely appointed one, which it is not, I am afraid there will
be found many reasons why it should be rejected as well as the
sacrifices of the Jews, especially as it diverts the mind from the
only sacrifice for sin with which God is well pleased.
The language of Old Testament prophecy, and sometimes of
the New also, was formed upon Old Testament manners, customs,
and rites. Priests and sacrifices were associated with religious
worship, in the mind of every Jew, insomuch that he had no idea
of worship without them. Hence it became customary to speak
of spiritual worship in the language of ritual worship; and the
words incense, offering, and sacrifice, came to be used to express
praises, prayers, and thanksgivings, although unaccompanied by
the offering of any victim, or the observance of any external rite.
In some cases, indeed, the literal and the figurative language are used
in the same sentence; for instance, in the xiv of Hosea, verse 2.
" Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ; so shall we
render the calves of our lips ;" the sacrifices are called the calves,
because calves were victims usually offered in sacrifices ; and by
the sacrifices of the lips, we are to understand as the Apostle
tells us, Heb. xiii. 15, praise to God continually, giving thanks to
his name. The prophecy of Malachi, therefore, predicts, not
the continuance among the Gentiles, of such sacrifices as those
which were offered by the Jews, but the prevalence of spiritual
worship, by a holy people, among the Gentiles, taken out from
the world, or separated from it, formed by God for himself,
to shew forth his praise. This is accomplished wherever the
Holy Spirit makes the reading or the preaching of the word effec-
tual for the conversion of sinners. Those who are converted are
declared by the Apostle Peter to be " an holy priesthood, to of-
fer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,"
and he tells us immediately what these sacrifices are, and what
is the character of the priests who offer them. " Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you
out of darkness into his marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. Such
are the sacrifices, and such are the priests who offer them,
in the New Testament church. The sacrifices are called incense
and a pure offering, because they are acceptable, and pleasing to
God, when presented in the name of Christ, by persons who be-
lieve in that blessed name, and whose hearts are purified through
the belief of the truth. The prayers and praises of such rise up
like incense, and the lifting up of their hands as the evening 6oc-
112
rifice. And every worshipper, that is, every believer in Christ, i<
himself a priest, because he is consecrated and devoted to the ser
vice of God, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
Bishop Hay seems to lay some stress on the expression " puro
offering," which he changes into clean offering, and which he con-
trasts under this character with the Jewish sacrifices, as if they had
all been dirty ones: and, indeed, such they were in a literal
sense ; for no priest could kill an animal, and separate the parts,
without contracting some defilement ; whereas it must be allow-
ed that a Popish priest may offer a wafer, and a cup of wine too,
without being under the necessity of afterwards washing his hands ;
but these ideas are childish and carnal ; and ought to have no
place in the mind of a person who wishes to understand the na-
ture of spiritual worship. The man who slew a bullock as a
sacrifice to God. understanding the meaning of what he did, and
believing in the promised Saviour, who was to give himself for
the sins of the world, offered a pure, or if you will, a clean offer-
ing, though his hands and his clothes were besmeared with the
blood of the animal ; whereas the clean offering of bread and wine,
or of the body and blood of Christ under the appearances of
bread and wine, which God hath not required, is an abomina-
tion in his sight.
There is nothing more common, even, in the New Testament,
than to speak of the duties of Christians under the name of sa-
crifices. " To do good and to communicate forget not, for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb. xiii. 16. And as the
believers in Philippi had been mindful of Paul in his affliction,
and had sent something repeatedly to relieve his necessities, he
speaks of what they had done to him as " an odour of a sweet
smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God." Phil. iv. 18.
This was the very thing of which Malachi had spoken ; it was in-
cense and a pure offering to God among the Gentiles.
I find I have made a nvstake in my last Number, page 1 00, which I
hasten to correct. By reading the first clause of Heb. x. v. 2, as an as-
sertion instead of a question, 1 have given an erroneous view of the Apos.
tie's argument. 1 represented him as saying, if legal sacrifices could have
taken away sin, they would not have ceased to be offered, that is, they
would not have been superseded by another and a better one, because
they would, themselves, have effected the purpose of an atoning sacrifice,
on behalf of those who were interested in them. But the Apostle's mean-
ing is, that if such sacrifices could have taken away sin, they would hare
reused to be offered ; they would not have been repeated on behalf of the
game persons ; for the worshippers once purged, would have had no more
conscience of sins. This makes the argument against the repetition of Christ
sacrifice much stronger than I represented it. It is not a sufficient apo-
logy for such a mistake, but I mention it as a fact, that my last Number
was written amidst innumerable interruptions; and I had not much time
lor revision.
THK
%frvott$Unt
No. LXV.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9th, 1819.
When Melchisedec brought forth bread and wine to refresh
Abraham and his troops, he gave an example of hospitality wor-
thy of one who was a king as well as a priest. The example
was honourable to him who gave it, and to him who received the
benefit ; and this is all that we are taught by the narrative of the
inspired historian, so far as relates to the bread and wine which
were presented on the occasion. But unless we allow that Mel-
chisedec made a sacrifice of his bread and wine, and a propitia-
tory sacrifice too, we can find nothing in the circumstance which
in the least resembles the sacrifice of the mass ; and though the
action of Melchisedec had been that of a sacrifice, as he offered
nothing but bread and wine, and not the real body and blood of
Christ, under the forms of bread and wine, it would be no exam-
ple to the Popish priests of the present day, who do not profess
to make a sacrifice of the elements, but of the real body and blood
of the Saviour.
All Popish writers of any note, for three or four centuries,
have laboured hard to press Melchisedec into the service of their
church, and to make his hospitality an act of sacrifice ; but they
find that this alone will not serve their purpose : they must have
the priesthood of Christ, which is declared to be after the order
of Melchisedec, to consist principally, if not entirely, in the con-
tinual offering of himself, by the hands of his priests, under the
forms of bread and wine ; and without this they say, he cannot be
a priest for ever of the order of Melchisedec. The holy doctors
of Rheims, in their annotation on Heb. vii. 17. endeavour to
Vol. II. P
114
establish this point, upon the authority of ancient fathers, and hav-
ing lost their temper, they fall a cursing, and say, in relation to
such authority, " If nothing will serve our adversaries, Christ
Jesus confound them / and defend his eternal priesthood, and
state of his New Testament established in the same."
There is nothing more common than for persons who have lost
temper, to shew that they have lost reason too. In their sim-
plicity, the grave doctors, in a note upon another passage of the
same Epistle, let out the secret, that the Apostle did not teach
the doctrine of the mass sacrifice, or any thing like it, but that it
was one of those things which he could not inculcate, on account
of the people's want of capacity to learn. I will give their own
translation, and their note upon it, Heb. v. 8 — 11. " And tru-
ly whereas he was a Son, he learned by those things which he
suffered, obedience : and being consummate, was made to all that
obey him cause of eternal salvation, called of God a high priest
according to the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have great
speech and inexplicable to utter : because you are become weak
to hear." Annotation, " Inexplicable. ] Intending to treat more
largely and particularly of Christ's or Melchisedec's priesthood,
he forewarneth them that the mystery thereof is far passing their
capacity, and that through their feebleness in faith, and weakness
of understanding, he is forced to omit divers deep points concern-
ing the priesthood of the new law. Among which (no doubt)
the mystery of the sacrament and sacrifice of the altar, called
Mass, was a principal and pertinent matter: which the apostles
and fathers of the primitive church used not to treat of so largely
and particularly in their writings, which might come to the hands
of the unfaithful, who of all things took soonest scandal of the
blessed sacrament, as we see, John vi. He spake to the
Hebrews (saith S. Hierom ep. 126) that is, to the Jews, and
not to the faithful men to whom he might have been bold to utter
the sacrament. And indeed it was not reasonable to talk much
to them of that sacrifice which was the resemblance of Christ's
death, when they thought not right of Christ's death itself. Much
the Apostle's wisdom and silence our adversaries wickedly abuse
against the holy Mass."
As I am one of those adversaries, whom nothing that the
church of Rome has yet advanced in defence of her mass sa-
crifice will satisfy, I suppose I must be classed with those whom
the reverend fathers call upon Christ Jesus to confound.
Hut big words are not always great arguments ; and without the
least fear or dread of their great anathema, I maintain that the
Church of Rome has not produced the authority of any one of
(.tie ancient fathers in support of her mass sacrifice, as it is defin-
ed by the Council of Trent, and taught in her catechisms. It
115
the fathers had been such children as to believe and teach (lie
doctrine of the mass, I would not give a farthing for their autho-
rity ; and indeed, great men though some of them were, I attach
no importance to their writings, further than as they bear witness
to matters of fact which came within their own knowledge, and
as affording specimens of the literature of their times. In matters
of Christian doctrine, which are contained in the Bible, they had
not better access to know the truth than we have, and few of them
such good opportunities as we possess, with the entire volume 01
inspiration in our hands, and liberty to study it night and day il
we please.
But in point of fact, I have seen nothing quoted from any 01
the ancient fathers which gives the least countenance to the Po-
pish doctrine of the mass. It is true, some of them use very im-
proper and unscriptural language with regard to the Lord's sup-
per, such, for instance, as, " This tremendous sacrament." " A
host or sacrifice that cannot be consumed." " An host which
being taken away there would be no religion." " A perpetual obla-
tion and a redemption that runneth or continueth everlastingly."
(Chrysostom, Cyprian, and others, as quoted by the Ithemish doc-
tors, on Heb. vii. 17. and other annotations on this Epistle.)
Such expressions prove nothing more than that such authors had
an erroneous view of the subject, and an absurd and fanciful way
of speaking of it : but there is not the least hint of their having
believed the bread and wine in the eucharist, as the Lord's supper
was called, to be converted into the real body and blood of Christ,
and as such, offered to God as a propitiatory sacrifice for the
living and the dead.
Besides, we ought to be very cautious in receiving any thing
which Papists profess to give as the sentiments, or even the
words of the ancient fathers. We have in Glasgow a man
who professess to know something of literature, who subscribes
himself Amicus Vkritatis, that is, a friend of the truth, and
who follows one of the learned professions, who had the effronte-
ry to give to the Glasgow public what he called an extract from
the works of Luther, in which he broke off in the middle of a
sentence, and substituted a period for a comma ; by which means
he made Luther speak very differently from what he intended :
of which see an exposure in my second Number. This writer
had the still greater effrontery to refer me to the volume and folio
of Luther's works, in the library of the Glasgow University, and
to challenge me to go and see if Luther did not teach the law-
fulness of adultery. I did go, and I found that the pretended
friend of truth was a publisher of falsehood ; for Luther's words,
given entire, bear no such meaning.
Now, if such a circumstance couJd happen in the nineteenth
century, in the enlightened city of Glasgow, what may not have
happened in the comparative darkness of the sixteenth century,
116
and in places where few could read ? In point of fact there hap-
pened innumerable instances of forgery and imposition at an ear-
lier period than this, of which I have in my possession a numer-
ous catalogue, in a volume entitled " Roman Forgeries.' * Works
were ascribed to certain fathers, and some even to apostles,
which such apostles and fathers never saw or heard of; and the
works of the fathers which are allowed to be genuine, have been
so garbled, as in many instances to conceal their real meaning ; of
which take the following account from a lively and interesting
pamphlet by the Rev. Mr. Carlile of Dublin.
Speaking of the authority which the Church of Rome exer-
cises, he says, — " They exercise a singular authority over the
writings of the fathers. They have carefully examined them, and
made out a list of passages that are to be expunged as erroneous,
which they call the Index Expur gator ius. They prohibit the pub-
lication of these passages ; and when they get copies of the fathers
within their reach, they correct them as they call it, according to
the Index. If any one wishes to see an instance of this with his
own eyes, let him examine the copy of the edition of St. Hierom's
works, published by Erasmus, in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin. He will see on the title pages of the different volumes,
a certificate, signed in the name of the Inquisitor General, who
derives his authority from the Pope, stating that the volume had
been examined and corrected according to the Index Expurgato-
rius ; and, on turning over the leaves of the book, he will find
passages carefully blotted out with ink. He will also observe,
that wherever the name of Erasmus occurs, he is styled a damn-
ed author, " auctor damnatus ;" and the reason of this title is
stated to be his editing the book without purgation. There is a
kind of melancholy pleasure in seeing the hand-writing of an In-
quisitor in the execution of his office, when one is out of his
reach — a similar pleasure to what one feels on seeing a tyger in
his cage."
I have not quoted Mr. Carlile as an authority for the existence
of the Index Expurgatorius, for this is known to every man who
has read what is called church history ; but for the information
which he gives of an example of the manner in which books are
garbled according to the Index, of which he was an eye-witness,
and which may be seen by any person who will visit the library of Tri-
nity College, Dublin. Now, it is very evident that no credit is due
to what Popish writers are pleased to give as the words of the fa-
thers; for their works are mutilated by authority, so as not to
speak what they did speak. If one of them, for instance, shoul li
have colled the Lord's supper a sacrifice and have added that he
• See a very copious list of Romish, as well as heathen literary forgeries,
m ^liss' Pocket Magaaine for last month, page I 14.
117
meant it only eucharistically and spiritually, and not as propitia-
tory ; then, according to the rules of the Index, the last clause
would be expunged, as not according to the faith of the church ;
and so, by suppressing the author's explanation of his meaning,
they make him speak what he did not mean.
The clergy of the Church of Rome were in possession of al-
most all the literature in Europe for several centuries. They
alone had access to the wiitings of the fathers ; and, in taking
copies of them, before the art of printing was invented, it was
easy for them to make such additions and omissions as would re-
present the fathers as speaking whatever they pleased. Or, sup-
posing that the monks and priests of the dark ages were men
who had some conscience, and would not be guilty of such im-
position, we know what villany was practised in a more enlight-
ened age; when, after the invention of printing, the Church of
Rome was publicly and avowedly guilty of the very imposition
above mentioned. By her Index Expurgatorius she makes the
fathers teach what she pleases, though it should be the very op-
posite of what they actually did teach ; and when an honest man
like Erasmus, (honest in this point I mean), takes upon him
to publish the genuine works of the fathers, without interpolation
or omission, they call him a " damned author."
Without ceremony, therefore, I dismiss the fathers and their
opinions, as adduced by the Rhemish translators and other Popish
authors, as of no weight whatever with regard to the point in hand;
and I shall now take up the argument of the Rhemish doctors, in
support of the mass, which they affect to find in the vth of He-
brews, v. 8 — 1 1 above quoted.
They find out that the mass " was a principal and pertinent
matter" among those things which the Apostle did not think pro-
per to make known to the Hebrew believers. That he did not
teach any such thing is certain; and that he had such a thing among
many things which were hard to be uttered, and which he forebore
teaching, remains to be proved. If the mass sacrifice were, as
Papists represent it, the principal part of Christian worship; if it
were, as they say, that essential and solemn rite, without which
there is no Christianity, it would seem very strange that the
Apostle should be silent on the subject. He must have, in that
case, departed from his usual course of integrity and faithfulness.
To the Ephesian elders he could say, I have not shunned to de-
clare unto you the whole counsel of God ; and therefore, as he
says, he was pure from the blood of all men. Acts xx. 96, 27
But he did not declare the whole counsel of God to the Hebrews;
he was not pure from their blood, if he allowed them to remain
ignorant of the propitiatory sacrifice of the mass, and to die with-
out the benefit of it : nay, if the mass sacrifice be of the counsel of
God, and of such importance as the church of Rome says it is, then
118
the Apostle must have l>een guilty of the blood of those who died
ignorant of it. But I hope every Christian will pronounce a ver-
dict of not guilty, in favour of the Apostle, till it be proved that
he received a command from Christ to teach the doctrine of the
mass.
But it will perhaps be objected, that the Apostle did keep back
something which he would have told the Hebrews had they been
able to understand it ; to which I reply, that no such thing ap-
pears from his own words. Concerning Melchisedec and his
priesthood, as typical of that of Christ, he had much to say, not
inexplicable, as the Rhemists make it, not a thing in itself un-
intelligible ; but a thing difficult to be explained to persons whose
minds were so imbued with Jewish prejudices as to give tardy
and hesitating admittance to evangelical truths. There are many
truths which appear to a mathematician as certain and evident as
that two and three make five, which he would find it difficult, and
even impossible, to bring down to the understanding of a person
who had not studied mathematics. Though the Apostle's own
mind was perfectly clear upon the subject of Christ's priesthood, and
the termination of that of Aaron, he found it hard to bring the
subject down to the understanding of persons who were still wishing
to cling to the priesthood of Aaron, and other Jewish institutions.
Notwithstanding, however, the dulness of their apprehension, the
Apostle proposes nothing less than to lead them on to perfection ;
and he does tell them all that he had to say about Melchisedec and
his priesthood, in the seventh chapter of his epistle. It is there-
fore unjust and injurious to the memory of the Apostle to say,
that he kept any thing back that he was commissioned and in-
spired to teach.
But this is not all, — the Rhemish doctors represent the holy
and faithful Apostle as a time-server and a Jesuit; as teaching
what was agreeable to the people, and keeping back what he suppos-
ed would be disagreeable and unpopular. The apostles and fathers
of the primitive church, they say, " used not to treat so largely
and particularly (of the mass) in their writings, which might come
to the hands of the unfaithful, who of all things took soonest
scandal of the blessed sacrament, as we see, John vi." The pas-
sage in John vi. does not refer to the sacrament at all, as any one
may see who will read it ; but supposing the mass to have been a
doctrine which the Apostle was commissioned to teach, the cir-
cumstance of its being the soonest to excite scandal, so far from
inducing him to keep it back, would only have led him to give it
a more prominent place in his ministrations. He knew that the
doctrine of Christ crucified was the most scandalous thing in
Christianity. It was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolish-
ness to the Gentiles; but instead of keeping it back on that ac-
count, he declared that he would know nothing else — he would
119
make it the sum and substance of all his discourses to both Gen«
tiles and Jews. So he did : and had the mass been a part of
Christianity, the more it was contemned by the world, the more
zealously he would have maintained it. It is said, indeed, that
some Jesuits in China, and other heathen countries, conceal those
parts of Christianity that are likely to be offensive to those whom
they wish to convert ; but the apostolical character was not form-
ed upon the model of Jesuitism.
The Rhemish doctors seem to take it for granted, that the
apostles were such men as themselves. They did not, they say,
treat largely and particularly of the mass sacrifice, lest their writ-
ings should come into the " hands of the unfaithful." Here it
is insinuated, that they had something to conceal from adversaries ;
something that would not bear the light. Now, though this may
be true of the sacrifice of the mass, it is most untrue of any thing
that apostles preached and wrote. They had nothing to conceal.
What Christ had told them in private, he commanded them to
publish upon the house tops. The apostles addressed them-
selves to adversaries. They demanded their attention, and in-
vited them to scrutinize in the strictest manner, all that they
spake and wrote. Had the mass, therefore, been a part of what
they were commanded to teach, they would not have attempted
to conceal it from adversaries. It is this smuggling, this attempt at
concealment, that has given infidel writers such a footing in coun-
tries called Christian. It is the boast of such writers that Chris-
tianity cannot bear the light ; that therefore it is an imposition ;
and those who see Christianity only in the light of Popery can
scarcely come to any other conclusion. Thus the church of
Rome has added to all her other guilt that of the infidelity which
her impieties and absurdities have produced. Infidels are with-
out excuse, because they ought to view Christianity as it is laid
down in the word of God ; but the church of Rome has done
what she could to keep this from them.
Our grave doctors of Rheims next introduce St. Hierom talk-
ing as great nonsense as themselves. The Apostle, says he,
" spake to the Hebrews, that is, to the Jews, and not to the
faithful men to whom he might have been bold to utter the sa-
crament." The Apostle was indeed speaking to Jews, — -to Jews
who laboured under many mistakes, and who were very dull of
apprehension with regard to many things ; but who were, upon
the whole, not enemies, but friends — real believers in Christ, con-
cerning whom he says, " God is not unrighteous to forget" your
work and labour of love, which you have shewn to his name."
chap. vi. 10. Again, " ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods,
knowing that ye have in heaven a better, and an enduring sub-
stance." chap. x. 34. This is not such a speech as an apostle
wonld have made to adversaries of the gospel ; it was an uldress
120
to friends, to whom he might, in the fullest confidence, h;ive open-
ed up all the mysteries of the mass, had there been any such mys-
teries in his time ; he might have been as bold as he pleased up-
on this subject ; for he was speaking to faithful men, to whom
he says many bold things, and things likely to have been more
offensive than the doctrine of the mass, had he been authorised
to teach such a doctrine.
" And indeed," say the Rhemish doctors, " it was not reasona-
ble to talk much to them of that sacrifice which was the resemblance
of Christ's death, when they thought not rightly of Christ's death
itself." They proceed upon the notion that the Epistle to the
Hebrews was addressed to the unbelieving Jews, who were avow-
ed enemies of Christ and his gospel ; but this was not the case,
as any man may see who reads the epistle itself. The Apostle
addresses the Hebrews as brethren in the faith of the gospel, not-
withstanding their mistakes and imperfections. Indeed there are
none of the apostolic epistles addressed to persons of an opposite
character. The apostles preached the gospel to sinners of every
description, in order that sinners, believing, might be saved ; but
all their letters are addressed to Christians — to individuals or
churches who made a profession of the faith ; and who were not
therefore understood to be adversaries, to whom it would have
been improper or unsafe to intrust any matter of divine revelation,
or inculcate any Christian doctrine. It follows, therefore, inevita-
bly, that as the apostles did not inculcate the doctrine of the
mass sacrifice, they had received no such doctrine from Christ ;
and it must be regarded, as it really is, an impious, human, or
perhaps rather diabolical invention.
Protestants are accused of wickedly abusing the Apostle's wis-
dom and silence against the holy mass. It would be well if Pa-
pists could find no greater wickedness in Protestants than their
not believing what apostles did not teach. On the subject of
the mass, it seems by the Rhemish doctors' own account, it was
the Apostle's wisdom to be silent. Then, one would think, if
modern Papists had any wisdom, they would follow his example.
The apostles and fathers, they say, did not treat largely on this
subject in their writings, lest those should come into the hands
of the unfaithful. Why then do Popish writers treat so largely
of the mass sacrifice, and make it the principal part of the Chris*
tian religion? Their works are in as much danger of coming into
the hands of the unfaithful as the writings of apostles were
The truth is, there is no such doctrine in the Bible, and the holy
Fathers of Rbeima confess as much, when they admit that the
ltpostle8 were silent upon it.
THE
Protectant,
No. LXVI.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10///, is 19.
Among the numerous errors connected with the doctrine of tht.
mass, there is one which deserves to he exposed by itself. It
is that which represents the Romish priests not only as sacri
ficers, but also as mediators between God and man. The one
character might, indeed, be considered as implied in the other,
when it is understood that they profess to offer a real propitiatory
sacrifice for sins. But they do not leave it to be implied and
inferred. They plainly and unequivocally profess to be medi-
ators between God and the people. For this we have the autho-
rity of the work entitled " Holy Altar and Sacrifice explained," by
*' Father Pacificus Baker, of the order of St. Francis," which
is the most full and particular treatise on the subject of the mass
that has come in my way. It is in the form of a dialogue be-
tween a teacher and a learner. The teacher having described the
use and meaning of the holy vestments, such as the albe, the
girdle, the stole, the maniple, and the chasuble, the learner is
introduced as saying, " What you have said is extremely
entertaining and instructive ; will you add a word or two
concerning the priestly function, and of the respect due to
priests ? for certainly as they are ministers of God, and mediators
between him and his people, a proper respect and reverence is
due to them from those, in whose regard they are thus conse-
crated ministers of God." This shows, no doubt, a very amiable
and teachable disposition on the part of the young disciple, and
a willingness to be initiated into all the duties and reverences
which he ought to pay to his ghostly fathers ; and the ghostly
lather of a teacher does instruct and encourage him as follows : —
a
J 22
" You say very right : their function being to offer up sacri-
fices, as all ages and laws declare. There were priests set apart
in the law of nature, as well as in the Mosaic institute, whose
peculiar business was to offer sacrifices for themselves and others.
In the new law, priests are ordained to offer up the great sacrifice
of the mass : for this they are consecrated, and, in their ordina-
tion, the bishop says to them, ' Receive power of offering sacrifice
in the church, for the living and the dead.' Consequently to
this, there is most certainly a due reverence to be paid to them ;
as, first, on account of their dignity, being God's vicars on
earth, his ministers to instruct, direct, and feed his people, as
so many sheep committed to their care. Hence, St. Austin says,
' There is no greater dignity under heaven, than that of God's
priests, consecrated to deliver the heavenly sacraments to us.'
Secondly, for their utility, and the benefits we receive by them in
their preaching, instruction, and administering the holy sacra-
ments. Thirdly, as they are mediators between God and us,
their business being to pray and intercede in behalf of the people,
according to what God said to Moses and Aaron, speaking of
the priests : ' They shall invocate my name upon the children of
Israel ; and I, the Lord, will bless them.' Numb. vi. Lastly,
in respect of the power given to them by God, to bind and loose
on earth ; to forgive sins, in the sacrament of penance, and to
consecrate the sacred body and blood of Christ in the holy eucha-
rist. Let me add the words of St. Chrysostome : ' What can
be said but that all power of heavenly things is granted to them
by God ; for he says, ' Whose sins ye retain, they are retained.
St. John xx. What power can be greater than this? The
Father gave all power to the Son, and I see this power given to
priests by God the Son. St. Bernard admires it, saying, ' O
excellent, and honourable power of priests, to which nothing in
heaven, nothing on earth, can be compared.' Hence the ad-
monition of St. Francis, to reverence and honour priests ; be-
cause, says he, ' They administer the most holy body and blood
of Christ, which they alone consecrate, receive, and give to
others."
The honours thus conferred upon priests will, I believe, be
allowed to be sufficiently extravagant ; and it must not be for-
gotten, that all these high things are said of them by persons who
are priests themselves, and who have, therefore, an interest in
maintaining the dignity of their order. It is here intimated, that
the same power which God the Father gave to the Son, the Son
has given to the priests ; and this will, of course, bring them into
the station which they assume, that of being mediators between
God and man. I am aware that the third article, in the ahove
extract, taken by itself, might be explained as limiting the mean-
123
ing of the word to persons who merely pray and intercede
for the people ; but when the words are taken in connection with
the other characters given of the priests, as God's vicars on
earth, as consecrated to offer propitiatory sacrifices, and having
all power in heavenly things granted to them, it is evident that
the author means to represent them as mediators, in a much
higher sense of the word.
Now, this is one of the greatest instances of impiety and pre-
sumption that perhaps ever entered into the mind of man. We
are told, in the New Testament, that there is one God, and one
Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim.
ii. 5. And the language of the Apostle points out as plainly
the one Mediator to the exclusion of all others, as it points out
one God to the exclusion of all others. To suppose, therefore,
that there are many mediators is as impious as to suppose that
there are many Gods. And to be sure, as the Church of Rome
has set up gods and goddesses without number, under the de-
signation of saints and saintesses> she may be allowed to mul-
tiply mediators, in proportion to the number of the objects of her
worship.
He that is a mediator between God and man must stand upon
a footing of perfect friendship with God — must never have
offended him ; else, instead of being a mediator for others, he
would require a mediator for himself; and he must be one of
infinite dignity and worth, that, in consideration of his obedience
and suffering for sin, God will grant pardon to the sinner. —
Christ stands upon this footing ; and he only is qualified to act
the part of a Mediator ; but as for the Romish priests, who are
they? To say the very best that can be said, they are sinners,
like other men ; and to say the truth, many of them are greater
sinners than others. I could give such an account of them, by
writers of their own communion, as would shock every reader ;
and are these fit to be mediators between a holy God and his
sinful creatures? The idea cannot be, for a moment, entertained
by any person who knows what sin is, and what holiness is. The
Reverend Father Baker himself admits the fact, that some, at
least, of his mediators are of the character here mentioned ; for
after uttering a prayer, at least an earnest wish, " that all who
are called to this high and sacred dignity, would endeavour
to adorn their sublime character by suitable, holy, regular, and
exemplary lives; to instruct and incite others to piety and holi-
ness of life, by example as well as by preaching ; that the sacred
function may not be brought into contempt, and made a ridicule,
on account of disedifying and irregular behaviour ;" he imme-
diately adds, " May God, of his mercy, remove this evil from
the sanctuary." The matter of the prayer is good ; but it pro-
m
ceeds up. mi tlic fact that such an evil did exist, and was suffered
in the church ; as is evident indeed from all history; and the
Church of Rome actually tolerates and makes herself responsible
for the evil, by maintaining that the ministry of the most wicked
priests is a good ministry ; that the sacrifice of the mass offered
by them is a good and propitiatory sacrifice ; that, in short, they
are mediators between God and men, as if they were perfectly
holy and without sin. This certainly is calculated to bring re-
ligion into contempt; to give a false view of the character of
God, with whom such men are said to mediate, as if he were
such a one as themselves, and would treat with the vilest of the
human race. Such a misrepresentation of the divine character
is calculated to lead to infidelity, and even to atheism itself.
But, though all the Romish priests were as holy men as Noah,
Daniel, and Job, they could not be mediators between God and
man. This honour is reserved for Christ alone ; and the fact of
the priests arrogating it to themselves is one, among a hundred
evidences, that they put themselves in the place of the Saviour of
the world.
It is no doubt a matter of great importance to the Romish
priests to get themselves acknowledged as mediators with God, on
behalf of their fellow creatures; for this flatters their pride, and
fills the minds of those who confide in them with the most awful
reverence of their sacred function, and leads their blinded fol-
lowers to yield them implicit obedience. But the principal value
of the mass sacrifice consists in the great sums of money which
it brings into the coffers of the church. A writer, whom I quoted
in my introduction to this subject, justly remarks, that the re-
venue arising from the mass alone, enables the church to keep
more priests in pay than any prince in Christendom can maintain
soldiers. Even in our own country, especially in Ireland, the
sums which are raised by Popish priests, from the poor people,
by means of the mass alone, are beyond all calculation.
A kind friend in Dublin has favoured me with copies of four
authentic documents, which exhibit, in a striking manner, the im-
positions which are practised upon the poor deluded people, by
the priests, by means of their masses, in order to extort money
from them. My correspondent, along with these documents,
writes as follows: — " A few evenings ago, I had occasion to call
upon the Rev. Mr. C , when, among other matters, The
Protestant became the subject of conversation. You are aware
of its having excited a considerable interest in this place ; and
that it is the wish of many, who rejoice to see the cause of
the Redeemer triumph over the man of sin, to hear of the pros-
perity, and continued usefulness of that publication. Mr. C.
mentioned having received, a few days since, four receipts,
125
granted by priests belonging to some of the chapels in town, to
individuals, for money paid by them for masses said in behalf of
the souls of their departed friends. These documents, he con-
ceived, might be of use to you, and as he knew I was occa-
sionally writing to my brother in Glasgow, requested me to in-
close a few lines to you, with copies of these documents. The
orioinal receipts I return to Mr. C. who authorises me to sav,
that they will be at your service at a moments notice, should ynu
at any time have occasion for them. I copy them precisely as
they are written, agreeably to their date3." — " It is difficult, even
in this country, to get possession of such strong proofs of the
dreadful depravity and wickedness of these blind leaders of the
Mind; for though we hear from undoubted authority, almost
every week, of immense sums being obtained in this way from
their deluded votaries; yet I believe they are exceedingly cautious
of giving any written acknowledgement for the amount to any
but those in whom they think they may, without danger, place
implicit confidence." The writer of the above, though a stran-
ger to me, is well known in this city ; and the reader may rely
upon the accuracy of his statement. The copies of receipts, with
which he has furnished me are as follow : —
" Oct. 17th, 1798. — An account of the Masses said for the
soul of the late Mrs. Monaghan : —
St. James' chapel, 50 Masses £2 H 2
Denmark St. chapel, 20 1 1 8
Stephen St. chapel, 20 1 1 8
Ash St. chapel, 20 1 1 8
110 Masses, 5 19 2
Received the above, in full, this 17th Oct. 1798.
M. M'Guire."
" Dublin, July 11th, 1809. — Received from Mrs. Mahon, two
pounds, three shillings and /our pence, for twenty Masses, offered
up by the Rev. Gentlemen of St. James' chapel, for the repose of
the soul of Mr. Timothy Mahon.
£2:3:4. Jas. Jos. Callan."
" 12th Oct. 1809. — Received from Mrs. Mahon, two pounds,
three and four pence, for twenty Masses, said by the Rev.
Gentlemen of St. James' chapel, for the soul of Mrs. Mary
Monaghan.
Jas. Jos. Callan."
" Dublin, Oct. 31st Received from Mrs. Mahon, three
pounds, eight and three pence, for sixty Masses, offered up in St
James' chapel, for the repose of the soul of Mrs. Monaghan.
£3:8: 3. Jas. Jos Callan."
126
These documents will show in what manner our poor deluded
fellow subjects in Ireland are cheated out of their money, by their
ghostly guides. The Apostle Peter, or St. Peter as they call
him, is one of the great idols of the Church of Rome ; but if their
practice be right, the Apostle was wrong, when he reproved
Simon Magus for supposing that the gift of God was to be pur-
chased with money. In the Church of Rome there is no gift
at all ; every thing is matter of purchase ; and nothing is to be
had without money. The gospel, indeed, declares pardon and
peace to the soul of every believer, as the free gift of God by
Jesus Christ ; but the Romish priests do most impudently place
themselves between God and men as mediators, and their media-
torship consists chiefly, if not entirely, in receiving money for that
which God has promised to bestow freely. Were the same thing
to take place in the affairs of this life ; — were a rich man, for in-
stance, to invite all the poor of his neighbourhood to come to
his hall, and receive a dinner every day for nothing; and were
his steward to admit none but those who paid him a price for
their dinner, would not all the world cry out against the ex-
tortion, injustice, and cruelty, of such a hard-hearted wretch, and
reckon that Botany Bay was too good for him ? Yet the case
which I have supposed is nothing, in point of cruelty and villany,
when compared with that of the Romish priests, who set a price
upon those spiritual blessings which the Almighty gives without
money and without price.
From the tenor of the above receipts it appears, that money
was demanded and paid for the purpose of procuring, by means
of a number of masses, repose to the souls of certain persons de-
ceased. Had these persons died in the faith of Christ, their souls
would have been at rest with him in heaven ; and to extort money
from their surviving relatives, for the purpose of procuring them
rest, was downright robbery. If tney did not die in the faith of
Christ, but in their sins, it was not in the power of all the priests
in Europe, although fee'd by all the wealth of the Indies, to pro-
cure one moment of rest to their souls ; and, therefore, on this sup-
position, as well as upon the other, to extort money from surviv-
ing friends for the purpose, was downright robbery. Our Glas-
gow Papists, and their ghostly guides, know better than I can
tell them, how much money is picked out of the pockets of the
poor every week, under the false pretext of procuring repose to
the souls of their deceased friends, by means of masses said in
their behalf, which are of no more value, and have no more virtue,
than the dust of their chapel would have, if offered as the price of
their salvation.
If the mass were really a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead as
well as the living, one would expect that one mass would be
127
tnough for one dead person. It would be unreasonable, and
even unjust, to exact more than that which made propitiation, or
atonement, for the sins of the individual in whose behalf it was
offered ; but, in the case of Mrs. Monaghan, above cited, we
find no fewer than one hundred and ten masses, said in different
chapels ; that is, one hundred and ten propitiatory sacrifices
offered up for the repose of the soul of one person ! What can
be the meaning of this ? Truly nothing less than that the priests
might receive 110 British shillings, each equal to thirteen
pence Irish, which, I suppose, is the lowest price of such mer-
chandise in Dublin. Mrs. Mahon seems to have paid twice as
much when she bespoke only twenty at a time, which would be
considered only a retail job ; but when she engaged the wholesale
number of sixty, she got them for the slump sum of £3 : 8 : 3d.
which is only a trifle more than a shilling a piece. Even this
would likely be considered a high price by such foreign merchants
as knew of a cheaper market ; and I have been informed that a
certain Irish gentleman, who had a correspondent in Lisbon, ap-
plied to him for a quantity of masses for the soul of a deceased
friend, and that he got them 50 per cent, cheaper than they could
be had in Dublin ; which, I suppose, was owing to the cheapness
of labour in Lisbon ; priests being there, as weavers are at pre-
sent in Scotland, too numerous to admit of their being paid a
comfortable price for their commodity.
The friends of Mrs. Monaghan seem to have sought for the
blessing of peace to her soul, upon the same principle as Balak,
king of Moab, sought for curses upon the children of Israel.
They made trial of four different places; being doubtful, I sup-
pose, that they would not find what they wanted, at any one place.
This is another of the cheats which the priests practise, in order
to rob the poor people of their money. They hold out the ac-
cumulated merit of a great many masses, said at many different
holy places ; but they take care never to tell how many will be
sufficient to relieve a soul. Like the grave and the horse leech,
they never have enough ; and their deluded adherents can nevei
be sure, that the object for which they have given so much money
is accomplished. If the soul of Mrs. Monaghan required 110
masses, how could Mrs. Mahon satisfy her conscience with no
more than twenty for her husband, or her son, Timothy? In
short there are no limits to the number of masses that a soul maj
require, but the limits of the purses of surviving friends; and no
man can be sure that he has obtained the relief of a soul from
purgatory, while he has a shilling left, and a priest to receive it.
In Popish countries, such as Spain, when a person is danger
ously ill, the priests and friars beset the house, like so many har-
pies, waiting till they know the event ; and if the person die
128
they assail the chief of the family, with petitions for saying masses
for the dead. If the family he rich, the custom is to distribute
among the convents and parishes, a thousand or more masses to
be said on the day of the burial. " When the Marquis of St.
Martin died," says Mr. Gavin, in his Master Key, " his lady dis-
tributed a hundred thousand masses, for which she paid five thou-
sand pounds sterling, besides a thousand masses which she set-
tled upon all the convents and parish churches, to be said every
year for ever, which amounts to a thousand pistoles a year."
But not satisfied with cheating the people out of their money,
the priests cheat them also out of the masses, which they have
bargained and paid for ; for it often happens that they receive
more money for masses in a day, than they can say in a month.
But they have recourse to a special privilege which the Pope has
granted, and which the priests and friars keep as a secret among
themselves. Mr. Gavin confesses that, while he was among them,
he never saw the privilege or bull to that effect, though he wish-
ed to see it ; but it was a thing secretly understood among his
brethren, that they had authority from the Pope to make one
mass serve for a hundred. This was called a centenaria missa ;
and the mass which was said in name of the hundred, was under-
stood to have as much efficacy as another one said a hundred
times. I have no doubt this was actually the case ; and the
Pope, by another act of his spiritual power, could easily make
one mass serve for a thousand. But it would not do to make
this public ; for the people give their money under a conviction,
that the masses which they pay for, are said in full tale, and to
undeceive them would have a deplorable effect upon the ghostly
exchequer.
By the author of the " Master Key" we are informed farther,
that the dealers in masses keep a sort of stock account, like that
which our dealers in foreign and British spirits keep with the
Excise Office, out of which, by means of a permit, a quantity
may be transferred from one person to another. " If somebody
dielh," saith Mr* Gavin, vol. l.page 136, " and the executors of
the testament go to a father prior, and beg of him to say a thou-
sand masses, he gives them a receipt, whereby the masses are said
already ; for he makes them believe that he has more masses said
already by his friars to his own intention ; and that, out of that
number, he applies a thousand for the soul of the dead person."
THE
Protestant,
No. LXVII.
SA1URDAY, OCTOBER 23d, 1819.
I have received, from some of my readers, pretty broad hints
that they are tired of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the
mass ; and I will not conceal from them the fact, that I am
tired of them too. There is so much of absurdity and impiety
involved in the doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome,
on these two points alone, that there is no more necessary than
a small portion of common sense, and knowledge of the Bible,
to convince any one who turns his attention to it, that the whole
system is antichrist ian, and no better than mere heathenism.
This appears so plainly to my intelligent readers, that they can
scarcely perceive the necessity or propriety of such lengthy dis-
sertations as I have written on these subjects ; but I hope such
persons will consider the condition of many Papists who read my
papers, and of many Protestants, not so well informed as them-
selves, who need to be taught the very first principles of Christi-
anity, which are closely connected with the subject of my late
Numbers; and though there are many who know these things as
well or better than I can tell them, yet, for the sake of others,
who have not such knowledge, and who require line upon line,
and precept upon precept, they will bear with what 1 have writ-
ten, though it should seem to them more than enough, and
though I may have made many repetitions.
I have now done with the doctrinal errors of the mass ; but,
there are some things of a practical nature, which are worthy ol
beinor mentioned. These are things of which Protestants know
juit little, but with which Papists are perfectly acquainted. The
latter will, therefore, I hope, bear with me, while I give a detail
130
of some particulars, of which they do not need to be mtormed.
They cannot but consider this a very reasonable request, seeing
that, for their sakes, I have imposed upon my Protestant readers,
the task of perusing some long dry dissertations, which are no
better than what they hear from the pulpit every Sabbath day.
In my last Number, I alluded to the Reverend Father Baker's
explanation of the use and meaning of the sacred vestments,
which are used in the celebration of mass. I introduced a docile
young Papist, as acknowledging that this was " extremely enter-
taining and instructive." Now, I wish my Protestant readers to
know and understand what sort of things they are by which
Papists are entertained and instructed ; and, I am verily per-
suaded, I shall be told by not a few, that they never heard of
such things before.
Know then, that the vestments, or robes, with which the
priests adorn their persons, on saying mass, are of five different
colours, white, red, green, purple and black ; and these colours
are used on the following occasions : " White is used on all the
feasts of our blessed Lord, blessed lady, bishops, confessors,
confessors not bishops, abbots, virgins, and holy women, not
martyrs, on the feasts of dedication of churches, within the oc-
taves of festivals, when the mass is said of the octave, on all Sun-
days, from Easter inclusive, to Pentecost exclusive ; on Trinity
Sunday, and till the octave of Corpus Christi.
" Red is used on the vigil of Pentecost, and during the octave,
Trinity Sunday excepted. On the feasts of the holy cross, of
apostles and martyrs, and octave masses of the Holy Ghost.
" Green is used on all Sundays, from Trinity Sunday till Advent,
and on the Sundays after the octave of the Epiphany, when mass
is said of the Sunday : but, on Sundays within any octave, the
colour is of the respective octave. Green is also used on all
Ferias, or week days, unless within octaves or Sundays, from Sep-
tuagesimo till Thursday in holy week, and during Advent.
" Purple is used on all Sundays in Advent, and on all Sun-
days from Septuagesimo till Palm Sunday, inclusive ; as also
pn all Ferias during those times ; and on all vigils and lasting
days, when the mass is of them.
" Black is used on Good Friday, All Souls' day, and whi)e
the mass is said for the dead."
To all this, the pupil, whose name is Theotime, replies :
" Hitherto you have perfectly satisfied me ; tell me now how
many are the particular vestments the priest is clad with, how
they are called, and the signification of them?"
In reply, says the teacher, Theophilus, " speaking of those
which arc common to all priests, when they celebrate mass, there
are six: — 1. The Amice. 2. Albe. 3. Girdle. 4. Maniple
131
5. Stole- 6. Chasuble, which is usually called the vestment, at
beinw the chief and principal ; and is also styled the priests' vest-
ment, because none but priests use it. The amice is a piece of
linen cloth with two strings. The priest puts it over his shoul-
ders, on which account, St. Bonaventure, with the Greeks, call
it hummeale, a covering for the shoulders ; and is tied by the
two strings, round the middle of the priest's body. Its name,
amice, is from the Latin word amictus, or covered. Being clean
and white, signifies, according to Rebanus, the purity and clean-
ness of heart with which the priest ought to go to the holy altar;
and represents the linen with which the Jews blindfolded our
Saviour, saying, in derision, " Prophesy unto us, O Christ! who
it is that struck thee ?" St. Luke, chap, xxiii.
" The albs is a long white linen garment, representing the
white robe which, by Herod's command, was put upon our Sa-
viour, in mockery and derision. It is called aide, from alba,
which, in Latin, signifies white, or whiteness. Frequent men-
tion is made, in the Old Testament, of white linen garments made
for, and used by the Jewish priests. The use of the albe in the
Christian church, is as ancient as the Apostles' times. St. Je-
rome affirms, that St. James used linen vestments, when he cele-
brated mass. The whiteness of the aide signifies continency and
chastity ; and is a memento, to put the priest in mind of the
unspotted purity of life and manners he ought to be adorned with.
" The girdle, wove or made of lmen thread, is to tie the
albe about the priest's body, that it may hang with proper decency;
and represents the cords with which our blessed Lord was bound,
when seized on by the Jews ; and may not unfitly signify the
cords of love and duty with which all, especially priests, ought
to be close bound to the service of God.
" The maniple, which the priest puts on his left arm, repre-
sents likewise the cords or binding of our blessed Lord. 1 he
priest, before he puts it on, kisses the cross which is in the middle
of it, as offering himself to attend our Saviour in his passion,
with a will and desire to suffer with him.
" The stole, from the Latin word stola, is an ornament oi
dignity and power ; and, as such, it is taken, in the sacred text,
wherein it is said, that when Pharaoh would honour Joseph, he
put on him a stole ; and Mordecai was clothed with a stole for
his greater honour. The priest, when he exercises his functions,
puts on a stole, as representing his dignity, quality, and the power
of binding and loosing he hath received from Christ. It also
sianifies the cord wherewith the Jews dragged * our blessed Savi-
D _ DO
our to crucifixion.
* Christ was not dragged ,• he wont voluntarily to suffering and death ;
but it seems as if it were not possible for Papists to give a just Statement
of any Scripture fact or doctrine.
132
" The chasuble is the last vestment the priest uses, and is
put over all the rest, hanging down before and behind. It re-
presents the scarlet, or purple robe, put upon our Saviour by
the soldiers, in scorn and derision. Before, it has a pillar, repre-
senting the pillar to which Christ was tied, during his flagella-
tion. Behind, it has a cross, which signifies the cross which
our blessed Lord carried to mount Calvary. This vestment is
appropriated to priests alone, and is by them used only when
they say mass. The amice, the alba, and maniple, being made
use of by sub-deacons and deacons. These vestments, which
the ministers of the altar are vested with, when they go to cele-
brate and offer up the adorable sacrifice, are deservedly very
rich on great solemnities : but, at all times, ought to be whole,
clean, and decent. The priest thus vested, and going to mass,
represents the person of Jesus Christ going to his sacred passion.
The consideration of which ought to fill both priest and people
with sentiments of the profoundest respect and veneration to-
wards the sacred* mysteries which one is to celebrate, and the
other attend to," &c. &c.
If nobody else should thank me for this long extract, I am
surely entitled to the gratitude of those citizens of Glasgow, and
those strangers, who lounge away the Sabbath in the Popish
chapel, in Clyde-street. I have often heard of such persons
complaining that they could not understand the meaning of the
various pieces of gorgeous finery, with which the priests decorate
their great and sacred carcases. I advise all, who shall here-
after attend mass, in said chapel, to buy]this Number of The Pro-
testant, and take it with them, as they do the play-bill, when
they go to the theatre, that they may know the different pieces
as they come to be represented.
The reverend Franciscan divine, from whose work I have
quoted so largely, argues the propriety of using the above vest-
ments, from the fact of similar ornaments having been divinely
appointed to be worn by Aaron and his sons. " God himself,"
says he, " commanded Moses to make various kinds of garments
for Aaron, and the other inferior priests and Levites ; as the
ephod, rationale, tunic, linen garments, girdle, and mitre. Those
for the high-priest were to be exceeding rich and magnificent.
If this was done in the old law, for the greater splendour of those
legal sacrifices, wherein all those things were but types and
figures, with how much more reason ought the priests of the
new law to have vestments, or garments, suitable to their func-
tion and ministry, in offering up the true and real sacrifice or-
dained by Jesus Christ himself?"
The proper answer to this imposing question is that with
which an apostle hath furnished us, that such things, being weak
133
and unprofitable, were abolished at the coming of Christ.
They are, by this apostle, called weak and beggarly elements ;
he calls the persons foolish who sought to put themselves again
under the bondage of such things ; and, therefore, what sort 01
fools must they have been, in his esteem, who thought that the
New Testament worship, in which the believer is invited to
contemplate the fulfilment of legal types and shadows, should
retain such shadows and types with an increase of splendour ?
Upon the same principle, the whole system of Judaism ought to
be retained in the Christian church, and not only retained, but
greatly augmented in the number and variety of rites and cere-
monies. This, indeed, is what the Church of Rome professes
to do ; but, in doing so, she makes it manifest that she has de-
parted from the simplicity and spirituality of evangelical wor-
ship.
The Mosaic dispensation exhibits the church of God in a state
of nonage ; as a son under tutors and governors, until the time
appointed by the father. In this state, God thought proper
to appoint certain carnal things, as the means of giving know-
ledge of spiritual things — to instruct the children of Israel in the
spiritual and heavenly glory of Christ's priesthood, by the rich
attire, the breastplate, the mitre, and the urim and thummim
of the high priest ; but these things could be of no use after
Christ came, and had fulfilled all that was signified by them,
and had given his disciples more perfect knowledge of himself
directly, than they could possibly acquire through the medium of
such shadows. To a child at school, the horn-book, or A, B,
C, is a thing of great value ; but of what use is it when the
child has become a man, and a man of literature and science ?
According to the Popish mode of arguing, it would be of more
importance than ever. If it was thought necessary to give the
child a horn-book finely gilt, when he was a child, how much
more now, when he has become a learned man, ought we not to
give him a horn-book, adorned with gold and precious stones ?
This is precisely the argument which Papists use for imitating
and exceeding the splendour of Jewish worship.
Before I leave Father Pacificus Baker, 1 must point out
the gross imposition which he practises upon his readers,
when he represents the apostle James, as having used linen vest-
ments, when he celebrated mass. Whether St. Jerome said so,
or not, is of no importance ; for he lived so many ages after,
that he could know nothing, with certainty, of the Apostle's prac-
tice, but what he found in the New Testament, that is, no-
thing more than we know ; and we know for certain, that there
is nothing of either the mass, or the white vestments, in the apos-
tolic record. In another section, the author speaks of the liturgy
134
of St. James, which contains the order of the mass, and many
other things which favour Popery ; but it is a barefaced forgery,
the work of a later age, and known to be such by Popish writers
themselves, though they do not scruple to take advantage of it,
and things like it, when it serves the purpose of giving to the
ignorant people the semblance of apostolical authority for their
errors and superstitions. This, and other such pieces of imposi-
tion, may occupy a Number or two of my work, at a future
period.
I proceed now to give my Protestant readers some farther in-
formation about things which they know not, though they are
quite familiar to Papists. Let it be remembered, that a small
piece of bread in the form of a wafer, is the real Christ of the
Church of Rome ; this is their God and Saviour, and the object
of their worship ; but they have never yet found out a way to
preserve their Christ from seeing corruption. In summer, their
host will corrupt, and breed worms in a few days ; and in order
to prevent this, they consecrate every week, in the hot season ;
but only once a fortnight in winter. After the host has begun
to corrupt, even after it has begun to breed worms, the priest
must eat it, if his stomach will let him ; but if he find it impos-
sible to swallow the real body of his Christ, in this state, it is
disposed of in the following solemn manner, of which Mr. Gavin
Has an eye-witness : — " I say," says he, " that a priest did not
eat the host and worms, as I saw myself, on pretence of the
loathing of his stomach, and after the mass was ended, he car-
ried the host, two priests accompanying him with two candles,
and threw it into a place called piscina, a place where they
throw the dirty water after they wash their hands, and which
runs out of the church into the street. What can we say now?
If the worms and corrupted host is the real body of Christ, see
what a value they have for him, when they throw it away, like
dirty water ; and if that host comes out of the running piscina
into the street, the first dog or pig passing by, which is very
common in Spain, may eat it." Master Key, vol. 1, p. 14-5.
In general, however, they are very careful to keep the host
(nit of the reach of dogs ; and if it should, by accident, happen
that a dog should eat a holy wafer, it is considered such a piece
of sacrilege, that his owner must pay dearly for his trespass, of
which take the following example from the work just quoted,
page 1 17 : —
" In the Dominican's convent, it happened that a lady, who
had a lap-dog, which she always carried along with her, went to
receive the sacrament, with the dog under her arm, and the dog
looking up and beginning to bark, when the friar went to put the
« ifei into the lady's mouth, he let the wafer fall, which happen-
135
ed to drop into the dog's mouth. Both the friar and the lady
were in deep amazement, and confusion, and knew not what to
do; so they sent for the reverend father Prior, who did resolve
this nice point upon the spot, and ordered to call two friars and
the clerk, and to bring the cross and two candlesticks, with
candles lighted, and to carry the dog in form vi procession into
the vestry, and to keep the poor creature there, with illumina-
tions, as if he was the host itself, till the digestion of the wafer
was over, and then to kill the dog, and throw it into the piscina.
Another friar said it was better to open the dog immediately,
and take out the fragments of the host ; and a third was of
opinion that the dog should be burnt upon the spot. The lady,
who loved dearly her Cupid (this was the dog's name) intreated
the father Prior to save the dog's life, if possible, and she
would give any thing to make amends for it. Then the Prior
and friars retired to consult what to do in this case, and it was
resolved that the dog should be called for the future, El Perillo
del Sacramento, that is, the Sacrament's dog. 2. That if the
dog should happen to die, the lady was to give him a burying
in consecrated ground. 3. That the lady should take care not
to let the dog play with other dogs. 4. That she was to give a
silver dog, which was to be placed upon the tabernacle where
the hosts are kept. And, 5. That she should give twenty pis-
toles to the convent. Every article was performed accordingly,
and the dog was kept with a great deal of care and veneration.
The case was printed, and so came to the ears of the Inquisitors,
and Don Pedro Guerrero, first Inquisitor, thinking the thing
very scandalous, sent for the poor dog, and kept him in the In-
quisition, to the great grief of the lady. What became of the
dog, nobody can tell."
I conclude this Number, and, I hope, this subject, with the
following literal translation of a few passages of the '• Roman
Missal," as given by Lord Karnes, in his " Sketches of the
History of Man," vol. iv. book iii. :—
" Mass may be deficient in the matter, in the form, and in
the minister. First, in the matter. If the bread be not of
wheat, or if there be so great a mixture of other grain that it
cannot be called wheat bread, or if any way corrupted, it does
not make a sacrament. If it be made with rose-water, or any
other distilled water, it is doubtful whether it makes a sacrament
or not. Though corruption have begun, or though it be leaven-
ed, it makes a sacrament, but the celebrator sins grievously.
" If the celebrator, before consecration, observe that the host
is corrupted, or is not of wheat, he must take another host ;
if after consecration, he must still take another and swallow it.
after which, he must also swallow the first, or give it to another
«r preserve it with reverence."
no
" It' any remains of meat, sticking in the mouth, be swallowed
with the host, they do not prevent communicating, provided they
be swallowed, not as meat, but as spittle. The same is to be
said, if, in washing the mouth, a drop of water be swallowed, pro-
vided it be against our will."
" If any requisite be wanting, it is no sacrament ; for example,
if it be celebrated out of holy ground, or upon an altar not con-
secrated, or not covered with three napkins ; if there be no wax
candles ; if it be not celebrated between day-break and noon ;
if the celebrator have not said matins with lauds; or if he omit
any of the sacerdotal robes ; if these robes and the napkins be
not blessed by a bishop ; if there be no clerk present to serve,
or one who ought not to serve, — a woman, for example ; if there
be no chalice, the cup of which is gold, or silver, or pewter ; it
the vestment be not of clean linen, adorned with silk in the mid-
dle, and blessed by a bishop ; if the priest celebrate with his
head covered ; if there be no missal present, though he have it
by heart.
" If a gnat or spider fall into the cup, after consecration, the
priest must swallow it with the blood, if he can ; otherwise, let
him take it out, wash it with wine, burn it, and throw it with the
washings on holy ground. If poison fall into the cup, the blood
must be poured on tow or on a linen cloth, remain till it be dry,
then be burnt, and the ashes be thrown upon holy ground. If
the host be poisoned, it must be kept in a tabernacle till it be
corrupted.
" If the blood freeze in winter, put warm cloths about the
cup : if that be not sufficient, put the cup in boiling water. If
any of Christ's blood fall upon the ground by negligence, it must
be licked up with the tongue, and the place scraped; the scrapings
must be burnt, and the ashes buried in holy ground.
" If the priest vomit the eucharist, and the species appear
entire, it must be licked up most reverently. If a nausea prevent
that to be done, it must be kept till it be corrupted. If the spe-
cies do not appear entire, let the vomit be burnt, and the ashes
thrown upon holy ground."
It will be expected, perhaps, that I should give a more elegant
finishing to a subject that has served me so lc"g ; but, as tran-
substantiation and the mass are abomination all over, I shall leave
the above disgusting directians, without comment, to have their
own effect upon the reader's mind ; and it will be well for him ii
nothing but his mind be affected by the nausea.
THE
Protectant,
No. LXVIII.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 50Ut, 1819.
X HAVE discussed, at great length, the idolatry of the church of
Rome, as it consists in worshipping saints, images, and relics,
and particularly the consecrated wafer, which, she says, is really
her Christ and Saviour, and which she worships under this cha-
racter. I come now to show the conformity of Romish idolatry
with that of the heathens of ancient Rome, and other heathens,
whose rites were adopted by what has falsely been called Chris-
tian Rome, and which, at this day, constitute the leading parts of
Popish worship, and are that by which the Church of Rome is
chiefly distinguished from other churches, at least so far as re-
lates to external rites and ceremonies.
Three centuries had not elapsed, when the church in Rome,
whose faith, in the Apostles' days, was spoken of throughout the
whole world, had become so deplorably degenerate, that she
readily received into her bosom persons who had no faith at all ;
mere worldly men, who were heathens both in principle and
practice, and who were quite ineapable of making a common
cause with the disciples of Christ, or maintaining the purity of
Christian worship. Such persons, instead of seeking to promote
the glory of Christ, and the salvation of men, would follow the
natural bias of their own minds. Christianity was, by this time,
rising into some degree of respectability in the world. There
were many great men who professed to be Christians; and there
were many, no doubt, ready to join them, if they could but sa-
tisfy themselves that, by doing so, they would promote their in-
terest. When Constantine, called the Great, took Christianity
under his protection, and gave it a legal establishment, it became
Vi«t. II. S
very evident that the way to rise in the world, was to he of the
Emperor's religion. Thus many made a profession of Christian
ity who were really heathens, and whose influence, after being
admitted into the church, was exerted to reduce Christian wor-
ship to a conformity with that of the heathen temple.
The spirit of proselytism still continued ; but it was no longer
a desire to win souls to the Saviour ; but merely to gain men to
the church ; and if they were great men, and noble princes, the
leading men in the church were ready to concede almost any
thing for the sake of securing them. It was no longer necessary
that men should deny themselves, and take up the cross, and be-
come followers of Christ, in lowliness of mind, deadness to the
w->rld, and liveliness towards God and spiritual things. It was
enough that they submitted to baptism, that they took the name
of Christian, and that they paid due respect to the image of the
cross. They retained all their heathenish notions and affections ;
and to keep them quiet in their Christian profession, it became
necessary to indulge them in their heathen practices and modes
of worship. The Church, by degrees, became full of such mem-
bers ; and her worship became that which is practised in the
Church of Rome to this day, — no better than the profane mum-
mery of heathen superstition.
I shall proceed to prove this by a number of instances, furnished
by one who was an eye witness of the different parts of Romish
worship, as practised in Rome itself; and whose extensive and
intimate acquaintance with the writings and- practices of ancient
heathens, qualified him, in an eminent degree, for tracing the
Romish rites to their heathen original. I refer to Dr Middle-
ton, whose " Letter from Rome" supplies abundant materials for
this part of my subject. The remaining part of this Number
shall be occupied by extracts from this letter. I do not believe
the work is much known among the readers of my Papers, and
therefore I make no apology for treating them with so much
matter that is not original. I am following the example of a
writer in The Times newspaper, under the signature of Ig-
notus, who, about two years ago, published a number of letters
in that paper, and afterwards in the form of a three shilling pam-
phlet, of which iVIiddleton's Letter is confessedly the basis : —
" Many of our divines have, I know, with much learning and
solid reasoning, charged, and effectually proved, the crime of ido-
latry on the Church of Rome : but these controversies (in which
there is still something plausible to be said on the other side, and
where the charge is constantly denied, and with much subtlety
evaded) are not capable of giving that conviction, which I im-
mediately received from my senses — the surest witnesses ot fact,
in all cases; and which no mail can fail to be furnished with,
139
who sees Popery, as it is exercised in Italy, in the full pomp
and display of its pageantry ; and practising all its arts and pow-
ers without caution or reserve. The similitude of the Popish
and Pagan religion seemed so evident and clear, and struck
my imagination so forcibly, that I soon resolved to give myself
the trouble of searching to the bottom ; and to explain and de-
monstrate the certainty of it, by comparing together the principal
and most obvious parts of each worship: which, as it was my
first employment after I came to Rome, shall be the subject of
my first Letter."
" The very first thing that a stranger must necessarily take
notice of, as soon as he enters their churches, is the use of in-
cense or perfumes in their religious offices : the first step which
he takes within the door, will be sure to make him sensible of it,
by the offence that he will immediately receive from the smell, as
well as smoke of this incense, with which the whole church con-
tinues filled for some time after every solemn service. A custom
received directly from paganism ; and which presently called to
my mind the old descriptions of the heathen temples and altars,
which are seldom or ever mentioned by the ancients, without
the epithet of perfumed or incensed." pages 132 — 134, ^th cd.
I forbear giving the authorities, and the Greek and Latin quota-
tions, which the author gives in the margin. Readers who
wish to see these, will have recourse to the work itself.
" In some of their principal churches, where you have before
you, in one view, a great number of altars, and all of them smok-
ing at once with steams of incense, how natural is it to suppose
one's self transported into the temple of some heathen deity, or
that of the Paphian Venus, described by Virgil ?
" Her hundred altars there with garlands crown'd,
And richest incense smoking, breathe around
Sweet odours," &c.
" Under the pagan Emperors, the use of incense, for any pur-
pose of religion, was thought so contrary to the obligations of
Christianity, that, in their persecutions, the very method of try-
ing and convicting a Christian, was by requiring him only to
throw the least grain of it into the censer, or upon the altar,"
pnge 135. This was, it seems, the test of a man's being, or
not being, a Christian. How few Protestants, in the present,
day, would bear the test ? To throw the smallest grain of incense,
that is, to give the smallest possible degree of countenance to
idolatrous worship, was equivalent to a renouncing of Christ-
ianity : yet, how many of our citizens are there, who reckon
themselves very good Christians, and who can, without scruple,
140
voluntarily join in the service of the idol's temple, in Clyde-street,
and snuff up, with the utmost complacency, the fumes of incen3c
which are offered to the Popish idol ?
Our author proceeds : — " Under the Christian Emperors, on
the othor hand, it was looked upon as a rite so peculiarly hea-
thenish, that the very places or houses, where it could be proved
to have been done, It. e. where incense had been offered,) were,
by the law of Theodosius, confiscated to the government.
" In the old bas-reliefs, or pieces of sculpture, where any
heathen sacrifice is represented, we never fail to observe a boy in
a sacred habit, which was always white, attending on the priest,
with a little chest, or box, in his hands, in which this incense
was kept for the use of the altar. And, in the same manner
still in the Church of Rome, there is always a boy in surplice,
waiting on the priest at the altar, with the sacred utensils, and
among the rest the thuribulum, or vessel of incense, which the
priest, with many ridiculous motions and crossings, waves seve-
ral times, as it is smoking, around and over the altar in differ-
ent parts of the service." page 136.
Dr. Middleton's Letter, when it was first published, excited
almost as much rage and wrath among the Papists of his day,
against the unhappy author, as are excited, at this day, against
The Protestant. The author of a work, entitled " The
Catholic Christian instructed," thought himself called upon to
write something, that should pass with his brethren for a Reply
to the obnoxious Letter ; but after a great deal of quibbling and
vapouring, he left the Letter just as he found it, without in-
validating any material fact contained in it. This writer attempts
to vindicate his church from the charge of conformity with hea-
thenism in the matter of offering incense, because this was used,
according to divine appointment, in the service of the temple of
God under the Mosaic dispensation : to which Middleton re-
plies, in a preface to his fourth edition : — " Should we grant him
all he can infer from this argument, what will he gain by it ;
Were not all those beggarly elements wiped away by the spirit-
ual worship of the gospel ? Were they not all annulled on ac
count of their weakness and unprofitableness, by the more per
feet revelation of Jesus Christ? If then, I should acknowledge
my mistake, and recall my words; and, instead of Pagan, call
them Jewish ceremonies ; would not the use of Jewish rites be
abominable still in a Christian church, where they are expressly
abolished and prohibited by God himself?" — " He tells us, that
there was an altar of incense in the temple of Jerusalem ; and is
surprised, therefore, how I can call it heathenish: yet, it is
evident, from the nature of that institution, that it was never de-
i to be perpetual; and that, during its continuance, God
141
would never have approved any other altar, either in Jerusalem
or any where else. But, let him answer directly to this plair
question ; was there ever a temple in the world, not strictly hea-
thenish, in which there were several altars, all smoking with in-
cense, within one view, and at one and the same time ? It ia
certain, that he must answer in the negative : yet, it is certain,
that there were many such temples in Pagan Rome ; and are as
many still in Christian Rome ; and since there never was an
example of it but what was heathenish, before the times of
Popery, how is it possible that it could be derived to them from
any other source ? Or, when we see such an exact resemblance
in the copy, how can there be any doubt about the original ?"
" The next thing that will, of course, strike one's imagina-
tion, is their use of holy water; for nobody ever goes in or out
of a church, but is either sprinkled by the priest, who attends for
that purpose on solemn days, or else serves himself with it from
a vessel, usually of marble, placed just at the door, not unlike
one of our baptismal fonts. Now, this ceremony is so notori-
ously and directly transmitted to them from paganism, that their
own writers make not the least scruple to own it. The Jesuit,
La Cerda, in his notes on a passage of Virgil, where this prac-
tice is mentioned, says, ' Hence was derived the custom of holy
church, to provide purifying or holy water at the entrance of
their churches.' ' Aqiuwiinarium or Amula,' says the learned
Montfaucon, ' was a vase of holy water, placed by the heathens at
the entrance of their temples, to sprinkle themselves with.' The
same vessel was by the Greeks called Hsglgjieeirfigiov ; two of
which, the one of gold, the other of silver, were given by
Croesus to the temple of Apollo, at Delphi ; and the custom of
sprinkling themselves was so necessary a part of their religious
offices, that the method of excommunication seems to have been
by prohibiting to offenders the approach and use of the holy
water-pot. The very composition of this holy water was the
same also among the heathens as it is now among the Papists,
being nothing more than a mixture of salt with common water,;
and the form of the sprinkling brush, called by the ancients
aspersorium, or aspergilhim, (which is now the same with
what the priests make use of,) may be seen in bas-reliefs, or an-
cient coins, wherever the insignia, or emblems of the Pagan
priesthood are described, of which it is generally one.
" Platina, in his lives of the Popes, and other authors, ascribe
the institution of this holy water to Pope Alexander the first,
who is said to have lived about the year of Chiist, 113; but it
could not be introduced so early, since, for some ages after,
we find the primitive fathers speaking of it as a custom purely
142
heathenish, and condemning it as impious and detestable. Jus-
tin Martyr says, that it was invented by demons, in imitation of
the true baptism signified by the Prophets, that their votaries
might also have their pretended purification by water : and the
Emperor Julian, out of spite to the Christians, used to order
the victuals in the markets to be sprinkled with holy water, on
purpose either to starve or force them to eat, what, by their own
principles, they esteemed polluted.
" Thus we see what contrary notions the primitive and
Romish church have of this ceremony : the first condemns it as
superstitious, abominable, and irreconcileable with Christianity :
the latter adopts it as highly edifying and applicable to the im-
provement of Christian piety. The one looks upon it as the con-
trivance of the devil to delude mankind ; the other as the secu-
rity of mankind against the delusions of the devil. But what is
still more ridiculous than even the ceremony itself, is to see their
learned writers gravely reckoning up the several virtues and bene-
fits, derived from the use of it, both to the soul and the body ;
and to crown all, producing a long roll of miracles, to attest the
certainty of each virtue which they ascribe to it." -p. 136
—140.
" 1 do not at present recollect whether the ancients went so
far, as to apply the use of this holy water to the purifying or
blessing of their horses, asses, and other cattle ; or whether this
be an improvement of modern Rome, which has dedicated a
yearly festival peculiarly to this service, called, in their vulgar
language, the benediction of horses ; which is always celebrated
with much solemnity in the month of January ; when all the in-
habitants of the city and neighbourhood send up their horses,
asses, &c. to the convent of St. Antony, near St. Mary's the
Great, where a priest in surplice, at the church door, sprinkles
with his brush all the animals singly, as they are presented to him,
and receives from each owner a gratuity proportionable to his
zeal and ability. Amongst the rest, I had my own horses
blessed at the expense of about eighteen pence of our money ;
as well to satisfy my own curiosity, as to humour the coachman ;
who was persuaded, as the common people generally are, that
some mischance would befal them within the year, if they
wanted the benefit of this benediction."
" 1 have met, indeed, with some hints of a practice not foreign
to this among the ancients, of sprinkling their horses with water
in the Circensian games ; but whether this was done out of a
superstitious view of inspiring any virtue, or purifying them for
those races, which were esteemed sacred, or merely to refresh
ihem under the violence of such an exercise, is not easy to deter-
mine. But allowing the Romish Priests to have taken the hint
14-3
from some old custom of Paganism ; yet this, however, mu^t he
granted them, that they alone were capable of cultivating so
coarse and barren a piece of superstition, into a revenue suffi-
cient for the maintenance of forty or fifty idle monks." p. 141,
142.
Middleton afterwards acquired more information, with regard
to the origin of this rite ; for he writes as follows, in the preface
to his fourth edition, in reply to his opponent : —
" But though our Catholic seems so much ashamed at present
of this benediction of horses in their church, I can give him
such light into the origin of it, as will make him proud of it,
probably, for the future, from a story which I have observed in
St. Jerome, which shows it to be grounded on a miracle, and
derived from a saint : I mean St. Hilarion, the founder of the
monastic orders in Syria and Palestine. The story is this : ' A
citizen of Gaza, a Christian, who kept a stable of running horses
for the Circensian games, was always beaten by his antagonist,
an idolater, the master of the rival stable. For the idolater, bv
the help of certain charms, and diabolical imprecations, con-
stantly damped the spirits of the Christian's horses, and added
courage to his own. The Christian, therefore, in despair, applied
himself to St. Hilarion, and implored his assistance ; but the
saint was unwilling to enter into an affair so frivolous and pro-
fane ; till the Christian urged it as a necessary defence against
these adversaries of God, whose insults were levelled not so much
at him, as at the church of Christ. And his entreaties being
seconded by the monks who were present ; the saint ordered his
earthen jug, out of which he used to drink, to be filled with
water and delivered to the man ; who presently sprinkled his
stable, his horses, his charioteers, his chariot, and the very
boundaries of the course with it. Upon this the whole city was
in wondrous expectation. The idolaters derided what the Chris-
tian was doing, while the Christians took courage, and assured
ihemselves of victory ; till the signal being given for the race, the
Christian's horses seemed to fly, whilst the idolater's were labour-
ing behind and left quite out of sight ! so that the Pagans thenw
selves were obliged to cry out, that their god Mamas was con-
quered at last by Christ." Pref. p. xvii.
" No sooner is a man advanced a little forward into their
:hurches, and begins to look about him, but he will find his eyes
and attention attracted by a number of lamps and wax candles,
which are constantly burning before the shrines and images of
their saints. In all the great churches in Italy, says Mabillon
they hang up lamps at every altar : a sight which will not only
surprise a stranger by the novelty of it, but will furnish him with
lit
another proof and example of the conformity of the Roman with
the Pagan worship ; by recalling to his memory many passage*
of the heathen writers, where their perpetual lamps and candles
are described, as continually burning before the altars and statues
of their Deities." — " The primitive writers frequently expose the
folly and absurdity of this heathenish custom. ' They light
up candles to God,' says Lactantius, ' as if he lived in the dark :
-and do not they deserve to pass for madmen, who offer lamps to
the Author and Giver of light ?'
" In the collection of old inscriptions, we find many instances
of presents and donations from private persons, of lamps and
candlesticks to the temples and altars of their gods : a piece ot
zeal which continues still in modern Rome ; where each church
abounds in lamps of massy silver, and sometimes even of gold ;
the gifts of princes, and other persons of distinction : and it is
surprising to see how great a number of this kind are perpetually
burning before the altars of their principal saints, or miraculous
images ; as St. Antony of Padua, or the Lady of Loretto ; as
well as the vast profusion of wax candles with which the churches
are illuminated on every great festival ; when the high altar, cover-
ed with gold and silver plate, brought out of their treasures, and
stuck full of wax lights, disposed in beautiful figures, looks more
like the rich side-board of some great prince, dressed out for a
feast, than an altar to pay divine worship at." jj. 141 — 145.
" The mention of Loretto puts me in mind of the surprise
that I was in, at the first sight of the holy image ; for its face is
as black as a negro's ; so that one would take it rather for the re-
presentation of a Proserpine, or infernal deity, than that which
they impiously style it, of the Queen of heaven. But 1 soon
recollected, that this very circumstance of its complexion, did but
resemble the more exactly the old idols of Paganism, which, in
sacred as well as profane writers, are described to be black with
the perpetual smoke of lamps and incense.
" When a man is once engaged in reflections of this kind,
imagining himself in some heathen temple, and expecting as it
were some sacrifice, or other piece of Paganism, to ensue, he will
not be long in suspense, before he sees the finishing acts and last
scene of idolatry, in crowds of bigot votaries prostrating them-
selves before some image of wood or stone, and paying divine
honours to an idol of their own erecting. Should they squabble
with us here about the meaning of the word idol, St. Jerome
has determined it to the very case in question, telling us, that by
idols are to be understood the images of the dead : and the
worshippers of such images are used always in the style of the fa-
thers, as terms synonymous and equivalent to heathens ai.d
Pag ins." p. 1 56
THE
i^rotegtant,
No. LXIX.
SA T UIWA Y, NO VEMBE R 6th, 1819.
Guegory the Great is allowed to have been one of the best of
the Popes ; yet, he had no objection to mix up a little
heathenism with his Christianity. " Witness," says Dr. Camp-
bell, in his Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 74-.
" the advice which he gave to the monk Augustine, who had
been sent into Britain for the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons,
not to abolish their paganish ceremonies, but rather adopt them,
and give them a new direction, that so the conversion of the
people might be facilitated, and their relapse to the superstition
of their fathers prevented." This took place as early as the latter
part of the sixth century; * and there can be no doubt, that
what was called Christianity in Italy, had, by this time, gone
great lengths in conformity with heathenism, when the head of the
church could, without shame, give such instructions to one of
his missionaries in a distant part of the world. Conversion had
now become a very different thing from what it was in the days
of the Apostles. It was then a turning from idols to serve the
living God ; it was now a turning from God to the service of
idols ; for the Romish Christians, instead of converting heathens
to the faith of Christ, were, by the seducing influence of the latter,
turned from the faith, and converted to heathenism ; if that can be
* Christianity had been planted in Britain several ages before this, and
when the Bishop of Rome was no greater than another bishop ; but the
Christians had been driven by the new comers to take shelter among the
mountains of Wales, where their descendants continue to this day.
Vol. II, T
146
called conversion which accords with the natural depravity of the
human heart. In point of fact, idolatry is as palpahle in Rome
at this day, as it was in the days of Nero ; for the Pantheon
which had been dedicated to Jove, and all the gods, was, by
Pope Boniface IV. consecrated to the Virgin Mary, and ail the
saints. With this single alteration, it serves as exactly for all the
purposes of Popish, as it did for the pagan worship: of which
see a more particular account in my forty-third Number, vol. i.
p. 340.
Middleton shows the exact conformity between Popery and
paganism, in a number of particulars, which it is not my intention
to quote at length, though I intend to give some more of the most
prominent. My object is to show that the great leading features
of the two systems are the same, and that the one was evidently
derived from the other. Pope Gregory the Great, who gave the
above instructions to the monk Augustine, for the conversion
of the Anglo-Saxons, plainly confessed that images and pictures
were set up in churches for the sake of the pagans ; that those
who did not know, and could not read the Scriptures, might
learn from the images what they ought to worship. (See Middle-
ton, p. 243.) The images and pictures were not, at first, pro-
fessedly objects of worship ; but, with the increasing darkness and
growing ignorance of persons called Christians, they soon came
to be so. The first admission of such things as helps to devotion,
was an open departure from the simplicity of spiritual worship ;
and it prepared the way for all the idol worship that followed.
Doubtless there were many in the apostolic churches who could
not read, who were yet taught to worship God in spirit and in
truth, without the aid of pictures and images. In fact, there are
no images that can represent those things, by the knowledge and
belief of which sinners are saved, and taught to offer to God ac-
ceptable worship. It is life eternal to know the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. That is, to know and
acknowledge God in those characters of justice and mercy, by
which he makes himself known in the gospel of his Son. Here
he is revealed as the just God and the Saviour; as a Being of
such holiness and purity, that he cannot look upon sin ; and
yet so rich in mercy, as to devise a way for the salvation of sin-
ners, consistently with these characters of holiness and justice.
It is by the knowledge of this, as revealed to us in the Scriptures,
that sinners are saved ; and this is the foundation of all Christian
worship. But these things cannot possibly be represented by ma-
terial images or pictures. What figure would any man use to
represent the love of God the Father ? Is it possible to paint on
canvass, or cut in marble, a resemblance of infinite holiness and
justice? Is it possible to represent by sculpture, or painting, the
147
anguish of mind which Christ suffered on account of sin, when
his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ? It certainly is
not possible to make images of such things. No man could
think of it, unless his mind were diverted from the God who is a
Spirit, and directed to a creature of his own fancy, to which he
wishes to give that honour which is due to God alone. Hence
it is, that it was so peremptorily forbidden to worship God by
means of any figure of any thing in the heavens, or in the earth ;
for this could not be thought of, without the alienation of the
mind from the knowledge of the true God.
The image of the cross, indeed, is thought to represent the
sufferings of Christ on account of sin ; and this, I suppose, was
one of the first images that was set up in any Christian church.
But, in fact, it represents no such thing ; and it can be of no
more use in Christian worship, than the image of Jupiter, or any
piece of heathen sculpture. Death, by crucifixion, was a common
punishment among the Romans ; and the figure of a cross, with
the figure of a man extended upon it, can give no more idea of
the sufferings of Chri&t, than of the sufferings of any other man, put
to death in the same way. It may tend to preserve the remembrance
of the fact, that Christ was crucified, and so it may perpetuate the
name of Christian, where there is nothing of real Christianity : but
the knowledge of the fact is of no value without the knowledge of
its meaning, and the knowledge that the principal part of Christ's
sufferings were not those of his body upon the cross, but those of
his soul, when God exacted of him the penalty of the transgres-
sions of all his people. This cannot possibly be represented by an
image ; and the very attempt to represent the sufferings of Christ
in such a way, shows that the person who does so, has false and
degrading notions of the death of Christ, — such as, in fact, show
that he is no Christian ; and the devotion of such a man, how-
ever ardent it may be, is nothing but devotion to an idol which
he has set up in his own mind.
It is pleaded by Popish writers, that the image of the cross is
calculated to excite devotion and gratitude to Him who died
upon it ; but if the image could effect this, surely the reality
would have been much more likely to do so. If a wooden cross,
and a wooden image upon it, be so effectual in producing senti-
ments of piety and devotion, it might have been supposed, that
when Christ himself hung upon the cross, in the view of all
Jerusalem, many thousands would have been moved to devotion
by the sight ; but we know that such was not the case. The mul-
titude were moved by no feeling more amiable than rage, and
hatred of him whom they had crucified ; and we know that, in
subsequent ages, men calling themselves Christians, have exhib-
ited the same hatred and rage against Christ and his cause, whea
J 48
they put thousands to death, and that too, under the banner of
the cross, for no greater crime than confessing his truth accord-
ing to his word. In short, the cross is one of the great bloody
idols of the Church of Rome ; and has occasioned, I suppose, a
greater waste of human life than any one idol known in the hea-
then world.
But, to return to the conformity between Popish and pagan
worship, there is in Rome, at this day, a practice of presenting
children before the image of a saint, which has evidently been
borrowed from a fable respecting Romulus, the founder of the
city : — " From the tradition," says Dr. Middleton, " of the
wonderful escape which Romulus had in this very place, when
exposed, in his infancy, to perish in the Tiber ; as soon as he
came to be a god, he was looked upon as singularly propitious to
the health and safety of young children ; from which notion, it
became a practice for nurses and mothers to present their sickly
infants before his shrine in this temple, in confidence of a cure or
relief by his favour. Now, when this temple was converted after-
wards into a Christian church, lest any piece of superstition
should be lost, or the people think themselves sufferers by the
change, in losing the benefit of such a protection for their chil-
dren, care was taken to find out, in the place of the heathen god,
a Christian saint, who had been exposed too in his infancy, and
found by chance, like Romulus, and for the same reason,
might be presumed to be just as fond of children, as their old
deity had been : and thus, the worship paid to Romulus being
now transferred to Theodorus, the old superstition still subsists,
and the custom of presenting children at this shrine continues to
this day, without intermission ; of which I, myself, have been a
witness ; having seen, as oft as I looked into this church, ten
or a dozen women decently dressed, each with a child in her lap,
sitting with silent reverence before the altar of the saint, in ex-
pectation of his miraculous influence on the health of the infant.
" In consecrating these heathen temples to the Popish wor-
ship, that the change might be less offensive, and the old super-
stition as little shocked as possible, they generally observe some
resemblance of character and quality in the saint, whom they sub-
stitute to the old deity : ' If, in converting the profane worship 01
the Gentiles,' says the describer of modern Rome, ' to the pure and
Bacred worship of the church, the faithful use to follow some rule
and proportion, they have certainly hit upon it here, in dedicating
to the Madonna, or holy Virgin, the temple formerly sacred to the
Bona Dea, or good goddess.' But they have more frequently, on
ihese occasions, had regard rather to a similitude of name be-
tween the old and new idol. Thus, in a place formerly sacred
to Apollo, there now stands the chinch of Apollinaris ; bu.lt
149
there, as they tell us, that the profane name of that deity might
be converted into the glorious name of this martyr ; and, where
there anciently stood a temple of Mars, they have erected a church
to Martina, with this inscription :
' Mars hence expell'd, Martina, martyr'd maid,
Claims now the worship which to him was paid.'
" Whatever worship was paid by the ancients, to their heroes
or inferior deities, the Romans now pay the same to their saints
and martyrs, as their own inscriptions plainly declare ; which, like
those mentioned above of St. Martina, and the Pantheon, gene-
rally signify that the honours, which of old had been impiously
given in that place, to the false god, are now piously and rightly
transferred to the Christian saint: or, as one of their celebrated
poets expresses himself in regard to St. George.
' As Mars our fathers once ador'd, so now
To thee, O George, we humbly prostrate bow.*
Pages 167, 168, 177.
" But what gave me a still greater notion of the superstition of
these countries, was to see those little oratories, or rural shrines,
sometimes placed under the cover of a tree or grove, agreeably to
the descriptions of the old idolatry, the sacred as well as profane
writers ; or, more generally, raised on some eminence ; or, in
the phrase of Scripture, on high places, the constant scenes of
idolatrous worship in all ages ; it being an universal opinion among
the heathens, that the gods, in a peculiar manner, loved to reside
on eminences or tops of mountains ; which pagan notion pre-
vails still so generally with the Papists, that there is hardly a rock
or precipice, how dreadful or difficult soever of access, that has
not an oratory, or altar, or crucifix at least, planted upon it."
Page 184.
" When we enter their towns, the case is still the same as it
was in the country ; we find every where the same marks of ido-
latry, and the same reasons to make us fancy that we are still
treading pagan ground ; whilst, at every corner, we see images and
altars, with lamps or candles burning before them ; exactly an-
swering to the descriptions of the ancient writers ; and to what
Tertullian reproaches the heathen with, that their streets, their
markets, their baths, were not without an idol. But, above all,
in the pomp and solemnity of their holy-days, and especially their
religious processions, we see the genuine remains of heathenism,
and proof enough to convince us that this is still the same Rome
which old Numa first tamed and civilized by the arts of religion :
1.50
who, as Plutarch says, hy the institution of supplications and pro-
cessions to the gods, which inspire reverence, whilst they give plea-
sure to the spectators, and by pretended miracles, and divine ap-
paritions, reduced the fierce spirits of his subjects under the
power of superstition.'' Page 187.
" The descriptions of the religious pomps and processions of
the heathens come so near to what we see on every festival of the
virgin, or other Romish saint, that one can hardly help thinking
these Popish ones to be still regulated by the old ceremonial of
Pagan Rome. At these solemnities, the chief magistrate used
frequently to assist, in robes of ceremony, attended by the priests
in surplices, with wax candles in their hands, carrying upon a pa-
geant, or thensa, the images of their gods dressed out in their
best clothes : these were usually followed by the principal youth
of the place, in white linen vestments or surplices, singing hymns
in honour of the god whose festival they were celebrating, accom-
panied by crowds of all sorts, that were initiated in the same reli-
gion, all with flambeaux or wax candles in their hands. This is
the account which Apuleius, and other authors, give of a heathen
procession ; and I may appeal to all who have been abroad, whe-
ther it might not pass quite as well for the description of a Popish
one. Monsieur Toumefort, in his travels through Greece, re-
flects upon the Greek church, for having retained, and taken into
their present worship, many of the old rites of heathenism ; and
particularly that of carrying and dancing about the images of the
saints in their processions, to singing and music. The reflection
is full as applicable to his own as to the Greek church ; and the
practice itself, so far from giving scandal in Italy, that the learned
publisher of the Florentine Inscriptions takes occasion to show
the conformity between them and the heathens, from this very in-
stance of carrying about the pictures of their saints, as the pagans
did those of their gods, in their sacred processions.
" In one of these processions, made lately to St. Peter's, in the
time of lent, I saw that ridiculous penance of the flagellantes, cr
sclf-whippers, who march with whips in their hands, and lash
themselves as they go along, on the bare back, till it is all covered
with blood % in the same manner as the fanatical priests of Bel-
lona, or the Syrian goddess, as well as the votaries of Isis, used to
slash and cut themselves of old, in order to please the goddess, by
the sacrifice of their own blood ; which mad piece of discipline,
we find frequently mentioned and as oft ridiculed by the ancient
writers.
" But they have another exercise of the same kind, and in the
same season of Lent, which, under the notion of penance, is still a
more absurd mockery of all religion: when, on a certain day, »p«
pointed annually for th'.s discipline, men of all conditions assemble
151
themselves, towards the evening, in one of the churches of the
city ; where whips or lashes, made of cords, are provided, and dis-
tributed to every person present ; and after they are all served, and
a short office of devotion performed, the candles being put out,
upon the warning of a little bell, the whole company begin pre-
sently to strip, and try the force of their whips on their own backs:
during all which time, the church becomes, as it were, the proper
imacre of hell, where nothing is heard but the noise of lashes and
chains, mixed with the groans of these self-tormentors ; till satiat-
ed with their exercise, they are content to put on their clothes ;
and the candles being lighted again, upon the tinkling of a second
bell, they all appear in their proper dress.
" Seneca, alluding to the very same effects of fanaticism in
Pa^an Rome, says, ' So great is the force of it on disordered
minds, that they try to appease the gods, by such methods as an
enraged man would hardly think of to revenge himself. But, if
there be any gods who desire to be worshipped after this manner,
they do not deserve to be worshipped at all, since the very worst
of tyrants, though they have sometimes torn and tortured peo-
ple's limbs, yet have never commanded men to torture themselves.'
But, there is no occasion to imagine, that all the blood which
seems to flow on these occasions, really comes from the backs of
these bigots ; for, it is probable, that, like their frantic predeces-
sors, they may use some craft, as well as zeal, in this their fury ;
and, I cannot but think there was a great deal of justice in that
edict of the Emperor Commodus, with regard to these Belonarii,
or whippers of antiquity, though it is usually imputed to his
cruelty, when he commanded that they should not be suffered to
impose upon the spectators, but be obliged to cut and slash them-
selves in good earnest." pp. 188 — 193.
I would gladly give more extracts from this interesting work ;
indeed it would be doing a service to the public to reprint the
whole ; but this is the less necessary, as the Letters of Ignotus,
to which I referred in my last Number, contain the greater part of
it, with a confirmation of some material facts from other authors.
In particular, he has shown the exact conformity of the water ido-
latry of our Papists in Ireland with that of the Hindoos, from Mr.
Grant's Observations on India, ordered by the House of Com-
mons to be printed, 15th June, 1813. " Of holy rivers," says
Mr. Grant, " dedicated to one or other of the deities, Brahma,
Vishnow, or Mahades, there are twenty-eight, named in the In-
stitutes of the Emperor Akber, beginning with the Ganges, and
traversing the whole continent, to the Indies ; so that all the pro-
fessors of Hinduism are within reach of an antidote against the
consequences of guilt." " The virtues of the river Ganges are
universally allowed to be pre-eminent ;— the water of it assuredly
152
purifies from all sin : ablutions in it are used continually to this
end, as Europeans daily see : and the dying, when within a mo-
derate distance of it, are carried to its edge, and their feet arc
placed in the river, that thus they may have a happy passage out
of life. Its water is conveyed to distant parts for the same pur-
pose ; and, if persons are not within reach of it — thinking of it,
and invoking it, when they bathe in any other water, will still giv e
them all the efficacy of it."
" Now," says Ignottjs,^). 60, " the analogy between the prac-
tices of heathen Rome and India, and the practices of the Church
of Rome and her priests in Ireland, although forming a part of
our Protestant empire, and lying immediately under our own eyes,
is very remarkable. A main part of the worship of Irish Ro-
man Catholics, is made by their priests to consist in this water
idolatry. St. Patrick's purgatory is an island situate in the midst
of a lake in the County of Donegal, called Lochderg, or the Red
Lake, reputed to be sacred ; and, to this place, immense shoals
of misguided Papists are sent by their spiritual guides to wash
away their sins, precisely as is done in India, under the tuition of
the heathen priests.'' The author then gives a long account of
the ceremonies practised at this holy lake ; but they are so simi-
lar in extravagance, impiety, and folly, to what I gave in my fifty-
fourth Number, that I need not repeat them.
I conclude this subject with the remark, that it would be un-
reasonable to expect to find any thing better than idolatry in Po-
pish worship. Popery, as I have said in some of my papers, is
the religion of corrupt human nature. Every man by nature is an
idolater; that is, he places his chief delight, and pays his chief res-
pect ; nay, he pays the whole devotion of his heart to something
else than the true God. Real Christianity produces such a change
in the heart and character of men, that they are led to renounce
dependence on every thing else, and to devote themselves entirely
to the service of God. This change is nothing less than being
created anew by the power of the holy Spirit. It is what Christ
himself calls being born again : and without this, there is no real
Christianity. But, in Popery, there is no new creation — no change
greater than that which a priest can effect by the act of baptism.
To speak of the necessity of any other change, would be no less
than heresy ; and, those who are deluded by this, and other errors
of Popery, must continue idolaters in one form or another
THE
No. LXX.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13//;, 1819.
Having been occupied for about six months in exposing the
idolatry of the Church of Rome, it is now time to proceed to
something else. I propose to myself a serious investigation of
some other Popish errors, such as are taught concerning Purga-
tory and prayers for the dead ; but before entering upon such
grave subjects, I shall treat my readers with a number or two of
lighter matter, and a specimen of my correspondence.
Though I have received almost a chestful of letters on the sub-
jects of my work, I have had only one from a professed Papist,
besides the two from Mr. Scott, printed in my 8th, and the short
note from Mr. Simeon in my 5Uth Number. I have, indeed, had
one also from a Papist in disguise ; or, perhaps a weak-minded
Protestant, who misnames himself " liberal minded,*' who has de-
scended to act a Popish and Jesuitical part, in a silly attempt to
defend Mr. M'Hardy : but there is only one avowed Papist who
has condescended to address me, with remarks upon my publica-
tion, and a defence of his Church. As he writes with pretty
good temper, and some degree of modesty ; and as I believe he ex-
presses the sentiments of the more sensible Papists in this country,
I shall give his letter entire, and follow it with a few remarks : —
Edinburgh, \Uh August, 1819.
" Sir,
M I take the liberty of writing you concerning the
charge you have made and promised, " Deo volente," to pursue
against the system of Popery and its adherents ; I never intended
to write a word on the subject, (though it merits attention if pro-
perly handled) until I read in your fifty first Number, your in-
tention of treating on the errors of Popery; which, according to
Vol. II. U
154-
your belief, are not few. Among the first and greatest are, " ido-
latry of the mass, purgatory, prayers for the dead, auricular con-
fession, clerical celibacy, extreme unction, cruelty of the Jesuits,"
&c. &c. : and a good many more supposed errors, which it is not
necessary for me to mention here. The only point I intend to
speak of is idolatry, which is the most infamous charge against
the Church of Rome, notwithstanding every one of her children
has as much hatred against idolatry as any man in the world, or
even the purest puritan in the city of Glasgow. If our Saviour's
prophecy was to be fulfilled, " that the gates of hell would never
prevail against that church which he purchased with his blood,"
this promise, in my opinion, shakes the foundation of the Refor-
mation, and every branch that has sprung from it. I would wish
very much to be informed when the supposed errors of Popery
came to be fashionable, without any records of them. There is no
heresy whatever, nor any point of discipline, that is, or ever
was practised in the Church of Rome, or any other church what-
ever, but what is recorded by some historian: but we have no such
records of the supposed errors of the Catholic church; surely, then,
they have dropped from the clouds, and got full possession of the
universal church without being perceived by any body, till the clear
sighted Martin Luther made the happy discovery ; for, truly, I can
think of no other way to render it possible that it should get admit-
tance all at once, without any opposition whatever. This, however,
being somewhat out of the way, and proper only for machinery
exploits upon the theatre, we must rather suppose Protestants will
say it came in by degrees ; be it so, but then it is reasonable they
should give us a satisfactory answer to a few questions, and prove
the truth of the facts from unquestionable records : as, who was
the first priest that said mass, who invented the custom of praying
for the dead, who instituted confession, extreme unction, invo-
cation of saints, the custom of having images in the churches, and
of giving them a relative honour, celebrating mass in Latin, the
doctrine of transubstantiation, &c. &c. If these questions can be
answered, from unquestionable records, to favour the Reformation,
then, no doubt, Popery is leading us upon the ice ; if the church
be in an error, which most certainly is contrary to the promises cf
God in the Bible, and of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
The Reformation was not only erroneous, but open rebellion
against the majesty of heaven and earth. We can easily trace the
Church of Rome back to the Apostles, by an uninterrupted succes-
sion of Bishops in the chair of St. Peter, to the present Pope.
There has been about two hundred and fifty-three Popes in the
chair of Peter the Apostle, (himself being the first of them) since
the commencement of Popery. I shall now say something of the
charge of idolatry, as it is the greatest error a Christian can fall
155
into. I never could find a Protestant that would tell me who was the
first priest who said mass, but I have seen some cf the writings of
St. Jgnatius, the disciple of St. John, St. Irenanis, St. Cyprian,
St. Martial, and Tertullian, teaching the doctrine of the mass, the
substance or essence whereof consists precisely in its being an un-
bloody sacrifice offered to God, by the priests of the new law, upon
the altar ; or what amounts to the same, an external oblation of the
body and blood of Christ under the form of bread and wine. St.
Irenanis says, That Christ taught a new oblation in the New
Testament, which the church, receiving from the Apostles, does
offer throughout the whole world. Iren. 1. iv. c. 32. St. Cy-
prian says, That the priest is Christ's representative, and offers sacri-
fice to God the Father. Cyp. 1. ii. c. 3. And the Fathers, in
all ages, has declared the same doctrine, which makes Popery as
ancient as Christianity in every fundamental point : and as for the
cruel charge of idolatry, I shall here insert what every child, that
is brought up in the Catholic faith, will answer from their Cate-
chism. " Q. Do Catholics pray to images ? A. No, by no means !
we pray before them, indeed, to keep us from distractions, but not to
them, for we know that they can neither see, nor hear, nor help us.
Q. What benefit then have we by them ? A. They movingly repre-
sent to us the mysteries of our Saviour's passion, and the martyr-
dom of his saints. Q. What benefit have we by honouring and
canonizing saints ? A. It strongly moves us to imitate their ex-
ample, by showing their rewards. Q. How do we honour saints
and angels ? A. With an inferior honour, as the friends and crea-
tures of God, not as gods, nor with God's honour. Q. Is it law-
ful to honour relics of saints? A. Yes, with a relative honour,
as above explained ; for the handkerchiefs and aprons, which had
but touched the body of St. Paul, cast out devils, and cured all
diseases, Acts, xix. chap, and 12 verse." I will finish this subject
with another quotation from another work, which, perhaps, you have
not perused so much as " Free Thoughts :" it speaks as follows,
" Cursed is he who commits adultery, (it should be idolatry) who
prays to images or relics, or worships them for God, R. Amen.
Cursed is every goddess worshipper, who believes the Virgin
Mary to be any more than a creature, who worships her, or puts
his trust in her more than God, who believes her above her son,
or that she can in any thing command him, R. Amen. Cursed
is he who believes the saints in heaven to be his redeemers, who
prays to them as such, or who gives God's honour to them, or to
any creature whatsoever, R. Amen. Cursed is he who worships
any breaden god, or makes gods of the empty elements of bread
and wine, R. Amen. Cursed is he who believes that priests can
forgive sins, whether the sinner repent or not, or that there is
any power on earth or heaven, that can forgive sins without a
15G
hearty repentance, and serious purpose of amendment, R. Amen.
Cursed is he who believes there is authority in the Pope, or
any other person, that can give leave to commit sin, or that for a
sum of money can forgive him his sins, R. Amen. Cursed is he
who believes, that independent of the merits and passion of Christ,
he can obtain salvation by his own good works, or make condign
satisfaction for the guilt of his sins, or the pains eternally due to
them, R. Amen." Papist. Misrep. and Rep. p. 98-99. — I shall
not trouble you with any more quotations, as very possibly it will
be but time and labour lost ; but I am very much surprised that a
gentleman, of any merit or candour, would conduct a controversy
in the manner you have hitherto done : if you would banish pre-
udice from your mind, you would see that their own doctrine is
the system you ought to engage, and not charge them with doc-
trines they hate as much as you do yourself. I do not suppose
that any of them is so very stupid, as to expect that an image of
any creature can give them any help or assistance whatever. If you
would give their religion from their own books, (without misre-
presentation) and then condemn them, if you can, with cool
reasoning and fair argument, then your undertaking may be of
some service. 1 suppose you would not wish to be tried by your
enemiesbefore a court of justice, if your life or character was at stake?
Another cruel and unjust charge you have made against us is, that
our mode of practice is "rebellion against God :" very well, then, be
it so : let us be justified by the doctrine of the church of Scotland,
part of it is as follows : " Q. What are the decrees of God ? A.
The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel
of his will, whereby for his own glory he hath foreordained whatso-
ever comes to pass," Short. Cat. page 1, 2. According to this
doctrine, all our actions, good and bad, arc all set before us, with-
out exception, nor can we escape one of them. If this doctrine be
true, what comes of our free-will ? Likewise, if this doctrine be true,
why are we in the esteem of other Christians, if every thing we do
is laid before us as a neccessity? Lastly, If this doctrine be genuine,
all Europe is guilty of the same rebellion since the foundation of
the world. If any person is guilty of treason, murder, or theft, he
is tried and punished for it ; and is it not rebellion against God to
punish a man for doing what is not in his power to avoid ? Be
this doctrine true or false, Mahomet I. was the inventor of it; yet
if you can prove the Church of Rome to be in an error in any
one point of faith, I shall leave her as soon as I see any proof, for
I am but a late convert from the church of Scotland, in which I
was educated from my youth, and if I thought it possible to obtain
salvation in any other, I would not be another day in her com-
munion, but yet I believe that those who wish earnestly to know
the truth may be saved, in whatever church he is in, if he is a
157
Christian, provided he with earnestly from his heart to serve
God with all his strength.
" I am very sorry that the distance between us is so far, or else
I would have wrote a larger sheet ; however, I shall see what you
will say against Papists in future, and if you can prove them (from
undoubted records) to be so bad as you call them, 1 shall soon
he reconverted back again : but you must bring better testimony
than you have hitherto done ; and, likewise, you must not twist
the quotations you bring from Papist books, or else you may de-
pend on being less respected. For my own part, I am no way
bigotted, I wish to see the weight of both sides of the question,
nnd then I am better able to see which is the most just. I have
only to recommend to you to give the faith of Papists from their
own books (without any misrepresentations or false constructions)
and you will be more respected by Protestants and Papists.
" I remain. Sir, your very humble servant, a lover of the truth,
W. D."
There is one thing in which W. D. and I are agreed, and which
I shall notice first. I believe that a man may be saved whatso-
ever church he is in, if he be a Christian. There never was a
more important if ; and ifW. D. be a Christian, I call upon him
to keep his word, and leave the Church of Rome immediatelv.
He says, " If I thought it possible to obtain salvation in any
other, I would not be another day in her communion." Well,
he admits that he may be saved in any church, if he wishes ear-
nestly to know the truth, and if he be a Christian, provided he
wish earnestly from his heart to serve God with all his strength ;
then, surely, it is possible for him to be saved in the church of
Scotland, to which I invite him to return. If he shall remain
another day in the Church of Rome, after reading this, he is not a
man of his word, and is therefore not a Christian, but only a Pa-
pist, and one who does not wish from the heart to serve God with
all his strength. I am disposed, however, to hope favourably of
this person, from his candid declaration ; and whatever church he
may join, when he has left Rome, I advise him to serve God in
reality, and not to satisfy himself with earnestly wishing to do so.
There is, I am afraid, a great and very prevalent error couched
under these words. Persons who are conscious that they are not
serving God, but their own lusts, attempt to quiet their consciences
bv an idea, that they earnestly wish to serve God if they could ;
and they hope he will take the will for the deed ; but no man, v/ho
does not really serve God, ever earnestly wished to do it. When
God, by his grace, brings a sinner to himself, he teaches him both
to will and to do.
From the short acquaintance which W. D. has had with the
Church of Rome, he seems to have found out that she is no better
158
than she should he ; for he declares he would not stay in her
another day, if it were possible to obtain salvation in any other.
This is as much as to say, that he is heartily tired of her com-
munion ; he has no attachment to her for her own sake, or for
the sake of her Head, but merely because somebody has persuad-
ed him that he cannot be saved in any other, though he imme-
diately disavows this persuasion. But let him join the true church
of Christ, in whatsoever form she appears in the world, and if he
be a Christian, he will love her communion for its own sake, and
for the sake of Christ, who is the Head of the church, and who
not only will save him, but who has saved him already, if he be a
Christian.
The reader will observe, I use the word Christian in the Bible
sense. A Christian is one who believes the Gospel, who is born
again, who is really a disciple of Christ; that is, one who believes
what Christ teaches, and does what he commands : for they were
disciples who were called Christians first at Antioch, and the in-
spired writers never gave the name to any other. Now, the
Apostle Paul says to such, not merely ye shall be saved, but " by
grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ; it
is the gift of God." Ephes. ii. 8. Again, he " hath saved us,
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. i. 9. It is true
that, in respect of perfect holiness, and perfect happiness, salva-
tion is future ; but every Christian in this world is so far a saved
person, that he is delivered from wrath and condemnation, is jus-
tified before God, and created anew for his service; and without
this a man is not a Christian, whether he belong to the church of
Rome, or any other church. I hope my readers will not suppose
I am going to give them another Sermon ; I am only dropping a
word for the instruction of my correspondent, who, 1 suspect, has
not found peace to his conscience in the Church of Rome.
I would farther advise W. D. not to meddle with the high doc-
trine of liberty and necessity, or fate and free-will, at least till he
has become acquainted with the plain and simple truths contained
in the Bible. Let him not imagine that he may safely do evil
from a belief that he was predestinated to do it. The church of
Scotland never taught such doctrine ; and if this was the cause of
liis leaving her, he ought to return, and confess his mistake, and
'• he reconverted back again."
My correspondent is much offended by the charge of idolatry
which I bring against his church ; but I appeal to himself whether
I have not proved her guilty, to the conviction of every one who
believes the testimony of his own senses ; and there is no possi-
bility of proving any thing to persons who do not believe their
senses; for though I were to oct down a mathematical demor<*trV
159
tion in every page, they would not be sure that they saw if.
What I made and meant for a square, they might call a triangle or
a circle ; and what I knew to be good black ink, they might main-
tain to be butter-milk. There was, however, a time when W. D.
believed his senses, if he was, as he says, a member of the church
of Scotland. He cannot have forgotten this. If, then, he had
seen a man adoring a piece of bread, he would have called him an
idolater. If the worshipper should have told him it was not bread,
but the God that made him ; instead of being convinced, I sup-
pose \V. D. would have called him mad as well as idolatrous.
Now, though W. D. himself has become a believer in the won-
derful conversion of a piece of bread into the real substance of the
body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ, and of course
sees no idolatry in worshipping it, he must allow those who do
not believe this doctrine, to think of the worship of a piece of
bread as he once thought of it, that it is downright idolatry. This,
I think, I have proved in some of my late Numbers, to which I
refer him, if he is willing to believe his own senses ; if not, he
may save himself the trouble, for it will be of no avail. He can-
not be certain whether he is reading my print or his own manu-
script.
1 know that Papists disclaim idol worship, and that they do so
with the most bitter cursing, of which W. D. has given a speci-
men from Gother's Papist Misrepresented and Represented ; but
this is no more than heathens do, except the cursing part of the
disavowal, which, I suppose, is pecuharly Popish. No man pro-
fesses to worship an idol, believing it to be an idol, but because
he believes a divinity to reside in it, or that it is itself a divinity.
Every man who worships a creature is an idolater ; and he is not
the less so, because he believes it to be the Creator; and though
he should pronounce ever so many curses against idol worshippers.
My correspondent proceeds upon a mistake, into which he, and,
I suppose, all his brethren, have fallen, — that the church which
Christ purchased with his blood, and of which he promised that
the gates of hell should not prevail against her, is the visible or-
ganized Church of Rome. This they all seem to take for granted ;
but it is a mere assumption, without a shadow of reason to sup-
port it. The church of Christ are the redeemed of all nations
and of all ages ; and the gates of hell shall never prevail so as to
prevent the salvation of any one of them. Those of them who
are upon earth are scattered among a number of visible organized
bodies, which, in an inferior sense, are called churches. The
church in Rome was one of these, while she held the true faith
and pure worship, as instituted by Christ ; but in her purest state
she had no superiority over other churches ; she never had any
right to call herself by way of eminence, much less exclusively, the
church. Christ never gave to her, or to any national, provincial,
ICO
or particular church, a promise that the gates of hell should not
prevail against it ; but he gave warning to all, that if they depart-
ed from the faith, they should be cut off. This has been noto-
riously the case with Rome ; and though she retains the name ot
Christian, she has become the reverse of what the name implies;
and is conspicuously the place where Satan has his seat.
In short, the promise of Christ holds out no security to either
churches or individuals, but in the way of persevering in faith and
holy practice. Christ said to his disciples, on one occasion, " Fear
not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom." Luke xii. 34. Now, if Judas had argued as Papists
do, he needed not to have thought himself in danger of perdition,
though he had betrayed his Lord. He might have said, if
Christ's word be true, I am sure of the kingdom of heaven. But
Judas had not the presumption to reason like modern Papists.
He apostatized, and he perished ; yet Christ spoke the truth, and
his word will be verified in the salvation of all true disciples.
The Church of Rome also apostatized ; and though Christ promised
that the gates of hell should not prevail against his church, he has
suffered them to prevail against that of Rome. He has removed
the candlestick, that is the branch of his church that was once in
Rome, out of the place, as he did to many other churches, for the
same reason. Of some, indeed, the memory is perished from the
earth ; but for reasons known fully to himself alone, he suffered
the Church of Rome to retain a name and a visible form, after
the spirit was gone, and to become the antitype of Babylon, the
oppressor and persecutor of the church of God.
To know that a church is in error, it is not necessary to prove
when, and by whom the error was first broached ; yet W. D.
seems to express great triumph, because nobody can tell who said
the first mass. Had he been a servant of the husbandman, in
whose field tares had been sown, and had sprung up, he would
not have believed that tares were in the field, though he saw them
with his own eyes, unless somebody could tell who sowed them.
To the master, and the wise servants, it appeared that the tares
were sown while they were off their guard, and that it was the
work of an enemy. Tin's was evident from the actual state of the
field, though they could tell no more about it. So the Church of
Rome is now full of errors, though it be not easy to fix the precise
time, or to name the persons by whom they were all introduced.
She has departed from the unerring standard, she is many degrees
distant from it; we are therefore sure that she has erred, though
we should not be able to tell who made the first wry step.
A few farther remarks on W. D.'s letter in mv next.
THE
Protectant,
No. LXXI.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20///, 1819.
IVIy correspondent, W. D., whose letter I gave in my last
Number, refuses to admit that the Church of Rome is in any
error, because no Protestant can tell him who was the first that
erred, or who said the first mass: to which I replied, that we
found her far removed from the unerring standard ; and that,
therefore, we were sure that she had erred, though we coi.ld
not tell who made the first wry step. I shall illustrate this by
the following incident : —
I happened to be in Greenock a few weeks ago, in a very
foggy night, when some gentlemen hired a boat to ferry them
over to Helensburgh. They could not see above ten yards
round them, and they had no compass. The men rowed with
all their might for about two hours, when they made land, sup-
posing it to be Helensburgh ; but it turned out to be Cartsdyke,
on the Greenock side of the river, and not half a mile distant
from the place from which they started. Now, had W. D.
been one of the company, he must, according to his mode of
reasoning, have maintained that Cartsdyke was Helensburgh,
unless somebody could tell which of the rowers had gained so
upon the other, as insensibly to turn about the boat. But the
sensible part of the company, seeing how matters stood, would
confess that they had erred from their course, though they could
not tell who gave the first stroke of the oar that led them astray.
In the thick and long continued darkness of Europe, it is not
surprising that the great body of the people went astray from the
truth, and wandered in the mazes of error. Indeed, it could
not have been otherwise, without a perpetual miracle. But W. D.
will admit of no error having been broached, unless we can pro-
duce a distinct record of its introduction ; while the very darkness
which facilitated the propagation of error, rendered it difficult, if
not impossible, in many instances, to preserve such record : yet,
Vol. II. X
162
this writer most confidently assures us, that " there is no heresy
whatever, nor any point of discipline that is, or ever was prac-
tised in the Church of Rome, or any other church whatever,
but what is recorded by some historian ; but we have no such
records of the supposed errors of the Church of Rome." It is
impossible that W. D. can know what he asserts in the first part
of this sentence without inspiration ; therefore we may let this
pass till he shall make it appear that he is possessed of the gift :
and as for the errors of the Church of Rome, we have enough on
record to show us when s,ome of the principal ones came to be
publicly acknowledged as what is called Catholic doctrine. This
18 well known to every reader of Church history, but I am afraid
I cannot rank W. D. among the number. Let him read Mjl-
ner's Church History, or even his own Dupin, and he will see
reason enough to be " reconverted back again."
He speaks of the succession of Popes from Peter, who, he
says, was the first of them, with as much confidence as if it were
a thing as clear and undisputed as the succession of our royal
family from King James the First; but, if he be not a novice in-
deed, he must know that this is all nonsense. I defy him, and
the whole Church of Rome, to produce a sentence from the
genuine writings of any one of the Fathers, which distinctly proves
that Peter ever was in Rome, much less that he was Bishop of
that see. But as I intend to discuss this subject at length in
some future Numbers, I shall not enter farther upon it here.
My correspondent gives a list of Fathers, whose writings, he says,
he has seen ; but if I may judge from the manner in which he
writes English, I suspect he cannot read these Fathers in the
original languages. He must trust, therefore, to mere garbled
scraps of translations, or barefaced forgeries, such as his priests
are pleased to show him, and which are of no authority what-
ever. It is well known that the Church of Rome has, by her
Index Expurgatorius, expunged from the works of the Fathers
every passage that she judged contrary to her own doctrine ; and
that she has actually foisted into the blank spaces which the In-
dex made, words which the authors never wrote, expressing sen-
timents which they never held. From such corrupted editions of
the Fathers, Popish writers make their quotations. Indeed, if
they were to use other editions, and give the genuine words of
the Fathers, it would be at the peril of falling under the vengeance
of the Inquisition, if they should ever come within its reach.
If W. D. did not know of the existence of the Index, I hope he
will thank me for the information ; and as the fact is as noto-
rious as the existence of the Fathers themselves, I hope he will
hereafter pay little attention to what his ghostly guides ma) please
to present him from St. lremeus, or any saint of the Pope's mak-
163
ing ; and that he will have recourse to his Bible, which will not
lead him astray.
He quotes, apparently with approbation, Gother's curses
upon those who believe, or do not believe, certain matters, or
whose worship is not perfectly according to rule : thus, for
instance, " Cursed is he who worships any breaden god, or makes
gods of the empty elements of bread and wine ;" and the Res-
pondent is taught to say, " Amen." This great curse leaves
room enough for worshipping what appears to be bread and wine,
though not as bread and wine ; just as the curse pronounced
upon every goddess-worshipper, leaves persons at full liberty to
worship the Virgin Mary, provided they do not put their trust
in her more than in God, or suppose that she is above her Son,
or can command him. These are mere quibbles, intended to
deceive simple Protestants, and to conceal the notorious fact that
Papists do worship idols ; and their denying the fact with such
bitter cursing, only shows that they have no honest way of clear-
ing themselves. We do not read that ever the apostle Peter had
recourse to cursing, but when he was guilty of another great
crime, and wished to conceal the truth.
In this article the Church of Rome shows herself to be the
very opposite of the true church of Christ, whose motto is,
" Bless and curse not." The promise of God to Abraham extends
to the whole church — " I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing."
She looks with a benign aspect towards the whole human race.
She prays, and labours, that all men may be brought into the fold
of Christ, that they may enjoy the blessing of Abraham, which
is come upon the Gentiles. But if men will not come into the
fold, in the way of believing in Christ, as God has commanded ;
if they will continue heathens and idolaters, Christians pity them,
and pray for their conversion, but they are by no means warrant-
ed to curse them. I suppose W. D. thinks it his duty, most de-
voutly, to curse " The Protestant," in imitation of his
brethren here, by whom he was, about a year ago, most heartily
cursed, even from the pulpit ; but I should reckon myself guilty
of a great crime were I to curse either him or them. I shall
be told, perhaps, that an Apostle says, If any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. An
Apostle does, indeed, say so; but he is speaking by inspira-
tion, and declaring the righteous judgment of God against the
enemies of Christ, which shall be executed upon all the finally
impenitent ; and the company of the saved will cordially acquiesce
in that sentence ; but this is not a rule by which we are warrant-
ed to deal with fellow creatures in this world ; or an example
which we are to imitate, by cursing all whom we believe to be in
e;ror.
164-
One remark more on this letter, and I shall have done with
.t. The writer very kindly advises me to give the religion of
Papists from their own books, without misrepresentation, and
then condemn them, if I can, with cool reasoning and fair ar-
gument. Now this is the very thing I have done all along. I
have in no instance, so far as I recollect, ascribed any doctrine
to the Church of Rome, at least no one of any importance; and
I have founded no argument upon any doctrine ascribed to her.
without laying down the doctrine in the very words of her own
authors. I have been very liberal in my extracts from these ;
but when any fundamental doctrine was in question, I have not
satisfied myself with the authority of any individual author, how-
ever high in rank and reputation, though this should be enough in
a church, in which the faith of one is declared to be the faith of
all ; but I have given the authority of Councils and Colleges, and
Catechisms, which are admitted to contain and express the real
doctrine of the Church of Rome. On the subject of not keeping
faith with heretics, I gave the words of the Council of Con-
stance, and showed how the doctrine was practised under the
sanction of that Council. On the subject of withholding the
Bible from the common people, I gave the words of the College
of Rheims, and of the Council of Trent, and of several modern
authors. On the subject of worshipping saints and images, I
gave a number of extracts from approved books of devotion : and
on transubstantiation, and the sacrifice of the mass, besides the
words of several Catechisms, I cited the supreme authority of the
Council of Trent. From such authentic sources I have carefully
given the doctrines of the Church of Rome; and I defy W. D. to
show that 1 have misquoted a single sentence.
In some instances, indeed, I have given the words of Popish
iiuthors as quoted by others ; by such men, for instance, as
Archbishop Usher and Archbishop Tillotson, whose names are
a sufficient security against imposition ; and, in a few instances,
from the author of " Free Thoughts," who, though he chose to
publish his work without his name, is well known to have been a
respectable Presbyterian Professor of Divinity, and in nothing
that became a minister of Christ inferior to the above-named
primates of England and Ireland. I do not however rest so
much upon the personal character of these great divines, as upon
the fidelity of their quotations. They had access to more books
than I have. I have given the words of Popish authors, as
given literally, or translated by them, with reference to the books
and pages ; so that any man who has access to the original
works, may try whether they have given the words or meaning
faithfully. Had they made any misquotation or mistranslation,
the\ would soon havo been detected and exposed ; and as this
165
was never done that I have heard of, I have no hesitation in
taking the correctness of their quotations as admitted. And with
regard to the last mentioned writer, the author of " Free
Thoughts," though his book be anonymous, his quotations are
not so, because he gives the names, and refers to the works and
pages of the authors from whom he quotes. Authorities thus
given are as authentic as if they came from the lips of the Pope
of Rome ; and, perhaps, more so. I know that some modern
Papists do not admit the authority of the word of God, as given
by the Protestant translators, though the words should be pre-
cisely the same as in their own version ; so, perhaps, they will
not admit the very xvords of their own authors as they appear in
Protestant books ; but this only shows that they cannot be rea-
soned with, according to any rule of reason or common sense.
In matters of fact, relating to Popish worship and practice, 1
do not think it necessary to confine myself to Popish authors. I
know it is a rule with Papists, to believe nothing, and to deny
every thing, which is attested by Protestant writers, however high
in reputation, if it shall have the least tendency to expose the
idolatry and superstition of the Church of Rome ; but this only
shows that their system cannot bear the inspection and the ver-
dict of honest men. No candid person would reject the evidence
of such men as Dr. Middleton, or of any man, whatever be his
private religious sentiments, who gives a credible account of
what he saw and heard, and when there appears no motive that
he could have to deceive his readers. Besides, it is affirmed by
other travellers, and not denied by Papists themselves, that all
that Dr. Middleton ascribes to Popish worship is true ; and of
its conformity with heathenism, any classical scholar is able to
judge.
I am quite aware that our Scottish Papists, who feel them-
selves unable to answer the arguments of The Protestant,
and who feel hurt by the exposure which, from time to time, he
makes of their impieties and extortions, endeavour to satisfy
themselves and one another, with the reflection that he brings
all his materials from books written by enemies of the Church of
Rome. The assertion is not true •, but if it were, they ought
not to reject the evidence which he brings against them ; f'cr, in
nine instances out of ten, the enemies of Rome will be found to
tell the truth.
Having done my Popish correspondents the favour of printing
every word that they have addressed to me, under their true
character, it will be allowed to be but fair that I should treat my
readers with one or two of the immense file of letters which I
have received from Protestants. The following, which relates to
the subject of not keeping faith with heretics, is from a clergy-
166
man in the country, who kindly authorizes me to give his name.
I omit part of the first paragraph, which relates to matters of
which my readers have had enough in my 50th Number, and in
my Letter to Mr. M' Hardy. The paragraph concludes by as-
suring me, that I may depend on the truth of the statement ;
and that the " circumstances are recorded in the court books of
the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright."
Sir, — In the month of July, 1812, I was called to join in
marriage two persons, the man a Papist, and the woman a Pro-
testant. At the period of their marriage, the intended husband
vowed, in the most solemn manner, not only to allow the woman
the liberty of worshipping God according to her conscience, but
also of having the female children who should proceed from the
marriage, baptized by a Protestant clergyman, and brought up
in the principles of the Protestant faith : she agreeing, at the same
time, that the male children should be under his direction ; it
being understood by both parties that when the children came to
years of understanding, they should have liberty of judging for
themselves. All things went well till the month of June, 1813,
when a female child was born. Immediately after, I was spoken
to about baptism ; but the husband had also applied to his priest
to come forward and baptize it. At the earnest request of both
parties, I was present at this intended meeting for baptism. I
heard the afflicted mother, pale and weak from recent illness,
tell her story with all the mildness of a Christian. I heard the
priest, with sternness in his countenance, tell her, there was no
help for her, that the principles of their church bound all their
adherents to bring up all their children in the principles of the
Church of Rome, and to have their children baptized by a Ca-
tholic clergyman. I reminded him that this was a particular
case, — there was a solemn promise. It is a bad promise, said
he, and therefore must be broken. I asked him to give me the
definition of a bad promise. The answer I received was, Any
promise inconsistent ivith the principles and practice, of our
church. Mr. Andrews, I hope, will observe this is not the as-
sertion of a poor ignorant being, who could neither read nor
write ; but the declaration of a man to whom the infallible
Church of Rome has committed the charge of the interests of
four or five hundred immortal souls. He will observe, I trust,
that the vow was not made under constraint, but emitted volun-
tarily, and made in the most solemn manner, in the presence of
that God who hath said, he will not hold him guiltless that takes
his name in vain. According to his own declaration, that in
the Church of Rome, the faith of one is the faith of all, the
meaning of the whole in plain English seems to be this, — That
m
no promise or vow, however solemn, is binding on any Papist,
when it will further the interest of the Church of Rome to break
it. As Mr. Andrews calls for facts, if this one will serve you,
you are at liberty to use it in the manner you see most proper.
I remain, Yours, &c.
Kilbride, July 16th, 1819. Robert Cameron."
From the above, I beg leave to repeat the warning which I
gave to my Protestant countrywomen on a former occasion, that
they beware of connecting themselves with Papists. They may
be assured it will be a miserable connexion, unless they shall go
over to their husbands' religion, and renounce the gospel of Christ,
for the mass and the Virgin Mary. Then, indeed, they may be as
happy as Papists can be under the iron rod, and the endless ex-
tortions of their ghostly guides : and if they have money to pay
the priest, they may receive such assurances as he can give of
happiness in another life ; but if they arc poor, they must shift
for themselves. There is no mercy in the church of Rome.
With her there is nothing but pay or perish.
The above certified case is only a sample of what very fre-
quently takes place in such mixed marriages. The baptism of
the first child is that which brings parties to the test. It was this
that originated the quarrel between M'Murray and his wife, and.
which led to his maltreating and abandoning both her and his
child. Indeed, Papists are confessedly taken bound to have all
their children baptized and brought up in what they call the only
true church. If there be one more good natured than the rest,
who chooses to indulge his Protestant wife in this matter, and
allow her to get baptism to her child, in her own church, he is
teased and tormented by his priest every time he goes to confes-
sion : and no wonder, as the priest considers himself robbed of
his dues, which are no light matter, as we shall see by and by ;
and the poor man is also scouted at by all his brethren, as a luke-
warm son of the church, and as a poor henpecked husband ; an
accusation which is not to be endured by any man of spirit.
Hence he must compel his wife to yield to him the point of bap-
tism by the priest, else he will wreak his vengeance on her, and
make her life miserable.
A case lately occurred which will illustrate this matter. A
Papist was brought before our Police-court for maltreating, and
threatening to murder his Protestant wife. Another Gentleman
and myself got the history of the case from the woman while she
was in waiting in the office. She had been married little more than
a year ; and her husband had treated her pretty well till she had
the child which was in her arms, and which appeared to be about
two months old. She gave her consent, at least she did not hin-
1G8
tier him from applying to Mr. Scott for baptism ; but on applica
tion, the priest demanded half a guinea, and would not take less.
This being more than the poor man was able to pay, he went
home to his wife in dudgeon, and consented to go with her to
her own minister, from whom she received baptism to her child
for nothing ; but he soon appeared to have repented of his com-
pliance. Whether this was owing to the taunts of his brethren,
or the severe penance imposed by his priest, I cannot tell ; but
from that time he began to look down upon his wife ; repeatedly
beat her, as was declared by herself and some of her neighbours
in open court : and she declared that she was in fear of her life.
The husband, when called upon for his defence, admitted that
he was one of Mr. Scott's people, and did not deny the fact of
beating his wife, which was indeed distinctly proved ; but he
pleaded that he did not beat her because she was a Protestant,
but because he was drunk ; and that he could not well restrain
himself when in that state. He was dismissed with a reprimand
and suitable advice ; and I heard the woman say, after leaving
the court, that she durst not for her life go home to him ; but
that she would go with her infant to her friends in the north, if
she should beg her way. This, I suppose, she has done, for on
making inquiry lately of the elder of her district, to whom she
had been known, I could hear nothing of her. The minister
who baptized the child had previously told me the fact of a man
and a woman coming to him, as described above, and particularly,
that the man gave as his reason for coming to him, that Mr. Scott
demanded half-a-guinea for the baptism ; but whether this was the
neat price of the job, or whether it might not include some ar-
rears, I cannot tell. Be this as it may, it must be allowed by
every good Papist, that it was better that the child should perish
under the guilt of heretical baptism, or without baptism, than
that the priest should go without his half-guinea.
The man was one of the wildest looking fellows I had ever
seen. His body was covered with a few woollen rags ; so far as
appeared, he had no shirt ; he accused his wife of having taken
some things out of his house; and in her defence, she stated,
what was not denied by him, that she had put her blankets into a
neighbours house to save them from being taken away by him,
and sold for liquor. This is a specimen of " Mr. Scott's people.''
This is a true son of the church ; one who has been regenerated
by baptism, and who wants nothing but the absolution of Mr.
Scott, when he comes to die, to carry him right to heaven, at least
to heaven byway of Purgatory : but, what is of more importance
than all, this is one of the subjects from whom the priest hu-
manely exacts half-a-guinea for his baptism of a child, which
really is not worth half-a-farthing.
More of such matter in my next.
THE
Protectant,
No. LXXII.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1819.
In my last Number, I alluded, in general terms, to the subject
of mixed marriages, and showed the great misery that was likely
co result from the union of Protestants with Papists. I have
never heard of such a union being productive of happiness, in so
much as one instance ; and I am verily persuaded, that happiness,
in the very lowest sense of the word, cannot be the result of such
a connexion, without the entire sacrifice of principle on both
sides ; and then, to be sure, the parties may be as happy as other
heathens in the married state ; — or without the Protestant party
falling into the religion of the Papist, so as to do away the dis-
tinction between them ; and then they may live like other good
and quiet children of Rome.
A man or a woman, being under the influence of Christian
principles, would, I think, be very cautious with regard to the
principles, as well as the character, of the person with whom he
or she was to be united for life. There is, perhaps, little danger
of such persons as the above forming a connexion with Papists.
Real Christians have learned not to be unequally yoked ; and the
inequality between a real Christian and a real Papist, is so mani-
fest at first view, that I cannot contemplate the possibility of such
a union, without supposing a dereliction of principle, at least on
the part of the former. The danger exists chiefly among thought-
less young persons, who have been born and brought up among
Protestants, but who have received no religious education, and
who do not know what real Christianity is. They are chiefly
young females who, in this part of the kingdom, are in danger of
becoming victims ; for the influx of males, from the Popish part
of the empire, in search of employment, is much greater than that
of females ; and there must, of course, be many Popish young
men willing to take wives of our Protestant women, while there
Vol. II Y
170
are few or none of our Protestant young men, who would think of
taking Popish wives.
Now, what is the consequence of a union between a Popish
husband and a Protestant wife ? Suppose the wife is like a
great part of our female population, merely a creature for this
world, who has never been taught to look forward to another
world, or to consider her interest in it ; she will, of course, look
upon one religion as quite as good as another ; and she cannot
think of a better one than that of her husband, if he be but toler-
ably kind to her ; she is therefore easily prevailed upon to fall
into it. The husband, on the other hand, looks upon his reli-
gion as every thing to him. He may be a very sober man, or he
may be ever so licentious. The difference of character will make
no difference in his relation to the Church of Rome, or in his
zeal for her glory and increase. He will imagine no action so
meritorious in itself, or that will recommend him more to his
brethren, than the conversion of a heretic ; his heart, in short, be-
comes set upon this object ; and as the only heretic under his
influence is his wife, he will never rest till he has brought her
fully over to his mother church. It is in this way, I am credibly
informed, that Popery has of late increased so much in England.
Mixed marriages generally issue in bringing the Protestant party
over to Popery ; because the Protestant originally had no fixed
religious principle of any kind, while the Papist was, in heart and
soul, devoted to Popery : and all the children of such marriages
are usually baptized and educated in the Church of Rome. I do
not believe that Popery, in Glasgow, has yet increased much from
this cause. I question if Mr. Scott has, in his whole flock, half
a dozen of adults who were born in Glasgow. The great bulk
are Irish ; there are a few from the North Highlands ; and a few
foreigners.
Sometimes, indeed, as in the case mentioned by a correspon-
dent in my last Number, there is a mutual stipulation, that the
children of one sex shall be baptized and educated in the father's
religion, and of the other sex in the mother's. In the case referred
to, the agreement seems to have been made by the Popish hus-
band, without considering himself bound to observe it ; at least it
appeared, when he was brought to the test, that he paid more re-
gard to the dispensation of his priest, than to his own solemn oath ;
and that he did not scruple to break faith with his wife. Indeed,
it would be foolish to expect any thing else, without absolute in-
difference on both sides ; for the side on which party zeal predo-
minates will carry it against the more liberal. If both are equally
zealous, the family will become a scene of perpetual discord ; and
the weaker vessel, whether it be the man or the wife, must ulti-
mately give in.
171
It must be an odd sort of a schism that exists in families sub-
ject to such an arrangement as the above ; and the effect must be
extremely pernicious to the children. A friend of mine had, last
year, an opportunity of witnessing this at one of the English wa-
tering places. There happened to lodge, under the same roof, a
lady governess, having under her charge several children, the fa-
mily of a Baronet, whose lady was a Papist. It seems the agree-
ment between the father and the mother of the children was, that
the boys should be bred Protestants, and the girls Papists ; and
so far as is known, the agreement had been adhered to ; but this
said governess was the teacher of all the children, male and fe-
male ; and she found herself in the aukward predicament of
honest Cuddy, in " Old Mortality," who, between the clashing
lessons of his tory lady and his whig mother, could not help,
when he was catechised, blending the chief end of man with god-
fathers and godmothers, so as to mar the sense of both the Cate-
chisms which he had been set to learn. This lady actually
complained of the hardship of her lot, in being obliged to teach
the English prayers to the boys, and the Romish ones to the
girls. She had no preference of the one above the other, but
only grudged the double labour of teaching and listening to both :
and she actually asked my friend's opinion, whether it would not
be lawful to go over to the Church of Rome, especially as her
ladyship's confessor, who lived in the family, had offered her ten
guineas (which, she said, would buy many fine things) if she
would become a convert, using as an argument, that they had
had no converts for some time, and it kept up their spirits to have
one now and then.
I make use of this anecdote merely to show the miserable con-
dition of the children, where such an arrangement as the above
has been made. It is impossible for a conscientious Christian,
father or mother, to witness, with indifference, their children of
either sex, educated in what they heartily believe to be a false re-
ligion. If, therefore, both parties adhere to the agreement, both
must abandon the children to some mercenary creature, who has no
religion at all ; for if they were to pitch upon a religious person
to be the teacher, they could not prevent the religion of the teach-
er from being inculcated upon the children. In the case of the
family referred to, it is easy to see what will be the issue with re-
gard to the children of both sexes, seeing there is a priest living
in the family, and a governess, almost willing to become his tool,
for the slender bribe of ten guineas.
I return now to a subject of a more private and local nature.
My readers have already been informed of the numerous extor-
172
tions practised upon the poor Papists in Glasgow, in order to
raise and uphold the magnificent establishment in Clyde Street
In addition to my former statements on this subject, take the fol-
lowing case, which is officially certified by the Clerk of the Town's
Hospital, and is introduced by a letter from him, as follows : —
Glasgow Town's Hospital, September, 1819.
Sir,
At the desire of the gentlemen of this institu-
tion, I transmit to you the following facts, that you may make use
of them, if you think proper, in your Paper, The Protestant.
The gentlemen of the Committee were much surprised at the
conduct of Mr. Scott in the affair, and were desirous to be per-
sonally informed of the case. A part of their number accordingly
called upon the woman, when, in the presence of four individuals,
she went over the facts stated in the Superintendent's Report ; and
declared, that she was ready to depone upon oath, as to their
verity.
She then farther stated, that Mr. Scott would not recommend
her children for admission into the Catholic Schools, till she
threatened, that if he would not, she would apply to get them ad-
mitted into one of the Protestant Charity Schools. And, in cor-
roboration of the fact, regarding the charge made by Mr. Scott,
she mentioned that it was a gentleman, named Mr. Kerr, whom
she employed to wait on the priest, in order to obtain baptism for
her child. The gentlemen of the Committee also waited upon this
person, who resides in High Street. I forget the number, but I
was in his house. He being a Catholic also, soon suspected the
drift of the enquiry ; and, with their characteristic cunning on
such occasions, did all in his power to elude giving the informa-
tion wanted.
He, however, distinctly admitted, that though he used a good
deal of entreaty with Mr. Scott in behalf of the poor woman, yet,
that he found it necessary to pay to Mr. Scott the eight shil-
lings mentioned in the woman's story, before he would consent
to baptize the child. This man's wife, who was not a Catholic,
was strongly inclined to give some additional information respect-
ing the case, but was silenced by her husband.
The Committee have frequently had occasion to believe that
some of their pensioners were in the habit of contributing towards
the erection of the chapel ; but they thought this case too particu-
lar a one to be passed over in the customary silence. Here follows
the Superintendent's Report, read to the Committee, which he
made up in his annual visitation of the Hospital poor: —
« 20th August, 1819. Betty Dochic, alias Widow Hanliti,
I7a
44, Bridgegate, aged 36, has three children : — Helen, 5 years and
3 months; Michael, 3 years; and Alice, 8 months. Has thir-
ty shillings quarterly from the hospital ; no other supply. She
strips feathers ; has three other children variously employed. Her
husband died in January last ; had, before his death, given to
Mr. Scott four pounds ; but had fallen back in his payments, in
consequence of which, Mr. Scott refused to recommend the chil-
dren for admission to the Popish Schools. Nor would he bap-
tize the infant, which was only two months old at its father's
death, till the mother pawned a pair of blankets, for five shillings,
and borrowed three shillings from a friend, and paid Mr. Scott
eight shillings ; partly for christening the child, and partly for her
husband's arrears. She says she will declare the above to be
truth, before God and man."
I am, &c.
WILLIAM SYM, Clerk.
Thus it seems we are assessed, not for the support of our own
poor brethren only, but also for the support of widows and or-
phans of Papists, who have been impoverished by the extortion of
their priest ; and thus the good citizens of Glasgow, who lately
made so bold a stand against being taxed for the purpose of build-
ing parish churches, are actually, though indirectly, taxed for the
building and support of a Popish chapel !
Thus far I had proceeded in composing the present Number,
when I received some farther information, from the same authen-
tic source, with regard to Mr. Scott and Widow Hanlin, which
justice to both parties requires me to communicate. On Mar-
tinmas day, when the widow called at the Hospital for her half-
quarter's allowance, she stated that, about a month before that,
Mr. Scott had called upon her, and that without upbraiding her
for divulging the story which I have given above, he returned to
her the eight shillings which he had extorted from her for the
baptism of her child, &c. ; and farther, that he had given her
12 lbs. of meal per week, for three weeks ; and that, moreover, he
had charged her to tell this to no man.
I hope Mr. Scott will believe me, when I say that this is the
best thing I ever heard of him ; and as I am assured that he had
been informed that the widow's case had been communicated to
me, he will allow me to congratulate myself, as the happy in-
strument, of not only relieving the widow, but also of produc-
ing a benevolent feeling in his mind, to which, perhaps, he had
been too long a stranger. If Mr. Scott be possessed of human
feelings, he must have had more pleasure in returning these eight
shillings to the poor widow, and in giving her a little meal, than
]74
in the many thousand pounds which have been extorted from per-
sons almost as poor as she. Nay, I will venture to assert, that
he never felt so much pleasure in contemplating the lofty minar-
ets of his chapel, or the spacious rooms of his manse, with the
extortions, by means of which they were reared, as he felt when
he put the silver into the widow's hands.
This, however, is not the first instance of restitution that is on re-
cord. The reader will recollect a case, in my ninth Number, in
which a whole shilling was restored, after having been extorted
from a poor sick person ; and if more instances had been com-
municated to me, I should gladly have recorded them. It is
pleasant to see that the work of restitution has begun, and pro-
ceeded so far ; because this is one evidence, that the extortioner
has begun to repent ; and though the extortion itself has pro-
duced nearly twenty thousand pounds, and though the amount of
the restitution is, upon the whole, only nine shillings in money,
and four pecks and a half of oatmeal, we must not be discour-
aged, but hope for the best, knowing that the greatest things in
the world, even Rome itself, arose out of small beginnings.
Protestants have no idea of the immense sums of money which
are levied upon Papists by their ghostly instructers. The Clyde
Street chapel is, indeed, a standing monument and proof that the
priest has access to the purses of the people, in a manner almost
incomprehensible by Protestants. The following will show in
what manner money is raised among the poor in Ireland. I copy
the document from the Sun newspaper, of February 2d, 1819 : —
" Circular suggested for Parochial Subscrip-
tions. To appoint a person in each parish to make individual
application to each householder. — This person shall take with
him to each village, or farm, a list of the householders, and shall
apply to each of them, whether he was willing to contribute
tenpencc, or any higher sum, toward defraying the expenses of
the Catholic petitions. — Each person paying should be marked
down as paid, and the sum inserted in the margin — Each per-
son refusing, should have (he words refused to contribute ten-
pence, added to his name. — And a second application should
be made to those who refuse, with an intimation, that the list
tvould be read in the chapel the ensuing Sunday. — The list
should be read at the chapel, as soon as it was ascertained that
no more could be collected. — The more wealthy persons will,
of course, contribute more than tenpence ; but no sum should be
received from any person, save what he can afford to give, with
the most perfect convenience.
" Sir, — I am directed by the Committee of accounts to send
you the above plan, and to request your attention to it. It will
not be easy to carry this plan into effect, without the counte-
175
nance of the Catholic clergy; but it is presumed, from their
constant attention to the interests of their countrymen, that they
will give the plan the support of their advice. It is also expect-
ed that you will transmit to the board, an account of the parishes
in the county in which you reside, in which this plan shall
be carried into effect. You cannot do a greater service to
the Catholic cause, than by exerting yourself, on this occasion,
as the funds of the Board are quite exhausted, and it will be im-
possible to transmit our petitions to Parliament, unless subscrip-
tions are collected. The mode of carrying this plan into effect
is, of course, left with you ; but it is hoped you will not refuse
to give your zealous and active assistance. I have the honour
to be, your very obedient humble servant,
" Daniel O'Connell.'
On the above circular, a correspondent of the Sun, writes:
" Here's an engine, Sir, strong enough to lift the Protestant
establishment off its centre ; and at work nearly these five years,
unchecked and unnoticed ! But I will forbear all comment, un-
til I startle your readers with a little gentle instruction about the
sum which the " circular" motion of this steam-engine was cal-
culated to raise.
" The Popish Board, under whose authority the above curi-
ous document was issued, reckons, by its accredited " state-
ment," the enumeration of the " emphatic" people of Ireland,
the Papists, at four millions, two hundred thousand ; reckoning
then the subscribing patriots at tvoo-thirds> their tenpennies
would produce an impost of one hundred and sixteen thousand,
six hundred and sixty-six pounds. I will, however, be candid
enough not to take them upon their own deliberate exaggeration,
but on a truer and more moderate standard. I will count them
only as two-thirds of their vaunted number, and, of course, at
two-thirds only of the above contribution. Still there will re-
main a subscription for the use of the Board, of seventy
SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX
pounds, without calculating " the more wealthy persons, who,
of course, contribute more than tenpence." Supposing this, as
we well may, a monthly contribution, it has produced the annual
sum of nine hundred and thirty-three thousand, three hundred
and twelve pounds : which for the last four years, from 1814,
it would not be fair, Sir, to include the ways and means of
1819, as already raised, makes an aggregate sum of more than
three millions, seven hundred thousand pounds, collected from
the Papists of Ireland, by her controlling and managing Board.
— Talk of the King's taxes after this !"
I think this writer must be mistaken in supposing the above
176
tenpennies collected monthly I see no evidence of this in the
circular itself; and I should rather suppose them collected only
annually, according to the annual occasion of petitioning. This
reduces the sum to a twelfth part of what is above stated; and
yet it is sufficiently enormous to justify the following remarks, by
the same writer : —
" Now, Sir, what occasion, what honest and lawful occasion,
had the Board for such a sum? I acquit its members of pocket-
ing this money among themselves : but, after accounting for all
their public expenses — their agents' bills for prosecutions and de-
fences, their counsellors' fees, the fines of their convicted libellers,
their salaries of their seditious newspapers, the secret service
money of their threshers, and carders, and ribbon men, the
annuities of their suffering patriots, and the representatives of
their executed martyrs; nay, their presents to one another of
cups and side-boards, a tolerable sum will remain ; of which,
unless expended in the purchase of boroughs, I call upon the
Board and its collectors to state the application. Silence will
convict them.
" If you knew, Mr. Editor, the delusions practised upon the
poor ignorant Papists in Ireland, the irritations with which they
are perpetually fevered, and the more than despotic authority
with which their priests trample upon both body and soul, you
would readily believe the facility of levying, even the enormous sum
which I have stated. The means too of compelling the refrac-
tory, are more " emphatic" than even tax-gatherer or tithe-
proctor can adopt. To read the name of the recusant in the
public chapel, was an especial mode of enforcing contributions."
— " Protestants ! Look to yourselves, Popery is awake, — ye are
asleep : — Popery is busy, — ye are idle : — Popery is ever doing
something — ye are never doing any thing."
One cannot but perceive a little of the Jesuit in the plan above
recommended for raising subscriptions. It is ordered, that no
sum shall be received from any person, save what he can afford to
give with the utmost convenience. Now this serves as a ready, and
will be considered by many, as a sufficient reply to any person
who shall accuse the Board of oppression and extortion. But then
every person, without exception, who refuses to pay tenpence, is
to have the fact written opposite his name ; and his name, and
his refusing to pay tenpence for the sake of " Catholic emancipa-
tion," are to be publicly announced in the chapel. This is
hanging a sword over the head of the very poorest ; and, though
he should not have a potatoe to his supper, woe be to the man
who does not pay tenpence !
THE
2|rote£tattt,
No. LXXIII.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4th, 1819.
A correspondent has favoured me with a lively description of
a Popish ceremony, which he had an opportunity of witnessing,
and which, without farther preface, I shall lay hefore my readers : —
" Dear Sir,
It was my fortune last year to visit Canada, where
I had an opportunity of witnessing some of the delusions of Po-
pery. An account of some of these scenes may, perhaps, be
useful, and it is certainly incumbent on all who have it in their
power, to co-operate in the good fight which you have so man-
fully undertaken, and are so successfully maintaining, against
those who put darkness for light, and substitute the doctrines of
devils for the precepts of God's word. While in Montreal, in
the month of November, last year, I learned that two new bells
were about to be placed in the steeple of the principal church,
and that, previously to being suspended, it was necessary that
they should be baptized. The baptism of a bell, a piece of in-
animate matter, was to me a novelty : I had often seen the ordi-
nance administered both by those who believe in infant baptism,
and by those who do not, but such a profanation of that sacred
rite being no longer heard of in my native country, I never ex-
pected to have had an opportunity of witnessing it. Surely,
thought I, these priests are either themselves most pitiable dupes
of the deceiver, or they are most bare-faced impostors. Common
sense seems by them to be laughed at ; and they appear to put
their ingenuity to the stretch to discover the way of most effec-
tually insulting the understandings of the ignorant Canadians, and
of most openly degrading and ridiculing the institutions of the
kingdom of Christ. As it happened to be on a week day, I
resolved to be a spectator ; had it been on the Lord's day, I
Vol. II. Z
178
should not have felt myself justifiable in so appropriating holy
time. About two o'clock, the principal bell (for there are seve-
ral in the steeple) began to ring, and I repaired to the church :
the people were assembling in considerable numbers, and from
the eagerness with which they scrambled over the pews to get into
a good situation for seeing, I suspect the greater number present,
even of the papists, were influenced more by curiosity than devo-
tion ; one proof among many that the Popish religion consists
chiefly of ceremonial mummery, incapable of instructing the un-
derstanding, or touching the heart, and is not intended to regu
late the affections or influence the conduct of those who profess
it. The two bells were suspended from a temporary erection of
wood in the centre of the church ; in the vacant space round
them, a table and chairs were placed for the principal performers.
The candles on the altar at the upper end of the church were
lighted in readiness for the exhibition, and in a short time a door
on the left of the altar opened, and forth came the procession.
At the head of it were two boys dressed in white, carrying two
immense candles, each of which, with the candlestick, might pro-
bably measure seven or eight feet. After them came the priests,
some in gorgeous silken robes, some in white, others in black,
and some flaring with bright colours and gold ; other boys also
in white followed, one of whom bore a silver vase with water, and
another a small vessel of oil. Some of the priests in black took
their seats near the altar, the rest came forward to the bells ; the
large candles were placed upon the table, and beside them the
vase and the vessel of oil. One of the priests, an old man dress-
ed in white, then got up into the pulpit at the side of the church,
to address the people ; but he seemed not a little offended with
the want of decorum that appeared in the assembly, for there was
a good deal of pushing and squeezing, and most were standing on
the seats that they might see over the heads of those before
them ; — he told them, in a pretty long harangue, in the French
language, that this was a religious ceremony, and must be at-
tended to with solemnity and decorum : he talked to them of
the pious feelings which ought to be produced in their minds by
seeing bells baptized, and the veneration and awe which it was to
be expected they would feel. The people, however, were far
from being so profoundly devout as he wished them, and a little
noise still interrupting his reverence, he clapped his hands, and
very angrily told them that if they did not behave better he
would turn them all out. Descending from the pulpit, he put on
a robe of various bright colours, and proceeded to the ceremonial.
After chaunting a hymn he read Latin prayers over the water in
the basin, and thus, I suppose, consecrated it ; another of tnc
priests then carried the basin to the bells, and the first dipped a
179
pretty large brush in the water, and with it made the form of the
cross upon the bell, pronouncing words which I could not hear,
but which could be nothing else than the solemn form used on
such occasions, In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ;
a third priest, with another brush, completed his work, making
cross after cross, and then carefully brushing the intermediate
places till the bell was wetted all over ; the second bell was cross-
ed and recrossed, in the same manner, and immediately large
clean towels were produced, and the bells were carefully wiped dry.
Returning to the table, singing and reading of prayers succeeded,
and the oil was next blessed and made holy ; the principal priest
then dipped his finger in the oil, and made the sign of the cross
on one place on each bell, carefully wiping the place with cotton
wool, he then repeated it on a great many places on the bells
both inside and outside, carefully wiping them as before with
cotton. During the singing which followed, one of the boys
went out and brought in a silver censer with red coals in it : a
small box of incense stood on the table, out of which the priest
took a spoonful and threw it on the coals, reading prayers over it
as before ; the incense smoked up and perfumed the air ; then,
after waving the censer with great solemnity three times, he car-
ried it first to the one bell and then to the other, holding it under
them till they were filled with the smoke. An important part of
the ceremony yet remained, the bells had to get their names, for
without that they could not be Christian bells, and as the bap-
tismal vows could not be taken by themselves, the holy infallible
church thought it necessary that sponsors should do it for them ;
accordingly a god-father and a god-mother for each bell, were in
waiting, — two reverend old couples, who were sitting with the
priests beside the tables ; these were now brought forward and
stationed, the one gentleman and lady at the one bell, and the
other two at the other. The principal priest then put some ques-
tions to the first old gentleman and lady, which they answered ;
but I was not near enough to hear what they vowed on behalf of
the bell : the bell then received its name, and the priest taking
the clapper gave three strokes against the side ; the old god-father
then took hold of it and did the same, and last of all the old
lady the god-mother. The priest leaving them went through the
same ceremony with the couple at the other bell, and thus the
two bells were baptized, got their names, and were made to speak.
The name of the one, as I afterwards learned, began Pierre Mar-
guerite, with some addition which has escaped me ; 1 do not
know that I heard the name of the other. All was not yet over,
the god-fathers and god-mothers, to crown the whole, produced
their presents to their adopted children, and certainly nothing
could bo more suitable than clothes to the orphins; a large piece
180
of linen was given to one of the priests, who with much solem-
nity wound it several times round the bell, next a large piece of
crimson silk which was put over the linen, and last of all fringes
and white silk ribands, which served to tie all on ; the othei
couple were not to be outdone in generosity, and their linen, and
silk, and ribands were also produced, and the second bell duly
and decorously clothed ; it was even somewhat gayer than its
neighbour, for the silk bestowed upon it was very richly figured.
Thus ended the sacrilegious rite of baptizing church bells ! The
boys elevated the large candlesticks, and the procession of priests
departed as it had entered. In a day or two after, the bells were
suspended in the steeple, fully qualified to ring souls out of pur-
gatory, and perform all the other important duties of Popish bells.
Let not your readers start at the idea of bells effecting the release
of the souls of the departed from the fangs of the tormentor ; I
believe, indeed, that this is far beyond the ability of our heretical
presbyterian bells, but nothing is too hard for a bell that has re-
ceived Papistical baptism. While I remained at Montreal, All
Saints' day came round, which is one in which the bells have
their hands full of work ; prayers are then offered up for the souls
of all departed saints ; high mass is performed for their benefit ;
and the bells are rung loud and long to effect their release. Pass-
ing the church door in the evening, I stepped in to see what was
going forward ; the services of the day were over, and there was
no light in the church, except from the glimmering of a small
oil lamp, which is' kept constantly burning before the altar.
In different places were several of the poor ignorant Canadians
on their knees, praying for the souls of their dead relations, cross-
ing themselves with great fervour ; taking care, as they went out
and came in, not to omit a daubing with holy water. In the
middle passage a platform was erected, painted black, adorned
with skulls and crossed bones, and on the top of it lay a coffin.
This was emblematical of the dead for whom they were praying,
and was intended to increase the fervour and the efficacy of their
prayers. The bells were kept ringing almost the whole day ; and
according to the time that they were rung, and the number of
masses and prayers that were said, a proportionate number of the
dead were to be released from purgatory. That afternoon the
bells are allowed to be rung by all who choose, and the poor crea-
tures pulled away without intermission, vainly believing that the
harder and the longer they rang, ?he sooner they would get their
friends emancipated from Satan's house of correction. Next
day, and for several days after, I saw a painted board suspended
on a church door, inscribed, ' Indulgence plenicre pour les
morts,' * Plenary indulgence for the dead ;' and I was inform-
ed, that whoever, during these days, confessed to a priest, should
181
have forty days remission, after his death, of the pains of purga-
tory.
" These are some of the * doctrines of devils' which are taught
by the holy Roman Catholic Church ; and this is a faithful ac-
count of some of the rites and ceremonies of which I was an eye
and ear-witness. I am, &c. J. M. D.''
Another correspondent has favoured me with a description ot
a similar ceremony at Naples, extracted from a letter of an Eng-
lish traveller, in the London Magazine for 1780. A noble lord
was god-father to the bell, and a lady of quality was god-mother.
Most of the prayers said on the occasion, ended with the follow-
ing words : Ut hoc tintinnabulum ccelesti benedictione per-
fundere, purificare, sanctificare, et consecrate dignareris :
" that thou wouldest be pleased to rinse, purify, sanctify, and
consecrate these bells with thy heavenly benediction." The fol-
lowing were the words of consecration : Consecretur et Sanctifi-
cetur signum istud, in nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sanc-
ti. Amen. " Let the sign be consecrated and sanctified, in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
The bishop then turning to the people, said, The bell's name is
Mary. He had previously demanded of the god-father and god-
mother what name they would have put upon the bell, and the
lady gave it this name.
The Canadian Popish ceremony above described reminds me
of the communication of another correspondent, which has been
lying past me for a long time. The writer is an American
gentleman, who has made a tour of some of the United States,
and into Canada, as far as the Falls of Niagara. I received the
communication, indeed, before the commencement of my work,
so that it cannot be considered as having any reference to my
controversy with the Church of Rome. But along with a great
variety of particulars, which would form an interesting little vo-
lume, there is an account of two or three convents and nunneries,
which, I think, will be interesting to my readers, and which,
therefore, I shall extract. The writer had the privilege which
few Protestants have had, that of examining the interior of a nun-
nery : —
" The greatest object of curiosity," says my correspondent^
" which Montreal afforded, in my estimation, were the convents;
but most of our acquaintances being Protestants, we had been se-
veral days in the city, without finding any person who had the
influence to procure us admission.
" I mentioned this circumstance to a gentleman, in whose
house we were one day dining, and I met with a reply which led
to the object in view. The morning following we received the
compliments of his family, with an offer of conducting us through
182
the convents that afternoon. Upon going to the house, we
found that professional duties had called Dr. from home ;
but his lady (who holds some religious function in the Romish
church) and her daughters were ready to accompany us. The
first to which we were led, was that of the order of St. —
After shutting the wall gates, and sending a ceremonious mes-
sage to the priest, we were admitted into the medicine room.
The door was opened by a very old nun, to whom we were for-
mally introduced. Nothing being here, but an extensive assort-
ment of drugs, kept with great cleanliness, we ascended a stair,
and were conducted through a number of large rooms, appropri-
ated to the several religious rites through which the nuns go.
Many of these rooms are most gorgeously decorated with the
symbols of the Popish faith ; such as crucifixes, representations
of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, Scripture paintings, portraits of the
Popes, and of the most eminent priests of the convent, &c. Af-
ter a long succession of such apartments, the number of which I
do not recollect, we were ushered into a large hall, used as a
sitting-room by the nuns, a great number of whom were in it at
the time. On our entrance, two of the oldest stepped forward,
to whom, being introduced by Mrs. , we were requested
to take seats. I was not a little surprised by this invitation,
which appeared to me so much more familiar than, by general ac-
counts, the manners of a nunnery would admit. Guided, how-
ever, in my conduct entirely by that of Mrs. and her
daughters, I seated myself between one of the latter and an old
nun, who bounded the row we had formed. I at first addressed
myself to the nun, asking several questions relative to the con-
vent, and was answered in the best English she could speak ; but
my questions probably multiplying too fast for her command of
English, she referred me to the young lady at my right hand,
who, she observed, had been educated in a convent, and could
inform me of every thing relating to them. Turning round, I
repeated what the venerable nun had said to Miss , who
acknowledged the mentioned education, and answered all my in-
terrogatories.
" Rising again from our seats, we were led through a long
entry, on each side of which was a row of bed chambers, till
coming to the end of it, where there was a window communicat-
ing with the chapel, we looked to see whether admittance could
be gained. On our first arrival at the window, there appeared a
priest in the act of devotion before the altar. The continuance
of his prayer, however, was not long, or we should have lost our
view of the chapel. While we waited in the entry, the idea oc-
curred to me, of peeping into one of these chambers. In case of
committing an offence in doing so, I asked at one of the young
183
ladies, if indulging my whim would be improper ; to which she,
with a smile, replied, " Not more improper than going into any
lady's chamber!" I hesitated no longer, but seeing the old
nun s back turned, gently opened one of the doors, and gratified
my curiosity." My correspondent describes the size and furni-
ture of the room; but the only object which distinguished it par-
ticularly from such apartments in our own country, was an image
of Christ's ascension, placed conspicuously on a table.
" The priest in the chapel had by this time finished his prayer,
upon which I shut the chamber door, and followed our party.
We now descended the stair again, and were taken by a circuit-
ous course to the great door. The chapel is a large and elegant
apartment, extending to the full height of the building, which is
three stories. The style of it is a demi-gothic, large pillars in-
tersecting the wall, at short distances, and meeting at the top in
arches. In the middle stands the altar, most superbly decorat-
ed with paintings, images, and all other ornaments that are used
for such purposes. A handsome parapet divides the whole into
two parts ; one of which is occupied by the nuns, the other by
the young females who are educated within the convent. We
were about retiring, when one of the young ladies, pointing to a
corner, which I had passed unnoticed, desired me to look where
all the sins were confessed. On casting my eyes to the place, I
saw a box, resembling a projecting closet ; and addressing my in-
formant, I asked, if so small a place could contain all her sins ?
To this question she made no reply, but, ' step forward, and
hear some of them.' She walked into the open division ; and I,
to humour the joke, entered the priest's place. At this she
barred the door, and, stepping out, desired me to follow. I had
certainly now come under penance for this act of sacrilege, had
not the fear of the old nun's eye hastened my release.
" Into the school-room, which projects from the main build-
ing, we were led up by a different stair ; and, passing through
one large room, entered another, in which were the scholars.
There were no less than forty girls in the room, all at their re-
spective tasks, in the different branches of reading, writing, arith-
metic, and sewing. The ages of these children might probably
be from seven to fourteen. The term of education in the con-
vent is five years, during which period, the pupils are permitted
only once a month to go beyond the walls ; a confinement which,
at so early an age, can hardly be productive of good conse-
quences.''
My correspondent was conducted to another nunnery, in which
one of his lady companions had been educated, and where o{
course, they felt more at home. " We had not sat long," says
he, " before I observed a great intimacy between Miss
and one of the young nuns. Wishing to join in their conversa-
184
tion, I took the liberty of interrupting it with a remark of my
own ; and as both happened to have a great share of affability, I
Boon succeeded in becoming a party in the discourse. The
young nun, I found, possessed a mind extremely well cultivated,
together with an exterior gracefulness, which seemed more a po«
lish received from the liberal circles of fashion, than an acquire-
ment from the reserved manners of a nunnery. The great varie-
ty of ages among the nuns induced me to ask her how the em-
ployments were shared among them ; to which I was answered
to the following effect : — ' The youngest of us are chiefly em-
ployed in making clothes for the pupils, and for the old nuns
who are incapable of doing it for themselves ; those of a more
advanced age, teach, and employ themselves often with sewing
for charitable purposes ; sometimes also in doing work for the
mantua-makers, from whom the convent receives a compensation.
Conserves, cordials, and many such things, are made by those
who best understand them.' • And by these means, Madam,' I
observed, ' those who seem superannuated, are left at rest.' 'Yes,'
replied Miss , inadvertently, ' the old ones are good for
nothing.'
" This abrupt unlucky expression proved a finishing stroke to
our talk : a general smile was observed throughout the room, at
which Mrs. thought it proper to rise. In continuing
our course through the building, we were accompanied by the
young nun and several old ones, who all seemed willing to con-
verse, and were much more affable than I could have supposed,
by judging from general accounts of monastic manners."
My correspondent found out, and communicated to me, the
name and rank of the young nun who interested him so much ;
but I forbear giving particulars, lest they should meet the eye,
and give pain to some of her relations, seeing my work is finding
its way into very remote parts of the world. Suffice it to say,
that she had voluntarily forsaken her father's house, where she
enjoyed all the gaieties which this world can afford, that she might
be immured for life within the walls of a nunnery.
Some of my readers may, perhaps, be disposed to reckon this
a very innocent and happy life ; and my correspondent will be
understood as giving a most favourable view of Popery. For my
own part, without intending any thing particular in the conduct
of the Canadian sisterhood, I have no hesitation in pronouncing
the life of a nun, as well as that of a monk, a wicked and a miser-
able one. God has not required cither men or women to seclude
themselves from the world in this manner ; and as the thing ori-
ginated with the prince of darkness, it would be easy to show
that the fruit has been an abundance of the works of darkness
Hut on this subject I do not choose to enter farther at present.
THE
-Protectant,
No. LXXIV.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER Ut/i, 1819.
X1 or the following letter I am indebted to a gentleman who is
personally known to me, and who has seen a good deal of Ireland.
His narrative confirms what I have already related of certain Po-
pish superstitions which are practised in that kingdom ; and it
contains besides, some original matter, which will, I think, be in-
teresting to the reader :—
" To the Protestant.
" Sir,
" In confirmation of much that you have advanced in
" The Protestant," on the subject of consecrated wells, the
gross ignorance of the Catholic population oc Ireland, and of the
priests professing to forgive sins, I beg leave to mention to you
some particulars of a visit which I paid to that country, in the
year 1812, every circumstance of which is founded in truth.
Educated as a member of the church of Scotland, and having never
till then had any connexion with Roman Catholics, their faith
had not become an object of much attention to me. Early did
1 hear that their church was described in the Apocalypse; and in
advancing years I was convinced, that it was the " Man of sin,"
mentioned by the apostle Paul, in one of his epistles to the Thes •
salonians. Farther, I thought little about the Church of Rome,
or her members, except sometimes indulging a feeling of pity that
so large a portion of Europe, was enveloped in such thick dark-
ness.
tc I arrived in Dublin about the middle of June, and soon heard
that an immense collection of people were to assemble on the eve
of St. John's day, the 24th of that month, to receive absolution
from their ghostly fathers, for penances performed at certain wells
Vol. II. A a
186
near that city, or for observing other ceremonies. 1 was at first
incredulous; but, as the distance was not more than two miles,
I was induced to go and see what was to take place.
" We arrived at a large field, which either was, or had been, a
burying ground, as certain rude pillars, and some grave stones,
sufficiently demonstrated. In the middle of the field was a rising
ground, and on one of the slops, was pitched a great number of
tents, in which were persons of both sexes, dancing, drinking,
and singing. It occurred to me at once, — Can this be a reli-
gious ceremony ? Are these persons in deep contrition for their
sins? or are not these the orgies of some heathen deity? I was
instantly roused, at ideas so incongruous to all devotional feeling;
and with some dread, 1 confess, 1 approached and entered some
of the tents, to inspect more narrowly this strange thing " Catho-
licity," as it is new called. I very soon found that, though a
heretic, I was a welcome visitor, and that the amusements in that
quarter were any thing but of a serious cast. Prompted by in-
creasing curiosity, I perambulated the immense field, where many
thousands of both sexes were collected, and at last I reached the
sacred well. Around this were assembled a vast multitude of men
and women, hawking sweet-meats, toys, ballads, &c. many girls,
well advanced, half naked, and young children, many of whom
were held down under a pretty strong cascade of water, by their
older friends or relations ; and this appeared to be the penance
part of the field, for the girls were, to appearance, very much dis-
inclined to endure the cold bath. They were frequently encour-
aged by the deaconesses, as I termed them, to endure a little
longer, and the appointment of the priest would be completed.
I was not at first inclined to approach nearer ; but, by this time,
finding my curiosity and boldness increase, and happening to be
dressed in black, I repeated these fantastic words in Latin, " Ar-
tium societatus socius." Instantly a call was made, to allow his
reverence to get nearer the holy well. So much for the use of a
dead language, in reference to their religious ceremonies. Here
I was kindly offered a drink of this absolvent water ; but as I was
not accustomed to assume the sacred character, I deemed it pro-
per to make my escape from such company as quickly as possible.
I afterwards learned that many miracles had been performed that
evening, by the cure of diseases at this well. In ordinary cases,
a church yard is calculated to excite solemn feelings. Here it
was quite otherwise ; and that not in an obscure corner of the
province of Conaught, or among the wild Irish, improperly, I
confess, so called, but within two or three miles of the capital of
Ireland !
*' From particular circumstances, I afterwards became connected
for a time, with Roman Catholics of some consequence in that
187
kingdom. It is not to be expected that 1 should divulge confi-
dential matters in any shape ; but 1 will mention, that business
led me to the county of Galway. Travelling in a post chaise, I
arrived at the Abbey, or Monastery, I know not which, of
This being partly in ruins, but being fine ones, I was requested
by the driver to alight, and proceed a little off the road to take
a view of them. 1 did so, and knocking at a gate, I was ad-
mitted by a female, who very politely told me that the proprietor
was absent, which he would lament, as he was partial to travellers,
and was acquainted with the present Pope ; but that she would be
happy to show me the buildings. One part of them, I found,
was devoted to a chapel ; and behind, within the walls, was a
burying place. My attention was instantly arrested by a vast
quantity of human skulls, and other bones, which lay above
ground, and which seemed to have been recently disinterred. On
inquiring the reason of this, my conductress was at first a little
shy in giving an answer, but at last she told me, it had been done
by the vulgar in quest of relics. Proceeding to another section
of the building, 1 was still more astonished to find thousands of
human skulls, packed up precisely as bottled liquor is, in the ca-
tacombs of a wine cellar ; and they appeared very much whitened,
as I supposed by long exposure to the weather. I inquired what
these were ? tl These, Sir," said my informant, " are the bones
of the faithful, slain at the time your countryman, King William,
visited Ireland." Let the advocates of emancipation attend to
this circumstance. This solemn " memento mori" is not kept
above ground, and in the view of the "faithful," of the present
day, for nothing.
" Leaving the Abbey, I could not but reflect how it was that
the proprietor, who I understand had seen much of the world,
and was well educated, could allow his neighbours to wander
here in search of relics, which are of no more use than the bones
of a dead horse lying by the road-side ? and why he suffered these
bones, after having been dug up, to remain unburied ?
" Proceeding to Galway, the same evening, I fell in with a very
uncommon person, even one who traced up distinctly his pedi-
gree to one of the ancient families of this county, who had been
deprived of their estates during the troubles of Ireland, about two
hundred years ago. He described the estates, gave the names of
the present proprietors, and frequently said, that, under a new order
of things, they would revert to him and his heirs as a matter of right.
He often mentioned the name of King William the Third with
strong terms of reprobation. Politeness in the party, who, with
exception of himself, were all Protestants, made them only at first hint
their dissent from his opinions. His warmth became greater, and
his avowed abhorrence of King William, and of all Englishmen, only
increased by our moderation ; and the most violent expressions
escaped him. At last he was reminded that the Union had a
tendency to make us all brethren ; and that old quarrels should
be forgotten, that one mind might animate the inhabitants of the
three kingdoms ; but this had no effect upon him. He having
declared his firm adherence to the Catholic faith, I asked him,
" Do you know any thing of the fifth commandment ; that is our
sixth, Thou shalt not kill ?" To my surprise, he instantly fell
on his knees to me, and kissing my hand, declared that he now
knew I was a priest, and begged I would go home with him,
and hear the confessions of himself, his wife, and family, as it
had been delayed too long. I begged him to rise, assuring him
that I was a sinner like himself, and not a priest ; but he only
became the more importunate, and I was forced to leave the
place. Previously to this, I had mentioned what I had seen at the
Monastery; and I asked him, if he had ever seen such a collection
of human bones at any other place in Galway? He said he had,
about two years ago ; but that the Apostles, Peter and Paul,
accompanied by the Virgin Mary, had lately come down, and
buried them all in one night !
" I became intimate with a gentleman, a Catholic, of no ordina-
ry talents, finely educated on every subject of literature and phi-
losophy, and a man of very just thinking on matters of business;
but sadly prejudiced on matters of religion. I was led, from cer-
tain circumstances, to suppose that he had been originally intend-
ed for the priesthood. At all events he had received his educa-
tion among the Jesuits. Seeing me frequently at chapel, he had,
I suppose, formed a favourable opinion of me, and he proposed
to make me an honorary Catholic, as he termed it. This 1
did not well understand ; but said I had no objection to become
Catholic if he could remove certain difficulties ; and hoped that
if I could remove his, he would become Protestant ; but he did
not very frankly acquiesce in this stipulation. I told him my dif-
ficulties were the invocation of saints, praying to the Virgin
Mary, transubstantiation, auricular confession, and forgiveness of
sins by the priests. Notwithstanding my quoting the standards of
their church as used in Ireland, he denied the invocation of saints,
and prayers to the Virgin Mary; but admitted transubstantiation,
and the remission of sins by the priests. I put the question very
strongly, seeing we are all fallible creatures, suppose a priest
should commit sin, to whom does he confess? who forgives
him ? My new acquaintance became ghastly and breathless ; and
after a pause of a few moments, he replied, " They confess to
one another every Saturday, and are absolved." " If," said I, " it
is a doctrine of your church, that a sinful man can pardon a sin-
ful man, I shall not become a Catholic." Here the matter
ended.
189
" In Ireland I often heard the Catholics speak as if they were
quite confident that we, and all their strayed brethren, would
return to the true church, as they style theirs. Look, say they, at
the Manichean Schism, more extensive in its effects, and of longer
duration than your churches of Germany and England, and where
is it now? I am, &c.
A. O."
The following relates to Popish superstitions nearer home,
even in the midst of Protestant Scotland. The writer has given
me his name, which is indispensible in communications which re-
late to matters of fact ; and I have no hesitation in saying that the
statement may be relied on, as strictly true in every particular
" to the protestant.
Sir,
As connected with a late number of your seasonable and
informing paper, I beg leave to send you some particulars of which
I myself have been an eye and ear-witness. They go to prove
that Popery, like the house infected with the plague of leprosy,
works secretly in minds once tainted with it, unless eradicated
thence by the knowledge and love of divine truth. It is a system
that cannot be ameliorated, and therefore the Scriptures denounce
its total destruction, without sparing a foundation or corner stone.
A liberal education, and intercourse with Protestants, may conceal
or disguise its turpitude, and soften its asperities ; but those who
see it6 native deformity and tendency, and do not exert themselves
to rescue the lower orders from so dire a pest — how dwells the
love of God, and of mankind, in them ?
" Your correspondent oncevisited that famed place, St. Fillan's
seat, at a time when the waters there were reputed to possess the
virtues of Siloam's pool of old. The extraordinary virtue of
curing lunacy, and even raving madness, and other plagues inci-
dent to man, is thought to be derived to the place at the com-
mencement of four terms of the year, from the once residence
there of the Saint that gives it name, of whom wonderful things
are told. When a worthy Protestant minister was fixed there
whom we have once heard preach in this city, and who favoured
his countrymen with their present version of the New Testament
in Scotch Gaelic, he thought it his duty to preach against the su-
perstition practised on such occasions. His life was threatened, if
he did not desist, and some of his cattle are said to have been
injured. The rites then practised, which were continued from
time immemorial, brought gain to the village, the fear of losing
which aroused the people's zeal, as in the case of the damsel at
Philippi. After performing various rites and immersions, all
thought necessary to complete the process, the patient was bound,
J 90
hand and foot, to two planks fixed length-ways to the ground,
amidst the ruins of a Popish chapel, and there left to pass the
night. If found loosed from his bandages, by what was thought
to be some supernatural agency, this was construed as an omen or
pledge of the patient's recovery.
" But permit me to be a little more particular. The afflicted
person, when he came to understand what his keepers had in view,
he earnestly begged they would not perform such foolish things,
or expect any advantage from them. An old man who attended
for the purpose, who probably was once a Romish Priest, but
now acted as a teacher in the village, conducted all the ceremo-
nies, and fluently expatiated on their origin and virtues. He car-
ried the patient so many times across the ford of a river, and
round so many cairns of stones, requiring him to throw one each
time into the heap, raised probably in course of time by this
means. With the stone was thrown some part of the patient's
clothes, the pedagogue probably adding, as usual in such cases,
some spell or charm.
" This ceremony over, which took some time, he was guarded to
a pool of the same river, ordered to strip and wade into the deep
part, and if reluctant, repeatedly immersed over head, and for-
cibly kept some time under water, while violently struggling, as
if alarmed for his life. Females were equally welcome to witness
the exhibition in the state of nature as the males, and all lent a
hand to overawe and subdue the poor patient. This pool was
supposed to have all the virtue ascribed to it from a grey stone,
once in possession of the Saint, and ordered, before his death, to
be cast into this pool, where, however, it is now invisible. Long
it was famous, even after his death, for giving speedy delivery to
women in hard child-labour, and for other distresses, and often
sent for, from a great distance to answer such purposes, and great-
ly relied on in such cases. The virtue of this consecrated stone
did not die with the famed Saint, and is supposed to continue
periodically in the pool into which it was thrown, at least so far
as respects the removal of certain ailments. In vain you ask any
questions, you must implicitly receive whatever they hand down
from tradition.
" The patient having got dressed, he is conducted next to the
side of an adjacent hill, to drink copious draughts from a well,
dedicated to some saint. Here the company pledge him, all ex-
pecting some benefit from the libations of this holy water. It
escapes me whether this did not constitute the last ceremony, or
was not preceded by what follows ; whether, from this salutifer-
ous fountain, he was not carried to the burial place, where a new
place of worship was built, bordering on the ruins of the old Ro-
mish chapel. There the patient is made to sit down on a grave
stone, on which lay a large hand bell, which is repeatedly rung
over his head by the master of the ceremonies, and he is as
191
often crowned with it ; all the while money passes from hand to
hand, and finally lodges with him, which is deemed a necessary
part of this and of all the preceding rites. The pedagogue en-
tertains you all the while, with the miraculous feats of this wonder-
working bell, the spectators assenting to the truth of the whole.
One of these was, that upon a time some wicked wretch stole it,
and carried it all the way to Glasgow, whence it was soon heard re-
turning, ringing all the way in the air, till it alighted on that grave
stone where it then lay, to the astonishment of all beholders.
These things were as firmly believed, and as gravely told, as if
an angel had confirmed them from heaven ; and they find pro-
fessed Protestants silly enough to give them credit, I suppose, even
to this day. By such vain stories is the reputation of this place
of resort, all along maintained, so that to call them in question,
would endanger any man's safety who visits these bounds. — With
great gravity they related a circumstance, which should have hap-
pened some time before, and greatly added to the reputation of
this wonder-working place. Some man passing in his way to a
public market, was heard to ridicule the virtue of the place, as
merely delusion, and superstition. To be avenged for such pro-
fanation, he ran raving mad in the market, and was obliged to be
carried back bound, to the very place which he had dared, so im-
piously, to ridicule. When professed Protestants are so silly as
to expect relief from such rites, and to secure them at the cost of
much labour and expense, no wonder they are credulous enough to
give credit to such tales.
" The poor passive patient is now conducted to the dreary ruins
of the Popish chapel, overgrown with nettles and other weeds,
and there bound down firmly with a tether, between the two sides
of an old car, with no covering but the heavens, and left thus to
pass a long night in sadness and sorrow. The youth who was
the subject of this painful operation, having a sense of piety on his
mind, was desired to pray, before he was bound down among the
prostrate dead. I can never forget one part of his solemn address,
in which he expressed his abhorrence of these unhallowed rites,
and appealed to God, that his compliance with them was the sole
esult of compulsion, and that he expected deliverance from quite
another quarter.
" Thus have I given you a brief view of this infernal ceremony,
so often practised even in highly favoured Scotland. Is it not
surprising that any can think lightly of the crime of idolatry, so
wicked in its origin, and so fatally degrading in its influence, who
have access to know what punishment God inflicted on the Jews
for the commission of it, and continues to inflict to this day.
H I am, Sir,
" A Constant Reader."
192
I shall conclude my miscellaneous matter for the present, by
quoting a writer in the Orthodox Journal, for September last,
who has pointed out the most effectual means of affording relief
to our starving population. No plan so simple, and at the same
time so likely to be effectual, has been suggested by any other au
thor. The writer is a zealous Papist. He speaks of emancipa
tion as if he despaired of obtaining it. He is for petitioning only
once more ; and in the event of the prayer of the petition being
refused, which he considers almost certain, he calls upon his Jive
millions of brethren to remove, bag and baggage, to Spain, that
free and happy country, where he is almost sure the beloved Fer-
dinand will be most happy to receive them. Let this sublime
measure be carried into effect, and there will be employment and
provision enough in Britain and Ireland, for those who remain
" We cannot," says this writer, " we cannot longer hug our mi-
sery, or slavishly embrace intolerable chains. Our bondage is
more cruel than any death, and continued for ages. We are en-
tirely wearied out under insupportable burdens, and galled to the
heart by constant disappointments, in vain expectations. Ano-
ther failure will show that our countrymen are also wearied of us,
and that a separation must take place. We must then go into
voluntary banishment. I mean not to America, the Cape of
Good Hope, or New South Wales, whither, as we have much
reason to fear, all our chains would follow us. Faithful Spain
offers the fairest prospects to our view, where loving brethren, with
stretched-out arms, are ready to receive us into their kind embra-
ces. That kingdom was very much depopulated, even before the
late destructive war, which completed its desolation, and left one
fourth of that fine country a perfect desert."
«« Five millions of good subjects," continues this writer, " is
truly a grand object to Spain in its present situation." — " Should
our first applications (l. e. for emancipation) fail, be you ready,
Mr. Andrews, to sound the trumpet of emigration. Let the
peals of it, like thunder, be heard over all the British dominions,
calling our people together." — " In the event of our being forced
to emigrate, which is but too probable, from all the past obstinate
resistance of our just claims, I wish you would induce some ot
your correspondents, who may have poetical talents, to compose
a hymn appropriate to the occasion, upon the words, In exilu
Israel de Egypto, and the rest of the first verse of that psalm.
I am for committing the care of the tabernacle, in this holy trans-
migration, to the eminent Milner." — " Sir Jame6 Gordon
will conduct the Scots."
The writer is not in jest, but in sober earnest ; and I do
most cordially wish him, and Dr. Milner, and Sir James
Gordon, success in this " holy transmigration."
THE
Protestant,
No. LXXV.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18//;, 1819.
It is time now to take up the solemn subject of Purgatory
A'hich, in my sixty-ninth Number, I announced as the next ge-
neral head of the plan which I had proposed to myself. As a
suitable introduction to a subject of such importance, I quote
the following anecdote from the Philanthropic Gazette, of the
27th October last, for the truth of which the Editor of that truly-
valuable Journal is responsible.
" A gentleman in Dublin lately called on a tenant for rent ;
the poor woman had been always punctual heretofore ; she apo-
logized for not being so now, by telling her landlord, that the
priest came to her lately, and asked her if she had heard from her
husband ? She answered, how could she, as he was dead? ? Oh !
yes,' said he, ' but did you not hear that a great crowd was
lately passing over the bridge from Purgatory to heaven ;
that it broke down from the weight ; that many were left at the
wrong side, and amongst the rest your husband ; that their la-
mentations had come to the priests to get the bridge repaired ;
therefore, he called upon her, who was so much interested, for a
good subscription, as the job would be very expensive 1 The poor
woman complied of course. In a few days after, the gentleman
brought this nefarious traffic to exposure ; the priest declared he
only wanted the use of the money for a few days, and played
this trick to obtain it, but that he meant to return it."
I will concede to my opponents that this anecdote is not taken
from one of their own authors. It is, indeed, given as a fact in
a highly respectable Newspaper ; it is said to have taken place
lately in Dublin ; and as there are thousands of Papists in that
city, where my work is republished in weekly Numbers, they
will not only soon have an opportunity of reading the story, but
Vor.. II. B b
194-
they may, if they please, enquire into the truth of it. If it shall
not be contradicted, or even questioned by those who have an
opportunity of ascertaining the fact, I will consider its truth as
admitted ; and if so, it shows to what pitiful arts the holy fathers
of Rome have recourse in order to rob people of their money.
I shall not, however, found any argument upon this anecdote,
even supposing it to be true, but shall, according to my usua\
practice, lay down the doctrine of the church of Rome in the
words of her own accredited publications, and then proceed to
show that it is contrary to Scripture and to common sense.
Purgatory, it must be confessed, makes no great figure in the
Douay Catechism. Instead of giving it the honour of a chapter
by itself, as a doctrine of such importance deserves, the compil-
ers, as if afraid of exposing it to the light in this enlightened
country, have thrust it into a corner of a chapter which bears the
title of " the kinds of sin expounded."
" Q. Whither go such as die in mortal sin ? A. To hell to
all eternity. Q. Whither go such as die in venial sin, or not
having fully satisfied for the punishment due to their mortal sins ?
A. To purgatory, till they have made full satisfaction for them,
and then to heaven. Q. What proof have you of this in the
New Testament? A. First from our Saviour's own words,
Matt. xii. 32. where, speaking of the remission of sins, he says,
there is one that will not be forgiven in this world nor in the
world to come : which words, St. Austin says, would not be true,
if some sins were not forgiven in the next world ; and this im-
plies a purgatory, for there only is remission of sin, and not in
hell or in heaven. Second, From St. Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 15, where
he speaks of some, under the guilt of sin, that shall be saved, yet
so as by fire?
This is all that the Douay Catechism teaches concerning
purgatory ; and, I think, it will be allowed that here there are
some great and fundamental errors. The first that strikes us is
that which makes a distinction between mortal and venial sin.
From the word of God we learn that sin, and that every sin, with-
out exception, is the object of divine abhorrence ; and that the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteous-
ness, and all ungodliness of men, without any exception. In the
whole Bible, there is no such thing as a small or venial sin men-
tioned, or alluded to. It is declared that he who offendeth in
one point is a transgressor of the whole law, because the single
transgression, however trivial the matter may appear to men, in-
dicates a state of mind in the offender, which is opposed to the
authority of the Lawgiver ; and is, therefore, opposed to every
precept of the law itself. I allude at present to this subject only
195
in general terms, it may come afterwards more formally in our
way, as a distinct subject of discussion.
Another fundamental error plainly avowed by the Douay
doctors in the above extract, is, that men must make full
satisfaction to divine justice, even for their mortal sins,
or they must go " to hell for all eternity." It is supposed
that some persons die who have not " fully satisfied for the pun-
ishment due to their mortal sins ;" and these go " to purgatory,
till they have made full satisfaction for them." I believe it is not
possible m fewer words, to set aside altogether the atonement of
Christ. It was declared of him that he should finish transgres-
sion, make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, and
bring in everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. When he ap-
peared in the likeness of sinful flesh, it was to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Heb. ix. 26. His death was an atoning sacrifice
for sin. Heb. x. 12. and it is declared that by him we receive the
atonement, or reconciliation. Rom. v. 11. He only was able to
make satisfaction for the sins of his people, and he alone has
done it : the sinner, believing in him, receives the atonement ;
he sees that satisfaction has been made for his sins by the
death of Christ : thus he enjoys peace with God, and the as-
surance of his favour ; and he knows that he is no more able to
make full, or even partial satisfaction for his sins, than he is to
create a world.
But the Douay Catechism teaches that every individual must
make full satisfaction for his sins, either in this world, or in a
certain fancied middle state which they call Purgatory. Accord-
ing to this doctrine, Christ has done nothing for them in the
way of satisfaction or atonement, for they must do all for them-
selves. This, therefore, is the Antichrist, which sets aside the
doctrine of Christ, and salvation through him alone. In compa-
rison of this, their baptism of bells, and all their other mummery,
are harmless, and not worthy to be named. This subverts the
whole system of divine revelation, and brings Popery down to the
level of the grossest heathenism. It is a religion without a Sa-
viour ; which leaves every man to satisfy divine justice for himself;
and is, therefore, no better than that of Mahomet, or of the Grand
Lama of Thibet.
The above are some of the fundamental errors of the Douay
Catechism relating to Purgatory. I shall reply to what they
adduce as scriptural authority for their doctrine, after I have giv-
en the doctrine itself more in detail, and that from their own ac-
knowledged publications. The following is from " The Grounds
of the Catholic Doctrine, contained in the Profession of Faith,
published by Pope Pius the Fourth, by way of question and
answer."
196
" Of Purgatory.
" Q. What is the doctrine of the church as to this point?
" A. We constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that
the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of" the faith-
ful: that is, by the prayers and alms offered for them, and prin-
cipally by the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
" Q. What do you mean by Purgatory ?
" A. A middle state of souls which depart this life in God's
grace, yet not without some lesser stains or guilt of punishment,
which retards them from entering heaven. But as to the parti-
cular place where these souls suffer, or the quality of the torments
which they suffer, the church has decided nothing.
" What sort of Christians then go to Purgatory ?
" A. 1st, Such as die guilty of lesser sins, which we common-
ly call venial ; as many Christians do, who, either by sudden
death, or otherwise, are taken out of this life before they have
repented for these ordinary failings. 2dly, Such, as having been
formerly guilty of greater sins, have not made full satisfaction for
them to divine justice.
" Q. Why do you say that those who die guilty of lesser sins
go to Purgatory ?
" A. Because such as depart this life before they have repent-
ed of these venial frailties and imperfections, cannot be supposed
to be condemned to the eternal torments of hell, since the sins of
which they are guilty are but small, which even God's best servants
are liable to. Nor can they go straight to heaven in this state,
because the Scriptures assure us, Rev. xxi. 27. There shall in no
wise enter thither any thing that defileth. Now every sin, be it
ever so small, certainly defileth the soul. Hence our Saviour as-
sures us that we are to give an account for every idle word. Mat.
xii. 36."
The above is a plain statement of the doctrine of Purgatory,
as laid down by authority of Pope Pius the Fourth. There is
then an attempt to prove the doctrine from " Scripture, Tradi-
tion, and Reason." I shall examine His Holiness' Scriptural
proofs by and bye ; those from tradition are scarcely worth exam-
ining ; and as the argument from reason is comprehended in the
answer to one question, I shall give it here, and trust to the rea-
son of every Protestant reader to furnish a sufficient answer.
" Q. How do you ground the belief of Purgatory upon reason?
"A. Because reason clearly teaches those two things : 1st,
That all and every sin, how small soever, deserves punishment :
2dly, That some sins are so small, either through the levity of the
matter, or for want of full deliberation in the actor, as net to
197
deserve eternal punishment. From whence it is plain, that be-
sides the place of eternal punishment, which we call hell, there
must be also a place of temporal punishment, for such as die in
little sins, and this we call Purgatory."
Mr. Gother, who is an oracle among modern Papists, in his
work entitled, " The Papist Misrepresented and Represented,"
writes thus of his true Papist, for it did not occur to him that
this was a term of reproach, or that his sect had an exclusive right
to the term " Catholic :" — " His reason convinces him that there
must be some third place, for, since the infinite goodness of God
can admit nothing into heaven which is not clean, and pure from
all sin, both great and small ; and his infinite justice can permit
none to receive the reward of bliss, who, as yet, are not out of
debt, but have something in justice to suffer ; there must of ne-
cessity be some place or state, where souls departing this life, par-
doned as to the eternal guilt or pain, yet obnoxious to some tem-
poral penalty, or with the guilt of some venial faults, are purged
and purified before their admittance into heaven. And this is
what he is taught concerning purgatory; which, though he knows
not where it is, of what nature the pains are, or how long each
soul is detained there ; yet he believes, that those that are in this
place, being the living members of Jesus Christ, are relieved by
the prayers of their fellow members here on earth, as also by alms
and masses, offered up to God for their souls. And as for such
as have no relations or friends to pray for them, or give alms, or
procure masses for their relief, they are not neglected by the
church, which makes a general commemoration of all the faithful
departed in every mass, and in every one of the canonical hours of
the divine office."
So much for the oracle of our English Papists. Let us hear
now what another great author says, namely Alexander Natalis,
(In Dissert. § 4. Dissert. 4-1. p. 352.) He distinguishes what is of
faith in this matter and what not, and thus resolves, " That it
does not at all belong to faith, 1st, Concerning the place, whether
it be ill this world, or upon earth, or in the dark air, where the
devils are ; or in the hell of the damned ; or in some place under-
neath, nearer the earth, that the souls are purged. 2dly, Concern-
ing the quality of those sensible pains which the souls held in
purgatory undergo ; whether it be true or corporeal fire, or whe-
ther darkness and sorrow, or any other torment and sorrow in-
flicted by the justice of God, punishing them after a wonderful
and yet true manner. 9dly, Concerning the duration of these
purgatory pains, how long the souls are detained there. For
though Soto thought that no soul continued in purgatory above
ten years, yet it is a matter altogether uncertain, how many years
those pains shall last." See Preservative against Popery, Title
viii. cap. vi. page 1 16.
198
Though the above learned writer does not pretend to say what
sort of pains they are, which are suffered in purgatory, the Cate-
chism set out by order of the council of Trent, determines con-
cerning the pains themselves, that they are caused by fire.
" There is," says Catechismus ad Parochos, " a purgatory fire,
in which the souls of the faithful being tormented for a certain
time, are expiated ; that so a passage may be opened for them
into the eternal country, into which no defiled thing can enter."
Part i. Art. v. Sect. 5.
The holy and angelic doctor, St. Thomas Aquinus, is yet
more explicit. He tells us " not only that it is fire, in which
the souls are tormented, but that it is the very samejire that tor-
ments the damned in hell, and the just in purgatory. And Bel-
larinine himself confesses, that almost all their divines teach, that
the damned, and the souls in purgatory, are tormented in the
same fire, and in the same place." Preservative, fye. as above,
in which the xoorks are referred to.
But I shall ascend as usual to the highest authority. I am so
happy as to be in the possession of an authentic edition of the
canons of the council of Trent, printed at Antwerp, 1677. As
the work is in few hands, I shall give the very words of that high
ecumenical council, with a literal translation, by which my readers
will be made acquainted with the genuine infallible doctrine of
the church of Rome on this subject.
SESSIO XXV.
QUjE EST NONA ET ULTIMA,
SU8 PIO IV. PONT. MAX. CCEPTA DIE III. ABSOLUTA DIE IV. DECEM.
M. D. LXIII.
Decretum de Purgatcrio.
Cum Catholica Ecclesia, Spiritu Sancto edocta, ex sacris lit-
teris, et antiqua Patrum traditione, in sacris Conciliis, etnovissime
in hac cecumenica Synodo docuerit. (a) Purgatorium esse ; ani-
masque ibi detentas, fidclium suffragiis, potissimum vero accepta-
bili altaris sacrificio juvari prascipit sancta Synodus Episcopis, ut
sanam de Purgatorio doctrinam, (b) a Sanctis Patribus (c) et sacris
Conciliis traditam, a Christi fidelibus credi, teneri, doceri, et ubi-
que praedicari diligenter studcant. Apud rudem vero plebem dif-
licil iores ac subtiliores qua>stiones, (d) quccque ad oedificationem
non faciunt, et ex quibus plerumque nulla fit pietatis accessio, a
popularibus concionibus secludantur. (e) Incerta item, vel quae
(0 Sup. Sesa. G. Can. SO. et Sess. 22. cap. 2. ct Can. 3. (6)c.Qualis,
.1 Kq. Dist. 25. (.■) Cone. Pluren. Ses. ult in fin. (it) 1 Tim. 1. («•) Con-
rfl I ntir. Snl) Lfone X.
199
specie falsi laborant, evulgari ac tractari non permittant. £a vero
quee ad curiositatem quamdam aut superstitionem spectant, vel
turpe lucrum sapiunt, tamquam scandala et fidelium offendicula
prohibeant. (J~) Current autem Episcopi, ut fidelium vivorum suf-
fragia, Missarum scilicet sacrificia, orationes, eleemosynae, aliaque
pietatis opera, qua a fidelibus pro aliis fidelibus defunctis fieri
consueverunt, secundum Ecclesiae instituta pie et devote fiant; et
quae pro illis ex testatorum fundationibus, vel alia ratione deben-
tur, non perfunctorie, sed a sacerdotibus, et Ecclesiae ministris,
et aliis, qui hoc prcestare tenentur, diligenter et accurate persol-
vantur."
COUNCIL OF TRENT, SESSION 25th,
BEING THE NINTH AND LAST UNDER PIUS IV. BEGUN
ON THE 3d, AND ENDED ON THE 4th DECEMBER,
1563.
Decree concerning Purgatory.
" As the Catholic Church; instructed by the Holy Spirit,
from the sacred writings, and the ancient tradition of the Fathers,
hath taught in its sacred councils, and lastly, in this CEcumenical
Synod, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls there con-
fined are relieved by the suffrages of the faithful, but more espe-
cially by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar ; the holy Synod in-
structs the bishops, that they should pay attention, that the sound
doctrine concerning purgatory, as delivered by the holy fathers,
and the sacred councils, be, by the faithful in Christ, believed,
held, taught, and every where diligently preached. But that
among uninformed people, the more difficult and subtle questions,
which tend not to edification, and from which, there is in general
no increase of piety, be excluded from all popular addresses.
Also, that they do not allow doubtful matters, or such as labour
under the appearance of falsity to be talked of and discussed.
But that they prohibit those things which have reference only to
a certain curiosity or superstition, or which savour of filthy lucre,
as scandals and causes of some offence to the faithful. But let
the bishops take care, that the suffrages of the faithful who arc
alive, namely, the sacrifices of the mass, orations, acts of charity,
and other pious deeds, which it has been customary for the faith-
ful to perform on behalf of the other faithful who are dead, should
be piously and devoutly performed according to the institutions of
the church ; and that those (religious services) which may be
owing on the behalf of such, to the legacies of testators, or on anj
(f) Infr. cap. 4. de ref.
200
other account, be, by the priests, ministers of the church, and
others, whose duty it is to perform those matters not slightly, but
diligently and accurately discharged."
I return now to my first authority above cited, to wit, the
Douay Catechism ; and I shall begin with some remarks on the
passages of Scripture, which are alleged in support of the doctrine
of purgatory. The first is, Mat. xii. 32. " There is a sin that
will not be forgiven in this world, nor in the "world to come.
From this the grave doctors introduce St. Augustine, as arguing,
that there must be some sins which are forgiven in the world to
come, and as there is no forgiveness in heaven or hell, it must be in
Purgatory. Great men, we see, can draw great conclusions from
very slight premises. Men of ordinary capacity could never find
out, from the declaration, that there is one sin which shall not be
forgiven in this world or the next ; that there are many sins which
shall be forgiven in the world to come ; and that there is a place
for the purpose, which belongs to neither this world nor the next;
but, which hangs between the two, like Mahomet's coffin, be-
tween the earth and heaven.
Our Lord's words evidently mean no more, than that for the
sin in question, there was no forgiveness, either here or hereafter.
The words as recorded by Mark are, " He that shall blaspheme
against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness," chap. iii. 29.
According to Luke xii. 10. it is simply, he shall not be for-
given. What stronger expressions could be used, than shall ?2ot,
shall never be forgiven ? But this has no connexion with the sub-
ject of Purgatory, unless it be taken as a general declaration,
that sins which are not forgiven in this world, shall not be for-
given at all, and then it overthrows the doctrine of purgatory al-
together.
In Jewish phraseology, the expression, " world to come,'' sig-
nified the kingdom, or reign of the Messiah. It is under this
that we live. The church is under a very different sort of ad-
ministration from that of the Old Covenant. The Jews ex-
pected a great change when the Messiah should come ; but
lie told them that the sin against the Holy Ghost should not be
forgiven under the future, any more than under the present, ad-
ministration of his kingdom ; which is, indeed, as much as to
say, it shall not be forgiven for ever.
Want of room obliges to defer a farther exposure of the weak-
ness of the proof of Purgatory from Scripture. The subject wilJ
come before us again
THE
Protestant,
No. LXXVI.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25th, 1819.
JVIy last Number broke off in the middle of my reply to what
the Douay Doctors give as Scripture authority, for their doc-
trine concerning purgatory. They argue, that there is one sin
of which it is declared, it shall not be forgiven in the world to
come ; therefore, other sins shall be forgiven in the future world.
I have already shown that the conclusion is not contained in the
premises ; but though it were, it would have nothing to do with
purgatory, which is not a place of forgiveness, but a place of
punishment. Sins which are forgiven are not punished ; and
sins which are punished are not forgiven. On this subject I can-
not express myself better than in the nervous language of Arch-
bishop Wake : —
" But what have we here to do with the remission of sins ?
Purgatory is a place, not where sins are remitted, but where
they are punished with the greatest severity ; nay, what is still
more, punished after they are remitted ; nay, what is still more
extraordinary, therefore punished because they are remitted. For
if the guilt were not remitted, the sinner could not go to purga-
tory, nor have the favour of being punished there. And there-
fore it is utterly impertinent, from the remission of some sins in
the world to come, to conclude, that there is a place where all
sins, even the least, are exacted ; and that so rigidly, that there
is no escaping thence, till either by themselves, or their friends,
they have paid the very uttermost farthing." Preservative,
Sfc. Tit. nil page 120.
The next Scripture authority which the Douay Doctors bring
forward in support of their purgatory, is 1 Cor. iii. 15. " Saved
so as by fire." Let any man of ordinary understanding read the
entire passage, and he will see that it does not contain the most
Vol. II. Cc
202
distant allusion to a middle state between this world and the next.
Besides, it is not said that a man shall be saved by Jire ; but so
as by fire. The Apostle had been speaking of metals. Fire is
the instrument by which these are tried, and purified, and sepa-
rated from things of a gross and more perishable nature. Now,
if any Christian were to lose sight of the foundation of his hope,
or so far forget the character of that foundation, as to build im-
proper things upon it, God would, by some trying dispensation,
destroy his work. He would suffer the loss of all his labour ;
and so, as by jire the dross is separated from the gold, he
would be separated and saved from his errors and corruptions.
Whether this will be considered a satisfactory view of a difficult
passage, I cannot tell, but it seems very evident that it has no-
thing to do with purgatory.
These are all the passages of Scripture which the Douay Cate-
chism adduces in support of purgatory. In other Popish books,
there are many other passages wrested from their true meaning;
in order to prop up this profitable piece of imposition, some of
which may come to be discussed before I have done with the
subject.
Some of the errors of the church of Rome are mere novel-
ties ; others are of more ancient date. Transubstantiation be-
longs to the former, as it was not publicly acknowledged as a
doctrine of the church, till some ages after the tenth century,
which has been called the age of lead ; but the doctrine of pur-
gatory is of much greater antiquity : and it will not be difficult
to shew, that it is more ancient than Christianity itself, meaning,
by Christianity, the New Testament dispensation ; though, pro-
perly speaking, Christianity is as old as the creation, at least as
old as the promise of God to Adam and Eve, that the seed of
the woman should bruise the head of the serpent.
Papists lay great stress upon the antiquity of their doctrines
and practices ; and we must allow that they have antiquity to
plead on behalf of their purgatory. When captious Papists have
asked us, " Where was your religion before Luther?" we have
been accustomed to reply, " In the New Testament;" and this
is the truth : and when we ask of Papists, " Where was your pur
gatory, before Gregory the Great ?" they can tell us, if they please,
and tell us truly, — " In the writings of heathen poets and philoso -
phers." These are the worthy ancestors of modem, and indeed
of ancient Papists; and Cardinal Bellarmine (Bel/arm. de Pur-
gat. lib. i. cap. 11.) founds an argument on behalf of purgatory
upon this very circumstance, that the ancient heathens believed in
it ; for then, he thinks, it must have been a dictate of right rea-
son ; but if the opinions of heathen philosophers are to be ie-
203
ceived as of authority in this matter ; if we must take our notions
of Christianity from such teachers, we will soon find ourselves
led far enough away from the simplicity of the gospel. We will
find that the worship of images, and that every sort of abomina-
tion is consistent with right reason, because it has the counte-
nance of some heathen poet or philosopher.
Eusebius relates of Plato, that he divided mankind into three
states ; some, who, having purified themselves by philosophy, and
excelled in holiness of life, enjoy an eternal felicity in the islands
of the blest, without any labour or trouble, which neither is it
possible for any words to express, nor any thoughts to conceive.
Others, that having lived exceedingly wicked, and therefore
seemed incapable of cure, he supposed were at their death thrown
down headlong into hell, there to be tormented for ever. But
now, besides these, he imagined there were a middle sort, who,
chough they had sinned, yet had repented of it, and therefore seemed
to be in a curable condition ; and these, he thought, went down
for some time to hell too, to be purged and absolved by grievous
torments : but that after that, they should be delivered from it,
and attain to honours according to the dignity of their benefac-
tors. See Archbishop Wake's Discourse on Purgatory, with
the reference to Eusebius Prceparat. Evangel, lib. ii. cap. 38.
" The heathens undoubtedly supposed that those who were in
this middle state, might receive help from the prayers and sacri-
fices of the living. This is evident, from the complaints of the
ghosts of Elpenor in Homer, and of Palinurus in Virgil, (in
Odyss. lib. xii. and in ./Eneid, lib. vi.) And indeed the ceremo*
nies used for their deliverance, as described by those poets, so
nearly resemble the practice of the present Roman church, that
were but these poems canonical, it would be in vain for the most
obstinate heretic to contend with them."
" It must then be confessed," says Archbishop Wake, " that
our adversaries, in this point, have at least four hundred years an-
tiquity, not only against us, but even beyond Christianity itself.
And I suppose I may, without any injury to the memories of
these holy men, who have been our forerunners in the faith, say,
that it was the impression which these opinions of their philoso-
phy had made upon them, that moved them, when they became
Christians, to fall into conjectures concerning the state of the
soul in the time of separation, not very much different from what
they had believed before." The truth is, that when Christianity
became popular, and the profession of it fashionable, heathens,
professing to be Christians, brought into the church all their
heathenish notions, and purgatory among the rest.
Origen, St. Augustin, and even St. Jerome, have expressions
that savour of purgatory ; or which at least show, that they in-
204-
(bilged themselves in some wild speculations about the state of
the dead ; and though they did not by any means entertain the
nonsense of modern Papists upon this subject, they used expres-
sions which have been laid hold of, and pleaded as almost equal
to apostolical authority for this most golden article of the
Romish faith.
It is very evident, that the churches which were planted by
the Apostles knew nothing of purgatory, for the Apostles
did not teach the doctrine, and it was never brought into the
church by divine authority ; but about the end of the sixth cen-
tury, Pope Gregory, called the Great, began to give counte-
nance to it ; and then it came to have a place among other relics
of ancient heathenism, which were first connived at, and then
established as profitable additions to the religion of Christ.
" From henceforth," says the learned prelate whom I have
quoted above, " miracles and visions governed the church. The
flames of iEtna and Vesuvius were thought to have been kindled
on purpose to torment departed souls. Some were seen broil-
ing upon gridirons, others roasting upon spits, some burning be-
fore a fire, others shivering in the water, or smoking in a chim-
ney. The very ways to purgatory were now discovered ; one in
Sicily, another in Pozzueto, a third nearer home, in Ireland, — one
found out by the help of an angel, another by the devil ; inso-
much, that Pope Gregory himself was carried away with these
illusions, and which some, even at this day, are not ashamed to
support. By these means came purgatory first to be established
in the Roman church, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centu-
ries : but yet still the article appeared rude and unpolished. Pope
Gregory discovered how certain souls, for their punishment, were
confined to baths, and such like places on earth, but he had not,
as yet, found out any one common place for them to be tormented
in, in hell. Nay, for some ages after, it seems not to have been
risen to a matter of certainty, so far was it yet from being an
article of faith ; insomuch, that in the twelfth century, many
doubted of it, as we may gather by that expression of Otto
Frisingensis, anno 1146, ' That there is in hell a place of pur-
gatory, wherein such as are to be saved, are either only troubled
with darkness, or decocted with the fire of expiation, some do
affirm • plainly enough implying that all did not believe it.
" But, however, purgatory is now become an article of faith,
and of too comfortable an importance to be easily parted with ;
nor have I the vanity to hope 1 shall be able to argue those men
out of it, who, by this craft, gain their living ; and will, no
doubt, therefore be as zealous in defence of it, as ever Demetrius
was of the great goddess Diana upon the same account. But
tor iliose whose interest it rather is to be freed from these terrors
205
after death, which seive only to enrich the priests, and keep the
laity all their lives in fear and subjection, I hope to satisfy them
that these are only imaginary flames, invented for gain, establish-
ed upon false grounds, and kept up by artifice and terrors to de-
lude the people, but which themselves, many of them, no more
believe, than did that great Cardinal, who minded one day to
pose his chaplain, and proposed this question to him: — How
many masses would serve to fetch a soul out of purgatory ? To
which, when he appeared, as well he might, unable to reply, the
Cardinal thus pleasantly resolved the doubt, — " That just as many
masses would serve to fetch a soul out of purgatory, as snow-balls
would serve to heat an oven." Preservation against Popery,
Title viii. pp. 113, 114.
I have thus given a short history of the doctrine under dis-
cussion : in doing so, I have departed from the order observed
by some great authors, who give a long history of the thing be-
fore they tell what it is. Conceiving it proper to tell what pur-
gatory is, before I said much about it, I laid down in my last
Number very particularly, what the Church of Rome declares to
be of faith concerning it. I request the reader's attention to
what is there laid down, in order to his better understanding cf
the remarks which I am now about to make.
Purgatory connects itself very naturally with the corrupt state
of the Church of Rome, both in doctrine and practice. I have
often had occasion to remark, that the belief of all the dogmas
of Popery, and the practice of all its ceremonies, are perfectly
consistent with a life of wickedness. In the Church of Rome,
it is not necessary that a man be renewed in the spirit of his
mind ; it is not necessary that he crucify the flesh with the affec-
tions and lusts. If he has been favoured with a sprinkling of
holy water by a priest, in baptism, this makes him a new crea-
ture, in ecclesiastical reckoning : this they say makes him a mem-
ber of Christ ; and he cannot be deprived of this connexion with
the Saviour, unless he become a heretic, or be excommunicated.
The sins which he commits are all wiped away, so far as regards
their guilt and liableness to eternal punishment, every time ho
confesses and receives the absolution of his priest. He makes
confession, and receives absolution, as often as he chooses to
apply, and can afford to pay for it ; but he makes it evident by
his whole conduct, that he is not fit for heaven ; that even to
the hour of his death he is an unholy person. There remains
even in the minds of Papists so much knowledge of natural re-
ligion, shall we call it ? as existed even among heathens ; or
rather so much traditional knowledge of the character of God,
as to assure them that persons dying with the pollution of sin
unremoved, cannot enter into heaven, without undergoing a pu-
206
rification, — and this suggests to them the reasonableness and
necessity of a purgatory.
Real Christianity requires no such middle state between this
world and the next, in order to purge men either from the guilt
or pollution of sin. Through Jesus Christ is " preached the for-
giveness of sins ; and by him all that believe, are justified from
all things from which they could not be justified by the
law of Moses," Acts xiii. 38, 39. Those who are so justified,
are also sanctified. " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all
sin." " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity,'' 1 John i. 9. Such
passages of Scripture tell us plainly, that the blood of Christ is
not only sufficient as an atonement for sin, but also sufficient for
the cleansing of the soul from all its pollutions.
If the greatest sinner that ever trod upon the earth, were to
believe in Christ to day, and die to-morrow, the righteousness
of Christ in which he believes, would present him without spot,
that is, perfectly justified, and perfectly sanctified, in the presence
of God the Judge of all. But, supposing such a sinner to be-
lieve in Christ, and live in this world for fifty years, he would
make it manifest that he was a new creature ; he would be turned
from the practice and love of sin, into the love and practice of
righteousness. This is the necessary effect of believing the
gospel, and where this effect is not produced, the gospel is not
believed ; for the " grace of God which bringeth salvation, teaches
us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present world." When
a person thus interested in Christ comes to die, it is his happiness
to reflect, that no debt stands against him ; that no satisfaction
is required of him ; because Christ has made complete satisfaction
to divine justice for all his transgressions ; and his being made a
new creature, and his being enabled to live a holy life, is an evi-
dence to others as well as to himself, that he is a pardoned sin-
ner ; and that, like the penitent thief, the day he dies, he shall be
with Christ in paradise, without any other purifying process than
that which he has already undergone by the blood of Christ
applied for his sanctification, and which he shall instantly undergo
on the dissolution of the union between his soul and his body,
when the one shall return to the dust, and the other to God who
gave it.
These are truths which comfort the real Christian, and which
support his mind in the view of death, and judgment, and eter-
nity. He knows that to depart out of this world, and to be with
Christ, are the same thing; that there is not an intervening mo-
ment between the two. If it were otherwise, it would be impos-
sible to meet death with composure of mind, except it were in a
207
state of insensibility. How can a man resign himself to death
without the most fearful apprehension, if he believes that there
is a debt standing against him in the court of eternal justice, — a
debt for which he must make satisfaction, by suffering torments
in his own person, for a period, perhaps, much longer than his
whole life in this world ? But this is what every Papist is taught
to believe with regard to himself, unless he shall die a martyr, or
perform some signal service to the church, such as it is not pos-
sible for one in a million to perform.
It is true, the dying sinner, if he be a rich man, may compound
for ages of misery, by bequeathing his wealth to the church ; but
the comfort which this is calculated to afford, must be greatly di-
minished by the reflection, that he is leaving his family in po-
verty : and, what is infinitely worse, he cannot be sure that his
whole property, however great, will serve the purpose of saving
his soul from ages of torment. His widow and children may be-
come beggars, and yet, for any thing that he knows, he will de-
rive but little relief, from his having robbed them to enrich the
church. His ghostly guides are miserable comforters; for, with
all their impudence, which in general is not small, they do not
pretend to say for certain, that so much money will effectually
deliver a soul from purgatory. Though it should be thousands
of pounds, and as many masses as these can purchase, the utmost
that can be effected by them, is only a certain degree of relief,
or mitigation, or abridgment of the duration of the torments
which a soul is condemned to endure, though for any thing that
the sinner knows, or the priest can tell, the abridgment may be no
more than one year out of a thousand.
The case which I have supposed is one of the most favourable,
for it is the case of a rich man ; and it cannot be denied, that
Popery is a religion which looks upon the rich with a more fa-
vourable aspect than upon the poor. Those who are rich, may
buy some mitigation of their torments, but those who have
nothing to pay, must suffer in their own persons all the torments
of the purgatorian fire, until they have made full satisfaction to
divine justice. It is true, they may comfort themselves with the
belief that their surviving friends will pay money to have masses
said for them ; but when they reflect how poor their friends are,
and what a monstrous debt stands against them, I am afraid, nav,
I am sure, no poor sinner can derive much comfort from this
reflection.
Gother, indeed, tells us, that " such as have no relations or
friends to pray for them, or give alms, or procure masses for their
relief, are not neglected by the church, which makes a general
commemoration of all the faithful departed in every mass, and in
every one of the canonical hours of the divine office." This is
208
avowedly a concession in favour of those who u have no relations
or friends to pray for them, or give alms, or procure masses for
their relief;" from which it is clearly to be inferred, that those
who have relations and friends can expect no relief but by their
means, that is, by their giving alms, and procuring masses for
them; which, in plain English, is neither more nor less than pay-
ing money to the priests.
By this arrangement, the poor who have no friends, are left in
a very awkward predicament. They are declared to be in purga-
tory ; but the church takes no particular interest in any one of
them, just because there is nobody to pay money for them. They
are brought in by the lump, in " a general commemoration of all
the faithful departed in every mass." But such a general com-
memoration must be of little avail, when there is no specific
reference to any individual case. In this general commemora-
tion are included, all who paid for themselves, by bequeathing
money for masses, and all whose friends have paid for them, as
well as those who had neither money nor friends to leave behind
them ; and it may easily be supposed, that the intentions of the
priests, in saying their masses, will be directed to the souls of
those for whom they have been best paid ; and the poor in pur-
gatory, as well as the poor in this world, will be esteemed by
mercenary priests as little worth.
It is worthy of remark, that, according to this much admired
Popish author, there is in every mass, at this very day, a com-
memoration of all the faithful deceased. From the connexion
of the words it appears, that this commemoration signifies prayers,
alms, and masses, offered up to God for their relief; that is, of
all the faithful that have departed out of this world, I suppose,
since the days of the Apostles; for surely it will not be said, that
the Christians of those days were not of the faithful. Then, ac-
cording to this doctrine, they are all in purgatory still. The
Church of Rome will not avow the inconsistency of offering up
masses and prayers to God, for the relief of those who are already
relieved, and happy in heaven. Then, according to the Popish
notion of St. Peter having the keys of heaven, it will appear, that
he has most tenaciously kept the door shut ; for no sinner has
passed thither out of purgatory since he received the commission.
Now it may fairly be asked, for what purpose the priests have
been saying their masses for so many hundred years ? For what
have they applied the millions of money extorted from the people,
under the pretext of relieving souls from purgatory, when, so far
as appears, not one soul has yet been relieved ? Prayers and
masses are yet offeved up to God daily, for the relief of them all!
THE
Protestant,
No. LXXVIL
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1st, 18SO.
JLhe holy council of Trent, in the decree concerning purgatory,
which I gave in my seventy-fifth Number, prohibits the teaching
of " those things which have reference only to a certain curiosity
or superstition, or which savour of filthy lucre, as scandals, and
causes of some offence to the faithful." At the same time, and
in the same decree, it is positively enjoined upon the bishops,
that they inculcate the doctrine, " that the suffrages of the faith-
ful who are alive, namely, the sacrifices of the mass, orations,
acts of charity, and other pious deeds, which it has been cus-
tomary for the faithful to perform on behalf of the other faithful
who are dead, should be piously and devoutly performed accord-
ing to the institutions of the church."
The council seem to have been aware that some scandal and
offence did arise from the pecuniary traffic which had been carried
on in relation to their purgatory ; and they prohibit such things
as " savour oijilthy lucre ;" but we shall very much mistake the
meaning of the holy synod, if we suppose that by " filthy lucre"
they really mean gold and silver, or even bank notes, had there
been such things in their time. They command the bishops
to teach the people to perform " acts of charity" on behalf of the
" faithful who are dead ;" that is, to " give money to the priests
for the relief of the souls that are in purgatory."
The practice of many ages will be found a sound commentary
on the text. It is by " acts of charity," performed by the faith-
ful alive, for the sake of those who are dead, that Romish priests
have found means to bring within their grasp an immense quanti-
ty of what they effect to call " filthy lucre," but which is really
the delight of their hearts, and the desire of their eyes. For se-
veral ages before and after the sitting of this council, the priests
contented themselves with what they could extort from rich and
poor individuals ; but it was reserved for the present age of im-
Vol. II. D d
210
provement, to devise a plan, by which the poor might act as a
body, in raising contributions upon the small scale of a penny a-
week, in order to enrich the priests by purchasing the release of
souls which are supposed to be suffering torments in purgatory.
The following document, and reflections on this subject, are ex-
tracted from a pamphlet by the Rev. James Carlile, of Dublin.
I need not make an apology to my Scotch readers for so large
an extract, because, I suppose, few of them have seen the original
work ; and my readers in Dublin, to whom, 1 suppose, Mr. Car-
lile's book will be as familiar as mine is to the people in Glasgow,
will excuse my inserting it, for the information of my own coun-
trymen.
" I request/' says Mr. Carlile, " the reader's particular at-
tention to the following document, which is reprinted verbatim
as it fell into my bands. He has doubtless heard of penny a~
ixeek societies for various purposes, such as relieving the poor,
educating their children, furnishing them with the Scriptures;
but he, perhaps, does not know that this system has been adopt-
ed by devout and charitable members of the Church of Rome,
in this enlightened city of Dublin, for the purpose of raising
money to relieve themselves and their friends from purgatory, when
they shall go thither. Let him read, then, and be astonished.
' Have pity on me, have pity on me,
» at least you, my Friends'
PURGATORIAN SOCIETY,
INSTITUTED JULY 1 ST, 1813, AND HELD IN SAINT
JAMES'S CHAPEL.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost — Amen.
' It is therefore a holy and 'wholesome thought to pray for
the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins'
Machabees, chap. xii. rer. 46
THE members who compose the Society of the Office for the
Dead, commenced on the above day, at the said place, adopt-
ing the spirit and meaning of the above sacred text, and wish-
ing, in conformity to the divine precepts of the Holy Catholic
Church, to extend their charitable views beyond the grave, by
relieving, as far as in them lies, the suffering souls in purgn-
tory, and inviting all tender hearted Catholics, who have a ieel-
ing sensibility of the duty they owe their departed parents, re-
211
lations and friends, who probably may stand more in need of
their commiseration at present, than at any period of their life
time, to assist in the charitable and pious purpose of shortening
the duration of their sufferings by the most easy means ima-
ginable, have agreed to, and adopted the following Rules :
Rule 1. That the affairs of this institution shall be regulated
by the Superior, Rectors, and six of the members who compose
the office for the dead, who shall attend on every Wednesday
night, at half past eight o'clock, throughout the year, at the above
named place, or any other place which maybe hereafter appointed,
and there, with attention and devotion, recite the office for
the dead, agreeable to the intention that shall then be men-
tioned.
Rule 2. That every well disposed Catholic, wishing to contri-
bute to the relief of the suffering souls in purgatory, shall pay
one penny per week, which shall be appropriated to the procur-
ing of masses to be offered up for the repose of the souls of the
deceased parents, relations, and friends of all the subscribers to
the institution in particular, and the faithful departed in ge-
neral.
Rule 3. That on the first Monday of every month, a mass
will be offered up in the parish chapel of St. James, at ten
o'clock, for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the subscribers
of this society.
Rule 4. That the Superior, Rectors, and Council shall con-
tinue in office for six calendar months, at the expiration of which
time, candidates shall be nominated by the persons in office, who
shall give due notice to the whole body of members who compose
the office for the dead, that they may punctually attend on the
first Wednesday night in July, at half past eight o'clock, and on
the first Wednesday night in January, for the purpose of
electing a Superior, Rectors, and Council, to serve the ensuing
six months, and so in succession.
Rule 5. That each subscriber, on entering this society, do pur-
chase a copy of these Rules, in order to defray the expenses in-
curred by printing and other contingencies, and that the money
arising from the weekly subscriptions shall be disposed of to the
most necessitated clergymen, who shall be required to give re-
ceipts for what they are paid.
Rule 6. That the spiritual benefits of this institution shall be
conferred in the following manner, viz. Each subscriber shall be
entitled to an office at the time of their death, another at the
expiration of a month, and one at the end of twelve months after
their decease ; also, the benefit of masses which shall be procured
to be offered, by the money arising from subscriptions, and which
shall be extended to their parents, relations, and friends, in the
following: order : that is to say, their fathers, mothers, brothers.
212
listers, uncles, aunts, and if married, husbands, wives, and children,
if they have any departed who lived to maturity.
Rule 7. That every member of the office for the dead, who
serves the society in the capacity of Superior, shall, at the time of
his death, be entitled to three masses, to be offered for the repose
of his soul ; and, also, every member who serves the office of
Rector, shall be entitled to the benefit of two masses, and every
subscriber, without distinction, shall be entitled to the benefit of
one mass, each, provided that such member or subscriber shall die
a natural death, be six months a subscriber to the institution,
and be clear of all dues at the time of their departure ; that care
shall be taken, by the surviving Superior and Rectors, that such
soul masses are punctually obtained, agreeable to the interest and
meaning of this institution.
Rule 8. That the Superior, Rectors, and Council, be em-
powered to make (as occasion may require) such bye-laws as they
shall think expedient, provided they do not interfere with the
spirit of these Rules ; said hye-lawsare to be laid before the body
at large, for their approbation, and that four shall form a quorum
on the Council.
Rule 9. That the Superior shall on every All-Souls'-Day,
advance to the parish priest of James's street chapel, whatever
sum is necessary for obtaining an insertion in the mortality list of
the altar, the names of the parents, relations, and friends, of all the
subscribers to this institution, to be recommended to the prayers
of the congregation at every mass throughout the year.
Subscriptions received, and subscribers registered at the chapel,
on every Wednesday evening, from seven o'clock until nine, and
in the school-room adjoining the chapel, on the first Sunday of
February, May, August, and November, being quarterly days,
from ten o'clock until one.
The books to be opened for the inspection of subscribers. *
Price three-pence.
J Coyne, Printer, 74, Cook-street.
Let the reader attend to this document. The Society, he
will observe, was instituted about two years ago. f He will also
observe that it is countenanced by the clergy at least those of St.
James's, for it is held in the chapel. Let him then advert to the
objects of it. They are to relieve suffering souls in purgatory,
particularly those of the members of the society, when they shall
• Since the publication of this curious document, in the first edition of
thi Examination, the rules of several other similar societies, of still more
recent formation, have been published! but as they are similar to those
given above, it ia unnecessary to insert them. They serve to show, how.
ever, that the utility of Purgatorian Societies, is very generally acknow-
ledged by Roman Catholics.
| Tlii-> was written in is 15.
213
go thither, and their relations who are already there, by the most
easy means imaginable. And what are these means ? Why,
paying a penny per week, as the easiest manner of raising money
to procure masses. It is natural to ask to whom this money is
to go, which is expended in procuring masses ? and the answer
must be, to the clergy, for they alone can give these masses.
But, besides the masses, there is mentioned in the 9th rule, a
kind of subordinate help to the poor suffering souls, namely, in-
sertion into the mortality list of the altar, which recommends
them to the prayers of the congregation at every mass throughout
the year ; and this privilege, also, is to be purchased of the parish
priest of St. James's by the society.
" In what a light does this place the priesthood ? They be-
lieve, or at least they teach, that the friends of their flock are
lying weltering in a lake of fire, from which they could deliver
them, by saying masses for them, and recommending them to
the prayers of the congregation, and yet they will not say these
masses, nor so recommend them, unless they be regularly paid
for it. How can a man represent himself as such a monster,
and yet hold up his head in civilized society! What! shall I
believe that a single soul is suffering torments so dreadful ; that
it may continue to suffer them for ages, that I have the means
in my power of relieving it, and yet shall I coolly wait till I be
paid, before I use these means ? By what process of reasoning
can men be brought to believe, that this is the religion given to us
for our salvation, by our kind and merciful Father in Heaven ?
By what arguments can the poor be convinced that a system of
extortion, which gives so manifest a preference to the rich, can be
that gospel which was to be preached peculiarly to the poor ?
" But the reader may be most surprised to learn, that intelli-
gent, upright, and conscientious individuals belong to this so-
ciety, and conduct it. The very style of correctness with which
the rules of it are composed and arranged ; the care and foresight
with which they are fenced and guarded, show them to be the
work of a man of judgment and prudence. The 5th rule pro-
vides that the money shall be disposed of to the most necessitated
clergymen, who must give receipts for what they are paid. The
6th marks precisely the order and consanguinity in which the
benefits of the society are to be extended, to parents, rela-
tions, and friends. The 7th gives encouragement to persons
conducting the business of the society, and provides that a sub-
scriber, in order to obtain the benefit of it, must be of six months
standing ; must die a natural death, and must be clear of all dues
at the time of his departure. The 9th rule seems to be
intended to provide a kind of remuneration for the use of the
chapel of St. James's, for it confines I he money that is to be ex-
pended in procuring the prayers of congregations, to the priest of
214
that parish. There is one point, indeed, which seems to be lefc
very vague and indeterminate, namely, what precise effect the
masses and prayers will have — whether they will relieve the souls
from purgatory immediately, or whether they will only shorten
the duration of their sufferings. That they may be relieved at
once from purgatory, that they may even be saved from going
thither by certain processes, or that the precise relief obtained
may be ascertained, is manifest from some of the indulgences
quoted above ; one of which provides that he who complies with
the terms of it shall never see purgatory ; another, that if he were
there, he shall be delivered from it ; and another assures him of
90,000 years of respite. Now it would surely be satisfactory, to
those who subscribe to this society, if they knew precisely how
much it would take to deliver each soul, or what is the exact
diminution of suffering that each mass effects ; because, for aught
I see, they may be paying for the relief of those who are already fin-
ally relieved: whereas, if they knew better what they were doing,
they could save that money, and apply it to the relief ot those who
certainly need relief. I am afraid, however, that the clergy are
too cunning to fix this matter with any great precision, for no-
thing can be more profitable in this traffic than a little uncertain-
ty. The bare possibility of any ease being procured by a little
money, for a dear friend recently deceased, must be an almost
irresistable inducement to bestow it.
" Oh ! awful delusion ! that men with the light of the gospel
shining on their eyeballs, should persuade themselves, that the
God of heaven would actually sell to them, for money, relief
from some necessary purgation, or some merited punishment !
Look at this society again, and say, whether it might not with
much greater propriety be denominated, A society for the
relief of necessitous CLERGYMEN, than for the relief of
souls in purgatory. Survey the whole transaction. A self-
elected, incorporated body declare, that they alone are commis-
sioned by God, to teach what he chooses should be known, res-
pecting eternity and the world of spirits ; and that the truth of
what they teach, nay, and the reality of their commission, are not
to be examined, further than they themselves think fit to submit
them to examination. Among many other doctrines equally pro-
fitable to themselves, they teach, that the souls even of those who
listen to them implicitly, must goto a place of torment for a time,
to be purified, before they enter on the infinite rewards of their
implicit faith and obedience : that they, by performing certain
mystical ceremonies or incantations, which they call mass, can
shorten this torturing purgation, or release the soul from it alto-
gether ; that they are warranted, nay, for aught I know, com-
manded by God, to exact money for performing these masses,
which money is to be appropriated to their own use ; and they
2\5
countenance their people in forming societies to raise money, for
the purpose of purchasing masses from the most necessitous
among themselves. I appeal to any man of common discern-
ment, if ever he met with a transaction, that bore fraud and im-
posture so legibly written on the face of it, as this does ! And
yet, where can we look for deliverance to our fellow countrymen,
from these tricks that are every day practised upon them, and for
the sake of which, they are studiously kept in the most profound
ignorance. No ray of light is permitted to reach them ; and,
lest by any chance a passing gleam might shine upon them,
they are taught to shut their eyes, and to believe that every
one is their enemy, that would persuade them to look around
them. 'Tis odds but they may be enraged against me for sim-
ply telling them that they are in darkness." *
I shall conclude this Number with some curious particulars
relating to purgatory, not taken, indeed, from books of such
authority as the Canons of the Council of Trent, but related by
a Spanish priest, who was intimately acquainted with the opfn-
ions and most secret practices of his own order. He became a
convert to the Protestant religion, and in 1715, he received or-
ders in the Church of England. He writes like one who knew
perfectly the truth of his statements ; and I have never read or
heard that they were contradicted.
V Pope Adrian the Third," says Mr. Gavin, " did confess, that
there was no mention of purgatory in Scripture, or in the writ-
ings of the holy fathers ; but notwithstanding this, the Council
of Trent has settled the doctrine of purgatory, without alleging
any one passage of the holy Scripture ; and gave so much liberty
* The following article in the Quarterly Review for September, 1818,
page 109, shews that a Purgatorian Society has been established also in
London.
The Roman Catholics in London have an association for Sunday
Schools, — and the reader may be edified by the title under which it has
been instituted, and by some of its rules. It is called, a spiritual associa-
tion in honour of the most Holy Trinity, and under the protection of the
blessed Virgin Mary, for the relief of souls in purgatory, and instruction
of the ignorant.
" All monies acquired by this charity, from subscriptions or otherwise,
shall bo destined to provide that the holy sacrifice of the mass be offered
for the intentions of the society, and for the support of the schools."
" At the death of any member, mass shall be said three times for the re-
pose of his (or her) soul. Masses shall be said every month for the deceased
members of the society in general. The standing intentions of this society
shall be: 1st. The soul most in need. 2d. The deceased members. 3d.
The welfare of the living subscribers.
" A member may enter the names of his departed parents or friends in
the books of the society, and such deceased persons shall be deemed mem-
bers of the same, and partake of its spiritual advantages, as long as their
subscriptions continue to be paid.
" The Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary shall be said daily, for the
intentions of the Society, and on no account whatever be omitted."
The association was formed in 1810.
216
to priests and friars by it, that they build in that fiery (dace, ap-
partments for kings, princes, grandees, noblemen, merchants,
and tradesmen, for ladies of quality, for gentlemen and
tradesmen's wives, and for poor common people. These are
the eight apartments which answer to the eight degrees of in-
tense fire ; and they make the people believe that the poor peo-
ple only endure the least degree ; the second being greater, is
for gentlewomen and tradesmen's wives, and so on to the eight
degree, which being the greatest of all, is reserved for kings. By
this wicked doctrine, they get gradually masses from all sorts and
conditions of people, in proportion to their greatness. But, as
the poor cannot give so many masses as the great, the lowest
chamber in purgatory is always crowded with the reduced souls
of those unfortunately fortunate people, for they say to them, that
the providence of God has ordered every thing to the ease of his
creatures ; and foreseeing that the poor people could not afford
the same number of masses that the rich could, his infinite good-
ness had placed them in the place of less sufferings in purga-
tory*
" But it is a remarkable thing, that many poor silly trademen's
wives, desirous of honour in the next world, do ask the friars,
whether the souls of their fathers, mothers, or sisters, can be re-
moved from the second apartment (reckoning from the lowest)
to the third ? thinking by it, that though the third degree of fire
is greater than the second, yet the souls would be better pleased
in the company of ladies of quality. But the worst is, that the
friar makes such women believe that he can do it very easily, if
they give the same price for a mass that ladies of quality do give.
I knew a shoemaker's wife, very ignorant, proud, and full of
punctilios of honour, who went to a Franciscan friar, and told
him, that she desired to know whether her father's soul was in
purrrntory or not ? and in what apartment ? The friar asked how
many masses she could spare for it ? she said, two ; and the
friar answered, your father's soul is among the beggars, upon
hearing this the poor woman began to cry, and desired the friar
to put him, if possible, in the fourth apartment, and she would
pay him for it ; and the quantum being settled, the friar did pro-
mise to place him there the next day. So the poor woman ever
bince gives out that her father was a rich merchant, for it was re-
vealed to her that his soul is among the merchants in purgatory.
" Now what can we say, but that the Pope is the chief go-
vernor of that vast place, and priests and friars the quartermasters,
that billet the souls according to their own fancies ; and have the
power, and give for money the king's apartments to the soul of a
blioemaker, and that of a lady of quality to her washerwoman.
Master Key, vol. I p. K)6.
rut;
Protectant,
No. LXXVIIL
SATURDA Y, JANUAR Y 8th, 1 820.
^ mentioned in my last Number, on the authority of the Rev.
Mr. Gavin, originally a Popish priest in Spain, and afterwards a
minister of the Church of England, that purgatory was divided
into eight apartments; that the lowest of these was occupied by
the souls of poor persons, and the highest by the souls of kings ;
and that the degree of torment which the souls in purgatory suf-
fered was in proportion to the dignity of the apartments which
they occupied ; those in the lower vaults suffering less, and those in
the higher ones suffering more, for no other reason, than that the
friends of the latter, are supposed able to pay large sums for re-
lief, while the friends of the former can pay little or nothing ; and
it must be allowed to be equitable, at least in Popish reck-
oning, that if the rich heirs of kings and princes do not pay li-
berally for the repose of the souls of their deceased friends, the
deceased must pay the debt of suffering in their own persons ;
whereas the poor souls whose friends have little to pay, will get
off after suffering little.
This arrangement is admirably calculated to enrich the dealers
in masses, which are understood to have such efficacy in procuring
relief to the souls in purgatory ; that is, to enrich the priests,
who by means of this doctrine, find ready access to the purses .
rich widows, and others, whose deceased husbands and relations
gave no evidence, during life, of being fit for heaven. The more
wicked they had been, the better for the church, provided they
left plenty of money, as the more masses were necessary for their
relief, and the price of masses is understood to bear some propor-
tion to the wealth of the persons at whose request and on whose
behalf they are said.
In countries where Popery is the established religion, especially
Voi. II Ee
218
in those where no other is suffered to be professed, it is easy for
the priests, by dreams and revelations, to extort what they please
from the rich dupes of their gloomy superstition. If a priest or
a nun has only dreamed that such a one's father or mother is
suffering dreadful torments in purgatory, this wdl be enough to
command a thousand masses, and a thousand guineas to pay for
them, if the relations of the deceased be able to pay so much ; if
not, the priests will take what they can give for the present, and
more when they can get it.
" In the latter end of king Charles the Second's reign," says Mr.
Gavin, meaning king Charles of Spain, " a nun of Gaudalajara
wrote a letter to his Majesty, acquainting him that it was revealed
to her by an angel, that the soul of his father, Philip the Fourth,
was still in purgatory, all alone in the royal apartment; and
likewise, in the lowest chamber, the said king Philip's shoemaker ;
and that upon saying so many masses, both should be delivered
out of it, and should go to enjoy the ravishing pleasures of an
eternal life. The nun was reputed a saint upon earth, and the
simple king gave orders to his confessor to say, or order so many
masses to be said for that purpose ; after which the nun wrote
again to his Majesty, congratulating and wishing him joy for the
arrival of his father in heaven ; but that the shoemaker, who was
seven degrees lower than Philip in purgatory, was then seven
degrees higher than his Majesty in heaven, because of his better
life on earth." Philip it seems had been notoriously guilty of a
particular vice, of which the nun reminds his son Charles ; the
shoemaker in this respect had been innocent ; but, said she, " all
had been forgiven him (i. e. the king) on account of the masses."
" When some ignorant people pay for a mass, and are willing
to know whether the soul for which the mass is said, is, after the
mass, delivered out of purgatory, the friar makes them believe,
that the soul will appear in the figure of a mouse within the ta-
bernacle of the altar, if it is not out of it, and then it is a sign
that that soul wants more masses ; and if the mouse doth not
appear, that soul is in heaven. So when the mass is over, he
goes to the tabernacle backwards, where is a little door with a
crystal, which the people look through ; but O pitiful thing! they
see a mouse which the friars keep perhaps for the purpose ; and
so the poor sots give more money for more masses, till they see
the mouse no more. They have a revelation ready at hand, to
say, that such a devout person was told by an angel, that the
sou! fir which the mass is said, was to appear in the figure of a
mouse in the sacrario, or tabernacle." Master Key, Vol. I. p.
168— J 70.
This story uf the mouse being made use of as a sign, to shew
219
whether or not souls were delivered out of purgatory, reminds
me of a communication from a reverend gentleman, which has
been long lying past me, because I had not sooner a proper op-
portunity of introducing it. It relates to a sign which the priests
give, when they think proper, that certain souls are delivered from
purgatory.
" About seventeen years ago," says my correspondent, " a
lady, now living in Edinburgh, had occasion to be in Dublin,
and through means of a gentleman from this country, was intro-
duced to a Popish chapel, on an occasion when a number of
souls were to be translated out of purgatory. The place was very
brilliantly lighted. The priest was seated on an eminence, with
a table before him. The audience was in expectation, when a
relation of each of the deceased persons, whose souls were that
night to be released, appeared, and in passing before the priest,
each laid an elegant and well filled purse on the table before him,
who, after nodding satisfaction, most readily conveyed it to a re-
ceptacle, where it might be preserved till a fit opportunity of
otherwise disposing of it. Having received his wages, the priest
immediately began his operations, and soon intimated that the
souls were translated, and would immediately make their appear-
ance. Immediately a moveable part of the floor, unoccupied of
course, opened, and there issued forth from it living creatures,
as black as jet. When the little creatures began to move about,
in order to prevent the deception from being detected, the lights
were all extinguished, as if by magic. The lady had eyed the
souls' representatives very narrowly, and had observed that there
was one of them within her reach ; and with a degree of courage,
which would not have been exerted by every one in her circum-
stances, she seized on the animal ; she put it into her pocket, for
ladies wore pockets in those days ; she took it home, and showed
it to the gentleman who had introduced her to the chapel, when
it turned out to be a crab dressed in black velvet. I need scarcely
add, that the lady was induced by the entreaties of the gentleman to
destroy the creature, and maintain secrecy, at least in Ireland, as
she valued her own life. I have the story from a daughter of the
lady who laid hold on the emancipated spirit, and I believe her
entitled to the highest credit, otherwise I would not have troubled
you with the story."
The above is, indeed, such an absurd, ridiculous, and childish
piece of imposition, that it is with difficulty one can give credit
to it ; and yet, from the respectability of the channel through
which it has been conveyed to me, I have no doubt of its truth :
the credibility of things of this kind, must not be estimated by
the rules bv which we would judge of the credibility of what is
said to take place among well informed persons. No minister in
220
Scotland, of any denomination, could practise such a trick upon
liis people ; because the people in Scotland are accustomed to
think for themselves, and to inquire into the meaning and the
evidences of things ; but the people in Ireland, and, indeed, the
people in other places where Popery is predominant, are not
allowed to think for themselves : they must receive implicitly what
their priests tell them, or be excommunicated, and be made to
taste of the pains of purgatory even in the present life
In the course of my reading, I have met with something simi-
lar to the above story of the crabs, — perhaps it may be in the
letter of some correspondent, on which I cannot at present lay
my hands ; and, therefore, I cannot vouch for the fact, though
there rests no doubt as to its truth on my own mind ; be-
cause I believe there is no trick, however absurd, to which the
priests will not have recourse, in order to deceive the people,
and swindle them out of their money. A country priest had
been complaining grievously against his congregation, for their
hard-heartedness in not procuring a sufficient number of masses
for the relief of the souls of their deceased relations. He in-
vited some of them to come to him at a certain hour of the night,
and he would let them see the souls which were in torment, and
which called for relief. Some had the courage to accept the in-
vitation ; and from a place which overlooked the church-yard, he
showed them a number of lights moving about among the grave-
stones, and declared that these were the souls of persons deceased,
which were crying from purgatory, for prayers and masses for
their release. Some one was bold enough to try to get more
intimately acquainted with one of these moving lights ; and it
turned out to be a crab with a lighted candle-end fixed upon its
back ! With half a dozen of such agents, it was easy for an art-
ful priest to impose upon his whole parish ; and to make one who
had a friend lately deceased, pay his last shilling for his relief,
that at least he might be saved from the misery of wandering like
a ghost about the grave's mouth.
It will be asked again, how is it possible to make the people
believe such things ? In reply, I have only to say, that when the
priests have got them to disbelieve their own senses, which they
do every time that they attend mass ; when they believe what they
see to be a wafer, to be the Saviour of the world, it is easy to
make them believe any thing else that may serve the purpose of
maintaining the authority of their ghostly guides.
The following extract of a letter from a gentleman in Rome,
to his friend here, bears some relation to this subject. It refers
to a personage, who, if history says what is true, required no
small degree of purgation before she was fit for heaven ; and, ye*
it seems, that priests were labouring with all their might, Baying
221
masses, in order to facilitate her progress through purgatory as
fast as possible.
" January 8th, 1819. — The Queen of Spain died here the
other day, and is to be buried tomorrow with pomp. I saw
her lying in state ; and a more ridiculous spectacle I never saw
in my life. She was lying dressed in her finest apparel, on cloth
of gold, exposed to the view of every person. A guard of ho-
nour stood around the bed ; and the whole suite of rooms were
covered with black, and filled with altars, at which a dozen of
priests were constantly saying mass, night and day, for the pur-
pose of facilitating her Majesty's journey through purgatory. I
was obliged to submit to a good hard squeeze before admittance
could be got, the crowd was so great. Her hair is curled every
day, the same as if she was alive. Her dressing maid attends
as usual ; and breakfas-t and dinner are served up to her as for-
merly, which are ate in honour of her arrival at the gates of pa-
radise. To night, she is to be carried to St. Maria Maggioro,
preparatory to her funeral ceremony to-morrow."
We learn from the New Testament, that the heathen expected
to be heard for their much speaking ; that is, from the use of
many words, and many repetitions in their prayers. The palace
of the deceased Queen presented, on the above occasion, a lively
example of heathen worship. There were a dozen priests con-
stantly employed, day and night, saying masses for the repose of
her soul. Now this was an incessant repetition of the same
thing ; and those who can suppose that such a service was ac-
ceptable to God, or available for the happiness of the deceased
sovereign, had they lived in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, must
have joined with the worshippers of Baal, in calling upon the
idol from morning to night, in the same words O Baal, hear us.
Hoc est corpus meum, are the grand mysterious words which
are used in every mass, and which produce the miraculous effects
for which the mass is celebrated. The continual saying of masses
is therefore little more than an incessant repetition of these words ,
which, though they be a translation of the words which Christ
used, in instituting the ordinance of the supper, being thus pro-
stituted to an idolatrous and superstitious use, are no better than
a mere heathenish incantation ; and the priest who can deliberate-
ly impose upon the credulity of kings and queens, or of persons
of any rank, by making them believe that by such means they
can do good to the souls of those who are dead, must be regard-
ed as the most depraved agents of the prince of darkness. Their's
is not only a service which God has not required ; but it is abso-
lutely incompatible with that reasonable and spiritual worship
which is ordained in the New Testament ; and inconsistent with all
that is there revealed of the way by which a sinner is saved, and by
which he draw? near to God with the hope of being accepted.
222
The grand point to winch every thing in the system of Popery
tends, is to get money, insomuch, that one is led to imagine that
the Pope is no other than an incarnation of the ancient idol,
Mammon, and that the priests are his tax-gatherers. The fol-
lowing abstract of a sermon on purgatory shows how little account
is made by the priests of what, even by their own statement,
should appear the most important branches of the doctrine, and
how naturally they run on to expatiate upon that branch that
brings in the money.
u I went once to hear an old friar, who had the name of an
excellent preacher, upon the subject of the souls in purgatory,
and he took his text out of the 21st chapter of the Apocalypse,
27th verse ; " And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing
that defileth," &c ; by which he settled the belief of purgatory,
proving by some romantic authority, that such a passage ought to
be understood of purgatory, and his chief authority was, because a
famous interpreter renders the text thus : There shall not enter
into it (meaning heaven) any thing which is not proved by the
fire, as silver is purified by it. When he had proved his text, he
came to divide it, which he did in these three heads. First,
That the souls suffer in purgatory three sorts of torments, of
which the first was fire, and that greater than that of hell. Se-
condly, To be deprived of the face of God. And thirdly, Which
was the greatest of all the torments, to see their relations and friends
here on earth diverting themselves, and taking so little care to re-
lieve them out of these terrible pains. The preacher spoke very
little of the two first points, but he insisted upon the third a long
hour, taxing the people of ingratitude and inhumanity ; and that
if it was possible for any of the living to experience only for a
moment, that devouring flame of purgatory, certainly he would
come again, and sell whatever he had in the world, and give it for
masses : and what pity it is, said he, to know that there are the
souls of many of my hearers' relations there, and none of them
endeavour to relieve them out of that place. He went on, and
said, I have a catalogue of the souls, which by revelation and ap-
parition, we are sure are in purgatory; for in the first place, the
soul of such a one, (meaning a rich merchant's father) did appear
the other night to a godly person, in a figure of a pig, and the
devout person knowing that the door of his chamber was locked
up, began to sprinkle the pig with holy water, and conjuring him,
bade him speak, and tell what he wanted ? And the pig said, I
am the soul of such a one, and I have been in purgatory these
ten years for want of help. When I left the world, I forgot to
till my confessor where I left 1000 pistoles, which I had re-
served for masses. My son found them out, and he is such an
Unnatural child that he doth not remember my pitiful condition;
223
and now, by the permission of heaven, I come to you, and com-
mand you to discover this case to the first preacher you meet,
that he may publish it, and tell my son, that if he doth not give
tiiat money for masses for my relief, I shall be for ever in purga-
tory, and his soul shall certainly go to hell.
" The sottish merchant, terrified with this story, got up be-
fore all the people and went into the vestry, and when the friar
had finished, he begged of him to go with him to his house,
where he should receive the money, which he did accordingly, for
fear of second thought ; and the merchant freely gave the 1000
pistoles, for fear that his father should be kept in purgatory, and
he himself go to hell." Master Key, Vol. I- pp. 173 — 175.
Mr. Gavin does not tell us how the friar came to know the fact
that the young man had found a sum of money which had been
secreted by his father ; but there will appear to have been no
need of a supernatural revelation, when it is recollected that every
father confessor has access to know all the secrets of all his spi-
ritual children ; and these fathers can easily make known to one
another, any secret which they think will serve the common
cause.
It is a common thing, at this very day, for Papists in Ireland
to leave large sums of money, to be applied after their death, for
the relief of their souls. It had been found that great abuses
existed with regard to the management of charitable bequests in
general, in that kingdom. On which account an act was passed
in the third year, and another in the fortieth year of his present
Majesty, by which " every executor of a will is bound under a
penalty of £50 to give notice in the Dublin Gazette, within
three months after obtaining probate, of every charitable bequest
contained in the will of the deceased, whether he was of the Pro-
testant or Roman Catholic religion, in order that money left for
charitable purposes may not be concealed and embezzled." The
Commissioners, under this Act, are the highest dignitaries of
both Church and State in Ireland ; and in their records, the fol-
lowing items appear : —
" 1801. — The Rev. Matt. Lennon, Titular Bishop of Dro-
more, bequeathed £500, to purchase six Government Deben-
tures, for the purpose of establishing a daily mass for his soul,
in the chapel of Newry, in perpetuance." 1803 The Rev
Edanus Murphy, a parish priest, in the county of Wexford, be-
queathed all his books and household furniture, and what stock
he might have at the time of his decease, to his Nephew, the
Rev. William Stafford, to be laid out for suffraces for his soul."
Same year, " Patrick Darcy, of Bishop-street, Dublin, left an an-
nuity of L.S : 8 : 3, per annum, to the clergymen of Francis-
street chapel, for saying soul masses, for the space of thirty-five
224-
years." — " In the same year, Mrs. French left a sum of money to
say masses for her soul, and the souls of her two husbands."
1805. — " The Rev. W. Lonergan, parish priest of Carriekbeg,
county of Wexford, left in this year, L.10 to the chapel of Car-
riekbeg, and L 5 to Ballindesart chapel, and L.100 to his burial,
mouths mind, and masses, the masses at one shilling and seven-
pence per mass." See a Refutation of the Statement of the
Penal Laws, which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland, Dublin,
1812. This work contains many other such instances of super-
stition ; but the above, I think, are enough for a sample.
This author informs us, that " although, since the days of Lord
Coke, money left to say masses for a soul, has been declared to
be an unlawful and superstitious bequest, yet the Commissioners
have never molested the Rev. Matthew Lennou's executors, nor
even prosecuted them for not advertising his bequests." The
fact is, that the utmost tenderness, and the most liberal indul-
gence is shown to Papists in all these matters ; so that they have
no reason whatever to complain of any hardship being imposed
upon them ; and yet, if we were to take the word of their politi-
cal writers, they are suffering more cruel persecution than the
children of Israel did in Egypt.
The editor of the Antijacobin Review, and Protestant Advo-
cate, has done me the honour of inserting in his Number for last
month, my tenth Number entire, that is, the sixteenth of the
Dublin edition. He introduces it with a paragraph, in which
he says, " Whilst Glasgow has produced a layman to vindicate
Christianity from its worst foes, and Ireland can boast of many,
even martyrs, as well as defenders of her church, not a single
publication against Popery Jrom the Lancashire press, is
known to the world." The editor has not seen the excellent
volume of the Rev. Mr. Fletcher of Blackburn, which was print-
ed in Manchester, in 1817, and is, I am informed, now reprint-
ing in London. It is entitled " Lectures on the Principles and
Institutions of the Roman Catholic Religion." I take this op-
portunity of respectfully recommending it to the " Protestant
Advocate," and to all my readers. The worst fault of it is,
that it is too good for the persons the author has to deal with. He
concedes too much in the way of liberality and politeness ; these
being qualities which Papists can neither appreciate nor imitate,
when engaged in controversy about their religion.
i^rote^tant,
No. LXXIX.
SATURDAY, JANUARY \5th, 1820.
It is now time to discuss the subject of purgatory more seri-
ously than I have yet done. The thing, indeed, is connected
with so many ludicrous associations, that it is not easy to treat
it seriously ; but when we consider that it is one of the chief in-
struments by which the people are deceived, and by which the
Church of Rome has her wealth, it will appear proper and ne-
cessary ihat the imposition be exposed, and the truth of the gos-
pel maintained.
There is nothing declared more plainly in the Bible, than that
Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is declared with
equal plainness, — " He that believeth on the Son, hath ever-
lasting life, and shall never come into condemnation; but he that
believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him," John iii. 36. He that believes in Christ is a
justified person, and when he dies he is received immediately
into heaven. " There is no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. The Apostle speaks in language
of strong defiance : " Who shall lay any thing to the charge
of God's elect," ver. 33. This is as much as to say, that no-
thing whatever stands against them. The salvation which they
have in Christ, is a complete salvation : it is a forgiveness of all
trespasses, absolutely and for ever. The Bible does not con-
tain the slightest hint, that there are some trespasses not forgiven
to a genuine Christian, and for which he must make satisfaction
in his own person, in this world, or in the world to come, or in
a state between the one and the other.
Besides, we learn from the word of God, that it is in this life
only that men become interested in the salvation of Christ. The
state in which death finds a man, will be his state for ever. If
he be in a state of peace with God at the moment of his death,
Voi. II. Ff
22G
he enters into peace; he rests from his labours and from his
sufferings. Dying in the Lord, as every believer does, is to die
in a state of acceptance and favour, which is quite inconsistent
with the idea of undergoing ages, or even years of punishment.
The greatest sinners, believing in Chiist, are declared to be
washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, 1 Cor. vi. 11. This ren-
ders all other purification unnecessary ; and the idea of a purga-
torian fire for purifying the souls of Christians, cannot be enter-
tained, without contemning, as insufficient, the blood of Christ
and the work of the Holy Spirit. This contempt is, indeed,
inseparable from the doctrine of purgatory. He that teaches
that a man must make satisfaction for his own sins, in whole or
in part, declares the insufficiency of the satisfaction which Christ
has made; and he who expects to be purified in the fire of pur-
gatory, is guilty of despising the sanctifying influence of the
Holy Ghost.
The Council of Trent do not profess to adduce any higher
authority than their own for this doctrine. They had not the
presumption, great as their presumption was, to father such an
absurdity upon the Bible. With Papists, indeed, their autho-
rity will be held as good as that of the word of God ; but with
Protestants it has no more weight than the reveries of Maho-
met,— I might satisfy myself with merely asserting, that there is
no such place. As, however, some Popish writers of great
name have attempted to prove the doctrine from Scripture, I
shall now proceed to examine more particularly their Scripture
proofs.
In " the grounds of the Catholic doctrine, contained in the
profession of faith, published by Pope Pius IV.," we have what
is meant for an argument from Scripture, on behalf of purgatory,
as follows : — " The Scripture in many places assures us, that
' God will render to every man according to his works,' Ps. xii.
v. 12. Mat. xvi. v. 27. Rom. ii. v, 6. Rev. xxii. v. 12.
Now this would not be true, if there were no such thing as pur-
gatory ; for how could God render to every one according to his
works, if such as die in the guilt of any, even the least sin. which
they have not taken care to blot out by repentance, would never-
theless go straight to heaven?" It is undoubtedly true, that
" God will render to every man according to his works;" and
the Church of Rome gives a pretty fair specimen of her impu-
dence, by saying, " this would not be true, but for her purga-
tory." Such declarations of Scripture have, in reality, nothing
to do with purgatory. If men " die in the guilt of any, even
the least sin," the Bible tells us plainly, they must perish, and
that for ever. " God will render unto them according: to their
227
works ;" that is, he will render indignation and wrath, tribula-
tion and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Such
go away into everlasting punishment. This is called the black-
ness of darkness for ever. But we have not the slightest hint,
in the whole Bible, that such persons go into a place of tempo-
rary punishment, out of which they shall be released, sooner or
later, as their friends on earth shah be pleased to pay money for
their relief.
Those who die in Christ, do not " die in the guilt of any, even the
least sin ;" because in virtue of his atoning sacrifice, all their sins,
without the exception of the very least, are taken away. " God
made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us," says one Apostle,
" that we might be made the righteousness of God in hiin,"
2 Cor. v. 21. Christ's righteousness imputed to the believer
of the gospel, constitutes him righteous before God. Thus
" Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness." Now it was not written for his sake alone, that
it was imputed to him ; but for us also, to whom it shall be im-
puted, if we believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from
the dead ; " who was delivered for our offences, and raised a^ain
for our justification." Rom. iv. 3. 23 — 25. We learn from
such declarations as these, that every real Christian is a justified
person ; that he has received a full acquittal and remission of all
his sins ; and the same Apostle cites the Psalmist, as describing
the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. It is not said, the man who hath not committed sin, for
there is no such man in the world, or ever shall be ; but the man
to whom sin shall not be imputed ; who has it not charged
against him for future reckoning ; who shall not be punished as
his sins deserve. The standing of such a man before God, is
not in himself, but in Christ his Saviour ; hence his blessedness
and security. If his standing were in himself, he would most
certainly fall, and incur not the temporary punishment of purga
tory, but the pains of hell for ever.
Now, it is true also of such a man, that God will render to
him according to his works. When the earth and the sea shall
give up the dead which are in them, every man shall be judged
according to his works. The judgment of the great day, like
that of every well constituted human tribunal, will proceed ac-
cording to evidence. A man's works are the evidence of his
state before God. Those who have done nothing but evil, will
have their evil deeds produced as evidence against them ; shall
be judged according to their works, and receive the condemna-
tion which they deserve. Those who believe in Christ, are cre-
ated anew to good works. They, and they only, really serve
God in this world ; their services, as well as their persons, are
228
accepted for Christ's sake, not for any value in tliem ; a:id ac-
cording to these the judgment shall proceed. Not that there is
such merit in their works as to deserve a reward ; but because
they evince a relation to Christ, who alone has merited eternal
life, and who is the author of it to all them that obey him.
There is a broad and intelligible distinction between the expres-
sions according to woiks, andcw account o/'woiks, just as there-
is between the evidence of a witness and the fact which it is
brought to establish. The just sentence of any court will be
according to evidence, but the evidence is not that on account or
which, or for the sake of which, a man is rewarded or condemn-
ed. The wicked shall indeed be condemned and punished on
account of their works ; but not as viewed in the character of
evidence, but as acts of rebellion against God. The reward of
the righteous will be according; to their works, but solely on ac-
count of Christ's perfect righteousness, in which they become
interested by faith ; and, but for which, they would never have
had any good works to exhibit.
But, here I ask again, what have we to do with purgatory ?
The passages of Scripture under consideration, speak of God
rendering to men according to their works ; but it is plainly
avowed by Papists themselves, that the rendering to men in pur-
gatory, is not according to their works, but according to their
wealth ; or, according to the wealth of their surviving friends.
They speak with great solemnitv, when they choose to be serious,
of God requiring punishment for the guilt of the ltast sin; and
yet they do most blasphemously represent Him as relaxing such
punishment, or remitting it altogether, on condition of certain
sums of money being paid to the priests for masses. By the
more grave and sensible of their doctors, the punishment of pur-
gatory is represented to be salutary and necessary, in oider to
qualify persons for heaven ; and yet they may be exempted from
that salutary and purifying process, on payment of money by
their friends. It is declared by all the Romish doctors who
write or. the subject, that without the purgatorian fire, men can-
not go to heaven ; yet money can purchase exemption from this
tire, (>r mitigate its pains. What is this, but to teach that money
call open the gate of heaven ? or, that money can procure ad-
mittance tor persons who have not undergone the necessary pur-
gation ? Now, suppose for a moment, that this has taken place.
Suppose that a man who had led a most wicked life, had died
will. out repentance; or, to use the words of my Popish author,
had " not taken care to blot out by repentance," the guilt of any,
i veil the least sin, — suppose, I say, such a person to go to pur-
\, in order to be purified, and made meet for heaven, would
u nut be a must cruel thing to interrupt the process ofpurifica-
229
tion, and to force his passage through the fire, hefore it had pro-
duced its full effect upon him ? This would he in reality to force
the man into heaven before he was fit for it, and to such a man
it would be no heaven, but a place of punishment, equal to all
that Papists have fancied of their purgatory.
I know it will be answered, that God is pleased, in considera-
tion of a certain number of masses, for which a sum of money
must be paid, to mitigate the rigour of the punishment of souls in
purgatory, and remit so much of the debt that is due. But what
then becomes of his justice, which is declared to be so inflexible
as not to remit the punishment of the least sin without satisfac-
tion ? It comes inevitably to this, that Papists consider God to
be such a one as themselves, who will consent to any thing for
money. The idea is so horribly impious, that I scarcely know
how to write it ; and yet it is inseparable from the doctrine of
purgatory, and the remission of its pains, in consideration of
money paid to the priests for masses, which masses are declared
to have so much virtue, as to procure a remission or mitigation
of those pains which the justice of God had imposed on account
of sin.
His Holiness, Pope Pius IV., adduces the following words,
(Mat. v. 25, 26.) to prove his doctrine of purgatory: " Agree
with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him :
lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the
judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou he cast into prison.
Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence,
till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. — Which text, St. Cy-
prian, one of the ancient fathers, understands of the prison of
purgatory, Epist. 52. ad Antonianum." But what if St. Cy-
prian was mistaken in his application of this passage ? Why, then,
this proof must fall to the ground, for there is no other authority
produced in support of this view of its meaning. Suppose St.
Cyprian to be right in his application of the words, they will be
found most effectually to destroy the whole traffic of our purga-
tory priests. To a person who is in danger of being thrust into
the prison, it is said expressly; " Verily, I say unto thee, thou
shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the
uttermost farthing." This admits of no commutation of punish-
ment. The sinner must pay the whole debt in his own person.
The priests promise deliverance by means of masses and money ;
but, No, says the text, he shall come out by no means, but by
himself paying the uttermost farthing; that is, suffering the full
measure of punishment in his own person. The Douay doctors
were too wise to introduce this passage of Scripture to prove the
doctrine of purgatory, seeing no doubt that it would spoil theii trade;
and yet the infallible head of the Church of Rome, had not the
230
sagacity to perceive, that if a soul would be delivered from purga-
tory by no means, all the means of his appointment were vain.
It does not properly belong to my plan to give the true mean-
ino of every passage of Scripture which Papists pervert. It is
enou'di for my purpose to shew that a passage does not contain
what they affect to find in it ; but lest they should think them-
selves entitled to claim this passage as an unanswerable argument
on their side, I shall endeavour, in as few words as possible, to
show its real meaning ; which, indeed, any reader of ordinary
understanding may find out, if he will read with attention the
whole passage from the 21st verse ; and a person can scarcely be
sure of the meaning of any passage, unless he read it entire,
without repaid to the breaks which are made by verses, and some-
times even by chapters. Christ was speaking of unjust anger,
provoking speeches and quarrels, among brethren. He declares
that for one rash expression (thou fool) a man should be in dan-
ger of hell fire. He says, " If thou bring thy gift to the altar,
and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee,
leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be re-
conciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." A
man conscious of having given his brother cause of offence was
not in a state of mind to offer an acceptable sacrifice. He is
therefore commanded to take immediate steps for reconciliation ;
and it is in this connexion that our Lord adds, " agree with thine
adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him," &c ; mean-
ing that if this is not done, he may expect that his adversary will
take summary and severe vengeance when he shall have it in his
power. But I doubt not, the words are chiefly intended to con-
vey spiritual instruction. An irreconcileable state of mind to-
wards a brother whom one has offended, indicates a mind at enmi-
ty against God. Unless such a one shall become reconciled, and
make this evident by becoming reconciled to his brother, he is in
danger of eternal punishment, from which he shall not be deli-
vered, but which he must suffer to the uttermost.
The same Pope Pius IV. the infallible head of what is improperly
called the Catholic Church, introduces his pretended ancestor,
the Apostle Peter, as a believer in purgatory, and a teacher of
the doctrine. He refers to his first Epistle, iii. 18 — 20, " Where
Christ is said by his Spirit, to have gone and preached to the
spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, &c. Which
prison," says he, " could be no oilier than purgatory : for as to
the Bpirita that were in the prison of hell, Christ certainly did
not go to preach to them." What his Holiness thus declares,
" certainly," is not very consistent with the explanation which o-
tliur Popish writers give of a clause in what they call the " Apos-
tles' Cited ;" namely, " He descended into hell;" lor they sup-
231
pose that Christ literally went into hell for the purpose of deli
vering souls out of it, or for some other purpose which they could
not well define, hut upon the supposition that he went to preach
to the spirits which were there in prison.
But I request my readers to attend to the statement of the
inspired Apostle, in connection with the narrative of the inspired
historian, Genesis vi and vii, and they will find that there is no
more of purgatory in it, than in the other passages of Scripture
which have heen adduced* God saw that the wickedness ot
man was great upon the earth, and he declared his purpose to
destroy the world by a flood. But he raised up Noah, who wa9
a preacher of righteousness. During the long period of a hun-
dred and twenty years, while the ark was a-building, Noah was
employed in preaching the righteousness of the promised Saviour
as the only ground of hope for sinners ; and while he and his
sons were building the ark, they were giving a visible evidence
of the divine displeasure against the human race on account of
sin; and at the same time preaching the evangelical truth, that
there was no way of escape but that which God had appointed.
It was the Spirit of Christ which spoke by all the Prophets
(1. Pet. i. 11.) and by Enoch and Noah among the rest. It was
therefore Christ who, by his Spirit, went and preached to the spi-
rits in prison (that is, who are now in prison,) and who were diso-
bedient in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing. By
the ministry of Noah, Christ, by his Spirit, preached to them the
righteousness on the footing of which alone they could be saved ;
and he exhibited the ark then a-building, asatvpe of the securi-
ty of all who should flee to him for refuge ; but the great bulk of
the people were disobedient; they did not believe the preaching ;
they did not flee for refuge to the hope set before them ; there-
fore, they perished in their sins, and were, at the time when the
Apostle wrote, shut up in the prison of hell, where they shouhl
ever remain.
But I must not overlook one great argument which Papists pro-
fess to derive from Scripture in support of their doctrine of pur-
gatory. It is from 2 Maccabees chap. xii. in which we are told
" that money was sent to Jerusalem, that sacrifices might he
offered for the slain ; and it is recommended as a holy cogitation,
to pray for the dead." Bellarmine ranks this in the front of his
Scripture proofs ; and the great Mr. Gother, the oracle of English
Papists, also gives it the first place in his true representation of
the Popish doctrine on this head, as a conclusive evidence; ad-
ding, that " these two books of Maccabees were certainly held
in great veneration by all antiquity."
But in point of fact, the books called Maccabees have no more
authority in religious matters than those of Bellarmine or Gother
themselves. The books called Apocrypha, which are sometimes
232
very improperly, I think, bound up with our Bibles, were never
received by the Jewish church as of divine authority. They
formed no part of that volume to which Christ and his Apostles
so often referred, under the title of Moses and the Prophets.
There is scarcely a book, or a section of a book, in the Old Tes-
tament, which is not quoted or referred to in some passage of the
New Testament. Christ has thus given the sanction of his au-
thority to Moses, and the Psalms, and the Prophets ; that is, to
the whole volume of Scripture which the Jews had received from
Moses and the Prophets ; which they most tenaciously maintain-
ed as canonical ; and which is known by us under the title of the
Old Testament. But there was not one of the Apocryphal books
so acknowledged by the Jews, or so referred to by Christ and his
Apostles. It was not till the time of the council of Trent that
these books were authoritatively declared to be of equal authority
with the Old and New Testament ; and it was not in the power
of that holy, or more properly insolent assembly, to give a satis-
factory reason for their investing, with divine authority, those books
which had not been received as canonical by the primitive church-
es,— whose authors did not profess to be divinely inspired ; and
who, in many instances, make it evident that they were fallible
men. The writer of the book from which the learned Cardinals,
and the great Representer, draw their front argument for purgato-
ry, confesses, in the following words, that he wrote merely like o-
ther authors of works merely human. He makes an apology for
his imperfections as an author, which no inspired writer ever did ;
and he bespeaks the good opinion of his readers on the plea that
he had done his best. " Here," says he, " will I make an end.
And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that
which I desired ; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I
could attain unto. For as it is hurtful to drink wine or water
alone ; and as wine mingled with water is pleasant, and delighteth
the taste ; even so speech finely framed delighteth the ears ot them
that read the story. And here shall be an end.'' 2 Maccab.
xv. 37— 39.
Besides the pedantic quaintness of this extract, it contains
not a little absurdity. \Vho was ever hurt by drinking water
alone, if he was in a temperate state of body ? and what haim can
result from diinking wine alone, if it be done with moderation?
But the point which I wish to keep principally in view is, the ex-
plicit disavowal of divine inspiration which is clearly implied in the
author's own words; and yet it is upon the words of such an author
that the holy and infallible Church of Rome grounds her principal
argument in support of her doctrine of purgatory, and prayers for
the dead.
Protestantt
No. LXXX.
SATURDAY, JANUARY V2d, 1820.
I have now examined the principal Scripture authorities on which
Papists profess to found their doctrine of purgatory, and I have
shown that no such doctrine is contained in them. There is not
a passage in the whole Bible, that gives the slightest countenance
to the Church of Rome's intermediate state between this world
and the next ; but the whole tenor of the Bible teaches, that
the state in which death finds a man, shall be his state for ever.
The washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, must take place in the present life, if it take place at all ;
and he who is not renewed in the spirit of his mind before his
death, cannot be renewed afterwards. It is life eternal to know
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent ; but
such knowledge must be imparted in the present life, else it can-
not be imparted : — " There is no work, nor device, nor know-
ledge, nor wisdom in the grave."
Had there been such a state as purgatory, it would surely have
been mentioned in Scripture ; and we can scarcely imagine an
occasion more proper for the mention of it, than in the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke xvi. 22, 23. " Lazarus
died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom." He
was neither an apostle, nor a martyr, nor a saint, in Popish esti-
mation. There is no evidence of his having punished himself by
stripes, or voluntary austerities of any kind. It is not said that
he had made satisfaction to divine justice for any, even the least
of his sins ; but being a vessel of mercy, washed and sanctified,
and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit
of our God, he had no need of any other purgation : accord-
ingly, he was not sent by any such circuitous rout, but was in-
stantly, on his death, received into heaven. Every real Chris-
tian is justified by the same righteousness, and sanctified by the
same influence, and has no more occasion to pass through pur-
gatory than Lazarus had.
Vol. IT. G u
234
" The rich man also died, and was buried ; and in hell he lift-
ed up his eyes, being in torments." There is no mention of a
middle state, in which he might be purified and made meet for
heaven ; and yet upon the supposition that there was such a
place as purgatory, no good reason can be given why this man
should not have had the benefit of it ; that is, the favour of being
punished and purged there, without going to hell at all. He
k\as not a heretic, or an excommunicated person. He was a son
of Abraham. This constituted him a member of the visible
church, as really as baptism can declare one to be a Christian ;
and there is nothing worse said of him, than what may truly be
said of many baptized persons in the Church of Rome, and in
Reformed Churches. Why, then, should not he have had the
benefit of purgatory? Because there is no such place, — because
there is no means provided in heaven, or earth, or hell, or any
where else, for purifying a soul that dies under the guilt of sin.
Supposing the soul of the rich man to have been in purgatory,
and Abraham to have been like the Pope, or even an inferior
priest, he would have said, I will send notice to thy five brethren
on earth, who inherit thy wealth, that they order so many thou-
sand masses to be said for thy relief, and pay the priests hand-
somely, and thy soul shall soon be with me. It is wrong to
speak with levity on a subject of such awful importance ; but
seriously, this is in the true spirit of Popery. Our Saviour,
however, teaches by the language which he ascribes to Abraham,
that there was a great gulf between the place of happiness, and
the place of punishment, and that it was not possible to pass
from the one to the other.
There are many absurdities, as well as much impiety, connect-
ed with the doctrine of purgatory. In addition to what I have
already exhibited, I present the reader with the following, for
which, I am indebted to a gentleman of this city, who was an
eye witness of what he describes : —
" TO THE PROTESTANT.
Glasgoiu, IQth January, 1820.
Dear Sin,
In discussing the subject of purgatory in your late
Numbers, and the various ways in which the priests contrive to
extort money from their people, under pretence of getting the
souls of their departed friends released from that imaginary place
of temporary punishment, I do not observe that you have noticed
the custom prevalent in Ireland, (and no doubt in other Catholic
countries) of making contributions for that purpose at funerals
Previous to the procession, mass is performed for the soul of the
deceased, immediately after which, the priest begins to collect
235
money from the persons assembled. This is done very much
after the manner of an auctioneer, in the act of selling a property
at the hammer ; and the term canting, by which the practice is
universally designated in Ireland, bears precisely the same mean-
ing as does that of rouping, in Scotland. The priest commences
by saying, " Who gives for the soul of the faithful departed ?" a
metal trencher being placed on the coffin. The persons nearest
then throw in their offerings, and the others follow by degrees
as they can get forward. To whoever gives sixpence, the priest
says, " God bless you !" To those who give a shilling, or more,
he usually says " God Almighty bless you !" Those who give
merely copper, pass unnoticed. As the clanging sound of the
trencher becomes less frequent, the priest becomes more impor-
tunate to have it prolonged : — he vociferates often and rapidly,
" Who will give more for the soul of the faithful departed ?"
Some of those who had previously contributed, make an addition,
and others, determined not to be outdone in this pious and pub-
lic manner of testifying the respect they entertained for the de-
ceased, follow the example ; while the former, stimulated by the
continued clamour of the priest, give a third time. The priest
goes on vociferating, " Will nobody give more for the soul of the
faithful departed ?" " Oh, will no one give more !" until this
greedy clamour wholly ceases to be of farther avail. I need hardly
add, that he then completes the pious fraud by coolly pocketing
the money.
" This exhibition is by no means confined to the dwelling-houses
of the deceased ; or at least, was not so when I was last in Ireland,
about seventeen years ago. It was frequently practised on the
highway leading to the church-yard, or on the burying ground
itself. The purpose of this, is of course to get more money, by
means of the increased number of persons who are usually pre-
sent out of doors. In Ireland, no funeral invitations are issued
by the poorer classes, it being understood, that all who respected
the deceased in his lifetime, will attend without any ; and the
number who join the procession as it passes along the road, is
much greater than that which assembles at the house of the de-
ceased. Hence, at the period I allude to, it was customary for
the priest to stop the procession, (before which he marched singly,
with a white band about his hat, and a book in his hand,) when-
ever he conceived the assemblage to be at its greatest. I was
present at one of these public cantings, in the neighbourhood of
Lurgan, in the county of Armagh, in the year 1802, when the
coffin having been taken from the hearse and laid on the road, a
few hundred yards before coming to the burial ground, the pro-
cess which I have described took place, in presence of an im-
mense multitude. — I am, &c."
236
I shall conclude the subject of purgatory, with the following
hand-bill, or card of invitation to the members of the Purgato-
rian Society in Dublin, calling them to perform the duties, and
enjoy the privileges of members ; that is, of those who pay a
penny a-weekfor the relief of suffering souls. — The date, the day,
and the hour of meeting, are in writing ; the rest is neatly printed.
SOCIETY OF ST. JOHN,
THE EVANGELIST,
For promoting the Exercise of the Spiritual and Corporal
Works of Mercy.
" Let us not love in Word, nor in Tongue, but in Deed and
in Truth." 1 John 10 ch. 18 v. •
" As a Member of this Society, you are prayed to assist at
the Quarterly Solemn Office and High Mass, which will be cele-
brated in St. Michael's, and St. John's Chapel, on Wednesday
next, at 11 o'Clock, for the Suffering Souls in Purgatory, and
particularly for the Deceased Subscribers, and the Parents,
Friends, and Relations of the Subscribers to this Society.
M. BLAKE, President."
19th day of June, 1819.
J. Coyne, Printer, 74, Cook-st.
Before proceeding to another general subject of discussion, I
shall, according to custom, introduce a variety of lighter matter,
to relieve the reader's mind from the gloom that may have been
occasioned by dwelling so long on purgatory.
My readers, I suppose, will almost have forgotten, that there-
was a work printed in London, meant as a reply to The Pno-
testant, under the title of The Catholic Vindicator.
It is about six months since I had last occasion to allude to this
work ; and now I find it has been given up. This, I confess,
is a disappointment to me ; and the first disappointment of any
importance that I have met with since the commencement of my
labours; for the author was such a man of words, that I had
made up my mind to concede to him the last word, though I
should have written for seven years. Besides, I considered him
a very useful auxiliary, in exposing the absurdities and impieties
of the Church of Rome, which he did very effectually, by se-
riously maintaining them ; and he exemplified, in every page, the
true spirit of Popery, with a force and propriety which no Pro-
testant could imitate, or even properly describe.
• The reader will look in vain for such a chapter and verse in the
common English 15iM. .
237
I took some notice of him once and again, in my first volume.
Every such notice, served him as a bone to gnaw for a week or
two ; but since I ceased to take any notice of him at all, he has
gone on raging and foaming like a mad dog, but happily much
more harmless ; and in this state of rage and madness, he made
his exit about six weeks ago.
It was indeed, evident, long before this, that he was in a de-
clining state. Persons even of his own communion, had become
sick of the incessant repetition of his ultra Billingsgate, without
a particle of reason or common sense ; and though he was actu-
ally their hired champion, they wished him to have done, partly
because they were ashamed of him, but chiefly because they were
obliged to pay him for the full tale of every Number of his work,
of which they were not able to sell much above one tenth, and
lately I have been told, not even so much.
I speak only from a current report of the trade, for I never
thought it worth while to institute an inquiry into a matter of so
little importance to the cause which I am pleading ; but I have
heard as a matter of report, which hundreds have done, that our
Glasgow Papists became bound to Mr. Andrews, to pay him his
price for a certain number of copies of his Vindicator, and to take
the risk of their sale ; and that this engagement was to continue
for about a year. The half of the year had not expired, when
the dupes of this man of words, found that they had made a bad
bargain, and wished to be quit ; but he kept them strictly to the
terms of their agreement. They had to bear both the " skaith and
the scorn." The few who continued to read the Vindicator, were
laughing at their folly; and they were compelled to pay for whole
reams, nay, Imay say bales, of what was no better than waste-paper.
Every effort that man could make, was made to promote the
sale. No book was ever so much exposed to public view in
Glasgow, as The Catholic Vindicator, of which the corners
of our streets bear witness to this day. The. placarding, however,
ceased some weeks before the work itself expired. About three
months ago, some wicked wag, going along the streets, had chalk-
ed 666, the well-known Number of the Beast, upon a number
of the Vindicator's great blue hand-bills. Our Papists, it seems,
were wise enough to understand the allusion, or some Protestant
must have told them what the figures meant ; for they did not
choose to expose themselves again to such an affront. From
that time they ceased their placarding ; and the tattered fragments
of old hand-bills remaining upon our walls, are the principal evi-
dence that such a work ever existed.
It was very evident from these circumstances, especially from
the want of sale, that the work was expiring ; and it was indeed,
given out long ago, that the fifty-second Number was to be the
last. The fifty-second did announce itself to be the last Number,
238
but for what reason ? Not because the author had disgusted all
his readers, by answering his opponent with nothing but bad
names, and false assertions. Not because his Numbers would not
sell, and his friends were robbed of their money, by being obliged
to pay for them, and would submit to the robbery no longer than
they were bound by their foolish engagement. None of these
causes must be assigned for the termination of the Vindicator's
important labours. In short, the truth must not be told, as it
would be disreputable to the cause of Popery ; and he whose life
is employed in propagating falsehood, is in great danger of ex-
piring with a lie in his mouth. I hope the literary defunct, as
well as his correspondents and dupes in Glasgow, will understand
what I mean.
The new tax upon periodical publications, is assigned by Mr.
Andrews as the cause, and the only cause of his abandoning his
defence of the Church of Rome, against the attacks of The Pro-
testant. But the falsehood of this is evident, from the fact, that
he actually brought his work to a close several weeks before the
Act imposing such a tax was passed, and when he could not
know whether it would pass or not. The Number which finishes
his labours, and in which he gives his reason for their termina-
tion, is dated December 4th. The bill did not pass the House
of Lords, till the 30th of that month ; and it was not to take
effect till ten days thereafter. If, therefore, he had not been
quite exhausted, — if he had had any thing more to say in defence
of his holy and infallible church, — had he been able to invent any
more bad names, or any more accusations of forgery against The
Pkotestant, he might have had at least five additional Numbers;
and, perhaps, exhausted though he was, he would have found
means by repeating five times more, what he had already repeat-
ed fifty times, to make up so many more pages, had he believed
that any body would buy them.
Since the 10th of this month, indeed, periodical publications
of a certain description, have become subject to a tax ; but this
would not have affected Mr. Andrews' publication any more than
mine, had he been pleased to continue it, and to confine himself
to a defence of his religion, without abusing our Protestant go-
vernment. This new tax, however, was proposed at a time most
favourable for him ; and he took advantage of the very proposal
in order to cover his retreat, and conceal the shame of his not
being able to continue the controversy any longer. He retires
under the cover of a falsehood ; but this is a matter of no im-
portance with Papists. With them the question with regard to
any matter, is not whether it be true, but whether it will serve
any desirable purpose ?
I must not be understood as yet entering upon a reply to The
Catholic Vindicator. I am only honouring his demise with
:239
a passing compliment. He laboured a whole year with scarcely
any other view, than to divert me from the exposure of the wicked-
ness of Popery, on which he saw I was bent; and not being able to
accomplish his object, he was not able to survivethedisappointment.
The same policy has been followed by Popish writers, ever
since the Reformation. Whenever an author appeared to oppose
any doctrine or practice of the Church of Rome , the literati
of that church, set themselves not so much to defend what was
attacked, as to divert the assailant to some other point; and in
general they were successful in leading him entirely away from
the question originally at issue. On this subject, the following
remarks of Dr. Campbell, are strikingly just : — " When a man
enters keenly into controversy on any subject, it is impossible to
say, (unless he is uncommonly circumspect) how far it may carry
him. It generally leads to the discussion of questions little con-
nected with that which began the dispute. In this warfare, a man
is so much at the mercy of his antagonist, that if he enter into it
with more warmth than circumspection, he will follow his enemy
that he may fight him, wheresoever he shall shelter himself ; and
in this way both combatants come to be soon off the ground on
which the combat began. Exactly such a disputant was Luther.
And this may be said in a great measure of all who had a leading
hand in the Reformation. To conquer the foe, wherever he was,
came, ere they were aware, to be more an object to them, than to
drive them off the field, and keep possession of it. In conse-
quence of this tendency, they were often diverted from their ob-
ject." Led. Ecc. Hist. Led. xxviii.
If it were lawful to indulge in self'-gratulation, I would con-
gratulate myself on having been enabled to avoid the snare into
which Luther and other Reformers fell : And certainly it was
not more artfully laid for them than it was laid for me. Am-
icus Veritatis, perceiving that I was determined to expose
some of the errors of his church, threw out a host of accusations
against Luther, and the other Reformers, expecting, no doubt,
that I would immediately enter upon their defence, and let the
errors of his church alone. When the Vindicator made his
appearance, he took precisely the same method ; and, in addition,
he began a course of scurrilous abuse against myself personally,
which he continued through every page of his work. He
brought such accusations as he supposed no man could bear.
He asserted falsehoods, and made blunders so palpable — many of
them, I believe, purposely made so, that he might tempt me
to follow him into the labyrinth which he had prepared for me,
knowing, that if he got me once seduced to follow, him I would
not easily get back to the point from which I had started. Had
I yielded to the temptation, he would have gained his point.
He would not have cared how many absurdities and falsehoods
240
I should have fastened upon him, if he had drawn me away Iron:
the exposure of the wickedness of his holy and infallible church.
The Catholic Vindicator set out at first, boasting in
his might, engaging, as he said, to measure his strength with
The Protestant, and to " endeavour to bring this champion
of the Philistines to the ground." The man was then only
putting on his armour, and he did not know that it was not pro-
per for such a one to boast. And though he, whom he calls the
" Champion of the Philistines," that is, the advocate of the Pro-
testant religion, is holding his head as erect, and as far from the
ground as ever. The Vindicator confidently boasts, in the
very last page of his work, when obliged to leave the field, that
he has gained the victory. " Nothing more," says he, " I feel
convinced, needs be said, to prove my superiority over Mr.
William M'Gavin." This, it seems, was what he proposed to
himself; and this is what he professes to have gained by his work.
Now, this is a point which I never disputed with him ; and I
hope I will never be so foolish, as to trouble the public with a
controversy on the subject of superiority between myself and an-
other man. Mybusiness has been to expose error,and maintain the
truth ; and I desire no victory but that of persuading my opponents
to renounce error, and to embrace the truth, that they may be saved.
On looking over what I have just written, I am almost ashamed
of having said so much about Mr. Andrews and myself, which
will naturally incur the charge of egotism. I hope, however, I
shall have no occasion to revert to the subject for months to come.
I would be glad, if a more gentlemany opponent would take up
the cause of the Church of Rome, and point out by fair reasoning,
any mistake that I have made in my statements, or the inconclu-
siveness of any of my arguments ; for it is a fact, that Mr. An-
drews, with all his boasting and bluster, never looked one of my
facts or arguments fairly in the face.
These personal matters are, considered in themselves, certainly
of very little public importance ; but they are not unimportant,
when considered as illustrative of the character of Popery. Pa-
pists have not been able to meet me on the ground of fair argu-
ment ; but they have denounced and cursed me from their pulpit,
and they have laboured for a whole year, through the medium of
their London agent, to hold me up to the world as a monster of
wickedness. Now, does any man suppose, that if they had power
in their hands, they would be at all this trouble? No, indeed :
they would silence opposition at once, by means of the gibbet or
the fire ; and in doing so, they would not show greater malice
than thej have already done. It is true, the object of their ha-
tred has Buffered as little from their false representations, as from
tluir curses ; but this is not from wan ill (Mi their pari
THE
Protestant,
No. LXXXI.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29th, 1820.
I CANNOT but reflect witli pleasure on the interest which my work
has been honoured to excite in Ireland, of which I have received
many flattering testimonies from reverend clergymen, and other
gentlemen in that country, whom I never saw, and to whom I am
known in no other character, than that of the advocate of the
Protestant religion, against the errors and superstitions of Popery.
Within a few days, in the early part of this month, I received no
less than five copies of the Archbishop of Tuam's charge to his
clergy, which were sent to me from different parts of Ireland.
The first copy which I received was in manuscript, from a reve-
rend gentleman in the Diocese of Derry ; the other copies were
contained in Newspapers sent me from different quarters, after the
document had appeared in print.
Having communicated this document to the editors of the
Glasgow Newspapers, by whom it has been reprinted, I need not
insert it here ; but I intend to make such extracts from it, and
such remarks, as will show that the Romish clergy in Ireland
are as hostile to the Bible as ever they were ; and that they
heartily abhor, and wish to annihilate, the schools which have
been established by the Hibernian, and other Societies, for teach-
ing the poor to read the Holy Scriptures.
I cannot introduce this subject better, than by the following
communication from a reverend gentleman of that kingdom, well
known for his interesting work, the M Annals of Ireland," who
has honoured me by his correspondence, and particularly by some
fragments of an elegant translation of Buchanan's Franciscan,
with which he has been amusing himself in his leisure hours. He
has furnished me with the lines in the original Latin ; but I shall
content myself with giving his short introduction, and his English
translation :
Voi. II Hb
242
" to the editor of the protestant.
" Sir,
" As the Popish clergy have uniformly manifested a con-
siderable degree of hostility to the Bible Society, I beg leave to
request your insertion of the following passage from Buchanans
Fra?iciscan, which may throw some light on the motives which
induce these men to endeavour to keep the Holy Scriptures out
of the hands of the people. Your readers will please to observe,
that the satire, called the Franciscan, is written in the manner of
Dean Swift's Advice to Servants. The satirist advises the Ro-
mish priests to do these things which he knows they do, and
would expose them for doing.
" And now, my faithful brethren, once for all,
I warn all Catholics against Saint Paul ;
The man of Tarsus, tho' his head lies low,
Lives in his writing, our eternal foe: —
Would he had perish'd at an early day,
Or to Damascus, when he took his way,
Had dropp'd down dead, before he was baptized,
And joined the sect he hated and despised.
Time yet will come, if Prophets tell no lie,
Who all assure us that it now draws nigh,
When men, convine'd by Paul, shall forward stand
To purge from Superstition all the land —
From Christian Churches, Heathen Priests expel,
No longer arbiters of heav'n and hell : —
Then truth victorious, beaming upon man,
Shall soon display the Gospel's holy plan ;
And to the world expose, as clear as day,
The wiles we practise and the tricks we play.
Therefore take heed, nor grant to small or great,
The liberty these writings to translate ;
And, since we can't destroy them, let them lie,
Lock'd up in Latin from the vulgar eye —
Left to be studied and commented on
By th' orthodox old doctors of Sorbonne,
Who, when their hoary heads are warm'd with wine,
Can best unravel mysteries divine.
" I am, Sir, your constant Reader,
"J. GRAHAM.
" Liford, Dec. 15th, 1819."
Now, in the twentieth year of the nineteenth century, we find
a Popish Archbishop in Ireland, acting upon the very principle
which the satirist ascribes to the monks of the sixteenth century : —
The writings of Paul and the other apostles are, indeed, a great
eye-sore to the Church of Rome, of which I furnished abundant
proof in my first volume, — Nos. SO to 38 ; but this charge of the
Popish Primate, suggests some new matter, which may not be
Uninterestinc to the reader.
243
The first reflection excited by it is, that it seems to have been
produced in obedience to a mandate issued by the Pope of Rome,
addressed to the Irish prelates, on the subject of Bible Schools,
for which I refer to the Glasgow Herald of the 7th, and the
Glasgow Courier and Chronicle of the 11th of this month. His
Holiness is pleased to say to his bishops : — " My Lords, The
prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the parable of the sower,
that sowed good seed in his field ; but while people slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares upon the wheat, is, to the very great
injury indeed of the Catholic faith, seen verified in these our days,
particularly in Ireland; for information has reached the ears of the
sacred congregation, that " Bible Schools," supported by the
funds of the Heterodox, (that is, the wrong thinking, meaning,
no doubt, the heretical Protestants) have been established in al-
most every part of Ireland, in which, under the pretence of charity,
the inexperienced of both sexes, but particularly peasants and
paupers, are deluded by the blandishments, and even gifts of the
masters, and infested with the fatal poison of depraved doctrines.
" It is farther stated, that the directors of these schools are,
generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles, translated
into English by " the Bible Society," and abounding in errors,
with the sole view of seducing the youth, and entirely eradicating
from their minds, the truths of the orthodox faith. Under these
circumstances, your Lordship already perceives, with what solici-
tude and attention pastors are bound to watch, and carefully pro-
tect their flock from the snares of wolves, who come in the cloth-
ing of sheep. If the pastors sleep, the enemy will quickly creep
in by stealth, and sow the tares, — soon will the tares be seen
growing among the wheat and choke it. Every possible exertion
must, therefore, be made to keep the youth away from these de-
structive schools, to warn parents against suffering their children,
on any account whatever, to be let into error. But, for the pur-
pose of escaping the snares of the adversaries, no plan seems more
appropriate than the establishing schools, wherein salutary instruct
tions may be imparted to the paupers and illiterate country persons.
" In the name, then, of the bowels (of the mercy) of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we exhort and beseech your Lordship to guard
your flock with diligence, and with all due discretion, from those
persons who are in the habit of thrusting themselves into the fold
of Christ, in order thereby to lead the unwary sheep away, and
mindful of the forewarning of Peter, the Apostle, given in these
words : viz. " There shall also be lying teachers among you, who
shall bring in sects of perdition," do you labour with all your
might to keep the orthodox youth from being corrupted by them,
an object which will, I hope, be easily effected by the establish-
ment of Catholic schools throughout your diocese.
2*4
" And confidently trusting, that in a matter of such vast im-
portance, your Lordship will, with unbounded zeal, endeavour to
prevent the wheat from being choked by the tares, I pray the
All good and omnipotent God, to guard and preserve you safe
many years.
" Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant,
" F. Cardinal Fontana, Prefect^
" C M. Pedicine, Secretary.
Rome, Court of the Sacred Congregation, for the!
Propagation of the Faith, 18th Sept. 1819." J
The Archbishop's charge is little more than an echo and am-
plification of this letter from the Sacred College at Rome ; but
before I proceed to give extracts from this charge, I request the
reader's attention to a few remarks on this Manifesto against the
Bible, and the schools which teach the reading of it.
In the first place, we have here a direct and avowed interference
of the Pope of Rome, in the civil and domestic affairs of the
people of Ireland ; and that in opposition to the declared mind
of our own Sovereign, and the active endeavours of persons of
all ranks, who have avowed their conviction, that the happiness
of the people in that kingdom cannot be promoted, without es-
tablishing schools for the education of the lower classes. Schools,
almost without number, have been established throughout the
kingdom. They are supported chiefly by the voluntary contribu-
tions of British Protestants, with the Princes of the Royal Fa-
mily at their head. Those who have the direction of this bene-
volent undertaking, have introduced the word of God into the
schools; and in doing so, they conceived that they were doing
their duty to God and to their fellow creatures. The question,
at preseut, is not whether the Bible be a suitable school-book ?
l'or my own part, I am persuaded there cannot be a better ; but
supposing, for the sake of argument, that it were otherwise, — I
ask, what has the Pope of Rome to do with it ? The people of
Ireland are subjects of his Majesty, King George III., who, many
years ago, expressed his wish, " that every child in his dominions
might be able to read the Bible, and have a Bible to read." The
subjects of this venerable Monarch, countenanced by the Princes
of his family, are doing what they can in order to accomplish his
benevolent desire. They have been wonderfully successful in
Ireland ; and because they have been so, the Pope takes the
alarm ; he claims the people of Ireland as his subjects ; he calls
upon his agents, the Romish priests, to obstruct, by every means
in their power, what the Sovereign, and the people of Britain, have
246
considered necessary for the welfare of the inhabitants of that
pait of the empire. Is it possible, that such insolence, — such
an encroachment upon the independence of the British empire,
should pass without a solemn universal protest against it?
I know our Papists will reply, that the Pope claims no more
than a spiritual authority over his spiritual children ; and that he
calls upon his bishops only to watch over their spiritual interests :
But this, like almost every Popish argument, rests on falsehood.
The present interference of the Pope, is, with schools for educa-
tion. The establishment of schools is a civil matter. Teach-
ing children to read, is a civil matter. The appointment of
what books shall be read in schools, is a civil matter. It is as
secular men that patrons of schools prescribe the reading of the
Bible. They cannot add the least influence to its doctrines, and
they can add no weight to its authority ; but believing it to be
the word of God, they hope it will do good to some, and are sure
it cannot do harm to any. But supposing they judged errone-
ously, the Pope has nothing to do with it. It is a matter of civil
and domestic arrangement, with which no power, civil or sacred,
without the kingdom, has a right to intermeddle.
It has reached the ears of the Sacred Congregation, that " Bible
Schools" have been established in almost every part of Ireland :
this is the evil which the Pope complains of. It is thus that
tares are sown upon the wheat. It is thus that the good seed
is in danger of being choked ; and it is thus that the peo-
ple are likely to be infected with the poison of depraved doc-
trines. Now, it has come to the ears, I suppose, of every " con-
gregation" in Britain, that the Pope has restored the Inquisition,
and the order of Jesuits, who are going about sowing their tares,
and spreading the poison of their depraved doctrines in every
country in Europe. What then would his Holiness think, if
any of these congregations were to address a letter to all the
Englishmen, and all the Protestants in Italy and Spain, entreat-
ing and beseeching them to guard the people of these countries
" with diligence and with all due discretion, from those persons
who are in the habit of thrusting themselves into the fold of Christ,
in order thereby to lead the unwary sheep astray?" A simple
English or Scotch congregation would be apt to think this a very
just description of the Jesuits; but, if the Pope were to hear of
their giving such instructions to their friends in Spain and Italy,
as he has given to the priests in Ireland, he would be overwhelmed
with astonishment at their impudence ; he would send a Legate
to complain to our government against such interference ; and the
persons who should dare to obey the mandate, would be swallow-
ed up by the Inquisition.
The cases, indeed, are not exactly parallel. The congregation
<le propaganda de Jide, in Rome, is composed of cardinals and
246
other great ecclesiastics, with the Pope at their head ; whereas,
the British congregation, to which I have alluded, is understood
to contain nothing but Christians; and it may be, of rank in the
woild no higher than farmers and mechanics. No matter ; they
have as good a right to interfere with the education of the sub-
jects of the Pope in Italy, as he and his sacred congregation have
to interfere with the schools established for the instruction of the
people in Ireland. This letter from the Sacred Congregation, is
a very important document in my controversy with the Papists.
Let it be remembered, that it has not only the authority of the
Pope as head of the church, but of the sacred congregation as his
council. It has, therefore, all the infallibility that a thing of the
kind can have ; and nothing more infallible can possibly have is-
sued from the Vatican, since the days of the Council of Trent.
Well, then, this document proves, that infallibility may be mis-
taken ; or that infallibility can tell a deliberate lie. I leave it to
the humble servants of the Pope, to make their choice between
the two, for it is not possible for them to escape both. It is
stated, says his Holiness, " that the directors of these schools are,
generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles translated
into English by the Bible Society, and abounding in errors," &c.
Now, though the persons called Methodists, have been honoured
to do much good, in both Britain and Ireland, and are, therefore,
much abhorred by the Papists, it is not true that the directors of the
schools established in Ireland are, generally speaking, of that com-
munion, or properly called by that name. They are members of
the established church, and dissenters of various denominations,
who have no title to the name of Methodists, farther than as it
is used to denote one who loves the souls of his fellow-creatures.
But the great blunder which chiefly demands our attention here,
is that of representing the Bibles which are distributed, as having
been translated into English by the Bible Society. Now, though
a miracle should have been wrought for the purpose, his Infalli
bility ought to have known, that the Bible Society never professed
to give, and never did give a single English Bible of their oivn
translating, to any man whatever. Their Reports have been
annually submitted to the world ; and the Pope might have known,
even without a miracle, that the Bibles which they distributed in
Ireland, as well as in England, were of the authorized version,
which was translated into English more than two hundred years
ago. If he had read a copy of the Bible which they distribute,
with its dedication to King James I., he would have known this ;
but as it is evident that he has not read, or even seen one of
them, it required not only Popish impudence, but the impudence
cit a Pope, to assert that it is " abounding in errors."
The infallible head of " Catholic Unity" is evidently ignorant
of the fact, or he misrepresents it. But his spiritual children in
247
vhis country know the fact ; and they know also that their holy
father misrepresents it, or mistakes it. Take it either way, I ask
them what confidence they can place in such an ecclesiastical head ?
If he is capable of making such a mistake with regard to a mat-
ter that is published to all the world, how can they trust him
with regard to his knowledge of matters which were never published
to any man in the world ? If he does not know who translated the
English Bible which is read in the Irish schools, which is a matter
of public notoriety, how can he know whose souls are still in pur-
gatory ? How can he know how much of the works of supereroga-
tion of saints deceased will serve to relieve the saints in purgatory
from acres of suffering ? But above all, how can he know how many
of the saints departed are beatified in heaven, and therefore entitled
to the worship of the faithful on earth ? If our Glasgow Papists
can answer these questions, I request them to do it. If they do
not, I shall take it for granted that they cannot ; and if, after all,
they will still adhere to the Pope, I shall consider them proper
children of such a father ; — " Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their consciences seared as with a hot iron."
But the Pope it seems has become friendly to education. He
recommends to his Irish bishops "the establishment of schools,
wherein salutary instruction maybe imparted to the paupers and
illiterate country persons ;" and he hopes the orthodox youth will
be kept back from being corrupted, " by the establishment of
Catholic schools throughout your diocese." Why did not the
Pope find out this before ? Why did he and his predecessors
suffer the orthodox youth in Ireland to grow up, and live, and
die, with as little education as the cattle ? It was not because he
or they thought education at all necessary for the preservation of
orthodoxy ; for if they had, they would doubtless have thought
of it before the nineteenth century. It is because the Pope finds
now, that the people will be educated by the benevolence of their
Protestant fellow subjects, whether he will or not ; that they will
be able to read the Bible, and that they will get Bibles to read ;
and he has taken the alarm lest this should affect the orthodoxy
of his children. He calls upon his vassals to exert themselves
to the utmost to prevent the evil, by establishing schools of their
own, in which, of course, the Bible will not be suffered to ap-
pear, and they will teach the children just what they please. This
is not because Popery is changed ; or because Papists have be-
come more friendly to education, it is because, in the present
state of things, it is necessary to assume the appearance of readi-
ness to educate their youth, in order that they may withdraw them
from the schools in which the word of God is read.
The people in Ireland, both young and old, have manifested
great eagerness to enjoy the benefit of the schools lately estab-
lished ; and they know it is not in the power of the priests to
24R
confer such a benefit, because they have not teachers so well qua-
lified ; and they know, that though it were otherwise, the priests
in general would not give them the Bible, which thousands have
received, and which they are perusing with deep interest, of
which there are many striking instances in the Reports of the
Hibernian Society, with an extract from one of which I shall
conclude the present Number ; intending to take up the Arch-
bishop's charge in my next.
" The Priest of the Parish having called at the School-house,
when G was sitting with the Master, began to upbraid
O'B for daring to continue teaching, after he had so fre-
quently commanded him to give it up. O'B made the best
defence in his power, and G kept silence until the Priest
had finished his attack, and O'B his defence ; then, in a
firm tone, he addressed the Priest in Irish, to this purport : —
" You say that the Society that supports these Free Schools, for
the children of the poor, has an evil design ; and allege, in proof
of your assertion, that if they had not, they would have put the
whole business into the hands of the Parish Priests, and have
employed them to engage and pay the Masters; but do you not
know, does not all the world know what would be the issue, were
they to act so foolishly ? Give their money, for the education of
the poor, into the hands of the Priests ! Yes, you are careful
indeed for the poor ! Do not you know, did not all your prede-
cessors in this parish know, the miserable state of the poor, and
the impossibility of having their children educated otherwise than
by Free Schools ? And have you, or any of them, ever cared a
straw about their misery, or once bestowed a thought on the edu-
cation of their children ? Look at that village on the liill ! You
know that it abounds with orphans, and cannot be ignorant of
the wretched state of the parents that survive ! Did you ever
help them, or care for their orphans? No ; and now that God
has raised them up friends, freely to educate their children, and
give them the best of books, you seek to deprive them of the
blessing ; to shut them up, as we all have been heretofore, in igno-
rance and misery ! You say that the Society has an evil design.
You want to banish the word of God from the country, that
blessed book, which we should all have remained ignorant of,
had it not been for the Society and their Schools ; but, be as-
sured, that it is all in vain. The good seed has been sown, and
taken root, and your united efforts will never be able to pluck it
up. The Priest heard this lecture with mingled indignation and
surprise; and, turning away, only said, " You are an unfortunate
* Id man."
THE
Protectant,
No. LXXXII.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5th, 1820.
The letter on which I am about to animadvert, is addressed
" to the Roman Catholic clergy, and laitv of the Archdiocese oi
Tuam ;" and it is subscribed " Oliver Kelly, Roman Catholic
Archbishop." He holds his title, no doubt, by authority of his
lord and master, the Pope of Rome, whose mandate he is bound
to obey ; and, as I observed in my last Number, his letter is little
more than an echo and amplification of that of his Holiness.
He seems, however, to have entered very heartily into the cause ;
and he is evidently as much afraid of schools, and the Bible, as
the Pope himself.
He begins thus : — " Dearly beloved brethren and children in
Jesus Christ, — To guard the sacred deposit of religion, and to
promote the happiness of the flock committed to my care, are
important duties imposed upon me, and the dearest object of my
pastoral solicitude. To these my thoughts are at all times di-
rected. With this view, I have frequently visited the parishes of
this extensive Archdiocese, ' exhorting every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect
in Christ Jesus.' Col. ch. i. v. 28."
I cannot but admire the good opinion which his Reverence has
of himself, and the value which he sets upon his labours. He,
it seems, has been " teaching every man in all wisdom ;" and
he expects to " present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."
How this is to be effected is not quite so clear ; for though the
Apostle Paul did speak in such language as this ; and though he
did propose to himself nothing less than the perfection of his
spiritual children, he tells us how he expected to accomplish his
object, which the Popish priest does not. It was by preaching
Christ, the hope of glory, who, as such, was in the believing Co-
lossians, that the Apostle both warned and taught them, and by
Vol. II. I i
250
which he expected to present them perfect. But Oliver Kelly
says nothing of this. He does not so much as mention :he
preaching of Christ among the " important duties imposed upon"
him ; and it is pretty generally known, that this is one of the
last things that a Popish bishop would think of.
The same Apostle informs ordinary ministers how they may
be instrumental in leading their people on to perfection. It is
by means of the word of truth contained in the Holy Scriptures,
which, he says, " are able to make men wise unto salvation."
The " all wisdom" of which he speaks, is contained in the Scrip-
tures; for he tells us again, " All scripture is given by inspira-
tion of God, and is able to make the man of God perfect, tho-
roughly furnished unto all good works." But father Kelly
tells us plainly, as we shall see. by and by, that the Scriptures, so
far from promoting the perfection which he aims at, are the prin-
cipal hinderance of it. He strictly forbids the distribution of the
Bible ; and recommends, in preference, Reeves' History of the
Bible, and two or three Catechisms ; from which " abundant
sources," says he, " Catholics will draw a purity of morals and
doctrine, and a confirmation of their holy faith." From which
it is evident, that the wisdom of his teaching, and the perfection
to which he leads his people, are both different from those of the
Apostle, whose words he seems to have quoted for the purpose
of insulting his memory, or rather the Holy Spirit, under whose
inspiration he wrote.
The Archdiocese of Tuam, seems, by Oliver Kelly's account,
to have been a most abandoned district. Of late, however, it
has been wonderfully reformed, by what means he says not ; but
he bears witness to the fact in the following words : — " I cannot
conceal the consolation that I experience, when I reflect on your
temperate, peaceful, and consistent demeanour under trials and
temptations. Drunkenness, so incompatible with your temporal
and eternal welfare, is not noiv so prevalent amongst you. Morn-
ing and evening prayer, that most essential duty of Christian piety,
is universally enforced, and very generally observed. The Sab-
bath is no longer profaned by servile work, or by vain, unprofit-
able, or criminal amusements. Perjury, into which the ignorant
'in many districts have been too successfully seduced, by the ma-
chinations of wicked and interested men, is now, and I trust for
ever, at an end," &c. So then, it seems, this Archdiocese was
formerly notorious for drunkenness, Sabbath-profanation, and per-
jury ; and it is not so now. If Oliver Kelly would speak ihe
truth, he would tell us, that this happy change has taken place
since the Hibernian Society's schools were established, — since
the people were taught to read, and since they began to read the
Bible. I am not sure that the reformation has been so ereat in
'251
Tuam, or any where else, as he represents it; Dut the Society's
Reports furnish abundant evidence, that a very great change
to the better, has taken place in different quarters, since the esta-
blishment of their schools, and the circulation of the Scriptures,
Kelly admits, and professes to rejoice in the fact, while he reviles
that which has produced it. The poor man is really and seri-
ously alarmed by this new state of things. Since the schools and
the Bible were introduced, he admits, that there is less drunken-
ness, Sabbath-breaking, and perjury ; and yet he maintains, that
in no period of their existence were the people in greater danger.
Let the reader hear his complaint in his own words : —
" I deem it my duty to call the attention of each pastor, to
the moral and religious education of the youth committed to his
care ; and I will not hesitate to declare, that at no period of our
existence did circumstances more unite to call forth our zeal and
exertions in this particular, than the present moment ; a period
when, under the semblance of a Christian education, every art
and insinuation is resorted to, in order to make proselytes amongst
the innocent and unsuspecting youth of our communion. If the
design of extirpating the Catholic religion by violence and per-
secution, has been, in some degree, abandoned, to it has suc-
ceeded one more likely to effect its purpose, because less appa-
rent. Recourse is had to seduction and insinuation. An
attempt is made to strip off its natural deformity and turpitude,
the crime of tampering with the religious principles of the poor
The schools that are established, are embellished with a thousand
specious names, but at the bottom the evil lies concealed. Pro-
selytism is the order of the day, and the enemies of our faith,
like the serpent, creep and give death under flowers."
In these words, the Reverend Oliver Kelly takes upon him to
assert : first, " That every art and insinuation is resorted to in
order to make proselytes among the youth of his communion."
But this is nothing but a general sweeping assertion, which will
be found to have no particular meaning attached to it. It
is a mere figure of speech, like the thousand specious names
by which the sehools are called, while in reality they are known
by only one or two, or, perhaps, three names at the most ; * so
the every art and insinuation, when reduced to sober English,
will be found to mean no more, than that the teachers in the
schools are very desirous to make the children acquainted with
the Holy Scriptures ; and that they earnestly exhort them to read
them by themselves and to their parents. To such men as Father
Kelly, this will no doubt appear a most insidious and dangerous
* Besides the Hibernian Society, there is the Sunday School Society
for Ireland, and the Baptist Society *br the support of native schools.
252
art. But whatever he, and such as he, may say to tYie contrary,
it is an art which every Christian is hound to study and practise.
He who has received the word of God, is bound by every tie of
duty to make it known to his neighbour, though all the priests
in the world should forbid it. He is not at liberty to make use
of cunning, or any sort of insinuation that worldly policy may
dictate ; but he is warranted and commanded, in the way of even
down plain dealing, to tell every man that the Bible is the word
of God ; that he who receives the truth which it reveals shall be
saved, while he that receives not the truth shall be condemned ;
and whether those whom he addresses be Papists or Pagans,
youths or adults, it is his duty to endeavour, not by compulsion,
but by persuasion, to make proselytes of them ; that is, to win
them to Christ, that their souls may be saved through him. The
Societies which have established schools in Ireland, so far as I
know, have never concealed, but openly avowed this to be their
object ; and, therefore, they are guilty of nothing that can pro-
perly he called insinuation. They see their fellow subjects living
in ignorance and misery ; the slaves of a cruel and gloomy super-
stition ; and they are openly and avowedly labouring to commu-
nicate to them the word of God, with the ability to read it.
This, every Christian is bound to do. This, every inhabitant of
this free country has a right to do ; and he who attempts to hinder
any man, or any society from prosecuting this work of mercy, is
an enemy to his fellow-creatures and to the liberty of his country-
men.
In this letter, we find, secondly, an admission by Oliver Kelly,
that " the design of extirpating the Catholic religion by vio-
lence and persecution, has been, in some degree, abandoned ;"
that is, not altogether abandoned, but only in some degree.
Now, I venture to affirm, that this priest never in his life witness-
ed,— that his father before him never witnessed, — nor his father
before him, any attempt, in the slightest degree, on the part of
our Protestant government, to extirpate the " Catholic religion,"
or any religion whatever, by means of violence and persecution.
For ages, Papists have been allowed the free and unmolested ex-
ercise of their religion. Indeed this was at no time denied them,
when they could keep themselves from plots and treasons. Since
the commencement of the late reign, they have received one
concession after another ; and at this moment the worship of the
established church is not more free, or more protected by law,
than is that of the Popish chapel ; and yet this titular Archbishop,
— this man who professes to be teaching his people in all wis-
dom, has the effrontery to assert, that the design of extirpating
his religion by violence and persecution, has been abandoned only
in some degree ; iliat is, that BUch a design still exists, though
25S
somewhat relaxed. Now, he knows that this is not true. Every
priest in Ireland knows that the charge is false ; hut they seem to
make it their daily business to persuade their people that there is
such a design entertained against them ; and thus to cherish the
hatred with which the Papists generally regard their Protestant
neighbours. It seems to be the sole study of these men to keep
alive this hatred, and for purposes best known to themselves, at
the very time when they are so clamorous for emancipation ; that
is, for admission into places of power and trust, when, no doubt,
they would turn the hatred which they have cherished to some
truly Popish purpose.
Yet, on this very subject, Oliver Kelly does not speak the sen-
timents of the great body of Irish Papists, as expressed by their
leaders in Dublin, known by the name of the " Catholic Board."
These leaders have actually gone the length of making an appeal
to the Pope against their own government ; and, therefore, it is
no wonder that the Pope should interfere in the civil and domes-
tic affairs of Ireland. In this appeal to the Pope, which was
made about five years ago, it is not admitted that there has been
any relaxation in the violence of the persecution to which they are
exposed ; and as there has been no change since that time, Kelly
stands guilty of contradicting a public document, issued by the
leading men of his own communion. I shall give an extract
from this document, with some remarks, for which I am indebt-
ed to a pamphlet, entitled, " An Examination of the Address of
the Roman Catholics of Ireland, to Pope Pius VII. By the
Rev. William Thorpe, Dublin, 1816." This will afford the
reader a specimen of the manner in which the " Irish people,"
as the Papists call themselves, speak of their sufferings : —
" Most Holy Father. — We, the Roman Catholic people of
Ireland, most humbly approach your Holiness, imploring, for five
millions of faithful children, the Apostolical benediction. We
deem it unnecessary, Most Holy Father, to remind the Sovereign
Pontiff of our church, of our peculiar claims to his protection
and support ; for we cannot, for a moment, imagine that your
Holiness is unmindful of the constancy and devotion manifested
to the Holy See, by the Roman Catholics of Ireland, in despite
of the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecution that ever
aggrieved a Christian people. We cannot, however, abstain from
reminding our Most Holy Father, that although the persecution
which we and our ancestors endured, was notoriously and avow-
edly inflicted upon us, on account of our adherence to, and con-
nexion with the Holy See ; nevertheless, the Catholics of Ireland
never solicited the predecessors of your Holiness, at any period
of that persecution, to alter, in the slightest degree, that con-
nexion, or make any modification of the existir g discipline of our
254
Holy Church, to obtain for the Roman Catholics of Ireland
the repeal or mitigation of those cruel laws which proscribed
them."
So then, if we will believe our Irish Papists, they are suffering,
even at this day, a persecution the most sanguinary and iinre-
lotting that ever aggrieved a Christian people. This reminds
me of what I have read somewhere of a country minister, who
had, by mistake, taken to the pulpit an old sermon which had
been compesed for a particular occasion. Having nothing else
ready, he was obliged to go on with it, not suspecting that it
contained any thing heterodox or unseasonable. He declaimed
with great spirit against the vices of the age ; and came unex-
pectedly upon the following sentence : — " Your sins are the cause
of the dreadful epidemic which is at present raging in this neigh-
bourhood." An honest justice of the peace, who had been lis-
tening with great attention, took the alarm, and starting up, loud-
ly interrogated the speaker : " Where, Sir, where is it ?" The
minister, a little disconcerted, replied, " I do not know that it
is any where except in this sermon." Now, let any man ask
the Papists of Ireland, where is this sanguinary and unrelenting
persecution carried on against them ? and if there be an honest
man amongst them, I am sure he will answer, no where that he
knows of, except in the above libellous address and appeal of
his brethren to the Pope of Rome.
I might contrast the present unmolested state of the Irish Pa-
pists, and the freedom of religious worship which they enjoy,
with the state of the Lollards in this country before the Reforma-
tion, and with the state of the Waldenses and Bohemians, of
whom tens of thousands were massacred in cold blood by order
of the Pope of Rome, on account of their religion : — I might
speak of the burning to death of hundreds of men, women, and
children, during the reign of Bloody Mary, Queen of England ;
of the massacre of Paris ; of the murder of many thousands of
Protestants in France, in consequence of the revocation of the
Edict of Nantz, by Lewis XIV; and of the sufferings of our own
Covenanters in the west of Scotland, in the reigns of Charles II.
and James II. ; during which, more real suffering was inflicted
on account of religion in one day, than Ireland has suffered for a
hundred years : but every such appeal would be scouted at bj
our Papists ; because in the cases referred to, the sufferers were
not " Christian people ;" but mere heretics, for shedding of whose
blood they tell us, no commonwealth shall be called to answer.
See the Khcmish note on Rev. xvii. G-, and the Douay note on
Deut. xvii. 8., in which it is boldly maintained, that God has
riv.n power to the church's guides ; that is, to the priests, eveir
tinder the New Testament, to punish with death suck as proudly
255
refuse to obey their decisions. * The version of the Bible con-
taining this open ayowal of the power of the priests of the Church
of Rome to punish all heretics with death, was lately published
in Dublin, under the sanction of their highest dignitaries, in
weekly Numbers, and, for any thing that I know, is publicly cir-
culated through the country to this day. And the peopie who
inculcate such doctrine, living unmolested, have the effrontery to
complain to a foreign power, that they are the objects of the most
faanguinary and unrelenting persecution !
I have been accused of want of liberality and politeness, be-
cause I have represented our Papists as trained to falsehood, and
unable to speak the truth on any subject in which their religion is
concerned. I am perfectly convinced that I have said nothing
but what is strictly true ; and in corroboration of what I have
said on the subject of their falsifying, I quote the following pas-
sage from Mr. Thorpe's pamphlet already referred to. But what
need is there of any authority? When the Papists tell us that
they are suffering such persecution, all the world knows that it is
a lie ; and they themselves know it to be a lie ; but they expect
by means of it to deceive the Pope, and other foreign powers, in
order to embarrass the government, and, if possible, terrify them
into a concession of their arrogant demands.
" They complain," says Mr. Thorpe, " of persecution noto-
riously and avowedly inflicted upon them, on account of their
adherence to, and connexion with the Holy See ; and this perse-
cution they solemnly assure the world, is the most sanguinary and
unrelenting that ever aggrieved a Christian people. What effect
is this likely to produce on those unacquainted with the real state
of the case ? It must excite in them mingled emotions of pity
and indignation : pity for the unfortunate sufferers, and indigna-
tion against the government which oppresses them. It would
not be surprising if Roman Catholics in foreign countries, sym-
pathizing with their afflicted brethren in Ireland, should institute
* Since the above was in die printers' hands, I have received the follow-
ing details from a correspondent :— " If we may believe historians, Pope
Julius, in seven years, was the occasion of the slaughter of 200,000 Chris-
tians. The massacre in France cut orl 100,000, in three months. P. Pe-
rionius avers, that in the persecution of the Albigenses and Waldenses,
1,000,000 lost their lives. From the beginning of the order of Jesuits,
till 1580, that is, thirty or forty years, 900,000 perished, saith Balduiflus.
The Duke of Alva, by the hangman, put 36,000 to death. Vergerius
affirms, that the Inquisition, in thirty years, destroyed 150,000. To all
this, I may add the Irish rebellion, in which 300,000 were destroyed, as
Lord Orrery reports in a paper printed in the reign of Charles II. ; mak-
ing a total of two millions, six hundred, and eighty-six thousand." '1 hcsi
horrible facts speak for themselves. Many of a like kind might be added,
but I reserve this as a separate subject of discussion.
256
an inquiry into the nature and extent of their grievances, and imi-
tating the conduct of Protestants among us, towards the sufferers
in the South of France, call on their respective governments to
interpose for their relief. If the sympathies of British Protestants
have been kindled by a few assassinations, — by the massacre of
a few scores of people in France, surely foreign Roman Catho-
lics cannot hear unmoved the cries of five millions of their bre-
thren in Ireland, tortured by the most sanguinary and unrelent-
ing persecution that ever aggrieved a Christian people. At this
moment, perhaps, they are endeavouring to calculate how many
have been slaughtered, or picturing to themselves the cruel tor-
tures, amidst which they have been deprived of life ; or perhaps
they are preparing an asylum for the small remnant of the priest-
hood, which, after the conflagration of their sacred edifices, may
have escaped the general massacre. * If such have not been the
effects of this document on the mind of foreigners, we are not to
thank the Catholic leaders for it ; for this, like their other mea-
sures is equally calculated to render the government odious
abroad, and insecure at home. But what are we to think of the
men who deliberately and unblushingly can give such falsehoods
under their hand ? Among the many bad signs of the times, is
there a worse one than that total disregard of truth and moral
character, in which those persons seem to glory, who assume to
be political leaders in Ireland ? Does it not appear from their
public conduct, as if they had forgotten all distinction between
truth and falsehood ? Do we not see them daily distorting every
fact, whether of a public or private nature, and, with signal ef-
frontery, fabricating such falsehoods as may best suit their pur-
poses of malice or revenge, or political irritation ? And what is
their conduct on detection, or when any attempt is made to dis-
abuse the public mind ? They bluster and bully, and make a
noise about their honour ; as if a calumniator were less a calum-
niator after he had bullied and fought, than before ; or as if the
stain of falsehood could be covered by the stain of blood."
pp. 14, 15.
I intend to resume this subject in my next.
• The Author may keep himself at case on this score. There is little
danger of Papists in foreign countries giving themselves the trouble of
sympathizing with those in Ireland ; much less of being at the expense of
providing for them. They know one another too well to give much cre-
dit to such representations ; besides, they have neither sympathy nor mo-
ney to spare for the relief of their living brethren, their whole stock ul
both being required for the dead in l'urgatory.
THE
No. LXXXIII.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12th, 1820.
In my last Number, I introduced Oliver Kelly, Popish iirch-
bishop of Tuam, as admitting that the design of converting Irish
Papists, by means of violence and persecution, was, in some de
gree, abandoned ; and I shewed, that on this subject he was
guilty of contradicting his brethren, the Popish leaders in Dublin,
who, in an appeal to the Pope, assure his Holiness, that they are
still exposed to " the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecu-
tion that ever aggrieved a Christian people." In my last Num-
ber, I declared this to be a most impudent falsehood, as all the
world knows it to be ; but, in order to bring the matter more
distinctly before the eye of the reader, I make another extract
from Mr. Thorpe's pamphlet : —
" Where can even a trace of such persecution be discovered ?
Look at the various classes of the Roman Catholics. Examine
first the peasantry and working tradesmen. Are the former ob-
structed or oppressed, on the ground of religion, in taking or
cultivating land ? Are the latter shackled in the choice or exer-
cise of their manual employments? No: there is literally no sha-
dow of distinction between them and Protestants of the same
ank. Go up higher to the departments of trade and commerce.
Do the Roman Catholics labour under any disqualifications, or
are they in any respect obstructed in those pursuits ? No : they
have precisely the same facilities, privileges, and rights, which
Protestants possess. And even in the professions of law and
medicine, (from the established church they are necessarily ex-
cluded,) the same rule holds good, as to every thing really im-
portant to the great mass of persons engaged in those professions.
That of medicine., with all its honours and emoluments, is as free
to them as to Protestants ; and if, in the department of law,
there are a few situations to which Protestants exclusively are
V.l. II Kk
258
eligible, those situations are so few, and, from the competition
arising from Protestant numbers and talents, so few of them,
even though they were open to all, would be attainable by Ro-
man Catholics, that this profession is scarcely an exception to
the general rule. But how are they situated as to opportunities
of instruction ? Are any obstacles thrown in the way of their ad-
vancement in learning and knowledge ? The very reverse. They
possess even greater facilities in this respect than Protestants.
Various schools, in which there is no interference with their re-
ligious opinions, have been instituted for their instruction, and
are supported by the contributions of Protestants. The only
Protestant University in Ireland is open to them. Nor is this
all ; a college for their exclusive advatitage has been founded,
and endowed by the Protestant Legislature.
" If any where, then we may expect to find, in what concerns
the exercise of their religion, some traces of the persecution of
which they complain. Let us therefore examine how they are
situated in this respect. Are they obstructed or discouraged in
the exercise of their worship ? No : they are secured in the full,
free, and most public exercise of all the rites and ceremonies of
their church. Are they limited as to the number of their clergy,
or restrained from making a suitable provision for them ? Their
own statements on this subject furnish the best answer to this
question. They have in Ireland, according to their own account,
" four Archbishops, twenty-four bishops, eleven hundred parish
priests, eight hundred curates, and between two and three hun-
dred regular clergy of various orders :" and as to their emolu-
ments, an estimate may be formed from this circumstance, that
the parish priest of a small village in the county of Limerick, en-
joys, (as they have lately assured the public,) an income of £300
per annum. There is but one enquiry more. Are they desti-
tute of proper edifices in which to receive their congregations,
and to conduct their religious services? Any one who has lately
travelled through Ireland is competent to answer this question.
Their chapels are as numerous as the parish churches, and, in
many places, far exceed them in splendour of external ornament
This fact deserves particular notice ; because those chapels have
been erected, in almost every instance, on the estates of Protest-
ants, (very frequently the ground given free of rent,) and by funds,
to which Protestants have been the most liberal contributors.
Such is the real condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland, at
the very moment that they have had the signal effrontery to com-
plain to the Pope, and to state, in the face of Europe, that they
aie the victims ot the most sanguinary and unrelenting persecu-
tion that ever aggrieved a Christian people." pp. 16 — 18.
I have made this long extract, in order to let my readers know
259
the real condition of the Papists in Ireland, with regard to reli-
gious liberty. What would our suffering forefathers in Scotland
have given for the hundredth part of the liberty which Papists
now enjoy in Ireland, and in every part of the British dominions?
The fact is, their civil privileges are equal to those of other dis-
senters ; and their religious worship is as free as that of the es-
tablished church in any of the three kingdoms. What then is
the sanguinary <md unrelenting persecution of which they are the
victims? It is nothing else than being deprived of the power of
persecuting others ; that is, the power of compelling all men to
submit to the Pope of Rome, and to the other " church guides
of the New Testament," who have the power of " punishing with
death such as proudly refuse to obey their decisions." Douay
Note on Deut. xviii. 8. Until the Papists of Ireland have this
power, concede what you will, they will not be satisfied, or cease
to complain of the sanguinary persecution, of which they affect
to be the victims. I know that thousands of good-natured Pro-
testants, whose own minds are divested of such intolerant senti-
ments, will cry out against this assertion, as illiberal and unchari-
table. No matter : it is sober truth that I write ; and let any
one who doubts of this, tell what Papists mean by the sanguinary
persecution of which they complain to their Holy Father, against
their own government. It is most certain they have nothing to
complain of, but that they have not the power of the State in
their own hands ; and from the manner in which they have al-
ways used such power when they had it, we may judge what they
will do when they shall have it again.
But to return to Father Kelly's letter : — he tells us, at the pre-
sent moment, " under the semblance of a Christian education,
every art and insinuation is resorted to, in order to make prose-
lytes amongst the innocent and unsuspecting youth of our com-
munion." And again, he says, since violence and persecution
have been, in some degree, abandoned, " recourse has been had
to seduction and insinuation." It is not denied by Dr. Kelly,
that the object of the Society is chiefly to teach the children to
read the Bible ; yet he calls this the " semblance of a Christian
education." What are we to infer from this, but that, in his
opinion, Christian education does not consist in teaching the
word of Christ ? This is indeed plainly avowed in the sequel of
his letter, in which the Catechism of the four Archbishops,
Kirwan's Catechism, and Reeves' History of the Bible, are pre.
ferred before the Bible itself. Teaching these, it seems, is Chris-
tian education ; teaching the Bible is only the semblance of it !
" An attempt," says the Doctor, " is made to strip of its na-
tural deformity and turpitude, the crime of tampering with the
religious principles of the poor." That is, the crime of instruct-
260
ing the poor ; for this is the only thing which he has to ohject to
the Schools, and those who conduct them. This, he calls tam-
pering with their religious principles, — this, he says, is done with
every art and insinuation ; and he tells us, that recourse is even
had to seduction. As these are mere assertions, without the sha-
dow of proof; and as there is not so much as an attempt to es-
tablish a single instance of seduction on the part of the teachers
we may pass this over as unworthy of further notice, and attend
a little to what is called " tampering with the religious principles
of the poor," and of the " innocent and unsuspecting youth"
of the Romish communion.
I observe, then, that there never was an attempt made to in-
struct the ignorant, or to reclaim those who were living in error,
that was not liable to the same objection. The Apostles of
Christ did the very same thing which Dr. Kelly complains of.
They tampered with the religious principles of both Jews and
Gentiles, whether they were young or old, learned or illiterate.
That is, they endeavoured to convince them of error, and to per-
suade them to embrace the truth. It is in this sense that I use
the word tamper, for this is the very thing that grieves and alarms
Dr. Kelly, and which he holds up as a crime of great deformity
and turpitude.
If the first Christians that came into Britain, had not tamper-
ed with the religious principles of the people, we might all have
been at this day rude heathens, worshipping the works of our
own hands. If the fathers of the Reformation had not tamper-
ed with the religious principles of our forefathers, we might have
been as our fathers were for ages, the miserable slaves of Rome.
Now, I maintain, that it is the duty of every Christian, in the
sense in which I use the word tamper, to deal with his neigh-
bours, whom he finds living in the gross errors of idolatry and
superstition. I do not say that every one should become a pub-
lic preacher, for this requires qualifications which every Christian
does not possess ; but it is the duty of every one, as he has op-
portunity, by Christian conversation and Christian example, to
win his erring neighbour from the worship of idols, and from
every principle and practice that is inconsistent with the gospel
of Christ. This is the best way in which a man can shew his
love to God and to his brother also.
In this way of private dealing with one who was in error, or
what Dr. Kelly would call tampering with the religious principles
of the poor, we have the very highest example in the conduct of
Christ himself. I refer to the case of the woman of Samaria
whom Christ met at the well. She was descended from that
mixed race whom the King i I Assyria placed in the land of
Israel, after the captivity of the ten tribes, of whom it is related,
261
that " they feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the
manner of the nations," 2 Kings xvii. 33. They made a pro-
fession of the true religion, so far as it served their purpose ; but
to the worship of the God of Israel, they added the worship of
their own gods, just as Papists do ; who, to the worship of God,
add the worship of the Virgin Mary, and all the saints. They
•were acquainted with the writings of the prophets. They paid
great respect to the ground which Jacob had trode, and to the
well out of which he had drank. The woman, it appears, knew
about as much of the promise of a Messiah to come, as Papists
do of the history of his having come. The one knows the fact,
and the other knew the promise, to equally little purpose ; be-
cause the acknowledged truth in both cases was, and is, mixed
up with so much error, as to obstruct its salutary influence upon
the heart and conscience. In short, the Samaritans stood in the
same relation, or rather in the same opposition, to the true church
of God, as it existed among the Jews, as Papists do to the same
church, as it now exists among the Protestants ; for notwith-
standing the errors and corruptions which prevailed among the
Jews, the true church was with them ; and in their controversy
with the Samaritans, they had the right side of the question.
Now, Christ addressed the woman who belonged to the sect of
the Samaritans, in such a style as Dr. Kelly will call tampering
with her religious principles : — " Ye worship ye know not what ;
we know what we worship " Call it tampering, or give it what
name you please, I hold it not only lawful, but laudable, nay, an
imperious duty, for every well informed Christian, who has an
opportunity, to address those who worship idols, whether they
be Papists or Pagans, in similar language, and to tell them that
" salvation is of the Jews ;" that is, of him who took human na-
ture of the seed of Abraham ; that salvation is of him alone,
without the assistance or co-operation of any creature ; and that
it is only in so far as men know him, that they know what they
worship, or know that their worship is acceptable, or that they
will receive, from the object of their worship, the blessings which
they ask of him.
If I saw a poor woman counting her beads, and saying he
Aves to the Virgin Mary, I would not hesitate to tell her plain
ly, but affectionately, " Ye worship ye know not what." If I
saw a company of ignorant creatures kneeling and praying before
a crucifix, I would say, " Ye worship ye know not what." If I
were a teacher of a school, and if a child were to bring into it
one of his Catechisms, containing prayers to the Virgin Mary, J
would tell him, that neither he, nor his parents, nor his priest,
knew what they worshipped ; and, because his Catechism would
not contain the second commandment, I would shew him, ir the
*62
Bible, both the second and the first : " Thou shalt have no other
gods before me ; — Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of any thing in the heavens or in the earth :
Thou shalt not bow down to them nor serve them." I do not
know that the teachers of the schools in Ireland are at all this
pains, or that they would conceive this to be their duty. The
object of the schools is indeed not this, but to teach the children
to read the Bible : but I think a faithful Christian teacher could
scarcely avoid what I have described as his duty, when circum-
stances afforded him an opportunity.
This would be called tampering with the children and with
their parents ; but it is all fair and open. Popish priests are not
prevented from tampering with Protestant parents, or children,
when they meet with them ; their efforts in this way are well
known ; and if I were to use the language of Dr. Kelly, I would
call them insidious and seductive. But the people of Ireland
are free, if they choose to enjoy their freedom. They are at
liberty to listen to any one who may propose to instruct them.
But Dr. Kelly and the Pope declare their purpose to deprive
them of this liberty, if they can. They will not allow them to
have the Bible, nor to attend the schools where the reading of
it is taught. This is assuming an authority and a eontrol over
the people, which neither the sovereign, nor the legislature of the
empire assumes.
That which Oliver Kelly would call tampering with the reli-
gious principles of the poor woman, was followed by the most
blessed consequences both to herself and to her neighbours (see
John, chap, iv.), as no doubt the knowledge communicated by
those who teach the people to read the Bible, has been to many
persons in Ireland, in the present day. The Samaritan priests
would, no doubt, rage and storm against tampering with the re-
ligious principles of the people, just as Dr. Kelly does now; but
the poor woman obtained the salvation of her soul ; her believ-
ing neighbours did the same ; the leaven of sacred saving truth
spread among the people ; and after the Apostles had begun to
preach that Christ was exalted, Samaria was the first place from
which they heard the joyful tidings that the word of God was
received.
If I am not mistaken, Dr. Kelly himself would not be in-
jured, but greatly benefited by a little tampering. It will per-
haps excite in his mind great indignation, to be called to account
for his religious principles by a layman, and by one who is also
a heretic. But there was a greater man than Dr. Kelly — a man
who was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, who afterwards
became a companion, and fellow labourer of the Apostle Paul,
who derived great benefit from the tampering of two lay persons,
263
numely a tradesman and his wife, who, perceiving that, though a
zealous preacher, he was mistaken with regard to some import-
ant points, took him aside, and u explained to him the way of God
more perfectly." (See Acts xviii. 2, 3, 24 — 28.) Apollos was, no
doubt, thankful for the tampering of these plain honest persons,
and he enjoyed the benefit of it all the days of his life.
If I could indulge the supposition that Dr. Kelly was as hum-
ble and docile a Christian as Apollos, and as ready to take a hint
from The Protestant, as Apollos was to take a lesson from Aquil-
la, the tentmaker, and his wife Priscilla, I would ask the Doctor,
who they are whom he speaks of as the innocent youth of his
communion ? By a little tampering with his Reverence ; that is,
hy a few lessons out of the Bible, I could shew him that there
are no innocent youth in the world, either in his communion or
any other. Does he not know that every imagination of the
thought of the heart of man, is evil from his youth up ; — evil
and only evil continually? (Gen. vi. 5, viii. 21) That all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God? (Rom. iii. 23)
That, in short, the whole world is guilty before God? (v. 19.)
Does a man who professes to be teaching his flock in all wisdom
not know this ? If he does not, he is a pretty man to make such
professions : if he does know it, he must stand convicted of wil-
fully contradicting the word of God, and misrepresenting the
state and character of his flock. In a religious sense, there is
no man innocent. All stand guilty before God. Those who
believe in Christ are saved from their sins, and from the punish-
ment which they deserve ; but they will not speak of themselves
as innocent ; nor will those who know them call them innocent.
They are sinners saved by grace. I most earnestly recommend
the consideration of this subject to Dr. Kelly, and to every Pa-
pist who reads my pages. Let them learn and understand what
they all are by nature, and by practice : Let them attend to the
testimony of Christ, with regard to the way, and the only way,
by which a sinner becomes just before God, and we shall hear
no more of their own innocence or righteousness. If they be-
lieve the testimony, they will renounce all trust in the Pope, or
the Virgin Mary, or in any fellow creature, and submit to the
righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ.
I think British Christians have been much to blame, because
they have tampered so little with the religious principles of the
poor in Ireland. We have long acted upon the principle avow-
ed by the murderer Cain, who spurned the idea of being his
brother's keeper ; that is, he considered it none of his business
to know where his brother was, or how he was. Christians on
this side of the channel, were not ignorant of the condition of
their brethren in the sister kingdom ; but it did not occur to them,
264-
at least for a long period, that they had any particular duty to
perform towards them. If they he ignorant, superstitious, and
idolatrous, let them remain so, seems to have heen the general
sentiment, for I do not know how long a period. This has now
given place to sentiments more congenial to Christianity, and to cor-
responding exertions, which, hy the divine hlessing, will, in a few
years, give a new character to the Irish population. The henitrn
influence of the Bible has already begun to appear. Had the same
efforts been made fifty years ago, the Pope would not, at this day,
have had such a hold of the consciences of the Irish people ;
and it is to be hoped that fifty years hence, he will have no hold
of them at all.
Why should not this be distinctly avowed as the object and hope
of Protestants, and the object of their benevolent exertions ? Pa-
pists do not hesitate to express their hope, and to labour inces-
santly to bring Protestants over to their communion. For this
purpose they are tampering with the poor people every day. I
do not wish to deprive them of this privilege. I would not
prevent them from doing what they can, by fair argument, to gain
proselytes, if there be such a thing as fair argument among them,
which I confess I have never seen or heard of; but I would have
our Protestants to equal them in zeal, and to excel them in hon-
esty ; — to meet them like Protestants on every point of difference ;
to tell them, " we believe you are in error, and that you are
training up your people in error and idolatry ; that we bring to
you the Bible, which is the word of God, as you yourselves
allow, though you wish to keep it from your people ; that we
are ready and willing to have our principles tried on this ground
alone ; that we will exercise no power or authority to compel
any man to yield to us, and we require that you exercise no au-
thority or power over the consciences of men, to prevent them
from hearing us." I know that Papists will not consent to such
a trial of their principles. Their absolute power over the con-
sciences of their people is vigorously exercised to prevent them
from coming to such a trial, at the very time that they are ma-
king a hue and cry against their Protestant neighbours, who ex-
ercise no power whatever, and who pretend to none, but that of
persuasion, which, with truth on their side, is sufficient for all
their benevolent purposes.
There is a slight anachronism in my last Number, which the
reader may correct, hy substituting the word late for present, in
page 252, the 8th line from the bottom. The proof sheet pass-
ed through my hands the day before the melancholy intelligence
ot the late King's death reached Glasgow, and the pages being
immediatelv stereotvued, the word could not be altered.
THE
Nc. LXXXIV.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 1820,
" Proselytism," says Dr. Kelly, " is the order of the day,
and the enemies of our faith, like the serpent, creep and give
death under^otuers." This will, no doubt, be esteemed a pretty
figure of speech ; but if I may be allowed to hazard a pun on so
grave a subject, I would insinuate that his reverence meant leaves
rather than flowers ; and it must be confessed, there do lurk un-
der the leaves of the Bible a host of enemies of the faith of
Rome.
I do not deny, but explicitly maintain, that what is life to the
souls of the Irish people, is death to the cause of Popery among
them ; and therefore I am not surprised by the strong language
of the titular Archbishop. I am, however, a little surprised by
the want of discretion which his language exhibits. He is, like
all his brethren, no doubt, desirous of what they call emancipa-
tion. This is a boon which the more moderate Papists profess
to ask from their Protestant brethren ; and it must appear to
every thinking person a little strange, that those who are asking
the favour, should at the same time be busy publishing letters, in
which these said brethren are compared to toolves and serpents.
But such is the fact ; and the leading men among the Irish Pa-
pists do not hesitate to speak and publish much worse than this
against their Protestant neighbours, and their Protestant govern-
ment, at the very time that they are preparing their humble peti-
tions for what they call emancipation. Now, I think there is a
want of wisdom, or rather a want of cunning, in this, which shews
that Dr. Kelly and his friends have not been long enough under
the tuition of the Jesuits. Our Glasgow Papists understand the
subject better ; for they speak of Protestants as their Christian
brethren, which, however hypocritical, is language more becoming
Vol. II. L 1
26G
men who are asking the favour of heing put upon a footing of civii
equality with them. But the language of Dr. Kelly, and that of
the Pope whose mandate he obeys, suggests the idea of persons
asking a favour, and in the same breath reviling, by every oppro-
brious epithet, the men of whom they ask it: — " Ye heretics, ye
schismatics, ye wolves in sheep's clothing, ye serpents, creeping
and giving death under flowers, we humbly pray that you will re-
move all the restraints which you have imposed upon us, and ad-
mit us to a free and unfettered participation of all the good things
which ye enjoy !" Surely this would be reckoned an odd way of
asking a favour ; but it is in the true style of the Irish petitions
for emancipation, when taken in connexion with the representa-
tions which the petitioners are ever making of their Protestant
neighbours, and even their Protestant rulers.
To shew that I am not speaking without book, I refer the
reader to another pamphlet by the reverend Mr. Thorpe, of
Dublin, entitled, " An Address to the Protestants of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, on the subject of Catholic emancipation. —
Third edition, 1815." This author gives a number of extracts
from the published speeches and other documents of the Popish
orators in Dublin, full of the most scurrilous abuse of all persons
connected with the government or legislature, from the king
downwards, who have shewn the least hesitation about granting
the Papists all that they are demanding. Thus the long continu-
ed affliction of our late venerable sovereign, and the violent death t,f
his prime minister, Mr. Perceval, are both represented as judg-
ments of God upon them for being enemies of " Catholic eman-
cipation." This is indeed the substance of a speech made by a
gentleman who passes for a Protestant, but who attends public
meetings of the Papists; makes speeches for them, and is best
known as their advocate. But the following is from a speech of
a real Papist — a barrister, and a leading member of the " Catho-
lic board :" —
" The principle of Mr. Pitt's administration," says Mr.
O'Conncll, " was despotism : the principle of Mr. Perceval's ad-
ministration was peculating bigotry — bigotted peculation ! In
the name of the Lord, he plundered the people. Pious and en-
lightened statesman ! he would take their money only for the good
of their souls! The principle of the present administration is still
more obvious. It has unequivocally disclosed itself in all their
movements. It is simple and single — it consists in falsehood!
Falsehood is the bond and link which connects this ministry in
office. Some of them pretend to be our friends : you laiow it
is not true. They are only our worse enemies for their hypo-
risy." page 7.
It is not consistent with my plan to discuss the character of
267
the present or any former ministry ; but I have made the above
extract to shew the inconsistency of the Popish leaders, or rather
the absurdity of their conduct in professing to come from year to
year to parliament, with a humble petition for emancipation,
while they are doing every thing in their power to irritate the
leading members of parliament against them ; for let it be ob-
served, they are not ministers of the crown alone who are objects
of their abuse, nor opposers of emancipation alone who suffer
their reviling. These demagogues speak of both friends and foes
with equal contempt. Thus one member who stands high in the
esteem of every virtuous man in the empire, and who is an advocate
of " Catholic emancipation," is described by them as " the place-
procuring, pray-mumbling Wilberforce." This, with a number
of like things, adduced by Mr. Thorpe, excites a suspicion, or
rather establishes the fact, that it is not emancipation which our
Irish Papists want, but the power of the state in their own hands;
and they think it a most likely means to accomplish their object,
to represent every man in the government or in the legislature in
a most odious light, except a few who are willing to go all lengths
with them ; and if they, and the Pope, and Dr. Kelly, can but
convince the people that all the Protestants, from the highest to the
lowest, are " wolves" and " serpents," ready to bite and devour
them, they will not be far from having accomplished their pur-
pose.
Our Protestant advocates of " Catholic emancipation," speak
with great simplicity and good nature, of both sects living toge-
ther as one family, if all distinctions were done away, and if both
were alike eligible to all places of power and trust. I once en-
tertained some such romantic notions, and therefore I cannot be
surprised that some persons still entertain them. But Papists
themselves have taught me better. The Pope of Rome calls us
wolves, and the Popish Archbishop of Tuam compares us to ser-
pents, for no other reason than that we are teaching the poor to
read the Bible. Now, supposing the Archbishop and such as he
to have power in their hands, they would find it their bounden
duty, and it would be their first care, to extirpate the serpents
and the wolves. It is not possible that these can live peaceably
as one family with the sheep, that is, the faithful, as Papists call
themselves ; and therefore the shephords must of necessity destroy
them.
" Every possible exertion," says his Holiness, " must be
made to keep the youth away from these destructive schools."
But if the youth could not be kept away by any exertion while
the schools exist, as in some places they cannot, would not the
extirpation of the teachers come within the sphere of possible cr«
crtions, if Papists had the power, and if nothing else would do ?
268
" Unless," says Dr. Kelly, "we establish and support schools
for the education of distressed children of our persuasion, the
triumph will be eventually complete ; the mystery of iniquity will
have absorbed the mystery of holiness ; and what the cruelty of
tyrants would not have completed in this island of saints, will be
speedily accomplished by softer means." The " mystery of ini-
quity," is nothing less than the art of reading the word of God.
It is not so easy to express in half a sentence what Dr. Kelly
means by the " mystery of holiness;'' but no doubt it is some-
thing which proceeds from him who by way of eminence is called
Hts Holiness; and from what history records of the * man
and his communications," and of those of his predecessors for a
thousand years, we may guess what sort of thing the holiness is by
which his children are distinguished in the " island of saints :" that
is, the island of holy persons. The holiness of the children did
indeed correspond with that of the father. Of this Dr. Kelly-
bears the most ample and unequivocal testimony. He declares,
in words which I gave in my last Number but one, that they were
abandoned to all manner of wickedness, particularly drunkenness,
sabbath-breaking, and perjury. This witness is true, as every
traveller in Ireland knows; but the mystery of iniquity, that is.
the reading of the Bible, has got in among them, and the mystery
of holiness is in danger of being absorbed, because the people are
not now so much given to the things for which they were former-
ly notorious. Dr. Kelly will say that I pervert his meaning; but
I say that he perverts the meaning of words, when he applies the
term Iniquity to the teaching of the Bible, and holiness to the
system that opposes it ; and it is not the least of the abominations
of Popery that it calls good evil, and evil good.
There is such a thing mentioned in the Bible as " the mystery
of iniquity ;" that is, the secret working of Satan, by the means of
human agents, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, in order
to ruin the souls of men. (See 2 Thess. ii. 3 — 10.) No Pro-
testant needs to be told that this mystery of iniquity has its seat
m the Church of Rome. But I do not recollect finding in the
Bible, or any where else, except in Dr. Kelly's letter, such a
phrase as " the mystery of holiness." If he had said the mystery
of Hi* Holiness, or even of his Reverence, I might guess what
he means ; but I can attach no rational meaning to his expression
as it stands. The word mystery signifies either something un-
known, and which being made known, is a mystery no longer,
that is simply a secret ; or it signifies something, which, though
made known as to its existence, is incomprehensible as to its na-
ture. Take it either way, I do not see what it has to do with
holiness, which is neither a secret nor an incomprehensible thing.
Christ Bays, (John iii. 20, 21.) " Every one that docth evil
269
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved." This is "the mystery of iniquity." " But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light: that his deeds may be made
manifest that they are wrought in God." This is holiness, but
there is no mystery in it. That which is manifest is not myste-
rious in the sense of a secret ; and that which every one can un-
derstand (good works for instance) is not incomprehensible.
Be " the mystery of holiness" what it may, we have an expli-
cit admission by the Archbishop, that the cause of Popery in
Ireland is in danger from the schools and the Bible : — " What the
cruelty of tyrants would not have completed in this island of
saints, will be speedily effected by softer means." I hope all the
societies and all the teachers engaged in the good work will take
courage from this plain declaration of an enemy. The soft means
of education and persuasion are the only means which can law-
fully be used for promoting the knowledge of the true religion,
and turning men from error. Dr. Kelly admits that these means
arc likely to be effectual, and that "speedily," for absorbing, that
is, I suppose, subverting, what he calls the " mystery of holiness,"
but which we know to be the mystery of iniquity.
It is, however, a little surprising that Father Kelly should not
recommend to his clergy the soft means which he believes to be
so effectual in the hands of Protestants. It is surprising that he
should make use of such hard words, and recommend, or rather
command, such vigorous measures, as are enjoined in the follow-
ing extract, which he knows to be very different from the means
which Protestants use. Why does he not recommend mere
persuasion and instruction, since he finds these " softer means"
likely to accomplish speedily " what the cruelty of tyrants" could
never effect ? " As pastors of the Roman Catholic Church,'' says
he, " you must have viewed with indignation and disgust cer-
tain puerile and ignoble efforts that have lately been made to di-
minish our influence, and mar our interference in the religious
and moral education and instruction of the youth of our com-
munion ; and though we deprecate, as sincerely as any other body
of men, any attempt to excite dissension, or to make odious dis-
tinctions on account of religion, and have contributed most effec-
tually to preserve the peace of the country, yet it is a duty in-
cumbent on us, and from which we will never shrink, to oppose,
collectively and individually, every attempt, however insidious,
or from whatever source it may emanate, to tamper with the re-
ligious principles of the faithful committed to our care.'' Again,
" Impressed with the sacredness and importance of this obligation,
it is incumbent on us, to be vigilant and attentive to the religious
and moral education of the people ; the attention of the Roman
Catholic clergy is to be particularly directed to the schools es-
270
tablished in their respective parishes, and they are to exercise
their spiritual authority in its full extent, in order to prevent
Roman Catholic children from frequenting the schools where the
Catholic Catechism is not taught, where Protestant Tracts are
introduced, or where the moral conduct or religious principles of
the master are exceptionable."
Here is the cruelty of tyrants with a witness ! And does Dr.
Kelly expect, by such rigorous measures as he enjoins upon his
clergy, to counteract what Protestants are likely to effect speedily
by their softer means ? If so, the cruelty of Popish tyrants must
be more powerful than that of Protestant ones, as no doubt it is.
The spiritual authority of the priests is directed to be exercised
in its full extent to prevent the children of Papists from frequent-
ing the Protestant schools. Now we know that this spiritual
authority is infinitely greater than that of the most absolute mon-
arch on the face of the earth ; and in the full extent of it, it
reaches to what Dr. Kelly calls (from the Douay version of the
New Testament) the day of eternity. We never heard of our
Protestant governors inflicting corporal punishment upon those
who refused to read the Bible, or who refused to learn to read ;
but though they had ordered every such obstinate Papist to be
hanged, the tyranny of the thing would have fallen infinitely short
of that of the priest who exercises the full extent of his spiritual
authority to prevent children from going to school, to learn to
read the Bible. It is universally admitted that civil governors
can only kill the body ; but the Popish priests profess to have the
power of casting both body and soul into hell.
Now it is a fact that schools have been established in many
parts of Ireland, and particularly in that district over which Fa-
ther Kelly professes to have spiritual jurisdiction. It is a fact that
children have flocked to those schools with great eagerness, and
that parents have encouraged their children to do so, from a con-
viction that education is the most likely means of promoting their
happiness ; and Dr. Kelly calls upon his priests to prevent this by
exercising their spiritual authority to its full extent ; that is, by
excommunicating, and, of course, consigning to everlasting perdi-
tion, not the children only, but also the parents who sutler their
children to attend the schools in which the Popish catechism is
not taught, and whose teachers they do not approve. Besides, it
is well known, that great as the extent of priestly spiritual authori-
ty is, by which souls are consigned to perdition, this is not all;
for they exercise also a temporal authority by which one who is
excommunicated is deprived of every earthly comfort ; his bre-
thren are forbidden to have any intercourse with him; he becomes
iilaw and a vagabond on the earth; and would be left to
1 1, surrounded by his fellow creatures, if there were not some
271
of them, who, in spite of the threatenings of their hard-hearted
priests, still retain so much of humanity about them as to bestow
a morsel of bread to save a fellow creature alive, even at the risk
of being excommunicated for the offence, and being reduced to
the state of misery which they were guilty of relieving.
In short, the spiritual authority of the Popish priests, exercised
in its full extent, subjects those who fall under their displeasure
to all the miseries of this life, and to the pains of hell for ever.
This is what Dr. Kelly commands his priests to inflict upon all
who shall attend, or suffer their children to attend, the schools in
which the reading of the Bible is taught. The tyranny and the
cruelty are so monstrous that the reader will scarcely believe what
he reads ; but let any one consider the power which the priests
claim over the world to come, the misery which, even in this
world, their excommunication inflicts, and the authoritative com-
mand of the Archbishop, requiring his clergy to exercise this
power to its full extent, and he will be convinced that there is
nothing of exaggeration in what I have written.
I have been speaking of the power which the priests profess to
have over the world to come, and which their blind followers be-
lieve them to have. We know that they have no such power ;
and we know that they cannot hurt the soul of any man who
reads his Bible, and who dies in the belief of what it reveals ;
but since they profess to have the power, and since they make the
people believe them, their cruelty and tyranny is as great as if they
actually possessed it, and as if they actually exercised it, by cast-
ing into hell every Bible reader, and every parent who suffers his
child to go to school that he may learn to read it ; and to their
fiend-like cruelty they add the wickedness of imposing upon the
people, by professing to have powers which they never had, and
which the Almighty never intrusted to any creature.
Dr. Kelly makes a parade of what he and his brethren have
done in preserving the peace of the country, though it might be
insinuated that the less they said on that subject the better. It
is very well known, that the more ostensible men among them
make great professions of loyalty, while their subalterns are doing
every thing in their power to promote a spirit of disaffection.
Besides, the language of both Dr. Kelly and his master the Pope,
is not such as we would expect from men who are desirous of
preserving the peace of the country. Do Papists expect to
maintain peace by calling their Protestant neighbours, who are
labouring to instruct them, wolves and serpents, and by accusing
the government of tyranny, and of a design to extirpate their re-
ligion by violence and persecution, which has been abandoned
only in some degree f If Ireland is happy enough to enjoy
peace with such men in it, it is not in consequence of their exer-
tions, but in spite of them
272
Dr. Kelly claims for himself and his inferior priests, a power
and influence over the people that is inconsistent with their pri-
vileges as subjects of the British empire ; and he complains of ef-
forts lately made " to diminish our influence, and mar our inter-
ference in the religious and moral education of the youth of our
communion." Now I ask what right they have to such influence ?
Let them shew from whom they received the grant of an exclu-
sive right to interfere with the education of either young or old.
It is certain that they have received no such grant from any au-
thority that is lawfully acknowledged in this country. If they
say they have it from the Pope, then I reply that the Pope has
given them what was not his own, and what he had no right to
give away. I do not refuse them all the influence which their
priests may lawfully derive from their talents and personal charac-
ter, nor the exercise of it by persuasion and fair argument. In
short, I would not deny them that influence and right of interfer-
ence which Protestants have a right to exercise, and which they
are exercising for the benefit of the people. But that which
Papists claim is avowedly exclusive and arbitrary : — " We will op-
pose," says Dr. Kelly, " collectively and individually, every attempt,
however insidious, or from whatever source it may emanate, to
tamper with the religious principles of the faithful committed to
our care." This tampering, as I have already shewn, signifies
teaching the word of God; and if Parliament were to pass an
Act for establishing schools in every parish in" Ireland in which
the Bible was to be read, the priests tell us before-hand that they
would oppose the measure both collectively and individually.
So much for their subjection to the powers that be.
I remark in conclusion, that though this Manifesto against the
Bible and the schools in which it is taught, is evidently a com-
mencement of actual hostility on the part of the Papists, against
the benevolent efforts of their Protestant neighbours, it has not-
withstanding given me great satisfaction. It convinces me that
the labours of the teachers have begun to produce the desired ef-
fect ; that the reading of the Bible has begun to tell upon the
sentiments and conduct of the poor people who had formerly
been kept in ignorance and bondage by their priests. In short, to
use the language of the worthy Bradbury, on another occasion, —
" The schools, by means of the Bible, have begun to crush the
head of the old serpent in Ireland, and it is not surprising that we
should hear the hissing of the generation of vipers."
THK
No. LXXXV.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26th, 1820.
I have done, for the present, with the Pope, and the Popish
Archhishop of Tuam ; but before I proceed to another general
subject of discussion, I shall pay my respects to a more obscure
son of the church, who has done me the favour of addressing me
a letter, which exhibits as fine a specimen of Popish logic as any
man would wish to see. This letter has the Newton-Stewart post
mark ; and it is the only one that I have received direct from the
holy church, since I published that of W. D.
" To the Author of the Protestant.
"Sir,
" I have been favoured with a loan of two or three of
your Numbers. In perusing No. 72, it occurred to me as rather
strange, that while, with quick sighted penetrating eye, you could
discern, from the circumstance of the poor woman being obliged
to pay eight shillings to the Catholic priest for the baptism of her
child, &c. that " the good citizens of Glasgow, who," (with so
much credit to their pious sentiments) " lately made so bold a
stand against being taxed for the purpose of building parish
churehes, are actually, though indirectly, taxed for the building
and support of a Popish chapel," the same sagacity did not dis-
cover to you, that the " good citizens of Glasgow," are also ac-
tually, though indirectly, taxed for the purpose of purchasing
radical flags, Carlile's publication, &c. to those who, notwith-
standing, from their own reports, and those of their abettors, are
labouring under such distresses, as not to be able to support
themselves except by public munificence.
" What are we to infer from this inequality of vision ? Are we
to conclude that while the author of the Protestant hates Popery,
he loves radical reform and infidelity ? This is not so very like
real Christianity. When you have answered these questions, I
will point out some more for your solution. I am, Sir,
A Friend to Fair Dealing.
Vor, II. M m
'274
" N. B. It seems rather curious, that our good citizens, who
are so zealous for their liberties that they will not permit govern-
ment to find any of them guilty on a charge of constructive trea-
son, can yet, notwithstanding, find the Catholics guilty of such re-
mote and far-sought consequences of their conduct, as the taxing
(if tho citizens of Glasgow, for the purpose of erecting places of
worship by means of the priest exacting a fine from the poor
widow, according to the rules of the church."
So then, it seems, it is a rule of the Church of Rome to fine
poor widows who happen to be left with young children. If so,
I must acquit Mr. Scott of cruelty and extortion. He does not
exact money from poor widowed mothers because he loves the
money, but because it is a rule of the church to do so, and he is
solemnly sworn to obey all her canons and rules. But what sort
of a church must that be that has such a rule ? It is a character
of pure and undefilcd religion, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction ; and to do good to the fatherless and the widow.
This evidently implies that we give them something, if they are
poor : but no, say the Popish priests, we visit them that we may
fine them, " according to the rules of the church."
It is not in my power to satisfy the curiosity which my corres-
pondent expresses in his nota bene, for it never was a matter of
consideration with me, or my Protestant friends, what we would,
and what we would not, permit government to do. This lan-
guage is peculiarly Popish ; and if the priests had the power which
they claim, it would soon be found that government could do no-
thing without their permission. As to the case in hand, the con-
sequence is not far sought. If a poor widow receives five shillings
from the Town's Hospital to buy meal for herself and children ;
and if instead of buying the meal and feeding her family, she gives
the money, or a part of it, to the priest to pay his chapel debts,
the citizens are actually paying a tax to the chapel ; and both the
widow and the priest are guilty of imposition. She must again
apply to her neighbours to keep her family from starving; or if
she can keep them by her own exertions, it is imposition to ask
supply from the hospital.
1 shall very soon despatch the queries which this "friend to fair
dealing" puts to me ; and I shall be happy to receive those which
he promises, as soon as he pleases, for it is my great desire that
my opponents would write. Well then, I wish my correspondent
to understand that I was writing about Papists, and not about
radical Reformers ; and that it would have been as much out cf
my way to point out the imposition of which he accuses the lat-
ter, supposing I had known them to be guilty of it, as it would
have been to censure the man in the moon for gathering sticks on
the Sabbath-day, according to the vulgar opinion. I have, on pur-
pose, brought this simile from a distance, that it might resemble
275
the style of my correspondent. Perhaps he will infer that I am
an advocate of Sabbath-breaking, because I have not found fault
with the man in the moon for his conduct ; and the inference will
be as fair as that which convicts me of radicalism and infidelity,
because I have not attacked the Radicals, and the readers of Car-
lile's pamphlets. Besides, there never was certified to me a single
instance of a person who was receiving the bounty of his neigh
bouis, for the support of himself and family, applying that bounty
in the way which my correspondent describes. He may, how
ever, know of such instances, and if he does, he can prove that
the Radicals are like the Papists, which is a point that I shall not
dispute with him. I will even admit that the alliance between
the two, is closer than some people are aware of; I could say a
good deal on this subject, but I shall defer it, at least till I know
the nature of the other questions which he promises to put to me.
It will perhaps appear to some readers that I have attached
more importance to the foregoing letter than it deserves. It is cer-
tainly very unimportant considered in itself; but it is of use as a
specimen of the Popish mode of conducting controversy. Papists
will never meet an argument or a fact in a fair and candid man-
ner; but always endeavour to draw away their readers to some-
thing else. My statement was a very plain and simple one. A
fair opponent would have controverted the facts, if he had thought
them doubtful; or, finding them incontrovertible, he would have
admitted them, and then have endeavoured to palliate the conduct
of the priest, by pleading that the rules of his church imposed up-
on him the hardship of doing things that were repugnant to his
own feelings ; or, if this would not do, he might have admitted
that in this instance, the priest's conduct was cruel and unjust, and
that he left him to answer for himself. But no such candour will
ever be found in a Papist. The church he considers infallible ;
he believes her priests can never do wrong ; and when they are
detected in doing things that look very like crimes, and w.hich
would be called crimes, if committed by any other person, he in-
stantly raises a hue and cry about something else, in order to
cover the guilt which he cannot deny, and which he has not the
grace to acknowledge. Thus the " friend to fair dealing" would
cover the extortion of the ghostly father in Glasgow, by setting
The Protestant and his readers a hunting after the crimes or
the Radicals.
It is worth while to remark here, that not one of the instances
of priestly extortion which I have given has been controverted.
The story of M'Murray, though proved to be true in every ma-
terial point, had yet so much obscurity about it, as to encourage
our Papists, and their hired advocate, to strain every nerve to con-
vict me of a fabrication. All the agents which they could employ
in the three kingdoms were set to work for this purpose. They
276
failed, indeed, in proving their point ; but the very zeal and ac-
tivity which they Bhewed in this case, shews, that had the truth 01
any of my other statements been doubtful, they would have taken
care to expose them. Their absolute silence, therefore, on these
points, is a tacit admission that ali my statements are true ; and,
to adopt their own mode of expression for once, I hereby inform
them, that when they have replied to these, I will furnish them
with more.
The following letter is from a gentleman in the north of Ire-
land. It has been lying past me for two months, because I had
not an opening for it sooner. The writer is an entire stranger to
me ; but I am sure the letter will commend itself to the reader,
by the plain good sense of it. Modesty would perhaps require
me to suppress the complimentary passages ; but I choose rather
to give it verbatim as I received it.
" For the Protestant.
December 10th, 1819.
" Sin,
" Your exertions deserve the approbation of all who know and
prize the truth. You have done, and well too, what every man,
enlightened by the truth, knows he should have done, and yet
must reproach himself for not having done ; you have contended
" for the faith once delivered to the saints." In the name of this
country, I thank you for the affectionate interest you have shewn,
in sending your publication to Dublin. Let me urge you to ex-
tend your charitable exertions; yet when I name the place on be-
half of which I ask your exertions, you may object to my word
"extend ;" I do not call on you to go beyond Dublin, as you
might suppose, both from the word, and from the notorious and
depraved ignorance of the southern, that is, the eminently Popish
parts of Ireland. I request your attention for a part of Ireland,
much nearer to you ; in fact, your next neighbour; and a part, of
which, I apprehend, you on your side of the water have formed
very erroneous notions. B 1 is the place to which I would
anxiously direct your attention, and which in my opinion requires
information on the nature of Popery as much as any part of Ire-
land. In the Popish parts your publication cannot produce
much effect; because those who might proilt by it, are most dili-
gently excluded from this opportunity by the never failing vigilance
of the priests ; but here every one thinks himself able to read, and
qualified to judge ; and of the soundness of that opinion I shall
Icuvd you to judge, when I tell you, that liberality, as the cant
of the day is, flourishes abundantly; and all professions of religion
are alike in the opinion of the Liberals. God forbid, all Chris-
tian men should not abound in holy meekness and forbearance:
277
they should be distinguished from the world by these virtues dis-
playing themselves in the minutest part of their conduct. Their
very thoughts should hetray themselves in attractive scintillations of
these duties. But to compromise the truth of scripture, and join
in with the worthless cant of an ungodly world, and call indiffer-
ence to the truth by the honourable and specious name of liber-
ality ; this a Christian dares not do, fi^ yiwira. Many persons,
however, misled by this specious word, and perhaps possessed of
lolier views, heedlessly adopt the cry of the day, and unawares are
deserting the standard of the gospel. These are persons who
would read your publication, and to whom it might be useful.
There is another class also, to whom I should wish your work
known. They are persons of much worth and amiableness of
disposition, who, in their political views, see in Papists nothing
but suffering individuals, and are blinded by their own compassion
and generosity, so that they see not what the true nature of Po-
pery is. They think Popery is like any other profession of
Christianity, not being aware that the most monstrous claims put
forward, the most absurd doctrines taught, the most tyrannical at-
tempts made by the villany of man on the rights and privileges
of rational beings, have been by Popes ; and that the immutability
of the church, the boast, and peculiar ground of exultation
among the Papists, on which they lay the greatest stress as prov-
ing their superiority, and from which they declare they cannot
recede without impiety, renders it the extreme of folly to expect
any mitigation. Here then there can be no compromise, and I
wish for your publication here, because it sets this so strongly for-
ward.
" I have gone on farther than I designed at first, but I should
leave my subject grievously imperfect, if I did not present to your
notice another description of persons, whom perhaps you would
little expect to hear of among us.
" We boast, you know, of being here a kind of reformed speci-
men of the Scottish church. We have the same confession, the
Assembly's larger and smaller catechisms, our elders, and presby-
teries, and synods. In short, we preserve among us, the forms
and formularies of those worthy men who hazarded their lives for
the cause, who would have gone to death rather than not testify
their abhorrence of the harlot church, drunk with the blood of the
saints, who would have shuddered at the bare thought of holding
any terms with the unscriptural doctrines of the Romish church.
Would you not then, Sir, be surprised at hearing a Protestant dis-
senting teacher in this country, declaring in a public meeting, in a
speech got up for the occasion, that the differences between us and
the Church of Rome, were but on minor points ! ! ! I heard this
declaration myself, else I might have been tempted to suppose, that
any person reporting it to me, might have been mistaken. Let
278
us set aside forms of discipline and church government, and must
we not feel, that the man who could say, that the vital doctrines
of the gospel, and the corruptions of these hlessed doctrines, by
the Romish church, are in themselves not materially different, is
far gone from the spirit that once animated his church ; and does
not such a man need instruction ?
" In the midst of much worldly wisdom and commercial informa-
tion here, an opinion has gained ground, founded on a very illo-
gical deduction, that wisdom in other things is a necessary ac-
companiment. Now, Sir, you can appreciate this mistake, but it
has produced its effect. People without any pretensions to infor-
mation on religious subjects, take upon them to pronounce en
mattre ; and as they speak from the light of nature only, they ne-
cessarily declare against revelation, without being aware of it. In
this state of mind they are soon and easily landed in infidelity, or
if they are still for a religious profession, they are in most exquis-
ite training to receive the doctrines of Popery, which, you know,
are no more, than the doctrines of the natural mind drest up in
the garb of the gospel ; the sentiments of the unrenewed man, set
out in the gospel phrase. To aid on the career of these things,
we have an active man, a member of the Romish church, among
us, and some who call themselves Protestant dissenting ministers,
who go hand in hand with him, to the betraying of the cause they
should support. Do you not think such an emergency requires
your interference ? I would fain hope you do, and that you will
make a trial of sending over some numbers of your publication
hither. You may reckon on my exertions in its favour, as well
is those of all to whom the truth is dear.
" Believe mc your's truly, &c.
" A Protestant."
In reply to the first part of the foregoing, I have merely to say,
that I have no merit, and am entitled to no thanks, for sendino
my work to Dublin. Some gentlemen in that city, of their own
accord, solicited, and were instantly granted, permission to re-
print it, promising to bear the loss, if there was any ; and to give
the profits, if there were any, to charitable purposes. I request,
therefore] that the friends of the Protestant religion in Ireland,
will countenance and circulate the Dublin edition. In doing so,
they will serve the double purpose of promoting a knowledge of
the Protestant religion, as opposed to Popery, and of affording
pecuniary aid to the societies established for the education of the
poor. I have already distributed out of the profits of the Glas-
gow edition, about a hundred and fifty pounds, chiefly for the
purpose of education ; and though I am quite ignorant of the ex-
tent of the Dublin circulation, 1 hope something will accrue from
it also, to aid the societies, whose object it is to teach the poor in
! to read the Bible.
279
There is not in the whole world, a greater enemy to real
Christianity than that sentimentalism of which my correspondent
complains. He calls it liberality, in condescension to the phrase-
ology of the day; but it is a liberality which consists in thinking
favourably of every thing human, and lightly of every thing di-
vine.
It is indeed surprising to hear of a Protestant dissenting
teacher, speaking of the difference between Protestants and Pa*
pists, as a difference only on minor points. But it is one of the
evils of the day, that persons take upon them both to speak and
write upon subjects which they have not studied, and of which
they know nothing. My correspondent is surprised that among
descendants of the suffering Presbyterians of Scotland, Popery
should be regarded with such a favourable, at least, with such an
unsuspicious eye ; but what would he think if he knew that among
the Presbyterians themselves of the present day, at least by many
of them, who occupy the very ground which was soaked with the
blood of their fathers, Popery is looked upon as a very harmless
thing? Such, however, I believe, is the fact ; and I think it can-
not be accounted for on any other principle, than that many of
our countrymen, and even of our clergy, have lost sight of the
foundation on which the Protestant religion rests, and of what
their fathers suffered in maintaining it.
Another correspondent in the sister kingdom, who approves
of the plan which I have taken to bring Popery into utter scorn
and contempt, writes as follows. His letter does not seem to have
been written with a view to publication ; and therefore I shall give
the extract, without the names of persons, which he has given me,
without reserve. " There is," says my correspondent, " a gentle-
man usher-like-way of handling this coarse subject, which pro-
duces no manner of effect, and this is very common in Ireland :
for instance, lately preached a sermon, which was praised
up to the skies, and ordered to be printed, in which he says, that
for our own household, God forbid that ive should not teach them
catechisms, S^c. propounding the true Christian faith ; but for
others, I would have schoolmasters mild, kind, fyc. but not
given to proselytism."
I know no divine law that requires a man to seek the salvation
of his own household, that does not require him also to seek that
of his nearest neighbour, and of the child thai,' may be placed un-
der his care, if he has the honour of being a teacher ; but the
preacher above referred to would object to this, because it would
3avour of proselytism ; and it is impossible that a Protestant
teacher can do his duty without falling under the accusation.
My correspondent proceeds as follows :
-1 Now giving a Bible, with an unmutilated Decalogue, is pro-
280
selytism. Using a Testament in which the word fLtravoia., thai,
change of heart which is called genuine repentance, is not errone-
ously translated, " Do penance," would be proselytism. Teach-
ing ihe children on any of the 143 Popish holy days, would be
proselytism. But this proselytism, which we ought to attempt
in season, and out of season, for the recovery of perishing sinners,
is in the genteeler circles of milk-and-water Christians, utterly
condemned and disclaimed. Mr (a leading M. P. on the
side of Catholic emancipation) once wrote to the Primate, that in
the new schools (afterwards founded on this neutral plan) he would
have the Christian religion, but no particular description of it,
taught to the Irish peasantry. That is, he would give them
a wkole containing no parts ; and taking for granted, which is
false, that there is a kind of general Christianity, a broad cloak,
under which, all who choose to call themselves Christians may
nestle, each, out of complaisance, giving up his particular opinions,
and amalgamate into one liberal mass of men, preferring present
to future peace ; and forgetting that there is but one Lord, there
is but one baptism, and one faith."
My correspondent proceeds to express his approbation of the
manner in which I have treated the subject ; that is, the open and
honest way of calling things by their own names ; and openly-
avowing it as my object to proselyte men to the truth by all
" practicable means ;" that is, by all means that can be practised
upon Christian principles; and I desire not to have recourse to
any other.
In reply to the observations of those who think that I have not
treated the Popish Archbishop of Tuam with the respect to
which he is entitled from his high office, I remark, that I will
yield to no man in respect for persons who hold high offices in
virtue of the word of God, and the law of the land ; but I do not
look upon any Popish priest, however high his rank among Pa-
pists, as entitled to such respect. While the Israelites were com-
manded to respect the priesthood of Aaron, they were absolutely
prohibited to respect the priests of idols. If I have succeeded in
proving the Church of Rome idolatrous, as I think I have, I
cannot consistently respect her priesthood. Kelly of Tuam is no
more to me than M'Corry in the Saltmarket. Each is labouring
in his own sphere to uphold the infallible church ; and though
the latter would tremble at sight of the former, as in the presence
of a superior being, I consider him as the more honourable per-
sonage of the two, for he is more usefully employed in vending
old clothes, than the Archbishop in vending the old intolerant
minis of Rome.
No. LXXXVI.
SATURDAY, MARCH 4th, 1820.
Home's "mystery of iniquity" appears in nothing more palpa-
ble, than in the practice of what she calls Auricular Confession
By means of this she has access to the heart of every sinner in
her communion, maintains an absolute authority over his con-
science, and directs his conduct as she pleases : and this preroga-
tive does not, belong to the " Church" alone, considered in her
collective capacity, nor to the Pope alone, as head of the Church :
it belongs in common to every pedant of a priest, who considers
himself divinely appointed to receive the confessions of sinners,
and authorised to absolve them from all their iniquities.
I do not know that I can introduce this subject better than by
inserting a communication from a correspondent, purporting to
be a " Pastoral Letter" from Rome, to the Bishops and
Clergy who acknowledge the Pope for their head, and who have
sworn obedience to him as such. The author has professedly
made the " Franciscan" of Buchanan the ground-work of his
composition, and has adapted the sentiments to the state of mat-
ters in our own day. The reader is requested to connect what
follows with the lines which I inserted in my 81st Number; and
he will have the epistle complete. The former quotation related
to the withholding the Bible from the people ; what follows, re-
lates chiefly to confession.
A PASTORAL LETTER FROM ROME.
And since this world's the rough wild field we till,
Let us disseminate the seeds of ill,
Commence our labours ever in good time,
Corrupt the hearts of youth before their prime ;
Keep them from Bibles, stupify dieir mind,
And full returns in manhood we shall find.
Teach them to lie, to flatter and deceive,
A source of gain shall rise from every knave :
For if mankind should too religious grow,
n The Church" must half her perquisites forego.
Vol. II N n
282
Sin swells the Bank that feeds the Pontiff's purse,
And true Religion proves his greatest curse ;
Rome's ancient fabrick on some pillars leans,
The props of all her glory and her gains :
Of these, Confession holds the highest place,
That ready mode of merchandizing grace ;
The fairest farm may disappoint the swain
Who looks in Autumn for the promised grain ;
Tho' grapes should load the branches of the vine,
Hail, rain, or wind, may blast our hopes of wine ;
War may lay waste the monarch's wide domains,
And sweep the crops and cattle from the plains;
But strict Confession, to a knowing band,
Yields fruit more certain than the fairest land ;
No rain, no storms, no dire effects of war,
Its regular returns of profit mar.
Arm'd with this weapon, princes feel our weight,
When fit occasion serves in every state ;
Kings from their throne indignant have we hurl'd
And beggars raised to rule a conquer'd wcrld ;
The Corsican usurper's friends we stood,
Crown'd, bless'd, and married him to royal blood
Leaving his lawful wife in widow-hood ;
Think not our influence we over-rate,
Recounting thus our power in the state ;
For when the secrets of all men we know,
Prolific seeds of treason we may sow,
And with sly hints at numbers and their force,
Incite the mob to each rebellious course :
Kindle fell rancour in the people's breast,
Against the men we envy or detest ;
Marking them by some execrable name.
We blast them as the sons of sin and shame ;
Doom'd in their cursed carcasses to feel
The fiery faggot or th' avenging steel ;
And when we lead our friends into a scrape,
Or they are charged with murder or with rape,
We often make a way for their escape,
By large collections at our altars made,
To hired witnesses and lawyers paid,
By closely questioning and shriving those
Who must give testimony for our foes,
And by that practice which the Christian I oaths,
Our Absolutions, for man's broken oaths.
Hear now to whom your chief attention's due,
Still keep this wise arrangement in your view.
Let the old matron claim your prior care,
Whose wealth and weakness seem to promise fair,
Whose abject superstition may supply
The means your avarice to gratify ;
Next let the usurer attract your eye,
Who loves to live in sin, a saint to die ;
The merchant next, the profits of whose trade
Require) that offerings to the church be made,
Make the transgressor compromise with gold,
The oaths lie falsely swore, the lies he told :
And should your friends hold offices of state,
Should they become by blood, or plunder, great
Or dare against our views to legislate ;
\
'\
283
Mark them as sources of abundant gain,
High must the penance be when deep the stain ;
When stretch'd in agony upon his bed,
A mortal fever strikes the rich man's head ;
When drugs and doctors bring no more relief,
And all his family are plung'd in grief;
Be sure ye carefully that bed attend,
As if this Dives were your dearest friend ;
Though vice had stain'd his life too gross to name,
For which you witness neither grief nor shame ;
Give him your transubstantiated bread,
Your off'ring for the living and the dead ;
Anoint his body, whisper in his ear,
That from each mortal sin you've made him clear,
That trusting in himself and in the Pope,
He needs no stronger anchor for his hope ;
And as the awful hour of death draws nigh,
Leave him in fatal ignorance to die.
For his departed soul let mass be sung,
Processions walk, and blessed bells be rung ;
And offer " months minds" till the purging fire
By floods of holy water shall expire.
But let rich souls alone at rest be laid,
Send them to heaven when your fees are paid.
As for the beastly beggars when they die.
Let them for ever in these torments lie j
Guide not their lifeless bodies to the grave,
Nor waste one Mass their sordid souls to save.
No time, no pains, no thought should you bestow,
On those from whom no recompense can flow ;
For where's the wise man that was ever found,
To waste his labours on a barren ground,
To spend his swiftness in a vain pursuit,
Or water gardens that produce no fruit.
If there's a man who dares to keep aloof,
Who dreads to see us come beneath his roof,
Who will not often to Confession come,
That mighty moijj spring of the Church of Rome,
Send for his servants, and of them inquire
His mode of life, their diet and their hire,
Fish for some secret floating in their mind,
Which, if you dext'rously by questions, find,
And manage well, may bring him to his knees,
To beg for secrecy, and proffer fees.
But if no chance shall throw it in your way,
An accusation to his charge to lay,
If his pure life defies the voice of fame
A single crime against him to proclaim,
Then cry out Heresy — impeach his creed,
Call him a Wolf, and then you will succeed.
Fear will compel him to pull down his pride,
And cast the veil 'twixt him and you, aside.
But let no prayers, or tears, or length of time
Avail to gain forgiveness of his crime,
Until by fees and fasting, render'd pure,
His reconciliation he secure.
When by close care and artifice refined,
You have explored the secrets of the mind;
284
When the fair sinner once has told you mo: c
Than ever human ear had heard before ;
When the ricli rogue, to consequences blind,
Has told you what he did, and he designed ;
When the pale murderer has told the tale,
Which brings him to the block if you reveal ;
Then Proteus-like assume what form you please,
For all these victims may he spoil'd at ease.
Fear no refusal to your high demands,
Their character — their life is in your hands;
Nor lose your spoil by taking for your fee,
A worthless gratitude, which false must be.
For still, whoever has uncased his mind,
To dread his confident must be inclined.
Conscious of guilt, he wishes that man dead,
Whose frown can heap confusion on his head.
When issuing edicts, dip your pens in gall,
Keep taunting nick-names ready at a call,
And when you wish to strike a Christian dead,
Pelt Latin texts of Scripture at his head.
I n this we have a precedent of note,
For Lucifer himself could Moses quote.
Guard our old building, on saint Peter's rock,
With energy against each hostile shock ;
And when rash men with sacrilegious eye,
Into this edifice should dare to pry,
And point out portions of the crazy wall,
Which ne'er were built by Peter or by Paul,
Blast them as heretics condemned to dwell
To all eternity in flames of hell.
Nor with less fury than the flames below,
Let Purgatory's profitable furnace glow,
With this great difference, that the purging flame,
By papal walls, and masses, we may tame.
Tell the wild Irishmen, that when they die, T
Their souls must here in horrid anguish lie, v
Until surviving friends their pardon buy ; j
And should some wag in his own vulgar way,
To your grave reverences dare to say,
I see on each of you so mild a face, ~)
And so much feeling in your features trace, >
I cannot think there can be such a place. }
For if ye have the power by ptay'r or spell, T
Yet use it not, to quench this new found hell, >
How can the fear of God within ye dwell? J
Reply — that he with heresy is cramm'd, .
And tell the clown that if he doubts he's damn'd ;
And recollect, descanting on the mass,
To make our priestly dignity surpass
All competition, for no son of man,
On earth or sea's immeasurable span,
Except ourselves, can of some grains of wheat,
A living moving mass of flesh create ;
Bow down to, and revere, a work so tine,
Then break in pieces, plunge it into wmc,
Bruise, 'tuixt the teeth, the blood, the bones, the skin,
Ami swallow all, a sacrifice for sin.
Thus thro' the land, your pious progress take,
285
At every step, some shining money make ;
Rail at your king's religion — curse the fools,
Who send their children to Hibernian schools ;
Absolve the ribbonman, on whom devolves
The mighty task of punishing the " wolves,"
Who " in sheep's clothing" have been found so bold,
As to affright the Propaganda fold.
Signata Roms,
Sub Sigillo Piscatoris,
Prid. Kaletid. — 1820.
I. D. F. Sec. SfC,
This subject is intimately connected with that of penance. I
shall therefore give the doctrine concerning both as laid down by
the Council of Trent, Sess. 4. Canon 1. Si guis dixerit, &c.
" Let him be accursed, who shall affirm that penance is not
truly, and properly a sacrament, instituted and appointed in the
universal church, by our Lord Christ himself, for the reconciling
those Christians to the divine Majesty, who hare fallen into sin
after their baptism." They teach farther ( Sess. 14. Cap. 2.)
" That this sacrament consists of two parts, viz. the matter and
the form ; the matter of the sacrament is the act or acts of the
penitent, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; the form
of it is the act of the priest in these words, absolvo te." I ab-
solve thee. " That therefore it is the duty of every man, [cap. 3.)
who hath fallen after baptism, as aforesaid, to confess his sins at
least once a year to a priest." — " That this confession is to be se-
cret (cap. 5) ; for public confession is neither commanded nor ex-
pedient."— " That this confession of mortal sin be very exact,
(cap. 5.) and particular, together with all circumstances, especially
such as speciemjacti mutant, alter the kind or degree of sin, and
that it extend to the most secret sins, even of thought, or against
the 9th and 10th commandment." That is the 10th, according
to our division, for the church of Rome divides it into two, to
make up the number, having left out the second. And lastly,
" That the penitent thus doing, (cap. 6.) the absolution here-
upon pronounced is not conditional or declarative only, but abso-
lute and judicial." That is, the priest, on receiving confession,
as above described, pronounces a full and everlasting pardon of all
the sins so confessed, a pardon which the sinner may take and
plead at the day of judgment, against all charges that may con-
be brought against him on account of the sins which he has then
fessed.
Before proceeding to expose the wickedness of the doctrines
above taught, I shall give more in detail, what Papists avow, as
well as what they disavow, on the subject of confession, from
Gother's " Papist Misrepresented and Represented " First, what
they disavow, as in the words following : — " The Papist misrc
286
presented believes it part of his religion to make gods of men ;
foolishly thinking that these have power to forgive sins. And
therefore as often as he finds his conscience oppressed with the
guilt of his offences, he calls for one of his priests ; and having
run over a catalogue of his sins, he asks of him pardon and for-
giveness. And what is most absurd of all, he is so stupid as to
believe that, if his ghostly father, after he has heard all his vil-
lanies in his ear, does but pronounce three or four Latin words
over his head, his sins are forgiven him, although he had never
any thoughts of amendment, or intention to forsake his wicked-
ness." I hope to shew, before I have done, that there is no mis-
representation in the above, but let us first hear what is avowed
on this subject.
" The Papist truly represented believes it damnable in any re-
ligion to make gods of men. However, he firmly holds, that
when Christ, speaking to his Apostles, said, John xx. 21. ' Re-
ceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive, they are
forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained;' he
gave them, and their successors, the Bishops and Priests of the
catholic church, authority to absolve any penitent sinner from his
sins. And God having thus given them the ministry of reconcili-
ation, and made them Christ's legates, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20.
Christ's ministers, and the dispensers of the mystery of Christ,
1 Cor. iv. and given them power that whosoever they loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven, Mat. xxviii. 18. he undoubtedly
believes that whosoever comes to him making a sincere and hum-
ble confession of his sins, with a true repentance and firm purpose
of amendment, and a hearty resolution of turning from his evil ways,
may from them receive absolution, by the authority given them from
heaven, and no doubt but God ratifies above the sentence pronounced
"ii that tribunal; loosing in heaven whatsoever is thus loosed by them
on earth. And that whosoever comes without the due preparation,
without a repentance from the bottom of his heart, and real inten-
tion of forsaking his sins, receives no benefit by the absolution ; but
adds sin to sin, by a high contempt of God's mercy, and abuse of
his sacraments.*'
From the above authorities it appears tha* the church of Rome
makes it the indispensable duty of every member of her body to
tell all his or her sins to a priest at least once a year. Now if this
were literally obeyed, I venture to affirm that every member of the
chinch would require to have a priest to himself, and that the
whole year would be occupied by every priest in hearing the con-
fessions of a single individual. There is not an hour of a man's
life, in which he does not commit sin in thought, word, or deed.
Every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evil, and
only evil continually. He who alone knows the human heart
287
has declared this to be its character. What then must we think
of that religion which teaches that a person may, in a few minutes,
confess to a priest all the sins which he has committed in the
course of a whole year ? The thing is as impossible as to recal
and relate all the thoughts which have passed through his mind
during the same period ; it is as impossible as to recal in an hour,
and preserve in a bottle, all the air that has passed through his
lungs in breathing during twelve months. Yet, according to the
doctrine of the church of Rome, it is necessary that every man
and woman effect this impossibility.
I know that the Romish casuists make an exception of sins
which they call venial ; and they require only that a man confess
the mortal sins which he may have committed in the course of
the year ; but this is a distinction of their own making, and it in-
volves an error the most pernicious and fatal, that ever was inven-
ted by the father of lies. Sin in every form, and every degree, is
the object of divine abhorrence. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness, without exception. Men,
thinking only of what affects their own comfort and security in
this world, look upon some sins as great, and others as little.
Robbery and murder, for instance, are great sins, and swearing
and false worship are little ones, because the latter do us little
harm, whereas the former are hurtful to society. But this is not
the rule by which the Almighty judges. It is the alienation of
the heart of man from himself that constitutes the guilt of the
sinner in His sight ; and this alienation appears to him in the
most secret thoughts, and the most trivial actions of the sinner,
as really as in those actions which are most condemned by his
fellow creatures. If our Popish doctors were to sit down and
make out a list of the sins which they call venial, I am verily per-
suaded they would place that of our first parents in eating the
forbidden fruit at the top of the list. I defy them to find, in the
whole catalogue of human transgressions, from the creation of the
world, one, considered in itself, more venial than this. What
harm could there be in eating the fruit of one tree more than
another ? This is the cavil of infidels at this day ; and, upon
the supposition that any sin is venial, it is impossible to make
a satisfactory reply.
But in point of fact, we know that this sin " brought death into
the world, and all our woe." By this single offence of one man,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Sin consists in
disobedience to our Creator and Lawgiver ; and whether this
disobedience appear in things which men call great, or things
which they call little, it indicates a state of mind at enmity against
God, and which deserves all the punishment, which he has threat-
ened against transgressors.
288
What an enemy to the souls of men, therefore, must the
church of Rome be, which teaches that there are some sins so
venial, that is, so trifling, that it is not worth while to confess
them ; that God will not maik them, at least not mark them, or
remember them, so as to exact punishment for them ! This,
however, is so interwoven with Popery as to constitute an essen-
tial part of the system ; and if there was nothing else objectionable
in it, this alone would exhibit it to the world, as a religion, not
of God, but a mystery of iniquity emanating from the Prince of
darkness.
The revelation of divine mercy, by the gospel of Christ,
proceeds upon the assumption, that all men are utterly lost and
undone, on account of sin. Christ came to put away sin, by the
sacrifice of himself. He laid down his life as a ransom for many.
Now in the whole history of this wonderful transaction, we find
not the least hint that any sin was so venial, as not to require ex-
piation. It was to put away sin, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, that the Saviour of the world laid down his life. It was sin,
without distinction of great or little, venial or mortal, that rendered
this infinite sacrifice necessary, in order that we might be saved.
Those who are saved by grace cannot possibly look upon any sin
as venial. They will, in secret, confess to God every sin of
which they are conscious, encouraged to do so by his own word,
" If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity."
But Popery carnalizes every thing. It reduces this sublime
view of Christian piety, and privilege, to the mere annual form of
confessing to a fellow creature, and receiving his absolution : And
as such fellow creature cannot hear the thousandth part of the con-
fessing sinner's transgressions, but only afew of his enormous crimes,
such as eating flesh on Friday, or in lent, the penitent is taught to
believe that his other sins are merely venial, or no sins at all
Thus the priests prophecy lies ; the people love to have it so ;
and thousands annually go down to the grave with a lie in their
mouths.
THE
No. LXXXVII.
SATURDAY, MARCH Uth, 1820.
It is imperiously required of every Papist that he confess his sins
to a priest at least once every year. I showed in my last Num-
ber, that if this order were literally observed, every sinner would
require to have a priest of his own ; and that both he and the
priest would have enough to do, though they minded nothing
else, from the end of one year to the end of another. The man
who believes it to be possible to confess at one sitting, or rather
at one kneeling, the sins of twelve months, must have a very dif-
ferent notion of what sin is from the representations which the
word of God gives of it ; and in fact, he has the authority of the
church, which he considers infallible, for regarding the most part
of those things which the Bible calls sins, as mere peccadilloes,
not worthy of being remembered, much less of being punished,
either by God or man.
I need not stop to expose the error of this doctrine ; the error
is manifest to every man who reads his Bible, and who under-
stands but the first principles of the word of God. My present
object is to prove the fact, that the church of Rome teaches the
doctrine that some sins are only venial, while others, and these
but few in number, are esteemed mortal ; and that, having per-
suaded her blinded adherents to believe this impious absurdity,
she allows them to rest satisfied with having made a confession,
though it should not embrace one in ten thousand of their real
transgressions.
Thus the words of the Council of Trent, (Sess. 14. cap. 6.)
are, " that this confession of mortal sin be very exact and par-
ticular ;" which leaves it to be inferred, that sins, which are not
considered mortal,, need not be confessed at all ; and as every sin-
ner is disposed to think his own sins but venial, at least the
greater part of them, he will have but few mortal ones to confess ;
no more in ordinary cases, in the course of a year, than he can
detail to his priest, with all their aggravations, in an hour.
The Douay catechism is honourably explicit on this subject.
Vol. II. O o
2<)0
It reduces the deadly or capital sins to seven in number. To
these, of course, a penitent may restrict his confession ; and if he
cannot accuse himself of any of these, he has no confession to make.
He has only to declare himself as innocent as on the day of his
baptism, by which rite he believes he was cleansed from original
sin, and to demand the body of his Creator in the sacrament of
his body and blood, it being necessary, in order to the reception
of this, that a man be in a state of grace, that is, free from mor-
tal sin. The seven deadly sins are, pride, covetousness, lux-
ury, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. The French catechism
issued by Buonaparte and the Pope, gives precisely the same
number, with two slight verbal variations : — What the former calls
luxury and sloth, the latter calls wantonness and idleness.
The Douay catechism has also six sins against the Holy
Ghost ; but as they are not described as mortal, we must consider
them as only venial. These are, despair of salvation, presumption
of God's mercy, to impugn the known truth, envy at another's
spiritual good, obstinacy in sin, and final impenitence. The grave
authors of this catechism had already placed envy among the
deadly sins, but here it appears among those which are distin-
guished from the deadly. This arises, I suppose, from the rule
of the Council of Trent, which requires a particular regard to
circumstances, especially such as speciem jacti mutant, that is,
alter the kind or degree of sin. It is envy in general that is a
mortal sin ; but when it is only " envy at another's spiritual good,"
the species is altered ; and the sin becomes venial. If we take
the word of God for our rule, we shall find that there is no sin
so emphatically marked as deadly as that of final impenitence ;
but the Douay doctors class this with sins which are not deadly,
for no other reason that I know of, but that they have still a
remedy for it in Purgatory.
There are four sins besides, which are particularly marked by
the Douay divines in their catechism, which Amicus Veiitatis
says is approved by the whole church of Rome. These four
sins are, wilful murder, sin of Sodom, oppression of the poor,
and to defraud workmen of their wages. These are entitled,
n the sins that cry to heaven for vengeance." But seeing they are
not placed in the list of deadly sins, it may be presumed that
their cry is not heard, that vengeance does not follow them, and
therefore we must consider them as merely venial.
In this way Papists "sport themselves with their own deceiv-
ings." They are worse than the fools that make a mock at sin ;
for they represent the most enormous wickedness as no sin at all,
or as such a trifle that it would be unjust to punish men for it,
at least with eternal punishment. Thus, in answer to the ques-
tion, '' What is venial sin ?" the Douay catechism answers, — " It
291
is a much more pardonable offence against God or our neigh-
bour:" that is, more pardonable than the mortal sin which is
explained immediately before. In short, the Council of Mentz
professed plainly, " That they cannot understand how God
should be just, if he punish any for venial sins with eternal
punishment." Sonnius, one of their authors, tells us, that " venial
sins are worthy of ■pardon ;" that is making them meritorious -
and Bellarmine, their great champion, declares, that they " hold
with a general consent that venial sins make not a man guilty of
eternal death." " That God would be unjust if he punished
venial sins eternally, justice requiring a forbearance to punish that
offence which deserves not punishment." Again, says the same
author, " some sins are so far from deserving eternal punishment,
that God cannot punish them eternally, without injustice." Gre-
gory de Valentia says, that " venial sin may be remitted without
any infusion of grace." Andradius and Bonaventure assert,
" That for venial sins we do not so much as need repent-
ance." The Council of Mentz teach, " That many depart this
life free from mortal sins, and for lighter sins they shall never
be damned." (See the quotations, and many more to the
same purpose, in a Sermon by Mr. Jenkyti, entitled, " No sin
venial.'"!
Thus, from the published sentiments of their greatest authors,
and from their approved catechisms, it will appear, that Papists
need not much concern themselves about most of the sins of
which they know themselves to be guilty ; nay that they may easily
get quit of them all by persuading themselves of some circumstance
which changes a mortal sin into a venial one ; or if this cannot
be done, they have only to tell their deadly sins to a priest, who
not only will, but who is obliged to grant absolution, if the sinner
appear to be sorry for what he has done, and promise amendment.
A little penance is enjoined as a thing of course, which the pen-
itent may either suffer in person, or compound for by a little
money, and then he is declared to be in a state of grace, as pure
and innocent as when he came from the laver of regeneration,
that is, from the holy water sprinkled on him at baptism.
1 do not believe that the grossest heathenism is so much cal-
culated to promote sin, and to keep men at ease under their sins,
as this impious substitute for Christianity, which the church of
Rome has palmed upon the world ; by means of which she has
deceived the nations of Europe for so many ages, and led mil-
lions of souls to everlasting perdition. For let it be observed,
that in the sins of her catalogue, there is no mention of that which
is the root and the sum of all iniquity, namely, the want of love
to God. A man may be unconscious of any of the seven deadly
„i'ns — of any of the six sins against the Holy Ghost; — or of any
292
of the four that cry to heaven for vengeance ; — it may not be in
the power of man to convict him of any one of these seventeen
sins ; and yet he may be in the gall of bitterness, and the bond
of iniquity, because the love of God is not in him ; and while
his fellow creatures are regarding him as a saint, worthy to be
canonized and adored, all the benevolence of heaven is looking
clown upon him with pity and compassion, as an enemy to God
in his mind ; and as belonging to that description of men, for
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
The church of Rome endeavours, by every means in her power,
to keep the eyes of men shut against this view of their character
and state. She is constantly diverting their minds' from reflecting
upon the character of true religion, as consisting in love to God
and to our fellow men, and as manifesting itself in spiritual wor-
ship, and holy practice. She has their minds pre-occupied, by a
system of false religion and will-worship ; which is the more
pernicious, and the more to be abhorred, because it assumes the
name of Christianity. In this system, the love of God, which is
the essence of true religion, is declared not to be necessary ; at
least, not to be so necessary as that one cannot be a Christian
without it.
I shall immediately prove this by quotations from distinguish-
ed writers of the church of Rome. These writers were Jesuits,
and therefore their doctrines will have the greater weight with
our British Papists ; for I wish the reader to recollect, that after
this most pestilent Society had been proscribed by all the Popish
powers in Europe, they found an asylum in the heart of England ;
where, for thirty years past, they have been allowed to extend
their influence, concentrate their powers, and mature their plans
for bringing the world again in subjection to their ghostly domin-
ion. The principal Popish writers of the present day in England,
have avowed themselves on the side of the Jesuits ; the Pope
himself, by his recent authoritative restoration of the order, has
identified with them not only himself personally, but also the
church of which he is the head ; and I have not a doubt, that if
the Popish priests at present in Scotland and England would
tell the truth, they would confess that they are Jesuits. I have
not access to the original works from which the following extracts
are taken ; but I give them as quoted by M. Pascal, who was a
devoted and zealous member of the church of Rome ; hut so amia-
ble and so pious, that I cannot allow myself to call him a Papist.
In Escobar, says M. Pascal, (in his Provincial Letters, Let. X.)
who has collected the various opinions of our Fathers on this
subject, in the practice of the love of God by our Society, tr. 1
ex< 2. ii. 21. and tr. 5. ex. 4-. n. 8. you have this question:
M When, or at what time, is .t man obliged to have an actual love
293
or affection for God ? Suarez says, it is enough to love him a
little hefore we die, without fixing any time. Vasquez, that it is
enough to love him at the point of death. Others, at baptism ;
some, at the seasons of contrition ; others, upon festivals. But
our Father Castro Palao opposes, and justly too, every one of
these opinions. Hurtado de Mendoza pretends to say, that we
are obliged to love him once every year, and that we are well off, in
not being obliged to love him oftener. But Father Conink be-
lieves that we are bound to do it once in three or four years.
Henriquez, every five years. And Filiutius says, it is probable
that we are not rigorously obliged to do it every five years."
Anthony Sirmond, another of their Fathers, discusses this doc-
trine in the manner following : — " St. Thomas says we are
obliged to love God as soon as he has given us the use of reason :
but that is a little too soon. Scotus, every Sunday. What foun-
dation has he for that ? Others, in times of strong temptation.
Ay, if there was no other way to avoid it. Scotus, that after some
great mercy received from God, it is not amiss to thank him for
it. Others, at the point of death. That is a little too late.
Neither do I believe it necessary every time that the sacraments
are administered. Attrition with confession, if you can come at
it conveniently, will do well enough. Suarez says, he is sure we
are obliged to love God some time or other. Ay, but when ?
Why, you are to be judge of that, for he knows nothing of the
matter."
On these sentiments of Jesuit authors, expressed in their own
words, Pascal remarks, " Now if such a doctor as Suarez knows
nothing of the matter, I do not know who does. And he con-
cludes at last, that in strictness, we are only obliged to keep the
other commandments without having any affection for God, or
our hearts the least inclined to love him ; provided we do not
hate him ; and this he proves throughout his whole second trea-
tise. You will see in every page, but more particularly in the 16,
19, 24", and 28, where are these words: ' God, in commanding
us to love him, is satisfied if we obey him in his other command-
ments.' If God had said, ' Though you keep my command-
ments ever so well, I will damn you, if you do not moreover
give me your heart and affections ;' do you think that this motive
would have been proportioned to that end and design, which God
may, and ought to have? It is therefore said that we shall love
God, by doing his will, in the same manner as if we loved him
affectionately, and had no other bias but that of charity itself.
Should that be really the case, so much the better ; but if not,
we still do not fail strictly to obey the commandment of love,
uhile we perform the works thereof: so that (observe the good-
294
ness of God) we are not so much commanded to love him as we
are not to hate him."
'* Thus have our Fathers (continues M. Pascal) discharged
men from the painful obligation of loving God with all their
hearts. And this doctrine is of that importance, that Fathers
Annat, Pintereau, Le Moine, and even A. Sirmond, have stout-
ly defended it whenever it was attacked ; as you may see in their
answers to the Moral Theolopy, but particularly in that of Father
Pintereau, 2. p of Abbe de Boisic, p. 53. where you may judge
uf the value of this dispensation by tbe price which it cost, which
was no less than the blood of Jesus Christ. But what crowns
this doctrine is, that it sets you free from the troublesome duty of
loving God, which is the great privilege which the Christians have
above the Jews. ' It was reasonable,' says he, ' that by the law
of grace in the New Testament, God should take off the trouble-
some and difficult duties of the law of rigour, which obliged men
to acts of perfect contrition, before they could be justified ; and
that he should institute certain sacraments, to supply all our de-
fects, by the help of means more easy to be performed : otherwise
Christians, who are the children, could not more easily recover the
good graces of their Father, than the Jews who were the slaves,
could obtain mercy from their God."
In short, the sum of the Jesuits' doctrine on this subject is thus
shortly given by Pascal : " That this exemption from loving God
is the great benefit, or advantage, which Jesus Christ has brought
down upon the earth ;" and then he expresses his indignation
against the doctrine thus inculcated by the leading men of his
own church, in the following language, which would do honour
to any Protestant : — " What ! will the blood of Jesus Christ
procure us an exemption from loving him ? Before the incar-
nation, mankind were obliged to love God, but since God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son ; shall
the world, thus mercifully redeemed by him, be discharged from
loving him ? Strange divinity of our times ! To dare to take
off the curse that St. Paul pronounces against those who love
not the Lord Jesus ! To destroy what St. John says, That he
that loveth not, remaineth in death. Nay, what Jesus Christ
himself affirms, ' He that loveth me not, keepeth not my command-
ments.' Thus you make those worthy to enjoy God through all
eternity, who never once loved him in the whole course of their
lives. This is the mystery of iniquity complete ! Open your
eyes at last, my good Father, and if the former errors of your
casuists are not discernible enough to strike you, may these last
withdraw you, by their glaring impieties." Vol. I. p. 227. eel. 174-4-.
Here I shall indulge myself in a short digression, to show the
reader in what manner the Jesuits of that day treated this faithful
295
exposure of their impieties, and the then unknown author, who
published his Letters one by one, at intervals. They found it
impossible to defend themselves by fair argument ; and they had
recourse to a weapon which their society, in every stage of its ex-
istence, has been found to handle more dexterously than any other
body of men in the world; that is, lying, downright impudent lying,
and calumny. Thus the author of the Provincial Letters, who
was a man really concerned for the honour of his church, was
assailed by the Jesuits with every opprobrious epithet ; and, to
express in one word all the crimes of which they accused him,
they called him a Heretic ; and, supposing him to belong to
the Society of Port Royal, they accused the whole body, nuns
ind all, with heresy, particularly of " disbelieving the mystery of
transubstantiation, and the real presence of Christ in the Euch-
arist." This had no connexion with the subjects in dispute ;
for the author of the Letters was a firm believer in that absurdity;
but it seems to have been intended, and ii had the effect of
diverting his mind, at least for a time, from exposing the impiety
of their doctrines ; for we find he entered immediately on his own
defence, which occupies a considerable part of his second volume.
In this defence, however, he makes a most pointed exposure of the
wickedness of these fathers.
" I shall not only prove," says he, " that your writings are
full of scandal, but I shall go farther. It is possible to say a
thing that is false, believing it to be true ; but the real liar is he
that lies with an intention to lie. Now I shall make it appear
that you, Fathers, lie with that intention ; and that you load
your enemies, knowingly and designedly, with crimes of which
you positively know that they are innocent." — " For this doctrine
of evil speaking is so notorious in your schools, that you have
not only maintained it in your books, but, with the most consum-
mate impudence, in your public disputations; as, amongst others,
in those at Louvain, in the year 1645, in these terms. It is but
a venial sin to ruin the credit of a false accuser, by charging him
with false crimes : and this doctrine is so much in vogue with you,
that whoever dares to attack it, you treat him as an ignorant
fool-hardy fellow."
A capuchin friar who had been accused by the Jesuits in the
same manner, is introduced as making the following defence : —
" I have stopped their impudence once before, and I will do it
again, in the same manner. I declare therefore to all the world
that they (the Jesuits) are most impudent liars: Mentiri
impudentissime. If the things they accuse me of be true, let them
be proved, or let my accusers from henceforth and for ever stand
convicted of a most impudent lie. After this challenge, all
men will see who is in the right, they or I." — " This honest
^96
capuchin', Fathers, lias cut off from your reverences all possibility
of making a retreat. You are now convicted of being professed
detractors, and must defend yourselves by your maxim, that this
kind of calumny is no crime at all. This father has found out
the way of stopping your mouths; and indeed it is the only way,
whenever your accusations want proof. The best answer to every
one of you, is that of the Capuchin father, Mentiius impu-
dentissime." Such is the character of the Jesuits, drawn,
not by a heretical Protestant, but by a brother of their own
communion, who knew them well.
The reader will be apt to think that I have lost sight of the
subject of Auricular Confession ; but this is not the case.
I wish to expose, as plainly as I can, the notions which Papists
entertain with regard to sin, in order to a better understanding of
what they call their sacramental confession. If they knew sin in its
true character, as it is described in the word of God, they would
see that it is impossible for a fellow creature to hear a true con-
fession of it, or to grant absolution ; and if by any means they
should acquire this knowledge, it would ruin the trade of their
father confessors, who are, therefore, directly interested in main-
taining false notions of sin, and distracting the minds of the peo-
ple with distinctions of sins venial and mortal ; which they do in
such an equivocal and quibbling manner, that they can make any
sin belong to the one class, or to the other, according to the
disposition of the sinner's mind, or according to the weight of his
purse, and his willingness to part with its contents for the good
of the church.
The above extracts confirm the truth of some of my remarks in
the early part of my work, in which I convicted Popery of repre-
senting the Father of mercies as a cruel tyrant. It is only be-
cause Papists look upon him in this light, that they can enter-
tain the question for a moment, as a subject of discussion, whe-
ther, and how often, they are bound to love him ? If they did
not regard him with aversion, they could never think of the
benefit of being exempted from loving him ; and they would
never speak of the love of God as a painful obligation.
Their doctrine, however, is deeply rooted in human nature. " 1 he
carnal mind is enmity against God ;" and it is one of the radical
vices of Popery, that she professes to save men in their natural
state of depravity, by means of her sacraments, which are declar-
ed to produce the miraculous effect of reconciling men to God,
while yet there is no real change produced in the state ot their
minds towards God. This accounts for all the nonsense and
blasphemy of the Popish writers on the subjects of sin, confession,
and absolution, which I have given in this, and intend to give in
my future Numbers.
THE
No. LXXXVJII.
SATURDAY, MARCH I8lh, 1820.
To love God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength,
and our neighbour as ourselves, is the sum of true religion : but
Popery teaches that it is not necessary to love God, except on
some extraordinary occasions ; and that if we were under obliga-
tion to love him at all times, Christians, who are the children of
God, would be no better of than the Jews, who were his slaves.
It will scarcely be credited, that a doctrine so horribly impious can
be held by men even in the lowest state of depravity ; but for the
truth of what I assert, I refer the reader to the words of their
own great divines and casuists which I gave in my last Number,
upon the authority of Pascal, one of the greatest, and, I suppose,
one of the best men that the church of Rome ever produced.
I proceed now to show, that, by the authority of the same ca-
suists, Papists are also relieved from the obligation of loving their
neighbour ; and thus being made free from the painful obligation
of obeying the two commandments on which hang all the law
and the prophets, the reader will perceive that the confession of
sin, which they haye to make to their priests once a year, must
be a very light and trivial matter. I am aware that the authori-
ty of Escobar, and Suarez, and Filiutius, and Bauny, and Em-
anuel Sa, and Bellarmine, and all the rest, jointly and severally,
is not so great as that of a General Council ; but I know at the
same time, that the authority of any one of them is great enough
to direct the conscience and the conduct of a Papist, if the opin-
ion which he gives on any point of morals be a probable one ;
and any man may consider as probable whatever he pleases, or
whatever may serve his present purpose.
The duty of love to our neighbour is detailed and enjoined
in the second table of the law, which commences with the duty
of love to parents and superiors. Let us see now how the
Jesuits dispense with this troublesome duty. " For what concerns
Jove, Dicastillus saith, that it is not altogether certain, that a child
Vol. II. V p
298
can lawfully desire the death of his father, or rejoice in it, be-
cause of the inheritance that may come to him thereby ; but he
believes that he sins not mortally in rejoicing, not in his death
considered as an evil to his father, but as a lawful means appoint-
ed of God, for him to obtain the succession ; not because some
evil befel the father, but some good to the son." Tambourin,
who wrote after Dicastillus, delivers the doctrine with more con-
fidence. " If you desire the death of your father upon some
condition, the answer is easy, that you may laivfully. For if
>ne say in himself, if my father should die, I should enjoy his
estate ; in this case he should not rejoice in his father's death,
but in his inheritance." Again, " I desire the death of my fa-
ther, not because it is an evil to him, but because it is good for me,
or because it is the cause of good unto me; and because by this
his death, I enter into the possession of my paternal inheritance."
I suppose it did not occur to this grave and reverend father, that,
according to this holy doctrine, a younger brother might lawfully
desire his death ; and that what it is lawful to desire, it is also
lawful to effect, if one be able, and have an opportunity.
Hear again this said Tambourin, in reply to the fol-
lowing question : — " May an inferior desire the death of his su-
perior, in the church or commonwealth, that he may succeed to
his office, or that he may be delivered from him, because he fa-
vours him not?" Answer : — " If you desire only to receive with
joy the effect of this death, to wit, the inheritance of a father, the
charge of a prelate, the deliverance from some trouble he procur-
ed you, the answer is easy, that you may desire all these things
lawfully, and that because you rejoice not in the evil of another,
but in your own proper good." Here again, I take it for grant-
ed, that what it is lawful to desire, it is lawful to do ; and by this
casuistry of the Jesuits, it is lawful for any person to dispatch his
superior in church or state, if he favours him not.
I have before me a folio volume of such morality, which was
collected ahid arranged by a grave doctor of the church of Rome,
not with approbation indeed, but with the most decided disap-
probation. The work is entitled " The Jesuits' Morals, col-
lected by a doctor of the College of Sorbonne in Paris ; who hath
faithfully extracted them out of the Jesuits' own books, which
are printed by the permission and approbation of the superiors
of their society." This doctor of the Sorbonne was evidently a
Jansenist, a sect, in comparison with the Jesuits, of little account
in the church of Rome ; for with all her boasted unity, the
church of Rome has been as fruitful in sects directly opposed to
each other, as Protestants have been at anv period. He gives
the very words of his authors, in the original Latin, with the
nost particular references, so that there can be no doubt, with
299
regard to his authorities. The passages above quoted will be
found in pages 298, 299, of his work.
He shews, from a great number of passages, that the Fathers of
the Jesuits, hold it lawful to commit murder in a variety of cases.
" It is lawful," says Lessius, " for an honourable person to kill
an assailant, who would strike him with a cudgel, or give him a
box on the ear to affront him, if he cannot otherwise avoid the dis-
grace. This may be proved ; first, because if one attempt to
damnify me in my honour and reputation, by smiting me with
a cudgel, or giving me a box on the ear, I may betake me to my
arms to keep him off; and by consequence, 1 have the very same
right, if he endeavour to do me some wrong by reproaching me :
for it is of small consideration, what means are made use of to do
me an injury, if I be hurt as much the one way as the other.
In the second place, recourse may be had to arms to hinder an
affront ; and so also to silence reproaches. In the third place,
(he danger of losing honour is equal to that of losing life. But
it is lawful to kill, to avoid the peril of losing life ; and by
consequence also for avoiding the danger of losing honour."
Again, " if one may kill for fear of losing his money, he may
also, for fear of taking an affront." page 305. Our modern
men of honour, the fighters of duels, must all have been trained
in the school of the Jesuits.
Another grave author pleads for the privilege of the clergy, in
the following words : — " That we cannot at least deny that cler-
gymen and friars may, and even are obliged, to defend their hon-
our and reputation, which proceeds from virtue and prudence ;
because this honour doth appertain to their profession, and that
if they lose it, they lose a very great benefit and advantage."
" It follows, that it will be lawful, for a clergyman, or a monk,
to kill a slanderer, who threatens to publish some great crimes
against him, or his order, if he have no other means to defend
himself therefrom." " You have read," says this author, " the
doctrine of Amicus, and you demand whether a monk, that
hath sinned through frailty of the flesh, with a woman of base
condition, who takes it for an honour to be prostitute to so great
a personage, boasts herself of it, and defames him, may kill this
woman ? I know not what to answer. It is true, I have heard
an excellent Father, a doctor in divinity, of great wit and learn-
ing, say, that Amicus might well have forborne to propound this
proposition ; but it being once published in print, he was obliged
to maintain it, and we to defend him. This doctrine indeed is
probable, and a monk may kill a woman xvith vchom he hath
sinned, Jbr fear she should defame him." page 313. I could
fill half-a-dozen of Numbers with extracts from Escobar, and other
Fathers, all to the same purpose. I cannot, however, pollute my
300
pages with what these Fathers have written upon the seventh, thai
is, what they call the sixth, commandment. By their casuistry,
they allow persons to he as wicked as they please, provided they
do not take pleasure in actions as wicked. By what they call
directing the intention, a man may commit the greatest crimes,
and he guilty of no more than venial sin, or not even so much.
According to the same authors, theft is a harmless thing.
Thus Emanue! Sa teaches : " He who in taking what is anoth-
er's, doth him no prejudice, because he made no use of it, and
was not like to use it, is not obliged to restitution." Escobar
asks, " If a man, after many small thefts, hath taken the last
halfpenny which makes up a great theft, whereof he thereby be-
comes guilty, be obliged to restore all the sum, which was com-
posed of these petty thefts ?" to which he replies, " He is not
obliged, under mortal sin, to make restitution of all the sum, but
only part, which being taken off, the theft would be no more cri-
minal." page 341.
The Jesuits have applied all their skill to evade the force of the
ninth commandment. Lying is as necessary for the support of
Popery, as meat and drink are for the support of our bodies. It
is therefore indispensable, that it be considered only a venial sin,
or in most cases, no sin at all. Dicastillus demands, " Whether
he be ohliged to retract, who hath affirmed some falsity which
will cost the loss of life, or member, to another, when the witness
by his retraction will incur the same penalty ?'' and answers ;
" That he believes that if the false witness have not sinned mor-
tally by bearing this false testimony, he is not obliged, after un-
derstanding the truth, to retract what he had said, so exposing
himself to great evils." Hurtado teaches, and Tambourin ap-
proves it, that " a scholar, having need to prove that he had gone
through his course, and having need of two witnesses hereof, may
employ therein two of his friends who have not seen him go to
the lectures, but are sufficiently persuaded that he did attend
them : but they may not sivear for all that, that they have seen
him go." page 346. That is, they may not swear, but they may
affirm what they do not know to be true ; and we shall see pre-
sently that these doctors do not look upon a false oath as a mor-
tal sin.
FiliutlUS instances, in the case of promises and oaths, speak-
ing of one who promised something outwardly, without inten-
tion of performing, " For if one ask him if he have promised, he
may say no, intending that he had not promised, by any promise
that obliged him ; and by consequence he may also swear, for
otherwise he should be constrained to pay what he owes not."
Sanchez, speaking of the same thing, says, " All the difficulty is
reduced to this, to know if he that hath sworn had an intent to
301
swear, but not be obliged in swearing, if he be truly obliged ?"
After reporting the opinions and the reasons of those who hold
that the oath obliges, he adds ; " The second opinion which I
hold more probable, holds, that in this case the oath obliges not at
all." page 47. By this rule a man may swear to any thing, and
yet not be bound ; for it was only his intention to take the oath,
but not to be bound by it. " If you be assured," says Tambou-
rin, " that you have made a vow, or an oath, and you doubt
whether you had an intent to oblige yourself, or if the words
which you used in your oath contained an invocation of God,
at least a tacit one, I believe it is probable that you are not ob-
liged to keep it."
Considering all these things, the reader must be convinced, that
confession in the church of Rome must be a very easy matter ;
and that most persons will have very few sins to confess. There
is not one of the divine commandments, by which a person can
be convicted of mortal sin, though he had transgressed them all
a thousand times in the course of the year, if he be but ingenious
enough to apply the doctrine of intention to all his actions. He
may have desired the death of his father or of his civil superior ;
he may have killed the man who had affronted, or designed to
affront him, and the woman who had it in her power to divulge
his wickedness; he may have embezzled the property of another;
and he may have invented a thousand lies in order to ruin his
neighbour, if he had but a suspicion that his neighbour had an ill
will towards him : in short, he may have been a habitual blasphem-
er, and murderer, and adulterer, and thief, and liar, and yet be
held not guilty of any mortal sin, because he did not these things,
taking pleasure in them as sins, but for some desirable and neces-
sary purpose. When he goes to confession, he may tell his priest
why and wherefore he did such things ; and if his confessor be a
Jesuit, he will admit the force of every extenuating circumstance,
and, according to the morality of his order, exact no more in the
way of penance than what he may consider agreeable to the peni-
tent himself.
Besides, persons in meaner circumstances, who do not stand
so high in the esteem of the Jesuits as the rich and the great,
may get over the painful duty of confession very easily, if they
will go to the priest at the season of the year when he has most
work on his hands, or if they will only be at the pains to concert
matters with their poor neighbours, so as to go to the priest in
forties or fifties at a time ; for he must hear them all separately;
and the Jesuits have a rule, that when they have many penitents
to attend to, they need not be very particular in rummaging the
conscience of any one of them. Thus Bauny teaches : " That if
anyone of ignorance or simplicity confess his faults only in gross,
302
without determinately expressing any one of them in particular,
there is no need to draw from his mouth the repetition of those
faults, if it cannot conveniently he done ; hecause the confessor is
pressed with penitents that give him not leisure for it."
The priest, however, is empowered to grant absolution of the
penitent's sins, though he should not have heard of what nature
they are, and this absolution is as effectual as if he had heard a
confession of them all, with every symptom of deep sorrow on thf
part of the penitent. It is not, however, necessary, in ordinary
cases, that a penitent should be very sorrowful on account of his
sins. Some of the above cited fathers teach that contrition is in-
deed a desirable thing, if one can come at it ; but if not, they
say that attrition is enough. Now this word attrition does not
signify sorrow for sin as displeasing to God ; but only such sor-
row as arises from the fear of punishment. It is quite consistent
with a state of mind at enmity against God ; and yet with this
hatred of God in their hearts, the priest grants them the pardon
of all their sins, and sends them away with the belief that God has
pardoned them too ; and that if they were to die immediately,
they would certainly go to heaven, either directly, or by way of
purgatory. Every intelligent Christian must be convinced that
this doctrine could proceed only from the father of lies, and the
enemy of men's souls.
In order to absolution, it is indeed required in ordinary cases,
that the penitent should resolve to forsake his sins and lead a
new life ; but it is not in all cases necessary that this resolution
be sincere, or that there be a probability of his fulfilling it.
Father Bauny confesses that " oftentimes it be supposed that
such resolutions come but from the teeth outwards." Emanuel
Sa says the same thing, and adds, " we may absolve him who
resolves to abstain from sin, though he himself believe that he
shall not hold his resolution." Again, says the same father,
"that he may be absolved, who from just and reasonable cause
will not quit the occasion of sin, provided he make a firm reso-
lution that he will not sin any more ; though he have already re-
lapsed thereinto many times." Just and reasonable cause for not
quitting occasion of sin, is elsewhere explained to be, going into
bad company for the sake of doing them good, though the person
;loing so have reason from former experience to suspect that they
will lead him to sin, rather than that he shall lead them to for-
sake it. Again, Father Bauny teaches, " If, notwithstanding all
that they have said and promised to their confessor in limes past,
they cannot forbear to break out into excess and greater liberty
in the very same faults as before, they ought to be admitted to
the sacrament, and may be absolved." — " That the penitent pur-
posing with true affection, and resorting to the feet of the priest
303
o put an end to his sins, deserves to receive pardon though he
amend not." Dicastillus speaks without hesitation on this sub-
ject : — " that after it is experimented that he amends not at all,
and after it is known that the penitent hath no will to quit the
occasions, absolution may be given him. And when there is
some reasonable cause why the penitent should not separate him-
self from the occasion of sin, though the penitent have relapsed
into it very frequently, he is not to be obliged to avoid it, nor to
be deprived of absolution, though his relapses be very frequent :
he ought on the contrary to be exhorted to come frequently to
confession." See Jesuits' Morals, pages 211 — 213.
Thus it appears that sin is the staple commodity of traffic in
the church of Rome. It is by this that she has her wealth ; and
if persons were not perpetually sinning, and professing to repent
at least once a-year, the priests might shut shop. The greatest
sinner is in fact the best customer ; and, as in the case last cited,
one who relapses very frequently, must not be obliged to avoid
sin, or the occasion of it ; he must rather be exhorted to come
more frequently to confession ; and as he must not come empty
handed, the greater sinner he is, he is so much the better mem-
ber of the holy church.
I expect to hear that our British Papists reject the authority
of the great Fathers from whose writings I have made such liberal
extracts. They will plead that the Jesuit casuists were not the
" Catholic Church," and that therefore what they teach is not
necessarily catholic doctrine. I might, perhaps, admit the plea, if
it were urged by any other church than that of Rome ; but as
she firmly maintains, that all her priests are, in virtue of their or-
dination, successors of the apostles, and endowed with the
authority of apostles to declare the word of God and the true
meaning of the scriptures with infallible certainty, she has no
right to object to any doctrine which her priests may inculcate.
Every lay person is in fact bound, under pain of anathema,
to receive and hold fast whatever his priest may tell him
on matters of faith. This is not the case in Protestant church-
es. In them every member is exhorted to read the Bible, and
judge for himself; and to receive nothing from the mouth of any
man except what he finds supported by the word of God. It is
quite otherwise in the church of Rome, in which it is declared
unlawful to exercise private judgment ; and that every man must,
under pain of damnation, receive implicitly what is taught by his
priest. Besides, the works from which the above extracts ars
made contain not the sentiments of mere individual priests',
they have the sanction of the superiors of the order of Jesuits,
which is virtually the sanction of the whole body, not of the
Jesuits otily, but of the whole church, of which they are the most
active agents and defenders.
304
I will shew farther, that whatever the more consistent Papists
of Spain and Portugal may plead on this subject, those in Bri-
tain are fairly committed as identifying themselves with the Je-
suits. The Orthodox Journal, which is declared by itself to be
now the only " Catholic Journal" in Britain, in the Number
which has just reached me, speaks of the Jesuits as the most
meritorious order with which the church was ever blessed ; arid
ascribes all the evils which have befallen Europe, during the last
thirty years, to the suppression of the order ; for such was their
pure morality, and other good qualities, that had they not been
suppressed, the French Revolution would probably not have
taken place, and all its bitter consequences would have been pre-
vented. This is the avowed opinion of the public organ of the
English Papists, who is known to write under the patronage of
a right reverend Vicar Apostolic, and who may be presumed to
have the concurrence of the great body of his brethren. Let us
hear, then, his account of the Society of Jesuits : —
" The admirable constitution by which this renowned order
was governed, shewed the knowledge which its sainted founder
had of human nature. By its rules, ambition, jealousy, and vain
glory, were unknown among the disciples of Loyola, because
there was no chance whatever left them to gratify these inordinate
passions of the heart." It seems to be a rule with all Popish
writers, to disavow most peremptorily those vices of which they
are most notoriously guilty ; and thus, it seems, the Jesuits could
not be accused of ambition, though their object was no less than
to have the direction of all the governments in Christendom, and
ultimately of the whole world.
I have not room for one half of what this writer says in praise
of the Jesuits ; but it may come in my way again.
I beg leave to recommend to the reader a small pamphlet just
published, entitled, " God's revenge against Rebellion ; an his-
torical Poem : with copious notes, illustrative of the present
state of Ireland : Occasioned by a late edict from Rome, and a
circular letter of a titular Bishop in the west of Ireland, against
Bibles and Protestant Schoolmasters. By the Rev. John Graham,
M. A." This Poem was addressed to The Protestant, but
being too large for insertion in his work, he recommended its
separate publication. It contains a great deal of information with
regard to the present state of Ireland, and the mischiefs occa-
sioned by Popery in that unhappy country. It may be had of
all the Booksellers, price sixpence. I am indebted to the Author
for many other valuable communications, particularly the Poem
inserted in my 81st and 8b'th Numbers.
Errata in Mr. Graham's Pastoral Letter from Home in No. 86, page
'284, line 14, for confident read confidant ; line 54, for Papal walls, read
Papal I'uUs.
thp:
iProtegtautt
No. LXXXIX.
SATURDAY, MARCH 25th, 1820.
A he following letter contains only one paragraph on auricular
confession, which is my present subject of discussion ; but that
paragraph, which contains the testimony of a living credible wit-
ness, is worth fifty arguments in order to demonstrate the wicked-
ness of Popery in this matter alone. Indeed, the whole letter is
so very interesting, that I am sure the reader will thank me for
interrupting the course of my argument in order to give place tc
it.
"To the Protestant.
" Lillieslief, 12th February, 1820.
" My dear Sir,
" While the facts I am now going to state, will form my
apology for troubling you with this long letter, they will show
you that I must feel a more than ordinary interest in the ad-
mirable work which you are carrying on, under title of " Thk
Protestant."
" I am a native of Ireland ; and was brought up in the profession
of Christianity, as taught by the ministers of the church of Rome,
until about the beginning of the 18th year of my age. In my
early years, I was favoured with a better education than Papists
generally give their children in that ill-fated, but admirable coun-
try. Protestants forming a large portion of the community,
the Bible was among us a common school-book : this is a circum-
stance for which I can never be sufficiently grateful ; for although
I did not then understand the will of God as revealed in the
Bible, the repeated perusal of it rendered its language and senti-
ments familiar to my mind ; and the knowledge which I thus ac-
quired was afterwards of great use to me.
" In my 16th year, I was, by the advice of my parents and the
priest, admitted to the communion of the church. I had then,
Voi. II. Q q
506
and once afterwards, a specimen of " auricular confession :" to
these two events in my life, I look back with horror ! If auricular
confession be at all times conducted as it was when 1 engaged in
it, I have no hesitation in saying, that I consider it one of the most
abominable and corrupting institutions of Popery. If the person
confessing hesitates for a moment, through defect of memory, or
through the feelings of shame, the father confessor proposes a
leading question on the various kinds and degrees of iniquity
and thus stimulates the reluctant devotee, and drags from him or
her the inmost secrets of the heart. To say a single word in ex-
planation of the questions which a father confessor will thus pro-
pose to a young man or a young woman, to a husband or a wife,
would be to imitate his vile example. You will perceive, at a
single glance, that they tep.d to increase the knowledge of the
young and simple in the ways of transgression, and to render
vices, of the most injurious and disgusting kind, familiar to all.
"About the time I have already mentioned, a Protestant friend
lent me three sermons, which he had bought from some person
selling tracts. These sermons are by three men whose praise is de-
servedly great in the churches of Christ — Thomas Boston, E.
and II. Erskine. The sermon by Mr. Boston is called " The
Everlasting Espousals," on these words, (Hosea ii. 19) "I will
betroth thee unto me for ever ;" the one by Mr. Ebenczer Er-
skine, is called " The Plant of Renown," on Ezekiel xxxiv. 29 ;
and the one by Kalph Erskine, is on Isaiah xlv. 11. In the
sermon by E. Erskine, the person and work of Jesus Christ as
Mediator, are exhibited with great force and accuracy ; in the
sermon by Mr. Boston, the way in which the people of God are
brought into his family, and made partakers of its blessings, are
delineated in the peculiar manner of that able and evangelical
writer; and in the sermon by R. Erskine, there is a full account
of the high privilege of believers, in being allowed at all times to
approach into the presence of their God and Father, through
Jesus the only Mediator, to supplicate those things which are
promised to them, and of which they have need.
" The perusal of these sermons produced a deep and painful
impression upon my mind. All my former views of religion were
distracted and confounded; and new views of sin and duty, were
forcibly pressed upon my attention. In these sermons, the Scrip-
tures seemed to me to speak a new language, and to present to
my mind an entirely new scene of contemplation : they certainly
set before me the ground of a sinner's hope of pardon and ac-
ceptance with God, in a light directly opposite to that in which
I was formerly taught to view them. But although I was by the
perusal of these sermons surprised and confounded, I was not
convinced. 1 determined to read them again with mv Bible in mv
307
hand ; and I did so, comparing every opinion of the writer, and
every passage which they quoted in support of their opinions, with
the oracles of God. This second perusal increased the pain I felt
in a very high degree. From the Scriptures I found I could not
refute the doctrines taught in these sermons ; and to admit these
doctrines to be true, was, according to the lessons I had been
taught from my infancy, to expose myself to all the horrors of
eternal damnation. In this state of mind I knew not what to do
I dared not consult my parents ; for to do so, I certainly knew
was to bring upon me their high displeasure, and perhaps all the
sarcasm and censures of my ghostly father ; and to apply to any
Protestant, I felt was in some measure to commit myself, without
being fully persuaded in my own mind. Thus matters proceeded
with me for some time. I read the Scriptures, and some Protes
tant books which I procured from the same friend, most atten-
tively ; offered up frequent and fervent prayers to Almighty God
for light to perceive, and courage to persevere, in the way of duty;
and often went to hear the sermons of some Presbyterian minis-
ters in the neighbourhood. While proceeding in this tenor of con-
duct, I found light gradually shed on my mind, and I thought I
began in some measure to perceive the way in which I ought to
" By the manner in which I had for some time conducted my-
self, 1 had attracted the attention of my mother. Observing my
absence from mass, and hearing of my attendance at Protestant
places of worship, she began to dread the very worst of me, that
a Popish parent can dread of a child — heresy. It was on a Sab-
bath morning that she first spoke to me on the subject. She be-
gan by asking me, " if I was going that day with the rest of the
family to prayers?" At that moment my whole frame shook; and,
through fear and anxiety, I found myself wholly unable to speak. I
had long wished for such an opportunity as this, to speak to my
tender-hearted and affectionate mother, on a subject that engrossed
my whole attention ; and yet, when it presented itself to me un-
expectedly, I found myself quite unable. She saw my confusion,
and was grieved to the heart. The sorrow I saw in her face was
the first thing that roused me from the stupor into which I had
sunk ; and I said to her, " No — I am not going with the rest of
the family to prayers to day." She said, " Why?" I had been
readme* in the New Testament when this conversation commenced,
and holding it out to her, I said — " Because I find no authority
for mass in this book." She quickly asked what book it was, I
was reading ? and I told her. She then felt all that a tender-
hearted affectionate Roman Catholic mother could feel in such
circumstances; and I find, Sir, 19 years after this interview, that
I have not nerves to proceed with the story of it.
308
" Of the part I had now acted, the priest was soon informed ,
and, with the mild and merciful spirit of his order, he passed
sentence upon me, without ever condescending to converse with
me, and without ever making a single effort to enlighten my mind,
and reclaim me from my supposed heresy. The sentence which
he passed, a3 I was informed, was, " That I was a heretic, and
must be banished from the family ;" sagely adding, " That the
clean must be kept from the unclean." This sentence, though
communicated to me, my parents, influenced by strong affection,
hesitated to carry into execution. But a Popish priest knows
nothing about parental affection, and cares far less about it, in
such a case as this. He therefore repeated the sentence, and
accompanied the repetition with considerations fitted to command
an immediate compliance. A Popish priest in Ireland is never
at a loss for considerations to influence the conduct of his flock,
in matters connected with their religion. In obedience, therefore,
to the repeated commands of a man who called himself a minister
of the gospel of peace, and who professed himself a disciple of
the meek and lowly Jesus, I was banished from my father's house,
for no crime — but the crime of desiring to worship the God that
made me, according to the dictates of my conscience !
" I believe my parents thought that the very attempt to banish
me from the family, would bring me to an immediate submission ;
and that they, on that account, yielded the more easily to the
commands of the priest. In the affair my father took no direct
hand : the painful task devolved upon my mother ; and I believe
was devolved upon her, in the hope that her tenderness and af-
fection would so work upon my feelings, that I would not be able
to part with her. On the day fixed for this banishment, she roll-
ed up a small parcel of linens, and desired me, with an aching heart,
to accompany her on a short journey. I did so ; and when about
a mile from the village, she stopped suddenly, and made the last
appeal to my feelings. She did every thing which reasoning,
and prayers, and tears could do, to induce me to return to the
bosom of that church out of which she believed, and declared,
there is no salvation. I felt deeply and wept bitterly ; but God
enabled me to remain faithful. After some minutes of great suf-
fering on both sides, we parted ; and I was not permitted for
about two years, to enter my father's house, although I had often
occasion to pass very near to it. At the time I have now mention-
ed, a man who had more sagacity, and more of the milk of human
kindness in his constitution, than many of his brethren, and who
had stood sponsor for me when I was baptized, interfered, as he
had a right to do, according to the principles of his church, in my
behalf. He called on my parents, and, I believe, on the priest,
uul reasoned with him very seriously about the manner in which
309
they had dealt with me. He charged them with harshness and
cruelty ; and declared that the treatment I had received, was
more fitted to harden, than reclaim any human being. Through
this interference I was again permitted to visit my father's family.
Of this permission I immediately availed myself; and though I
have not since resided with my parents, we have still been on a very
friendly footing, and carry on a friendly correspondence. After
an absence of 9 years, I paid them a visit last harvest, and met
with a reception full of parental kindness and affection.
" After my banishment from my father's house, the Lord pro-
vided for my temporal support in a manner wonderfully gracious.
" When my father and my mother forsook me, then the Lord took
ine up." Indeed, Sir, when I look back, which I frequently do, up-
on the way by which God has led me, I must consider myself, in a
peculiar manner, a child of Providence. He has often brought me,
while blind, by a way which I knew not, and led me in paihs
that I had not known : he has often made darkness light before
me, and crooked things straight. But how pleasing soever to
my own mind, I must quit this part of my story, as in some
measure foreign to the design of this letter.
" My chief difficulty at this time arose from an inquiry very
natural in my circumstances. This inquiry was, " With whom
shall I now join in worshipping God?" A Papist I could no
longer be. The harsh and cruel manner in which I had been
treated, made an indelible impression upon my heart ; and con-
vinced me, that persons capable of acting as Papists had acted
towards me, were destitute of the spirit and the faith of Christ.
But the treatment I had received was not the thing which chiefly
influenced me against Popery and Papists : the thing which
chiefly influenced me against them was, their direct opposition,
in almost all the great matters of faith and practice, to the Scrip-
tures of truth. This direct opposition appeared to me most
striking, on the atonement and intercession of Christ, on the
doctrines of justification and sanctification, on faith and repent-
ance, and on the respect due to the Virgin Mary, and other re-
puted saints. On these, and on many other things, I was then,
and I am still, of opinion, that Papists are directly opposed to
the unerring oracles of God.
" But although I had renounced Popery, there was much of
Popery in my views and feelings. 1 was, to a certain extent, a
Protestant ; but having emerged from a region of thick darkness,
I was not able to form an accurate notion of many things con-
nected with Protestantism. I well remember that nothing per-
plexed me more, than to form a just notion of what is meant in
the New Testament, by the word " church.*' From my in-
fancy I had been taught to consider the " church" a mysteri-
310
mis something — made up of I knew not, and never was told;
what — possessing the attributes of holiness, unity, and infallibili-
ty. But when I viewed Protestantism as set before me in Ire-
land, h/oken down into so many opposing fragments, I could see
no such <; church" as the one to which my mind had been fa-
miliar from my youth. This circumstance embarrassed me much ;
and to increase my embarrassment, those Papists with whom I
had occasion to converse, dwelt with unrelenting severity on the
subject. It did not then occur to me, that the " church" of
Christ is composed of believers in his person and work, of dif-
ferent ages and countries — and sometimes different from each
other, in the peculiar features of their character, and in many of
their opinions ; but all agreeing about the great articles of our
holy religion, all united to the same Saviour, partakers of the same
grace, and expectants of the same glorious immortality. The
thing for which I looked, and which I always expected, was a vi-
sible organized body, which was exclusively the church of Christ,
and concerning which all that is said in Scripture might be fulfilled.
— I have dwelt the more fully on this matter, because I know it
is one of the great stumbling-blocks of Papists, and one of the
means most successfully employed to keep them in the darkness
of Popery ; and because it tended, for many months, to imbitter
my own existence. Having a firm hold of my mind (as indeed
all the dogmas of Popery have on the minds of those who believe
them,) I wa3 not able, for about two years, to get wholly rid of it,
and so become a member of some Protestant community. Dur-
ing this period, I continued to worship sometimes with one class
of Protestants, and sometimes with another, until my views of
divine truth became clearer, and I found a body of Christians
with whom I could join in religious fellowship. This I did with
one, with which I am still connected.
" I have just now mentioned, that all the dogmas of Popery have
a firm hold of the minds of those who believe them. As I deem
facts of far more use to you than reasonings, I will here give you my
own experience ; and I presume what I am now going to state,
will lead you to conclude, that there may be many Papists con-
vinced of the falsehood and absurdity of many of the doctrine
which they are taught, but who dare not give way to their con-
victions. Long after I had renounced Popery, and was perfectly
convinced of the falsehood and absurdity of its peculiar tenets,
I have, on a moment's reflection on what I had done, felt my
whole frame shudder. At such a moment, I have involuntarily
trembled from head to foot, as if I had leaped a tremendous
precipice, into which I was in dar.iger of falling backward. Such
horror of mind, and such convulsion, of my whole frame, were
frequently excited, l»y a very trifling and absurd doctrine of
311
the Popish church. This doctrine is, " that it is sinful to eat
flesh on certain days of the week." But trifling and ahsurd as
is this doctrine, and although I was convinced from reason and
from Scripture, " that every creature of God is good, and ought
to be received with thanksgiving of them who believe and know
the truth ; yet while eating flesh on a Friday, or Saturday, a sud-
den thought of the possible criminality of my conduct, has darted
on my mind, and convulsed my whole body, so that the
knife and fork have fallen from my powerless hands on the table.
This circumstance sometimes excited the laughter, but always
awakened the pity, of the amiable Protestant family in which I
resided.
" I have given you this, only as a specimen of the hold which
their peculiar opinions have of the minds of Papists. Nor is it
wonderful that these peculiar opinions should have such a hold
of their minds. From the day on which they are first capable
of forming a notion on any subject, they are impressed with the
most awful ideas of their church, and all her doctrines and insti-
tutions. Their parents have been taught before them, and they
are taught in their turn — that out of their church there is ab-
solutely no salvation ; and that to doubt or dispute any thing
which she teaches, on any ground whatever, is most certainly to
expose them to all the horrors of eternal perdition. In connec-
tion with these lessons, they are taught to hate and abhor all Pro-
testants, of every class and description, and to hate and abhor
every thing that is peculiar to them ; but while they are taught
these things, they are also taught to use every means in their
power, without scruple (for the end sanctifies the means), to
convert and bring them to the profession of their holy and infallible
religion ; and to induce them to engage in this work of conver-
sion, they are assured that it is very acceptable to God, and very
conducive to their own salvation.
" Such is the way in which 1 was taught from my infancy, and
such is the way in which all the Papists with whom I was acquaint-
ed, taught their children. Of the influence which such a mode of
teaching is fitted to have on the minds of youthful persons, you
can be at no loss to judge. The impressions made on the mind in
the nursery, are at no time, and in no circumstances, easily effa-
ced ; and I know that Popish parents make it their peculiar busi-
ness, in every period of life, to strengthen and confirm the impres-
sions which they have made on the minds of their children in
religious matters. — It is to this mode of teaching that I ascribe
several circumstances peculiarly characteristic of Papists. You
are here, and indeed in the whole of this letter, to consider me
as referring to Irish Papists, for it is with them that I am best ac-
312
qtiainted ; yet I presume the facts which I state are applicable to
Papists in every country.
" It is, I think, owing to the peculiar mode in which he is taught
from his infancy, that a good staunch Papist, is one of the most
credulous, and one of the most incredulous of human beings.
Such a Papist firmly believes, that the Apostle Peter is the very
rock on which Christ hath built his church ; he firmly believes
that an ignorant and guilty creature, whom he calls a priest, can,
by a few words, convert a piece of bread into the very God that
made him — into the body and blood, the soul and divinity of
Jesus Christ ; that every human being on the face of the earth,
might each of them eat this God whole and entire, at the same
instant of time, and that this might be done every day ; and he be-
lieves that the Virgin Mary, or any other saint in heaven, may
hear a thousand millions of prayers, offered up at the same
moment, from a thousand millions of different parts of the earth.
A person capable of believiug such things as these, one would
think capable of believing any thing, which human language could
be employed to express. But no such thing : the very person
who will firmly believe all these monstrously absurd positions, will
not believe a single word that is said against them. You may
set before him the most clear and convincing arguments on
these subjects from Scripture, from the dictates of reason, and
from the testimony of his own senses ; but you will set them be-
fore him in vain. Nay, the more clear and convincing these ar-
guments are, he will be the more averse to them, and the more
unwilling to listen to you. Thus, while he is on the one side
credulous to the last degree, he is on the other most incredulous.
Is such a person one of those " who receive not the love of the
truth, that they might be saved, and to whom God sends strong
delusion that they should believe a lie ?"
As there is not room for another paragraph, I shall break off
the narrative here, and resume it in my next Number. The
writer is an entire stranger to me ; but he is well known to seve-
ral gentlemen of this city, to whom he has given me a re-
ference ; and such of them as I have had an opportunity of
seeing, bear the most ample testimony to his character as a
Christian, and his talents and usefulness as a minister of the
gospel. He has kindly allowed me to give his name, which will
appear in its proper place.
THE
^rotejstant.
No. XC.
SATURDAY, APRIL 1st, 1820.
( Continued from No. i.xxxix.^
" .The last word in the preceding paragraph recalls my atten-
tion to another circumstance peculiarly characteristic of Papists,
and which, in my view of the matter, springs from the manner in
which they are taught. This circumstance is their proneness to
dissimulation and falsehood, when they think they will promote
the cause of their holy and infallible church. To do justice to
this subject would require more time than I can at present spare ;
and the light which you have already thrown on it, renders any
thing like a full discussion of it by me, quite unnecessary. There
are, however, two ways in which Papists manifest a proneness to
dissimulation and falsehood, in favour of their church, on which, as
far as I remember, you have not yet touched. — One of these ways
is, by denying or maintaining certain doctrines, when they think
that either the one or the other, will best serve their cause.
There are two subjects on which they are, in this respect, dread-
fully guilty. These are, " the power of the Priest to forgive
sins," and " the kind of worship which they pay, and ought to
pay, to saints and images." On these subjects, I have met Pa.
pists, who maintained directly opposite opinions ; and who main-
tained them at different times, with equal vigour and virulence.
But take which side they please, they are at all times ready to
quote scripture, and abuse Protestants for misrepresenting them.
The other way in which Papists are guilty of dissimulation and
falsehood, in favour of their holy and infallible church, is, by de-
nying that they are Papists, and publicly professing themselves
Protestants. This is a thing very often done. But I do not
rest my charge, so much on the numbers who actually do this as
on those who approve of it where it is done. There is nothing among
Papists more common, than to represent a large portion of the great,
even the greatest, in our land, as like King Charles the Second'
Catholics in heart, though Protestants by public profession ; and|
instead of considering this a disgrace, they consider it one of the'
Vol. II Rr
314
great glories of their church. Nothing they think can confer higher
honour on their cause, than for persons who have lived Protestants
to die in their communion ; and rather than lose such honours
as these, they will invent and publish a thousand falsehoods. From
what I have read of your work, Sir, I presume, you are too good
a " Protestant" to envy Papists the honour of such persons
dying in their communion. Persons whose last act on earth, is
to proclaim their infamy, by publishing their hypocrisy, are
surely such as " shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt ;"
such as " shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation."
'« How can these hypocrites — how can this generation of vipers,
escape the damnation of hell ?"
" Persons educated, and capable of acting in the manner now
described, could not be uninterested spectators of the change I
had made. Their conduct in reference to this change, is worthy
of notice, as it strikingly indicates the spirit of Popery. Ar>
soon as the fact got abroad, the hue and cry was raised against
me; and every effort was made to hunt me down. Motives, at
once the most abominable and the most inconsistent with each
other, were ascribed to me, and were employed to account for the
atrocious and damnable part I had acted. Truth and decency,
and every thing else, fitted to do honour to a religious profession,
were readily sacrificed to render me odious, and to excite suspi-
cion against me among Protestants. Nor did they in some cases
labour in vain. There were among my acquaintances some Protes-
tants, not unlike one to whom you have given some portion of celeb-
rity, not very enviable. They were indeed Protestants ; but this was
owing to a mere circumstance ; and that circumstance is, that
their parents happened to be Protestants before them. This was
all the reason they could give for their religious profession ; and
/hey did not hesitate to say " that no man ought to be trusted,
who could change his religion." The number of such ignorant
and inconsistent Protestants was but small ; and instead of injur-
ing, their conduct ultimately did me much good. It excited the
sympathy and the kindness of many who might otherwise have
taken little interest in my affairs. The friends whom God then rais-
ed up for me, have not since for a single moment forsaken me. I
found them in August last, the same kind, warm-hearted, generous
friends, I had Found them 19 years before.
" But the efforts of Papists were not in my case, more than in
the case of others, who had gone in the same way before me, to
be confined to words. A John Huss and a Jerome of Prague
could be reasoned with and abused; but if reasoning and abuse
would not reclaim them from heresy, Papists could wield other
weapons, and they did wield them. In suffering some personal vio
lunce for daring to think for myself, on the things that belong to
315
my peace, " no new thing happened to me." When arguments and
calumny failed to bring me back to the mother church, some of
her worthy sons endeavoured on two occasions, by blood and
battery to convince me of the errors into which I had fallen
On both these occasions I had recourse to the law of the land for
protection and punishment ; and had no little reason to rejoice,
that the laws were administered by Protestants. On one of these
occasions, a severe fine was exacted, and considerable bail de-
manded and given, for the future good behaviour of the culprit,
or I should rather say, " of the zealous, pious, and peaceable
missionary of the holy and infallible church of Rome."
"Soon after this event, I came to Scotland ; and must say that
I found in it Papists as bigotted and as intolerant as I met with
in Ireland. Of their bigotry and intolerance I could mention
some facts ; but they are unnecessary. They would at any rate
be but as drops added to the ocean.
" When I reflect, Sir, on " the great things which God hath
done for me, I should indeed be glad. My mouth should be
filled with laughter, and my tongue with singing." I have been
delivered from great darkness, and, I must add, from great danger.
I will not say, That none within the pale of the church of Rome
are saved, I would fondly hope that there are many within the
pale of that church, who do not believe all, and trust in all, that
is taught them, by their priests ; but who chiefly take the oracles
of God for their guide, and firmly trust in that atonement which
is revealed in them, as the foundation of pardon and acceptance
with God. Being Papists, however, much of the abominations
of Popery must adhere to their opinions and practices ; and be-
fore they can become partakers of eternal salvation, they must
be purified from all these — and themselves " saved yet so as by
fire." But, while charity leads me to hope this, I must declare
that I could not hope it of one whose views of religion are simi-
lar to those I was taught, and which 1 entertained, when a Pa-
pist. Such views are most certainly subversive of the mediation
of Christ; and render it of none effect to them who are under
their influence. In such a state of things, then, 1 must have been
/ost ! and lost for ever ! How grateful ought I to be for the
mighty and merciful deliverance I have experienced from such
darkness and danger! O that I were enabled to walk worthy of it!
" Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and forget not all
his benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all
thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies."
" With what is contained in the preceding pages, Sir, you are
at liberty to do as you think proper ; and if you think proper to
316
publish any part of them, you are at liberty to give or withhold
my name as you please Of the truth of the facts contained in
these pages, you need have no doubt. Many of them must,
from their nature, depend upon my own authority ; but for all
those of a public kind, I can, if necessary, produce hundreds of
witnesses, Popish and Protestant. " These things were not done
in a corner." Of my own character I forbear to say any thing,
but, as I presume I am entirely unknown to you, I refer you to
the following gentlemen in Glasgow ; gentlemen with whom I
have had the honour of being more or less intimate, for many
years. [Then follow the names of five clergymen, and several
other gentlemen, of this city.]
" I am, Sir, yours truly,
" Patrick Bradley."
I return now to the subject of auricular confession, which will
yet occupy several Numbers of my work.
According to the casuistry of the Jesuits, as given in their own
words, in my 87th and 88th Numbers, it appears that the disci-
ples of Loyola, and of course our English Papists, who approve
the principles of that order, may break at pleasure any or
all the divine commandments, and yet not be guilty of mortal sin.-
I inferred from this that confession of sin once a year to a priest
must be a very trifling matter; and no more than a mere form,
at least so far as regards transgressions of the law of God; for
I admit that sins against any commandment of the church are not
so easily passed over, or explained away, but must be atoned for
by the most rigorous penance. He who shall commit the great
sin of eating flesh on a Friday, or of going into a Protestant place
of worship, or who shall fall short of paying any of his church
dues, and who shall confess any of these faults to his priest, will be
dealt with much more severely, than the man who has only blas-
phemed his Maker, or murdered his neighbour.
But though confession is thus made easy to the Jesuits, and
all the truly initiated, it is a very dreadful thing to the simple
faithful, who retain any traces of reverence for the law of God,
and who are not instructed in the quibbling casuistry which makes
it void. To come before a priest in order to make confession, is
such a solemn and important step, that in order to do it properly,
the penitent is recommended to spend several days in humilia-
tion before God. Thus the Priest is the principal object of re-
ference, for the sinner must not approach him without prepara-
tion and humiliation, whereas he may come to his Maker at once.
In order to prove this, I shall insert here a whole chapter of
''nstructions from Challoner's " Garden of the Soul," one of their
317
most popular books of devotion ; a book that contains a great
deal of matter which has the appearance of piety, but all directed
to a wrong object. It is very much like what I should imagine
to have been the devotion of the Babylonians, to Bell and Nebo,
expressed in the laieuage of Sion : —
" Instructions and devotions for confession. — In
order to prepare yourself to make a good confession, endeavour,
in the first place, to recommend the matter earnestly to God
and for some days before, and frequently and fervently, beg his
divine grace and assistance : and this more especially, if you have
for a long time lived in the habit of sin : in which case it is most
proper to prepare yourself by a spiritual retreat of some days,
during which time you may seriously enter into yourself, and per-
form the ten meditations (which we have transcribed above from
St. Fra?icis de Sales) or such like devotions, by which you may
be sufficiently disposed for so great a work ; which otherwise 'tis
to be feared might be ill done by being done too hastily.
" Examine your conscience with care and diligence, yet with-
out too much anxiety and scrupulosity. Consult the table of
sins to help your memory ; and reflect in particular on the evil
inclinations you are most subject to, on the places and companies
you have been in, on your usual employments, on the duties of
your calling, and how you have discharged them, &c. And in
every sin, whether of commission or omibsion, strive to call to
your remembrance the number of times you have been guilty.
" When you have duly examined your conscience, dont think
this is all you have to do in order to be rightly prepared for con-
fession ; the greatest part of the work remains still to be done ;
and that is, to take proper time and care to procure a hearty sor-
row and detestation of all your sins, by which you have offended
so good a God, with a full determination, with the grace of God,
to avoid the like sins for the future, and to fly the occasions
which usually bring you to sin ; and to take proper measures to
begin a new life.
" In order to obtain this hearty sorrow for your sins, and this
firm purpose of amendment, you must earnestly beg it of God,
whose gift it is ; and you must make use of such prayers, con-
siderations and meditations as be most proper to move you to it.
Particularly reflect on the four last things, on the enormity of sin,
on the goodness of God, and his benefits to you, on the death
and passion of Christ, &c. And when you have obtained this
hearty sorrow and resolution, then you may hope that you are
sufficiently prepared for confession, and not till then.
" If you have any thing upon your conscience, which you
have a particular difficulty of confessing, cease not with prayers
and tears to importune your heavenly Father to assist you in that
.SI 8
regard till he gives you grace to overcome that difficulty : And
be sure never to go to confession with a design of telling a lie to
the Holy Ghost. Ah ! what a comfort it will be to you to ease
your conscience of its load! and what a rack and torture sacri-
legiously to conceal it !
" Let your confession be humble, without seeking excuses for
your sins, or flinging the fault on others ; let it be entire as to
the kind and number of your sins, and such circumstances as
(juite change the nature of the sin, or notoriously aggravate it.
Be modest in your expressions, and take care not to name any
third person."
Then follows " a prayer to implore the divine assistance, in
order to make a good confession." The prayer is a pretty long
one, and the language is very like that of devotion. The follow-
ing are extracts from it : — " I desire now 10 comply with thy
holy institution of the sacrament of penance ; I desire to confess
my sins with all sincerity to thee and to thy minister ; and there-
fore I desire to know myself, and to call myself to an account,
by a diligent examination of my conscience. But, O my God,
how miserably shall I deceive myself, if thou assist me not ir.
this great work by thy heavenly light." That is the great work
of telling to a fellow creature the sins which he has committed
against God ; and although God alone be the party offended by
his sins, he is taught to speak as if he were certain that God
would take his part, and help him to make a proper appearance
before his priest. This prayer concludes as follows : — " O blessed
Virgin, mother of my Redeemer, mirror of innocence and sanc-
lity, and refuge of penitent sinners, intercede for me through the
passion of thy Son, that I may have the grace to make a good
confession. All you blessed angels and saints of God, pray for
me, a poor miserable sinner, that I may now, for good and all,
turn from my tvil ways, that so henceforth my heart may be for
ever united with yours in eternal love, and never go astray from the
sovereign good. Amen" The following note is appended : —
" This, or the like prayer, may be frequently repeated for some
days before confession, in order to obtain of God the grace of
making a good confession."
What is meant by a good confession is not so explicitly stat-
ed as I think it should be ; but the phrase is a scriptural one ;
and perhaps it was chosen by the priests, and is by them so often
'epeatcd to make the thing go down more easily. They can tell
'i- that Christ Jesus, before Pontius Pilate, witnessed a good con-
fession (1 Tim. vi, 13.) and therefore every Christian ought to
make a good confession to his prie6t. There is no connexion or
correspondence between the things. Christ confessed what was
both good and true ; and thus he made a good confession ; but
319
the church of Rome has been pleased, in her infallible wisdom,
to apply the expression to the confession of her penitents, though
it should contain nothing but that which is evil ; and the greater
the evil confessed, so much the better is the confession.
I shall now give a specimen of the manner in which a penitent
is taught to catechise himself, with a view to his being catechised
by the priest, when he goes to confess. The " Garden of the
Soul," furnishes, " An examination of conscience upon the ten
commandments." I shall give only a few extracts as a sample.
Some of the questions are not fit to meet the eye of a modest
man or woman, and yet they have a conspicuous place in this
favourite book of Popish devotion.
On the first commandment: — "Have you been guilty of
heresy, or disbelief of any article of faith, or of voluntary doubt-
ing of any article of faith ? How often ? And for how long a
time ? Or have you rashly exposed yourself to the danger of in-
fidelity, by reading bad books, or keeping wicked company ?
How often ? Have you by word or deed denied your religion,
or gone to the churches or meetings of heretics, so as to join
with them any way in their worship? Or to give scandal? How
often ?" On the third commandment, (or what they call the
second, for they omit in their catechisms what is properly the
second,) such questions as these are asked : — " Have you sworn
falsely, or what you did not certainly know, whether it was true
or false ? Or have you sworn to do any thing that was wicked or
unlawful ? Or broken your lawful oaths ? How often ? Have
you had a custom of swearing rashly and inconsiderately by the
name of God, by your soul, or by the way of imprecation upon
yourself? How long have you had this custom ? How many
times a day have you sworn after this manner ? Have you
sworn by the blood or wounds of God, or any other blasphem-
ous oath ? How often ? Have you cursed yourself or others,
and if so, was it from your heart ? How often ?" fyc. SfC.
" Have you neglected to hear mass upon Sundays and holy-
days of obligation ? Or have you heard it with wilful distrac-
tion ? Or not taken care that your children or servants should
hear it ? How often ? Have you spent those days in idleness,
or sin ? Or been the occasion of others spending them so ?
How often ? Have you done any servile work without necessity
on those days ? Or set others on doing so ? How often ? Have
you broke the days of abstinence commanded by the church ? or
eaten more than one meal on fasting days ? or been accessary to
others so doing ? How often ? Have you neglected to confess
'onr sins once a year? or to receive the blessed sacrament at
Easter ? Have you made a sacrilegious confession or communion,
3 '20
bv concealing some mortal sin in confession, or what you doubted
might be mortal? Or for want of a hearty sorrow for your sins
and a firm purpose of amendment ? Or by being grossly negligent
in the examination of your conscience ? How often ? Have you
received any other sacrament, for example, confirmation or ma-
trimony in mortal sin ? Have you neglected to perform the pen-
ance enjoined in confession ? Or said it with wilful distractions ?
How often ? Have vou presumed to receive the blessed sacra-
ment after having broken your fast ? Have you, after falling in-
to mortal sin, neglected for a long time to return to God by
repentance ? And for how long a time ?" I have here given the
whole of what is to be inquired into relating to the divine com-
mand, " Thou shalt remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy :"
and the reader will see, that there is scarcely a word that relates
to the spirit and meaning of the divine precept. The holy day
of spiritual rest is quite forgotten ; the fasts and feasts of the
church are put in its place ; and the sinner professing penitence,
is taught to purge his conscience only with regard to the latter.
I shall not disgust my readers by taking them over the cate-
chetical exercise upon the other commandments. The above is
sufficient to shew what sort of a thing auricular confession is, so
far as regards the things confessed upon the commandments of the
first table. And here there is one thing which must, I think,
deeply affect the reader's mind. The interrogatories are all form-
ed upon the supposition that the pen/tent may be a great and
habitual transgressor. He may be one who has had a custom of
swearing rashly and inconsiderately by the name of God, by his
soul, and byway of imprecation upon himself; and who has been
in the habit of doing so many times in a day. Now in order to
make " a good confession," it is not necessary that he have ac-
tually forsaken this wicked habit. It is enough that he confess
his fault, and promise or resolve to forsake it ; or make a firm
resolution of forsaking it ; and the priest, upon this confession
and resolution, and promise, grants him absolution.
Now in this, as in every thing else, Popery appears directly
opposed to the religion of the Bible. True Christianity knows
nothino of <*ood resolutions distinct from good practice. There
is not in the whole Bible a promise of pardon to him who only re-
solves to forsake his sins. This, however, in ordinary cases, is
as much as the priest expects from his kneeling suppliant.
THE
^trotestaut,
No. XCI.
SATURDAY, APRIL Ht/i, 1820.
IVLy last number broke off in the middle of what I had written
on the subject of good resolutions, with which, therefore, I com-
mence the present.
In answer to the question, " What is required to a good confes-
sion ?" trie Douay catechism answers: — " 1. That we serious-
ly examine our consciences ; 2. Be heartily sorry for our sins,
with a firm purpose to amend, taking time and care to make
an act of contrition," &c. And, " What is a firm purpose of
amendment ? A ns. It is a resolution, by the grace of God, not
only to avoid sin, but also the occasion of it." And the " Papist
truly Represented," teaches, that whosoever comes to the priests,
" making a sincere and humble confession of his sins, with a
true repentance, and a firm purpose of amendment, and a hearty
resolution of turning from his evil mays, may from them re-
ceive absolution," &c. This is the current language of all their
catechisms and books of devotion which I have seen. All their
promises of pardon are given to hearty repentance and good re-
solutions. If it were the repentance which springs from faith in
Jesus Christ, I would not object to connecting with it a promise
of pardon ; but such repentance is inseparably connected with
actually forsaking sin, not with a mere resolution to forsake it.
The hearty repentance of the Papist is that into which he works
himself by fasting and flagellation ; and while suffering or expect-
ing to suffer such things, it is very natural to resolve to forsake
sin, and even to make afirm purpose to forsake it some time or
other. Now, when a man comes to a priest, and makes such
professions, the priest must grant him absolution, and declare
him reconciled to God, having all his sins forgiven, though both
priest and penitent be unperstiaded of any change in the charac-
ter of the latter, and though both expect he will immediately re-
turn to the practice of all manner of wickedness, trusting to the
efficacy of a new confession, and a new absolution.
The " Garden of the Soul" furnishes a preparatory exercise
Vot. II. S s
322
for confession, in which actual amendment is not required as ne-
cessary to a good confession. The penitent is instructed, not to
forsake his sins, or amend his life, but only to think of the mea-
sures which he must take for an entire amendment; and to be ful-
ly determined, for the time to come, to amend his life. These in-
structions relate to confession every time that a man makes it ;
and though he should have confessed annually fifty times, his ex-
ercise in his fiftieth year of confession embraces only a purpose of
amendment, — a purpose that will never be carried into effect, un-
less the sinner shall renounce Popery, and embrace the gospel of
Christ. Without this, he will but " resolve, and re-resolve, and die
the same."
When a penitent has spent several days in deep humiliation
before God, he may then venture, but very cautiously, to approach,
and confess his sins to a priest. The following is part of the pre-
paratory exercise recommended in the abovp-mentioned work, in
order that a penitent may, in a proper spirit, prostrate himself in
the awful presence of his ghostly father.
" N. B. Here it is proper that the penitent should think
upon the measures he must take for an entire amendment of life
fur the time to come ; considering well what have been the occa-
sions of his sins; what circumstances are apt to be dangerous to him;
what precautions he must take against those clangers for the future ;
what pious exhortations he must daily make use of; such as pray-
er, meditation, spiritual reading, &c. When, and how often,
frequent the sacrament, &c. When the penitent finds himself
heartily sorry for having offended God, and fully determined for
the time to come to amend his life, and avoid all mortal sins, and
the immediate occasions of them ; he may then go to confession,
in which he may follow this method.
" The method of confession. The penitent, kneeling
down at the side of his ghostly father, makes the sign of the cross,
and asks his blessing : Pray father, give me your blessing, for I
have sinned. Then he says the Confiteor in Latin, or in English,
as far as mea culpa, &c. through my fault, &c 2. After this he
accuses himself of his sins, either according to the order of God's
commandments, or such other order as he finds most helpful to
his memory; adding, after each sin, the number of times he has
been guilty of it, and such circumstances as may very considera-
bly aggravate the guilt ; but carefully abstaining from such as are
impertinent or unnecessary, and from excuses and long narra-
tions.— 3. After he has confessed all that he can remember, he
may conclude with this or the like form : • For these, and all my
other sins, which I cannot at present call to my remembrance, I
am heartily sorry ; purpose amendment for the future ; most hum-
blv ask pardon of God, and penance and absolution from you my
323
ghostly father :' and so he may finish the Confiteor (or confession,}
and then give attentive ear to the instructions and advices of his
confessor, and humbly accept of the penance enjoined by him.
4. Whilst the priest gives him absolution, let him bow down his
head, and with great humility call upon God for mercy ; and beg
of him that he would be pleased to pronounce the sentence of ab-
solution in heaven, whilst his minister absolves him on earth. — 5.
After confession, let the penitent return to his prayers ; and after
having heartily given God thanks for having admitted him, by the
means of this sacrament, to the grace of reconciliation, and receiv-
ed him like the prodigal child, returning home, let him make an
offering of his confession to Jesus Christ, begging pardon for
whatever defects he may have been guilty of in it, offering up his
resolutions to his Saviour, and begging grace that he may put
them in execution. — 6. Let him be careful to perform his penance
in due time, and in a penitential spirit."
Then follows a prayer to be said after confession, in which the
penitent gives thanks for being admitted to this " sacrament of
reconciliation." He speaks as if he were perfectly certain that
all his sins are forgiven. He resolves henceforward to flee occa-
sions of sin. He resolves to perform such good devotions as are
necessary for obtaining this grace ; and he resolves to fly idleness,
and to set himself a regular order and method of life, for the time
he has yet to come. Thus the poor devotee of a false religion
is taught to deceive himself, and to say to his soul peace, peace,
when there is no peace. He is taught to believe that, in virtue of
his confession and the priest's absolution, he is perfectly reconciled
to God, while all the affections of his heart are as much estranged
from God as ever. He is, therefore, in a worse, and more dan -
gerous condition, than the transgressor who never professed to re-
pent of his sins; for while the latter may be open to conviction,
and accessible to the remedy which the gospel reveals, the former
has his heart shut against every application. He who is whole,
or who thinks himself whole, will not apply to the physician.
There is no truth more certain, and none more important to the
human race than this — there is forgiveness with God. This is a
matter of pure revelation ; for unless God himself had made it
known, no sinner would ever have found it out ; and without the
knowledge of this truth, no sinner would ever have repented or re-
turned to God. We see what is the natural tendency of sin in
the conduct of our first parents, who, when they became sinners,
instead of seeking, or returning to God, made a silly attempt to
flee from him. Adam confessed plainly that he was afraid to
meet his Creator ; that was because he considered him as now his
enemy. He had indeed become an enemy of God ; he very naturally
concluded that God was his enemy ; and from all that he knew at
324
the time, he could not possibly think otherwise. He had incur-
red the dreadful sentence of condemnation ; and as yet there was
no revelation of mercy.
But looking with infinite compassion upon a ruined world,
God did that very day make himself known in that gracious char-
acter in which he has been acknowledged and worshipped by his
church in all ages. This character is expressed by himself in one
short sentence — " A just God and a Saviour ;" — just, in inflicting
the punishment of transgression upon a willing substitute ; and
a Saviour, as, by this medium, he extends pardon and salvation to
the guilty. This was revealed to our first parents, as recorded in
the third chapter of Genesis, in language which would appear
extremely obscure to us, if we had never been told any more
about it ; but it is made perfectly plain by subsequent revelations
contained in the Bible ; and there can be no doubt that it was al-
so made plain to Adam and Eve by the institution of sacrifice,
which directed them to the promised seed of the woman, who
should, at the appointed time, reconcile sinners to God by the
sacrifice of himself. Those who believed the promise, came di-
rectly to God, confessing their sins over the head of the slain
sacrifice, and they received pardon in virtue of the atonement of
Christ, which such sacrifice represented.
We have nothing distinctly recorded of the faith of the two
first transgressors ; but we have a very explicit statement with re-
gard to that of their second son, Gen. iv. 4. and Heb. xi. 4. He
understood and embraced the promise for his own salvation ; and
offered to God an acceptable sacrifice. In slaying the victim, he
acknowledged that he deserved to die for his sins. He came to
God as a sinner deserving to perish ; but imploring mercy in the
name, and for the sake of the promised Saviour, he was pardon-
ed, and saved. There never was a sin pardoned, or a sinner sav-
ed, in any other way ; and never did a sinner perish who came to
God as Abel did.
Thus to the first sinners of mankind God made himself known
in his holy and gracious character, as the God of mercy, forgiving
the greatest transgressors, upon the footing of a propitiatory sac-
rifice. Now it was God in this very character that men did not
like to retain in their knowledge. Rom. i. 28. The object of
their aversion was, " that which may be known of God," which
was " manifest to them; for God had showed, (or revealed) it
unto them." verse 19. It was therefore not so much God as
Creator of all things, as God in his revealed character, whom,
when men knew, " they glorified not as God, neither were thankful."
It is true that from the very creation of the world, God made known
his eternal power and Godhead, not only by direct revelation,
hut also by visible exhibitions of that power in the things which
325
were made, so as to leave men " without excuse," when thev
disbelieved his promise of a Saviour to come. When sinners
questioned his power or his wisdom to effect their salvation, by the
means which he had been pleased to reveal, he referred them to
the earth and the heavens which his hands had made, as a standing
evidence of what he was able to do, so that men had no " ex-
cuse" for their unbelief. This at least was the manner in which
he expostulated with the desponding Jews, Isa. 1. 2, 3. " Is my
hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem ? Or have I no pow-
er to deliver ? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, and
make the rivers a wilderness. — I clothe the heavens with black-
ness, and make sackcloth their covering.''
Far be it from God to make a display of his power for the mere
-ake of display: when, therefore, he did, by the things which are
made, make men understand his eternal power and Godhead,
it was to encourage them to confide in his promise of an Almighty
Saviour who should put away sin. Why are such magnificent
descriptions of the power of God given in the fortieth chapter
of Isaiah ? Why, for instance, these bold interrogations, implying
n declaration that all the things mentioned belong to God, and
to him alone? " Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of
his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended
the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in
scales, and the hills in a balance ?" — " Have ye not known ?
have ye not heard ? hath it not been told you from the begin-
ning'? have ye not understood from the foundations of the
earth ? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell
in." All this seems to be for the gracious purpose of confirming
the faith of his people in the Saviour, whose coming is announ-
ced in the beginning of the chapter, and to encourage sinners to
confide in him, seeing he whose power is thus described cannot
fail in the accomplishment of his promise. Why faint or be dis-
couraged? Why be afraid that the promise will fail? " The
Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary."
From the words of the Apostle, taken in connexion with those
of the Prophet, it appears, I think, pretty plainly, that from the begin-
ning or from the creation of the world, or from the foundations of the
earth, which are all expressions of the same import, God revealed to
men the things that might be known of him ; that is, " the invisible
things of him," things that could not be seen with the bodily eye ;
namely, his grace reigning through righteousness unto the eternal
salvation of sinners through Jesus Christ ; and at the very begin-
ning of the world, when the fulfilment of his promise was very
remote, he gave such a discovery or understanding of his power
326
and Godhead, as exhibited ill his works, as to lender inexcusa-
ble every man who would not believe his promise, and accept tiie
salvation thus provided.
But this manifestation of the divine character was what men did
not like ; they did not like to retain it in their knowledge, and
therefore they soon lost sight of it. So far as external revelation
could go, the thing was as manifest to Cain as to Abel; but Cain
did not like it. His quarrel was not with the divine perfection of
power, or of wisdom, or any thing that could be known of God
by his works. It was with his revealed character — it was wit I)
his spotless holiness and inflexible justice, that would not admit
him into his presence, or accept an offering at his hands without
a sacrifice of atonement. God had provided a Saviour for the
guilty ; but in order to be saved, men must come to him as guil-
ty, confessing their sins, and crying for mercy. This is what
Cain and his wicked descendants and imitators did not like.
Therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind, and to vile
affections ; they became vain in their imaginations, and their fool-
ish hearts were darkened. This was the origin of all the idola-
try and superstition that have been in the world.
There is, however, something in the hearts and consciences of
men that will not let them rest without a religion. There is a con-
sciousness of guilt, and an apprehension of punishment. The
conscience must be pacified. God's way of doing so was very
plainly revealed ; but they did not like it, because it humbled their
pride, and required them to forsake their sins. It then became
the business of the more cunning of the descendants of Adam to
invent something that should be in some respects like God's way
of giving peace to the conscience ; but yet so different from it as
to allow men to continue in their sins. This was effected by
idolatrous priests in various ways ; but the system was never so
completely organized, nor the plan of deceiving sinners so deplor-
ably successful, as it has been in the church of Rome, under the
name of Christianity.
The divinely appointed way of obtaining peace to the con-
science, and the pardon of sin, is that of believing in the Lord Je-
sus Christ. On this subject, the testimony of Christ and of his
Apostles is as plain as language can make it. " God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John
iii. 16. " What shall I do to be saved ?" said the alarmed, and
almost despairing jailor of Philippi. — " Believe on the Lord Je-
sus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," was the Apostle's reply.
Acts xvi. 31. The truth concerning Christ, when believed, e*
tablishea its residence in the heart ; and by the power of the Ho.
it, it effectually turns -inner*- from their evil ways. It is
327
by the incorruptible seed of the word ; that is, the Gospel, — the
word of truth, which liveth and abideth for ever, that men are
tjorn again. The believer is born of water and of the Spirit ; he
is made a new creature. He now sees sin in such a light as he
never did before. He is taught to hate it with a perfect hatred.
He perceives its impurity and horrible malignity in the evangeli-
cal testimony of what Christ suffered on account of it ; and for his
own sins he humbles himself before God, in deep and unfeigned
repentance. His repentance is not the effect of abstinence, or
bodily mortification of any kind ; but the effect of the operation
of the Holy Spirit, by means of the word of truth ; and where it
exists there is not a mere purpose of amendment, or resolution to
lead a new life. The heart is actually turned from sin unto holi-
ness. The new life has begun ; and the love of Christ effectu-
ally produces in the repenting sinner a life of holy obedience.
But such a one will never forget that he is a sinner. There-
fore he is in the daily practice of confessing his sins to God, and
of begging forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ. He knows
that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. He knows that
he has continual access to this ; and having recourse to it every
day by faith and prayer, he lives in the comfortable persuasion that
his sins are forgiven. He has peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. It is a peace, however, which is inseparably con-
nected with continuing in the faith, and persevering in holy prac-
tice. It is absolutely inconsistent with indulgence in the least
known sin ; and it knows nothing of the distinction of sins mor-
tal and sins only venial.
One who is thus taught of God, confesses his sins to God
alone, because he knows that he only is able to forgive. To think
of another who could pardon or absolve him from his sins, would
be the same thing as to think of another God. This was the
feeling of the prophet Micah on this subject, chap. vii. 28. " Who
is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity," — and who
" delighteth in mercy?" The interrogative form of the expres-
sion is well understood to be a strong asseveration that there is no
other God that can do this.
Attend now to the manner in which Popery affects to impart
the same benefits of pardon of sin and peace with God.
This she professes to effect by means of certain things which
she calls sacraments, some of which are confessedly founded on
divine institution, and others are of mere human invention. Of
ihe former sort is baptism. This, though a divine ordinance, is
divested of every thing that is divine in the hands of a Popish
priest. It was meant as a sign of regeneration, as a representa
tion of the work of the Holy Spirit, in renewing and sanctifying the
soul ; but the church of Rome ascribes to baptism itself the
power of regenerating. This is putting it out of its place, and
3'J8
putting it in the place of the Holy Ghost ; just as the sacrifice of
the mass is put in the place of the atonement of Christ. The
church of Rome admits the doctrine of original sin ; but then she
asserts that baptism takes it all away, and he who has just been
baptized is as free from sin as an angel of God. In this way she
gives peace to the consciences of her children ; but it is a peace
that is founded on a falsehood, and which must issue in the ruin
of all that believe it. Independently of its opposition to the di-
vinely appointed way of giving peace to the conscience, the Po-
pish method contains in itself that which must ever render it in-
secure. The whole virtue of the sacrament depends upon the good
intention of the Priest : No man can be sure that the Priest had
such intention when he baptized him ; and, therefore, upon their
own principles, Papists can never be sure that they are regenerated.
Mr. Gavin relates a story of a priest whom he knew, who, when
dying, made this good confession that a great many people in
his parish were not baptized, because he had performed the rite to
them, when children, without the intention ; and moreover, he told
his confessor, that all those stood in this predicament whose names
were marked with a cross in the parish register. After his death
the circumstance was mentioned to the Bishop, who ordered the
book into his presence, and he found a number of names crossed.
Such as were alive he sent for, and baptized privately ; but many
were dead. These of course had perished for want of a good in-
tention in their priest ; and every Papist now alive may be in dan-
ger of the same thing, for any thing that he knows ; for how can he
be sure of the intention of the priest who baptized him ?
It cannot be shewn that the external rite of baptism ever made a
man more holy than he was before. If the thing signified accom-
pany the sign, a holy character is undoubtedly imparted ; but the
experience of many centuries has proved that this is not always
the case ; for we find that persons who have been baptized are,
on growing up, just as unholy as those who have not. This, how-
ever, is a matter which does not give the church of Rome any con-
cern, for she has in reserve the sacrament of confession and pen-
ance, by which she can take away all the sins which a man has
committed after baptism. In the preceding pages, I think, I have
clearly proved that this is the doctrine of the church of Rome.
Persons may live in the practice of every vice; yet by confessing
to a priest as often as they please, they can get all their sins for-
given ; and it is required that they do this at least once
a-year ; and once a-year they receive absolution, which abso-
lution by a priest is understood to be as effectual, and it satisfies
the sinner as completely, as if he were favoured by a voice from
heaven assuring him that he was absolved in the court above.
THfc.
Protestant,
No. XCII.
SATURDAY, APRIL 15th, 1820.
W hile auricular confession is, to say the least of it, useless to
him that makes it, it must be extremely pernicious to him who hears
it. The mind of a Popish priest must be the common receptacle of
all the filth in his parish. There is, as the word of God assures
us, a desperate wickedness in the heart of man. The Almighty-
challenges for himself, exclusively, the knowledge of its deep de-
pravity ; and to him alone is it lawful for a sinner to lay open, in
the way of confession, or contrite acknowledgment, all the wicked-
ness which he feels within him. This can be done with safety-
only to him who, being infinitely holy, is incapable of pollulior.
To tell all the evil that is in one's htfart to a fellow creature would
corrupt the most innocent, and increase the wickedness of the
most wicked. This, however, is what every Popish priest exacts of
all his flock, without exception; and thus, by becoming familiar
with the depravity of others, his own depravity must be fearfully
augmented. Nay, he becomes so hardened in wickedness as to be
the corrupter of the young and comparatively innocent. He in-
sinuates the poison of his own filthy imagination into the hearts of
the inexperienced, and effects their seduction under the pretext of
promoting their salvation.
That this is not an exaggerated statement, I could easily prove,
with disgusting minuteness, from a variety of authorities, which
all confirm the testimony of Mr. Bradley, in my 89th Number,
page 306. In particular, I have Oefore me the narrative of John
Gordon, a native of Aberdeensnire, who, against his will, was
sent to a Popish seminary, in the Highlands, and afterwards to the
Scotch College in Paris, in order to be educated for the priesthood.
Having no means of escape, for a long time, he was obliged to
conform to all the rules of the College. At last, however, he hap-
pily effected his escape, and returning to Scotland, he renounced
Popery, and embraced the Protestant religion, before the Presby
Vol. II. It
330
tery of Edinburgh, on the 7th of June, 1731. A certificate to
that effect is prefixed to his work, signed by Jo. Guthrie, Mode-
rator. Soon after his arrival in Paris, he was obliged to go to con-
fession, and to go through all the preparatory exercises, which he
relates very minutely. Then, speaking of the confession itself,
which he was instructed to make, he says, — " But all this was to
be understood of mortal sins, or those that kill the soul, at one
blow ; but as for venial sins, we could obtain remission of them
without confession, by saying a Paternoster, an Ave Maria, or the
like. However, as for young people, such as we, who had but
just come out of the contagious sea of the world, it was our sa-
fest way, he told us, to declare or confess all, because we could
not, so well as our confessors, discern between mortal and venial
sins.
" After this we were sent to our chambers, to begin an examin-
ation of our consciences. Paper, pen, and ink, were given us, that
we might write down all the sins we could think of. When they
had given us sufficient time for examination, then they gave us
some prayers to say, for obtaining contrition, or sorrow, for our
sins ; after which Mr. Smith was placed in the confessional, to
hear our several accounts. I must confess these proceedings did
not well digest with me ; but I was too well secured either to make
off", or disobey ; so to the confessional I went, where, I must own,
there was not a corner of my conscience but what was pretty well
sifted by the impertinent interrogations he made, by which /
learned more sins than ever I had heard of, tvhen conversant
in the world. However, I came pretty well off; for the only penance
I had imposed on me was to repeat, every day, for the space of
two weeks, the seven psalms which are called penitential psalms ;
and because I had apostatized from them, as he said, he ordered
me for that to sleep in my clothes, for the abovementioned time.
That was the peccatum contra Spiritum Sanctum (sin against the
Holy Ghost) against which he spake for a considerable time.
However, out of compassion, he lifted up his hands, and gave me
absolution."
After a variety of interesting matter, Mr. Gordon proceeds : —
" But to return to the rest of my adventures in France — Having
finished my course of divinity, I was obliged to take the order of
a sub-deacon, and a year after, I was made a deacon. I was then
most of all shocked ; for now I was obliged to do what 1 detest-
ed to see others perform. There was a breviary put in my hands,
which every day I must say under pain of mortal sin, in which
where was such an account of saints, and offices to their honour,
that it was nauseous to rehearse them. Every Saturday we were
obliged to say the Office of the Virgin Mary, and litanies to her
honour, where there were such bombast titles, as, Stella Maris,
331
Star of the Sea ; Rosea Myslica, Mystical Rose ; Turris David-
ica, Tower of David ; Turris Eburnea, Tower of Ivory, and the
like ; and Ora pro nobis (Pray for us), at the end of each of these
titles. It was also incumbent on me to exercise the functions of
the orders I received, viz. to carry crosses at their processions, and
the holv water, and to offer incense to their sacrament, altars, and
pictures ; to carry their sacrament about the churches, and from
their tabernacles to their altar ; during which time every person
prostrated himself on the ground, and adored it. These, and such
like practices, made me very uneasy ; but I did not know how to
avoid them.
" Being now thus advanced, I was obliged to be more conver-
sant in the world than formerly, and very soon became acquainted
with several confessors, in particular with one Mr. Holdar, alias
Jonathan Holdforth, in the English seminary of Paris, who was
confessor to most of the English nuns, in the monastery of Sion,
by St. Victor's. All our conversation ran upon the different sto-
ries he heard in confession, and of the nuns' scruples of con-
science," &c. &c. " that I am ashamed to rehearse them. So
that I would advise these ladies either to forbear frequenting con-
fession, or at least to make choice of a discreet person. But he is
not the only person who is free in revealing what he has heard ;
for it is the ordinary discourse of the priests, when they meet, to
inform one another of what they have heard in confession, and
how dexterously they behaved on these occasions. This I can
assert, because I was often present at such conferences, where the
conversation was so indecent that even an honest Pagan would
have blushed." pp. 61, 62. This work is dedicated to the cele-
brated Duncan Forbes, of Culloden, with whom the author seems
to have been acquainted ; and I see no reason to question the
truth of any of his statements. Indeed, independently of such
facts as are narrated, it must be evident to every person acquainted
with human nature, that confession, as practised in the church of
Rome, must have a direct tendency to deprave the morals of the
priests themselves, as well as of their miserable dupes.
Mr. Gavin, in his " Master Key," gives a most minute illus-
tration of this subject, with several examples of the mischievous
effect of auricular confession, in debauching the minds of young
persons. " To the discovery of mortal sins," says he, " the father
confessor doth very much help the penitent ; for he sometimes out of
pure zeal, but most commonly out of curiosity, asks them many
questions to know whether they do remember all their sins, or not ?
By these, and the like questions, the confessors do more harm
than good, especially to the ignorant people and young women."
" And when they come to that tribunal, with a sincere, ignorant
heart, to receive advice and instruction, they go home with light,
S32
knowledge) and an idea of sins unknown to tliem before." Vol. 1.
|.. 5.
After a variety of preparatory ceremonies, which are particularly
described, the penitent " riseth and goes to the confessionary ;
that is, the confessing place, where the confessor sits in a chair
like our hackney chairs, which is most commonly placed in some
jf the chapels, and in the darkest place of the church. The
chairs, generally speaking, have an iron grate at each side, but none
at all before ; and some days of devotion, or on a great festival,
there is such a crowd of people, that you may see three penitents
at once about the chair, one at each grate, and the other at the
door, though only one confessing at a time, whispering in the
confessor's ear, that the others should not hear what he says ; and
when has done, another begins, and so on. But most com-
monly they confess at the door of the chair one after another; for
thus the confessor has opportunity of knowing the penitent: and
though many gentlewomen, either out of bashfulness, or shame, 01
modesty, do endeavour to hide their faces with a fan or veil, no'-
withstanding all this, they are known by the confessor, who, if
curious, by crafty questions, brings them to tell their names and
houses, and this in the very act of confession ; or else he ex-
amines their faces when the confession is over, whilst the peni-
tents are kissing his hand or sleeve ; and if he cannot know them
this way, he goes himself to give the sacrament, and. then every
one being obliged to show his face, is known by the curious con-
fessor, who doth this not without a private view and design, as
will appear at the end of some private confessions."
Then comes the Confiteor, which is, in English, as follows : —
" I do confess to God Almighty, to the blessed Mary, always a
virgin, to the blessed Archangel, Michael, to the blessed John
Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints,
and to thee O father, that I have too much sinned by thought,
word, and deed, by my fault, by my fault, by my greatest fault :
Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, always a virgin, the bles-
sed Archangel, Michael, the blessed John Baptist, the holy Apos-
tles, Peter and Paul, and all the saints, and thee, O father — to
pray God our Lord for me, Amen." *' This done, the penitent
raises himself from his prostration to his knees, and touching with
nis lips either the ear or the cheek of the spiritual father, begins
to discover his sins by the ten commandments."
Surely it is not necessary to make any comment on this com-
pound of idolatry and absurdity. . The whole process is so horri-
bly revolting to every feeling of decency and common sense, that
it is with difficulty I have brought myself to write it. One ca.-i
M'-arcely think of the labial application to the ear or the check of
the priest as above enjoined, without remembering the injunction
3'33
of the idolatrous priests to the children of Israel, " Let the men
that sacrifice kiss the calves." Hosea xiii. 2.
Mr. Gavin gives about half a dozen examples of confession
made by nuns and others, which I must be excused from insert-
ing in my work ; and then he proceeds to show how the priests
accommodate themselves to persons and circumstances, so as to
be very lenient to some, and rigorous to others, just as they think
lenity or rigour will best serve their purpose.
" If a poor countryman," says he, " goes to confess, the
father confessor takes little pains with him ; for, as he expects lit-
tle or nothing from him, he heareth him, and, with bitter words,
corrects the poor man, and, most commonly without any correc-
tion, imposing upon him a hard penance, sends him away with
the same ignorance he went with to confess.
" If a soldier happens to go to make his peace with God (so
they express themselves, when they go to confession), then the
confessor showeth the power of a spiritual guide. He questions
him about three sins only ; to wit, thefts, drunkenness, and un-
cleanness. Perhaps the poor soldier is free from the two first ;
but if he is guilty of the last, the confessor draws the consequence
that he is guilty of all the three, and terrifying him with hell, and
all the devils, and the fire of it, he chargeth him with restitution,
and that he is obliged to pay so much money for the relief of the
souls in purgatory, or else he cannot get absolution. So the poor
man, out of better conscience than his confessor, offers a month's
pay, which must be given upon the spot (for, in the shop of confes-
sors, there is neither trust nor credit) to appease the rough, bitter
confessor, and to get absolution ; and I believe this hard way of
using the poor soldiers, is the reason that they do not care at all
for that act of devotion ; and as they are so bad customers to the
confessors' shop, the confessors use their endeavours, when they
come to buy absolution, to sell it as dear as they can ; so, at one
time, they pay for two, three, or more years.
" I have heard a soldier, cursing the confessors, say — ' If I
continue in the king's service twenty years, I will not go to con-
fess ; for it is easier and cheaper to lift up my finger and be ab-
solved by our chaplain, than to go to a friar who doth nothing but
rail and grumble at me, and yet I must give him money for mas-
ses, or else he will not absolve me.' "
Lifting up the finger is thus explained in a note : — " The cus-
tom of the Spanish army, in the field, and the day before the bat-
tle or before the engagement, is, that the chaplain goes through
all the companies., to ask the officers whether they have a mind
to confess, and if one has any thing to say, he whispers in the
chaplain's ear, and so through all the officers. As for the private
men ; — crying out, he says, ' he that has a sin, let him lift up one
finger,' and then he gives a general absolution to all at once."
334-
" If a cullegian goes to confess, lie finds a mild and sweet con-
fessor; and, without being questioned, and with a small penance:
he generally gets absolution. The reason the confessors have to
use the collegians with great civility and mildness is, first, because,
if a collegian is ill used by his confessor, he goes to a deaf friar,
who absolves ad dextram et ad sinistram all sorts of penitents,
for a rial of plate ; and after, he (the collegian) inquireth and ex-
amined) into all the other confessor's actions, visits, and intrigues;
and when he has got matter enough, he will write a lampoon
on him, which has happened very often in my time. So the
confessor dares not meddle with the collegians, for fear that his
tricks should be brought to light ; and another reason is, because
the collegians, for the generality, are like the Jilles de joye, in
Lent ; that is, without money, and so the confessor cannot expect
any profit by them.
" I say, if absolution be denied to a collegian, he goes to a
deaf confessor ; for some confessors are called deaf, not because
they are really deaf, but because they give small penance, without
correction ; and never deny absolution, though the sins be re-
ferred to the Pope. I knew two Dominican friars, who were
known by the name of deaf confessors, because they never used
to question the penitent.
" One of such confessors has more business in Lent, than
twenty of the others." — " All the great and habitual sinners go
to the deaf confessor, who gives upon the bargain, a certificate, in
which he says, that such a one has fulfilled the commandment of
the church ; for everybody is obliged to produce a certificate of
confession to the minister of the parish, before Easter, or else he
must be exposed in the church. So, as it is a hard thing for an
old sinner to get absolution, and a certificate from other covetous
confessors, without a great deal of money, they generally go to
the deaf confessors. I had a friend in the same convent, who
told me that such confessors were obliged to give two-thirds of
their profit to the community ; and there being only two deaf con-
fessors in that convent, he assured me that, in one Lent, they gave
to the Father Prior six hundred pistoles apiece."
'• It a modest, serious, religious lady comes to confession, he
uses her in another way ; for he knows that such ladies never
come to confess, without giving a good charity for masses ; so all
the confessor's care is, to get himself into the lady's favour, which
he doth by hypocritical professions of goodness and devotion, of
humility and strictness of life. He speaks gravely and conscien-
tiously, and, if the lady has a family, he gives her excellent advices,
as, to keep her children within the limits of sobriety and virtue,
lor the world is so deceitful, that we ought always to be upon our
guard ; and to watch continually over our souls, &C. And by
that means, and the like (the good ladjy believing him to be a sin-
335
cere and devout man), he becomes the guide of her soul, of her
house and family ; and most commonly the ruin of her children,
and sometimes her own ruin too. I will give the following in-
stance, to confirm this truth ; and as the thing was public, I need
not scruple to mention it, with the real names: — In the year 1706,
F. Antonia Gallardo, Augustin friar, murdered Donna Isabella
Mendez, and a child three weeks old, sucking at her breast. The
lady was but twenty-four years of age, and had been married eight
years to Don Francisco Mendez. The friar had been her spiri-
tual guide, for all that while, and all the family had so great a re-
spect and esteem for him, that he was the absolute master of the
house. The lady was brought to bed, and Don Francisco being
obliged to go into the country, for four days, desired the father to
come and be in his house, and take care of it, in his absence.
The father's room was always ready ; so he went there the same
day Don Francisco went into the country. At eight, at night,
both the father and the lady went to supper, and after he had
sent away all the maids and servants into the hall to sup, the lady
took the child to give him suck ; and the friar told her, in plain
and short reasons, his love, and that without any delay or reply,
she must comply with his request. The lady said to him, — ' Fa-
ther, if you propose such a thing to try my faithfulness and virtue,
you know my conscience these eight years past ; and if you have
any ill design, I will call my family, to prevent your further assu-
rance.' The friar then, in fury, taking a knife, killed the child, and
wounded so deeply the mother, that she died two hours after.
The friar made his escape ; but whether he went to his convent
or not, we did not hear. I myself saw the lady dead, and went
to her burial, in the church of the old St. John."
I come now to show that notwithstanding the solemnity and
importance of auricular confession in the Church of Rome, it is
sometimes reduced to a mere farce, for the amusement of a parish.
" The preacher of the parish pitcheth upon one day of the week,
most commonly in the middle of Lent, to hear the children's con
fessions ; and gives notice to the congregation, the Sunday before,
that every father of a family may send his children, both boys and
girls, to church, on the day appointed, in the afternoon. The
mothers dress their children the best way they can, that day, and
give them the offering money, for the expiation of their sins.
That afternoon is a holiday in the parish, not by precept but by
custom ; for no parishioner, either old or young, man or woman,
misseth to go and hear the children's confessions. For it is rec-
koned among them a greater diversion than a comedy, as you
may judge by the following account : —
" The day appointed, the children repair to church, at three of
the clock, where the preacher is waiting for them, with a long reed
336'
1 ii his hand; and when all are together, the reverend father plac-
eth them in a circle round himself, and then kneeling down, the
children also doing the same, makes the sign of the cross, and
says a short prayer. This done, he exhorteth the children to
hide no sin from him, but to tell him all they have committed.
Then he strikes with the reed the child whom he designs to con-
fess the first, and asks him the following questions. Confessor.
How long is it since you last confessed? Boy. Father, a whole
year, or the last Lent. Conf. And how many sins have you com-
mitted, from that time till now? Boy. Two dozen. Now the
Confessor asks round : — And you ? Boy. A thousand and ten.
Another will say, a bag-full of small lies, and ten big sins; and
so one after another answers, and tells many childish things.
Conf. But pray, you say you have committed ten big sins, tell me,
how big? Bo j. As big as a tree. Conf. But tell me the sins.
Boy. Theie is oue sin I committed, which I dare not tell your
reverence before all the people ; for somebody here present will
kill me, if he heareth it. Conf Well, come out of the circle and
tell it me. Then both go out, and with a loud voice, he tells
him, that such a day he stole a nest of sparrows from a tree, of
another boy's, and that if he knew it, he would kill him. Then
both come again into the circle, and the father asks other boys and
girls so many ridiculous questions, and the children answer him
so many pleasant, innocent things, that the congregation laughs
all the while. One will say that his sins are red ; another, that
one of his sins is white, one black, and one green ; and in these trif-
ling questions they spend two hours. When the congregation
is weary of laughing, the confessor gives the children a correction,
and bids them not to sin any more, for a black boy takes along
with him the wicked children. Then he asks the offering, and
after he has got all from them, he gives them the penance for
their sins. To one he says, I give you for penance to eat a
sweet cake ; to another, to go to school the day following ; to
another, to desire his mother to buy him a new hat; and such things-
as these : and pronouncing the words of absolution, he dismiss-
eth the congregation with Amen, So be it, every year.
" From seven to fifteen, there is no extraordinary thing to say
to young people, only that from seven years of age, they begin to
confess in private, and receive the sacrament in public. The
confessors have very little trouble with such young people, and
likewise little profit, except with a puella, who sometimes begins,
at twelve years, the course of a lewd life, and then the confessor
finds business and profit enough, when she comes to confess .
Sec Master Key to Pop'ry, vol. 1st, pari 1st.
THE
Protestant,
No. XCIII.
SATURDAY, APRIL 22d, 1820.
a he sacrament of confession, as it is called, as administered by a
parcel of idle and luxurious ecclesiastics, must be productive of
the most enormous wickedness. This might be inferred from the
nature of the sacrament, and the well known character of those
who administer it ; but there are abundance of facts adduced bj
various authors, which completely prove that the lewdness oi
heathen idolatry is outdone bv that of Popery, under this single
rite. It is. difficult to write with decency on such a subject ; but
it is necessary to tell at least part of the truth, in justice to the
cause in which I am engaged, that is, to expose the church of
Rome as the very Antichrist that is opposed to all that is holy,
and just, and good.
Da Costa, a Portuguese gentleman, a member of the church
of Rome, in his relation of what he suffered in the Inquisition, in
consequence of being accused of Free Masonry, after describing at
considerable length, the vices of the priests, proceeds as follows : —
" Another admirable instance of their continence in this respect,
presents itself in Gonsalvius, during his relation of what happened
in Spain, when the Bull of Pope Paul IV. enjoining to the holy
office the cognizance of the crime of solicitant, was published.
(A solicitant is a priest, who, in the act of confession, solicits the
penitent confessing, to indecent acts.) Before I advert to the
fact, 1 shall state those words of the Bull that are applicable to
the subject : ' Whereas certain ecclesiastics, in the kingdom of
Spain, and in the cities and dioceses thereof, having the cure of
souls, or exercising such cure for others, or otherwise deputed to
hear the confessions of penitents, have broken out into such hein-
ous acts of iniquity, as to abuse the sacrament of penance in the
very act of hearing the confessions, not fearing to injure the same
sacrament, and him who instituted it, our Lord God and Saviour
Jesus Christ, by enticing and provoking, or trying to entice and
provoke, females to lewd actions, at the very time when they were
making their confessions.
Vol. II. U u
338
" When this Bull was first introduced into Spain, the Inquisi-
tors published a solemn edict in all the churches belonging to the
archbishopric of Seville, that any person knowing, or having heard
of any friar or clergyman's having committed the crime of abusing
the sacrament of confession, or in any manner having impropeily
conducted himself during the confession of a female penitent,
should make a discovery of what he knew, within thirty days to
the holy tribunal ; and very heavy censures were attached to those
who should neglect or despise this injunction. When this edict
was first published, such a considerable number of females went to
the palace of the Inquisitor, only in the city of Seville, to reveal
the conduct of their infamous confessors, that twenty notaries, and
as many Inquisitors, were appointed to minute down their several
informations against them : but these being found insufficient to
receive the depositions of so many witnesses ; and the inquisitor-
being thus overwhelmed, as it were, with the pressure of such
affairs, thirty days more were allowed for taking the accusations-,
and this lapse of time also proving inadequate to the intended pur-
pose, a similar period was granted not only for a third but a fourth
time. The ladies of rank, character, and noble families, had
a difficult part to act on this occasion, as their discoveries could
not be made of any particular time and place. On one side, a
religious fear of incurring the threatened censures, goaded their
consciences so much as to compel them to make the required ac-
cusation ; on the other side, a regard to their husbands, to whom
they justly feared to give offence, by affording them any motives
for suspecting their private conduct, induced them to keep at
home. To obviate these difficulties they had recourse to the
measure of covering their faces with a veil, according to the fash-
ion of Spain, and thus went to the inquisitors in the most secret
manner they could adopt. Very few, however, escaped the vigi-
lance of their husbands, who, on being informed of the discoveries
and accusations made by their wives, were filled with suspicions :
and yet, notwithstanding this accumulation of proofs against the
confessors, produced to the inquisitors, this holy tribunal, contra-
ry to the expectations of every one, put an end to the business,
by ordering, that all crimes of this nature proved by lawful evi-
dence, should from thenceforth be consigned to perpetual silence
and oblivion." Narrative, SfC. by Hippolyto Joseph Da Cos-
ta Pereira Furtado de Meitdonca, vol. i.p. 117 — 119.
This was not like an instance of an individual priest or two, in
a nation, in the course of a century, being detected in the practice
•if wickedness. It shows that the disease was universal, the whole
maas was corrupted ; and the fact that both husbands and wives
continued in the same communion, and submitted their conscien -
tes, and trusted their salvation, in the hands of the same ghostly
;uides, mows the influence of a judicial infatuation and hardness
339
of heart to which they must have been abandoned, because tliev
received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
Mr. Gavin gives an account of a priest who made his dying
confession to himself, in which he acknowledged that for twelve
years he belonged to a club of priests, six in number, residing in
contiguous parishes. Every one, he said, had a list ot the
handsomest women in his parish, and when any one had a
fancy to see any one of them, the priest of the parish sent for hei
to his own house, under some religious pretext, and had her in-
troduced to his brother priest. In this way, said he, we have
served one another for twelve years past. " Our manner was to
persuade their husbands and fathers, not to hinder them any spiri-
tual comfort ; and to the ladies, to persuade them to be subject to
our advice and will ; and that in doing so they should have liber-
ty at any time to go out on pretence of communicating some spiri-
tual business to the priest : And if they refused to do it, then we
would speak to their husbands and fathers not to let them go out
at all ; or, which would be worse for them, we should inform
against them to the holy tribunal of the Inquisition." Master
Key, vol. i. page 29. Thus, under the cloak of letting them go
to confession, Papists become accessary to the prostitution of their
wives and daughters.
It is now time that I should think of drawing the subject or
utricular confession to a close ; but it would not be fair to do so
without examining what the church of Rome adduces as scripture
authority for the practice. Know then, gentle reader, that the
front argument from scripture is contained in these words of our
■Saviour to his apostles, John xx. 21. " Receive ye the Holy
Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose
sins you shall retain, they are retained." From this the " Papist
truly represented," argues, that Christ gave the apostles " and
their successors, the bishops and priests of the catholic church,
authority to absolve any truly penitent sinner from his sins."
This I say is the front argument of the church of Rome for
auricular confession ; and I request the reader to look at it again,
and to take his Bible, and read the passage in its connection, and
lie will find that there is not a word of confession in it. The re-
mitting, or retaining of sins here, is connected with the gift of the
Holy Ghost, under whose divine influence the apostles, as am-
bassadors of Christ, were authorized to proclaim the forgiveness
oi remission of sins, to all who should receive the testimony con-
cerning Christ ; and in the same authoritative manner, to declare
the everlasting perdition of those who received not their testimony.
The sins of the former were remitted, and the sins of the latter re-
tained, according to their inspired declaration ; and thus what they
hound on earth was bound in heaven, and what they loosed on
34-0
earth was loosed in heaven. But the question recurs, what have
we here to do with auricular confession ? And the answer must
he, nothing at all.
But we shall see how the late Bishop Hay of Edinburgh ex-
tracts the duty of confession out of these words : — " What is
sacramental confession ? Ans. It is the laying open the state o.
our souls to a priest, by humbly accusing ourselves to him of all
our sins, in order to obtain the grace of absolution. Q. Is this
confession of our sins necessary for obtaining absolution ? A.
It. is ordained by Jesus Christ as a condition absolutely necessary
for this purpose ; insomuch, that without it, the grace of the sac-
rament of penance, by which our sins are pardoned, and we re-
stored to the friendship of God, will not be bestowed upon us.
Q. How does this necessity appear from Scripture? A. It is
included in the very power which Jesus Christ gave to the pas-
tors of the church, of binding and loosing, of remitting and re-
taining sins. For by giving them this power, he constituted them
judges of our souls in his own stead, the ministers of reconcilia-
tion between God and the sinner; consequently, it is his will that
they should exercise this power with justice and discretion, accord-
ing to the merits of the case, and the dispositions of the peni-
tent ; for we cannot suppose he intended that they should exer-
cise it at random ; it would be impiety to suppose that. Be-
sides, as this tribunal is not a tribunal of strict vindictive justice,
for punishing the offender to the extent of what he deserves,
seeing nothing less than hell fire is the proper punishment ol
mortal sin, but it is a tribunal of mercy, where, by the sen-
tence of absolution, the sinner is delivered both from the guilt ol
his sins, and from the eternal punishment due to them ; and this
eternal punishment is exchanged for a temporal punishment, which,
through the merits of Christ applied to our souls in this sac-
rament, both contributes to satisfy the divine justice, and is most
wholesome and salutary to the penitent ; it is doubtless the will
of Jesus Christ, that the priest, when he exercises the power ol
binding, and lays this penance on the penitent, should do it with
a just proportion- to his guilt and dispositions. Now, it is self-
evident that the priest can neither act with justice and prudence,
in forgiving and retaining sins, nor observe the just proportion in
imposing the proper punishment suitable to the guilt and disposi-
tions of the sinner, unless he knows the real state of his soul, both
as to his guilt and dispositions; and, as none can possibly discov-
er this to him but the sinner himself, hence it manifestly follows,
that the very power of binding and loosing, of forgiving and re-
taining sins, given by Jesus Christ to the priests of his church,
necessarily includes a strict obligation on sinners to lay open the
state of their souls, by a humble confession of all their sins to a
priest, in order to receive the effect of that power, and to be ab-
341
solved from their sins Dy him." Sincere Christian Instriided, voh
ii. pp. 77, 78.
Perhaps the reader will expect an apology from me for giving
such an enormous quantity of nonsense, in one quotation. I have
done it for the double purpose of showing the manner in which
the greatest Popish writers overwhelm with words a subject that
cannot bear to be openly exposed ; and the circuitous process, by
which they derive the duty of auricular confession of sin to a
priest : When drawn from under its overwhelming verbiage, the
argument is simply this : — The priest cannot remit sins till he
know them ; he cannot possibly know them but by the confes-
sion of the sinner , ergo, it is the duty of every man to confess
his sins to a priest. Thus the very imperfection and ignorance
of the priest is given as a reason for trusting in him. It is de-
clared that he has the power of remitting sin, and granting abso-
lution ; and at same time, it is admitted that he cannot possibly
know what sins a man has committed, or whether he be a sinner
at all, until he shall learn the fact from the person himself who
applies to him for absolution. I wish all who go to confess their
sins to a priest had but the sense which a heathen king displayed
in addressing the wise men of his court, which by a little accom-
modation may be applied to the case in hand. Dan. ii. 9. Tell
me my sins, and then I shall know that you can grant me abso-
lution.
There is a sense, indeed, in which the pastors of the church
may be said to grant absolution ; that is, when persons having
been separated from communion in consequence of some public
sin, or some sin publicly known, are, upon evidence of repentance,
restored to fellowship. This is not forgiving sin, but receiving
back a sinner, believing that God has forgiven him ; and we be-
lieve this only when we have evidence of genuine repentance. A
free and open confession is one evidence of repentance ; but it is
not a confession of secret sin that is required. It is enough that
confession of this be made to God, who knows it already. In
the case of the church, the confession must also relate to some
sin that is known already, and that has been an occasion of scan-
dal. Confession is not required for the purpose of discovering
secret sins against God ; but for ascertaining the state of mind
of the sinner, with regard to what has given public offence ; and
if there be reason to believe that he really repents, he is absolved ;
that is, restored to his place in the church wli^ch he had forfeited.
But this, in every point, is very different from confession and ab-
solution in the church of Rome.
Bishop Hay finds another authority for auricular confession,
in these words, 1 John i. 8. "If we say we have no sin we de-
ceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us : If we confess our
sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleans
34-2
us from all iniquity." Plain common sense could find nothing
of auricular confession to a priest, in these words ; for there is no
mention, and not the most distant allusion to a priest in the
whole chapter, unless we shall suppose the inspired writer speak-
ing of himself and the other apostles under that character, when
he says, the things which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you, &c. Yet this ivordy prelate speaks of his proof from
this passage in the following confident style : " This testimony
is so strong and clear, for the necessity of confessing our sins,
that our adversaries have no other way to escape the force of it,
but by vainly pretending that the apostle means only the con-
fessing our sins privately to God alone." We do not only pre-
tend, but firmly maintain, that the apostle in this passage, speaks
of confessing sins to God, and to no other ; though the grave
Bishop should reckon this so small a matter that he calls it only
confessing to God, whereas confessing to a priest, is, in his opin-
ion, the great and indispensable thing. The structure of the
language will bear no other meaning than that the confession
must be made to him who is faithful and just to forgive ; that is,
God, as in the version from which the Bishop quotes. It is the
pronoun hem. our version ; but it evidently relates to the substan-
tive, God, in the 5th verse. But let us see how Bishop Hay ex-
torts the doctrine of confession to a priest out of this passage : —
" But that this (i. e. confession to God alone) cannot be the
apostle's meaning, is evident from two strong reasons ; first, be-
cause the confessing our sins is here put in opposition to the
saying ive have no sin ; these two are opposite to one another,
and therefore must certainly relate to the same object. Now who
\.i there in his senses that would seriously dare to say to God in
private that he has no sin ? In this part of the sentence, then,
the Apostle certainly means saying, tve have no sin before
men ; and, consequently, in the opposite part of it, when he
says, " if we confess our sins," he necessarily means the do-
ing so before men also." This is doubtless a most precious
piece of Popish logic. The whole weight of the argument, if
argument it can be called, rests upon the words, if we say we
have no sin ; and even these conclude nothing in the Bishop's
favour, unless they necessarily mean, saying aloud before men.
Now so far from necessarily meaning this, they do not mean this
at all. They refer to what a man thinks or says in his heart
If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves. It is by what a
man thinks, or says to himself, that he deceives himself; but by
what he says aloud before men, he deceives not himself, but
others. Besides, Bishop Hay ought to have known that some
men are guilty of doing every day what he says no man in his
Benses will do ; that is, saying to God that they have no sin.
Christ described o class of men under the character of the Phn-
343
risee, who not only said to God he had no sin, at least such as
other men had, but boasted of a great deal of merit. And this
must be the case with every Papist when he has received the ab-
solution of his priest, and performed his penance.
" Again," proceeds Bishop Hay, " St. James says, * confess
your sins one to another, and pray for one another, that you may
be saved.' Here we see, in express terms, the confessing our sins
to man laid down as a condition of our salvation. His rever-
ence admits that there is a difficulty in the words one another,
which he attempts to remove, but he only smothers it with a
great heap of words. So far as the words of the apostle go,
they make it as much the duty of the priests to confess to then
people, as of the people to confess to the priests.
In the following, the reader will see how the meaning of tlie
plainest passages of scripture is perverted by such writers as Bish-
op Hay, and indeed by all Popish writers " St. Paul," says he,
" SDeaking of the reconciliation of sinners to ' God, says, God hath
reconciled us to himself by Christ ; and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. For God, indeed, was in Christ re-
conciling the world to himself — and he hath placed in us the
word of reconciliation ; we are therefore ambassadors for Christ,
2 Cor. v. 18. In these words, the apostle declares, that
whereas God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, reconciled the
world to himself, he was pleased to appoint the apostles, and their
successors in office, to be the ministers of this reconciliation ; that
is, to be his substitutes on earth for applying to the souls of the
people the means obtained by him for communicating the grace
of reconciliation; and for this purpose, says the apostle, he
placed in us the word of reconciliation, by which means we are
made the ambassadors of Christ. Hence, then, it manifestly fol-
lows, that if the pastors of the church be the ministers of our
reconciliation with God, if the word of reconciliation, the
power of pronouncing sentence of absolution upon us, be placed
in them, it is, of course, by their ministry alone, that we can
obtain this reconciliation. Christ instituted no other way ; there-
fore, it is our strict obligation to have recourse to them for this
benefit, by laying open before them the state of our souls in
the sacrament of confession, that they may apply to us the
means of our reconciliation, in the way that Christ requires of
them to do." Sincere Christian instructed, &;c. vol. ii. p. 82.
The apostle's doctrine in the above cited passage, is, that
when Christ died upon the cross, " God was in him reconciling
the world to himself;" that is, taking away the grounds of dif-
ference which stood between him and sinners of the human race,
"not imputing to them their trespasses;" but imputing them to
Christ, who voluntarily took them upon himself, that he might
make atonement for them ; thus it is said, " he bore our sins in
344
his own body on the tree." " For God made him who knev.
no sin, to be sin for lis, that we might be the righteousness of
God in him." It was thus that God reconciled us to himself; and
we are said to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
Now, savs the apostle, " he hath given to us the word of reconci-
liation." This was not to effect the reconciliation ; for Christ
himself effected it. It was not even to apply the means of re-
conciliation, as Bishop Hay calls it, for it is the Holy Ghost alone,
that can apply the benefits of Christ's death to the souls of men.
It was, as the apostle himself plainly declares, the gospel with
which he was put in trust, and which he calls the word of recon-
ciliation, because it shows the way by which we become reconcil-
ed to God. The apostles received a commission from Christ him-
self to preach this gospel to all the world. Thus they became
his ambassadors ; and as such they beseeched men, in Christ's
stead, to be reconciled to God : that is, to believe in Christ,
and acquiesce in the divine plan of salvation, which is called sub-
mitting to the righteousness of God.
The apostles never professed, like this arrogant priest, to put
themselves forward as Christ's substitutes. They did not even
call themselves ministers of reconciliation, as the Popish priests do.
They were only ministers of the word of reconciliation, which is an
expression of precisely the same import as the modern phrase,
preachers of the gospel. They were indeed ambassadors of
Christ. They received their commission directly from himself.
They were endowed with extraordinary and miraculous powers
for the exercise of their functions; and so guided by the Holy
Spirit in all their ministrations, as to declare the mind of their
Master with infallible certainty. In these respects they had no
successors ; and there is no need of any ; for they are to us in
their writings as much the ambassadors of Christ as they were
to those who were subjects of their personal preaching. By their
word they are still beseeching men in the name of Christ to be
reconciled to God.
Let no one imagine that by these remarks I mean to under-
value a standing ministry in the churches of Christ ; I know this
to be as really of divine appointment as the apostolic office itself.
I know that he who gave apostles and prophets, for laying the
foundation of the church, gave also pastors and teachers for its
edifying, or building up. But the latter have no right to put
themselves in the place of the former, much less to exalt them-
selves above them, as the silliest Popish priest does, when he re-
quires persons to confess their secret sins to him, and when he
gives himself out as a minister of reconciliation, as one who is able
to grant pardon of sin by means of his sacraments, and to restore
sinners to the favour and friendship »f their offended Creator.
THE
Protestant,
No. XC1V.
SATURDAY, APRIL 29th, 1820.
X he subject of satisfaction for sin is intimately connected with
that of confession. The one, indeed, is incomplete without the
other ; for let a sinner make ever so good a confession, and let
him even have received full absolution, it is necessary that he
perform his penance ; that is, make satisfaction to divine justice
for his sins, in his own person. That I may do the church 01
Rome all manner of justice, I shall, as usual, lay down the doc-
trine in the very words of their own standard authors. The fol-
lowing is Gother's statement of what the church of Rome disa-
vows, and of what she avows ; which was published and approv-
ed " by the late venerable and reverend Dr. Richard Challoner
Bishop of Debra, and Vicar Apostolic of the London district.
The twentieth edition."
" Of Satisfaction. The Papist misrepresented, believes
very injuriously of Christ's passion, being persuaded that his
sufferings and death were not sufficiently satisfactory for our sin,%
but that it is necessary for every one to make satisfaction for
themselves. And for this end, after he has been at confession,
the priest enjoins him a penance ; by the performance of which,
he is to satisfy for his offences : and thus confidently relying on
his own penitential works, he utterly evacuates Christ's passion ;
and though he professes himself a Christian, and that Christ is
his Saviour, yet by his little trusting to him, he seems to think
him to be no better than what his crucifix informs him, that is,
a mere wooden one.
" The Papist truly represented, believes it damnable to think
injuriously of Christ's passion. Nevertheless he believes, that
ihough condign satisfaction for the guilt of sin, and the pain
eternally due to it, be proper only to Christ our Saviour ; yet
penitent sinners being redeemed by Christ, and made his mem-
bers, may in some measure satisfy by prayers, fasting, alm«, &c
Vol. II. X x
346
for the temporal pain, which, by order of God's justice, some-
times remains due after the guilt and the eternal pains are remit-
ted. So that trusting in Christ as his Redeemer, he yet does
not think that by Christ's sufferings every Christian is discharged
of his particular sufferings, but that every one is to suffer some-
thing for himself, as St. Paul did, who, by many tribulations,
and by suffering in his own flesh, filled up that which was behind
of the passions of Christ ; and this not only for himself, but
for the whole church, Colioss. i. 24.; and this he finds every
where in Scripture, viz. people admonished of the greatness of
their sins, doing penance in fasting, sackcloth and ashes, and by
voluntary austerities, endeavouring to satisfy divine justice. And
these personal satisfactions God has sufficiently also reminded him of
in the punishments inflicted on Moses, Aaron, David, and infinite
others ; and even in the afflictions sent by God upon our own
age, in plagues, wars, fires, persecutions, rebellions, and 6uch
like : which few are so atheistical but they confess to be sent
from heaven, for the just chastisement of our sins ; and which we
are to undergo, notwithstanding the infinite satisfaction made by
Christ, and without any undervaluing it. Now, being thus convin-
ced of some temporal punishment being due to his sins, he accepts
of all tribulations, whether in body, name, or estate, from whence-
soever they come, and with others of his own choosing, offers
them up to God, for the discharging his debt ; still confessing
that his offence deserves yet more. But these penitential works
he is taught to be no otherwise satisfactory, than as joined and
applied to the satisfaction Jesus made upon the cross ; in virtue
of which alone, all our good works find a grateful acceptance in
God's sight."
The above is the entire chapter on satisfaction. I request the
reader to study it closely, and then to say if he does not find
that what is called the misrepresentation, is substantially the same
as the representation; and this is the case with most of the articles
in the work, The author gives what Protestants allege against
the church of Rome, in such language as he chooses to put in
their mouths : he usually begins his answer with a sentence of
damnation ; and then, with a " nevertheless," he comes round
to admit and defend the very same doctrines, though in different
words, and generally in words which are les\> explicit, and there-
fore more susceptible of a double meaning.
Take for instance the first sentence of what is called the
misrepresentation in the above extract : — The Papist " believes
very injuriously of Christ's passion, being persuaded that his suf-
ferings and death were not sufficiently satisfactory for our sins ;
but that it is necessary for every one to make satisfaction for
themselves," or " fur himself," as it should be ; for Papists do not
34.7
write very grammatically Compare this with the following words
of the Papist truly represented, and say where is the difference ?
" Penitent sinners being redeemed by Christ, and made his mem-
bers, may in some measure satisfy by prayers, fasting, alms, &c.
for the temporal pain, which, by order of God's justice, some-
times remains due after the guilt and eternal pains are remitted."
And " by voluntary austerities endeavouring to satisfy divine
justice." Here it is plainly admitted, that persons may in some
measure satisfy divine justice for themselves, which is the very
thing alleged against them, in what they call a misrepresentation
of them ; and that this is a disparagement of the passion of
Christ, and a declaration that his sufferings and death were not
sufficiently satisfactory, must be evident to all who understand
the terms.
The following sentence alone contains the substance .of what
Protestants allege against the church of Rome; and there cannot
be a plainer avowal that Papists consider the sufferings of Christ
as not sufficient. " So that trusting in Christ as his Redeemer,
he yet does not think that by Christ's sufferings every Christian
is discharged of his particular sufferings, but that every one is to
suffer something for himself, as St. Paul did," &c. We shall see
by and by, that St. Paul did no such thing ; but maintained the
very opposite doctrine, namely, that he would trust, or glory in
nothing but the cross of Christ, that is, in Christ's sufferings to the
death as an atoning sacrifice — a sacrifice by which divine justice
was fully satisfied.
If a man were to speak ever so truly of the light of the sun
at noon, and to say that he trusted in it as very usefu] to enable
him to follow his lawful calling ; but if " nevertheless" he would
insist on setting up a farthing candle, as a necessary or profitable
addition, and above all, if he paid much more attention to
the trimming and admiring his farthing candle, than to using
the light of the sun for its proper purposes, all the world would
say that he considered the sun's light as insufficient ; nay, that
he despised it, and thought very injuriously of it, seeing he found
himself so deficient in point of light, as to be under the necessity
of making an addition of his own.
My simile falls short of what I mean to represent by it ; for
there is light in a burning farthing candle ; and when it is held
up in the face of the sun there is more light than there was before.
There is an actual addition of light, however imperceptible ; but
with regard to the point in hand, it is absolutely impossible for all
the creatures in the universe to make an addition to the satisfac-
tion which Christ made to divine justice by his sufferings ; and,
therefore, the man who attempts to make such an addition, be-
lieves more "injuriously of Christ's passion," than the man doc^
34,8
of the light of the sun who attempts to help it by means of a far-
thing candle.
This is not a subject to be treated with levity. It requires to
be considered with the utmost seriousness ; though when Papists
ipeak of their satisfying divine justice in some measure, we can-
not think that they are serious, but upon the supposition that
they consider God as such a one as themselves, as one who thinks
lightly of sin, and whose justice is easily satisfied.
God, as our creator and lawgiver, is entitled to the constant
and entire obedience of our hearts, and of our whole lives. But
we have failed in this duty of obedience ; and by our disobedience
have become enemies to God in our minds, and by wicked works.
As enemies we deserve to suffer the wrath of God to the utter-
most. There can be nothing meritorious in the sufferings
of persons who deserve to suffer. The sufferings of sinners,
therefore, can never satisfy divine justice, or effect their reconci-
liation with God. The law by which transgressors are condemn-
ed, makes no provision for their reconciliation, but hands them
over to the executioner of divine vengeance. To satisfy divine
justice, it is necessary to suffer to the full extent of what one's sins
deserve ; and no man in the world can do this, for the wages of
sin is death ; — the penalty of transgression is everlasting destruc-
tion.
To satisfy divine justice for the sins of men, nothing less
would be accepted than the sufferings of one who had no sin.
Thus the perfect holiness of Jesus Christ is declared to have been
essentially necessary, in order to his making satisfaction for the
sins of his people. Had he had any sin of his own, all that he
suffered would have been due to divine justice on his own ac-
count, and he could not have effected the reconciliation of him-
self, much less that of others. "Such an High Priest became
us (was necessary for us), who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens ; who
needeth not daily, as those high priests (under the law) to offer
up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's,"
Heb. vii. 26, 27. He offered sacrifice for the sins of the people
when he offered up himself; but in order to his doing this ac-
ceptably and availably, it was necessary that he should have no
sin of his own. His sacrifice satisfied divine justice, because it
was a sacrifice " without spot ;" and because it was presented by
him, who, " though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the
things which he suffered ; and who, being made perfect, became
the author of eternal salvation to all them who obey him." Heb.
v. 8, 9.
Now, the effect of Christ's suffering is, eternal life to all then,
ihat obey him ; that is, to all who believe in him ; for to beli»v
34-9
in Christ is the obedience of the gospel. This is the work of God,
that we believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith in Christ is
the first thing that God requires of every sinner to whom the gos-
pel is sent ; it is the first thing that he will acknowledge and ac-
cept, as of the nature of obedience to his command ; and it is the
root and animating principle of all other obedience.
Now the satisfaction to divine justice which Christ made by his
sufferings and death, is declared to be so absolutely perfect and
complete, as to effect the full and everlasting reconciliation of al!
who believe in him. " By him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses,"
Acts xiii. 39. According to the tenor of the new covenant, the
Almighty declares concerning all who are interested in it, "their
sins and iniquities I will remember no more," Heb. viii. 12.
Those who by nature were far from God, both in state and char-
acter, " are made nigh, by the blood of Christ," Eph. ii. 13. " And
you," says the apostle Paul to the believers in Colosse, chap. i. 21,
22. " you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body
of his flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblamable,
and unreprovable. in his sight." Now, such is the high privilege
of those who are so reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, that no-
thing at all stands marked against them. "There is no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus," Rom. viii. 1. Their sins are
blotted out absolutely and for ever, so far as regards punishment
in any sense of the word ; and it would not be consistent with
justice to exact the smallest degree of punishment, seeing Jesus
Christ made full satisfaction, when he gave his life a ransom for
them.
No man, who understands the nature and design of Christ's suf-
ferings, could imagine for a moment, that God still required some-
thing in the way of suffering, by sinners themselves, in order to
satisfy his justice. The idea is absolutely heathenish. It has its
origin in false notions of the character of God, such as prevail
among all heathens, and among all who have corrupted the true
religion, and who change the glory of the incorruptible God into
an image made like to corruptible man. This notion, however, is
interwoven with the very essence of Popery. Without her con-
fession, and her satisfaction to divine justice, by stripes or by money,
the church of Rome would be as destitute as the poor idolater,
Micah, who exclaimed, " You have taken away my gods, and what
have I more ?"
It may be worth while to spend a few minutes in considering
the sort of satisfaction which Papists profess to make to divine
justice, in order to escape the temporal pain which is due to their
sins: — these are "prayers, fasting, alms, &c." and " voluntary
350
austerities." And so, it seems, in the esteem of the holy and in-
fallible church of Home, prayer is considered a suffering and t
punishment, by which, among other tilings, they expect to make
atonement for tbeir sins. Among Christians, it is considered a
precious privilege to have access to God, in the name of Christ,
by prayer and supplication, for tbose things which we have need
of: but among Papists, the case is very different ; their prayers
are things in which most of them can take no interest beioy
chiefly in an unknown tongue ; and consisting in the incessant re-
petition of the same words, without having any distinct ideas at-
tached to them. It is quite natural to look upon such an exer-
cise as a punishment : the error consists in supposing that it is an
atonement for sin. Under the notion of its being a punishmenr,
there was policy in ordaining prayer to be in an unknown tongue; but
it is surprising that they do not use a language less musical than
the Latin. What exquisite torture would the low Dutch, or
Anglo-Northumbrian, inflict upon an Italian ear!
I grant that a person may suffer a great deal by fasting, if car-
ried to excess; but so far as it is prescribed as a Christian duty,
I have no doubt it is salutary both to body and mind. Alms-
giving can be considered as a punishment only by persons who
worship their money, and who believe not the words of Christ,
" It is more blessed to give than to receive."
There may be suffering enough under the head of voluntary
austerities ; but to think that God is pleased with such things,
nay, that he is so well pleased with them, as to accept them
" gratefully" as a satisfaction for sin, shows that the most false and
degrading notions of the character of God are entertained by the
church of Rome. When one thinks of the bloody character of
Popery as it appears in this article alone, he cannot help com-
paring Romish worship with the cruel rites of heathen idolatry ;
and though he must allow that the worshippers of Juggernaut ex-
ceed in their austerities and self-tortures any thing that he sees
among Papists, he considers both as acting upon the same princi-
ple ; both serving an idol that delights in human misery — that re-
quires one to torture his own flesh ; another to offer the fruit of his
body, as a satisfaction for the sin of his soul.
I shall not torture the minds of my readers by describing the
bloody austerities, either enjoined or voluntary, which Papists prac-
tise in the way of penance, in order to satisfy divine justice. I
shall confine myself to such as are more harmless, and such as are
ludicrous, of which I could present an abundant catalogue.
St. Dominick began to afflict his body at a very early period of
life ; for we learn from the Golden Legend, printed in London,
1527) that while yet an infant, he would often rise out of his cra-
dle, and lay himself naked upon the cold ground. The author
351
does not inform us what were the particular sins for which the
infant imposed this penance on himself. St. Francis, as Bona-
venture testifies, used to call his body, Brother Ass, because of
'.he rigorous severities, continual whippings, and coarse diet, with
which he treated it. Indeed, if he treated his ass in the same man-
ner as his own body, he was guilty of great injustice to the inno-
cent beast, that had never confessed any sin that required penance.
The saint took care to sprinkle all his food with ashes. If he had
done the same with an ass's food, it is likely the good sense of the
beast would have induced him to leave the whole mess to his mas-
ter. St. Ignatius, the father of the Jesuits, immediately after his
conversion, put himself incognito into an hospital, where he fasted
whole weeks with bread and water, except on Sundays, when he
eat a few boiled herbs, but sprinkled with a good seasoning of
ashes. He girded himself with an iron chain, wore a hair shirt,
gave himself a comfortable whipping three times a day, slept little,
and lay upon the cold ground. He resolved to continue these
austerities all his life, to go barefoot to the holy land, and then
choose a wild desert for his permanent residence. When he had
first begun to gather disciples in Paris, and had gained Peter
Faber to him, he used with him to lie abroad in winter evenings
upon the snow and ice, gazing upon the heavens ; and then strip-
ping themselves to their shirts, lay the remaining part of the night
upon the cold heap. St. Macarius did penance by going naked
six months in a desert, suffering himself to be stung with flies.
This penance the saint had imposed upon himself for the sin of
having killed a flea. See a work entitled, The Enthusiasm of the
Church cf Rome, which contains great abundance of such matter.
It would be to burlesque all religion to say that such things as
these are acceptable to God, or that they are sufferings which sa-
tisfy divine justice ; yet the church of Rome holds them forth in
this light ; and at this very day, in Ireland, the poor people are so
deluded by their priests, as to believe that by such means they
can make satisfaction for their sins. A gentleman of that king-
dom, at present in Scotland, tells me that it is a common thing
with the priests there, to enjoin upon their penitents, a long jour-
ney, as a suitable satisfaction to divine justice for the sins which
they have confessed. A sinner in a remote district is thus com-
pelled to travel to the county town, which is, perhaps, forty miles
distant, and the priest takes special care that the work shall be
done ; for the penitent must bring a ticket from the clergyman o*
the place, to certify that he was there ; if such clergyman be an
ordinary priest the ticket costs so much ; if a bishop so much more ;
and the penitent must be very careful that he attend to no other
business in that journey, but that of making satisfaction to divine
justice, or doing penance for his sins. If he do any other busi-
ness whatever, he loses the whole benefit of his journey, and must
35'2
do it over again. My friend relates an instance ol a poor man
who had performed his penance to the extent enjoined upon him.
He appeared before the clergyman of the place to receive his
ticket ; but the holy father observing a piece of new leather in his
pocket, asked what it meant. " Why, please your reverence," said
the poor man, " I have bought a bit of leather in this town to mend
my shoes when 1 go home." The priest kindly told him that this,
vitiated his whole work of satisfaction; so he was sent home with-
out his ticket, to make his journey over again.
The Papist truly represented says, that " he does not think
that by the sufferings of Christ, every Christian is discharged of his
particular sufferings : but that every one is to suffer something for
himself, as St. Paul did, who, by many tribulations, and by suffer-
ing in his own flesh, filled up that which was behind of the pas-
sions of Christ, and this not only for himself, but for the whole
church." Let it be observed that the representer is speaking of
such sufferings as satisfy, in some measure, divine justice ; and let
the reader look at the apostle's own words, Coloss. i. 24. and he
will see that they imply no such thing as Papists would extort from
them. The apostle is speaking of the afflictions which awaited
him in the discharge of his duty as an ambassador of Christ, and
which he willingly endured for the sake of the church ; but none
but a Papist would ever attempt to fix upon him the absurdity and
impiety of adding, by his sufferings, to those of Christ, by which
he satisfied divine justice for the sins of his people.
There are many errors contained in this one article of Popery,
which I have barely room to mention, as I do not wish to occupy
another Number with the subject : — First, it is maintained that
after the eternal punishment of sin is remitted, in consequence of
Christ's satisfaction, divine justice still requires some temporal pun-
ishment, which is contrary to all that the Bible teaches with regard
to the perfection of Christ's sacrifice, and the full acquittal of all
who believe in him. Secondly, the afflictions of Christians in this
world are considered as punishments inflicted by divine justice ;
whereas they are really the effects of divine goodness, and are
lieneficial to those who are tried by them. A third error, besides
those which 1 have exposed at length, is that which represents
the punishment of nations by plagues, wars, &c. as inflictions of
divine justice, " notwithstanding the infinite satisfaction made by
Christ," as if this were something that God required to satisfy his
justice over and above what Christ suffered. Now the sufferings
lit' Christ have no relation at all to nations as such, but only to
the individuals of all nations who believe in him. The wicked
suffer the punishment of their own sins ; but never to the extent
of satisfying divine justice; therefore their suffering continues for ever.
THb
Jirotegtattt,
No. XCV.
SATURDAY, MAY 6lh, 1820.
JVjLy Ganoway correspondent, who subscribes himself " A Friend
to Fair Dealing," has favoured me with a long and pretty well writ-
ten letter. The greater part of it Consists of remarks on my
reply to his queries in my 85th Number, with which he is not
satisfied. The things on which he animadverts, however, regard
lather myself and my writings, than the public cause in which I
am engaged. For instance, he aflfects to find me wrong in assert-
ing that it never was a matter of consideration with me or my
Protestant readers, what we would, and would not permit Govern,
ment to do. He accuses the good citizens of Glasgow of not
permitting government to do something, when they opposed the
Church Bill. He is not pleased with my allusion to the man in
the moon. He is still of opinion that I ought to attack the
Radical Reformers, as being more dangerous than the Papists ;
but I hope he is convinced by this time that the Radicals are
under the control of much more powerful weapons than my pen.
He thinks that my writings have too long turned aside the eyes
of my readers from the real cause of alarm, and directed them to
a quarter which bears no very threatening aspect in comparison
of the other. And he labours at great length to justify the prac-
tice of the priest's taking money for church dues from poor
widows, even though they are supported by public charity. If I
were to insert all that he has written on these subjects, and make
particular replies, it would take me over a great deal of ground
that I have already trodden, and it would fill two or three Numbers,
which would be too great an encroachment on the reader's pa-
tience. He has, however, brought forward some new matter, which
I shall give in his own words, and add such remarks as I may
I'hink necessary.
" In perusing," says he, " some of your later Numbers, I have
had occasion to notice some very good specimens of your impar-
tiality and consistency of argument. You mention with much
approbation the establishment of the Hibernian Schools, for the
purpose of teaching the people of Ireland to read the Bible. All
this is very good ; but from some passages which have escaped
you, it would appear that your approbation of them proceeds from
Vol. II. Y y
354
8 desire to diminish the authority of the Catholic religion, and
to make proselytes to Protestantism, as much as from any desire
to communicate instruction. ' Had the same efforts, you say,
1 been made fifty years ago,' that are made now, and which you
blame British Christians for not doing sooner, ' the Pope would
not at this day have had such hold of the consciences of the Irish
people: and it is to be hoped that fifty years hence, he will have
no hold of them at all.' In order to preserve the semblance of
liberality, to be sure, you say that you would not deprive them of
the privilege of endeavouring to gain converts ; of doing what they
can by fair argument, to make proselytes. From what follows,
however, it appears that you would wish to make the privilege turn
to as little account as possible, because you express a doubt if
there be such a thing as fair argument among them, and assure
us that you never saw or heard of it. You give every encouragement
in your power to Protestants to tell Papists that they are in error,
and that they are training up their people in error and idolatry.
You establish it as the undoubted right of the British Legislature
to establish schools for the education of the subjects; and I suppose
you would consider it to be a very arbitrary government which
would deprive any society or individual of the privilege of educat-
ing their children in their own religious principles. I suppose if
Mr. Scott or Dr. Kelly were to employ any of their communion to
come into your house, or that of any of your Protestant friends, and
teach your or their children, to furnish them with Popish cate-
chisms, and to bring them up in the Catholic faith. If further, when
you were employing your paternal authority and influence to pre-
vent such teachers from obtaining a residence with you, and your
chddren from listening to their instructions, (as I take it for grant-
ed you would,) they should ask you, as you do them, ' What right
have you to such influence ?' and should accuse you of rebellion
and sedition for employing it : would not you have reason, think
you, to complain of' efforts made to diminish your influence, and
mar your interference, in the religious and moral education of
your children ?' Yet at the same time you will take every liberty
short of absolute force, to instruct, that is to convert, Papist chil-
dren, (because you are sure they cannot be saved unless they are
converted); but you will neither allow Papists the exclusive right
of the religious and moral education of the youth of their com-
munion, nor to enforce the rules of their order upon those who
depart from them.
" In proposing further queries to you, I would mention the
following as one. In the beginning of your answer alluded to,
you set out by saying, that ' an obscure son of the church, has
done you the honour of addressing you a letter,' alluding to the
one 1 formerly sent you ; and that ' it is the only one you have
received from hoi if church since you published that of W. D.
he church,' and the ' holy church,' 1 take it for granted you
355
mean the Catholic church; and by my being a ' son of that church,
it is equally clear you are satisfied that I am a Catholic. Now
I ask you, by what superior illumination, gift of the Spirit, or
mechanical impulse, were you assured that I was a Catholic ? or
to speak more rationally, from what premises in my letter could
you draw such a conclusion ?
" It seems indeed to be a maxim with you to form conclusions
from very lame premises, to ascribe actions to motives very fo-
reign to them, and to force consequences out of them, which
they were never intended or never calculated to produce ; inso-
much that were you appointed a judge upon men and their con-
duct, I suspect that your decisions would be at least equally sum-
mary and unwarrantable with those of the Pope, or the court of
Inquisition. You who can confidently arraign the Archbishop of
Tuam with the guilt of denying original sin, because, in a common
mode of speaking, which perhaps no man but yourself would have
taken offence at, and which is surely not more objectionable than
your *' immense files of letters," he mentioned the t innocent and
unsuspecting youth of his charge ;' — you who insinuate a charge
of rebellion against the Papists on account of their claiming, what
every one of us claims, and what Government establishes, viz. a
right to educate the youth of their communion in their own prin-
ciples, and to use their endeavours to prevent others from inter-
fering with that right : you who can confidently pronounce W. D.
to be no Christian, if lie do not at your requisition immediately
leave the communion of the church of Rome, and who can infal-
libly judge that he does not wish to serve God from his heart
with all bis strength, for this very reason because he is a Papist; —
you who can make a Papist guilty of renouncing his Saviour, and
forfeiting his eternal salvation, because he believes in transubstan-
tiation, &c. &c. — will find no difficulty in pronouncing one to be a
Papist, which with you, I suppose, is a term synonimous with a
reprobate, merely because he does what every one is bound to
do, namely to expose error and misrepresentation, wherever he
sees it, and against what party soever it is employed.
" From your unchristianizing of W. D. if he continue in the
church of Rome, and declaring all Papists void of sincerity
in the service of God, because they are such ; — from your pro-
nouncing the church of Rome to be the antitype of Babylon; the
place where Satan has his seat ; the reverse of what the name she
retains, (that is, Christian) implies; and that the gates of hell have
prevailed against her; — as well as from many other inferences you
draw from the Popish faith and worship, — I think it may be un-
derstood, that you hold for certain, that the church of Rome is
not the church of Christ ; and that therefore, it is the duty of all
Christians to withdraw themselves from her communion, and to
renounce her jurisdiction. Believing that these are your senti-
ments till you contradict them, I now ask you, as my concluding
356
question at present, Upon what warrantable grounds do you hold
the foresaid opinions ?
" When you have answered these, you may expect some more
queries and remarks on your work, from
" A Friend to Fair Dealing."
1 have quoted only about a third part of the letter, and yet I
have introduced a good deal of matter that is merely personal,
and that has little relation to the questions at issue between the
church of Rome and The Protestant; and which, there-
fore, I shall despatch in as few words as possible. For instance,
of what importance is it to the public to be informed how I knew
that the writer was a Papist ? He does not deny the fact : and
if I inferred it from " very lame premises," he ought to give me the
more credit for my sagacity. Short as his first letter was, I gues-
sed from the style and manner of it, that the writer was a Papist.
I have now become so familiar with the Popish mode of writing,
that I find it as easy to distinguish it, as to distinguish the fea-
tures of a Jew in the streets of London. I would not pretend
to decide with infallible certainty in either case; because it is possi-
ble to be mistaken ; and I might have been mistaken with regard
to the religion of my correspondent. Had it been so, I would
readily have acknowledged it ; but I shall not easily be induced
to make an apology for being right.
My correspondent might have satisfied himself, without so
many words, that I hold for certain that the church of Rome is
not the church of Christ ; and that it is the duty of all Christians
in her communion, if there be any, to withdraw themselves from
her immediately. This I hold as a fundamental principle in my
controversy with the church of Rome. I declare that she is not
the church of Christ, but the greatest enemy that Christ and his
church ever had in the world ; and when my correspondent asks
upon what warrantable ground 1 hold such an opinion, I must refer
him to what I have already written. It has been my object under
every head of discussion to draw this inference, that the religion of
Rome is the very opposite of the religion of Christ. The church
of Christ is built upon the " foundation of the apostles ami
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone ;" but
the church of Rome is built upon human tradition ; and she does
not even profess to have a more solid foundation than a fallible
creature, whom she calls St. Peter. The church of Christ acknow-
ledges only one object of worship; namely, " the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ;" but Rome, falsely called Christian, has
as many objects of worship as Rome pagan had. Every member
of the church of Christ is taught to deny his own righteousness,
however great it may appear to be in the sight of fellow-creatures,
and to trust in that of Christ alone for the salvation of his soul ;
but the members of the church of Rome arc taught to trust in their
357
own righteousness, and in that of mere creatures like themselves ;
to trust in their own works, or in the works of some whom they
call saints. The church of Christ is composed of persons who
are born again; " created anew after Christ Jesus unto good works ;"
that is, who are subjects of the Holy Spirit's gracious and powerful
influence, and who are made holy in life and conversation ; but
the church of Rome does not even pretend to any greater regen-
eration than a priest can effect by means of his holy water ; and
she does not exhibit in the conduct of her members, not even in
that of her priests, more real holiness of life than is to be found
among mere men of the world, who make no pretensions to
Christianity. The church of Rome, therefore, is not the church
of Christ, but the counterfeit and the enemy of it. My corres-
pondent might have seen this, if he had read all my papers with
attention ; and if he has not read them all, I request that he will
do so without delay ; and this may perhaps save him the trouble
of writing some of the other queries which he has in reserve to
send me, as it is likely he will find that I have answered them al-
ready. I shall be glad, however, to receive as many as he pleases ;
and I shall answer them too, if they shall be such as relate to the
subjects of the controversy.
if I had not guessed the fact before, I would have discovered
that this " Friend to Fair Dealing" was a Papiat, from the unfair
manner in which he perverts my words and misrepresents my mean-
ing. I did not bring a charge of rebellion against Papists for claim-
in^ a ri"ht to educate the vouth of their communion in their own
principles ; but I do charge them with opposing the benevolent
design of their Protestant neighbours and rulers, when they do
all that lies in their power to prevent them from teaching poor
children to read the Bible. I did charge the Pope with an im-
pertinent interference with the civil and domestic affairs of Ire-
land ; and I do not hesitate to say that those bishops and priests
who encourage, and endeavour to give effect to such interference,
are guilty of a misdemeanour, which in some countries would be
held equal to rebellion. I did not say that W. D. was no
Christian if he did not at my requisition immediately leave the
communion of the church of Rome ; but because if he did not so,
he. ivas not a man of his word ; and I would say of any Pro-
testant as well as of any Papist, if he is not a man of his word he
is not a Christian. Speaking of my correspondent himself, I did
not call him " an obscure son of the church,'' as he pretends to
quote my words ; but ' a more obscure,' &c. that is, more obscure
than the Pope and the Popish Archbishop of Tuam, whom I
had just mentioned. I spoke of him as obscure only compara-
tively, but not absolutely ; for he may be a priest for any thing
that I know.
It is true, indeed, that I did in effect charge the Popish Arch-
bishop with denying original sin, when he spoke of the innocent
youth of his communion ; and I would say the same of any other
358
man who should use such language in a puhlic address intended
tor the direction of persons who are called teachers of religion.
I know that in light conversation, where words are often used in a
loose sense, it is usual to call those innocent, who are compara-
tively so ; and, if speaking of actual sin, I would have no hesita-
tion in calling infants innocent : hut the Archhishop was not
speaking of infants, hut of youth, whose original depravity must
have manifested itself in many of the bitter fruits of actual trans-
gression: and we cannot suppose him to use words in a loose sense
in a well studied address to all the learned clergy of his diocese.
As, however, the church of Rome holds the doctrine of original
sin, and as it would not he the design of the Archhishop to deny
it, he ought not to be offended, but rather to thank me for ad-
monishing him to be more careful of his language.
I readily confess, that if Mr. Scott and Dr. Kelly were to
come into my house, and to attempt to inculcate nonsense and
blasphemy even upon my servants, I would send them about
their business ; and I hope all my Protestant friends would do
the same ; but this is not the true state of the question : my cor-
respondent, in the most Jesuitical manner, shiftsjt off the proper
ground. I was speaking of the Popish influence which was exer-
cised, not in the way of teaching Popery, but in the way of op-
posing the teaching of the Bible. I even went so far as to concede
to Papists the right of doing all that they could do, by means of
fair argument, to gain proselytes, and to prevent their people from
becoming Protestants; but I am far from conceding to them the
right of preventing Protestants from doing what they can by mere
persuasion to gain Papists, young or old, from error and idolatry,
to the knowledge of the truth, and the service of Jesus Christ.
Popish priests have no right to speak of their children, because
they cannot lawfully have any; but supposing Dr. Kelly and Mr.
Scott to have numerous families, I would not think it lawful to
force myself into the midst of them, and to endeavour to convert
them, without their consent. I have no wish to diminish the
lawful influence of parents of any religious persuasion, or to pre-
vent their interference in what they may consider for the good of
their families ; but what I complain of, is the influence, and the
interference, that will not permit those who wish for education to
themselves and families to receive it. I claim no right to thrust
myself into Popish families against their will, though my object
should be the important one of teaching the word of God ; but
when both parents and children are willing to be taught, and
eagerly desiring to learn to read the Bible, as many of them are,
1 should consider myself entitled, nay, urgently called upon, to
gratify their desire, and that in spile of all the priests in the world ;
and I do complain of the influence of the priests exercised to pre-
vent those who desire instruction from receiving it. This is an
influenci' and intrrfcrrnre which ought to be marred and tffectu<d-
359
ly put down, for it is inconsistent with British freedom, as well
as with the benign spirit of Christianity.
My correspondent is right when he says, ' I am sure that Papist
children cannot be saved unless they be converted.' I am per-
fectly sure of this ; and I am equally sure that neither can
Protestant children be saved unless they be converted. The word
of God concludes all under sin ; and there is no name by which
any can be saved but that of Jesus Christ ; and my object in re-
commending the Hibernian and other societies, that are teaching
the poor Irish to read the Bible, is not with the view of making
them Protestants merely, but of making them Christians, through
the knowledge of that Saviour whom the Bible reveals. I would
" not allow the Papists the exclusive right of the religious and mor-
al education of the youth of their communion;" for they have no
title to it. Every youth among them has a right to seek for the
best education he can get, and every British subject has a right
to communicate instruction to all who are willing to receive it.
The cavils of my correspondent admit of a much larger expo-
sure ; but I satisfy myself with the above, which I hope will also
satisfy my readers in general, though it will not satisfy him. I
conclude the present Number with the declaration of another
Irish Bishop against the use of the Bible in Schools ; which is
taken from an Irish Newspaper.
TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF
CLOYNE AND ROSS.
" REVEREND BRETHREN,
" During a series of years, from the time that Schools were
opened in Ireland, under the patronage of humane and respectable
Protestants, for the professed purpose of educating poor Catholic
children gratuitously, without infringing in any respect upon their
religious principles, we have had repeated cause to complain that
these liberal professions were uniformly deviated from ; and so
widely as to force us into effectual opposition. It was, we
imagined, to be presumed, that when the education of the Irish
poor became a national concern; when a great number of <lis-
tinouished personages noted for rank, learning, and affluence, form-
ed an Association avowedly for this benevolent purpose ; when
the Imperial Parliament not only patronised the measure, but
supported it by an abundant annual grant, — it was, we hoped, to be
presumed, -that the narrow views of certain bigotted individuals
would be liberalized by the above expanded Association, and would
merge in its wide liberality. We were the more warranted in this
hope by the third Article of the Laws, which were to regulate
the proceedings of the Association ; for it is there expressly de-
clared, that the leading principle of the Society is to afford equal
facilities for education, to all professing Christians, without any
attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious opinions of any. — -
Yet, in too many instances it became difficult to reconcile the
360
practice of the Association with its previous professions. But at
the last General Meeting in Kildare-street, on the 24th day of
February, the rejection of Mr. O'Connell's motion by so great a
majority as 80 against 19, has evinced beyond the powers of ter-
giversation, that the professions of the Society were not intended
to regulate its practice ; but that under the name of education,
proselytisin was the determined object. To Mr. O'Connell, for
his spirited exertions on this occasion, the thanks of Catholic
Ireland are eminently due ; and surely, if confiding apathy had
hitherto benumbed any individual among us, the present electrify-
ing fact must restore his energies, and rouse him to a due sense
of the danger. With you, my Rev. Brethren, I am long and
intimately acquainted Your sentiments on the Bible without
note or comment, as an initiatory book for schools, are well
known to me. It is important, however, at this juncture, and
after what was flippantly asserted at the above Meeting, that these
sentiments be emphatically declared to the entire kingdom.
The Roman Catholic clergy of every other diocese, may now
probably feel bound to proclaim their sentiments also. For my
own part, I have long since recorded mine upon this subject. The
brightest luminaries of the Protestant church have led the way
for us, with arguments, to this very moment, unanswered. I shall
not here advert to them; neither is it necessary that you should.
Your opinion, I am confident, will be unanimous, and in perfect
accord with what has been lately published by the Most Rev.
Dr. Kelly, of Tuam, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Doyle, of Kildare and
Leighlin, and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Archdeacon of Kilmacdugh and
Kilfenora. The plan suggested by the last named prelate, and
more forcibly recommended by Mr. O'Connell, for educating
children of the different religions, in the same school, without
any reference to religious subjects, which may more properly be
treated by their own clergy in their respective places of worship,
has my entire assent, and shall have my most cordial co-operation.
Mutual confidence, good understanding, and brotherly regard,
may be thus happily promoted throughout this hitherto distracted
country ; a blessing so invaluable, that every effort should be
made by us for the attainment of it. No real friend of Ireland
will, 1 trust, be backward to affix his name, and contribute his
support, to Mr. O'Connell's project of a National Association foi
educating the Irish Poor. That such project may be speedily
adopted, and that it may promote all the good intended by the
benevolent patrons of it, is the ardent prayer of your faithtully
devoted friend and humble servant,
" William Copingek."
R. C. Bishop.
(' -.-•, March 6th, 1820.
THE
No. XCVI.
SA T URDA Y, MA Y 1 3th , 1 820.
I thought I had done with Dr. Kelly of Tuam, when I
finished my remarks on his own archiepiscopal manifesto against
the Bible and the schools in which it is taught ; but I find that
this manifesto, together with that of the Pope which occasioned
it, has laid the foundation of certain proceedings which require
to be noticed in such a work as " The Protestant." It is
evident that the Popish clergy in Ireland are in such a state of
anxiety and alarm as was never witnessed before. They are in
the condition of persons who know that there is an enemy at
their door, and this enemy is the Bible. This is precisely the
state in which I wish to see them, while they look upon the
Bible as an enemy ; but whenever they shall become reconciled
to it, and accept of it as a precious gift of God to sinful men, I
wish that their alarm may cease, and that they may enjoy all the
peace and comfort which it imparts to every one who truly re-
ceives it as the word of God.
I concluded my last Number with an Address by Bishop Cop-
pinger to the clergy of his diocese, in which he also discovers
his dread of that alarming book, which has been in fact the oc-
casion of all the calamities which have befallen the church of
Rome, during the last three hundred years. Our Irish Papists
have found out that the Bible is not only formidable in the hands
of men and women ; but that even in the hands of children it is
a most dangerous weapon. Children, therefore, must not be
trusted with it, lest they should become champions of Protest-
antism, and eventually overthrow the infallible church.
Following up the Address of the said Bishop, a number of
Popish clergymen met, and adopted the following Resolu-
tions, which I take from the Cork Mercantile Chronicle of
March 27, 1820:—
" We, the Roman Catholic Clergy of the diocese of Cloyne
and Ross, being called upon by our Bishop, the Right Rev.
Doctor Coppinger, to declare our sentiments concerning the in-
troduction of the Bible, without note or comment, as an initia-
Vol. IT. Z z
3(52
tory book into Catholic schools, have resolved unanimously, at
our several Conferences holden in the course of this present
month :
" First — That in the profession of faith adopted universally
throughout the whole Catholic Church, it is stated : " I also
admit the holy Scriptures, according to that sense which our
holy mother, the church, has held and doth hold, to which it he-
longs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scrip-
tures ; neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than
according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." This
article of our belief, precluding, as it does, all private and arbi-
trary interpretation of the Scriptures, wisely guards the unlearned
and unstable of our communion against wresting the sacred
volume to their own destruction : it further goes to prevent their
being carried about by every wind of doctrine, while it tends to
effect what the Redeemer so strongly inculcates, viz. that " we be
all one, as He and his heavenly Father are one ;" or, as the
Apostle has it, " that we be all of one mind, and that there be no
schism among us" — while, moreover, it assuredly does not sanction
the Bible, without note or comment, as a fit school-book for
thoughtless and inconsiderate children.
" Resolved, Secondly — That however we respect those dis-
tinguished personages who patronize and support an opposite
system, we never can acknowledge in them, or in any society of
laymen, a right to regulate the religious concerns of the poor
children committed to our care, much less to force upon them a
plan of education obviously incompatible with the principles of
their religion.
" Thirdly — I hat duly appreciating the advantages of a well-
regulated education for the poor, we shall be ever ready to co-
operate with the liberal and beneficent Protestants of our respec-
tive parishes in establishing schools on any practicable plan,
not clashing with our tenets.
" Fourthly — That the foregoing Resolutions be signed by the
several Masters of Conference, in the name and on the behalf of
ninety-nine Clergymen, respectively attending these Meetings.
" Fifthly — That the avowals elicited by Counsellor O'Connell,
at the last general Meeting of the Education Society, in Kiidare-
street, are to us a subject of regret, equally, and of alarm : we
shall not be unmindful of them. The splendid advocacy of that
gentleman, in the cause of religious freedom, on the present oc-
casion, demands our warmest acknowledgments, and we beg
leave hereby most respectfully to present them.
" The Rev. Wm. O'Brien, Vicar-General presiding in
the Conference of Buttevant.
" The Rev. J. Burke, D. D. presiding in the Confer-
ence of Fermov*
363
" The Rev. James Walsh, Secretary of the Confer-
ence of Midleton.
'* The Rev. James Molony, presiding in the Confer-
ence of Donoughmore.
"* The Rev. David Walsh, presiding in the Confer-
ence of Rosscarbery."
The above resolutions refer to a Society which has been in
active operation for about nine years, and by which many of the
poor in Ireland have been taught to read, without distinction of
religious profession. It was a fundamental rule and leading prin-
ciple of the Society, " to afford equal facilities for education to
all classes of professing Christians, without any attempt to inter-
fere with the peculiar religious opinions of any ;" and that " the
Scriptures, without note or comment, shall be read" in the
schools ; " but all catechisms and hooks of religious contro-
versy excluded." The Society was composed of both Protestants
and Papists ; and they proceeded for some time without any ap-
parent schism, doing a great deal of good ; but some of the
more keen-sighted Papists began to perceive what they thought
a snake in the grass. They found out that the permission of the
Bible, without note or comment, was likely to produce conse-
sequences not very favourable to their religion ; and that, more-
over, it was inconsistent with the rules of holy church. An at-
tempt was made to expunge that rule of the Society which re-
garded the reading of the Bible ; which, however, was effectually
resisted. A similar attempt was made, in another form, at a
meeting of the Society, on the 24-th of February last. The
champion of Bible exclusion, on this occasion, was Daniel O'Con-
nell, Esq., whose speech is given at length, in a Report of the
proceedings of the Meeting, for which I have to thank my inde-
fatigable correspondent in Lifi'ord. If I were to give the speech
entire, it would fill the remainder of this Number; but 1 con-
ceive it enough to give only those parts which relate more directly
to the propriety of excluding the Bible from the schools : —
" I know," says Counsellor O'Connell, " I know that by in-
troducing the mention of the Scriptures, I am treading on deli-
cate and dangerous ground, and shall meet with censure, abuse,
and calumny ; but conscious of but one motive, 1 invite such
censure, and court such calumny. My motive is pure, though my
opinion may be mistaken. By means of this part of your reso-
lution, you have already commenced to impede, and, as your plan
goes along and attracts attention, you will still more and more
impede, the progress of your Society among a numerous class.
I shall now clearly demonstrate that you do so, from actual facts.
You do not grant the means of education to that class to which
364
I belong. Let me not be mistaken : I shall always be ready to
speak my own conviction, that my profession is the best; if I
did not feel it to be so, I would not adhere to it for one houi.
Every one here, I will allow, may feel the same. When I do
therefore speak on the subject, I must protest against being sup-
posed to infer disparagement to another's belief. I respect
human freedom in opinion, and think every created being has a
right to worship God according to his conscience : no human
dignities would induce me to alter my opinion, whether I uttered
it among the senators of England or the inquisitors of Spain.
" Allow me now to revert to the question, Whether making
it a preliminary to give the Bible, without note or comment, does
not affect the principle ? I say it does : — as long as you insist
on its being a school-book, you do not afford equal facilities to
Catholics. I prove it thus. I begin with the lowest and hum-
blest of my proofs ; I begin with myself. I have, in a remote
county, some property ; not worth speaking of in any other way,
than as it imposes on me the duty of assisting in the education of
the poor who have claims upon me. I gave a school-house, at a
low rent and tax-free, and contributed also ; still, however, we
wanted assistance, and looked for it to your Society ; but you
would not afford it. I could not let the Bible be a school-book,
and you insisted that I should. You, therefore, do not give
equal facilities.
" The next proof is from the schools in Tralee, under the
Rev. Mr. Egan, supported by the voluntary contributions of
tradesmen, containing 440 children. There are in it about
seventeen or eighteen Protestants — no interference is used — the
Catholics are not even taught in the presence of the Protestants.
" There is another school, under the care of the Rev. Mr.
Denny, a very amiable and liberal man. The number in his
school is 20. The Catholic clergyman made this proposal:
" Let us unite five days out of six — let us teach them indifferently
without introducing religious instruction ; let them separate then,
and each teach his own ; let us go to the Society and apply fot
a grant." Mr. Denny would have done so, but that from your
resolution he fou.id he could not succeed in such application
" I state these facts, — for what purpose? Not that you should
decide upon them now, but to call on every honest man to pause
and say, whether education is not the assertion of truth ? Whe-
ther the man who asserts one thing and means another, be
an honest man ? or whether he does not himself most want edu-
cation, who refuses a committee to inquire whether he may not
have been mistaken ?
i4 Since last meeting, matters have occurred with respect to
the Catholic persuasion, which may be matters of ridicule to
365
others, but are not so to us. The spiritual head of our church
has issued what may not perhaps be ligatory on our consciences,
even in spiritual matters, and it is well known that we often op-
pose him in temporals ; but it is at least his advice, ex cathedra.
— This excludes from Catholic schools the Testament, even with
note and comment, even though these might be acceptable to the
Catholics. It is, in fact, a Bull of the Pope. This, therefore,
has caused an additional difficulty ; see, then, how you proceed :
you say that you will afford equal facilities to each persuasion,
and on the other hand comes the Bull of the Pope, refusing such
aid. Can you now find any one with such powers of face, as to
tell me that you give equal facilities? Nothing but religious
delusion can account for this.
" To be sure, when I last had the honour of addressing you,
my friend Mr. Burrowes answered me, and went near to per-
suade me that I knew nothing of the Catholic persuasion, and
made a speech to prove it so ; and a liberal and wealthy mer-
chant, whom I see before me, did the same. I know that I shall
have the same to encounter to-day. I did not wish to enter fur-
ther into such controversies, and therefore applied to some of the
heads of the Catholic persuasion in Ireland. On the Most
Reverend Dr. Murray I shall make no eulogium. I applied also to
the Most Reverend Dr. Troy, and in consequence a meeting was
held of the principal parish priests in Dublin, in order that I
might have an authentic document to read to this meeting, to
express their sentiments ; and they have resolved that " The
Scriptures, with or without note or comment, are not fit to be
used as a school-book." — To be thumbed by every child in the
school.
" I end with a proof that is irrefragable : this document has
been sent to me for the very purpose of being read to this meet-
ing. The meeting was held, and this resolution framed, for this
very purpose.
" Now, my Lord Duke, see how this document calls on you
to accede to my humble motion, to afford a committee to see if
really equal facilities are granted. This document says, "either
with or without comment, it is not to be a school-book ;" your
resolution says it shall ; put these together, and see how you can
say *' equal facilities." On the one hand, the determination of
the prelates, that it shall not be a school-book ; on the other
yours, that you will not give assistance unless it is ; yet you still
say, that you cannot see any thing in this document to require
at least the decency of a committee, — the decorum of an investi-
gation. As the only thing that is objected to, is the circulation
of the holy Scriptures, I will tell you the course you ought to
pursue, as honest men : — You ought to come forward to new mo-
del your resolution, and also to give aid to such as refuse to use
366
the Scriptures without note or comment. I well know that I
shall hear to-day, as I did last year, something like prose run
mad, something like half sermons about the value and the origin
of this book, the Bible. (Applause, mixed tuith louder hisses. j
If I have trod on the tail of the serpent of bigotry, let it hiss.
Oh it was a good hiss ! a noble hiss! an excellent hiss! and I
thank you for the hiss. Those who hissed may suppose they are
acting for the service of God ; but they serve God by a false-
hood. But there is more honesty in the hiss, than in those gen-
tlemen who assert one thing, and then say and do another. I
have stated to you my own opinion, and shall re-state it, not-
withstanding the peril of the hiss. The Bible never can be re-
ceived without note or comment by the Catholic persuasion.
Gentlemen hissers, we believe that the entire word of God has
not been preserved in writing : we believe that a portion has
been preserved in the church which preserved that writing : and
this being our tenet, you cannot expect to have the Catholic
clergv submit, when their attention is roused, to have the Bible
used without note or comment, because they must have tradi-
tion, which we also call the word of God. Every Catholic is
bound in life and in death to assert this ; — you assert the oppo-
site in your resolution."
The reader will see that the pleadings of Counsellor O'Con-
nell proceed upon the ground that the rules of the Society are
not consistent with themselves. The leading principle of the
Society, " to afford the same facilities for education to all classes
of professing Christians, without any attempt to interfere with the
peculiar religious opinions of any," is not consistent with the
other rule, which requires that the Scriptures, without note or
comment, should be read iri the schools. At first, Protestants
and Papists met on this, which both, in their simplicity, con-
sidered common ground. The Protestant knew that the Bible
alone was the foundation of his religion ; and the Papist, without
considering consequences, agreed to admit the Bible alone (that is,
without note or comment) into the schools which were supported
by the contributions of both parties But O'Connell has found
out that the Bible alone is not the foundation of his religion ; and
that therefore, the requiring of it to be read in the schools, is in-
consistent with the professed object of the Society, which is, to
afford equal facilities for education to both Protestants and Pa-
pists. This is a declaration as plain as words can make it, that,
til the opinion of Papists themselves, the Bible is against them.
They will rather that their children shall go without education,
than that they should have access to the Bible. This, however
is hv no means the general feeling among the Irish Papists. Thou-
Bands of the peasantry are eagerly craving to have their children
; but since the Pope issued his Bull, which O'Connell ad-
367
nuts to be, " in fact, a Bull of the Pope," the clergy have taken
llie alarm, and he appears as their agent, in the School Society,
in order, if possible, to get the Bible expelled from the schools.
This eloquent Counsellor uses a somewhat curious argument.
" The Bible," says he, " never can be received without note or
comment by the Catholic persuasion. Gentlemen hissers, we be'
lieve that the entire woid of God has not been preserved in
writing : we believe that a portion has been preserved in the
church which preserved that writing : and this being our tenet,
you cannot expect to have the Catholic clergy submit, when their
attention is roused, to have the Bible used without note or com-
ment, because they must have tradition, which we also call the
word of God.'' Now, suppose we grant that what they call tra-
dition is also the word of God, it must be consistent with the
written word : if it contain any thing of an opposite char-
acter, it cannot possibly have proceeded from the same source ;
but if it be the word of God, there can be no harm in giving
other portions of the same word without it, or it without the
other portions. Protestants admit that the Old Testament with-
out the New, and that the New without the Old, is not the
whole word of God ; but we never suspect danger in giving the
one without the other, though we prefer giving both together,
when we can. Nay, I venture to affirm that there is not one
book in either of the Testaments, which may not be safely given,
and profitably read, though the reader should never see another
page of the Bible. It is, in fact, to libel the inspired penmen to
say that the writings of any of them would be productive of mis-
chief without the guardianship of the rest. How much greater
the libel, when all of them taken together are declared to be dan-
gerous, unless they be subjected to the control of an imaginary
being, to whom they give the name of tradition, whose authority,
in the church of Christ, is of no more value than that of the
traditions of the elders among the Jews, which we are assured, by
an infallible witness, made void the law.
Besides ; if it be dangerous to give the Bible without tradi-
tion, it must be also dangerous to give it with tradition, unless
you give the whole mass of it. If the written word must not
be given without the unwritten, much less must a part of the latter
he given without the whole. I defy the church of Home to say
how big a book this would make ; but I apprehend the stoutest
dray-horse in the kingdom would not be able to move it. And
would the grave Counsellor O'Connell really propose to give
such a primer to the poor Popish children at school ? I appre-
hend he has no such intention. His object, and that of his re-
verend Fathers, is merely to get quit of the Bible altogether ;
and for his exertions in this behalf, the clergy are puffing him up
to the ekies.
368
The Counsellor insinuates that the Protestant part of the So-
ciety are guilty of duplicity, in professing to give equal facilities
for education to all parties, without interfering with the religious
opinions of any ; and, at the same time, persisting in giving the
Bible to the children. This is plainly admitting, that to give the
Bible to a Papist, is interfering with his religious opinions. It is
not pretended that any Protestant gentleman of the Society, or
any of their Protestant teachers, attempted to expound the Scrip-
tures to the scholars, or to show their conformity with one system
more than another. There has, therefore, been no interference
with the religious opinions of any, in the sense in which they un-
derstood the word ; and it is extremely unjust in the orator to
bring such a charge against gentlemen who had done no more
than what he and his Popish brethren had agreed should be done:
namely, giving the Bible without note or comment. If the Pa-
pist believed the Bible to contain his religion, the giving of it was
as much an interference with the religion of Protestant children,
as the Protestant giving it, was with that of Popish children :
and if there was any duplicity in the matter, it must attach to
one party as well as the other.
O'Connell's speech received an able reply from Richard B.
Warren, Esq. in which, among other things, he proved, that to
withhold the word of God from children, would be disobedience
to the command of God. In answer to the objection founded
on the alleged profanation of the Bible, " to be thumbed by
every child in the school," Mr. Warren stated that it was not
used as a spelling-book ; or used at all, but by those children who
had made such proficiency in reading, as to be able to derive in-
struction from it ; and this, I suppose, is the case in every well
regulated school in which the Bible is read.
It appears farther, from Mr. Warren's speech, that many
individuals and public bodies had contributed large sums ; that a
legacy had been bequeathed ; and that even Parliament had
granted pecuniary aid to the Society, on the express understand-
ing that the rules were to be adhered to ; that is, that the Bible,
without note or comment, was to be used in the schools. It is
presumable that many of the donors would not have given a shil-
ling to support schools from which the Bible was excluded. The
measure, therefore, which Mr. O'Connell desired to carry, would
have been a breach of faith with both the living and the dead.
But as these were only heretics, the thing might, perhaps, in the
opinion of Papists, be lawfully done.
THJi
Protestant,
No. XCVII.
SATURDAY, MAY 201 k, 1820.
Lhe reader is requested to connect what follows with the con-
clusion of my last Number.
The following striking fact, stated by Mr. Warren, shows how-
Papists do when they get schools, even supported partly bv
Protestants, under their own management. " The learned Gen-
tleman has triumphantly referred to the Friars' School in Cork,
as a proof of the anxiety, on the part of the Roman Catholic
clergy, to promote the education of the poor : — I thank the
learned Gentleman for making mention of that school in particu-
lar, as I happen to be acquainted with the circumstances which
led to its formation. About the time at which this Society was
formed, the presence of Joseph Lancaster, in this country, ex-
cited a very general anxiety on the subject of the education of the
poor. A meeting was held in the city of Cork, at which a very
large sum was subscribed by all religious persuasions, for the pur-
pose of establishing a school, on such a liberal plan as should be
unobjectionable to every denomination of Christians ; and after
much discussion, it was resolved that the Scriptures should be
excluded, lest the children of Roman Catholics might be other-
wise prevented from attending. A noble school-house was erected,
capable of accommodating (as the learned Gentleman has told us,)
seven hundred children ; and a Committee was immediately
formed ; but although many Protestants became subscribers to
its funds, few (if any) could be found, who would devote their
time to the superintendence of such a school : the management of
its affairs consequently fell into the hands of persons of a differ-
ent persuasion. No statement (as I believe) has ever been pub-
lished of the system of instruction adopted in this school ; but I
know, from the testimony of gentlemen who visited it during the
last summer, that this institution, which commenced its career by
excluding the Scriptures without note or comment, lest it should
be offensive to Roman Catholics, has now become a Roman
Catholic seminary, in which the Douay version of the Scriptures,
Vol. IT. 5 A
'MO
with all its notes and comments, is read, to the effectual exclusion
of all children who are of a different persuasion ; for it cannot
he imagined that any Protestant would send his child to a school,
where he should continually hear those notes read, in which
Protestants are so pointedly and repeatedly charged with corrupt-
ing the sacred text."
Mr. O'Connell's motion was lost by the carrying of an
amendment, by a majority of 80 votes against 19. Mr. O'Con-
nell then declared that he and his friends would be no longer
members of the Society.
Bishop Copinger lauds and praises him, in a high degree, for
his exertions in the holy cause, as the reader may see in his letter
to his clergy, which I gave at the end of my 95th Number.
" To Mr. O'Connell," says he, " for his spirited exertions on
this occasion, the thanks of Catholic Ireland are eminently due ;
and surely, if confiding apathy had hitherto benumbed any in-
dividual among us, the present electrifying fact must restore his
energies, and rouse him to a due sense of his danger." The
" electrifying fact" is, that the Society did, by a majority of SO
against 19, reject the motion of Mr. O'Connell, which was
meant to prepare the way for the expulsion of the Bible from the
schools. And Bishop Copinger considers this as having " evinced,
beyond the powers of tergiversation, that the professions of the
Society were not intended to regulate its practice ; but that, un-
der the name of education, proselytism was the determined ob-
ject."
I do not profess to be acquainted with the powers of tergiver-
sation. I am not sure if ever I wrote the word before ; but no
doubt the Right Reverend Bishop comprehends it in all its ex-
tent and power. He, very probably, knows from experience,
what it can do, and what it cannot do. In the present instance,
it seems, it cannot exculpate the Society from the accusation, that
its professions were not intended to regulate its practice. That
is, in plain English, tergiversation cannot save the Society from
the charge of duplicity; but I hope the Society will never ask
the aid of such an agent to save them from any thing. Let
them leave tergiversation, (that is, shift, subterfuge, evasion) to
the Papists ; and they will find no difficulty in vindicating them-
selves by means of plain truth and common sense.
The accusation is, that proselytism, under the name of
education, is the determined object. But the Bishop has not
adduced, or referred, to a single instance, in which the Society,
or its Protestant members, directly or indirectly attempted to
make proselytes of Popish children to their own faith. They do,
indeed, give them the Bible. They furnish them with means of
learning to read it. This is all that can justly be laid to their
371
charge ; and it is not even insinuated that they do more. If
proselytes are thus made, it is not they that make them, but the
Bible. If children are won to the faith, by this means, it is not
to their faith, but to the faith of the Bible. Protestants do in-
deed believe that their faith is contained in the Bible ; but when
they give the book itself, without a word of their own, either
oral or written, they leave it to speak for itself; and they are
perfectly willing that the reader should embrace that which he
finds in it, though it should be different from their own opinions.
This is not proselytism to the tenets of a party. It is not a So-
ciety seeking to gain persons to itself, for the purpose of increas-
ing its own strength ; and, therefore, it partakes nothing of the
character which Bishop Copinger ascribes to the Society in Dub-
lin. Let it be remembered, that the Papists themselves, at first,
agreed to have the Bible, without note or comment, read in the
schools. Now, had they found, by experience, that Protestant
children were by this means induced to embrace the faith of
Rome, we should not have heard a word from them of proselyt-
ism being intended, under the mask of education. They would
oladly have received all the proselytes which the schools produced ;
and they would have raised a hue and cry against the Protestants,
if they had attempted to prevent such proselytism, or to remove
the Bible, which was the cause of it. But they will not allow
to others what they claim for themselves. They know and feel
by woful experience that the Bible is against them ; that no man,
woman, or child, will ever find the faith of Rome within its
pages. Nay, they know, at least the learned among thein know,
that the Protestant faith, or something very like it, is to be found
in the Bible ; and this is virtually acknowledged by Bishop
Copinger, and all those of his brethren, who publicly maintain,
that simply to give the word of God, without note or comment,
is the same as to attempt to make proselytes to the Protestant
faith.
The " electrifying fact," that the Society intend to proceed as
they began ; that is, to teach poor children to read the Bible, is
calculated, says the Bishop, to restore the energies of such of
his brethren as have been benumbed by apathy, and to rouse
them to a due sense of their danger. This clanger proceeds from
the Bible, and from the Bible alone. Will any man, after this
explicit avowal, have the effrontery to maintain that the religion of
Rome is Christianity ? The word of Christ cannot possibly be
dangerous to the religion of Christ. But we have the declara-
tion of a Romish Bishop, that it is dangerous to the religion of
Rome ; from which the inference is unavoidable, that the religion
of Rome is not the religion of Christ. 1 might very properly
close my argument here. With those who respect the word of
372
God, it is enough to know that a thing is against that word ; and
knowing this, they are sure that it cannot be of God. This is
the state in which the church of Rome stands convicted, and vir-
tually admitted by Bishop Copinger, and all those clergy who, at
his call, have been roused to a sense of the danger that arises
from the reading of the Bible. And, as it is thus proved, that
the religion of Rome is not of God, there is only one other au-
thor to whom it can be ascribed, — it is the working of Satan,
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.
Yet, after all, the Papists are extremely desirous of having it
believed, that the Bible is on their side. They are like certain
litigants, who wish to retain the most respectable counsel ; not that
he may advocate their cause, which they suspect no honest man
will do, but merely that he may not appear against them. Thus
Papists express great reverence for the Bible. They will not even
allow it to be thumbed by children, lest it should be profaned
by the contact of their fingers with the paper on which it is print-
ed, or the skin that covers it ; though, I suppose, it will be
found that he who thumbs his Bible most, pays the greatest res-
pect to it, and makes the best use of it. If you will believe the
Romish priests, it is from great veneration of the Bible that they
cannot consent that children should read it ; and because they
fear they would misinterpret it to their own destruction. They
profess to hold the key, that is, the power of rightly interpret-
ing it, in their own hands. Let us see, then, how they interpret
some passages. And I venture to affirm, that there is not a child
in any of the schools in Ireland, who would expound it so fool-
ishly as Popes and Cardinals have done.
Moses saith, " God made man in his own image ;" Pope
Adrian interpreted, "therefore images must beset up in churches."
St. Peter saith, " Behold, here are two swords ;" Pope Boniface
concludes, " therefore the Pope hath power over the spiritual and
the temporal." St. Matthew saith, " Give not that which is holy
unto dogs ;" Mr. Harding expounds it, " therefore it is not law-
ful for the vulgar to read the Scriptures." St. John saith, " There
shall be one fold, and one Shepherd ;" Johannes de Parisius tells
us, " this place cannot be expounded of Christ, but must be
taken for some minister ruling in his stead." The prophet David
saith, " Thou hast put all things under his feet;" Antoninus ex-
uounds it, " thou hast made all things subject to the Pope : the
cattle of the field, that is to say, men living in the earth ; the
fishes of the sea, that is to say, the souls in purgatory ; the
fowls in the air, that is to say, the souls of the blessed in heaven."
And whereas, our Saviour witnesseth of himself, " All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth :" Stephen, Archbishop of
Patarca, applied it to Pope Leo the Tenth, in the council of La-
373
teran, in the audience of the Pope himself, who thankfully accept-
ed it, and suffered it to be published and printed ; and, as it is
rightly observed by the learned Du Moulin, Pope Innocent the
Third, in his book of the Mysteries of the Mass ; the book of Sa-
cred ceremonies ; Durant's Rationales ; Tolet, and Titleman, and
others, do most ridiculously wrest the Scriptures, altogether dif-
ferent from their right meaning, and the expositions of the fa-
thers : as for instance, the Scripture saith, " The rock was
Christ;" therefore, say they, " the altar must be of stone." It is
written, " I am the light of the world ;" therefore, " tapers must
be set upon the altar." It is written, " Let him kiss me with the
kisses of his mouth ;" therefore, " the priest must kiss the altar."
It is written, " Thou shalt see my back parts," (Exod. xxxiii.
23.) ; therefore, " the priest must turn his back to the people."
It is written, " Wash me again,'' [Lava me amplins, Ps. li.) ;
therefore, " the priest must wash his hands twice." It is written,
" Put off thy shoes, for this place is holy," (Exod. iii. 5.) ; there-
fore, " the bishop at mass changeth his hose and shoes." The
Pope himself, at the time of his coronation, casteth certain cop-
per money among the people, using the words of Peter, " Sil-
ver and gold have I none, but that which I have I give thee."
See page 259, of Sir Humphrey Lynde's Via Tuta el Via
Devia ; a work which contains a great deal of information, in a
small compass. The fourth edition, revised by the author, was
published in 1630. The edition before me was published last
year, by order of " The Society for the distribution of Tracts in
defence of the United Church of England and Ireland, as by law
established."
I question if there be a child in any school, in the three king-
doms, who would give such foolish comments upon passages of
Scripture as the grave doctors of Rheims have done. Every p3ge
of their New Testament is full of downright nonsense, as any one
may see who will open the book. The following is the first of
their annotations ; it is on the name Thamar, as it occurs in the
genealogy of our Saviour, Matth. i. 3. " Christ abhorred not
to take flesh of some that were ill, as he chose Judas among the
apostles. Let not us disdain to receive our spiritual birth and
sustenance of such as be not always good." This is an exhorta-
tion to submit to the priests, be they ever so wicked ; than which
a more pernicious and dangerous doctrine was never taught by
any perverter of the word of God.
Mr. O'Connell goes no farther than to make tradition equal to
the Scriptures, as being also the word of God ; but some great
doctors of the church of Rome go much farther, and declare tra-
dition to be superior to the written word. Thus Cardinal Ba-
ronius teaches : " Tradition is the foundation of Scriptures, and
374
excels them in this, that the Scriptures cannot subsist unless they
be strengthened by traditions ; but traditions hath strength enough
without Scriptures." (Baron. An. lviii. n. 2.) " Tiaditions,"
says Linden, " are the most certain foundations of faith, the most
sure ground of the sacred Scriptures, the impenetrable buckler of
Ajax, the suppressor of all heresies. On the other side, the
Scripture is a nose of wax, a dead and killing letter without life,
a mere shell without a kernel, a leaden ride, a wood of thieves, a
shop of heretics." (Linden, Panopl. I. i. c. 22, fyc ) Costerus,
the Jesuit, assures us, " It never was the mind of Christ either
to commit his mysteries to parchment, or that his church should
depend upon paper writings." Again, u The excellence of the un-
written word doth far surpass the Scriptures, which the apostles
left us in parchment ; the one is written by the finger of God, the
other by the pen of the apostles. The Scripture is a dead let-
ter, written in paper or parchment, which may be razed or wrest-
ed at pleasure : but tradition is written in men's hearts, which
cannot be altered. The Scripture is like a scabbard that will re-
ceive any sword, either leaden, or wooden, or brazen ; and suffer-
eth itself to be drawn by any interpretation. Tradition retains
the true sense in the scabbard ; that is, the true sense of the Scrip-
ture, in the sheath of the letter." (Coster. Eucharist, cap. \.p. 44.^
From Andradius we learn, that " many points of (Roman) doc-
trine would reel and totter if they were not supported by the help
of tradition." ( Andrad. de Orth. expli. lib. 2.) " Many
things," says Petrus de Sutor, " being taught by the Roman
church, and not contained in the Scriptures, would more easily
draw the people from the traditions and observances of their
church." And he shows that this is one special cause why the
Scriptures were denied to the lay people. (Sutor. de Translat.
Bibl. c. 22. ) Another reason why traditions are preferred be-
fore the Bible, is given by Bishop Canus. " Because tradition is
not only of greater force against heretics than the Scripture, but
almost all disputation with heretics is to be referred to traditions."
(Canus, Loc. Theol. lib. iii. cap. 3. J See a great deal more to
the same purpose, in Via Tut a et Via Devia, edit. 1819, p.
300— 309.
Thus it is plainly admitted that the church of Rome cannot
stand upon the ground ol Scripture. She cannot contend vviih
heretics on any other ground than that of tradition, which is, by
these authors, exalted above the Bible. It is easy to see then
what sad work Mr. O'Connell, and his brethren, would make in
the schools, if they had the command of them. The
Bible would be expelled, and they would probably substitute St
Wenefride, and the " Life of St. Ann, the Mother of the Mo-
375
ther of God, and the Grandmother of God himself." See an
account of this blasphemous work, in vol. i. page 310.
Bishop Copinger himself deserves to be more particularly no-
ticed. His address to his clergy is written in a very artful style. He
endeavours to prepossess the reader, in favour of what he has to
say, by complimenting the Protestant Society in Ireland, who
have opened schools for the education of the youth of the Roman
communion, as humane and respectable. But the compliment
seems intended to hold up the Society to the greater detestation,
whose professions, the Bishop says, are not intended to regulate
its practice ; but that, under the name of education, proselytism is
the determined object. This great evil, proselytism, is that
which seems to have taken possession of the mind of this Bishop,
and which he would deprecate as more dangerous than the ty-
phus fever, or the plague itself. Now, the more the Popish cler-
gy cry out against this evil, the more ought Protestants to labour
to promote it. I have already said that I wish not to gain prose-
lytes to Protestantism, considered merely as a sect or party ; but
1 wish to gain men from error to truth ; from the kingdom of Sa-
tan to the kingdom of Christ. If the Bishop were a subject of
the latter kingdom, he would be as glad to win them to it as any
Protestant can be. That the church of Rome is not this
kingdom, but the enemy of it, is what I have been endeavouring
to prove ; and no man has yet answered so much as one of the
arguments by which I have attempted to establish the fact. The
church of Rome is a confused mass of superstition, will-worship,
idolatry, and all sorts of wickedness. Every benevolent man
ought to endeavour to undeceive the miserable dupes of this mother
of abominations. Call it proselytism, or what you will, he is en-
gaged in a good work who is labouring to detach men from the
religion of the Pope, and to gain them to that of Christ ; and I
do not think the School Society in Dublin, or the Hibernian So-
ciety, or any other, has yet done what they ought to do for the
attainment of such an object. Proselytism is not the professed ob-
ject of these Societies ; and they have never, so far as 1 know, made
it appear to be their object, in any shape whatever, further than
giving the Bible, and teaching the people to read it ; and if that
be the thing that makes them vile, in the esteem of Bishop Co-
pinger, I hope he will live to see them become yet more vile.
Popery being proved, and even admitted, by great authors of
the Romish faith, to be not founded in Scripture, or even
defensible by Scripture, but only by tradition, and that tra-
dition as vague and intangible as the winds; it must appear
to every serious reflecting person that the sooner it is overset
the better. It is, in fact, a svstem of falsehood and delusion
376
invented by the devil, and propagated by cunning and designing
priests, to enslave the understanding, pick the pockets, and ruin
the souls of men. The work of proselytism lias never yet been
Seriously taken up by Protestants ; but 1 am not ashamed to tell
Bishop Copinger, that it is the duty of every Christian to gain as
many proselytes as he can to the religion of the Bible ; and as I
u nderstand my work is republishing in Cork, as well as in Dub-
lin, I hope this will soon meet the eye of his Reverence ; and I
will be glad if he shall attempt to show cause why the Bible
should not be allowed to be read in the school?.
He does not expressly tell us what his sentiments are upon
this subject ; but he says he has long since recorded them ; and
he says, " the brightest luminaries of the Protestant church have
led the way for us, with arguments, to this very moment, unan-
swered." Who these luminaries are, the Bishop does not tell us ;
and perhaps he gives it as a great stretch of liberality to admit
that there ever were luminaries among heretics. But I can tell him
that there are none, whom Protestants themselves acknowledge
to have been luminaries among them, who were not steady friends
of the Bible, and desirous that every man, woman, and child, in
the world, should have one, and be able to read it. Dr. Co-
pinger will perhaps refer me to a Marsh and a Wix ; but these
divines, so far as relates to this subject, are in no more estimation
with serious Protestants than the Bishop himself, or than the Pope
of Rome.
I am indebted to a learned correspondent for the following correction
of an expression, in my 95th Number, which is liable to misconception : —
" In reading p. 356. 1. 40, 41. ' The church of God acknowledges only
one object of worship, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ :'
Should not this have been a little explicited? The church worships only
one God ; but it considers Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as an object of
worship, as well as the Father ; because it considers the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, as only one God. St. Stephen prayed to Christ ; St.
Paul prayed to Christ; and St. John says, ' This is the confidence we have
in Mm, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.'
(1 John v. 14.) You do not want these proofs of Christ being an object
of divine worship ; but our Unitarians overlooking them, deny him to be
so. The Godhead being one in essence, or outria, as the Greeks call it,
but three in l-ntuTouni, or person, and each person being inseparable from
the Godhead, each person is, in truth, the only God, because there is only
one God. Our Unitarians, making their own understanding, and not the
Scripture, the measure of their faith, deny Jesus Christ to be an object of
divine worship."
THE
Protectant,
No. XCVIII.
SATURDAY, MAY 27 th, 1820.
I find by several letters, which I have received within these
few days, that great interest has been excited by the extract of
Mr. O'Connell's speech, which I gave in my 96th Number. It
is, I understand, pretty generally considered as one of the most
valuable documents which I have given since the commencement
of my work ; because it establishes, beyond all doubt, the im-
portant fact, that the Papists of the present day are as hostile to
the word of God, as they were even in the dark ages ; and hav-
ing this fact asceitained, who would hesitate for a moment to pro-
nounce the Church of Rome the very Antichrist ?
O'Connell, standing alone upon his own responsibility, could
not have given much importance to the sentiments which he ut-
tered ; but he appears in an official character, representing what
Bishop Copinger calls " Catholic Ireland ;" and to him, for
his exertions in attempting to expel the Bible from the schools,
the Bishop assures us, " the thanks of Catholic Ireland are emi-
nently due." Here, then, is a right reverend pillar of the Ro-
man Church giving the sanction of his high authority to the sen-
timents avowed by the lay orator. And " the Roman Catholic
clergy of the diocese of Cloyne and Ross," adopt the sentiments
of their diocesan, and express their " warmest acknowledgments"
to Counsellor O'Connell, for his " splendid advocacy in the
cause of religious freedom." The whole body of the Roman
clergy, then, within that district at least, have declared O'Con-
nell's sentiments to be their own. They cannot allow the read-
ing of the Bible by the children at school, lest the children
should become Protestants ; a plain admission that the Bible is
the religion of Protestants.
Above all men in the world, Papists possess the art of giving
bad things a good name ; that is, of pressing into their service
such expressions as are popular, and convey a good meaning, in
order to cover some error and absurdity, which they do not like
V'oi. If. 3 B
378
to liear called by its own name. Religious liberty is one of those
phrases which Papists know to be popular in this country, in the
present age. They do, therefore, most impudently appropriate
it to themselves. They would have the world believe that ihey
only are the friends of religious liberty, though all the world
knows that they are the most intolerant and persecuting sect upon
the face of the earth. The exertions of Mr. O'Connell, to get
the Bible banished from the schools, are called, by the clergy of
the diocese of Cloyne and Ross, " his splendid advocacy" " in the
cause of religious freedom." In the common acceptation of the
words, religious freedom signifies the privilege of every individual's
reading the Bible, of forming his own judgment of its contents,
of freely expressing what he thinks he finds in it, and of worship-
ping God according as he understands his will, with regard to
the manner in which he ought to be worshipped. This freedom
exists in our country, in its fullest extent ; — nay, it exists much
beyond what I have here stated ; for it is not even required that
a man shall read the Bible, and form his judgment and practice
according to what he finds in it. A man may spend his whole
life without ever reading a page of it ; and, so far from being
compelled to worship his Maker alone, as the Bible teaches, he
may worship the Virgin Mary and all the Saints, in direct oppo-
sition to the dictates of the divine word ; and yet his religion is
tolerated. He enjoys the utmost freedom in the exercise of it,
without being subjected to pains and penalties of any kind.
But Papists, in Ireland, profess to be in bondage ; and they
call their orator, O'Connell, the advocate of " religious freedom."
The freedom they want, is to be freed from the Bible ; and cer-
tainly, if any person were insisting upon them, or attempting to
compel them, to read and study a book which they hate with a
perfect hatred, they might with justice complain that they were
not left to the freedom of their own will. But this is not the
point in question. There is nobody, so far as I know, so zeal-
ous as to propose to compel the Papists to read the Bible ; but
there are many benevolent persons desirous of giving it to those
who are willing to receive it ; they are giving it to the children in
the schools, and through them to their parents ; many of whom
desire most earnestly to have it. This is what grieves the priests
and their lay orator ; — this is what they wish to prevent, by all
possible means ; and the endeavours of the eloquent Counsellor to
prevent this, are called, by the clergy, " his splendid advocacy"
" in the cause of religious freedom." That is, the freedom of
keeping in the bondage of ignorance the great mass of the Irish
population ; — it is the freedom of compelling the benevolent part
of the community to abstain from every attempt to impart free-
dom from ignorance, and vice, and misery, to degraded millions
379
jf our fellow creatures. Yes ; our Papists are great advocates of
religious freedom ; but it is the freedom of making their will, or
that of their ghostly father in Rome, the law by which alone we
are to be regulated, in all our thoughts, and words, and ac-
tions.
As for the orator himself, it does not appear that he has any
distinct knowledge of either religion or religious freedom, or any
sentiments of his own upon the subject. He had been actually-
accused of ignorance of even the " Catholic persuasion," at a
former meeting ; and now, therefore, he does not choose to risk
his reputation, by speaking from his own knowledge. He " ap-
plied," he says, " to some of the heads of the Catholic persua-
sion in Ireland." He came to the meeting in the leading-strings
of Drs. Troy and Murray, and the other clergy who held a
meeting for the purpose of furnishing him with " an authentic
document to read to this meeting, to express their sentiments ;"
and then he gives their sentiments, with as much pomp and so-
lemnity, as if they had been expressed by a voice from heaven.
" They have resolved," says he, " that the Scriptures, with or
without note or comment, are not fit to be used as a school-
book." 1 believe I said long ago, that a council of bats and
owls would probably resolve and declare that the sun was a great
nuisance ; and there would be as much wisdom in the declaration
as in that of the Roman clergy in Dublin, that the Bible is not
fit to be read in schools, or any where else.
In the first article, in the resolutions of the clergy of Cloyne
and Ross, (see No. 96, page 362), we learn, " that in the pro-
fession of faith adopted universally throughout the whole Catho-
lic Church," Papists receive the Bible, in the sense which their
holy mother the church held, and doth hold ; that to her it be-
longs to judge of the true sense of the Scriptures; and the Pa-
pist engages that he will never " interpret them otherwise than
according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." He who
comes under this obligation, binds himself that he will never in-
terpret the Scriptures at all ; for their never was a unanimous
consent of the fathers on any leading doctrine of the Bible, much
less with regard to all that is contained in it. It is impossible to
interpret the Scriptures, without doing it otherwise than some
Fathers have done ; and therefore the only safe course is to let
them alone. This is most effectually to set aside the Bible ; for
it is needless to read it, if we are not to consider the meaning ot
what we read. If we attempt to understand any part of it, we
are entering upon the work of self-interpretation which the
church of Rome so strongly deprecates. It is well that the Ro-
man clergy of the present day have made such an explicit
avowal of their principles ; because they will thus convince every
380
reflecting person that they have abandoned the ground of Chris-
tianity, and have taken their stand upon that of downright in-
fidelity.
And if, in the regions of infidelity, there be degrees of wick-
edness, as I doubt not there are, that system must be the most
wicked which professes to be founded on the word of truth,
this is Popery. The Church of Rome has not the honesty of
the hardy infidel, who, at once, rejects the word of God ; but
she has the low cunning of professing to respect it, while she
most effectually sets aside its authority. There cannot be greater
insolence practised in civilized society, thanto misconstrue an honest
man's words, and turn them against himself; but this is the in-
solence with which Papists are continually treating the word of
God. Thus the clergy of Cloyne and Ross have the effrontery
to profess to quote the words of the Bible against the use of the
Bible. Like all other writers of their communion, they make
use of the words of Peter, relating to the unwise and unstable
wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction ; and they use
this as an argument for withholding the Bible from the lay people
altogether. But this was not the tendency of the Apostle's argu-
ment : his words clearly imply, that the unlearned and unstable
had liberty to read the Bible, else they could not wrest it. Pe-
ter asserted the fact, that there were some things in Paul's epis-
tles which the unlearned and unwise did wrest to their own de-
struction ; but he did not, on that account, prohibit the reading of
the epistles of his beloved brother Paul ; — nay, he proceeds upon
the acknowledged fact that they were accessible to all men, and
especially to those whom he addressed, that is, to the " strangers
scattered abroad," &c. Paul had expressly written to them, as
Peter tells us, ( 2 Ep. iii. 15.) and it was in his address to
them that there were some things hard to be understood. Now,
we cannot suppose that the faithful Apostle, writing under the
inspiration of the Holy G-host, would address an epistle to the
Hebrew Christians in general, the tendency of which was so
lanoerous, that he did not wish the people in general to read it,
lest it should do mischief to them ; yet this impious absurdity is
maintained by these Popish priests, who will not allow the word
of God to speak for itself to the lay people, lest they should per-
vert it to their own destruction.
Besides, if the language of Peter shall be considered as au-
thority for keeping the Bible from any person, it will apply much
more properly to the priests than to the lay people. There is,
comparatively, little danger of a plain man, whose mind is unso-
phisticated by the jargon of the schools, mistaking or wresting
any part of the plain testimony of the apostles, concerning Jesus
ol Nasareth, the Saviour of sinners; but the priests, who have
381
been bred in the schools of Scotus, and St. Thomas Aquinas,
and Pope Pins IV., are in the greatest possible danger of wrest-
ing the Scriptures to their own destruction; because they come
to them, if they do come at all, with minds preoccupied by doc-
trines quite opposite to those contained in the Bible ; yet with
an assurance that they are in the Bible. This is the worst pos-
sible state of mind in which persons can come to the study of the
word of God ; for then they come to it, not to receive implicitly
what the Holy Ghost teacheth, but for the express purpose of
making the Holy Ghost speak their own sentiments: that is, of
extorting from the Bible what they have already been taught by
fallible men in the schools ; and thus they will, almost to a cer-
tainty, wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.
When the wise man spoke of " a jewel of gold in a swine's
snout," he referred to something that was quite out of place ; and,
I think, nothing can be more so than the passages of Scripture
which the clergy of Cloyne and Ross quote from the Bible,
about the unity of the church. They tell us, that the receiving
of the true sense of the Scriptures simply, as holy church is
pleased to give it, " further goes to prevent their being carried
about by every wind of doctrine, while it tends to effect what the
Redeemer strongly inculcates, viz. that we be ' all one, as he and
his heavenly Father are one ;' or, as the Apostle has it, that we be
' all of one mind, and that there be no schism among us.' " Christ
speaks of the oneness or unity of his people, as a unity in the
truth; and his word is the truth. The unity of his church is
founded in the knowledge, belief, and profession of the truth of
God's word ; and this truth does unite all, who believe it, to God
and to one another. But these Popish clergy take up the words
of Christ and his apostle, which relate to this heavenly union,
and apply them to a union that is founded on the exclusion of
the word of God, and on human authority substituted for it.
This is, in effect, turning the word of God against itself. There
is not a more impious way of wresting it ; and as this is the work
of the clergy, and not of the poor laity, we ought to exculpate the
latter from the accusation which the former are daily bringing
forward, that they are not to be trusted with the Scriptures, lest
they should wrest them to their own destruction.
Bishop Copinger declares his assent to a plan recommended
by Mr. O'Connell, for educating children of the different religions
in the same school, without any reference to religious subjects ;
and the clergy of the diocese of Cloyne and Ross declare their
readiness to co-operate with Protestants, " in establishing schools
on any practicable plan, not clashing with our tenets :'' that is,
upon any plan that shall not incur the risk of the scholars of the
Roman communion becoming Protestants. This will be consi-
dered by the Papists, I dare say, as a fair concession ; but, in
382
fact, it is no concession at all; for it is not possible to teach chil-
dren to read, without giving them an ability to detect the imposi-
tions of Rome, even if they should not read the Bible ; and this
must be, in some measure, clashing with their tenets. Papists,
however, must not, in the present state of public feeling, avow
themselves the enemies of education. They must make a show
of being willing to educate their youth, as the Pope has taught
them ; but it will soon be seen, that all this zeal has evaporated,
unless thev shall be able to turn all their schools, like that of
Cork, into Popish seminaries.
I intend to commence, in my next Number, a discussion of the
alleged supremacy of Peter, and of his pretended successors ; and
I conclude the present with the following letters : —
To the Protestant.
" Dear Sir, — I hope your papers are extensively circulated
and read in Ireland. The hostility to the word of God, and the
spirit of domination exhibited by the Popish clergy there, demand
the most vigilant attention, and the most decided resistance.
They have generally or universally applauded and adopted Mr.
O'Connell's sentiments, lately delivered at a meeting in Kildare-
street, Dublin, on the subject of the Hibernian Schools. Asa
specimen of reasoning, his speech was sufficiently contemptible ;
but the arrogance, effrontery, and spirit of usurpation, exhibited
in it, are no less remarkable. One of the provisions of the schools,
a provision adopted by both Protestants and Papists, in order to
give equal facilities to children of parents of either profession, — was
to exclude all catechisms and controversial writings, on both sides,
and to use the Bible, which both parties professed to believe to be
the word of God ; at same time, leaving the explanation of this
to the respective religious instructors out of school. By this
plan the Society did afford, what they reckoned, equal facilities
of education to the different classes. And on this plan, 1 be-
lieve, many mixed, and some Catholic schools ire conducted in
other places.
" But, says Mr. O'Connell, ' No ! this is not to give equal facili
ties. The Pope has lately emitted a bull against the use of the
Bible in schools ; and the dignified clergy have published, autho-
ritatively, their manifestoes to the same purpose.' These, whether
obligatory or not, are respected by the Catholics; so that the So-
ciety, by their rules, must, it seems, accommodate their proce-
dure to every new bull of the Pope, and to every new manifesto
of the clergy ; or they cannot preserve the facilities for education
"equal." O'Connell's demands amount to no less than this:
that the Society, in adhering to one of its rules, should take the
mpaning of that rule from these authorities, and suffer it, and si!
38a
their other rules, to be modified by their dictation. The absurd-
ity is here apparent ; but the arrogance of the demand, and the
effrontery of the accusation of dishonesty, applied to the School
Society, are intolerable. The Society, at first, explained what
«hey meant by equal facilities of education. They have adhered
to that meaning. Who infringed these facilities? The infring-
ers are the Pope, the clergy, and their orator, Mr. O'Connell.
But here, as usual, the aggressor is loudest and first in the com-
plaint.
*' It is well that such decided opposition to Mr. O'Connell's
project appeared at the meeting. Had the Pope's bull been ad-
mitted, in this instance, with the clergy's manifesto, and the tra-
ditions of the church, Protestants might have bidden adieu to all
interference with the schools. Say the clergy, ' We never can
acknowledge, in any society of laymen, a right to regulate the re-
ligious concerns of children committed to our care/ « Kegu-
late,' i. e. so much as to give the Bible with or without note or
comment, &c, and without attempting to teach them its meaning
on controverted points. Had the Society submitted to this usurpa-
tion, a new bull might have been soon expected, excluding all
school-books not approved by the Pope ; excluding the Bible
from the use of even Protestant children, lest they should
communicate the sentiments of their books to the rest ; exclud-
ing Protestant children and Protestant teachers for similar rea-
sons. All this, and more, would accord well with what Popery
used to be ; and if bulls, manifestoes, traditions, and the Church,
are to regulate these matters, — adieu to any thing saving Popish
management. We know not what the next bull and manifesto
may contain ; — we know not ; Papists themselves know not ; Mr.
O'Connell knows not, what is contained in the treasury of the
traditions. The infallible church holds the keys of this treasury,
and no person can tell where this church is to be found ; for
we find the individuals who profess to belong to it, often op-
posing each other, in doctrine and in practice.
" It required no small degree of effrontery in Mr. O'Connell
and the clergy, to mention such a proposal to the Society,
as submission to such foreign and usurped domination, and such
indefinable authority ; but it accorded well with the Popish sys-
tem. The Pope refuses to a British people and Parliament, the
right to instruct subjects in their youth, by that perfect rule of
morality, justice, and loyalty, which the Bible contains. The
clergy claim authority over all the young people and their pa-
rents, not only without their consent, but against it. This, espe-
cially in a Protestant country, is usurpation. They have no
ricrht to any power, but by voluntary submission. All this, how-
ever, is but arrogance and domination with respect to fellow
creatures. God says, " Hear my word;" and, respecting Christ.
38+
" Hear my Son." The Pope and his clergy say, " No ; at
your peril, hear us only/' Thus, God said to the first pair,
" Obey my voice ;" the old serpent said, " Nay; obey mine."
But God's word shall stand. Even to Popes and their clergy,
as well as to other egregious sinners, he mercifully says, " Hear,
and your souls shall live." — Yours,
«' May 16th, 1820. " An Irishman."
" Glasgow, 15th May, 1820.
" Dear Sir, — I was extremely glad to see, in the " Protes-
tant" of Saturday last, that you have again brouaht the ene-
mies of the Bible into notice. Too much cannot be said, in re-
probation of their misanthropic principles ; and it will require
all the eloquence of the Irish barrister to make them appear
otherwise than odious. The Counsellor blames the Hibernian
Society, for not showing a readiness to enter into an investigation
of their resolutions, and for not removing or avoiding the obsta-
cles thrown in the way of affording " equal facilities for educa-
tion to all classes of professing Christians." But if Papists, be-
longing to the Society, who certainly knew their own circum-
stances best, could not foresee the consequences of standing upon
common ground with the Protestants, how could it be thought
that the latter would anticipate them ? Is the idea to be enter-
tained, for a moment, that such a respectable body, connected,
as it is, with some of the most distinguished personages of the
British empire, and whose majority, I presume, is composed of
friends to Bible reading, will crouch to the bull of a Pope, or
the determination of the prelates of his communion ? This, how-
ever, is precisely what they would wish to see ; nor is this all, if
we may judge from the conduct of their Tertullus ; they would
be " lords of the ascendant," and dictate, whenever they pleased,
what gentlemen ought to do ; and then, with the utmost effron-
tery, impute falsehood and dishonesty to those who might, in any
degree, disapprove of their measures, or differ from them in
opinion.
" But suppose, for the sake of argument, that the Bible and
Testament were excluded from the schools in question, would this
satisfy these alarmists ? No : they would, if possible, extort far-
ther concession, until nothing but the superstition of Jesuits and
Douay doctors was inculcated on the simple and unsuspecting,
of the Protestant, as well as the Popish persuasion ; and, instead
of being commended as Timothy was, for having '« known the
holy Scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto sal-
vation," they would be reproved as fools, for " following lying
vanities, and forsaking their own mercy." — " I am, &c.
THE
-Protectant,
No. XCIX.
SATURDAY, JUNE 3d, 1820.
As an introduction to the subject of Papal supremacy, I lay
before the reader the following communication, by a judicious
and intelligent correspondent : —
" To the Protestant.
" Dear Sir, — I have ventured to trouble you with a few
thoughts on the Pope's supremacy. As the whole Popish sys-
tem is built on that supposed supremacy bestowed exclusively
on Peter, to whom they pretend the keys of doctrine, worship,
discipline, and government, were committed ; and as you do not
appear to mc, as yet, to have designed a full and formal discus-
sion of that subject, I shall take the liberty to suggest a few hints
to you, which probably may be of use to you, to facilitate the
discussion of it, and which you are so capable to improve upon.
The first and main text on which they build, is that in Matth.
xvi. 18. " And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. And I will give unto theo the keys of
the kingdom of heaven," &c. The Apostle John records a cir-
cumstance which will give us a little light into this matter ;
speaking of Peter, he says, cli. i. 42. " And he brought him to Je-
sus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the
son of Jona, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, being inter-
preted, a stone." Cephas is not a Greek but a Syriac word, and
therefore required to be translated into the Greek language, in
which the New Testament was wrote. The Greek word, there-
fore, is Petros, a stone ; and, strictly speaking, such a stone as
we can handle, or turn over and move from its place. When
names were given to men, as recorded in Scripture, whether com-
pounded or not with the names of animals, or inanimate things,
it was done in allusion to the natures and qualities of these ani-
mals, or things. And it was not the Jews only that practised
this, but other nations also.
Vol. II. 3 C
386
" What the reasons were why our Saviour gave him this name
we are left to conjecture, as they are not revealed. What they
were not, we can decide upon, positively, as they are revealed.
The obvious qualities then of such a stone, are hardness or du-
rability, and mobility. That this name, then, was not given
him to signify his stability or infallibility is most certain ; for of
all the Apostles, both before and after the ascension of Christ,
he was the most unstable and versatile.
" Witness his effrontery in taking upon him to rebuke his mas-
ter, which drew from him this severe retort, " Get thee behind
me Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men." Also his denying his Lord
and Master; likewise his dissimulation, for which the Apostle Paul
reproved him to his face. These are the only three things in
which the Popes are successors to Peter, and may be said tc
form the Pope's triple crown. I question if Peter himself knew
the meaning of his new name, or had it explained to him at that
time ; but I have no doubt but he would come to understand it
in that night of dreadful darkness and perplexity, after he had
denied his master, and saw him condemned and crucified, when
his busy mind would be searching on all sides forcomfort, he would
then think on the name Christ had given him, connect it with
his prayer for him, and draw hope and comfort from it. As if
Christ had said, " Simon, Simon, you think you are a strong
and stable man, little considering how fallible you are, how
easily turned about like a stone, or wheat in a sieve, by Satan,
who desires to sift every particle of faith out of you ; but I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Hereby he would know
the reason of his being compared to a stone, in regard to its du-
rability, that he should not be, like numberless other substances,
liable to be utterly decompounded, or dissipated into smoke. We
shall now see what bearing this has upon the above quoted pas-
sage in Matt. xvi. It is there said, " And I say also unto thee
that thou art Peter." Here the translators have made a mistake,
which, though at first sight it may appear trifling, yet is of serious
import in different respects ; it puts into the mouth of Christ what
appears a childish senseless conceit, — " And I say also unto thee,
that thou art Peter." Here the word Peter stands in the verse as a
mere name, without connection, and so without sense or mean-
ing. Besides, though Christ gave him this name, he never af-
terwards addressed him by it, but always by the name Simon.
It should have been translated, " And I say also unto thee, that
thou art a stone, and upon this rock." Here is another mis-
translation to which the former has given rise, for the Greek par-
ticle x.ui is frequently used as an adversative, — in English, but; and
so it must be used here, because our Saviour manifestly contrasts
387
Petros, a moveable stone, with Petra, an immoveable rock.
<l But upon this rock." Here the translators are short again, it
should have been, " the rock," for the Greek article is put to it,
which always pointed to a particular person, or thing, already
known. But upon this " the rock," that you have so often read
of in all the Old Testament, " the rock that begat thee ;"
'•' the rock of ages ;" " the rock of salvation ;" " the rock of re-
fuse;" and, as Paul says, " they drank of that spiritual rock
which followed them, and that rock was Christ." It is impossi-
ble, therefore, that Christ could mean the same persons by Petros
and by Petra, as they are different words, and of different gen-
ders, and the accidents opposite — mobility opposed to immobility.
The whole verse then will run thus, " And I say also unto thee,
that thou art a stone, but upon this, the rock, I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The
Greek word bs, rendered also, being a discretive conjunction, is
meant, therefore, to distinguish between things that are spoken
about. The plain sense and meaning of the verse then will be,
" And I say unto thee, that notwithstanding of this glorious re-
velation now made unto thee, be not high-minded, but fear ; be-
ware of thinking too highly of thyself, this will give thee no pre-
eminence. Though I have called thee to be an Apostle, re-
member the name I have given thee — a moveable stone ; and
that thou wilt find ere Satan have done with thee. Thou art
not fit, therefore, to be a foundation for my church ; no, it is
upon this rock alone, (in all probability pointing to himself),
whom thou hast confessed to be the Christ, the Son of the living
God, that I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." It would appear here that our Saviour, foreseeing
what would come to pass, meant to leave Papists totally inexcu-
sable, by pointing out how entirely unfit Peter was for a founda-
tion to his church. Besides the church, both of the Old and
New Testament, is but one church, and must, therefore, rest on
one foundation — Christ. For Paul says, " Other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," and "are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Signifying, accord-
ing to the Greek construction, that Christ was the foundation
the apostles and prophets themselves built upon. The Apos-
tle Peter himself says the very same thing, 1 Pet. ii. 6. And it
is not unworthy of remark, that the Apostle Peter sanctions all
Paul's epistles, and ranks them along with the Scriptures of the
Old Testament ; a thing decidedly against the Papists, who
could wish all Paul's epistles sunk in the bottom of the sea. 'Tis
a wonderment that they have never as yet seen this, as an evi-
dence of Peter's fallibility. But let us see what could entitle Pe
388
f.cr to such a distinguished favour, for Christ appears to address
hiin in terms of high consideration, — " Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and hlood liath not revealed it unto thee, hut
mypather which is in heaven." Was it simply because he had
it revealed to him ? Certainly not, for there could be no merit in
that, though he was blessed in having it revealed to him. Was
it because he had it exclusively revealed to him ? Surely not, for
the knowledge and acknowledgment of this was the very ground
on which all the disciples joined him, and in which even his
brother Andrew had the start of him, John i.41. " We have
found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ." Was
it because he was more beloved by Christ than the rest ? No ;
none of them had grieved him so much ; besides, John was the be-
loved disciple, and would, therefore, have been preferred to the
supremacy before Peter. Was it because he was more solid and
stable than the rest ? No ; any of them would have had it before
Peter for this reason. As this confession of their faith was com-
mon to them all, so they were all equally blessed, and so the
keys were given unto them in common ; and they had all in com-
mon the promise of the Spirit to enable them to exercise them,
as appears from Matt, xviii. 18. What he says in the xvi. chap-
ter to Peter individually, he says in the xviii. chapter to them all
universally. All this must go for nothing with the Pope, who
can impose any sense upon Scripture he pleases ; he can even
contradict the most express commands of Christ; and, what is
still more base, make Christ contradict himself in the most fla-
grant manner. What can be more flagitious than to pretend
that Christ gave the supremacy to Peter, after he had prohibited
them, in the most express and peremptory manner imaginable, to
exercise superiority one over another, Matt. xx. 20. When
James and John, with their mother, came to Christ to ask of
him this piece of pre-eminence, to set the one on his right hand,
and the other on his left, in his kingdom, it is said, " and when
the ken heard it, they were moved with indignation against the
two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye
know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over
them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them."
And Luke adds, " and they that exercise authority upon them
are called benefactors. But it shall not be so amon" you, but
whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.''
Can words convey a more direct and peremptory prohibition than
this? Impossible ; especially if we consider the kind of example
used, and caveat added. Christ does not take his example
bom the high-priest under the law : that did not suit the object he
had in view; for though the high-priest had the inferior priests
under his hand, as it is said, yet the duties of both were clearlv
389
prescribed to them by the law. But the kings of the Gentiles
were all perfect despots : their will was the law. But such is the
Pope of Rome, his will is the law ; so that Bellarmine says of
him, " if he should command vice to be virtue, and virtue to be
vice, the church is bound to believe it." A remarkable incident
took place upon presenting the petition of these two brethren. It
is said, " and when the ten heard it, they were moved with in-
dignation against the two brethren."
" This is precisely what might have been expected in the present
state of human nature ; and the same ambition, after such a se-
ducing object, will ever produce the same effects, as it ever has
done. Witness the wickedness carried on in the conclave : what
lying, fraud, knavery, bribery, perjury, hypocrisy, and contention;
and out of doors, what wars and excommunications, Pope deli-
vering up Pope to the devil, and frequently setting all Europe in
a flame, — the native consequence of ambition, and this direct
violation of Christ's command, and caveat likewise.
" According to Mosheim, the bishops, that is presbyters, or
overseers, as the word bishop in the original signifies, and they
were undistinguished in their character during the first and se-
cond centuries., " The bishops," he says, " who lived in the ci-
ties, had, either by their own ministry, or that of the presbyter?,
erected new churches in the towns and villages adjacent. There
churches continuing under the inspection and ministry of the
bishops in cities, by whose labours and councils they had been
engaged to embrace the gospel, grew imperceptibly into ecclesi-
astical provinces, which the Greeks afterwards called dioceses."
Behold here, then, the first rise of the man of sin, the conse-
quence of transgressing the caveat. These bishops in cities, be-
cause, forsooth, they had been benefactors, claimed authority over
them ; and although that authority was moderately exercised at
first, yet it grew up gradually from less to more, that it issued
at last, in the revelation of a certain person whom Bellarmine
calls a god on earth, and who, the Scripture says, exalts himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. Another
passage we shall adduce, is from Matt, xxiii. 8. " But be not ye
called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; and all ye are
brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth, for one
is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters:
for one is your Master, even Christ."
" We have seen this passage quoted in the controversy, but ne-
ver, in our opinion, fully explained or applied, so as to exhibit
the peculiar force of it. It is manifest our Saviour does not
mean to prohibit them the use of the word master, or father, as
applying either to natural or spiritual generation, in every sense
and application of it, for he himself acknowledges Nicodemus a
390
master in Israel. A different word indeed is used, in the original,
but quite synonimous; but lie prohibits them to use it, or apply
it to any man upon earth, in the same sense as it was applicable
lo him, and was due to him, as he taught as one having authority,
and whose word was to be received and believed, merely because it
was his word. And likewise the name father ; in this sense it was
due to God. Papists transgress this express prohibition, in
both instances. The Pope is a master, in the same sense as
Jesus Christ is, or he is nothing. The Pope calls hinnself father,
and it must be in the same sense in which God is a father, for
he is styled a God on earth, and he calls his votaries, — his
sons, — his children.
" Now the apostle says, " ye are all the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ." In the very same way, therefore, are per-
sons the children of the Pope, viz. by faith in the Pope. <: For
one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Now
brethren are all equals. Can any thing be more clear and ex-
press than this ? The whole passage can neither be wrested nor
explained away. But to give the supremacy to Peter is a flat
contradiction of it. That however has been already shown to be
utterly groundless — for Christ did not say that he would build
his church upon Petros, a stone, but upon Petra, a rock. Nei-
ther did he say that Simon was Petra, a rock, but Petros, a loose
moveable stone.
" But Papists have another fort to flee into, in case they should
be beaten out of the former, viz. these three words in the last
chapter of John's Gospel " Feed my sheep." We know that
shepherds feed sheep, but that a shepherd should feed shepherds
is rather 3 solecism in pastoral affairs. But let us give them
all fair play. Persons of every denomination are Christ's sheep,
and these words give him a commission to feed them. This
looks specious. But did not Christ give the very same com-
mission to every one of the apostles, in these words, " Go and
preach the gospel ?" but to preach the gospel, is to feed the sheep,
with the doctrines and ordinances thereof; so that thev are
one and the same thing in every point of view whatever. And
at his final parting with them, did he not give the same ex-
tended commission to all of them? Mark xvi. 15. " Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
John xx. 21. ' Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto
you : as my Father hath sent me, even so send 1 you. And when he
had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost, whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." — Where
then is the pre-eminence of Peter? It is bv these texts destroyed
forever. The same commission to feed the sheep, and to exercise
the keys, is given to them all jointly. But let us examine ;i
391
little farther into this matter. Pecer had three times denied his
Master, by denying that he was his disciple, and the last time,
to put an end to all strife, he denied it upon his solemn oath,
and declared that he knew nothing at all about him. From that
moment, Peter was no more an apostle of Jesus Christ, than
Pontius Pilate. Apostleship, supremacy, keys, and all went to-
gether. But though Peter had cast off Christ, Christ had not
cast him off, and meant to restore him to his apostleship again,
and as he had thrice denied him publicly in the face of God, an-
gels, and men, he calls upon him three times, to confess his love
to him, and as often renews his commission, " feed my sheep."
This it seems Christ thought necessary. There was something
very remarkable took place, the third time. It is said Peter was
grieved because he said to him the third time, lovest thou me, as if
he had doubted of his sincerity. Peter had denied him three
times, but had grieved Christ exceedingly the third time, by call-
ing upon God, the searcher of hearts, to attest the truth of
his entire ignorance of him, even before his Master's face. Christ
therefore drew from him a corresponding appeal to himself as the
searcher of hearts, that he really did love him, and Christ says
nothing against it. If Judas fell from his apostleship by transgres-
sion, as Peter says, as certainly Peter fell from it, by his deni-
al of his Master by oath. The commission, " feed my sheep," re-
stored him to his apostleship, but nothing more; for it was that
commission, that made both him, and all the rest, apostles at
first. It was building the church upon him, as they pretend, and
giving him the keys, that invested him with the supremacy. But
not a word is said here, about a rock, or keys, or any thing else.
These poor deluded men therefore do greatly err, not knowino
the Scriptures. — The next thing is the Pope's infallibility, which
they found upon the words of Christ, " And lo I am with you,
alway, even to the end of the world." The Popes always as-
sumed it ; but before the council of Trent some of their writers
affirmed it belonged to a general council, — others to a general
council, with concurrence of the Pope, — others to the Pope, with
concurrence of a general council. Since that period the Pope
seems to be exclusively invested with it. Christ has been present
with his church since the apostles' days, and will be with his
faithful ministers, to the end of the world. But if the Popes
lay claim to such inspiration, as to render them infallible, we
should expect them all to be men of singularly holy lives and
conversations. Such was Peter himself, in the general tenor of
his life, and such, he says, were all the inspired men of old. " Holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
But have there not been Popes, and not a few of them whose
lives were a disgrace to human nature ? Have there not beer
39'2
Popes, who have rescinded the apostolical decrees, and btdls ol
former Popes, who had every way the same claim to infallibility
as themselves i Does not this infallibility prove the fallibility of
the Papal chair, themselves being judges? But that such things
have taken place, is confirmed by all historians, even by those of
their own profession.
«* There is one thing, however, that Papists must prove, other-
wise their whole system must fall to ruin, " like the baseless fabric
of a vision," viz. that Peter actually exercised this supremacy, and
that the rest of the apostles submitted to him, in the exercise of
it. But not only can they not do this, but the contrary can
be clearly proven against them. Peter, in both his epistles, styles
himself simply an apostle of Jesus Christ, not arch-apostle, or
prince of the apostles, as Papists call him; directs them to Christ
as the living stone, the chief corner stone. Here was the time to
put in his claim, if he had any. He, good man, however, never
dreamed of any such thing. Nor is there one word, in either of his
epistles, or in all that is recorded of him, in the Acts of the Apos-
tles, that savours of it in the least. When he writes to the el-
ders, he says, " The elders which are among you, I exhort, who
am also an elder." Why this notandum, but to show them that
he was so far from claiming any higher dignity, than that of
apostle, that he considered himself only as a co-presbyter, for so
the word is in the original, and that he was going to give them
no exhortation, that he could not take to himself as a co-presby-
ter. And so he exhorts them not to take the oversight of the flock,
for filthy lucre, neither as being lords over God's heritage. Is
this the character of the Popish Clergy ? It does not appear,
therefore, that Peter ever claimed any supremacy over the church.
But did the church ever acknowledge it ? No: Paul withstood and
reproved him to his face, because he was to be blamed. When
a point of faith was to be settled, anent circumcision, it
was not Peter that was consulted, but the whole apostles and el-
ders, and the decree run in their name, not his, and in the
terms of James' sentence, not his. But what puts the matter
beyond all doubt, is, that he actually received and executed a com-
mission from the apostles, at Jerusalem, in their presbyterial
capacity, and so acted under their authority. And what greatly
confirms the matter is, that he acted jointly in the commission
with John, as his equal. For it is said, Acts viii. 14.
•'Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Sam-
aria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter
and John." Now, our Saviour says, whether is greater he that
sends, or he that is sent ? The answer is an axiom. He that
sends is greater than he that is sent."
THE
Protestant,
No. C.
SATURDAY, JUNE \Oth, 1820.
On the subject of the alleged supremacy of the apostle Peter, I
have little to add, to what has been so well said by my judicious
correspondent J. C. It must be evident, to all who understand
our Lord's words, Mat. xvi. 18. that whatever honour he meant
to confer upon that Apostle, he did not constitute him the
rock, or foundation, on which he was to build his church. Peter
was no more fit to be such a foundation, than he was to create the
universe : and it is the avowed doctrine of St. Augustine, one of
Rome's greatest oracles., that Christ did not promise to build his
church upon Peter, but upon himself, the rock which Peter had
confessed. Augustine writes as follows : " Thou art Peter, and
upon the rock which thou hast confessed, upon this rock which
thou hast known, saying, ' Thou art Christ, the Son of the living
God,' will I build my church : I will build thee upon me, not
me upon thee." August, de Verb. Domin. Serm. 13. See
Via Tula and Via Devia, p. 167. It must be admitted that
this great divine was not a thorough-bred Papist. It was some ages
after his time before the man of sin came to maturity, or that
the Pope was declared universal bishop. Augustine was not fully
initiated into the doctrine of Peter's supremacy. He did not
foresee the use which was afterwards to be made of such a pretext,
by the bishops of Rome ; and accordingly, taking the words of
Christ in their plain simple meaning, he gave them the true Prot-
estant interpretation, that Christ himself, and not Peter, was the
rock on which he would build his church.
Augustine, however, is one of the fathers of the church, whose
unanimous consent is pleaded by Papists, as establishing all
their nostrums. I consider the authority of this father, and of all
the rest, with regard to the meaning of any passage of Scripture,
as no greater than that of any divine of the present age ; but
when 1 can produce such an authority against the church of
Rome, it is of great weight upon her own principles. I
would tell the Pope, if he would admit me to an audience —
Vol. II 3D
394
" You teach that Peter is the rock on which Christ built hi';
church; that you are Peter's successor; that you consider the
whole weight of the church as resting upon you ; and that this is
according to the unanimous consent of the fathers of the church
from the earliest ages." In reply to the last assertion I would say :
" Here is one of the greatest fathers of the church, one who
presides to this day over all your divines, even as St. Crispin pre-
sides over coblers, and St. Gallus over sheep and geese, (see
vol. I. p. 359.) who plainly declares that Christ did not build his
church upon the stone irergos, but upon himself (rfi <jsr^a) the
rock." I have many weightier reasons for rejecting the whole
doctrine maintained by the church of Rome, on this point ; but
I think the above is enough to show, that she cannot plead on
her behalf the unanimous consent of the fathers.
Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, in his Lectures on Ecclesiastical
History, (Lect. v.) has conceded a good deal, on the subject of
Peter's primacy, at least, among the apostles ; though he by no
means concedes the point of supremacy ; and it appears to me,
that even on the point of primacy, the celebrated critic has con-
ceded more than enough. There is no evidence in the New
Testament, either that Christ appointed that apostle, or that his
brethren chose him to preside over them, or that the whole of
them, even upon the day of Pentecost, were not upon a footing
of perfect equality; nay, from the circumstance of Peter's being
appointed by the rest, as observed by my correspondent J. C. to
go upon a mission to Samaria, it is very evident that the other
apostles did not look upon him as their superior, from whom
they were to receive instructions, seeing they actually gave him
instructions, at least an appointment, to go upon a certain svork,
in the service of their common Master.
It is true that Peter makes a more conspicuous appearance in
the evangelical narrative, during our Lord's personal ministry,
than any other of the apostles ; and his name is first mentioned
as engaged in the great work of the day of Pentecost. But there
is nothing of supremacy, or even of primacy, in this. In every
company, however small, some one will be found more fit for
business then the rest ; some one, perhaps, more forward, more
courageous, and more ready to engage in any enterprize ; some
one to whom the rest of the company will insensibly give place,
or tacitly concede a temporary precedence, merely for the sake of
present convenience, or for the attainment of some object which
may be better effected by one hand, or one mouth, or one pen,
than if a dozen of such instruments were employed about it, all
at once. I have often seen in the affairs of this world — in
public business — in the management of public charities, for in-
stance, that the work falls almost naturally into the hands of two
395
or three individuals, whose aptness for such business is known
and acknowledged ; and of these two or three, one will be looked
up to, as better qualified to be a leader or president, than either of the
other two. Providence has thus wisely ordered that human talents
should find their level, and have scope for exercise; and if there
were not a voluntary concession of precedence, in favour of those
whose personal endowments qualified them for it, the business of
the world could not be carried on, with any degree of regularity.
The same remarks apply to religious society. Suppose a few
Christians, entire strangers to one another, were to meet in a de-
sert. Suppose them to enter into conversation upon the sub-
ject of the common salvation, they would not have talked for
an hour, till some one would engage the affections of the rest
so far, as to induce them to request him to take the lead, and
preside in their worship, while they continued together, and be
their mouth in offering up their united prayers and thanksgivings,
to the God of their salvation. This would not give the distin-
guished individual, a primacy or superiority over the rest. The
very circumstance of his being greatest in spiritual gifts, would
teach him to be the servant of all, and to consider himself the
least of all.
In the small company of the apostles, Peter appears to have
been such a character, as I have here described. He was not
the first of them who became Christ's followers. He was not
the most distinguished by his Master's private friendship, for
this honour was conferred on John, perhaps in a still greater
degree upon Lazarus, and his sisters ; but Peter was a man
of a bold and decided character ; of a generous and ardent
temper, rather too much inclined to what is called forwardness.
From the more retiring disposition of the rest, they would natur-
ally fall into the rear of him when they had any communication
to make to their Master; and as he sometimes spoke to Christ in
the name of all the apostles, Christ would of course reply more di-
rectly to him. This precedence, however, was merely personal,
not official, as the church of Rome would have it. It arose out
of the natural or spiritual endowments of the man, but conferred
no superiority oi (iffice. If Christ had appointed Peter to the
primacy, or if, in virtue of his qualifications for rule over the
other apostles, they had chosen him to be perpetual president,
he would then indeed have had an official superiority, but no-
thing of this kind appears from the New Testament. Though
we admit that he presided in the first meeting of the church in
Jerusalem, when there were present a hundred and twenty disci-
ples, including the eleven apostles, this does not imply that he
was superior to the other ten, any more than a minister preach-
ing to a congregation, in which there are other ministers,' would
396
imply that the preacher was superior in office, to his brethren in
the ministry. It is necessary for the sake of older, in every meet-
ing for worship or business, that some one preside ; to lead the
worship, or state the business of the meeting. Peter seems to
have done so, in the meeting above referred to, when the busi-
ness was to elect an apostle in the room of Judas ; but Peter
did no more than what any other of the apostles might have
done. He had no superiority but that of order for the time,
and which any other of the apostles might have, the next time
they met. Ministers in the church of Scotland have no superiority
over one another. The Moderator of the General Assembly is,
indeed, officially above them all while the Assembly sits ; but im-
mediately on the dissolution of that venerable body, he returns
to a station of perfect equality with his brethren.
It does not appear that Peter presided in the meeting of the
church in Jerusalem, with the apostles and elders, of which an ac-
count is given in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
It is not indeed said explicitly who presided there ; but the pro-
bability is that it was James. After a good deal of discussion, Peter
stood up, and stated some plain facts ; and then declared his
judgment upon the question before them. He was followed on
the same side by Barnabas and Paul : after which James per-
formed the part of president, by summing up the substance of
what had been narrated, especially by Peter; showing its con-
formity with old Testament prophecy ; and proposing to the
whole body the sentence which he thought should be pronoun-
ced. The brethren were satisfied, the thing was unanimously
agreed to, and the question was set at rest. In the whole pass-
age there is not a word of superiority claimed by, or conceded
to Peter, by the other apostles, except it be the honour of having
been chosen by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; an honour
which was afterwards more abundantly conferred upon the apos-
tle Paul. '
From the history of the last mentioned apostle, and from the
epistles which he wrote, it is very evident, that he at least ac-
knowledged no superiority in Peter. Had Peter been then ac-
knowledged as the vicar of Christ on earth, the regular way
would have been for Paul to go to him, and receive his com-
mission from his hands. But Paul tells us plainly, that this
was not the case ; for the gospel which he preached, he received
not from man, neither was he taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Gal. i. 12. He did not hold his commission at se-
cond hand from Peter, as all the Popish priests hold theirs of
the Pope ; and he adds in the second chapter of the same epis-
tle, that not even the three apostles, James, and Cephas, (i. e.
Peter) and John, who had been distinguished above all the rest.
397
on several occasions, particularly on the mount of transfiguration,
added any thing to his authority as an apostle of Christ. These
three, indeed, he says, seemed to be pillars, that is, leading
men even among the apostles ; but jointly or severally, he con-
cedes to them no superiority over himself. Certainly then, he was
not a believer in the Popish doctrine, that Peter was the vicar of
Christ, and prince of the apostles.
It seems to have been admitted, that in the apostolic College,
as it is called, there was a difference of rank, arising solely from
the endowments, or gifts of the Holy Ghost, who divided to
every one according to his own will. All the apostles were ves-
sels meet for their Master's use ; but some were honoured more
than others. Thus we find that Paul speaks of some whom he
calls the very chiefest apostles (2 Cor. xi. 5.) which implies that
there was a distinction among them ; but then he tells us that he
was not a whit behind the very chiefest. Certainly, then, he ac-
knowledged no superiority on the part of Peter, who, though a
chief apostle, and a pillar, had no pre-eminence above him,
who was as one born out of due time.
In the same chapter, (Gal. ii.) we have a melancholy evidence of
the fact, that Peter was not the rock on which the church was built ;
but at best, only a moveable stone, by his dissimulation with the
Gentile converts, in order to keep on good terms with the Jew-
ish ones. For this, Paul reproved him to his face, because he
was to be blamed. Paul does not say that he approached him, as
the vicar of Christ, with a humble representation and remonstrance,
as would have been proper, had Peter been his ecclesiastical su-
perior; but as one upon a footing of equality, and as one Chris-
tian would admonish another, when he is to blame, Paul re-
proved his brother apostle for the grievous error into which he
had fallen, which was not only disheartening to the believing
Gentiles, but which actually had the effect of seducing Barnabas,
a most faithful disciple, from the simplicity of the gospel. See
this subject treated more at length in vol. I. No. vii.
Upon the same passage of scripture, Mat. xvi. 18, 19. the
church of Rome builds this other error, that Peter exclusively
was entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Christ
did indeed promise them to him, but not to him alone ; any
more than he described the blessedness of him alone, when he
said " Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."
Christ had put a question to all the Apostles, " Whom say ye
that I am ?" Peter answered for them, " thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God." Christ, on receiving this answer, pro-
nounced the blessing as above, which evidently extended to the
olhtr apostles to whom the same truth was revealed, and who
39S
concurred in the same confession. We might then as well say,
that Christ hlessed Peter exclusively of the rest, as that he pro~
mised the keys to him alone. But the matter is put beyond a
doubt, by the declared purpose for which the keys were to be
given ; f' Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed
in heaven." This was a promise to Peter, that he should have
power and authority (for of this the keys were a symbol,) in the
kingdom of heaven ; that is, the New Testament church. But
that Christ's promise extended to the other apostles, is evident
from the fulfilment of it. When the appointed time arrived, that
is, when he was about to ascend to heaven, he conferred this
power on the eleven apostles without distinction. Binding and
loosing in the kingdom of heaven, are terms of precisely the same
import as remitting and retaining sins. They relate to the au-
thority which Christ conferred on his inspired apostles, with re-
gard to doctrine, worship, government, and discipline in the
church. It is certain, then, that Christ conferred this upon all
the apostles. Thus we read, John xx. 21 — 23. " Then said Je-
sus unto them again, peace be unto you ; as my Father hath sent
me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breath-
ed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." Here there is no
superiority or supremacy conferred upon Peter. He stands upon
a perfect equality with his brethren in the apostleship; and as for
what Christ afterwards said to him, " Feed my lambs, feed my
sheep," it implied no more than what was required of the rest of the
apostles, and what they were all alike empowered to do, by the di-
vine commission, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature."
Much has been said and written about the power of the keys ;
that is, who is entitled to exercise authority in the church of
Christ ? and I am inclined to think, that the only satisfactory an-
swer that can be given to the question, is, that the power still
remains, where Christ originally placed it ; that is, in the hands
of the apostles, who were his accredited ambassadors. Christ
himself is Lord and King in his own church. He hath the
key of David. This symbol of authority is laid on his shoul-
der. "He openeth, and no man can shut ; he shutteth, and no
man can open." " The Father hath given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as he hath
given him." But when Christ went to heaven, he left his apos-
tles to act and speak on his behalf; and he invested them with
such authority, that he who heard them, heard him, and he
who despised them, despised him. As the Father sent him, so he
sent them. This was connected with the promise and gift of
399
the Holy Ghost, which was conferred on the day of Pentecost, iu
virtue of which, they became infallible teachers and rulers in the
kingdom of heaven. What the apostles did and taught under this
divine influence, was divine teaching and divine operation. The
Holy Ghost brought to their remembrance, and enabled them to
state with infallible precision, the things which Christ himself had
told them ; and the Divine Spirit also instructed them with regard
to all the other matters, which were necessary for the edification and
government of the church ; which things Christ himself only " be'
gan to do and teach," (Acts i. 1.) while he was personally with
them ; reserving the finishing lessons, to be imparted by the Holy
Ghost, of whom he said, " when he is come, he will teach
you all things and bring all things to your remembrance."
Now Christ himself having the key of David; that is, so-
vereign authority in the church, was pleased to devolve the exer-
cise of that authority upon his apostles ; but only in connexion
with their receiving the Holy Ghost ; so that all that they did,
and spoke, and wrote, should be under his divine inspiration.
Authority exercised under such influence, was nothing less than
divine authority. Such was that which the apostles exercised
in their personal ministry in the churches which they planted ;
and having committed to writing what the Holy Ghost dic-
tated for the government, instruction, and edification of the
church in all future ages, their writings are the only authoritative
rule, by which the conduct of Christians and Christian churches,
is to be regulated. Christ gave authority to them, and they only
of the human race have been honoured to carry the keys of
the kingdom of heaven.
I am perfectly aware, that a claim of right to exercise the power
conferred by the gift of the keys, is made by church rulers of
all denominations of Christians ; and 1 think nothing that I have
said, will be considered as interfering with such right, if it be
kept in its proper place. In every church, however great, or
however small, there must be the power of binding and loosing;
of receiving and excluding members; of administering divine or-
dinances, whether of doctrine, worship, government, or discip-
line; but whether this power be lodged in the hands of many,
or in the hands of few, it is only ministerial. It is, in a subor-
dinate sense, making use of the keys which Christ gave to the
apostles ; but if the eye and the hand of Him who inspired the
apostles, do not guide every turning of the keys, they will be
used not for the edification, but for the destruction of the church.
In plain English, the written word of the apostles is the only
rule, by which the power of Christ is to be administered in his
church ; and therefore, properly speaking, they only are the
holders of the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and he would not
have intrusted such power even to them, had he not ordained
400
the exercise of it to be under the immediate guidance of the
Holy Ghost, so that they should be infallibly secured against
falling into error, in the exercise of the authority which he com-
mitted to them. There are many who despise church authority;
and certainly the usurpations of the church of Rome, are calcu-
lated to make men both dread and despise it ; but all lawful au-
thority in the church, is the authority of Christ; and he who
despises it must bear his own burden.
It is worthy of remark, that in the very passage, (Mat. xviii. 15
— 18.) which churches and church-rulers plead as their warrant,
for exercising the power of the keys, that power is expressly re-
ferred to the apostles. Offenders, after private means for their
recovery to repentance have been used in vain, are to be report-
ed to the church: and if any one shall refuse to hear the church, it
is commanded that he be considered as a heathen and a publican ;
that is, that he be put away from their communion ; and
it is added, not absolutely or unconditionally, what the church
shall do, shall be confirmed; but *' Verily I say unto you (my apos-
tles) whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ;
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in hea-
ven." The confirmation in heaven, therefore, of the sentence of
any church upon earth, depends upon its being a sentence of
the apostles. It must be a binding or a loosing ; a retaining or
a remitting of sins, according to their word ; otherwise "t is of no
authority whatever in heaven, though it should have the sanc-
tion of all the councils and all the congregations in the world.
In all such discussions as these, we ought to remember, that
Christ himself hath the key of David. This prerogative he
claimed for himself, after Peter was dead; (Rev. iii. 7.) and he
holds the key in his own hand still. He has the entire disposal
of the treasures of everlasting life. " It pleasei the Father that in
him all fulness should dwell;" and this fulness is dispensed, ac-
cording to the testimony of his apostles, to all who apply to
him. " Out of his fulness they themselves had received,
even grace upon grace ;" that is, favour upon favour, more
than they could express : and what they saw, and heard, and
contemplated of the word of life (1 John i. 1 — 3) they have de-
clared to us, that we also may have fellowship with them,
whose fellowship truly is with the Father, and with his Son, Je-
bus Christ. But supposing the key of such treasures to be trans-
ferred to the Pope of Rome, the pretended successor of Peter, the
church would be left in dependence upon a fellow creature,
upon a broken reed that could afford no help, but would wound
and disappoint him who should be so foolish as to lean upon it.
THE
No. CI.
SATURDAY, JUNE Mth, 1820-
A. grave author of the Church of Rome derives the supremacy
of Peter from something like a pun, in the new name Cephas,
which Christ gave him. This word, pronounced Kephas, which
signifies a stone, resembles a Greek word which signifies head ;
therefore, he will have it, that Peter is the head of the church.
" For therefore," says Optatus of Milevis, in Africa, " Christ
gave him the cognomination of Cephas, unb rqg xepaXJjf, to
show that St. Peter was the visible head of the Catholic church."
In Scotland, there are several families of the name of Roy, which
is almost the same as Roi, which, in French, signifies king ; ergo,
all the Roys must be kings; and the M'llroys, or Macs-les-rois,
must be princes of the blood royal. I am afraid the herald's of-
fice would not confirm this doctrine ; but I am sure it is as good
as that of the African divine, who finds the supremacy of Peter
in the resemblance between the Greek word xi<prxXr), * the head,'
and the Syriac word Cephas, ' a stone.' I find the words of the
above named Optatus in Jeremy Taylor's Discourse of the Li-
berty of Prophesying, edit. ISO* page 127.
The first thing which Papists wish us to believe concerning
Peter, is, that he was the vicar of Christ, and prince of the apos-
tles ; the next is, that he was the founder and first bishop of the
church of Rome. Having shown that he was not, by divine
authority, invested with the former office, I come now to show
that he never held the latter ; at least, that there is no evidence
of his having done so ; and, in a matter of so much importance,
we ought to have the most positive evidence. In fact, the whole
system of Popery rests upon the assumption that Peter was the
first bishop of Rome, that is, the first Pope ; and if this cannot
be proved, and it certainly has never yet been proved, the whole
fabric must fall to the ground.
It is my wish to do justice to this, as well as to every other
subject that comes under my review ; and, therefore, I shall give
Vol. II. 3 E
402
here the entiro chapter, or " table of St. Peter," as it is taid
down by the translators of the Rhemish New Testament, omit-
ting the years of the Roman emperors, and of the ascension, and
noting only the common Christian era.
" Anno Domini, 34. Peter causeth the disciples to proceed
to the election of another apostle in Judas* room, Acts i. Re-
ceiveth, with the rest, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, on Whitsun-
day. He made the first sermon, and converted 3000, Acts ii.
He cureth one born lame ; preacheth Christ and penance to the
Jews ; so that 5000 believed, Acts iii. and iv. He is impri-
soned, released again, threatened, and commanded to preach no
more ; but he, with John, answereth, that they must obey God
more than man, Acts iv. He striketh dead, with a word, Ana-
nias and Sapphira, for sacrilege, Acts v. He is sent with John
to Samaria, to confirm the newly baptized, where he reproveth
Simon Magus, Acts viii.
" A. D. 35. He healeth Eneas at Lydda, and raiseth
Tabitha from death, at Joppa, Acts ix. He is warned and
taught by a vision, to preach to Cornelius, a Gentile, Acts x.
He defendeth his receiving of the Gentiles, Acts xi. ; and records,
(Acts xv.) that God called the first Gentiles by his ministry ; so
that Paul's first preaching to them, and his going to Arabia,
must be after this. See St. Chryst. in Act. No. 22, Euseb.
lib. ii. cap. 3."
" A. D. 36. He continueth preaching in divers parts of Jew-
ry, and the provinces adjoining. About two years after this, St.
Paul visiteth him in Jerusalem, Gal. i. He preacheth in Syria,
and the provinces of Asia Minor, Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, ordaining bishops and priests in divers places. 1
Pet. i. Niceph. lib. ii. c. 35. Plalina in Petro.
" A. D. 39. He goeth to Antioch, and preacheth there, and
maketh that his seat ; yet not remaining there continually, but,
for the affairs of the church, departing thence sometimes to Je-
rusalem, sometimes to other places. Hiero. in Catalogo. Ig-
nat. ad Magnesianos. At Jerusalem he is cast into prison, af-
ter the putting of St. James to death, by the commandment of
Herod. He is prayed for by the whole church, and delivered
out of prison by an angel, Acts xii.
" A. D. 44. Avoiding the fury of Herod, he leaveth Jew-
ry again. He appointeth Euodius bishop of Antioch. Euseb.
in Chron. and lib. Ii. 3. cap. 16. Suidas Ignat. ad Ant'wchen.
And passing by Corinth, he came to Rome, to convince Si-
mon Magus. Hiero. in Catalogo. Euseb. lib. ii. c. 12, 13,
24. Concil. torn. i. He approveth and declareth the gospel of St.
Mark to be canonical. Hiero. in Catalogo. Euseb. lib. ii.
cap 14. Having founded the church of Rome, and planted Ins
4-OS
apostolical seat there, afterwards absent from the city, ^either ex-
pelled thence, with other Jews, Cornel. Tacit, in Claudio ; oi
rather, according to the office of his apostleship, leaving it
for a time,) he visited other churches, and came to Jerusalem
again, using, both in his absence and presence, Linus and Cle-
tus for his co-adjutors. Tom. 2. Concil. p. 656. Epipk. torn. 2.
Hiero. 27.
" A. D. 51. He holdeth the first council, Acts xv. He
is reprehended at Antioch by St. Paul, Galat. ii. except that
difference fell before the council, as some think, August, op. 19.
He returneth to Rome again. The Roman faith, by his dili-
gence, now made famous through the world. Rom. i. and xv.
Theodoret in xvi. Rom. Thence he writeth his first epistle. ]
Pet. v. Euseb. lib. ii. cap. 14. Hiero. in Catalogo. He send-
eth St. Mark to Alexandria, and others to plant the faith in di-
vers parts of the world, Grego. lib. v. cap. 60. and lib. vi. ep.
37. Nicepho. lib. ii. c. 35. He writeth his second epistle, a lit-
tle before his death, which Christ revealed to him to be at
hand, 2 Pet. i. He taketh order for his successor.
11 A. D. 70. He was finally crucified at Rome. Seethe
last Annot. John c. 21."
The annotation here referred to is as follows: — " Anoth-
er shall gird thee. He prophesieth of Peter's martyrdom, and
of the kind of death which he should suffer, that was crucifying ;
which the heretics, fearing that it were a step to prove that
he was martyred in Rome, deny; whereas the fathers, and an-
cient writers, are as plain in this, as that he was at Rome."
Then follows a reference to Origen, as quoted by Eusebius, and
Eusebius himself, &c. &c, which may be allowed to make it as
certain that Peter was crucified in Rome, as that he was
bishop of Rome, or that he ever saw Rome, both of which
yet remain to be proved ; for nothing that these fathers have
written tends to prove the fact of the apostle's having been
there, except that there was a vague tradition on the subject,
which is surely a foundation extremely slender for building
such a fabric as the Church of Rome professes to build upon
it.
If Peter ever was in Rome, he would have been there a
person of much less consequence than the youngest dissenting
minister is, at present, in Glasgow, not to speak of doctors
in divinity. We know that when Paul was brought to that
great city, with a military escort, and under all the solemnity of
an appeal to Cesar, he was suffered to live for two years in a
hired apartment, without being an object of public attention, ex-
cept to such Jews and others as chose to call upon him. Nay,
he was in such obscurity, that it required very diligent search ttf
404
find out where he lodged, see 2 Tim. i. 17. Now, had Peter
found his way to the same city, bringing no other news than
the news of salvation by Jesus Christ, he wouM have been con-
sidered a person of no more consequence than any other wan-
dering Jew, who might come to Rome upon business of his
own. If he had proceeded to perform miracles, he would prob-
ably have engaged public notice. His miracles would, it is likely,
have been ascribed, by the heathen writers, to magic ; and the
fact of such miracles having been performed, to whatever power
they were ascribed, would probably have been attested by some
eye-witness; and we should have had some record of it by some
of the writers of the day. We cannot even produce this evidence
of Paul's having been in Rome; and we know the fact of his
having been there from no other source than the apostolic record.
We have not this evidence of Peter's having been there ; and,
therefore, we cannot reasonably be called upon to believe it ; much
less to build a system of religion upon it, as is done by the Church
of Rome.
On such a subject, the vague tradition of fathers, who lived
hundreds of years after the apostolic age, is of no authority
whatever. I adhere to my position, that the apostle Peter
was not in the esteem of the Roman empire, or even of Ro-
man citizens, — a person of such consequence, as to engage
the particular notice of the historians of the day. There was,
therefore, no record of his travels and labours preserved, except
what was taken by his Christian brethren, and preserved in the
New Testament. We know how difficult it is to come at the
truth, with regard to persons who lived within a few years of
our own time, especially if no written memorial of them has been
preserved. It must have been much more difficult in the first
ages of the Christian era, and in the disturbed state of the Ro-
man empire, to ascertain any fact with regard to the life and
death of men who were so generally abhorred, and so cruelly per-
secuted, as the Christians were, except what they and their co-
temporaries had written. Though the writers who speak of Pe-
ter's having been at Rome, had lived within fifty years of his
death, they would not have been able to ascertain the fact with-
out great difficulty ; surely then, where two or three hundred
years had elapsed, it must have been impossible to know any
thing of the matter, with certainty. There were few authors,
and no printing, in those days. Real facts, with regard to a
man politically so insignificant, could only be transmitted from
mouth to mouth, by persons still more obscure ; and, by the
time of Origen or Eusebius, no man could tell what was
true and what was not, except what the Christian churches
had preserved, as the authentic testimony of eye and ear wit-
4-05
nesses ; that is, just what we have in the New Testament, and no-
thing more can be depended on.
Besides, the traditionary account of Peter's hav'mo Deen •
Rome is not consistent with itself, or with the authentic account
of him which we have in the New Testament. " Concerning
the time of his coming to Rome," says Fulke, " ihe ancient writ-
ers do not agree. Eusebius saith, it was in the time of Clau-
dius ; but by Hierom, who saith he sat there twenty-five years,
until the last year of Nero, it must follow, that he came thither
the second or third of Claudius ; yet Damasus saith, he came
to Rome in the beginning of Nero's empire, and sat there twen-
ty-five years ; whereas, Nero reigned but fourteen years. He
saith also, that his disputation with Simon Magus was in the
presence of Nero the emperor. Eusebius reporteth it under
Claudius. Anterius, bishop of Rome, (as Nicephorus testifi-
eth) did write that Peter was translated from Antioch to Rome,
and from thence he passed to Alexandria, because he might
more profit the church there." These are all matters of mere
hearsay, reported hundreds of years after Peter's death, and,
therefore, entitled to no credit at all. Had Peter been twenty-
five years bishop of Rome, he must have been sitting there at
the time that Paul was there, or, at least, when he addressed an
epistle to the church in Rome ; and yet it is a fact, that in his
epistle to the believers in Rome, and in all his epistles written
from Rome, Paul makes no mention of his brother apostle ; but
he does make mention of some things that would have been most
disgraceful to Peter, had he been there. No salutations were
sent to Peter by Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, while he
pays this respect to a host of meaner persons, chapter xvi. And
when he was a prisoner in Rome, he sent no salutations from
Peter to any of the churches or individuals to whom he wrote ;
surely, then, Peter was not there. Paul says, "at his first appear-
ance, no man stood by him, but that all forsook him." Surely,
if Peter had been in Rome, he would not have deserted his
brother in his affliction, and when brought before Nero to
answer with his life. The church in Rome, of which Paul
had heard so many good things, before he saw them, had de-
clined so much by the time he came to them, that he spake as if
there had not been one among them in whom he could confide.
" All men," says he, " seek their own, not the things which are
Christ's," Phil. ii. 21. He would surely have made the excep-
tion of Peter, had he been there.
The fact seems to be, that the tradition of Peter's having been
at Rome, and his coming there to contend with Simon Magus,
seems to have arisen out of a confused account of what took
place in Samaria Acts viii., in which it is recorded, that the
♦06
find out where he
found his Wa*,w'rcerer to contend with. It was easy, after the
the new ° or tnree hundred years, to transfer the scene of this
gjjp^t to Rome ; especially when the church in the imperial city
^<?gan to put forward her claim to he the mother and mistress of
all churches. Then it appeared to he a matter of great import-
ance to have it helieved that the highly honoured apostle, Pe-
ter, was their founder, and first bishop. The slightest surmise
would eagerly be caught hold of, and would be repeated from
mouth to mouth, and from age to age, until the thing became
fixed in the minds of all, as an undoubted truth. The meaning
which was unjustly affixed to Christ's words, " I give thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven," as addressed in the first instance to
Peter, served to confirm the delusion.
One cannot help reflecting, with some degree of melancholy, on
the low and contemptible ideas which Papists must have of the of-
fice and work of the apostles. Peter, according to them, came to
Rome for the express purpose of opposing Simon Magus, as if
this had been an object worthy of so longa journey, by so great a
man. When such deceivers, as Simon and Elymas, came in the
way of apostles, we are informed how they dealt with them ; but
we never read of apostles going out of their way to seek for them.
These sorcerers were indeed enemies of the truth, but the apostles
had as great enemies as they to contend with, in the hearts of all the
men whom they addressed, until they were subdued by the gospel.
It would have been matter of great triumph for Satan, if he had got
all the apostles set a hunting after jugglers, and to neglect the work
of preaching the gospel to sinners.
It might be admitted, were there the slightest evidence of it,
that Peter, in the course of his journey, came to Rome; but Papists
would gain nothing by the admission, unless it be farther shown
that he was bishop of Rome, of which there is not the shadow of
evidence. Nay, I maintain that his holding such an office would
have been inconsistent with the higher office of an apostle, with
which we are sure he was invested by Christ himself. The bishop
of any one church has the official oversight of that church, but not
of any other. Had Peter been chosen by the church in Rome to
be their bishop, he could not have accepted of the office, with-
out laying down that which he had received from his Lord and
Master, and which made it imperative upon him to go into all the
Aorld and preach the gospel to every creature. Upon Paul came
daily the care of all the churches, especially of the Gentiles, which
he had planted ; and upon Peter, no doubt, came the care of all
the churches, especially among the Jews, of which he was entrust-
ed with the more immediate charge, as seems to have been intimat-
ed by the opening of Providence, and the suggestion of the Holy
(ihost, and acquiesced in, by the two apostles themselves, Gal. ii.
7. The apostles doubtless were bishops in the highest sense of
407
the word, that is, they were overseers or pastors of Christ's
flock, wherever they were ; but the oversight, or pastoral
charge of particular churches, they committed to men who
were also bishops, but in an inferior sense. It was part of
the work of apostles to ordain ordinary bishops ; and this
power seems also to have been conferred on the evangelists
Timothy and Titus ; but the apostles themselves, so far as
appears, never consented to become bishops of particular
churches. Yet, wherever they had their residence, at any time,
the bishops of the churches who had access to them, and the
churches themselves, would, no doubt, look up to them as their
spiritual fathers, and overseers in the Lord. Thus we may
admit, that James in Jerusalem, and Peter in Antioch, and
Paul in Rome, and John in Ephesus, exercised episcopal au-
thority in these places, without supposing them officially at-
tached to them as their peculiar charge. Who first preached
the gospel in Rome, and planted the church there, we do not
know ; but it does not appear that ever they were favoured
with the presence of any of the apostles, except Paul ; and it
is not even pretended that he was their bishop. Some of the
fathers, indeed, join him with Peter, in laying the foundation of
the Church of Rome ; though it is certain, from Rom. i. 10, 1 1.
that there was a church there before Paul came to it.
Christ's words to Peter, as explained by John, chap. xxi. 18,
19. lead us to believe that Peter must have suffered martyrdom ;
but where, or in what manner, we know nothing with certainty.
The apostles fell one by one, when it pleased their Master to
call them from labour and suffering, to rest and glory with
himself; but it does not appear that any cf them appointed
successors ; indeed, that was a power that did not belong to
them. Each of them had received his commission directly from
Christ, and to Him he resigned it, along with his life.
They left bishops or pastors to oversee the churches, and feed
the flock of Christ, after their death, and to the end of the world ;
and they left their writings, as the infallible rule of faith and man-
ners to all their churches, and to all the pastors. But their of-
fice, as apostles, they did not leave to others ; and, therefore, in
this sense, they had no successors.
When James, and Peter, and Paul, were taken away by vio-
lent death, and when several others of the apostles were proba-
bly removed in the same way, it is reasonable to suppose that
such of the original twelve as survived, would be looked up to.
as possessing the authority of all the rest. The apostle John,
we have reason to think, outlived Peter by a number of years
Had Peter then been prince of the apostles, and vicar of Christ,
it miorht have been expected, that, had he bequeathed his power
to any one, it would have been to this beloved disciple. This,
40S
however, is not so much as pretended ; but it is pretended that
peter appointed Clement arid Linns to be his co-adjutors, and
one of them, it is not certain which, to be his successor in the
see of Rome. Now this would have been very irregular proce-
dure, had there been any truth in it. Who was Clement, and
who was Linus, that either of them should have been promoted
over the head of the apostle John, to be Christ's vicar on earth,
and universal bishop ?
" it is no way likely," says Dr. Jeremy Taylor, " that a pri-
vate person should skip over the head of an apostle ; or why
should his successors at Rome enjoy the benefit of it more than
his successors at Antioch, since that he was at Antioch, and
preached there, we have a divine authority ; but that he did so at
Rome, at most, we have but a human ; and if it be replied, that
because he died at Rome, it was argument enough that there his
successors were to inherit his privilege ; this, besides that at most
it is but one little degree of probability, and not of strength suffi-
cient to support an article of faith ; it makes that the great divine
right at Rome, and the apostolical presidency, was so contingent
and fallible as to depend upon the decree of Nero ; and if he had
sent him to Antioch, there to have suffered martyrdom, the
bishops of that town had been head of the Catholic church."
Liberty of Prophesying, page 134. Had such a headship been
really conferred upon Peter, and had there been any credible evi-
dence of the fact, it would not have been invalidated on account
of its having been effected by a decree of Nero, because this
might have been part of the plan ordained by Providence for car-
rying the thing into effect ; even as it was by the determinate
council and foreknowledge of God, that Christ was, by wicked
hands, crucified and slain. But then the fact remains to be
proved. It remains to be shown that Peter was divinely appoint-
ed head of the Catholic church. While this point remains un-
proved, we have a very good right to say, that had Nero sent Pe-
ter to be put to death at Antioch, or any where else, and had it
been appointed that the place of his death should give name to
his see, and to the church in all time coming, then it depended
upon the man who commanded his death, whether Rome, or
Antioch, or Jerusalem, should thenceforth give name to the Ca-
holic church.
These things are extremely trifling, but we must sometimes
descend to trifles, when we engage with children, and even with the
fathers of Rome, who cannot rise above childish things. In short,
there is no sensible man who would venture the value of a new
hat upon the proof of the fact that Peter was bishop of Rome ;
and yet Papists are so simple as to venture their all, both icr time
aid eternity, iijjon it
THE
No. CII.
SATURDAY, JUNE 24 JA, 1820.
In the evangelical history, Peter's name is usually, if not uni-
formly, mentioned first, when the names of the apostles are
given ; and in one instance (Mat. x. 2.) Peter is called the first ;
but for any thing we know, this may have been because he was
the oldest man. It is impossible to give a list of names without
putting one before another, and some one first, unless it be in
the foim of a round robin ; and the order in which they are first
written will generally be that in which they are repeated. This
circumstance appears a very slender ground for building a great
system upon ; but Popish authors, and especially Bishop Hay,
lay great stress upon it. Now, if Peter was vicar of Christ at
all, he could not properly be acknowledged such, till after
Christ had left the earth. It was when Christ was about to as-
cend to heaven, that he conferred upon his apostles all the
authority which he meant them to exercise ; and he instructed
them to wait for the promised effusion of the Holy Spirit, before
they entered upon their work. Peter's headship could not pro-
perly commence sooner than Christ's ascension ; and yet it so
happens that after this, he is not always mentioned first when
apostles are spoken of. In 1 Cor. i. 12. and hi. 22. he is men-
tioned the last of three, — Paul, Apollos, and Cephas ; thus, one
who was not an apostle at all in the original sense of the word, is
put before Peter ; and in 1 Cor. iii. 5. he is omitted altogether ;
and only Paul and Apollos are mentioned, though the subject
under discussion is the same as that in which his name has been
mentioned. Paul mentions himself before Peter, Gal. ii. 7.
and in the 9th verse of the same chapter, the arrangement is,
James, Cephas, and John, which would never have been the
case, had Peter been the Pope of the day. No man writing
from Rome at present would say, Cardinal Gonsalvi and the
Pope ; he would doubtless mention the Pope first, if he had a
particle of good manners in him ; and had Peter been looked
Vol. II. 3 F
4,10
up to by the other apostles as their holy lather, Paul would
doubtless have respected, and spoken of him as such, for no man
understood better, or taught more plainly, the duty of giving
honour to whom honour is due.
" St. Peter," says Bishop Hay, in his Sincere Christian,
vol. i. chap. xii. "acted in this supreme capacity as head of the
church, both when he called the brethren to deliberate about
choosing one in the place of Judas, Acts i. and also when he
gave the definitive sentence in the council of Jerusalem, after
there had been much disputing, Acts xv. 7. ; but when he had
spoken, all the multitude held their peace, ver. 12. and sub-
mitted to his decision, as did also St. James, who assented to,
and confirmed what he had said." The right reverend Bishop
must have been aware, that he was writing this for persons who
had not Bibles, or who were not allowed to look into them, or
who would not be at the pains to look into them, if they had
them. He represents the whole multitude's holding their peace
when Peter had spoken, as an implicit acquiescence in what he
had said, and submission to him. Had it been so, it would
have been right, seeing he was an inspired apostle ; but in point
of fact it was not so. The people held their peace, or kept
silence, not as a sign of submission to Peter, but that they might
give audience to Barnabas and Paul, and hear what they had to
say, which would have been unnecessary had they considered
Peter as having settled the controversy by his ipse dixit.
It is true that James assented to, and confirmed what Peter
had said. He confirmed it by a quotation from the Old Testa-
ment, which was always reckoned a satisfactory confirmation, by
believers who were originally Jews ; but it is not true that all the
people submitted to Peter's decision, for neither the proposal
nor the decision were his. The proposal was that of James, who
said, My sentence is, &c. ; and the thing was agreeable to " the
apostles and elders, with the whole church," ver. '22. but the de-
cision itself was that of the Holy Ghost, on whose testimony it
was founded, and by whose authority it was announced. " It
seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us," ver. 28. is the
language in which the decision is addressed to the church in
Antioch. The decree, therefore, as it is called, had all the au-
thority of the Holy Ghost speaking in the Old Testament
scriptures, and also speaking by the mouth of apostles who were
inspired and infallible interpreters of the Old Testament. It
was a decision from which no one could dissent without rebel-
lion against God. On this point I suppose all Protestants, at
least, are agreed ; and it is not necessary that I should enter upon-
the discussion of minor points, on which some of the most en-
lightened of them differ in opinion ; and on which there is much
411
said on all sides. It is enough that I have shown that the deci-
sion in this case was not that of Peter ; and that, therefore, the
circumstance furnishes no evidence of his supremacy.
" Again," says Bishop Hay, " the writers of Christianity, and
holy fathers in every age, have always attested it as a truth re-
vealed hy God, that Jesus Christ did constitute St. Peter prince
of the apostles, and visible head of the church." Vol. i. chap. xii.
The Bishop does not say to whom this was revealed ; and as we
have no authentic, or even credible revelation later than that of
" St. John the Divine," we cannot reasonably be required to
believe any thing that comes after him, in the form of a revela-
tion to any other divine or father of the church. But it is not
true, that holy fathers in the church, in every age, have always
attested this. The thing was quite unknown in the first and
purest ages of the church, as is known by every man at all ac-
quainted with the subject ; and Papists themselves know, that
they cannot maintain the point but by barefaced forgery, lying,
and impudence.
" It is an undoubted fact," says the Bishop, " that Peter's suc-
cessors have always claimed this supreme authority, and have
exercised it throughout the whole church, as occasion required,
in every age, from the very beginning. Now, considering the
nature of man, it is evidently impossible that any bishop of the
church should have acquired such authority over all the rest,
even in the most different nations and the most distant king-
doms, or that he could have exercised it every where among
them, if it had not been given him from the beginning, and or-
dained by Jesus Christ." I admit that since the bishops of
Rome pretended to be Peter's successors, they have always
claimed this supreme authority, that is, more authority than Peter
himself possessed ; but for ages after this apostle's death, there
were none who pretended to be his successors, and of course
none who claimed such authority. I request the reader not to
take this on my word ; but to read all the histories that he can
obtain, even those of Papists themselves, and he will find that
what I assert is true.
The Bishop finds the Pope in possession of supreme power
over all who choose to submit to him ; he takes it for granted,
that he enjoys this as Peter's successor ; and he considers it im-
possible that he should have acquired such power over all other
bishops, unless it had been given him from the beginning, and or-
dained by Jesus Christ. The same argument may be used on
behalf of all the despots and wholesale murderers that have been
in the world. This will give a divine origin to the religion of
Mahomet, and to the usurpation of Buonaparte. To confine
our remarks at present to the latter, if the mere possession of
412
absolute authority over the human race, be a proof that it ema-
nates from Christ, then Buonaparte must have held his power
under a divine right. It is not more wonderful that one bishop
in the church should acquire authority over all the rest, by fraud
and cunning, than that one French general should acquire power
over all the rest by the same means, with the addition of the
power of the sword, in the hands of thousands of soldiers whom
he had won to support his cause. Both instances were no doubt
divinely permitted, like every other usurpation upon the civil
and religious rights of men ; but the things themselves were ac-
cording to the working of Satan.
It is asserted by Bishop Hay, that " considering the nature
of man, it is evidently impossible that any one bishop should
have acquired such authority over all the rest," &c. " if it had
not been given him from the beginning, and ordained by Jesus
Christ." Now, in opposition to his Reverence, I maintain, that
it was from the very nature of man that such a thing was possi-
ble-, and practicable, and that the attempt became successful. I
speak of man as a sinful creature, estranged from the love of
God, and the way of righteousness. Such a creature naturally
desires to usurp the place of God upon any scale of usurpation
that may appear attainable, from the low degree of making his own
will the rule of his own conduct, up to the high degree of mak-
ing his will the rule of conduct, not only of fellow creatures, but
even of God himself. The radical vice of human nature is lust of
power. This has appeared in the Church of Rome as much as
it did in Pagan Rome, or in any kingdom whatever. Now
where this passion exists in a high degree, with a correspondino
degree of cunning and boldness, and where the state of society
and other circumstances favour the design, the highest degree of
power may be obtained by one man over his fellow creatures.
One favourable circumstance for the attainment of such an ob-
ject, is a state of general ignorance, and corruption of manners ;
and if the man who aims at supreme power be able to command
a few agents possessed of some degree of knowledge, and ani-
mated by similar ambition, he may by degrees come to rule the
world as he pleases. The bishops of Rome found society in
the third and fourth centuries deplorably ignorant and vicious ;
and they found a numerous priesthood ready to aid them in de-
ceiving the people, and building up the power of the see of
Rome, expecting that Rome would, in return, help to establish
their power in their respective sees and parishes. The plan suc-
ceeded, as the world knows to its cost ; and it would be difficult
to account for it, without "considering the nature of man," as
deeply tainted with the love of power on the one hand, and on the
other, immersed in ignorance aid the love of vicious indulgence.
413
I do not recollect any other argument in favour of Peters
supremacy which I have not answered in my seventh Number,
and in my later ones, beginning at the ninety-ninth I think
it will appear to the satisfaction of the reader, that there is no
evidence to be found in Scripture, that Peter was vicar of Christ,
prince of the apostles, and visible head of the church. That
Peter held no such office is the point which I have been en-
deavouring to establish ; and I leave the reader to decide whe-
ther or not I have succeeded. If I have, the main pillar of
Popery is subverted ; and if I have not, I have yet other matter
in reserve, which I hope will accomplish my purpose.
But in the mean time let us attend to what Papists maintain
about the necessity of a visible head of the church on earth.
Real Christians are content that there is a spiritual and glorious
Head of the church at the right hand of God in heaven, to whom
they can come with all their petitions, in the full confidence of
having their sins forgiven and all their need supplied : but this is
not enough for Papists. They must have a head on earth, who
is a sinner like themselves, and who will indulge them in their
sins, without damping their prospects of happiness in the other
world ; and precisely such a head the Pope of Rome is, and has
been, for many hundred years.
Bishop Hay asks ; " Why did Christ institute one visible
head of his church upon earth?" and he answers: — " Because,
as the church is a visible body, or society of men, it was most
becoming they should have a visible supreme head among them,
like to the members of whom the body is composed. Besides,
as the church was ordained to spread over all nations, differing
from one another in language, customs, government, and every
thing else except religion, it would have been morally impossible
to have kept them all united in one body, if there were not one
common visible head of supreme authority among them, to which
all must submit : so that this head of the church is the centre of
unity, by which the church of Christ throughout the whole
world, is joined in one body." Sincere Christian, chap. xii.
In reply to this, I maintain, that the church of Christ is never
represented in the New Testament as a visible body, having a
visible head on earth ; and therefore all that the Bishop says
about the necessity of such a head must go for nothing. He is
not speaking of any particular or national church, and neither
am I, but of the church of Christ ; that is, the whole body of
believers in Christ, and the sanctified through his blood, of all
kindreds, and tongues, and people, and nations. These were
never meant to be one visible body on earth ; they could never
all meet in one place, or be the subjects of one earthly head, in
any sense of the word. They are all united to Christ, and to
one another in him, who is really the head of his body, the
414
church; and who never devolved the honour of this headship
upon any creature. A mere human head could be of no use to
such a body ; because it could communicate no life, and it could
not take an oversight of all or of any of the members ; but
Christ, by his word and Spirit, gives life to all the members of his
body ; by the same divine influence, he unites them to himself,
and to one another, in an invisible, but indissoluble bond of
union ; he takes the oversight of every one of them ; he feed*.
his flock like a shepherd ; he leads them in the way of righte-
ousness, and guides them with his eye.
To descend from this view of the Church of Christ and her
divine Head, to the Church of Rome, and the Pope as her head,
is such an example of the ftctdog, or art of sinking, that I scarcely
know how to write it. If the Pope were to limit his claim of
headship to the Church of Rome, it might be conceded, that the
head is good enough for the body ; but when he claims to be the
head of the catholic or universal Church of Christ, the thing is
more absurd and impious than human language can express.
The headship which the Pope claims over the church, makes
him virtually head of the state also, in all countries where Po-
pery is the established religion. He claims, and has conceded
to him, an allegiance more sacred than subjects yield to their
princes ; and from the hold which he has of the consciences of
the people, by the agency of his priests, their allegiance to their
civil rulers is just what the Pope pleases te make it. Nav, he is
not satisfied with the allegiance of the subjects of all kings
and princes where his religion prevails ; but he must have the
allegiance of sovereign princes themselves ; and to these arrogant
claims may be ascribed half the wars which desolated Europe for
a thousand years.
Lord Clarendon, in his Introduction to his work entitled,
"Religion and Policy," represents this usurpation of the bishop
of Rome, as having been " without doubt the cause of more ra-
pine, and the effusion of more blood, than all the ambition of
other princes and usurpers that hath been since the death of our
Saviour ; and," says he, " the propagation of Christianity hath
been more obstructed by that obstinate, humorous, and senseless
ambition, than by the arms and tyranny of the Turks and infi-
dels. And how can we reasonably hope," continues his Lord-
ship, " that those great and powerful princes, who command so
much the greater part of the world, will ever embrace the Chris-
tian faith, when they know that they are not only thereby to
cease to be Mahometans, but to cease to be monarchs. and
admit another prince to have an equal, if not superior, command
orer their own subjects in their own dominions, and must cease
to be emperors before they can be admitted to be Christians ?
When our Saviour himself, whilst he wns upon the earth, and
4-15
instituted that religion by which all men are to be saved, was
so tender of, and jealous for, the entire power, prerogative, and
privileges of kings and princes, that he would not suffer them
either to be invaded or affronted for the advancement of the
gospel itself; and consequently never intended, that by becoming
Christians and followers of him, from being Jews and Gentiles,
they should lose any of the pre-eminences they were possessed
of; or that their subjects should pay them a less entire obedi-
ence and submission than they had formerly done ; and when he
intended that their conversion should be the most effectual means
to reduce all the world to the faith of Christ ; as indeed it was
like to have been, till the Popes' usurpation of a spiritual distinct
sovereignty obstructed the progress of it, and drove more from
it, than ever it reconciled to it."
The same consideration must have a tendency to induce Ma-
hometan and heathen princes to oppose the propagation of
Christianity among their people. If Popery were Christianity,
they would be sensible at once that they could not embrace it,
without becoming subjects of a foreign power, and that none of
their subjects could embrace it, without having their allegiance
transferred to the Pope. If these princes were to see Christi-
anity in Its true character, as the friend of order and subordina-
tion, they could not oppose the propagation of it, without ob-
structing the peace and comfort of their subjects, as well as
of themselves ; but when they see Christianity only in the light
of Popery, it is not surprising that they hate and oppose it, as
the bane of every country into which it has found its way. But
for Popery, the gospel might long ere now have been preached
and believed throughout the whole world, as we hope it will be
when Popery is destroyed ; and as this grand consummation has
been obstructed chiefly by the Church of Rome, for many cen-
turies, that church, and all her adherents, may be expected to
suffer, when the time shall arrive, the dreadful punishment which
such wickedness deserves.
In showing how absurdly the Popes of Rome pretend to be
the successors of Peter, 1 shall make considerable use, in my
next Number, of the work of the noble and learned historian
above quoted ; and I shall make my extracts the more freely and
ls,roely, because I believe the work itself is in the possession of
few, if any, of my readers on this side of the Tweed. I do not
know a work of greater value in relation to this part of the con-
troversy between Protestants and the Church of Rome. The edi-
tion before me, which, I believe, is the first and only one, was
printed at Oxford as lately as 1791 , with sufficient attestation of its
authenticity. But before I give the rebult of Lord Clarendon's
researches, I shall present the reader with the eonfused account
4-1G
which the Popish historian, Dupin, gives of those whom he con-
ceived to be Peter's successors in the see of Rome.
" Let us begin," says he, " with the successors of St. Peter,
in the Church of Rome, the first and principal church." It is
worth while to attend to this mode of expression. Dupin found,
that during the first three centuries, there was not so much as a
hint, that the Church of Rome was the catholic, or only true
church of Christ ; and he calls it only the first and principal
church, for no reason that can be shown, but that Rome was
the first and principal city at that time in the world. In what
follows, he gives nothing as certain, with regard to Peter's suc-
cessors, but only as a commonly received opinion hundreds of
years after the period to which he refers.
" According to the common received opinion, to St. Peter
succeeded St. Linus, to St. Linus, Anacletus or Cletus, and
to him St. Clement. This order is observed by St. Irenaius,
Eusebius, and St. Jerome, and in the ancient catalogues of the
Popes ; but Optatus, Rufinus, and St. Augustine, and some
other Latin authors, substitute St. Clement immediately to Sr.
Linus, and place Anacletus in the third rank. Some distinguish
Cletus from Anacletus. The author of the Apostolical Consti-
tutions says, that St. Linus was ordained by St. Paul, and St.
Clement by St. Peter. St. Epiphanius conjectures, that St.
Peter at first ordained St. Clement ; but he refusing to accept
the pontificate, and going out of the way, that St. Linus and
St. Cletus did sucessively govern the Church of Rome, and that
after the death of St. Peter, St. Clement succeeded to St. Cletus.
The best way is to hold the most common and most ancient opi-
nion." Vol. ii. chap. 2.
The plain Englisb of the above is, that nothing is certainly
known of the matter, which is a strong presumptive argument,
that the knowledge of it is of no importance to the comfort and
edification of Christians. The author tells us with great gravity,
that after the death of St. Peter, St. Clement succeeded St.
Linus; but he cannot tell, and no man in the world can tell, who
was Peter's immediate successor, supposing it were admitted that
he was bishop of Rome, which it is not. It is of no use to refer
to a commonly received opinion, in the time of Eusebius or Au-
gustine, hundreds of years after the thing is supposed to have
happened, for they could know no more than we do. Dupin,
writing of the succession of bishops in the sec of Rome, tells us,
that in the third century, after the death of St. Fabianus, the
see of Rome was vacant a whole year. The Church of Rome has
often been called a many-headed monster ; but here she appears
as a monster without a head, anil how' she could live a whole year
in tin's state, is not easy to divine.
THE
No. CIII.
SATURDAY, JULY 1st, 1820.
Supposing it were granted that Peter was the first bishop of tht
church in Rome, the Pope would gain nothing by it, unless he
were to become such a bishop as Christian bishops were, in those
days. Amidst the immense population of that great city, the
Christians who composed the church were a poor and des-
pised company, ever exposed to the violence of their heathen
neighbours and superiors; and their bishop or pastor, whoever
he was, would be looked upon in no higher light than the ring-
leader of the sect, and the principal object of hatred, by all the
votaries of the idols of Rome. It is absurd to speak of a bishop,
in these circumstances, having a see, and a chair, and a throne.
These symbols of majesty, the Pope pretends to have derived
from the first bishop of Rome ; and doubtless there is as much
justice in the pretence, as there is in the impositions practised at
Loretto, where a gaudy image, dressed up in silk, and gold, and
precious stones, is given out as a true representation of Mary, the
wife of Joseph of Nazareth. Let the Pope put himself upon a
footing of equality with his pretended predecessor. Let him go
about preaching remission of sins, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Let him renounce the vanities of this world, as Peter did ; and let
him forbear meddling with the civil affairs of worldly kingdoms,
which Peter claimed no right to do. In short, let him become a
minister of the gospel, and, if any church shall call him to it, a
bishop, in the New Testament sense of the word ; and though
I will not even then concede to him that he is Peter's successor,
I will do him the greater honour of calling him one to whom
the apostle would not have been ashamed to say, " The elders
who are among you I exhort, being also an elder, and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall
be revealed : feed the flock that is among you, taking the over-
sight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for filthy lucre,
but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage,
hut being ensamples to the flock : and when the ohief Shep-
Vol. II. 3 G
418
herd shall appear, ye .shall receive a crown of glory that tadeth
not away." 1 Pet. v. 1 — 4-.
When Papists think of the see of Peter, they form in their
minds an image of a peaceable and prosperous state of society,
such as we may see in our own day, in what are called Christian
countries, where bishops reign as kings, and where the people, if
they be virtuously and peaceably disposed, may reign with them,
in the enjoyment of all the happiness which the world can afford.
When they think of the chair of Peter, they consider him as
having occupied a seat of eminence, in a tranquil and unmolested
seminary, like a professor of divinity, in one of our col-
leges. The chair, by degrees, is elevated to the dignity of a
throne ; and then Peter is considered as having been exactly
what the Pope is now ; or rather what he was five hundred years
n°o, when he reigned over the kingdoms, and even over the kings
of the earth. But such notions are as absurd as the Metamor-
phoses of Ovid ; and they have no more to do with truth than
the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
When the church in Rome, in the days of primitive purity,
on the martyrdom of one bishop, were looking about, for another,
the question would not be, Who is the most cunning politician ?
or, who has the greatest number of crowned heads on his side ?
but, who is most ready, and most willing, to have his head
cut off, or to be thrown alive to be devoured by wild beasts, for
his confession of the name of Jesus ? Such was the state of the
church in Rome, for the first three centuries, that her bishops
could claim scarcely any pre-eminence but that of suffering ; and
they had not even in this respect a pre-eminence over other bish-
ops ; though, in virtue of their more conspicuous place in the
church, they would be more exposed than their private brethren.
I have made these general remarks, in order to introduce Lord
Clarendon's account of what is known, or rather of what is not
known, of Peter, and of those who are reported to have been his
nearest successors : — " If we look," says he, vol. i. p. 12. " upon
the fountain of all ecclesiastical story, from the time of the apos-
tles even to that of Constantine, which was about 320 years, in
which there were three and thirty Popes, we may reasonably say,
that no rivulet conveyed any thing of moment from that pure
fountain — of moment to us, more than what the Scripture itself
tells us of the very history. There is not only no authority that
obliges, but no reason that persuades us, to believe any thing
positively in the transactions of the church or of churchmen ;
nor does it appear from whence we have the very lives of the
apostles, and other holy men, which are derived to us ; and
which we have much more reason to suspect, because, as there
wag no collection of them in vriting, till after Constantine's time,
419
so what was afterwards put in writing hath heen oftentimes al-
tered, many things hav;vig been reformed and left out, according
to the discretion and gravity of the age ; and that body of the
lives of the saints, which hath now most reputation amongst the
Catholics, was compiled but in our own age, by the Jesuit Ri-
badineyra, who was chaplain to Philip II. in England, when he
married Queen Mary, and of whose skill in collecting history
we may make some judgment, by what he hath left us of England ;
which, relating only to the transactions of twenty years, is so full
of mistakes and errors, with reference to persons, times, and ac-
tions, that no Englishman, who is best versed in the accounts of
that time, can receive any information. But, as I said before,
his collection of the saints hath most reputation in all Catholic
countries, of any other, and is translated into all languages, though
it contains not half the particulars, even of St. Paul himself, as
former and more ancient editions do ; and yet it contains very
much more than any learned and wise Catholic will seriously
profess to believe.
" There is no consent in the very succession ; very little pre-
tence to jurisdiction over any other persons where themselves re-
sided ; and no mention of the manner of their election, and how
they came to be chosen, till after three hundred years." — His
Lordship then gives an account of the confusion and contradic-
tions of authors about the succession of the Popes, which is an-
ticipated by the extract from Dupin, in my last Number, and
ihen proceeds : — " And if their tradition be so uncertain an
evidence of such an historical verity, in so few years after Chris-
tianity was first preached or professed, how can we, or any reas-
onable man, give credit to those allegations of many things
done, and words spoken, by our Saviour himself, and of his apos-
tles, for which they allege no other proof but tradition, so con-
cealed between themselves, that nobody ever heard mention of
either, till nine hundred years after the death of Christ? But let
tradition be as weak and as partial a witness, as it must be still
reckoned to be, we do deny that they have even such a witness
for them ; and, by the particular disquisition we shall make into
every half age, and less, of the church, it will appear, that this
their pretence is not in the least degree supported or favoured by
tradition."
The Pope claims to be head of the church, and as such to
have jurisdiction over all other bishops; but his own oracle, tra-
dition, gives him nothing of this in the first ages. " Towards
any thing that looks like jurisdiction, (and how far it extended
and was submitted to is not apparent) there is some dark mention
of the bringing in of holy water, and of ordaining that no priest
should say above one mass a day, by Pope Alexander the First ,
420
and of the ordering of three to be said on Christmas eve, by
Pope Telesphorus ; and of the appointing godfathers and god-
mothers in baptism, by Pope Hyginus, which the Anabaptists
will hardly be persuaded to believe." Let it be observed, there
is only a dark mention of these things by tradition, for we have
no evidence that the words mass and holy water belonged to the
phraseology of the second century, about the beginning of which,
Alexander the First is said to have begun his reign. " The dif-
ference about Easter, indeed," continues his Lordship, " made
a great noise, and divided the churches, and was determined bv
Pope Pius the First ; but revived and continued, with great pas-
sion and animosity, for forty years after, until Pope Victor, in a
council at Rome, (which they say was the next lawful council
to that of the apostles at Jerusalem) with as much passion, de-
clared his judgment in that particular ; which is a shrewd evidence
that the authority of Pope Pius was not considered with a full
resignation. Some particulars of less moment, as the ordering
that no vessels of wood should be used in the mass, but of glass,
and shortly after, that cups of plate only should be used in that
service, are mentioned to be established about or soon after that
time.
" But in what manner those orders were issued and accepted,
and what obedience was paid thereunto, is nowhere mentioned,
and may be best guessed at by the respect that was given to Pope
Pius, in the point of Easter. And certain it is, that no act of
solemn jurisdiction, by the Pope, or church itself, will be found
manifestly to have been done, till the emperor became Christian ;
nor can it easily be conceived, that any of those edicts could be
digested or published with any formality, or that they were com
municated with less secrecy than the Pope concealed his own
person or the place of his abode ; either of which was no sooner
known than he was seized upon and carried to his execution."
p. 15. It must be very evident that, in such circumstances, the
church in Rome would have little to do with councils, or decrees,
or jurisdiction over other churches ; and her bishops must have
had something else to do than to think of lording it over other
bishops. They would think it honour and privilege enough to
be allowed to meet in the most private manner, to observe divine
ordinances, to edify one another, and to fortify one another's
minds in the prospect of death, which was constantly before them,
and which many of them were called to suffer, in its most hideous
forms, for no crime but that of being Christians. My learned
author gives a number of particulars that clearly prove, by their
own traditions, (if these can prove any thing), and by the writings
of saints, in a later age, many of whom must have derived theit
materials from tradition, that no authority or jurisdiction, like that
421
afterwards claimed by the Pope, was understood to be vested in
rhe church or bishop of Rome. The supposition, indeed, is ab-
surd ; for the thing was impossible in the then circumstances of
the church. In condescension, I suppose, to popish authors,
and not wishing to dispute about a word, Lord Clarendon speaks
ot the bishops of the church in Rome, from the beginning, under
the name of Popes ; but this word owes its birth to a much
later age. The bishops or elders of all the churches might, in
the way of respect, have been called fathers, that is, Papas, or
Popes. It was not, however, till the bishop of Rome had ob-
tained the ascendency, that he was called, by way of distinction,
the Pope ; and those who afterwards wrote the histories and tra-
ditions of the church, in order to give the authority of antiquity
to the name, and the usurpation which it expressed, gave the
title to all the preceding bishops in that see. This has an im-
posing effect upon the mind of the reader. He reads of the
Popes of Rome, in narratives which relate to the first and second
centuries ; and as he finds the bishops of no other church called
by that name, he is insensibly led to think, that the Church of
Rome and her bishops must have had a superiority of some kind,
from the very beginning ; but the charm will be dissolved, when
he reflects, that the bishops of Rome were not called Popes in
primitive times, either by themselves or their cotemporaries, but
only by persons who wrote about them, after the Church of Rome,
and the Pope as her head, had appeared as the Antichrist, and
the oppressor of the true church.
Though the bishops of Rome were not in circumstances to
exercise jurisdiction over other bishops and churches, till the
emperor became Christian, and took them under his wing, it
appears that, before that time, some of them had departed from
the faith and purity of the first Christian bishops. We find that
one of the holy fathers was not only guilty of idolatry, but also
of denying the fact after it was detected. Marcellinus, who is
placed about the end of the third century, " terrified by the per-
secution in the time of Dioclesian, (when, in thirty days, there were
17,000 Christians put to death for their religion,) preserved his
life by sacrificing to the idol gods, and was for that scandal and
impiety, they say, convened before a number of bishops, in Sinu-
essa, in the kingdom of Naples, who might more securely have
met in Rome itself; he, for some days, passionately denied the
charge, until he was convinced (convicted) by thirty witnesses,
when he made great submission, professed great repentance, and
declared that he deserved to be deposed, but the council refused
to do it, for want of power ; whereupon the dejected Pope as-
sumed new and unnecessary courage, returned to Rome, defied
and reviled the emperor to his face, till he caused his head to be
cut off." Religion and Policy, p. 17-
422
Dupin professes to disbelieve this story, and he represents it
as merely an accusation of the Donatists, (vol. ii. chap, vi.) ; but
the Rhemish translators, in their note on Luke xxii. 31. admit
the probability of it, as well as the fall of several other Popes,
without derogating in the least from their infallibility ; because,
though the men fell, the chair stood firm : that is, the Popes
erred personally, but the office did not.
The election of one Pope, on the death of another, which is
now a matter of great political interest, and has been, for more
than a thousand years, does not appear to have been fixed by any
definite rule, during the first three centuries. In the times of per-
secution, when the man who was chosen bishop to-day, was, on
that very account, in danger of being murdered to-morrow, there
was little temptation to aspire to the office, from worldly motives.
The election was probably made by the people with so little noise,
that no public notice would be taken of it ; and the individual, on
whom the choice of his brethren fell, would consider himself called
upon, by the voice of Providence, to accept the office, with all its
labours and dangers, without ever thinking that he was thereby
to become a sovereign prince, and the head of the whole church.
There is not even a tradition, with regard to the mode of election
in those days ; from which we may infer, that there was no con-
troversy about the matter, but that, when the office became va-
cant, the people would exercise their Christian liberty, and invite
the man whom they thought best qualified for the office, to pre-
side over them as their bishop ; and it is not unreasonable to
suppose, that they had sometimes more than one at a time, to
preserve order and dispense ordinances, seeing they were cut off
so rapidly by the sword of persecution.
M To the end," says Lord Clarendon, " of Pope Marcelli-
nus, who was put to death, in the year 307, there was no form
prescribed for the election, nor any persons appointed, or who
pretended power to elect ; and, it is probable enough, that the
Pope dying might recommend his successor ; for, besides that,
they say that St. Peter nominated St. Clement ; they say like-
wise that Stephen the First was recommended by Pope Lucius,
that went before, who was the three and twentieth Pope ; and;
it is very probable, that those pious persons, who were all mar-
tyrs, (for of the first three and thirty Popes, the last of which was
Melchiadcs, who suffered in the tenth and last persecution, un-
der the emperor Maximianus, there were not above three or four
who died natural deaths,) I say, it is very probable that they had
all so great a reverence and veneration from the people, that they
were very willing to receive any man whom the Popes recom-
mended to be their successors; and most of the admittances be-
ing within five, or six, or seven, or eight days, after the death of
423
the last Pope, may persuade us that there was very little faction
or formality in the election ; there being then no room for any am-
bition, (except it were for martyrdom), or any secure place to as-
semble in, for such business ; so that we may reasonably presume,
that they who, during that long time, supplied that high office,
did it rather by a general admission and acceptation, than by any
formal election," page 20. One pastor about to die, recom-
mending a successor, is perfectly consistent with Christian liber-
ty ; and may, in many instances, be a Christian duty. I am
only sorry that the author should have dishonoured the holy
men of whom he speaks, by calling them Popes.
Our next inquiry shall be, to discover what claim or exercise
the Popes had to any jurisdiction, in other kingdoms and states,
in or after the reign of Constantine, and whence they derived it -
and what opposition and contradiction they met withal, from time
to time, by which the ancient opinion of antiquity will best ap-
pear.
" It is agreed, I think, on all hands, that Silvester the First wis
bishop of Rome, when Constantine came to be emperor ; though
there is no mention what interval there was between the death of
Melchiades and the election of Silvester, or in what manner he
was chosen ; and there seems to be some contradiction in the au-
thors about the computation of that time ; for Silvester is said to
have reigned three and twenty years and ten months, and to have
died in the year 334, whereas it was in the year 321 that Mel-
chiades was put to death ; between which several times, there are
but thirteen years, or thereabouts. However, it appears that
Silvester was then Pope, and, some authors will have it, that
Constantine was christened by him. Sure it is, that as that em-
pero; performed many acts of piety, in building of churches in
several places, for the exercise of the Christian religion, so he
paid great respect to Pope Silvester, and gave him a rich crown,
which they say he never wore himself, though he left it to his
successors," page 21. It will readily occur to every reader, that
from that day the bishop of Rome would appear in a new cha-
racter. To every carnal mind, the crown of gold would have
more attractions than the crown of martyrdom. Unconverted
men, mere heathens in principle, would now profess themselves
Christians, as a step towards the favour of the emperor ; and
they would insinuate themselves into the priesthood, with the
view of one day obtaining the rich crown. Crowns aTe not made
for nothing ; they are not worn for mere ornament. A man
wearing a crown, without the sovereign power, of which it is a
sign, would be an object of contempt to himself, and to all the
world. Having obtained this shudow of sovereign power, the
bishops of Rome could not rest till they obtained also the sub-
4-24
ftalice, which they did, in the course of a few ages. Every sue-
cessive Pope kept this ohject steadily in his eye ; and the uni-
formity and harmony of their exertions, for hundreds of years,
without so much as one instance of a Pope undoing what his
predecessors had done, in the way of advancing the power of his
see, shows clearly, that it was one spirit that animated the whole,
namely, the wicked One, who worketh writh all deceivableness of
unrighteousness. I do not suppose that Silvester's immediate
successor, to whom the crown was bequeathed, or his successors
fur ;i hundred years, contemplated the giddy height to which
their remote successors were to rise ; but it was the study of eve-
ry one to add something to the power and influence which he
had received from his predecessor, and thus to raise his see to
sovereign authority over every other.
The authority of Silvester, notwithstanding the favour of the
emperor, does not seem to have been very extensive. The
council of Nice was held in his time, but he does not appear to
have had a voice in it, much less authority over it. Constan-
Jne himself was present in this council, and he alone confirmed
the decrees and acts thereof, and sent them so confirmed to Pope
Silvester, who thereupon called a council at Rome, of 267
bishops, who confirmed all that had been done at Nice, which
confirmation was no other than a submission and conformity
thoreunto ; as the council at Granada, in Spain, which was then
likewise assembled, and is called the first Eliberitan council, like-
wise did. And there needs no other evidence of the emperors
supreme authority in that council, than his letter to all churches,
for the due observance of all that was done at Nice, and for the
observation of Easter, and the burning of all books written by
Alius, which he commanded to be done in a very imperial style :
" Si quid autem scriptum ab Ario compositum reperiatur, ut igni
id tradatur volumus ; ut non modo improba ejus doctrinaabro-
getur, verum etiam ne monumentum quidem aliquot! ejus, relin-
quatur : Illud equidem predictum volo ; si quis libellum aliquem
ab Arioconscriptum celare,nec continuo igni comburere deprehen-
sits fuerit, supplicium ei mortis esse constitutum. i. e. But if any
writing, composed by Arius, be got hold of, our will is, that it be
committed to the flames ; that not only his accursed doctrines be
extirpated, but also, that not even the slightest vestige of him may
be left. This, also, 1 desire to be proclaimed, that if any person
is caught concealing any treatise written by Arius, or neglecting
instantly to burn it, the punishment ordained for him is death."
With the next Number, which is intended to conclude the
id volume, a Title Page and Table of Contents will be given
THE
IJrotcstant,
No. CIV.
SATURDAY, JULY 8lh, 1820.
The bishop of Rome, having got the emperor of Rome on his
side, began to strut and swagger at a mighty rate. Then be
would have all the world submit to him, in matters of religion,
even as they submitted to the emperor in secular and civil mat-
ters. The world, however, or rather the churches in different
parts of the world, were not yet so submissive. Some bishops,
in the east, had held a council, without asking leave of the bishop
of Rome. Julius, the Pope of the day, reprehended them for
their presumption ; and they, knowing that they owed him no
subjection, treated the reprehension with great contempt, and,
shortly after, met in a council at Antioch. See Religion and
Policy, vol.i. p. 23. This was in the fourth century, from which
the reader will see, that it was a long time after the death of
Peter, ere his pretended successors even laid claim to the power
which they afterwards possessed ; and that, after the claim was
made, it was for a time indignantly resisted.
The bishops of Rome continued, from age to age, adding to
their power, and encroaching upon the liberties of the people.
" We now come," says Lord Clarendon, "to the time of Gre-
gory the First, (afterwards surnamed the Great), who, being a
monk of St. Bennett's order, wrote a letter to the emperor
Mauritius, beseeching him not to approve of his election, and
fled to a mountain, to avoid being found, until he was discovered
by a pigeon ; and when he could not avoid the acceptation of his
office, to shew his great humility, he introduced a new style into
his bulls ; for he was the first who inserted that expression,
Servus servorum Dei, (Servant of the servants of God,) though
Monsieur Mazeray (who deserves to be looked upon as the most
accurate and impartial historian this ago hath produced) assures
us, that the title of Pope, of Father of the church, of His Holi-
ness, of Pontifex, Maximus. of Sorvuc nervorum Dei, were com-
mon to all bishops befcie his time, of . "hich we shall say more
Vol. II. 3 h
426
hereafter. But let him he as liuinble in his title as he please, it
cannot be denied, that, from the time that he was Pope, he used
all the means he could, fair and foul, to make himself greater
than any of his predecessors. And 60 indeed he did ; for, not-
withstanding all his obligations to the emperor Mauritius, and
the professions he had made to him, Phocas no sooner rebelled
and killed Mauritius, and made himself emperor, than Pope
Gregory acknowledged him, sent a legate de latere to him, gave
him all the assistance and countenance he could to support his
wicked action and title, and received again from him all those
offices which might contribute to his own greatness: and he did
indeed many great things, and raised the papacy to a higher
pitch than ever it had been at : and this was about the year 600,
for he died not till 605." — Religion and Policy, vol. i. p. 47.
As this was the most important era of the papacy, and as the
events, above referred to, prepared the way for the bishop of
Home's being declared universal bishop, it may be worth while
to enter a little more into detail ; and I shall merely remark, in
passing, that if it were true that the Popes, as the successors of
Peter, were to be really the head of the Catholic church, and
universal bishops, it is somewhat strange, that 600 years should
elapse ere the church was favoured with this head on earth, which
is now declared, by all good Papists, tp be so necessary to her
existence.
Gregory the Great will be allowed to have been, in compari-
son with some, a good, and in comparison with others, a great
man; but these very qualities gave him the power of exalting the
dignity of his see above all its former greatness. " It has ever
been," says Bower, in his life of this Pope, " even from the ear-
liest times, a maxim with the Popes, never to part with any power
or jurisdiction which their predecessors had acquired, by what
means soever they had acquired it ; nor to give up the least pri-
vilege, which any of their predecessors, right or wrong, ever had
claimed. From that maxim no Pope has hitherto swerved, no,
not Gregory himself, however conscientious, just, and scrupu-
lously religious, in other respects."
It fell out, during the reign of this Pope, that the bishop of
Constantinople began to assume the title of universal bishop, or
patriarch ; and it appears, that he had, at least, the authority of
one council, and the consent of one emperor, for his so doing.
: mtinople was now an imperial city, as well as Rome. It
threatened to become even the imperial city ; and who could then
deny its bishop the title at the oecumenical or universal bishop ?
When Gregory heard of the new title of one whom he consi-
dered his inferior, he became dreadfully alarmed, as well he
might ; for it now depended upon the caprice of an emperor or
f impress, whether Rome or Constantinople should be the mother
and mistress of all churches. Gregory, for a time, forgot all
other cares. He saw the very Christian religion in imminent
danger ; not because the bishop of Constantinople had assumed
a higher title than he possessed, but because the title itself, as he
maintained, was impious and antichristian. He wrote letters to
his nuncio at Constantinople, (for Popes, by this time, had their
ambassadors at foreign courts), charging him, as he tendered the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, to use his utmost
endeavours with the emperor and with the empress, and ahove
all, with the bishop himself, his beloved brother, to divert him
from ever more using the proud, the profane, the antichristian
title of universal bishop. Such, let it be observed, was Pope
Gregory the Great's opinion of the title which has been borne by
his successors for twelve hundred years. His nuncio did all that
he could to persuade the eastern patriarch to renounce his new
title ; but he could not prevail. It had been bestowed upon
him, he said, by a great council, and not upon him alone, but
also on his successors ; that he had not power to resign it, nor
would his successors stand to his resignation, if he should.
Gregory afterwards wrote a long letter to the patriarch him-
self, loading the title of universal bishop with all the opprobrious
names he could think of; calling it vain, ambitious, execrable,
antichristian, blasphemous, infernal, diabolical ; and applying to
him who assumed it what was said by the prophet Isaiah of
Lucifer: " Whom do you imitate," says he, " in assuming that
arrogant title ? whom but him, who, swelled with pride, exalting
himself above so many legions of angels, bis equals, that he might
be subject to none, and all might be subject to him ?" " The
apostle Peter," continues Pope Gregory, " was the first member
of the universal church. As for Paul, Andrew, and John, they
were only the heads of particular congregations ; but all were
members of the church under one head, and none would ever be
■jailed universal." Here is a plain avowal, by a Pope, that
.10 Pope, or even apostle, possessed the authority of universal
bishop, or head of the church. " Again," says Pope Gregory
to his dear brother of Constantinople, " if none of the apostles
would be called universal, what will vou answer on the last dtiy
to Christ, the Head of the church universal? You, who, by
arrogating that name, strive to subject all his members to your-
self."— " But tin's is the time which Christ himself foretold ; the
earth is now laid waste and destroyed, with the plague and the
sword ; all things that have been predicted are now accomplished ;
the king of pride, that is, antichrist, is at hand ; and what I
dread to say, an army of priests is ready to receive him ; for they
who were chosen to point out to others the way of humility and
428
meekness, are themselves now become the slaves of pride and
ambition." Greg. I. 4. ep. 32. If any Pope had written in the
same style a thousand years after, he would have been called a
reformer, and a follower of Luther and Calvin.
Finding it impossible to make any impression upon the stub-
born patriarch, or Pope of the east, Gregory wrote letters to both
the emperor and the empress, begging and beseeching them to
prevail upon the said patriarch to give up his diabolical title.
After declaiming against the title, as quite antichristian, against
the patriarch, as a disturber of the peace of the church, and the
good order established by Christ, and against all who encouraged
him in so impious and detestable an attempt, he addresses the
empress thus : " Though Gregory (speaking of himself) is
guilty of many great sins, for which he well deserves thus to be
punished, Peter is himself guilty of no sins, nor ought he to suffer
for mine. I therefore, over and over again, beg, intreat, and
conjure you by the Almighty, not to forsake the jrtuous steps
of your ancestors, but, treading in them, to court and secure to
yourself the protection and favour of that apostle, who is not to
be robbed of the honour that is due to his merit, for the sins of
one who has no merit, and who so unworthily serves him."
Greg. I. 4. ep. 34. Here Gregory lets out the secret cause oh
his opposition to the title assumed by the bishop of Constanti-
nople. It was derogatory to the see of Peter, which he himself
had the honour to fill. It was therefore antichristian, diabo-
lical, and every thing else that is bad.
He was as unsuccessful with the emperor and the empress, as
he had been with the patriarch himself; nay, the emperor rather
favoured the new title, as befitting the bishop of what he now
wished to be considered the imperial city. Gregory, almost in
despair, wrote letters to some of the greatest bishops in the east,
endeavouring to excite their zeal against the proud title assumed
by their patriarch. The bishop of Alexandria wrote a letter to
Gregory, in which he calls him also universal bishop, thinking it
would end the controversy, if the two rivals were called by the
same title, and put upon a footing of equality ; but Gregory
spurned at this with great indignation : " If," says he, in his
reply, " you give more to me than is due to me, you rob your-
self of what is due to you. I choose to be distinguished by my
manners, and not by titles. Nothing can redound to my honour
that redounds to the dishonour of my brethren. I place my
honour in maintaining them in theirs. If you call me universal
Pope, you thereby own yourself to be no Pope. Let no such
titles, therefore, be mentioned, or ever heard among us. Your
Holiness says in your letter that I commanded you. /command
I know who you are, who I am. In rank you ore my
429
brother, by yonr manners my father. I therefore did not com-
mand ; and beg you will henceforth ever forbear the word. I
only pointed out to you what I thought it was right you should
Know." Greg. 1. 7. ep. 36. See Bower's Lives of the Popes :
— Life of Gregory.
Perhaps it would be uncandid to say, that all this was said in
hypocrisy, while Gregory was really labouring to get the obnox-
ious title transferred to himself alone. There are circumstances,
however, which excite a strong suspicion that it was even so.
Seeing the emperor, Mauritius, did not enter into his views, but
that he countenanced the bishop of Constantinople, Gregory
seems so far to have withdrawn his allegiance from him, as to
rejoice in the successful treason of Phocas, who murdered his
master and his children, and was proclaimed emperor in his stead.
Gregory was unable to contain his joy at this event. He wrote
Phocas in the most fulsome style of congratulation. " We,"
says he, " have been hitherto most grievously afflicted ; but the
Almighty hath chosen you, and placed you on the imperial throne,
to banish, by your merciful disposition, all our afflictions and
sorrows. Let the heavens therefore rejoice, let the earth leap for
joy, let the whole people return thanks for so happy a change.
May the republic long enjoy these most happy times ! May God,
with his grace, direct your heart in every good thought, in every
good deed ! May the Holy Ghost, that dwells in your breast,
ever guide and assist you, and that you may, after a long course
of years, pass from an earthly and temporal to an everlasting and
heavenly kingdom."
Phocas received the imperial throne by treason and murder ;
and when in possession of absolute power, he shewed himself as
great a monster of cruelty and wickedness, as any of his prede-
cessors had been ; but Pope Gregory the Great lauds him, and
praises him, and calls upon heaven and earth to praise him, for
no other reason, so far as appears, than that he would deliver the
see of Rome from the disgrace of having the patriarch of Con-
stantinople preferred before the bishop of Rome, under the title
of universal bishop. It was the manner of Popes to attach them-
selves to those successful monsters who could help them to the
attainment of the object of their ambition ; and they again lent
all their influence to confirm such monsters in the power which
they had usurped. If you will get me proclaimed emperor, L
shall take care that you be proclaimed universal bishop, seems to
have been the understanding between the traitor and murderer,
Phocas, and the most holy father of the Church of Rome. The
thing was done. Phocas became emperor ; and though Gregory
did not live to enjoy all the fruits of this revolution ; though he
did not receive, in his own person, the high title of universal
4.30
bishop, Phocas lived to confer it upon one of the Popes within
three years of the death of Gregory. Yes, Boniface III. pre-
vailed upon the bloody monster, Phocas, to revoke the decree,
settling the title of universal bishop on the patriarch of Constan-
tinople ; and he got a new decree, settling this title upon himself
and his succesors. Gregory the Great had condemned this title,
as vain, proud, profane, impious, execrable, blasphemous, anti-
christian, heretical, diabolical ; but no matter ; when it came to
be applied to the Pope of Rome, it was all good and lawful. It
has been claimed and borne by the Popes to this very day ; and
therefore, they are justly chargeable with all the blasphemy and
exccrableness which their great Father, saint Gregory, laid to the
account of it.
Now indeed the Pope appeared as a god on earth. Pie sat
in the temple of God, shewing himself as God. He received
his high dignity from a traitor and a murderer ; and, it must be
allowed, that the power which it conferred has been often exercised
in a manner corresponding with its origin, and the character of
him who conferred it. The title of universal bishop, as vested
in the patriarch of Constantinople, seems to have been no more
than a badge of honour ; at least he did not pretend to universal
jurisdiction in virtue of it. But no sooner was the title transferred
to the Pope of Rome, and he thereby declared head of the
church, than he began to show his power and authority in a very
arbitrary manner. He immediately called a council at Rome,
and had it decreed, that no election of a bishop should thenceforth
he deemed lawful and good, unless made by the people and
i.lergy, approved by the prince or lord of the city, and conjirmed
by the Pope, interposing his authority in the following terms :
We will and command, volumus et jubemus. See Bower's
Life of Boniface. This bound the bishops, in all countries, to
the Pope of Rome, through them it bound all the inferior priests,
and through them, all the people to the same supreme head, so
that in fact the Pope became absolute monarch of what was
called Christendom. It is true that some countries yielded more
prompt obedience than others, and some never submitted at all ;
but these were comparatively few, at least in the western empire.
Thus was the papal supremacy introduced and established, in the
vear 607, which is usually marked as one of those periods at
which the prophetic number of 1260 years is understood to
commence.
The Pope, however, was not yet high enough. He had got
the full command of the spiritual sword, but the temporal one
>> necessary, in order to give the necessary effect to the
"ihcr. A temporal kingdom, and the power of calling out an
irmcd lorcc were necessary, in order to his maintaining the
431
dignity to which he had attained. It is true, the Pope never
made any great figure, as a military commander; but he found
it necessary, in order to the maintenance of his dignity, to get
the sovereign power over certain portions of rich territory in
Italy ; and he obtained this by the aid of another traitor, whose
usurpation he encouraged. . This was Pepin, who was a sort of
prime minister to Childeric, king of France. The king was a
silly, and the minister was a clever man ; and the latter saw no
good reason why he should not occupy the place of the former.
He resolved, therefore, to take the opinion of the Pope, as upon
a question of morality, or divinity, or casuistry, or politics, no
matter which. The question which he proposed to his Holiness,
was, " Who best deserved to be styled king ; he who was pos-
sessed of the power, or he who was only possessed of the title ?"
The crafty Pope, says Bovver, in his Life of Pope Zachary,
well understood the true meaning of that question ; and therefore
solved it, we may be sure, in favour of Pepin ; declaring that,
" in his opinion, he ought rather to be styled king, who possessed
the power, than he who possessed only the title."
Pepin had now what would be received as a divine authority,
ror supplanting his master, king Childeric; and this was imme-
mediately done. Most of the great men in the kingdom were
Pepin's creatures and dependants, and therefore easily brought
over to maintain his title to the kingdom. Now, as one good
turn deserves another, the Pope naturally looked to Pepin, as
one able and willing to advance his poweL1 and dignity. The
Pope of the day did not live to reap the fruit of his good offices,
on behalf of the usurper ; but, as usual, his successor took ad-
vantage of his labours, and improved them for the aggrandize-
ment of the holy see. Stephen II. successor of Zachary, had a
quarrel with the king of the Lombards; and the holy father,
being unable to cope with so powerful a prince, applied once and
again to Pepin, now king of France, to help him. Pepin ac-
knowledged his obligations to his holy father; and brought such
a powerful force, to bear upon the king of the Lombards, as
soon made him submit, and promise to give up the territory,
which he had violently taken from the emperor, not to the right-
ful owner, from whom he had taken it, but to the holy see of
St. Peter, so as to make the holy apostle appear to the world as
no better than a resetter of theft.
The king of the Lombards, however, after Pepin had with-
drawn his army, refused to perform his promise. He attacked
the Pope a second time. He besieged Rome itself, and reduced
the city to the greatest extremity ; when the poor Pope was
obliged to apply to Pepin again, to save his city and his life.
He first addressed a letter to Pepin, as from himself, in the
132!
following style : — "To defend the church is, of all works, the
most meritorious ; and that to which is reserved the greatest reward
in the world to come. God might liimself have defended his
church, or raised up others to defend the just rights of hi^
apostle, St. Peter. But it pleased him to choose you, my most
excellent son, out of the whole human race, for that holy pur-
pose. For it was in compliance with his divine inspiration and
command, that I applied to you, that I came into your kingdom,
that I exhorted you to espouse the cause of his beloved apostle,
and your great protector, St. Peter. You espoused his cause
accordingly ; and your zeal for his honour wasquicklv rewarded
with a signal and miraculous victory. But St. Peter, my most
excellent son, has not yet reaped the least advantage from so glo-
rious a victory, though owing entirely to him. The perfidious
and wicked Aistulphus (the king of the Lombards) has not yet
yielded to him one foot of ground; nay, unmindful of his oath,
and actuated by the devil, he has begun hostilities anew, and,
bidding defiance both to you and St. Peter, threatens us, and the
whole Roman people, with death and destruction." The Pope,
however, doubtful of the effect of his own eloquence upon the
mind of the French monarch, is said to have procured a letter
from the apostle Peter himself, which he sent to Pepin as a ge-
nuine epistle from his great predecessor, the prince of the apostles.
The following is an extract, from which, I am afraid my readers
will infer, that Peter did not improve in the art of letter-writing
after he left this world: — " Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to the three most excellent kings, Pepin,
Charles, and Carloman ; (the two last were Pepin's sons) to all
the holy bishops, abbots, presbyters, and monks ; to all the dukes,
counts, commanders of the French army ; and to the whole people
of France : Grace unto you and peace be multiplied." — " I am
the apostle Peter, to whom it was said, Thou art Peter, and upi n
this rock, &c. Feed my sheep, &c. And to thee will I give
the keys, &c. As this was all said to me in particular, all who
h earken to me, and obey my exhortations, may persuade them-
.=cl ves, and firmly believe that their sins are forgiven them."
;c Hearken, therefore, to me, to me Peter, the apostle and servant
of Jesus Christ ; and since 1 have preferred you to all the nations
oi the earth, hasten, I beseech and conjure you, if you care to
be cleansed from your sins, and to earn an eternal reward, hasten
to the relief of my city, of my church, of the people committed
to my care, ready to fall into the hands of the wicked Lom-
bards, their merciless enemies. It has pleased the Almighty that
mj body should rest in this city; the body that has suffered, for
the sake of Christ, such exquisite torments : And can you, my
I hristian sons, stand by unconcerned and see it insulted by
433
the most wicked of nations ? No, let it never be said, and it will
I hope, never be said, that I, the apostle of Jesus Christ, that
my apostolic church, the foundation of the faith, that my flock
recommended to you by me and my vicar, have trusted in you.
but trusted in vain. Our lady, the virgin Mary, the mother ol
God, joins in earnestly intreating, nay, and commands you to
hasten, to run, to fly to the relief of my favourite people, reduced
almost to the last gasp ; and calling in that extremity, night and
day, upon her, and upon me. The thrones and dominions, the
principalities and the powers, and the whole multitude of the
heavenly host, intreat you, together with us, not to delay, but to
come with all possible speed, and rescue my chosen flock from
the jaws of the ravening wolves, ready to devour them. My
vicar might, in this extremity, have recurred, and not in vain, to
ether nations ; but, with me, the French are, and ever have
been, the first, the best, the most deserving of all nations ; and I
would not suffer the reward, the exceeding great reward, that is
reserved in this and the other world, for those who shall deliver
rny people, to be earned by any other." Bower s Life of
Stephen II.
It is difficult to say what effect the eloquence of the holy
apostle might have had upon the mind of Pepin and his two sons,
had it arrived in time ; for as no swift angelic messenger was em-
ployed, Pepin had left France with an army, to help the Pope,
before Peter's letter reached him. He effectually subdued the
king of the Lombards. He took the provinces and cities, which
Aistulphus had taken from the emperor, and most magnani-
mously gave them to the Pope, thus enriching the holy see with
what was not his own.
Thus was the bishop of Rome raised to the rank and sove-
reignty of a great prince. This is usually considered the last
step of his elevation. It took place in the year 756 ; and this,
I believe, is the latest period to which the commencement of the
prophetic number of 1260 years is referred. Supposing the book
of Revelation to have been written in the year 90, which is the
period usually assigned to it, the time which elapsed between that
and the last stage of papal usurpation, is precisely 666 years,
which reminds us of the number of the name of the beast, Rev.
xiii. 18. I mention this merely in passing, as it is by no means
my intention to enter, at present, upon the Apocalyptical signs or
Antichrist. To those who wish to see this subject discussed, in
a serious and sensible manner, I beg leave to recommend a pam-
phlet, just published, by the Rev. Mr. Mason, of Wishatown,
on Daniel's Prophetic Number of 2300 days.
KM) OF VOL. !!.
PATE.hl*L.J.W$$
2
y
^ /
i --—
x
V
I
-*u
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11